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den 27 april 2003
Indy testing
Dear friends,
Testing for the world biggest race has started. And it started in dramatic fashion. Most of you perhaps know I crashed in the end of the second day, which also caused Mario Andretti to crash as he ran into some debris. Spectacularly seems like an understatement when describing his mishap. He ran over a piece of debris, which lifted the front off the ground. The car caught air and went straight up like a fighter jet and hit the upside of the catch fencing and did 2 full somersaults backwards before landing right side up and skidding all the way into turn 2. I had skidded to a stop on the inside of the track at the entry to turn 2 and was on my way to get out of my car when I heard the noise of someone crashing. I ducked back into the cockpit and felt some debris hit my car about the same time as I saw Mario come skidding by backwards, only the cockpit left of the car in a dust of debris and smoke. It looked like something out of a Hollywood film production. At this point we are not quite sure what actually caused my car to crash other than I am sure there was something mechanical involved. I turned into turn 1 flat out but immediately discovered that the rear end did not feel as usual. I rolled out of the throttle but at that point there’s really not a lot I could do. It was like hitting black ice. I braced myself and waited for the big hit. It was, but not as big as one could expect, and thanks to the new SAFER wall the speedway have introduced which basically absorbs the energy less abruptly that the normal concrete. Of course I have normal muscle pain and have had to visit the chiropractor since but that is ok considering hitting a hard wall at 200 mph. All I can say is that I am glad both Mario and myself are well and ok because when you crash on super speedways there’s always danger involved.
Apart for this incident the testing went well. We tried a lot of things and our engineers have their hands full at the moment to try to sort out all the data from the runs. Originally we were going to go to Nashville Tennessee to test on Saturday but that test day got postponed which gives us extra time to get ready for the official start of the Indy 500 Sunday the 4th of May.
The time available from now to the opening day we spend preparing and making a detailed plan on how to go about the testing, qualifying and the race. There’s plenty of track time and its paramount to use it wisely and not get lost in set ups or frustrated along the way if plans fall through because of weather or other things. I do not know why, its really just another race, but it seems that weird stuff always happens at the Indy 500, that never would happen anywhere else. I guess that’s why it’s the Indy 500. Maybe the event and racetrack psyches people out it seems, or perhaps it’s spending all that time in one place with all those racing folks that does it J.
It is of course way too early to make any predictions, but I have a good feeling about our situation. We have a great team feeling, we’re really focused and we have good equipment plus right now we have some momentum from the Japan result. But other teams that for sure will be strong is Penske, Ganassi, Team Andretti/Green, A.J. Foyt and Kelley Racing. We’ll see who is still standing after 500 miles Sunday the 25th!
This week it was announced Jimmy Vasser will join the Team Rahal effort too for the Indy 500, but not until the second week of preparations as he’s busy racing CART in England and Germany during the first week’s preparations.
He visited Columbus yesterday to make a seat and such things and we had a good chat about the race and preparations as I have to do most of his stuff too. Of course I will have to charge him a (in racing terms) small fee for this service J. He is a good driver and will give Team Rahal another chance to win the race.
Apart from racing stuff the world whirls by at maximum speed too. In the midst of racing, working out, rock band rehearsals etc. we are also remodeling most of the house we bought. Yeah…turns out we got screwed on the deal….
Jokes aside, we really like it and the area its in, but we are redoing all wallpapers, paint and such stuff. It requires a lot of work and everything inside and out seems upside down, but luckily my wife Anita is taking care of most of it.
I am also preparing for this years rock-band debut.
Thing’s have swapped around completely this year and most members are new. The only ones that are left from last year is Laz Denes who does PR for Mo Nunn Racing and myself. The rest are professionals. With 4 pros it sounds great and requires a lot less work. What’s really cool with it is that the team sponsors are really into it since it fits great with both Pioneer and Miller.
We are doing a kind of “dress rehearsal” at an unnamed Indy location on the 12th to see everything works as we hope, before presenting the band officially to the media on the 13th of May at the Indy down town bar Ike & Jonesy’s. After that we do 2 “official” shows.
I hope you have time to follow the excitement in May at Indy. Pedal to the metal!
Talk to you soon!
Kenny
kennybrack.com
KB
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