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den 1 mars 2005
New season, new opportunities
Dear friends,
The IndyCar season starts next weekend in Homestead, Florida. I will be there, but not in the cockpit, instead I will be doing TV-commentary for ESPN.
This year they have a new format for the Homestead race, which consists of two simultaneous, live broadcasts on ESPN and ESPN 2.
ESPN will do the “normal” broadcast of the race and then they will also do a special “in-car camera” live show on ESPN 2. That’s the one I will be part of together with veteran “anchor” Gary Gerould.
I am a little worried about talking for 2 hours on live TV, but Gary has promised me that he is just as nervous so I guess it’ll be fine!
I’ve never done something like this and I am looking forward to trying it. If nothing else it’s such a great opportunity to talk about what everyone else is doing wrong or should be doing without having to prove anything on my own part!
As far as the race, it’s going to be exciting to see what team and driver will be on top. From pre-season testing it sure looks like the teams that are running a Honda engine will be the one’s to beat once again.
If you look at the combined performance of all different track types, super speedways, short ovals and road tracks, Andretti-Green is perhaps the strongest team.
But for Homestead I would also put some money on Rahal Letterman Racing.
Last year they proved they have a very good set up for these types of tracks, winning Indy 500 and two other races with Buddy Rice.
Of course you can never count out Team Penske and Team Ganassi. Even though pre-season testing has shown that perhaps they don’t have the power required to be competitive on the oval tracks but overall I am sure they’ll find a way to be strong.
And you never know, Toyota and Chevy might still have an ace up their sleeve so I guess it’s not until after the first few races we’ll get a good picture on what’s really going on.
As for my own driving plans, they are still up in the air. The only think I know is that I am now fully recovered from the accident and I would like to drive IndyCars again. But having said that I am only going to do it if the opportunity allows me to be competitive.
There are no seats open for the season although there seemed to be an opportunity with all the right elements on the table to run Indy 500 a while ago. Unfortunately it fell through a couple of weeks back.
Right now I don’t see any other such opportunities in the IndyCar series so I think chances are really slim, but like the old saying, “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over”.
After the Homestead race I will go back to Columbus and pack my bags to go to Australia. I am going there to visit with Dick Johnson Racing in the Australian V8-Supercar Series.
They run their first championship-race in Adelaide on the 19th thru 20th
of March.
This series is very successful and with a lot of big professional teams and a huge fan base. The cars are Fords and Holden’s with V8-engines of around 600 hp.
From what I understand the cars are quite “unusual” to drive and there are very little testing opportunities available so it is quite difficult to do well against drivers who spent most their lives in this environment. On top of that the steering wheel and gear stick is on the wrong side of the car!
There has been quite a few “overseas” drivers trying to break into this series over the years but they’ve had a tough time. Nonetheless I am going there to learn about the series, the teams and the racing and I am sure it will be interesting.
Otherwise life is treating me good. Karma is growing and she is so much fun to be around. I am also playing some music, the band is writing songs and we are having fun with it.
Talk to you soon,
Kenny.
kennybrack.com
KB
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