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DALY: Hard Knock Life On The Ovals
Written by: Conor Daly   
07/04/2009
Indianapolis, IN
 
I was really excited about my first ever oval race at the Milwaukee Mile but it turned out to be a complete disaster…

The weather for the weekend was questionable and we (the Star Mazda Championship) were running with the NASCAR Nationwide Series as well as the Camping World Truck Series so obviously the bigger series gets the better time slots. Our first day of practice on Friday started out very wet. Everyone thought the day was going to be a complete washout but towards the end of the day we actually got two practice sessions.
Conor Daly came away from Milwaukee with some great lessons on how to improve in future oval races. (Daly) ยป More Photos

The first session was the first time all the Star Mazda cars were out on track at once. It was very hectic on track and there was lots of traffic but I thought it was really exciting with a lot of cars to pass! The second session was more interesting. I did a couple runs and when I came in for another pit stop to make a change, my engineer noticed a big patch of rubber was missing from the tire.


Luckily he spotted it or I could have had a big crash because of a tire failure. So we were forced to put on new tires before we would have liked. I went out there and set a really quick time which I think at the time was good enough for P1. As the session went on more and more people ran new tires and I slid down the time sheets to 4th.

Qualifying was set for Saturday morning but as the team left the track Friday night there was a big storm rolling in. It rained extremely hard over night and there was quite an impressive lightning which we saw in all it’s glory as we were staying at the track. The people that worked at the race track said they had never seen as much rain as they saw that night or the night before.

The truck race was meant to be run on Friday night but the rain stopped that from happening. The truck race was then rescheduled to run in the time slot where we were going to qualify so now qualifying for the Star Mazda Championship was eliminated. The series decided to use the last practice session from Friday as the qualifying times for the race. I wasn’t really happy with that because I really thought I had a chance for pole but I now started 4th.

We had a drivers meeting on Saturday morning and the person who had qualified 3rd didn’t show up so the series had no choice but to penalize him one grid position which meant I was now starting third. I hate to see that happen to another driver but it was a lucky break for me because I was now starting behind my teammate Richard Kent who was quickest in Friday practice.

Most of us in the series had never done a start on an oval so everyone was anxious. As the field rolled to take the green flag everyone was scattered and the starter waved off the start. The restart was much better and I had a fantastic start getting a really good run on my teammate Richard. I immediately popped out to the inside before the start finish line. As we approached turn
1 I was now on the inside of my teammate and when we turned in my front tire was right about at his side pod and we were very close all the way down to the inside wall before I realized he was not going to give me room.

I could not go any lower on the track to avoid him so my front tire hit his side pod and then his left rear tire ripped off my right front suspension as we started to slide into the wall. We both made contact with the wall but the impact was not hard. I was in complete and utter disbelief. I wanted desperately to keep driving. I didn’t even look at the damage that had been done because I was sitting in the car trying to say to myself that I could just back up and continue but that was impossible.

It was definitely one of the worst feelings and worst experiences of my whole career. I felt terrible for my whole team because two of their four cars were in the wall. This is actually very difficult to write because I just still can’t believe it happened and I am replaying it in my mind almost every minute of the day. The team determined that both of us were at fault and that we could have each done something to avoid the situation. I am not going to go into the details of what happened because the team and I have moved on from this very unfortunate event.

Racing is a tough business and things like this happen, so for me it was a big learning experience and I simply hope this never happens again.

~Conor

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, SPEED, FOX, or NewsCorp.

Conor Daly, a second generation race driver, is the son of former F1, IndyCar and Sportscar driver Derek Daly. Conor's lineage of speed also extends to his mother, Beth, a winner at the Jet Ski World Finals. He became the youngest driver in the country to win a Pro kart race when he won the Pro Invitational race at the TaG World Championships, and later won the Stars of Karting TaG East championship.

In 2008, Conor won the Skip Barber National Championship and the Canadian Formula Ford 1600 Rookie of the year title after winning a total of ten races in both series. Along the way he set three new lap records in Canada, and scored ten pole positions in three different classes.

In November 2008, Conor represented the Team USA scholarship when he won the prestigious Walter Hayes Formula Ford Trophy at Silverstone, England. He was the youngest driver to ever win the event and the first American.

Just 16 years old, Conor lives in Noblesville, Indiana with his parents and attends high school while competing in the 2009 Star Mazda open-wheel championship. Learn more about Conor at ConorDaly.net

Conor's columns are produced with SPEEDtv.com contributor Declan Brennan.
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