Have a FaceBook, Twitter, or other social networking account?

Link them to your fanatic account!

Add An Account

TAKE ME TO...
IndyCar
INDYCAR: Who Will Take Paul Tracy’s $2M?
“We have about $2 million raised right now, but nobody wants to pull the trigger on doing a second car with us,” Tracy told SPEED.com.
Marshall Pruett  |  Posted December 19, 2011  
Paul Tracy has been one of the most successful drivers in the paddock at securing personal backing, but will it be enough to secure the full-time seat he desires? (IndyCar Series)
With dust beginning to settle on the check he’s hoping will deliver a seat in the IZOD IndyCar Series, Paul Tracy is starting to wonder what he has to do to get a team owner to take his money.

“We have about $2 million raised right now, but nobody wants to pull the trigger on doing a second car with us,” he told SPEED.com. “I don’t get it. We have a commitment level right now that’s not enough for a full season, by any means, but it’s not an insignificant amount. Nobody wants to put one foot in front of the other and make something happen. Of all the drivers who are out there walking around looking for a ride right now, I don’t [think] any of them are sitting on $2 million to spend.”
Tracy kicked a part-time 2011 campaign with Dragon Racing at Long Beach. (Marshall Pruett)

After the last-minute demise of the Champ Car World Series early in 2008, Tracy, the 2003 series champion, went onto conduct partial IndyCar campaigns with five different teams. Strong results early on in his switch to IndyCar with Vision Racing and KV Racing notwithstanding, PT’s 2011 season was one to forget.

A handful of races with the tiny and understaffed Dragon Racing meant Tracy was stuck at the back of the field most of the time (except for the Texas Twin 275s where he finished 12th and 13th), leaving the 43-year-old in an odd position at the end of the year.

Tracy’s attacking style was on full display throughout 2011, but for teams that expected to see him farther up the grid, a year spent amongst the backmarkers didn’t help his stock going into the off-season.

Now, with one of the better budgets to offer—something that should get him a seat for a third to one-half of the races in 2012, depending on the program—Tracy has met indifference from some of the teams he’s most interested in driving for.

To make his highly desired full-time return, a team will have to meet him at least halfway on anticipated price tag.

“The party line has been, ‘We need $6.5 million…’ and that amount of money [from a driver] just isn’t out there,” he said. “They say, ‘Help us get there,’ and the bottom line is that it does take $6.5 million to run one of these new cars for a full season, but where do they think that’s going to come from? If people had that that kind of money to spend, all kinds of rides would be filled, but they aren’t.”

Of the teams with vacancies that interest Tracy, and with Honda Canada sponsorship in his portfolio, Honda-powered Rahal Letterman Racing is the best fit for the open-wheel veteran, but he’s also spoken with Dreyer & Reinbold, amongst others.

“We’ve met with Bobby [Rahal] multiple times,” said Tracy. “He went and met one of my sponsors to have a face-to-face. That went well and everybody seemed pretty keen to do something. But the budget number to make things happen there is higher than what we can bring right now. I think most team owners are sitting on the fence waiting to see what kind of best deal they can get, and if I was an owner, I’d probably do the same thing.”

Despite Tracy’s desire to join RLL’s two-car stable, the team owner says he’s not feeling the pressure to sign a contract with any of the drivers he’s met with.
Tracy's best results of the year came with Dreyer & Reinbold. (IndyCar Series)

“We’re not trying to play the field or delay people,” said Rahal. “It may sound egotistical to say this, but I think we’re a pretty good team. We’re not going to rush to sign a deal unless everything’s there to be competitive. We feel that one of the most important things for us is that we have a competitive effort, not only in one car, but in two cars. And that means we have the right financial backing in both cars. And so far, we haven’t found what it takes.

“There’s an assurance there that you’re going to have a certain level of performance right from the get-go when you’re associated with Honda, and that means something. There are some people that are willing to take less money than what’s really needed, and then they don’t deliver for themselves, or their sponsors or whoever. I don’t want to take less money, make promises you can’t keep then bail out halfway through the year.”
Page 1 of 2
Prev
12
Next
MPruett's avatar

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marshall Pruett

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR
Advertising | Jobs | Feedback | FAQ | Terms of Use | NEW Privacy Policy | Ad Choices | Site Map
Fox Sports | FUEL TV | FX Network | National Geographic | IGN | AskMen
The Motor Sports Authority, SPEED and associated logos are registered trademarks of Speed Channel Inc.
All Rights Reserved © Speed Channel, Inc. 2012

All external links will open in a new browser window. SPEED.com does not endorse external sites.