PRUETT: Triple Stint, 7.8

IndyCar

PRUETT: Triple Stint, 7.8

After a long hiatus during almost two solid months of travel, it’s time for a big new edition of Triple Stint.

Marshall Pruett | Posted July 08, 2010 Hayward, CA

Will Power's win at Watkins Glen, like most of his road and street course wins, was aided by his unique ability to build an advantage while on cold tires. (LAT)

After a long hiatus during almost two solid months of travel, it’s time for a big new edition of Triple Stint.

In this issue:

• Pruett steps into the new millennium and joins Twitter
• Will Power reveals where he mastered the art of driving on cold tires
• A rant about ABC’s 'the Ocho-meets-IndyCar racing’ Watkins Glen production
• How Ganassi won the Daytona GRAND-AM race with 75 pounds of additional ballast
• Steve Dinan finally speaks on his company’s Daytona Prototype engine penalties
• Danica to the 99th power
• Tony Kanaan gets buried under the weight of his social networking endeavors
• Le Mans leftovers
• Pruett eats large quantities of humble pie, courtesy of Alex Lloyd
• A former domestic ALMS prototype manufacturer is looking to get back in the LMP2 game
• Gil de Ferran breaks down what his IndyCar team needs to keep improving
• David Donohue talks about a new book about his father, Mark Donohue
• What I Re-learned by Re-Reading IndyCar Series Magazine
• And a few juicy tidbits revealed in MISC

@marshallpruett

After two years of heavy resistance, I’ve finally given in and joined Twitter. It’s proving to be rather educational; if you’re accustomed to Triple Stints that range between 6000 and 8000 words, it’s easy to understand why I’ve stayed away from something that has a limit of only 140 characters…

Join in the silliness at @marshallpruett.

Fire Up the Water Truck, Brian

Will Power’s rather dominating win at Watkins Glen last weekend came as a result of having the best of everything at his disposal – the right car, crew and resources -- to grab pole and lead the most laps on the way to victory number three in 2010.

But earning the victor’s wreath didn’t come easily, as the Aussie needed to first gap the field at the start, and had to repeat the process when his teammate, Ryan Briscoe, took the lead after the No. 6 crew got him out ahead of Power’s No. 12 Verizon Wireless car.

In both instances – early and late at Watkins – the Toowoomba native made use of one of the most elusive driving skills that separates the great road course drivers from the almost greats: The ability to pull away from the field on cold tires.

Ayrton Senna used his supreme cold tire skills on the opening laps of a race and during restarts, and up until Power’s arrival at Team Penske, Target Chip Ganassi’s Dario Franchitti was the only IndyCar driver to display a clear advantage when his tires were cold. If it wasn’t obvious beforehand, there’s a new member of that rather exclusive club, and he plans on exploiting his unique talent whenever possible.

“The car moves around a lot until the tires are properly warmed,” said Power, “and it doesn’t feel nice or settled, but you just have to live with it. You have to push through that barrier, I guess. If you wait a few laps until the car feels perfect, you’re leaving something on the table.”

Power’s description of how an IndyCar feels on cold tires (or any race car, for that matter) is universal; every driver pushes hard when the green flag is shown, but the levels of how far each driver is willing to stray past their comfort zone will vary.

The perfect illustration of those different levels was shown between Power and Briscoe on the last restart on Lap 44. The Verizon Wireless car was pushed beyond 100% in the first few turns, giving Power a run up the hill and into the chicane. He then ran wide exiting the chicane’s first turn after making the pass on Briscoe as his tires gave up momentarily, but he continued to push, dealt with a quick bout of oversteer and motored away from the chicane.

The gap Power built on cold tires was maintained for the remaining laps as he kept an eye on fuel economy, but Briscoe’s inability to match Power’s pace while waiting for his tires to come up to temperature is what made the difference between a win and settling for second.

It would be fair to say that with Briscoe’s graduation from Penske’s ALMS team to their IndyCar program, the presence of a hungry young lion pushed Helio Castroneves to improve his game in every area. With Power as the newest lion in the pride, Briscoe and Castroneves have been shown a number of weaknesses in their road racing game, and none greater than driving on cold tires. As the IZOD IndyCar Series heads to two straight street circuits – places where grip is all but nonexistent – Power’s advantage could widen the intra-Penske gap even more.

Checkout at counter No.12... Power distinguished himself even more from his Team Penske teammates at Watkins Glen. For HCN and Briscoe, the ovals can't return soon enough. (LAT)

“It’s what you have to do. I knew those two or three laps at the start were my chance to stretch things out, so I attacked quite hard. Then when I lost the lead in the pits, I knew I had to do the same thing. In both cases, full fuel helps to warm the tires a bit because of the extra weight, but in racing terms, [the tires] are still not up to full attack temperatures. On the last restart, we also had quite a bit of junk on the tires from driving around under the yellow, so that made it even more challenging. Cold tires with a lot of pick-up on them makes the car dance for the first three or four laps, for sure. There’s a lot to be made up, but there’s also a lot to be lost if you throw the car off, so it’s a fine line.”

In open-wheel racing, the art of maximizing lap times on cold tires is usually learned from karting, but as with most things about Power, there’s a funny and somewhat odd story of how he added the skill to his arsenal.

“I raced dirt tracks when I was 15 or 16 and it was all about car control. It wasn’t oval series; it was a sedan kind of thing on six local dirt tracks near Toowoomba, the Darling Downs area in the ‘Short Circuit Touring Car Series.’ They’d bring out a water truck whenever a yellow came out in the races and wet down the dirt. It was slick as hell. Talk about some really bad conditions. Working cold tires or slick tires comes from experience, mostly, and I got plenty of that from when I was a kid.”

Power says he’d be just fine with Brian Barnhart wheeling out the water truck during caution periods on IndyCar’s road and street courses.

“I’d love that. Man, if you got stuck behind the water truck back then, your windshield would be covered with dirt and mud, but I guess it wouldn’t be as bad in an IndyCar…”

Sunday’s win added to Power’s points lead, further boosting his championship aspirations. With Team Penske leading the series with five wins in 2010 (three for Power and one each for Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe) and with the series in the midst of a five race stretch of road courses, Power has moved from being a newcomer in his first full season with Penske to the most consistent and effective driver they have in the fight.

Castroneves and Briscoe aren’t far behind Power, holding fourth and fifth in the championship, respectively, but with visits to Toronto, Edmonton, Mid-Ohio and Sonoma on the horizon, Power has the opportunity to stake his claim as Roger Penske’s best chance to win their first IndyCar title since 2006.

Despite being the ‘new guy,’ Power says he isn’t surprised to find himself at the head of the championship rankings.

“I’m incredibly fortunate to be where I am, no doubt. What Roger Penske and Tim Cindric have done for me is incredible, but I’d be disappointed with myself if I hadn’t already won a few races this year, or been at the front of the championship. We’re all here to win the title, so one of the Team Penske cars should be in that position. I’m just happy it’s me at the moment, and my Verizon Wireless guys are fighting hard to make sure it stays that way. I’m in my first full season with a top team, I have my old engineer with me and I think I’ve really gotten lot of help to improve on the ovals.

“I’d say my weakest race of the whole year was at Kansas. It really came down to a lack of experience and being conservative. Out of the nine races this year, Kansas was really the only one where I wasn’t a threat to win. That changed for Indy, again at Texas and I was on the pole at Iowa, so I really have to thank the team for helping me to deliver. I lived with a really loose car at Iowa and still finished fifth, which it crucial in a championship run. Earning points on the tough days is what you need, and if we can keep doing that and add more points on the good days, then everything is going according to plan.”

RM, You’re My Hiro

While covering the Indy 500, Robin Miller insisted that I visit the National Auto Racing Memorabilia show at the State Fairgrounds, and I’m thankful I went. Not only did I score 160 issues of IndyCar magazine to re-populate my collection, I also found a 1/64th model that had Robin’s name on it.

Before he began worshiping at the altar of Milk and Doughnuts, RM was a HUGE Hiro Matsushita fan, and wouldn’t you know it, not only did I find the only model of King Hiro in the expo, he was also standing outside waiting to sign it for Miller.

The inscription almost brought Robin to tears.

Robin,

You’re my “Hiro.”

Hugs and Crashes,

Hiro Matsushita

Just look at the unbridled joy in his eyes…he’s as happy as a pig in Matsu****a

What I Re-learned by Re-Reading IndyCar Series Magazine

IndyCar Series 2004 Fan Guide, 'Chemistry Lesson' by Jeff Olson

The ribbing's part of the everyday antics at AGR, where the four drivers -- [Dan] Wheldon, [Bryan] Herta, Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti -- are pals. Co-owner Michael Andretti planned it that way when he targeted each driver.

Two rules were evident: a) no prima donnas allowed, and b) everyone must get along.

"That's part of the reason we have the drivers we do," Andretti says. "I wanted the right chemistry. When I started last year as a driver, it was the best chemistry I've ever had in a team. Everything has clicked."

Toto, we ain't in 2004 anymore.

RHR and TK exemplify rules a and b. (LAT)

The turmoil inside Andretti Autosport has been well documented since DP went off the deep end at Indy, and if you're keeping score at home, pay special attention to which drivers are thanked in interviews. Some of AA's drivers keep quiet while others thank very specific teammates and refuse to mention others. That's old news, though. I need your held coming up with something new -- the c) to go with the a) and b) above.

It's almost like a Mad Lib where plugging in the name 'Danica Patrick' with a few adjectives, verbs and pronouns on either side would do the job.

I came up with: Two rules were evident: a) no prima donnas allowed, and b) everyone must get along unless c) the prima donna brings in ridiculous amounts of money each year, and in that case, ignore rules a and b.

That was my first (and most polite) attempt -- I'm sure you can do better.

Cut and paste Two rules were evident: a) no prima donnas allowed, and b) everyone must get along___ into an email and send your best ideas to . I'll run them in the next issue.

What’s Next, 250lbs for New Jersey?

My prediction that Ganassi Racing had no chance of winning with an extra 75 pounds of ballast attached to their Riley-BMW last weekend proved to be completely wrong.

Not only did Scott Pruett motor away from the field in the latter stages of the race, the other top BMW team, Starworks Motorsports, also carrying an extra 75 pounds, came home second with Ryan Dalziel at the controls. With engine builder Steve Dinan not expected to have fully compliant engines ready in time for New Jersey Motorsports Park on July 18th, what’s the solution? Add 250 pounds of ballast to the bulked-up BMWs?

Pruett and Rojas had an average result on the cards at Daytona until their main challengers began to self destruct. It has happened far too many times this year, making it painfully easy for the No. 01 to rack up the wins. (Marshall Pruett)

It’s easy to say that the BMW-powered teams still need to have more weight added – especially if you look at the BMW 1-2 last weekend – but I’d say that dang ‘Bermuda Triangle’ reared its head again as the Ganassi team sat back and watched the competition fade yet again.

Pruett and Rojas failed to make the podium at Lime Rock, but have since gone on a winning streak that now spans Watkins Glen, Mid-Ohio and Daytona.

The ‘Glen podium of Angelelli and Taylor (P2) and Rice and Garcia (P3) slowed at Mid-Ohio, with the SunTrust drivers taking ninth and the Spirit of Daytona pilots coming home in fifth.

At Mid-Ohio, Pruett and Rojas were joined by Ozz Negri and John Pew (P2) and Mark Wilkins and Burt Frisselle (P3). Last weekend in Daytona, Negri and Pew broke through the Triangle, taking another second-place finish, but the AIM Autosport pairing of Wilkins and Frisselle suffered two bouts of contact (one including the winning Ganassi car), eventually crossing the finish line in 24th.

Triangle theory aside, Pruett and Rojas winning with an extra 75 pounds on board their No. 01 TELMEX car has as more to do with running a near faultless race than having a major performance advantage. The first half of the race looked like the No. 01 would round out the top-5.

Ricky Taylor was running strong in the beginning of the race until he was spun by Jon Fogarty. Exit the No. 10 and No. 99 from the lead pack. AIM Autosport’s aforementioned contact and repairs dropped them from the head of the field, leaving the Brumos Riley-Porsche as the main protagonist to challenge for the win in the middle of the race. A botched pit stop where a wheel wasn’t fully tightened forced David Donohue to make an extra pit stop, dropping him from second to tenth.

With SunTrust, GAINSCO/Bob Stallings and Brumos out of the way, it left the best of the rest to take on the best in the series, and the result was all too predictable.

Crafty strategy helped to move the No. 8 Starworks car from the back of the DP grid to the front, giving Dalziel a chance to briefly lead until Pruett hunted the Scot down. Ozz and Pew put in another great drive, with Negri also getting a chance to lead a lap, but proof of how the No. 01 won comes in the lap chart.

Rojas led three laps (29 to 31), and with all of their main rivals out of the way and the smaller teams unable to stop their assault, Pruett led all but one lap from Lap 46 to the checkered flag on Lap 83.

Nothing against the Starworks team, but if you wanted to gauge just how good the Ganassi organization has become in GRAND-AM, look at how Pruett caught, passed and left their identical Riley-BMW in the dust. For two cars carrying the same 75-pound penalty and using the same Dinan BMW engines, it looked like the No. 8 was running in the DP Lites class.

Through no fault of his own, Ricky Taylor went from being the leader to last place in DP, thanks to a little help from the No. 99. (Marshall Pruett)

At the checkered flag, The No. 01 was 24.3 seconds up on the No. 8, and Negri was 44.3 seconds behind Pruett…

I wouldn’t mind seeing a few extra pounds added to the hot BMW-engined DP cars for New Jersey – something in the 25lb range – just to make sure they aren’t able to exploit the extra torque and its aggressive delivery, but if Daytona reminded us of anything, it’s that beating Ganassi requires an error-free race by the competition. The best teams have to do better and the second-tier teams have to bridge a foreboding gap to become a serious threat.

Add back in the time Brumos lost on the extra pit stop, and they could be celebrating a race win right now, and if Taylor wasn’t tipped into the weeds by Fogarty, the No. 10 had an even better chance to come home as the race winner. Of all the racing series in North America this year to prove how accurate the “to finish first, you first must finish” adage happens to be, it’s GRAND-AM’s Rolex Series, but I’m continually amazed at how this has been forgotten by the DP class.

I’ve now learned to avoid making predictions against the Ganassi team, so four-in-a-row is certainly possible at New Jersey. The No. 01 can be beaten, but a 75-pound penalty isn’t much of a concern to Pruett and Rojas when their closest rivals continue to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Dinan Speaks

On a related topic, and after a few weeks of silence, Steve Dinan produced a statement regarding the penalties his DP partners incurred, but as I haven’t seen it posted elsewhere yet, here it is:

Following the June 19 Emco Gears Classic, at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, the engine in the 01 Daytona Prototype was dyno-tested by the sanctioning body. All components met the requirements of the rules, but the performance level of the engine did not. The engine was found to produce less than the maximum allowable horsepower, but more than the maximum allowable torque. This was a violation of Daytona Prototype Regulations 4-1.1 Engine Eligibility (components and performance levels that must be strictly adhered to).

Once previously this season, after the April 24 Bosch Engineering 250, at Virginia International Raceway, engines from the 01 Daytona Prototype were dyno-tested by the sanctioning body and found to be in compliance with all rules and performance levels.

BMW, Chip Ganassi Racing and Starworks Motorsports have no knowledge of Dinan Engines or their calibrations. This error is the sole responsibility of Dinan and we regret the impact this has had on our motorsports partners. All the people at Dinan are disappointed in the ruling. We have worked very hard and feel the severity of the penalty for such a minor infraction is unjustified. We will work hard to bring the engine within the parameters that GRAND-AM wants and continue to focus our efforts on racing.

(I’m not sure the poking a bear with a short stick routine with comments like 'the severity of the penalty for such a minor infraction is unjustified' is exactly how I’d be communicating with the series at this point, guys…)

As Most of My High School Teachers Said to Me, “You Can Do Better...”

It was painful to watch Sunday’s IZOD IndyCar Race on ABC – and as the chatter amongst my friends has confirmed, it was one of the lowlights in recent IndyCar broadcast history. A Nielsen Rating of .8 on ABC on the Fourth of July can be interpreted many ways; maybe everyone was outside enjoying the holiday instead of staying glued to the couch, or maybe those who stayed in to watch Watkins Glen quickly turned off the TV and ran outside to escape the painful experience.

There is a long list of errors and hilarity – I thought the choice to throw poor Vince Welch under the bus by cutting to him for a tire tech segment just seconds before the green flag waved was especially cruel – but the biggest issue, the biggest disconnect, comes from the announcer’s booth.

Between insisting upon calling Rafa Matos ‘Rafi’ all day and referring to the Dallara chassis as a ‘Duh-Lair-uh’ I’m not sure the series can afford to keep Marty Reid at the helm of their broadcasts. Marty was a good pit reporter...and he’s an incredibly nice person…but he’s just not plugged into the series, the drivers or the cars enough to think on his feet, or to come off as someone who actually pays attention to IndyCar racing when it’s not on ABC. I could be completely wrong on that assumption, but it's how it comes across.

(There's a bit too much Cotton McKnight and Pepper Brooks at play during the ABC IndyCar Series broadcasts...)

At a time where the Internet has helped the average fan of almost any sport to become an absolute expert in the field, and with a thousand cable TV channels that offer in-depth features and analysis on any sport at any time, serving up a silky-voiced broadcast host with no real expertise on the sport he or she is presenting is a disservice to the viewers.

I never imagined it at the time of the announcement, but a 18 months into the deal, what the Lingner Group and their sharp band of IndyCar folks are doing on the Versus IndyCar broadcasts has ABC covered, hands down.

Compared to Reid, Scott Goodyear shines in his role, but with just two men in the booth, having one announcer with a complete lack of insider knowledge goes against what the viewers are expecting. It eats away at the series’ credibility and fails to address the reality that a sporting fan in 2010 expects more from their viewing experience.

It’s the equivalent of talking down to the audience, and that’s the last thing IndyCar can afford to do with such a reduced fan base. It might not stop people from watching IndyCar racing on ABC, but it sure makes it hard for diehards to get friends and family to tune in.

My wife and I changed churches a few years back because we struggled to receive the message as the pastor delivered it. Our new church has a pastor who preaches from the same book, but his command of the content and ability to connect with people is much greater than what we previously experienced.

I’d leave the same message with Randy Bernard and Co.: If you want your followers to preach IndyCar’s message, make sure you have the right people in the pulpit.

Danica

Mary Reid might struggle with the name ‘Rafa,’ but here’s one driver whose name is pronounced accurately and often (thanks to Declan Brennan for forwarding the link):

722 days/17, 328 hours

Tony Kanaan’s race at Watkins Glen might not have ended in a positive manner, but his win at the previous round in Iowa was still a source of pride for the 2004 IndyCar Series champion. Having to wait the 722 days, or the better part of 17,328 hours between his win at Richmond in 2008 and Iowa in 2010 was painful, nerve wracking and long overdue, but it was not the longest gap between IndyCar victories, as he shared.

“Back in the CART days I won a race in 1999 and didn’t win against until 2002, so I had a longer dry spell than that, man. It’s not pleasant, I can tell you that, but I didn’t lose faith. To be honest, people made a bigger deal out of me not winning for so long after Richmond than I did. I didn’t put any extra pressure on myself to win, and I know I can win at Toronto or any other weekend, but the time between Richmond and Iowa was the most painful part of my career, maybe except for qualifying at Indy this year. I still have nightmares about that…”

'Magic Iowa trophy...how many texts, Tweets and emails will I have when I get back to my bus?...' (LAT)

Asked if he thought Andretti Autosport was ready to be officially mentioned again as part of the ‘Big 3’ along with Team Penske and Target Chip Ganassi, Kanaan’s answer was rather telling about their goals.

“I think so. That would be fair. We’ve made it back to be a part of the ‘Big 3,’ but that doesn’t cut it now. Maybe before, but not now. We have to be part of the ‘Big 2’ and that’s the toughest job of all. It can be done; I believe we will get there if you look at how much we have grown under this new organization for 2010, and Ryan has been a big help – a new blood to the team – and now we have Adam Carroll for some races too. We have a long way to go, but we’re definitely better than where we were last year. I like where we have gotten and where I think we are going to. It takes time to become better than Ganassi or Penske.”

One thing Kanaan is sure of is that he’ll need to hire a social media assistant to help deal with his next victory. He’s only just started to dig himself out of the responses that came in immediately after Iowa.

“I need some help, man. Right after the race I had 400 new posts on my Twitter page. I had 65 text messages when I first got to my phone and I still don’t know how many emails I got, and they keep coming. I’ll tell you, winning races was a lot easier before texting and all these things. Now it’s a part-time job for the week after you win a race!”

So does that mean he regrets becoming IndyCar’s king of social networking?

“Not at all, man. I love it. Tell your readers to keep them coming.”

Follow T-Dizzle at @TonyKanaan .

LMP2 Parade?

With the ACO shifting the focus of the LMP2 class towards more economical cars and engines for 2011, I would expect potential interest by independent manufacturers to grow throughout the course of the year.

One company that fits the low cost/high value prototype model perfectly is the American firm Riley Technologies, whose Daytona Prototype has dominated the series every year since its first appearance in 2004. As I look at what LMP2 could become, it seems like a perfect playground for DP manufacturers to apply the lessons they’ve learned to build a product for both sportscar paddocks.

According to Bill Riley, producing a new P2 car for 2012 is something he has his sights set upon.

Riley's last prototypes ran in the ALMS before the company moved to building cars for the Rolex Series. (LAT)

“The new P2 rules are almost written perfectly for a company like ours. We have talked a lot about doing it, and now we’re looking for the right team or manufacturer who wants to partner with us on the project. What I gather is that in America, a lot of cars will be grandfathered in, and so there aren’t a lot of teams that are itching to make the switch to the new formula or the new spec right away. I think we’ll see a lot more people move to the new P2 car for 2012 once they evaluate things in 2011.”

Riley expects 2011 to serve as a transition period, but says that before long, teams and manufacturers will see the benefit of moving to a chassis that was designed specifically for the new rules.

“As I read them, there will come a time pretty shortly where the current P2 cars – a lot of them that have chassis that date back to 2005 or earlier – will struggle to adapt to production engines and the like. Prototypes are designed in a very specific way, one where the chassis is designed for a certain weight distribution, for a certain wheelbase, and for the suspension and tires to work in unison with the entire car. The advantages of starting with a chassis designed for a production engine versus trying to retrofit a car to handle and perform with something it was never intended for is a whole different ball of wax. I think you’ll see people looking for new cars for 2012 that are tailor-made for the new rules.”

Riley says that their success in Daytona Prototypes would give the company a head start on building a new P2 car from scratch, and as GRAND-AM looks at the next round of updates for the DP class, providing chassis for both classes would be a welcome opportunity.

“The new P2 car would require a carbon chassis, just because of how the ACO’s rules are written. We’ve built many carbon sportscar tubs starting back to the 1980s – a lot longer than most -- so making a carbon P2 car while still producing the tube frame DP cars isn’t a problem. It wouldn’t be anything new for us, and I think fans and manufacturers would like to see an American sportscar manufacturer winning again in the ALMS.”

We Need Miles

If Tony Kanaan was happy to end his winning drought, Gil de Ferran was just as happy to score a fourth-place finish at Watkins Glen, ending the mini-drought his de Ferran Dragon team experienced since Rafa Matos took fourth at the season opener in Brazil.

“To me, it was our best race to date. I think Indianapolis could have gone just as well, but we weren’t there in the end. But in terms of how competitive we were, I’d rate Watkins Glen right up there with Indy. We executed well on race day.”

We’ve chronicled the tough path that single-car teams face in the IZOD IndyCar Series, and of all the teams in the paddock, I’d say the one that has seen its growth stunted the most by the lack of a second entry has been dFM. While the team has done an admirable job to stay somewhat competitive without the feedback of a second driver or a second car to try different setup options, it was Matos who suffered most as a rookie, and now as a sophomore IndyCar pilot.

The merging of Luczo Dragon and de Ferran Motorsports strengthened the team’s engineering and managerial base, but for their young Brazilian driver, the lack of a teammate has resulted in Matos taking a lot longer to develop than anyone expected.

As de Ferran says, the only remedy for a young, single-car team with an even younger drivers is miles, and lots of them.

According to its co-owner, the entire de Ferran Dragon team has made huge strides of late, culminating in a competitive run by Rafa Matos to fourth at Watkins Glen. (LAT)

“This [Watkins Glen] result confirms to me that my feeling is correct. What we need the most is laps and laps and laps. We need every mile we can get, and if you look at Indy, for example, we had a lot of time to practice and test to make the car fast. We were successful with this. Before Watkins Glen, we went and tested at Mid-Ohio, and again we showed up prepared and fast. I don’t think this is a mistake. Then there are times where as a team, because we still need miles as an organization, we have run well at times this year but we have made mistakes as a team, and that hurt our final results. It’s all connected together. The more miles we can get for our team and for Rafa, I think the better chance we are given.”

De Ferran was a mentor to Matos prior to joining the team as co-owner, and says he’s pleased with how Rafa has matured while dealing with the obstacles they face.

“I think he’s driving very well right now. He hasn’t made any major errors the last few races. He’s now learning from his mistakes, not repeating them as much. To me, he’s an excellent oval driver because he has such a fine touch, and that is something that is surprising because his background is not on ovals. That is commendable. He’s learning his racecraft more on ovals, but in short, I think he’s doing great. I’m very pleased with Rafa given everything we’ve discussed. If we can add a second car in the future, I think you’ll see him progress even more and even faster.”

Another Cool New Book on the Way

If you’re a fan of auto racing and technology, there’s a strong chance that Mark Donohue is one of your heroes. It’s also likely you have his book, ‘The Unfair Advantage.’

If you’re a fan of Donohue the man, driver and father, a new book from Michal Argetsinger, author of ‘Mark Donohue – Technical Excellence At Speed’ is about to publish ‘Mark Donohue – His Life In Photographs’ on July 15th, and I’ve already pre-ordered my copy.

For David Donohue, winner of the 2009 Rolex 24, the opportunity to have another book on his father emerge is a great honor.

Mark Donohue, right, looks over his car at Indianapolis with team owner Roger Penske, left. (LAT)

“I haven’t seen it yet, but I’m pretty sure I know what’s in it,” he said with smirk. “I had every intention of creating something like Michael’s book when I re-published ‘The Unfair Advantage.’ It was certainly more a project of passion than of profit, and I’m sure the biography Michael did on my father was the same way. The level of detail and research he did – not just to do phone interviews -- but to travel throughout the country for three years to gather new information with face to face interviews was just incredible. It really showed how dedicated he was to this process.”

With Argetsinger’s new photo book on Mark Donohue, fans will get to see many aspects of the driver/engineer’s career that haven’t been seen for decades, and in some cases, never seen before.

“When I was getting the updated version of my father’s book ready, I spent a lot of time gathering photos – a large archive of them – to use. Part of the challenge was tracking down the names of the original photographers because most of the images I had in the collection lacked that information. Things were done differently back in the 1960s and 1970s in that regard. Pete Lyons gave me the names and contact information of about 10 racing photographers from that era who he figured would either be responsible for the photos I had or would know who took them. It was an exhaustive process with so many images to handle, but eventually, I gathered the necessary attribution, rights and the stories that went with the photos. I made proof sheets of all the photos I had – that was one thing I was insightful enough to do – with all of the image owners, their contact info, etcetera. I’m willing to bet the proof sheets and binders I gave Michael had a lot to do with this new book, but he did all the leg work, that’s for sure. Kudos to Michael for taking the bull by the horns and getting this new book done.”

With that large assembly of images in hand, Donohue updated his father’s book with images that were relevant to the text, but the massive surplus of unused photos inspired a new use for them.

“That’s really what I’m excited to see when the book comes out. A lot of what my father talked about in his book was things that seemed pretty abstract at the time. Without the collection of photos like I had compiled, the original copy of his book used a lot of text to describe things like data acquisition, and at that time, it wasn’t something most people had heard about, much less seen. That’s where I was able to take a photo of him testing a Trans Am car with a box in the passenger seat filled with twine leading to various things he was trying to measure, and by using it in the updated book, it helped to tell the story. It also looked like something you’d make in your backyard, but that’s OK…” Donohue said with a chuckle.

“So I had a ton of amazing, incredible photos to pass on that didn’t have a home, and now people will get to finally see them. Many of them were in color, which was pretty rare at that time. A lot of them lost the richness of their color over the years, but (‘Mark Donohue – His Life In Pictures’ publisher) David Bull has a fine eye for detail and restoration, and I know the book will make everyone proud.”

Does Humble Pie Taste Any Better Than Crow?

The answer is no. They both taste rather bitter…

It’s hard to argue the fact that I was off on my opinion about Alex Lloyd’s decision to cast aside his contract with Chip Ganassi to take a ride with Dale Coyne Racing for 2010. In my Indy 500 preview this May, I wrote:

“In 2009, he was “Pink Lloyd,” a talented driver with a solid following and plenty of public support. In 2010, he’s been “Anonymous Alex,” a driver who’s been mired at the back of the pack without the tools to show his abilities. Indy might be the best place for Lloyd to remind people of his presence in the series before the back of the grid beckons for the rest of the season."

Lloyd promptly impressed at Indy, earning a fourth-place finish before sending me a giant plate of humble pie filled with crow meat. Yum.

He has too much class to keep reminding me of my faux pas, but Lloyd reaffirmed that leaving his contract with Chip Ganassi behind to drive for a post-Justin Wilson Dale Coyne Racing was the correct move.

Like their counterparts at de Ferran Dragon, Dale Coyne Racing, driver Alex Lloyd and the entire Boy Scouts of America team has come on strong since Indianapolis. (LAT)

“I made the right decision insofar that it got me into a racecar full-time. When the Ganassi deal came about, it seemed perfect at the time. It was a prime thing for a young driver, but a year-and-a-half later, and with the open-wheel merger and a few other obstacles getting in the way of what the team had planned for me, I knew where we stood for finding me the funding I needed, and that’s when a move came to mind. I’d been out of a full-time seat for a while, and it’s not Chip’s fault by any means, but you’re only as good as your last race. I needed to get out and start racing so people could see what I was capable of. Driving once a year at Indy – sitting on the sidelines -- wasn’t going to jump start my career.”

Lloyd ultimately landed in DCR’s No. 19 Boy Scouts of America IndyCar, but admits that his leap of faith wasn’t without its scary moments.

“A lot of things looked really good during winter. A lot of things came close to happening, but they all fell through. I’ll be honest when I say that around the first of the year, I was beginning to worry. There were a few weeks where things looked pretty dim, pretty dark. There wasn’t a whiff of anything, really, so the gamble, if you can call it that, had its downside until I got a call from Dale Coyne. It came out of the blue; I didn’t expect it in the slightest. A few days later I was on a plane to Brazil! It’s amazing how one call can cure a lot of frustration and concern.”

And as I also incorrectly predicted, the back of the grid didn’t beckon for the Brit (but it did lock onto his teammate like a ravenous pit bull). Lloyd took eighth at Texas, 13th at Iowa and had a forgettable Watkins Glen when a gearbox issue forced him to skip qualifying and a rear shock failure made him the first retirement in the race.

Ignore Watkins Glen, and Lloyd has an average finish of eighth in the last three races he’s finished. DCR’s oval program has picked up mightily, despite Lloyd effectively running as a single-car effort, but their main focal point lies elsewhere.

Lloyd and his team struggled during the four road courses that opened the season, where he crashed out twice and failed to finish better than 19th in the other two.

With the series in the midst of its second block of road courses, it’s a prime opportunity for Lloyd to keep his momentum going.

“We were capable of being a top-10 car at Watkins Glen, but it was one of those weekends where everything went wrong. Everything. There’s no doubt we really struggled the first four rounds, but I don’t see any similarities between those races and Watkins Glen. We started the year with new drivers, some new engineering staff and new crew members, and it took time for everything to jell. The program came together as the last minute, so with no testing, we were learning each other, how we were going to engineer the car and how we were going to do things after (Justin Wilson’s DCR engineer) Bill Pappas had moved on. I’m not making excuses, but we had to learn on the fly, as they say, and it all took place during the races, which makes things incredibly tough. But we’re past that now.”

With some precious time to regroup between Kansas and Indy, Lloyd says the team finally had the chance to process the lessons from the first five races and come out stronger for the Month of May. He expects the change in direction to show itself at every track this year, not just on the ovals.

“Really, we just all sat down as a group in kind of a roundtable discussion, led by Mitch Davis, who has been around many teams and really knows his stuff, and reviewed our strengths, our weaknesses, and changed what we knew we could do better. Our crew was up for almost two weeks straight going into Indy, and I can say we came in as a totally new, totally refocused team. We had the speed all month while I was ecstatic to finish fourth, it really wasn’t a surprise. I’d seen the transformation the Boy Scout of America team had undergone, and what they delivered at Indy matched how far we’d come. You’ll see more of that in the upcoming races, I firmly believe.”

Part of Lloyd’s growth as an IndyCar driver continues to come from the experience he gains at each round. While it feels like he’s been on the scene forever, 2010 is his first year as a full-time IndyCar driver. As a rookie, he accepts that getting better often happens as a result of learning from mistakes.

“Well, let’s just say I grew by leaps and bounds after those first few races… Indy was great, but then I overshot my pit stall at Texas, which set us back. We had a fuel problem at Iowa. We’re still trying to iron things out, we’re still a small team, but we’re also pulling out all the stops. When we make very few mistakes, the Boy Scouts of America team has shown it’s a contender, and that’s incredibly satisfying. It’s what we all work so hard for each day.”

One thing that stands out about Lloyd is just how much happier he is this year. Looking to his new team – a place he referred to as ‘home’ throughout our conversation – it’s clear that Dale Coyne Racing is a perfect fit for this young driver on the rise.

“We get on very well. There was a bit of an immediate connection when we all sat down together. There’s a great fit between myself, the Coyne family, the Boy Scouts and the team, frankly. This is a real family outfit, a home, and the closeness we enjoy is just wonderful. For me, getting my first full-time drive with Dale and Gail Coyne was exactly what I’d hoped it would be. They know what a new IndyCar driver needs in terms of support and a little bit of a leash to learn and develop, but there’s also a lot of experience here for me to draw from.

“I’m coming into the IndyCar Series during the toughest, tightest competition in recent history. You couldn’t pick a tougher year to try and make a name for yourself as a rookie. Two or three tenths of a second on a street course can mean the difference of being eighth or 18th. As I learn the tracks – I’ve been to maybe half of the ones we’ll visit this year – more speed will come. This program, and what I expect from myself, is geared towards progressive but gradual growth. It takes a rookie more than one year to master IndyCar racing. No one expects perfection or wins this first year, but with all that I’m soaking up, I can’t wait to visit the rest of the tracks and to come back in 2011 and benefit from this experience. I know we can continue to punch above our weight. That’s our goal and our expectations will increase as we grow as a team.”

A Few Le Mans Leftovers

With the pause between Triple Stints, I’ve had a few Audi and Peugeot LM24 goodies that need to be shared:

• The Le Mans-winning Audi R15 plus still suffers from knife-edge aero and a lack of front mechanical grip – two things that plagued the R15 and won’t be solved in time for Petit Le Mans, but these issues are major part of design solutions for the Audi R18.

• Even after four years of head-to-head competition, Peugeot’s amazing mechanical grip – especially at the front of their 908 chassis – still has Audi mystified.

• It was nice to see the friendly Audi and Peugeot relationship continue after the race. As they first did in 2008, Audi invited the Peugeot Sport crew to celebrate the end to a hard race at the German team’s massive hospitality compound behind the pits. Peugeot returned the favor last year, and Audi hosted (and served) a steady stream of Pug mechanics for many hours after their improbable victory.

• The wrong choice of tires on the winning No. 9 Audi almost put the No. 8 R15 plus in Victory Lane. After the No. 9suffered with harder tires than needed for two-and-a-half stints, the No. 8 was able to claw back gobs of time. It flustered Romain Dumas enough to cause the Frenchman to over-drive the No. 9, and emotions ran especially high in the car and over the radio. He eventually composed himself and the team went on to win, but there was a real question as to which Audi would come home first late in the game.

• Peugeot was quite happy with their driver line-up this year after a lot of juggling took place from 2007 to the beginning of this year's event. Look for their 2011 line-up to be a mirror image of 2010. The same can’t be said for Audi, and I’ve heard a few changes – some quite surprising – could be on tap for next year.

• A few tipsy Peugeot mechanics let loose during post-race celebrations that the French team is almost ready to shake down their new V8-powered 2011 LMP1 car. That would be many months ahead of schedule, so we might need to blame their statement on the alcohol.

• Audi’s R18 is set to break cover in December, and will continue with the current testing routine in Europe and America that helped the R15 plus to grow by leaps and bounds.

• It took just 2 minutes and 42 seconds to repair Tom Kristensen’s rather solid crash at the Porsche curves.

MISC

• Panther Racing’s Mike Kitchel is the front runner for ‘Best IndyCar Press Release of the Year’ with his ‘Panther Fails to Sign LeBron’ piece. Brilliant stuff.

• One of the better ALMS teams has been hard at work to secure diesel prototypes for their 2011 ALMS campaign.

• I fell in love with BIGFOOT -- the first popular monster truck -- when I was a kid. The giant Ford truck with tractor tires was all kinds of awesome. Now, in a sign of either an impending apocalypse or that Ford needs to win a dang Cup race to keep more people from defecting, BIGFOOT has moved over to wear a Chevy body.

• How is it that we’ve reached July, and the American Le Mans Series is just getting ready to complete Round 4 of their championship at Miller Motorsports Park this weekend? Strange times we live in…

• GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing PR man Adam Saal had me laughing after the Mid-Ohio GRAND-Am race. With a finish of 6th -- their third finish of 6th this season -- Saal commented “We’re getting worried. Three 6ths…that’s the number of the beast…”

• Good on Robbie Buhl and Dennis Reinbold for giving JR Hildebrand his first IndyCar shot. Reminds me a lot of when Dale Coyne gave Paul Tracy his first IndyCar drive at Long Beach in 1991. Hildebrand can only hope his career takes off like PT’s did.

• I’ve lost track of the emails and IMs asking ‘Did you see Trans Am only had five cars at Lime Rock last weekend?’ If not for the Mazda RX-7 they let in (not kidding) it would have been four cars taking the start. Who’da thunk a modern racing series could put fewer cars on the grid than F1 did at the 2005 Indy GP? I grew up on Trans Am, but what we have today is little more than a Trans Am tribute band. Someone needs to switch off the life support and let the once proud series drift away peacefully.

• We’ll soon know how Germany fared in the World Cup, but one thing is already a fact about their sporting endeavors in the world of sportscar racing: They’ve been on a dominant streak for the past month. German marques took the overall win at Le Mans with Audi’s 1-2-3 and also won GT2 with Porsche. German cars or engines won all four classes at the Mid-Ohio GRAND-AM event, with a Riley-BMW taking DP, a BMW M6 earning GT honors, a BMW 328 winning the Continental Street Tuner class a Porsche winning the Continental Grand Sport division. The DP class also had a Riley-BMW 1-2 at Daytona last weekend, and Porsche has a strong chance of winning the P2 and GT2 classes at Utah this weekend. Interesting.

• I loved the snarky comment from one of the TELMEX Ganassi team members who, after they the won at Daytona with the 75-pound weight penalty, suggested that they should replace the lead ballast with 75 pounds of their DP trophies as a reminder of their capabilities…

• It isn’t quite the IMSA GTP TWR Jaguar Castrol livery many of us fell in love with, but good on Mazda for having the good sense to go retro on their new design.. I liked the previous BP livery, but those stickers were peeled off in a hurry once the oil spill in the Gulf got out of control.

As always, thanks for reading and be sure to send your thoughts or questions to .

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

Marshall Pruett is SPEED.com’s Auto Racing Editor, and also covers IndyCar and sportscar racing for the site. Pruett grew up at ‘Pruett's Olde English Garage,’ his father's shelter for abused foreign cars, and spent his childhood being dragged across the West Coast to help with his dad's amateur racing exploits.

Pruett spent 20 years working in the IRL, CART, IMSA, and most of the known open-wheel feeder series before retiring from active duty in 2001. And in case you were wondering, he isn’t related to Scott Pruett.

Marshall lives in Northern California with his wife Shabral, and can be emailed . He can also be harassed on Twitter .