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IndyCar
SHANK: A Dream Daytona
Sometimes you cannot guess what the future has in store for you...
Michael Shank celebrates with AJ Allmendinger in victory lane following victory at the Rolex 24. (Photo: LAT)
It's been awhile since I have done my last blog and a lot has happened since our last race of 2011 to say the least!
Where do I start?
The first great thing was the announcement that we formed a new Indycar team for 2012. My partners on this project are local Columbus, Ohio businessman Brian Bailey and NASCAR driver AJ Allmendinger. We purchased the equipment and took delivery of chassis #15. We have also announced that we will run Lotus power in the car.
A lot has been written about who will drive the Indycar for us and what I can tell you is that we are doing everything we can to be on the grid at St. Petersburg for race #1. Paul Tracy is our leading candidate and we are working on this every day to make this happen.
I feel like I need to also acknowledge the death of Dan Wheldon. Almost everything has been said that can at this point and I will only add that this was a tragic accident and was the first time that I have lost somebody that I have worked with directly. It’s very hard to cope with knowing that he had a wife and kids.
The one great thing is that our team was able to put a Daytona Prototype two-seater ride in the auction and it raised a good chunk of dough for his family.
During this off season we knew we would have to update our G2 Riley to a new G3 Riley. The timing of this change-over got pushed back pretty severely during the early winter. While we waited for the new car, a critical move for us was running the G2 car at the November tests to work on our mechanical package. This one step really helped our engineers to get the chassis really balanced.
As we approached the beginning of December we started to really put our plans together for both the No. 6 car and the No. 60 car. In the No. 60, we decided to go back to the driver lineup that almost won it for me in 2006:
John Pew, Ozz Negri, Justin Wilson and AJ Allmendinger. In the No. 6 car, we brought back Michael McDowell and added the Sunoco Daytona Challenge winner Felipe Nasr, as well as Jorge Goncalvez and Gustavo Yacaman. A really young bunch of guys that have a ton of potential.
We were able to take delivery of the first Riley G3 car in the middle of December. It was a lot of work that my guys at MSR and the Riley tech guys hit hard for a week solid to finish the car. We headed straight to Daytona for a one-day test so that GRAND-AM could see how the car runs on the track. The plan was then to head right to Windshear wind tunnel to verify what we had seen on the track.
The one-day test at Daytona went very well. Pew and Allmendinger drove the car and both really felt the car was easy to drive and very balanced. We knew we needed to spend more time with it to really get the maximum out of it but for the first time to run the new body we were feeling pretty good.
One of the hardest issues we faced during the December test and the three-day test was where we really stood relative to the other cars. I have been in this series for nine years and have never seen more sandbagging. All we could do was control our team and get the car as good as we could.
One other major factor was the air brake that GRAND-AM mandated for the G2 cars. At the three-day test, GRAND-AM made us run a 7 1/2 inch air brake between the wing mount plates, which really rendered the G2 cars uncompetitive. For the race we got GRAND-AM to relax the rules a bit and cut away half of it. Still far from fair for my No. 6 car.
We approached the three-day test like we do every year. Each car has a very set plan based on who is driving. We really try to stick with this plan as we have learned over the years what's most important to focus on depending on the drivers’ experience at the 24.
We knew that mechanically both cars were exactly where they needed to be and that we needed to maximize the aero program right away.
For the most part, all three days went very smoothly. We did have a crash with the No. 6 car but we were able to get that fixed and get the car back up to speed pretty quickly. All the drivers, engineers and crew really seemed to be working well together and we were very pleased.
For the next two weeks the guys at the shop worked from 7am until 8pm every night with only the one weekend off. There were huge lists of things to get done in every department, but I have to tell you that the guys got every single thing done - including our pit stop practice, spare body practice, fuel flow checks and loading the rigs!! All of that and not one complaint.
Approaching the race weekend we knew that we had very good racecars. We spent a lot of time making sure that our cars were reliable. We have lost this race at least twice with broken car bits and it was mandatory that we have zero failures.
We decided the week before that we would not go for the pole and stay focused on the race. Practice went exactly how we wanted. Both cars had good speed and would start the race from P6 for the No. 60 and P8 for the No. 6. Again, both cars were very balanced and ready for the race.
Next, a couple of things happened that set the tone. We had installed our race motors on Thursday night on both cars. Everything seemed normal and both cars got out for the second practice on Friday, but then it all fell off the tracks. First, the No. 6 car’s motor decided it was going to start to eat itself within six laps of practice - forcing an engine change right away. Next, the No. 60 car had abnormally high gearbox pressure and we did not know why.
The engineer on the No. 60 (Dale Wise) insisted we not run the car like this and after much debate we decided to pull the pinion gear out to get to a port that he predicted was plugged. To everyone’s surprise - he was right. After a four hour process we found two tiny bee-bee sized bits of rubber stuck in a port which would have ended the No. 60 car’s race way early. A real miracle.
So with both cars 100%, we were ready to start the 50th Rolex 24. We decided to do a leak check on the No. 6 car and start from the back. Not a huge deal and we knew that McDowell could handle the initial GT traffic and get back up front.
At the green flag Ozz moved forward in the No. 60. He was up to P2 in short order and it looked very good for us right away. We went up to P1 before the second hour and Ozz reported that the car was very good and getting better with rubber going down on track. Meanwhile McDowell steadily moved forward and there were no issues at all in either car.
As the hours wore on, we got a sense that things were going to go our way. Both cars stayed on the lead lap for the majority of the race. All the drivers in both cars did their stints and made virtually no mistakes. We talked for an hour in the team meeting and went over every thing that has taken us out of races in the previous eight years, and it appeared to have worked. We literally put gas, tires, oil and drivers in the cars. Not one issue.
As the morning broke, Gustavo was in the No. 6 car and reported a flat tire. The best part of this is that he remembered exactly what to do when this happens and limped the car into the pit lane without hurting the car very much. The downside was that the car went two laps down while he limped it in. The upside was that the guys had managed to be running on the lead lap in P4 when this happened, and based on our new Lucky Dog rule, the No. 6 car would soon be back on the lead lap after two more cautions. Great calls by the engineers on the No. 6 car (Petersen and Chrystos) had this car back in contention and one of only three cars on the lead lap.
For the No. 60 car there was something really brewing. We had been in the position in 2008, when the car was very fast and lady luck would turn its head on us, but this time felt different. For the entire 24 hours nobody seemed pressured. It was weird actually. I must have had 10 people tell me that everything seemed very calm in our tent the entire race almost like we expected to win. I can safely tell you that I did not feel that way! I was worried about everything.
At around the 4am mark the No. 60 car engineers (Wise and Schaffner) and I decided a key moment in our race - we decided to mix up the driving order and triple stint Justin, Ozz and AJ until the end of the race. We also decided to end the race with AJ. I believe this was the key to our win and here's why: by triple stinting our drivers we could rest AJ for 6-7 hours, let him have pure sleep. This plan worked perfectly.
Where do I start?
The first great thing was the announcement that we formed a new Indycar team for 2012. My partners on this project are local Columbus, Ohio businessman Brian Bailey and NASCAR driver AJ Allmendinger. We purchased the equipment and took delivery of chassis #15. We have also announced that we will run Lotus power in the car.
A lot has been written about who will drive the Indycar for us and what I can tell you is that we are doing everything we can to be on the grid at St. Petersburg for race #1. Paul Tracy is our leading candidate and we are working on this every day to make this happen.
I feel like I need to also acknowledge the death of Dan Wheldon. Almost everything has been said that can at this point and I will only add that this was a tragic accident and was the first time that I have lost somebody that I have worked with directly. It’s very hard to cope with knowing that he had a wife and kids.
The one great thing is that our team was able to put a Daytona Prototype two-seater ride in the auction and it raised a good chunk of dough for his family.
During this off season we knew we would have to update our G2 Riley to a new G3 Riley. The timing of this change-over got pushed back pretty severely during the early winter. While we waited for the new car, a critical move for us was running the G2 car at the November tests to work on our mechanical package. This one step really helped our engineers to get the chassis really balanced.
As we approached the beginning of December we started to really put our plans together for both the No. 6 car and the No. 60 car. In the No. 60, we decided to go back to the driver lineup that almost won it for me in 2006:
John Pew, Ozz Negri, Justin Wilson and AJ Allmendinger. In the No. 6 car, we brought back Michael McDowell and added the Sunoco Daytona Challenge winner Felipe Nasr, as well as Jorge Goncalvez and Gustavo Yacaman. A really young bunch of guys that have a ton of potential.
We were able to take delivery of the first Riley G3 car in the middle of December. It was a lot of work that my guys at MSR and the Riley tech guys hit hard for a week solid to finish the car. We headed straight to Daytona for a one-day test so that GRAND-AM could see how the car runs on the track. The plan was then to head right to Windshear wind tunnel to verify what we had seen on the track.
The one-day test at Daytona went very well. Pew and Allmendinger drove the car and both really felt the car was easy to drive and very balanced. We knew we needed to spend more time with it to really get the maximum out of it but for the first time to run the new body we were feeling pretty good.
One of the hardest issues we faced during the December test and the three-day test was where we really stood relative to the other cars. I have been in this series for nine years and have never seen more sandbagging. All we could do was control our team and get the car as good as we could.
One other major factor was the air brake that GRAND-AM mandated for the G2 cars. At the three-day test, GRAND-AM made us run a 7 1/2 inch air brake between the wing mount plates, which really rendered the G2 cars uncompetitive. For the race we got GRAND-AM to relax the rules a bit and cut away half of it. Still far from fair for my No. 6 car.
We approached the three-day test like we do every year. Each car has a very set plan based on who is driving. We really try to stick with this plan as we have learned over the years what's most important to focus on depending on the drivers’ experience at the 24.
We knew that mechanically both cars were exactly where they needed to be and that we needed to maximize the aero program right away.
For the most part, all three days went very smoothly. We did have a crash with the No. 6 car but we were able to get that fixed and get the car back up to speed pretty quickly. All the drivers, engineers and crew really seemed to be working well together and we were very pleased.
For the next two weeks the guys at the shop worked from 7am until 8pm every night with only the one weekend off. There were huge lists of things to get done in every department, but I have to tell you that the guys got every single thing done - including our pit stop practice, spare body practice, fuel flow checks and loading the rigs!! All of that and not one complaint.
Approaching the race weekend we knew that we had very good racecars. We spent a lot of time making sure that our cars were reliable. We have lost this race at least twice with broken car bits and it was mandatory that we have zero failures.
We decided the week before that we would not go for the pole and stay focused on the race. Practice went exactly how we wanted. Both cars had good speed and would start the race from P6 for the No. 60 and P8 for the No. 6. Again, both cars were very balanced and ready for the race.
Next, a couple of things happened that set the tone. We had installed our race motors on Thursday night on both cars. Everything seemed normal and both cars got out for the second practice on Friday, but then it all fell off the tracks. First, the No. 6 car’s motor decided it was going to start to eat itself within six laps of practice - forcing an engine change right away. Next, the No. 60 car had abnormally high gearbox pressure and we did not know why.
The engineer on the No. 60 (Dale Wise) insisted we not run the car like this and after much debate we decided to pull the pinion gear out to get to a port that he predicted was plugged. To everyone’s surprise - he was right. After a four hour process we found two tiny bee-bee sized bits of rubber stuck in a port which would have ended the No. 60 car’s race way early. A real miracle.
So with both cars 100%, we were ready to start the 50th Rolex 24. We decided to do a leak check on the No. 6 car and start from the back. Not a huge deal and we knew that McDowell could handle the initial GT traffic and get back up front.
At the green flag Ozz moved forward in the No. 60. He was up to P2 in short order and it looked very good for us right away. We went up to P1 before the second hour and Ozz reported that the car was very good and getting better with rubber going down on track. Meanwhile McDowell steadily moved forward and there were no issues at all in either car.
As the hours wore on, we got a sense that things were going to go our way. Both cars stayed on the lead lap for the majority of the race. All the drivers in both cars did their stints and made virtually no mistakes. We talked for an hour in the team meeting and went over every thing that has taken us out of races in the previous eight years, and it appeared to have worked. We literally put gas, tires, oil and drivers in the cars. Not one issue.
As the morning broke, Gustavo was in the No. 6 car and reported a flat tire. The best part of this is that he remembered exactly what to do when this happens and limped the car into the pit lane without hurting the car very much. The downside was that the car went two laps down while he limped it in. The upside was that the guys had managed to be running on the lead lap in P4 when this happened, and based on our new Lucky Dog rule, the No. 6 car would soon be back on the lead lap after two more cautions. Great calls by the engineers on the No. 6 car (Petersen and Chrystos) had this car back in contention and one of only three cars on the lead lap.
For the No. 60 car there was something really brewing. We had been in the position in 2008, when the car was very fast and lady luck would turn its head on us, but this time felt different. For the entire 24 hours nobody seemed pressured. It was weird actually. I must have had 10 people tell me that everything seemed very calm in our tent the entire race almost like we expected to win. I can safely tell you that I did not feel that way! I was worried about everything.
At around the 4am mark the No. 60 car engineers (Wise and Schaffner) and I decided a key moment in our race - we decided to mix up the driving order and triple stint Justin, Ozz and AJ until the end of the race. We also decided to end the race with AJ. I believe this was the key to our win and here's why: by triple stinting our drivers we could rest AJ for 6-7 hours, let him have pure sleep. This plan worked perfectly.
INDYCAR BRAZIL
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