Daytona Jump Start
Question Quest Story and photos by Dwight Drum
© 2007 Dwight Drum Web work by Larsen & Drum
Fans may feel like the time between the November season finale at Homestead Miami Ford Championship week to the February Daytona 500 is many months but for NASCAR teams that hiatus is much shorter - a matter of weeks. Daytona International Speedway hosts numerous testing sessions in December and January for ARCA, Grand-Am, and NASCAR. Scores of favorite drivers in the sport are busy with their teams preparing cars for the new season with repetitious runs that assess adjustments.
The 24 hours at Daytona practice session with the Grand-Am Rolex Series brrought out sports car and Daytona Prototypes for the premier road course event at DIS during the first week in January. The Rolex 24 draws star power with diverse participants like NASCAR champion drivers Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch, but it doesn't stop at stock car talent. IndyCar standouts Helio Castroneves, Ryan Briscoe, and Buddy Rice, were among many open-wheel drivers during active test days. TV and movie star Patrick Dempsey spent some of his spare moments behind the wheel when his presence wasn't required before Hollywood cameras or on the "Grey's Anatomy" set. Castroneves was fresh from his win on ABC's hit show "Dancing With The Stars".
NASCAR Preseason Thunder and Fan Fest thrives for most of January as NASCAR splits sessions for Sprint Cup teams. Half of the top drivers test in separate three day schedules while the Nationwide Series and Craftsman Truck Series get similar arrangements on different days. Fans are allotted low-cost Fan Fest days where the infield FanZone at Daytona becomes prime turf for car and driver viewing with special autograph sessions and driver appearances.
So while the racing season seems to be in an off mode, preparations are brisk and relentless at "The World Center of Racing" during winter months. Also active are the minds behind the eyes of those who risk injury or worse routinely.
Racetake.com brings you thoughts recorded and presented by interviewer Dwight Drum.
Helio Castroneves
Is there any routine that helps you maintain your focus during the 24 hour race and (Kurt) how does that relate stock cars and (Helio) how does that relate to dancing in front of millions?
"Well the dancing obviously in front of all those people - trust me - I had no idea what I was doing. I'm just following my partner and she was just right. It seemed to work and it was just right. And that's what I'm going to be doing as well here with everyone at Penske Racing. What I'm going to try to do is to keep focused doing the same things on every lap - that's the key to this race. I know in traffic it's just speed and control. That's what happened last year. Facing a new challenge, I think it will be great. Find out good spots and make sure you take a chance but in a good way. Right now it's just a matter of checking out the car and that's what everybody is doing and get comfortable and continue working hard."
Kurt Busch
I'd echo Helio in that Penske Racing has quite a bit of experience in these types of races. It's just the overall mindset. In daytime you start the race and it goes on into the night. I'll have plenty of questions and I'll have to learn from this group over here.
"For me I'd have to borrow from Matt Kenseth and my experience would be the '24 hours of Pocono' that we run twice a year. That race is so long, 500 miles of flat-track-type racing. It seems like it takes forever but you get in a groove you hit your marks and make sure you protect the car instead of going into the wall."
Patrick Dempsey
What's it like to have such a great career and then come out here and have such great fun?
"Oh, it's great. I'm having so much fun this weekend and you know before Christmas I had a great time here too but you can see the energy level starting to pick up now. The intensity is just wow. It's just fun to be out and be a part of the mix and all."
Jimmie Johnson
Very few drivers can ponder the possibility of a third championship. Do you want another one as much or more than the other two championships?
"More than. I've enjoyed this. These last two years, it would be hard not to. From the first championship to the second championship, I've had so much fun. The first year was so stressful. Being close, working on it, getting close, losing it. Then to get it done took a huge amount of stress off our shoulders.
"Last year we had a great time. I only anticipate this year being better. We feel, looking back on last season, we made some mistakes, and we can still be stronger yet. And hopefully we can apply that this year and be stronger and better. I think we're going to have to be.
"Looking at the Chase, how good Jeff ran, looking at the Roush cars coming on at the end, you know, it's going to be a long, tough year. I feel that we'll be there at the end and have a shot at it."
Jeff Gordon
You've conquered challenge after challenge. Are the challenges of a new season greater now or is it more like business as usual?
"I mean, with the new car I guess it's a little bit different. Typically we'd come down here and I'd be bored to death already with the Daytona test because we're making qualifying runs. With the new car, it does present a new challenge that makes us excited and anxious and all those things. It would be the same way throughout the week when we're drafting, then it would be the same thing when we go to the Vegas and California test. It's going to be that way at every track we go to that's a new track that we haven't run this car on.
"Then you throw in the other challenges of being competitive, trying to win races, be a threat for the championship. So all those are unknowns. I understand that testing is a crucial part of that as well as a lot of hard work that goes into the off-season, but you really can't truly know what position you're in, how competitive you're going to be, until you start running the races.
"So right now, you know, the challenge and the focus is to put as much effort into these tests to try to make us the best that we can be."
Colin Braun
What's your outlook on the 08 season?
"I'm really excited about working with everybody at Roush-Fenway. I've got Mike Beam as my crew chief. He's got a lot of experience so he's the guy I can learn a lot from. I'm looking forward to having the opportunity to work with him throughout the whole season. I'm going to work as hard as I can and try to earn that rookie-of-the-year championship for Conway and Ford."
Ryan Briscoe
Fans don't sit in race cars during a race so they can't experience driving at the limit. Driving at the edge all the time - can you talk about that?
"There are different times. The perfect car is when you got a really fast car that is predictable and it's comfortable to drive at the limit where you can know exactly where it is. You can sort of slide it to that point. And you know if I'm going to go any harder it's going to spin. But it's easy to drive to the limit. I have had that many times where I can do a whole thing in the race sort of driving it really close to the limit but still safe. That's when it's good. But you're not always going to have a perfect car. There are times where it's scary even if you get close to the limit when the car is unpredictable. There is no better feeling when you can drive a car consistently on the limit. That's the top. It puts a smile on your face every lap."
Buddy Rice
Is there any way to sharpen your focus to make it better?
"There's a lot of things they do now. Technology is advancing. Video games are beginning to be extremely similar to driving a car. Obviously you don't have the sensations but it's constantly working your brain and your eye-hand coordination and it's also working on your reaction time. Go-karts are a great way to keep yourself very sharp. You can drive them very quick and they are very accessible for a lot of people around the country to do that. There are other exercises and things to do to enhance that. Whatever works best for you as a person to better yourself."
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