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The Race Leaders Views of the Futaba Freedom 100 |
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May 28, Speedway, IN. In our previous story we described our
view, from the track, of yesterday’s exciting IMS Futaba Freedom 100
Pro Series race. Now we want you to hear another view. The
post-race driver quotes and press conference comments of the three race
leaders in the third Pro Series IMS race give a very insightful
perspective on the race as viewed, on the track. 
For pole sitter and race winner Jaime Camara, “qualifying we were the
fastest and the last practice we were the fastest again. So it
was one of those weekends that you can’t believe how good the car
is. It’s amazing…It’s my first victory here in Indianapolis and
the biggest race of the year.” Still, second place finisher Wade
Cunningham was on his mind throughout the race.
Jamie acknowledged the he was surprised by Wade’s passing him on the
first lap. He went on to say, “I knew I had a good car and I saw
the way he was driving. I saw that I could pass him one or two
laps later.” Still, “he was behind me all the race and was
putting pressure on… but I knew I had the best car there and that I
could maintain my position to the end of the race.”
The end of the race was a different matter though. Jaime was
worried about the last lap and initially didn’t know if the track, then
under a lap 37 yellow, would go green before the finish. “I was
very worried because I knew Wade was back there, and I was worried he
had a run on the front straight and maybe [would] pass me before the
start/finish line. But I think I did a good job in maintaining my
position.” Camara’s spotters then told him that the track would
go green on the last lap, or part of the last lap between Turns 3 and
4. They also told him to look for Wade to try to pass him on the
restart because he had passed Jaime on the start. “So I was
worried.”
When Jaime hit the finish line he said, “I couldn’t believe it. I
started screaming on the radio, ‘Yeah, we did it.’ This is it …I
have only good memories now.”
Besides becoming the fourth race winner in the four Pro races so far
this season, Jaime moved up in the Pro Series points standing to third.
How did the race look from Wade Cunningham’s perspective? “The
plan today was to try and split the two Sam Schmidt cars [who were both
on the front row]. They’re obviously the fastest here this
weekend. If they had a chance to work together in that race,
there would have been no way anyone could have stuck with him. So
my goal at the start wasn’t to get to the leader, it was to get near
the front. When an opportunity comes up, you just take it.
So I went into the lead pretty easy, and then it was pretty short lived
with the yellows and the rain.” 
Wade also said that coming down for the start the field was going
awfully slow. “It was obvious the green was going to come out no
matter what. Third time by we were told it was going to be
green. Time it the best you can and get the full throttle, and I
think I timed it pretty good.”
Now it was Wade’s turn to be in the lead on the restart, and as he
said, “I got killed. I wasn’t fast enough to be out front, and it
showed. So I went well down in the order [to fifth]. Then
coming through passing Jon Herb…we crashed going into [Turn] 3
together, and I was right down under the white line. I’m pretty
sure I bent the pushrod with the steering arm [and he did suffer some
damage to the front right wing]. The car was pretty loose after
that and it was pretty hard to drive. And then [I] slowly worked
my way forward picking them off, and then Jaime and I sort of worked
together for a bit and pulled away. Then when the [field] closed
up for the last restart, I’m pretty sure that where everyone started on
the restart [is where] they finished.”
What would have been Wade’s strategy for the last lap if the yellow had
not come out on lap 34 and 37? “When I was running behind Jaime,
I was pretty much beside him at the start/finish line. I was
backing out of the throttle trying to work [to] keep him down low
a little bit and work him a little bit harder and set something up for
going into [Turn] 3, because that’s where I was quick. I was
generally quite quick on the exit of [Turn] 2 going to 3. That’s
where I was planning on trying to pass him and then obviously didn’t
get the shot because of the yellows.”
And when the track finally did go green for the last quarter of a
lap? Wade said, “It gave the opportunity to pass…a small one,
[but] there just wasn’t enough time, and that was it.”
For Wade Cunningham finishing second did not make him particularly
happy. His goal was to win the race. What he did like,
however, about his finish, was that it moved him up into first place in
the Pro Series championship points. Wade also is credited with
the fastest race leader lap of 189.926 mph. This is a new record
for the three Pro races that have been held at the IMS. 
Jon Herb, the other driver to lead the race, struggled during practice
and qualification the day before. As Jon said, “I think we got
about 10 laps in before we qualified.” Jon qualified tenth.
“We felt the car was good in final practice, but not as fast as we
wanted it to be. We changed the springs, ride height, corner
weights, cambers and changed the whole package. So it felt like a
new race car today. It was good and quick. We got some good
jumps early on and made a good race of it early. But the balance
really went away and never came back.”
Later Jon spun on lap 34, bringing out the yellow, and
finished13th. Commenting on the spin he said, “The way we came in
on the inside of Turn 1, it was Al Unser and myself. We were
really low on the track. So I moved high in order to give him
room and let us both get by. He came really close yet raced me
clean, but the act of him running across me as I was tucking my nose in
upset the car. Around it went. Spun around a couple of
times, and that was the end of the story.”
While it was a very disappointing day for Jon, he is in the record book
as having been a race leader, and turned in the fastest lap of the day
with his IMS Pro record of 190.266 mph. Jon also broke the race
190 mph barrier. The first year of this race saw Ed Carpenter,
the winner, with the fastest race lap of 188.348 mph. Last year,
Thiago Medeiros, the race winner, recorded the fastest race lap at
188.304 mph. Jon now stands fourth in the Pro Series points
standings. (Travis Gregg is second in the points.)
Photos, from top to bottom, Camara, Cunningham, Herb.
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