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Rookie Diary: Heading Toward the Championship Wire |
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At Infineon, like Pikes Peak, the first lap said it all. Marco
Andretti was on the pole, with Wade’s new Brian Stewart Racing
teammate, Bobby Wilson, in second, with Jeff Simmons and Wade on the
second row, in that order. [Wilson was Wade’s teammate last year in the
Cooper Tires Formula Ford 2000 Zetec Championship, and won that
championship.]
“Marco was on the inside of Turn 1, which was a left hander, and Bobby
was on the outside. So Bobby was up the hill on the outside of
Marco, and got into the grey just before the entry to Turn 2 [a right
hand turn], and he lost the car the wrong way on the entry into the
corner. [Bobby spun counter clockwise and made light contact with the
rear end of Marco’s car and then snapped back clockwise and sideways in
front of Wade, and slid off into the gravel.] He went into the side of
Marco and then across the curbing into the gravel at about the same
time. I drove through the gravel that Bobby put on the track and
sort of followed him on the same course off the track on the entry to
the corner and came back on the track at the exit of Turn 2, having
fallen back to 5th. I didn’t go off the track much, but lost my
momentum.” [Although Wade said he just barely had his car under
control, he did still have it under control.]
In 5th place, Wade wasted little time in getting closer to the
front. He needed all the points he could get on Gregg, who had
started 9th. On the second lap he passed Jaime Camara for
4th. On lap 4 he was by Chris Festa to claim 3rd. Jeff
Simmons, who at that point was in 2nd, was Wade’s next target. On
lap 5 Camara went off course and brought out the yellow. On the
lap 8 restart, Wade got the jump on Jeff and claimed 2nd place for the
rest of the race. Given the difficulty of passing on the Infineon
course it was remarkable that Wade was able to pass the three drivers
he did to capture 2nd. Although he was always running between 0.6
and 0.9 seconds behind Marco Andretti, whenever Wade would close the
gap Marco would open it back up a bit.
The race, of course, ended with Marco first, Wade second and Simmons
third. The important driver to Wade, Travis Gregg, finished
sixth. Travis picked up 28 points, but Wade added 40 to move him
now 33 points ahead. But as Wade said, “33 is not enough to be
comfortable yet, but if I have 33 going into the last race that will be
enough.”
For Wade this was his 7th second place finish, and his 11th consecutive
top five finish. Both are Pro Series records.
What else that was big for Wade was that for the Infineon race ESPN2
ran a special driver feature on Wade! Given that Wade was always
on Marco Andretti’s tail throughout the race, guess where the cameras
were primarily focused, and what the discussion was about? Mostly
about Marco and Wade. For road races, ESPN2 provides a one-hour
coverage of the race, while oval races get 30 minute coverage.
So, it was a great PR day for Wade.
As for the feature, which in total, with intro and summary, ran about 3
minutes, 88 million households potentially had the opportunity to
watch. Dr. Jerry Punch does the play-by-play and introduced Wade as the
Series points leader, and remarked what a sensational year the 21-year
old from New Zealand was having. Viewers learned about the
likeable Wade’s affinity for the color pink, and Ron Dixon and Scott
Dixon had some fun with Wade about his special pair of pink shoes.
Wade’s good-humored response to Ron and Scott was, “It takes a real man
to wear pink!”
Viewers saw some examples of Wade’s rigorous training and conditioning
program directed by his trainer, PitFit’s Jim Leo, which included
rigorous biking on the streets of Indianapolis and indoor wall
climbing. Leo remarked that he was impressed that in his first
practice race Wade kept up with a group of professional racers.
Regarding Wade’s racing, fellow Kiwi Scott Dixon, the 2003 IndyCar
Champion, said that Wade is always asking questions, and that he tries
to help Wade out as much as possible. Wade cited as an example
that after a recent race qualification Scott came over to him and told
him, “You were quick, but you were too high. That’s why you
didn’t get the pole!” With all of his questions, Wade said, “I’m
probably like the younger brother he never wanted.” [When Wade
moved to America and Indianapolis early this year he lived with Scott
for a couple of weeks until he found his own place.]
As they say, it takes talent to see talent, and Scott was quick to say
about Wade, “I think he’s got a lot of potential.” Scott’s
father, Ron, who is also Wade’s personal manager and promoter, sees
Wade’s future in the IndyCar Series, or anywhere he wants to go because
of his talent. And you can’t say that Ron Dixon doesn’t recognize
talent either.
Wade concluded the feature by saying, “I just try my best and keep
plugging away always with a firm belief that I’ll make it.” Wade
led the first lap of his first race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
at the Futaba Freedom 100. He was second on the last lap.
He’d like to lead the first lap of the Indy 500, and the last lap.
Punch and Buhl wrapped up with Robbie wondering rhetorically, “Can we
see him in a pink car some day? Doc Punch countered with the
point that the talented and likeable Cunningham is, “obviously
comfortable with who he is.”
The focus went back to the race, with Wade still right behind
Marco. Buhl, former IndyCar driver, current team co-owner and
ESPN2 analysit, with his typically wonderful insights, explained that
Marco and Wade had different agenda’s in the race. Marco was not
in the point’s race and he just wanted to win. Wade, on the other
hand, wanted to finish the race and get more points on Travis Gregg, so
he couldn’t afford to push too much and risk going off course and
losing places. [He’d already done that once in the race and had no
intention of doing that again.]
In the end Wade and Marco each got what they were after. For Wade it was 12 more points up on Travis.
With August over the Pro Series is into its final three. For the
Championship, it is high drama, high stakes and high excitement time
with two high-speed ovals and a very famous road coarse left.
Marco Andretti will be back for the Watkins Glen race, so he may have
the corner on the 50 winner’s points. Wade has been right behind
him as second place finisher on the three previous road courses.
As for ovals, Wade can run with the best on the high speed ovals,
too. However, Travis Gregg has a strong record of winning both
poles and races on the big super speedways.
If we were to make a prediction based on past performance this season
we would give Travis the poles and wins at the two ovals and a 5th
place finish at Watkins Glen – that would be 136 more points. We
would give Wade a 2nd place finish in all three races – 120 more
points. 33 – 16 leaves a 17 point spread for Wade. But then
nothing is that predictable in open wheel auto racing. You’ve got
to stay glued to the IRL’s Menards Infiniti Pro Series final three
races: 9-11, Chicagoland Speedway; 9-25, Watkins Glen International; 10-15,
California Speedway. Check the ESPN2 schedule for the race
delayed broadcasts of these races, which usually show on the following
Thursdays after each Pro race.
For more information on the Pro Series and ESPN 2 times go to the official IRL Pro Series web site: www.indycar.com/pro
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