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Rookie Diary: Wade Wins Pole and Points at The Glen |
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 Photo Credit: Dana Garrett, IRL
September 30. It was a New Zealand weekend at The Glen. It
started out with Wade winning the pole in dramatic fashion on Saturday
– his first Pro Series pole [121,801 mph]! On Sunday he finished
on the podium [his 9th podium, and 12th top 5 finish], with a 3rd
place. He also recorded the fastest lap of the race, 120.417 mph
on the 25th of the race’s 29 laps. And, he increased his lead in
the Pro Series Championship points to 33, now over the new second place
Jeff Simmons. [He had a 23 point lead over Travis Gregg coming into the
race.] [Photo above: Wade in the fog and mist at The Glen.]
The Pro race was then followed by the other IRL Kiwi, Scott Dixon,
winning the IndyCar race. It was a great weekend also for Brian
Stewart Racing as well as Brian Stewart, team manger Doug Hoy, the
team’s mechanical engineer, Doug Zister, chief mechanic Dave Metcalf,
and mechanic Harv Sweezie. There was also some celebrating at
Target Chip Ganassi Racing.
Now for a little track history. We don’t want Wade to feel too
bad about not finishing higher than 3rd. Looking back at the USGP
F1 history at The Glen, 1961-1980, the other Kiwis didn’t fare any
better. Bruce McLaren’s best was a 3rd in 1962. Denny
Hulme’s best was also a 3rd, in 1967, when he won the FIA F1 World
Championship, and again in 1972. [Wade is the only other Kiwi to
win an FIA World Championship – Karting.] The other New Zealand F1
driver of that era, Chris Amon, had a 5th in 1970.
And as a further bit of history for Wade, lest he not think old
historic tracks don’t have some ghosts of their own, Marco Andretti’s
2nd place finish was…..well, his grandfather’s best F1 finish at
Watkins Glen was in 1977 and 1978, when Mario ended up on the podium
with, yes, 2nd place finishes.  Photo Credit: Dana Garrett, IRL
Back to New Zealand though. Neither McLaren, Hulme nor Amon ever
won an F1 pole at The Glen. So Wade went into the New Zealand
motorsports history for his pole, and left it for his “big brother”,
Scott Dixon, put the ghosts to rest by winning the IndyCar race.
The Ice Man was as cold and hard as ice over the last 13 laps of that
race as he kept Tony Kanaan back in 2nd place, a yellow flag and
restart included. Scott was brilliant. It was his first win
since his 2003 Championship season.
To our New Zealand readers, you should be so proud of your two
guys! They were awesome this weekend. And, of course, Ron
and Glenys Dixon, Scott’s parents, were there, as well as Kiwi’s Mo and
Teena Larsen, who are on Bobby Wilson’s Brian Stewart Racing team to
cheer them on. We want to note also that Ron Dixon, who is a
motorsports promoter, is also Wade’s personal manager.
At the start of the Pro race, the record credits Wade as holding the
lead until Turn 5 when Jeff Simmons passed him. On Turn 8 of that
first lap Marco Andretti passed Wade and moved into
2nd. Jeff entered the race 3rd in the points
standings, and needed a win to have a chance at the championship.
Marco, who is not in the points race, needed a win to claim victory in
all four of this season’s Pro road races. Wade needed to protect
and increase his points lead for the championship.
From the fans standpoint, Wade was phenomenal in practice, in
qualifying and very, very smart in the race. We’ll let the rookie
tell you all about it.
>>Wade, can we start out and go back to qualification.
You started out the first practice session in the mist, fog and
rain. Then in the second session, you waited until the end to run
the fastest lap of the session. Tell us a little about those two
practice sessions on Friday.
Well I’d never been there before. So, the first session in the
rain was kind of learn the track, which is never as good in the
rain. It’s always easier to slow down from dry to rain than it is
to speed up from rain to dry when you are learning a track. So in
the second session of the first practice I just went out and drove
around and wasn’t trying to do anything spectacular just make sure I
learned the track and insured the car was reasonable because it was
brand new. And we had to get the brakes in and make sure there were no
issues in the build of the car. So to be the quickest, I wasn’t
very worried at all.
And then the first dry practice, the second session of the day, we just
slowly built up to it. Again I wasn’t trying to do anything
spectacular and by the end of the session I was pretty confident in the
car and everything. There were a few yellows and it was just
after that last yellow that I went out and did the good lap.
[Wade’s last lap was the fastest of all drivers on Friday,
121.259 mph]  Photo Credit: Joe Bak
From the second practice the car was good, and really good in the
dry. We really weren’t changing a lot. The car rolled out
onto the track really well and it was just a case of pushing harder and
trying to find time in the track It had quite a bit to do
on what you did with the car, especially the wind and gear
ratios I watched the wind and kind of guessed where it
would be for the next session and adjusted everything accordingly.
>>You had the Pro fastest time in the third practice too, the Saturday morning practice [121.632 mph].
Yah, again everything was just working well and everything slowly
improving a little bit and as I remember, the track was pretty
good. So we could just keep improving.
>>Since the choice was yours because of the fastest practice
lap, what was your thought or strategy to qualify last rather than
first?
Well I had to choose after the early morning on Saturday, no it was
Friday, I had to choose before qualifying anyway. And I assumed
it was going to be dry for qualifying. So, if it is going to be
dry generally the track is cleaner at the end than it is at the start.
>>So you weren’t worried about any rain moving in at that point on Saturday?
No, I had assumed it was going to be dry at that stage when I made the
call. But it had actually rained and it was getting dryer so
going last was definitely an advantage at that stage, because the track
was cleaner and had a little more rubber down.  Photo Credit: Ron McQueeney, IRL
>>Did you know Simmons’ time when you went out for your qualification?
Yah, I knew he had done the best time he had done all weekend. So the track must have been pretty good.
>>But his best time was still not as good as your best practice time.
No, so I knew if I could keep it together for the entire lap I was reasonably confident we would be on pole.
>>That had to be a great feeling when you found out you had won it.
It was. The minute you get to the start/finish line your dash
shows your lap time. So, I knew then I’d gotten the pole. It was
nice. But, unfortunately at the race it didn’t pan out perfectly.
[Photo: Teammate Bobby Wilson and Wade]
[Now Wade is going to take us on a fast,
clockwise, lap around the historic Watkins Glen International road
course at race speed. The 3.37 mile course has 11 turns and a 115
feet elevation variation. The backstretch is 2,600 feet long and
the frontstretch is 2,150 feet. To get the maximum insight from
Wade's description, first go to the Watkins Glen International web site
and look at or print a copy of the 3-D relief, track elevation map: www.theglen.com - Seating Charts/Maps; Track; Elevation.]
>>Would you sort of take us around the track. It is a
pretty interesting track not only with its different types of right and
left hand turns, burt also with its ups and downs. How would you
describe the course?
When you get down past the start/finish line [1560’], running all the
gears out, you get, depending on the wind, you get to sixth gear.
The track dives down as you’re coming into Turn 1 [1490’], which is The
Ninety [degree] right hander. You down shift three times into 3rd gear,
and you’ve got to get the front low and get it to hook right into the
compression [Turn 2, The Esses, 1470’].
And then the track slightly rises with a little bit of banking so you
get back on the throttle quickly in 3rd. And then just pull straight
and run 4th on the exit and run into the uphill section through Turn 2
[right],3 [left], 4 [right, 1550’], the long uphill. But it is all flat
and it is easy.
Then you have the long uphill Back Straight [1560’]. We had a
strong head wind. We made the wrong gear choice, so we were
struggling up the straight in the race. Going into the Bus Stop
chicane[Inner Loop, 1575’, right, left, left, right] you brake really
late, 200 or maybe 250 feet. You pitch it and turn in hard for
the first one, try and keep the left front on the pavement, to the
inside, through the concrete that runs through the middle of the
corner.
Now, back to full throttle in 4th gear, through the exit flat and you
try and run flat as long as you can. Try to run into Turn 5
[Outer Loop, sweeping right] full throttle as long as you can and it’s
a 4th gear corner. Nearly flat out, maybe a small constant lift,
change to 5th going down the hill and go into Turn 6 [left,
1530’], down shift to 3rd , turn in, a little bit of banking on the
entry, and then the track flattens off from mid corner out.
Back to full throttle [TheBoot] between Turn 6 and Turn 7 [1460’, 180
degree up hill right]. Braking going into 7, the uphill right hander.
That’s when you start climbing again. That was a 3rd gear corner. Try
to keep it low. Get back to full throttle early. Then you
start rising and as you pull 4th gear you are over the crest of the top
of the hill, Turn 8 [1550’, tight 120 right], and you have to short
shift for the bumps a little bit. [downhill to 1510’ and then back
uphill] [The 100’ drop downhill section from the exit of Turn 5 to the
entrance of Turn 7 is called The Boot.]
Shift to 4th and run 4th out and up shift to 5th going into Turn
9. There’s a slight downhill on the entry to the corner
[left]. Down shift to 2nd, turning in really hard to get good
corner grip, and then you run 2nd out and 3rd out up the hill.
You need to short shift to 4th to stop hitting the [rev] limiter going
into Turn 9, which is a uphill 90 degree left hander. Back down
the 3rd gear. You’ve got to use all of the track on the exit; it is a
little bit slippery. There is a little bit of extra pavement on the
right hand side, which you can use.
And then you are slightly climbing uphill still going into Turn 10
[left, 1560’], which is nearly flat in 4th gear. Just brake a
little bit to get the car to turn, back to full throttle and you can
run the exit curbing if you like. Then a short straight in 4th
and just brake the throttle slightly, try and keep it low and keep the
front right inside the concrete patch mid-corner [Turn 11, right] and
then you can run right out to the exit curbing and on to the
start/finish line in 4th gear.
>>How do you compare The Glen with the other three road courses you’ve run this season?
That was easily the best. And then, Infineon second, St. Pete third and Indy fourth.  Photo Credit: Michael Voohees, IRL
>>What are the features that make The Glen the best?
The fast, long sweeping corners. They separate the drivers. The
good drivers with confidence run up front and people that don’t run at
the back.
>>Moving on to the race, would you describe the start and first laps and then the finish.
At the start, I got the jump on everyone. I could push Jeff out
wide on the exit of Turn 11 and going under the start finish
line. So I had a really good run into Turn 1. I had some
slight under steer; probably didn’t warm the front enough. Then through
The Esses I thought I had enough of a gap on Jeff, but then I didn’t at
the top of the hill. Once we hit the wind Jeff was over the
stripe and I couldn’t have blocked him if I’d have tried. He just
would have gone around the outside of me. He was going that
much quicker. [Photo, Rt., Scott Dixon]
Then I lost it braking into Turn 7. I got to mid-corner and the
track was slightly damp so I hit a patch of water and the rear end got
really wide on me on the exit and Marco was able to put his nose under
me. I really didn’t want to force the issue. I knew I was
going to be quicker later on in the race. So, I let Marco go and
then Bobby [Wilson, his teammate] passed me on the straight the next
lap, a similar situation to what Jeff did. And then, after about
six laps that’s when my car came on.
>>Was that a surprise when Bobby passed you?
Bobby wasn’t that quick during the weekend, he struggled a little
bit. So it was only a momentum thing as to why he got me. I
don’t think he was quicker than me in the race. I was still the
quickest driver on the track. It was just a case of getting him
back over the next few laps. That’s when I pulled the front pack
back in.
>>Starting with lap 11, Marco was 1st, Jeff 2nd and you were
3rd, and Marco’s lead then went from 4 seconds to 3, to 2 to 1 and then
less as the race progressed. Festa was in 4th about 25 seconds
back for the race. Tell us about that and the finish.
I was slightly quicker than Jeff, except he was quicker up the
straights because he was running less down force. I could only
catch Marco if Jeff didn’t make any mistakes, because there was no way
for me to pass. I was fast in the wrong places and it didn’t allow me
to be in a position pass. Once Jeff got settled down that’s when he
hauled Marco back in.
Jeff got his opportunity [to get into 1st] because of lapped traffic
through the Bus Stop and I just couldn’t capitalize. The first
time there was one lapped car when Jeff made the pass. And then
we hit lapped traffic again on the last lap or the 2nd to last lap.
>>What are your plans for California?
Just go there and win the Championship. I’m not going to change
anything. If I can win I’ll go for the win, as that would be
nice. We’ll see what happens.
To see what happens remember the last race of the 2005 season, and
crowning of the Pro Series Champion will take place at the California
Speedway, Fontana, CA, on Sunday, October 16.
For more on Wade see his official web site: www.cunninghammotorsport.com |
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