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Rookie Diary: The Bitter-Sweet |
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April 3. It was a bitter-sweet race day for Wade
Cunningham. Some drivers might have been satisfied just to
qualify. Others only to finish. Most to end up in second
place. But none of them were Wade Cunningham. Wade expected
to win. He knew he had the fastest car. He knew he was good
enough to win.
Cunningham is a driver who knows how to win. He knows what
it takes to win an FIA World Championship. Wade has no illusions
about the competition in the Pro Series. He also knows that
sometimes things happen in auto racing that you know shouldn’t
happen. That doesn’t mean, though, that he is happy or likes such
things. He doesn’t. Not at all!
We’re talking about the Menards Infiniti Pro Series Grand Prix of St.
Petersburg, Florida. The scene was a spectacular
setting on a street course that looked like the Monte Carlo of
America. The weather was perfect. The media coverage was
huge. The Brian Stewart Racing red and black number 33 car was a
driver’s dream for Wade. 
The morning news at the track, however, didn’t exactly excite
him. Andretti Green Racing had appealed the decision on Marco’s
car. Officials had ruled that the “illegal” changes provided no
benefit to his car. Now Marco was back on the pole, Simmons in
second and Cunningham back to third, in the row behind Marco.
The race started from the front straight away the way everyone hoped it
wouldn’t, with an accident in the first turn. That incident and the
race are best described by Wade. “I was right up on Marco’s gear
box at the start. Jeff (Simmons) was on the outside and about a
half car length behind Marco. Then I saw this car flying down the
inside (Jaime Camara), and across the inside curbing. So I
checked up on the brakes. Camara just went behind Marco and in
front of me and cleaned Jeff out. There was nothing Jeff could do to
avoid it.”
Simmons and Camara were now out of the race. Andretti, in the
lead, had gotten through the first turn without incident. Wade, who was
in second, said, “I had to avoid the accident so Marco opened a
reasonable gap of probably 3-4 seconds. Over about 8-9 laps I
didn’t push too hard, but I caught him quite easily. I was
running 3-4 car lengths behind him, because it was so difficult to run
close to someone through some of the corners. I was just
following him…on about lap 13 he just overshot the braking going into
turn 10 and I slipped through on the inside.”
For the first time, Wade was now leading a Pro Series race. He was
where he wanted to be. “When I got the lead I knew I had a
brake problem, but I led the next 18 laps quite comfortably.
Marco tried to pass a couple of times but he really didn’t have a good
chance of making a pass, because it’s quite difficult to pass on a road
course. While this was happening I was getting a really funny
brake pedal and the problem was with the right front caliper.”
What do you do in a situation like this? “The team told me to
stop using the brake so much. So through the tight sections of
the course I wouldn’t brake. I would coast through the corners using
the front tires to slow the car down and that worked quite well.
I slowed the pace down about a second a lap. Marco still couldn’t
pass me even like that.”
And then Wade’s world changed. “Unfortunately with 10 laps to go
a lapped car refused to move out of the way and just slowed me down in
a crucial spot, and Marco slipped by. Marco had gotten a big run
through the previous corner and there was no way I could stop him with
the brakes I had.”
Was Wade just making an excuse? No, that’s not in his character.
When interviewed on the ESPN coverage of the IndyCar race, and asked
what he thought of son Marco’s “daring pass” with ten laps to go,
Michael Andretti said he … “waited for the right opportunity and it
came with a lapped car there near the end and (he) then took advantage
of it.”
Now Wade was in second position again. He still had the fastest
car, but poor brakes. “I just couldn’t park behind Marco in the
breaking zones, so I was always 4-5 car lengths behind him. And
because I couldn’t brake with him I would have to catch up in the
sections where there isn’t much braking. But I did not have enough to
pass Marco.”
Marco Andretti turned in his fastest race lap on number 33, right after he passed
Wade. Still Wade was not giving up. On lap 37 he turned in
the fastest lap of the race, 0.1547 seconds faster than Marco’s.
Marco won the race and was very happy. You have to say that he
drove a great race. Wade came in second and was very
disappointed. You have to say that he drove a great race,
too. That was the bitter part of the day for Wade. What
about the sweet part?
Wade led a Pro race for the first time. In fact he is one on only
four drivers this season to be a race leader. His second place
was his highest finish to date. He is one of only two drivers to
podium twice. Wade moved up in the driver points standing to
second. He is the only driver to have the fastest race lap twice
this year. Wade finished 4th in his first race, 3rd in the
second, and 2nd in his third race. It that a trend line?
How does Wade look at the future? “We are going to be in the
front and I expect more than second place.” Keep your eye on Wade
at Indy.
(For more information about Wade see his web site at www.cunninghammotorsport.com)
(ESPN2 will run the tape-delayed Pro race on Friday, April 8, at 3:00 pm (EDT).) |
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