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Rookie Diary: St. Petersburg Qualification |
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April 1. April Fools Day? It was the first day of practice for
the Mendards Infiniti Pro Series race. There were two sessions
today. What a setting. The streets of beautiful St. Petersburg,
Florida, are the site of the first IRL road race. 
The pre-weekend Pro Series media coverage had been cranked up into high
gear. Three names with huge public recognition will be in the
race: Andretti, Luyendyk and Unser. In this case, the
sons/grandsons of racing legends. It would have been a PR mistake
not to take advantage of these names. The Pro Series is
under-publicized and needs all the media exposure it can get. The
fans at the track, watching ESPN , or reading the web sites or
post-race newspapers will find an array of over a dozen talented
drivers. Each driver and team can then leave their own mark.
On this day, however, Wade Cunningham decided to grab the headlines.
In the first practice session, Wade was the fastest driver.
Behind him were Chris Festa, Marco Andretti and Jeff Simmons.
While the competition was faster in the second session, so was Wade. He
showed that he was for real. Again he was the fastest driver.
Following this time were Simmons, Andretti and Wade’s teammate, Al Unser.
Wade’s two fastest times earned him his first headline story on the official IRL Pro Series web site (www.indycar.com/pro): “Cunningham burns rubber on St. Petersburg streets”.
April 2. Qualification was today, with one practice session
before, and another practice afterwards. Wade was again the fastest car
in the first session. Andretti, Simmons and Unser were next.
The qualification run dealt a different hand, however. This
time the order was Andretti, Simmons, Cunningham and Bussell.
Wade summarized by saying, “Qualifying was a little disappointing,
being only third fastest … I wasn’t too pleased with the car. We
didn’t do enough.” Wade will start the race on the second row.
The post-qualification tech inspection of Andretti’s car, though,
disclosed what officials said was an illegal aerodynamic setup.
Marco’s car was moved to last place.
The Brian Stewart Racing team made some changes on the car, and Wade
again was the fastest car for the final practice session of the day.
Wade related that, “We improved a little bit in the last session, but I
spun out after 8 laps … with a tiny bit of damage to the car. I
was just coming into the pits on my in-lap and wasn’t concentrating,
and did a lazy spin. A bit of a dumb thing to do, really.”
Some drivers might have made up an excuse; a mechanical or handling
problem, oil on the track, etc. Wade’s comments tell you
something about his character. He doesn’t make up excuses for
himself.
The Sunday morning newspapers will report that the starting front row
is Simmons and Cunningham, followed by Bussell and Camara in the
second.
April 3 is the big day. Knowing that he has the fastest car, Wade has set his own expectations. He intends to win.
(For more information about Wade go to www.cunninghammotorsport.com)
(ESPN2 will run the tape delayed Pro race on Friday, April 8, at 3:00 pm (EDT).) |
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