Hornish to skip Indy 500 for NASCAR race
MEXICO CITY -- Sam Hornish Jr. says he’s passing on the Indianapolis 500.
Hornish’s plans were the subject of much speculation after owner Roger Penske entered a No. 77 car in the Indy 500 -- and didn’t say who would be driving it. Hornish, a former Indy 500 winner, is in his first NASCAR season after leaving the Indy Racing League.
On Friday, he said it’s not feasible to drive in both the Indy 500 and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600. Both races are May 25.
“I’d love to do both of them in one day, but if it has to be one or the other, I’m a stock car driver,” Hornish said.
Hornish was part of the mass exodus of open-wheel stars fleeing to NASCAR. He’s currently 33rd in the Sprint Cup point standings.
“I want to be successful over here, and I know that skipping races isn’t going to help,” Hornish said when explaining his commitment to the Coca-Cola 600.
Hornish is in Mexico City this week preparing for today’s Nationwide Series event, the Corona Mexico 200.
Hornish said he understood why he was considered a possibility for the Indy 500 after the entry list was released.
“A lot of things led people to believe that,” Hornish said. “Probably the biggest thing was that they entered a No. 77 car. They usually enter a No. 66 car as their TBA and I think somebody took that this year.”
Rainy day plan?
Carl Edwards has one idea of how to spice up this weekend’s race in Mexico City.
“The No. 1 thing I’m interested to see is if it rains, what that’s going to be like,” Edwards said. “That would be a blast. . . . I’m sure it would be a nightmare for all the crew chiefs, but it would be fun for us I think.”
Rain tires are a possibility for Nationwide races on road courses, and steady rain did fall in Mexico City on Thursday night. On Friday, however, the sun was out.
“Something exciting will happen if it rains,” Edwards said. “I’d just like to be a part of it.”
Another factor in Mexico City races is the 7,400-foot altitude. That takes away some downforce, causing cars to lose grip and horsepower.
“For us it’s good, because we’ve raced here,” said Michel Jourdain of Mexico City. “I’ve lived here all my life and we raced here so many times. Growing up, actually, going to sea level, it was weird. The cars had a lot of power.”
David Reutimann, however, downplayed the effect of the thin air.
“You don’t really notice it much. The motor tuners all have that kind of factored in and have everything going to where it needs to be,” said Reutimann, who is fifth in the Nationwide point standings.
“The only time you notice is when you’re running up and down stairs.”
Crowd factor
Two years ago in Mexico City, Kyle Busch collided with Jourdain, knocking the local favorite out of the race. Many in the stands hooted and whistled, directing catcalls and jeers at Busch.
Busch doesn’t sound concerned about the possibility of fans holding a grudge.
“I don’t necessarily think I’m the crowd favorite any place. This one doesn’t much matter either,” he said.
In fact, Busch seemed to welcome any crowd reaction, be it positive or negative.
“It don’t matter to me,” he said. “Noise is good.”
Hometown hope
Memo Rojas of Mexico City will start from the pole in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series event Saturday.
Rojas’ time was 1 minute, 19.508 seconds. It was his first pole in Rolex Series competition. He co-drives the car with Scott Pruett.
In the GT class, Pierre Kaffer of Germany took the pole with a lap of 1:26.621.
Paul Tracy not sure what’s next
Paul Tracy is back on track for this weekend’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. He just doesn’t know what’s next.
Tracy was left in a kind of limbo when car owner Gerald Forsythe, who had the former CART/Champ Car champion under a long-term contract, decided his team would not make the transition to the IRL IndyCar Series as part of the recent unification of American open-wheel racing.
After difficult and sometimes bitter negotiations, Tracy and Forsythe came to an agreement this week that put the driver back in a car for today’s final Champ Car race and also releases him to look for other rides after this event.
“It feels good to be back in a car,” said Tracy, who was a respectable eighth in provisional qualifying on the downtown street circuit. “Today didn’t go as well as I wanted it to, mostly on me. I made a lot of mistakes in qualifying and just couldn’t put the lap together. And, when I did, I made a huge mistake in the second to last corner and lost all the time I had gained.
“I’m a little bit frustrated, but it’s been nice to be back in the car. It’s kind of mixed emotions, though. I don’t know where my career is going to be from here.”
The 39-year-old Tracy said his negotiations with Forsythe, which kept him from seeking another ride, felt like “a big cobweb.
“I was racing. I wasn’t racing,” Tracy said. “It was in the hands of lawyers. When lawyers get involved, it’s usually a mess. . . . From here out, after this race, there will be no contract between Forsythe and myself, which is disappointing. It was my intention this year to go racing for Forsythe and I think everybody in both series would have liked to have seen that happen. But that’s his decision, that’s his right to do that.
“I’ve had a great career with him and won his only championship [in 2003]. We have some more issues to work out of how we end the contract and what is still left to figure out.”
New ride
Two-time CART champion Gil de Ferran, who recently announced he will come out of retirement to drive for his own team in the American Le Mans Series, Friday named former Champ Car driver and Atlantic champion Simon Pagenaud as his co-driver.
De Ferran, whose recent test in Sebring, Fla., was his first time driving a race car in four years, and 23-year-old Frenchman Pagenaud will make their ALMS debut May 19 at Salt Lake City in the De Ferran Motorsports Acura.