By TONY FABRIZIO
Published: Aug 12, 2006
To understand what it means for Italian driver Max Papis to buckle into a NASCAR car this weekend at Watkins Glen International, you would have to be in his shoes.
Although an accomplished driver in Indy cars and sports cars, Papis, who lives in Miami, has had to knock on doors for four years to get a shot in NASCAR.
"This comes out of, I would say, a hundred, maybe even more, maybe close to a thousand phone calls and trips to Charlotte and trips to the racetrack, all paid for by myself and my family," Papis said by phone early Friday.
"Today is like Christmas for me."
Known as "Mad Max" because of his competitiveness (and because it's a cool name), Papis won three times in CART in the late '90s. He won the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2002 and the Grand Am Rolex sports car championship in 2004.
This year alone, he scored a podium finish in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, raced in the Indianapolis 500 and finished second in last month's IROC all-star race on the Daytona road course.
Even so, and even with a shortage of drivers in NASCAR and team owners apparently being ready to take fliers on guys like David Gilliland and Stephen Leicht in Nextel Cup, Papis hadn't been able to break into NASCAR.
He got a double opportunity at Watkins Glen.
He filled in for Kenny Wallace in the No. 78 Furniture Row Chevy in Friday's Nextel Cup qualifying, but with 35 of the 43 berths for Sunday's AMD at the Glen guaranteed, he just missed making the field.
But Papis will get another shot in today's Zippo 200 Busch Series race. He'll drive McGill Motorsports' No. 36 Chevy as the result of a deal put together by his new agent, Doug Barnette. Since many Cup regulars compete in the Busch Series, Papis will still have a chance to prove himself.
Papis has found - as has former CART rival Paul Tracy, who is running a part-time Busch Series schedule - that the transition to NASCAR stock cars is difficult.
"The thing I can tell you is that it is definitely very humbling," said Papis, 36.
"It's a new game, and I'm like a white sheet of paper right now. I deleted almost everything. I'm like a white piece of paper, and I started writing on it, and I'm still on the first page."
Papis comes from Como, Italy, north of Milan. He is deeply religious, introspective and intense.
The July 21 birth of his son, Marco, is "the greatest gift I could ever have," Papis said. "It tops any win or anything else that has ever happened in my life."
Yes, even Italy's victory in the World Cup last month.
But there is sorrow in Papis' life as well. His father, Cesare, who lives in Como, is battling pancreatic cancer.
"In December, when they told us he was only going to be here for two months, I prayed a lot and asked God to keep him here until he could see my little Marco," Max said.
"And he is going to be able to do that in a very short time."
Papis has had trouble finding work, but not help, in NASCAR. He says other drivers welcomed him and noted that Bobby Labonte took him around the Watkins Glen track this week, mentoring him on braking points and other subtleties.
He also recounts a friendship with Randy Dorton, the Hendrick Motorsports master engine builder who was killed with nine others in a small plane crash in October 2004.
"When I started going to the NASCAR garages, I met [competition director] Ken Howes and Randy Dorton from the Hendrick Motorsports," Papis recalled. "One day, Randy came over to me and we watched the Formula One race from Monaco together. We were talking a lot, and he always inspired me because he is such a great gentleman and had a tremendous passion for the sport.
"I knew the pride that Randy had when he showed me his workshop, and I will never forget that."
If Papis makes it to Nextel Cup, he'll become the first Italian to race in NASCAR's top division in the modern era (1972-present). He'll follow the most famous Italian racer of them all, Mario Andretti, who made 14 NASCAR starts in the 1960s and won the 1967 Daytona 500.
"There is massive attention from my home country," said Papis, whose helmet carries the Italian and American flags. "The attention and the enthusiasm that the people have toward me racing for the first time in NASCAR in general, not just in Nextel Cup, is tremendous.
"I am certainly proud of it."
And he'll keep knocking.