Vasser's team mixes youth, experience

By Curt Cavin
Indianapolis Star
May 8, 2009

Jimmy Vasser is young enough to remember what an Indy-car driver wants and experienced enough to know what a team needs. It appears he has mixed the two well at Indianapolis-based KV Racing Technology.

Vasser, who won CART's 1996 season championship, has added veteran driver Townsend Bell to the team that includes Mario Moraes and Paul Tracy. Bell will drive the No. 8 car.

Moraes is the 20-year-old Brazilian who has shown significant improvement in the IndyCar Series over the past calendar year. Tracy, 40, and Bell, 34, are hungry veterans not satisfied with what they've accomplished in the sport.

"P.T. is excited, and I believe he should be out there (in the IndyCar Series); same with Townsend," Vasser said. "Heck, I wish I could give everybody a ride."

Vasser and Tracy, who won Champ Car's 2003 title, have formed an unusually tight bond in recent years, and it's no coincidence that winning the 500 is their only goal.

Vasser was the sport's dominant driver in 1996 -- the first year of the open-wheel split -- and won the U.S. 500 at Michigan International Speedway on the same day Buddy Lazier won the Indy Racing League's first 500 at the Speedway. Tracy believes he was Indy's rightful winner in 2002.

Bell's motivation stems from never reaching the heights expected of him. His '01 Indy Lights title led him only to a brief shot at Champ Car and a short stay in Formula 3000. In recent years he has been an occasional IRL driver, but mostly he has been a spectator.

Even one of his Indy appearances was unfulfilling. In 2006, he often found himself waiting in the car at the end of pit road as Vision Racing had only two crews for its three cars. He finished 10th last year for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.

Bell's program is for next week only, which means he probably won't start the race higher than 23rd. But he knows Mark Johnson's KV crew will give him a quality car.

"I'd much rather have less time in a fast car than a whole month in a slow car," he said.

Of course, Vasser knows that.

"If there's one race where a guy (with experience) can still compete and win, it's this one," he said.

As for Vasser keeping his own driving options open, he said: "The future isn't me behind the wheel, but if the sponsorship was there, you're damn right I'd love to run Indy.

"If there's a car for me like the ones these guys are driving, give me the wheel. I've still got a helmet at the shop."