Despite need to scramble, Tracy performs

Bob Kravitz, Indianapolis Star
May 11, 2009

Paul Tracy is everything a sponsor could want. He's interesting, polarizing, competitive and controversial.

He's the Guy in the White Hat to some, the Guy in the Black Hat to others. And, yes, he's still one of the most accomplished, if underused, drivers in the world.

So why can't this man find a full-time ride beyond this month's Indianapolis 500?

"That's the million-dollar question,'' Tracy said Sunday after his first of two qualifying runs. "It's not that I don't want to drive. I want to be out here as much as anybody, but it's the landscape of racing nowadays. If you have money, you drive, and if you don't, you stay home.

"In my case, I'm a proven winner, I'm hugely popular with fans, hugely popular with the media, but that doesn't seem to matter anymore.''

The good news for Tracy, and for this race, is that the brash Canadian qualified Sunday and will run the May 24 race for the first time since his controversial second-place finish in 2002 behind Helio Castroneves.

The bad news for Tracy, and for the IndyCar Series as a whole, is that after the Indy 500, the driver will be back on the prowl and looking for rides. Right now, he doesn't have the sponsors, and without the sponsors -- and their money -- he has little appeal to team owners who have necessarily put cash in front of talent.

"I've come out twice in the last year and shown I'm competitive, and I thought after I ran well in Edmonton (a fourth-place finish for Vision Racing last year), things would start to happen. But nothing materialized,'' Tracy said. "I made a bunch of calls to (team) owners, but it all came down to how much sponsorship is out there. In this economy, nobody wants to spend their money.''

Tracy lost his ride before reunification when the Forsythe team for which he drove folded its operation last year. Since then, he has had a next-to-impossible time snaring a ride.

It's not a matter of politics. It's a matter of economics.

With all apologies to Milka Duno -- hey, if you've got the Venezuelan oil money, flaunt it, you know? -- she should not have a six-race deal while a guy like Tracy is reduced to glad-handing for nickels.

As it is, Tracy could write the first draft on a book entitled, "Winning the Indianapolis 500 on $10 a day.'' Like several drivers from non-power teams, Tracy's KV Racing Technology team has strict budget limits on its engine lease and tire allotment.

Saturday, he hoped to take a second run at qualifying for one of the top 11 spots after he got bumped late in the day, but he couldn't afford to waste any more tires, so he shut it down.

Then early Sunday, he was among the first on the track, qualifying with a solid, if disappointing, four-lap average of 222.749 mph. At the time, he figured he was done qualifying and would spend the rest of the day doing full-fuel runs before returning on Carb Day.

Then things changed. Track conditions improved. Speeds increased. Tracy, sitting 17th at the time of his second run, suddenly felt uncomfortable about his position on the grid.

So KV's engineers asked Tracy if he wanted to take another shot at qualifying. Tracy said yes.

The engineers checked with Mark Johnson, KV Racing's general manager. Co-owners Jimmy Vasser and Kevin Kalkhoven were consulted and both signed off on the attempt. Meanwhile, Doug Barnette, a representative for Geico Auto Racing, sent a text to his company's vice president, Bill Roberts, asking for the OK on another run.

Roberts texted back, "We always like people who are never satisfied with just making it. I love this intensity!''

With the pressure on, Tracy rolled out four laps at an average of 223.111, ultimately landing him the 13th spot on the grid with the second-fastest time of the day.

If chips on the shoulder were aerodynamic, Tracy would have a 3 mph edge on the rest of the field. Is he still angry about 2002? Of course he is. He still considers himself the rightful winner of that race.

It's fruitless now to revisit all the issues that led to the decision to award Castroneves the race instead of Tracy -- presumably the decision was made on merit and not politics -- but seven years later, I still recall Speedway boss Tony George's inept handling of the appeal as both laughable and lamentable.

After Tracy's team owner, Barry Green, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars preparing an appeal, George ruled there was no room for an appeal. In other words, thanks for wasting your money and time, but you couldn't win this even if we found in your favor.

Huh?

I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that George will not replace David Souter on the Supreme Court.

"Helio is lucky in court,'' Tracy said Sunday, "and I'm not.''

Yep. Tracy is definitely back. At least for now.