Times wires
Saturday, May 28, 2011
INDIANAPOLIS — Chip Ganassi is still chasing Roger Penske.
Even after winning two of the past three Indianapolis 500s and last year's triple crown — Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400 — he isn't satisfied.
"I've been working for 20 years to get these guys where I have them," he said, referring to Team Penske.
Trying to keep up with Penske — 155 IndyCar wins and 12 points title — is no easy task.
"I think the important thing to keep in mind is that whatever the sport is, it should be about higher performance, excellence, perseverance and hard work," said Ganassi, who has 81 wins and seven points titles. "For a guy like Roger to set the bar high like that, that's something for our team to shoot for."
Though Penske remains the standard, Ganassi seems to have the upper hand for now.
Dario Franchitti rallied to take last year's points title from Penske's Will Power. It was Franchitti's second straight IndyCar crown and third in a row for Ganassi. Although Power takes the points lead into today's Indy 500, Franchitti lurks 14 back in second.
A win in today's Indianapolis 500 would make Franchitti, who is Scottish, the second foreign driver with three wins, joining Penske's Helio Castroneves (Brazil), and give Ganassi his third win in four years on the track that turned Penske into a household name in racing and business.
Ganassi, 53, added a NASCAR team to his stable in 2000 and last year won at Daytona and the Brickyard, a feat not even Penske had achieved.
It's not that Ganassi dislikes Penske. He just wants to break his records.
With expectations so high, Ganassi isn't afraid to confront those who make mistakes or cheer them when they succeed.
"He's very good at putting confidence in people," driver Scott Dixon said. "He's stern, and he knows what he wants."
This year's Indy Pole Day was a perfect example.
When Franchitti and Dixon ran out of fuel on the fourth lap of their shootout, Ganassi didn't have to say a word. Franchitti stomped back to the garage without talking to reporters. Ganassi flung his arms in the air. Mike Hull, the team's managing director, didn't say what was discussed in the meeting, and he didn't have to.
"I can imagine it's pretty exciting in the team truck car at the minute, and I haven't seen Chip yet," Dixon said after his run, drawing laughter.
Franchitti believes that passion has allowed Ganassi to create a dominant team, which also includes Graham Rahal and Charlie Kimball.
"He is one of the most competitive people I have ever met," Franchitti said. "Scott told me the other day that he had mellowed. If that's the case, I'd hate to have seen him before."
Restarts changed: IndyCar compromised with drivers worried that double-file restarts would be unsafe today. After considering marking the restart zone about 900 feet from the start/finish line, officials moved it back to the entrance to Turn 4. That gives drivers more room to adjust to traffic. Double-file restarts debuted on the circuit this season, drawing the drivers' ire. Today is the first time they're used at an oval.