Penske to run Tracy in 5 races

Paul Tracy

Paul Tracy confirmed more races to his Izod IndyCar Series schedule today in announcing a five-race deal with the reconfigured Dragon Racing.

The team, led by Jay Penske, will have Tracy in its car beginning with the Long Beach Grand Prix on April 17.

Tracy previously signed an Indianapolis 500 deal with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.

“It feels like a little bit of a homecoming because I’m back under the Penske umbrella and I’ve known Jay since he was a teenager and we both got into our fair share of trouble with his dad," said Tracy.

“I asked Jay what his dad said about us teaming up and he told me Roger said: ‘Oh great, the two guys who gave me the most problems in my life are getting together.’"

“Jay came to see me about four weeks ago and said he wasn’t ready to throw in the towel," said Tracy, who will make his debut in Long Beach in three weeks.

“He said: How do we keep this thing together? So Jay, Brian Marks (of Top Speed Management) and I started beating on doors and managed to find the funding. We’re going to run at the big city markets and then try and build on this deal.

“We’ve got a solid team with John Cummiskey running things, my old engineer from Forsythe (Eric Zeto) who I had success with and some former Penske crew guys so I’m excited about the opportunity."

Dragon Racing, as it will be known, is running Long Beach. Texas, Toronto, Edmonton and Sonoma with Tracy and also is competing at the Indianapolis 500 (with another driver).