Q&A with Ed Carpenter Racing
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| Josef Newgarden will start in the middle of Row 1 |
Ed Carpenter Racing
Ed Carpenter
Josef Newgarden
JR Hildebrand
ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S ULTRA PREMIUM VODKA CHEVROLET, ED CARPENTER RACING (qualified 20th):
HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK ABOUT WINNING THIS RACE? “All the time. I’ve been working for this for a long time. This will be my 13th start but I’ve been thinking about it long before I ever started this race. We’ll keep working hard and hopefully this is the year."
WHAT’S SPECIAL ABOUT THIS YEAR BEING THE 100TH RUNNING? “It’s an even bigger event than it already is. Tickets are gone, so that’s great. All the enormity on the outside is getting more attention. On the inside as competitors, it doesn’t feel any different to me. With our routine and focus, it’s all very similar. The outside attention is bigger, which is a great opportunity for us to show more people what our sport is all about."
CAN YOU CARRY ANYTHING OVER FROM THE 100TH INDY 500 TO THE NEXT EVENTS? “I think so. I’m expecting to see a pretty good TV number based on the interest that’s around this event. When you get people watching, it’s a great opportunity to generate fans. We can build momentum for Detroit, Texas, Road America and everywhere else we go."
GIVEN HOW THIS MONTH HAS FELT LIKE WINTER, HOW HARD IS IT TO GET A SETUP YOU’RE COMFORTABLE WITH WHEN SUNDAY IS GOING TO BE INCREDIBLY WARM? “Our last full day of practice Monday was pretty warm. There were no clouds and we saw the highest track temperatures of the month. The ambient temperature will be a little higher than Monday but I don’t think the track temp will be as high. The track temp is what affects our cars more than the ambient. We can compensate for the ambient temperatures with downforce. I feel prepared for the conditions we’ll see for the race."
[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]WERE YOU MORE SURPRISED AT JOSEF (NEWGARDEN’S) RUN OR WHERE YOU AND J.R. (HILDEBRAND) WERE? “I don’t want to say I was surprised with any of it. Josef’s car had been really fast all week and had been running similar to the same setups all week. Going into it, I thought maybe we could make the top-nine with my car but we also could have qualified mid-pack. That’s just how it shook out. It’s hard to be able to explain the speed difference sometimes. I think we’re all equally happy with how our cars are handling. We just didn’t have the speed. We’re all focused about having the best race we can. Josef is in second and I’m 20th, but I think we all feel equally confident to all end up at the front at the end."
JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 21 PREFERRED FREEZER CHEVROLET, ED CARPENTER RACING (qualified second)
Q: Do you have enough if it comes down to the wire?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I feel confident that we could be there and have an opportunity for the win. It’s a little unknown until you get halfway through the race to be able to tell if you have what you need to really seal the victory.
Q: Did you have heroes I racing growing up?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I didn’t have a lot of heroes. I always looked up to Dan Wheldon. He used to kart at the place I used to kart at – New Castle Motorsports Park – and I always thought he was super cool and a very captivating individual. I remember Dan liking to race with the young kids because the young kids have the fire when you come to race karts. I admired him as a young driver, but I didn’t have many heroes growing up. I wasn’t that knowledgeable of the sport growing up.
Q: Rick Mears said he tells drivers to watch the Indy 500 from previous years. Have you done that, and if so what have you noted?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I’ve watched the older Indy 500s. Back in the day they were so impressive and so cool, but really it’s a different art form now. I know there are a lot of people of the opinion that we should go back to that style, but it’s kind of like ‘well, what do you want to see?’ Now you have anyone in the top 20 can win the race and shuffle around and pass. Back in the day sometimes there was one guy who finished on the lead lap. They were very different races back then. They still had their thrills, but it was different in the way the guys passed, the way you managed the race. I think the game has changed quite a bit with how the cars drive now. I watched the more recent races – 2012, ’13 and ’14 – to figure things out.
Q: On Sunday, what is more important to you – tire management or fuel management?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I think tire management. I think fuel is important but tires are more important. I think if you keep the tires underneath you better than anyone, especially when it’s hot, that’s going to give you a better chance at succeeding.
Q: Starting on the front row, how much of an advantage is that for you?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It’s the best spot we could be in aside from the pole. The whole front row has a great view. We’ll just file in and get going.
Q: When you start rolling, what do you think you’ll be thinking?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I’ll probably be consumed with the amount of people that are here. That’s the one thing I remember about those parade laps; there are so many people in the stands, there is so much color. It’s sort of sensory overload. As soon as the green flag drops, you don’t think about anything but what you’re doing and the people around you because you don’t have the bandwidth to take anything else in. You’re so locked in on driving the race.
Q: How do you control your emotions knowing that you’ll be in the biggest race ever held?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It’s hard because of how much it means and there’s a lot of pressure to it. Everything is riding on this race, and you have a lot of responsibility on your hands when you’re the driver. I try to make the event seem not as big of a deal to me. I try to downplay it in my mind. If not, that’s when your emotions can get the best of you and you could mess up.
JR HILDEBRAND, NO. 6 PREFERRED FREEZER FUZZY’S VODKA CHEVROLET, ED CARPENTER RACING (qualified 15th):
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS HEADING INTO THE RACE? “We’re happy to be here this year with Chevrolet and the ECR (Ed Carpenter Racing) guys. Quite frankly, I think the three of us (along with Ed Carpenter and Josef Newgarden) are converging on a level of preparation for the race that will give any of us a pretty strong outlook."
[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]WHAT ARE YOUR MEMORIES OF THE FIRST TIME YOU CAME HERE? “I hadn’t attended the race but I had come here a bunch of times as a kid. We had been to the museum, seen the track. Growing up on the West Coast, I had watched Indy car, Champ Car and CART out at Laguna Seca. So I grew up more on the road course side of things. I moved out here when I was racing in the Atlantic Series in 2007, and went to the race every year since then. I think the thing that stands out to me is driving in the main gate as a spectator and a fan and the first time in Indy Lights knowing that I’m actually going to be out on track. And ever since then the place has sort of a different meaning. You put your stamp on it your own way; you’re part of the fraternity of drivers who have been in the starting 33. That’s very special.
FIVE YEARS AFTER YOUR RUNNER-UP, WHAT IS YOUR MEMORY OF THAT WHOLE DAY? “You start to recognize how important all the little details are to just getting back to that spot where you have a shot at winning the race. Over my first three or four years, I went through sort of all the variations of running this race, whether it was running up front, not having a competitive drive through the race, being out early. Reflecting on Year 1 and the fact that we were right there. It’s interesting to break that down in a more educated fashion. The fact that we were running top five all day was sort of impressive unto itself. It obviously gives me a lot of drive and motivation to put myself back in that position.