Q and A with IndyCar driver Will Power
Q. As I mentioned, Will leads the points standings by 21 points over Dario Franchitti heading into this weekend's Milwaukee 225.
Will, you got that first win on an oval last weekend at Texas. How much confidence does that give you heading into Milwaukee, a place you say you love?
WILL POWER: Yeah, it's always a boost when you win a race. I'm just enjoying ovals a lot this year. I know the result at Indy wasn't really what we wanted, but still I really, really had fun in the race, felt great in the car. Obviously the same with Texas.
But, yeah, I'd have to say I was very, very excited to get my first win. It was like the first time I ever won a race is what it felt like. It was a very good feeling and it was basically like a home race to me because my wife is from there, all her family were there at the track. Yeah, just a very good day.
Q. The next race is at Milwaukee. You were mentioning it's one of your favorite tracks. Even though you don't have a lot of laps around there in a race, what do you remember about the circuit that can help you this weekend?
WILL POWER: Yeah, I just love it. It's flat. You have to lift. You have to downshift, upshift. I think it's important to have on the schedule. It's a great track, a lot of history. It creates good racing because you can run a couple of lines.
I think everyone's going to be happy. Fans are going to be happy to see us race back there. Hopefully we get a good crowd.
Q. Looking ahead past Milwaukee, the next race is Iowa, a short oval. You can gain or lose a lot of points there. What are your thoughts about the Iowa Speedway?
WILL POWER: Yeah, that was my first oval pole. I had a good race. I think I finished fifth. I have a good idea in my head what I want to do to make the car better this year.
Yeah, I think I'm going to definitely build on that result from last year. Once again, it's a track that I enjoy. It's a short oval. You probably have to shift a bit. You can run two lanes, which makes it really good for passing.
Q. Will, all the back-and-forth discussions about the Texas thing, are you kind of tired of hearing about it at this point?
WILL POWER: Yeah, I honestly don't really read anything after races. The only time I hear about articles is if I said something wrong and the team informs me that I said something wrong, then I know about it (laughter). Otherwise, I don't really read any of it.
Yeah, I'm sure after the press conference and what I can sense from Dario, you know, he wasn't entirely happy about the situation. We all knew about it going into it. In fact, I agreed with him. I didn't think that was the best way to do it. But it was what it was. That's how it ended up.
Q. There are a lot of theories going around about what IndyCar should do should there be another doubleheader. Do you have any thoughts on those theories, like inverting the top field?
WILL POWER: Yeah, I think in GP2 they invert the top 10. That makes for good racing because not only do you have a race for the win in the first race, you also have a race for 10th place or to get in the top 10. I think it makes it more exciting, especially if the fans are aware of what's going on.
I'm not sure inverting the whole field is the best idea around that joint because it's so fast, can be dangerous. But I think it would have been awesome with one single race, as well. That place creates good racing.
But, yeah, there's some good ideas. I think the best way would be to invert the top 10.
Q. You were talking earlier about things you got to do. Kanaan ran on Stewart's dirt track race. If you got invited to that, would that be something you would lobby for?
WILL POWER: Most definitely, I would love to do it. I raced on the dirt when I was younger, when I was 16, 17. Yeah, that's something I would do.
Q. Where did you race at?
WILL POWER: I raced in a dirt track series when I was 16. It was actually dirt road courses. They're short tracks. Yeah, it was just good fun. It was great. I love that sort of driving where it's all car control. You're really driving the thing. That's something I definitely would enjoy doing.
Q. Do you feel with the growing field we have, are we having too many cars for the short tracks? The two-and-a-half-mile speedways are fine, but one-and-a-half miles, 30 cars, is that too many cars?
WILL POWER: We'll see this weekend. It's going to be 26 cars here at Milwaukee. You might be right. But I think what it does, it makes the racing probably better because you can't see in traffic and you have to read it well. As long as the standard of drivers is right up there, which it is right now, you can't really pick any bad drivers out of the field.
I guess at some point they can only fit a certain number in pit lane. I don't even know if they can pit 30 cars at Milwaukee. I don't know.