Scheckter happy to return to Indy

Thomas Scheckter

Tomas Scheckter has always performed well at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

In 2002, his rookie year at the historic 2.5-mile asphalt speedway, he led a race-high 85 laps and looked well on his way to victory before crashing his Red Bull-sponsored entry owned by Eddie Cheever, Jr. in turn four on lap 173.

A year later Scheckter again led the most laps, 63, before fading to a fourth-place finish in a Chip Ganassi Racing entry.

This year Scheckter, who will drive the No. 23 Mona Vie entry for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, is hoping to find some of that Indianapolis magic once again.

“I’ve got a great feel around the speedway, and also a good understanding of what gets put on the car and confidence in what we put on the car," said Scheckter, a native of South Africa. “I can adapt to it very quickly."

Scheckter, who drove for Dale Coyne at Indianapolis and Dreyer & Reinbold the rest of the season last year, said returning to the Dreyer & Reinbold for the Indianapolis 500 was a natural fit.

“I feel extremely at home," said Scheckter. “We did a test towards the end of last year that went very well (and) that carried on the development. You know, as I think you’ve guys have seen on road courses for sure this year, with having Mike (Conway) and Justin (Wilson), they’ve done an unbelievable job.

“Now I suppose we’ve got to try and carry some of this momentum that they’ve built on road courses to the oval section. I’m hoping that they can carry on the same pace, but I’ve already been in the team working and, you know, going through run plans and what development stuff we’ve done to make sure that the Mona Vie 23 car is up there," Scheckter added.

The 29-year-old driver, who has two IZOD IndyCar Series victories to his credit, openly admits he isn’t the biggest fan of qualifying at Indianapolis. He’d much rather race.

“I don’t (like qualifying at Indianapolis). I’ll be absolutely honest. I think I did five years in a row I qualified 11th. It’s a tricky situation to qualify round there. A lot of times it’s Russian roulette. You go in with a car that’s got negative rear wing and it’s just skipping around," said Scheckter.

“The thing for me, physically and mentally, is the 500 miles. When you do a lot of testing you really feel comfortable in the car. For us, it’s just to try to get as many miles as possible, especially in race situations, and make sure the car is good over long distances, and also making sure I’m good focusing over long dances," said Scheckter. NSSN