IRL: Two New Teams Ready to Join Pep Boys IRL in '99
17 October 1998
INDIANAPOLIS - Two new teams, one with an Indy-style veteran at the wheel and another with a rookie, recently unveiled plans to compete full-time in the Pep Boys Indy Racing League in 1999.
Indianapolis 500 veteran Scott Harrington will drive for a team formed by his father, Gene, while rookie Greg Gorden will be behind the wheel for Truscelli Team Racing.
Harrington already has tested this fall at Texas Motor Speedway, while Gorden passed his Indy Racing League rookie test Oct. 16 at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain, Colo.
The Harrington team has purchased two 1998 Dallara chassis and update kits, and two Nissan Infiniti engines. Gene and Scott Harrington were in Las Vegas Oct. 9-11 to talk with a potential major sponsor during the season-ending Las Vegas 500K.
"We feel real encouraged," said Gene Harrington, who operates a property management firm and restores muscle cars in Louisville, Ky. "We've got the people and the equipment. Now we need to get the third part of the puzzle, funding.
Scott Harrington, 34, passed his Indy 500 rookie test for the first time in 1989, passed it again in 1996 and made the race in a last-minute run. He started 32nd and climbed to 13th before a crash ended his day. He placed 15th. Last May, he ran one lap of a last-day qualifying run and crashed in Turn 1 due to mechanical problems. He was well on pace to make the field.
Harrington, who lives in Indianapolis, also substituted for the injured Eliseo Salazar in July during the Pep Boys 400K at Dover, Del., but didn't complete a lap. That race and the 1996 Indianapolis 500 comprise his only experience in an IRL car.
But he thinks that launching a full-time effort will help to prepare him better for the month of May in Indianapolis.
"These IRL cars are the fastest in the world," he said. "I would get th rown in the month of May and jump on it. I never had an opportunity to get comfortable in the car and go out on an equal basis."
Harrington drove 200 miles (using an Olds Aurora engine) at Texas during the first Indy car testing session he's ever been involved in. The plan is to do more testing before the Pep Boys IRL Open Test at Walt Disney World Speedway in December at Orlando, Fla.
"We want to do this bad," Gene Harrington said. "Scott never had a chance before. We're light years ahead of where we've ever been before. Our intention is to run the full season."
Scott Harrington started his career in motorcycles but switched to cars in 1984, when he placed sixth in the SCCA Sports Renault National Championship. By 1987, Harrington had moved up to the professional Formula Atlantic series and was named one of the three most promising drivers in the country in Sportscar Magazine's Star Search edition.
The next season he won Formula Atlantic races at Montreal and Sebring and placed 10th in his only Indy Lights race, the season finale at Miami. In 1989, he turned 200 laps at Indy during Rookie Orientation and placed 16th in his first and only CART race at Elkhart Lake, Wis. In the 1990's he won the Shelby Can-Am Pro Series and won six races over three seasons.
"I'm real confident in my abilities," Harrington said. Truscelli Team Racing, based in Colorado Springs, Colo., will compete in the entire 11-race season with G Force chassis. Engine and tire partners will be announced shortly.
Electronic Data Submission Systems, Inc., will be one of the team's sponsors. Other sponsors will be announced shortly.
"My goal has always been to be a team owner in the IRL, ever since it's inception," said team owner Joe Truscelli. "We have great confidence in Greg Gorden and our entire team."
Gorden, 31, climbs to the Pep Boys Indy Racing League after a successful career in the American Indycar Series from 1989-98. He also was a test driver for the Sadler Racing NASCAR Winston Cup team and has experience in SCCA competition.
"I'm excited because all of the years of work are culminating with a chance to compete at this level," Gorden said. "The skill level of the drivers in this series is second to none."
Gorden and the team plan to participate in the Pep Boys IRL Open Test in December at Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando, Fla.
"I'm also thrilled at the chance to run in the Indianapolis 500," Gorden said. "I've wanted to do that since I was 6 years old, since I was old enough to know what the race is all about." During his AIS career, Gorden raced against 1996 Indianapolis 500 champion Buddy Lazier and Pep Boys IRL standout Robby Unser, 1998 Sprint PCS Rookie of the Year. Unser served as the veteran observer for Gorden's rookie test at Pikes Peak.
Gorden overcame wind gusts approaching 30 mph to pass his rookie test, said Brian Barnhart, Pep Boys IRL director of racing operations. Gorden completed more than 350 laps in two days, with a fastest time of 21.9 seconds (164.384 mph) on the 1-mile oval, Barnhart said.
"He was very smooth and very consistent in his line, which was tough to do in the conditions," said Barnhart, who oversaw Gorden's test. "Robby (Unser) helped him, and that was a big plus." Truscelli is an owner and driver in the AIS. He leads the Rookie of the Year standings this season in the series.
Laurie Gerrish will serve as team manager. He has extensive background in open-wheel and sports-car racing and was a chief mechanic for Bobby Unser when he won the 1981 Indianapolis 500. Gerrish also has worked in Formula One, CART and IMSA racing.
Joe Wanninger will be the team's chief mechanic. Wanninger has been Gorden's crew chief in AIS for the last three seasons.
