Rookies Ready for CART's Kick-off
On a hot, humid day, PPG Cup rookies Patrick Carpentier and Dario Franchitti could only watch and wait for their first taste of CART Indy Car competition.
Carpentier, a 25-year-old from Quebec, left the Player's/Atlantic Series as reigning champion to move up to drive the Team Alumax Reynard/Mercedes-Benz owned by Bettenhausen Motorsports.
Despite enviable statistics last year, like tying the record of Gilles Villeneuve (Jacques' father) with nine victories in a season, eight consecutive wins and poles, the Canadian knows that it will be difficult to repeat that feat in his first year.
"When you change a Formula your strengths change" Carpentier said, noting that his strong point last year was "catching up backmarkers on ovals. This season is a season to learn, but I think we can expect some top five finishes."
Ironically, he credits some of his oval-racing talent to his first sporting activity, speed skating, which he began at age five. As a reward for a championship his mother took him to a go-kart race. Then it was no more skating for him.
One of the allures of karting, he thought, was that there would be less emphasis on physical fitness because he'd be sitting and not skating. He was quickly proven wrong and realized, "now I have to train more than ever."
His latest job requires even more exercise.
Since accepting the ride from team owner Tony Bettenhausen, he says, "I've been training hard for months. Four to five days a week, 30 to 45 minutes of cardiovascular exercise to get my heartrate between 150 and 165."
One thing that Carpentier couldn't train for is car setup. So he'll depend on Chief Engineer and Managing Director, Tom Brown, a 36-year-old from Scotland who'd spent the last 11 years with Team Penske.
While Carpentier faces a learning curve in bigger cars, Franchitti - another Scot - hasn't raced in single-seaters since he ran Formula 3 in 1994. He did, however, run some tests in a McLaren Formula One car.
During the last few seasons, the 23-year-old Franchitti raced Mercedes-Benz Touring Cars in the ITC series in Europe. Thus, he's almost starting over in the Carl Hogan-owned Reynard Mercedes Benz.
One of his mentors over here is four-time Indy 500 winner and Team Penske advisor Rick Mears, who said "Talking to him was like speaking with (three-time Formula One Champion) Jackie Stewart" .
Franchitti also had help from Al Unser Jr., Gil de Ferran and CART's 1996 Rookie of the Year, Alex Zanardi.
Looking forward to Sunday's 150-lap race at the 1.517-mile oval, both drivers agreed that running in heavy traffic and pit stops are also part of the learning curve.
Since most teams will be setting up for Saturday's qualifying runs in Friday's official practice, it looks like the two rookies will have a lot of on-the-job training on Sunday.
