When you think of travel, the name of almost any city will only lead to more questions. Paris? Rome? Sydney? Wonderful cities all, but are you going there to enjoy the romance of the spring or fall, going for shopping or touring museums, or is this just the first stop of an ongoing holiday?
But two names, and only two names, are instantly recognizable as a final destination and people the world over know exactly why you’re going: LeMans and Indy.
The discussions may go on forever as to which destination holds the bragging rights to being the biggest motorsport event in the world, but it really doesn’t matter as they are both dramatically different, yet equally important. Mention them in Vienna or Vancouver, and people will know exactly what you’re talking about. That is power!
So here we are, only days away from the running of the Indianapolis 500 and I’ll guarantee that each of the 33 starting drivers knows exactly how important this day can be to their career. But that same prestige and power to be had by winning this race puts an unthinkable amount of pressure on drivers and crew alike.
The difference between looking like a god or a goat is only one tiny mistake away, and everyone is intimately aware of that. Suddenly, things that you’ve done hundreds, maybe thousands of times before without even thinking about, become difficult because you do think about them. Let the clutch engage with only 100 rpm less than you need and the car stalls. Try to be just that little bit faster by putting the wheel nut on after a tire change, and it cross threads. Any and every action must be perfect to win.
The Indy 500 is not a particularly difficult race physically. Even though the drivers are racing for approximately three hours, they’re sitting in cockpits that have been painstakingly crafted to fit them as perfectly as possible. Seats have been molded for their bodies and controls modified to put them exactly where they like them. Countless hours are spent making sure that once a driver is belted securely into the car, nothing will change the comfort level and the driver’s attention will be solely on the task at hand.
But the psychological challenges of Indy are a whole different story and might very well be the hardest of any race in the world. The pressure of being under a motorsport microscope for weeks where each and every move has been analyzed and discussed by the endless pack of reporters; the pressure of knowing that you have only one chance a year, and unlike an endurance race where, if you make an early mistake you can always make it up later – at Indy, there is no later.
And finally, the pressure of money; simply put, Indy is the biggest payday in the world.
In the world of sports, the idea of a team sport is commonly associated with football or baseball or soccer — rarely with motorsport. But to win the Indy 500 demands the most important team work of all as it will take a flawless effort by driver, by crew, by the engineers, and by everyone on the team.
So does Canada have a realistic chance to be cheering for a homegrown winner on Sunday? In a word — yes! Both team owners, Bryan Herta and Michael Andretti, are savvy veterans who know what it takes to win and have staffed their teams with superb personnel and both James Hinchcliffe and Alex Tagliani have proven to be fast and intelligent.
That’s a winning combination for both teams.