THE CANADIAN PRESS
EDMONTON — One minute, Paul Tracy finally had his full-time ride for IndyCar’s 2011 season. Then it was gone.
No hard feelings?
Actually, a lot of hard feelings.
“When somebody steals something right out from under you, it leaves a pretty sour taste in your mouth,” Tracy told a news conference on Wednesday, held to promote the Edmonton IndyCar race July 24.
Tracy said with just days to go before the start of the season, he was set to drive full time with Jimmy Vasser’s team, KV-Racing Technology-Lotus.
He said he had a five-year relationship with a sponsor and was being told by the sponsor and the team that everything was thumbs up.
“The deal was mine. I was going to be in the car. Everything was a go. This was right up until two or three days before they signed (Tony) Kanaan,” said Tracy.
Kanaan, the popular Brazilian driver, had won 14 races in eight years with Andretti Autosport, but was let go when he lost title sponsor 7-Eleven.
But when Kanaan got a new sponsor on board along with some Brazilian investors, Vasser said at the time it was a “game changer.”
Tracy, no stranger to shooting from the hip, has since let his feelings be known on the Twitter about the Vasser crew, particularly its crash-prone Venezuelan driver, E.J. Viso.
“Viso is a total train wreck,” tweeted Tracy while watching the April 10 race on the road course at Birmingham, Ala.
“Oooooohhhh, Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy. Back to the parts truck again,” he chortles in another.
“He (Viso) is the champion of crash damage.”
Tracy now has a four-race deal with Dragon Racing. He drove at Long Beach, Calif, on April 17, starting 25th and finishing 16th.
He will drive at the Toronto Indy on July 10th, then Edmonton, and then on the road course at Sonoma, Calif., on Aug. 28.
He said a sponsorship deal is close that will allow him to drive the finale at Las Vegas on Oct. 16.
He will also drive for Dreyer and Reinbold at the Indy 500 on May 29th.
That’s about a third of the IndyCar schedule.
Tracy said he hasn’t given up on getting into the other eight or so races, but said it’s difficult to get a big sponsor for events at the smaller venues like Milwaukee and Davenport, Iowa.
He said it’s been an eye-opener.
In his two-decade career Tracy sits seventh overall in IndyCar wins with 31, but for the last six years has driven in only a handful of races, becoming the circuit’s most famous unhappy vagabond.
“The on-track competition is still the same,” said Tracy. “It’s the landscape of having to generate sponsorship and do everything yourself to be on track — that’s the hard part.
“I had a lot of years where I was insulated from it. I’ve driven for all the best teams.
“I certainly don’t enjoy talking on the phone and sending e-mails for 15 hours a day trying to find sponsors. That part I won’t miss at all.”
At Long Beach, Tracy was set back when he crashed in practice session, then flagged twice for violations during the race. He was sent to the back of the grid for not avoiding contact with Simona De Silvestro in one collision.
Observers wondered why driver Helio Castroneves, who also caused a similar smash up in the race, wasn’t flagged. Officials said Tracy’s error was one of aggressive driving while Castroneves’ was not.
Tracy declined comment on that except to say, “At the end of the day people just want to know what the rules are and that they’re going to be the same for everybody.”
The man nicknamed “The Thrill from West Hill” admitted his career is winding down. Next year, he said, will likely be his last.
But he said he doesn’t get nostalgic and won’t be misty-eyed when he takes his farewell tour.
“I treat every race like it’s going to be my last. You never know what could happen,” he said.