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Thursday, March 15
Searching for the next Tony Stewart
By Eddie Cheever Jr.
Special to ESPN.com
I just came back from my first race of the year, the IROC race at Daytona in February. It's part of what is commonly known as "Speedweek", when NASCAR kicks off its season. The week - which includes all kinds of racing - culminates with the Daytona 500. For me, what the Indy Racing League is doing with the Pennzoil Copper World Indy 200 at Phoenix this weekend is the open-wheel equivalent of NASCAR's Speedweek.
|  | | Eddie Cheever Jr. is excited to get a look at the hot Midget and Silver Bullet prospects in Phoenix. |
I think it's great that the Midget and Silver Bullet drivers have joined us in kicking off the American, oval, open-wheel racing season at Phoenix. I know that I will be spending most of my weekend - when I'm not driving or with the engineers - sitting on the top of our transporter trying to find out where the next talent is going to come from.
Historically, there had been a bridge from Midget and Silver Bullet racing to the Indianapolis 500, but until the IRL was formed, that bridge had been broken. There was no longer the same opportunity for an American, grass-roots oval, open-wheel racing driver to come to the Indy 500. Now, fortunately, that is no longer the case. Thanks to Tony George's vision, the opportunity is offered to many. All you have to do is look back to a couple of years ago to when Tony Stewart was racing in Midgets, and then went on to win the Indy Racing championship a few years later.
Phoenix has a great heritage as a proving ground for many champions: Unser, Rutherford, Foyt, Mears. Now with the Copper World Indy 200 weekend, we have a complete circle again. A driver can start in Midget or Silver Bullet competition and work all the way up to the Indianapolis 500. The skills that are necessary to win at Phoenix in Midget or Silver Bullet cars are the same skills that are necessary to win in the Indy Racing Northern Light Series.
Phoenix is an amazingly difficult racetrack. It's hot. The track is slippery. Speeds are very high. The banking is different between Turns 1 and 2 than it is between Turns 3 and 4. You've got to make sure that you don't burn off your tires. It's a race where you have to guard against people behind you and be really good in order to pass. You need to be able to attack and defend. It's a very tactical circuit, and strategy is essential. Basically, all the things that an Indy Racing driver has to do, Midget and Silver Bullet drivers have to do as well - they're just doing it at lower speeds in a different car. So when you can win at Phoenix, it pretty much guarantees that you know what you are doing as a racing driver.
Success in a Midget or Silver Bullet car depends a lot on driver input. He or she has to feel the limit of the car just like an Indy Racing driver does. The level of technology is a lot lower in Midget or Silver Bullet cars, but the same skills are required, and it hurts just as much when you hit a wall in one of those things as when you hit in one of ours. If a driver can do well at Phoenix, you can pretty much be assume that he or she is for real.
Every team owner is looking for the little something extra, so of course we are going to be looking for the next great driver. But the future of every sport relies on a new wave of talent, so I'll also be looking at the mechanics and crew chiefs. It's a great pool of talent that we are able to draw upon.
One thing is certain: for the race fans, this weekend in Phoenix will be just awesome. If you like oval, open-wheel, American racing, you've got to be at the Pennzoil Copper World Indy 200.
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