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Thursday, June 28
Season began in Colorado
By Eddie Cheever Jr.
Special to ESPN.com
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The two NASCAR races I never miss are Richmond and Daytona. Richmond is always exciting because it's very tight and there's a lot of traffic. It's very difficult to figure out who is going to pass where and whose tires are going to last the longest. It's just a really neat place to watch and a great place to race. That's Richmond.
We've only had one day of testing at Richmond, but it's very interesting running an Indy car on such a short circuit. It will be very busy. I have a brand-new car I am not planning to run at Richmond because I think it's going to be a brawl.
Richmond will be really hard on the cars -- and the drivers -- because it's a new venue for us and it's very tight. We're going slower and some drivers may take more chances because they think it doesn't hurt to hit a wall at 150 mph.
Everybody is going to be a rookie at Richmond, especially the engineers. It's always interesting when you go to a new circuit because everybody is extrapolating. You're getting your data and you're trying to figure out what your car is going to do over a long run. I think it's going to very complicated to understand the track when it comes to the race.
Qualifying won't be that complicated -- there might be a surprise or two -- but I don't believe it will be the biggest challenge of the weekend. The biggest challenge is going to be figuring out the pace and how to set your car up without burning out your brakes, using up your tires or destroying your gearbox.
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What Cheever Indy Racing has to concentrate on now is winning races. When we start winning races and stupid things stop happening, we'll be OK. ” |
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— Cheever |
I think you might see some cars running off into the distance in the first 20 laps of a full-tank run, but then going backwards because they're loose or pushing. Trying to get a balance that will last the whole race will be very exciting.
We saw that in Colorado, where there were a few teams that had run very well in Texas but were going backwards so quickly that at one point I thought there were three entries per car.
Everyone at Infiniti and Cheever Indy Racing has made a lot of progress in the drivability of our engine since we tested at Richmond in April, and I'm looking forward to going back there with an engine that has the correct torque curve in it. All we're really working on right now with the 35A is reliability. That's our main focus. Since we're pretty close to being up front when it comes to horsepower, we're looking at reliability and fuel consumption.
What Cheever Indy Racing has to concentrate on now is winning races. When we start winning races and stupid things stop happening, we'll be OK. Just two weeks ago we reached the number of miles we would have liked to have put on the 35A before we started the season. In reality, as far as testing goes, our season actually began in Colorado.
I think the Richmond race this weekend can be a turning point for us. I hope it can be. Texas was a great race for us until we got collected in the Greg Ray/Robby McGehee accident. At Colorado, even though we had a problem and lost a cylinder, we finished a pretty strong sixth, so I'm hoping that Richmond will be good. We still think we are in the hunt to finish in the top three in the championship, and we'll do everything we possibly can to make that happen.
IRL driver Eddie Cheever Jr. owns and drives the No. 51 Cheever Indy Racing Infiniti car. He will be providing a diary to ESPN.com throughout the season. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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