Sam Hornish Jr. has a split personality.

There is the driver who has won four of the five closest -- and perhaps most exciting -- races in Indy Racing League history, including the final two last year to win his second straight season title.

	Sam Hornish Jr. is ready to strap his helmet on and get started this weekend.

There is also the driver who often falls asleep in the cockpit during practice while waiting for his crew to make changes.

"They have to wake me up to go back out. They say I'm a totally different person,'' Hornish said. "They say it's pretty much like you have this rock star on the race track, then you have a piano player as far as the rest of life.''

The 23-year-old driver from Defiance, Ohio, is most content when zooming around a track at 200 mph in the yellow Pennzoil Panther Racing car separated by inches from other drivers in a race for the checkered flag.

"That's my release,'' he said. "That's the part of the job, the part of my life that I like the most, so that's the one that I have the most fun with. Everything else is just leading up to get into the race car.''

It's been nearly five months since the last race, when he beat Helio Castroneves by .0096 seconds -- just a few inches -- in the season finale at Texas Motor Speedway to clinch another championship.

That came just a week after Hornish beat Al Unser Jr. by .0024 seconds at Chicagoland Speedway, the closest race ever, to retake the points lead from Castroneves.

The long wait to race again is almost over for the youngest open wheel champion ever and the first two-time IRL champion. The IndyCar Series' season-opening Toyota Indy 300 is March 2 at Homestead, Fla.

So can Hornish and Pennzoil Panther Racing win a third straight IRL title? They believe they can, no matter how skeptical others may be.

"We feel like Rodney Dangerfield, absolutely no respect,'' team co-owner John Barnes said. "Everybody says it will be harder this year, not a chance to win with more CART teams coming in.

"It's definitely going to be more difficult, but don't count us out just yet. We have the best driver, great engineers, great mechanics ... a great team, a complete package.''

They've proved everyone wrong the last two years.

When Panther Racing chose Hornish over several more experienced drivers to replace veteran Scott Goodyear, many questioned the decision. But Hornish won his first two rides with the team in 2001 and went on to win the season title.

Last season, car owner Roger Penske moved his team of Indianapolis 500 winner Castroneves and two-time CART champion Gil de Ferran to the IRL. The Malboro Team Penske drivers did finish 2-3, but couldn't overtake Hornish for the season title.

Hornish won a record five times last season, recovering from an early slump with seven top-seven finishes in the last nine races. He had the points lead after the first four races before three straight finishes of 17th or worse, including another disappointing Indianapolis 500.

Now Bobby Rahal, Chip Ganassi and Michael Andretti have followed Penske by switching top-notch teams from CART to the IRL this season. Honda and Toyota have also made the move by building engines for the series.

"That puts everybody back to even again,'' Hornish said. "It will make it tough again.''

In testing this week at Homestead, Hornish had the fastest Chevrolet-powered car, but was seventh overall one day and eighth the other, more than 3 mph off the top speed both days. At the IRL's Test in the West this month, Hornish was 10th overall.

"We've had some problems early on, but are working very diligently on it,'' Barnes said. "GM has seen what it's going to take and is rising to the occasion. We feel confident.''

Hornish is in the final season of his three-year contract with Panther Racing. Barnes said the team is open to talk to Hornish at any time about extending the deal, but isn't pressuring him to do so right now.

There were some preliminary discussions last year between Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Hornish about driving in some NASCAR events. Defending Winston Cup champion Tony Stewart won the IRL's 1997 title.

"Right now, I'm very content being where I'm at,'' Hornish said. "I have a long time to go. The Indianapolis 500 was my main reason for starting to race.''

While winning his season titles, his worst finish both years was at Indianapolis. He was 14th at Indy in 2001, his only finish lower than sixth that season, and finished 25th last year after a suspension problem.