Auto Racing Capsules: Allmendinger caps big offseason with Daytona win
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — AJ Allmendinger won five races during the 2006 season in Champ Car, then walked away hoping to launch a new career in NASCAR.
He was at the top of his game when he left open-wheel, and figured he'd make a smooth and successful transition to stock cars. Instead, he suffered through a miserable five years.
Now, in what seems like a blink of an eye, it has all turned around for Allmendinger.
No driver has had a better offseason than "The 'Dinger," who landed the ride of a lifetime right before Christmas when Penske Racing picked him to fill the seat left suddenly open when the team split with former NASCAR champion Kurt Busch.
Then he opened the 2012 racing season with an impressive victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Allmendinger was the anchor for Michael Shank Racing, and used a gritty final stint — he was behind the wheel almost three hours at the end — to give longtime friend Shank his first victory in nine tries in the prestigious endurance event.
It was Allmendinger's first major racing victory since he walked away from Champ Car at the end of the 2006 season.
"It's always cool to be me," Allmendinger quipped when asked about the last five weeks.
Then he quickly turned serious.
"No, I'm just kidding. The last five years, it's actually (stunk) to be me."
It was indeed a struggle as Allmendinger went from the top of one series to the bottom of another. On paper, a deal with upstart Red Bull Racing seemed too good to pass up. The deep-pocketed team was making its entrance into NASCAR and it wanted Allmendinger to drive one of its two cars.
It was a disaster from the very beginning. Red Bull wasn't ready to race in the elite Sprint Cup Series, and even worse, it had no development plan for Allmendinger, who was brand new to stock cars. Most open-wheel drivers have been eased into NASCAR with races in either the second-tier Nationwide Series, the Truck Series, or the non-NASCAR affiliated ARCA Series.
But Allmendinger was thrown right to the wolves, and it became obvious immediately that the team and the driver were in very much above their heads.
Both Allmendinger and teammate Brian Vickers struggled to even qualify for races that season, and missing out on the events further slowed Allmendinger's development. It didn't take long for him to wonder if he'd made a huge mistake in moving to NASCAR. But the open-wheel leagues were in turmoil, and not even after the merger of Champ Car with the IndyCar Series did Allmendinger know for sure where he belonged. He called that 2007 season, "Hell. Honestly, it was the worst year of my life when it came to my career.
"There were plenty of times in my bus on Friday, (after) missing a race, it was either, 'Should I go back to IndyCar or slit my wrists?'" he said. "It sounds kind of over the top, but I knew I wanted to be in the Sprint Cup Series. That's where the best of the best was. With the two series still split, I had done what I did in Champ Car, and at the point, the IRL wasn't appealing to me. I had a great opportunity to go to the Sprint Cup Series.
"It was just a tough couple of years. The last few years have been tough."
He was eventually tossed aside at Red Bull, and landed with Richard Petty Motorsports, where he won a pole and led 232 laps over the last two years. He also became consistent, and notched 10 top-10 finishes, winding up 13th in points when the 12-driver Chase for the Sprint Cup championship field was set.
Even so, his future was unclear. Best Buy decided to pull its sponsorship from RPM, and the team didn't have the funding to field a car for Allmendinger. Then Busch split with Penske, and team owner Richard Petty suggested Allmendinger to Roger Penske for his suddenly open seat.
"When you part with a driver with the skills that Kurt has, you don't just pick up the phone book and find someone who fits into his shoes," said Penske, who was familiar with Allmendinger's work in Champ Car.
"He was a great open-wheel driver," Penske added. "He beat Will Power a couple of times, and you don't beat Will Power if you're not a pretty good shoe. We had a couple other people we were looking at, (but) knowing what we could give him and how our sponsors were very happy to have AJ, it was a whole package."
Now Allmendinger is with a team that won five races last year and put both Busch and Brad Keselowski into the Chase. He knows it's the opportunity of a lifetime, and hopes Sunday's win at Daytona is the first of many trips to Victory Lane.
"The last few years have been tough," he said. "I feel like the last two years I've at least gotten a good rhythm, and it makes me feel good to know that a guy like Roger Penske can look at my talent and say, 'You know what? He might not have a Cup win and you have (sponsor) Shell/Pennzoil that's used to winners and champions in their cars, but if we give him the right stuff he might be able to do that.'"
IndyCar
Barrichello has no plans beyond two-day test
Formula One driver Rubens Barrichello drove an IndyCar for the first time on Monday. Whether it leads to a ride in the open-wheel series remains to be seen.
Barrichello tested Sebring International Raceway on Monday with KV Racing Technology. The two-day test was organized by fellow Brazilian driver Tony Kanaan, who is so close to Barrichello, the two refer to each other as brothers.
"I've come in as an invitation from my brother, Tony, and I am enjoying this time with him at the track and with a new car," Barrichello, who is godfather to Kanaan's son, told The Associated Press in a phone interview from the Florida race track.
"But right now, I am here purely to help the team out and to enjoy myself. I just have no idea right now what this could lead to, if anything."
Barrichello has no seat lined up at this time for 2012 in any series. He split with Williams earlier this month when the F1 team gave Barrichello's seat to Bruno Senna. But Barrichello is not ready to walk away from racing just yet.
"I have been a racer for too long to just give it all away right now," he said. "I have a lot of speed in myself. I know that and I want to continue to race."
The 39-year-old Barrichello, who made his F1 debut with Jordan in 1993, has spent 19 seasons racing at the top level. He is one of the most-liked drivers in F1, and has competed in more races in that series than any other driver. He finished second in the drivers' standings in 2002 and 2004, both times with Ferrari behind seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher.
Should Barrichello decide he wants to run in the Izod IndyCar Series, the logical fit is with Kanaan at KVR. The team last year fielded cars for Kanaan, E.J. Viso and Takuma Sato. Kanaan finished a team-best fifth in the final series standings.
Kanaan said he talked a little over the winter with Barrichello about coming to IndyCar, and tried to lure him after the Williams announcement by posting a photo of the DW12 on Twitter. Kanaan, who is godfather to one of Barrichello's sons, took Barrichello to dinner in Sebring with fellow IndyCar drivers Helio Castroneves, Will Power and Oriol Servia.
"It's great to have a guy I can call a brother with us. (His future) is in his hands," Kanaan said. "Right now, it's just an invitation for him to help us out as far as his feedback. Nineteen years in Formula One, the guy has so much knowledge we need to take advantage of. What goes beyond that, it's up to him.
"Knowing Rubens, his timeline will be pretty short. By the time he gets out of the car (Tuesday), he'll have a pretty good idea what he wants to do. You can tell by his face he's having a lot of fun."
But there are issues to be addressed, most importantly an oft-repeated theory that Barrichello has a standing promise with his wife not to race on ovals. Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon was killed in the Oct. 16 IndyCar season finale racing on the oval at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The current 2012 IndyCar schedule has four ovals on it: Indianapolis, Texas, Iowa and California.
Las Vegas was dropped as the series investigates the compatibility of the new car with high-banked ovals. A fifth oval race — likely at Milwaukee — could be added as IndyCar officials seek a 16th race for this year's schedule.
Barrichello didn't discuss the oval issue in much detail.
"It is something to talk about," he said, "but it is not an issue I'd call a 'concern.'"
He also said he was enjoying getting to know the new IndyCar, which will debut this season. Barrichello ran roughly 150 miles on Monday, and will be back at the track Tuesday.
"It's a different car, it's a different beast, but it is a beast," he said "It has good power, though, and I am enjoying driving it."
Barrichello is wildly popular in Brazil, and IndyCar has raced there since 2010. The 2012 event is scheduled for April 29 in Sao Paulo. So even if Barrichello did a one-off and ran only the Brazil event, his participation would be a huge boost to a series trying to regain the momentum it had before Wheldon's accident.
Just agreeing to test with Kanaan had piqued interest around the world, and Barrichello's name buzzed around the Rolex 24 at Daytona endurance race all weekend as drivers wondered if the Brazilian will end up in IndyCar.
IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard seemed hopeful, rattling off Barrichello's career statistics as argument why he'd be good for the series.
"He's a champion, a driver who would be a tremendous addition to our series. IndyCar would love to have him," Bernard said. "His record alone is the type of excitement that we want to build within the series and give our fan base.
''When you look at the history of IndyCar and the greats such as Nigel Mansell and Emerson Fittipaldi, it only helps the stature of IndyCar. If there is a transition, I want him to know that we're here to help him."
-- Jenna Fryer
