There’s a framed photograph of his 2000 victory at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Helio Castroneves’ house.
“I see it every day; it was taken right over here,” Castroneves says, pointing to the cramped Victory Circle at the 2.258-mile road course.
A decade later, Castroneves will be seeking another victory at the facility (he also won in 2001 - both years getting past pole sitter Gil de Ferran) in the No. 3 Team Penske car. What’s it going to take?
“Hard work, a little bit of luck and a good strategy as we see that’s what seems to happen here, and I won two races here with a good strategy,” said Castroneves, who joined teammates Ryan Briscoe and Will Power on June 30 for a day of testing. “It’s a physically demanding track. It’s much more different than ovals. Ovals you have to be smooth and move just a tiny bit. Here you have to be more aggressive and bounce around.”
Mid-Ohio has seen the best of Indy car racing over 30 years. Johnny Rutherford, who started fourth, won the inaugural race (the Red Roof Inns 150). He also was the Indianapolis 500 champion and went on to earn the PPG Indy Car World Series Drivers’ Championship.
There’s a unique footnote to Indy car racing at Mid-Ohio: Races have been won consecutively six times, including four in a row from 1991-97. Multiple winners, aside from Castroneves, include Alex Zenardi, Al Unser Jr., Emerson Fittipaldi, Michael Andretti, Bobby Rahal, Mario Andretti, Teo Fabi and Scott Dixon.
In 1990 (Sept. 16 to be precise), Michael Andretti dominated the race from the pole with his father finishing second after starting eighth. It was the first of his two consecutive victories and three pole starts (Fittipaldi won the ‘92 race) at the track. Mario won from the pole in ‘84 and ‘87.
In Indy Lights history at the track, VERSUS broadcaster Jon Beekhuis won the 1988 race; Paul Tracy, who won the Indy car race in 2003, won the 1990 race; Firestone Indy Lights team owner Bryan Herta won the 1993 race; and part-time IZOD IndyCar Series competitor Townsend Bell won the 2000 and ‘01 races.
2. Dracone’s goal to learn in fast lane: Francesco Dracone will make his IZOD IndyCar Series debut in the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio presented by Westfield Insurance this weekend ,driving the No. 34 Halkin Jet/La pasta/Conquest Racing car. Bertrand Baguette, who has 11 more IZOD IndyCar Series races under his helmet, is the Italian’s teammate.
“Francesco has a great sense of humor and he has been jelling with his engineer and the entire crew very naturally,” Bachelart said. “It’s a pleasure to have him on the team. I’m looking forward to this weekend and working closely together for his first race in the series.”
Dracone’s most recent experience was in Euroseries 3000 in 2009 (renamed Auto GP this year), where he placed seventh in the standings. That series for ‘09 switched from Formula 3000 cars to first generation A1GP cars. Names of note competing in Auto GP this season include Romain Grosjean (second in the standings), Duncan Tappy, Jonny Reid and Giorgio Pantano.
Dracone was impressive, if understandably tentative at the outset, during his road/street course test July 29 on the 2.258-mile, 13-turn Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with IZOD IndyCar Series driver coach Al Unser Jr. and series technical director Kevin Blanch monitoring the program.
“The car is big and powerful,” he said at the lunch break. “It’s completely different from what we have in Europe. You have high speed but have to deal with the weight in the corners. This racetrack also is kind of different from what we have in Europe. The pit lane is very tight and the car is big.”
Through the afternoon session, he checked off items ranging from pit stall entry to tire management - much like Adam Carroll did a month earlier on the circuit before his IZOD IndyCar Series debut at Watkins Glen International for Andretti Autosport. Both drivers will have the benefit of being somewhat familiar with the Mid-Ohio course before encountering traffic in the initial practice session.
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