Q: Stanton is a rookie in the IndyCar Series and will be making his Indianapolis 500 debut. However, he’s a veteran of almost 200 starts in NASCAR between the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series.
Stanton, let’s talk about the transition to the IndyCar Series so far. Tell us about how things have been going and what are some of the biggest adjustments you’ve had to make?
STANTON BARRETT: Things are a little bit trying. We’re just having to work extremely hard to get to the track each week. The economy hasn’t been that great. Some of our sponsors that we had signed up last year and potentials kind of fell by the wayside. Supporters we have have been very supportive, but it’s been difficult to get to the track. We haven’t got to test this year, except for Homestead. You know, all things considered, I’m pretty happy with what we’re doing. It would be nice to have a second car to help us with data and just get more information a little bit more quickly so we can get closer to the curve.
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I’m pleased with everybody’s performance. We’re a new team with regards to running full-time, some of these tracks, this new style of cars is new to both Owen (Snyder III) and Greg (Beck), people on the race team as far as a lot of information. We’re growing and building together. We have long-term goals and we’re keeping that in perspective. I’m a flat-out rookie when it comes to open-wheel racing. I’m learning a lot, also being cautious about how we approach it so we can maintain a positive learning experience and growth and achieving our goals to get through the year.
Q: Last weekend at Kansas was the first oval race of the season. You stayed out there 181 of the 200 laps. Did you come away feeling pretty good about the experience at Kansas?
STANTON BARRETT: For the most part. You know, there’s a lot of things we just need a little bit more depth and information. I think we could have got our car really strong. We had a little bit of problem with the telemetry in qualifying. It affected the ability to back up our time in practice or improve it, which is not a big deal. We had a little bit better car than that. We made our way through passed some cars in the beginning, until the first caution. We made a tire change. I don’t know what happened, but it went to junk. We had to come in and change it again. From that point we ran okay. I wasn’t real happy with it completely, but at times there were moments where we had some promise. Like I said, it’s a learning experience. A lot of these tracks we haven’t been to as far as from a team standpoint. It’s difficult. We made maybe not some mistakes but not the right corrections from a gearing standpoint with how windy it was. I think it affected some of our speed and our gearing.
You know, all in all, we made progress. It’s something that we can take and learn from going into Indy and other ovals. I was really enjoying the road courses. At Long Beach we got up to pace in the race. Looking forward to coming back to there to run the road courses and street courses more than the ovals, to be honest with you.
Q: You’ve had the chance to come to Indianapolis as a spectator several times. What does it mean to you now to get the opportunity to compete in the Indianapolis 500?
STANTON BARRETT: It would be unbelievable. It’s something I always wanted to do, to be able to be in the Indy 500. Right now we have a lot to do. Like I said, we’re a small team, limited funding. We’re working on some really good sponsors to help make that endeavor a little more possible and easy in the month of May. So looking forward to see if that comes to fruition.
For the meantime, we have to make the race first to be able to have the pleasure and opportunity to be able to race the race. That’s going to be kind of back in the days, I feel like the days of NASCAR for me, where each race was all or nothing. There’s a lot on the line. I have no experience there in an open-wheel car. There’s a lot of differences from what I’ve tried to learn and gather from people. I got to go out and do my job and the team has to do their job and we need to work as hard as possible, and hopefully we’ll be able to live that dream and be in the Indy 500.
Q: Between some of your fellow drivers, team owner Greg Beck, who has been at Indy many times, what are people telling you about Indianapolis, whether it be the track itself, how you manage the track time in the whole month of May? What are those folks telling you about Indy?
STANTON BARRETT: Well, everybody says Indy’s a whole different animal. I can see how that could be. I’ve watched it a long time. I’ve been on there in a stock car. I have a little bit of understanding probably what they’re talking about.
Again, you can’t have a complete understanding. I don’t know if you sympathize with it or what you want to call it until you’ve sat in the car and gone around the track at speed and understand all the variables, the needs, everything you need to do and do properly. It’s probably going to be a little bit overwhelming, but hopefully I can use the 20 years of racing experience to my advantage in some form to be able to pick that up more quickly. I know the team will be better off at Indy than we have at the last three races because they do have a lot of experience at Indy, and Greg has been there several times with the new car. They can make a driver’s job so much easier. I’m looking forward to hopefully their experience there will make my job easier and we can have an enjoyable month of May.
Q: Any goals in particular set at this point before practice even starts?
STANTON BARRETT: You know, for myself, it’s just going in with the right attitude and learning as much as I can, absorbing like a sponge from the other drivers as much as I can comprehend until I get on the track. When I get on the track, do the same. Hopefully our goal is to stay out of trouble and not make any mistakes and also have the speed we need to make the race. Our goal is to be in the Indy 500. We can’t gain experience with these cars, nor myself as a rookie, to get better in these cars, unless I’m on the racetrack running every lap. We didn’t do that at Kansas. We actually ended up getting pretty tight with the wind conditions and pushed up into the wall and kind of bent a rear suspension piece. All in all, we almost competed all the laps of all the first three races, and we need to do that for the 500 and build on that for the rest of the season.
So, you know, we have a lot to deal with both from a team aspect and from a driving standpoint.
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Q. You talked about being in a stock car. Is there anything you can take from that to rookie orientation next week?
STANTON BARRETT: Probably not, other than understanding the surface and the banking and the turns and how long the straightaways are. Other than that, probably not.
Q. From the standpoint of running 181 laps at Kansas, obviously you got a feel for an oval. There’s a distinct difference in that type of an oval and what you’re going to be looking at in rookie orientation. Have you had a chance to talk with some of the driving coaches in the IRL, Mears, Al Unser, Johnny Rutherford, people like that, that can offer you a wealth of information?
STANTON BARRETT: I’ve gone to different drivers. Roberto Moreno has been around. He’s been helping at St. Pete. We went to the test, Barber, really watched and studied everybody. Al Unser Jr. has been there every race. He’s been very helpful both in understanding from a driving standpoint, because he’s been in a stock car, he’s been in IndyCars, to understand how to communicate that properly, and also every detail of the track, kind of even from a setup standpoint. Both those guys I mentioned have been helpful to both our crew and to me to communicate to them maybe what I’m feeling and probably things that we need to change. I’m really savvy with changes and setup stuff with NASCAR. I have no idea, and I’m learning, some things apply and are applicable, but it’s a bit of a different animal. Like I say, some of that experience can transfer over. I’m getting to be a little bit more useful to my team to give them the information they need from the setup standpoint.
I go to everybody I can. I’ve talked to Dan Wheldon, A.J. (Foyt), E.J. Viso has been helping, riding around the track with me. Dario (Franchitti), different guys have been very open. There’s only been a few that don’t seem very personable. I’ve really enjoyed other drivers and really respect what the heck they do over there.
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