It’s easy to get down on the season we had, especially with the way it ended in Homestead, but it’s over with and we can’t go back. So that leaves us with having to find the good and learn from where we’ve been.
We didn’t win races, but out of 17 starts we had 11 top-10 finishes. We finished eighth in the points - still inside the top 10. It wasn’t a great season, but made we progress throughout the year.
It was a frustrating season, for sure, and it was a strange feeling. People would congratulate us for a sixth-place finish. We got pats on the back for mediocre results, and the team was working so hard for it. There’s no getting used to bad luck and low results. And, for us, it was twice as frustrating because we used to be able to compete with Penske and Ganassi - and not just that - we were able to beat them not that long ago. I think we just have to stick to it and keep some faith that we’ll come back from whatever low point we’ve fallen into. We might be down, but we’re not out.
I don’t know how to do it though. I don’t know what we need to make that jump back to the top. This season, guys like Scott Dixon and Ryan Briscoe were in a race of their own most weekends. We were lucky if more than three cars finished on the lead lap. The league helped by changing some aero options and the push-to-pass helped with overtaking, but there’s still such a big gap from the front of the field to the back. How do we fix that? Again, I don’t know the answer. I’m not sure many people really do. All I can do is keep working hard with my team and my engineers, and hopefully things will turn around next season.
A lot of good things are happening at AGR. I have great hopes for 2010. By now, everyone knows about the changes coming at the team and we’re all really positive about things. I think Kim Green and Kevin Savoree are going to continue putting on great events, and dad can be focused on the team and what we need to be on top again. It’s really the best option for everyone involved.
I can’t be 100 percent certain what the future holds for me, but I’ve said before that in IndyCar right now there’s nowhere else I’d rather be than with this team. But it takes more than just me. Of course, the biggest step is funding to run the car. We hope to have that taken care of soon, so with funding out of the way we can really focus on making the car better. On top of that I have a great crew. I think we have all the right pieces, we just have to get them to fall together in the right way, and that’s what we’ll be working on all winter.
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