New cars, same idea at Indy

Roberto Guerrero

Thursday, May 8, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

INDIANAPOLIS -- It's hard to believe May is already here and I am getting ready for my 13th Indianapolis 500.

It's funny, because it doesn't seem that long ago that I was a rookie at Indy, and now I'm one of the most experienced drivers at the Speedway. I'm still amazed at the crowds and all the tradition, but I'm here to do a job, and that's winning the Indianapolis 500.

Preparing for Indy is like preparing for no other race. We are here for almost a month, practicing, making appearances and meeting the fans.

Normally, we arrive at race tracks on Thursday, practice Friday, qualify Saturday and race on Sunday. But at Indy, the schedule is much longer. Here, you practice for a week and then, hopefully, you qualify on Saturday.

Then you practice for another week to work on your race set-up. Then you get a few days off before Carburetion Day, the final practice, take a couple more days off to prepare mentally for the race, and then it's showtime.

The key for me during May is just to stay focused and remember that I have the whole month to get the car just right. With that much time, a team can go out and practice so much that it gets confused.

A team basically goes through cycles where it hits a peak and then find itself confused again. The ups and downs at Indianapolis are unbelievable. You just have to remember that as bad as one day can be, the next can be equally as good and, hopefully, even better.

Everyone has been talking so much about our new Indy Racing League cars. This year, the chassis and the engine are brand new. The chassis look like our old ones, but produce a lot less downforce. The engines no longer have a turbocharger and therefore generate a lot less horsepower.

The combination is less expensive than before and has slowed the cars down to make our races safer and more competitive. It's all part of the new IRL series, which is designed to give more teams a chance to compete at places like Indianapolis. I really like the concept.

Yes, we have less power, but like I said, we also have less downforce, so it really is the same. We still have to find that fine line where you have as little downforce as you can, and can still control the car in the corners.

If the car is easy to drive, you are running too much downforce and are not getting all the potential speed out of the car. At the same time, if you try to take all the downforce you can out of the car to get maximum straightaway speed, you wouldn't be able to hold it in the corners. And that is no different than in the past.

Indy's a challenge for a lot of reasons, but the biggest challenge can be the mental game you have to play. It's been that way every year I've been here, and I figure this year will be no different.

Is it worth it for the chance to be known as an Indy 500 champion? You bet it is.