Youthful open-wheel ace ticketed for stardom

Dick Brinster

Thursday, July 20, 2000 | 11:04 a.m.

LONG POND, Pa. - Ryan Newman knows being Roger Penske's latest protege is an opportunity few young racers could hope for.

And the 22-year-old open-wheel driver realizes he'll have to become a star just to avoid being considered a failure for an owner whose cars have been driven by the Unsers, Emerson Fittipaldi, Rick Mears, Danny Sullivan and Rusty Wallace. But he isn't worried.

"I don't feel pressure," Newman said. "I just consider it a privilege to drive for somebody like Roger Penske.

"I want to make the most of it. I don't want to destroy that opportunity."

Driving for perhaps the greatest living car owner in auto racing could result in a ride soon in NASCAR - Newman's ultimate goal.

But just how long should it take Newman to prove Penske's latest talent evaluation is as astute as those of the past? Try Saturday, in the Pocono ARCA race, when he drives in a full-bodied stock car race for just the second time in his life.

"Oh, he's going to win," said Don Miller, president of Penske Racing South, the team that fields Winston Cup cars for 50-time winner and 1989 series champion Wallace.

Ordinarily, predicting a victory in the ARCA series, where big budgets have been a rarity for nearly a half-century, wouldn't be much of a reach. But that has changed dramatically this season with Shawna Robinson receiving heavy backing from Penske partner Michael Kranefuss, and with Dale Earnhardt fielding a car for son Kerry, who won last month at Pocono International Raceway.

In Newman's first ARCA race, he qualified on the front row last month at Michigan Speedway, but dropped a cylinder and wound up seventh. Still, it was the next step in the progression of the driver from South Bend, Ind., who last year won the championship in the Silver Bullet series, the top division for those rising through the ranks of USAC midgets and sprint cars.

His manager, Ben Dillon was once part owner of a car in CART - where Penske has had his greatest success with championships and Indianapolis 500 victories. He promoted Newman to Penske and was immediately impressed with him, deciding to start a five-race ARCA deal.

"What attracted us was that he was a young man in his early 20s and he would be finishing up with an engineering degree from Purdue, so technically he had to be a pretty savvy kid," Penske said. "The fact that he won 50 races and the championship gave us certainly the understanding that he knew how to win."

But driving a small, open-wheel car weighing about a half-ton is not as simple as handling a stock car weighing nearly two tons. The difference between circling quarter- and half-mile tracks at 100 mph and going twice as fast on layouts measuring 2 miles or more is striking.

So Penske decided Newman needed a tutor. That's where Hall of Famer Buddy Baker came in.

Few have run better on NASCAR's huge tracks. Baker still holds the record for the fastest Daytona 500, averaging 177.602 mph in 1980. Last winter, a decade after his retirement, the 58-year-old Baker subbed for Wallace during testing at Talladega Superspeedway and posted the fastest time.

"You can't buy for any price what Buddy Baker brings to the table," Newman said. "He's so uplifting and fun to be around.

"He helps not by telling me how to drive the car, but by giving me confidence. He can watch and see what the car's doing, and then explain to me exactly why something happened."

Baker, who aside from testing with Newman at places like Daytona, Talladega, Michigan and Pocono is a TV racing commentator, is very excited about his pupil.

"He's a sponge," said Baker, who came aboard in May. "He absorbs everything you tell him."

If all goes well, Penske sees a bright future for Newman. There could be more ARCA races, a season in the Busch Series and perhaps a few Winston Cup races.

Newman likes to hear that, and hopes to thrive on a rare opportunity for a young racer to worry about nothing but driving.

"One thing that's neat is having a team, having somebody else work on the car," he said. "This is first time I haven't had a wrench in my hand."