Thursday, July 27, 2000 | 8:58 a.m.
CICERO, Ill. - Putting aside his driving helmet hasn't been easy for Chris Simmons.
After three years in an Indy Lights car with enough talent to be competitive but not quite enough to win, Simmons decided to follow his other passion: engineering.
Happily for the 27-year-old Simmons, a difficult decision has been a big plus for him and younger brother Jeff.
The siblings from Hartford, Conn., are with Barry Green's Indy Lights program. Chris - who once drove for the team - is the engineer on his 23-year-old brother's car.
Jeff has shown extraordinary talent, winning both rookie of the year and the championship in the 1998 Barber-Dodge Series. He repeated as champ last year.
In his first five races since moving into the steppingstone Lights series, Jeff has four top-five finishes, including a third on the road course in Portland, Ore. He is seventh in the standings heading into Saturday's race at Chicago Motor Speedway.
Even though Chris was still racing while Jeff was in Barber-Dodge, he spent considerable time working on his brother's cars. Now, Chris is doing it full time, and Jeff has mixed emotions.
"I'm glad that he did it from my standpoint because he's an excellent engineer, and I don't think I could find a better one," Jeff said. "But I'd be really happy if he was still driving and he was in CART."
Chris, who has a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, seems unaffected by the biggest change in his life.
"The team I was driving for decided not to run any more because it didn't have the funding and it left me hanging without a ride," he said. "I ended up engineering Jeff's car for all the Barber-Dodge races last year.
"Then, when he got the ride here, he and Barry said they'd let me engineer for Jeff again. I didn't have any drives going, so ... "
Actually, the change isn't so strange because Chris has been building his own engines and modifying cars since he was driving quarter midgets at 10 years old.
"I'd always been so involved in the engineering side. After three years in Indy Lights, I felt that was enough and I was ready to move on," he said. "Then I got the opportunity to engineer Jeff.
"It's not like, 'Oh, I should be in that car, not him.' I feel like I've had my shot and that I should move on, driving-wise. It's good working with Jeff. I know I have a good driver and I'm definitely with a good team."
Is he envious of the competitors he drove against who have moved up to the CART series?
"The guys that got their shot ahead of me had definitely performed better," Chris said. "I don't feel like they were better drivers. They were put into a better situation and took advantage of it.
"But I don't think without winning a race that there were any CART teams that were going to put me in a Champ car."
Green, who also fields a Lights car for Johnny Kane and Champ cars for Paul Tracy and Dario Franchitti, says Chris was impressive as a driver.
"But now he's committed to us as an engineer and I must say he's worked hard for us, Green said. "He understands what the driver is going through and what the driver is trying to tell the engineer because he's been there and gone through it."
Green watched Jeff develop because of a relationship with Chris when he drove for Team Kool Green, and he saw considerable potential.
"I think Indy Lights is probably a little more competitive today than when Chris was driving," Green said. "But, apart from one or two small mistakes so far, Jeff has done a very good job and had some very good finishes."
If Jeff does eventually move up to CART, will his brother be going, too?
"You always want to move up, whether you're in a sport or in business," Chris said. "I don't feel I'm ready to move up to CART as an engineer yet. There are just so many more variables when you get to Champ car.
"I'd like to do this for at least another year, then I'd probably move up as an assistant engineer to start. Maybe Jeff and I will both get the chance at the same time."
But Chris admits he isn't quite ready to give up his dream of making it to the top as a driver.
"I'm not actively seeking anything," he said. "But if I got the chance with the proper team I'd look at driving again."
archive
