Columnist Tony Renna: Car coming along as race day nears

Tony Renna

Friday, May 23, 2003 | 10:58 a.m.

Editor's note: Tony Renna, a former Las Vegas resident, is writing a column exclusively for the Las Vegas Sun as he makes his first start in the 87th running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday.

People think that because I don't show a lot of emotion, I'm not appreciative of the opportunity to race in the Indianapolis 500, and that's just not true. I try not to let the mental side of the 500 get to me.

I don't get too excited about anything, at least on the outside. Inside, in my heart, I'm over the moon. I feel like I'm ready to go. It's all about the race, babe. I think I'll sleep very well Saturday night, and I'll be dreaming all day Sunday.

The guys did a good job of getting the primary car back together (after qualifications). It's essentially a brand-new car again, and we're just making sure everything feels good.

We made a couple runs (in Thursday's Miller Lite Carburetion Day practice), then leaned on it a little to see what it was going to do. We'll make a few minor changes before the race, but I'm pretty happy where we are.

It has been a lot less draining emotionally for me this month because I'm here with Kelley Racing. It's a huge advantage to come to Indy with a well-funded team, with sponsors like Cure Autism Now and HomeMed Pharmacies.

It was a big experience for me just to come here. Things have gone really well and we have made a lot of progress. It's a very good team and Toyota has given us great engine support. My engineer, Tim Neff, has done a great job and crew chief Steve Ritenour has a really great group of guys.

This whole month has just been brilliant, and it was very rewarding, very satisfying to qualify for the race. It's something I've worked toward for a long time.

Qualifying was fantastic, but I'm clearly focused on the race because I know I have the tools to do well. We have a solid team, and the car has been so consistent all month. It's a team that can win this race.

We don't have a plan for the race because it's so hard to have a strategic plan from the outside. We just have to wait for the race to unfold and see what happens. I guess we have adopted something similar to the code of the samurai. We will be prepared for any eventuality.

We have practiced in nearly every conceivable weather and racing condition these past two weeks and we think we are prepared for anything.

I have two great teammates in Scott Sharp and Al Unser Jr., and they can be beneficial to us in a lot of ways during the race, as they have been all month. They are guys I can run with in traffic, and we can help one another if someone gets a little behind.

I just want to focus on going out there and getting my first 500 under my belt, certainly with the hope that there are many more to come. Maybe if things go our way, we can be a dark horse in this deal.