Guest Columnist — Tony Renna: 7th-place finish made for a satisfying day

Tuesday, May 27, 2003 | 9:53 a.m.

This is the final of four columns by Las Vegas resident Tony Renna, a rookie in Sunday's Indianapolis 500. Renna drove a steady race to finish seventh in the Cure Autism Now/HomeMed Pharmacies Dallara/Toyota. He was the second-highest finishing rookie, two positions behind Tora Takagi.

Like everybody, your goal is to come here and try to win the race, but now I've gotten a full race under my belt and I came away with a solid seventh-place finish. That's very satisfying.

I have no question I can race with anyone out there. We had good power from Toyota; I wouldn't want to be anywhere else right now. We might have been able to develop our race setup just a bit more, but lack of power wasn't our problem.

We stumbled a little bit on our restart gears. I think (teammate) Scott (Sharp) and I were geared the same and that hurt us a little bit on the restarts. I think we had the car to do it. I think our race pace was good. We just fell a little behind on the restarts, and that hurt.

The car was really good. This was the highest finish for Kelley Racing at the Speedway, and I was proud and happy I was able to be the one to do it.

I really wasn't surprised that we were able to stay close to the leaders all day. I kind of knew I had a shot going into the race. The guys have given me a good car and we had a really good month.

You have to finish the race, and a big part of it is just hanging around the top 10 and being ready. (Four-time winner) Rick Mears, in my mind, is the master of this place and I've kind of studied him a little bit. He just digs and digs and digs, and that's what I was trying to do on Sunday.

I'll take a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience away from today, especially the fact that you have to finish the race. You just race every lap, and when it gets down to 30 laps to go, it's "go" time.

Weather conditions were actually pretty good for racing. There were no real dramas out there.

Without question, we have high hopes for next year. Coming here and getting a solid top 10 right off the bat is very satisfying. It's just the whole program -- Toyota gives us such great power, Kelley Racing gives us such good support and we have the power and reliability. It's unmatched. It helps us do what we are able to do. It was good to see a Toyota win the race.

We have nothing for sure for the rest of the IRL season. Our focus is on 2004 and we're going to do everything we can to be here next year. There may be some possibilities for more racing, but I'm happy where I am here at Kelley Racing. I work for them, and I'll do some spotting for Al Unser Jr. again.

One more thing: Meeting former president George Bush was a great honor. You come here, especially today, and there are so many fantastic people and celebrities here. Meeting a man like the former president just blows your mind. It was a tremendous honor, something I'll be able to tell my kids about. This is the final of four columns by former Las Vegas resident Tony Renna, a rookie in Sunday's Indianapolis 500. Renna drove a steady race to finish seventh in the Cure Autism Now/HomeMed Pharmacies Dallara/Toyota. He was the second- highest finishing rookie, two positions behind Tora Takagi.