Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Winning IRL title doubles Andretti’s fun

Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2004 | 10:16 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

After spending 19 years in the cockpit of an open-wheel racecar, Michael Andretti finally is discovering that auto racing can be fun.

Retired from driving for 16 months, Andretti heads the four-car Andretti Green Racing team in the Indy Racing League with partners Kim Green and Kevin Savoree. In just its second year of operation, AGR earned its first championship with driver Tony Kanaan, who clinched the IRL IndyCar Series title Sunday at California Speedway.

Andretti, 42, said he began enjoying racing the day he stepped out of the car following last year's Indianapolis 500.

"I was just sick of the pressure, being under the pressure all the time," Andretti said of his driving career. "My whole life was always like that; I could never have fun.

"You know, now when I don't have to be training every day, I don't have to be on top of my game and all that, I just feel like I'm way more relaxed than I used to be when I drove. Now I'm actually having fun. I can't say that I actually had fun when I was driving, and now I finally am."

Winning championships can do that for a car owner. Andretti, who left the rival Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) following the 2002 season to become an owner/driver in the IRL, contended for the championship right away. Kanaan was in contention for the title last year until the final race of the season before finishing fourth.

This year, Kanaan did not fall short. He has three victories going into next weekend's season finale at Texas Motor Speedway and has finished out of the top five only once in 15 starts. He clinched the 2004 IRL championship with a second-place finish -- his fifth of the season -- in Fontana.

That Andretti Green Racing already has a championship in only its second year in existence isn't a complete surprise to Andretti.

"I think last year, the way we came out of the blocks, I think it surprised us a little bit," Andretti said. "But after coming out of the blocks like that, we felt like we had a lot of momentum going into this year that we were definitely thinking championship because we almost did win last year with Tony.

"You know, we put this team together to win -- that's why we're out there. Did it surprise us as a team that we did it as quick as we did? Probably. But then again, not. If you look at our team and the people we have ... it shouldn't be a surprise because we have a lot of great people on this team."

AGR also fields cars for Dario Franchitti, Dan Wheldon and Bryan Herta. Wheldon is second in points, Franchitti sixth and Herta eighth.

Andretti, who won the 1991 CART championship while driving for Newman/Haas Racing, said winning the title as a team owner brought him a different sense of satisfaction.

"(I'm) just so happy for everybody on this team," Andretti said. "Start with Tony, here is a guy that's gone through a lot of hard luck but in my mind was always a champion, and now he finally proved it. Then everybody within the whole team. If you look at his teammates, how happy they were for him, it was so genuine. It makes you feel really, really good."

BULLRING RESULTS: Troy Regier of Dinuba, Calif., defeated A.J. Russell by 1.5 seconds in a 40-lap Supermodified Racing League main event Saturday night at the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and clinched the 2004 SRL season championship.

Regier led the final 17 laps en route to his 50th career victory and established a track record in the process. Regier turned a lap at 12.499 seconds during the race to better his own track record, set in qualifying, of 12.732 seconds.

A.J. Russell took second, Jeff Russell was third, Bobby Dalton came in fourth and Tom Adler rounded out the top five.