Charmed life? Maybe. Witty funster? Absolutely. Read below for Mr. Points Champion's incredible flavah.
pressdog: Dude, I checked out the bio and you're a super brain. 4.12 high school GPA, National Merit Scholar accepted to MIT. Do you have to wear an extra huge helmet to hold that enormous brain?
JR: Really? Come on now. I always worked hard in school, but got some good breaks and chose my classes wisely, too. I'd honestly say that, while I did have good credentials, my acceptance to MIT was as much because I was a racing driver who was still getting high scores and taking relatively hard classes than that I was academically outstanding, but it's certainly a high point on my resume!
pressdog: Did you have to labor mightily for the grades in math/science, or are you one of those annoying people where it just came easily?
JR: Well, I think that's all a little relative, my friend. I was not that annoying kid with frizzy hair and busted glasses that knew the first thousand prime numbers, fifty digits of pi, and 37 times 61 off the top of his head, no. I was never particularly good at quick math either - times tables, that sort of thing. But I did generally find math and science to be fairly interesting and straightforward because I was a good problem solver. I wasn't always the fastest at figuring things out, but when it came to new concepts or complex problems I was usually pretty good at making sense of them.
pressdog: Does the whole math/science aptitude help you in any way on the track?
JR: I think it's hard to say whether or not it has a direct effect on what I do on the track, but I think that the analytical process is very important in racing, both in and out of the car, so I'd say that it relates in a broad sense to a lot of things that I do. I definitely look at things with a sort of math-y outlook, trying to consider variables and looking at things as a variety of processes all put together, but I think for every time that I do that there is a time that you have to just roll the dice and let 'er rip. So it goes both ways.
JR: Yes. Rick Mears is legendary. For a driver, I think the most impressive thing about talking to him is that he will give you real advice about driving the car. He doesn't say things that you're supposed to hear necessarily, he just tells you what he thinks.
He didn't win at Indy four times because he got lucky, he won at Indy four times by being smart and smooth and committed. It's been great to have the chance to talk to him here and there this year.
pressdog: You won on your first oval EVER (Kansas 2008). Did that surprise you? Were you all like "these oval's aren't that tough"?
JR: Well, it was actually my SECOND oval race, because we started the season at Homestead that year, but our car didn't start in qualifying so I had to start last for that one. I was surprised that we won at Kansas, but more because I knew that there were several cars at the front with proven speed, and I felt like we were sort of the underdog. We had worked a lot on our race setup that weekend and knew that we had a really fast car, so once the race got started, I just sort of took it one step at a time.
The ovals can be really tough in our cars at some tracks because its a little bit like restrictor-plate racing in that no matter how good the car is, you just can't keep the other guys from eventually drafting past you, but it really depends on the situation. There's a lot more strategy involved, so while I didn't find it easy, I felt like that played in my favor in some ways.
pressdog: What do you like most about oval racing?
JR: The thing I like most about oval racing is just that, the racing. The draft adds an entirely different element to driving the car that you don't really get anywhere else, and it changes everything. It creates all new variables and challenges in regards to the handling of the car and where it will work on the track. It adds an element of timing and foresight that isn't really present in road-course racing, so I've found the racing to be quite fun.
pressdog: What do you like most about road/street racing?
JR: I think the thing that I like most about road and street course racing is just the sheer intensity of it. Qualifying is extremely important for us, and getting that last bit of lap time out of the car is often difficult to do, requiring a heightened amount of focus and aggression without overdoing it. The same can be true for the races even.
Being sprint races as they are, I can recall a few races this year that I was basically qualifying every lap in order to go as fast as I needed to, driving at the limit of the car's adhesion to the road from start to finish. I guess in some way, it's the sense of risk that makes it exciting, because the results can potentially be fantastic or catastrophic depending on how much you're willing to lay on the line.
JR: I mean, I'd say that there are a lot of American guys that have the talent to make a difference at a high level and some are already doing that, but I'm honored to carry the flag in a sense.
The whole Captain America bit got started when I did the A1GP race at Brands Hatch earlier this year because the suit I wore was the goofy American flag suit, and it was sort of hard to avoid there being a nickname associated with it, so I'm glad it wasn't something more inappropriate! It's great to be an American driving in open-wheel, I hope that I can get a good ride for next year and continue the success that we had this year.
pressdog: And do the cape and shield get in the way during the actual race? (Watch out for getting the cape sucked into the intake! That's what got Syndrome in the Incredibles!)
JR: I just do the NASCAR thing and tuck them into my suit before I head out on track, that usually keeps them from getting in the way. Although I have to say that the boys at the shop are getting pretty frustrated trying to find more ways to shave off the excess weight that the stupid shield accounts for.
pressdog: How did you actually land your ride with AFS Racing/Andretti Green Racing?
JR: I had known a few people with the team for a few years, since my FF2000 days, so I had always kept in touch. After the 2008 season was over, I also got to know Gary Peterson with AFS, so it sort of just snowballed into a great opportunity for me. I knew at season's end that it would be the right place to be if I could make it happen, and that undoubtedly proved to be true this year.
pressdog: What's the biggest obstacle for FIL drivers moving up to IndyCar?
JR: It rhymes with "funny" and "honey", can be represented in a single character by pressing "Shift-4" on your keyboard, and is the name of Track Six on Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon album. Money. When it comes down to it, whether it's eventually up to the driver or the team, it has to come from somewhere. It's not an obstacle that can't be overcome, and I'm certainly working hard to make that happen, but if you have to pick one thing, I think that's probably it.
pressdog: Do you watch the F1 races? Are you like many drivers and would give up a finger/toe if that meant getting to drive for an F1 team?
JR: I always catch the F1 races, I think breaking into Formula One is something that most open-wheel drivers aspire to. There seems to be a slight stigma against Americans racing in Formula One, so it would be important to be prepared and committed to doing it right if given the chance, but it’s certainly not something I would pass up! My focus right now is entirely on getting myself in an IndyCar, but, along with a number of other guys I’m sure, if there seemed to be a way to drive in F1 without it just being a publicity stunt of sorts, I might weigh my options.
pressdog: What advice do you have for those karters out there who want to be in the FIL or IndyCar series some day.
JR: I guess my advice would be to come up with a plan to get into a racecar. There are a lot of programs and shootouts these days that give young guys and girls the chance to move from karts to cars, and that’s probably the most important step. If you’ve got the financial means to support it, a couple years driving in a school series or lower level formula versus staying in go-karts goes a long way toward getting the ball rolling and understanding what driving a racecar is all about.
After that you really just have to be smart about the series that you choose and the money you spend. I’d also note that there’s rarely anything wrong with driving for a good team or having fast teammates, though it can be daunting at first sometimes.
pressdog: You've said you were into cars as a kid but only started racing at age 14. Did you just decide one day to head to the go-kart track or how did you actually get started?
JR: As odd as that sounds, that isn’t all that far from the truth! I had been fanatical about cars and racing from before I can remember - I still have hundreds of Hot Wheels cars from when I was a kid, and was at Sears Point or Laguna Seca with my dad for any big race for years. I had driven go karts a couple of times and had been quite fast while enjoying it very much, but not until they opened the kart track at Infineon Raceway did my family or I ever really take it seriously.
After the track opened, I took one of their first classes and, with the encouragement of the instructors, decided to give it a shot. I was pretty heavily involved in school and also played baseball quite competitively, so until then there just wasn’t really a place close enough to my family and I to think too seriously about getting started in karting. Once that opportunity presented itself, however, there was really no excuse to just sit around and think about it, so off I went!
pressdog: What element of racing do you think random fans constantly under estimate or have misconceptions about?
JR: Well, this will sound like a very driver-specific thing to say, but I think that the casual observer generally underestimates how big of an effect the team and the setup of the racecar has on how fast a driver can go at times. Although racing seems to be sort of an individual’s sport because there’s only one guy driving the car, it really is a team effort from a lot of different angles, and there are a lot of people behind the scenes that probably don’t get enough recognition.
The engineers and mechanics can be just as influential in a win or a pole sometimes as the driver is. By the same token, I think it is also generally underestimated how important the driver’s feedback about the car is. It’s quite easy to lead the whole team astray by giving either inaccurate or confusing feedback. It’s hard enough to get it right when everyone’s on the same page sometimes, so it’s even harder when there’s some breakdown in communication.
pressdog: Any ideas on how the league can increase the popularity of the FIL? (Someone already suggested strippers, so other than that.)
JR: Bummer, that’s what I was going to say! I don’t know about popularity, certainly exposure… That’s a pretty tough question. Maybe when they come out with the new car they could make them so that we could press a button on the wheel and drop an oil slick or tacks onto the track, or give some of the cars a cloaking mechanism, or have ejection seats or something. And they could randomly pass out the ejection buttons for other cars! I would tune it to that without a doubt!
Seriously though, I think the popularity of Indy Lights relies somewhat on the popularity of IndyCar, and also on the success of the guys that go from FIL to ICS. Hopefully I’ll be able to help out in that department in the future.
pressdog: What's the deal with raising sponsorship cash? Have you had to scrounge for the sponsor dollars much? What do you think of the whole sponsor-seeking/sponsor relations element of the sport?
JR: Convincing anyone to spend money on something that is somewhat intangible in terms of the return on an investment is going to be hard I think. The platform for sponsorship in the IndyCar Series is good, the same is true for Indy Lights, but it’s often unknown territory for big companies to get involved in, and isn’t just chump change. I’ve been pretty successful at raising money thus far, but I also haven’t had to come up with millions of dollars, so that’s a different challenge. It’s an unavoidable part of the sport, so I think as a driver you have to accept that it is the determining factor sometimes.
I, personally, sort of enjoy entertaining sponsors, meeting and talking to new people, and trying to understand how I might be able to help them through what I do. There are a lot of ways to activate sponsorships so that they make sense, but it takes a lot of convincing to get to the point that you get the chance to show that.
pressdog: What leisure time stuff do you like to do that has no remote connection to racing?
JR: I’ve always played sports, so I spend a lot of my spare time staying as active as possible. Having grown up in the Marin County area of Northern California, I’m a long-time mountain biker (although I’ve had to try to stay away from the dirt jumps over the last few years), but enjoy running, playing pick-up basketball games here and there, that sort of thing. Last week I was in Colorado and ran for a little while on the Continental Divide Trail up at around 12,000 ft which was pretty cool.
I also have this ’95 Trans Am that I had shipped to Indy from California which is a constant project, and is currently not running. I blew the stock motor up a few years ago, so it’s got a small block 396 now with pretty good stuff all around, but the electronics are a nightmare! I get a lot of flak about it, but man, if it’s running, you better pray I don’t pull up next to you at a stop light…
pressdog: When you were 10, what did you want to be when you grew up?
JR: Arni? Absolutely! A champion of champions in my book, without a doubt. He has a signed hero card from me telling him that he is, in fact, MY hero. Just to prove it.
Word to Arni for arranging this fab Q&A, and to Captain American for coming up big in his answers. pressdog.com reading enhanced! Check out New Star JR's site HERE.
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