Veach Chooses Open Wheels over Tractor Tires

What do Sarah Fisher’s dad, a national champion truck and tractor puller and Michael Andretti all have in common?

A kid name Ziggy.

They’ve all played a big role in the development of Zach “Ziggy” Veach, a 16-year-old USF2000 driver for Andretti Autosport.

Veach said the story starts with the national champion truck and tractor puller, his father Roger Veach. Zach grew up accompanying his father on his tractor pulling rounds. These weren’t your grandpa’s John Deeres, however. Roger Veach competed in a two-wheel drive truck in the land of super-modified, blown-Hemi, 5,000-horse-power earth-shakers that combine the thunder of a drag racer with the pulling power of a bulldozer.

“I kept asking him ‘when am I going to get to race?’ He said ‘You have to be 15.’ He thought I wanted to drive a (pulling) truck,” said Veach. “I said what’s the fun of just riding something 15 seconds?”

Father and son looked around and found that go-karts were the most popular gateway drug into the world of racing.

“We really had no clue about how to drive on a road course and how to work on things like tuning the chassis,” Veach said. “Lucky after a couple days at our local go-kart track we bumped into a guy named Dave. He just introduced himself as Dave and asked if we wanted him to help us. We said sure and he built some engines for us.”

So far so good, but then things got a little weird.

“We went to his shop to see how he was going to do it and I saw all these pictures of Sarah Fisher there,” Veach said. “We were kind of questioning things at the moment. We’re like ‘Why do you have so many pictures of Sarah? Are you a fan?' And he’s like 'I’m actually her father.' ”

Oh THAT Dave. Dave Fisher, crew chief, engine builder and chief fabricator for three-time World Karting Association Grand National Champion Sarah Fisher. Not bad for someone you just happened to meet at the karting track and volunteer to help.

“From that time on Dave just really helped us build our engines and set up our go-karts,” Veach said. “I know for sure if it wasn’t for Dave I think me and my dad would have been kind of lost in the whole thing.”

Fisher may have helped, but obviously there was talent behind the wheel as well given Veach’s meteoric rise through the formulas. In just 19 months, Veach went from go-karts to the cockpit of an open-wheel Formula BMW machine. Near the end of 2009, while testing a BMW, Veach landed a spot in the 2010 Atlantics Championship Series, just months before it ceased operations.

Enter Andretti

Michael Andretti then made his entrance into the Zach Veach Life Story, picking Veach for a USF2000 spot with Andretti Autosport, beginning two races into the 2010 season. In his first full year of competition, Veach won the USF2000 Cooper Tires Winterfest Championship title with two race wins and two podium finishes. Going into races at Road America this weekend, Veach was third in points out of 12 competitors with one pole.

Veach said he’s gone from the son of a truck puller to a race car driver thanks to on-the-job training and lots of homework.

“Dave (Fisher) always talked to me as a professional driver,” said Veach. “He talked to me about changes he made and what the changes do. He always had me engineering my own go kart, in a way, as we moved through karting and into open wheel cars he helped me with that.”

Veach said he also pours over telemetry data. “I get to really take it home and see what I could have done better thorough the race weekend.”

“When I’m at the track usually all day I’m in the engineering room when not on track looking over data,” Veach said. “I spend the rest of the night when get back to motel watching video or going over data. When I’m home I’ll actually do about an hour or so a day with it we don’t have a race coming up. If we have a race coming up it’s anywhere between an hour maybe six hours combined with the simulator onboard video and data acquisition.”

Veach said he loves the onboard tuning tools in a USF2000 car.

“I love how stiff the cars are and being able to adjust them with cockpit adjustments,” Veach said. “The races are just long enough so we’re just about out of fuel and our tires are almost gone. So this is really teaching us tire management how if we go slower in the first five laps and the guy in front of us is really charging, maybe we can be faster than him for the last five laps of the race.”

Veach said the ideas of NOT going as fast as possible at all times and having patience during a race are counter-intuitive to most red-blooded teenage racers.

“At the end of the day we’re still a bunch of eager 16- to 20-year-olds,” Veach said. “When there is someone in front of us we want to get by them as fast as we can. A lot of times you gotta tell yourself just wait a second and try to get on it at the end.”

Veach said he’s working on things for next year and expects to move up to Star Mazda, the next wrung up on the Road to Indy. Veach will get a taste of the bigger car when he joins the Andretti Auto Sport Star Maza team at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. on Aug. 27 and Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca on Sept. 18. Veach will join Andretti’s full-time Star Mazda driver Sage Karam for those races.

"We recognize Zach's talent in the car and want to give him the tools and resources to move up the ranks as he progresses,” J-F Thormann, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Andretti Autosport. “With Zach and Sage together again, we know we will have a strong Star Mazda team at Sonoma and Laguna, and we look forward to seeing them both on the podium soon."

Veach said he’s happy for the opportunity, but not in a huge rush to get to the big leagues. “Michael’s (Andretti) biggest concern is he doesn't want to move any of his drivers up too fast,” Veach said. “He wants us to take out time and develop and learn as much as e can in the slower cars. Once we do get to Indy Car and track time is very limited we already know what to do.”

Meanwhile, the Andretti Autosport developmental drivers also benefit from the experience of the four Andretti Autosport IndyCar drivers.

“One of my favorite driers with Andretti Autosport has to be Danica Patrick,” said Veach. “We’ve really made a good friendship and we’re constantly making jokes with each other. Danica is really quick witted and she always has a comeback for something it’s always fun to chat her up.”

Life with the Kids Menu

One of the challenges Veach faces is not only is he 16 years old, he looks even younger. His extremely young appearance can create some amusing moments, including being mistaken for the son of a team PR people.

“At every restaurant I seem to go to I seem to get the kids menu,” Veach said with a laugh. “When you are going out with your crew guys or friends that’s a little embarassing. We were at one race and I just got out of the car and switched to my Andretti stuff and one fan came up and asked where my brother at? I said, ‘ah, well, he’s at home.’ How’s he at home he just got out of the car?’ He thought I was the younger brother of the guy who was driving at the track.”

Veach, not his brother, will drive on the track at Road America again Saturday, Aug. 20 at 9:25 a.m. Central. For the rest of the USF2000 schedule, visit usf2000.com HERE. For more information on Zach, visit his site here.

Comments

[Brian McKay]

~ one to watch ~
Thanks for the article.

[Chiefswon]

Thanks Bill...that was very informative!

[Ryan]

Good read Bill. Thanks for covering today's up-and-coming drivers as well as the Senior Open-Wheel Talent.

[tires chicago]

Sounds like he is making the right decision. How did he do?

[Olivia Jones]

It is never impossible for one child, supported all the way by the parents, to succeed. I pity those kids who are never given support and appreciation by their parents.

[Charlie Tanner-Mot]

Star Mazda? Nice!!!!