CHEVROLET RACING IN THE VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
101ST RUNNING OF THE INDIANAPOLIS 500
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY MEDIA DAY DRIVERE QUOTES
MAY 25, 2017
AN INTERVIEW WITH BUDD LAZIER, NO. 44 LAZIER RACING CHEVROLET:
WHEN OTHER DRIVERS WENT TO NASCAR OR FORMULA ONE, YOU WERE THE MAINSTAY. HOW MUCH PRIDE IS THERE IN THAT FOR YOU? “I think it’s lost sometimes that I also was the 2000 champion, and I should have won the 500 that year. (Juan Pablo) Montoya beat me by a tick, and we were quicker, too. After winning the race, you swear that you’ll be back there a lot. It’s really amazing, this place, how much has to go right to get back into Victory Lane. It’s when you run and you finish second like I did twice that haunt you and you don’t forget about. I can’t tell you how special this place is. There’s no racetrack that you’re in the corner for such a long time. You’re sustaining cornering here more and longer than anywhere in the world because it’s so flat and so fast that it really tests driver and machine. Back in those days, to me it was an easy decision. I had the option to go to Michigan (International Speedway) or be here at Indianapolis, and it was a no-brainer. IndyCar goes the way the Indy 500 goes. I had been running a 2-or 3-year-old race car and was going the corners as quick as the top two or three guys and I go onto the straightaway at Long Beach or some of those places trimmed, so in 1996 I knew I had a car that could win races. The super teams will still have an advantage, but a small team gets it all right and can win the race. That makes it exciting for the fans and competitors.”
WOULD YOU ENJOY RACING YOUR SON, FLYNN, HERE AT INDIANAPOLIS?
“As a driver, I think he is very gifted. It’s not necessarily the career I would have chosen for him, bug before you know it it’s sort of in the blood. I expect him to move up through the ranks as quickly as he is able to do so depending on sponsorship. It makes sense that we’re building an IndyCar effort for the future and he’s a driver for the future. I look at some of the other owner/drivers who have done that sort of thing, and I think the Rahals are one of the best examples. It’s nice to have options. It’s not ideal to run for your father or grandfather, but at the same time it’s nice to have options. It’s a potential opportunity for him and us in the future. We want to provide him the very best of what we can provide, so our team would have to grow to do that. I know his mother and I always thought that it would be cool if we raced together. I would enjoy that. I’m not entirely sure how much time I have left in terms of years, but I’m not there yet.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR PLACE IN HISTORY AT THE SPEEDWAY?
“I don’t think a lot about that, but it is a little staggering that there have been 100 Indy 500s and I have taken part in 20 of those. And there were another five that for various reasons we got left out. I take pride in that. A few seconds less and I would be a three-time winner.”