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May 17th
That there was the hardest qualifying run I
have ever had at Indianapolis. It's the only time I have ever had to lift during
a qualifying run. With the winds the way they were, I had to lift in turn 1 and
2 because I couldn't get the car to turn and then in turn 3 and 4 I was really
loose. I'm pretty disappointed with the time but on the other side of the coin,
we'll take it.
The day started off really rough when we lost
the gearbox in the morning practice. It got caught between gears, which doesn't
happen too often with the paddle shift and when it did, it broke the whole gear
box.
I really have to give credit to my crew guys.
They were simply awesome. They had to completely change the whole back of the
car because of the gearbox problem, which is quite a task on these cars. The
whole Vision team helped out. Carpenter and Foyt's crews pitched in to get it
done quickly and out in time. We didn't even have the time to put it on the
set-up pad so we when out there it was a bit of a mystery as to what we had.
The car ended up being just a little bit off
and we could probably have gone back out and done better but the risk to reward
ratio was pretty steep. The big picture is we'd rather be strong on race day. So
instead we tore the car apart and put it back into race mode and went out there
to prepare for the race.
I feel really relieved that qualifying is done.
These are THE four hardest laps in all of motorsport! I've run a lot of races
and this is by far the hardest thing to do. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't
disappointed with the qualifying format and where we're starting. I was sure we
could have started in that 13th spot with the time we qualified last week. The
qualifying format has really worked against us. I still like having those 3
attempts but we should be able to qualify more than just 11 cars per day. It's
something they'll have to look at and change for the future.
It is a big relief though now. I'm happy and I
just want to get into race mode now. Just fill the car up with fuel put some
tires on it and let's go get ready for the race.
May 16th
It was a great day with a big yellow thing in
the sky and a full day of practice on track. It was another productive day for
the Vision team because we got to run all day, all three cars, and we got a lot
of track time in. We tried a lot of different things but I'll be honest, through
the middle of the afternoon, my progress was a bit questionable even if we were
running decent speeds, but the last run of the day felt really good.
We ran race set-up, race aero, race wings and
everything for the race and pounded around in the 219 mph range. I'm still
wishing for one more day of practice and I'm not saying that we won't have that,
but now we're switching gears. I want to get qualified and then go back to race
mode again and make sure to fill it completely up and do a long run. That's the
one thing we haven't yet been able to do. I feel like we do have a really good
car so I'm pretty happy right now.
As for my expectations for Saturday's
qualifying… I was 13th last week in qualifying, so I'd like to at least be able
to back that up. It's all going to be about conditions. Fast time tomorrow might
just be a 221mph or a 224mph. Until we see what the weather is going to do,
it'll be hard to tell. We'll see what the wind and temperature will be like.
We're late in the draw so I hope it's really windy for everyone else and it
calms down by the time it's my time to go. We could end up anywhere from 12th to
20th. I think that's a fair expectation of the range we'll qualify, but I sure
would like to put the No.22 Hewlett Packard/ Kingdom Racing sponsored car in the
top spot for a 12th place starting position. Wish me luck!
May 15th
After sitting around for
so many days it was almost like the first time back in the car. The great thing
about today is that there were 35 cars out on the track I believe so it was a
lot more like race conditions out there. It felt good to be out in traffic and I
was running with some of the guys from the top of the speed charts behind me and
in front of me so we're all learning a lot.
I think we ran more laps
today than we have all month, which is really nice. The No.22 Hewlett Packard/
Kingdom Racing sponsored Honda Dallara had decent speed for race sims and while
the car wasn't quite as comfortable as I would have liked, fortunately Ed
(Carpenter) and Anthony (Foyt) were on a completely different set up where they
really liked the balance. We had just switched to that set up to try it out at
the end of the day when it started to rain. I'm feeling pretty confident because
with the speeds we're running with the car not as I really wanted it was still
decent for race speeds. I think it was a good day.
Tonight I'll be on the
National INDY LIVE radio show with Mike King at 8:30 pm from the famous
Brickyard Crossing with Ed & Anthony. (You'll have to check your local listings
for the station)
I'm also very happy to
announce that my website launched a new HP store, where my fans can go to
support my sponsor without whom I would not be able to make another run at the
Indianapolis 500. You can check it out at DaveyHamiltonRacing.com.
May 14th
Monday and Tuesday were
beautiful days in Indianapolis with hardly a cloud in the sky but with no track
activity scheduled. I enjoyed a Monday evening at the Sam Schmidt Foundation
fundraiser for spinal cord injuries and then had a sponsor appearance for
Firestone on Tuesday, but nothing out of the ordinary.
Wednesday rolls around
and we're supposed to get back on track and suddenly it decides to rain again!
This time it was showers all morning and then a lovely fine mist covers the
track for most of the afternoon. We actually almost got out there in the No.22
HP/ Kingdom Racing for the final hour from 5 pm to 6 pm. I even got into the car
on pit lane while others ran a few laps under yellow. There were a few green lap
runs but with the amount of moisture out there, we just didn't want to risk it.
This has been a very
different week than I have ever had at Indy with all this rain and such short
amount of track time. I guess the good thing is that it gives us plenty of time
to do a lot of strategizing and we know where we want to be and what we're going
to do when we go out there. It's just a little frustrating to be honest with
you, especially in my situation where I haven't had a lot of track time. Thank
God I'm with this Vision team with guys that run full time, engineers that do
this full time, so I'm ahead of the game a little bit. Hopefully the rest of the
week will be clear but we won't hold our breath just yet.
May 11th
First things first… Happy Mother's Day to my mom Judy and
all the moms out there!
My mom is great. She comes to all my races and has since the start. She bought
me my first sprint car actually. Most recently though, she's traded me in for my
son DJ who has a budding racing career himself and she's taking care of him the
way she did with me. She'll of course be here for the Indianapolis 500 again,
but she's now hanging with her grandson at his races and that's okay.
She has just been such a big supporter throughout my life and career. She's been
through all the good days and the bad days and I couldn't have done it without
her. She was so supportive of my decision last year to make a comeback and that
was good because it's hard to get those things by your mother. I love her for
that and so much more. It'll be nice to have her here at Indy with me again.
In the meantime, we didn't get to qualify the No.22 Kingdom Racing sponsored car
today like we had hoped. Rain took another day from us. It's pretty frustrating
not to have gotten into the top -11 yesterday by less than a tenth of a second
and then have Day 2 Qualifying rained out and not be assured a spot on the grid
yet. But you know, we gave it all we had. I can't look back and say we should
have done something different because that was the best we had. With the rain
today and having to wait until next week is not ideal by any stretch of the
imagination, but we'll work on race set-ups this week and then put the car in
the show where we can in the next day of qualifying.
May 10th
Finally, the rain has stopped and it's Pole Day. These
Vision racing guys surprised me, I'll be honest with you. I ran some 222 mph
laps this morning in practice by myself and then the team said there were a few
things they'd change for qualifying and it really helped. It was a bit on edge,
but I was pretty happy with my four lap average time of 223.2 mph. I didn't
doubt that it wouldn't hold up today to assure our spot but we now know we have
a good car to qualifying in the next round and we've posted the kind of lap
times we need to get into the show. We just didn't have enough time to prepare
with all the rain this week.
To get that qualifying run in today still made me very happy. I'm just having
such a great time here. There's no one on pit lane that is having more fun than
I am this year. Last year I maybe felt like I had something to prove, but this
year I'm here because I want to do well and I want to try and win this race. But
I am a realist as well and when you go up against these great teams and drivers
that are qualifying faster than you are out there, and are in these cars week in
and week out, it's hard to compete with that. But it can be done. The Vision
team has given me a great racecar. We'll just have to play the race smart, not
over drive the car, be patient and work hard to get another top ten finish.
I think this is the most nervous I've been in the last two years here in
qualifying because I really didn't know what to expect out there for qualifying
after all the rain and no practice but it all turned out well.
I got a lot of questions from the media today about how this year is different
from last. Last year was a comeback. This year it's about doing well.
There were some dark days lying in that hospital room wondering if I'd ever walk
again. There were a lot of prayers and I just had to leave it to God. I had to
make sure I got up again and have the drive to go to rehab everyday. That drive
was fueled by my desire to race again. It was a long road. You can't re-enact
pain and that's a good thing because I sure went through a lot and I had a lot
of crappy day but I'm on top of the world right now. I'm having a blast here at
Indy. This is what it's all about.
What it all taught me is to never give up. I became much more appreciative of
everything. Not that I wasn't before but now you enjoy the time with fans and
giving autograph more, the hard work a team like Vision puts in every minute of
every day, the help that the sponsors like HP and Kingdom racing give you to
allow you to do what you love. The biggest thing is how close I have gotten with
my family. Before I got hurt I was always off at a race or track somewhere and
loved every minute of it but kind of grew away from friends and family. When I
was down and out, they were still there for me, hang out with me, pushing me
around in a wheel chair, and taking me for treatments at the hospital.
After I was healthy and could walk again, I thought that getting back to the
Indy 500 was probably not going to happen again. I was damaged goods. I didn't
think I could do it myself and it seemed impossible, but here I am thanks to
great sponsor like Hewlett Packard and Kingdom Racing and the support of Vision
Racing allowed me to try again last year and get back in this year and I am so
thankful for that. I'm not ashamed to say I was scared and nervous and until I
got that checkered flag last year, I doubted myself. That top-ten last year was
such an accomplishment and I still felt that I could have been even better so
that's what drove me to try again this year.
Okay, so we didn't get into the Top-11 today and we aren't yet assure a spot on
the grid. But it was close and we know we can do it. We should be in the Top 15.
That's the goal now. Hopefully it will be on Day 2 of Qualifying tomorrow.
Problem is the forecast is calling for 90% chance of rain. We'll just have to
wait and see what tomorrow has in store.
May 9th
I love the Vision Racing team. There
are a lot of good guys here. We have a few new faces in engineering but they are
all very talented. We didn't unload like we wanted to but we're making a lot of
changes and I'm still optimistic that the No. 22 Hewlett-Packard/KR Vision
Racing car is going to be good.
Today's run was a bit of a disappointment because I
expected to have more speed than we had but the good thing is I've been here a
lot and I won't let it get to me worried. This is Indy and things change fast.
What has me confident is the times I did in the No.22 Hewlett Packard/ Kingdom
Racing sponsored car were done on my own without any tow. At this point Ed
(Carpenter) and Anthony (A.J.Foyt) went a little faster by trimming out and
doing qualifying sims while I worked on trying out more aerodynamic parts for
the race.
I'm sure we'll find the speed but the rain just keeps
coming. Two and a half days of rain is a real pain and tomorrow is already
qualifying. We want to be in that top 11 and I still really think we can do it.
It's going to take a lot of work but I'm hoping things will go our way. When I
ran the other day at 221mph I felt like we could run in higher and around 223mph
pretty easy. It's probably just one small adjustment but these Vision engineers
are smart and their looking at everything and I have faith they'll find it.
All the drivers are asked to predict the average speed of
the pole winning qualifying run and who might get it. My guess is the pole will
be won with a 225.3 mph average and I'll go with Scott Dixon as the guy that
will do it.
It's a difficult task to qualify here for the Indianapolis
500. The car is usually on the edge for four laps. It's not easy. I think it is
one of the most challenging things in motorsports. There are obviously races
that are difficult but you're not hanging on the edge for four straight laps
like you are here, especially with how they have qualifying set up now.
Only 11 cars get in the first day. I'm not sure if I like
that or not, especially if I was the 12th guy. The second day is the next 11
cars and the third is the next 11. It's tough. It's exciting for the fans but it
puts even more pressure on us.
Last year, I was a second day qualifier. But I knew I
couldn't make the top 11 so I didn't even make an attempt. We qualified the car
and it was good and we took the time but then we had to decide if we wanted to
go back out again to see if we could do better. You have to be careful. I almost
let the emotion of knowing I could be faster get to me. In reality, if I would
have gone out and been quicker I might have gained only one or two more spots.
But the risk is crashing the car. The risk to reward wasn't worth it so we took
what we had.
I want to continue to run the Indy 500. I was very
fortunate last year to participate. This year, it's a lot more laid back. The
comeback story is over. I was able to get that behind me. This year, the
pressure is on me to do well again.
I want to run well. I don't know how many more Indy 500s I
will be able to compete in. The way I look at it, this could be my last
opportunity to be able to run here and I may have to then leave it to the young
drivers. But, on the flip side of the coin, you can never rule out another
opportunity.
It's special to me just to be here. The Indianapolis Motor
Speedway is magic. Every morning you anticipate what your car is going to do,
what the weather is going to be like, and how fast you are going to be.
It's part of this game and I love it. It's what I thrive
on.
May 8th
Another rained out practice. This time the rain didn't stop
at all but hopefully Mother Nature is getting it out all of her system and we
can all get back to work tomorrow and hopefully we'll have clear skies for the
rest of the month. We can only hope right?
Today I got in a good work out and took care of a few media requests and
interviews, otherwise it was just a good day to stay indoors and rest up. There
were still some real die-hard fans out at the track looking around and getting a
few autographs. You have to be a true fan to be out there in this miserable
weather.
Tomorrow's forecast is calling for clear and cool so we should be back on track
( I almost sound like a weatherman don't I?). We'll have A LOT to do on Friday
to make up for these two days and in preparation for Qualifying and Pole Day. I
can tell you that I am feeling pretty positive about it. The Vision team is well
prepared and we're all feeling pretty confident about the direction we're headed
with the cars. I can't wait to get back on track frankly. I do think every team
and driver may feel a sense of urgency in tomorrow's practice but that just kind
of adds to the atmosphere of Indy.
You can catch the action live on the Indycar.com site on your HP computer. And
while you're at it, check out the KingdomRacing.net site for news too! They'll
keep you posted on my progress also. See you back here tomorrow.
May 7th
Unfortunately it rained today and we really need the time
on the track but I guess it's the same for everybody. Ed (Carpenter), Anthony (A.J.Foyt
IV) and I will be pretty excited to get back on track after having decent speed
yesterday, but since the three of us weren't completely comfortable with our
cars, we went in three completely different directions on our set ups so its
very important for us to be on track soon to try them out. But when the rains
comes, there isn't much you can do. Let me put it this way…we're pretty anxious
to get back on track, because we think we have a lot better cars than the first
day.
There really wasn't much going on today. We hung around the engineering room to
stay out of the rain. I think this is one of the worst kind of rain days …when
it rains, then dries, then rains again, then dries again, and then you start to
think that maybe you might get out on track but then it rains again for just a
little bit… then dries again. At one point, we even got the No.22 Hewlett
Packard/ Kingdom racing sponsored car out to pit lane and put on our firesuits
on, only to go running for cover as the rain came back even harder.
We all feel the anticipation of maybe getting out there but then end up watching
the weather radar and forecast on our HP computer or the TV monitors most of the
day. It's a bit boring. At least if it was a sustained rain storm, I'd head to
the gym for a little while to get in a work out but that wasn't quite the case
today.
The bad news is that Thursday doesn't look much better unfortunately. The good
news is that we're pretty confident in the changes we've made to the cars. Now
we'll just have to look forward to some track time on Friday before we get set
to qualify on Saturday. That's the day we're all looking forward to... Pole Day.
Where the fastest 11 cars and the front row is set for the Indianapolis 500. I
can't wait but we do have a lot of work to do before that happens!
May 6th
It was a really promising start to the day behind the wheel
of the No.22 Hewlett Packard/ Kingdom Racing/ Vision Honda Dallara with running
220+ mph in just the first few laps. My Vision Racing teammates Ed (Carpenter)
and Anthony (A.J.Foyt IV) did some laps but they weren't completely happy with
their cars so they made a few changes.
We made a few too and went back out later in the day and it was faster but not
as comfortable as we wanted it. I was flat out easy but on old tires. With new
tires you gain a few more miles per hour. We're going to make some canges and we
have a lot of set up sheets to choose from. Today's set up sheet was new to all
of us that this team hasn't run before but you in order to get better you have
to try new things. We're just trying to find that little bit of magic speed but
if we have to we can go back to last year's set ups sheets that we did have some
success with.
I think there were 33 cars out there in practice today so we actually had a full
field on track on the first day which is really pretty amazing! But ironically
it wasn't all that much busier than yesterday when we were just 16 cars. That's
the good thing about Indy. We have from noon to six every day to run and there
is more practice in the month of May than there is the whole season. That's why
I able to come and be able to do this even if I don't run every weekend. I get a
lot of track time, I have great teammates, great sponsors in Hewlett Packard and
Kingdom Racing and a great team in Vision that just help make everything happen.
I'll be back on track tomorrow hopefully. We're a bit worried about losing a day
this week to weather but with any luck we'll have a few more days to get ready
to improve the cars and get set for a great Pole day on Saturday.
May 5th
Today was a good day. I started off early by taking part in
a video shoot for the ABC Indy 500 broadcast at the IndyCar Series Airport
Hangar then got to the track and gave some pacecar rides around the track before
sitting with my engineers prior to practice to get a game plan for the day on
track.
It was a beautiful day at the track and once we did finally hit the track in the
no.22 Hewlett Packard/ Kingdom Racing/ Vision Honda Dallara I did a quick shake
down and got used to the track again since this was my first time out. We made a
few changes and I got used to the paddle shift which I'm using for the first
time this year. It's funny because as I was heading out of the pits I'd reach
down for the gear shift lever out of habit! This new paddle shift system is
pretty neat, easy to use and keeps you hands on the wheel. It was just a matter
of getting reaquainted and comfortable in the cockpit and with the In. I don't
know if you are ever comfortable when you are going 220 mph but it was sure nice
to be back in the car.Towards the end I was wide open all the way around and we
were just under 220 mph so I'm pretty happy.
Tonight I'm looking forward to the Mary Hulman George Welcome Party where
everyone in the paddock gets a chance to see each other to start the month off.
It's just such a tremendous event, a great party with great food. There's a lot
of people like myself, drivers sponsors, teams members, that do only this race
once a year so this is a good chance to catch up with everyone and say hello
again and catch up. Can't wait until tomorrow where ALL the drivers and cars
should be hitting the track. Every day of practice this week will be important
as we prepare for Pole Day qualifying on Saturday. My goal is to put HP, Kingdom
Racing and the Vision car in the top five.
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