Alex Gurney drove his first laps at Indianapolis Motor Speedway more than four decades after his father last competed at the famed racetrack.
Dan Gurney, one of the great innovators in racing history, participated in the Indianapolis 500 nine times, finishing second twice and third once with his last appearance in 1970.
Alex Gurney finally got a tangible connection to his father's legacy last week when he tested Continental Tires for Grand-Am Road Racing in preparation for the series' debut at Indy next July.
''When he tells me stories, I can tell how much it means to him by how passionate he is about it,'' 37-year-old Gurney said. ''I feel that. Knowing that I'm going to get a chance to drive on the track is a cool thing.''
Gurney always has had a great appreciation for the tradition built through a century of racing at the speedway.
''There's a lot of history here,'' he said. ''This race was so important, is so important. So many guys got hurt here. There's so much innovation here. This is kind of the symbol of what it means to win a race.''
Gurney tested with the No. 99 car that he shared with Jon Fogarty in winning the 2007 and 2009 Daytona Prototype championships. He had one thing in particular he was looking forward to during testing, and he wound up a bit disappointed.
''I had wondered what it would feel like to run across the bricks, and I didn't feel them,'' he said. ''I guess you're going so fast and they're so smooth. I was waiting for that.''
He also wondered about heading into a corner at an oval.
''Watching Indy on TV all through the years, I thought the front straight was really wide,'' he said. ''It doesn't feel that way in a race car. It's a lot narrower than I expected, and feels closed in and tight. That's something I didn't expect.''
It wasn't Gurney's first experience at the track. He watched the first Formula One U.S. Grand Prix in Indy with his father in 2000. That was when he realized how much success at the speedway means to his father and the fans.
''He tends to get mobbed at the track,'' Gurney said of his father. ''His time at the track isn't necessarily relaxing.''
Gurney isn't alone among Grand-Am drivers in being excited about next year's races. Ricky Taylor said he never expected to have the chance to drive at Indy.
''As a sports car driver, you pretty much give up on that dream, and you assume you're never going to have the opportunity to come here,'' he said.
Max Angelelli had never been to the speedway before last week.
''It's huge,'' he said. ''It's a lot bigger than any other racetrack we've been to. I can't see this as a common path compared to the other racetracks.''
Angelelli likes the track.
''We have many positives like very wide banking and a straight line where you can run five wide, and you can have a nice braking zone going into Turn 1,'' he said. ''You have a lot of runoff, so if you're in a fight and you lose the track, you can recover it. You don't just hit the wall and your race is over, so that is very positive. All of those positives will help in having a good race.''
Taylor tested at the speedway in 2009 never expecting that Grand-Am would eventually race there. He said returning was special.
''You see the bricks and the Pagoda and everything, and it really just sends chills down your spin,'' he said.
Taylor believes the track presents tests for unfamiliar drivers.
''The track is very low grip on the infield and very high grip on the oval,'' he said. ''That's a bit of a challenge. I don't think it will affect our racing much.''
Taylor said the configuration and the fact that two classes will drive at a time on the course should contribute to a good show. In the Rolex Series, the Daytona Prototype and Grand Touring classes run together, and in the Continental Series, the Grand Sport and Street Tuner classes run together.
''I think we'll have a great race here,'' he said. ''I think with the long straights, there should be a lot of passing.''
Angelelli said the event will be special for the drivers.
''It's going to be great,'' he said. ''This is a place where, ultimately, every driver wants to race.''
Alex Gurney said the races will help Grand-Am's image.
''I think it builds the stature even more,'' he said. ''This schedule's like a dream for a road racer. All the great road racing tracks in the country, and obviously, Daytona and Indy are the two big ones in the U.S. I think Grand-Am covers all the big ones, and I think that says a lot about the stature of the series."
