Tracy has no regrets about ill-fated Indy attempt
Paul Tracy's tears have dried. The outspoken driver's disappointment over not making Sunday's Indy 500 will take a little bit longer to go away.
Five days after the IndyCar veteran's ill-fated gamble left him out of the race, Tracy remains in a bit of shock that he won't be on the track when the green flag drops Sunday. Though Tracy seems like he's fine, it's an act. And not a good one.
``I guess we can put ourselves on the Razzie list for worst actors in Hollywood,'' Tracy said. ``I think Sunday was a day that it all started to unravel for us.''
And it unraveled quickly.
Tracy appeared to be a lock for the race after running among the leaders in practice on Bump Day.
``We just thought, 'Oh, we'll come back out and do it again,' but it was never there again,''' Tracy said.
The KV Racing Technology Honda eventually posted an OK qualifying time, but race strategist Barry Green decided to throw out the time hoping Tracy could deliver a faster one later in the day.
Instead, the car continued to struggle, and Tracy ran himself outside the top 33. The result reduced one of racing's tough guys to tears, and Tracy slinked back home to Toronto in a funk.
Yet he doesn't fault the decision. He'd do it again if given the chance.
``We could have sat there and done nothing and got bumped out and everybody would have said 'Why didn't you go?''' Tracy said. ``Or you go out and throw a haymaker at it and you either make it or you don't.''
Tracy, in typical fashion, gambled.
The fallout has done little to give him hope that he can catch a full-time ride. Geico, the primary sponsor on his Indy car, isn't happy.
Tracy listened in on a tense conversation between a Geico executive and sponsorship representative on Friday. The executive expressed his displeasure that the company's six-figure investment in getting Tracy into sport's biggest race came up short.
``It was pretty ugly,'' Tracy said. ``We've got to search out for what we're going to do next year. At this point things are on the ropes with Geico. Obviously when you have an investment like this and it doesn't go to plan, the initial reaction is negative.''
He still plans to drive road races in Edmonton and Toronto later this year. After that, the future remains unclear.
Tracy's peers know IndyCar could use him.
``I think the series would benefit from having Paul for all kinds of reasons,'' said Dario Franchitti. ``His personality is larger than life.''
That personality has gotten Tracy into trouble more than once. He sheepishly admits now his proclamations earlier in the month that he would win the race appear foolish.
``Maybe I shouldn't talk so much, but that's just me,'' he said with a laugh. ``I felt coming into this month that we'd done everything right. I'd done everything right and all we had to do was execute and we dropped the football.''
