Fifty five year old car racing aficionado Tom Wieringa has spent his whole life in Chicago. Next Wednesday (October 3) he’ll be in the most important car event he’s ever been in yet. He’ll strap himself into a 1,525 pound 675 horsepower IRL Indy Series race car, accelerate from 0 to 100 miles per hour in three seconds and hurtle down the race track at speeds up to 210 miles an hour.
If he qualifies, he’ll set a new record as the oldest driver ever to get a license to drive in the 92 year history of the Indy Racing League...
The current holder of that honor is Marty Roth at 47 years old. “We'll beat that by 8 years!,” Tom said.
Wieringa will be tested by officials in qualifying runs Wednesday afternoon at the Chicagoland Speedway, located in Joliet Illinois, the same track the Indy Racing League and NASCAR race on. The test is required of future Indy Car drivers to assess their skill level before entering competition.
“Arie Luyendyk,Jr. is my coach and spotter,” Tom said. “The car I'm driving is a G-Force chassis powered by a 675 horsepower V8 Honda engine. It formerly ran two times already in the Indy 500 with Sebastian Bourdais and Phil Giebler. It burns pure ethanol from corn. I should be lapping the 1.52 mile circuit in 26 seconds at an average speed of 207 — 208 or so MPH while pulling over 4 G’s.”
Wieringa will be tested by officials in qualifying runs Wednesday afternoon at the Chicagoland Speedway, located in Joliet Illinois, the same track the Indy Racing League and NASCAR race on. The test is required of future Indy Car drivers to assess their skill level before entering competition.
“Arie Luyendyk,Jr. is my coach and spotter,” Tom said. “The car I'm driving is a G-Force chassis powered by a 675 horsepower V8 Honda engine. It formerly ran two times already in the Indy 500 with Sebastian Bourdais and Phil Giebler. It burns pure ethanol from corn. I should be lapping the 1.52 mile circuit in 26 seconds at an average speed of 207 — 208 or so MPH while pulling over 4 G’s.”
ateixeira says:
07:41 AM, 09/28/07
I wonder if he'll be the one driving in the slow lane, holding up traffic. ;-)
SubyTrojan says:
09:22 AM, 09/28/07
ateixeira, that unfortunately would be Milka Duno.
I am a little concerned this will not end well.
I'm confused about this story, Bob. The 2007 Indy Racing League season ended a few weeks ago at Chicagoland Speedway with Dario Franchitti winning his first indy car championship after Scott Dixon's car hiccuped because of low fuel on the last lap.
rsholland says:
10:51 AM, 09/28/07
Does sound odd, but I got the press release yesterday.
SubyTrojan says:
01:15 PM, 09/28/07
I guess he's going to try to test at Iowa Speedway. There aren't any more races in 2007.
http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/indycar/40564/