Target Chip Ganassi Racing Managing Director Mike Hull participated in a Q&A session this week and discussed Scott Dixon's IndyCar Series-record 20 wins, the championship race and the final four races of the IndyCar Series schedule. Mike Hull
· Managing director of Target Chip Ganassi Racing, which fields the IndyCar Series entries of Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti.
· Has served as the race strategist for Scott Dixon's team since 2003.
· Since becoming team manager in 1996, has overseen six open‑wheel titles -- four in CART and two in the IndyCar Series -- a pair of Indianapolis 500 victories, and numerous race wins, including Scott Dixon's 20th IndyCar Series victory last weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Q. You've called each of Scott's wins in the IndyCar Series. How satisfying was it to the entire team to get that all‑time win record?
MIKE HULL: Well, I think the word that you used in there toward the end of the question was team. First of all, everybody at Chip Ganassi Racing pulls together as a group, as a team, and we rely on each other to make it happen. And over the years, having Scott ‑‑ in the IndyCar Series since 2003 actually with Scott. Winning his first race with us in the IndyCar (Series) championship at Homestead, it was a team then. It's a group of cohesive people that work well together, and I think that defines who we are and it's been very satisfying to be able to do that.
Q. Scott has been with the team since 2002. What's made him such a good fit with Target Chip Ganassi Racing and more specifically the No. 9 car?
MIKE HULL: Well, first of all, I think the simple answer is he remembers where he came from. He's the same person today that he was when he joined us in 2002. He wants to race cars for a living. That's all he cares about. That's what he wants to do.
I don't want to say this in what might sound like maybe to some people's mind a selfish way, but he doesn't have outside interests. You know, he has his family and a new addition to his family now, but even with that, he still concentrates 100 percent on what he wants to do. He gets paid to drive race cars, but you know what, this guy would drive race cars anyway.
I would be willing to bet that if I would have been lucky enough to be with him when he grew up in New Zealand that he would have been at that time the same person then driving a race car, a Formula Vee, where he started, as opposed to where he is today in an IndyCar (Series car). That's what makes him so special and so much fun to have driving the car.
Q. Mid‑Ohio was the debut of the overtake assist button on a road course. How much do you think that plays into the driver's hands on a track like Sonoma?
MIKE HULL: I think when used correctly, it can help you. What I like about it, irrespective of Sonoma, is the fact that through partnership, the Indy Racing League, Honda and the race teams are working to try to make the racing better than it is now. And I think what's been lost in translation here a little bit is the fact that the racing is good already.
And what this does is it makes the racing crisper. It makes it more fun to watch. But if they did nothing at all, we still have great racing.
I don't know if I've been put off by some of the things that I've read because it's probably exactly the opposite, but I think we need to clearly define what we already have, and IndyCar racing is a great place to race, and the racing is very, very competitive. Road racing in particular is exciting to watch, and with push‑to‑pass, I can say with Scott at Mid‑Ohio that we did use it, and it did help us during the race.
I know at Sonoma, given the right moment, it will help us there, too, or someone else. So it's definitely an asset to what we do.
Q. The last three races of the season are 1.5‑mile ovals although different 1.5‑mile ovals with Motegi, Chicago and Homestead. What kind of racing do you foresee with the aero changes that have been made in recent races?
MIKE HULL: Well, I think Kentucky historically has never been a pack race. It's always seemed like there's been somebody that broke away, and it was kind of a spread‑out deal, and the full course yellow has brought it back together, but even so, it's still spread out. And I'm not sure what the reason is for that. It doesn't mean that the racing there wasn't always good, it just was a different kind of one‑and‑a‑half‑mile oval race, whereas Chicago and Homestead in particular with the changes that they've made should be exciting. It should be really, really good, because the changes are very positive for racing.
What they've done is they've allowed the turbulence to be lessened so that a driver trailing another driver can get enough momentum to get a run either on the inside or the outside. He may not ‑‑ that driver may not clearly be able to make the pass, but you know what, they get up alongside, and the racing is genuine then, more like what we want to see. Although we might not have fingernails left on the timing stand at the end, it's still the kind of racing that we need to display, because the audience deserves that.
So I think Homestead and Chicago and most likely Motegi will lend itself to be better than Kentucky was.
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The 2009 IndyCar Series season continues Aug. 23 with the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma at Infineon Raceway. The race will be telecast live in High Definition at 5 p.m. (EDT) by VERSUS. A one-hour qualifying show will be telecast by VERSUS at 6 p.m. on Aug. 22. The race will air live on the IMS Radio Network, XM channel 145 and Sirius channel 211. The radio broadcast also will be carried on indycar.com. The 2009 Firestone Indy Lights season continues with the Carneros 100 on Aug. 23 at Infineon Raceway. The race will be telecast at 4 p.m. (EDT) on Aug. 24 by VERSUS.
