By Dave Lewandowski
indianapolismotorspeedway.com
Monday, September 29, 2008
Dan Wheldon entered the Panther Racing lobby, smiled at the receptionist and declared in a resonant voice, "Everybody, I'm home."
Team co-owner John Barnes emerged from his office offering his hand but decided that a bear hug was more appropriate in this situation.
Barnes offered Wheldon a foothold in the IndyCar Series, naming the young Brit -- who came calling with some credentials, such as finishing second in the 2001 Indy Lights championship with PacWest Racing -- as a test driver in June 2002. Wheldon's series debut came three months later at Chicagoland Speedway, where he qualified seventh and finished 10th.
Opportunities prevailed with Andretti Green Racing, where he won the 2003 Bombardier Rookie of the Year award and the '05 IndyCar Series championship and Indianapolis 500, and Target Chip Ganassi Racing. Now he's returned to the Panther pack - a wiser individual, a more experienced racer but with the same resolution to win.
"It's kind of like a homecoming more than anything," team co-owner Mike Griffin said. "We're really excited. I would say there's a new energy. Dan's a high-energy person, and he walks in the front door and he's smiling and he's happy to be there and excited about it, and the guys are picking up on that and are excited about it."
That was apparent Monday, Sept. 29 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where the team gathered to test for the first time. Wheldon, wearing the camouflage firesuit of car sponsor National Guard, sorted out details with engineer David Cripps and watched the crew tweak the No. 4 entry between stints on the 2.5-mile oval.
"First impressions are always nice, and I think I was flat pretty much first time by," said Wheldon, who has amassed 15 victories and 73 top-10 finishes in 97 career IndyCar Series starts. "That bodes well, but we have a lot of work to do together. All I care about is winning, so we have to make sure we do that as soon as possible.
"We need to work well as a unit and we need to be making some big gains, so it's good for the guys on the Delphi National Guard crew to get a feel for what I want as a race car driver. From my standpoint, I have to get a good feel of what they need from me to enable the team to go forward.
"It's definitely nice when you're coming back to a team that you've had a relationship with. It certainly speeds up that learning process with one another. In experience, I've moved on a long way from that (2002) point, so hopefully I'm a lot more valuable to the team and we can make as many gains as quickly as possible. Fortunately, we have Australia to get that started, and hopefully that will give us a good direction in where we need to be for next year."
Wheldon, who finished fourth in the 2008 standings as a teammate to series champion Scott Dixon, made overtures to Panther Racing late in the season after spending the past three years with Target Chip Ganassi Racing (six victories and 25 top-five finishes).
"He called John and said, 'Hey, you guys are beating me every weekend and are doing it with half the resources, and I want to be a part of it,''' Griffin said. "'I don't know how you're doing it, but I want to be a part of it.' So we started talking from there, and it came together like it was supposed to be."
Wheldon sees the one-car program coming together for a championship run, with him as the linchpin.
"You can look around and see the banners of the race wins and the championships," he said. "This is an organization that knows how to win, and at the end of the day it is all about winning. I saw what (Sam) Hornish did (2001 and '02 championships). I wouldn't have made the decision if I wasn't confident I could win.
"You don't necessarily have to be the biggest to be the best. This team has good chemistry, and it starts with J.B.'s leadership. The professionalism and the depth of talent on this team, as well as their core values, are as good as anyone's."
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