“I am pleased to announce that Paul Tracy and GEICO Insurance will be joining KV Racing Technology for the race at Watkins Glen,” said KVRT co-owner Jimmy Vasser. “Running Paul at The Glen with Mario gives us the opportunity to maximize our efforts on a very challenging road course and provides Paul with a tune-up race before he competes in front of his hometown fans in Toronto. I want to thank GEICO for stepping forward and making this possible and I think I can speak for everyone at KVRT when I say that we are all very excited.”
At first, the thought of crash-prone Mario Moraes and the ever aggressive Paul Tracy being on the same team makes me cringe, and I imagine that it makes every spare parts supplier’s eyes glitter with greed in anticipation of the influx of front wing and suspension parts orders. However, I should step back and try to be fair and balanced. Tracy has a very well-earned reputation for flagrant use of the chrome horn. His win at the last CCWS at Cleavland came at the expense of three of his competitors and as many nose cones. However, in his three drives in a Dallara since the collapse of CCWS, he’s been outstandingly smooth and in control. His performance at Edmonton last year was extremely impressive, improving his P15 starting position to finish P4. His return to Indianapolis this year was solid, although not resulting in the final-lap rematch of 2002 that everyone wanted, including Tracy, finishing in the top ten. His one-off ride with AJ Foyt’s team in substitution for the injured Vitor Meira looked to most to be outright pathetic finishing several laps down to the leaders. However, team owner and driving legend AJ Foyt claimed all responsibility saying that his team gave Tracy a “sack of [poo]”. Given how poorly set up Tracy’s car was, simply finishing the race was a demonstration of remarkable driving prowess.
Tracy’s return to KV Racing Technologies for the tricky and technical Watkins Glen circuit should help the team’s standings and performance greatly. With luck, he will also be able to talk/beat some sense into the young and over-aggressive Mario Moraes. In fact, PT may be exactly the person Moraes needs as a mentor. We could actually see two good drivers come out of this one deal.
Before the season started this year, Vasser was talking about getting PT into a seat for the 500 and then completing the remainder of the season with him. While the funding has not been there like they had hoped, it would appear that PT is being given some excellent opportunities with this Geico sponsorship. Maybe this could turn in to a full season effort next year.