So earlier this week we had the Vegas announcement talking about a five million dollar prize to a non INDYCAR driver. So what type of drivers would that bring out? Openpaddock.net’s Doug Patterson caught up with the rally champion at a special one off rally this weekend as part of the RallyCar series. The 100 Acre Wood rally in Salem Missouri is one of the bigger events on the Rally America schedule and Pastrana left straight from a NASCAR race on Thursday to compete. This is what he had to say about the Vegas finale when told about it:
DP: What brought you back to the 100 Acre Wood?
TP: This is the only rally I haven’t won. Thought I would be busy with NASCAR, but the guys said I was done for the weekend. Talked to Waltrip about a plane and here I am.
DP: Have you heard about INDYCAR’s $5M Vegas Challenge?
TP No!
DP: (Gives details of the event) Interested?
TP: Well sure! But there’s a big difference between being willing and winning.
So there you have it. A guarded answer to say the least. The point here is not whether or not he will actually race the event, but rather his interest immediately peaked up when he heard about what Randy Bernard and the series are trying to do. This announcement may bring in some other names like Pastrana who want to chase after the money. Like all things in Vegas it is a gamble…with one hell of a pay off.
Interesting. Glad to hear that Travis didn’t rule it out right out of hand, though like he says, there’s a big difference between wanting to run and actually winning the $5 million. Maybe he can convince Red Bull to front the $250k or so that it’d take for a good effort (equipment and testing) at the Vegas race.
Too bad Travis’s 100AW run was so short. I had big hopes for him and Worm this weekend, since that would probably be the funniest driving duo to win a rally this year. Here’s hoping Travis and Jeremy can team up for another run or two before the year’s out.