IRL roars into its new season

Hamilton on track; Schmidt starts slow

For Las Vegas resident Davey Hamilton, the Indy Racing League season opener went better than expected.

For Sam Schmidt of Henderson, it couldn't have been much worse.

Hamilton, driving a borrowed car so he could make the race, finished in an impressive eighth place Sunday after qualifying in the 20th starting position for the Transworld Diversified Indy 200 at Walt Disney World Speedway.

On the other hand, Schmidt completed only 14 laps before crashing in his debut in the Treadway Racing Sprint PCS G-Force/Aurora.

Schmidt, who qualified seventh fastest, spun exiting turn one on lap 15 and hit the inside retaining wall with the right rear of his car, causing heavy damage.

"This morning, the car was so loose and that's not where you want to be," Schmidt, who was not hurt in the single-car accident, said. "We made some pretty substantial changes and from the start of the race it was bouncing and it just bounced wrong and there was nothing I could do."

Schmidt said he was particularly disappointed for his sponsor, who took a large contingent to the season opener.

"It was real disappointing for Sprint PCS -- they've got 150 people out here," Schmidt said. "We'll just have to buckle down and get ready for Phoenix."

Hamilton couldn't have been happier with his top-10 finish, considering the fact he and his Galles Racing teammates had less than two weeks to prepare for the race.

Because of a lack of a sponsor, Hamilton and Galles were prepared to sit out the season opener. Two weeks ago, several IRL teams learned of Hamilton's plight and offered to lend him the equipment necessary to drive in Sunday's race.

"The car wasn't perfect today, but we knew it wasn't going to be," Hamilton said of his borrowed G-Force/Aurora. "I had not even seen the car before we arrived (in Florida) on Thursday, and to complete the entire race with consistency and no mistakes just reinforces the strength of our program."

Hamilton, who finished two laps off the lead, made three pit stops during the 200-lap race and managed to gain position on the track with each stop. He ran on the lead lap for the first 104 laps.

"My guys perform their stops like they prepare my car -- flawlessly," Hamilton said. "With everything that has been going on, they still made a point to practice pit stops to ensure a good race and it paid off."

Team owner Rick Galles also was pleased with his team's effort under less-than-ideal circumstances.

"With two weeks notice, I think we did a pretty good job and I am extremely proud of my team and Davey," Galles said. "To not test and go as fast as we did with no mistakes shows what my guys and my driver are made of."

archive