Tuesday, May 13, 2003 | 8:55 a.m.
Editor's note: Tony Renna, a former Las Vegas resident, is writing a column exclusively for the Las Vegas Sun in conjunction with his first start in the 87th running of this month's Indianapolis 500. He qualified for the eighth starting position Sunday at 228.765 mph.
INDIANAPOLIS -- I think there is definitely a feeling of relief at finally qualifying for the Indianapolis 500. It's one more step we've climbed, and we have a lot more steps left to climb. But we're finally in it and it's fun to be in it and be a part of it.
Certainly as a rookie, I think I have a lot to learn.
My goal is to go out there on race day and complete every lap of the race, stay on the lead lap, and be flawless in the pits.
We knew we weren't going for the pole, so qualifying wasn't that big a concern for us. We're here for the same reason as everyone else, to win the race. I just seem to be pretty even-keeled all the time and I've tried to not let this place get me too jittery or anything. I think that can maybe hurt guys coming here for the first time. It gets into their head, and that hurts maybe more than anything.
I've tried so hard not to get caught up in it, but this has been our goal for a long time and I'm glad to be where I am.
The only thing that kept me up Saturday night was that thunderstorm. I've been sleeping fine. I think a lot of people have misinterpreted what appears to be my lack of enthusiasm for disrespect, for not being appreciative of being here.
It's really nice for me because we were really good in race trim earlier in the week, and we have a very good, comfortable car. It was windy out there, but we had no issues with the wind and the car performed well.
The car was good and very comfortable like it has been all week. The only time I really had an uncomfortable car was Sunday morning. It was really windy out there, and it was really blowing you around. We made some minor changes on Thursday and we had some issues, but the car came right back to where it had been.
I guess I was pretty confident from the get-go because Kelley is truly a great team, Toyota has obviously given us great horsepower and the whole program is very good. We had run competitive lap times earlier in the week and we knew we could put it in the show.
Kelley Racing has a history here at the Speedway of being very successful and very quick. If things go our way, maybe we can be the dark horse in this deal.
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