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Passion for f d driving outweighs h risk k Continued from page 18 19 · Wednesday, October 19, 2011 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.insideHALTON.com To Advertise in this section call Jessica Langero happens differently, there's a good chance Dan would have walked away. It was a series of unfortunate circumstances that led to the outcome. Certainly when anything like this happens, it makes all of us take a step back and think about it. But ultimately, we're all racing drivers and we all know that there's a very big risk "I'm sure my mother involved. You hate that it's would appreciate it events like this that really more if I was an make it hit home, but we've known from the beginning accountant, but that this is a possibility for ultimately this is my any one of us and we take passion. We all do that risk pretty knowingly this because we love every time we get in the car. doing this. There's no It's just something you have to accept, being in this other reason." sport. Was it ever difficult for James Hinchcliffe, you to get past that and talking about the realize your life is some- dangers of auto racing what at risk? I'm sure my mother would appreciate it more if I was an accountant, but ultimately this is my passion. We all do this because we love doing this. There's no other reason. It's not about money, it's not about a glamorous lifestyle. You only put yourself through the ups and downs of racing because you're so passionate about it and there's nothing else you'd rather do. We'd all do this for free. It's just one of those inherent parts of (racing), so we just have to take it for what it is. Is it good or bad you'll have the whole offseason to think about this and get past it, or do you wish you could race again next week? It is a bit of a double-edged sword... On one hand you think, out of respect for Dan, it's almost better we have the whole offseason to cope with it and remember him and get over it. But on the other hand, Dan would want us to be racing. If there was a race next week, he'd be the first to say `Chin up, boys, let's not mess around, let's get back to work.' That's another thing you just love about the guy... (Racing again) would definitely give us something to take our mind off it more, to get back to normalcy as quickly as possible. Now we have the whole offseason to think about everything, and then next year we have to strap into a brand new car, and it's the one Dan was the test driver for. He developed the thing. We'll literally be racing around and driving a little piece of Dan at every race next year. In a couple releases that had a few of your quotes, you were talking about how the new cars are attributable to Dan. That was his influence, he was the test driver? He was brought in to do all the development work and test driving for Dallara. He spent the majority of his time since winning the Indy 500 not racing but developing this car that we all get to race next year and he was supposed to race next year. It's definitely very sad but we're all grateful for the work he did and there really was no one better for that job. So that will be his legacy? Yeah, I think it very much will be. What are the new cars going to change, how will they be different from what you were driving this year? They're going to be faster, they're going to be safer, they're going to be a little less expensive for teams to run. There were a lot of different elements they attacked when designing this car and I think they successfully achieved all of them. When you say safer, how much safer will they be? Could they have avoided a situation like Sunday? No, I think it's foolish for anyone to think that if f we'd been driving the new cars (Sunday) that it wouldn't have happened. It's just important to remember that IndyCar put all this effort into making the new cars safer before this accident ever happened. The new cars won't be safer in reaction to Dan's accident. The series has always been pro-active to safety and that's one of their hallmarks, they are better at it and more pro-active than any other racing series on the planet. Could you make any more strides to make this sport any safer? It really is incredibly safe when you consider what we're doing. It's just so tough when something like this happens. There are a few things we can look at. The formula of f engines, power versus downforce at these kinds of f tracks, will be assessed in the future and we'll try to find the best compromise of racing versus safety. No driver's life is worth less than a good show that racing puts on. We're all looking to find that right balance and with the new car I think we'll do that very well. What were your feelings on the decision to end the race? It's tough. Knowing what we knew, it's probably true that too many of us were not in the right mindset to go out and put on a safe race. If the accident had happened, we stayed in the cars and they cleaned up the track and we got going again before everything came to light -- this is what I believe, anyway -- Dan would have wanted that race to finish. And under those conditions, we could have done it, but given the way things did play out, it was probably right to do what we did. I also think the five-lap parade was a very fitting tribute to Dan. The 3-by-3 format is something we only use at Indianapolis, which was the place that really made Dan and that Dan lived for. He was a two-time champion of that race and he lived for the month of f May and the Indy 500. I think, ultimately, it was the right thing to do. What was it like to be a part of that tribute? Somebody said to me that it's widely quoted that the hardest single racing any IndyCar driver ever has to do is the four qualifying laps for the Indy 500, in terms of f nerves and difficulty and everything. But I think, for every one of us who was out there for the five laps, it was the most difficult thing we've ever had to do in an IndyCar. To get right back out on the track after we know we've lost one of our own, it was very emotional. I don't think there was a dry eye in any cockpit, I don't think there was a dry eye in the stands or in pit lane. He really did have that effect on everybody. He was such a likeable guy. I don't think we've fully grasped yet how big of a loss this is and how much we really will miss him. We haven't even talked about the fact you won rookie of the year. Can you put into words what that means to you? It all seems a little inconsequential at the moment, but I think it's important we also understand there was still a great year of racing. 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