Barnette on fast track

By Chad Dare
Commercial-News (Danville, IL)
May 11, 2009

INDIANAPOLIS — The last time that Paul Tracy was as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, he was the first driver to cross the finish line after 500 miles.

But in a controversial ruling, the Indy Racing League stripped him of his victory and placed him second behind Helio Castroneves.

That was the 2002 Indianapolis 500. Tracy vowed to never return.

But, that changed this weekend as Tracy qualified 13th on Sunday for the May 24th running of the Indy 500.

Tracy’s return to Indy started back in April when he, car owner Jimmy Vasser and Danville super-agent Doug Barnette worked out a deal with primary car sponsor GEICO.

“I was in Texas for the NASCAR race when Paul called me,’’ said Barnette, who also represents NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Max Papis. “I just happened to be in the car with Rebecca Foss of GEICO. Paul already had a good relationship with the people at GEICO.’’

That’s because Barnette worked out the deal back in 2006 for Tracy to run the GEICO car at the NASCAR Mexico City race.

“We’re pleased to be able to accompany Paul Tracy on his return trip to the Indianapolis 500,’’ said Ted Ward, GEICO’s vice president of marketing. “Having a relationship with two world class drivers as Paul Tracy and Max Papis as well as KV Racing Technology, allows us to spread our message of safety on a much broader scale and we are excited about the opportunity.’’

Barnette admitted that he was able to put the deal together in just a few days and Tracy took a big step toward getting his revenge on Sunday when had the second fastest qualifying effort of the day, which places him in the 13th starting position for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.’’

“I’m thankful that Doug was able to pull it off,’’ Tracy said. “Me, Doug and Max Papis have a close relationship, and that helped in getting this deal finalized with GEICO.

“I appreciate Max supporting me and I have enjoyed the family atmosphere within the GEICO family.”

Actually, Barnette has not only worked deals for Papis and Tracy, but he also did one for Vasser and that is where this unique relationship started.

“Doug has done a lot for open-wheel guys in NASCAR and that is actually how we met,’’ Tracy said. “He put together Jimmy Vasser’s deal to run Daytona in 2003 and Jimmy introduced us. Since then, we have all become close friends, so it is special to be in Indy with Jimmy and Doug.

“It’s cool how things come full circle. We are all focused on doing a great job for GEICO and winning the Indy 500. I didn’t show up to run good, I came here to win, period.”

And that attitude was very evident during Sunday’s time trials.

After getting his speed up 222.749, the KV Racing Technology team and Tracy decided that wasn’t fast enough. They pulled the car out of a secured spot in the 500 and took another shot at time trials.

“John Dick (car engineer) came in and asked if we were satisfied,’’ Barnette said. “As a group, we were deadlocked on what we should do, so we I sent a text to Ted Ward telling him that we were thinking to trying to better our qualifying time.

“He basically responded that GEICO likes for its people to not be satisfied with being just good enough and if we wanted to go for something better, we should do it.’’

Sure enough, Tracy increased his speed to 223.111 mph, which was faster than three of the drivers that qualified in the top-11 on Saturday.

“That was all I needed to hear — it was time to go make it happen,’’ Tracy said. “We jumped up to the 13th position, the inside of row five.’’

With a secured position in the Indy 500, Tracy will focus on his race setup. Additionally, Barnette is trying to work out the details for Tracy to make a public appearance in Danville before the race.