Indiana Open Wheel - Rumors From the Indy Circle Track Expo

Saturday was the Indy Circle Track Expo and as usual, rumors were running rampant. And as every year, we at PDP Racing, were at the center of several of the rumors. So I thought I would address these rumors before they get out of hand.

Rumor: We at PDP racing, being one of the premier teams at the Little 500, hired Tony Stewart away from the Hoffman’s. It was reported that we managed to hire him away for the extravagant price of a case of Pabst and a sack of White Castle hamburgers.

Fact: While we cannot confirm or deny this, it was reported to us that Tony drinks Schlitz beer and would not drink anything as low brow as Pabst. Besides, I think Kody can take him.

Rumor: PDP racing has signed a new high dollar sponsor in the “Uranus Fudge Factory” in Uranus, MO. (A real place. https://www.facebook.com/Uranusfudge...dGeneralStore/ )

Fact: I found this place along I-44 on the way home from the Chili Bowl. While their sponsorship offer was attractive, they wanted us to change the number on the car to #2 and paint the car brown. We were afraid all our other high dollar sponsors would be offended.

Rumor: Speaking of the Chili Bowl, while other teams sell T-shirts, we at PDP Racing are going to produce a Kevin Olson blow up doll to replace the blow up sheep that bounces around Section A at the Chili bowl.

Fact: While KO was on board for this (for a cut of the profits of course), when we got ready to take pictures for the proto-type, KO showed up in nothing but his open faced helmet and goggles. While you can get away with a lot at the Chili Bowl, we thought this was a bit much! I just hope he didn’t drive home that way!

Rumor: Speaking again of the Chili Bowl, it was rumored that we decided to take advantage of the vagueness of the rules and build a new, but vintage motor. We took two Volkswagen motors, stacked them on top of each other, connected them with a gearbox and called it an H8R motor (the “H” is for the shape of the motor, the 8 is for the number of cylinders, the “R” stands for “race”).

Fact: This one had me perplexed. While the rest of these made some kind of sense, this one did not. So I went over to see Chad Delagrange (the “D” in PDP Racing), our Vice President of Research and Development at our Skunk Works facility in Waterloo, IN. When I explained to Chad about a H8R motor, he said, “The H8R is already around. All you have to do is go on Indiana Open Wheel and mention NASCAR, wings, or even racing outside of Indiana. You will attract all the H8R’s you can handle.” He smiled (or what passes for a smile on Chad) and went back to work. But as I was leaving, I swear I heard German Polka music playing on the phonograph in the shop.

Rumor: Since Jim Payne (the first “P” in PDP Racing), our primary driver, turned 65 years young this year, we were going to surprise him with a driving uniform that looked like he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, Bermuda shorts and black socks up to his knees.

Fact: While Chad and I thought this was a great idea, Jim was less then enthused. And Hinchman expressed difficulty in making this design. But the real reason Jim nixed the idea was when we called Simpson for a set of orthopedic driving shoes.

The fact remains that we at PDP Racing will be running the Little 500 (we hope), select Auto Value Super Sprint Winged Pavement races and various dirt races through Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. And the final fact is that we will be having fun doing it!

Tom Paterson
PDP Racing
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