Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with Curb-Agajanian may be the Firestone Freedom 100’s equivalent to Penske Racing in the Indianapolis 500.
The team, the winningest organization in Firestone Indy Lights, has won six times on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s famed 2.5-mile oval, including the last four Firestone Freedom 100s. It aims to continue the success in 2013, despite having a driver lineup which has never raced on the track in any series.
Click it: Firestone Freedom 100 entrant list
“It’s going to be a lot of fun racing on the oval here and for the first time on a superspeedway,” said Jack Hawksworth, one of four drivers that Schmidt Peterson Motorsports will field in the Firestone Freedom 100. “Schmidt Peterson Motorsports has proven they have a good car here the last four years, and it should be the same this year.”
Hawksworth, who will be joined in the team’s expanded four-car lineup by Sage Karam, Gabby Chaves and Kyle O’Gara, tested at Indianapolis earlier this month. He said the full day of testing prepared him for the challenge of racing on the sport’s grandest stage for the first time.
“There’s a lot to learn, but with a good car, as we had at the test, it’s not that difficult to get a good lap time around here,” Hawksworth said. “The difficult thing will be the race and the experience of running wheel-to-wheel with people, and tactically and strategically running your race. You can’t simulate that in practice, so it will be a case of getting out there and seeing how much I can learn in the early part of the race, so that we’re there at the end when it matters.”
The field features five drivers with previous experience as Indy, including series points leader Carlos Munoz, who is attempting to compete both the Indianapolis 500 and Firestone Freedom 100. Other veterans are well Peter Dempsey, Jorge Goncalvez, Juan Pablo Garcia and Chase Austin, who will make his first start of the season with Jeffrey Mark Motorsport/Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian, while rookies include Zach Veach, who was among the fastest drivers in testing, and Jimmy Simpson, who will make his series debut in his home race.
Munoz, who was honored as the Indianapolis 500’s fastest rookie May 21 after qualifying on the middle of the front row, knows he needs to do well in his “day job” before he can think of success on May 26.
“My focus is to win the (Firestone) Indy Lights championship," said Munoz, who's won two races and is leads Hawksworth by 21 points heading into the season’s first oval race.
"We worked (in the Open Test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway) and were really quick and last year, in our first race at Indianapolis, I finished second,” Munoz. “People say I have to concentrate on the Indy 500, but all the experience I've gotten on the track this month will help me over the 100 miles (of the Firestone Freedom 100), and the 100 miles of the race will help me in the Indy 500."