He’s learned a lot in three years, though Gabby Chaves is still just 24.
Hopefully that experience will serve him well as the Colombian-American driver for Harding Racing gets his second shot at a full-time Verizon IndyCar Series ride this season. The last time was in 2015, when he was Sunoco Rookie of the Year while with Bryan Herta Autosport.
When he thinks back to that season, and what has happened since with 10 starts for Dale Coyne Racing and Harding Racing in the past two years, the youthful Chaves thinks of himself as older and wiser. Perhaps more importantly, what has he learned?
“Mostly patience, right?” he said. “You mature your skillsets. You’re always pushing yourself to be quicker than you were the lap before. That doesn’t change. However, you’re now dealing with pit stops in the race. You’re now dealing with much longer races. That’s something that took me a few races to really get accustomed to. Now with a few more races’ experience, I feel like I’m a lot closer to being able to capitalize on that and use it to an advantage.”
Chaves is part of an enthusiastic venture with Harding Racing, which is transitioning to a full-time season after making three starts last year. Mike Harding has hired longtime INDYCAR executive and race director Bryan Barnhart as president, and he’s had two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser Jr. on the payroll as a driver coach since last year.
Chaves believes the fledgling INDYCAR operation can compete right away.
“We’d certainly like to,” Chaves said. “We didn’t come here to participate, that’s not why we’re here. We’re here to be competitive, we’re here to ultimately win races and challenge for a championship and win the Indy 500.
“We understand it’s a process. We know it’s going to take some time and preparation and learning, but that does not change our objective.”
Barnhart, Unser and Chaves have continually reiterated their understanding about the “process.” In the series’ open test Feb. 9-10 at ISM Raceway, Chaves ranked 20th out of 23 cars in the No. 88 Harding Group Chevrolet. He is scheduled to join most of the other series’ drivers in team testing this week at Sebring International Raceway in preparation for the season opener, the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 11 (12:30 p.m. ET, ABC and Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network).
“I know what our goals are,” Chaves said. “Those ultimate goals don’t change. However, with the unknown of how we’re going to perform right off the bat, we don’t know if we’re going to unload at St. Pete and be super-fast or we might have some work to do. We don’t know that yet. The short-term goals will be adjusted as we go along, but the long-term goals don’t change. It’s just a matter of how we get there. We will get there. How fast can we get there?”
He’s always been outspoken about his foremost objective of winning the Indianapolis 500 — a grueling, 200-lap endurance test that requires patience, and where he’s shown great potential in three starts.
Chaves finished ninth in last year’s Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil. He was 20th the year before that, although he ran better but was assessed a couple of drive-through penalties. He finished 16th in his Indy 500 debut in 2015, a result that should have been in the top 10 if not for some impatience in trying to get around lapped traffic late in the race.
“I’ve been on both ends,” he said. “My first year as a rookie, we were in contention for a top-seven finish. We were in eighth or ninth place after doing our last pit stop. We were good to go to the finish. And I was just being a little impatient trying to get around lapped traffic, and there it goes. You have to know that some races, you’re going to have a great car, some races you’re not. But if you’re patient and you work through it throughout the whole race, you should always be there at the end.
“Last year was more of the other example, where we had more of an average car at the beginning of the race, we improved it every pit stop, and in the last quarter of the race we were a lot faster than a lot of people around us. We just made our way forward.”
In 26 career starts, Chaves has four top-10 finishes. Two of those came in three starts last year. In addition to being ninth at Indy, he was fifth at Texas.
“I feel like now I’m closer to being prepared to live up to my potential,” he said. “Experience helps you get there. I have a bit more experience now to go after my goals.
“There’s a time for everything. Being with what we do and how much we love what we do, the enjoyment comes along naturally. Sometimes we let the pressure get the best of us, then you step away from enjoying it and from doing it because you love it and now you’re doing it for the results or to please the sponsors and the teams.
“There is a balance that has to be had. It’s something that I constantly remind myself about. I’m doing this because I love it, because it’s my passion, because it’s my life. And I’m going to do the best job I can. If can do that, everything else takes care of itself.”