ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — There are many race courses on the NTT IndyCar Series schedule that puts Will Power’s greatness on display.
One of them is the 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary street course in downtown St. Petersburg, site of this weekend’s NTT IndyCar Series season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
Eight of his NTT IndyCar Series record 68 career poles have come at St. Petersburg. Power is also a two-time winner of this event.
“It’s just one of those tracks that really clicked with me,” Power said. “A few of them on the circuit where you are naturally fast, but you still have to work on it. Sometimes you struggle.
“I love the flow of that track. I love it. Really getting close to walls. It just seems to suit my style.”
Points are points, whether they are accumulated in the first race of the season, or the last. But drivers that have started the season well at St. Pete tend to be in contention for the NTT IndyCar Series championship late in the season.
Last year, Power started second and finished third and was able to drive to his second NTT IndyCar Series championship.
Power took time out on his 42nd birthday on Wednesday to give his reason why to SPEED SPORT.
“I’m going to say it probably has to do with the fact that you build momentum when the pressure is not so much on,” Power explained. “Let’s just say it probably takes some desperation out, which it shouldn’t because, you’re right, they all pay the same points this year. It’s all the same, so it shouldn’t matter.
“Just for whatever reason, you start off well, it allows you to have a lull and then still be in the game at the end. If you start off well, you get that points buffer, you have a couple bad ones, it allows you to come back.”
Power further backed up his point by saying the 17-race NTT IndyCar Series season is really sectioned into thirds.
“If you cut the season into thirds, that’s what it’s always felt like, the first third, the middle third, the last third, you have two-thirds are going to be good in a row,” said the Team Penske driver. “It’s a little bit like that.
“It’s not always necessarily the same. You can have a slow start and come through and win the championship, as well.”
The Team Penske driver has established himself as one of the all-time great drivers in NTT IndyCar Series history. He believes the championship contenders come to the forefront of the first five races each season and explained why.
“I think you’ll learn over the first five races who is really right in the game,” he said. “It’s so hard to predict. So many fast drivers and fast teams, good teams. Who knows?
“You know the Penske cars will be good, Ganassi will be good, the Andretti guys. You have Kyle Kirkwood in there now, which I think he’ll be very strong. A bunch of guys. McLaren guys. Like it’s crazy.
“It’s very, very fiercely competitive.”
The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is very popular among the fans. Held in early March or late April, it’s a chance for the teams based in Indianapolis to escape the cold winter chill and enjoy the sunshine and warmth of Florida. It also provides a spectacular backdrop for the NBC telecast, creating a televised postcard from this Florida Gulf Coast city.
As for a racing driver, though, the street course is quite challenging. It incorporates the airport runway of the Albert Whitted Airport and the city streets of St. Petersburg.
“You don’t get much rest around that track,” Power said. “It’s a very rhythm track, a lot of 90-degree turns. For whatever reason it really suits me. I really like it a lot, the way it races. Just the track layout actually. It doesn’t race as well as some other tracks.
“As far as getting speed out of it, I really enjoy it.”
IndyCar President Jay Frye and his staff have made some minor tweaks to the qualifying procedure that should benefit the competitors.
From an officiating standpoint, the first red flag during Segments One and Two of road and street course qualifying will stop the 10-minute clock. The clock will continue to run for the second and subsequent red flags during Segments One and Two. The Firestone Fast Six will continue to feature six minutes of guaranteed time.
Also new, to maximize time during the segments, the qualifying clock will not start until the first car during the session passes the alternate start-finish line on the racetrack.
“It’s a good thing about IndyCar, they are always looking to improve what is already probably the best racing product in the world,” Power said. “The number of different winners, the unpredictability of each weekend of who might be on pole, who is going to even be in the top 10 honestly is better than anything else around.
“That will be interesting. The fact that you can carry those Reds through to qualifying pretty much makes it that everyone will carry them through to qualifying. I’m not sure it achieves exactly what he wanted it to achieve, which was that everyone would do more laps in practice. I think everyone was going to save that set. If it was a set of blacks, then you probably would use it in practice.”
Power has had a bit of a tumultuous offseason as his wife, Liz, developed a serious infection that settled in her spine. This past week, Liz had a setback that required another trip to the hospital, according to Power.
Power told SPEED SPORT Thursday afternoon that his wife is responding to treatment as the doctors in North Carolina attempt to find a long-term solution to her ailment.
Power arrived in St. Petersburg hopeful to have another great start to the season as he attempts to defend last year’s championship. He did admit, that after a long offseason, it takes a bit of an adjustment to competing in the Florida heat and humidity.
The temperature all weekend in St. Petersburg is expected to be in the 80s.
“Now you got me worried,” Power quipped. “You get all this winter training up here. Heat training is basically you just got to be in the heat. I didn’t even think about that.
“Yes, yes, yes. 84, huh? Wow, I didn’t expect that. It’s going to be hot, yeah. Hope that cool shirt works.
“You don’t get a lot of heat training. Unless you heat a room up, yeah, haven’t done a lot of much heat training.
“Eighty? That’s better than 100.”