IRL’s Hornish deliberating NASCAR jump
Driver says ‘challenge of it intrigues me’ and would love to adjust styles
 | Sam Hornish Jr. has spent eight years driving in the IRL. |
Tom Strattman / AP |
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LEXINGTON, Ohio - Sam Hornish Jr. has already exceeded the modest goals he set as a young kid whose biggest dream was to someday drive in an Indianapolis 500.
Having won at the Brickyard a year ago, and with three IndyCar Series titles under his racing suit, at the age of 28 he’s taking a long, hard look at what he wants to do next and whether it includes a risky jump to NASCAR.
“It’s safe to say that the challenge of it intrigues me,” Hornish said in the midst of preparations for this week’s Honda 200.
Hornish is fifth in the IRL driver standings heading into the race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course — which Hornish first drove on 14 or 15 years ago when he sloshed through a rainy go-kart race. He is financially secure and has a reputation as a dependable, patient and productive driver.
At the same time, after eight years in IRL, he’s itching for something new.
“One of the main reasons that I would even consider doing a stock-car program is again getting to the point that it’s racing but it’s still not the same thing,” Hornish said while sipping a diet drink in the coffee shop of his hotel. “It’s a different discipline you have to learn, the tools you have to use are different. There’s a lot of little things that you need to consider and adjust yourself for to be able to be competitive in that series.”
No sooner were those words out of his mouth than he added, “Just because someone is good in one thing doesn’t mean that they’re going to be good in another.”
There’s no question that Hornish has been very, very good in IRL. His win at Texas Motor Speedway last month was his 19th, more than anyone else in the series.
He had the fourth-fastest time during the two practice sessions on Friday. IRL points leader Dario Franchitti, chasing his fourth win of the year, was less than a second faster over the 2.258-mile road course than Tony Kanaan, Helio Castroneves, Hornish, Scott Dixon and Vitor Meira. Qualifying runs are Saturday.
Despite his IRL success, Hornish makes no secret of the fact that he’s restless. His agreement with Penske Racing allows him to try some different things. He’s driving in several Busch Series events and is testing himself in other ways.
“That’s one of the great things about this deal I have with Roger right now is that we have an opportunity to go either way,” Hornish said. “The best part is that I don’t have to make a decision today or tomorrow. We started off this year knowing that we were going to do 11 to 14 stock-car events, run the whole IndyCar schedule, run the 24 Hours of Daytona, have a whole bunch of different kind of racing thrown in there.
“We’re going to continue to work on that plan. We’ll sit down at the end of the year when that’s all over with and make a decision on what we’re going to do.”
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Attending art school appeals to him. At one time, he toyed with the idea of running a restaurant but has changed his mind. But maybe the lure of driving is too strong.
“Four or five years ago it was more about getting to the point where when I have this much money, then I can quit,” he said. “But the more and more I race, right now I can’t see myself quitting. I can’t see that happening anytime in the immediate future because, first of all, I don’t know what I’d do with myself.”
A year ago, he was on the road for more than 260 days, so spending some time at home in the village of Napoleon is welcome. Spending a lot of time, however, isn’t.
“Four or five” days off, Hornish said, “and I start saying, ‘I ought to be doing something more.”’
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