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Indy Lights Racer Mark Olson's Blog

Report from Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

Friday, Practice Session 1 (9:40AM)

I was able to quickly get up to speed and was a full second per lap faster than my previous best lap (when we tested in June). Unfortunately, this was still 2+ seconds behind the rest of the field. We made a front wing adjustment which allowed me to get back to full throttle in turn one a lot sooner. We lowered the car which settled everything down and allowed me to get closer to flat through the turn 4-5-6-7 area of the track.

Friday, Practice Session 2 (2:25PM)

During this session, we were specifically working on the carousel turn and the keyhole turn. We worked on the line, getting in deeper, releasing the brakes earlier, and getting back to full throttle quicker. Made some good progress, but on the last lap of the session I found the limit on how deep you could go. I was still heavily on the brakes over a small crest on the entrance to the turn. As the car lightened up over the crest, the brakes locked putting me on the grass and accelerating me into the tire wall. I took the left front corner off the car, breaking the main plane and all the suspension bits. The track was 35 degrees hotter than the first practice session, and the IndyCars, the ALMS cars, and the IMSA Challenge cars had all been on track previously … causing less than ideal conditions. Everyone’s times trended slower in the second practice session.

Saturday, Qualifying (11:00AM)

For the first 20 minutes of the session, we ran old rubber and continued to work on various sessions of the track. With a few minutes left, we mounted fresh Firestones and tried to throw down a quick lap. I did get the quickest lap of the session, but I was never able to get a satisfactory lap in. I qualified last.

Saturday, Race #1 (5:25PM)

The start of the race was a mess. There appeared to be some miscommunication between race control and the starter. I think the teams were told that there was one more pace lap, when the starter threw the green flag. The field wasn’t even formed up. I was able to hang on to the back of the field for a while, but eventually as I made a little mistake here and a little mistake there I began to lose touch. About 1/3 of the way through the race, the leaders put me a lap down. As I was passed by the faster guys, I was able to follow them for a while and continued to learn a lot. About 2/3 of the way through the race, the leaders put me another lap down. Shortly thereafter, I got hit from behind by a faster car in the keyhole (video clip: http://www.indy500.com/videos/watch/1253-Bobby_Wilson_and_Mark_Olson_make_contact_at_Mid_Ohio_).It was unfortunate, because I was quickly reeling in one of the Panther Racing cars. Having been previously advised to maintain my line when being overtaken, I’m not sure what I could’ve done differently. The faster car seemed to have attempted a pretty low percentage banzai move up the inside. The contact spun me around and then flipped my car up into the air. He was able to continue on. I was able to refire and carry on. The contact bent my front sway bar, which dramatically altered the handling. I had to brake sooner in the turns and the car didn’t like turning left. Nonetheless, I was able to soldier in 19th place (out of 22 starters) with one lap being timed under my qualifying time.

Sunday, Warm-up (8:00AM)

The track was still moist and was very slippery. The entire field was 5 to 6 seconds off of their race pace. I was 19th quickest, 0.3 seconds behind 18th.

Sunday, Race #2 (10:35AM)

As we got belted into the car, the skies opened up and it rained buckets. The race was temporarily postponed 3 times waiting for lightening to pass through. The crew was allowed to change the car to a wet set-up. When the race started, it was impossible to see anything through the spray of the cars ahead. You couldn’t see a car directly in front of you, and you couldn’t see the edge of the track on either side of you. It was like flying in IFR conditions without any instruments. It was really a lot of work trying to tip-toe a 400HP, 1500 lb car around a full wet race track. Once the pack got spread out, you could see okay to try to hunt for the best traction possible. I could hang onto the back of the pack and there were several full course cautions that bunched us back off. I looped the car one time with the throttle at the exit of the keyhole, but was able to continue on (catching the field just a couple of corners later). With about 5 laps to go, I spun the car into the gravel trap at the end of the long back straight. I think that I just got in a little too deep and was still trailing the brakes while turning the car into the corner. The car immediately buried itself in the gravel, ending my day in 17th position versus a likely 11th place finish if I hadn’t made the mistake.

Next Race (for me):

Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA:

8/21/08 – Open Test from 12:45 – 4:30 PM

8/22/08 – Practice at 10AM

8/22/08 – Qualifying at 1:45PM

8/23/08 – Warm-up at 9AM

8/23/08 – Race #1 at 11:15AM

8/24/08 – Race #2 at 11:00AM

Mark Olson

Indy Lights Racer Mark Olson's Blog

Going for the Glory at The Glen

After a ten hour drive from Indianapolis, we finally arrived at the rural Watkins Glen International racetrack. It’s not a very convenient venue from a logistical standpoint, but it is steeped in history. Originally held on public streets, Watkins Glen has hosted classic events in everything from Formula 1 to regional club races.

Back in May I was able to get in a few laps in a Skip Barber racing school car, but you can’t really appreciate the track until you’re at speed in a Firestone Indy Lights car. It’s got massive elevation changes, off-camber turns, decreasing radius turns, and Armco barriers right at the edge of the track. While very technical, it’s got a nice flow to it.

Anyhow, we were unable to attend an official test that was held at the track the week prior, and so we were at a huge disadvantage to the field. Unfortunately, we never caught up. I was way off the pace after the first practice session, but managed to trim large chunks of time each session … there just wasn’t enough track time for me to get where I needed to be.

The first practice was scrubbed due to deer on the track. Strapped into the car, sitting on pit lane, I couldn’t see the action. I heard that watching the track workers running around in firesuits and helmets, trying to capture the baby deer was more fun than spectating at a goat rodeo at the local fairgrounds. The league decided to juggle the schedule around and give us one extended practice session in the afternoon before qualifying (instead of the 2 scheduled practice sessions).

The track claimed a lot of cars in practice and in qualifying, and we spent an unnecessary amount of time sitting on pit road waiting for one mess or the other to get cleaned up. It was tough to get into much of a rhythm. I think that we were only able to get in 11 timed laps in a 45 minute qualifying session. My best time in practice was a 1:49.10. I shaved 1.4 seconds off of that for a 1:47.70 in qualifying. I think that the leaders were in the 1:39’s, so you can see there was still a lot of work to be done.

For race 1, a couple of cars had trouble on the warm-up lap, and the race was started under yellow. On the restart, there were a couple of different incidents and we went immediately back to yellow. On lap 10, another car ended up in the wall and the yellow came out again. The final 55 miles of the race stayed green. Very late in the race, the leaders put me a lap down. I stayed out of trouble, though and ended up in 15th place, with a best lap of 1:46.10 … another 1.6 seconds faster than qualifying.

Surprisingly, everyone who damaged their cars in the first race made the start of the second race. This time, we actually got to take a green flag start, but of course there was a turn one pileup. Starting 15th, I was the meat in a three car sandwich entering turn 1 with several cars spinning across the track by the time we got there. I managed to stay clear of all the trouble. On the restart, the 11 car passed me cleanly, but then inexplicably parked his car in front of me in turn 1. I was forced to lock up and I skidded into the back of him. My nosecone planned squarely in his gearbox, I spun him off the track. My momentum carried me straight off the track into one of the few available run-off areas, with very minor front wing damage and flat-spotted front tires.

I radioed that I was coming in for round tires, but CR Crews radioed me from the spotter stand to just drive through it. The vibration was rattling the eyeballs out of my head such that it was actually hard to see. But the vibration did seem to get better with time. Another incident at the 20 mile mark brought out a timely full course yellow. After a quick consultation, the team called me in for a yellow flag tire change. The crew changed both front tires and sent me back out. I almost caught the back of the field before the race went green again, but not quite. I was a bit disappointed with having to stop, until I saw the tire after the race. The flat spot was worn all the way through the inner core, and there was probably only a couple of laps of rubber left holding the air in the tire.

At about the 70-mile mark, the leaders were about to put me a lap down, when the 18 car hit the wall hard at the exit of turn 9. I was able to stay on the lead lap. While the pace car bunched up the field, I was able to run at speed around the track to catch the back of the field. After the restart, we just kept pressing, and I was able to keep the tail end of the field in sight … a small victory, considering how far behind we started the weekend.

The remainder of the race was uneventful. For the second race in a row, I was able to bring the car home intact, finishing 16th and on the lead lap. It’s a bit hard for me to celebrate 16th, but the improvement was tremendous. My last lap of race 2 was the fastest of the weekend, so we never quit improving. Consider that the front Firestones had almost 200 miles on them, the track conditions were probably at their worst, and that we ran 2 complete race distances in one day (with less than a 3 hour break in between) – posting that fast lap at the end of the 2nd race was a nice statement.

Next up for me is Mid Ohio Sports Car Course, located north of Columbus and south of Cleveland. It is my last Midwest race this year. The schedule looks something like this (in case you can make it out):

Friday, July 18th

· Practice 1: 9:40AM – 10:25AM

· Practice 2: 2:25PM – 2:55PM

Saturday, July 19th

· Qualifying: 11:00AM – 11:30AM

· Race #1 (100 miles, 40 laps): 5:25PM – 6:25PM

Sunday, July 20th

· Race #2 (100 miles, 40 laps): 10:35AM – 11:35AM

· IndyCarTM main event (Honda Indy 200): 1:30PM

Mark Olson

Indy Lights Racer Mark Olson's Blog

Good News, Bad News Story

The good news was that the website www.IndyProRacer.com sponsored us for the Iowa event. You can check out my pre-race report (and anniversary wishes to Lori!) at the following link: http://www.indyproracer.com/2008/06/indy-lights-r-3.html.

As mentioned previously, the site is a great source of IndyCar and Indy Lights racing info, and they plan to carry my blogs for the remainder of the season. Also consider www.tracksideonline.com as a source of information, as they have generously broadcast my race reports as well.

Okay … you’re right, I’m stalling. Iowa was a bit of a struggle. For the third event in a row, the Iowa Speedway represented an entirely new set of challenges. It’s a 7/8 mile high banked speedway. With a standard 100 mile race distance, that translates to 115 laps – each one requiring a mere 20 seconds. Put another way, that’s 3 laps a minute. Yes, very busy and very fast!

The car was set up with a lot of downforce … almost a road course configuration. In practice on Friday, I quickly got faster than our times in the Open test the week previous. The times were fairly consistent, as well. The only problem was that the whole field improved as well … leaving us a couple of tenths off of where we wanted to be.

As we lined up for qualifying, the skies opened up on us … postponing qualifying until 6:15 at night. Prior to qualifying, though, the league gave us an extra 15 minutes of practice. Kind of an unusual move, but understandable, I guess. I was happy for the bonus opportunity to try some things. Unfortunately, we were unable to match our previous times, let alone improve on them. After the bonus practice, we discovered a suspension issue which would prevent us from getting where we needed to be in qualifying. The decision was made to forego qualifying and save the tires and the car for the race. This decision moved us to last place on the starting grid.

For the race, our “strategy” was to try to stick with the tail end of the field as long as possible, patiently circulate, and let the race come to us. Similar to Milwaukee, the Iowa Speedway presents no room for error and it can bite you at any time. When the green flag flew, I was able to stay reasonably close to the back of the field. I slightly muffed the restart after the first yellow flag and quickly got lapped by the leaders. Once you start getting lapped, the fun factor goes down considerably. Since the track is only 7/8 mile long, it gets to be like an endless freight train coming by.

Anyhow, I kept my line nice and predictable and tried to keep the pace up the best I could (about 4 MPH off of the leaders). By half race distance, I was 2 laps down to the leaders. Throughout the race, I was struggling to keep the car down on the exit of turn 2. From all appearances, my line was right through the entrance to turn 1 and past the apex in 2, but then the car would move up the track. On lap 62, I brushed the wall and ended my day. I damaged at least one wheel and the front and rear wishbones. Ugh!

Apparently, no one noticed that I contacted the wall. So, when I drove the car into the pits, got out, and stormed off to the garage, the webcast commentators thought that I might’ve voluntarily parked the car … angry at the team or something. Anyhow, to clear the air, I was more than a little upset at myself for struggling the way I did, and I did have a loud and colorful conversation with myself back in the privacy of the team trailer, but I was in no way upset with the team, the league, or the situation. Everyone has been really great and supportive, and I never want anything I do to reflect badly on the team or the league. I just demand a lot of myself, and I think most people were pleased to see a little bit of passion expressed. After all, what’s racing without passion? ‘Nuf said.

Unfortunately, due to budgetary reasons (directly related to the Milwaukee crash damage) I’m going to have to sit out the remaining 3 oval races. For a ton of reasons, it’s really disappointing, but those are the realities of racing. I was especially looking forward to Kentucky and Chicago. We will continue to participate in the Firestone Indy Lights series at the road courses, with Watkins Glen being next on the schedule – over the 4th of July weekend.

I hope to announce our 2009 Firestone Indy Lights plans soon, but the details are still being firmed up. More later.

Mark Olson

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Images from Indy Lights Jeld-Wen 100 at Iowa Speedway available at IndyProRacer.com Photo Pages

Indy Lights Racer Mark Olson's Blog

On Anniversary Wishes and Iowa Dreaming

I woke up this morning and told my wife, “Honey, the last nine years have been like nine minutes … under water. Happy 9th anniversary”.

This is a long running joke between us – one which I still think is hilarious and one which she barely tolerates. I think she might have laughed at it the first couple of times. Macho B.S. aside, my wife is a great woman, wife, and mother (of 2+!), and I’ve immensely enjoyed the last nine minutes … er, years.

Seems like we’ve been really busy since Milwaukee. The guys pulled several all-nighters to repair a totally destroyed car after hitting the wall at The Mile. They got the car back together (road course configuration) in time to participate in a test at Mid-Ohio on the Thursday following Milwaukee. It was a heroic, all-hands-on-deck effort. However, it did make me a little nervous when I saw Michael working on the car.

Aside from testing, I’ve continued working hard on my fitness and diet. It really makes a difference.

Testing at Mid-Ohio made for a nice change of pace … a road course. I logged a couple hundred miles and learned a lot. While I think the team was satisfied with what we learned there, I left feeling like I needed one more session to really break through into the range where we needed to be. I definitely learned the track and learned what I needed to do … I just didn’t quite get a chance to bring it all together. Nonetheless, we’ve got a good starting point for when we return in mid-July.

The following week, we participated in the open test at Iowa. The weather was great on Tuesday for the 6-1/2 hour drive from Indy to Newton, IA. Naturally, the forecast for the day of the test was for 70% chance of severe thunderstorms. While the weather never was as bad as the satellite made it look like it could be, it did rain steadily from 9:45 AM until 2PM. The officials did their best to start the test as quickly as possible, and I think we actually got out a little before the scheduled 9AM start time. Based on the satellite, there appeared to be a strong possibility that once the rain started, the test would be over. Someone contacted the wall, bringing out a yellow flag around 9:45 AM, and the rain drops began falling almost immediately thereafter. The rain stopped around 2PM and the track dried very quickly. We got to go back out on the track shortly after 3PM for another hour plus.

In the morning session, I was a long ways off of the pace – approximately 1.5 seconds off of the pace, which is an eternity on a 7/8 mile oval. This was mostly due to my relative lack of experience, and we were steadily chipping away at it. While the times were unacceptable, I definitely learned what it was that needed to be done. During the long break, we spent the time talking everything through, going over the data, and making a couple of small changes to the car. The break was good for me in that it allowed the morning session to really soak in.

In the afternoon session, the times came down pretty quickly 0.1 to 0.2 seconds each lap. One of only 3 cars (out of 19 attending the test) to improve their time in the afternoon session, I ended up improving my time by 1.1 seconds. This moved me firmly into the pack. The team really put out a great effort, as we methodically worked through everything we wanted to try. As has been the case the last 3 outings, C. R. Crews did a great job from the spotter’s stand helping me make the on-track adjustments needed to get onto the pace. Unfortunately, I ended the day with a spin that was eerily similar to Milwaukee.

The progress we made at Iowa was tremendous, but the spin was a little frustrating. You’re gonna make mistakes, but you’ve got to learn from them, and I hate making the same mistake twice. Since then we’ve spent a lot of time going over data, reviewing the Milwaukee video, and discussing the spotter’s observations, etc. to try to troubleshoot things. We think we’ve got a decent handle on what’s going on and how to prevent the situation in the future.

Iowa should be interesting this weekend. Qualifying and the race are scheduled for late afternoon and should present the entire field with challenging track conditions. Our times in the afternoon session of the open test were reasonably competitive, and I’m cautiously optimistic about our chances. The team continues to put a great car on the track, and I’m getting stronger in leaps and bounds, every time we get out.

Mark Olson

Indy Lights Racer Mark Olson's Blog

Singing the Milwaukee Blues

Firestone Indy Lights racer Mark Olson of Michael Crawford Motorsports is living the dream. He comments here with his notes from last weekend's Milwaukee 100. We'll be joining him throughout the remainder of the 2008 Indy Lights season for his reminiscences, regrets, plans and success. Good luck, Mark.

Following just a week after the Indy 500, we raced at the famed Milwaukee Mile this past weekend.

The Milwaukee Mile is a very cool and historic race track. I was very impressed. If you can imagine a dirt track at your local State Fairground … then pave it – you’ve got the Milwaukee Mile. Situated somewhere between the Poultry Barn and the beer garden, it’s a one mile track with only 2.5 degrees of banking and hard concrete walls situated on fairgrounds property in the middle of an urban neighborhood. What it lacks in facilities it more than makes up for in character.

Battling Chicago area traffic, I arrived at the track Friday afternoon. Didn’t get much sleep that night due to the violent storms back in Indy. Lori called around midnight, frantic as rain water was pouring into the house in 4 different rooms and through the ceiling. As I lay in bed 250 miles away contemplating our insurance deductible (as well as the thought of my pregnant wife having to fill sandbags by herself while her juvenile delinquent husband was off to the racetrack … again), sleep was slow in returning.

I was immediately on the pace in the first practice session (Saturday AM), initially as high as 12th on the timing charts. Gradually, I fell down the timing charts to 20th position, but still it felt good to be in the thick of things. I was comfortable in the car from the very moment I climbed in. The track seemed to make sense. Others were definitely struggling, but as a team things were really clicking for us. C. R. Crews spotted for me and provided invaluable coaching. He talked me through some major adjustments to my line, and I was able to drastically improve on the fly.

In the second practice session, we continued to progress. I was able to run the correct line consistently and confidently, picking up the pace with each lap. I was visibly faster than several other cars and quite comfortable in the car. I think I finished 16th quickest, right in the midst of several very fast competitors. I was losing a lot of time on turn entry, but my mid-corner speed and exit speeds appeared as fast as (if not faster than) anyone’s. CR continued to push me to pick up the pace on the entry, really throwing the car into the corner and scrubbing the speed with the steering wheel. This was in great contrast to my previous oval events at Kansas and Indy.

For qualifying (Saturday PM), we drew the 5th spot. The qualifying routine was the same as Indy. Leaving the pits, we got the out lap, one warm-up lap, and two qualifying laps. The average of the 2 qualifying laps determined our grid position. I screwed up the first qualifying lap. On both ends of the track, I got off-line and had to lift slightly, costing myself 0.5 seconds. Nonetheless, I qualified 17th.

The race (Sunday) was scheduled for 100 grueling laps. I got a decent start, but lost a position to Dillon Battistini at the end of the first lap. I was clearly faster then the 3 cars in front of me, but couldn’t get past any of them prior to the first yellow flag. I got a good re-start and was again clearly faster than the cars in front of me. I took a peek at Chris Festa a couple of times before passing him on the exit of turn 4 … just as Marc Williams spun in turn 4. Festa passed me back (arguably under yellow), but the pace car never came back out and we went green again before the league could make a ruling on who passed who when. After the restart, I again poked a nose under Festa and finally got a good enough run at him to get past cleanly. Next in line was Richard Antinucci (championship points leader) and then Johnny Reid (New Zealand A1GP driver). In only a lap or two, I closed up on Antinucci.

On lap 18, I got a really great run on Antinucci through turns 3 and 4. Unfortunately, the rear end of the car slowly stepped out and eventually I spun, hitting the inside wall very hard. A video replay can be seen at the following link: http://www.indy500.com/videos/watch/1047-Mark_Olson_makes_contact_with_the_inside_wall_during_the_Milwaukee_100_. As you can see, it appeared for a moment that I was going to be able to “save it”. But when the car hooked up, it shot across to the inside wall of the track and wiped out the left side of the car. I’m pleased to report that no injuries were sustained whatsoever. Our analysis of the incident hasn’t been completed yet, but I can speculate on several possible explanations:

• I may have gotten too aggressive with the throttle, causing the rear end to lose traction


• I may have lifted off of the throttle abruptly, transferring weight off of the rear end and losing traction


• I may have pinched off the turn with the steering wheel, inducing the spin


• A gust of wind may have unbalanced the car aerodynamically


• The track may have still been slippery in spots from the Hooters Cup stock car race the night before

The video makes it look like Antinucci cut me off, forcing me to abruptly lift off of the throttle, but that is not at all what I saw from the cockpit. In fact, from where I was sitting, it looked as if I had timed things perfectly. I felt very comfortable and was happy with everything right up to the point where I saw the rear end go past. Anyhow, the data will shortly tell the tale, but I don’t expect to find any major mistakes on my part. On Saturday, there were half a dozen incidents on the exit of turn 2 while the wind was blowing one direction. On Sunday all the incidents were in turn 4, and the wind was blowing the other direction.

Festa finished 13th, Battistini (second place in the championship) finished 14th, Reid finished 15th, and Antinucci (championship points leader) finished 16th.

I have attached a couple of race updates from tracksideonline.com, where we got some good mentions. Tracksideonline is a subscription service ($19 per year) which sends out up-to-the minute email updates throughout each event during the weeks between events. The reporting is very candid and a good read. Another great source of information (and free) is indyproracer.com. Indyproracer.com has a really good picture of me a split second before impact. Finally, don’t forget to tape the race broadcast on ESPN2 at 1PM on Thursday (6/5/08).

As I think I mentioned in my last update, I have been asked by the team to drive the rest of the season. The schedule, therefore, looks like this:

• Iowa Open Test, June 11


• Iowa Speedway, June 21


• Watkins Glen, 2 races on July 5


• Nashville Speedway, July 12


• Mid Ohio Sports Car Course, Race 1 on July 19


• Mid Ohio Sports Car Course, Race 2 on July 20


• Kentucky Open Test, July 24


• Kentucky Speedway, August 9


• Infineon Open Test, August 22


• Infineon Raceway (Napa Valley, CA), Race 1 on August 23


• Infineon Raceway (Napa Valley, CA), Race 1 on August 24


• Chicagoland Speedway, September 7

Mark Olson