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 Friday, April 13, 2001
Young drivers are revolutionizing the IRL
By Jack Arute
Special to ABC Sports Online
There is a revolution going on in the Indy Racing Northern Light Series, and it's happening on the track instead of off. Sam Hornish's sweep of the first two races on the series schedule serves notice that the youth brigade -- drivers 29 or younger -- are to be reckoned with.
|  | | Sam Hornish Jr. is one of several young IRL drivers with bright futures. |
Hornish, a former Karting champion, charged to the front and won the Infiniti G.P. of Miami after stalling his Pennzoil Panther Oldsmobile during his last pit stop. The Series' youngest driver, Sarah Fisher, improved her career-best third at Kentucky last season with a second in Miami.
Sarah gave her car owner, Derrick Walker, a birthday gift that could only be topped if the Butler University student had won. She hung around the top of the order throughout the day and matched Hornish's late-race march passing Eliseo Salazar with just a handful of laps left in the 300-miler.
How impressive were these two? If you combine Sam and Sarah's ages -- 21 and 20 respectively -- you fall short of Salazar's age of 45! The IRL is full of young guns this season.
Felipe Giaffone, Airton Dare and Casey Mears are also younger than 30. In fact, of the 26 starters in Sunday's race, 10 were 29 years of age or younger.
Its one thing to have young drivers populate a series. It is another to have them lead a series. NASCAR has its share of young drivers, but more often than not, Victory Lane is the domain of veterans. Michael Waltrip and Dale Jarrett have both left age 30 in the rearview mirror.
In CART, Christiano DeMatta's Mexico win was backed up by Helio Castroneves' win in Long Beach. Both are twenty-something.
When I asked about this phenomenon, I got an assortment of answers. NASCAR followers pointed out the difficult ladder that aspiring Winston Cuppers must follow to the pinnacle of their sport. True. There are more youngsters displaying their wares on NASCAR's Busch and Craftsman Truck Series tours, but can't the same be said in both CART & the IRL?
If you look at Formula Ford, Toyota Atlantics and Dayton Indy Lights, you see an equal number of drivers under age 29. That's where they learn their trade and develop their rep. That's where they get the attention of the big-time owners and hopefully get a shot to move up.
I also believe part of the reason is young drivers starting out in Go-Karts, which have open-wheels and open cockpits. There's no fender rubbing. Instead, these kids acquire the ability to race with precision at close quarters without touching, and that reaps rich rewards when pursuing a career in any open-wheel environment.
Junior Johnson once told me that kids who came from Karts showed a reluctance to "root" their way past another driver. "Sometimes," he said, "you just have to drive that car down into the corner and put a wheel do-nut on the other guy's door to get by him. Those Go-Karts don't teach you that!"
But shifter Karts give you all of the basics to drive an Indy type car. Many professional drivers in open-wheel racing keep a shifter Kart to stay sharp. Karting offers incredible competition on both road courses and ovals. Asphalt and dirt. They teach you smoothness.
So, if you are interested in who might win the 2011 Indy Racing Northern Light Cup or CART's FedEx Champ Car title, check out some of the Karting races in your area. That 10-year old tearing up the competition may pass a 31-year old Sam Hornish for the 2011 win at Indianapolis.
Jack Arute mans the pits for ABC Sports' auto racing coverage. He writes a column every Monday for ABC Sports Online.
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 Sam Hornish Jr. takes the checkered flag for the second race in a row. (ABC Sports)
avi: 1314 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Sarah Fisher makes her move to pass Eliseo Salazar and claim second. (ABC Sports)
avi: 1569 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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