Last fall before the 2013 Verizon IndyCar Series finale, Penske Racing president Tim Cindric and Target Chip Ganassi Racing managing director Mike Hull spoke of their teams’ rivalry with tones of admiration and respect for the other side.
But in an interesting turn of events, Cindric has now said that he doesn’t regard the Ganassi-Penske duels for wins and championships as a rivalry at all.
In an interview with USA Today, Cindric tells writer Jeff Olson that while Chip Ganassi himself wants to think of it as a rivalry, he and Team Penske do not – explaining that it’s more of a “intense competition” instead.
“…Rivalries take place over a long period of time,” Cindric said. “If you want to think of it in baseball terms, it would be the Yankees and the [Miami] Marlins – a team with a long history against a younger team that came on strong and won a couple of World Series. Maybe that’s not a good analogy, but I don’t see it as the Yankees and Red Sox.”
He then goes on to say that Ganassi “has more to gain by putting himself in the same league as Roger [Penske],” noting his boss’ accomplishments both in and out of motorsports.
“Anytime you can compare yourself to him, it’s a positive,” Cindric says. “[Ganassi] has more to gain than Roger does by comparing himself to Chip.
“…[Ganassi’s] primary concern is how Roger is performing. Our concern is how we are performing in terms of everyone else. We wouldn’t be content just beating Chip, where I feel like Chip would be content just beating Roger.”
It must be noted that Ganassi hasn’t just been beating Penske in recent years but everyone else as well. Ganassi’s drivers have claimed five of the last six IndyCar titles (Scott Dixon – 2008, 2013; Dario Franchitti – 2009, 2010, 2011).
On the other side, Team Penske hasn’t won a title since Sam Hornish Jr. earned his third career IndyCar crown in 2006, two years before he went to NASCAR.
Still, it seems that Cindric’s comments got under the skin of Franchitti, now retired after his devastating crash last fall at Houston but still working with CGR as an advisor. Jenna Fryer of the Associated Press relays the following from St. Petersburg:
Ganassi himself also mentioned Cindric as well this morning:
Something tells us that this has been taken as “bulletin board material” by the Ganassi camp, and that may mean some added spice to the proceedings this weekend in St. Pete.
