April 29 begins a three-day stretch of somber memories/anniversaries

By Apr 29, 2014, 10:00 AM EDT
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The Tuesday morning began with Dale Earnhardt Jr. tweeting, simply, this:

Indeed today would have been Dale Earnhardt’s 63rd birthday. This year of course marks the return of the No. 3 to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series ranks, and it was one of the biggest story lines heading into the season and the Daytona 500. Here’s a shot of Dale Sr., Dale Jr. and Kerry Earnhardt from the fall 2000 race at Michigan, as shot by Nigel Kinrade – the only race all three of them drove in together.

Earnhardt’s birthday anniversary today kicks off what is going to be a tough three-day stretch for the motorsports community, as memories of the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix occur once more as that horrific weekend is now 20 years on.

This day, April 29, 1994, saw a savage accident incurred by then-second year driver Rubens Barrichello, in the Jordan 194, at Imola. He caught too much air going over a curb on the second-to-last chicane complex and his car somersaulted into the tire barriers, nearly clearing the catch fencing. Just as scary was the way the car was taken off, with Barrichello’s helmet moving at a rapid clip when the car was turned right side up. Fortunately he escaped with only minor injuries.

Wednesday, April 30, saw the first fatality on a Grand Prix weekend in a dozen years when Roland Ratzenberger’s Simtek crashed at high speed. A 33-year-old rookie, Ratzenberger had made it to Formula One after a long climb of the racing ladder; the Austrian was also due to race in that year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans with Toyota.

And of course, sadly, Thursday May 1 will mark 20 years since Ayrton Senna’s death in the San Marino Grand Prix. Numerous tributes, commemorative and other type pieces will occur with that date. Senna’s legend, if anything, has grown in the 20 years since 1994, and he remains a global icon and one of motorsport’s all-time heroes.

This week was always going to happen simply by the calendar moving forward every day, but it’s not going to be the easiest.

Ford Mustang GT3 test has Austin Cindric dreaming of Daytona: ‘I want to drive that car’

By Mar 22, 2023, 2:30 PM EDT
Cindric Ford GT3 test
Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
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Austin Cindric wasn’t the “mystery” test driver behind the wheel of the new Ford Mustang GT3 at Sebring International Raceway, but the Team Penske driver desperately wanted to be.

Ford CEO Jim Farley, an amateur sports car driver himself, made the big reveal via a Tuesday tweet that provided the first video evidence of the GT3 Mustang on track.

“I’ve watched the video in question about a million times,” Cindric said Wednesday during a Ford Performance Zoom news conference to promote NASCAR’s first road course weekend of the season at Circuit of the Americas. “Definitely exciting times for sure. I want to drive that car. It suits my experience level and also the relationships that I have.”

Ford will enter the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next season with its GT3 Mustang, entering a two-car factory effort (that will be managed by Multimatic) in GTD Pro and making customer cars available in the GT Daytona category.

That increases the likelihood of seeing more NASCAR drivers crossing over to IMSA. Cindric has been the only full-time Cup driver in the Rolex 24 at Daytona the past two years, but Ford Performance global director Mark Rushbrook has said the GT3 Mustang will provide more opportunities.

Ford has used its GT4 Mustang as a NASCAR driver development tool in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge with Harrison Burton and Zane Smith combining to win the season opener at Daytona International Speedway in January.

“We’re excited about the Next Gen car and the new architecture there and the similarities between that car and GT3 and even GT4 cars,” Rushbrook said at the announcement of the Ford GT3 program in January 2022 at Daytona. “We think it’s a great opportunity and to do be able to do that in a 24-hour race and get NASCAR drivers even more time is something we need to consider taking advantage of that opportunity.”

Given his sports car background, Cindric probably still would be in the Rolex 24 regardless. He has eight IMSA starts since the 2017 season opener at Daytona, racing a Lexus RCF GT3 and Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the GT category. The 2022 Daytona 500 winner made his second LMP2 start this year with Rick Ware Racing.

But Cindric’s preference naturally would be in a Ford, particularly with sports car racing enjoying convergence and crossovers in both GT and prototype racing.

“It’s an exciting time in GT racing, just as it is now for prototype racing with a lot of new regulations and manufacturers building new GT3 cars,” he said. “And also the opportunity with WEC (the World Endurance Championship) and Le Mans and how that all lines up for that category of car. It’s definitely an exciting time. I want to be as much of a part of that as possible.”

Though those odds seemingly will increase with multiple Ford entries in the Rolex 24 field next year, Cindric said NASCAR drivers still have to put in the networking to land rides as he has in recent years.

“Now how (the GT3 Mustang) relates to specifically NASCAR drivers and how often they want to be in the Rolex, could it be an influence? Absolutely, as far as the tie-in with the manufacturer,” Cindric said. “But the challenge and the drive and the logistics of getting an opportunity for a race like the Rolex 24 will be just as challenging as it always is to find your one-off ride for the race. At least from my experience, that’s what I still anticipate.”

It turned out the “mystery” test driver wasn’t from NASCAR (Farley revealed the driver to be 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Joey Hand after a fan asked whether it was Joey Logano).

But Cindric believes there could be more Cup drivers — and perhaps himself — behind the wheel of Mustang GT3s in the future.

“There’s definitely more of a pathway than I think there would be before as far as Ford drivers are concerned,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll get the opportunity to drive that thing. It’s obviously a great looking car. That’s the first box you’ve got to check. And it’s cool (to have) a guy like Jim Farley, no doubt he’s a racer just as much as he is steering the ship for Ford. It’s cool to see he’s just as excited as the rest of us about it.”