While he’ll never forget winning the milestone 100th running of the Indianapolis 500, Sunday’s season-ending GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma will be almost as much of an accomplishment for Alexander Rossi.
Rossi, who was named the Verizon IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year, will point to his fifth-place finish at Sonoma as the kind of showing he had hoped to see more of this past season.
His Sonoma finish was Rossi’s second-best of the season. It also capped off a late-season run that included finishes of 11th at Texas, eighth at Watkins Glen and the top-5 effort at Sonoma.
As a result, he finished 11th in the season standings, although several spots fewer than was possible because he ran out of fuel on the final lap and coasted across the line a spot lower than planned.
While some first-year drivers would consider such a finish a success racing against the top IndyCar drivers in the world, Rossi looked at it in somewhat of a bittersweet fashion.
“My expectations were higher than that, that’s for sure,” Rossi told NBCSN after the race. “But if you look at where we came from at St. Pete, the whole Andretti Autosport team, we made big steps forward.
“This is our best result since the 500. … At the end of the day, it was a strong result. It was great for the final race. … There’s still areas we need to work on, I’m sure.”
Now comes planning for next season – and whether Rossi will stick around to help work on those same areas that need improvement.
While Rossi had been expected to return to the Andretti fold in 2017 as part of the alliance with Bryan Herta, Mike Curb and Cary Agajanian, reports in Sonoma this past weekend could potentially have him racing elsewhere next season.
When asked by NBCSN after Sunday’s race whether team owner Roger Penske indeed wants his driving services for next season, Rossi surprised a bit with his answer.
“That’d be nice,” he said.
So what does his future hold for him?
“We’re just trying to do the best job we can and wake up each day and do my best,” Rossi said. “Sometimes it’s not good enough and other times I come away fairly satisfied.
“We’ll have to look at where the future takes us.”
Golden did more to break the glass ceiling in SuperMotocross than she ever thought possible. She knows this because riders have never felt the need to explain any of her accomplishments with the disclaimer, “for a girl”.
At this point in Golden’s career, she’s been the first woman to finish top 10 in AMA Arenacross Lites, the first woman to qualify in the Fast 40 in Monster Energy AMA Supercross and the first woman to compete in freestyle Moto X competition, earning a bronze medal by doing so.
Her love for moto came from childhood while she watched her dad and brother ride. By seven she was on her bike and making waves throughout Southern California.
Golden, 30, is still madly in love with the sport and has no plans on moving away but her career is already one to talk about. 805 Beer’s film series wanted to do exactly that.
“I’m taken aback by it all,” Golden told NBC Sports about the documentary. “It’s just crazy to see your story, it’s one thing to live your life and battle everything that comes about but it’s another to just sit there and talk about it.”
805 approached Golden about the feature by asking, “Do you even realize that what you do, and your story is special?”
Golden took the question as a blank canvas to map out the highs and lows of her career and life.
The title “Inverted Perspective” came from a brainstorming session with Dominick Russo and it highlights Golden’s outlook on the sport of SuperMotocross and her life in general.
“My whole life, my whole career was thinking differently and looking at things that shouldn’t be done and aren’t there, while being able to make a place for myself, where no one thought there should be a place,” Golden said. “It’s inspiring someone to think in different ways. It sums up my life.”
Vicki Golden is not “fast for a girl”; she’s just fast. – 805 Beer
While Golden is no stranger to the spotlight, this was the first time she’s been fully involved with the storytelling and creation of a feature about herself.
“It’s not like a full new experience,” Golden said. “Obviously, you get your standard questions about your upbringing and accomplishments, but I’ve never really put into perspective things that happened in my past with my dad and putting that to light. Also, certain other things that maybe got overlooked in previous interviews or films. I wanted to touch on these and Dom wanted to create a story. It’s just cool to see it come to light, it’s a nearly impossible thing to tell somebody’s life story in 40 minutes.”
Golden’s father was left paralyzed after an ATV accident, robbing him the opportunity to ride again. This happened a few months before the father-daughter duo was set to compete in the Loretta Lynn’s Amateur Nationals when Vicki was 12. While she might have been unable to grasp the severity at the time, it’s something she carries with her. Golden continues to ride in his honor.
Years later, an accident in 2018 nearly sidelined the then 25-year-old Vicki when a freestyle accident almost resulted in the amputation of her lower leg.
Vicki Golden has ridden a variety of disciplines in SuperMotocross, which gives her a unique perspective. – 805 Beer
“Inverted Perspective” highlights her father’s diligence in helping Vicki continue with her career and the kindness and strength he carried while fighting his own battle.
“My dad was the entire reason that I started riding in the first place,” Golden said. “So, to honor his memory and to honor what we went through and how hard he pushed to keep our dream alive and keep everything going – in that sense then, it was really special to be able to honor him and talk about him.”
The 40-minute feature was filmed entirely in black and white, a stark contrast from the oversaturated world of motocross where the brighter the suit the easier it is for fans to find their rider and follow him in the race. By filming in monochrome Russo and Golden had the chance to focus on the race and track from a different perspective.
“It was cool to be able to film it differently,” Golden said. “It created a challenge in the sense of what was going to be more visually impactful for the film.
“I couldn’t be here without the companies that back me but at the same time, it’s not like the logos or colors disappeared, it’s just different lights shed on different spots. It’s just a cool way to do it and to take color away and still be impactful. When you think of black and white, you think of old school, the OG way of doing things.”
