Scott Speed ready to take Subaru to same level as he did with Andretti/VW

Scott Speed is coming off his 4th straight rallycross championship. Photo courtesy Scott Speed's official Twitter account.
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Scott Speed has won a combination of four consecutive Red Bull Global Rallycross and American Rallycross championships driving for Andretti Autosport.

So what does Speed do for an encore?

He switches teams and makes what he calls “a leap of faith” heading into the 2019 American Rallycross season.

Speed will move from the Andretti camp and driving a Volkswagen to racing for the Subaru Rally Team USA next season.

And as for the “leap of faith”?

Speed believes that Subaru, which hasn’t won a rallycross race since 2014, is primed to bite into Andretti’s and VW’s domination over the last four years – with him behind the wheel.

“I’m excited for the challenge more than anything,” Speed told the United Kingdom’s The Checkered Flag. “It’s going to be a challenge and I think that’s what I’m most excited about.

“To be honest with you it’s more taking a leap of faith than anything. It’s going to be going through the same process and the same growing pains as what happened when we first joined with Volkswagen and Andretti.

“You just have to figure it out when you get there. I would not have made the move if I didn’t think I can win.”

Since joining Andretti and getting behind the wheel of the VW Beetle, Speed has lived up to his colorful surname in rallycross competition, winning 26 of 46 starts across Global Rallycross, X Games, ARX, and Nitro Rallycross.

And while he’ll have a new learning curve with Subaru, his knowledge of how Andretti Autosport had so much success with VW will definitely be to his and his new team’s advantage.

“No question, it has to, right?” Speed added to The Checkered Flag. “I know the car intimately, but in the same breath, I’ve always said I don’t focus on the other cars, I never have,” said Speed. “I somewhat know the advantages and disadvantages of each car but the aim of the game is focusing on your project and that is a mindset that I will carry on and implement.

“I’m going to do my job, we’re going to make our car the best it can be and that will be where all the focus is.”

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Roger Penske discusses flying tire at Indy 500 with Dallara executives: ‘We’ve got to fix that’

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INDIANAPOLIS – Roger Penske spoke with Dallara executives Monday morning about the loose tire that went flying over the Indianapolis Motor Speedway catchfence and into a Turn 2 parking lot.

The left-rear wheel from Kyle Kirkwood’s No. 27 Dallara-Honda was sheared off in a collision at speed as Kirkwood tried to avoid the skidding No. 6 Dallara-Chevrolet of Felix Rosenqvist on Lap 183 of the 107th Indianapolis 500.

No one seriously was hurt in the incident (including Kirkwood, whose car went upside down and slid for several hundred feet), though an Indianapolis woman’s Chevy Cruze was struck by the tire. The Indy Star reported a fan was seen and released from the care center after sustaining minor injuries from flying debris in the crash.

During a photo shoot Monday morning with Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden at the IMS Yard of Bricks, Penske met with Dallara founder and owner Gian Paolo Dallara and Dallara USA CEO Stefano dePonti. The Italian company has been the exclusive supplier of the current DW12 chassis to the NTT IndyCar series for 11 years.

“The good news is we didn’t have real trouble with that tire going out (of the track),” Penske, who bought Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2020, told a few reporters shortly afterward. “I saw it hit. When it went out, I saw we were OK. I talked to the Dallara guys today. We’re going to look at that, but I guess the shear (force) from when (Rosenqvist’s) car was sitting, (Kirkwood’s car) went over and just that shear force tore that tether. Because we have tethers on there, and I’ve never seen a wheel come off.

“That to me was probably the scariest thing. We’ve got to fix that. We’ve got to fix that so that doesn’t happen again.”

Asked by NBC Sports if IndyCar would be able to address it before Sunday’s Detroit Grand Prix or before the next oval race at Iowa Speedway, Penske said, “The technical guys should look at it. I think the speed here, a couple of hundred (mph) when you hit it vs. 80 or 90 or whatever it might be, but that was a pinch point on the race.”

In a statement released Monday to WTHR and other media outlets, IndyCar said that it was “in possession of the tire in Sunday’s incident and found that the tether did not fail. This is an isolated incident, and the series is reviewing to make sure it does not happen again. IndyCar takes the safety of the drivers and fans very seriously. We are pleased and thankful that no one was hurt.”

IndyCar provided no further explanation for how the wheel was separated from the car without the tether failing.

IndyCar began mandating wheel suspension tethers using high-performance Zylon material after a flying tire killed three fans at Charlotte Motor Speedway during a May 1, 1999 race. Three fans also were struck and killed by a tire at Michigan International Speedway during a July 26, 1998 race.

The IndyCar tethers can withstand a force of more than 22,000 pounds, and the rear wheel tethers were strengthened before the 2023 season.