How far has Red Bull come since starting in 2007? “How much we’ve grown from the beginning is immeasurable. When I was hired at Red Bull as the first driver, gosh, I was like maybe the fifth or sixth employee. Literally I walked in the shop and it was just me and a handful of other guys. It’s incredible to watch the team go through everything it’s gone through and grow as much as it has. The evolution from a handful of guys all the way to the company that it is now. There’s been a lot of change. There’s a group of guys that are still there – the core group that have been there since the beginning, but there’s a lot of guys that have come and gone. That’s expected in a new organization. You create an organization and you create a culture — some guys are going to fit in it and some guys aren’t. Doesn’t mean they’re bad or good, they just need to fit the right piece for the right puzzle and I think over the years I’ve seen the company and the culture – we kind of went one direction and then we changed and now we’re going back in the original direction that we went from a cultural standpoint. I think all those are good changes. We’ve learned a lot from that as a group and through that process people have come and gone. Where we’re at right now, I really believe is as good as we’ve ever been as an organization. From a direction, a culture, a structure, a passion, a drive — I think the enthusiasm within the team on both cars within the race shop in the highest it’s ever been. Having two experienced guys that can lean on each other is the best it’s ever been. Honestly, I’m really excited about 2011 and the growth I’ve seen through the years.”
What was your feeling when you first climbed back in the driver’s seat of your race car? “I savored it — it felt good. I guess you don’t really know what to expect, you’re not really sure which direction to go, what emotions to feel. When you get back in the car, you’re not sure what’s going to happen. My gut always told me that I would get right back in it and it would be just like an old pair of shoes or riding a bicycle, but everyone starts asking you, ‘It’s been eight months, do you remember how to drive?’ It’s not that you really start believing it, but you start wondering what that experience is really going to be like. But when I got back in that car, the belts fit, I remember how to put them on – nobody had to tell me how. In so many ways, I think I truly appreciated it more, but at the same time it was almost like I hadn’t even been gone. It just felt so comfortable, it felt so good, it felt so normal to be back in that seat. I got in, climbed in the car, the belts still fit, the helmet fit and I put it all on and went racing. Just got back on the race track and it was a very special moment.”
Do you want the illness to be forgotten so your career is not defined by it for years to come? “I don’t really care — I just want to win a championship. I do believe that the experience has made me a better person and therefore I think that translates on the race track. The person you are and the personality that you have is always going to translate in your driving style. I want to use this experience as an opportunity to reach people whether it’s clot awareness or different things. Do I want to be defined by it? No, but ultimately you’re defined by your actions, you’re defined by what happens to you, you’re defined by a lot of things. This is going to be one of them and I accept that. After Daytona, I want to be talking about winning the race not about clots. But I understand that who I am and what I do and what I’ve gone through, it ’s always going to be a part of my life.”
What did you learn at the Daytona test? “We learned that you could still hold it wide open. There’s going to be drafting and it’s going to be an exciting race. We did learn a lot of things that I think are going to help us as a team, but a lot of guys learned a lot of things. We got faster while we were there, but so did other guys. I don’t know if I could tell you how the race is going to be. It’s going to be one of the most exciting Daytona 500s for me from the driver’s seat and I’m sure it’s going to be the same for the fans. The track surface is part of it, the cars with the new noses is part of it. I think the evolution of drafting. Could our old cars have done what we do now, the way we draft in pairs and really pick up a lot of speed? Yeah, maybe they could have and we just never tried it. We didn’t really push that boundary. Maybe the new car is a part of that. The surface is definitely a part of it at Daytona. Why you didn’t see more of it at Talladega I don’t know. I think you’re going to see a lot of it at this race, but you’re still going to see a big pack. You’re still going to see three wide. How the two car breakaways are going to play into that — I don’t know, but it’s going to be exciting to find out.”
Did you ever consider retiring from racing? “Absolutely. Listen there was a point in time where it wasn’t really up to me. We weren’t sure what caused it, what happened, am I coming off blood thinners, am I not? Medically we had to answer a lot of those questions. There was a lot of time there where I wasn’t sure if it was even in my hands. Once it was in my hands, I still had a decision to make. If I decided to come back racing, was I going to be thinking about a blood clot every lap? Was I going to be able to focus on my job? Was I still going to love it? Was it time to move on to something else in my life? I had a hard decision to make and there were a lot of things that had to be weighed
What has the support from competitors been like throughout this process? “There’s definitely situations with guys that have changed. Some of the guys that were the most there for me were the obvious ones and the guys that I am the closest to outside of racing — Casey (Mears), Jimmie (Johnson), Jeff (Gordon). There were some guys there that checked in on me every once in a while and were very supportive — Tony Stewart was one of the first guys to check in with me via text or phone. When I was at the race track he would always say something. He was the first guy to stick his head in my window at Daytona. Tony obviously has his rough side and his moments and I wish he would show more — it doesn’t come out as much as it used to. I kind of liked it. He’s a teddy bear inside. He always has been to me. He was great and I’m just giving you one example because I don’t want to go through all of them. Him for instance, that meant a lot to me on a personal level. It really did. It really showed me a side to Tony that I’d seen some, but not directed towards me. It was Sonoma when he and I got into it and that was awesome. I think it cost him some money. Back then I used to love to push his buttons and I was good at it. Tony and I have become really close over the years and have a mutual respect. Him and I race well together now and probably as good as I’ve raced with anybody on the race track. Really hard when it’s time to be hard, but not when it’s not. I think that’s a good example of what he did and how his little comments here and there meant a lot to me. I still want to beat him and I think he knows that. He expects that and that’s what he respects. He’s not going to feel bad for me either. He’s going to race me just as hard if not harder than he ever has and I like that — that’s what I love about our sport. That’s what I want. I want to race these guys with respect and I want to race them hard, but when we all go home we’re all people. We’re a community, we’re a team and the NASCAR community as a whole has been very supportive through this. People talk about that a lot, but it’s truly there. I think you really see it when things are bad. How much everybody really supports you and are understanding. I would even say that to all you guys here and all the media in general. A lot of the familiar faces that are there week in and week out. You guys were great — you could have been in my business and asking just inappropriate questions, but you weren’t. I understand you have a job to do and I think I talked about that in some of my press conferences. I wanted to give you guys as much as I could, but in return I asked that you give me my space and you did and I really appreciate that. I think that’s part of our community. You don’t get that in a lot of other places. I talked to some of my friends that are athletes in other sports — they don’t get that, they don’t get that at all. They don’t have the accessibility on the front end. That’s why I tried to give you guys as much as I could. That’s always meant a lot to me and I really appreciate it. I think that’s another example of what you’re talking about with the community coming together whether it’s your peers as drivers or the media or the fans or the teams or whatever. When Sunday rolls around I still want to win.”
CREDIT: TOYOTA MOTORSPORTS PR
