Veronica McCann

Veronica McCann’s 11 th-place finish in her Indy Pro Series debut at Chicagoland Speedway wasn’t quite what she wanted.

But consider she had:

—Never raced in the United States .
—Never raced a rear-engine car.
—Never raced on pavement.
—And the 1.5-mile Chicagoland oval was at least three times larger than what she faces while racing winged sprint cars in her native Australia .

“I had spent a lot of time with the (Brian Stewart Racing) team, and coming into the weekend I was completely comfortable in the car,” said McCann, 23, from Perth , Australia . The first practice, we were third quickest, so that was a bit of a boost. I had a slight mishap (in the second practice) and then came back and unfortunately qualified 16 th, which wasn’ t what I was looking for.

In the hotly-contested 67-lap race, which determined the Indy Pro Series champion, McCann ran significantly better and collected valuable experience. “I moved up during the race and finished 11 th,” said McCann, who joined Sarah McCune and Mishael Abbott as female race starters in series history. It was a big learning curve for me.

McCann’s journey to the Indy Pro Series started in the fall of 2005 with the Lyn St. James driver development program. A seven-time starter in the Indianapolis 500, St. James now works with aspiring drivers to see if they have what it takes to become professional racers. “(I told her) give me your bio, give me your resume, give me references so that I have a way of checking those things out,” St. James said. In the process, I was pretty impressed with her resume and I invited her attend driver development. To be honest, I didn’ t expect her to come because Australia is a far piece to come (to Arizona ).

McCann performed well during the intensive four-day program. “She was assertive in the initiative she took,” St. James said. (Then) I observed her throughout the program and I was very impressed. At the end of the program (we talked) and she told me about her desires to race ovals on pavement and to do that in the states. Besides her time in one of Brian Stewart’s Indy Pro Series car, McCann had a couple days in a go-kart and in a small displacement formula car as part of the St. James program. She also tested a short track late model in Florida this spring. Yet her competitive racing experience has been more focused.

“I’ve never run a go-kart, never run on pavement, all dirt tracks,” she said. While anyone can apply to St. James program, not everyone gets invited to participate in the yearly training program. “The way I put it is I am looking for the cream when I’m out pursuing the best talent I can for our driver development program (but) we get a lot of milk,” St. James said. "There are a lot of really good race car drivers out there, but what you have to look for is somebody that has some exceptional skills and exceptional ability to learn ¦ and an exceptional amount of desire".

"I saw some of those things in Veronica and was hoping that we could put something strong together so that she can compete in 2007 here in the states".

Among the drivers that have been through St. James program are Sarah Fisher, Erin Crocker, Boston Reid and back in 1996, 14-year-old Danica Patrick.  

The Chicagoland race was actually the first step in McCann’s 2007 plans. “The idea of me coming in and racing the Chicago race was basically just so I had an idea, had some kind of experience in the Indy Pro cars before I went into a full program,” she said. I’ve got a big decision to make right now. If I can organize a 2007 program before I go home (in October), then I more than likely won’ t run a sprint car.

Veronica McCann

Should the Indy Pro Series program come together, she will drastically change her summer (in Australia that is) racing schedule. “I’ll more than likely go home and run pavement races and probably focus more on road course races,” she said. Because that is something I’ve never done before. I need a lot of seat time on a road course.

Returning to the Brian Stewart Racing team remains a goal of McCann’s because she knows they only want to deal with quality drivers. “I’m not a nursemaid,” Stewart said about his operation, which recorded its second consecutive entrant championship this year. “I spent a lot of time with the team and one thing they did point out to me pretty much straightaway was the fact that they are a winning team,” McCann said. They expect drivers to win and that is someone I want to be with.

Special to Indynews.com

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