Despite a three-year absence from the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” Bryan Clauson feels on more even footing with the competition for the 99th Running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race thanks to the new superspeedway aerodynamic bodywork kits that debuted during Opending Day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Clauson, the multiple champion in the U.S. Auto Club national series for sprint cars and midgets, made his Verizon IndyCar Series debut in the 2012 Indy 500 as a benefactor of an INDYCAR scholarship that funded his ride with Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing (now CFH Racing). Clauson started 31st and finished 30th, retiring after 46 laps with mechanical issue. The Noblesville, Ind., resident has had a year to prepare for this opportunity after being named to drive the No. 88 KVSH Racing/Jonathan Byrd’s Racing Chevrolet last May.
He spent opening day going through the mandatory refresher program to get himself back up to speed at a methodical pace. Clauson, 25, believes the fact everyone else has minimal experience with the new aero kits will work to his benefit.
“I guess it’s probably a good year to come in again because everybody is starting, not necessarily from scratch, but not everybody knows what they have when they rolled in here,” Clauson said. “So we’re all kind of starting from the same level to some degree. It’s been too long for me (since driving an Indy car) to sit here and say that I could tell you the difference between it. It seems like the aero kits are definitely more efficient from what we’ve seen and definitely add some intrigue.”
On May 2, Clauson competed in Pevely, Mo., where he drove a World of Outlaws winged sprint car to 14th place in the Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 Spring Classic. Then it was a matter of re-acclimating himself with driving an Indy car.
“I think you kind of hit reset,” he said. “I’ve spent a lot of time in my career running every night of the week basically in anything from USAC. We’d run a quarter-mile on Friday, a dirt mile on Saturday and head to Anderson (Speedway) Sunday in a pavement car – so you kind of learn to adapt.
“You just kind of come in, hit the reset button and try to think back to the things I did right in 2012. There were some things I did wrong. So you try and make note of those and remember not to do that again and you almost start from scratch.”
Kyle Brannan, the engineer for James Davison in the 2014 Indianapolis 500, is aligned with the No. 88 entry. Arie Luyendyk, who won the first of his two Indy 500s 25 years ago and has a longtime association with the Byrd family, is Clauson’s driver coach.
Clauson plans to complete his own race double on May 24, driving in the Indy 500 and then heading north to compete in the Kokomo Klassic on the Kokomo Speedway dirt oval. Fans can do their own “Indiana double” by purchasing a package at www.bryanclauson.com that includes tickets for both races, meals and bus transportation. It’s that type of throwback mentality that has earned Clauson a fan in Andretti Autosport driver Justin Wilson.
“The cool thing for me is, I've come from the exact opposite background, racing go-karts and open wheel in Europe and coming over here,” Wilson said. “It's kind of the meeting place or the melting pot for all these different drivers with different backgrounds to meet up and race against each other. It's just another part that makes the Indy 500 so special.”