Where there's a Will

Posted By DEAN MCNULTY, SUN MEDIA

Posted 2 months ago

After a full season of mostly sitting in the paddock wishing and hoping a deal would come through to race regularly in the Indy-Car Series, Will Power has inked a contract with Penske Racing that will have him join the powerhouse squad for all of 2010 with sponsorship from Verizon wireless.

The Australian native with the greatest name in racing couldn't be happier that he'll be back on the streets of Edmonton-- where he is the defending champion -- and Toronto.

And from the sounds of it, the Penske group is pretty happy about it as well.

"It was a matter of waiting it out," Power said of his thought process while negotiating to get a ride.

Power did have the advantage of being part of the team already as a full time test driver and he was content, to a point, with that.

"I think I would have stayed there no matter what, because it was a great situation for me," he said. "Every time I was in the car, it was a good car. It's no use

running around the back of the field with a team that's sort of not up for the job, because you don't do yourself any favours.

"But (2009) was for me a great year, although it ended badly; now it's turned out to be just a very good decision for me to go there. I really look forward

to it. I'd like to thank Verizon Wireless, Lowell McAdam, and John Stratton for putting all this together and giving me this fantastic opportunity."

The ending badly part was a wreck in California at Infineon Raceway where Power chipped a few vertebrae. But he says that is all behind him now.

"I'm feeling good. Everything's going well," Power said. "It's actually ahead of schedule the way my back healed. I'm in the gym every day. I'm working out with the PitFit guys. I can't believe how far I've come in just one month. I'm swimming. I'm on the row machine; doing weights ...

"I don't think there's going to be any problem getting back in the car in January. That is sort of my plan. I'll probably be cleared to drive before then, but to get back to full cardio fitness, I think I need to wait until 2010.

"I believe you have to learn every year. Every year, you have to come away with a plan for the next year at places where you're going to be better. I 've always done that throughout my career. I already have in my head where I'm going to improve on the tracks that I raced at this year. So that's just a constant process with me -I'm always searching. I think to be successful in this business you have to be because it's always development going on -it's always moving forward. So that's my normal plan of attack."

Penske Racing boss Tim Cindric said it was a no-brainer to expand the team to three cars with Power.

"Obviously (Power's) results speak for themselves last year," he said. "We're excited to be able to give him the opportunity to come on fulltime, because he's done an excellent job in a very difficult situation.

"It seems like so long ago that he was sitting here and his fate was depending on Helio (Castroneves') fate. Now he's independent of all of those things and continues to perform. It was great that Ver izon was able to support us going forward, and we were in a position to be able to keep Will, and that Will believe that this is the place to be, even though he kind of had to wait this out a little bit."

It will be the first time since Canada's Paul Tracy was with Penske that it will field three cars in the Indy-Car Series.

"It's not every day that you have an opportunity like we have to put three proper programs together with three very capable drivers," Cindric said. "All the moons aligned for us, and we feel obviously that this is a great opportunity for all of us."

Cindric is confident the three drivers will both push and complement each other on the race track.

"It's always a challenge, but it's a good problem to have," he said. "The guys, not only the drivers, but the crews themselves have to remember that we're an organization. We're not three one-car teams.

"We're all competitive, and sometimes that gets the best of you. But I've seen all these guys in difficult situations that way. They've all come to the right conclusion at the end of the day. That's the respect we have for the guy we all work for."