(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)
By Aaron Bearden
Editor’s note: This article was written before Jimmie Johnson’s positive COVID-19 test was confirmed on Friday. His planned indy car test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway has since been postponed.
There’s still a test to pass before it could ever happen. But if next Wednesday’s run on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course goes will, Jimmie Johnson could see find himself battling with the stars of the NTT IndyCar Series – possibly even in a future running of the Indianapolis 500.
Johnson has been working toward an indy car test over the past several months, making an appearance at Circuit of the Americas for pre-season testing in February and initially arranging for an April run at Barber Motorsports Park with Arrow McLaren SP.
The COVID-19 pandemic kept that test from occurring, but Johnson remained interested in the series. He participated in two iRacing IndyCar Challenge races during the brief esports boom, and has been confirmed for a Wednesday test with Chip Ganassi Racing’s IndyCar program three days after the conclusion of the first NASCAR-IndyCar doubleheader at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
It’s part of a dream he’s had since his early days in motorsports, watching the Long Beach Grand Prix and thinking of taking a chance at America’s top open-wheel tour.
“I hung on the fence a lot as a kid watching and dreaming,” Johnson said. “I had a lot of meetings as my professional career developed at the Long Beach Grand Prix with Chevrolet, thinking about what would be next for me transitioning from off road trucks to asphalt.
“For me, there’s a lot of sentimental value with that race and I hope to race there. But I’m open to all – when you think of COTA, when you think of Road America, there’s just so many good ones to think about. Indy, obviously I’m going to have a chance to test there. I’d be highly interested in every (road course) that they have on the schedule right now.”
With his final full-time season in NASCAR slowly marching toward its end, the seven-time champion hopes that Wednesday’s test could lead to one of his first opportunities post-retirement. With CGR running Honda-powered entries in IndyCar, there was potential for the effort to be called off. But Chevrolet gave Johnson the blessing to chase the opportunity.
“I’m very fortunate to have many friends in the garage area,” Johnson said during a Friday teleconference. “I’ve had a lot of conversations with more teams than just McLaren and Chip Ganassi Racing.
“And it’s very early days. There hasn’t been any serious conversations. It’s really just been about going to the track for the team to look at me and form their opinion of my abilities in one of their race cars.
“And certainly, I have that same opportunity to see what I think of each team and what an Indy car even feels like.”
There are no expectations for Johnson during the effort. It’s just a chance for him to feel out the machine and see if he adapts well to it.
He knows better than to expect top-tier pace from the run. Johnson mainly just wants to see if he enjoys the feel of the car.
“It’s unrealistic to think that I’ll (have) race-winning pace in the first test session,” he said. “But if I’m within a certain amount of time and I have a good feel of the car, then for me, I feel like that’s an important first step that I need to know that I can be competitive.”
When the test occurs, Johnson will be one of the few modern NASCAR drivers to give indy cars a go.
Brad Keselowski tested Simon Pagenaud’s car at Road America in 2016, but it was just for a stint during a day of practice. AJ Allmendinger ran six races in 2013 before returning to the Cup Series with JTG-Daugherty Racing in 2014. Kurt Busch was the last full-time driver to cross over and race in IndyCar, finishing sixth in the 2014 Indy 500 as part of an effort to contest “The Double,” flying to Charlotte Motor Speedway that night for the Coca-Cola 600.
Johnson’s main point of interest is IndyCar’s road and street course races. He could possibly contest the full slate of those events in upcoming seasons. But after initially brushing off the notion, modern safety innovations in IndyCar have led the Californian to also consider taking a future shot at the Month of May – albeit only just.
“Their safety on ovals has dramatically increased this year with the windscreen they have,” Johnson said. “So, I’ll keep a close eye on things there and see how the safety level looks. I’ve always wanted to race the Indianapolis 500 – I’d have to do a lot of selling to my wife to get that pass to do it.
“But my true desire right now is to just run the road courses. There are 12 on the schedule right now and I would be open to run all 12 if the right opportunity came along.”
