Kirby on Da Matta

[pitwall3]

Good read on Da Matta

Quote from article "The way it is"

Striking a sharp contrast to his rather glum old friends PT and Mr Haas is Cristiano da Matta who enjoyed a very good first run in a race car last week since his near-fatal accident at Elkhart Lake in the summer of 2006. Da Matta tested one of Bob Stallings' Gainsco Riley-Pontiac Grand-Am cars at the new 2.5-mile Eagle's Canyon road circuit in Texas and after two days and around 140 laps Cristiano was bubbling with enthusiasm.

"It felt very good," da Matta grinned. "It was really nice to be back in the car and to feel good and run fast. I was a little bit worried because you never know until you do it again. I've been go-karting quite a bit and it was fine, no problem. But there was still a little bit of a question mark because cars are different than go-karts. But it was very similar to getting back into the kart. I got back into the race car and the whole thing was there a lot quicker than I expected. It was a big relief! A big weight off me. It makes me feel very happy.

"It wasn't until I drove the car that I realized how important this is for me and how much I was preparing for it and how worried I was about everything. After the first day in the car I felt that everything was normal again. It felt much better, much easier."

Da Matta discussed his long recuperation process in this space at the end of January when he expressed his hopes of testing and racing for Stallings' team in this year's Grand-Am series. Grand-Am champion Alex Gurney shook-down the car for Cristiano in Texas last week and da Matta ran around forty laps on the first day and completed almost one hundred laps the second day.

"I ran a lot the second day and it was very good," Cristiano said. "One thing I'm happy about after the first day of running in such a long time is that I don't feel that the driving muscles were sore like you normally would. I've had so much time to get ready and to work out everything I needed to do and to train hard that I feel like I've been driving for a long time. Nothing is bothering me today. I've been working-out a lot more than I've ever done and I'm for sure in better shape than I was before."

Da Matta hopes to test one more time before making his debut with Stallings' team in a second car at Laguna Seca in the middle of May. Cristiano's old friend Jimmy Vasser will co-drive and da Matta is expected to run all of this year's remaining Grand-Am races.

"It will be a good way to get back," da Matta remarked. "I won't be able to fight for the championship this year, but just to get back to it and next year be serious about the job of going for the championship, it's very exciting. And to do it with Jimmy who is not only a very good driver but also a very good friend of mine--and he's also very fired-up about it--it's like a dream."

Clearly, the racer's spirit continues to burn brightly in Cristiano da Matta's heart.


http://www.gordonkirby.com/categories/columns/theway/2008/the_way_it_is_no116.html

[FCYTravis]

Shorty :thumbup:

It's times like this that I miss my job :(

[grungex]

So what are you up to these days?

[Spicoli]

So what are you up to these days?

can;t be more than 130lbs. :tony:

[FCYTravis]

So what are you up to these days?
I've gone back to college to finish up my bachelor's degree, at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (http://www.uaf.edu), aka Igloo U. I'll graduate in the Class of 2010 with a double major in journalism and northern studies, assuming I pass everything :gomer:

[FCYTravis]

Cristiano da Matta Begins Professional Racing Comeback in GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Daytona Prototype Test
Brazilian Driver Back in the Saddle in Texas Test Just 19 Months after Accident

DALLAS (March 25, 2008) — After being out of a race car for more than 19 months while recovering from a critical 2006 accident, championship-winning race car driver Cristiano da Matta didn't mind waiting another two days before his highly anticipated return to competitive driving in a test with GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing last week in Texas.

Nearly 24 straight hours of rain washed out da Matta's scheduled test last Tuesday and Wednesday at the new Eagles Canyon race track Northwest of Dallas, but the delay didn't bother da Matta in the least. After his devastating testing accident at Road America in August of 2006 when his Champ Car hit a wandering deer at full speed, da Matta persevered through several surgeries and months of grueling rehabilitation to literally rebuild him self back into racing shape.

"After what I have been through to get back to this point, what's two more days?" said da Matta, who finally took to the track on Thursday and quickly shook off any doubts – including his own – that he was still the champion driver he used to be.

"After the test, I realized 'I still know how to do this, I remember this very well,'" da Matta said. "The biggest thing I felt after the test was just a sense of relief. For me, it was a big, big relief, bigger than big. Even though I had opinions and approval from the best doctors and I felt great in go-karts and even on video games as far as my skills, I still had that last little question mark on my mind. That worried me quite a lot. After being away for so long, and driving being my work and something I like, I was concerned that I would not be able to do it as well."

As a Champ Car and Formula One veteran, da Matta has had little time in sports cars and he and the GAINSCO team had no previous experience on the new 2.5-mile Eagles Canyon track, which was greatly improved by the end of the test on Friday. The mid-week rain storms left the circuit wet and muddy but the track's operations crew did a good job getting the track ready and consistently improved throughout Thursday and Friday.

"Even driving a new car for the first time, that was something that I was able to quickly do, to figure out how it worked, what I need to do, just everything with getting familiar with a new car," da Matta said. "I have the same type of feeling I have always had before and I know exactly what I have to do to get better. The lap times were there and consistent. It was all there for me."

Also there for da Matta at the test was team owner Bob Stallings, reigning Grand-Am Rolex Series Co-Champions Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty and the entire GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing team, including Engineer Kyle Brannan, Team Manager Terry Wilbert and Crew Chief Link Smith. Da Matta's parents Toninho and Maria were also in Texas to see their son's return to driving, and the relief the younger da Matta felt was reflected by his father.

"I feel lighter now," the younger da Matta said. "It was worrying me more than I thought, and for my Dad, it was even bigger. The way I saw my Dad when we finished the test, it was a big relief for him too. The test changed everything."

Gurney, who took the first laps in the GAINSCO Auto Insurance Pontiac Riley in Thursday's less-than-ideal conditions picked up on the significance of the test for the entire da Matta family and the GAINSCO team.

"It was a special moment for everybody on the team to see Cristiano take to the race track again after his accident from a year and a half ago," Gurney said. "Both his Mom and Dad were there and you could see how much it meant to them. It was great to get to know Cristiano and his family a little bit better these past couple of days. After a few outings on the race track, it also became obvious to all of us that he had lost none of his speed. If and when a deal comes together, he will make a great addition to this team."

Team owner Stallings has made it known he would love to run da Matta in a second team car, possibly as soon as the May race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and ideally for the remainder of the 2008 season.

"Cristiano has really come along very well," said Stallings, who would pair da Matta with fellow Champ Car Champion Jimmy Vasser. "He had a positive test for us this week. His feedback on the car is outstanding, very crisp and very cogent. He had a good test and I feel very strongly he can develop even more as he learns the Daytona Prototype. He showed us enough to confirm that the comeback has begun. If we can put together the right sponsor package, we can run him full time. Ideally, we will find a sponsor to finish out the 2008 season and contend for a championship in 2009."

Stallings will be joined by da Matta and Vasser in a press conference this Friday at 2 p.m. ET at Homestead-Miami Speedway where Round 2 of the 2008 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series – The GAINSCO Grand Prix of Miami – will be run on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET. The race can be seen in same-day coverage on SPEED at 6 p.m. ET.

[grungex]

I've gone back to college to finish up my bachelor's degree, at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (http://www.uaf.edu), aka Igloo U. I'll graduate in the Class of 2010 with a double major in journalism and northern studies, assuming I pass everything :gomer:

Cool, best of luck!

[Corner5]

I'm glad DaMatta is racing in another series.

This sums it up from Kirby-

"But Carl is depressed about the state of the industry at this late stage of his long career and also with the fact that his excellent team has been thrashing so hard to get its Dallara-Hondas ready to go racing at Homestead this week. Haas is trying to find some enthusiasm for the broken sport of American open-wheel racing but like Walker and Tracy, he's having a hard time locating the silver lining and it's not difficult to appreciate the funk that Walker, Tracy and Haas find themselves in as they struggle for their places in the IRL."