IndyCar
IRL: Chicagoland: Will Langhorne preview
D.C. driver looks forward to Sunday's Indy race. Joliet, IL--Sept. 7-- At least one District driver is grateful for the drive-like-your-life-depends-on-it rigors of the Capital Beltway. Will Langhorne, the hometown favorite in August's Cadillac ...
Edited: Mar 27, 2008, 5:32 AM
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D.C. driver looks forward to Sunday's Indy race.
Joliet, IL--Sept. 7-- At least one District driver is grateful for the drive-like-your-life-depends-on-it rigors of the Capital Beltway. Will Langhorne, the hometown favorite in August's Cadillac Grand Prix LeMans race in Washington, will be putting his experience gained on the world's top race tracks--and the left turning outer loop of the Capital Beltway--to work this Sunday in the Delphi Indy 300 race at Chicagoland Speedway here. Langhorne, 28, is the first D.C. native to race in the elite Indy Racing League (IRL).
"Coming from the greatest city in the world and one of the most international of cities, I relish the opportunity to race against the greatest drivers in the world," said Langhorne, 28, after qualifying Saturday morning. Langhorne, a DC native, past his IRL rookie test at the Texas Motor Speedway in July, enabling him to race against some of the world's top drivers including two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves, Sam Hornish, Jr., Al Unser, Jr. and others.
This weekend's race will be Langhorne's second IRL start, having made his Indy debut at the Belterra Indy 300 last month at the Kentucky Motor Speedway. While finishing a respectable 18th out of 25 entries, the IRL rookie led his first race for nine laps and remained in the lead lap until mechanical problems forced him to slow his #55 G Force/Chevy/Firestone Indy car in the final laps.
Indy cars often hurdle around the IRL's oval tracks at speeds north of 220 mph, covering more than the length of a football field each second. At that velocity the airflow over the car produces nearly 5,000 pounds of down force, enough to glue the 1,500 pound cars to the ceiling if racing through a tunnel. In the turns, the drivers "pull" over three g's, more than three times the force of gravity, similar to what astronauts experience aboard the space shuttle as it rockets into orbit. All of which seems to be just another day at the office for Langhorne who after qualifying for the Delphi Indy 300 at over 216 mph said, "Chicagoland is a great track, two good lanes make for great passing and racing. The Treadway-Hubbard/Sam Schmidt Motorsports has put together a great car with a better engine package and we're looking forward to a great day of racing."
The Delphi Indy 300 airs live on ABC television this Sunday at 1:00PM Eastern time.
ABOUT WILL LANGHORNE:
The first IRL driver to hale from the nation's capital, Will Langhorne, 28, made his Indy Racing League debut at the Belterra Indy 300 in Kentucky finishing 18th out of 25 entries. Langhorne led the race for nine laps and remained in the lead lap most of the race until mechanical problems slowed his #55 G Force/Chevy/Firestone Indy car.
In the 1999 Toyota Atlantics he won in the rain on the streets of Vancouver and finished only one point behind IRL Champion Sam Hornish, Jr. in that year's Rookie point standings despite only competing in eight of the twelve races. Prior to car racing, Langhorne began his racing career in downhill skiing. Since then, he has competed in several forms of racing including the Barber Dodge and Toyota Atlantic Series.
Langhorne benefits from a "360 degree view" of motorsports; When he's not in the cockpit of a race car, Will Langhorne is Chairman of Firestone-Langhorne, a motorsports marketing agency in Washington, DC. Will enjoys shifter karts, martial arts, scuba diving, cycling and computers.
-www.willlanghorne.com-
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