SPORTS

Daly does his job, secures funding for Indy 500

Curt Cavin curt.cavin@indystar.com

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Most of IndyCar celebrated Saturday's confirmation of Conor Daly, one of America's still-young open-wheel stars, signing an Indianapolis 500 deal with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.

But let's call it for what it is: Daly, 23, had to secure his own funding, not much different than Stefano Coletti, Carlos Munoz, Charlie Kimball, James Jakes or Francesco Dracone.

And Daly's deal, like other one-offs assembled for next month's 500, benefitted from financial help from Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

That's not to say there shouldn't be genuine excitement for the Indianapolis-area driver; there should. But IndyCar remains a sport where covering expenses means more than the ability to steer the car, which explains Dracone and Rodolfo Gonzalez stumbling around Barber Motorsports Park this weekend in Dale Coyne Racing machines.

Daly, on the other hand, is uniquely qualified, talented enough to be considered for Formula One until his momentum subsided. His work includes a Star Mazda championship, race wins in Indy Lights and GP3, strong showings in GP2 and two stellar IndyCar drives. But funding fuels everything, and securing it too often falls to the one sitting in the cockpit. It's a function of too little money in the series.

Daly has often been frustrated, but he understands the sport as it is. Born in Indianapolis, he has spent his life around IndyCar and IMS, and he bleeds the 317. Few people are more excited for May.

Daly did an admirable job for A.J. Foyt Racing in the 2013 500, finishing 22nd. Last weekend he delivered the best 17th-place finish in IndyCar history as a last-minute fill-in for Dale Coyne's No. 18 car.

Coyne's call came during Saturday breakfast. Daly quickly gathered his gear and was on the track within 45 minutes, never putting a wheel wrong. In the race featuring 72 consecutive green-flag laps on a 1.98-mile street circuit, Daly stayed on the lead lap and even lapped his teammate (Dracone).

Years ago, there would have been a bidding war for Daly's services; not now. Daly had to collect money from Marco Andretti, among others, just to test an IndyCar in February.

Schmidt and Peterson set a price for their open Indianapolis 500 seat — believed to be at least $600,000 — and by all accounts they stuck to it. Credit Daly, his father, Derek, and others for getting the numbers to match up.

Derek has close ties to seven-time NASCAR champion Richard Petty, who will see No. 43 used in the 500 for the fourth time (John Andretti ran it from 2009-11). The sponsor that will be announced at a later date has long sponsored Richard Petty Motorsports in the Sprint Cup Series.

The Dalys had to invest more than a year in pursuit of this sponsor, a porker of a company that could grow its IndyCar involvement many times over. Think that wouldn't be a win-win for all parties?

But as we begin the countdown to the 99th Indianapolis 500 – the official open test is next Sunday, May 3 – remember how expensive this 500 is, particularly with bodywork kits new for this season. Remember, too, that years ago a driver like Daly wouldn't have had to bleed his knuckles from knocking on doors to get another chance at it.

This is a different generation of motor sports, and today's celebration is for a company rewarding Daly's perseverance and supporting his talent.

Now comes the work Daly is best at: driving the race car. That the job is at IMS is the ultimate reward.

Follow Star reporter Curt Cavin on Twitter: @curtcavin.