Indianapolis - With just five days to go before the 2010 Indianapolis 500, the luncheon celebrating this year's fastest rookie was held Tuesday.
One of the great traditions of the Indy 500 is that glass of milk in Victory Lane. Tuesday, the American Dairy Association of Indiana sponsored the Fastest Rookie Lunch. Six rookies are in this year's race, and Mario Romancini is the fastest.
At 224.6 mph, Romancini is not the highest starting rookie, but he is the fastest.
His team had to make the decision to requalify on Sunday. Two other teams made the same Bump Day decision with less than optimum results. Jay Howard (Sarah Fisher Racing) and Paul Tracy (KV Racing) did not qualify.
"It was a very tough decision to make, I'll tell you that," said Romancini. "It wasn't easy. A lot of pressure. It was a lot of tension going on on Bump Day. But I mean, yeah, we had to make a quick decision and we knew we had a decent speed because we had a chance to work more on the car and correct it for our last attempt, so we decided to go. It was all or nothing. We had to make sure that we were in the race and hopefully it paid off."
The Brazilian is about to race 500 miles for the first time in his career. He was in Indianapolis last year with Indy Lights and watched the Indy 500.
"I was impressed with the crowd - how many people came to watch the race. It's really amazing and for sure, it will be the best experience of my career and I will do my best to finish the race and I'll see what I can do," he said.
Romancini's team, Conquest Racing, has two rookies in the race. Given this year's competitive field, that's quite a feat.
"I think the team did a great job. It's not easy with two rookie drivers in the Indy 500 - make sure we're all in the race. They did a great job. Now we have to focus on the race," he said.
Romancini will pick up a $5,000 check for the fastest rookie honor. He starts the race in row nine.
