INDIANAPOLIS -- Jacques Villeneuve is ready to make an IndyCar comeback.
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Peterson Motorsports said Wednesday it has hired Villeneuve to race in this
years Indianapolis 500, 19 years after the Canadian driver first drank the milk
in Victory Lane. "IndyCar is growing again and thats why last year when I
started watching races again, every time I watched I felt almost angry I wasnt
there," the 1995 race winner said on a satellite hookup from France during a
news conference held at the teams Indy headquarters. At age 42, Villeneuve
seemed content being a television analyst, musician and RallyCross driver. But
when Schmidt and co-owner Rick Peterson, also from Canada, made a serious offer,
he couldnt refuse. The 500 is scheduled for May 25. Villeneuve certainly has a
compelling resume. As an Indy rookie in 1994, he qualified fourth and finished
second to Al Unser Jr., and was named the races rookie of the year. The next
season, the reigning CART rookie of the year was even better. He qualified fifth
at Indy, forced Scott Goodyear into a costly mistake on the final restart and
eventually held off Christian Fittipaldi to become the first and only Canadian
winner of the race. Villeneuve completed all 400 laps at Indy in those two
starts and won the 1995 CART title, too. But after starting 33 races, winning
six poles and five races in two IndyCar seasons, Villeneuve had a chance to
become an international star. So he headed to Europe and joined Formula One --
the series that made his late father, Gilles, a household name. Like his dad,
who died in a 1982 F1 qualifying crash, Villeneuve excelled on the world stage.
In 163 career starts between 1996 and 2006, the younger Villeneuve reached the
podium 23 times, won 11 races, 13 poles and claimed the 1997 world championship.
At that point, American open-wheel racing wasnt even on the radar. His journey
back to North America began in 2007 when Villeneuve made the move to American
stock cars. Over the next seven seasons, he dabbled in Sprint Cup, Nationwide
and Le Mans series as well as sports cars. Villeneuve regained interest in
IndyCars last season as he watched how close and competitive the races had
become. To him, it reminded him of the series he left almost two decades
earlier. Suddenly, he was interested in making a return -- if he could find the
right car and the right team. "To get this opportunity is a gift," Villeneuve
said. "A lot of people say when you have kids, you slow down. I want my kids to
see me race." Schmidt is the winningest team owner in Indy Lights history and
already employs two full-time drivers in the better-known IndyCar series --
Russias Mikhail Aleshin and Frances Simon Pageland. In previous years, Schmidt
has always found a way to compete at Indy. Getting Villeneuve might be the
biggest coup of all for his low-budget team. "Indy is a special place. We go
there not to exist but to win the race," Schmidt said. "To see a guy that
finished second and finished first there, I dont think hes going to have any
problem going back." Villeneuve becomes the fifth 500 winner on this years entry
list. The others are three-time winner Helio Castroneves of Brazil, two-time
winner Scott Dixon of New Zealand, 2000 winner Juan Pablo Montoya of Colombia
and Brazils Tony Kanaan, the defending champ. Another trip to Victory Lane would
give Villeneuve two more milestones. He would break Al Unsers record for the
longest gap between first and last victories. Unser went 17 years between his
first Indy crown in 1970 and his record-tying fourth win in 1987. Villeneuve
also would break Gordon Johncocks record for the longest gap between first and
second wins at Indy, 1973 and 1982. Villeneuve isnt motivated by records. He
wants to win. "Im a racer," he said, explaining he does not plan to retire
anytime soon. "Ive got to find ways to get better and better and better, and Im
going there with a team thats very experienced and has been very successful as
well."
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road game against a division rival raises the intensity for linebacker Clay
Matthews.
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Rodgers makes tough throws that can leave fans of the Green Bay Packers
speechless.The Carolina Hurricanes are expected to name former Oiler Steve Smith
as an assistant coach. Last week, new general manager Ron Francis introduced
Bill Peters as the Hurricaanes head coach.
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announced that Ricky Olczyk as the assistant general manager. Olczyk spent six
years as the assistant GM with the Oilers.
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