Gil de Ferran went out on top in '03; now he's back for more

After retiring from IRL in 2003, Gil de Ferran helped lead the Honda Racing Team. Now he's back in the driver's seat for his own Acura factory team. Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Those who are talented and masochistic enough to make motorsports a career begrudgingly accept the vagaries of the profession. It provides the highest highs. But they don't last long. The lowest lows can seem particularly cruel when so much involved with success and failure is beyond the control of the driver at the wheel. And racing doesn't often indulge sentimentality. Few get that ticker tape farewell.

But Gil de Ferran beat the system. He retired from the Indy Racing League in 2003 after winning his last career open-wheel race (from the pole, even) and leading a race-high 68 laps at Texas. He finished second by 18 points to season champion Tony Kanaan, but left as the Indianapolis 500 champion. Take that and run.

De Ferran returned to top-level competition midway through last season as driver/owner of an American Le Mans Series team, and in a week he will begin his first full campaign with an Acura factory team at the 12 Hours of Sebring. We sat down with the two-time CART champion for a chat about a return to the cockpit, a highly unlikely return to the regimen that made the Brazilian an international star, and records that may never be broken.

Q: How much enjoyment is there in being a driver/owner?

A: I have to see this phase in my life in a very different light. This is really not about me reliving the dream as a racing driver. I did it for many years and enjoyed some success, and when I retired, I retired because I wanted to do different things; I wanted to pursue different things. That was the key reason I stepped out of the car at the end of '03.

Yes, I am enjoying driving the car tremendously. I find it a big challenge, especially after being five years out of the cockpit. To climb all the way back up the ladder and do yourself justice is not easy, not only from a fitness standpoint, but from a practice standpoint. Back when I was doing it day in and day out was one thing. Five years later, trying to regain that same form that I had, is not an easy task, and in terms of performance, this latest Acura sports car is very fast. It's not like you can do it for fun. You've really got to be all the way up to speed on it. It's been a big challenge.

I put on a lot of weight when I stopped driving. When you're 40, to lose that amount, is not as easy as when you were 30. Everything is a little bit more difficult. Certainly balancing my duties as a driver and as an owner is very challenging, because driving requires you to have a clear mind, a very single focus. Business, generally speaking, requires exactly the opposite.

You've got a million balls in the air and you're doing all sort of different things and so on and so forth. Driving, the best thing you should do is be fit and it should be routine. Eat similar things, sleep well, train. By now I am doing exactly the opposite. I am here, there and everywhere. So balancing everything is difficult. I tried to structure the team in a way that I could do both, and hopefully it goes well.

Q: Does the owner side of the brain have to switch to hibernate when the helmet goes on?

A: I actually pretend I don't own the team when it comes to a race weekend or whenever I have to perform any driving duties. I pretend I am just driving for somebody else's team because you can get completely distracted with everything. You have to be comfortable in turning over the responsibility to the people that are working with you. I think we have been able to assemble a really experienced and competent group. You couldn't do it any other way.

Q: Does it amaze you the style with which you went out in 2003?

A: I have to say that one of the things I didn't want to live through was a drop in performance. It's a well-known in sports -- I'm going to call it a mistake -- the guy who is humongously talented, extremely successful, really you passed the peak and drop off and say, 'That's it. I'm done.' I had this thing in my mind that I didn't want to see the other side of the hill. And I felt at the time that certainly, my last year of driving, I was as good as I ever was before. And I was happy with that. I didn't want to look back and think, 'Last year I would have done a much better job.' That wouldn't sit very well with me.

I made that decision based on the fact I wanted to do different things. I could see my focus was shifting. I was getting more and more into things other than driving. I thought that before I lost my edge, I had to step out of the cockpit. It's the standard I had set for myself. I was afraid I was probably not going to be able to meet them if I kept going the way I was going.

Q: Does it bother you that you never had a chance to win a third straight CART title when Team Penske switched to the IRL in 2002?

A: The way I looked at it, I drove for four years for Roger and I nearly won four championships in a row. Until recently the sport was in turmoil -- two series and so on and so forth -- and frankly, at the time, I felt my most important association was with Roger and Team Penske and I felt he was best positioned to make the best decision. And I said, 'OK, my loyalties lie with Team Penske. I trust Roger. If he decided this is the right thing to do, then this must be the right thing to do,' and that's how I looked at it.

The first year in the IRL for us was very difficult. There was a lot we didn't know, and we came very close to winning that championship. I had an accident at the end of the year when I was leading the championship, so I lost not only that race but the last race, and '03 was the same thing. We finished second in the championship and I had to lose a race because of injury. But I can't complain too much. It was a very good time in my life, both from a personal and a professional standpoint. I really enjoyed driving for Roger and being part of his organization.

Q: Most everyone that has driven for Penske says the same thing. What is this Cult of Roger thing?

A: Roger is a special person. I have a great deal of respect for him. He's highly energetic. Highly intelligent. And he's highly experienced. And he was very loyal to me and displays a lot of loyalty to the team, so, as they say, the inverse is also true. I just felt that we had a very good working and personal relationship, and to this day, him and his family, I see a lot of people on the team as my friend.

Q: Do you incorporate part of his leadership style into what you do?

A: It would be difficult not to. I've been fortunate in my career to have worked with some very clever people in the sport: Jackie Stewart, Jim Hall, Roger, just to drop a few names here. And you can't really unlearn what you have learned. Am I Roger Penske? Definitely not. Am I Jackie Stewart? Definitely not. Am I Jim Hall? No, but I am sure in my style on how I go about my day-to-day I must have incorporated a few traits along the way.