Mark Walczak Interview 2013 Pt. 2

If you were to mentor a young driver, what advice would you give?
Do as I say not as I do. Not everybody can copy my driving style. They need to race the track and that's it. Keep it close for the first half of the race and see where you stand come the second half. If your car is good enough that's when you push it.  Oh that and if you see me in your mirrors you better move over cuz I'm coming through.

 
Mike Lack, Mike Fitzlaff, John Wiedemann, and John Shea are Mark's biggest rivals

Who has been your biggest rival on the track in Indyslotcar? In ISF?

Myself. With the talent that keeps stepping up in these series, I have to keep pushing myself to constantly improve my game. Granted my results in ISF haven't been up to par lately, but I also attribute that to missing alot of those events and not as much seat time with those cars. If your looking for names in Indyslotcar the last few years its been Fitzlaff, Lack and this year Wiedemann. He REALLY stepped his game up. I think he will be the guy to end my streak of titles. In ISF it was always John Shea. That guy could do just about anything in a car.  He always waited for his last lap to bump me off pole, and he knew it got to me. 

It has been noticed you win more consistently in Indyslotcar than ISF, yet you are a three time champion, any reason for more success in one league than the other?    
Its been quite a few years since I've actually put in a full season in ISF, But I've always been a threat to win at any race I've shown up to.  If I were to run a full schedule again I have no doubt in my mind I would have a few more championships.

Dan Margetta and Everet Kamikawa are two original Indyslotcar veterans
that haven't beaten Walczak to the championship

Dan Margetta, Everet Kamikawa, Tom Spehert, Chris Spehert have been racing in the series the longest. Besides beating you, what advice would you give them to win the championship? 
LOL. Like Dan Tommy Kendall said at the HO Indy 500 after my 5th title, there is a reason I drive the Target car. Because I have the Target set squarely on my back.  I really don't think there is much advice to give them. Margetta has been in the series the longest and has seen drivers come and go. He knows what he's doing. If he really set his mind to it he would win multiple titles. I think him getting robbed of one a few years back left a sour taste in his mouth.  Kamikawa is a great racer in his own right. We may not always see eye to eye when were racing, but he's won back to back titles, and you have to respect that. The Speherts unfortunately have seen dwindling starts over the last few seasons.

What music do you like to listen to while racing and why do you wear headphones?

It all really depends on the track. Some tracks you need to get pumped up and I turn on a Metallica, Nickleback or something like that. Others like Raven where you have to keep your composure I'll mellow it out a bit, and of course you can't go to Stardust Raceway with out listening to Elvis and Sinatra.  The headphones go back to something Iverson had pointed out to me. Under our old qualifying format we had 12 laps cumulative time to set the field. Well each time you came off it took between 2-3 seconds to be put back on track. I found that if I put the i-pod on and got into a zone before starting I actually ran better. My qualifying and race results greatly improved after that.

What are you most proud of accomplishing and what do you still want to accomplish in both leagues? 
Wow. Tough call. I think in the ISF it would be that I was the first driver to win back to back Rapids Invites. In Indyslotcar I would say now being the all-time leader in wins is huge.  As far as left to accomplish, in the Indy series I need the 6th title, to be the all time winningest champion would be amazing. Having won 5 to tie Cianciola is just.......... I really don't have the words to explain it.  

Is there a quality about you, your driving style, car set up, or race craft that you think you do better than others?

No I really don't think there is. I just make the most of the practice sessions were allotted and find the edge of the envelope. I know then when and where to push cars.

What is your favorite memory all time in ISF and all time in Indycar?

In ISF I would say my dominant year in LMP. I started from the pole in every race and won every race, well except the final race that year at HORA. I qualified 1st, but got a phone call and had to leave before the race started. There is no doubt in anybody mind that I would have won that race too.  The car was just so lightning quick I was way ahead of everybody even in race pace.  In Indyslotcar there are just too many, building a car for Dan Margetta to win his 1st HO Indy 500, my first win. Giving my back-up car to Iverson for him to win the Ho Indy 500 and claim his first season title. My 500 win, first title, being the first to win 3 consecutive titles, winning 5 consecutive to tie Cianciola.

 If you could choose any driver in either league that no longer participates to come back and race against for a full season who would it be and why? Who would you want for a teammate? 
Wow, that's a tough call. So many good drivers that have retired and or moved away. Iverson, Cianciola, Shea, Rotter. I really can't choose just one. I'd honestly love to race them all again.  Well they all would add their own thing to the team. Again there its hard to decide. Iverson and I dominated the series when we were together. Lets just say I'd be lucky to team up with any of them.

You also raced stock cars in the American Racing Alliance (ARA) for several seasons. Any thoughts about that series you want to share?
That was defiantly a fun series. a complete change running the tin tops. I was lucky enough to end John Shea's reign as the big dog in the heavy metal class and continue to hold that title until the series unfortunately folded, which ranks up there for me accomplishment wise. I was luck enough to win races in all four classes with multiple championships.

Anything else you want to ad?
No I think I've rambled on too long for some of your readers. LOL. I just hope it provides a small glimpse into my racing life.  Thanks for the time Steve.

Thank you Mark. Sometimes the Washington Generals beat the Harlem Globetrotters. Mark sometimes loses a race, however like that famous basketball team, his league dominance looks set to continue for a long time.

Until next time...It's not bad being in the pits!

Steve The Wrench Ratchett

Mark Walczak Interview 2013 Pt. 1

Mark Walczak recently won his fifth Indyslotcar championship, which ties him for the most championships with series founder Phil Cianciola, and more impressively he has won them all in a row. He is Indyslotcar's all time victory leader and has put together a string of dominance not seen in any racing series. With the target of being the champion square on his back for the past many seasons, other drivers have tried to knock him off his throne to no avail.

Fast. Hard charging. Never relenting. These are some of the things you have to keep in mind if you are an opposing driver and see him in your mirrors. What is the secret to his success?

I was able to ask him before the recent Indyslotcar banquet.

This is the first time I've been able to interview him in this exclusive.

I think you'll find his answers thoughtful and worthy of a champion.

It is fair to say the early years of your Indycar career were marked with lots of inconsistencies not unlike other drivers. Was there an event where it suddenly all came together for you and you haven't looked back since? 

Tough call. I can see two spots for that. The first being my rookie year. I was trailing Phil Cianciola at HORA by 10 laps at the halfway point of the race, and at that time 10 races into the season he hadn't missed a final. Well I just got into a zone and clicked off laps and knocked him out of the finals for the first time that year. It gave me the confidence to know that I could run with "the big boys". The second was the following year at the Turkey Trot.  I started from the pole and dominated in getting my first win. After that with Jim Iverson's tutelage I haven't looked back.

Phil Cianciola is the Indyslotcar series founder

So like other drivers you held Phil as the "gold standard" to try and beat and once you did that it gave you the confidence to beat anyone? 
Well it wasn't just Phil. I had

followed the series the previous season,and that was the season off "Rottertude", so I knew if I could hang with and beat those two I could do just about anything.

 Jim Iverson was Walczak's teammate and mentor

Related to the first question, was there some advice given to you by Jim Iverson or others that helped you change into the dominant force you are today?  

If I gave you the answer to that question everybody would know my secret.  LOL

Okay. Fair enough. Let me ask this way so you can give answers without revealing your secret:

1. Did Jim give you multiple pieces of advice that changed your fortunes around or was it one major point? 
Since he was able to watch what I was doing from an outside perspective for the first half of my rookie year, when he and Phil Cianciola split up and I joined the team there were multiple things we worked on.

2. Was is something with your race craft or with your mental state or just a racing philosophy? 
Honestly I feel it was a little bit of everything.  Like Jim says I was the hardest working man in the series. I always paid attention to the other drivers, and listened to what ever advice I could get from them.  Just watching the other drivers for a while I could start to see their weaknesses, and how to use it against them. 

3. Did he tell you to model or copy another drivers approach or use as an example and if so who was that driver? 
No. He always mentioned to race the track within my own abilities. You really can't copy another drivers approach, because what works for me won't necessarily work for other drivers.

Is there something about these cars that suits your driving style or have you just found the limit at where you can take these cars?

Everybody has a different driving style. With track time comes the knowledge of the tracks themselves. Where you can and can't push the car. Where I can drive it deeper into a corner or where to ease into the corner and drive hard out of it. There are places on tracks that I will go full throttle that other drivers wont even dare try it.

Walczak's GTP ISF car flying off the track. It isn't always victories... Based on that answer did the extra seat time in the ISF at the beginning of your career help you in Indyslotcar? 
Oh with out a doubt. Even though they were run using different cars, the more seat time you got at a track the better off you were. I could transfer some of the information back and forth between the F1 cars and the Indy cars.  It defiantly helped with the learning curve.

Does the fact you are younger than most competitors make a difference?

No not really.  I think it all really comes done to my driving style. You see guys out there like Iverson before he retired and Rotter a few weeks ago in semi-retirement just go out there and dominate.  There are tracks that are suited to my driving style like a Rapids or a Deckertring  and of course Walczy World, and there are a few that I've had to change my style like a Raven, the Mini-Mile, Stardust and to a smaller extent Bayside now Badger Raceway

Look for part two of my interview with Mark Walczak.

Until next time...It's not bad being in the pits!

Steve The Wrench Ratchett

Jim Iverson=Indycar Hall of Famer

Jim Iverson, the three time ISF F1 Champion and two time Indyslotcar champion was inducted into the Indyslotcar hall of fame in 2013. Dan Margetta was also the winner of the prestigious Austin Award. Congratulations Jim and Dan! 
Steve The Wrench Ratchett

Click above for a highlight of Jim's Indyslotcar career

To see Dan margetta's award winning work click above and it

starts just after the "best livery" award