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| "Champ cars is where I've always wanted to be": An interview with Jonathan Macri By Kate Shaw TORONTO, Canada (January 8, 2004) — Jonathan Macri is a 21 year old Canadian racer who is already well known to the CCWS circuit, due to his three successful years on the Toyota Atlantic rung of the CCWS ladder. Last year he finished 4th in the championship, his best finish ever. In 2003 he moved from P-1 racing to the new Polestar Racing team and immediately showed his ability to develop and work with a new machine by turning in a succession of podium finishes. Macri was also the 2000 Canadian Formula Ford Champion, and along with this honour he picked up the Sunoco Diamond award, the Ford Driver of the Year award, and the Hankook Fastest qualifier award. In 2000 he also ran four Barber Dodge events with a best finish of 4th place at Sebring. I managed to catch him between engagements and ask him a few questions about his 2003 season and his plans for 2004 including the Walker Racing CCWS test he had in December. Kate Shaw: 2003, your third year in the Toyota Atlantic series, was your best year overall. What was the highlight of the season for you? Jonathan Macri: The first half of the season was excellent for me – it was a strong start for our new team and even on the weekends when we had a bad start we still ended up on the podium! To some degree this was a product of my experience in Atlantics; the car needed development – it was not quite perfect – but the team and the car were both strong and I think we did very well together, and I was very happy with our 4th place finish in the standings for 2003. KS: Is there extra pressure on you when you race in Toronto? For example, do you have to do a lot more appearances and are you pounced on by fans and friends when you walk out into view? Do you think the Champ Car “open paddock” concept is a good one, or does it make life harder for the drivers when they are trying to focus on their weekend’s job of racing? JM: Yes, there’s plenty of pressure on me racing in Toronto, but pressure is good for me! I’m completely booked up with appearances and interviews during the Molson Indy race week – morning, noon and night – but that kind of pressure teaches a driver how to focus when the time comes, how to put it all aside and race. I like the open paddock concept and think it’s the right way to go; it gives the fans a chance to meet us and find out who we are, to look at the cars up close, get autographs, and then they can cheer for us by name and not just for a helmet in a car. KS: How were you inspired to take up motor racing as a career? Did your parents encourage or discourage you? JM: It’s something I have always known I wanted to do, since I began racing karts at the age of 6, and especially when I first got into the car at 15 – my parents have always been supportive of what I wanted to do. They have pushed me to finish school and take a reasonable view, but they’re behind my exploring my options in racing as far as it’s possible for me to go. KS: Did any particular driver influence your style of driving? JM: No, I didn’t grow up around a lot of other drivers; my older brother [Francis] had some influence on my driving, but basically I have always determined to be my own person and develop my own style. KS: I know that you had a successful test with Walker Racing’s Champ Car team, December 10-11, 2003 – any news from them yet? When do you expect to hear (if they gave you any idea)? JM: The test with Walker wasn’t really a “shootout” among the four drivers, where somebody was going to win the prize and get a full sponsorship package; it was rather a chance for each of us to try out the car and then work on getting a budget together. Derrick Walker was quite happy with my driving and we’re working now at Part 2 – NTN is behind me 100% in my efforts, as they have always been since I began my racing career – I am their driver all the way. They want to be in Champ Cars – they believe this is the best place for them to showcase their product; and Champ Cars is where I have always wanted to be. I have no real interest in driving in the IRL. KS: If the Champ Car drive doesn’t happen, for some reason, do you have another plan for 2004? JM: There are other avenues I can explore, perhaps other series; I might stay in Atlantics rather than sit out for a season, but it’s mainly down to NTN, what they want for me. I’m not sure they would think another year of Atlantics would be good for me to do, but we’re really hoping that the Champ Car ride will come together and this will not be an issue. KS: Do you believe that it is more difficult for Canadian drivers to get a look from up-ladder teams outside Canada than, for example, for Mexican drivers? How much has the forced absence of Players from racing in general affected the chances for development of young Canadian drivers? JM: I think it’s about the same for drivers from Mexico as from Canada – the Mexican companies are finding that racing is a good place for them to showcase their products, and I hope that now Players are out of racing, another Canadian company will step up and help the Canadian drivers as they did. I’ve never heard anyone say that Players’ sponsorship encouraged them to smoke, but since Players have been involved in racing for so long, they have obviously been getting a return on their investment from somewhere. KS: Your career has been focused on open-wheel racing to this point. Are there any other forms of racing that you would like to try; for example, sports car [ALMS] or rally racing? JM: Not at this point in my career – maybe once I have exhausted all the possibilities in open wheel racing, then I will look at sports cars or fender racing of other kinds. Actually, nobody has been offering me drives in fender cars to this point. But maybe that will happen later. KS: What question do you hope no one will ever ask you again? JM: Well, back when my brother and I were both racing in F1600, people used to try to get us to trash talk each other in front of microphones by asking us “Which of you is the better driver? Who’s the best?” But if we’d got into a fight on the dais, we’d have had to apologize to our parents later on, so we just shrugged that question off and didn’t take the bait! KS: What single characteristic does an aspiring race driver need to put him “over the top” in terms of his driving career? (We’ll assume he has proved he has raw talent behind the wheel). JM: I think that other than raw speed, a driver most needs to be smart and calculating, to be able to pace himself over a race distance and think in terms of the whole race. That's the characteristic I’ve always tried to develop in myself, the “racing smarts” to carry me through, and I think I have been very successful at it. KS: Do you have an avocation that you pursue in the off-season or in those hours when you aren’t completely focused on your racing? JM: I play a lot of soccer and hockey; in fact, if I hadn’t decided to be a race driver, I might have played pro soccer. I’m also a big football fan, but race drivers are not big enough to play pro football. KS: Well, we’re glad you decided to go racing and RFM Sports wishes you all the best in 2004. We hope to be able to cheer you on at the Toronto |
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