Only it isn't. Dario Franchitti, last year's Indy 500 champ and the inaugural Iowa Corn Indy 250 winner, has spent the past five months getting exhaust fumes kicked in his face. The native Scotsman goes into the weekend ranked 42nd in Sprint Cup points; Hornish is 33rd.
Franchitti and Hornish have become more renowned for fiery crashes, such as the one at Pocono this month, than fantastic finishes.
In the IRL, you're (like) a fighter pilot," offered Jack Arute, the longtime ABC racing reporter and analyst. "You're in there, and you've got telemetry and you've got engineers to tell you what you need to do. In stock-car racing, you've got no luxury of that — you've got a whole different set of terminology and issues to deal with.
But it isn't as painless as it looks. While stock cars have power steering, making them easier to maneuver than their IRL counterparts, they're also heavier, which can make them harder to control, especially in a heavy-traffic situation.
"It's the difference between driving a motorcycle and a city bus," said John Andretti, nephew of Indy legend Mario Andretti and a veteran of both circuits. "The motorcycle, if you (want) it to go that way, like an IndyCar, it goes that way. A stock car, when you see the ... corner coming, you aim it towards it and it gets there. It's, for sure, two totally different kinds of driving styles and two different kinds of mentalities as far as the way you (plan) it out"One thing that's really different for (them) is sitting in an oven 4½ hours, as opposed to sitting in an open cockpit for two hours," Andretti said. "A lot of guys haven't really experienced the hot races yet. Wait till you get Bristol in August, where it's 90 degrees at night."
In other words, it's going to feel like a broiler on wheels. Their wallets might be greener. The grass isn't.
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