FINALLY Getting His Shot...
Wade Cunningham
By Andrew Cutler
February 11 2011
It has been over five years now since Wade Cunningham won the 2005 Indy Lights championship. In all of the time since, the twenty-six year old New Zealander has been knocking on doors & doing his best to keep his name fresh in the minds of IndyCar team owners but, to this point, the only results that he has to show for his efforts have been an occasional test session.
In the meantime, Wade has kept his hand in with occasional rides in Indy Lights, including another full season (2009) with Sam Schmidt Motorsports.
Now that powerhouse FIL squad is ready to take on IndyCar in a limited basis in 2011 (they have done 'one-offs' at Indy in conjunction with other teams over the past few seasons) and Cunningham is one of three drivers who will get some wheel time. He will compete in the 'double-header' event at Texas in June, as well as the Oct races at Kentucky and Las Vegas (the contract on which is still to be finalized).
For Wade, it feels like the end of a long struggle. “When you work for something for so long you can lose a little bit of hope,” he said. “When it does happen, you’re kind of overwhelmed, and then relieved.”
Both Schmidt and Cunningham agreed that it would be better for him to run multiple races this year instead of just donig a 'one-off' at Indy. “That’s putting all your eggs in one basket,” Schmidt said. “I think that was an intelligent decision.”
Perennial part-timer Townsend Bell will compete at Indy for Schmdit, as well at Las Vegas. The team also plans to help Jay Howard out at Indy; most likely in conjunction with Rahal-Letterman Racing.