Pearn checking off bucket list with ride at Indianapolis 500
INDIANAPOLIS — There is not much the owner of a backcountry skiing and hiking vacation company in Canada can do with a lifetime of racing knowledge after he has walked away from a championship-winning career.
Cole Pearn abruptly retired at the end of last year’s NASCAR season after helping build one of the best teams in stock car racing. His life on the road cost him too much time with his young family and relocating from Colorado to North Carolina had limited their access to outdoor adventures.
They returned to his native Canada to operate Golden Alpine Holidays in British Columbia, a venture that has been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. Racing has also been scrambled, and when the Indianapolis 500 was moved from May to Aug. 23, one of the Ed Carpenter Racing engineers had a conflict.
It created an opening at Carpenter on Conor Daly’s car. One of Carpenter’s crew members had worked with Pearn before and the connection was made: Pearn, the crew chief of Martin Truex Jr.’s 2017 NASCAR championship season, would work the Indianapolis 500.
“They asked. It was like, ‘Yeah, why not?’” said Pearn, who called the Indy 500 a bucket list event. “It’s hard when you race your whole life and just completely turn it all off. So it’s kind of nice to scratch that itch at the same time.”
Daly, in his first day working with Pearn, was ninth fastest around Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Chevrolet was even faster Thursday, when Daly briefly sat atop the speed
chart before Takuma Sato bumped him down a spot. He ended the day fourth overall in speed.
“We made some really good changes overnight and Cole has an idea of what he wants to do. He’s got an interesting way of working, he’s like ‘Yep, I know exactly what I want to do,’” Daly said. “I really like communicating with him and I think we are vibing really well.”
■ Alonso crash: Fernando Alonso, making his third attempt to win the final leg of motorsports’ version of the Triple Crown, crashed in the final hour of Thursday’s practice session.
Alonso crashed in Turn 4 when his Arrow Mclaren SP Chevrolet dipped onto the concrete portion of the apron at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and sent the Spaniard into the retaining wall. His damaged car rolled onto pit lane for an early end to his afternoon. Alonso was sixth on the speed chart when he crashed. He ended up ninth for the day. The two-time Formula One champion has victories in the Monaco Grand Prix and 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Indianapolis the only race missing from the trifecta.