Cash woes could stall driver after Indy 500
INDIANAPOLIS — When Oriol Servia arrived at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and heard the slogan, he thought it was intended for him. Indy 500 or bust. For Servia and his team, Panther DRR, it’s actually more fitting given that Sunday’s race isn’t just the biggest of the season for this team, it’s an all-out battle for survival.
“My girlfriend has been (living) in Costa Rica the last five years and she’s always said she wants me to come to Costa Rica when I get time for a vacation,” Servia said Thursday.
If the team can’t find more sponsorship money soon, the 28-year-old Spaniard could be starting a prolonged vacation next week because Dennis Reinbold’s team plans to disband following Sunday’s Indianapolis 500.
Reinbold, who owns several automobile dealerships in Indianapolis, has been competing in IndyCars since 2000 but has never finished better than eighth in the points — exactly the same spot Servia is this season after four races.
The timing couldn’t be worse.
Four days after Servia finished sixth at Long Beach, Reinbold had the woeful job of informing Servia and his crew that the Panther DRR would be closing its doors at the end of May unless they could find more money.
Since then, Servia has put together an impressive run. At Brazil, he qualified 13th and finished fourth. Last weekend at Indy, he qualified 13th again, ahead of defending 500 champion Dario Franchitti, two other previous Indy winners (Scott Dixon and Buddy Lazier), 2012 pole-winner Ryan Briscoe, all four Chip Ganassi cars and points leader Takuma Sato.
Reinbold is already plotting a comeback. “Our plan is to keep as many people here so we can be as turnkey as we can, and gear up for 2014 so we can get back full-time,” he said.
Servia has been given permission to speak with other teams and has spent his free time trying to cultivate some sort of sponsorship deal to keep his current team afloat.