INDYCAR: Allmendinger Excited About Possible Career Reboot

A.J. Allmendinger sits down with Marshall Pruett for a long conversation on his upcoming test with Penske, his potential career reboot and karting with Will Power.

Marshall Pruett | Posted February 08, 2013

A.J. Allmendinger left open-wheel at the top of his game in 2006, and tells Marshall Pruett he's up for a return if things pan out with Team Penske. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)

I still marvel at what I witnessed A.J. Allmendinger accomplish behind the wheel of Gerry Forsythe’s Lola-Ford/Cosworth Champ Car in 2006.

If you got the chance to see Allmendinger in action, he was pure speed, balls and confidence wrapped in an American flag. Teamed with engineer Michael Cannon, the Californian scored five wins that season and looked like he was destined to a future paved with open-wheel championships.

And then he went to NASCAR.

It’s hard to blame Allmendinger; he cashed in on his name and gunslinger reputation at precisely the right time, depositing ridiculous checks from a variety of teams from 2007 to the midpoint of 2012. His well-documented suspension from NASCAR and firing by Roger Penske aside, Allmendinger’s new free-agent status provided a sliver of hope for those of us who saw the 31-year-old at his best in Champ Car.

Was there a chance he could return to open-wheel, a place he belonged all along?

We’ll find out how much of that hunter-killer swagger remains when Allmendinger gets his first taste of a Team Penske Dallara DW12-Chevrolet on Feb. 19th at Sebring. And if all goes well, Penske says the diminutive driver could contest a few races this year in a third entry with an eye to going full-time in 2014.

Speaking with Allmendinger Thursday night, he said the deal to return with Penske came together quickly and easily, but has no strings attached.

“This has been like a couple week discussion really,” he said. “It’s not like it’s been held for two weeks and we already knew about it. Roger came to me with the idea a couple weeks ago and asked if I would be interested. And, of course, I said, hell, yeah. I'm not stupid.

“I’ve talked to Roger once a week just to kind of see what's going on. It wasn’t until a couple days ago when I talked to him and he said, ‘we want to do this test and kind of see how you do and see where it goes from there.’”

Allmendinger's swagger was one of his greatest assets in Champ Car, and it would serve him well in the new-look IndyCar Series. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)

It’s hard not to get excited about the possibility of Allmendinger mixing it up with new teammate Will Power, Ganassi’s Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon, and even some of the young guns like Simon Pagenaud and Josef Newgarden, but he says he isn’t thinking that far ahead. At least not right now.

“Well, the way I look at it, it's just a test,” he remarked. “The good thing for me is that I know I’m going to be in the best equipment when I’m doing this test. I'll have some of the fastest teammates I can learn off of from Helio [Castroneves] to Will [Power]. I mean, you just never know where things can go. Right now, all I’m looking at is just the best opportunity for me in my career, whatever that may be, whether that’s back in IndyCar with Roger or sticking with the Cup series or Michael Shank Racing in GRAND-AM, whatever. I'm looking at what's the best opportunity, what's the most competitive opportunity for me to go out there and win races, maybe win a championship. But, more importantly, for myself, what I’ll have the most fun doing and what brings the pure aspect of driving back into it.”

Allmendinger was often untouchable while at Forsythe, and when it comes to pure joy and displaying natural talent, it’s hard to argue that he belongs in anything other than an Indy car.

“I know a lot of that open-wheel stuff is what I’m most competitive in,” he acknowledged. “Obviously, from the time I left in 2006 to 2013, the IndyCar Series is a lot different, the race cars are a lot different, it's going to take a little bit to get used to but I hope it's natural, I hope it comes back like riding a bike. It's a racecar, it's got four tires, steering wheel, throttle and brake pedal, and some weird thing called a hand clutch now I guess that I have to figure out how to use…

“So, you know, I’m excited about it but I'm also not trying to get overexcited about it like everything is going to happen all at once.”

Allmendinger went through NASCAR’s Road to Recovery rehabilitation program and had his competition license reinstated late in the season which allowed him to seek new opportunities. Despite that freedom, it was the call from Penske—a chance to mend fences and drive for the esteemed owner he let down—that has Allmendinger counting his blessings.

“It's just a test and I feel so fortunate to have the whole organization but especially Roger Penske to still care about me and, honestly, make me feel like a part of the family because there’s no reason he had to keep in touch and keep me in mind and keep talking to me and possibly give me an opportunity to drive one of those race cars, whatever it may be. But he has.

“And that, to me, more than anything, whether it's an Indy car, a stock car, whatever, just the fact that he cares enough to give me a another opportunity and likes me that much and thinks enough of me to do that, that means more than anything, than getting in a racecar. That right there just means the world to me.”

Allmendinger contested a few Sprint Cup races with Phoenix Racing after he was released by Penske, but as he shares, The Captain still considered him as part of the family, and also had his hand in making the Phoenix opportunity happen.

“That day that he had to let me go and he looked into my eyes, I felt like he didn't… it wasn’t like he was overjoyed by it or was happy to do it and wanted to get rid of me. It looked to me like he really cared,” he said.

“The only hard feelings I had were at myself for allowing that to happen. He told me when he first signed me he said, ‘AJ, once you're in the family, you're in the family.’ Okay, people can say that. Oh, great. And you see people like Rick Mears and Gil de Ferran and all the employees that he's had for 20 years and you're like, okay, but this is my first year and I went out there and I messed up personally and he still stuck to his word. I felt a part of the family throughout this whole process and him checking up on me. People don't really know, but he talked to (Phoenix Racing owner) James Finch to help me get in that car at the end of last year. Nothing major but called him and endorsed me and said, ‘You know, why don’t you allow AJ to get into the car.’

“It's little stuff like that people probably don't see or don't know about him that he does. And just checking up and calling me and checking up and seeing how I'm doing. That, to me, like I said, driving a racecar, believe me, I'm thrilled about it but it's that stuff that means more than anything, because he doesn't have to do that. He's Roger Penske, he's got enough going on, he won a Cup championship. He's focusing on trying to win an IndyCar championship. That's what means the most.”

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