Down in the dumps and without an IndyCar drive, Will Power was on the verge of giving up on his American dream.
Three seasons between Champ Car and IndyCar had been fruitful, but by the end of 2008 he was cast out of Kevin Kalkhoven’s team, KV Racing Technology, after just one year.
An offer came in to return to A1GP, a series he’d previously contested two races in the inaugural 2005/06 season under the Alan Docking Racing-run Team Australia banner.
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It was, at the time, the only option on the table to continue racing in 2009 – so Power signed.
It seemed the right thing to do, but Power’s wife Liz thought otherwise. She had a gut feeling that opportunities might be forthcoming elsewhere.
“I didn’t have anything else, and she told me to get out of that contract because Penske or Ganassi might call you,” Power explained.
“I was just like, ‘there’s no way’, but I did it anyway. I don’t know, I just did it.”
By that time, all the seats at Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing were accounted for.
Roger Penske had Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe in his line-up while Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti ruled the roost at Chip Ganassi’s joint.
However, Power’s fortunes changed when Castroneves was arrested on tax evasion charges for failing to report an income of $8 million over a six-year period.
“Then sure enough, she goes, ‘Helio just got arrested’,” Power recounted.
“I’m like, ‘what? What?’ It was uncanny. Unbelievable. She actually talked me out of that contract.
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“Yeah, I did end up with Penske. It just blew my mind. How could she know that? She didn’t know, she just felt that.”
Power made the most of the free-kick, finishing sixth in St Petersburg and earning himself another start at Long Beach where he finished second.
More cameos came. Only his second Indianapolis 500 start saw him finish fifth.
Power cemented his place with the team on the streets of Edmonton, claiming pole position and the win in what was only his fifth start for Penske.
Since 2010, the Toowoomba terror has been full-time with ‘The Captain’.
Success was immediate. Wins flowed and a string of runner-up finishes in the series came in 2010, ’11 and ’12.
Finally, in 2014, he claimed his first IndyCar Series crown. Then in 2018, he won the Indianapolis 500.
From 2010 to 2020, Power finished no lower than fifth in the championship.
He would, however, endure a tough 2021 campaign in which he was ninth. It marked his worst since his sole KV Racing Technology season.
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Despite that, Liz felt 2022 would be one to remember.
Indeed, Power was a force, claiming five pole positions and eclipsing the all-time record set by Mario Andretti – setting the benchmark at 68.
“She said, ‘I believe’ – because there’s probably a time where I was disappointed in something or just saying like, talking about my career or something – she goes, ‘I believe you’re going to beat Mario’s record this year and win another championship’,” Power said.
“That’s what she said. Legit, she said that. She said that a couple times in the year, and it actually gave me confidence. That’s how much faith I have in her gut feel.
“It kind of made me feel, ‘okay, yeah, she’s said things like this before’. Like the 500, she said, ‘I believe you’re going to win one. I think you’re going to win one’.
“We were standing in the kitchen. I remember it exactly. She had said it a couple times, but I know it was before the season, and she said it again during the season.
“Even before this weekend, she said, ‘I know you’re going to do it’. She said that. ‘I know you’re going to do it’.
“Man, it’s so much pressure – not pressure, but everything has got to go right. But deep down, I was like, I know how life flows at times, and I kind of thought that this could happen.
“But yeah, she said that. Yeah, she has a good gut feel, a good gut feel for things.”
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