INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Simon Pagenaud’s career was cut short eight races into the 2023 season when he was badly injured in a crash that caused concussion-related symptoms he’s still battling nearly two years later.
He wants no sympathy, no pity, and looks back fondly on a career in which he won the Indianapolis 500, an IndyCar championship, 15 races and the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
He also doesn’t want to dwell on his personal health, which has been a frustrating rollercoaster of improvements, setbacks, and constant rehabilitation to return to some normalcy and enjoy life with his wife and two young children.
But the Frenchman will never be able to shake the motorsports bug — and he has a goal of one day returning to some form of racing because without goals, what does a racer even have?
For now, though, he’s adjusting to a slow comeback that began last year when Team Penske driver Scott McLaughlin asked Pagenaud to be his driver coach at the Indianapolis 500. It wasn’t as easy as he’d hoped because everything from his vision to the noise at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the vibration he felt as cars whizzed past the Team Penske timing stand disrupted his recovery.
Even so, McLaughlin has him back this year as Pagenaud attempts to find a career outside the racecar.
“Last year he didn’t know how he was going to feel with the noises, but he definitely feels a lot better,” McLaughlin said. “I really enjoy working with him and bringing him back to the speedway, brought him back to something he loves. He’s really intense, too. His preparation is next level.”
It’s just the start for Pagenaud’s transition: Théo Pourchaire, a fellow Frenchman, announced Tuesday that Pagenaud will be his representation as Pourchaire tries to make a full-time move to racing in the United States.
“I don’t want to be involved with the management of 30 drivers, but I want to be involved with the best,” Pagenaud said. “I want to go to teams with a guy I know can perform. I don’t want to put my name on someone and then have a team come back to me and say he didn’t perform, the guy wasn’t good enough. I’ve got to be selective and to me, I think Theo can be one of the best.”
But that’s not all for Pagenaud, who was contacted by Chevrolet and asked to help do simulator work for the manufacturer in a true case of “just what the doctor ordered.”
“I had no idea if I was going to be of use, but I was very attracted by the idea and my doctors were very enthused by the chance to test myself on a moving simulator,” he said. ”I’m not going to lie — it was a big challenge personally — but it was awesome to have a reference, a new reference, of where I was at and how much I was struggling for different things.
“And we decided that we would do this a bit more frequently. It was very useful for my recovery. It’s probably been the most useful therapy I’ve had, and when I’m talking about therapies, physical therapy, eye coordination, reconnecting the bridges in the brain, things that were not as seamless as they used to be.”
Pagenaud is also open to a more formal role with former team Team Penske, where he spent seven seasons and time with their sports car program. Team President Tim Cindric didn’t rule out a role within the organization for the driver who contributed one of Roger Penske’s record 20 Indy 500 wins.
McLaughlin has raved about what Pagenaud has brought him at Indy.
“I’m probably a detriment to my own career throughout the years — I haven’t been as intricate with looking at little details, and I think Simon is the professor in that regard,” McLaughlin said. “He strives for perfection in a lot of ways in how he sets up his car and what he feels. He’s probably allowing me to look into more details and just the way I look at myself and the driving, the lines and what I’m doing with weight jacker and bars. It’s really helped sort of accelerate my progress here, and really am enjoying working with a friend, as well.”
That knowledge could be welcome inside Team Penske as a whole at some point, Cindric said.
“Simon is always welcome within our team,” Cindric said. “But Simon has a lot going on on his own, beyond our team. I know Simon has been offered some really good things to do, but there’s only so much that Simon really wants to do.
“I think he can be a benefit for anybody around this place. I don’t think there’s any limit in terms of what he does, but at the same time, he wants to be productive. Just hanging around probably isn’t what he wants to do, either. I think we have a pretty good balance, and we’re always open to him within our team.”
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
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