Ware has been involved in motorsports for 30 years, but most of that involved NASCAR. He had his first experience as an Indy 500 team owner last year with Australia’s James Davison driving.
“This is all we do for a living. We live and breathe it,” Ware said. “The racer in me, man, just ate up Indianapolis. Of course, we’d been there with NASCAR. Indy is about Indy cars. We put a deal together. I really started seeing the benefit of trying to expand our reach as a race team.
“I think over the long haul we really didn’t have a second plan really for a driver. We said there’s maybe an outside chance that something may happen with Romain. I think we waited for several months,” Ware continued. “Selfishly, we figured it was going to be a great story to have a great driver.
“I’m excited to have a guy like that drive for us. I’m excited to just get to the race track, expand our sponsors. It’s all business, but man, some part of it, I’m kind of like a kid, too. I’m just so thankful to be here.”
Grosjean comes from Formula 1 where the big teams may have 500 or more employees. Coyne’s team has a smaller, cohesive group of employees. Many are in the business for their love of racing, more than the paycheck.
There is a term for that — racers. Dale Coyne Racing with RWR is a group of racers and Grosjean is discovering teams aren’t always measured by the numbers.
“Dale Coyne Racing is a good team, very, very motivated,” Grosjean said. “I’ve been lucky in my career to have people who are motivated working on my car.
“From what I’ve felt in IndyCar, Dale Coyne is somebody that I appreciate. His love of racing and everybody’s love of racing makes me happy to go racing. There is some good, cool racing. From lap one to lap 90, it’s full-on, flat out. It’s a good challenge.
“Let’s do it.”
As Grosjean continues his transition to IndyCar, there are many aspects of driving he has had to relearn from Formula 1.
“It’s fairly different between Formula 1 and IndyCar,” Grosjean said. “Does it come from the tires, the car, from the aero, the mechanical grip? I don’t really know. I just found that it was different to drive and to go fast.
“A street circuit such as St. Petersburg, it’s totally different and everything we learned from Barber we need to restart from zero with different tires and setup. It’s a super cool circuit, but I must relearn things and apply them to a street course.
“Every street circuit has a special atmosphere. There is a great atmosphere around it. You have the sea, the marina, the scenery. It’s a great circuit.”
Most importantly, Grosjean is having fun.
“It’s been absolutely outstanding,” he noted. “Yes, big-time. I’m loving it. The only thing I miss is my family, but I am developing a new family in IndyCar.”
Grosjean also believes IndyCar gives him a chance to become a winner again; that’s something he didn’t get to experience in Formula 1 where the car and other technical advancements give certain teams a huge advantage.
Grosjean believes he has his best chance to win in a very long time.
“Ten years,” he said. “The last time I got the chance to have the same tools as the others was 2011 in GP2. I was close to winning a few times in Formula 1, but I was also in the era when Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel dominated everything. I was close a few times, but not on an every-race basis.”
Formula 1 is in Grosjean’s rearview mirror. It’s full speed ahead for IndyCar.
“Formula 1 is wonderful,” Grosjean said. “It’s great. I’m putting money on the fact that Lewis Hamilton is going to be eight-time world champion this year. I’ve really enjoyed my time there. I’ve had a great career.
“But I was at the end of what I wanted to do there. Fighting with Haas to be out of Q1 when everything was fantastic is something that I had had enough of. It was no real fun.
“Whereas in IndyCar, I think everyone has got the same car, dampers, you can work on, they make a huge difference. Obviously, if we compare Dale Coyne Racing with RWR, Penske and Ganassi, we have less resources, but it doesn’t mean we can’t do a good job and set up the car to our liking and go for it.
“I think that’s what really attracts people, is that it’s top series, top cars, top drivers and the driver can actually make the difference.”