General Motors racing boss Jim Campbell was glowing with excitement on pit lane as he walked towards the pole-winning ceremonies awaiting Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin and the No. 3 Chevy crew.
Amid a massive roar from the fans in attendance, Campbell and Chevy IndyCar program manager Rob Buckner watched as the New Zealander shot across the start/finish line to finish his record run which also sealed the first row, second row, and the top eight starting spots for Team Chevy. Once the checkered flag waved over McLaughlin in the ‘Yellow Submarine,’ Campbell gave Buckner a huge hug to cap the Bowtie’s utter domination of qualifying for the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500.
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“It’s so exciting to be here,” Campbell told RACER. “Listen to the fans respond. They respect these drivers and what they do so much. This is a frenzy. They cannot be more appreciative of what Scott McLaughlin did, and they can’t wait for next weekend’s Indy 500.”
After a dozen years of the same 2.2-liter twin-turbo V6 IndyCar engine formula, finding such massive year-to-year gains as demonstrated by the Chevy camp should not be possible, but that’s what Team Chevy and their partners at Ilmor Engineering delivered.
“This is the result of an amazing amount of hard work by Chevrolet engineers, Ilmor, and our race teams,” Campbell said. “We look forward to this weekend all year long. The Indianapolis 500 qualifying, it’s so special; it takes so much to even get here. The guys who just put it up on the pole, Scott McLaughlin, and Team Penske, did a hell of a job and I’m proud of all the Chevrolet teams in top 12. I’m also proud of this guy here, Rob Buckner.”