Sunday, June 29, 2003
Stefan Johansson grew up around race cars, now has his own.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Even casual fans of auto racing can reel off the names of families with two or more generations of drivers: Andretti. Foyt. Petty. Earnhardt.
So it's not unusual to learn that Stefan Johansson got his start at a young age, thanks to his father's involvement in club racing as an amateur.
"I started when I was 8," Johansson said. "That was 37 years ago now. My dad raced, so I grew up with it. It's been my life, all my life."
A veteran of Formula One and former CART rookie of the year, Johansson is the first-year owner of American Spirit Team Johansson, featuring Americans Jimmy Vasser and rookie Ryan Hunter-Reay behind the wheel.
"When I stopped racing CART at the end of '96, I decided to start an Indy Lights team," he said. "I ran that for a few years, then this year there was an opportunity to get into CART, and I decided it was a good thing to do."
Bumpy first year
It's been somewhat of a bumpy road in the first year. Johansson had about a month to put together his team before the first race of the year, and the challenges didn't stop there.
Saddled with the inferior Reynard chassis -- the top five finishers at last weekend's G.I. Joe's 200 were Lolas, a common theme all year -- for this season, the American Spirit team has had a difficult time finding success in the CART series.
"We're a little bit hampered with this Reynard chassis," Johansson said.
"We've had some bad luck, we've had a lot of accidents, which has obviously set us back a little bit. We had a few roadblocks in our way early on, definitely -- stuff that happens in your daily life of doing business. We definitely had our fair share of dramas.
"You just chip away, add people where you need people. It's constantly evolving. It typically takes three years to build a winning team."
But those dramas have not dampened Johansson's enthusiasm for the sport that has dominated his life for so long.
"I'm committed to this 100 percent -- you'd be a complete fool to jump into something this intensive if it's only for one year," he said. "I'm incredibly lucky to have been able to do this really for my entire life. I love every aspect of this business, whether it's driving, management or owning a team.
"There's constantly pressure, massive pressure the whole time. You've just got to figure it out, you've got to think quick. When you come up with an answer and it works, it's incredibly satisfying."
Began at age 20
Johansson started racing professionally at age 20 in Europe's Formula Three series. He graduated to Formula One at 23 and came to the United States in 1992 to race for owner Tony Bettenhausen in CART, and raced in the Indianapolis 500 four times.
He was honored as rookie of the year in 1992 on the strength of two podium finishes, one in Detroit and the other in Vancouver.
He still races occasionally -- he recently finished third along with teammates Emanuele Pirro and J.J. Lehto at Le Mans.
A native of Vaxjo, a small town in the southern tip of Sweden, Johansson now lives in Indianapolis with his wife, Gabriela, and two of their three children.