Ex-formula One Driver Sato Excited About Indy 500

Throughout a conversation prior to his first laps at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in an Indy car, Takuma Sato never stopped smiling.

"My excitement is as high as it's ever been," the former Formula One driver said Saturday morning. "The truth is, I probably won't understand it all until later because I haven't experienced it."From what I've heard, you go through these two weeks, go through qualifying, get to race and then you will get another level of excitement, which I can only imagine."

This is his first Indianapolis 500, his first month of May. Abbreviated as the new schedule is, it's all new for Sato.

Driving for Jimmy Vasser and KV Racing Technology, the Tokyo native finished the rookie orientation program Sunday without incident.

Over the course of the 10-minute conversation, Sato dropped some form of the word "excitement" 17 times.

"He's genuine that way," Vasser said. "A place like this that's world renowned and famous -- I remember my first laps here. It gives you goose bumps."

Sato, 33, became enamored with auto racing at an early age, but nearly a decade passed before he had a chance to try the sport. Once he got the chance, he went from racing bicycles to Formula One in less than seven years.

Family friends took him to an F-1 race in Suzuka, Japan, when he was 10, the first time he saw a live motor sports event.

"It just shocked and really got me immediately, like this," Sato said, snapping his fingers.

He remained car crazy, even though his father, a lawyer, and mother, a stage actress, didn't quite get their son's passion.

"My parents had absolutely no idea about racing," he said, laughing.

For nearly a decade, Sato followed racing, read about racing and watched racing. He did everything but race.

One day he was sitting in a university class and noticed an advertisement in a racing magazine for the Suzuka Racing School. He noticed one of the requirements: Applicants had to be less than 20 years old. He was 19.

"To me, this was my first chance and last chance to do anything, so I decided I wanted to try it," Sato said. "I got into racing school, and I was very happy."

He was good, too.

He was selected as the best driver from his class at Suzuka, winning a scholarship. He soon went to Europe, winning the British F-3 title in 2001.

He reached F-1 in 2002 and remained there until Super Aguri dissolved because of financial difficulties in 2008. His best F-1 result was a third-place finish in 2004 at Indianapolis.

"He's very fast. He's brave. He's got a good history in Formula One and he was looking to come to IndyCar," Vasser said. "We talked to him when he came to see his first IndyCar race last year, had an open conversation and kept talking.

"He has a great relationship with Honda as well as I did when I won my championship (in 1996 in CART). We have some mutual friends in the company and here we are."

Sato has yet to finish in the top 10 in an IndyCar race, but he was running in the top five on the oval in Kansas before being taken out in a wreck that wasn't his fault.

"Eventually we expect to win and run up front," Vasser said. "He's shown the speed on the road courses, and he was amazing at Kansas. That's more of a speedway than a superspeedway, but we have a full week to get him up to speed, and I suspect he'll be on the pace right away."

Rain limited his first experience on the IMS oval to 15 laps. He was busier Sunday with 62.

"I wasn't really driving that fast, but I got the feeling of it," he said after his first time. Then the big grin returned and he added, "and I kind of like it."

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