One doesn’t have to look far in the NTT IndyCar Series to see competition of all types. Between drivers, teams and engineers, there’s no shortage of rivalries in the paddock.
But behind the scenes there are battles being waged every race weekend between mechanics and the rulebook, with only a team of tech inspection workers maintaining the line of fairness.
At the helm of tech is Kevin “Rocket” Blanch, a self-proclaimed hillbilly who grew up on a farm in rural Indiana. Like most Hoosier, Rocket long admired Indy car racing from afar and since 1989 hasn’t missed a single race whether as a fan, team mechanic or series official.
“One of my favorite guys,” said Mark Miles, CEO of Hulman & Co., which owns INDYCAR and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “If I was making a movie in Hollywood and said to central casting ‘Send me a mechanic,’ Rocket would appear. He’s the epidemy of the title.”
A naturally competitive person, Rocket got his start as a simple race car painter. After a season of painting cars for Patrick Racing, a mass exodus of mechanics allowed Rocket to move up to the role of mechanic. Over the next decade Rocket worked his way up through the ranks, eventually becoming the chief mechanic and crew chief of Panther Racing, which won Indy Racing League championships in 2001 and 2002 with Sam Hornish Jr. driving.
One thing most people don’t realize is that despite all the glitz and glamor of working on Indy cars, it is a major mental and physical drain to work and travel so many hours. So back in 2003 when the IRL needed a new technical director, Rocket switched roles – from mechanic to referee.
“Back when I started in 2003 there was just no organization to this side of the series,” Rocket said. “Everyone was a part-time employee, there were no full-time employees. I’m still the only full-time employee (in the technical department), but back then there just wasn’t that ‘working on the car’ level of experience like we have today so that helped bring up the respect level.”
In the world of sports officiating, some of the best officials are former players as they already know the rules and can provide a unique perspective. However, that transition requires a complete change of mindset, especially when it comes to competition. While not overly common, teams do occasionally attempt to bend the rules to their advantage, and it is Rocket’s job to stop them.
“He’s a good guy, very strict and to the point -- tough, but fair,” said Bob Jansen, chief mechanic for the Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team. “But he’s also the guy that just after yelling at me about something, 20 minutes later he’s talking to me about hunting or whatever you’ve got going on.”
As any sports official can tell you, thick skin and a disconnect from emotion are required in order to excel.
“There’s a lot of people in the paddock that are my friends,” Rocket said. “But once I enter this paddock, I don’t have any friends. Everyone here is trying to take advantage of me, whether you’re my friend or not.”
So, what does a competitive person do when they switch to a far less competitive job? They seek out new challenges. In the last 15 years, Rocket has turned to nature to fill that competitive void through fishing and hunting. But if you think Rocket is a traditional bow hunter, you’d be wrong. Most bow hunters sit up high all day looking for deer, but Rocket finds his thrills in hunting from the ground, often coming within 50 feet of a deer mere moments before taking it down.
In fact, the IRL almost lost Rocket back in 2004 when he nearly made the professional fishing tour. But not knowing the rules, Rocket threw back one fish he thought was too small. That one fish was the difference between making the tour by finishing 10th and missing out. Good thing for open-wheel racing because the NTT IndyCar Series is far better off having Rocket around.
“No matter how bad the day is, I’ve been able to make a living for 31 years in some form of racing, which to me is pretty cool because I’ve never really had to go to work for a very long time,” he said.