It can be a humbling experience. It’s tough, traveling all over the place by myself, talking with everybody and just trying to make the connections; if anything comes up I’m in the right position. That’s what I’ve tried to do the last couple of years. I’ve had good rides but they haven’t been full-time.

The one thing I wanted to do at this point in my career was make sure the ride I have is competitive. That’s why I took this one. If you go to a place like Indy, if you’re not competitive, it’s just not going to do much for your career. It’s very important that you have light at the end of the tunnel and you’re working with good people.

I was walking the circuits in CART last year the majority of the season. I got a call from Larry to drive at Australia. I did the Australian event for him and it went really well. I worked with the engineer, got a good baseline on the car, finished the race and got a good result. Then we went to Fontana and had a great race.

At that point I was searching for what I was going to do for the following season. I stayed in touch with Larry. One day he gave me a call and asked if we could possibly do something together again. I said absolutely. He’s a great owner to work with.

We put this all together kind of at the last minute. Working with our engine builder McLaren, working with Larry, working with John Dick the engineer, Bob Sprow, Tom Gloy, all the guys. They’ve put together a really good group so I think we’ll definitely be competitive. That’s the most important thing. Everything we talk about, we finish with, “Make sure we’re going to be competitive in the series.” That’s the number one goal.

The main thing is I wanted a full-time ride and a shot at a championship. I wanted to work with very knowledgeable, very experienced people, and all that’s been put in place. It’s a good deal.

The deal with McLaren is interesting. McLaren of Livonia, Mich., is an engine development company, not related to the Formula One team. McLaren has had a long rapport with GM, sitting on pole at Indianapolis in ’85 with Pancho Carter and doing the LeMans deal with Cadillac.

This company is trying to get back into Indianapolis. McLaren got together with Chevrolet this year. I definitely think that working hands-on with McLaren, being their only team, is going to go a long way.

Our first time on the track in the IRL car will be this week at the Test in the West. We have one day on the track at California Speedway in Fontana, then head to Phoenix for two days there.

I’ve raced the last two years in CART at Fontana; I have some open-wheel experience there. This will help as far as knowing the track. The CART and IRL cars are different so there’s still plenty to learn. There are different rules and regulations on what you can do with the cars to get them to the highest level. The IRL cars are naturally aspirated and they do not have the Handford device, but the IRL cars have a minimum wing angle. Blair Racing is still new at the IRL cars so we’ve got to be open-minded. The team must make progress throughout the test.