To driver Arie Luyendyk, it's about engineering and racer's edge

SONOMA, Calif.--Arie Luyendyk, considered one of racing's greatest drivers, will be the first to tell you it's not just about one guy putting the pedal to the metal. Luyendyk, who won the Indianapolis 500 twice, talks easily about the role team engineers play in the success of any racing team.

I got a chance to talk with him (video embed below or click here) at a recent IndyCar event here at the Sonoma Raceway, moment after I took a "hot lap" with another racing legend, Mario Andretti. That minute or so of near terror screaming around the road course gave me a first-hand appreciation of the role engineers play in racing, and Luyendyk amplified that.

[Learn more about the Indy 500 at the Littelfuse Speed2Design site.]

He also revealed he's no fan of some racing rules that penalize successful teams, a situation we saw in August 2011 while spending time with Bobby Rahal's BMW team in Wisconsin and its chief engineer, Jay O'Connell.

The Sonoma event was part of the larger Speed2Design program, sponsored by Littelfuse, in which lucky engineers from all across the country get a chance to attend an IndyCar racing weekend and spend time with the team Littelfuse and Mouser sponsor, KV Racing. This weekend (September 14-15, 2012) will be the last of five such events for engineers--the MAVTV 500--and we'll be there to cover it, so stay tuned.

Related stories:

--The hairy edge of engineering at 150mph
--Dream engineering job?
--The consequences of tight engineering rules
-- Indy 500: KV Racing's tech director talks track
--Limiting innovation
--Speed2Design site