the stars of the team, their impressive resumes wouldn’t be possible without the stars of CGR who work tirelessly behind the scenes at both the shop and on race weekends to transport, build, repair and prepare the cars week in and week out throughout the season. Back in February, I was invited to Chip Ganassi Racing’s Indianapolis shop to meet with CGR’s Senior Manager of Transportation and Logistics Jake Klomp before the 2025 IndyCar season began. The team was gracious enough to spend some time with me, providing a tour of CGR’s impressive facility, along with getting to photograph one of the CGR IndyCar transporters and meeting all their truck drivers. “We currently operate eight tractor-trailers – five of which are for the IndyCar teams, two that are for hospitality, and one is for our Indy NXT team, the feeder series for IndyCar,” Jake told me. 10-4 Magazine / May 2025 63 If you’ve ever seen an IndyCar transporter rolling down the highway, they are quite impressive. Dressed out with plenty of shiny goodies such as aluminum wheels, stainless accents and covered in sponsor graphics, these rigs are some of the most expensive and impressive trucks on the road and are just as sleek as the cars they haul. The CGR Freightliners are equipped with 72-inch sleepers and spec’d with Detroit engines, mated to 12-speed automatics, and have extended wheelbases. “The Cascadias provide our truck drivers with comfort and have every option available on them and are provided to us by our Indianapolis based partner, Venture Logistics,” said Jake. “We operate 53-foot spread-axle Featherlite trailers that are custom built to our specs, and each of these trailers have a specific purpose within the team.” In a series as fast as IndyCar is, the pit-stops are just as quick. The average pit-stop length is only between 6 and 8 seconds where all four tires are changed to a fresh set and the car is refueled before being released back on track with an impressive burnout as they roll out of their pit stall. Asking Jake how he got involved in IndyCar, he answered, “I had always wanted to work in sports in some capacity or another, so after graduating from high school, I attended Ball State University where I received a degree in sports administration. I had been working for a marketing firm in the NHRA and I had met members of some of the teams there who had mentioned to me about some opportunities in IndyCar. I’ve been in IndyCar for 17 years now and this is my 14th season working with Chip Ganassi and my 11th going over the wall. I am currently on the #10 DHL crew servicing Alex Palou’s car, where I am the left rear tire changer on pit-stops.”
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjA1MjUy