Small Stature, Big Talent: Rookie Veach Ready To Fulfill Dream Sunday in Indy 500
May 24, 2017 | By Phillip B. Wilson, Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Zach Veach is from the small, southern Ohio town of Stockdale, an unincorporated rural area that doesn’t have a single traffic light.
“We have a stop sign,” he said, smiling. “Hopefully eventually, if it keeps growing, we’ll get that traffic light.
“My family is all in the same area, so we call it ‘Veachville.’ My uncles are there, my grandparents are there, my brother’s there, my cousins are there, so it’s kind of our own little slice of heaven out in the country.”
Veach, like where he’s from, is diminutive in stature at 5-foot-4 and 125 pounds. The son of truck and tractor pull national champion Roger Veach, Zach grew up dreaming of being part of one special race, a lifetime ambition since the age of 4.
On Sunday, he’ll experience what he’s always wanted in the 101st Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil. Rookie Veach will start 32nd in the No. 40 Indy Women in Tech Championship A.J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet.
“I’m jealous of him because he’s young, he’s thin, he’s got a lot to learn, and I can’t do it anymore,” said A.J. Foyt, his legendary boss and four-time Indy 500 winner.
What’s amusing is when the larger-than-life Foyt checked out the seat in Veach’s car.
“No one can fit in my seat,” Veach said, amused. “A.J. has got a real kick out of that. Any time he walks through the garage, he picks up my seat and laughs. ‘Look how tiny it is.’”
The perception that Veach is so much younger than 22 also has followed him to Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“The biggest thing I’ve got here is people think I’m like 12 years old,” he said.
Veach proved himself worthy of the opportunity after winning a combined six races in 2014 and 2016 in Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires, the top rung of the Mazda Road to Indy developmental ladder.
“Everybody has always put me down the list as an underdog as I’ve come up through my career,” he said. “It’s just my size. I got to Indy Lights, and people were like, ‘There’s no way Veach is going to finish Lights races,’ and we’re winning Lights races with 10-second leads.
“Nothing has been easy my entire career. I’m a grinder. The harder something gets, the better I come out.”
His Belardi Autosport crew in Indy Lights still couldn’t resist teasing him last year. After excusing himself to go to a restaurant bathroom, Veach would return to find a kids’ menu at his setting.
“Hey, it’s cheaper, though,” he said. “And the joke’s on them. I can get clothes in smaller sizes, and it’s cheaper, as well.”
He made his Verizon IndyCar Series debut last month for Ed Carpenter Racing as a late replacement for the injured JR Hildebrand and finished 19th in the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama.
“If you see him, he’s obviously really strong because that Barber race was hard on a lot of people,” team president Larry Foyt said. “It was certainly a tough circuit with a lot of steering torque in these cars, so he did a really good job.
“Just getting to drive an Indy car, and the biggest thing I liked is he got to do some pit stops. I don’t think he had done pit stops. It was just a great experience for him.”
Veach started out racing go-karts with engines built by Dave Fisher, father of longtime series driver and team owner Sarah Fisher. Veach’s crew chief and race strategist is Sarah Fisher’s husband, Andy O’Gara.
“The crazy thing is people questioned his ability based on his size within the last year: Can he get the job done?” O’Gara said. “I can tell you 100 percent that has not been a problem. He has the physical ability, mental ability and the support around him to get it done.”
Veach’s Foyt team put the car together in just two weeks, which meant growing pains for crew and driver. Veach set the process back Friday with a Turn 1 crash, which had his crew working until 1 a.m. that night and then the next day to put the car back together so he could qualify Sunday.
“It was some of the toughest four laps I’ve ever done,” he said after posting a four-lap average speed of 221.081 mph.
“I’ve hit something harder in a Lights car, so I’m not fazed by (the crash) in any way. I just want to keep making the right calls here. The thing about Indy is when things go wrong, they go wrong in a hurry here. That’s the only thing to take away from the incident.”
Veach acknowledges the challenge Sunday, which includes vying for the honor of Indy 500 Rookie of the Year against such a proven newcomer in two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso. Veach introduced himself to Alonso on track.
“It was a little competitive tension there, taking the preferred lane away on Tuesday,” Veach said. “I just put my hand up as I turned into Turn 1. It was cool to say that you’re 22 years old, and you passed a two-time World Champion.”
That kind of swagger from the small-town kid impressed the boss.
“He passed the Formula 1 guy and waved at him,” A.J. Foyt said. “I’m proud of him.”
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