American Star Goulian Flying High with Confidence as Title Showdown Looms at IMS

When Michael Goulian flew into Indianapolis Motor Speedway for last year’s Red Bull Air Race, the Master Class pilot conceded it would be a dream to win at such a historic venue.

In his return to IMS on Thursday, the 50-year-old aviator from Winthrop, Massachusetts, said he sees the race Sunday as so much more of an opportunity.

After winning only one race in a decade in the series before this season, he’s third in the points and has his most realistic shot at victory on home soil. He began the season with a victory at Abu Dhabi and has finished second twice and third once.

“This time, it’s not such a dream,” he said. “It’s here. We know that it’s there. It would be one of the highlights of my career to win at this place just because of the history of the Speedway.

“We race in some pretty beautiful locations, but they’re not historically iconic in our world like this place is. That would be the great thing, to say, ‘I have my name on a little piece of whatever at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.’ That would be a big deal.”

The pilots will practice today, with qualifying scheduled for 4:05 p.m. on Saturday. The Round of 14 racing begins at 1:06 p.m. Sunday, the Round of 8 is at 3:05 p.m., and the Final 4 round to determine the winner is scheduled for 3:37 p.m.

Goulian’s 55 points are nine behind leader Martin Sonka of the Czech Republic, who is trying to become the first pilot in series history to win four consecutive races. Sonka was in position to claim his first series title last year but lost the Red Bull Air Race World Championship to Yoshihide Muroya of Japan in a dramatic finale at IMS.

Matt Hall of Australia is second with 58. Two-time series runner-up Hall has two victories this season.

Goulian was just ninth a year ago. His best series finish of fifth was back in 2006. So what’s made such a difference this year? Goulian credits his team.

“We’ve added some different team members, and that’s made things click,” he said. “Emily Mankins is the new team coordinator, and we’ve moved Pablo Branco into a role of a strategist because he’s an aerobatic pilot like me and we speak the same language.

“In racing, it’s tenths of seconds. We were always close the past two years, but never enjoyed the super consistency of being up there. That’s what we’re enjoying now. The team is running on all cylinders and everybody is having fun. We’re dealing with the pressure better than we’ve dealt with it before and making everybody chase us. When you walk into the speedway in the morning knowing that you’re the guy to beat, that’s kind of fun place to be.”

Not to sound overly confident, but he admits expectations have literally soared.

“I realize that it’s one of those things where racing is finicky, right?” Goulian said. “You can be on top and you can be on the bottom, and you don’t always know where the top is. There’s only a few people who have actually won a Red Bull Air Race in this group of 14. It’s a really, really hard thing to do. You can push hard, but you can’t push too hard because you start to make mistakes. You have to just let it happen. We’ve done that. We’ve won one race, but we’ve been close in three others. The tick of clock went a tenth one way and not a tenth our way. That’s the way it is.

“We’re here this weekend trying to try to do what we’ve been doing, which is being consistently fast. We want to be in the top two, three or five in practice, keep notching up, getting a little better each flight, then qualifying really well, and then stable in the race until the Final 4, then let it all go.”

Presuming he makes it to that final round, the proud American has only one objective.

“It’s a little arrogant to say you expect to win,” he said. “I can’t say I expect to win, but I have to say I’d be disappointed if I didn’t. The podium is amazing, but a win is a win.”

Growing up an avid hockey fan, the No. 99 on his Edge 540 V2 plane is a tribute to “The Great One,” Wayne Gretzky. His love of that sport also means Goulian is a passionate believer in respecting tradition.

He smiled during a news conference when IMS President Doug Boles spoke of how Sunday will provide a triumphant pilot with the opportunity to continue the tradition of kissing the famed Yard of Bricks. Goulian visualizes what that experience would be like.

“We talked about this yesterday,” Goulian said of his team, “but you can’t do it unless it’s the real thing. I’m a pretty superstitious guy, so I don’t even go near those things. We’ll see what happens on Sunday.”

Red Bull Air Race tickets are available at www.IMS.com. Children 15 and under are admitted free to general admission areas Saturday and Sunday when accompanied by an adult general admission ticket holder.

Global electronic music superstar Kaskade will perform Saturday at IMS, with opening acts Mielo and Hugh Jeffner. The show starts at 5:30 p.m. near the Red Bull Air Race Hangar Area. Visit IMS.com to purchase tickets.

A variety of World of Red Bull athletes will demonstrate their skills throughout the event weekend, both in the air and on the ground. Performers include Geoff Aaron (motorcycle trials riding), Aaron Colton (motorcycle street freestyle riding), Robbie Maddison (freestyle motocross with the SCSUNLIMITED team), Luke Aikins and Miles Daisher (Red Bull Air Force Skydive Team), Aaron Fitzgerald (The Flying Bulls aerobatic helicopter), Jim Peitz (aerobatic airplane) and Pal Takats (paragliding).