"I didn’t waste any time making enemies with them": When Paul Tracy followed his dad's advice on Michael Andretti and Al Unser Jr.

Back in the day, driver rivalries were the name of the game, and ex-champion Paul Tracy was seemingly the master of it. Since his arrival on the CART grid, he developed feuds with virtually every possible driver and the Canadian driver revealed how his dad's advice had been at play in straining his relationship with Michael Andretti and Al Unser Jr.

Tracy made his debut in CART in 1991, the year when Michael Andretti won his maiden title. On the other hand, Al Unser Jr. was the reigning champion and these two appeared as the big giants in the American open-wheel racing scene.

While some drivers look to build close relationships with drivers, Tracy used a different strategy. A strategy that his dad Tony Tracy had taught him.

In 2016, the Canadian driver revealed that he was urged to develop rivalries by his father, advice that he promptly heeded in his racing career. He said (via IndyCar):

"You’ve got to hate the guy you’ve got to beat. You’ve got to kick his ass. I had my dad constantly telling me, ‘Michael and Al are the two guys you’ve got to beat.’ I didn’t waste any time making enemies with them."

Paul Tracy had been a fierce rival and ultimately won his maiden title in 2003, after racing for over a decade in the series.

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Michael Andretti and Al Unser Jr. were not the only ones who had a strained relationship with Paul Tracy

While Paul Tracy got the taste of championship victory finally in 2003, a new name had entered the CART grid by then. Sebastien Bourdais went on to etch his name in American racing history by winning the championship for four years consecutively.

On the other hand, it meant that Tracy was unable to mount a successful title defense, which led to a famous rivalry being developed between the two. However, after years of maintaining this stalemate, the 56-year-old had a change of heart and talked to Bourdais about it in 2015 (via Autoweek):

"I was thinking a lot about my career, and there was some things I wanted to tell people. [Bourdais] wasn’t the only one I called," Tracy said.

Paul Tracy further revealed his conversation with the Frenchman, and said (via IndyStar):

"Him and I had a lot of conflict over the years and I did things intentionally I’m not proud of, and I wanted to tell him that. He said he didn’t give me an inch either."

In the racing sphere, the 2025 IndyCar season will break its covers on March 2, in St. Petersburg. Alex Palou is the reigning champion and will be aiming to mount a strong title defense to complete a three-peat at winning the IndyCar championship.