BRYCE DININGER, an Indianapolis native, has been a Spotter for AJ Foyt Racing since 2016. He currently spots for Santino Ferrucci; in the past he has worked with Takuma Sato, Carlos Munoz, Tony Kanaan, and Dalton Kellett. A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in Communications, he earned his MBA at Auburn University. Living in Cave Creek, Ariz. with longtime girlfriend Karen Werner and their two rescue dogs (Brooklyn and Boone), he works for the Central Arizona Project as the Power Program Administrator. We asked him a few questions...
How did you become interested in motorsports?
BD: "Growing up in Indianapolis, I spent many weekends in the spring through fall at local Indiana racetracks, Indianapolis Raceway Park, Bloomington Speedway, Paragon, Winchester and of course the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, to name just a few. Our family began attending the Indianapolis 500 going all the way back to the 1940s and quite possibly before that."
Bryce did a report on the Indy 500 at age 11. We think he should have gotten a higher grade considering his penmanship and artwork!
What was the first race you attended?
BD: "In the 1970s, it had to be an ASA or Sprint Car race at Indianapolis Raceway Park, but my first Indianapolis 500 was in 1980 when I was seven."
Have you ever raced cars yourself?
BD: "I raced a few go-kart events at Ben Hur Speedway in Crawfordsville, Indiana along with a few other tracks in my 20s but it was just for fun and certainly not professional."
What was your first professional job in motorsports? (Please list others)
BD: "My first job in racing was with Goodyear Racing Tires in 1995 as a tire technician.
1998/Champ Car World Series/AMA Super Bike Series/Indy Racing League/Performance Tire Service Company (Firestone/Bridgestone)/Tire Technician and Sales.
1999/Champ Car World Series/PacWest Racing/Hospitality and Indy Lights Tire Technician
2013-2015/IndyCar Series/Andretti Autosport/Spotter
2016-present/IndyCar Series/A.J. Foyt Racing/Spotter
2024/IMSA/Multimatic Motorsports/Spotter
What is your most significant achievement to date?
BD: "In my personal/professional life, it is achieving my MBA from Auburn University and in racing it is being the turn 3 spotter for Ryan Hunter-Reay, winning the 2014 Indy 500."
How did you come to work for AJ Foyt Racing?
BD: "I spotted for Andretti Autosport in 2013-2015, and a few of those team members moved over to AJ Foyt Racing and recruited me to join them to spot for Takuma Sato at Indianapolis and other ovals when needed. It was also great to reconnect with former PacWest manager, Steve Fusek, who by that time was Takuma's business manager."
What do you enjoy most about working in the INDYCAR Series?
BD: "Without question it is being part of a professional sports team, always looking to improve my skillset by listening to what the driver, engineer and race strategist want from me at each event, with the ultimate goal of challenging for wins at each race."
What are the biggest challenges for spotters working in the INDYCAR Series?
BD: "The biggest challenge currently is getting the series management to further recognize how spotters can improve the racing product at more than just ovals. We recognize we are not driving the car, but if we can give timely information of incidents that the driver might have an obstructed view (blind corner) could prevent, or lessen, the seriousness of crashes. Immediately after the Toronto incident in Turn 1, we are already working on what to do in 2025 (spotter location) to assist the driver to the best of our ability in those aforementioned corners of susceptibility."
Is spotting a night oval race more difficult than a day race?
BD: "I prefer spotting night races over day races. The liveries just “pop” under the lights and they don't have the sun glare that can make some cars look extremely similar and disguise debris on the track which are more visible at night."
What has been the hardest track to spot on?
BD: "Pocono was by far the hardest track to spot. The “Tricky Triangle” has the longest superspeedway frontstretch, with the cars going four and five-wide away from the spotter stand. The backstretch also appears flat and tracks away from our view. I spotted for Carlos Munoz and Tony Kanaan there from 2017-2019 and it was nerve-racking to say the least."
What is your favorite track and why?
BD: "The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is clearly my favorite track to spot and attend. It has been said by so many that feel this way, but the place just comes alive in May, and nothing can touch the Indianapolis 500 race day morning. When I get to the Turn 1 spotter stand, I look down into the exit of Turn 1 and see where my grandparents sat decades prior and just feel they are with me. The place is just magical."
What interests/hobbies do you have outside of racing?
BD: "I have a passion for travel, golf, reading, and wine and, outside of racing, it's why Larry (Foyt) and I get along so well because we can talk about those subjects as much as racing. Karen and I try to get to wine country (NAPA/Sonoma) once a year to visit our wine clubs while also trying not to go broke doing it. We also get up to Colorado or Montana to ski over the winter months with friends and family. I spend a lot of my spare time with our dogs either on walks, hikes, or swimming pool, especially during the brutal hot Arizona summer months when not at a racetrack."
Boone and Brooklyn relaxing at home.
What are the top 3 things on your bucket list?
BD: "At nearly the age of 52, I have already checked off many bucket list items that I wrote down in my 20s, and it is interesting to see how those items of importance change with age and life experiences. I want to focus on getting healthier, while still enjoying great wine paired with a great steak from time to time. With regard to racing, my goal is to “spot” in 25 Indy 500s, nearly half-way there with 12 in the books, and get another 500 victory--but with the Foyt team that has become like family…we were so close in 2023. Finally, I would say retiring from my full-time work at Central Arizona Project at 62 and pursuing a team management role shortly thereafter."
Bryce and his girlfriend Karen take in some warm weather over Thanksgiving.
What is the best advice you've ever received (and from whom)?
BD: "I was in college and became intrigued with authors who toted the line of brilliance and madness. The best quote (advice) that I have printed on my desk is:
”Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!” -- Hunter S. Thompson
SANTINO FERRUCCI is currently 10th in the NTT INDYCAR Series standings on the strength of seven top-10 finishes in 12 races. With the No. 14 Chevrolet sporting the Bommarito Automotive Group livery for the third straight year at World Wide Technology Raceway, Ferrucci will be trying to improve on his best finish of fourth (2019) at the 1.25-mile oval. He finished 13th last year after starting 26th.
What do you like about racing at World Wide Technology Raceway?
SF: "Man, I've had some success there in the past. It's been a fun track. I love that it was a night race
when I started in the series. I'm happy to see it going back to a night race-ish. It's just a good city with good food, great people and it's always been a great event."
Why do you think you've done well there?
SF: "It kind of emulates Indy a little bit I think, with the high speeds and the car balance and the feeling, you know, there's a lot of similarity between how the Indy car feels at Indy and Gateway (WWT Raceway), just the way that it moves and reacts, and how you set the car up even though it's a short oval. It's the most similar in the feeling."
What's unique about the track, besides, it's 1.25 mile length?
SF: "It's probably one of the few ovals that is really different from end to end. Most tracks are pretty similar. They don't have a lot of discrepancies. But Gateway is really, truly two different styles of driving, and you can adapt to almost anything at that track. If you have a tight car or a loose car, you know it's really up to the driver to make the best of it."
What's the biggest challenge it poses for a driver?
SF: "I'm going to say is going to be qualifying. It can be a very difficult track to race, so qualifying is going to be crucial, because it's so difficult to pass, but I would say that you definitely want to qualify well. It's always been difficult to pass, it's like Indy in that way. It takes a lap to set people up. Hopefully this year it's a little bit better with the new Aero package."
Have you been up in the Arch? If so, what was your impression?
SF: "I have. It's terrifying to go up in that thing. Not gonna lie, the museum underneath is really, really cool, but the Arch itself? Whew. I feel like it's a really interesting piece of history but going up in it was definitely a unique experience between the elevator that kind of shifts, because it's not going straight up, it kind of wraps around, which is really unique. And then up top, it's bigger than it looks, which is kind of cool. If I remember correctly, there's about six people in the elevator. There are windows in the sides of it but if you're claustrophobic, claustrophobic and afraid of heights, the Arch is probably not for you."
Ferrucci Fast Facts: Age 26 (as of May 31, 2024)...Born in Woodbury, CT...Lives in Dallas, Texas...Married Renay Moore in January, 2024...Began racing karts at age 5, moved to cars in 2013...Competed in Formula 2000, British Formula 3, GP3 finishing third at Spa Francorchamps as a rookie, was development driver for Haas F1 team for three years (2016-2018), moved to Formula 2 in 2018...made his INDYCAR debut in Detroit in 2018...moved to NTT INDYCAR Series fulltime in 2019 finishing 13th in standings for Dale Coyne and won Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year after finishing seventh...13th in standings again with fourth place finish in the 500...drove part-time in 2021-22 but maintained top-10 streak in Indy 500 with finishes of sixth (RLL Racing) and 10th (Dreyer Reinbold Racing)...Scored career-best finish to date with his 3rd place finish in the 2023 Indianapolis 500 to continue his string of consecutive top-10 finishes in the 500...Competed part-time in NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2021-22.
STING RAY ROBB will be making his 30th start in the NTT INDYCAR Series this weekend. Robb will be making his second start at World Wide Technology Raceway. During the "Olympic Break" Robb returned to Idaho where he had his bachelor party. It was held at his family's cabin in the mountains where 13 guys spent the time hiking, fishing, and boating. Not too far from town, they also played pickleball and spike ball, and the board game "Settlers of Catan," a multiplayer board game first published in 1995 in Germany. According to Wikipedia, Catan is now available in 40 languages with over 40 million games sold. "It's kind of like Monopoly in that you're committed -- it takes a long time," Robb explained.
What do you like about racing at WWT Raceway?
SRR: "It is a very fun oval. It's fast but you still have to drive the car in a sense. The dynamic of the different corners makes it interesting for balancing the car one end of the track to the other. It seems to race decently, even though the second lane is almost non-existent after longer runs."
What is unique about the track besides its length (1.25-mi)?
SRR: "The paper-clip shape is more unique than most tracks that have similar radius end-to-end or a more "D" shape. It is fairly smooth as well which is nice for track that is fast."
What is the biggest challenge World Wide Technology Raceway poses for a driver?
SRR: "The track requires very different things from turns 1 and 2 vs. turns 3 and 4. This also makes the racing challenging because certain cars will do better at certain ends."
Have you been up in the arch? If so, what was your impression? If not, do you ever plan to visit it?
SRR: "Yes, I have! It's cool and I can appreciate the history."
Sting Ray Fast Facts: Age 22...Grew up in Payette, ID....Lives in Indianapolis...Engaged to Molly Mitchell...Began racing karts at age 5 winning several national titles over the next 10 years. His transition to cars began at the Skip Barber Karts to Cars Shootout where he won the Bryan Herta Scholarship which put him on the Road to Indy and into the NTT INDYCAR Series at age 21. In his rookie season, he scored a career best finish of 12th in the season finale in Monterey, Calif. A devout Christian, Robb will be active as a spokesman for his sponsor Pray.com this season. Off track, Robb enjoys mountain biking, skiing, hiking, hunting, fishing, rock-climbing, golf, tennis, pickleball and basketball.
The Bommarito Automotive Group 500 will be broadcast on the USA Network Saturday night starting at 6p.m. ET. Practices and qualifying on Friday will be streamed on Peacock.
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