By Tim Persyn
As a college student at University of Mary-land, Art Chu dreamed of life in the fast lane. He raced formula Fords on the East Coast and imagined a career on the Indy car circuit. But when he graduated in 1993 with a degree in aerospace engineering, he opted for a desk job at a Philadelphia consulting firm instead.
His decision pleased his parents and made use of his formal education, but Chu had burned rubber one too many times to be happy pushing papers. He soon left the firm for a career in car racing.
Chu performed a variety of tasks for teams in lower-level racing circuits, including a stint as a mechanic. "I tried to turn a hobby into employment," he said.
His experiences eventually steered him toward the Bay Area, where he accepted his current position as an engineer for the Della Penna Motorsports team, based in Campbell. Chu, 26, lives in Sunnyvale.
As an engineer for the team, Chu maintains and runs data acquisition systems, including on-board radio and telemetry systems. In telemetry, a computer gathers data from the car while it races around the track and transmits the information to the crew in real time. Chu also maintains other auto equipment, a responsibility that includes making modifications and repairs to the car to ensure it runs properly.
The Della Penna Motorsports Indy car team, sponsored in 1996 by Ralphs Food 4 Less, is the only Bay Area-based Indy car crew. Their season began Jan. 27 in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., and is scheduled to end with their 10th race for the year on Sept. 15 in Las Vegas.
The Della Penna crew placed a disappointing 19 out of 20 in Saturday's Indy 200 at Disney World after the team experienced several problems. First, a "fuel pick-up problem" on Friday hurt the team's qualifying session. Then, during the last session of that day, Della Penna's Ritchie Hearn and another driver collided in Turn One, eliminating both of their primary cars. Using a loaner car from Pagan Racing, Della Penna raced Saturday but, after 18 laps, a sway bar adjuster broke, causing the car to spin.
"Our accident happened so late and put us really behind. However, we now have this weekend under our belt and we will regroup and get ready for the next race," scheduled for March 24 at Phoenix International Raceway, said team owner John Della Penna. He said the car damaged in the Saturday's race will be repaired.
Della Penna said the team can realistically hope for finishes in the top 5 for the races they enter this year. Since 1991, the team has claimed 14 victories and 29 top-three finishes.
This year will bring a crowning achievement for Della Penna Motorsports and its racing team, including Chu. For the first time in the history of the organization, the team will race Indy cars in the multimillion-dollar PPG IndyCar World Series and the Indy Racing League, which puts on the Indianapolis 500.
Participating in the Indianapolis 500 will fulfill an overarching ambition of Chu, who has worked with the team for a year.
"We'll finally race at Indy," he said. "And we'll have a good car and a good driver."
If the path Chu took to Indy car racing seems a bit circuitous, it has been an even longer winding road to Indianapolis for Della Penna, 44, who as a 10-year-old was a self-described gofer in his dad's repair shop in Argentina. Della Penna moved to the United States in 1972 because of political unrest and here scraped together enough money to purchase a formula Ford car in 1975. He then earned a competition license, went to driver's school and eventually raced.
But money was tight in the high-stakes game of car racing. "I was the chief mechanic, engineer and driver," Della Penna recalled. In 1985, he had to quit driving because he ran out of money. But he didn't give up his ambition. He developed an automobile wholesale operation to get the necessary finances to race again. Eventually, he returned to racing, this time as the owner of a team that competed in the Player's Limited/Toyota Atlantic Championship series, a level below Indy car racing.
Della Penna's tireless work culminated in success and the proudest achievement of his racing career. In 1995, his team won the Player's Limited/Toyota Atlantic championship. Driver Hearn was named to the At-Large All American Team by the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcaster's Association.
Although cars ran in the Della Penna family, this wasn't the case for Chu. He said his parents reacted badly to his decision to leave the consulting firm for a racing career.
"They hated it," Chu explained. "I'm Chinese, and it wasn't a very Chinese thing to do. My mom wanted me to get a desk job and get married."
Since then, he said, "I think my mom has gotten over it. She's been supportive."
So far, Chu doesn't regret leaving his job with the consulting firm. "I enjoy the intensity. You have to prove yourself every day. I also like the competition against other teams," he said.
The job isn't without its drawbacks, however. The Indy car circuit takes the 17-member team all over North America, from Laguna Seca, Calif., to Toronto. All the travel can get hectic and a bit disorienting. "The hours are long, but you get to meet a lot of people," said Chu during a recent telephone interview from Phoenix, where the team was testing its car before the race in Orlando, Fla.
Evan Dygert, a team mechanic who lives in Los Gatos, provided another perspective on the travel. "It's not for everybody, but I've gotten used to it," he said. "Sometimes you start forgetting where you are."
Wherever they race, each member of the 17-member team plays an integral role in the competitions. Dygert, who works on the transmission, must decide what gears are needed for each corner of each track on which the team races.
Dygert said he is excited to be on a team that plans to race at the Indianapolis 500. "This is the place to be. This is like being in major-league football," he said.
As for Chu, he looks forward to evolving in his role as an engineer on an Indy car team. "I want to learn everything I can and see how far I can go," he said.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, January 31, 1996
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.