Auburn Football Coach Impressed in First Visit to IndyCar race

Gus Malzahn

Gus Malzahn has coached some great athletes on the gridiron, but the Auburn University football coach had a newfound appreciation for the conditioning of Verizon IndyCar Series drivers after visiting the KV Racing Technology compound before today's race. Malzahn was a guest of Raymond Harbert, chairman and CEO of the Harbert Management Company that is an associate sponsor this weekend on the No. 4 KV Racing Technology Chevrolet driven by Stefano Coletti.

"I enjoy Indy car racing and this will be my first experience seeing it first-hand," Malzahn said as he took his first close-up look at the KV cars. "The fact that it worked out, I was in town already with Mr. Harbert and Charlie Miller (Harbert's executive vice president and global head of distribution). It's great to be here. I'm just learning about it behind the scenes."

Malzahn, who guided Auburn to the national championship game in his first year at the helm in 2013, planned to be an interested spectator in Coletti's pit during the race. He was impressed with the preparations drivers must undertake to stand up to the rigors of Verizon Indy Car Series racing.

"It's real interesting to me about the drivers, how much they have to work out and how fit they've got to be," Malzahn said. "I just got through talking to (Coletti) and he was talking about his workout routine. A lot of people probably don't know that, but working out two hours a day and the mental and physical awareness you have to have to do this is really unbelievable."