Kimball A Model of Consistency in Sixth IndyCar Series Campaign
On October 4, 2016, the Verizon IndyCar Series held its annual Championship Celebration at Hilbert Circle Theatre on Indianapolis’ Monument Circle. Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing driver and Hoover Hull Turner client Charlie Kimball was awarded the Firestone “Drive to the Finish” Award following a 2016 campaign in which Kimball completed the most laps of any driver (2,066 of a possible 2,070, 99.8 percent).
The award was a reflection of Kimball’s consistent performance over the course of his sixth IndyCar Series campaign, in which he matched his career best of 9th in the final IndyCar Series point standings. (Kimball tied two-time Indianapolis 500 Champion Juan Pablo Montoya for 8th in overall points, with the tie-breaker going to Montoya as a result of his season-opening victory at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.) Kimball’s top-10 season finishing position came as a result of finishing 11 of the 16 Series races in the Top 10, with his best results a pair of 5th place finishes at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and the Indianapolis 500. His success followed from a focused team effort on qualifying: his starting average for 2016 improved to 10.9, the highest of his career by a substantial margin (16.3 and 13.3 in 2014 and 2015, respectively).
A few other facts and figures that highlight Kimball’s 2016 effort include:
Kimball is the first licensed IndyCar Series driver with type 1 diabetes. He prepares for races by focusing on nutrition, exercise, and monitoring his insulin level. On the track, Kimball wears a continuous glucose monitoring system, which transmits his blood sugar levels to a display on his dash and to the pit box for his crew to monitor. If his blood sugar dips too low, he doesn’t miss a lap. “In my car I’ve got one bottle with water and one with orange juice. There’s a valve that my dad designed and we 3D printed, and those bottles come together at that valve and a tube runs right into my helmet. So I flick that valve and get orange juice and bring my blood sugar up.”
Looking forward to 2017, Kimball will continue his partnership with Novo Nordisk, the Danish pharmaceutical company that manufactures the insulin he uses. To learn more about Charlie Kimball, visit http://charliekimball.com or follow him on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
Photos courtesy of LAT Photo USA.