Hi to all my friends at Interush and I hope you are doing well. It's been a while since I last posted my blog but I have been real busy flying all over the country and to Brazil attending the IZOD Indy Car Series tests and races. During this season, I will be going to all of the Indy Car Series races and reporting about the teams and drivers. My mission will be to focus on two Japanese drivers, which are 3rd year veteran Hideki Mutoh, and ex-Formula One driver Takuma Sato. Obviously Takuma joining the Indy Car Series has raised the awareness of the series in Japan, and it is going to be a real exciting season for racing fans in Japan to have two fast drivers in a competitive seat.

IZOD Indy Car Series is definitely growing especially after the series has merged with Champ Car two years ago. We now have variety of drivers from all over the world including US, South America, Europe, and Asia. We are scheduled to have 17 races this year mainly in US but also in Brazil, Canada, and Japan. They are also talking about having a race in China in the future, which certainly would expand the fan demographic of the Indy Car Series, and I'm sure the team and drivers would be excited to go there. The league is turning in to an International series, which certainly is great thing for all of the teams, and sponsors that are involved in the IZOD Indy Car Series.

The season opener for the Indy Car Series was hosted in Sao Paolo, Brazil. I have never been to Brazil so I was really looking forward to this race. The people there were really nice and I definitely would go back there again as I had a pleasant stay during my trip.

It was the first time for Brazil to host an Indy Car Series race and the promoter had lots of obstacle to overcome, such as the track pavement as well as heavy rain during the race, which forced the race steward to red flag and halt the race for a moment. An Australian driver, Will Power ended up winning the exciting race battling his way past an American driver, Ryan Hunter-Reay who finished second. The local favorite, Vitor Meira rounded up the podium in third place. There were 24 driver from 10 different countries that participated in the race and the talent pool of this field is as deep as it has ever been in Indy Car Series history.

The second race of the year was in St.Petersburg, Florida. I really like going to St.Petersburg every year as the city and the fans treat us well every time we go there. The race was just as crazy as what we saw in Brazil especially after the torrential rain that postponed the race till next day. The city was generous enough to keep the streets shut down for extra day to get the race on Monday morning and the race itself turned out to be real exciting with lots of overtaking and lead changes.

I have been involved with Indy Car Series for 8 years now, and I can honestly say that this year is the most competitive and exciting years for the IZOD Indy Car Series. It really makes me eager to get back in to the car and race with the best drivers from all of over the world! I am working extremely hard and I hope to be able to land a ride with one of the Indy Car Series teams in the very near future!

Roger Yasukawa

Just after making the announcement on our participation of Rolex 24hr race couple of days ago, it is hard to believe that the race is already coming up this week end. The team has been flat out getting the car prepared for the race, and are doing all the necessary changes to the rule, as well as double checking every parts of the car to make sure it would run smoothly during the long 24hr race. The car has been wrapped with the Interush graphics, and I will say that it will probably be one of the most attractive cars on the track at Daytona. The race car is all done and it is on the way to Florida as we speak.

As for my side as a racing driver, there are also lots of preparation that I need to undergo. The most important thing is fitness training. Since the race being so long, you will need to be very fit to keep your concentration level high through out the race. I actually went out for training camp last week in Santa Barbara so I can just concentrate on training for two straight days.

Mental preparation is just as important as physical training. A lot of driver uses a race simulation program like iRacing.com now days. I also like to watch the past race and in-car camera tapes so you can also learn from other drivers/teams tactics and mistakes. Besides from the racing concerns, since The Rolex 24 at Daytona is the first race of the year, I needed to get my medical exam done and apply for my FIA International Grade A license.

I will be heading to Florida tomorrow and will need to start packing tonight. I am going to bring a helmet, two racing suits, and lots of nomex underwear since I will probably have to do at least 6 stints of driving during the race! I am looking forward to driving the Interush Ferrari F-430 car in couple of days and hope to have a good smooth race!!

Live Free & Fast
Roger Yasukawa

Roger Yasukawa - Driver Update: 01.21.2010
Hello to all my friends and fans at Interush Racing. I am glad to be back as part of Interush Racing family and looking forward to the race at Rolex Daytona 24hr coming up in two weeks. I will be racing in the Ferrari F-430 car in the GT category of the Grand Am series, and am delighted to be part of the Sigal Sport driver line up.
Since it's a very long race(24hr), I will be sharing the car with three other drivers, and will be relaying the car to one another through out the race. My teammates will be Gene Sigal (team owner), Rusty West, and Fred Poordad. I am glad that I will be working with experienced drivers because the biggest challenge of endurance racing is to get the car to the end in order to see the checkered flag. You really need a lot of patience not to crash, but also to take good care of the equipment through out the race. Unlike the Formula Car races like Indy Car Series where you get your own car, endurance racing is really a team sport because you have to work with other drivers to share the seat but also to sometime sacrifice the car set up to make everyone comfortable.
Sigal Sport is a well established sports car team based in Los Angeles, and they have participated in the Rolex 24hr many times in the Daytona Prototype class. It will be the first time for them to participate in the GT class with a Ferrari F-430 race car but I am very confident that the team will have a strong car during the race. The team is currently upgrading the car to increase the durability of the car as well as making necessary modification to meet the series rule.
The race is coming up real quick but I will keep you guys posted as much as I can with all the progress. The last time I raced in the Daytona 24hr was in 2007 and I finished 6th for my first attempt. This time, it will be in the GT class and there will be a lot of competitive cars out on the field but will give our best shot to hopefully win the prestigious Rolex Daytona Winner's Watch..!

Live Free & Fast,
Roger

When I got back from the IndyCar race in Japan, I went back to Los Angeles for a couple of days where I got all my hair chopped off and dyed so I could double for Christoph Waltz in the remake movie of "The Green Hornet". It has Cameron Diaz, Seth Rogen and Jay Chou as the stars. I worked three days on that film, and we filmed from 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. I went home and packed and headed to the airport to fly to Boston, where I am now, and have been working on another new film directed by Ben Affleck, which he is starring in it as well. This film is called "The Town" and is about bank robbers. Ben plays one of the bad guys and we are doing some fun driving stuff. I am the double for Ben in some of the scenes cause his stunt double has been sick. I did some cool shoot-out stuff yesterday with machine guns and get-away car chase. When I leave Boston I am heading back to LA where I am going to be working on "The Green Hornet" movie again until about November 23. The movie has tons of action and some great stunts and driving scenes. I am crashing people in cars, jumping across highways and doing all kinds of fun things.

My next race will be NASCAR racing in Fontana California next Saturday. That will be certainly fun to get back in the stock car. Then on October 24 I am going to shoot a new commercial for Nike with one of the Olympic athletes in Salt Lake on the ice track where we had the Olympics in 2002. This is going to be an exciting commercial for me to shoot and still have to spend some time on the creative content for this commercial.

It is still hard to believe I was just in Japan as it seems so long ago with the pace and schedule I have been keeping. I had such a great time seeing everyone there at the races and in Tokyo. Unfortunately, we had a problem in the race with the safety locking pin that holds the large wheel nut that keeps the wheel from coming off. The track is a very fun and challenging track to drive. Running some good lap times in the race gave me a more enjoyable experience and hopefully the fans enjoyed the event. After the race I got to spend some time at dinner with Dario Francetti and Scott Dixon, the winner of the race. They said my car and I were very fast in turn 3 and 4 and complimented me on how good I was driving. But, they felt the car had a lot of drag in turn 1 and 2 and down the straight. Turn 1 and 2 are turns where you do not lift the throttle. They felt that Motegi was the best that the number #98 car had run all year. Dario and actress Ashley Judd are now living in Boston and plan to go to dinner with me before I leave LA.

This Saturday's race in California will probably mark my last race of the year in a race car. I am looking forward to figuring out where and what I will be racing next year. For now, I will be making great movies and enjoying my family and looking forward to going to the Olympics in Vancouver to see the athletes that I have helped support through my charity.

It was so great to see all the Interush group in the Motegi stands with your hats, shirts and flags cheering me on! The whole experience was something so memorable and all of your support and enthusiasm just made it an amazing event for me!
Thank you!

I will add another blog and include some photos of the NASCAR race in California later this week.

Live Free and Fast!

Stanton

Here is a photo from the 2010 Ford Mustang Internet commercial that I did recently in downtown LA. We had a great time working on this spot and doing some super fun driving, drifting and creating a cool story spot. We had X-games gold medal winner Jake Brown (inferred to be driving) and 2009 X Games Gold Medalist vertical skateboarder Pat Duffy (Legendary street skater) in the commercial. I was the main stunt driver and also the stunt coordinator, but when I was busy on the main unit or need to be coordinating shots and safety during some of the street scenes I used Rich Rutherford who drove in the Fast and Furious - Tokyo Drift movie. We had tons of super cool driving, crashing threw parking barriers, jumping the car, drifting around spiral parking structure and killer skating. I got to hire my cousin and a few friends to help do rigging on the skate board jumps and more. A super fun day at the office for sure! And Interush will help Ford distribute the commercial online in Japan, Taiwan and the USA.

Live Fast and Free,

Stanton