VRD Racing driver Sam Corry crosses the finish line at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to take his first USF2000 victory of the 2023 season on Friday, May 12, 2023. Corry will be racing next in the Freedom 75 this upcoming Friday night at Lucas Oil Raceway. (Credit: Gavin Baker Photography/USF Pro Championships)

The first win for Sam Corry in USF2000 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway took place during one of the most chaotic races of the entire season.

Four drivers in the top five of the finishing order started in the back half of the field. With contact between three cars bringing out a yellow flag toward the back half of the race, the lead changed constantly and who would end up on top seemed unpredictable.

Starting in 12th, Sam Corry emerged from the 15-lap race as the winner. It was his first win in the series, which he says happened due to consistency and staying out of trouble.

“There were some crashes in front of me,” Corry said. “Just some incidents that I had to place myself in the right position to get through without getting taken out.”

Open-wheel success for Corry dates back beyond 2023. Corry picked up three wins and eight podiums in 2022 in USF Juniors. He also won various karting tournaments in North Carolina before joining Velocity Racing Development’s academy in 2021. He would later join VRD in USF Juniors and stay with them for USF2000.

The next challenge for Sam Corry is this upcoming weekend, taking on USF2000’s only oval race at the 0.75-mile Lucas Oil Raceway just outside of Indianapolis in the Freedom 75 this Friday. It is a race that Corry could be uniquely poised to get a good result in, given his dirt racing background.

Growing up in North Carolina, Corry raced on dirt ovals through 2020, taking part in different classes ranging from micro sprints and winged outlaw karts. Most of this racing was at Millbridge Speedway, a dirt track around an hour north of Charlotte.

“Running a micro sprint portions of inches from the wall, to be fast, there’s a lot of confidence that comes with it,” Corry said. “Just being able to put the car where you want it and where you know it is fast.”

Corry and his team got to travel to Lucas Oil recently and test their setup at the circuit. Throughout the course of the entire season, teams only get three days to test. Corry says it was important to maximize what he got out of these sessions.

While he said the day at Lucas Oil was productive, Corry said there were some issues the team ran into.

“The motor did blow, so we only got a couple of sessions,” Corry said. “But we’re still fast, and we showed some speed.”

The in-person testing day was then supplemented by watching video footage of previous races around the oval and also having the chance to work with two experienced drivers: Callan O’Keeffe, an experienced junior formula driver and race winner turned driver coach, and Dakota Dickerson, a former F3 Americas champion who is currently racing in the LMP3 class of IMSA.

Corry said working with drivers more experienced than him has allowed him to focus on some of the smaller details of trying to build pace ahead of the weekend.

“All those guys have helped me a lot,” Corry said. “Just trying to take little steps to be faster and be more consistent.”

Being fast out of the gate might be one of the keys to success at Lucas Oil, a track where it is difficult to overtake other cars.

Last year in the USF2000 race at Lucas Oil Raceway, eventual series champion Michael d’Orlando qualified on the pole during the race and led every lap until he ended up winning.

During qualifying, drivers only get two push laps to set their position in qualifying for the race. Their time is combined between the two laps in order to decide the starting order.

This format might catch some drivers off guard, but Corry said it is close to how qualifying worked in his dirt racing days.

“You’ve got to get out there and just hammer down right away, trust that the car’s gonna stick and the tires are going to commit,” Corry said. “Back in dirt, we did a green, white, checkered qualifying and that is kind of how this is going to go.”

Sitting fifth in the standings, Corry could potentially bounce right back into the championship fight due to the fact that more points will be handed out at this race than usual. Currently, Corry is only 12 points behind fourth place driver Evagoras Papasavvas.

The number of points for each position, 30 for a win, 25 for second, and descending onward will be multiplied by one and a half to compensate for the fact this is the only oval track on the schedule.

As far as the future for Sam Corry, he wants to build on what he has already accomplished this year. He hopes that winning at Indianapolis will help him try to find more sponsors to help keep his open-wheel hopes in the US alive.

Whenever he spoke last year with Rob Howden, the series announcer, Corry remembers the words Rob gave him when it comes to securing your first win.

“He said, once you get that first win, it just keeps on coming,” Corry said.

Sam Corry and the rest of the USF2000 field will race Lucas Oil Raceway on Friday, May 26 in the Freedom 75.