Climb into Mianna Wick's 1996 Lola IndyCar and there is no push to pass, useful telemetry, or modern shifting system doing part of the work. Instead, there is a six-speed sequential gearbox mounted to the right of the open cockpit and a naturally aspirated engine delivering more direct power than the chassis is inclined to forgive. Eddie Lawson and Davy Jones drove this car during a year to year-and-a-half span when it was still professional equipment. Now it demands skills that current IndyCars, despite their greater outright speed, no longer require in quite the same way.
The main distinction is the power-to-weight ratio. Wick says the Lola has a higher power-to-weight ratio than current IndyCars, although today's cars are faster overall because of their better aerodynamics, braking, and technology. In the Lola, the driver has fewer systems to interpret what the chassis is doing and fewer aids to manage it. Poor throttle application can make the car step out, and there is no data trace afterward to settle every question about why it happened.
Now it demands skills that current IndyCars, despite their greater outright speed, no longer require in quite the same way.
That makes the Lola a demanding car for a return to racing, but not an arbitrary one. Wick began learning direct mechanical feedback at age 10 in a homemade go-kart, then moved through a Formula Ford 1600 and a Formula Mazda before reaching vintage IndyCar machinery. When health reasons and personal hardships took her away from racing, the Lola ended up in pieces. Her route back depended on much the same discipline the car demands on track: precise inputs, capable people, and the confidence to proceed without every answer displayed on a screen.
A quarter-mile backyard track changed the family go-kart
Wick's first driving machine was not a polished competition package. Her mechanically inclined father built a family go-kart from lawnmower and four-wheeler parts, and the family drove it in the dirt. Then he paved a quarter-mile track in the backyard. That changed the arrangement completely. A homemade kart used for occasional runs became a machine that could be driven repeatedly on a known course, with the same corners available for one attempt after another.
She started driving at about age 10. That sounds exceptionally young until compared with serious racing, where prospective professionals may begin around four years old. She was early by ordinary driving standards but already making up time by professional ones. Nothing replaces those missing laps. The practical answer was sustained seat time, and a quarter-mile backyard track provided plenty of it.
Her later kart was a six-speed sequential machine with a stated potential top speed of 120 miles an hour. The driver sat only two, three inches off the ground, exposed to the air and close enough to the surface for every reaction to feel immediate. It was useful preparation for an open-wheel, open-cockpit car. Karting taught her to drive from an exposed position, make quick corrections, and sense changes without a passenger-car body insulating her from them.
A larger racing car might seem certain to feel faster. Wick found the opposite when she moved up. The kart's low position and immediate behavior made everything appear to happen quickly, while the greater mass of a car slowed the sensation. A speed figure alone does not reveal how busy the driver will be. Weight, response time, seating position, and the directness of the controls all shape the experience.
Formula Ford slowed the sensation without simplifying the car
Wick acquired two cars around the same period: a worn Mazda Miata for track use and a Formula Ford 1600. The Miata was a complete junker by her description, with tears inside, a radio that apparently did not work, and a large gearbox. None of that mattered much because it was headed for the track. The Formula Ford was the more consequential step. It was her first open-wheel car and the clearest indication that racing might become a career, or at least a serious hobby.
The Formula Ford did not overwhelm her after karting. Its open layout felt familiar, and its speed was relatively close to what she had experienced in the six-speed sequential kart. The major difference was mass. A heavier, larger car rolls, loads its tires, and transfers weight differently. Wick had to read that movement rather than depend solely on the rapid responses she knew from karting.
She described the Formula Ford as feeling slower from the cockpit because events unfolded less abruptly. The job itself was not simple. She still had to understand rolling speed and manage the car's weight, and this particular Formula Ford did not have wings. It gave her more time to perceive what was happening, but also more variables to handle.
It gave her more time to perceive what was happening, but also more variables to handle.
Wick used both the Formula Ford and the Miata mainly on designated testing days rather than in side-by-side competition. Testing removed the temptation to use another driver's position as the sole measure of progress. She could repeat a corner, assess how the car took a set, and determine whether an improvement came from braking, throttle use, or better rolling speed. Before chasing results, she was learning what two very different machines were telling her.
Formula Mazda added wings and removed mechanical excuses
The Formula Mazda was Wick's first winged open-wheel car, and she considers it one of her favorites. The wings added downforce, allowing her to demand more from the car as speed increased. In that environment, a driver must learn that aerodynamic grip is not fixed. The load changes with speed, so a corner that feels secure under one set of conditions may require a different level of commitment under another.
Wick spent a long period testing the Formula Mazda before entering SCCA's major tour. The order made sense: learn the car's behavior first, then put it in traffic, where another driver's presence can alter the line, braking point, and available space. Side-by-side racing is a poor place to discover how a winged car responds when rolling speed drops or the intended line disappears.
The Formula Mazda format also limited engine changes. Wick valued that kind of competition because drivers could not easily blame every result on a heavily modified engine. With closely controlled equipment, differences in line, timing, rolling speed, and car preparation become harder to dismiss. The driver and team still have plenty to do, but they have fewer convenient mechanical excuses.
The field depended on the event. On SCCA's major tour, the aim was to race among other Formula Mazdas. At more regional events around Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah, there were not always enough entries to fill an entire class, so somewhat different cars could share the track. That affected what a driver saw and how traffic developed. Wick's later choice of the Formula Ford 1600 as her least favorite car follows naturally from this progression. After experiencing wings, downforce, and greater speed in the Formula Mazda, the wingless Ford held less appeal.
The 1996 Lola has more direct power and fewer answers
Wick's 1996 Lola began as professional equipment driven by Eddie Lawson and Davy Jones. It later became hers. That history matters because vintage IndyCars are not ordinary production cars supported by deep catalogs of replacement parts. Once professional teams stopped using a component, manufacturers could stop producing it. An owner now may have to find one of the few remaining pieces or pay to have a replacement custom-made.
The Lola's higher power-to-weight ratio does not make it faster around a track than a current IndyCar. Modern cars use better aerodynamics, braking, and other technology to achieve greater overall speed. The Lola delivers more direct power relative to its weight, with fewer systems between the driver and the result. Wick describes it as harder to handle and more inclined to move around on track. Her throttle foot must remain steady because an abrupt input can demand more from the rear tires than they can deliver.
The Lola delivers more direct power relative to its weight, with fewer systems between the driver and the result.
Her Lola is naturally aspirated. She has also driven a vintage turbocharged IndyCar, which was even more prone to stepping out. The difference matters because two vintage cars can demand distinct throttle timing even if they look broadly similar from the outside. "Vintage IndyCar" does not describe one fixed driving experience. Engine delivery, chassis behavior, aerodynamics, and available grip still determine how and when the driver can apply power.
The Lola also lacks push to pass and the steering-wheel shifting assistance found in newer machinery. Wick operates its six-speed sequential gearbox with the lever beside the cockpit. Its telemetry and radio capability cannot compare with those in a current car, and the old data equipment no longer works. Modern telemetry can reveal the line, engine behavior, rolling speed, and exact point where one lap differed from another. The Lola leaves the driver and crew with much less information.
That absence changes the debrief. A driver may believe a corner improved, but without working telemetry, there is no clean trace showing whether the gain came from the line, entry speed, or engine performance. Wick and her crew must depend more on feel, observation, consistency, and clear communication. The Vintage Indy Series allows cars such as the Lola to run alongside professional NTT IndyCar weekends at the same tracks, but keeping one operational remains a hands-on job involving scarce parts and little modern support.
A car in pieces made the return tangible
Health reasons and personal hardships led Wick to step away from racing for a little over a year and a half, almost two years. She reached a point where she did not expect to run the IndyCar again or seriously pursue a professional career. Racing might remain a hobby, but the larger plan appeared to be over. Her desire to compete remained, so she and her husband set a firm decision point rather than leave the question unresolved indefinitely.
They committed to praying about it for three months. If no clear answer came during that period, Wick would move on from racing. Within two weeks, the circumstances changed. Sponsors appeared even though she had not contacted them. Media opportunities returned after years of little activity. More immediately, her car was in pieces and she had nobody with the knowledge required to put it back together. Then someone capable of doing the work entered their path.
Then someone capable of doing the work entered their path.
Her phrase "living by faith" had been with her since her early karting years, but the return gave it practical meaning. Faith involved a three-month deadline, a disassembled 1996 Lola, renewed outside support, and a decision to resume training and rebuild toward competitive driving. The phrase alone was easy. Reassembling an obsolete IndyCar, sourcing what it needed, and preparing to drive it properly demanded commitment from Wick and everyone working on the car.
That reliance on a team leads directly to David, Wick's former crew chief, and Loophole Racing. His experience connected him with the Andrettis and Newman-Haas, yet Wick did not come away focused on a setup trick or technical shortcut. David and the team challenged her earlier assumption that high-level racing required people to become selfish and care only about their own performance. She remembers them as some of the most selfless and giving people she had encountered.
That does not require lower standards. A crew member shares what the driver needs to know, the driver provides useful feedback instead of protecting an ego, and the team concentrates on making the car work. With an old Lola, such cooperation is necessary. There is no functioning telemetry to resolve every disagreement and no ready supply of factory pieces when something fails. Wick's goal remains a current IndyCar because driving one would mean reaching the professional NTT IndyCar series. For now, the 1996 Lola requires her to earn each shift through the gearbox, control every throttle input, and complete each lap with a car and crew brought back into working order.
