Pink Lloyd ready to 'shine on'.

While Alex Lloyd does play guitar, the next logical step to the mushrooming attention lavished on his pink racesuit and helmet and the similarly-liveried #99 HER Chip Ganassi Racing/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car at the Indianapolis 500 is the launch of a related website.

Lloyd's father, David, initially mentioned the idea for something to mark the 'Pink Lloyd' connection and, minutes later, Brett Jacobson, CEO of primary sponsor HER Energy, texted the driver about the idea.

Indy Racing League. 5 May 2009. Indy 500. Rookie Orientation. Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Indianapo
Indy Racing League. 5 May 2009. Indy 500. Rookie Orientation. Indianapolis…
© Dan R Boyd

While Alex Lloyd does play guitar, the next logical step to the mushrooming attention lavished on his pink racesuit and helmet and the similarly-liveried #99 HER Chip Ganassi Racing/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car at the Indianapolis 500 is the launch of a related website.

Lloyd's father, David, initially mentioned the idea for something to mark the 'Pink Lloyd' connection and, minutes later, Brett Jacobson, CEO of primary sponsor HER Energy, texted the driver about the idea.

"It seems everybody was on the same page because it seems to be taking off," Lloyd Jr said, "We thought we could get a website up and running and have a little fun with that during the month."

Lloyd, who will start in the middle of row four in his second Indianapolis 500, has quickly gotten in the spirit of the promotion.

"On the first day of wearing the pink, I have to say I was a little self-conscious, but now it's gotten to the point where I'm just having fun with it as it's been getting so much attention," he admitted, "Even team members are calling me 'Pink' now, so it is becoming sort of a routine. It was going to draw attention - a guy having a pink car - but I don't think we expected it to go this much.

"The car is going pretty fast as well. It's one thing when you get good press but struggling, but we're having a good month so far. We're just trying to make the most of everything and enjoying the bit of attention that's coming with it."

Lloyd, a development driver for Chip Ganassi Racing, started 19th in the 500 last year, driving a car run by a partnership between Ganassi and Rahal Letterman Racing. This year, he's running with Sam Schmidt Motorsports - with whom he won the 2007 Firestone Indy Lights championship - and was the penultimate driver to make a qualifying attempt on Pole Day, bumping Andretti Green Racing's Hideki Mutoh with a four-lap average of 222.622mph with five minutes before the close of the session.

"It was made even better because we struggled most of the day with the set-up," Lloyd revealed, "We started Fast Friday being quick and I was confident we had a shot at getting in the top eleven but, when we rolled out on Saturday morning, the car just wasn't there and we spent a lot of time trying to get it right.

"We couldn't quite get it to where we were happy, and we threw on a whole different set-up for that qualifying run. Only having one set of tyres we could afford to use, we had to put it in line, take off some downforce and go."

With making the field now in his rear-view mirrors, Lloyd will work on race set-up this week, but is also looking beyond the Month of May.

"I'll wear pink for the rest of my career if it means I can get in a race car," he joked, "We're working hard to make this more than a one-race deal as well so, hopefully, this can just be the start of Pink Lloyd."

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