2010 Indianapolis 500

[DanicaFan]

It's that time of year again, May, the best month of the year. I am excited. I will be down at the track quite a bit so my posts may be late in getting up here when it nears qualifications and race time. I am putting the month of May schedule up seperate from the opening race post since it is an extensive race schedule.

Race 6 of 17

Race - Indianapolis 500

Location - Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Speedway, IN

Date - Sunday, May 30th

Time & TV Schedule - 12:00PM Eastern Time (1:11PM Green Flag) ABC

Course Type - 2.5 Mile Oval

Distance - 200 Laps / 500 Miles

2009 Winner - Helio Castroneves

[DanicaFan]

2010 Indianapolis 500 Month of May Schedule.. (All Times Eastern)

Sat., May 8th - Centennial Era Balloon Festival -Founders Race -7:30am, Concert/Fireworks -5-9:15pm (Gates open 5pm -9:15pm)
Sat., May 15th - Indianapolis Star Opening Day - Veterans-12:00pm-2:00pm - Rookie Orientation Program-2-6:00pm (Gates open 9am-6:00pm)
Sun., May 16th - Practice-12:00pm-2:00pm, Rookie Orientation Program- 2-6:00pm (Gates open 9am-6pm)
Mon., May 17th - Thurs., May 20th - Practice - All Cars- 12-6:00pm (Gates open 9am-6pm)
Friday, May 21st - Fast Friday - All Cars - 12-6pm ( Gates open 8am -6pm)
Sat., May 23rd - Pole Day Qualifying - Practice 8am-10am, Qualifications -12-6pm (Gates open 7am-6pm)
Sun., May 24th - Bump Day Qualifying -Practice 9am-10am - Qualifications 12-6pm (Gates open 8am-6pm)
Wed, May 26th - 500 Festivial Community Day - No Track Activity -(Gates open 9am-6pm)
Thursday, May 27th - Firestone Freedom 100 Practice & Qualifying - Practice -9-9:45am, 11:45am-12:00, Qualifying 3-4pm (Gates open 9am-6pm)
Friday, May 28th - Miller Lite Carb Day - Indy 500 Final Practice -11am-12:00, Firestone Freedom 100 - 12:30pm, Pit Stop Challenge -1:30pm-3pm, Miller Lite Carb Day Concert -ZZ Top -3:30pm (Gates open 8am-6pm)
Sat, May 29th - Public Driver's Meeting (Gates open 8-5pm)
Sunday, May 30th - Race Day - Indy 500 - 12:00noon, Green Flag -1:11pm - (Gates open 6am)

**Note- Versus will air qualifications and Carb Day

[DanicaFan]

Here is the current entry list. Obviously this list will change as the month progresses. Some names to be filled in most likely are Graham Rahal, Ana Beatriz, and JR Hildebrand.

Car# & Driver / Car Name / Team / Race Strategist

#2/2T- Raphael Matos / HP Luczo Dragon / DeFerran Dragon Racing / Jay Penske
#3/3T - Helio Castroneves / Team Penske / Team Penske / Tim Cindric
#4/4T - Dan Wheldon / National Guard Panther Racing / Panther Racing / John Barnes
#5/5T - Takuma Sato / Lotus-KV Racing Technology / KV Racing Technology / Dave Brzozowski-Garrett Mothersead
#6/6T- Ryan Briscoe / Team Penske / Team Penske / Roger Penske
#7/7T - Danica Patrick / Team GoDaddy.com / Andretti Autosport / Tom Anderson
#8/8T - EJ Viso / PDVSA-Jet Aviation-KVRT / KV Racing Technology / Bill Pappas
#9/9T - Scott Dixon / Target Chip Ganassi Racing / Target Chip Ganassi Racing / Mike Hull
#10/10T - Dario Franchitti / Target Chip Ganassi Racing / Target Chip Ganassi Racing / Chip Ganassi
#11/11T- Tony Kanaan / Team 7-Eleven / Andretti Autosport / Michael Andretti
#12/12T- Will Power / Verizon Team Penske / Verizon Team Penske / Clive Howell
#14/14T - Vitor Meira / ABC Supply Co. AJ Foyt Racing / AJ Foyt Enterprises / AJ Foyt
#15/15T - Paul Tracy / GEICO - KV Racing Technology / KV Racing Technology / TBA
#16/16T - TBA / AJ Foyt Racing / AJ Foyt Racing / TBA
#17/17T - TBA / Rahal Letterman Racing / Rahal Letterman Racing / Scott Roembke
#18/18T - Milka Duno / CITGO / Dale Coyne Racing / Darren Crouser
#19/19T - Alex Lloyd / Boy Scouts of America / Dale Coyne Racing / Dale Coyne
#20/20T - Ed Carpenter / Panther Racing / Panther Racing / TBA
#21/21T - Davey Hamilton / HP Luczo Dragon / DeFerran Dragon Racing / TBA
#22/22T - Justin Wilson / Team Z-Line Designs-DRR / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Matt Curry
#23/23T - TBA / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Larry Curry
#24/24T - Mike Conway / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Dennis Reinbold
#25/25T - TBA / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
#26/26T- Marco Andretti / Team Venom Energy / Andretti Autosport / Kyle Moyer
#27 - TBA / AFS Racing / AFS Racing / TBA
#29 - Sebastian Saavedra / William Rast-Bryan Herta Autosport / Bryan Herta Autosport / Bryan Herta-Steve Newey
#32/32T - Mario Moraes / KV Racing Technology / KV Racing Technology / Mark Johnson-Nathan O'Rourke
#33/33T- Bruno Junqueira / FAZZT Race Team / FAZZT Race Team / TBA
#34/34T - Mario Romancini / Conquest Racing / Conquest Racing / Eric Bachelart-Michael Palawski
#36/36T - Bertrand Baguette / Conquest Racing-RACB / Conquest Racing / Todd Malloy
#37/37T - Ryan Hunter-Reay / Team IZOD / Andretti Autosport / George Klotz
#41/41T - AJ Foyt IV / ABC Supply Co. AJ Foyt Racing / AJ Foyt Racing / TBA
#43/43T - John Andretti / Team Window World / Richard Petty-Andretti Autosport / John Anderson
#66/66T - Jay Howard / Service Central-Sarah Fisher Racing / Sarah Fisher Racing / TBA
#67/67T - Sarah Fisher / Dollar General-Sarah Fisher Racing / Sarah Fisher Racing / John O'Gara
#77/77T- Alex Tagliani / FAZZT Race Team / FAZZT Race Team / Rob Edwards
#78/78T - Simona De Silvestro / Team Stargate Worlds-HVM / HVM Racing / Michael Cannon-Vince Kremer
#98/98T - TBA / CURB-Agajanian-Team 3G / CURB-Agajanian-Team 3G / Greg Beck
#99/99T- Townsend Bell / Herbalife Ganassi-Schmidt Racing / Chip Ganassi Racing/Sam Schmidt Motorsports / Andy Brown
#06/06T - Hideki Mutoh / Formula Dream-Panasonic / Newman Haas Racing / John Tzouanakis

[DanicaFan]

I know this has been posted in another thread but this new qualification and point system needs to be in here as well..

Here is the new format...

There will be a new qualification procedure for the Indianapolis 500 this year as well as how they distribute the points for the championship standings..

On pole day (May 22)they will qualify the top 24 spots for the 33 car field. They will still do the traditional 4 lap attempts. These attempts will be made between 11am-4pm. Each car will have 3 attempts during this time. After 4pm, the top 9 drivers in speed will have thier times erased. They call this the "FAST NINE ".These drivers will start no worse than 9th in the race. These 9 drivers will then make at least one 4 lap qualifying attempt between 4:30-6pm and possibly another attempt if time permits. The starting positions will be determined by thier speed. Then, the pole winner will be declared. If the weather is bad, the times from thier original qualifying session will determine thier starting position. Drivers from 10-24 will fall in position by speed.

On Bump Day (May23), the remaining 9 spots from position 25-33 will be filled(12-6pm). These spots will be determined by speed with the same 4 lap qualifying attempts. Once the 33 spots have been filled, the bumping will begin until 6pm and the field will be set.

As for points for the championship standings, this will be different for this race only. These points rewarded are as follows..

Pole Sitter - 15 points
P2 - 13 points, P3 - 12 points (front row)
Rows 2 & 3 will receive 11-6 points depending on starting position.
(Example - P4 (row 2) gets 11 points, P5 - 10 points. etc..
Positions 10-24 - 4 bonus points
Positions 25-33 - 3 bonus points

The Peak Performance Award Prize money will go up as well. Here is how it will break down..

Pole Sitter - $175,000
Position 2 - $75,000
Position 3 - $50,000
__________________

[DanicaFan]

Here is a track map..

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee236/DanicaRules/IMSmap.jpg

[SarahFan]

dfan....are we betting on danicas oval championship run or not?

you said you wanted too, yet fail to define some terms

what gives?

are you really a danicafan or nothing more than a office secretary that works for her agent that runs around attempting to keep folks interested in her brand?

[SarahFan]

PT has got to be happy with the speed he saw out of KV on saturday

[Chamoo]

PT has got to be happy with the speed he saw out of KV on saturday

KV was fast with all three cars last year. Here is hoping the fourth chassis is just as good.

[NickFalzone]

No matter how dull the racing has been so far this year, the 500 still gets me excited about Indycar racing:

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[TURN3]

dfan....are we betting on danicas oval championship run or not?

you said you wanted too, yet fail to define some terms

what gives?

are you really a danicafan or nothing more than a office secretary that works for her agent that runs around attempting to keep folks interested in her brand?

He's a fake. New forum name to me is FakeDanicaFan because you offered multiple times for a fair bet and he won't even respond. He has done this for me before and on a number of other similiar requests. One whom states such falsehoods and refuses to stand behind his "belief" is nothing more than a phony to me...right FakeDanicaFan?

[TURN3]

KV was fast with all three cars last year. Here is hoping the fourth chassis is just as good.

Yes KV looked very strong in the speed catagory at Kansas. Supposedly, PT has some big news coming out in a press release tomorrow and I'm sort of thinking in might have something to do with a new tub...just my read. Certainly that would make sense considering the amount of beating KV's supply took last year from Mario and so far this year from their "stable" of drivers. I think KV will be really strong at Indy and PT will have a legit shot at it so long as he stays out of trouble all month.

[DanicaFan]

dfan....are we betting on danicas oval championship run or not?

you said you wanted too, yet fail to define some terms

what gives?

are you really a danicafan or nothing more than a office secretary that works for her agent that runs around attempting to keep folks interested in her brand?

Sure. You have paypal ? We could make a friendly wager and pay that way. :)

[SarahFan]

Sure. You have paypal ? We could make a friendly wager and pay that way. :)

Paypal?.... I'm sure I could figure it out

what's the stakes?

[SarahFan]

Let's take this off line guys.


why?

its directly related to on-track racer performance is it not?


would you rather we were talking Tv ratings or the destruction Tony did to the sport?

[SarahFan]

BARRY GREEN JOINS KV RACING TECHNOLOGY TO ASSIST PAUL TRACY, GEICO, INDY 500 EFFORT
Former 500-Winning Car Owner Returns To Serve As Race Strategist

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (May 4, 2010) - - KV Racing Technology announced today that former Indianapolis 500-winning car owner Barry Green has joined the team to assist on Paul Tracy's No. 15 GEICO - KV Racing Technology Honda/Dallara/Firestone entry in this year's Indianapolis 500 Mile Race set for Sunday, May 30.

Green, whose team won the 1995 Indy 500 with Jacques Villeneuve driving, returns to the famed Brickyard to work with Tracy as the race strategist for the GEICO - KVRT operation.

Green and Tracy come back together at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time since the controversial 2002 Indy 500 finish when Tracy was awarded second place in the No 26 Team Kool Green car. In the 2002 event, Green and Tracy protested the finish as they felt Tracy had passed leader Helio Castroneves in turn three on lap 198 before the caution lights were lit for a turn two crash. Green's organization filed a written protest that was heard by a special committee. On July 2, the committee announced the protest was disallowed with Castroneves retaining the win.

Green later that year sold his Team Green operation to Michael Andretti, Kevin Savoree and his younger brother, Kim, and Andretti Green Racing was formed to compete in the 2003 IndyCar Series. Tracy captured the 2003 Champ Car World Series championship.

"I'm very excited to return to the Indianapolis 500 and work with Paul again," said Green, one of open-wheel racing most respected executives. "Paul and I both feel we have some unfinished business at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I want to thank (KV Racing Technology team owners) Kevin Kalkhoven and Jimmy Vasser for this opportunity to assist Paul and his GEICO crew throughout the month. I have worked with John Dick (Tracy's engineer) on numerous occasions and I believe we have a strong effort to challenge for an Indy 500 victory."

Tracy, a six-time Indianapolis 500 starter, is delighted to have Green back calling his race this year.

"With my tenure at Team Kool Green, Barry called every one of my races and called all of my race wins including winning the 2002 Indianapolis 500," said Tracy. "When Jimmy (Vasser) and I sat down at Long Beach to discuss our Indy 500 plans, Jimmy told me he couldn't be as hands-on with my car as he was last year. He asked me to explore the right person to help me at Indy. It didn't take long to think of Barry. He has the same desire and commitment to winning as I do. Obviously, he was my choice to work with me this year. I know we have some unfinished business at the Speedway."

Tracy's entry will be the fourth for KVRT in this year's Indianapolis 500. Tracy will team with rookie Takuma Sato in the No. 5 Lotus - KVRT Honda/Dallara/Firestone car, E.J. Viso in the No. 8 PDVSA - KVRT Honda/Dallara/Firestone car and Mario Moraes in No. 32 KV Racing Technology Honda/Dallara/Firestone machine. The 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race will be held in 2011.

"Paul asked me about bringing Barry in for the Indy 500 and I was elated," said Vasser, the 1996 CART series champion. "I had to race against Barry's team for many years, and I can appreciate his expertise in calling races. Having him with KV Racing Technology gives us an added bonus as we prepare to enter the month of May and the biggest race in the world. I am very pleased with our four-car lineup for the Indy 500."

Green, an Australian native, has an outstanding racing resume including competing as a driver in Formula Three before taking leadership of racing organizations such as Paul Newman's Can-Am team, Forsythe Racing, KRACO Racing and Forsythe-Green Racing. Team Green was established in 1994 and sold to Andretti Green Racing in 2002.

Last year, Tracy drove the No. 15 GEICO - KVRT Honda/Dallara/Firestone entry to ninth at Indianapolis. In addition to the Indy 500, he also drove at Milwaukee, Watkins Glen, Toronto, Edmonton and Mid-Ohio last year.

Tracy has competed in 270 IndyCar-type events during his career and has established himself as one of the top drivers in open-wheel racing history. The resident of Las Vegas, Nev., is among the top-10 in almost every career statistical category including wins, 31 (sixth all-time), poles, 25 (eighth all-time), and laps led, 4,231 (sixth all-time).

[garyshell]

BARRY GREEN JOINS KV RACING TECHNOLOGY TO ASSIST PAUL TRACY, GEICO, INDY 500 EFFORT
Former 500-Winning Car Owner Returns To Serve As Race Strategist

On twitter yesterday Paul sid there would an announcment that would stir the pot.

Well Paul, great move... mission accomplished!
http://www.beloblog.com/ProJo_Blogs/shenews/06/blender.jpg

Gary

[garyshell]

A great tweet from our man PT:


paultracy3: I called Barry and said , hey Elroy it's Jake , I'm putting the band back together , we are on a mission from god !!


Gary

[DanicaFan]

Well, here is the revised Indy 500 entry list with Graham Rahal now confirmed in the #30 car with Rahal Letterman Racing....

Car# & Driver / Car Name / Team / Race Strategist

#2/2T- Raphael Matos / HP Luczo Dragon / DeFerran Dragon Racing / Jay Penske
#3/3T - Helio Castroneves / Team Penske / Team Penske / Tim Cindric
#4/4T - Dan Wheldon / National Guard Panther Racing / Panther Racing / John Barnes
#5/5T - Takuma Sato / Lotus-KV Racing Technology / KV Racing Technology / Dave Brzozowski-Garrett Mothersead
#6/6T- Ryan Briscoe / Team Penske / Team Penske / Roger Penske
#7/7T - Danica Patrick / Team GoDaddy.com / Andretti Autosport / Tom Anderson
#8/8T - EJ Viso / PDVSA-Jet Aviation-KVRT / KV Racing Technology / Bill Pappas
#9/9T - Scott Dixon / Target Chip Ganassi Racing / Target Chip Ganassi Racing / Mike Hull
#10/10T - Dario Franchitti / Target Chip Ganassi Racing / Target Chip Ganassi Racing / Chip Ganassi
#11/11T- Tony Kanaan / Team 7-Eleven / Andretti Autosport / Michael Andretti
#12/12T- Will Power / Verizon Team Penske / Verizon Team Penske / Clive Howell
#14/14T - Vitor Meira / ABC Supply Co. AJ Foyt Racing / AJ Foyt Enterprises / AJ Foyt
#15/15T - Paul Tracy / GEICO - KV Racing Technology / KV Racing Technology / TBA
#16/16T - TBA / AJ Foyt Racing / AJ Foyt Racing / TBA
#17/17T - TBA / Rahal Letterman Racing / Rahal Letterman Racing / Scott Roembke
#18/18T - Milka Duno / CITGO / Dale Coyne Racing / Darren Crouser
#19/19T - Alex Lloyd / Boy Scouts of America / Dale Coyne Racing / Dale Coyne
#20/20T - Ed Carpenter / Panther Racing / Panther Racing / TBA
#21/21T - Davey Hamilton / HP Luczo Dragon / DeFerran Dragon Racing / TBA
#22/22T - Justin Wilson / Team Z-Line Designs-DRR / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Matt Curry
#23/23T - Tomas Scheckter / Mona Vie / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Larry Curry
#24/24T - Mike Conway / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Dennis Reinbold
#25/25T - TBA / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
#26/26T- Marco Andretti / Team Venom Energy / Andretti Autosport / Kyle Moyer
#27 - TBA / AFS Racing / AFS Racing / TBA
#29 - Sebastian Saavedra / William Rast-Bryan Herta Autosport / Bryan Herta Autosport / Bryan Herta-Steve Newey
#30/30T Graham Rahal / Rahal Letterman Racing / Rahal Letterman Racing / TBA
#32/32T - Mario Moraes / KV Racing Technology / KV Racing Technology / Mark Johnson-Nathan O'Rourke
#33/33T- Bruno Junqueira / FAZZT Race Team / FAZZT Race Team / TBA
#34/34T - Mario Romancini / Conquest Racing / Conquest Racing / Eric Bachelart-Michael Palawski
#36/36T - Bertrand Baguette / Conquest Racing-RACB / Conquest Racing / Todd Malloy
#37/37T - Ryan Hunter-Reay / Team IZOD / Andretti Autosport / George Klotz
#41/41T - AJ Foyt IV / ABC Supply Co. AJ Foyt Racing / AJ Foyt Racing / TBA
#43/43T - John Andretti / Team Window World / Richard Petty-Andretti Autosport / John Anderson
#66/66T - Jay Howard / Service Central-Sarah Fisher Racing / Sarah Fisher Racing / TBA
#67/67T - Sarah Fisher / Dollar General-Sarah Fisher Racing / Sarah Fisher Racing / John O'Gara
#77/77T- Alex Tagliani / FAZZT Race Team / FAZZT Race Team / Rob Edwards
#78/78T - Simona De Silvestro / Team Stargate Worlds-HVM / HVM Racing / Michael Cannon-Vince Kremer
#98/98T - TBA / CURB-Agajanian-Team 3G / CURB-Agajanian-Team 3G / Greg Beck
#99/99T- Townsend Bell / Herbalife Ganassi-Schmidt Racing / Chip Ganassi Racing/Sam Schmidt Motorsports / Andy Brown
#06/06T - Hideki Mutoh / Formula Dream-Panasonic / Newman Haas Racing / John Tzouanakis

[jimispeed]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auJz8YrWjq4&feature=related

[garyshell]

Nice find jimispeed. I miss those two guys and Larry Bud Melman. They were always so much fun.

Gary

[garyshell]

More from our boy PT on twitter:


paultracy3: I'm going to sportclips to get a hair cut , need to look my best to put my face on the Borg Warner

Gary

[DanicaFan]

Another updated list. This time with Ana Beatriz with Dreyer & Reinbold in the #25 car. She has been confirmed.

Car# & Driver / Car Name / Team / Race Strategist

#2/2T- Raphael Matos / HP Luczo Dragon / DeFerran Dragon Racing / Jay Penske
#3/3T - Helio Castroneves / Team Penske / Team Penske / Tim Cindric
#4/4T - Dan Wheldon / National Guard Panther Racing / Panther Racing / John Barnes
#5/5T - Takuma Sato / Lotus-KV Racing Technology / KV Racing Technology / Dave Brzozowski-Garrett Mothersead
#6/6T- Ryan Briscoe / Team Penske / Team Penske / Roger Penske
#7/7T - Danica Patrick / Team GoDaddy.com / Andretti Autosport / Tom Anderson
#8/8T - EJ Viso / PDVSA-Jet Aviation-KVRT / KV Racing Technology / Bill Pappas
#9/9T - Scott Dixon / Target Chip Ganassi Racing / Target Chip Ganassi Racing / Mike Hull
#10/10T - Dario Franchitti / Target Chip Ganassi Racing / Target Chip Ganassi Racing / Chip Ganassi
#11/11T- Tony Kanaan / Team 7-Eleven / Andretti Autosport / Michael Andretti
#12/12T- Will Power / Verizon Team Penske / Verizon Team Penske / Clive Howell
#14/14T - Vitor Meira / ABC Supply Co. AJ Foyt Racing / AJ Foyt Enterprises / AJ Foyt
#15/15T - Paul Tracy / GEICO - KV Racing Technology / KV Racing Technology / TBA
#16/16T - TBA / AJ Foyt Racing / AJ Foyt Racing / TBA
#18/18T - Milka Duno / CITGO / Dale Coyne Racing / Darren Crouser
#19/19T - Alex Lloyd / Boy Scouts of America / Dale Coyne Racing / Dale Coyne
#20/20T - Ed Carpenter / Panther Racing / Panther Racing / TBA
#21/21T - Davey Hamilton / HP Luczo Dragon / DeFerran Dragon Racing / TBA
#22/22T - Justin Wilson / Team Z-Line Designs-DRR / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Matt Curry
#23/23T - Tomas Scheckter / Mona Vie / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Larry Curry
#24/24T - Mike Conway / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Dennis Reinbold
#25/25T - Ana Beatriz / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
#26/26T- Marco Andretti / Team Venom Energy / Andretti Autosport / Kyle Moyer
#27 - TBA / AFS Racing / AFS Racing / TBA
#29 - Sebastian Saavedra / William Rast-Bryan Herta Autosport / Bryan Herta Autosport / Bryan Herta-Steve Newey
#30/30T Graham Rahal / Rahal Letterman Racing / Rahal Letterman Racing / TBA
#32/32T - Mario Moraes / KV Racing Technology / KV Racing Technology / Mark Johnson-Nathan O'Rourke
#33/33T- Bruno Junqueira / FAZZT Race Team / FAZZT Race Team / TBA
#34/34T - Mario Romancini / Conquest Racing / Conquest Racing / Eric Bachelart-Michael Palawski
#36/36T - Bertrand Baguette / Conquest Racing-RACB / Conquest Racing / Todd Malloy
#37/37T - Ryan Hunter-Reay / Team IZOD / Andretti Autosport / George Klotz
#41/41T - AJ Foyt IV / ABC Supply Co. AJ Foyt Racing / AJ Foyt Racing / TBA
#43/43T - John Andretti / Team Window World / Richard Petty-Andretti Autosport / John Anderson
#66/66T - Jay Howard / Service Central-Sarah Fisher Racing / Sarah Fisher Racing / TBA
#67/67T - Sarah Fisher / Dollar General-Sarah Fisher Racing / Sarah Fisher Racing / John O'Gara
#77/77T- Alex Tagliani / FAZZT Race Team / FAZZT Race Team / Rob Edwards
#78/78T - Simona De Silvestro / Team Stargate Worlds-HVM / HVM Racing / Michael Cannon-Vince Kremer
#98/98T - TBA / CURB-Agajanian-Team 3G / CURB-Agajanian-Team 3G / Greg Beck
#99/99T- Townsend Bell / Herbalife Ganassi-Schmidt Racing / Chip Ganassi Racing/Sam Schmidt Motorsports / Andy Brown
#06/06T - Hideki Mutoh / Formula Dream-Panasonic / Newman Haas Racing / John Tzouanakis

[GRW1983]

Another updated list. This time with Ana Beatriz with Dreyer & Reinbold in the #25 car. She has been confirmed.

Car# & Driver / Car Name / Team / Race Strategist

#2/2T- Raphael Matos / HP Luczo Dragon / DeFerran Dragon Racing / Jay Penske
#3/3T - Helio Castroneves / Team Penske / Team Penske / Tim Cindric
#4/4T - Dan Wheldon / National Guard Panther Racing / Panther Racing / John Barnes
#5/5T - Takuma Sato / Lotus-KV Racing Technology / KV Racing Technology / Dave Brzozowski-Garrett Mothersead
#6/6T- Ryan Briscoe / Team Penske / Team Penske / Roger Penske
#7/7T - Danica Patrick / Team GoDaddy.com / Andretti Autosport / Tom Anderson
#8/8T - EJ Viso / PDVSA-Jet Aviation-KVRT / KV Racing Technology / Bill Pappas
#9/9T - Scott Dixon / Target Chip Ganassi Racing / Target Chip Ganassi Racing / Mike Hull
#10/10T - Dario Franchitti / Target Chip Ganassi Racing / Target Chip Ganassi Racing / Chip Ganassi
#11/11T- Tony Kanaan / Team 7-Eleven / Andretti Autosport / Michael Andretti
#12/12T- Will Power / Verizon Team Penske / Verizon Team Penske / Clive Howell
#14/14T - Vitor Meira / ABC Supply Co. AJ Foyt Racing / AJ Foyt Enterprises / AJ Foyt
#15/15T - Paul Tracy / GEICO - KV Racing Technology / KV Racing Technology / TBA
#16/16T - TBA / AJ Foyt Racing / AJ Foyt Racing / TBA
#18/18T - Milka Duno / CITGO / Dale Coyne Racing / Darren Crouser
#19/19T - Alex Lloyd / Boy Scouts of America / Dale Coyne Racing / Dale Coyne
#20/20T - Ed Carpenter / Panther Racing / Panther Racing / TBA
#21/21T - Davey Hamilton / HP Luczo Dragon / DeFerran Dragon Racing / TBA
#22/22T - Justin Wilson / Team Z-Line Designs-DRR / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Matt Curry
#23/23T - Tomas Scheckter / Mona Vie / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Larry Curry
#24/24T - Mike Conway / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Dennis Reinbold
#25/25T - Ana Beatriz / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
#26/26T- Marco Andretti / Team Venom Energy / Andretti Autosport / Kyle Moyer
#27 - TBA / AFS Racing / AFS Racing / TBA
#29 - Sebastian Saavedra / William Rast-Bryan Herta Autosport / Bryan Herta Autosport / Bryan Herta-Steve Newey
#30/30T Graham Rahal / Rahal Letterman Racing / Rahal Letterman Racing / TBA
#32/32T - Mario Moraes / KV Racing Technology / KV Racing Technology / Mark Johnson-Nathan O'Rourke
#33/33T- Bruno Junqueira / FAZZT Race Team / FAZZT Race Team / TBA
#34/34T - Mario Romancini / Conquest Racing / Conquest Racing / Eric Bachelart-Michael Palawski
#36/36T - Bertrand Baguette / Conquest Racing-RACB / Conquest Racing / Todd Malloy
#37/37T - Ryan Hunter-Reay / Team IZOD / Andretti Autosport / George Klotz
#41/41T - AJ Foyt IV / ABC Supply Co. AJ Foyt Racing / AJ Foyt Racing / TBA
#43/43T - John Andretti / Team Window World / Richard Petty-Andretti Autosport / John Anderson
#66/66T - Jay Howard / Service Central-Sarah Fisher Racing / Sarah Fisher Racing / TBA
#67/67T - Sarah Fisher / Dollar General-Sarah Fisher Racing / Sarah Fisher Racing / John O'Gara
#77/77T- Alex Tagliani / FAZZT Race Team / FAZZT Race Team / Rob Edwards
#78/78T - Simona De Silvestro / Team Stargate Worlds-HVM / HVM Racing / Michael Cannon-Vince Kremer
#98/98T - TBA / CURB-Agajanian-Team 3G / CURB-Agajanian-Team 3G / Greg Beck
#99/99T- Townsend Bell / Herbalife Ganassi-Schmidt Racing / Chip Ganassi Racing/Sam Schmidt Motorsports / Andy Brown
#06/06T - Hideki Mutoh / Formula Dream-Panasonic / Newman Haas Racing / John Tzouanakis

Sounds about right although, according to Curt Cavin, the #16 Foyt car, that was supposedly going to be driven by Jacques Lazier, has been withdrawn from the entry list, as has the#27 AFS car that was supposedly JR Hildebrand's ride. If true, that only leaves Team 3G without a driver, but if Jacques Lazier is now spare, I would expect him to get it or this entry could also be withdrawn as, like AFS, they haven't turned a wheel all season long.

[markabilly]

why?

its directly related to on-track racer performance is it not?


would you rather we were talking Tv ratings or the destruction Tony did to the sport?
I did not know you can gamble across state lines using paypal


BTW, whatever happenned to Alex Barron? He used to show up as some sort of back up and do well

[DanicaFan]

You are correct GRW, here is the current list.

Car# & Driver / Car Name / Team / Race Strategist

#2/2T- Raphael Matos / HP Luczo Dragon / DeFerran Dragon Racing / Jay Penske
#3/3T - Helio Castroneves / Team Penske / Team Penske / Tim Cindric
#4/4T - Dan Wheldon / National Guard Panther Racing / Panther Racing / John Barnes
#5/5T - Takuma Sato / Lotus-KV Racing Technology / KV Racing Technology / Dave Brzozowski-Garrett Mothersead
#6/6T- Ryan Briscoe / Team Penske / Team Penske / Roger Penske
#7/7T - Danica Patrick / Team GoDaddy.com / Andretti Autosport / Tom Anderson
#8/8T - EJ Viso / PDVSA-Jet Aviation-KVRT / KV Racing Technology / Bill Pappas
#9/9T - Scott Dixon / Target Chip Ganassi Racing / Target Chip Ganassi Racing / Mike Hull
#10/10T - Dario Franchitti / Target Chip Ganassi Racing / Target Chip Ganassi Racing / Chip Ganassi
#11/11T- Tony Kanaan / Team 7-Eleven / Andretti Autosport / Michael Andretti
#12/12T- Will Power / Verizon Team Penske / Verizon Team Penske / Clive Howell
#14/14T - Vitor Meira / ABC Supply Co. AJ Foyt Racing / AJ Foyt Enterprises / AJ Foyt
#15/15T - Paul Tracy / GEICO - KV Racing Technology / KV Racing Technology / TBA
#18/18T - Milka Duno / CITGO / Dale Coyne Racing / Darren Crouser
#19/19T - Alex Lloyd / Boy Scouts of America / Dale Coyne Racing / Dale Coyne
#20/20T - Ed Carpenter / Panther Racing / Panther Racing / TBA
#21/21T - Davey Hamilton / HP Luczo Dragon / DeFerran Dragon Racing / TBA
#22/22T - Justin Wilson / Team Z-Line Designs-DRR / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Matt Curry
#23/23T - Tomas Scheckter / Mona Vie / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Larry Curry
#24/24T - Mike Conway / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Dennis Reinbold
#25/25T - Ana Beatriz / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
#26/26T- Marco Andretti / Team Venom Energy / Andretti Autosport / Kyle Moyer
#29 - Sebastian Saavedra / William Rast-Bryan Herta Autosport / Bryan Herta Autosport / Bryan Herta-Steve Newey
#30/30T Graham Rahal / Rahal Letterman Racing / Rahal Letterman Racing / TBA
#32/32T - Mario Moraes / KV Racing Technology / KV Racing Technology / Mark Johnson-Nathan O'Rourke
#33/33T- Bruno Junqueira / FAZZT Race Team / FAZZT Race Team / TBA
#34/34T - Mario Romancini / Conquest Racing / Conquest Racing / Eric Bachelart-Michael Palawski
#36/36T - Bertrand Baguette / Conquest Racing-RACB / Conquest Racing / Todd Malloy
#37/37T - Ryan Hunter-Reay / Team IZOD / Andretti Autosport / George Klotz
#41/41T - AJ Foyt IV / ABC Supply Co. AJ Foyt Racing / AJ Foyt Racing / TBA
#43/43T - John Andretti / Team Window World / Richard Petty-Andretti Autosport / John Anderson
#66/66T - Jay Howard / Service Central-Sarah Fisher Racing / Sarah Fisher Racing / TBA
#67/67T - Sarah Fisher / Dollar General-Sarah Fisher Racing / Sarah Fisher Racing / John O'Gara
#77/77T- Alex Tagliani / FAZZT Race Team / FAZZT Race Team / Rob Edwards
#78/78T - Simona De Silvestro / Team Stargate Worlds-HVM / HVM Racing / Michael Cannon-Vince Kremer
#98/98T - TBA / CURB-Agajanian-Team 3G / CURB-Agajanian-Team 3G / Greg Beck
#99/99T- Townsend Bell / Herbalife Ganassi-Schmidt Racing / Chip Ganassi Racing/Sam Schmidt Motorsports / Andy Brown
#06/06T - Hideki Mutoh / Formula Dream-Panasonic / Newman Haas Racing / John Tzouanakis

[DavePI2]

good info danica fan, what days will you be their, maybe I will run into one practice day, haven't figured out which I can make though without my wife finding out I am playing hookey from work to drive 200 miles to watch practice.


david

[DanicaFan]

good info danica fan, what days will you be their, maybe I will run into one practice day, haven't figured out which I can make though without my wife finding out I am playing hookey from work to drive 200 miles to watch practice.


david

I will be there just about every practice day, bump day, etc. As well as carb day, and the race.

[DanicaFan]

As it stands now, Scott Dixon is the quickest so far. His speed is 226.202.

Im not used to seeing Graham Rahal and Ed Carpenter in thier new paint schemes yet.

[DanicaFan]

Danica sitting at 13th fastest right now at 222.623.

[DanicaFan]

Danica moved to 11th now with a speed of 223.382.

[DanicaFan]

Here are the results of the 2 practice sessions of the Rookie Orientation Program..

Rank / Car# & Driver / Lap Time / Speed

1. #66 Jay Howard / 00:40.3970 / 222.789
2. #23 Tomas Scheckter / 00:40.6107 / 221.616
3. #41 AJ Foyt IV / 00:40.6240 / 221.544
4. #78T Simona De Silvestro / 00:40.6559 / 221.370
5. #21 Davey Hamilton / 00:40.8495 / 220.321
6. #5 Takuma Sato / 00:40.8655 / 220.235
7. #30 Graham Rahal / 00:40.9197 / 219.943
8. #25 Ana Beatriz / 00:40.9434 / 219.816
9. #99 Townsend Bell / 00:40.9791 / 219.624
10. #36 Bertrand Baguette / 00:41.1431 / 218.749
11. #34 Mario Romancini / 00:41.3100 / 217.865
12. #29 Sebastian Saavedra / 00:42.1586 / 213.480

[DanicaFan]

Here are the results of Practice Session 1..

Rank / Car# & Driver / Lap Time / Speed

1. #3T Helio Castroneves / 00:39.7170 / 226.603
2. #10T Dario Franchitti / 00:39.7290 / 226.535
3. #9T Scott Dixon / 00:39.7813 / 226.237
4. #4 Dan Wheldon / 00:39.8921 / 225.609
5. #43 Tony Kanaan / 00:40.0369 / 224.793
6. #11 Tony Kanaan / 00:40.0560 / 224.685
7. #20 Ed Carpenter / 00:40.0726 / 224.592
8. #26 Marco Andretti / 00:40.0952 / 224.466
9. #6T Ryan Briscoe / 00:40.1098 / 224.384
10. #43 John Andretti / 00:40.1206 / 224.324
11. #12T Will Power / 00:40.1251 / 224.299
12. #32 Mario Moraes / 00:40.1906 / 223.933
13. #06T Hideki Mutoh / 00:40.1959 / 223.903
14. #7 Danica Patrick / 00:40.2412 / 223.651
15. #26 Tony Kanaan / 00:40.2655 / 223.516
16. #7 Tony Kanaan / 00:40.3212 / 223.208
17. #14 Vitor Meira / 00:40.3248 / 223.188
18. #2 Raphael Matos / 00:40.3844 / 222.858
19. #8 EJ Viso / 00:40.4196 / 222.664
20. #67 Sarah Fisher / 00:40.4703 / 222.385
21. #18 Milka Duno / 00:40.5314 / 222.050
22. #37 Ryan Hunter-Reay / 00:40.5942 / 221.707
23. #24 Mike Conway / 00:40.6317 / 221.502
24. #19 Alex Lloyd / 00:40.6612 / 221.341
25. #37 Tony Kanaan / 00:40.6817 / 221.230
26. #22 Justin Wilson / 00:40.7143 / 221.053
27. #15 Paul Tracy / 00:40.9996 / 219.514

[DanicaFan]

Dan Wheldon just made contact on the wall just out of turn 4 on the main straightaway. He is fine.

[DanicaFan]

Helio Castroneves on top of the speed chart so far during this practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a speed of 227.046.

[DanicaFan]

Practice Session 2 results..

Rank / Car# & Driver / Lap Time / Speed

1. #3 Helio Castroneves / 00:39.6395 / 227.046
2. #9 Scott Dixon / 00:39.7875 / 226.202
3. #10 Dario Franchitti / 00:39.8152 / 226.044
4. #12 Will Power / 00:39.8937 / 225.600
5. #11 Tony Kanaan / 00:39.9070 / 225.524
6. #32 Mario Moraes / 00:39.9924 / 225.043
7. #4 Dan Wheldon / 00:40.0742 / 224.583
8. #6 Ryan Briscoe / 00:40.0786 / 224.559
9. #26 Marco Andretti / 00:40.0910 / 224.489
10. #30 Graham Rahal / 00:40.1212 / 224.320
11. #14 Vitor Meira / 00:40.1553 / 224.130
12. #99 Townsend Bell / 00:40.2735 / 223.472
13. #7 Danica Patrick / 00:40.2898 / 223.382
14. #41 AJ Foyt IV / 00:40.4010 / 222.767
15. #06T Hideki Mutoh / 00:40.4127 / 222.702
16. #22 Justin Wilson / 00:40.4486 / 222.505
17. #8 EJ Viso / 00:40.4899 / 222.278
18. #2 Raphael Matos / 00:40.5056 / 222.191
19. #67 Sarah Fisher / 00:40.5126 / 222.153
20. #43 John Andretti / 00:40.5167 / 222.131
21. #15 Paul Tracy / 00:40.5654 / 221.864
22. #25 Ana Beatriz / 00:40.5945 / 221.705
23. #20 Ed Carpenter / 00:40.6256 / 221.535
24. #77 Alex Tagliani / 00:40.6353 / 221.482
25. #23 Tomas Scheckter / 00:40.7135 / 221.057
26. #19 Alex Lloyd / 00:40.7204 / 221.019
27. #37 Ryan Hunter-Reay / 00:40.7285 / 220.975
28. #34 Mario Romancini / 00:40.8544 / 220.295
29. #5 Takuma Sato / 00:40.8973 / 220.063
30. #24 Mike Conway / 00:40.9380 / 219.845
31. #36 Bertrand Baguette / 00:40.9631 / 219.710
32. #18 Milka Duno / 00:41.0469 / 219.261
33. #29 Sebastian Saavedra / 00:41.1116 / 218.916

[DanicaFan]

I know its way early and only day 2 but I am suprised to see Townsend Bell, Vitor Meira, and Will Power ahead of Danica. :confused:

[Alfa Fan]

I know its way early and only day 2 but I am suprised to see Townsend Bell, Vitor Meira, and Will Power ahead of Danica. :confused:

I'm not.

[SarahFan]

I know its way early and only day 2 but I am suprised to see Townsend Bell, Vitor Meira, and Will Power ahead of Danica. :confused:

I'm not either

[harvick#1]

me 3

[Hoop-98]

I'm not either

How about PT behind Milka? surprising, expected, or irrelevant?

rh

[SarahFan]

How about PT behind Milka? surprising, expected, or irrelevant?

rh

suprised ... Disapointed

[garyshell]

How about PT behind Milka? surprising, expected, or irrelevant?

rh


Irrelevant, see quote from PT on twitter today.


paultracy3: Had good runs today , still in race level downforce , working on a good race car . Start going for speed around weds

He had said earleir that their plan was to work on race setups first and qualifying setups latter.

Gary

[TURN3]

me 4 with respect to prev page.

[Jag_Warrior]

me 5

[Hoop-98]

suprised ... Disapointed

I would go with irrelevant

[SarahFan]

I would go with irrelevant

ok

[Easy Drifter]

Me 6 & 7. Split personality.

[DanicaFan]

Rain, Rain, Rain. :(

[DanicaFan]

So far, so good, we have managed to get a full day's practice in.

[TURN3]

Nothing I love seeing more than Danica toward the bottom of the speed charts. Especially on a track that requires very little throttle control. Would appear that Tony might be spending more time this week in the #7, huh?

[Easy Drifter]

Much as I hate to say it I expect her to find enough speed to get in. It would be funny if she got bumped and they had to get someone else to qualify it.
It looks like there is a pretty good chance Milk and Donuts will not qualify. Does Coyne put someone else in the car if she can't qualify? HMMM. Who is available? Junky maybe as his deal with Tags seems on thin ground.
Then would she race it? Remember it is the car that qualifies not the driver.

[DanicaFan]

Here are the results of today's practice session..

Rank / Car# & Driver / Lap Time / Speed

1. #9 Scott Dixon / 39.7265 / 226.549
2. #2 Mario Moraes / 39.8384 / 225.913
3. #26 Marco Andretti / 39.8669 / 225.751
4. #77 Alex Tagliani / 39.9301 / 225.394
5. #4 Dan Wheldon / 39.9329 / 225.378
6. #11 Tony Kanaan / 39.9696 / 225.171
7. #10 Dario Franchitti / 40.0068 / 224.962
8. #3 Helio Castroneves / 40.0297 / 224.833
9. #12 Will Power / 40.0948 / 224.468
10. #78 Simona De Silvestro / 40.1470 / 224.176
11. #15 Paul Tracy / 40.1750 / 224.020
12. #41 AJ Foyt IV / 40.2011 / 223.874
13. #43 John Andretti / 40.2189 / 223.775
14. #06 Hideki Mutoh / 40.2260 / 223.736
15. #66 Jay Howard / 40.2340 / 223.691
16. #14 Vitor Meira / 40.2388 / 223.665
17. #37 Ryan Hunter-Reay / 40.2442 / 223.635
18. #22 Justin Wilson / 40.2502 / 223.601
19. #6 Ryan Briscoe / 40.2784 / 223.445
20. #30 Graham Rahal / 40.2812 / 223.429
21. #20 Ed Carpenter / 40.2958 / 223.348
22. #36 Bertrand Baguette / 40.3020 / 223.314
23. #99 Townsend Bell / 40.3763 / 222.903
24. #21 Davey Hamilton / 40.3891 / 222.832
25. #2 Raphael Matos / 40.4018 / 222.762
26. #5 Takuma Sato / 40.4170 / 222.679
27. #8 EJ Viso / 40.4293 / 222.611
28. #23 Tomas Scheckter / 40.4566 / 222.461
29. #67 Sarah Fisher / 40.4959 / 222.245
30. #7 Danica Patrick / 40.5400 / 222.003
31. #25 Ana Beatriz / 40.5459 / 221.971
32. #19 Alex Lloyd / 40.5548 / 221.922
33. #24 Mike Conway / 40.5673 / 221.854
34. #34 Mario Romancini / 40.6112 / 221.614
35. #29 Sebastian Saavedra / 40.7338 / 220.947
36. #18 Milka Duno / 40.8462 / 220.339

[TURN3]

Much as I hate to say it I expect her to find enough speed to get in. It would be funny if she got bumped and they had to get someone else to qualify it.
It looks like there is a pretty good chance Milk and Donuts will not qualify. Does Coyne put someone else in the car if she can't qualify? HMMM. Who is available? Junky maybe as his deal with Tags seems on thin ground.
Then would she race it? Remember it is the car that qualifies not the driver.

Oh there isn't any doubt Danica will get in. I would suspect AA is adopting a strategy similiar to what KV's drivers have basically made public. With the shortened week, it only makes sense for teams to do that. Briscoe hasn't been real quick yet either so maybe Penske is splitting up the assignments too. Problem with AA is they really don't have a deep core of drivers that can set a car up! Who knows! One thing I do know is that she is slow just like she is 90% of the time.

[e2mtt]

Simona sure isn't hanging out in the back with the other girls & rookies...!

[DanicaFan]

I was talking to Danica's crew chief quite awhile today, they were working primarily on race trim, so after today, you will see her speeds go up. :)

[TURN3]

I was talking to Danica's crew chief quite awhile today, they were working primarily on race trim, so after today, you will see her speeds go up. :)

That is great except for 1 problem...they are slow in race trim. Check Simona, PT, and everybody from about 8th on back and you're looking at guys/girls in race trim. Adding to that problem, the top 7 that appear to be running more trimmed out are going to be faster than her in race trim too. So 21st = 21st no matter how you slice it. And....drum roll....she still sucks!

[harvick#1]

Simona sure isn't hanging out in the back with the other girls & rookies...!

a breath of fresh air eh, once Danica makes the failing jump to Nascar, she will no longer even be a media sensation anymore.

I always laugh at the IRL commercials to hype a race always throw Danicas name in commercial like she is some superstar, when she cant even compete on ovals anymore either. its like Nascar with their worthless hype of Jooyner

[beachbum]

I was talking to Danica's crew chief quite awhile today, they were working primarily on race trim, so after today, you will see her speeds go up. :) When you are 30th, you can't go much lower. They will go up when they go to a full qualifying setup, but as others have pointed out, nearly all of the teams were in race trim as well. Danica could not hang with her teammates in a draft (at 218-220) and was often even slower running alone. Her "quick" lap was with a huge draft. When the DRR team went out in a group at the end, the whole group was running lap times a few tenths quicker than Danica had been running when she was drafting. At one point she was drafting another car and both of them caught Milka running alone. The other car pealed off into the pits. Milka (running alone in the 219 range) just pulled away from Danica and after another lap, Danica pulled in.

Her team seemed careful not to have her run alone. When she did, she was one of the slowest cars on track. Nearly all of the time she was drafting someone. Her lap times were also rather erratic, unlike most of the other drivers (including the rookies). If that is their race setup, it is a very conservative one and not fast. As an example, Simona was regularly running very consistent times by herself that were 2 to 3 tenths quicker than Danica was running in a draft. The only excuse that might fly is running with full tanks and real old tires all the time, but she ran some fairly long segments that would have burned off fuel and most teams ran one set of tires all day.

However, I expect to see a quick time first thing today. The other AA cars are up near the front, so they have a setup that will go quick if she can hang on - for a few laps.

[DanicaFan]

Today's practice session is over. Here are the results..

Rank / Car# & Driver / Lap Time / Speed

1. #9 Scott Dixon / 39.6526 / 226.971
2. #6 Ryan Briscoe / 39.7118 / 226.633
3. #77 Alex Tagliani / 39.8226 / 226.002
4. #06 Hideki Mutoh / 39.8361 / 225.962
5. #10 Dario Franchitti / 39.8494 / 225.85
6. #12 Will Power / 39.8754 / 225.703
7. #11 Tony Kanaan / 39.8830 / 225.66
8. #3 Helio Castroneves / 39.9002 / 225.563
9. #99 Townsend Bell / 40.0458 / 224.743
10. #32 Mario Moraes / 40.0462 / 224.74
11. #30 Graham Rahal / 40.0623 / 224.65
12. #26 Marco Andretti / 40.0686 / 224.615
13. #20 Ed Carpenter / 40.0825 / 224.537
14. #21 Davey Hamilton / 40.0962 / 224.46
15. #14 Vitor Meira / 40.0988 / 224.446
16. #22 Justin Wilson / 40.1245 / 224.302
17. #25 Ana Beatriz / 40.1315 / 224.263
18. #5 Takuma Sato / 40.1329 / 224.255
19. #2 Raphael Matos / 40.1708 / 224.043
20. #43 John Andretti / 40.1841 / 223.969
21. #7 Danica Patrick / 40.1869 / 223.954
22. #19 Alex Lloyd / 40.2153 / 223.795
23. #24 Mike Conway / 40.2290 / 223.719
24. #78 Simona De Silvestro / 40.2401 / 223.657
25. #36 Bertrand Baguette / 40.2494 / 223.606
26. #23 Tomas Scheckter / 40.2805 / 223.433
27. #29 Sebastian Saavedra / 40.2824 / 223.423
28. #37 Ryan Hunter-Reay / 40.2996 / 223.327
29. #66 Jay Howard / 40.3045 / 223.3
30. #34 Mario Romancini / 40.3912 / 222.821
31. #4 Dan Wheldon / 40.3967 / 222.79
32. #41 AJ Foyt IV / 40.5352 / 222.029
33. #67 Sarah Fisher / 40.5635 / 221.874
34. #15 Paul Tracy / 40.6287 / 221.518
35. #18 Milka Duno / 40.8074 / 220.548

[DanicaFan]

Today's practice session is over. Here are the results..

Rank / Car# & Driver / Lap Time / Speed

1. #9 Scott Dixon / 39.6526 / 226.971
2. #6 Ryan Briscoe / 39.7118 / 226.633
3. #77 Alex Tagliani / 39.8226 / 226.002
4. #06 Hideki Mutoh / 39.8361 / 225.962
5. #10 Dario Franchitti / 39.8494 / 225.85
6. #12 Will Power / 39.8754 / 225.703
7. #11 Tony Kanaan / 39.8830 / 225.66
8. #3 Helio Castroneves / 39.9002 / 225.563
9. #99 Townsend Bell / 40.0458 / 224.743
10. #32 Mario Moraes / 40.0462 / 224.74
11. #30 Graham Rahal / 40.0623 / 224.65
12. #26 Marco Andretti / 40.0686 / 224.615
13. #20 Ed Carpenter / 40.0825 / 224.537
14. #21 Davey Hamilton / 40.0962 / 224.46
15. #14 Vitor Meira / 40.0988 / 224.446
16. #22 Justin Wilson / 40.1245 / 224.302
17. #25 Ana Beatriz / 40.1315 / 224.263
18. #5 Takuma Sato / 40.1329 / 224.255
19. #2 Raphael Matos / 40.1708 / 224.043
20. #43 John Andretti / 40.1841 / 223.969
21. #7 Danica Patrick / 40.1869 / 223.954
22. #19 Alex Lloyd / 40.2153 / 223.795
23. #24 Mike Conway / 40.2290 / 223.719
24. #78 Simona De Silvestro / 40.2401 / 223.657
25. #36 Bertrand Baguette / 40.2494 / 223.606
26. #23 Tomas Scheckter / 40.2805 / 223.433
27. #29 Sebastian Saavedra / 40.2824 / 223.423
28. #37 Ryan Hunter-Reay / 40.2996 / 223.327
29. #66 Jay Howard / 40.3045 / 223.3
30. #34 Mario Romancini / 40.3912 / 222.821
31. #4 Dan Wheldon / 40.3967 / 222.79
32. #41 AJ Foyt IV / 40.5352 / 222.029
33. #67 Sarah Fisher / 40.5635 / 221.874
34. #15 Paul Tracy / 40.6287 / 221.518
35. #18 Milka Duno / 40.8074 / 220.548

[Hoop-98]

When you are 30th, you can't go much lower. They will go up when they go to a full qualifying setup, but as others have pointed out, nearly all of the teams were in race trim as well. Danica could not hang with her teammates in a draft (at 218-220) and was often even slower running alone. Her "quick" lap was with a huge draft. When the DRR team went out in a group at the end, the whole group was running lap times a few tenths quicker than Danica had been running when she was drafting. At one point she was drafting another car and both of them caught Milka running alone. The other car pealed off into the pits. Milka (running alone in the 219 range) just pulled away from Danica and after another lap, Danica pulled in.

Her team seemed careful not to have her run alone. When she did, she was one of the slowest cars on track. Nearly all of the time she was drafting someone. Her lap times were also rather erratic, unlike most of the other drivers (including the rookies). If that is their race setup, it is a very conservative one and not fast. As an example, Simona was regularly running very consistent times by herself that were 2 to 3 tenths quicker than Danica was running in a draft. The only excuse that might fly is running with full tanks and real old tires all the time, but she ran some fairly long segments that would have burned off fuel and most teams ran one set of tires all day.

However, I expect to see a quick time first thing today. The other AA cars are up near the front, so they have a setup that will go quick if she can hang on - for a few laps.

her lap data from today doesn't support, and in many ways refutes your anecdotal descriptions.

I have the data on other drivers you would like to compare. This is every lap over 210.

Lap Data
1 219.988
2 222.168
3 222.373
4 216.530
5 220.813
6 219.657
7 220.629
8 218.171
11 216.575
12 215.570
14 216.214
15 213.980
16 212.636
17 219.218
22 217.565
23 216.902
24 219.261
27 211.747
28 211.916
29 214.320
32 213.879
33 216.177
34 220.637
35 220.993
36 219.690
37 217.344
38 222.434
39 220.644
40 219.414
41 220.521
42 220.019
43 219.996
44 218.313
45 220.945
46 220.967
49 220.951
50 221.849
51 220.469
52 221.536
55 219.940
56 221.209
57 218.520
58 216.270
61 221.852
62 219.863
63 223.954
64 223.663
65 223.405
66 219.520
67 223.200
68 220.650
69 220.139
70 220.396
71 223.784
72 221.578
73 218.448
76 219.158
77 220.426
78 218.483
82 213.312
83 220.355
84 219.830
87 219.242
88 222.451
89 222.732
90 222.355
93 214.525
94 215.954
95 219.809
96 220.939
97 216.430

rh

[Hoop-98]

Again, wondering how you managed to make such detailed observations about Danica's laps. that must have required total focus on both the Video and catching each lap time of her and surrounding cars, commendable diligence.

But when I look at Milka's times and your description, hard to make them add up.
Lap Data
3 218.319
4 219.261
5 219.291
6 219.237
9 216.246
10 219.839
11 219.720
14 214.818
15 218.839
18 210.747
22 216.764
26 218.662
27 218.508
28 218.746
29 218.366
32 210.254
33 219.150
34 220.299
35 220.136
38 217.850
39 220.212
40 220.106
47 211.678
48 217.103
55 220.548
56 220.468
57 219.843
58 219.207

rh

[beachbum]

her lap data from today doesn't support, and in many ways refutes your anecdotal descriptions.
rhWhile I was speaking about yesterday (Tuesday) I am sure your numbers are accurate.

[beachbum]

Again, wondering how you managed to make such detailed observations about Danica's laps. that must have required total focus on both the Video and catching each lap time of her and surrounding cars, commendable diligence.

But when I look at Milka's times and your description, hard to make them add up.
Lap Data
3 218.319
4 219.261
5 219.291
6 219.237
9 216.246
10 219.839
11 219.720
14 214.818
15 218.839
18 210.747
22 216.764
26 218.662
27 218.508
28 218.746
29 218.366
32 210.254
33 219.150
34 220.299
35 220.136
38 217.850
39 220.212
40 220.106
47 211.678
48 217.103
55 220.548
56 220.468
57 219.843
58 219.207

rh

Simple. Just go to the indycar.com web site and pull up each and every driver's individual lap times for each session.

[booger]

Am I wrong, or does there seem to be a lack of news coming from the 500 this year? I remember when there would be coverage on all the drivers without rides hanging around the pits and chatting with owners about possibilities of putting deals together and new sponsors being signed almost every day. And more news on what the teams are doing to get ready for qualifying. Could it be possible that nobody really understands the new qualifying rules? And how 'bout some more info on the 800 mile teams vs the 1200 mile teams. Just doesn't seem to be much drama or excitement this year even compared to some of the earlier 500s when the IRL was younger.

[mileman]

What's up with the weather? I'm seeing a washout Friday. (?) Looks like a lot of folks will be stuck with what they have - or a best guess...

It looks warmer for the weekend. How much will that affect what the teams have already worked on?

[DanicaFan]

Here are the results of yesterday's practice session..

Rank / Car# & Driver / Lap Time / Speed

1. #11 Tony Kanaan / 39.6870 / 226.775
2. #15 Paul Tracy / 39.7663 / 226.322
3. #06 Hideki Mutoh / 39.7826 / 226.230
4. #26 Marco Andretti / 39.8039 / 226.108
5. #4 Dan Wheldon / 39.8043 / 226.106
6. #3 Helio Castroneves / 39.8089 / 226.080
7. #12 Will Power / 39.8520 / 225.836
8. #77 Alex Tagliani / 39.8920 / 225.609
9. #30 Graham Rahal / 39.9009 / 225.559
10. #21 Davey Hamilton / 39.9236 / 225.431
11. #20 Ed Carpenter / 39.9497 / 225.283
12. #5 Takuma Sato / 39.9916 / 225.047
13. #9 Scott Dixon / 39.9937 / 225.035
14. #24 Mike Conway / 40.0225 / 224.874
15. #78 Simona De Silvestro / 40.0288 / 224.838
16. #6 Ryan Briscoe / 40.0336 / 224.811
17. #32 Mario Moraes / 40.1222 / 224.315
18. #2 Raphael Matos / 40.1404 / 224.213
19. #43 John Andretti / 40.1459 / 224.182
20. #10T Dario Franchitti / 40.1487 / 224.167
21. #66 Jay Howard / 40.1785 / 224.000
22. #41 AJ Foyt IV / 40.2064 / 223.845
23. #37 Ryan Hunter-Reay / 40.2199 / 223.770
24. #14 Vitor Meira / 40.2411 / 223.652
25. #34 Mario Romancini / 40.2425 / 223.644
26. #25 Ana Beatriz / 40.2646 / 223.521
27. #36 Bertrand Baguette / 40.2666 / 223.510
28. #7 Danica Patrick / 40.3340 / 223.137
29. #99 Townsend Bell / 40.3799 / 222.883
30. #19 Alex Lloyd / 40.4279 / 222.619
31. #22 Justin Wilson / 40.4587 / 222.449
32. #29 Bruno Junquiera / 40.4899 / 222.278
33. #67 Sarah Fisher / 40.4906 / 222.274
34. #23 Tomas Scheckter / 40.5162 / 222.133
35. #29 Sebastian Saavedra / 40.5681 / 221.849
36. #8 EJ Viso / 40.7947 / 220.617
37. #18 Milka Duno / 41.1066 / 218.943

[SarahFan]

are you still thinking your girl is a shoe in for the win next sunday chad?

[I am evil Homer]

Good to see Taku moving up - he's improved slowly over the practice sessions.

[DanicaFan]

Here are the final results of today's practice..

Rank / Car# & Driver / Lap Time / Speed

1. #3 Helio Castroneves / 39.7250 / 226.558
2. #12 Will Power / 39.7476 / 226.429
3. #77 Alex Tagliani / 39.7960 / 226.153
4. #9 Scott Dixon / 39.8533 / 225.828
5. #32 Mario Moraes / 39.8573 / 225.806
6. #11 Tony Kanaan / 39.8906 / 225.617
7. #6 Ryan Briscoe / 39.9467 / 225.3
8. #26 Marco Andretti / 39.9475 / 225.296
9. #10T Dario Franchitti / 39.9501 / 225.281
10. #99 Townsend Bell / 39.9685 / 225.177
11. #30 Graham Rahal / 39.9749 / 225.141
12. #19 Alex Lloyd / 39.9817 / 225.103
13. #06 Hideki Mutoh / 39.9823 / 225.1
14. #24 Mike Conway / 39.9894 / 225.06
15. #6T Ryan Briscoe / 39.9901 / 225.056
16. #41 AJ Foyt IV / 40.0280 / 224.843
17. #15 Paul Tracy / 40.0386 / 224.783
18. #21 Davey Hamilton / 40.0483 / 224.729
19. #2 Raphael Matos / 40.0508 / 224.715
20. #14 Vitor Meira / 40.0781 / 224.562
21. #22 Justin Wilson / 40.0861 / 224.517
22. #5 Takuma Sato / 40.1017 / 224.429
23. #36 Bertrand Baguette / 40.1049 / 224.411
24. #37 Ryan Hunter-Reay / 40.1095 / 224.386
25. #20 Ed Carpenter / 40.1108 / 224.378
26. #78 Simona De Silvestro / 40.1123 / 224.37
27. #23 Tomas Scheckter / 40.1470 / 224.176
28. #7 Danica Patrick / 40.1535 / 224.140
29. #66 Jay Howard / 40.1756 / 224.017
30. #34 Mario Romancini / 40.1942 / 223.913
31. #43 John Andretti / 40.2926 / 223.366
32. #8T EJ Viso / 40.2931 / 223.363
33. #18 Milka Duno / 40.2966 / 223.344
34. #67 Sarah Fisher / 40.4435 / 222.533
35. #29 Sebastian Saavedra / 40.4958 / 222.245
36. #25 Ana Beatriz / 40.4995 / 222.225

[DanicaFan]

Danica's dad just drew for her qualifying attempt order. It was

Car#7 - 57
Car #7T - 42

[DanicaFan]

are you still thinking your girl is a shoe in for the win next sunday chad?

I am concerned she hasnt got the speed she has in the past. She usually runs extremely well at this track. But seeing her get 224 plus today made me feel much better. I do know the car has been very loose for her and she doesnt like that. In fact one time she ran 210 and it was so loose she pulled right back in the pits. Plus today, the wind was a big factor, she said it was too strong today.

[TURN3]

But she's just so talented like that. I'll be the wind wasn't blowing when the other 25 or so drivers were on track.

[Dr. Krogshöj]

Combined best times for all drivers so far:

1. #3 Helio Castroneves (W) / 227,046
2. #9 Scott Dixon (W) / 226,971
3. #11 Tony Kanaan / 226,775
4. #6 Ryan Briscoe / 226,633
5. #10 Dario Franchitti (W) / 226,535
6. #12 Will Power / 226,429
7. #15 Paul Tracy / 226,322
8. #06 Hideki Mutoh / 226,230
9. #77 Alex Tagliani / 226,153
10. #26 Marco Andretti / 226,108
11. #4 Dan Wheldon (W) / 226,106
12. #32 Mario Moraes / 225,913
13. #30 Graham Rahal / 225,559
14. #21 Davey Hamilton / 225,431
15. #20 Ed Carpenter / 225,283
16. #99 Townsend Bell / 225,137
17. #19 Alex Lloyd / 225,103
18. #24 Mike Conway / 225,060
19. #5 Takuma Sato (R) / 225,047
20. #41 A.J. Foyt IV / 224,843
21. #78 Simona de Silvestro (R) 224,838
22. #2 Raphael Matos / 224,715
23. #14 Vitor Meira / 224,562
24. #22 Justin Wilson / 224,517
25. #36 Bertrand Baguette (R) / 224,411
26. #37 Ryan Hunter-Reay / 224,386
27. #43 John Andretti / 224,324
28. #25 Ana Beatriz (R) / 224,263
29. #23 Tomas Scheckter / 224,176
30. #7 Danica Patrick / 224,140
31. #66 Jay Howard (R) / 224,017
32. #34 Mario Romancini (R) / 223,913
33. #29 Sebastian Saavedra (R) / 223,423
34. #8 E.J. Viso / 223,363
35. #18 Milka Duno / 223,344
36. #67 Sarah Fisher / 222,533
37. #20 Bruno Junqueira / 222,278

[Chris R]

Am I wrong, or does there seem to be a lack of news coming from the 500 this year? I remember when there would be coverage on all the drivers without rides hanging around the pits and chatting with owners about possibilities of putting deals together and new sponsors being signed almost every day. And more news on what the teams are doing to get ready for qualifying. Could it be possible that nobody really understands the new qualifying rules? And how 'bout some more info on the 800 mile teams vs the 1200 mile teams. Just doesn't seem to be much drama or excitement this year even compared to some of the earlier 500s when the IRL was younger.

It does not seem like you are wrong to me - autosport has very little daily news on the 500 (less than normal)... there just seems to be no buzz.... I am thinking breaking with tradition is really biting them in the behind this year... people expect the whole month to be about indy.....

[SarahFan]

remember last year when Sarah was on price is right......

next year id like to see 33 drivers holding cases on deal or no deal.....with the grand prize being $3,333,333.33

[Hoop-98]

Pole Day Practice

http://i47.tinypic.com/11bq0if.jpg

[Marbles]

Good to see Taku moving up - he's improved slowly over the practice sessions.

Ouch, he backed it hard into the wall in this morning's practice. He's awake and alert but complaining about back pain and being transferred to Methodist.

I like Sato but had expected this to happen. Unfortunately it was later rather than sooner. I wonder what drivers are available to qualify cars?

[SarahFan]

'ive never been bad here, I dont think its me'-Danica

[NickFalzone]

'ive never been bad here, I dont think its me'-Danica

To be fair, the whole team has not qualified particularly well. They're 15-20 plus TK in the wall. I actually don't think it's Danica, for once.

[Jag_Warrior]

To be fair, the whole team has not qualified particularly well. They're 15-20 plus TK in the wall. I actually don't think it's Danica, for once.

I just glanced at some of the various practice session times. And while I realize that most of the AA cars have had issues, I see some sessions where Kanaan and Marco looked pretty decent. But I haven't noticed any sessions where Danica was doing much. If Kanaan hadn't crashed, I'm guessing that he would have qualified rather well. But other than John Andretti, Danica seemed to consistently be the slowest of the Andretti drivers in the sessions I looked at.

I understand what you're saying. But it still seems like she's the weakest kitten in a relatively weak litter this year. Several were saying how Ryan Hunter-Reay would struggle on ovals... same with Simona. But they both outqualified the supposed "oval ace", Danica. Can't do road courses. Can't do ovals. Maybe drag racing is next? :D

That was a pretty good qualifying session though. And seeing Danica bite the pillow made it that much more entertaining. :s mokin:

[NickFalzone]

I just glanced at some of the various practice session times. And while I realize that most of the AA cars have had issues, I see some sessions where Kanaan and Marco looked pretty decent. But I haven't noticed any sessions where Danica was doing much. If Kanaan hadn't crashed, I'm guessing that he would have qualified rather well. But other than John Andretti, Danica seemed to consistently be the slowest of the Andretti drivers in the sessions I looked at.

I understand what you're saying. But it still seems like she's the weakest kitten in a relatively weak litter this year. Several were saying how Ryan Hunter-Reay would struggle on ovals... same with Simona. But they both outqualified the supposed "oval ace", Danica. Can't do road courses. Can't do ovals. Maybe drag racing is next? :D

That was a pretty good qualifying session though. And seeing Danica bite the pillow made it that much more entertaining. :s mokin:

well, I would agree that she's not the "oval-meister" that she likes to think she is. She's a decent oval driver, at least when she gets a pretty good car. In this case, she got a not very good car, and skillwise/setupwise simply did not have the ability to improve it.

[Chamoo]

Bruno has been confirmed for tomorrow in car #33 for FAZZT!

[DanicaFan]

Wow, what a bump day. I was so worried about TK making it in. This poor guy just has bad luck at this track.

[DanicaFan]

I was also very impressed with Bruno Junqueira to come out with a car that had only 6 laps under it and qualify so good.

[DanicaFan]

Here is your starting line-up for the 2010 Indianapolis 500 (qualifying speed)..

Row 1

#3 Helio Castroneves - 227.970
#12 Will Power - 227.578
#10 Dario Franchitti - 226.990

Row 2

#6 Ryan Briscoe - 226.554
#77 Alex Tagliani - 226.390
#9 Scott Dixon - 226.233

Row 3

#30 Graham Rahal - 225.519
#20 Ed Carpenter - 224.507
#06 Hideki Mutoh - 223.487

Row 4

#99 Townsend Bell - 225.097
#22 Justin Wilson - 225.050
#2 Raphael Matos - 225.028

Row 5

#32 Mario Moraes - 224.888
#21 Davey Hamilton - 224.852
#24 Mike Conway - 224.583

Row 6

#26 Marco Andretti - 224.575
#37 Ryan Hunter-Reay - 224.547
#4 Dan Wheldon - 224.464

Row 7

#8 EJ Viso - 224.380
#23 Tomas Scheckter - 224.261
#25 Ana Beatriz - 224.243

Row 8

#78 Simona De Silvestro - 224.228
#7 Danica Patrick - 224.217
#36 Bertrand Baguette - 224.189

Row 9

#33 Bruno Junqueira - 225.662
#19 Alex Lloyd - 224.783
#34 Mario Romancini - 224.641

Row 10

#43 John Andretti - 224.518
#67 Sarah Fisher - 224.434
#14 Vitor Meira - 224.388

Row 11

#5 Takuma Sato - 224.178
#11 Tony Kanaan - 224.072
#29 Sebastian Saavedra - 223.634

[DanicaFan]

I also like how Alex Lloyd talked around the obvious when being asked about Milka's car and how good it was. I know he wanted to say, its not the car, its the driver. It was a classy interview by Alex for sure.

Im just so happy Milka isnt in it. Much safer out there now.

[DanicaFan]

A few quick garage pics down at the track..

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee236/DanicaRules/IMG_1138.jpg

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee236/DanicaRules/IMG_1137.jpg

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee236/DanicaRules/IMG_1141.jpg

[Marbles]

I guess one of the positives I got out of this latest Indy 500 qualification is the series seems stronger, somewhat. It looks like there may be no more room for the Milka's and Dr. Jack's of open wheel at Indy.

[DavePI2]

well said DF on the improved safety for this years race.

[harvick#1]

so DF, any other pics that dont involve Danica Patrick's #7 team

[markabilly]

it should be more interesting with the wings being flat as possible, which means lots of loose cars come the race...unless everyone dials it back in

[SarahFan]

I would go with irrelevant

Still think so?

[chuck34]

Sorry if this has been posted elsewhere, but was anyone at the track on Saturday? I was and heard the quote of the year, maybe decade.

"It's just not my fault!" -Danica

I try not to be too hard on her most of the time. But THAT statement is just unexcusable. You don't throw your crew under the bus like that, especially not over the PA at the track. You should have heard the boos from the crowd. And the comments from the people around me can't really be written here, but they were funny as hell.

Like I said, I've tried to give her the bennifit of the doubt for years. But after THAT display of "sportsmanship" ... she's fair game. And I wouldn't be surprised if she falls out early with an "unexpected" mechanical issue, if you get my meaning.

[I am evil Homer]

I expected Wheldon to be a little higher but come race day he could be Top 5. Nice to see Sato make it when it was clear he struggled and top marks to Bruno for jumping in that car and getting the job done

[Chamoo]

I expected Wheldon to be a little higher but come race day he could be Top 5. Nice to see Sato make it when it was clear he struggled and top marks to Bruno for jumping in that car and getting the job done

Imagine Bruno in a top car for an entire month at Indy again? I guess you could call FAZZT Racing a top car at the moment, but imagine if he had it from start to finish at Indy?

[Hoop-98]

Still think so?

yes, exactly the same relevance as setting the #2 speed one day. And I do believe he out performed Milka per the original question.
"How about PT behind Milka? surprising, expected, or irrelevant?"

rh

[SarahFan]

yes, exactly the same relevance as setting the #2 speed one day. And I do believe he out performed Milka per the original question.
"How about PT behind Milka? surprising, expected, or irrelevant?"

rh

then again neither made the show

[garyshell]

then again neither made the show

Which does nothing to negate the fact that the answer to the original question was "it's irrelevant". It was then, and it is still.

Gary

[SarahFan]

Which does nothing to negate the fact that the answer to the original question was "it's irrelevant". It was then, and it is still.

Gary

really......under the circumstances it sure seems to be

[Hoop-98]

Not to someone who races...after a few thousand hot laps practices quals and races you have a different perspective

[SarahFan]

How high is your ladder hoop?

Because that's a mighty high horse your posting from!


What may not of seemed relevant at the time sure does now .... On the time sheet in question both were near the bottom .... And here we are on Monday and neither made the race ..... I'd say there is in fact some relevance ...

Now whether you and Gary want to acknowledge it is another thing all together

[SUBARUTEAM]

Here is your starting line-up for the 2010 Indianapolis 500 (qualifying speed)..

Row 1

#3 Helio Castroneves - 227.970
#12 Will Power - 227.578
#10 Dario Franchitti - 226.990

Row 2

#6 Ryan Briscoe - 226.554
#77 Alex Tagliani - 226.390
#9 Scott Dixon - 226.233

Row 3

#30 Graham Rahal - 225.519
#20 Ed Carpenter - 224.507
#06 Hideki Mutoh - 223.487

Row 4

#99 Townsend Bell - 225.097
#22 Justin Wilson - 225.050
#2 Raphael Matos - 225.028

Row 5

#32 Mario Moraes - 224.888
#21 Davey Hamilton - 224.852
#24 Mike Conway - 224.583

Row 6

#26 Marco Andretti - 224.575
#37 Ryan Hunter-Reay - 224.547
#4 Dan Wheldon - 224.464

Row 7

#8 EJ Viso - 224.380
#23 Tomas Scheckter - 224.261
#25 Ana Beatriz - 224.243

Row 8

#78 Simona De Silvestro - 224.228
#7 Danica Patrick - 224.217
#36 Bertrand Baguette - 224.189

Row 9

#33 Bruno Junqueira - 225.662
#19 Alex Lloyd - 224.783
#34 Mario Romancini - 224.641

Row 10

#43 John Andretti - 224.518
#67 Sarah Fisher - 224.434
#14 Vitor Meira - 224.388

Row 11

#5 Takuma Sato - 224.178
#11 Tony Kanaan - 224.072
#29 Sebastian Saavedra - 223.634

the gap between P1 and P33 is 4.336 mph which to me looks pretty tight.
how does that compare to previous years?
I think this could be one of the strongest fields since the split?

[Hoop-98]

How high is your ladder hoop?

Because that's a mighty high horse your posting from!


What may not of seemed relevant at the time sure does now .... On the time sheet in question both were near the bottom .... And here we are on Monday and neither made the race ..... I'd say there is in fact some relevance ...

Now whether you and Gary want to acknowledge it is another thing all together

It's not high at all Ken. On another time sheets PT was number 2. People that race for 40 years or 5 years know how this works. Nothing smart or high, just what it is.

I would hope you know a bit more about cooking than I do, and if i said something silly, you would let me know.

I put some biscuits in once at 325 and burned them and that means?

nada, means nothing as did PT's time at that time.

rh

[SarahFan]

Not sure what go tell ya hoop...

Two racers are at the bottom of a time sheet .....2 racers fail to qualify

seems to me there is some relevance there..

Clearly from way up there the view is different

[Hoop-98]

Not sure what go tell ya hoop...

Two racers are at the bottom of a time sheet .....2 racers fail to qualify

seems to me there is some relevance there..

Clearly from way up there the view is different

Clearly from down here, with us racers, like PT, the view is pretty similar...

[SarahFan]

Clearly from down here, with us racers, like PT, the view is pretty similar...


You mean from the sidelines?

[Hoop-98]

You mean from the sidelines?

Sidelines, pits, cockpit, racers know, I am sure it's the same in your field of expertise. Sometimes I have been in every different scenario, it is no shame you haven't Ken.

Did you read Paul's words. That is what real racing like. If you think he doesn't know what is what, well we will agree to disgree.

Non-racing fans, unless they are willing to learn from people like Paul Tracy and other racers, have no clue, on this topic, well you seem to want to kick Paul to the curb and claim you know better.. IMHO

rh

[SarahFan]

Not kicking Paul to the curb at all .... He was is and remains my favorite racer


But the reality he was slow during the session in question .... And he as well milka failed to qualify ...

Am I lumping him in the milka category ... He'll no

but in retrospect his lack of speed wasn't irrellevant

clearly you disagree ...... But reality is neither is Field next Sunday ....

[chuck34]

Here are the results of Practice Session 1..

Rank / Car# & Driver / Lap Time / Speed

1. #3T Helio Castroneves / 00:39.7170 / 226.603
2. #10T Dario Franchitti / 00:39.7290 / 226.535
3. #9T Scott Dixon / 00:39.7813 / 226.237
4. #4 Dan Wheldon / 00:39.8921 / 225.609
5. #43 Tony Kanaan / 00:40.0369 / 224.793
6. #11 Tony Kanaan / 00:40.0560 / 224.685
7. #20 Ed Carpenter / 00:40.0726 / 224.592
8. #26 Marco Andretti / 00:40.0952 / 224.466
9. #6T Ryan Briscoe / 00:40.1098 / 224.384
10. #43 John Andretti / 00:40.1206 / 224.324
11. #12T Will Power / 00:40.1251 / 224.299
12. #32 Mario Moraes / 00:40.1906 / 223.933
13. #06T Hideki Mutoh / 00:40.1959 / 223.903
14. #7 Danica Patrick / 00:40.2412 / 223.651
15. #26 Tony Kanaan / 00:40.2655 / 223.516
16. #7 Tony Kanaan / 00:40.3212 / 223.208
17. #14 Vitor Meira / 00:40.3248 / 223.188
18. #2 Raphael Matos / 00:40.3844 / 222.858
19. #8 EJ Viso / 00:40.4196 / 222.664
20. #67 Sarah Fisher / 00:40.4703 / 222.385
21. #18 Milka Duno / 00:40.5314 / 222.050
22. #37 Ryan Hunter-Reay / 00:40.5942 / 221.707
23. #24 Mike Conway / 00:40.6317 / 221.502
24. #19 Alex Lloyd / 00:40.6612 / 221.341
25. #37 Tony Kanaan / 00:40.6817 / 221.230
26. #22 Justin Wilson / 00:40.7143 / 221.053
27. #15 Paul Tracy / 00:40.9996 / 219.514

Sorry to but in to your argument here guys. But I've gotta side with Hoop here. Practice times don't always mean anything. Look at these times. Milka in 21st. Who's below her? RHR, Conway, Lloyd, Kanaan, Wilson, Tracy. Take out the drama with Kanaan, and just look at these guy's qual speeds, and they're all solidly in the field. So if practice times are the end-all-be-all then wouldn't you expect all of those guys to be out as well? PT (he's one of my least favorite drivers, so I really don't want to defend him) and his crew took, what normally would have been, a pretty safe gamble and decided to work on race set-ups all week. That made them slow-ish in practice. But they all figured that he could pull out a nice solid lap to put the thing in the show, which he did before pulling his time.

Practice times mean squat!

[chuck34]

Practice Session 2 results..

Rank / Car# & Driver / Lap Time / Speed

1. #3 Helio Castroneves / 00:39.6395 / 227.046
2. #9 Scott Dixon / 00:39.7875 / 226.202
3. #10 Dario Franchitti / 00:39.8152 / 226.044
4. #12 Will Power / 00:39.8937 / 225.600
5. #11 Tony Kanaan / 00:39.9070 / 225.524
6. #32 Mario Moraes / 00:39.9924 / 225.043
7. #4 Dan Wheldon / 00:40.0742 / 224.583
8. #6 Ryan Briscoe / 00:40.0786 / 224.559
9. #26 Marco Andretti / 00:40.0910 / 224.489
10. #30 Graham Rahal / 00:40.1212 / 224.320
11. #14 Vitor Meira / 00:40.1553 / 224.130
12. #99 Townsend Bell / 00:40.2735 / 223.472
13. #7 Danica Patrick / 00:40.2898 / 223.382
14. #41 AJ Foyt IV / 00:40.4010 / 222.767
15. #06T Hideki Mutoh / 00:40.4127 / 222.702
16. #22 Justin Wilson / 00:40.4486 / 222.505
17. #8 EJ Viso / 00:40.4899 / 222.278
18. #2 Raphael Matos / 00:40.5056 / 222.191
19. #67 Sarah Fisher / 00:40.5126 / 222.153
20. #43 John Andretti / 00:40.5167 / 222.131
21. #15 Paul Tracy / 00:40.5654 / 221.864
22. #25 Ana Beatriz / 00:40.5945 / 221.705
23. #20 Ed Carpenter / 00:40.6256 / 221.535
24. #77 Alex Tagliani / 00:40.6353 / 221.482
25. #23 Tomas Scheckter / 00:40.7135 / 221.057
26. #19 Alex Lloyd / 00:40.7204 / 221.019
27. #37 Ryan Hunter-Reay / 00:40.7285 / 220.975
28. #34 Mario Romancini / 00:40.8544 / 220.295
29. #5 Takuma Sato / 00:40.8973 / 220.063
30. #24 Mike Conway / 00:40.9380 / 219.845
31. #36 Bertrand Baguette / 00:40.9631 / 219.710
32. #18 Milka Duno / 00:41.0469 / 219.261
33. #29 Sebastian Saavedra / 00:41.1116 / 218.916

And here's practice times that have AJ IV in 14 and PT in 21. Are those times irrelevent? Yet the times when PT's slow relevent? Can't have it both ways.

[SarahFan]

All four times you highlighted were in fact too slow to make the field....

Might mean squat to you .....means pt won't be strapping in next Sunday

Ymmv but from where I sit that's not irrellevant

[Hoop-98]

ces't la vie, enjoy that world...

[garyshell]

Not kicking Paul to the curb at all .... He was is and remains my favorite racer


But the reality he was slow during the session in question .... And he as well milka failed to qualify ...

Am I lumping him in the milka category ... He'll no

but in retrospect his lack of speed wasn't irrellevant

clearly you disagree ...... But reality is neither is Field next Sunday ....

His lack of speed on the chart in question WAS irrelevant, because Paul clearly stated they were experimenting with race day setups at that time NOT qualifying setups. So his time on that sheet relative to him being in the field was then and is now irrelevant. That time had nothing at all to do with their qualifying attempts.

But you just want to pick a fight with Hoop, so go ahead. You're gonna get your head handed to you, as he has forgotten more about racing than you will ever know.

Gary

[SarahFan]

Typical .....Gary stick with the discusssion.... What Paul or milka were working on isn't relevant...

What is patently relavant is that they were both slow .... And now are both sitting on the sidelines

now make no mistake i'm not happy about..... But in hindsight from where I sit it's perfectly clear it's relevant ......

For where you and hoop obviosly not so much.... But Paul is still on the sidelines now isn't he..... Perhaps he should have been working on qualifying setups huh!?!?!

[garyshell]

Typical .....Gary stick with the discusssion.... What Paul or milka were working on isn't relevant...

What is patently relavant is that they were both slow .... And now are both sitting on the sidelines

now make no mistake i'm not happy about..... But in hindsight from where I sit it's perfectly clear it's relevant ......

For where you and hoop obviosly not so much.... But Paul is still on the sidelines now isn't he..... Perhaps he should have been working on qualifying setups huh!?!?!

WHAT???? You are not that clueless. On the sheet in question Paul was working on race day setups, Paul himself has made that point clear. Just so you know, race setups are SLOWER than qualifying setups. A day or so later on another time sheet Paul was second fastest.

The times he posted while working on race day setups have ZERO, NADA, ZILCH to do with what his qualifying times were.

So you think he should have been working on qualifying setups that day, huh? So you are more qualified than Barry Green on what they should or should not have been doing that day. Man I'd love to be there when you had the cajones to say that to Paul or Barry's face. Let me remind you that the temperatures that day were quite low, and the weather forecast for qualifying were for MUCH higher temperatures. And since the temperature is a HUGE factor in the setups, they felt it was a waste of time and tires to work on qualifying setups knowing that the data gained would be USELESS come Saturday. (I believe the time sheet in question was prior to knowing they would get more tires, but I may be worng about the timing of that.)

But no, Ken knows better. He knows they should have been working on qualifying that day. Priceless. Let us know when you get the job of team manager.

Gary

[jimispeed]

Well, I'll tell ya who I wish would have been here racing, and the one I'm taking great notice of!!

First off, I still believe that Robert Doornbos is a racer who deserves to be in an Indycar, and I believe we'll see him doing amazing things in Indycar in the near future.

The one I'm beginning to notice a great talent from is Simona! She is silently becoming comfortable with an Indycar IMO!!

[jimispeed]

Another thing.........I think Satos car looks pretty cool!! for an Indycar

[SarahFan]

WHAT???? You are not that clueless. On the sheet in question Paul was working on race day setups, Paul himself has made that point clear. Just so you know, race setups are SLOWER than qualifying setups. A day or so later on another time sheet Paul was second fastest.

The times he posted while working on race day setups have ZERO, NADA, ZILCH to do with what his qualifying times were.

So you think he should have been working on qualifying setups that day, huh? So you are more qualified than Barry Green on what they should or should not have been doing that day. Man I'd love to be there when you had the cajones to say that to Paul or Barry's face. Let me remind you that the temperatures that day were quite low, and the weather forecast for qualifying were for MUCH higher temperatures. And since the temperature is a HUGE factor in the setups, they felt it was a waste of time and tires to work on qualifying setups knowing that the data gained would be USELESS come Saturday. (I believe the time sheet in question was prior to knowing they would get more tires, but I may be worng about the timing of that.)

But no, Ken knows better. He knows they should have been working on qualifying that day. Priceless. Let us know when you get the job of team manager.

Gary

not sure what to tell ya gary....but early in the week Paul was slow, at one point slower than Milka....

both failed to qualify...

what then may have seemed irrelavant..... clearly today doesnt look that way to me

had Paul put it in the field you might have a Valid point..... the fact he didnt seems to support me....


clearly super fans like like you and hoop know something I dont....perhaps YOUR in fact the one who knows more than Barry

[SarahFan]

they felt it was a waste of time and tires to work on qualifying setups knowing that the data gained would be USELESS come Saturday. (I believe the time sheet in question was prior to knowing they would get more tires, but I may be worng about the timing of that.)

But no, Ken knows better.

Gary

in retrospect the penske boys seemed to disagree with you......they know a thing or two about the month of may at the speedway....

[chuck34]

All four times you highlighted were in fact too slow to make the field....


So then you agree with me, all those PRACTICE times are irrelavent. Thank you for seeing the point.

[SarahFan]

So then you agree with me, all those PRACTICE times are irrelavent. Thank you for seeing the point.

Then why practice at all....

[Chris R]

If practice were irrelevant they wouldn't do it....

I understand that there is sandbagging and piecing together laps, working on sectors separately etc. but I have to agree with Ken, I mean SarahFan... Paul had a bunch more slower laps than faster ones... It seems to me you need to piece together a reasonable number of fast practice laps to be able to contend for a good starting position with a strong degree of confidence that you will succeed....

That being said - comparing Paul to Milka is just plain absurd - you aren't gonna get many racing fans to see your point of view if you do silly thing like that!! :p Paul not making the race had a lot more to do with bad luck than Milka not making the race...... - in that sense practice is irrelevant - Milka had no chance of doing better - Paul did and his faster practice laps proved that....

however, at the end of the day neither will be drinking the milk in victory lane..... and really, in the big scheme of things the whole sport is pretty low on the relevance scale - it is just fun.......

[EagleEye]

Again for those who are not at the track, every day, talking with drivers and engineers (or working with them) I would be careful with some observations made from your living room.

Practice times:

Practice is practice. Comparing times from one team to another is a foolsih game, UNLESS you know what each team's practice stratedgy, how the car is set up is and weather they were running alone or in the draft. It is kind of like going to the gym, and looking at how much weight each person puts up and trying to compare who is the strongest guy. It means nothing, unless you know what they are training for.

Some teams are working on race setup, others on qualifying setup. Also, when the time was posted, was the driver alone, or were they getting a tow? Were they towed by one, two or more cars. Even then, you can have two teams working on race setups, but one team might be looking at half tank runs, while another might be going with full tank runs. Some might be running sticker tires, others scrubbed, etc, etc.

There are times when you run at set speed to check certain things (the Honda engine guy might want you to stay in 5th or 6th gear, to check the soft/hard limiter, etc) the driver might be checking for a wheel vibration to go away, or the wind may have shifted. They might be checking dash warngin lights, or spotter checks, etc.

We actually make notes in our lap times on how many cars were we following and ensure that when we are working on qual set ups, we run alone. We throw out the times where we kow a driver was getting a pull, even our own.

From our notes, Milka's fastest lap came after being passed by a group of four-five cars, so she had a pretty good tow.

If someone is dumb enough to compare Milka to anyone else who did not make the race, remember race control called her in at least four times! Al Jr. was sent down twice to "advise" her twice or more. I think only two other drivers were called in by race control this month, both rookies. Of course, there were times I did not have my radio on so those who were there can chime in.

Let the madness continue.

[SarahFan]

Lets be perfectly clear.....No one.... Certainly not me is Compairing Paul to milka

[I am evil Homer]

Indeed no one has done that merely stated he wasn't quick enough to make the field. That's a fact because he isn't there!

[garyshell]

clearly super fans like like you and hoop know something I dont....perhaps YOUR in fact the one who knows more than Barry

I know Paul himself said he was not working on qualifying setups at that time so what he was doing then had nothing to do with his qualifying effort.

And I know it was not me who was second guessing what Barry should have been doing during that session. Look to your own posts, two of them in fact, for that little gem. You won't find a single instance in mine where I am suggesting what the team SHOULD have been doing. But as usual, you want to try to put words in other folks mouths to divert from your own.

Gary

[SarahFan]

I know Paul himself said he was not working on qualifying setups at that time so what he was doing then had nothing to do with his qualifying effort.

And I know it was not me who was second guessing what Barry should have been doing during that session. Look to your own posts, two of them in fact, for that little gem. You won't find a single instance in mine where I am suggesting what the team SHOULD have been doing. But as usual, you want to try to put words in other folks mouths to divert from your own.

Gary
not sure what to tell ya gary..

its rather clear Paul rolled off the hauler slow.... then failed to qualify

seems to me there might just be some relevance there

have a nice day

[garyshell]

not sure what to tell ya gary..

its rather clear Paul rolled off the hauler slow.... then failed to qualify

seems to me there might just be some relevance there

have a nice day


This is pathetic. What does ANY of that have to do with the original question about the time sheet in question and if there was any relevance to Paul being slower than Milka on that day? Now you want to make this into something completely different. Why does that not surprise me? We're done.

Gary

[SarahFan]

Why so confusing Gary..... It's the very heart of the discussion

Paul was slow off the truck .... And while it was pointed out early on that it was irrellevant ... I like you and most agreed

well he failed to qualify .... I'd suggest that makes that early speed relevant


Clearly you disagree .... But your a super fan so clearly you k ow more

[SarahFan]

So I just went back and looked at the time sheet in question....

5 of the top 6 qualifiers ran top ten out if the box

no relevance?
No corrolation?

[TURN3]

I'd like to add my perspective of the week overall and you can interpret what you want from it. Paul had made it public that they were working on race setups all week. They in fact didn't trim the car out until Friday and it became very clear very fast if you look at the time sheets that they were flirting with disaster. I personally think the team made a GROSS error in time management. I became slightly concerned after he put up the 226 and I read from Hoops speed chart post that it was the ONLY 226 he put up that day. There was nothing consistent about his times. I think 1 other 225 and about 3 224's in a row. Other than that, in race trim, he struggled to crack into the 224's. In my opinion, they sat out too many sessions, and should've at least spent half of day checking the qual set before frickin' Friday. I understand the base setup from the race was fast under the conditions from the week of practice but still, c'mon. I think Barry and somewhat KV screwed the pouch on this one.

I also think that having 3 freakin' hard crashes from their full-timers seriously hampered their entire program. I said that the second EJ cracked the wall. Frankly, All 3 crashes were as a result of the same handling problems that made Paul slow.

Had it not been for the software glitch which hosed both PT and EJ on pole day, PT would be in the show around 15th right now because that timeframe was the most close to the conditions he practiced in for what 2 hours on Friday in qual trim?

So are the timesheets from practice relative? Yes and No. It was irrelavant that he was last or behind Milka on that particular sheet but overall, looking at all the sheets all week, he never put up a sim qual run or even race trim runs with times above 223's. That is pretty relavant!

I think what if PT would've taken that GEICO deal to NH or FAZZT? Good lord they didn't have any issues! KV looks to be about just like AA, unprofessional and overstretched. I hate to say it because I want them to do well, sort of my little underdog team if you will. But hindsight is 20/20 and I like PT is sticking by them...he can make them better. After his run last year, Mario was a contender all the way at the front instead of from 10th. I credit PT's knowledge and experience...lets see what happens at Toronto and Edmonton and hope for some more.

[chuck34]

Then why practice at all....

I'm not saying that practice is completely irrelevent. However, as others have said better than I, unless you know what a team is doing, you can't gleam anything from practice times.

How can PT being slower than Milka be relevant in one session. Then when he's P2 in another that is not relevant. Can't have it both ways, either it matters or it doesn't. And since PT has said that he was working on race set-ups most of the week, I'd say it doesn't matter.

Now if you want to debate wether or not it was a good idea to be practicing race set-ups all week, it might be a different story.

[Mark in Oshawa]

First off, comparing anything he does to what Milka does is just stupid.

The fact is, the team wasn't ready, they have 3 guys who do not much more than run fast and wreck cars, and they blew the strategy PT needed to get into the field. Case closed. Not making the 500 says volumes about the people running KV racing screwing up....and not anything about PT. Paul isn't afraid to put the pedal down and he knows how to run at Indy. He has proven that more than once.....and he didn't get stupid in the last year...

[booger]

Just out! Mikey Andretti will be driving the 2-seater DURING the pace laps with Mr. Izod onboard. It is the Brickyard 500. And I just heard that Humpy Wheeler has been hired to restage his famous "invasion of Grenada" just before the race! What a bunch of crappy crap crap! Come on Mr. Bernard, don't let this happen!

[DavePI2]

a new question(unless already covered, if so sorry), any guesses on attendance this sunday? Everything but football is being hurt by this recession so I am assumimg the 500 will be also(of course we all know what assumption is the mother of). I certainly don't exspect it to be anything like the flight from nascar this year(how about that crowd at dover) still I believe it will be down some. Any other perdictions on this matter. I sure hope I am wrong, will be a great race anyway.

[racer69]

Has there been a reason given yet as to why Foyt IV was replaced by Lazier??

[Easy Drifter]

AJ IV apparently came in after a run and said the car as it was set up was undriveable. AJ in his normal calm sensible way supposedly said between cuss words get in and drive the car.
Grandson was then either fired or quit or a bit of both.
Lazier was not as fast but from what I hear told AJ the same thing AJ IV had said about the handling.

[I am evil Homer]

I know maybe long-time US-based fans aren't over the moon about all the overseas drivers but i'll be watching the 500 for the first time since Montoya was racing to see how Sato gets on.

[chuck34]

Just out! Mikey Andretti will be driving the 2-seater DURING the pace laps with Mr. Izod onboard. It is the Brickyard 500. And I just heard that Humpy Wheeler has been hired to restage his famous "invasion of Grenada" just before the race! What a bunch of crappy crap crap! Come on Mr. Bernard, don't let this happen!

Not exactly sure what your problem with that is? They always do something somewhat like this pre-race. Cars with celebrities on the parade laps, fly overs, celebs driving the pace car, etc. So what's the problem?

[Lousada]

Not exactly sure what your problem with that is? They always do something somewhat like this pre-race. Cars with celebrities on the parade laps, fly overs, celebs driving the pace car, etc. So what's the problem?

It will be at the back of the field when they take the green flag.
Let's pass for a moment on the possible risks and rather think about how ABC is going to screw this up. I would not be surprised if they kept following the two seater right until the first cars enter turn1.

[Lousada]

a new question(unless already covered, if so sorry), any guesses on attendance this sunday? Everything but football is being hurt by this recession so I am assumimg the 500 will be also(of course we all know what assumption is the mother of). I certainly don't exspect it to be anything like the flight from nascar this year(how about that crowd at dover) still I believe it will be down some. Any other perdictions on this matter. I sure hope I am wrong, will be a great race anyway.

As far as butts in the seat it will look the same as last year I guess. The real recession damage is invisible to us, it's the suites and VIPs and ticketpackages that will be scaled back.
One thing is for sure though, it will be nothing like Kansas!

[chuck34]

It will be at the back of the field when they take the green flag.
Let's pass for a moment on the possible risks and rather think about how ABC is going to screw this up. I would not be surprised if they kept following the two seater right until the first cars enter turn1.

I didn't realize that it would be on the track when the green flag waves. THAT is unacceptable. I can't believe that is the case, do you have an article or something. As dumb as many of the decisions around are, that one just seems unbelievable.

[SarahFan]

seems odd they/it would be on the track when they drop the green......

do they do 3 or 4 pace laps at indy....

I could see them leading the procession of pace cars for a couple laps... then the pace car for the last 1 or 2....


but at the drop of the green?....no

[garyshell]

Doesn't F1 have a safety car follow the field on the first lap? At first blush, it seems to me that having the car follow the field isn't such a big issue.

Gary

[I am evil Homer]

Yes and it's a modded road car (Merc SLR) - really shouldn't be an issue

[booger]

And if something dumb happens like a tire failure on the two seater? And Mikey slaps the wall? Anybody remember Roberto G. spinning out on the back straight of the pace lap? Yup, this is really a good idea. Flyovers are great and celebrity parades before the pace lap are fine, but flying up to the back of the field in a 2-seater at 200mph as the green flies is stupid, stupid, stupid. And you can bet ABC will spend more time on the in car of the 2-seater too.

[Lousada]

I didn't realize that it would be on the track when the green flag waves. THAT is unacceptable. I can't believe that is the case, do you have an article or something. As dumb as many of the decisions around are, that one just seems unbelievable.

From the press release on indycar.com:

Andretti and Wahlberg will follow four parade cars and lead the official pace car and the 33-car field of IZOD IndyCars on three parade laps. Once the parade cars exit the circuit, the two-seat race car will round the track at nearly 200 mph to catch the field from behind as the field takes the green flag for the most famous race in the world. This historic moment, which marks the first time in modern history that a driver and passenger will join the field of the Indy 500, will be captured live on ABC at noon (ET) on May 30.

Let's hope the twoseater has good spotters. Imagine BB waves of the start and that thing comes hurling down with 200mph towards the back of the field...

[chuck34]

What happens when there is a turn 1 pile up as often happens at Indy? That 2 seater will end up right in the middle of it. This is as stupid as it gets.

My only hope is that the wording is a bit off. I could see them being at the head of the field as the official pace lap starts. They sprint away from the field and duck into the pits ahead of the field actually taking the green.

[SarahFan]

What happens when there is a turn 1 pile up as often happens at Indy? That 2 seater will end up right in the middle of it. This is as stupid as it gets.

My only hope is that the wording is a bit off. I could see them being at the head of the field as the official pace lap starts. They sprint away from the field and duck into the pits ahead of the field actually taking the green.


I really cant imagine its anything else....

[Andrewmcm]

That press release doesn't mention the 2-seater taking the green. Sounds to me like it will belt around on the final pace lap from in front of the pace car to the rear of the field, and then (hopefully) pull into the pits as the green falls.

[GRW1983]

That press release doesn't mention the 2-seater taking the green. Sounds to me like it will belt around on the final pace lap from in front of the pace car to the rear of the field, and then (hopefully) pull into the pits as the green falls.

I would imagine that as the 33-car field takes the green flag, the 2-seater will be at the rear of the field and pull into the pits, so that it isn't on track when the race actually starts. Even with Michael Andretti at the wheel, there would be too much risk to do anything else.

[Marbles]

There was a situation at one of the CART races where, during the pace car drive around rides, they put one of them in the wall seriously injuring both the driver and passenger - who was a VP for one of the Japanese sponsors.

I think that was the young Canadian CART hopeful and then FA driver Andrew Bordin in an NSX at California speedway. I think it was a demonstaration drive and not a pace lap if I remember correctly. It pretty much ended a very promising career. I also thought of that when I read this and I also thought of the convertible that ran into the press stand at Indy coming off the pace lap.

No fatalities, thank God.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTNDPmIO4Lw

[Marbles]

Doesn't F1 have a safety car follow the field on the first lap? At first blush, it seems to me that having the car follow the field isn't such a big issue.

Gary

True, but it takes a lot longer for Formula cars to lap a road course than an Indy car to lap Indy. What if there's a big mess at the end of the field in the first corner. We all know the Andretti's don't look very far down the road. ;)

[SarahFan]

http://www.ibj.com/web-story-templat.../article/20203

an interesting tidbit.....

it seems the locals like Randy also....

*while certainly still a long road to travel and sure to be some bumps and scary corners....it sure is nice to see the sport and the 500 headed in the right direction again

[markabilly]

From the press release on indycar.com:


Let's hope the twoseater has good spotters. Imagine BB waves of the start and that thing comes hurling down with 200mph towards the back of the field...
OH, WOW, that ought to make everyone turn on their TV sets, along with Jack Nicholson being around, somewhere...

Now some might say that is really really dumb......and just adds to the circus entertainment atmosphere... but I am more concerned with more important things, as wondering if go daddy will have some even better commercials than my sig...I can hardly wait :dozey:

as to times, I think that is folks turning the wings down for more downforce...and no doubt some, turning down far more than others....fear seems to do that to some, more than others... :eek:

BTW--what day is the race?????

[Gazi]

will the race be postponed if it rains?

[DanicaFan]

Goodnight all. I have to be up real early for the race tomorrow. I cant wait to post here later tomorrow when Danica takes the checkered flag!!! :)

I hope everyone enjoys the race.

[TURN3]

Goodnight all. I have to be up real early for the race tomorrow. I cant wait to post here later tomorrow when Danica takes the checkered flag!!! :)

I hope everyone enjoys the race.

Guess we won't ever be hearing from you again! Hard to win from 2 laps down by the 125 mile mark.

[chuck34]

Guess we won't ever be hearing from you again! Hard to win from 2 laps down by the 125 mile mark.

Not that I'm disagreeing with you about Danica ...

But wasn't Villinuve down 2 laps at one point. Or maybe he was a lap down twice. Something like that?

[TURN3]

Not that I'm disagreeing with you about Danica ...

But wasn't Villinuve down 2 laps at one point. Or maybe he was a lap down twice. Something like that?

I almost qualified my statement with that. I believe it was 2 laps that he was down and ended up winning. But I chose not to degrade someone as talented as Jacque by mentioning "Danica" in the same breath. :)

[beachbum]

Goodnight all. I have to be up real early for the race tomorrow. I cant wait to post here later tomorrow when Danica takes the checkered flag!!! :)

I hope everyone enjoys the race.You mean "green" flag. The other one isn't quite as certain..... ;)

[beachgirl]

Goodnight all. I have to be up real early for the race tomorrow. I cant wait to post here later tomorrow when Danica takes the checkered flag!!! :)

I hope everyone enjoys the race.

Well, in the very strictest sense, if she is running at the end, she WILL take the checkered flag. Everyone running at the end does. Note he didn't include that she would be the first one across for the checkered flag! :)

Reality can be a bite. Maybe DF is finally seeing that. He's still a great fan, just not a realistic one.

[markabilly]

I almost qualified my statement with that. I believe it was 2 laps that he was down and ended up winning. But I chose not to degrade someone as talented as Jacque by mentioning "Danica" in the same breath. :)
he managed to get lucky via SC periods, and able to unlap himself...otherwise he would have been in the middle of the pack

[Andrewmcm]

JV also had one of the fastest cars on race day - he was in the lead when he got his penalty if memory serves.

[TURN3]

he managed to get lucky via SC periods, and able to unlap himself...otherwise he would have been in the middle of the pack

Ya think? You are so observative!

[markabilly]

JV also had one of the fastest cars on race day - he was in the lead when he got his penalty if memory serves.
oh, yes, he was going fast, very fast.....but those "lucky breaks" is how he got where he ultimately got back to winning spot...

needless to say, I did not mean he won only because he was lucky, far from it

At the time i said he was going to one of the all time greats....he then proved he was on that road with a WDC going head to head with Schuie....

then he seemed to sort of lose whatever it was that made him so good..........

[TURN3]

Man, I wish IZOD would design a better looking suit for RHR. They have him looking like a circus clown with those red and white stripes. He just needs the big floppy shoes and he'd be set. I guess he does drive at AA though, maybe there is some parody in that?

[domaza]

I am watching "Live video" from indycar.com. Do you also have sound "going away"?

[domaza]

I am watching "Live video" from indycar.com. Do you also have sound "going away"?

Anyone has the same problem? Sound is heard only "like in background" ...

[domaza]

OK, I shouldn't have complained ... now the picture is also gone :)

[garyshell]

Where the hell was Davey's spotter?

Outside. Outside. Outside!

Gary

[SarahFan]

Why don't they just change the tradition to 33 cars in single file!?!?!

[TURN3]

Where the hell was Davey's spotter?

Outside. Outside. Outside!

Gary

I wouldn't blame that on the spotter, Davey just got loose. Oh well! Did you see TK blowing around the outside of 1 & 2!? he's moved up to 25th in 2 turns. I'm sure that'll get a little tougher the further forward he goes but impressive nonetheless.

[TURN3]

TK wouldn've been in 18th by 3 if not for that yellow. Wow! Great show!

[TURN3]

Graham going straight backwards...Ana mixin it up like a vet

[TURN3]

Go frickin' figure! A pass for the lead of the Indy 500 and they missed it while talking about an irrelevant 25th driver about to be lapped. Man, this pees me off more and more.

[Nikki Katz]

How come they didn;t stop Power sooner? That looked really dangerous even by I500 standards. Plus had he gone straight back in there'd be no need for a yellow.

[Scotty G.]

This race looks like a AAA baseball game.

-Awful start (these guys have no idea how to properly start a race)
-Bonehead moves from the usual bonehead drivers (Moraes, Viso and Scheckter).

-Bad broadcast (as usual) by ABC


No flow to the race at all. And looking at the speeds, there are only 2 cars capable of winning (Castroneves and Franchitti). Everybody else is 2 or 3 MPH slower (Power is fast too, but that pit mistake will likely cost him).

Very disappointing first 70 laps.

[Shifter]

Disagree with the call to penalize Rahal. He was establishing a defensive inside line and telling the NG car to try him on the outside. A bit aggressive by Rahal but this is racing.

OK coverage but someone give the cameramen autonomy to follow the battles on track instead of whoever the announcer are talking about.

[garyshell]

Shifter I thought the same think about the Rahal call.

Gary

[champcarray]

I'm with you two: Graham stayed low the whole time. "You wanna pass me? Go high."

[maxmach]

Can't beleive how good TK is doing, Frankitti is looking good, Helio seems strong but not playing his hand yet......still can't beleive PT's not in the race
don't think Rahal should move over, it is racing.....not driving.

[maxmach]

what a restart

[SarahFan]

$5 says they miss kanaan passing Dario for the lead

[maxmach]

what a shot of whelden going thru briscoe's......fluids, this will certrainly help Helios slow pit stop

[garyshell]

Break from commercial to cover the race incident, unheard of.

Gary

[SarahFan]

50 togo ....

And only 1 red car in the top 5

[Alfa Fan]

Briscoe in the wall

[maxmach]

Marco's in 2'nd!? has he matured that much?
Using a lot of push to pass though......

[Shifter]

Looked to me like Briscoe's car just stopped turning. Hard to tell for sure from the camera angle but I think there's a possibility this was mechanical and not just cold tires/grey line incident.

Of course, Briscoe does crash-a-lot.

[gm99]

Unless there's a bunch of yellows and Castroneves can go 45 laps without stopping, things are not looking too good for him.

[maxmach]

Well, here's some yellow for Helio.....

[maxmach]

who's gonna brush the wall, Tomas or Marco?

[Nikki Katz]

That looked really nasty. I hope he's ok :S

[gm99]

Great day for the Brits - after a one-two finish in the F1 Grand Prix earlier today, they go one better in the Indy, taking all three podium positions.

[maxmach]

Wow, that was some ending, congrats to Dario, seems like Conway is ok.........wow

[DanicaFan]

Congratulations to Dario Franchitti for the win.

Great job by Danica for finishing 5th!

[Lousada]

Wow that was one hard hit by Conway! I hope everybody is okay....

[downtowndeco]

Yup. She ended up about 20 places ahead of where 95% of the posters here thought she would. Good job DP.


Congratulations to Dario Franchitti for the win.

Great job by Danica for finishing 5th!

[DanicaFan]

Here are your final results..

1. #10 Dario Franchitti
2. #4 Dan Wheldon
3. #19 Alex Lloyd
4. #9 Scott Dixon
5. #7 Danica Patrick
6. #26 Marco Andretti
7. #22 Justin Wilson
8. #12 Will Power
9. #3 Helio Castroneves
10. #77 Alex Tagliani
11. #11 Tony Kanaan
12. #30 Graham Rahal
13. #78 Simona De Silvestro
14. #34 Mario Romancini
15. #23 Tomas Scheckter
16. #99 Townsend Bell
17. #20 Ed Carpenter
18. #37 Ryan Hunter-Reay
19. #24 Mike Conway
20. #5 Takuma Sato
21. #25 Ana Beatriz
22. #36 Bertrand Baguette
23. #29 Sebastian Saavedra
24. #6 Ryan Briscoe
25. #8 EJ Viso
26. #67 Sarah Fisher
27. #14 Vitor Meira
28. #06 Hideki Mutoh
29. #2 Raphael Matos
30. #43 John Andretti
31. #32 Mario Moraes
32. #33 Bruno Junqueira
33. #21 Davey Hamilton

[Scotty G.]

Yup. She ended up about 20 places ahead of where 95% of the posters here thought she would. Good job DP.

Fuel miledge races are her forte. Wait for everyone else to pit and hope for a caution.

She ran 12th to 15th all day.

[Scotty G.]

they go one better in the Indy, taking all three podium positions.


Ain't no podiums at Indy.

[SarahFan]

Ya gotta wonder if the brand owns stock in the word "um"

[Shifter]

Congratulations Dario! Was kind of hoping to see the last lap desparation between He and Wheldon, but for sure the right driver and car won. I couldn't even enjoy the ending until I saw them take Conway's helmet off which was a good sign -- Hunter-Reay may be seeing yellow and blue in his nightmares for a while. I disapproved of the attention they gave Danica when she was mired at the back not doing much, but that's a redeeming finish both for her and the team. (meaning the car was bad as she pointed out in the worst way possible, the team looked to be a bit disheveled, but the overall package still churned out a top 5) TK was tons of fun to watch today. Also, my Mid-Ohio ticket with Dario's signature on it just got a lil' more special!

[gm99]

Ain't no podiums at Indy.

My bad, should've said top three positions.

[Lousada]

Here are your final results..


These might not be the final results because there was some passing after the yellow.
Anyways, great results by Alex Lloyd and also Simona de Silvestro as best rookie :up:

[TURN3]

Congratulations to Dario Franchitti for the win.

Great job by Danica for finishing 5th!

It's a great finish but I wouldn't exactly call it a great job. She was largely uncompetitive and by far the worst performance on the AA team (not counting part-time John). Very fortunate finish but come on, keep things in perspective. She had just been passed by Conweasel and RHR with Wilson, Power, Castroneves, TK, Tag and Rahal all ready to pounce with full fuel. And the front of that group was actually passing her when the Conweasel turned himself into a missle. The yellow not only moved her up 2, it kept her from losing at least 5 or 6 more with Marco probably still to be moved in front of her. I'll give her credit for bringing it home as she always seems to do but great job? Hardly.

Incidentally, that yellow not only helped her but possibly won the thing for Dario. Would've been interesting to see who had the fuel to make that last lap and who didn't huh?

[F1boat]

Happy for Dario & Danny.

[Lousada]

The accident:
r4CCWoF-DCU

[Hoop-98]

http://i48.tinypic.com/b3sdc8.jpg

rh

[TURN3]

From RHR's onboard, the way that camara got taken out we should rember how close that his to his head. WOW!

[TURN3]

And as of today, I'm off of my "underdog" hopeful for KVRT. They stink. They are a joke of a professional racing organization. Their personnel and resources far exceed the product they are putting on the track and that goes directly to having 3 drivers that while sometimes capable, have no clue!

You listening JV or KK? Your engineers were in left field on your baseline setup because of the junk feedback you have gotten from Mario and to some extent EJ and Taku. You couldn't get PT in the race (that was a joke), then surprise, Mario and EJ both basically crash while your rookie finishes 2 laps down! Laughing stock of Indycar right now.

[Shifter]

And as of today, I'm off of my "underdog" hopeful for KVRT. They stink. They are a joke of a professional racing organization. Their personnel and resources far exceed the product they are putting on the track and that goes directly to having 3 drivers that while sometimes capable, have no clue!

You listening JV or KK? Your engineers were in left field on your baseline setup because of the junk feedback you have gotten from Mario and to some extent EJ and Taku. You couldn't get PT in the race (that was a joke), then surprise, Mario and EJ both basically crash while your rookie finishes 2 laps down! Laughing stock of Indycar right now.

Agreed.

[anthonyvop]

Thank god for DVR's!!!

Came back from a RallyCross. Watched the Indy 500 in a little over an hour....and still fell asleep a few times.

1000's of empty seats. A fuel economy race.....Yep...Indy Car is back!

[Forum Buddy]

Congratulations Dario

Great win.

I hope Mike Conway is ok.

Also well done to Dan Wheldon and Alex Lloyd, Tony Kannan.

[DazzlaF1]

Wow that was one hard hit by Conway! I hope everybody is okay....

Aye, that was one horrific crash, near mirror image of Kenny Brack's crash a few years back, they said he waved to the crowd so thats a good sign but here's hoping Conway's not badly hurt enough to miss a few races.

Oh and well done Dario, a British clean sweep of the podium completing a wonderful day for British motorsport.

[Refutation]

Taku has a bit of an excuse he's a rookie on ovals and the fact that he finished and was running pretty good up until something happened that put him 2 laps down. I can't see what Viso's excuse is, I just think he's not very good no matter what team or engineer he has, I think he could have a really great car and still **** it up. Moraes I don't know what happened, he probably hit something that boffed up his suspension. I do think they need to put Papas, Viso's engineer Sato, Sato could probably be doing better with the better engineer on the team working on his car. If this team was Paul Tracy and Takuma Sato they would probably be doing a lot better.

Congrats to Dario, Dan, and Marco (Who will probably be given back 3rd place)

Dan really knows how to drive this race, he was like no where, not really getting talked about and there he was at the end again. I hope he'll get win #2 sometime soon. :)

Dario he deserved it in the end, he dominated, I am not upset by him winning, I'm glad he decided to come back and not flounder around in Nascar like Hornish is.

[markabilly]

Thank god for DVR's!!!

Came back from a RallyCross. Watched the Indy 500 in a little over an hour....and still fell asleep a few times.

1000's of empty seats. A fuel economy race.....Yep...Indy Car is back!
yep, the empty seats were very noticeable when shown from ceertain angles....but not other angles...but not as bad as Turkey....which had maybe 20k show up for the race...if that

[TURN3]

Thank god for DVR's!!!

Came back from a RallyCross. Watched the Indy 500 in a little over an hour....and still fell asleep a few times.

1000's of empty seats. A fuel economy race.....Yep...Indy Car is back!

I respect your feelings but I disagree. Sure, the seats aren'1 100% full again just yet but vast improvements over past few years. The race was actually pretty good, lots of passing through the pack. It only came down to fuel in about the last 25...that is the way it goes sometimes no matter what (i.e. see 90% of all NASCAR races). Point to note is that momentum is positive.

[anthonyvop]

yep, the empty seats were very noticeable when shown from ceertain angles....but not other angles...but not as bad as Turkey....which had maybe 20k show up for the race...if that

I am not talking about Turkey. Turkey is an F-1 race!

I am talking about the Indy 500 where empty seats were very noticeable and the winner basically coasted to the finish on fumes.

[markabilly]

TK made the race worth watching :up:

more races like that and more people will be watching :D

[MDS]

And as of today, I'm off of my "underdog" hopeful for KVRT. They stink. They are a joke of a professional racing organization. Their personnel and resources far exceed the product they are putting on the track and that goes directly to having 3 drivers that while sometimes capable, have no clue!

You listening JV or KK? Your engineers were in left field on your baseline setup because of the junk feedback you have gotten from Mario and to some extent EJ and Taku. You couldn't get PT in the race (that was a joke), then surprise, Mario and EJ both basically crash while your rookie finishes 2 laps down! Laughing stock of Indycar right now.


And what would you have been saying if EJ won Brazil, as he very well could have if not for mechanical failure, Takuma had a podium at Barber (He was fast enough) and if Mario had gotten a good finish today? All those things could have happened but for some bad luck.

They've gone from one car to three, there's some growing pains involved in that. They have a very young team. Team Penske wasn't built in a night.

[DazzlaF1]

yep, the empty seats were very noticeable when shown from ceertain angles....but not other angles...but not as bad as Turkey....which had maybe 20k show up for the race...if that

Well Turkey is one of the most poorly attended races on the calendar, its very different for the "blue ribbon" events like Britain, Germany, Italy and even the likes of Hungary and Japan which are usually guaranteed full houses.

But even though there were a few empty seats today at Indy, there will still have been well over 250'000 in attendance which is impressive.

[anthonyvop]

I respect your feelings but I disagree. Sure, the seats aren'1 100% full again just yet but vast improvements over past few years. The race was actually pretty good, lots of passing through the pack. It only came down to fuel in about the last 25...that is the way it goes sometimes no matter what (i.e. see 90% of all NASCAR races). Point to note is that momentum is positive.

I ain't talking about NASCAR. I am talking about the Indy 500.

Fuel economy races are boring

Of course the fuel economy came down to the last 25 laps. Where else would it matter?...DUH!

[anthonyvop]

But even though there were a few empty seats today at Indy, there will still have been well over 250'000 in attendance which is impressive.

Considering that IMS only holds 250K that would be quite the feat.

A few empty seats to you looks like 1000's to me.

[Anubis]

Shame the race finished under caution, as I think Wheldon might just have got Franchitti, but a good result, all things considered. Doubly so if Conway's injuries are relatively minor after that crash. As for Danica. Hmm. Solid enough result, for which she deserves credit, but hardly spectacular given we're always told she's some super competitive oval specialist, always runs well at Indy blah blah blah. What was she doing whilst Kanaan was driving from 33rd to 2nd in the same equipment? True, she got it to the flag, so she's reliable, but never challenged. Great result for Alex Lloyd, and a Brit 1-2-3, assuming it stands.

[anthonyvop]

TK made the race worth watching :up:

Agreed.


more races like that and more people will be watching :D

Watching NASCAR......The 2010 Indy 500 was a snooze fest.

[DazzlaF1]

Shame the race finished under caution, as I think Wheldon might just have got Franchitti, but a good result, all things considered. Doubly so if Conway's injuries are relatively minor after that crash. As for Danica. Hmm. Solid enough result, for which she deserves credit, but hardly spectacular given we're always told she's some super competitive oval specialist, always runs well at Indy blah blah blah. What was she doing whilst Kanaan was driving from 33rd to 2nd in the same equipment? True, she got it to the flag, so she's reliable, but never challenged. Great result for Alex Lloyd, and a Brit 1-2-3, assuming it stands.

Aye, great result for Alex Lloyd, heres hoping its the launchpad for him to get a full-time drive he's more than earned

[TURN3]

And what would you have been saying if EJ won Brazil, as he very well could have if not for mechanical failure, Takuma had a podium at Barber (He was fast enough) and if Mario had gotten a good finish today? All those things could have happened but for some bad luck.

They've gone from one car to three, there's some growing pains involved in that. They have a very young team. Team Penske wasn't built in a night.

You mean EJ in St. Pete, not Brazil...but I see your point. Certainly if there were results then I'd be more encouraged. It isn't the lack of results, it is that they have crashed more cars and completed fewer laps than any other team out there. Danica may not be fast and she'll never win anything with even the best of teams but hell, at least she brings it home. And in that case you can back your way into at least a respectable finish from time to time. These guys are an absolute joke. In my opinion, if you have to go through growing pains like they are then you step up from 1 to 2 cars. If you are going to have 3 drivers all known for their mediocrity and massive crash potential, then you get what you deserve. Hard to grow when you aren't completeing laps!

[TURN3]

I ain't talking about NASCAR. I am talking about the Indy 500.

Fuel economy races are boring

Of course the fuel economy came down to the last 25 laps. Where else would it matter?...DUH!

Well DUH! I tried to pay a little respect to you because your comments are the only negative ones about the 500 on here and you past shows you're not the most brilliant. Show some yourself, if all you have is something to bi$#@ about then go somewhere else. Indy is sacred and you...well you aren't.

Great race! Great momentum for Indy! Still not there, getting there. (find something to smart off about on that)

[infoxicated]

I quite enjoyed that race, myself. Could have done without the early cautions, but even so it was quite the nail biter of a finish until Conway took flight.

I'm scottish and I like Dario, but I've always liked Wheldon and I'd have loved to see that last lap unfold properly without the yellow.

Still, that's the Indy 500 for you and I love it - still the best motor sports event in the world. :)

[DazzlaF1]

Here's the crash, to think he got out and waved to the crowd after this is incredible

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4CCWoF-DCU

[infoxicated]

Wow.

Seriously, I have no idea what Mike Conway was playing at there. It's not like he was even alongside - he just arrived at the scene of the accident, like he was so fond of doing last year.

Either way, that accident probably robbed Dan Wheldon of his second Indy 500 like the puncture did in 2006.

[downtowndeco]

This is no poor reflection on F1 but almost all of their races so far have shown plenty of empty seats. It's a tough economy for everyone.


Well Turkey is one of the most poorly attended races on the calendar, its very different for the "blue ribbon" events like Britain, Germany, Italy and even the likes of Hungary and Japan which are usually guaranteed full houses.

But even though there were a few empty seats today at Indy, there will still have been well over 250'000 in attendance which is impressive.

[DazzlaF1]

Wow.

Seriously, I have no idea what Mike Conway was playing at there. It's not like he was even alongside - he just arrived at the scene of the accident, like he was so fond of doing last year.

Either way, that accident probably robbed Dan Wheldon of his second Indy 500 like the puncture did in 2006.

I dont think you put much blame on either Conway or RHR in that. Conway looked like he had got one hell of a run up on RHR who I presume did not see Conway until it was too late.

Overall, i'd just call it a racing incident

[infoxicated]

I'd call it that if it hadn't been Mike Conway involved.

He's like Banzai Briscoe was in his first year or two. Seeing gaps from a mile away and going for them like there are no consequences.

I actually wonder how much longer Conway and Briscoe have with their respective teams. So many unforced errors from the pair of them - Ryan hasn't exactly grown out of it - he threw away the championship last year at Motegi, and Conway just seems to be the type of driver that attracts carnage, too.

[Scotty G.]

And what would you have been saying if EJ won Brazil, as he very well could have if not for mechanical failure, Takuma had a podium at Barber (He was fast enough) and if Mario had gotten a good finish today? All those things could have happened but for some bad luck.

They've gone from one car to three, there's some growing pains involved in that. They have a very young team. Team Penske wasn't built in a night.


KV isn't worth a damn right now.

They have the cars and crew to be right there with Andretti, but their 3 drivers are terrible and will only continue to tear up millions of dollars worth of equipment.

EJ Viso is a complete spaz, who has shown nothing in 3 years now. Moraes has a 10 cent brain and the concentration level of a 8 year old who has no business in this series. Sato has been a complete dud and has lived up to his rep in F1.

Put a few competent drivers in those cars instead of the hacks they have now, and KV could be competitive. Continue to trot out those 3 guys, and they will continue to go nowhere.

Jimmy and Kevin need to go out and actually find a sponsor or two on their own for once (so they could actually HIRE a competent driver) or they will continue to sputter around in the back of the field.

[TURN3]

KV isn't worth a damn right now.

They have the cars and crew to be right there with Andretti, but their 3 drivers are terrible and will only continue to tear up millions of dollars worth of equipment.

EJ Viso is a complete spaz, who has shown nothing in 3 years now. Moraes has a 10 cent brain and the concentration level of a 8 year old who has no business in this series. Sato has been a complete dud and has lived up to his rep in F1.

Put a few competent drivers in those cars instead of the hacks they have now, and KV could be competitive. Continue to trot out those 3 guys, and they will continue to go nowhere.

Jimmy and Kevin need to go out and actually find a sponsor or two on their own for once (so they could actually HIRE a competent driver) or they will continue to sputter around in the back of the field.

Sad but basically all too true! I gave them a chance at the beginning of the year but here we are past Indy and it has been the same story week after week. If one of their cars finishes, it is usually a couple laps down with an exception or 2.

[GRW1983]

Fantastic day for British motorsport, Mclaren 1-2 in Turkey and a 1-2-3 at Indy. Franchitti was untouchable all day, fantastic drives by Wheldon and Lloyd to get podiums and even Conway for leading deserves a mention, but holy crap, that was a very scary crash indeed. At first, I thought only Hunter-Reay and Beatriz were involved and that it was Beatriz's car in bits. Didn't realise that Conway was involved. Incredible pictures when I saw the replay. He was SO lucky that car didn't go cockpit first into the fencing, that could have been horrific. I hope he's okay for Texas, that was one scary ride. Overall, though a cracking race that kept us guessing right to the end. If only more Indycar races were like this.

[infoxicated]

Lloyd has been bumped - Marco up to 3rd in the final standings after being passed under yellow.

[GRW1983]

Lloyd has been bumped - Marco up to 3rd in the final standings after being passed under yellow.

Bugger, what a shame for Alex Lloyd. Just when I thought it was a fantastic day for the British drivers. Hope he gets 4th then, at least.

[infoxicated]

Yeah, it would have been good to have a 1, 2, 3. :)

Top drives from them all, though - loved seeing Conway, Wilson and Dario pretty much leading the pack. I really do like Justin Wilson - such a classy guy and really deserving of a high finish on an oval to help shake off the road course specialist tag.

Lloyd I'm still annoyed with for slamming the door on Wilson at Long Beach, but it was still good to see him running up front.

[Hoop-98]

Updated;

http://i47.tinypic.com/1247hgy.jpg

[GRW1983]

Broken left leg for Conway. No news yet as to the extent of the injury. If #24 car is up for grabs, temporarily, then Scheckter will probably get the ride as a stand-in.

[anthonyvop]

Indy is sacred


That is Indy's problem....It isn't sacred. It is just another race. You can only go so far on tradition.

[anthonyvop]

This is no poor reflection on F1 but almost all of their races so far have shown plenty of empty seats. It's a tough economy for everyone.

The economic downturn is a recent event. The Indianapolis 500 downturn has been going on for over a decade.

[TURN3]

The economic downturn is a recent event. The Indianapolis 500 downturn has been going on for over a decade.

Your logic is pathetic. Indy's downfall peaked about 3 or 4 years ago and has been coming back since. I don't know the official attendance yet for today but pole day was as full as it had been in years. So with ratings improving over recent years and attendance increasing, how is it a downfall? Isn't it a comeback? Good thing they can count on you not showing up.

[anthonyvop]

Your logic is pathetic. Indy's downfall peaked about 3 or 4 years ago and has been coming back since. I don't know the official attendance yet for today but pole day was as full as it had been in years. So with ratings improving over recent years and attendance increasing, how is it a downfall? Isn't it a comeback? Good thing they can count on you not showing up.

Yea right!

Any improvements has been minuscule at best and mostly "spin" in reality.
Indy doesn't release any "official" attendance figures so we will never really know. Fact is there were thousands of empty seats at an event that use to sell out months ahead of time.

An uptick in ratings of 0.5 is nothing.

Lets see what the rating are.

[Marbles]

I enjoyed it although I used my PVR to give me the "Coles Notes" version of it. Because of all the carnage in the race there were a lot of restarts and that's where all the action happened. Otherwise, this race was Franchitti's to lose with no long green period dicing. Who said fuel racing was boring? It made the last few laps pretty tense. Curious to know what happened with Conway and RHR. It almost looked as if RHR ran out of fuel and Conway drove over him? I'd also like to hear how Tagliani just melted out of contention. Good to see Dario make amends with his wife for the last Indy 500 win brush off. ;)