WHAT A SHAME!!!!

Owner Ganassi can’t find sponsor for his third team

Dario Franchitti’s rookie Sprint Cup season came to an abrupt halt Tuesday, leaving his racing future uncertain.

Co-owner Chip Ganassi ceased the operation of the Williamson County driver’s No. 40 race team effective immediately Tuesday because of a lack of sponsorship.

“If I keep going I run the risk of dragging the other two teams down,” Ganassi said. “I don’t want to do that. “There’s no money. It makes no sense to be running this out of my pocket.

“I had to put a stop to it.”

Franchitti spent Tuesday afternoon at Nashville Superspeedway visiting friend and IRL driver Tony Kanaan. Franchitti declined to comment on his situation.

Kanaan was at the superspeedway testing for the July 12 race at the track.

Franchitti jumped from the IRL to NASCAR after winning the Indianapolis 500 and IRL championship last season. But the success he enjoyed in open-wheel never transferred to the Cup circuit where he was 41st in points with a best finish of 22nd. (tennessean.com)

Sarah Fisher Racing wants $635. The IndyCar team staged a photo opportunity on Primary Election Day providing caps and other props to the campaign.

This is just a part of Hillary Clinton’s record campaign debt of $22 million with at least 17 unpaid bills in Indiana.

Markey’s Audio Visual supplied sound services at an April 23 Hillary Clinton rally on the American Legion Mall. It was the last Clinton rally for Markey’s because of unpaid bills.

“It was close to $20,000, yeah, at one point we had to kind of cut them off and say we can’t do anymore. We want to do your events, but we can’t until we actually have the payments,” said Mike Burman.

At least some of the Clinton debts will get paid and spokesmen for Markey’s, Indiana University and Sarah Fisher Racing all say they expect payment. (wishtv.com)

Not to sound to much like the classic exchange from Days of Thunder - but Dr. Indy has noticed something watching the race at Iowa. To refresh your memories, here is the exchange I am referring to:

Harry Hogge: What do you know about racing?
Cole Trickle: Well… watched it on television, of course.
Harry Hogge: You’ve seen it on television?
Cole Trickle: ESPN. The coverage is excellent, you’d be surprised at how much you can pick up.
Harry Hogge: I’m sure I would.

What Dr. Indy picked up from the In-Car camera shot is that Ryan Hunter-Reay’s front wing vibrates and shakes all of the time. Not just when he is in traffic, but all of the time. The same view of Marco and Will Power showed their wings to be rock solid - steady. (The same vibration was noticed on the left front of Tony Kanaan’s front wing from an exterior shot on 2 occasions and look what happend to him), but RH-R and the Ethanol car was shaking like a diving board.

This can not be good for the handling of the car. No wonder he got out of the car with a blister on his right elbow. The car is dancing more than Helio was a couple of months ago becaue the front wing looks like it was assembled by a boy scout before a pinewood derby race.

Did any one else notice this and what effect do you think that would have on the car, other than keeping Ryan on Dr. Indy’s OH-Fer list?

Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s Dan Wheldon celebrated his 30th birthday in the best way possible for an IndyCar driver, by winning Sunday’s Iowa Corn 250 with a calculated gamble on fuel strategy, followed by a determined drive to the checkers.

Wheldon, who ran in the lead pack all day, was one of three front-runners who elected not to pit with the rest of the field under caution on Lap 190. Andretti Green Racing’s Hideki Mutoh and Danica Patrick also elected to stay out and conserve fuel to the finish.

It was a gamble that paid off as Wheldon held off the advances of Mutoh and Marco Andretti by just 14 thousandths of a second in one of the closest green-flag finishes of the season. IndyCar Series points leader Scott Dixon put on a late race charge to finish fourth, while Vision Racing A.J. Foyt IV scored a season-high fifth place. Battling understeer in the closing laps, Patrick rounded out the top six finishers.
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Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s (TCGR) Dan Wheldon celebrated his birthday in victory lane Sunday by winning his second race of the season at Iowa Speedway in the Iowa Corn Indy 250. Teammate and polesitter Scott Dixon finished fourth in the No.9 Commit Honda Dallara to extend his lead in the IndyCar Series championship race from 35 to 48 over Helio Castroneves.

Wheldon started third on championship points after qualifying was rained out and took the lead out of a caution flag with 60 laps to go after his team made the decision not to pit. The move paid off, as Wheldon held off Andretti Green Racing drivers Hideki Mutoh and Marco Andretti down the stretch.

The win was TCGR’s fifth in nine IndyCar Series events this season and marked the 98th victory for Chip Ganassi Racing Teams. Inc. Wheldon and Dixon donated their combined winnings to the victims of Iowa’s recent floods and tornados.

Dixon leads the IndyCar Series championship (316 to 268) over Castroneves, with Wheldon now just a point back of Castroneves in third. Up next for the Target team is the SunTrust Indy Challenge on June 28 at Richmond International Raceway.

TCGR Quoteboard:

Dan Wheldon:

“What a great day for Target Chip Ganassi Racing and a great birthday present. My wife and I drove from Chicago to Iowa earlier this week and we saw the flooding and it was just heartbreaking. Scott and I are glad we could help out as best we could this weekend. I hope the race today put a smile on the faces of the people of Iowa and took their minds off the challenges and most difficult times they are facing.”

Scott Dixon:

“Early on, the car was definitely not working the way I wanted. It was very loose, especially on the low line. I started using the high line and it came together better. The high line was definitely the choice of the day. When you had three or four guys in front on you trying to do the same thing, it was difficult to pass. I think strategy played out in the end and that’s the way it goes. It’s hard work to pass here. It’s good to see Dan get a break; he’s had a tough year so far.”

Special Thanks to Target Chip Ganassi Racing for including Dr. Indy on your Race Report Distribution List.

Race Teams - Please send your race reports & releases to drindy(at)drindy.com.

McDonald’s driver Justin Wilson drove to a 12th place finish after starting 20th in the Iowa Corn 250 on the .894-mile Iowa Speedway and ran in the top-10 for a good portion of the race. The inaugural event here last year lacked passing but the capacity crowd was rewarded with a much-improved race this year that saw increased passing opportunities.

On the start, Wilson took the high line and was able to gain four positions on the opening lap and another two on the following one to run in 14th place. He alternated between 14th and 15th until the first of six cautions came out from Laps 39-50 for Ed Carpenter, who crashed. He also inherited one spot when Vitor Meira was penalized for running over another team’s air hose during the stop. After the restart, Wilson ran as high as 10th place for five laps before he was passed by John Andretti but regained 10th when he passed Will Power on Lap 80. He held 10th until Lap 106 when the field pitted during the caution from Laps 103-110 for the slowing car of Jaime Camara.
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Blockbuster driver Marco Andretti scored his third podium finish of the 2008 season with a third-place result at Sunday’s running of the Iowa Corn Indy 250 at Iowa Speedway. It was Andretti’s best finish since a third-place result at the Indianapolis 500.

Less than 20 laps into the race, Andretti was running third, five spots better than where he started. He would stay among the top three, including a stint as the race leader, until lap 190 when three drivers opted to stay on the track during a caution period in an effort to make it to the finish without stopping. The Blockbuster team chose to pit, taking only fuel during the stop.

On the race’s final restart on lap 227, Andretti gained two positions and was running third overall with the only two drivers in front of him being Dan Wheldon and Hideki Mutoh, two of the drivers who stayed on the track during the final caution period. Despite several attempts over the final 10 laps, Andretti was unable to get around Mutoh and finished third.

Wheldon scored his second victory in 2008. Mutoh’s second-place finish was his career best.

The SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway is the next race on the IndyCar Series schedule. Saturday night’s race will be broadcast live by ESPN at 8 p.m. (EDT). The race will also be heard on XM Satellite Radio, channel 145, the official home of the IndyCar Series.

Marco Andretti, #26 Blockbuster Dallara/Honda/Firestone:

“If I had the speed to get around Hideki (Mutoh), I think I would have had the speed to get around Dan (Wheldon). Regardless, it was a great day for Andretti Green. It was good, clean racing today. It had to be entertaining for the fans because it was fun in the cockpit, for sure. I’m proud of the Blockbuster boys. We were toward the front all day and they were great in the pits. We set up the car to match the conditions and the traffic and I think we had a very good car.”

Ziggy Harcus, Race Strategist, #26 Blockbuster Dallara/Honda/Firestone:

“It was a great day for the Blockbuster car. Marco drove a great race this afternoon. We had a car that could have won the race, but we ran out of time at the end. I am very proud of Marco and the crew for the third-place finish.”

Tony Kanaan, driver of the #11 Team 7-Eleven car, crashed with less than 40 laps remaining at finished 18th at Iowa Speedway on Sunday. Despite the finish, Kanaan remains in fourth place in the IndyCar Series standings.

From the race’s onset, the Team 7-Eleven car was strong. Kanaan, who started fourth, took the
lead on lap 16 and would stay there for the next 36 laps. He led two additional times during the race and was running third when the vehicle spun on lap 211 and made contact with the outside retaining wall.

Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda/Firestone:

“I just lost it. It’s tough to say because I may have heard someone say that something broke on the car but I can’t really say. I lost it coming into Turn 1 behind Dan (Wheldon) and Hideki (Mutoh). It’s unfortunate because we were having a good race and the Team 7-Eleven car was competitive. I was setting myself up for the end of the race. Turn 2 has not been a good turn for me at this race.”

George Klotz, Race Strategist, #11 Team 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda/Firestone:

“It’s really too bad. The Team 7-Eleven guys did a great job in the pits all day. The car was excellent and Tony was doing a good job all day. I just don’t know what happened. It’s been one of those years and we have to get out from under this rock.”

Will Power has achieved his first top 10 finish on an oval in a breakthrough result with ninth in the Iowa Corn Indy 250 at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa today.

The Aussie Vineyards – Team Australia driver improved two spots in the 2008 IndyCar Series standings with this result and now lies ninth in points after seven races.

Significantly, Power is the first driver in the championship standings outside of the ‘Big Three’ established IndyCar teams of Chip Ganassi Racing, Penske Racing and Andretti-Green Racing, showing just how fast the driver from Toowoomba, Queensland and his Aussie Vineyards – Team Australia crew are coming to grips with a new car and oval racing in their first IndyCar season.

The strength of Power’s result was not just the final finishing position, but the way the 27-year-old achieved it, running with and passing established IndyCar Series drivers and teams around the 0.875-mile oval.

Power ran strongly all day in the #8 Aussie Vineyards – Team Australia Honda/Dallara/Firestone and towards the end of the race the IndyCar rookie really began to make his mark.

Power moved past drivers such as Ryan Briscoe, Helio Castroneves and Ryan Hunter-Reay as part of a frantic battle over the final 20 laps of the race.

Dan Wheldon won today’s Iowa Corn Indy 250 at Iowa Speedway ahead of Hideki Mutoh and Marco Andretti.

Power and the Aussie Vineyards – Team Australia crew will back up for the second race in a six-week stretch of consecutive events in the Suntrust Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway in Richmond, Virginia.

WHAT THE TEAM HAD TO SAY …

Will Power: #8 Aussie Vineyards - Team Australia Honda/Dallara/Firestone

“That was a really good race for the Aussie Vineyards – Team Australia car,” said Power.

“I was able to get really good re-starts, but just lacked some speed towards the end. I am extremely happy with a top-10 finish.

“It is good for us and that’s as good as we have run on this type of oval, so I am very happy. The Aussie Vineyards – Team Australia crew have done a great job all weekend and I am looking forward to continuing to make progress next weekend in Richmond.”

Craig Gore: Aussie Vineyards - Team Australia

“My hat goes off to Will and the Aussie Vineyards – Team Australia guys,” said Gore.

“Will ran right up there in the top 10 today and had great car speed.

“With every oval race Will and the team get stronger and stronger and today was a big achievement. Things are set to get even better over the second half of the season.”

Special Thanks to Chris Jordan of Team Australia Racing for including Dr. Indy on your Race Report Distribution List.

Race Teams - Please send your race reports & releases to drindy(at)drindy.com.

Starting from the 18th position, Vision Racing driver A.J. Foyt IV charged all the way up to a fifth place finish at Iowa Speedway today for the Iowa Corn Indy 250. It is Foyt’s best finish of the season driving the newly painted No. 2 Lilly Diabetes/Vision Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone machine.

Rain showers on Saturday canceled qualifying for the race and the starting grid was set by IndyCar Series entrant point standings. Knowing that the Lilly car was better than its 18th place starting spot, Foyt made a run to the front at the drop of the green flag and advanced six positions on the first lap. By lap number eight Foyt had cracked the top-10.

From there, Foyt continued to work his way through the top-10 and battled to finish fifth on the day. The fifth place finish moved Foyt ahead five spots in the championship point standings to the 13th position (153 points) as well as matched the team’s best finish of the season. Teammate Ed Carpenter also finished fifth at Indianapolis and Homestead.

Unfortunately for Carpenter, he was less fortunate in his second trip to Iowa as he crashed out of the race on lap 39 due to mechanical failure. At the time of the accident, Carpenter and the No. 20 Menards/Vision Racing Menards Honda powered Dallara were running in eighth and looking to slice through the lead pack.

Carpenter started from ninth, but the accident relegated him to a 23rd place finish and just his second non-running finish of the season. As a result, Carpenter dropped two spots in the point standings to 10th (166 points).

A.J. Foyt IV – No. 2 Lilly Diabetes/Vision Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone

“I’m just glad we finally got a good run this year. We got a top-five which is what this Vision team deserves. I’m really happy for Lilly, my engineers and the crew guys. I feel like we could have done even better but we’ll take it. This was the most fun I’ve had out there in a long time and the best race of the year for sure. We’re happy to have Lilly on board for the rest of the year and get a good result them and for the team. They really deserve it. It was really satisfying to get that fifth place finish especially from our 18th place spot on the starting grid. I knew I had to have a great start to have a chance. I got a good start and just took the chance that everyone was going to let off the gas going into turn one on the bottom so I went to the top and made up some spots. I liked the high line, but everyone was making fun of me for using that line in practice, but it turned out that everybody ended up doing that later in the race. It was a really challenging track physically, mentally and very fast. It seemed to suit me. We’ve been looking for a good top five finish all year long and we finally got one.”

Ed Carpenter – No. 20 Menards/Vision Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone

“I had a really good car and got an okay start. (Ryan) Hunter-Reay got around me on the start when I got really loose. I started working my Menards car and moving towards the front. Danica was doing her normal supreme block job. That’s two races in a row I had to deal with that and I’m about over it. I finally got around her to join the lead pack when I had a suspension failure. I felt a vibration just before that but there wasn’t anything I could do. Just really disappointed because we’ve been running really strong all year long and feeling really good about the points and championship, but we feel like we just can’t catch a break. Just really disappointed for the team because we felt we really could have challenged for the win here.”

Motorola driver Danica Patrick drove to a sixth place finish in Sunday’s running of the second annual Iowa Corn Indy 250 at Iowa Speedway.

Patrick’s team decided to go on an alternative fuel strategy which allowed her to make one less pit
stop than the majority of the other drivers on the field. This strategy proved to be a success as Patrick recorded her sixth top-10 finish in 2008.

Danica Patrick, #7 Motorola Dallara/Honda/Firestone:

“The Motorola car ran well today. I wish that I was able to keep position on the last restart but what’s done is done. I have to thank my crew for all their hard work. I just wish I had a better finish.”

Kyle Moyer, Race Strategist, #7 Motorola Dallara/Honda/Firestone:

“It was a good day for the Motorola car. We need to work on a couple of things as a team to fine tune the details. The last restart today was a challenge, but Danica did a great job.”

Formula Dream driver Hideki Mutoh scored a second-place finish Sunday at the second annual Iowa Corn Indy 250 at Iowa Speedway, his best career finish.

Mutoh, who started seventh, fought understeer in the beginning of the race, but ran near the top ten. As the race neared a conclusion, the Formula Dream team chose to keep Mutoh on the track in an effort to move him to the front of the field and to finish the race on one less pit stop than the majority of the field. The strategy was successful and Mutoh was running second, where he finished.

Mutoh’s second place finish is the best finish for a Japanese driver in IndyCar Series history.

Hideki Mutoh, #27 Formula Dream Dallara/Honda/Firestone:

“It was a very fun race and I think the Formula Dream team did a great job finishing in the second position today. I didn’t want to block Marco when he was behind me but we only had 10 laps to go and I wanted to pass Dan so I didn’t let him pass me. I wanted to have a clean race and I think I was able to do that. The second-place finish is the best result for a Japanese driver in IndyCar Series history so I am happy about that. I would like to thank the Formula Dream team engineers for the great strategy and hope we will keep doing well in the future races.”

Kim Green, Race Strategist, #27 Formula Dream Dallara/Honda/Firestone:

“The car wasn’t so good at the beginning of the race but he handled it very well. The Formula Dream team did a good job with pit stops and the engineers did a great job with strategy. Hideki worked very hard racing against his teammate and he kept trying to pass the leading car so it was a very good race. I am very proud of him and he learned so much from today’s race.”

The top-five finishers of today’s Iowa Corn Indy 250 IndyCar Series event at the Iowa Speedway all had one thing in common.

They were each passed on the track by eighth-place finisher Ryan Hunter-Reay (#17 Ethanol Dallara/Honda/Firestone) of Rahal Letterman Racing.

Problem is, most the passing was done for the Rahal Letterman Racing driver in the first 200 of today’s 250-lap race as the team and its driver were beaten not by sheer speed, but by teams opting to gamble on fuel strategy.

Hunter-Reay followed his strong Texas race with another stellar run, using a phenomenal start and great pace throughout the event to storm from 14th on the starting grid to third place. But a spate of late-race cautions allowed a handful of cars to eschew pit stops in order to gamble on fuel strategy and when Tony Kanaan’s Lap 212 crash took 15 laps to clean up, the team’s fate was sealed.
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An adventurous day in pit lane Sunday at Iowa Speedway stuck Panther’s Delphi National Guard team in the 15th position in the Iowa Corn Indy 250. Team driver Vitor Meira suffered two penalties in pit lane during the race, the second of which stuck the team’s veteran driver two laps down and unable to advance up the grid.

After qualifications were rained out yesterday, Meira started in 12th position – his position in the IndyCar Series points standings entering the weekend. As cars were bottled up at the start of the race, Meira dropped quickly to 15th position, but drove back to 10th place before his first stop. But as Vitor exited the pits following his first stop, he ran over the air hose of A.J. Foyt IV, which resulted in a penalty, sending Meira to the back of the field at the next restart.

Again, Meira climbed forward. He began his climb from 22nd place, and again reached 10th place before pitting on Lap 160, but the No. 4 car clipped the right-front tire of E.J. Viso as Meira entered the pits, sending the Delphi National Guard car into the inside pit wall. The team replaced his front wing and the subsequent drive-through penalty put the team two laps down.

Former Panther drivers Dan Wheldon and Hideki Mutoh finished first and second, respectively, and Marco Andretti came home in third.

The result put Meira in the 14th position in the IndyCar Series points standings.

Team Penske was strong throughout Sunday’s Iowa Corn Indy 250 at Iowa Speedway, but a series of yellow flag periods at the end of the race combined with tire trouble saw the day end with a seventh place finish for No. 6 Team Penske Dallara/Honda driver Ryan Briscoe and a 14th place finish for No. 3 driver Helio Castroneves.

Both cars were among the fastest in the field during the race, but three caution periods in the final 62 laps allowed other teams to stretch their fuel windows to finish ahead of the No. 3 and 6 machines.

Despite leading the most laps of the day (92 of 250 total), Castroneves was forced to the pits inside the last 20 laps due to a leaking right-front tire and finished 14th. “Today just wasn’t our day,” Castroneves said. “The Team Penske car was great, and we led the most laps, but after our final pit stop I felt a change in the way the car was handling and thought we might have a tire problem. The guys looked into it, and we were losing pressure slowly.”

Castroneves remains second in the 2008 IndyCar Series driver championship standings, 48 points behind leader Scott Dixon. “Fourteenth is not the result we deserved today,” Castroneves continued. “All we can do now is look forward to a better result in Richmond.”

Ryan Briscoe and his No. 6 machine also had a challenging day, and despite setting fastest lap of the race, ended up in seventh place. “It was tough out there today,” Briscoe said. “We needed more downforce and also struggled to find grip. But my guys made adjustments throughout the day, and toward the end of the race we had a solid car. The good news is we were able to salvage a fairly decent finish.”

Briscoe is currently sixth in the driver championship standings, only four points out of fifth spot.