Enjoy this clip of Sarah at Eldora in 1998:

There wasn’t a need to watch the remaining three.

She knew she had been bumped off the pole for tonight’s Firestone Indy 200.

Castroneves won his first pole of the season and at the superspeedway with an average speed of 204.519 mph. (tennessean.com)

Castroneves turned a 204.313 mph first lap. This year IndyCar drivers use the average of four laps to determine qualifying order. In the past, the starting grid had been set by choosing the fastest of two laps.

It was Castroneves’ 24th career pole and extends his IndyCar series record to seven consecutive seasons with a pole.

“Awesome,” Castroneves said. “The car is incredible. It’s great momentum for (tonight).”

Helio Castroneves won the pole for Saturday’s Firestone Indy 200 at the Nashville Superspeedway. The No.3 Team Penske driver made four laps around the 1.33-mile oval in one minute, 31.5320 seconds (204.519 m.p.h.).

The pole victory was Castroneves’ first of the season and 24th of his IndyCar career. The Brazilian Castroneves extends his IndyCar Series record to seven consecutive years with a pole.

“I’m excited to be on pole, especially after what happened last week in Watkins Glen (did not post a qualification lap because of a mechanical issue),” said Castroneves.

“The Team Penske guys worked really hard to make sure everything was in great condition, and wow, what a great four laps. Awesome.”(kansascity.com)

Hideki Mutoh (203.316 m.p.h.) and Ryan Hunter-Reay (203.306 m.p.h.) will start in row two.

Other drivers of note and their starting positions: Scott Dixon (fifth), Dan Wheldon (sixth), Tony Kanaan (seventh) and Marco Andretti (11th).

Hunter-Reay started third, moving up to second by passing outside front-row starting Justin Wilson on the opening lap. During the middle portion of the race, Hunter-Reay joined the group running on a two pitstop strategy, while the rest of the field elected to make three stops. As a result, by Lap 45 of the 60-lap event, Hunter-Reay was running fourth behind Darren Manning, Dixon and Ryan Briscoe. But he successfully avoided trouble when Dixon spun while warming his tires in preparation for a restart, collecting Briscoe in the process. On the restart, Hunter-Reay dived under Manning heading into the first turn and was never headed, holding off Manning during one final restart on Lap 54 to win by 2.4 seconds.

It was another typically successful weekend for Honda, engine supplier for the full IndyCar Series, in the middle of a run of six consecutive race weekends. A total of 26 Honda-powered drivers ran 11,009.9 miles of practice, qualifying and racing this weekend without a single engine-related failure.

Following Hunter-Reay to the finish, Manning ran second in the best IndyCar result for A.J. Foyt Racing since Airton Dare won in Kansas on July 7, 2002. Tony Kanaan ignored pain from a broken left wrist — suffered when suspension failure led to a crash during race-morning warmup session — to round out the podium finishers. Buddy Rice held off several late-race passing attempts by Marco Andretti to finish fourth, his best result of 2008. Dale Coyne Racing’s Bruno Junqueria and Mario Moraes continued the trend, finishing sixth and seventh, respectively, in their best finishes this year.

For two-thirds of the day, the race was “clean and green” with just a single caution flag, a two-lap yellow when Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves briefly encountered gearbox problems that would blunt his efforts today. But from lap 40 on, the race was interrupted no less than five times, causing 14 of the final 20 laps to be run under caution for various spins and collisions, all without injury to the drivers involved.

In addition to the Dixon-Briscoe collision, A.J. Foyt IV was eliminated in a similar accident with Milka Duno under caution on Lap 48. Panther Racing’s Vitor Meira led four laps, but was bounced into the Turn 7 barrier following contact with rookie E.J. Viso on Lap 40. Enrique Bernoldi crashed in Turn One on Lap 45, and his Conquest Racing teammate Jaime Camara crashed out on Lap 52 for the final caution.

Next week, the IndyCar Series returns to oval track racing for the Saturday night, July 12, Firestone Indy 200 on the concrete-paved 1.33-mile Nashville Superspeedway.

Ryan Hunter-Reay (#17 Rahal Letterman Racing Honda) Started 3rd, finished 1st, 1st career IndyCar victory, also has 2 Champ Car victories: “I’m so happy I can’t even tell you. We were pushing so hard, I was driving my rear end off there at the end. The car was great, I have to give it to the team. These guys perform flawlessly. week-in and week-out. This is a huge win. I’m an American kid; we’ve got Ethanol on the car and Izod on the car, and to win on the Fourth of July doesn’t get any better than that.”

Darren Manning (#14 A.J. Foyt Racing Honda) Started 8th, finished 2nd, best finish of 2008, first laps led in 2008: “This is a great result, and something that we really needed after the last couple of races. It’s great to finally get back to the road courses again. I tried everything I could to hold off Ryan [Hunter-Reay] and get a win for A.J. [Foyt], but they were just too strong for us today. But I think we were the next best car out there in the closing laps and it’s just a fantastic, fantastic day.”

Tony Kanaan (#11 Andretti Green Racing Honda) Started 6th, finished 3rd, raced with a hairline fracture of the left wrist sustained in a crash during pre-race practice: “I’m not tired, but I am in pain. My arm’s in pretty tough shape right now but this was a good result in the championship. We made up a lot of ground on everyone who’s ahead of us in the points, so we did what we needed to do. It’s good that I can rest my arm for a day or two now, but Nashville’s next week and that will be a tough race, too.”

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)

Kanaan’s strongest challenger through the first two-thirds of the contest was his Andretti Green Racing teammate Marco Andretti, who led 90 laps until his team elected to go “off sequence” in his pit stops due to the high number of cautions and the possibility of a rain-shortened event. However, the strategy backfired when the rain never came and the final 72 laps ran caution-free. As a result, Andretti was forced to make his final pit stop under green flag conditions and dropped off the lead lap, finishing ninth.

It was another typically successful weekend for Honda, engine supplier for the full IndyCar Series. A total of 26 Honda-powered drivers ran 6,400 miles of practice, qualifying and racing this weekend without a single engine-related failure reported.

The race was interrupted nine times by the caution flag, including seven for crashes that eliminated 10 of the 26 cars in the starting field, but all without injury to the drivers involved.

One of those to crash out was rookie Jamie Camara, who to that point was having his strongest race of the season for Conquest Racing, as the Brazilian came from his 24th starting position to lead the field for 44 laps during the middle stages of the race. Unfortunately, like several other drivers tonight, Camara lost control exiting Turn 4 on Lap 217 and made contact with the outside wall to end his night.

Almost five seconds behind Kanaan at the finish, Helio Castroneves came from 18th on the starting grid to finish second, his eighth top-five finish in nine races this year. The Team Penske driver remains second in the championship standings, 43 points behind leader Scott Dixon.

Meanwhile, Dixon passed his slowing Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, Dan Wheldon, to finish third. KV Racing Technology’s Oriol Servia was the top-finishing former Champ Car driver, running fifth, with Danica Patrick rounding out the top six.

Next week, the IndyCar Series remains in the eastern U.S., but heads north to the Watkins Glen road course in upstate New York for the Camping World Grand Prix at the Glen on July 6.

Tony Kanaan (#11 Andretti Green Racing Honda) Started 1st, finished 1st, first win of 2008, 13th career IndyCar victory: “I feel bad about Marco [Andretti]. I think he had as good a car as I did and we worked very well together early in the race. But we did it. I want to dedicate this win to my son and to Robert Clarke, who is retiring and did a lot for me, and also all the guys from HPD. This shows the strength this team has. It was a great team effort tonight. We’re coming. Scott [Dixon]’s doing what he needs to do, but now we’re in the chase.”

Helio Castroneves (#3 Team Penske Honda) Started 18th, finished 2nd: “Wow! That’s the only thing I have to say. What a race! It was a lot of fun for us, we passed a lot of cars tonight. But probably not as much fun for a lot other people. We did not have the fastest car out there, but it was not the worst, either. My car was really good on new tires, but would start sliding around more and more as the run went on. AGR [Andretti Green Racing] was very consistent, and that’s what won them the race tonight. Second is definitely pretty darn good on a night like this one.”

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)

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?

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.

A total of 26 Honda-powered drivers ran 8,990 miles of practice, qualifying and racing this weekend without a single engine-related failure reported.

Two other potential race victors — Tony Kanaan and Helio Castroneves — combined to lead 163 of the 250 laps, but neither was a factor at the finish. Team Penske’s Castroneves led a race-high 92 laps, but faded late in the race and then had to make an unscheduled pit stop for a deflating rear tire, finishing two laps off the pace in 14th. Kanaan led 71 laps, and appeared to be Wheldon’s strongest challenger in the late laps, but spun and made hard contact with the Turn 2 wall on lap 212 to end his day, fortunately without injury.

Despite recent events in the region, including a series of severe storms, tornadoes and flooding, a full house of more than 40,000 fans turned out to pack the grandstands at the .875-mile Iowa Speedway tri-oval, located some 40 miles east of Des Moines.

Next week, the IndyCar Series goes to the east coast for another short track event, at the 7/8ths mile Richmond International Raceway on June 28.

Dan Wheldon (#10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) Started 3rd, finished 1st, 2nd victory of 2008 and 15th career IndyCar win:

“I must say first and foremost, it was an amazing turnout today, when you consider all the devastation that has taken place in Iowa this year. The crowd was unbelievable. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those who have suffered with the storms and floods. Hopefully they all enjoyed the show today and it took their minds off their problems for just a little while. I thought it was a great weekend for the fans and our team. We had a bit of misfortune yesterday when I got caught up in Bruno [Junqueira's] crash, but the guys rolled out the spare car and it was just fantastic. Maybe not perfect on new tires, but it would just get faster and faster as each stint went on, and the Honda engine had great power and fuel economy as always.”

Hideki Mutoh (#27 Formula Dream Andretti Green Racing Honda) Started 7th, finished 2nd, career best IndyCar finish, leads the series Rookie points and moves up to fifth in the drivers’ championship standings:

“I’m very pleased. The final laps were exciting for everyone. I didn’t want to block Marco [Andretti], who is my teammate, but I didn’t want [Dan] Wheldon to get away either, and I tried very hard to pass him. It was a great finish for the team, and I hope to do even better in the future.”

Marco Andretti (#26 Andretti Green Racing Honda) Started 8th, finished 3rd:

“It was a completely different race from last year. Our car worked well all day, especially in traffic, and there was a lot of good, hard, clean racing today. It had to be good for the fans, and it was definitely good from the cockpit! This rookie [teammate Hideki Mutoh] is good. Hideki was definitely ‘on it’ today and he deserved second place. It was a pretty good day for Andretti Green Racing, I feel like we’re improving with every race.”

Roger Griffiths (Race Team Technical Leader, Honda Performance Development) on today’s race:

“It was great to see such a large and enthusiastic crowd here today in light of recent events in this area, and I think we gave them a pretty exciting race today. I’m also happy for Hideki Mutoh, as his second place was the best result in IndyCar Series history for a Japanese driver. Previously, it was a Toyota driver (Tora Takagi with a third place finish), so it’s much better to have a Honda driver achieve this goal! On the engine front, it was a relatively trouble-free weekend for us, and everyone who finished the race today will be using the same engine next week at Richmond, which is good news as we begin this swing of six consecutive race weekends.”

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.

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.

A quick stop by the McDonald’s team gained him two positions and he ran in eighth place until he gained another spot on the restart to move into seventh which he held for 10 laps before he dropped to 10th when he was passed by Dan Wheldon. On Lap 132, he was passed by John Andretti and ran in 10th place until Lap 151 when he passed Ryan Briscoe for ninth. The field made their third pit stop during the Lap 157-165 caution for Mario Moraes, who spun and Wilson regained his ninth place after the stop. On the restart he temporarily gained eighth place for two laps before he returned to ninth place. The fourth caution of the race from Laps 188-195 for the spinning car of Enrique Bernoldi was pivotal as three cars gambled that another caution would come out to enable them to complete the race without another stop for fuel. Sixth place runner Dan Wheldon, 10th place Hideki Mutoh and 12th place Danica Patrick remained on track and took the top three spots when the rest of the field pitted. There was a slight hold up on Wilson’s stop as the fueler had difficulty engaging the apparatus and he lost one spot and returned to the track in 13th place but moved into 12th when E.J. Viso pit later under caution. The three drivers who gambled on fuel strategy were granted enough caution laps to stretch their fuel to the end when two separate caution periods came out for a total of 20 laps for Moraes and Tony Kanaan, who crashed while running third on Lap 212 of 250. Wilson ran in 12th place for most of the final stint although he had moved up to 11th for nine laps before teammate Graham Rahal, who had a strong car in the final stint, passed him on Lap 241 of 250. Wilson took the checkered flag in 12th place and earned 18 points to move him up one position to 19th place in the IndyCar Series point standings with a total of 135. The fuel strategy gamble paid off for Wheldon who was able to claim his second win of the season on his 30th birthday.

Following are Wilson’s post race comments:

“It was an interesting race,” said Wilson. “We managed to get through the first lap quite well. Some people had some problems and all got stacked up down on the bottom of the track. I had a clear route on the top and just took everything I could from the situation. On the next lap I got another couple of spots and had moved from 20th to 14th and at one point was in the top-10, running as high as seventh. The McDonald’s car was really good early on in the race and I was able to pass on restarts and pass people on the track; I was enjoying it! We keep learning. It was a good result.”

Graham Rahal Race Report - Iowa
Hole in the Wall Camps driver Graham Rahal earned his first top-10 finish on an oval today with a tenth place in the 250-lap Iowa Corn 250 on the .894-mile Iowa Speedway. He ran well in the final practice session prior to Saturday’s qualifying but was unable to show the team’s potential when qualifying was rained out and had to settle for a 16th place start based on point standings. During the first stint he ran between 17th and 20th and reported that the car had too much understeer. The field utilized the first of six cautions that came out from Laps 39-50 for Ed Carpenter who crashed to complete their first pit stops on Lap 41. He ran between 17-18th until Lap 101 when he moved into 16th before his next stop on Lap 106 during the caution for the slow car of Jaime Camara. He returned to the track in 15th and moved to 14th after the restart when he passed Will Power. He held the position for all but the last three laps before his next stop on Lap 160 during the caution for the Enrique Bernoldi, who spun. This caution was pivotal to the race outcome as three cars stayed on track in a gamble that another caution would come out to enable them to complete the race without another stop for fuel. Sixth place runner Dan Wheldon, 10th place Hideki Mutoh and 12th place Danica Patrick remained on track and took the top three spots when the rest of the field pitted. Rahal ran in 13th place after the restart but dropped to 15th when A.J. Viso and John Andretti passed him for position. The three drivers who gambled on fuel strategy were granted enough caution laps to stretch their fuel to the end when two separate caution periods came out for a total of 20 laps for Mario Moraes and Tony Kanaan, who crashed while running third on Lap 212. The race was restarted for the final time on Lap 227 of 250 and Rahal moved into 12th when he passed the ailing car of Helio Castroneves who was having a tire pressure problem. He ran in 12th until Lap 241 when he passed teammate Justin Wilson for 11th place. Three laps later he passed John Andretti for 10th place and held the position until the checkered flag. He earned 20 points to maintain his 16th place rank in the point standings with 147 points after Round 8 of 18. The fuel strategy gamble paid off for Wheldon who was able to claim his second win of the season on his 30th birthday. Following are Rahal’s post race comments:

“Overall it was a pretty good race,” said Rahal. “The guys did great pit stops and the car was awesome, especially that last stint. If we could have had that car all through the race I think we could have moved up through the field. We worked on it all day. In the middle of the race we weren’t very good but with stuck with it and by the end I really do think we had a good car. We’ll just keep working at it.”

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.”

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.”

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.

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.

“Today was pretty good for us, we had a good car and we got beat by cars playing the fuel strategy game,” Hunter-Reay said. “Will Power held me up on the last restart and that was the end of it. I thought we had a podium finish here in front of the Ethanol folks but fuel mileage gambles made the difference. I’m not complaining but you hate to lose a race like that. I had fun out there today, we had a great car, we just have to get one of the breaks that some of these other guys are getting.”

Hunter-Reay started 14th after yesterday’s qualifying was cancelled by a 30-minute rainstorm, but he made up for that problem in just two trips around the 0.894-mile Iowa Speedway oval. He passed six cars on the first lap, then passed Danica Patrick on the next lap to take seventh.

He held station for the entire first half of the race, staying in the lead draft and allowing his Ethanol pit crew to earn him some spots on Pit Lane. He moved up to sixth on a Lap 106 pit stop after Jaime Camara brought out a caution, then passed Scott Dixon and Ryan Briscoe 20 laps later to claim fourth. After a Lap 160 stop under caution for Mario Moraes’ spin, he passed Texas nemesis Marco Andretti for third with 84 laps to go. He settled in behind the gearbox of Tony Kanaan and Helio Castroneves and was looking to make a move for the lead when Enrique Bernoldi spun and brought out the canary banner again on Lap 187.

It was on that stop that the eventual race winners, led by Dan Wheldon, would stay out and roll the fuel dice while the leaders stopped. Another Moraes caution led to the Kanaan crash and the lengthy cleanup, giving those that gambled the opportunity they needed to stay in front.

Hunter-Reay earned his fourth top-10 finish of the season with the result, gaining two spots in the point standings by doing so. He vaults to 12th as the IndyCar Series nears the halfway point, and is now just 10 points out of a berth in the top 10. Today’s event marks the first race in a stretch of six races in six weeks as the team packs up and heads to the three-quarter mile Richmond International Raceway for next Saturday night’s event.

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.

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.

Before the battery failure, Camara was running strong and consistent making his way to 14th from his 24th place on the grid but on lap 101 a sudden loss of power kept him stuck in gear and he had to get towed into the pits. The problem was a defective battery which was quickly fixed but the Brazilian had already lost 12 laps to the leaders upon his return to the track. The Conquest rookie completed another 32 laps but as the laps went by his steering got heavier and heavier as the rubber built up on the track and eventually he ran out of physical strength to keep it going without crashing. He ended up 20th.

Contrary to his teammate, Enrique Bernoldi had a more difficult start and fell to 24th from his 17th spot on the starting grid but quickly made his way back up battling with Mario Moraes for the most part. By Lap 181, Bernoldi was up to 16th and was running 17th when oversteer and cold tires caused him to spin on lap 186. Fortunately, the Brazilian stayed clear of the wall and was able to continue after being towed back to pit lane but lost additional laps to the leaders. He finished the race in 17th position.

Conquest Racing now heads back to its Indianapolis-based shop for a couple of days to prepare the cars for next weekend’s SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway. The race takes place Saturday, June 28 and will be broadcast live on ESPN2 at 8:00 p.m. eastern time. Rookies will get an extra practice session on Thursday, June 26 before all the cars take to the track on Friday, June 27 for practice and qualifying.

Conquest Racing Quoteboard

17th - Enrique Bernoldi #36 Sangari Dallara/Honda/Firestone

“It was a good race to gain experience today and that was about it. (About what happened in turn 4) I had just pitted and was on cold tires and the car just snapped on me because of too much oversteer. Luckily I didn’t hit anything and was able to continue but I lost a lot of laps because of that. We now have to put this race behind us and look forward to Richmond .”

20th - Jaime Camara #34 Sangari Dallara/Honda/Firestone

“We were running really well. This was the best race car I had so far this season. We were really consistent and fast. When I was running 14th we had a defective car battery and the car just shut down and stayed stuck in gear so I couldn’t do anything. I came into the pits so we could fix the problem but we lost some laps during that time. We went back out but the steering was getting heavier and heavier and it got to a point that I didn’t have enough strength to turn it anymore. I decided to park it because it was that or the wall and I didn’t want to crash the car. It’s really frustrating because today was a day where we could have had a great result. We were strong out there, especially on the restarts. We have to focus on Richmond now and forget about this race.”

Eric Bachelart, Team Owner

“We had a lack of success today. We were running a good pace in the race as we keep on learning on these ovals. We’ve been making plenty of progress we just have not been able to show that in our results which is really unfortunate because the team is working really well together. Fortunately we put two cars in the truck as we return to the shop. We’re turning our focus to Richmond where we hope that things finally go well until the end.”

Special Thanks to Conquest Racing PR/Karina Redmond for including Dr. Indy on your Race Report Distribution List.

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

“We had a great run going today,” said Moraes. “I’m just upset at the way my day ended early. The team did another fantastic job giving me the best car possible. I’m looking forward to running under the lights in Richmond next weekend.”

Moraes was running consistent lap times with most of the top-ten cars. “The weekend went well for Mario,” commented Team Owner Dale Coyne. “He was 11th quickest in Saturday’s practice session, but had to start on points rather than practice times. He could have easily had his best finish of the year here today.”

Bruno Junqueira had to the watch the race as a spectator in the timing stand on Sunday. The 31-year-old veteran crashed hard into the turn two wall during the Saturday afternoon practice session. Junqueira walked away from the crash unharmed, but his #19 Z-Line Design’s car took the brunt of it and was un-repairable for the race.

“It was hard watching the race from the timing stand today,” said Junqueira. “We just didn’t have enough time to put together a back-up car for the race. I know the team will do a great job giving me a competitive car next weekend in Richmond.”

Special Thanks to Chris Gallas of Dale Coyne Racing for including Dr. Indy on your Race Report Distribution List.

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

Champion New Zealand driver Scott Dixon has pledged to donate any prizemoney he wins at Monday’s (NZ time) round of the United States Indycar Series to Iowa’s flood and tornado relief fund.

Dixon’s Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Dan Wheldon will also do the same, the team, who are preparing for this weekend’s Iowa Corn Indy 250 race, said.

” What has happened here in Iowa is an absolute tragedy and my heart goes out to all the victims of the horrific tornados and floods,” Dixon said.

“Donating to this cause is the least that we could do…”

The severe weather that spawned deadly tornados and flooding claimed the lives of at least 18 people and forced 38,000 from their homes in Iowa alone. At least 83 of 99 counties in the state are now considered disaster areas.

Dixon, the 2008 Indianapolis 500 champion, is currently leading the IndyCar Series championship by 35 points after winning three of the first seven races this year. (nzherald.co.nz)

No time for praise, no time for learning curves. Not for the 27-year-old driver in IndyCar racing who has been dreaming of this moment since terrorizing his Boca Raton neighborhood in the red go-kart that got him voted off the streets when he was 8.

The Indianapolis 500’s Rookie of the Year last month? Sorry, that was a sixth-place finish. He’s coming up on one year since he first stepped into an IndyCar, and he’s looking for that first career win. Some drivers take years to get it.

But Hunter-Reay doesn’t have time for that. He’s looking at No. 1. And he’s looking for it right now.

“We’re definitely opening people’s eyes,” Hunter-Reay said. “We’re showing people we’re a force to be reckoned with.”

Rush, rush, rush. Shift, race, go! Hunter-Reay spent three years locked into contracts with dead-end race teams, and his new ride, Rahal Letterman Racing, seems like the cool drink for which he’s been thirsting.

Bobby Rahal doesn’t have any time to waste, either. Not with the bad luck and tragedy that has befallen his team.

The team discovered and then lost Danica Patrick because of a personality conflict. It grieved promising young driver Paul Dana, who was killed in a wreck at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2006.

There was a revolving door of drivers and a new chassis imposed on their race car in mid-season.

The former champion’s team is ready to win now, too. Right now.

Leave it to the fleet feet of good fortune that the two found each other when they did.

In July, Hunter-Reay was stopped, wasting time and energy.

For three years, he had been bound to a Champ Car team that wasn’t putting forward good cars and couldn’t maintain consistent engineers and mechanics. The car was in the garage when it should have been on the track.

So Hunter-Reay modeled himself after an actor looking for that big break. The Cardinal Gibbons graduate took every job to hone his skill.

He raced Grand-Am cars. He raced the 24 hours of Daytona. He tested cars for Chevy NASCAR, anything to keep himself inside a race car, any kind of race car.

That caught the attention of Rahal, who knew Hunter-Reay when the young driver was on his way up.

Rahal was the first American in 20 years to win a Champ Car World Series race, and he did it twice, once in 2003 and once in 2004.

He liked Hunter-Reay’s fiery attitude, too. And when Rahal released a driver in the middle of the 2007 season, he showed why he told Hunter-Reay to “keep your phone lines open.”

Rahal called Hunter-Reay on a Wednesday and told him to be ready to race his first IndyCar series race that Sunday at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Hunter-Reay had 10 minutes on the track to test the black, green and blue Ethanol No. 17 car before he raced.

He finished seventh, behind only the big guns: Team Penske, Andretti Green and Target Chip Ganassi Racing.

“Good drivers respond and adapt to whatever they’re in,” Rahal said. “Great drivers respond more quickly.”

The driver and team knew they had found something special. It was a pairing headed the same direction in a hurry.

Hunter-Reay finished in the top seven in three of his six races last year to earn 2007 Rookie of the Year honors, and he has finished in the top 10 in six of his 13 races.

“He was thrown in the deep end and really handled himself well,” Rahal Letterman General Manager Scott Roembke said. “A driver can be a leader of a team. And the passion you sense from Ryan is a good thing.”

That still makes him a rookie on the courses he has never run, like he was at Indianapolis, but that R-word seems to grate on him. He has no time to be a rookie, for rookie mistakes or for finishes that are good for a rookie.

And he doesn’t have time for getting wrecked.

Hunter-Reay was running the best IndyCar race of his life two weeks ago at Texas Motor Speedway with five laps to go, running third and making a move on the eventual winner and standings leader Scott Dixon.

Then he got squeezed down at 220 mph by Marco Andretti, who had wrecked his car a week earlier, and they both crashed, costing Hunter-Reay his first real shot at victory.

Two days later, Hunter-Reay was still fuming.

“Marco’s been trying to crash his car all year, and he finally succeeded that Sunday night,” Hunter-Reay said.

Fortunately, he has no time for grudges either. There’s another race Sunday at the Iowa Speedway, another chance for his first win.

So if you’re running ahead of him, win it all or get out of the way. Ryan Hunter-Reay doesn’t have time for anything else.

“When I get in a car, I want to make a difference,” Hunter-Reay said. “We’re a tenacious group.” (palmbeachpost.com)