2006 IRL Rd. 11-Firestone Indy 400

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Since 2002, the Indy Racing League has made the trip up to the Irish Hills of central Michigan, to the 2-mile Michigan International Speedway, and it's been a blast every time.......this wide, moderately-banked track is a driver's track and an engineer's nightmare.......the fast speeds and close-qtr. driving can test a driver's mettle; the fast speeds can also test the engine's durability(as evidenced by the occasional BBQ'ing of an engine). Long a staple of NA motorsports, Michigan is in the heart of "horsepower country" and whoever's got the most horses underneath them should likely come out on top. Here is the event schedule for this weekend.........(note, all times are U.S. EDT, -4 hrs GMT)

Practice Session #1}10 am, 29 July 2006
Practice Session #2}12:30 pm, 29 July 2006
Qualifying Session}2:45 pm, 29 July 2006
Final Practice Session}5 pm, 29 July 2006
Firestone Indy 400, 3:30 pm, live on ABC Sports

Additional TV/radio outlets..........
~~Spanish-language TV on ESPN Deportes
~~domestic AM radio on the IMS Radio Network
~~internet webcast through indycar.com(courtesy of IMS Radio Network)
~~satellite radio, ch.145, XM Satellite Radio
~~additional TV/radio simulcast through the United States Armed Forces Network

As always, I'll have qual. and race reviews, commentaries, observations, and everything else that comes to mind........

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When practice begins at Michigan for this weekend's Firestone Indy 400, a familiar veteran and a newcomer will grace the MIS stage..........

~~Dreyer & Reinbold Racing announced today that 2000 series champion and 1996 Indy 500 winner Buddy Lazier will return to drive the #5 RollCoater-ESCORT Radar/Laser Warning D/H; Ryan Briscoe, however, will still drive for the team at Infineon later this year
~~after passing an extensive IndyCar rookie test, veteran Indy Pro Series driver Marty Roth will make his IndyCar Series debut as driver/owner of a Roth Racing entry at Michigan

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Question: Which is the least surprising news story today?
A...........Sun rise in the east, sets in the west. (or....)
B...........Marlboro-Team Penske starts 1-2 at Michigan

Answer.......................B.

In yet another familiarity of the 2006 IRL IndyCar Series season, the Dallara/Hondas of Helio Castroneves and Sam Hornish, Jr. will start P1 and P2, as the Penske duo hope to give the Captain his first win at the track formerly owned by Roger Penske since Rick Mears won for him in 1991. The biggest surprise of the qualifying session.........which Vision Racing driver(Tomas Scheckter or Ed Carpenter) had the better qual. time? Tick, tock....tick, tock........ The answer to that.....Ed Carpenter, who starts 4th tomorrow. Here is the starting grid for Sunday's Firestone Indy 400..................(note, all cars are D/H)

1}Helio Castroneves, #3 Marlboro-Team Penske...................33.218 sec/216.777 mph
2}Sam Hornish, Jr., #6 Marlboro-Team Penske.....................33.262 sec/216.466 mph

3}Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-11..........................................33.525 sec/214.763 mph
4}Ed Carpenter, #20 Rock & Republic..................................33.560 sec/214.540 mph

5}Scott Dixon, #9 Target....................................................33.602 sec/214.273 mph
6}Vitor Meira, #4 Revive USA/Network LIVE.........................33.618 sec/214.170 mph

7}Dario Franchitti, #27 Canadian Club/AirTran......................33.668 sec/213.851 mph
8}Tomas Scheckter, #2 Rock & Republic...............................33.688 sec/213.725 mph

9}Dan Wheldon, #10 Target................................................33.693 sec/213.694 mph
10}Buddy Rice, #15 Argent/Pioneer.....................................33.732 sec/213.450 mph

11}Danica Patrick, #16 Argent/Timken.................................33.746 sec/213.357 mph
12}Bryan Herta, #7 XM Satellite Radio..................................33.770 sec/213.207 mph

13}Scott Sharp, #8 Delphi/AT & T........................................33.777 sec/213.164 mph
14}Kosuke Matsurra, #55 Panasonic/Autobacs......................33.840 sec/212.761 mph

15}Buddy Lazier, #5 ESCORT Radar Warning/RollCoater........33.923 sec/212.248 mph
16}(R)Jeff Simmons, #17 Ethanol.........................................34.012 sec/211.691 mph

17}Marty Roth, #25 Roth Racing...........................................34.204 sec/210.502 mph
18}Jeff Bucknum, #14 ABC Supply Co...................................34.228 sec/210.350 mph

19}(R)Marco Andretti, #26 NYSE Group..................................34.304 sec/209.886 mph

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Quick weather update.............temperatures expected to be in the low 90's(F), with clouds and possibly rain in the forecast.

With the race just a few hours away, here are some of the observations from a sweltering Michigan...............


1}No, we're not departing the series just yet, Bobby.......Remember back in Edmonton a week or so before when Rahal-Letterman Racing co-owner Bobby Rahal, who was in Edmonton watching son Graham in the ChampCar Atlantic race, said that it was "better than 50-50" that either he, Penske or Ganassi would switch series for 2007? Well.......Ganassi issued the following terse statement......

Target Chip Ganassi Racing has no plans nor have we entertainedany plans of leaving the Indy Racing League for any other league or organization. Further, we have had no contact at all with either Bobby Rahal or Kevin Kalkhoven regarding our team's future plans.

2}It was his fifth pole, but......For the fifth time this year, Marlboro-Team Penske's Helio Castroneves won the pole, but there's an irony......yesterday was only the second time he's won the pole on qual. time; three other times(Motegi, Watkins Glen and Richmond) he won the pole when qualifying was cancelled(once on driver pts. and the other two on practice speeds). But as the saying goes....."A pole's a pole."

3}Date moving? When ABC/ESPN begins broadcasting NASCAR Nextel Cup races in mid-2007, their first race will be the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard(Indy) set for sometime in late July.........which could mean that the IRL will have to move its' Michigan race up a week, most liekly meaning that next year's Michigan race for the IndyCar Series will be around the 22nd of July, 2007. Of course, nothing is ever competely official until the schedulemeisters release the final schedule, so, who knows what could happen..........

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It has been an interesting 7 days for Marlboro-Team Penske's Helio Castroneves......last Sunday, his day ended courtesy of an errany move by Vision Racing's Ed Carpenter. Despite having to wait out a nearly three-hour rain delay, Spiderman's "vision" was a-ok as he took over the points lead in an interesting Firestone Indy 400.....Here are some of the highlights.........

~~~38 point swing.......going into today's race, Castroneves was 30 pts. back of teammate Sam Hornish, Jr.; at race's end, he was 8 pts. ahead with three races left
~~~fuel woes.....for drivers Scott Dixon and Danica Patrick, fuel woes ruined possible top-5/top-10 finishes; in Dixon's case, Target/Ganassi tried stretching out the fuel prior to the first round of stops....and ran him out of fuel(Dixon finished 16th). For Patrick, Rahal-Letterman Racing tried to roll the dice on fuel, but with the telemetry info from her car not working well, they ran her out of fuel with 3 laps to go, prompting her to say something over the open-pit radio that would....well, look at it this way. Sailors would've winced at her choice of words.
~~~Bridesmaid.....again. For the seventh time in his IndyCar career, Vitor Meira finished 2nd. On the other hand, he did lead the most laps, costing Castroneves three valuable points(under IRL rules, the driver who leads the most laps in a race is awarded 3 bonus pts.)

Top-10 from Michigan...............................
1st}#3 Helio Castroneves....................................200 laps
2nd}#4 Vitor Meira..............................................-1.629 sec
3rd}#10 Dan Wheldon.........................................-6.226 sec
4th}#11 Tony Kanaan.........................................-6.987 sec
5th}#2 Tomas Scheckter.....................................-27.905 sec
6th}#8 Scott Sharp.............................................-28.558 sec
7th}#20 Ed Carpenter.........................................-1 lap
8th}(R)#26 Marco Andretti...................................-1 lap
9th}#55 Kosuke Matsurra....................................-1 lap
10th}(R)#17 Jeff Simmons..................................-1 lap