2008 IRL Rd. 6--ABC Supply Co./A.J. Foyt 225

[mlittle]

After an interesting Indianapolis 500, the stars of the IndyCar Series head a little ways' northwest to the one track that is potentially as tough if not tougher to tame than the Brickyard......the legendary Milwaukee Mile. On the face of it, the two tracks couldn't be more opposite.......Indy is a 2.5-mile rectangular oval; Milwaukee is a 1-mile bullring oval........here the emphasis isn't on aero grip and straight-line speed, but on mechanical grip and downforce levels; find the right balance and you'll find yourself at the front on what is arguably one of the trickiest surfaces to race on in NA motorsports.

Past Winners at the Milwaukee Mile....................
note........winners' list dates back from 1979-present; for the entire list of winners at the Mile, here is the link for a complete list of winners at the Mile......
~~A.J. Foyt, 1979(1)
~~Roger McCluskey, 1979(2)
~~Bobby Unser, 1980(1)
~~Johnny Rutherford, 1980(2)
~~Mike Mosely, 1981(1)
~~Tom Sneva, 1981(2), 1982(2), 1983, 1984
~~Gordon Johncock, 1982(1)
~~Mario Andretti, 1985
~~Michael Andretti, 1986, 1987, 1991, 1992, 1996
~~Rick Mears, 1988, 1989
~~Al Unser, Jr., 1990, 1994
~~Nigel Mansell, 1993
~~Paul Tracy, 1995, 1999, 2002, 2005(c)
~~Greg Moore, 1997
~~Jimmy Vasser, 1998
~~Juan Pablo Montoya, 2000
~~Kenny Brack, 2001
~~Michel Jourdain, Jr., 2003
~~Ryan Hunter-Reay, 2004(c)
~~Dario Franchitti, 2004(i)
~~Sam Hornish, Jr., 2005(i)
~~Sebastien Bourdais, 2006(c)
~~Tony Kanaan, 2006(i), 2007(i)
(c)--denotes ChampCar race at the Mile, (i)--denotes IndyCar Series race at the Mile


Event Schedule(times listed are US CDT; -1hr US EDT/-5 hrs GMT)......................
~~Practice Session #1(for ICS rookies only), 4-5pm, 30 May 2008
~~Practice Session #2, 9:30-11:15am, 31 May 2008
~~Practice Session #3, 1-2pm, 31 May 2008
~~PEAK Motor Oil Qualifying Session, 3:30-5pm, 31 May 2008
~~ABC Supply Co./A.J. Foyt 225, 3pm, 1 June 2008
Broadcast Coverage.......................
~~domestic TV, ABC Sports
~~domestic radio, IMS Radio Network
~~satellite radio, XM Satellite Radio, Ch. 144, XM Sports Nation
~~TV/radio simulcast courtesy of the United States Armed Forces Network

[mlittle]

ABC Supply Co./A.J. Foyt 225 Entry List...........................

A.J. Foyt, IV, #2 Vision Wellness
Helio Castroneves, #3 Team Penske
Vitor Meira, #4 National Guard/Delphi
Oriol Servia, #5 Plantronics
Ryan Briscoe, #6 Team Penske
Danica Patrick, #7 Motorola
(R)Will Power, #8 Aussie Vineyards
Scott Dixon, #9 Target
Dan Wheldon, #10 Target
Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-11
Darren Manning, #14 ABC Supply Co.
Buddy Rice, #15 RollCoater/Racing for Kids
Ryan Hunter-Reay, #17 Ethanol
Bruno Junquiera, #18 Z-Line Designs
(R)Mario Moraes, #19 Sonny's Real Pit BBQ
Ed Carpenter, #20 Menards/DirecTV
Townsend Bell, #23 WilliamRast
John Andretti, #24 1-800-Las-Vegas
Marty Roth, #25 Cirrus Aircraft
Marco Andretti, #26 Indiana Jones/Blockbuster
(R)Hideki Mutoh, #27 Formula Dream
(R)Ernesto(E.J.) Viso, #33 PDVSA
(R)Jaime Camara, #34 Sangari
(R)Enrique Bernoldi, #36 Sangari
(R)Mario Dominguez, #96 Visit Mexico City
(R)Justin Wilson, #02 McDonald's
(R)Graham Rahal, #06 Hole in the Wall Camps

[Southernman]

Interesting to note that Danica Patrick was not listed as an option. She usually gets the most votes.

I think that it would be to hard for Dixon to win after all the media commitments of the last week so I'm going for Helio Castroneves to dance his way to a win.

[mlittle]

Interesting to note that Danica Patrick was not listed as an option. She usually gets the most votes.

I think that it would be to hard for Dixon to win after all the media commitments of the last week so I'm going for Helio Castroneves to dance his way to a win.

There is a "none of the above" option listed.......

[mlittle]

Milwaukee Practice Session #1(rookie entrants)............................
1} Hideki Mutoh, Andretti-Green Racing..............22.752 sec/160.603 mph
2} Will Power, KV Racing Technology..................22.814 sec/160.168 mph
3} Graham Rahal, NHL Racing............................23.053 sec/158.506 mph
4} Oriol Servia, KV Racing Technology................23.098 sec/158.196 mph
5} Justin Wilson, NHL Racing...............................23.224 sec/157.340 mph
6} Jaime Camara, Conquest Racing....................23.379 sec/156.297 mph
7} Enrique Bernoldi, Conquest Racing.................23.402 sec/156.139 mph
8} Mario Dominguez, Pacific Coast Mtrspts...........24.122 sec/151.481 mph
9} Mario Moraes, Dale Coyne Racing...................24.511 sec/149.078 mph
10} Bruno Junquiera, Dale Coyne Racing.............24.649 sec/148.243 mph
11} E.J. Viso, CTE-HVM Racing...........................25.306 sec/144.390 mph

[mlittle]

Milwaukee Practice Session #2 top-5..............................
1}(R)Graham Rahal, NHL Racing, 21.938 sec/166.560 mph
2}(R)Will Power, KV Racing Tech., 22.059 sec/165.649 mph
3}(R)Hideki Mutoh, Andretti-Green Racing, 22.077 sec/165.515 mph
4} Helio Castroneves, Team Penske, 22.095 sec/165.380 mph
5} Scott Dixon, Target/Ganassi Racing, 22.101 sec/165.323 mph

Milwaukee Practice Session #3 top-5..............................
1} Scott Dixon, Target/Ganassi Racing, 21.998 sec/166.110 mph
2} Helio Castroneves, Team Penske, 22.046 sec/165.746 mph
3} Marco Andretti, Andretti-Green Racing, 22.200 sec/164.598 mph
4}(R)Will Power, KV Racing Tech., 22.271 sec/164.068 mph
5} Tony Kanaan, Andretti-Green Racing, 22.286 sec/163.957 mph

[mlittle]

Back in CART's heyday in 1992, the front row for the New Hampshire race featured two veterans by the names of Bobby Rahal and Michael Andretti........flash forward to the Milwaukee Mile, where the front row for tomorrow's ABC Supply Co./A.J. Foyt 225 features two cats w/familiar last names.....Graham Rahal, and polesitter Marco Andretti. Andretti strung together 4 flyers in qualifying to take the pole, becoming the youngest driver in IndyCar Series history to qualify on the pole for an event(at 21yrs, 79 days; the previous record was 21yrs., 260 days held by Tomas Scheckter when he started on point at the summer Texas race in 2002).


ABC Supply Co./A.J. Foyt 225 Starting Grid......................
1} Marco Andretti, #26 Indiana Jones/Blockbuster................168.079 mph
2}(R)Graham Rahal, #02 Hole in the Wall Camps..................167.654 mph

3} Scott Dixon, #9 Target...................................................167.637 mph
4}(R)Will Power, #8 Aussie Vineyards..................................167.265 mph

5} Helio Castroneves, #3 Team Penske...............................166.667 mph
6} Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-11........................................166.473 mph

7} Dan Wheldon, #10 Target..............................................166.195 mph
8}(R)Enrique Bernoldi, #36 Sangari.....................................165.216 mph

9} Oriol Servia, #5 Plantronics............................................165.190 mph
10}(R)E.J. Viso, #33 PDVSA...............................................164.843 mph

11} Ryan Briscoe, #6 Team Penske.....................................164.106 mph
12} Ryan Hunter-Reay, #17 Ethanol....................................164.066 mph

13} Danica Patrick, #7 Motorola..........................................163.702 mph
14}(R)Hideki Mutoh, #27 Formula Dream.............................163.368 mph

15} Bruno Junquiera, #18 Z-Line Designs.............................163.123 mph
16} John Andretti, #24 1-800-Las-Vegas..............................162.449 mph

17} Ed Carpenter, #20 Menards/DirecTV..............................162.139 mph
18} A.J. Foyt, IV, #2 Vision Wellness...................................162.049 mph

19} Buddy Rice, #15 RollCoater/Racing for Kids...................161.903 mph
20} Darren Manning, #14 ABC Supply Co............................160.787 mph

21} Townsend Bell, #23 WilliamRast....................................160.311 mph
22}(R)Justin Wilson, #02 McDonald's...................................159.927 mph

23}(R)Mario Moraes, #19 Sonny's Real Pit BBQ....................155.511 mph
24}(R)Jaime Camara, #34 Sangari......................................154.613 mph

25}(R)Mario Dominguez, #96 Visit Mexico City.....................150.071 mph
26} Vitor Meira, #4 National Guard/Delphi.........................no posted time
note.......speeds are the average for each 4-lap qualifying run

[mlittle]

Brief update from the Mile................

Over the years, drivers from Rick Mears to Little Al to Paul Tracy through to Sam Hornish, Jr. have won Indycar races for the Captain, Roger Penske.......Add Ryan Briscoe's name to the list; while TGR's Scott Dixon dominated a good chunk of the race, Briscoe made his way to the front and dominated the latter end of the race, notching his first career IndyCar Series win and becoming the 15th driver to win under the Captain's tutelage.


More to follow later this evening...........

[mlittle]

Going into Sunday's ABC Supply Co./A.J. Foyt 225, one could only imaging the weight of the world on Aussie Ryan Briscoe's shoulders......3 DNFs' so far, languishing in 19th in the points, the pit-lane schmozzle at Indy w/AGR's Danica Patrick in the background.......there was even the odd rumor floating around the paddock that Briscoe was potentially driving for his career.........all that is water under the bridge, as Briscoe gave the Captain his 300th win as a team owner in Indycar competition with a spirited drive today that should bring a good measure of job security for Briscoe. It wasn't an easy win for him, though, as Target/Ganassi's Scott Dixon, fresh off of his 500 win last week, dominated the first 160 or so laps of the race......but that's when it got interesting.......................

Patiently biding his time, Briscoe slowly caught up to frontrunners Scott Dixon and teammate Helio Castroneves, passing Spiderman for 2nd and then set off after the Kiwi. He finally caught him on lap 176, drag-raced him down the front-stretch and finally got past Dixon for the lead, marking the first time Briscoe had led laps on an oval in IndyCar competition(he had led laps at St. Pete back in April and at Infineon back in 2005). He slowly stretched out his lead over Dixon before having to relinquish it during the final round of pitstops. Once back out, he set off to catch Dixon, finally doing so with less than 20 laps remaining. Once back in the lead, he, to quote the proverbial phrase, "drove it like he stole it", but Dixon was also in a "drive it like ya' stole it" mode as well and began reeling in Briscoe. It almost worked; with 3 laps left, Dixon was less than .1 sec. behind Briscoe w/lapped traffic in front of them.....unfortunately, a late-race crash involving the cars of Ed Carpenter, Marco Andretti and Vitor Meira dashed Dixon's hopes of dueling w/Briscoe and the Australian won his first career IndyCar Series win, becoming the 15th driver to win for the Captain in the history of Team Penske and vaulting eleven spots in the standings, from 19th all the way to 8th. Rounding out the podium were Dixon, who continues to lead in the points going into Texas this Saturday and AGR's Tony Kanaan, who finished 3rd.


Top-10 from an interesting Milwaukee Mile..........................
1st} #6 Ryan Briscoe, 225 laps*
2nd} #9 Scott Dixon
3rd} #11 Tony Kanaan
4th} #10 Dan Wheldon
5th} #3 Helio Castroneves
6th} #5 Oriol Servia
7th}(R)#02 Justin Wilson, -1 lap
8th}(R)#33 Ernesto(E.J.) Viso, -1 lap
9th} #7 Danica Patrick, -1 lap
10th} #15 Buddy Rice, -1 lap
*--race ended under caution