2008 IRL Rd. 8--Iowa Corn Indy 250

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With Texas in the rear-view mirror and a week off to catch up on everything, IndyCar Series teams now head back to the Midwest and the first of two short-ovals on the calendar, the .875-mile Iowa Speedway and the Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer and Ethanol.

While Iowa is akin to fellow short-oval Richmond, the 7.8ths' mile oval is nothing like Richmond. With progressive banking in the turns and a billard-smooth track surface, drivers liken it to "driving in a fishbowl"(during a typical lap at Iowa, drivers are turning all but 3 seconds or so during each lap....... ), which means that things can happen very quickly during the race.

~~Event Schedule...................
note......all times US CDT(-1 hr. US EDT, -5 hrs. GMT)
Open Test Session #1, 1-3 pm, 20 June 2008*
Open Test Session #2, 4:30-6:30 pm, 20 June 2008*
Practice Session #1, 10:30 am-Noon, 21 June 2008
Practice Session #2, 1:30-3:30 pm, 21 June 2008
PEAK Motor Oil Qualifying, 5:30 pm, 21 June 2008
Iowa Corn Indy 250, Noon, 22 June 2008(live, ABC Sports)
*-test session results will be posted in the 2008 testing thread

~~Broadcast Information....................
--domestic TV, ABC Sports
--domestic AM radio, IMS Radio Network
--webcast, IndyCar.com
--domestic satellite radio, XM Satellite Radio Chs. 144 and 145
--international shortwave/TV simulcast, United States Armed Forces Network

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Firestone Racing engineers announced Monday their tire selections for this weekend's Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer and Ethanol.......the left-side tires to be used at Iowa Speedway will also be used at Nashville later on in the year; the right-side tires were used at Homestead, Kansas and Texas earlier this year.

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Iowa Corn Indy 250 Presented by Pioneer and Ethanol 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 Commit
Dan Wheldon, #10 Target
Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-11
Darren Manning, #14 ABC Supply Co.
Buddy Rice, #15 Express Auto Delivery
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
Milka Duno, #23 CITGO
John Andretti, #24 1-800-Las-Vegas
Marty Roth, #25 Cirrus Aircraft
Marco Andretti, #26 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

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Morning News and Notes from Iowa Speedway.............................
~~unlike last year, the weather is warmer and more humid(temperatures Sunday are expected to be in the high-70's to low-80's w/a slight chance of thunderstorms
~~several drivers will be donating their racewinnings from Sunday's Iowa Corn Indy 250 to various reliefs efforts across the Midwest in an effort to help alleivate some of the suffering caused by the massive flooding across the Midwest
~~Roth Racing announced yesterday that John Andretti will run the #24 D/H this weekend, marking the 4th consecutive race he'll run for the team this year

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With a lot of attention throughout the U.S. focused on all the flooding and weather in the Midwest, here's what some of the drivers, teams and series officials had to say.......................
note.......this will be updated throughout the race weekend



~~Larry Foyt, General Manager--A.J. Foyt Racing:

All of us couldn't believe just how bad (the flooding) was. We're thinking about the people in Iowa and the Midwest, and (we) hope they can make it through these tough times.

~~Richard Antinucci, Sam Schmidt Motorsports:

I was coming from Indy and I saw so much water. I put myself in the place of these people and its' unimaginable. We're all in nature's hands in these situations; I want to put on a good show for the people this weekend and be part of their relief.

~~Butch Meyer, Chief Tech Inspector--Firestone Indy Lights Series:

Everybody comes out to watch this race, especially the Indy Lights race. We have a great field this weekend, as always, (and) we'll put on a good race for these people.

~~Logan Gomez, Guthrie Racing:

It's been a devastating month for Iowans, so we all want to go out there and put on a good show for the community here.

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~~Crashfest Redux?
While this weekend's entry list had 26 entries on it, only 24 cars at the moment will take the green flag tomorrow afternoon as a couple of accidents knocked out two drivers from the race.....a one-car accident in btwn. turns 1 and 2 in practice 1 involving Marty Roth has sent his team to the bleachers.......Dale Coyne Racing has pulled the #18 entry of Bruno Junquiera following a wicked-hard crash during the first practice which also took out the #10 of Dan Wheldon; reports are that a suspension failure(lower left-rear wishbone) caused Junquiera to crash.....while Wheldon's team began setting up the backup car for the second practice session, DCR decided to pull Junquiera for the weekend to prepare for next week's race at Richmond

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Iowa Practice Session #1 top-5........................
1}(R)Hideki Mutoh, Andretti-Green Racing, 17.402 sec/184.491 mph
2} Ryan Briscoe, Team Penske, 17.432 sec/184.620 mph
3} Dan Wheldon, Target/Ganassi Racing, 17.437 sec/184.572 mph
4} Marco Andretti, Andretti-Green Racing, 17.443 sec/184.511 mph
5} Vitor Meira, Panther Racing, 17.458 sec/184.354 mph

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Iowa Practice Session #2 top-5........................
1} Ryan Briscoe, Team Penske, 17.421 sec/184.747 mph
2}(R)Hideki Mutoh, Andretti-Green Racing, 17.474 sec/184.187 mph*
3} Tony Kanaan, Andretti-Green Racing, 17.474 sec/184.184 mph*
4} Helio Castroneves, Team Penske, 17.481 sec/184.106 mph
5} Danica Patrick, Andretti-Green Racing, 17.507 sec/183.837 mph

*--times to the 1/10,000th
Mutoh, 17.4735 sec
Kanaan, 17.4738 sec

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Qualifying for tomorrow's Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer and Ethanol was cancelled due to rain that started slow but built up quickly, meaning that the grid will be set by 2008 entrant points.........


Iowa Corn Indy 250 Presented by Pioneer and Ethanol Starting Grid.............
1} Scott Dixon, #9 Commit
2} Helio Castroneves, #3 Team Penske

3} Dan Wheldon, #10 Target
4} Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-11

5} Ryan Briscoe, #6 Team Penske
6} Danica Patrick, #7 Motorola

7}(R)Hideki Mutoh, #27 Formula Dream
8} Marco Andretti, #26 Blockbuster

9} Ed Carpenter, #20 Menards/DirecTV
10} Oriol Servia, #5 Plantronics

11}(R)Will Power, #8 Aussie Vineyards
12} Vitor Meira, #4 National Guard/Delphi

13}(R)E.J. Viso, #33 PDVSA
14} Ryan Hunter-Reay, #17 Ethanol

15} Buddy Rice, #15 Express Auto Delivery
16}(R)Graham Rahal, #06 Hole in the Wall Camps

17}(R)Enrique Bernoldi, #36 Sangari
18} A.J. Foyt, IV, #2 Vision Wellness

19} Darren Manning, #14 ABC Supply Co.
20}(R)Justin Wilson, #02 McDonald's

21}(R)Jaime Camara, #34 Sangari
22} Milka Duno, #23 CITGO

23} John Andretti, #24 1-800-Las-Vegas
24}(R)Mario Moraes, #19 Sonny's Real Pit BBQ

--cars withdrawn from event due to practice crash damage
1} Bruno Junquiera, #18 Z-Line Designs
2} Marty Roth, #25 Cirrus Aircraft
--both Junquiera and Roth will receive 1/2 pts. under series rules and will be scored in 25th and 26th respectively

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Chances are, most people don't exactly relish passing thirty years of age.....tell that to TGR's Dan Wheldon, whose late-race gamble to not pit for fuel and new tires paid off with his second win of the 2008 season, holding off AGR teammates Hideki Mutoh and Marco Andretti, both of whom scored season-best finishes. Points leader Scott Dixon continues to pedal along, notching a 4th-place finish to remain at the top of the points ladder. Rounding out the top-5 was Vision Racing's A.J. Foyt, IV, who notched his best finish of the 2008 season.........

Thoughts on the race later this evening................


Top-10 from an exciting Iowa................
1st} #10 Dan Wheldon...................................250 laps
2nd}(R)#27 Hideki Mutoh...............................-0.143 sec
3rd} #26 Marco Andretti................................-0.903 sec
4th} #9 Scott Dixon......................................-1.273 sec
5th} #2 A.J. Foyt, IV.....................................-1.356 sec
6th} #7 Danica Patrick..................................-1.912 sec
7th} #6 Ryan Briscoe....................................-3.978 sec
8th} #17 Ryan Hunter-Reay...........................-4.449 sec
9th}(R)#8 Will Power.....................................-5.616 sec
10th}(R)#06 Graham Rahal...........................-7.789 sec