2009 IRL Rd. 5--A.J. Foyt/ABC Supply Co. 225

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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(1)
~~Greg Moore, 1997
~~Jimmy Vasser, 1998
~~Juan Pablo Montoya, 2000
~~Kenny Brack, 2001
~~Michel Jourdain, Jr., 2003
~~Ryan Hunter-Reay, 2004(1)
~~Dario Franchitti, 2004(2)
~~Sam Hornish, Jr., 2005(2)
~~Sebastien Bourdais, 2006(1)
~~Tony Kanaan, 2006(1), 2007
~~Ryan Briscoe, 2008


Event Schedule.......................
note............all times US CDT; -1 hr. US EDT/-5 hrs. GMT
---Practice Session #1, 8:30-10am, 30 May 2009
---Practice Session #2, 1-2pm, 30 May 2009
---PEAK Pole Qualifying, 3:45pm, 30 May 2009
---A.J. Foyt/ABC Supply Co. 225, 2:30pm, 31 May 2009

Broadcast Options...................
---Domestic TV: ABC Sports
---Domestic Radio: IMS Radio Network
---Internet: access courtesy of IndyCar.com
---Satellite Radio: Sirius XM Radio, Ch. 144(XM Sports Nation), Ch. 145(Indycar Racing) and Ch. 122(Sirius SportsNation)
---International Simulcast courtesy of the United States Armed Forces Network

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

(R)Raphael Matos, #2 United States Marine Corps
Helio Castroneves, #3 Team Penske
Dan Wheldon, #4 National Guard
Mario Moraes, #5 KV Racing/Votorantim
Ryan Briscoe, #6 Team Penske
Danica Patrick, #7 Boost Mobile
Scott Dixon, #9 Target
Dario Franchitti, #10 TOM-TOM
Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-11
E.J. Viso, #13 PDVSA
Paul Tracy, #14 ABC Supply Co.
Justin Wilson, #18 Z-Line Designs
Ed Carpenter, #20 Menards
Ryan Hunter-Reay, #21 IZOD/WilliamRast
Tomas Scheckter, #23 Charter
(R)Mike Conway, #24 RollCoater
Marco Andretti, #26 Venom Energy
Hideki Mutoh, #27 Formula Dream
(R)Stanton Barrett, #98 Interush/CURB
Graham Rahal, #02 McDonald's
(R)Robert Doornbos, #06 NHLR/Trust

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Two outspoken open-wheel racing stars have joined forces for the ABC Supply/A.J. Foyt 225 at The Milwaukee Mile this weekend. Paul Tracy will replace the injured Vitor Meira behind the wheel of the No. 14 ABC Supply Co. car for A.J. Foyt Racing for the May 31 race. Tracy, who has won at The Mile four times, will be driving for the four-time Indianapolis 500 champion's team for the first time.

"I'm excited to get an opportunity to drive albeit as a fill-in for Vitor as I know it's a short-term thing," said Tracy, who is coming off a ninth-place finish in the Indianapolis 500 in a KV Racing Technology car. "When I started my career (1991), I competed against A.J. He was one of my idols growing up. I haven't told too many people this but he was one of the guys I modeled myself after. I'm a little rough around the edges like him and I say what I feel, and that's one of the things I've always admired about him."

Tracy, 40, has 31 Indy car victories in his CART/Champ Car World Series career; Foyt is the all-time leader with 67 (all under USAC sanctioning).

"Paul Tracy is a hard charger and our type of driver, much like Vitor," said Foyt, who has four victories at The Mile - including an Indy 500-Milwaukee double a week apart. "I believe we can put the right equipment under Paul, and we've both had success there, so I think we can put our heads together and have a good race. It's a very important race for us because it's sponsored by our team sponsor ABC Supply, which is based in Wisconsin and Milwaukee is their home track."

Tracy has made himself at home at the track. In 14 starts (1993-2006), he has led nine races for 723 laps and earned four wins (Newman-Haas, 1995; Team Green, 1999, 2002; Forsythe, 2005), two poles (Penske Racing, 1996, 1997); two other top-five finishes plus two top-10 finishes.

"I think the team is competing at a much higher level these days," said Tracy, who will be competing in his fourth IndyCar Series event. "I had a long conversation with (team director) Larry (Foyt) and they're working hard. That's all I expect from people is to do their best. I think I'm the kind of driver who could make the difference at Milwaukee, being a four-time winner there, and teaming up with A.J., a guy who's won as many times as he has at the historic Mile is not only a great story but a winning recipe."

He'll have two hours of practice May 30 before four-lap qualifications (watch all the on-track action on indycar.com via streaming video).

"There's no challenge for me, I'm a grizzly old veteran like A.J., I'll be up to speed real quick," he said. "I jumped in the car at Indianapolis and I hadn't driven at Indy in seven years and never drove a Dallara on the speedway and did 220 mph on my third lap. I don't anticipate any trouble getting up to speed because I spent the last month in the car. If the team can deliver me a good car, I think I can win the race for them."

Meira suffered two fractured vertebrae in a Lap 174 incident in Turn 1 that also involved rookie Raphael Matos. Meira is expected to be released from an Indianapolis hospital May 27. A non-operative management program (torso brace) was implemented, according to Indy Racing League director of medical services Dr. Michael Olinger.

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Tomas Scheckter will drive the No. 23 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing car in the ABC Supply/A.J. Foyt 225 this weekend at The Milwaukee Mile. Scheckter is coming off a s 12th place in the Indianapolis 500 in a Dale Coyne Racing entry.

"We are excited to have Tomas join our team," team co-owner Dennis Reinbold said. "We have talked to him on a number of occasions about doing something together and this opportunity came up to pair him with Mike (Conway) for the weekend. We feel like we are going into Milwaukee very strong as a team."

Scheckter has competed at The Mile four times in IndyCar Series competition, with a high of third (in 2005 with Panther Racing and '06 with Vision Racing). Milka Duno drove the No. 23 CITGO entry in the Indianaoplis 500, finishing 20th.

"I've been talking to Dennis and Larry Curry, who I have had a relationship with, for a while and we have been in and out of here a couple of times," Scheckter said. "For us to put this together is great and I'm really looking forward to it. It will be good working with some people that I have worked with before."

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"Turn left in 700 feet. Turn left in 500 feet and take the motorway. Turn left in 400 feet. Turn left in 700 feet." It would have been a lot more fun for Dario Franchitti to drive the No. 10 TomTom car for Target Chip Ganassi Racing at, say, Toronto or Edmonton - multi-turn temporary circuits where he hasn't competed in some time.

A portable navigation system isn't necessary at The Milwaukee Mile, which hosts the ABC Supply/A.J. Foyt 225 this weekend. The oval road course (because of its relatively low banking) is flat out on a pair of quarter-mile drag strips with four turns.

TomTom also will be the primary sponsor of the No. 10 entry for the June 21 race at Iowa Speedway. Franchitti, who enters the race with a five-point lead over Indianapolis 500 champion Helio Castroneves in the IndyCar Series standings, has a pair of runner-up finishes (to Sam Hornish Jr. in 2005 and then-Andretti Green Racing teammate Tony Kanaan in '07) in three visits to The Mile in IndyCar Series competition.

Two years ago, when Franchitti won the Indianapolis 500, he left the Speedway third in points -- three points behind current teammate Scott Dixon and two points behind Dan Wheldon. Franchitti took over the points lead at Milwaukee and held onto to it for all but one week en route to winning the series championship.

"We look forward to a successful partnership in 2009, and to seeing our drivers navigate themselves into the winner's circle all year," Chip Ganassi Racing Teams president Steve Lauletta said.

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Ryan Briscoe expected a breakout IndyCar Series season with the full-time move to Team Penske in 2008. Initially, the breaks didn't go his way. No top-five finishes in the first five races despite three top-five starts, including a front-row perch for the 92nd Indianapolis 500. That might have been the most difficult to swallow -- 23rd place after a pit lane incident involving Danica Patrick's car (and her subsequent brief march toward Briscoe's pit stall that was a YouTube sensation).

A week later, though, Briscoe's fortunes changed at The Milwaukee Mile in the ABC Supply/A.J. Foyt 225. Starting 11th in the No. 6 Team Penske car, he persevered through 225 laps on the crowded oval to earn his first IndyCar Series victory and the 300th in motorsports for team owner Roger Penske.

Post-Milwaukee, Briscoe earned eight top-10 finishes (including a victory at Mid-Ohio) in 11 races and three pole starts. He finished fifth in the championship standings. Briscoe also won the non-points race at on the streets of Surfers Paradise, Australia, in October - claiming the cycle of winning on an oval, permanent road course and temporary street circuit.

"I can pretty much say my season began in Milwaukee last year," said Briscoe, who has continued to post impressive results this season. "Everything prior to that, I just kept running into trouble, just couldn't have a thing go right for me. But after Milwaukee, things really turned around for me.

"We were able to get a couple more wins and move myself up from, I don't know what I was before Milwaukee, 18th or 19th in the standings, and worked my way up to fifth in the standings. So it was great.

"Milwaukee had been a very tough track for me in the past. To come back with Penske and get that win was just so special."

Briscoe, a preseason series title contender, kicked off '09 with a victory on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., and a fourth place at Kansas Speedway. After starting in the middle of the front row and leading his first laps at Indianapolis on May 24, he settled for 15th place.

Briscoe is third in the standings, eight points behind leader Dario Franchitti, heading to Milwaukee. "I was surprised my first win in the IndyCar Series came on an oval," Briscoe said. "It was definitely the turning point in my season last year and I'm excited to go back."

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Ryan Briscoe's speed and maturity was on display once again as the Australian claimed pole for Sunday's 225 lap race on Milwaukee's 1.0 mile oval. Briscoe posted a record-setting average speed of 168.394 under blue skies and temperatures in the mid-70s, and watched as half the field took their shot at wresting the pole away from him.

I knew when I was in front of (Graham) Rahal, it was going to be good. He seems to get around this place pretty good and was on the front row last year. The car was good. I was a bit worried about my teammate and the Target boys, but thankfully the time held up. We won from 11th last year, so hopefully starting on the front row can get me away from the chaos that always happens the first couple of laps. I had a good race car last year, so hopefully we can replicate that tomorrow.

His Team Penske teammate had a complete reversal of fortunes, crashing in today's qualifying session. 2009 Indy 500 pole sitter and race winner Helio Castroneves completed his warm up lap, but on the first timed lap, Castroneves got high on the exit of turn 2 and struck the wall, damaging the right rear of the car. the three-time Indy winner was uninjured and will start last.

I was just going for it. Sometimes you've just got to try, and the car snapped a little bit. I thought I saved it, but then it just slid and brushed the wall, but unfortunately that was the end of qualifying. So it's a shame. The car doesn't seem to be that bad, but when you're going for it, sometimes things like that happen. This place is always very tough. It's good for Ryan (Briscoe). At least it proves we have a good car. So we're going to try to hopefully have good pit stops and score good points, because now we have a great chance in the championship and we can't just give it away, so hopefully we're going to have a good day tomorrow.

With two pole positions so far in 2009, Newman/Haas/Lanigan driver Graham Rahal added another front row start to his tally, putting the McDonald's car alongside Briscoe. His teammate Robert Doornbos would follow behind in 12th.

The McDonald's car felt pretty good, but I had a big snap and a big moment on the last lap, and our fourth lap time was three-tenths slower than the previous one. If that hadn't happened, I think we would have had pole. We sat on pole so many times this year that we are a little bit spoiled. At the end of the day, the McDonald's boys are doing a great job. Pretty much we showed up today exactly how we ended last year, because we are pretty competitive. We worked on race trim in the morning, and the car was pretty quick. We're going to put on the setup we had for the race last year. The car was good, but I made a mistake. If there was a race from last year that still bothers me, it was this one. The McDonald's boys practiced stops this morning. If I hit my marks, all our stops go well and get to the end, we should be able to have a good finish and be a contender. We have a shot at it tomorrow.

The most impressive performance of the day came from a bruised and battered Tony Kanaan. TK, after his well publicized 175G crash at Indy last Sunday, used significant padding to protect his fractured ribs on the way to the 3rd fastest qualifying speed. "I have to thank the whole AGR team, the safety crews, and my personal trainer Ryan (Harber) for not only getting me back together but also rebuilding the car in time. While I'm not 100 percent back together, I'm here and very thankful for that. Qualifying went well today for Team 7-Eleven, and I think we will be competitive tomorrow. Hopefully we can get this car into victory circle at the end of the race."

Target Chip Ganassi's Scott Dixon placed his #89 car in 4th while his teammate Dario Franchitti battled low tire pressures to take the 8th spot. "We went out on stickers and tried to do our qualifying sim
straight out of the box, and the car was not really very good," Dixon said. "Considering that we made the changes and got out here and ended up fourth, really only a tenth or so off of pole; you know it's pretty close. We concentrated a lot on race setup, and the race car was good, so I'm pretty confident that we can hopefully improve three spots."

Mario Moraes hopes to make better use of his 5th place in qualifying this weekend than he did of his 7th place start at Indy, and was followed by a motivated Hideki Mutoh in 6th. Mutoh, unaccustomed to being the 2nd fastest AGR entry, was almost a mile per hour faster than teammate Danica Patrick.

"I am very happy with our qualifying position," Moraes said. "The KV Racing Technology team has been working really hard since last weekend's Indy 500, and I spent a lot of time at the shop talking to the engineers. This is just my second time at Milwaukee, so I haven't got that much experience on short ovals, but after our performance today I am confident that we have a good car for the race tomorrow."

Mutoh was also expecting good things to come from his strong starting spot. "We had a good run today. We were quick in the morning session but then struggled with a fuel leak at the end of practice. The No. 27 guys worked really hard to get the issue fixed in time for qualifying. I'm excited for the race tomorrow and hope to have a good solid finish." AGR's 4th entry for Marco Andretti would see the youngster's frustrating year continue, claiming the 13th fastest speed, more than 6 mph off Kanaan's fast time.

Rafa Matos was impressive once more, taking 9th, and Dreyer & Reinbold logged one of their stronger qualifying sessions with Tomas Scheckter in 10th and Mike Conway in 11th. "Our goal was top 10, and we qualified ninth, so we're happy," Matos said. "We've been fighting understeer all day long, and we kept improving a little bit here and there throughout the day. We have never tested here and have very little track time, but the engineers did a great job figuring out a few things to improve the Marines Luczo Dragon car. I think we have a little bit more to find and we'll keep chipping away, but I believe we will have a good car tomorrow."

Scheckter was impressed with the speed his team found in so little time. "It was good considering that we missed out on a session and that we only really had 45 minutes of running. The guys did a great job, and to be in the top 10 with that amount of time, I'm really happy with it. We think we have improved the car, as well, so I'm looking forward to the race."

Not everyone found the speed that was expected of them at Milwaukee. Dan Wheldon, coming off a 2nd place finish at Indy, only managed 14th fastest in his National Guard Dallara, while Justin Wilson's Z-Line Designs DCR entry managed 15th. Paul Tracy hoped for more from his AJ Foyt ABC Supply car, but had to settle for 16th, followed by HVM's EJ Viso in 17th.

Vision Racing had the toughest qualifying experience of the 20 cars that made an attempt, with Ryan Hunter-Reay in 18th and Ed Carpenter in 19th. Team 3G's Stanton Barrett withdrew from the event after a crash in practice.

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A.J. Foyt/ABC Supply Co. 225 Starting Grid.............


1} Ryan Briscoe, #6 Team Penske, 168.394 mph
2} Graham Rahal, #02 McDonald's, 168.117 mph

3} Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-11, 167.793 mph
4} Scott Dixon, #9 Target, 167.098 mph

5} Mario Moraes, #5 KV Racing/Votorantim, 166.791 mph
6} Hideki Mutoh, #27 Formula Dream, 166.139 mph

7} Danica Patrick, #7 Boost Mobile, 165.168 mph
8} Dario Franchitti, #10 TOM-TOM, 164.706 mph

9}(R)Raphael Matos, #2 United States Marine Corps, 164.671 mph
10} Tomas Scheckter, #23 Charter, 163.310 mph

11}(R)Mike Conway, #24 RollCoater, 162.187 mph
12}(R)Robert Doornbos, #06 NHLR/Trust, 161.657 mph

13} Marco Andretti, #26 Venom Energy, 161.531 mph
14} Dan Wheldon, #4 National Guard, 161.433 mph

15} Justin Wilson, #18 Z-Line Designs, 161.411 mph
16} Paul Tracy, #14 ABC Supply Co., 160.798 mph

17} E.J. Viso, #13 PDVSA, 160.744 mph
18} Ryan Hunter-Reay, #21 IZOD/WilliamRast, 160.381 mph

19} Ed Carpenter, #20 Menards, 160.079 mph
20} Helio Castroneves, #3 Team Penske, no posted time

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Beautiful weather for today's race......clear skies, mild temps. Time to go racing.

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Less than 2 minutes to the command to start engines.

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And the command is given by 4-time Indy 500 winner A.J. Foyt..................

Lady and gentlemen, start your engines!

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Cars beginning to exit pitlane on their sighting and pace laps.

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Looking the grandstands, it looks as there is a full crowd; not much, if any, aluminum in sight......

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GREEN FLAG! GREEN FLAG!
We are racing in Milwaukee!

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Kanaan takes the early lead; Rahal and Briscoe 2nd and 3rd