2010 IRL Rd.7--Bombardier LearJet 550k

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With Memorial Day Weekend now in the rear-views, the stars of the IndyCar Series now head to the Lone Star State............and the always challenging, always exciting Texas Motor Speedway. Arguably the fastest 1.5-mile oval on the schedule, Texas Motor Speedway, its' a track that requires both cast-iron nerves and stones the size of Texas, a track where a wrong twitch or a tank-slapper moment can have very bad results, very quickly. The racing, though, is some of the most exciting in the series, and drivers who win here will have earned their victory here.


Past Texas IndyCar Series winners................................
~~1997: Arie Luyendyk
~~1998: Billy Boat(1), John Paul, Jr.(2)
~~1999: Scott Goodyear(1), Mark Dismore(2)
~~2000: Scott Sharp(1), Scott Goodyear(2)
~~2001: Scott Sharp(1), Sam Hornish, Jr.(2)
~~2002: Jeff Ward(1), Sam Hornish, Jr.(2)
~~2003: Al Unser, Jr.(1), Gil de Ferran(2)
~~2004: Tony Kanaan(1), Helio Castroneves(2)
~~2005: Tomas Scheckter
~~2006: Helio Castroneves
~~2007: Sam Hornish, Jr.
~~2008: Scott Dixon
~~2009: Helio Castroneves


Event Schedule
note......all times US CDT/-1 hr. US EDT, -5 hrs GMT
Practice Session 1: 12:45-1:45pm, 4 June 2010
PEAK Pole Qualifying: 3:30-5pm, 4 June 2010
Practice Session 2: 7-7:30pm, 4 June 2010
Bombardier LearJet 550k, 8:45pm, 5 June 2010

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Aerial View, Texas Motor Speedway

Texas Motor Speedway Track Facts...
--Width - 58 feet
--Frontstretch - 2,250 feet
--Backstretch - 1,330 feet
--Total Distance -1.5 Mile oval
--Banking - 24 degree turns & 5 degree straights
--Total Permanent Seating - 138,122
--Total Estimated Capacity - 191,122

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-----Scheckter was the 2005 pole sitter and winner of the IZOD IndyCar Series race at Texas Motor Speedway (also started from the pole in '03 and '02). He finished 15th in the Indianapolis 500 on May 30 in the No. Mona Vie entry for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Conway will miss at least three months of the season after having surgery the evening of May 30 to repair fractures to his lower left leg suffered in the white flag lap crash earlier in the day.

Indy Racing League Director of Medical Services Dr. Michael Olinger said Conway, of England, also has a soft tissue injury to his lower left leg and a compression fracture of one of his thoracic vertebrae and is being fitted for a back brace, which he will wear for three months.

"I'm feeling fine at the moment, all things considered," Conway said in a statement through his management company. "I want to thank all the medical staff at Methodist Hospital as well as the (Holmatro Safety Team) and all those at the Speedway that pulled me out of the car. "I'm hoping for a speedy recovery and am already looking forward to being back behind the wheel of a race car."

Scheckter has two victories in 110 IZOD IndyCar Series starts, along with eight pole starts and 1,363 laps led. In 2009, after driving a Dale Coyne Racing car to 12th place at Indianapolis, he competed in 10 races for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing with three top-10 finishes.

"We wish that Mike could be with us this weekend, but right now we are happy that he is OK and we just want him to have a speedy recovery," team co-owner Dennis Reinbold said. "For us, Tomas made the most sense because we had a great run with him at this year’s Indianapolis 500, he has a ton of oval experience and we have a seat fitted for him."

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Bombardier LearJet 550k Entrant List
Raphael Matos, #2 HP-de Ferran/Dragon Racing
Helio Castroneves, #3 Team Penske
Dan Wheldon, #4 National Guard
(R)Takuma Sato, #5 Lotus-KV Racing
Ryan Briscoe, #6 Team Penske
Danica Patrick, #7 GoDaddy.com
E.J. Viso, #8 PDVSA-Jet Aviation
Scott Dixon, #9 Target
Dario Franchitti,m #10 Energizer
Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-11
Will Power, #12 Verizon Wireless
Vitor Meira, #14 ABC Supply Co.
Milka Duno, #18 CITGO
(R)Alex Lloyd, #19 Boy Scouts of America
Justin Wilson, #22 Z-Line Designs
Tomas Scheckter, #24 MonaVie Energy Drink
Marco Andretti, #26 Team Venom Energy
Mario Moraes, #32 KV Racing
(R)Mario Romancini, #34 Conquest Racing
(R)Bertrand Baguette, #36 RAC-Belgium
Ryan Hunter-Reay, #37 IZOD
Jay Howard, #66 Service Central
Sarah Fisher, #67 Dollar General
Alex Tagliani, #77 Bowers & Wilkins
(R)Simona de Silvestro, #78 Team Stargate Worlds
Hideki Mutoh, #06 Panasonic

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----FORT WORTH, Texas – Carb Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Eddie Gossage is renewing acquaintances in the media center. “You look good as new,” a longtime motorsports writer interjects. The Texas Motor Speedway president replies with a wide smile and hearty handshake. “Thank you; I feel good.”

A year earlier, even Gossage -- a consummate promoter and showman – couldn’t put a positive face on his health. The Big C was brewing in his body, which was impacting his dutifully active business and family-centric life.

“A year ago, I was sitting in a meeting (at the Speedway) and remember feeling horrible,” he says. “I could barely keep my head up and sit in the chair. I had been through chemo treatments in the spring, but I was headed the next day (following the June 6 IZOD IndyCar Series race at his place) for a very significant treatment that laid me out for a month.” Home may be where the heart is, but his mind was elsewhere. He took a leave of absence until August, and made his first public appearance at the racetrack in September.

“When I think back to last summer and being sick and not being at work and being at home, fortunately all my treatment was out-patient, but it was really significant,” he says. I remember getting ready for bed and telling my wife that I needed a new battery in my watch; it’s about 15 or 20 minutes slow. And this went on for two or three weeks because I couldn’t leave the house. I started getting better and I said, ‘Hey, honey, did you get me a battery for my watch?’It’s keeping time again. She said, ‘I didn’t tell you that you don’t have a battery in your watch. It’s motion driven. You weren’t moving enough to keep it wound.’ That’s how sick I was during that time.”

Recuperation rolled into health stability and an easing back into work. He says the cancer is in “complete remission.” “The things I remember are being at home with my wife and having time with her, which was wonderful, exercising and doing the things you have to do to do your treatment properly,” he says. “It’s kind of funny. God blocks out the bad things.”

This weekend, Gossage will moderate the second of two fan forums (the first was last week at Indianapolis) relating to the next generation of IZOD IndyCar Series car. He’ll renew acquaintances in the media center, pump the flesh with guests and sponsors, and be in Victory Circle to present the Firestone 550K winner with the six-shooters to fire.

He’ll smile a lot, but it won’t be forced. “People say, ‘You look at (the cancer) as a blessing?’ and I do,” he says. “You find out who your friends are, who cares for you. It’s not like I have to make amends for all the wrongs I’ve done in my life. I have my priorities I think in the right places, but you do find out some things and they’re good things. I was (at Indianapolis) and that was proof to myself that I’m doing good. I’m just really blessed.”

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Texas Afternoon Practice Top-5
1} Scott Dixon, Target/Ganassi Racing, 24.207 sec/216.387 mph
2} Ryan Briscoe, Team Penske, 24.239 sec/216.098 mph
3} Will Power, Penske Racing, 24.263 sec/215.887 mph
4} E.J. Viso, KV Racing Technology, 24.351 sec/215.107 mph
5} Dan Wheldon, Panther Racing, 24.359 sec/215.033 mph

Texas Evening Practice Top-5
1} Scott Dixon, Target/Ganassi Racing, 24.343 sec/215.175 mph
2} Tony Kanaan, Andretti Autosport, 24.361 sec/215.016 mph
3} Will Power, Penske Racing, 24.395 sec/215.214.714 mph
4} Dario Franchitti, Target/Ganassi Racing, 24.414 sec/214.550 mph
5} Dan Wheldon, Panther Racing, 24.429 sec/214.429 mph

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-----Two years ago, during his first IZOD IndyCar Series season with Team Penske, Ryan Briscoe started and finished third on the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway oval. Last year, he started second and was runner-up to teammate Helio Castroneves. Briscoe is hopeful that he’s trending June 5 in the Firestone 550K.

He earned the PEAK Performance Pole Award with a four-lap average speed of 215.273 mph (1 minute, 37.3275 seconds) in the No. 6 Team Penske car. "I think we can just call it a win and not go out (June 5)," joked Briscoe. "I wish. It’s a great feeling to get the pole here. Thanks Dario for falling off that little bit on the last lap.”

Dario Franchitti, seeking to be the third consecutive Indianapolis 500 champion to win at Texas in the same year, was 0.0057 of a second off Briscoe's pace. He'll start on the outside of the front row for the 228-lap race under the lights after an average of 215.261 mph. “I am actually a little surprised that we ran as quick as we did because in practice the qualifying setup wasn’t anywhere close to that,” said Franchitti, driving the No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi car. “The guys on the Target team did a really good job coming up with some tweaks on the car and it was really close on the last lap. I was doing my thing in the car and I didn’t know how exactly close we were to Briscoe’s time but I guess it was pretty close in the end.”

Briscoe earned the 10th pole start of his career (second of the season), and has converted one into victory (2009 Chicagoland Speedway).Two of his five IZOD IndyCar Series victories have been secured on 1.5-mile ovals. “It’s going to be a tough race and the heat (96 degrees during the 3:45 p.m. local time qualifying) doesn’t make it just as easy flat as everyone talks about here. It’s going to be a long one, and hopefully we can keep the No. 6 Team Penske car out front."

Briscoe's teammate, IZOD IndyCar Series championship points leader Will Power (215.158), will be on the second row with Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon (215.152), the 2008 Texas race winner. Castroneves (214.411), the pole sitter at Indianapolis and last year at Texas, and Dale Coyne Racing's Alex Lloyd (214.408) will be on Row 3.

The top five qualifiers were separated by 0.3912 of a second and the top 10 by 0.6777 of a second. Hideki Mutoh (214.380) and Danica Patrick (214.098) will be on Row 4, while Mario Moraes (213.800) and Marco Andretti (213.785) will be on the fifth row.

“We worked mostly on race setup in practice and we didn’t do a qualifying simulation so to start seventh is not too bad,” said Mutoh, who started ninth in the Indianapolis 500 and fourth at Kansas in May. “We had a difficult weekend last weekend so we just need a very strong finish here. On my own it is a pretty easy track but with aerodynamic change it’s going to be huge pack-racing so It’s going to be a very, very tough race but a good one for the fans to watch.”

Ryan Hunter-Reay, who underwent surgery May 31 on his left thumb to repair ligament damage suffered in the Indy 500, qualified 24th (212.298) in the No. 37 IZOD car for Andretti Autosport. Tomas Scheckter, filling in for the injured Mike Conway in the No. 24 Roll Coater car for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, will start 18th. Scheckter is a three-time pole winner at Texas and won the 2005 race. Conway was released from Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis on June 4.

"We’re going to have to fight hard to go from the back to the front,” Hunter-Reay said. “Qualifying here is easy, but racing here is a completely different story. It’s high intensity. We’re just fighting the same speed issues we fought at Kansas and Indy, and it’s basically an exercise in engineering at this point. We’ve got our work cut out for us, but this team always gives me great race cars. Hopefully, we’ll have something for them."

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Bombardier LearJet 550k Starting Grid
1. 6 Ryan Briscoe Team Penske 215.270
2. 10 Dario Franchitti Chip Ganassi Racing 215.260

3. 12 Will Power Team Penske 215.160
4. 9 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing 215.150

5. 3 Helio Castroneves Team Penske 214.410
6. 19 Alex Lloyd* Dale Coyne Racing 214.410

7. 06 Hideki Mutoh Newman/Haas Racing 214.380
8. 7 Danica Patrick Andretti Autosport 214.100

9. 32 Mario Moraes KV Racing Technology 213.800
10. 26 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport 213.780

11. 5 Takuma Sato* KV Racing Technology 213.690
12. 22 Justin Wilson Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 213.600

13. 11 Tony Kanaan Andretti Autosport 213.350
14. 8 E.J. Viso KV Racing Technology 213.340

15. 4 Dan Wheldon Panther Racing 213.320
16. 67 Sarah Fisher Sarah Fisher Racing 213.260

17. 18 Milka Duno Dale Coyne Racing 213.220
18. 24 Tomas Scheckter Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 212.900

19. 14 Vitor Meira A.J. Foyt Enterprises 212.810
20. 77 Alex Tagliani FAZZT Race Team 212.530

21. 66 Jay Howard* Sarah Fisher Racing 212.450
22. 36 Bertrand Baguette* Conquest Racing 212.350

23. 2 Raphael Matos de Ferran Luczo Dragon Racing 212.330
24. 37 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport 212.300

25. 34 Mario Romancini* Conquest Racing 212.100
26. 78 Simona De Silvestro* Team Stargate Worlds/HVM 211.290
*---series rookie entrant

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Ryan Briscoe celebrates with a burnout after winning the IZOD IndyCar Series Firestone 550k at Texas Motor Speedway.


-----Roger Penske, wearing a tan Stetson in Texas Motor Speedway’s Victory Circle, hugged Ryan Briscoe about a long and as close as he did in 2008 when the Aussie driver gave Team Penske its 200th victory at The Milwaukee Mile.

After an Indianapolis 500 that started with promise but ended in the SAFER Barrier, Briscoe appreciated the show of support. He definitely earned it on the fast and furious 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway oval.

Briscoe, who started from the pole, overtook Danica Patrick on Lap 193 and held off the Andretti Autosport veteran over the remaining 35 laps to win the Firestone 550K on a heated night when sparks and tempers flared. Marco Andretti finished third for the second consecutive race and Scott Dixon, the 2008 race winner, finished fourth.

Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Dario Franchitti was fifth, ending the two-year streak of the Indianapolis 500 winner repeating the feat at Texas the same year. Franchitti, though, moved to the front of the IZOD IndyCar Series championship standings by three points over Will Power, who finished 14th because of a late splash for fuel. Dixon is 11 points back.

Briscoe had started and finished third at Texas in 2008 and started next to pole sitter Helio Castroneves and was runner-up to his teammate in 2009. Entering the race, he was sitting seventh in the standings and was the only driver out of the Team Penske triumvirate not to post a victory this season.

So the greeting from “The Captain,” who won for the sixth time at Texas, was especially gratifying. “Racing for this team, there’s no better feeling than pulling into Victory Circle and getting compliments from Roger,” said Briscoe, who took the series championship down to the final few laps of the ’09 season finale and finished third overall. “He’s such an amazing person and I want to keep winning races for this team.”

Briscoe picked up 53 points (a bonus point for winning the PEAK Performance Pole Award and two points for leading a field-high 102 laps) to jump to fifth in the standings (38 points arrears). “We always come here with confidence that we have good cars and the stats show that,” he said. “This is a huge win. Not only for winning, but to get this championship rolling for the No. 6 car. It’s been a really difficult start to the season for this team. It’s so competitive this year. It’s not easy to run consistently in the top 3 or 5.”

Patrick, running second to Briscoe between Laps 170 and 189, took the point as the top half of the field cycled through the final round of pit stops. “Danica got by us and I didn’t want to make any aggressive moves and block,” Briscoe said. “I gained some momentum on the next lap, used the push-to-pass and was able to pass her out of Turn 4 and into Turn 1. She gave us a real run for our money tonight. It was fun racing side-by-side with her.”

Patrick, driving the No. 7 Team GoDaddy.com entry, led her first lap of the season and posted her best finish since winning at Twin Ring Motegi in April 2008. It also was her first top 5 of the season, and her first since Richmond late last June. Patrick, who started eighth, said the race “was my best from top to bottom. It was a good weekend last weekend in Indy and it was a good weekend here in Texas,” she said. “Sometimes the little victories that I have throughout the season are not necessarily obvious on the track. Maybe they’re in other aspects of what I’m doing, winning little victories here and there to get everything in line to perform from top to bottom on race day. I’ve been working hard all season. It’s just really nice to have a result to show how hard I’ve been working and how hard the team has been working as well.”

Teammate Tony Kanaan, who charged from 33rd to 11th at Indianapolis, advanced from his 13th starting position to finish sixth in the Team 7-Eleven car. Ryan Hunter-Reay, the fourth Andretti Autosport car, also was a big gainer – 17 positions to seventh in the No. 37 IZOD entry. Alex Lloyd, who surprised quite a few with a fourth place at Indianapolis in the No. 19 Boy Scouts of America car for Dale Coyne Racing, had another strong race in finishing eighth.

Dan Wheldon, the Indy 500 runner-up, was ninth in the No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing car, and Vitor Meira finished 10th after starting 19th in the No. 14 ABC Supply car for A.J. Foyt Racing. Castroneves, who started fifth in the No. 3 Team Penske car, exited on Lap 129 when he attempted to overtake the No. 32 KV Racing Technology car driven by Mario Moraes on the frontstretch. Wheels touched and the cars spun, with Bertrand Baguette in the No. 36 Conquest Racing RACB car having nowhere to go but between the spinning cars. He didn't fare so well.

Castroneves was without radio communication with his spotter and the pit stand. Said Moraes: “I couldn’t hear my spotter say anyone was on the outside. Then I got hit and started spinning. I thought I was by myself. It is a tough one for the KV Racing team. We have to get ready for Iowa now.”

Simona De Silvestro suffered a minor burn on her right hand when the No. 78 Team Stargate Worlds/HVM Racing car made contact with the SAFER Barrier exiting Turn 2 on Lap 99. “The car was pretty loose for a couple of laps,” said De Silvestro, who was competing in her third oval race. “It was pretty hard coming out of Turn 2. I was able to catch it a couple of times but this time it got away from me and I hit the wall. The car caught on fire and it wasn’t really extinguishing. I feel bad for the guys because the car was pretty good, just a little loose. Now I know what a loose car is.”

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Top-10, Bombardier LearJet 550k
Texas Motor Speedway, Ft. Worth, Tx.

1} #6 Ryan Briscoe, 228 laps
2} #7 Danica Patrick, -1.462 sec
3} #26 Marco Andretti, -2.316 sec
4} #9 Scott Dixon, -3.077 sec
5} #10 Dario Franchitti, -7.588 sec
6} #11 Tony Kanaan, -8.066 sec
7} #37 Ryan Hunter-Reay, -13.939 sec
8}(R)#18 Alex Lloyd, -14.308 sec
9} #4 Dan Wheldon, -15.085 sec
10} #14 Vitor Meira, -15.825 sec