2006 IRL Rd. 1-Toyota Indy 300

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Scotsman Dario Franchitti now on the track....first lap a 215.857, second lap coming up........215.857, same as his first, so he will slot into 5th at the moment. Now on track is the first of the two Penske cars, w/Sam Hornish, Jr. at the wheel.

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And Hornish, Jr has thrown down a major gauntlet, setting the fastest lap of the session, and it was a fast one....218.539 mph, over 2/10ths' faster than Patrick's qual. lap........next up, 1996 series co-champion Scott Sharp........first lap, a 214.879.....second lap coming up, and it's the same as the first, so Sharp will slot into 12th provisionally.

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Scheckter now out on track, and his first lap was a 215.063......last year, the Cape Town, S. Africa native won at Texas.........and his second lap is slower, and Scheckter will start 10th, just ahead of teammate Carpenter.....next out on track will be Helio Castroneves, the second of the two Marlboro-Team Penske drivers.

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And the Penskes' are provisionally P1-P2, as Castroneves sets a flyer of 218.087, just off the pace of Hornish, Jr.

Top 5 at the moment--Hornish, Jr., Castroneves, Patrick, Dixon and Kanaan.

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Three drivers left to qualify......first up is Bryan Herta, the "quiet man" of the four-man Andretti-Green Racing stable.........and Herta's first lap is a 214.033 mph; second lap coming up now.......215.398 mph, slots provisionally P11.

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Eddie Cheever, Jr. now on-track; the 1998 Indy 500 champion carries a new sponsor, Circle-K, on the sidepods......first lap coming up, a 212.990 mph......second lap now, and Cheever's second lap is quicker, 214.105 mph, provisionally 16th.

It appears that, barring a miracle, it will be a red-and-white Penske front row......

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Last out is Buddy Lazier, who will get only one lap for qual. as his car was withdrawn from the qual. line earlier in the session, so his first(and only lap), a 213.944 mph. He will start in 18th.



And with that,, the qualifying session has concluded. The top-5 in qualifying for tomorrow's race.......Hornish, Jr., Castroneves, Patrick, Dixon and Kanaan. For Hornish, Jr., his pole is a new qual. record, over 1.5 mph faster than the previous record that Buddy Rice set back in 2004.
With Hornish's record here at Homestead and the strength of the Penske cars that they've shown throughout the weekend, both he and Castroneves are the favorites.....the biggest surprise, though, are the three Rahal-Letterman entries, as Danica Patrick, Buddy Rice and Paul Dana will slot into 3rd, 6th and 9th, and, considering the fact that they are the only drivers on the grid w/the Panoz chassis, this sends a clear signal to the rest of the grid that, while the Panoz chassis may not the clear favorite of the teams, given the right circumstances......well, that is why they run the races, everyone.

Saturday's observations to follow later in the evening........congratulations to Sam Hornish, Jr. on capturing the Marlboro Pole Award, and good luck to all the competitors tomorrow!!

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While T-K's still flying around(or is it through??) the Bermuda Triangle, and everyone else is having fun down in South Beach-Miami, there were a few things of note today at Homestead........

1}During the 2000 and 2001 seasons in CART, Marlboro-Team Penske were the dominant team, as then-driver Gil de Ferran won the Vanderbilt Cup both years. Since switching series, they've not seen a series championship......but that could change. With all the teams using Honda power, the Penske duo of Sam Hornish, Jr., and Helio Castroneves took a sledgehammer to the previous pole record and will start tomorrow's race on the front row. Indeed, of the top 5 spots, four are occupied by Penske, Andretti-Green and Ganassi drivers, all in Dallara-Honda's. As for the lone exception.....

2}Charge of the Panoz Brigade, Pt. II. In Friday's practice sessions, all three Rahal-Letterman drivers, Buddy Rice, Danica Patrick and Paul Dana all struggled to find speed. Today was a very different story, as all three qualified in the top half of the grid, 6th, 3rd and 9th respectively. Indeed, for about half of the qual. session, Patrick was at the top of the charts...until the Penske cars came along and knocked off the mountaintop. Speaking of Ms. Patrick....Happy 24th birthday!!

3}Will it be a dogfight tomorrow? Between the top teams, it sure will. All four of the top teams in the series(Penske, Rahal, Ganassi and Andretti-Green) saw most of their drivers qualify P10 or better. Only Foyt Racing's Felipe Giaffone broke into the top 10, and as AGR's Tony Kanaan alluded to during the IMS radio webcast, their main concern wasn't qualifying per se, it was having the car set up and balanced for raceday.


Driver quotes from the top-3 in qualifying..........

Sam Hornish, Jr., #6 Marlboro-Team Penske Dallara/Honda:

We were really excited after this morning's session. The past couple of days we've been out here, we've been up towards the top of the speed charts. We were trying to be a little bit conservative and make sure that we had good race set up. When it came time for qualifying, we put as little downforce as we could on it and went out there and tried to hold onto it. After Helio's lap this morning, I thought for sure he was the guy that would be tough to beat. We had just enough to get him and that's all that matters. We're really happy that Marlboro-Team Penske is 1-2.

Helio Castroneves, #3 Marlboro-Team Penske Dallara/Honda:

We had a good morning session, and we made some changes for qualifying. We're looking good, and we're happy with the car. We knew what Sam had, and we went a little conservative, and we fell just a little short. But good for Sam, and good for the team. We've worked really hard since the open test here, and I think we'll be strong tomorrow. I think Sam will too. Marlboro-Team Penske will be strong tomorrow.

Danica Patrick, #16 Argent/Pioneer Panoz/Honda:

The Argent Mortgage Honda felt pretty good in qualifying, which is something I haven't been able to say at all this weekend. I guess my engineer Ray (Leto) must have some magic in him because he solved most of the problems from this morning. There was still a little bit of push so I just kind of let the car go where it wanted to go. Because there was a push in the car, the front end of the car wasn't getting around the corner as well as I would have liked. Instead of fighting it and adding more understeer, I just kind of let it drift to where it wanted to go. More than anything, I am a little bit relieved after this run, especially after the problems we had yesterday. A run like this helps you gain the confidence you need to keep your foot down. All we have focused on was getting the car to be balanced and to be at the point where I can really push the car hard and be confident in it.

As for the race itself......the first round of the 2006 IndyCar Series, the Toyota Indy 300, is set for 3:30 PM US EST(20:30 UTC) on ABC Sports, with radio simulcast on the IMS Radio Network(domestic radio/webcast) and the United States Armed Forces Network.

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In what is being described as a horrific crash, drivers Ed Carpenter and Paul Dana were injured during the final practice session when the pair were involved in a accident btwn. turns 1-2.......What occured was this; Carpenter spun going into turn 1 and crashed hard into the outside wall, then began sliding very slowly into the racing line......when Dana's car slammed into the left-rear of Carpenter's. Both drivers were alert when the Delphi safety team reached them, but after being taken to the infield care center, both drivers were airlifted to Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital--a Level I trauma center, where both are being treated for injuries. According to track officials and IRL Medical Director Dr. Henry Bock, Carpenter is "awake and alert"; however, Dana is currently listed in "serious and critical condition."

Fron the North American desk......my thoughts and prayers are with both drivers...all I want after this morning is to see a clean race, and no accidents. Definitely no accidents.

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Words cannot express the very sad, heartbreaking news fom Homestead today, but multiple sources are reporting that IndyCar Series driver Paul Dana has indeed perished from multiple injuries suffered when he and fellow driver Ed Carpenter were involved in a crash that is horrifyingly similar to the crash Alex Zanardi was involved in back in 2001. According to all reports, Carpenter's car crashed into the outside wall btwn. turns 1-2 and began to slowly drift onto the racing line. Dana, who was on the outside of another car in turn 2, attempted to avoid the accident ahead, but was unable to, slamming into the left-rear area of Carpenter's. Witnesses reoprts seeing Dana's car fly into the air about 6 feet, then crash back to earth on its' wheels. Delphi safety personnel spent over 15 minutes removing both drivers from their shattered racecars. Both Carpenter and Dana were taken to the infield care center, then to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, where doctors pronounced Dana around noon today.

After frantic discussions with track officials, IRL president Brian Barnhart has decided that the race will go on as planned; however, only 16 cars will start today's race, as Rahal-Letterman Racing officials have withdrawn the team's two others entries from the lineup. Both team, track and series personnel report that there were no communication problems and Dana was trying to avoid Carpenter's wreck when it happened.

More news to follow, along with the race report and observations.......again, reports from Homestead are that IndyCar Series driver Paul Dana has died from injuries suffered in a crash during the warm-up session earlier this morning. Our thoughts and prayers are with the friends and family of Mr. Dana; this is truly a sad day for the NA motorsports community.

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My heart, my thoughts, and my prayers go out to the widow and family of Paul Dana who lost his life during practice for today's IRL season opener as well as Paul himself.

This is another reminder that the sport we love can be a blood sport.

With that, Dan Wheldon, who won the race, represents everything great about this sport. He is a worthy champion, but he really showed his class by not celebrating his spectacular last lap victory over Helio Castro-Neves. He even asked his team to be chaste in their joy out of respect for Dana's family as he was taking the checkered flag!

Chris

[This post also appears in a new thread]

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On a day marred by the tragic death of IndyCar Series racer Paul Dana, Dan Wheldon's words shortly after winning the season-opening Toyota Indy 300 said it all.....( if I get the quote wrong, apologies in advance....

Given the circumstances, I don't believe we should celebrate today's victory, but I'm proud to be a member of Target/Chip Ganassi Racing.

At the drop of the green flag, 16 cars began the 2006 season(in a sign of respect for their fallen comrade, Rahal-Letterman Racing pulled the entries driven by Danica Patrick and Buddy Rice from the grid) and it soon became a case of "let's catch the Penske boys" as Sam Hornish, Jr.(#6 Marlboro-Team Penske Dallara/Honda) checked out on the field early, stretching his lead at times to over 5-6 secs. early on. A rookie miscue felled Andretti-Green Racing rookie Marco Andretti(#26 NYSE Dallara/Honda); he jumped the green flag at the start, incurring a drive-through penalty; his day soon ended with a broken half-shaft. His teammate, Bryan Herta(#7 XM Satellite Radio Dallara/Honda) had problems as well; fuel-pressure issues cost him a 28-lap deficit; an accident with about 60 laps or so to go ended his day. For most of the race, it appeared as though Marlboro-Team Penske would dominate the field.....until a late-race pitstop which began under green but went under yellow cost Hornish, who led 145 laps today, a chance to help his teammate Helio Castroneves(#3 Marlboro-Team Penske Dallara/Honda)...and late in the race, Spiderman probably couldv'e used the help.

With 10 laps to go, it soon became a 2-man fight, as defending race winner and series champion Dan Wheldon(#10 Target Dallara/Honda) fought nip-and-tuck w/Castroneves, waiting for his chance....waiting...waiting....and then, entering turn 3, he struck, taking the outside line to Helio's inside line and barely, barely edging out Castroneves for the win by 14/1000's of a second, the ninth-closest in series history. I think Wheldon's own words speak for themselves when asked what was going through him during the race......

Hopefully we put on a good race on a very sad day.

I'll have a commentary on the passing of Paul Dana sometime this week instead of the usual post-race observations. As the posting above says, today was a day of tragedy and triumph at Homestead. The IndyCar Series moves to the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. for round 2, the Honda Grand Prix of St. Pete. set for the weekend of Mar.31-Apr. 2.

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In all the various news items covering the tragic events at Homestead, it's almost easy to forget that there were two drivers involved in the morning warmup crash. Reports from Jackson Memorial Hospital are that driver Ed Carpenter, by some miracle, escaped serious injury in the accident. While he suffered no broken bones or other major injuries, he is being kept for observation in the hospital overnight and is expected to be released sometime either Monday or Tuesday.

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Doctors with both the Indy Racing League and Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital announced Monday that Vision Racing driver Ed Carpenter was released from the hospital today. As bad as his crash w/fellow driver Paul Dana was, it could've been worse for Carpenter, in his third yr. of IRL competition; doctors report that Carpenter suffered only a bruised lung in the crash; CT and MRI scans found no broken bones. However, Carpenter, who is currently under the care of renowned Dr. Steve Olvey, has not been cleared to race in St. Pete. this weekend. Carpenter had this to say to the media today upon leaving the hospital.....

Ed Carpenter, Vision Racing:

It was a bad day for racing and my prayers and thoughts go out to Paul's family. I was fortunate to be able to speak to Paul's brother during my stay at the hospital and I was grateful for that. I wish I could have spoken to his wife as well, but I want her to know that my sincerest sympathies and prayers are with her, their family and the entire Rahal Letterman Racing team at this time.