2006 IRL Rd. 5--Watkins Glen Indy Grand Prix

[mlittle]

With four rounds now in the books and the month of May done and over with, the IndyCar Series now turns its' attention to the bulk of its' 2006 season, starting with the first post-Indy race on the calendar at Watkins Glen. 2005 marked the return of NA open-wheel racing to the Finger Lakes region of New York state since 1981, and Target/Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon won for the first time in 40 starts, dating back to Richmond 2003. For the first time in series history, the Glen will host the first race following the Indianapolis 500, meaning that the drivers will have to turn both left AND right in anger for the second time this year. With the two top teams in the series, Marlboro-Team Penske and Target/Ganassi Racing, having 2 wins apiece in the first four races, everyone will be looking to notch their own space in the championship fight.

Here, then, is the weekend schedule for the Watkins Glen Indy Grand Prix presented by Tissot.......(all times U.S. EDT, -4 Hrs. GMT)

Practice Session #1}10:15 am, 2 June 2006
Practice Session #2}2 pm, 2 June 2006
Practice Session #3}9:45 am, 3 June 2006
Qualifying Session}12 pm, 3 June 2006(w/Firestone Shootout for qualifiers P1-P6 approximately 10 minutes after qual.)
Final Practice Session}9:30 am, 4 June 2006
Watkins Glen Indy Grand Prix}3:30 pm, 4 June 2006(domestic TV on ABC Sports, with radio simulcast on the IMS Radio Network and webcast through indycar.com); Spanish-language broadcast set for 3:30 pm on ESPN Desportes.........in addition, radio/TV broadcast will also be on the United States Armed Forces Network

As always, I'll have observations, commentaries, and anything else that pops up during the race weekend.....

[mlittle]

As teams were rolling their cars out onto the frontstraight prior to Sunday's running of "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing", teams were busy packing everything into their respective transporters for the trip to Watkins Glen this week, as round 5 of the 2006 IndyCar Series, the Watkins Glen Indy Grand Prix presented by Tissot, would be the following Sunday. Besides the logistics of transportation from Indy to New York's Finger Lakes region, there is also the matter of the cars themselves. Before the teams left for the Brickyard, they brought three IndyCars with them, two for the 500, and a road-course car set up and ready for the Glen.......with road-course wing, brake, differential and gearbox pieces assembled and ready to go. As Panther Racing's Steve Ragan, chief mechanic for Vitor Meira, puts it......

We have (the) Indy 500, Watkins Glen, Texas, and a test in Kansas (coming up) that all has to be planned out and thought through. You definitely have to plan, and in this business you can always have a curveball thrown your way. We have multiple plans based on different scenarios. It's really not that big a deal. The cars are completely different, so you should have your components prebuilt and you bolt them on. Brakes and uprights were built and sitting on a shelf; all we have to do is bolt on the four corners. The motor that we run at Indy goes to the Glen (with us). We have a car that will be ready to go and all we do is drop in the engine.

Here are a few of the differences bwtween the cars they ran in the 500 and the cars they'll run at the Glen.....
1]The weight of the cars.........1525 lbs. on the ovals, 1600 lbs. road/street courses;
2]On the ovals, the cars will use carbon-fiber brakes, along with four-piston brake calipers and smaller brake scoops, whereas on the road/street circuits, the cars will use steel rotor brakes, six-piston calipers and larger scoops.
3]At Indy, the teams used a single-plate rear wing that can be adjusted to different wing angles(as specified by IRL tech officials); on the road/street circuits(St. Pete, the Glen and Infineon), the teams will use three-plate rear wings consisting of a main plate plus two smaller flaps that CANNOT be adjusted at any time during the event.

[mlittle]

In an effort to improve their road-racing capabilities, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing aanounced Wednesday that former Target/Ganassi Racing driver Ryan Briscoe will be driving the #5 RollCoater/ESCORT Radar Warning D/H at this weekend'd Watkins Glen Indy GP, instead of 2000 series champion Buddy Lazier. In 14 starts in 2005, Briscoe lead laps at Infineon and at St. Petersburg, and also won the pole award at Infineon. The team did make it very clear that it would be a one-off, as Lazier will return for the following round, at Texas.

[mlittle]

For the third time in the five non-oval races that the IRL IndyCar Series has held, Marlboro-Team Penske's Helio Castroneves(#3 Marlboro-Team Penske D/H) sits on the top of the combined practice charts and will get to set the order for the 1-lap qual. session tomorrow afternoon(he can either go first OR he can send everyone else out before him). Setting his fastest lap in the second of the day's two sessions, he posted a 1:30.678 sec.(133.792 mph) time , just 1/100ths off his qual. time set last September.
Here are the top-5 times from the combined charts.........

1}#3 Helio Castroneves, Marlboro-Team Penske........1:30.678 sec/133.792 mph
2}#11 Tony Kanaan, Andretti-Green Racing...............1:31.042 sec/133.251 mph
3}(R)#26 Marco Andretti, Andretti-Green Racing.........1:31.172 sec/133.067 mph
4}#9 Scott Dixon, Target/Ganassi Racing...................1:31.263 sec/132.973 mph
5}#10 Dan Wheldon, Target/Ganassi Racing...............1:31.846 sec/132.090 mph

Friday observations later this evening.......now I just got to figure out where that plider is......

[mlittle]

Let's see......T-K's in the plider, buzzing the track every so often; Julian's out wing walking on the plider , and I'm here at the Glen, trying to figure out how to read a map. Oh, well, here are the observations from today......

1}And the charge of the Panoz brigade is over......thankfully. After using the dog-like 2006-spec Panoz chassis for rounds 2-4 this year, Rahal-Letterman Racing made it official; this will be the curtain call on the Panoz, as the team will be using 2006-spec Dallara chassis the remainder of the year, beginning with the "Supercollider", a/k/a Texas. However, there will be three additional Panoz' on track this weekend besides theirs', as both Target/Ganassi drivers, Dan Wheldon and Scott Dixon, plus Aguri-Fernandez' Scott Sharp will drive the Panoz as well.

2}Home-track advantage? Although Rahal-Letterman Racing rookie Jeff Simmons hails from Lime Rock, Ct., Watkins Glen has been very friendly to the driver of the #17 Ethanol P/H. You see, he's won in Formula Ford 2000, Barber Dodge Pro Series and the Indy Pro Series(when he beat another IPS alum, Marco Andretti), and now he has a shot at becoming the first driver in IRL history to win at the same venue in both the IPS and ICS.

3}Two times in a row.........from 1997-2004, NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 outdrew the Indianapolis 500 in TV ratings; for the second consecutive year, it's the other way around. Final ratings from Nielsen show that the 500 had a rating of 5.2/15 share, while the 600 drew a 4.8/14. Even accounting for the fact that the 600 is held in primetime rather than in the afternoon, it's still a victory for the IRL. Hopefully, next year's 500 will have the same excitement that the previous 2(2005, 2006) had.

[mlittle]

As in Motegi, Japan earlier this year, weather has thrown the proverbial monkey wrench into an IndyCar Series weekend; the reason for qualifying being rained out was interesting......series rules require that two "Life-Flight" trauma helicopters be able to takeoff/land from an event venue anytime cars are out on track; when neither of Corning Medical Center's choppers were able to fly from Corning, NY to Watkins Glen due to the rainy weather, qual. was cancelled and the grid was set according to the combined practice charts, thus the qualifying order for Sunday's race will line up as follows...........

1}Helio Castroneves(#3 Marlboro-Team Penske D/H).........1:30.678 sec
2}Tony Kanaan(#11 Team 7-11 D/H)................................1:31.046 sec

3}(R)Marco Andretti(#26 NYSE Group D/H)........................1:31.172 sec
4}Scott Dixon(#9 Energizer Lithium P/H)............................1:31.236 sec

5}Dan Wheldon(#10 Target P/H).......................................1:31.597 sec
6}Sam Hornish, Jr.(#6 Marlboro-Team Penske D/H)............1:31.846 sec

7}Dario Franchitti(#27 Canadian Club/Klein Tools D/H)........1:31.867 sec
8}Vitor Meira(#4 Network LIVE/EcoNova D/H).....................1:32.023 sec

9}Bryan Herta(#7 XM Satellite Radio D/H)..........................1:32.184 sec
10}Ryan Briscoe(#5 RollCoater/ESCORT D/H)....................1:32.264 sec

11}Buddy Rice(#15 Argent/Pioneer P/H)............................1:32.272 sec
12}Kosuke Matsurra(#55 Panasonic/ARTA D/H)..................1:32.553 sec

13}(R)Jeff Simmons(#17 Ethanol P/H)...............................1:33.455 sec
14}Scott Sharp(#8 Delphi P/H).........................................1:33.502 sec

15}Tomas Scheckter(#2 Rock & Republic D/H)...................1:33.801 sec
16}Danica Patrick(#16 Argent/PEAK P/H)...........................1:33.875 sec

17}Eddie Cheever, Jr.(#51 Crown Royal D/H)....................1:34.173 sec
18}Ed Carpenter(#20 Rock & Republic D/H).......................1:35.073 sec

19}#14 Felipe Giaffone(#14 ABC Supply Co. D/H)..............1:35.104 sec

Observations later this evening.....speaking of which, has anyone seen a plider flying around??

[mlittle]

Besides watching the Rolex Series race at the Glen, there were a few things of interest around the Glen........

1}Farewell, Hemelgarn..............if the reports are indeed true, then another of the IRL's charter teams(those who were around in 1996) has indeed, to quote the famous saying, "left the building.... " According to both autoracing1.com and autosport.com, Hemelgarn Racing shuttered its' Indianapolis raceshop, laid off everyone and dismissed rookie driver P.J. Chesson. The problem, though, is what happened......according to ar1.com, the team lost its' sponsorship via. co-owner Carmelo Anthony, which prompted the team's closure. The autosport article, though, paints a more confusing picture.(Note....several autoracing message boards have picked up on the autosport.com story, as well.) The short of it is this.........Hemelgarn's team barely had enough staff to run Chesson's car at the Brickyard, yet they decided to add a second car(Bucknum) for the month of May to give Chesson some help for the 500. Unfortunately, Anthony, dissatisfied at the team's efforts so far this year, withdrew his support from the team, prompting the closure. According to the AOWR rumormill, Chesson and his backers may land at Panther Racing, where he would gain a big increase in experience from veteran Vitor Meira, plus a more steady team to help Chesson along. Stay tuned.........

2}Congrats, Marco! On the positive side of things, Andretti-Green Racing's Marco Andretti was awarded the Indy 500 rookie of the year award for his second-place finish in last week's 500, and thankfully, he didn't receive any banana-creme pies thrown at him by his teammates the way they threw 'em at Dan Wheldon last year when he received his winner's check for winning the race. Knowing those comedians, though.....they'll think of something.

3}They did beat NASCAR!!! An updated Nielsens' rating was released for the two Memorial Day Sunday events today, and the 90th Indy 500 won over the Coca-Cola 600....barely. The 500 received a 5.1/14 rating, while the 600 received a 5.0/11 rating.

[mlittle]

In a race that saw plenty of spins, crashes, wet weather and the first timed event in IndyCar Series history, Target/Ganassi Racing got its' second win of the season, and Scott Dixon will get to put another wreath of flowers on the Seneca pedestal at Argetsinger Hall in the NY Finger Lakes, as he wins the Watkins Glen Indy Grand Prix presented by Tissot.

When the green flag fell, all 19 cars were on "wets"(grooved Firestone Firehawks) as there had been intermittent showers Sunday morning(the weather would play a very integral part of the race's outcome...... ) and teams were concerned about not only how the race would go, but who would be the first to pit for "drys"(Firestone Firehawk slicks). As the race began, the early leader was the polesitter, Helio Castroneves(#3 Marlboro-Team Penske D/H) who got the jump on the field and led the first few laps. By lap 4, the track had dried to the point where teams began calling drivers in for "drys'; the first to enter was Tomas Scheckter(#2 Rock & Republic D/H) who would pit for "drys" and fuel, followed by Sam Hornish, Jr.(#6 Marlboro-Team Penske D/H), Ryan Briscoe(#5 RollCoater/ESCORT D/H) and Eddie Cheever, Jr.(#51 Crown Royal D/H) on lap 7. On the next lap, everyone save for rookie Jeff Simmons(#17 Ethanol P/H) would pit for "drys" and fuel; Simmons would take the lead, only to lose it the next lap when he pitted for "drys" and fuel. Maybe he should've stayed out, for as he exits pitlane, he loses the backend of the car and spins offtrack, bringing out the first of several cautions. At lap 10, the top-5 are Scheckter, Kanaan, Andretti, Castroneves and Dixon.

When the green flag flew on lap 11, Scheckter would lead the field into turn 1; the green lasted for less than a lap as Hornish would spin entering turn 7, bringing out another caution. Hornish would get a bunp-start from the Delphi safety crew, the first of several drivers to do so during the race. Green flag on lap 14, Scheckter again at the front, and......you got it, another yellow, as the cars of Buddy Rice(#15 Argent/Pioneer P/H) and Dario Franchitti(#27 Canadian Club/Klein Tools D/H) touch entering the Inner Loop and go off-course, Franchitti into the "kitty litter"(gravel trap), Rice into the tire barriers. Once again, the caution lasted for a lap, with the green flag fell yet again on lap 18, when Cheever would make the first of two boneheaded moves during the race, with two differing results. At the end of lap 18, Cheever was battling for 10th with Danica Patrick(#16 Argent/PEAK P/H) when Cheever runs Patrick off into the tirewalls entering the pitstaight; Patrick would have to come in for a new frontwing and nosecone on the car, but would continue on to an 8th place finish.

While the caution was out, most of the drivers came in for fuel and tires; the lead passed from Scheckter to Dan Wheldon(#10 Target P/H). Once the green came back out, Wheldon began to build a slight lead on his rivals as the only major stretch of green-flag racing would ensue. By halfway, Wheldon had a 3 second on his nearest competitor(Castroneves).....then it got interesting again. Several laps later, drivers began making another round of stops, shuffling the leaderboard some; however, Wheldon's day would soon end with a broken driveshaft less than 20 laps from the end. On lap 38, the fifth caution came out for the second of Cheever's boneheaded moves....this time, the victim was rookie Marco Andretti(#26 NYSE Group D/H) who been running a pretty good race up to lap 38. That was when Cheever ran him off into the tirewalls going through turn 9. Cheever would soldier on, but Marco's day was done; when Cheever came around turn 9 again, Marco was one very angry driver, shaking his fist at the #51 car when it passed by.

Then the weather became a part of the equation. Watkins Glen, at 3.37 miles, is a long road-course by NA motorsports standards, and it can rain in some areas and remain dry in others......which is exactly what would occur. Rain began falling from turn 1 over to the Inner Loop, while turn 9 to the start/finish line remained dry. Now teams had to decide......do we bring in the drivers for "wets", or do we keep them on the "drys" and hope for the best. Ironically, all the frontrunners chose to stay on slicks("drys") except for Rice, who came in late for "wets" and fuel. With 10 laps to go, race control declared the race a "timed event"(the first-ever for the Indy Racing League) and it became an adventure in bravery as the drivers would tiptoe through the first and second sectors of the track, while going as flat-out as possible in the third sector. In the end, though, it wouldn't matter, as Scott Dixon(#9 Energizer Lithium P/H) would hold off all comers to win his first race of the year, and his second since AOWR returned to the Glen. Here are the top-10 results from the Glen........

1}#10 Scott Dixon, Target/Ganassi Racing................55 laps
2}#4 Vitor Meira, Panther Racing..............................-2.331 secs
3}#5 Ryan Briscoe, Dreyer & Reinbold......................-2.799 secs
4}#15 Buddy Rice, Rahal-Letterman Racing...............-9.228 secs
5}#14 Felipe Giaffone, A.J. Foyt Racing.....................-11.481 secs
6}#20 Ed Carpenter, Vision Racing...........................-12.443 secs
7}#3 Helio Castroneves, Marlboro-Team Penske........-13.046 secs
8}#16 Danica Patrick, Rahal-Letterman Racing...........-13.329 secs
9}#8 Scott Sharp, Aguri-Fernandez Racing................-16.646 secs
10}#2 Tomas Scheckter, Vision Racing.....................-48.487 secs

Observations on a weird day at the Glen later this evening...........

[Southernman]

It's good to see Scott Dixon win the race.

I thought that Marco Andretti's driving style was interesting to watch. His quick reflexes stopped him spinning out on a number of times.

[Southernman]

My thoughts on the Cheever- Andretti crash is that Cheever should be banned from racing at this level until he can prove that he has improved his driving at a lower level. I don't think it was deliberate, I think Cheever was totally unaware of who driving near him.

[mlittle]

Yeah, Southernman, it was great to see Dixon win today; he's been under some pressure this year, with Wheldon moving over from AGR to Ganassi, Dixon's no longer the team's lead driver, so this definitely was a well-needed shot in the arm. And, now, the Sunday observations.........

1}Young vs. Old.............One side thought it was deliberate; the other thought it was an accident. Can you say.....controversy? Around lap 38 of today's race, Eddie Cheever, Jr. ran into(or IMHO)/over his second driver of the day, sending Marco Andretti into the turn 9 Armco and eventually into the tirewalls, ending his day, and drawing protests from AGR. What did the two antagonists have to say.......

Marco Andretti, #26 NYSE Group D/H:

It was blatant, absolutely blatant. It was absolutely on purpose. If he didn't know I was there, then that's pretty scary.

Michael Andretti, Co-Owner, Andretti-Green Racing:

It was so blatant. He does it all the time. He doesn't belong on a racetrack. The guy's a complete idiot.

Eddie Cheever, Jr., #51 Crown Royal D/H:

I had just gone out on the racetrack with a new set of tires and the track was very slippery. I was doing everything I could to keep the car straight. I never had any problem with anybody getting by. It was just bad circumstances.

And to think, we're headed to Texas in six days.........

2}New sponsor for Panther Racing.........how's this for multi-tasking; during the race, Panther Racing co-owners Jim Harbaugh and John Barnes were on the phones/Palm Pilots/Blackberrys', and whatever else comes to mind, with representatives from Harrah's casinos in Las Vegas discussing future sponsorship(on a full-time basis) for the #4 car driven by Vitor Meira. Now, I don't know if they succeeded in getting Harrah's aboard, but Meira getting the runner-up spot couldn't have hurt.

3}Congrats, Ryan!............After a somewhat lackluster 2005 season for Target/Ganassi Racing, Ryan Briscoe found himself without a ride in NA motorsports.......at least he still knows how to drive; the kid scored a third-place finish in a one-off for Dreyer & Reinbold. Hopefully, someone will sign Briscoe for the balance of the campaign ahead.

Quote of the week..........when asked whether he would "discuss" with Eddie Cheever, Jr. what happened today, he replied.....

When we do talk, there won't be much talking. There won't be any discussion, I can tell you that.

What can I tell you............