2007 IRL Rd. 9--SunTrust Indy Challenge

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With the IRL IndyCar Series now at halfway, the series now arrives at the second of the series' two short-ovals, the 3/4-mile Richmond International Raceway and round 9, the SunTrust Indy Challenge. Located just outside the "Capital of the Confederacy"(which, IMO, should be an international capital........ ). this banked oval has entertained the series since 2001 and always provides close, competitive racing. Drivers must stay aware at every moment; traffic is always a concern here and there's little time to relax, with lap times in the 16+ second range(12-13 of which are while turning........ )

Here is the event schedule for the weekend................
Practice Session #1............11:45-1:45 pm, 29 June 2007
Practice Session #2............3:15-5:15 pm, 29 June 2007
Qualifying Session..............7:30 pm, 29 June 2007
SunTrust Indy Challenge, 7:30 pm, 30 June 2007 live on ESPN(below are additional broadcast outlets.......)
--Domestic AM radio through the IMS Radio Network
--Domestic satellite radio through XM Satellite Radio Ch. 144, XM Sports Nation and Ch. 145, IndyCar Racing
--International shortwave & tv simulcast courtesy of the United States Armed Forces Network

As before, I'll have reports, commentaries and whatever else comes by and around.........good luck to all the competitors!!

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While most of the attention from the motorracing scribes is focused at RIR, I, being a humble Southerner, thought I'd take you for a few brief tours of Richmond, Va., a city that has played a pivotal role in the history of the United States since its' foundings 2 centuries ago.............

First stop...............Monument Avenue. One of the major thoroughfares in Richmond, what sets the avenue apart are the monuments and statues to some of the most famous people in Richmond's history.....the memorials, monuments and statues are of.....(going from downtown Richmond to the Powhite Parkway)........
--an equestrian sculpture of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee facing south
--an equestrian sculpture of Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart facing south
--a memorial to Confederate President Jefferson Davis facing towards downtown
--an equestrian sculpture of Confederate Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson facing north
--a monument/memeorial to oceanographer Matthew F. Maury facing eastward
--a mounment/memorial to tennis legend and civil rights activist Arthur Ashe facing westward away from Richmond
note.....the reason Stonewall's memorial faces north rather than south as w/Lee, Stuart and Davis is that Stonewall was accidently wounded by troops from a North Carolina regiment during a lull in the battle of Chancellorsville; Stonewall subsequently died of his wounds prior to Gettysburg

Now that we've seen Monument Avenue, our next stop should be a flying blast, especially for T-K............the Virginia Aviation Museum. Located in Sandston, Va., just outside Richmond Intl. Airport, the museum houses tons of aviation history and exhibits from replicas of the Wright Brothers' airplanes(for which North Carolina is rightly referred to as "first in flight") to various types of civilian aircraft(including some Cessna planes........ to military aircraft including the A-4 Skyhawk, F-14 Tomcat(recently retired by the U.S. military after 30+ yrs. of service) to even one of the sleekest, bad--- aircraft ever to roam the skies....the SR-71 Blackbird reconnaisance aircraft.


Stay tuned......more sights of Richmond will be posted during the week.......enjoy!

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Event: SunTrust Indy Challenge presented by XM Satellite Radio
When: 30 June 2007, 7:30 pm, ESPN
Where: Richmond International Raceway, Henrico Co., Va.
Distance: 250 laps, 187.5 miles

Track Facts.................
--RIR is a 3/4-mile paved asphalt oval
--frontstetch is 1290 ft. banked at 8 degrees
--turns are banked at 14 degrees
--backstretch is 860 ft. banked at 2 degrees
--track width is 60 ft. from outside wall to track apron

Past Winners.................
2001, Buddy Lazier*
2002, Sam Hornish, Jr.
2003, Scott Dixon**
2004, Dan Wheldon
2005, Helio Castroneves
2006, Sam Hornish, Jr.
*--inaugural event
**-led all 209 laps(race was shortened by rain)

Entry List(as of 25 June 2007)..........................
Tomas Scheckter, #2 Indy Vision on Joost
Helio Castroneves, #3 Team Penske
Vitor Meira, #4 Delphi
Sarah Fisher, #5 AAMCO Transmissions
Sam Hornish, Jr., #6 Team Penske
Danica Patrick, #7 Motorola
Scott Sharp, #8 Patron Tequila
Scott Dixon, #9 Target
Dan Wheldon, #10 Target
Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-11
Darren Manning, #14 ABC Supply Co.
Buddy Rice, #15 RollCoater/Racing for Kids
Jeff Simmons, #17 Ethanol
Ed Carpenter, #20 Hitachi Power Tools
A.J. Foyt, IV, #22 Indy Vision on Joost
(R)Milka Duno, #23 CITGO
Marco Andretti, #26 NYSE Group
Dario Franchitti, #27 Canadian Club/Palms
Kosuke Matsuura, #55 Panasonic/ARTA

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Richmond Practice Session #1 top-5.................

1st} Dan Wheldon, Target/Ganassi Racing.......................15.690 sec/172.082 mph
2nd} Marco Andretti, Andretti-Green Racing.....................15.705 sec/171.922 mph
3rd} Sam Hornish, Jr., Team Penske...............................15.706 sec/171.914 mph*
4th} Tony Kanaan, Andretti-Green Racing........................15.706 sec/171.911 mph*
5th} Dario Franchitti, Andretti-Green Racing.....................15.754 sec/171.382 mph

*--times to the 10/10,000th's were as follows...........
Hornish 15.7055 sec, Kanaan 15.7058 sec
--19 drivers completed a total of 1414 incident-free laps

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Richmond Practice Session #2 top-5..............

1st} Tony Kanaan, Andretti-Green Racing.........................15.609 sec/172.974 mph
2nd} Sam Hornish, Jr., Team Penske................................15.672 sec/172.281 mph
3rd} Marco Andretti, Andretti-Green Racing........................15.689 sec/172.091 mph
4th} Dan Wheldon, Target/Ganassi Racing..........................15.700 sec/171.988 mph
5th} Scott Dixon, Target/Ganassi Racing.............................15.753 sec/171.403 mph

--18 drivers completed a total of 1032 laps w/one on-track incident occurring; a left-front suspension failure on the #4 of Vitor Meira resulted in a crash on his first flying lap of the session

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SunTrust Indy Challenge presented by XM Satellite Radio starting grid............

note....qualifying was cancelled due to rain, thus the lineup will be set by driver points......

1st} Dario Franchitti, #27 Canadian Club/Palms
2nd} Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-11

3rd} Scott Dixon, #9 Target
4th} Dan Wheldon, #10 Target

5th} Sam Hornish, Jr., #6 Team Penske
6th} Helio Castroneves, #3 Team Penske

7th} Scott Sharp, #8 Patron Tequila
8th} Danica Patrick, #7 Motorola

9th} Vitor Meira, #4 Delphi
10th} Tomas Scheckter, #2 Indy Vision on Joost

11th} Jeff Simmons, #17 Ethanol
12th} Buddy Rice, #15 RollCoater/Racing for Kids

13th} Darren Manning, #14 ABC Supply Co.
14th} Marco Andretti, #26 NYSE Group

15th} Ed Carpenter, #20 Hitachi Power Tools
16th} Sarah Fisher, #5 AAMCO Transmissions

17th} A.J. Foyt, IV, #22 Indy Vision on Joost
18th} Kosuke Matsuura, #55 Panasonic/ARTA

19th}(R)Milka Duno, #23 CITGO

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In 2007, the short-tracks have belonged to Andretti-Green Racing, and tonight was no exception as series points leader Dario Franchitti just obliterated the field this evening, winning the SunTrust Indy Challenge over Target/Ganassi teammates Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon......here are some thoughts on the race............

~~Just how dominant was the Scotsman? Prior to this evening, the record for most laps led in an IndyCar Series event was held by Buddy Lazier, who led 224 laps in his victory at Richmond back in 2001.......Franchitti bested that record, leading 241 of 250 laps. Indeed, it was IMO one of his best performances since moving to the IRL back in 2003.

~~Some very strong runs through the field........one of the better runs in the grid tonight belonged to Dreyer & Reinbold's Buddy Rice, who finished 5th after starting 15th; the team ran an updated 2007 Dallara at Richmond after running a 2006 C-spec Dallara up to now..............it was his second consecutive top-5 finish; unlike last week in Iowa, where he benefitted from mistakes by most of the front-runners, he earned his 5th-place finish tonight.

~~Was this really Richmond? One of the trademarks of short-track open-wheel racing has been for years seeing some beatin'-n'-banging btwn. drivers....which was surprisingly absent this evening. Then again, considering the crashfest at Iowa, I'll easily take an incident-free race any day of the week.

~~From the files........unlike Target/Ganassi Racing, which had a great night, Team Penske looked like a team whose wheels fell off the bus...... On the opening lap, 2-time Richmond winner Sam Hornish, Jr. spun exiting turn 4, which ruined his evening(he finished 15th, 2 laps down)......his teammate, Helio Castroneves, seemed to be doing better until copping one of the strangest penalties I've ever witnessed the Iron Hand of Justice(a/k/a Brian Barnhart) give......here's what transpired:
--just before a late caution came out, Spiderman peels off onto pitroad for fuel and tires; when the caution comes out, his team sends out around....only to realize he'd run out of fuel by the time race control opens the pitlane. So they brought him back in for a splash of fuel and then tried to sneak him around race-leader Franchitti before he and the frontrunners pitted(in essence, they tried to benefit from pitting while the pits are closed, gaining what the IHJ thought was an "unfair" advantage over everyone else). Whatever it was, it didn't work as Castroneves had a make a drive-through penalty once the green fell(he eventually finished 11th, 1 lap down)

Top-10 from tonight's SunTrust Indy Challenge presented by XM Satellite Radio..............................
1st} #27 Dario Franchitti.................................250 laps
2nd} #9 Scott Dixon.......................................-0.419 sec
3rd} #10 Dan Wheldon...................................-1.363 sec
4th} #11 Tony Kanaan...................................-2.909 sec
5th} #15 Buddy Rice......................................-5.913 sec
6th} #7 Danica Patrick...................................-6.362 sec
7th} #2 Tomas Scheckter...............................-7.560 sec
8th} #8 Scott Sharp.......................................-8.574 sec
9th} #4 Vitor Meira........................................-9.528 sec
10th} #20 Ed Carpenter.................................-10.325 sec