2006 IRL Rd. 3-Bridgestone Indy Japan 300
Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 8:31 am
Japan. The land of the rising sun. Since 1998, NA open-wheel racing has visited the shores of this island nation, and 2006 marks the ninth time Indy-style racecars have run at the egg-shaped, 1.5-mile, moderately banked Twin Ring Motegi, located in Motegi, Japan, about three hours north of Tokyo. For the fourth consecutive year, the IRL IndyCar Series has run here before returning to the States' and the Indianapolis 500, and in the three preceding years, one driver each year and, for the last two, one team in particular, have used Motegi as a springboard for the month of May.....
2003: Scott Dixon, Target/Ganassi Racing......Started on the pole and finished in the top-5; Dixon went on to take the points lead w/wins in Pikes Peak and Richmond, eventually winning the 2003 series championship.
2004: Buddy Rice, Rahal-Letterman Racing. A solid run at the Twin Ring gave Rice enough of a push to not only take pole at the Brickyard but win at the Brickyard; although he would fall to the 1-2 tandem of AGR's Tony Kanaan and Dan Wheldon, Rice was the biggest opponent they had the remainder of the 2004 season.
2005: Danica Patrick, Rahal-Letterman Racing. A front-row start and 4th-place finish set the stage for a near-spectactular month of May(fastest in rookie orientation, fastest practice speed in the month of May, first woman to lead a lap during the 500, 4th-place finish, etc.) and what would eventually lead to rookie of the year honors.
2006:........who will get the proverbial push from Motegi through to Indy?
The race is currently scheduled for 11:30 PM U.S. EDT Friday, April 21st(12:30 PM local time, Sat. April 22 in Tokyo) and will be broadcast on the IMS Radio Network(w/domestic radio and webcast through indycar.com), Ch. 145 on XM Satellite Radio and on the U.S. Armed Forces Network. The television broadcast will be at 12:30 PM(next-day tape) on ESPN.
Note......in case anyone's wondering why Bridgestone is sponsoring this race, it is because Bridgestone is the parent company of not only Bridgestone N.A., but also of Firestone. Hence, rather than, say, the Firestone Indy Japan 300, it is the Bridgestone Indy Japan 300.
2003: Scott Dixon, Target/Ganassi Racing......Started on the pole and finished in the top-5; Dixon went on to take the points lead w/wins in Pikes Peak and Richmond, eventually winning the 2003 series championship.
2004: Buddy Rice, Rahal-Letterman Racing. A solid run at the Twin Ring gave Rice enough of a push to not only take pole at the Brickyard but win at the Brickyard; although he would fall to the 1-2 tandem of AGR's Tony Kanaan and Dan Wheldon, Rice was the biggest opponent they had the remainder of the 2004 season.
2005: Danica Patrick, Rahal-Letterman Racing. A front-row start and 4th-place finish set the stage for a near-spectactular month of May(fastest in rookie orientation, fastest practice speed in the month of May, first woman to lead a lap during the 500, 4th-place finish, etc.) and what would eventually lead to rookie of the year honors.
2006:........who will get the proverbial push from Motegi through to Indy?
The race is currently scheduled for 11:30 PM U.S. EDT Friday, April 21st(12:30 PM local time, Sat. April 22 in Tokyo) and will be broadcast on the IMS Radio Network(w/domestic radio and webcast through indycar.com), Ch. 145 on XM Satellite Radio and on the U.S. Armed Forces Network. The television broadcast will be at 12:30 PM(next-day tape) on ESPN.
Note......in case anyone's wondering why Bridgestone is sponsoring this race, it is because Bridgestone is the parent company of not only Bridgestone N.A., but also of Firestone. Hence, rather than, say, the Firestone Indy Japan 300, it is the Bridgestone Indy Japan 300.