IndyCar – Flaming Texas Failure and the Decline of Safety in the IndyCar Series
Silvestro on Fire in Texas Simona de Silvestro’s effort at Texas came to an inglorious end on Saturday night. After an accident that left her stranded on track with the right sidepod spouting flames, it took the IndyCar travelling safety crew 40 seconds to extract her from the car. Apparently, the fire hose that they have attached to the safety truck failed and the fire bottles that they brought to bear on the blaze proved insufficient for... [Read More...]
IndyCar – Indianapolis 500 Memories: Birthdays, Radios, and Radioactive Coolers
As part of our continuing series of short talks recalling favorite memories of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, I had a great conversation with Dr. Dana Grove from Johnson County Community College (Go Cavs!) over lunch earlier in the week. Dana is quite literally a life-long fan of the Memorial Day Classic, who’s first birthday, and his upcoming birthday, falls on Race Day. What better way is there to celebrate... [Read More...]
IndyCar – Indianapolis 500 Memories: The Right Place at the Right Time
The second installment in our series of fan conversations recalling our favorite memories of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is with a very special guest, my father Derek Patterson, who in 1988 happened to be in just the right place at just the right time to have an experience of a lifetime. Indianapolis 500 Memories: The Right Place at the Right Time Read More →
IndyCar – Here is Your Pole Day Qualifying Order
Paul Tracy riding with the Geico Caveman during the 2009 Indianapolis 500 Festival Parade.Here is your Pole Day qualifying order from IndyCar.com. Keep in mind that T cars that have not set a time will be withdrawn from the order in favor of primary cars later in the order. That said, AJ Foyt IV will be first on track tomorrow when the gun goes off at 11 am. Paul Tracy, Alex Tagliani and Marco Andretti look to have prime early pill draws to take... [Read More...]
IndyCar – Indy Final Aggregate Time Sheet and Qual Predictions
Here are your final aggregate practice times for the month. And with that, we can make our predictions on who will not make the show. Tomorrow will see a whole host of non-to-3 teams trying to break into the fast 9. Alex Tagliani, Paul Tracy, Dan Wheldon, Hideki Mutoh, Mario Moraes, Graham Rahal and even Davey Hamilton have all put up consistently good times this past week and may play a part in the fast 9 session, especially if they benefit from... [Read More...]
IndyCar – Indianapolis 500 Memories: Watching the Track Come to Life
In these last days leading up to the race, we will be talking with several people about their favorite moments from the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Our first conversation is with Joe Ferrall, a fellow Indy Downforce member and long time attendee of the Indianapolis 500. He shares his stories of getting to the track and watching it come alive on Race Day morning. Indianapolis 500 Memories: Watching the... [Read More...]
IndyCar – Indy 500 Aggregate Practice Times Through Thursday
Tony Kanaan, Paul Tracy, Marco Andretti, Dan Wheldon & Hideki Mutoh put in their quickest times of the month yesterday, and all of them are firmly in the top 10. Here is your aggregate timesheet. . Pos Driver # Team Best Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thur . 1 Castroneves 3 Penske 227.046 226.603 227.046 - 224.833 225.563 226.08 . 2 Dixon 9 Ganassi 226.971 226.237 226.202 - 226.549 226.971 225.035 . 3 Kanaan 11 Andretti 226.775 224.685 225.524 - 225.171 225.66 226.775 . 4 Briscoe 6 Penske 226.633 224.384 224.559 - 223.445 226.633 224.811 . 5 Franchitti 10 Ganassi 226.535 226.535 226.044 - 224.692 225.85 224.167 . 6 Tracy 15 KV 226.322 219.514 221.864 - 224.02 221.518 226.322 . 7 Mutoh 6 N/H 226.23 223.903 222.702 - 223.736 225.926 226.23 . 8 M.... [Read More...]
IndyCar – Wednesday Indy 500 Practice Recap
Scott Dixon continued to impress at Indy today, once again setting quick time. This is becoming a trend. Action on the track was pretty heavy today with several of the contenders working on race setups. At times today there were 10 or 12 cars running together in packs on the track. EJ Viso did not make it on the track today after being released from Methodist last night and being cleared by IMS medical staff today. While EJ was a bit sore, he seemed... [Read More...]
IndyCar – Aggregate Indy 500 Practice Times After Wednesday
Here are your aggregate practice times updated through Wednesday practice. Things are starting to look clear up at the top as Dixon has so far been the class of the field during all practice sessions, save for Helio’s staggering weekend performance. Kudos to Hideki Mutoh for moving from 17th up to 6th on the aggregate speed chart. . Pos Driver # Team Best Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed . 1 Castroneves 3 Penske 227.046 226.603 227.046 - 224.833 225.563 . 2 Dixon 9 Ganassi 226.971 226.237 226.202 - 226.549 226.971 . 3 Briscoe 6 Penske 226.633 224.384 224.559 - 223.445 226.633 . 4 Franchitti 10 Ganassi 226.535 226.535 226.044 - 224.692 225.85 . 5 Tagliani 77 FAZZT 226.002 - 221.482 - 225.394 226.002 . 6 Mutoh 6 N/H 225.926 223.903 222.702 - 223.736 225.926 . 7 Moraes 32 KV 225.913 223.933 225.043 - 225.913 224.74 . 8 M.... [Read More...]
IndyCar – Aggregate Times for Indy 500 Practice Sessions So Far
Here are your combined aggregate times for practice sessions so far. Note that we are not making a distinction between “T” cars and regular entries. Also, note that we are not keeping track of Kanaan’s herculean effort taking laps in all 5 Andretti entries on Saturday. At this point, financing for Bruno Juniquiera’s seat at FAZZT has not yet come through. I am starting to get concerned that it isn’t going to happen... [Read More...]
