I am ready to cover today's practice at IMS. The weather here is so bad that I didn't have to work the 2nd job.

Well, the first day of practice is over, but not before we saw what most of would have remembered as a classic Happy Hour. While there was no change at the top of the chart, the next five positions did change, with Sharp, Castroneves, Kanaan, Matsuura and Franchitti  posting their best speeds of the day. Further down the list, the same could be said for Thomas Scheckter (8th), Vitor Meira (10th) and Richie Hearn, who in turning in an 11th best speed, made a big statement for a little team, the return of a viable Indy one-off. Robby Gordon did well last year with the same sponsorship and car number, but he had "distractions," and that Chevy engine wasn't as good as this one. Briscoe surprised me today with that early speed, and Adrian Fernandez surprised me with no speed. Mo Nunn has a better operation than that. The same can be said for Dixon in the Dallara, we have been told that he has a Dallara-familiar engineer, but they sure don't know how to set that car up. I like Briscoe as a TRD Toyota benchmark, add 2-mph to what he can do, and you have the pole speed, but wait until Friday to do it. There were 27 cars within 5 mph this afternoon, and that will only get better. Foyt, Carpentier, Yasukawa and Dixon were unable to run above 220, and Barron just above it, but it took two cars to get there.. I wonder how long Red Bull will put up with Cheever's lame team. I wonder if Eddie will get in the car and "show" them. That's a wrap for today. Here is the Final T&S chart as posted by IndyCar T&S.

(5:45 Indy Time) I'm thinking we have seen it all for the day, even with 10 minutes to go. All the good runners have been out recently, and there was no big speed jumps. Helio is on the track, I'm thinking he won't let Briscoe be the fastest Toyota. Hearn up to 223.456, fast Chevy for the day, called that one, but Buddy Lazier is still out. Scheckter out in the primary car, almost identical results in both cars. Helio to 3rd fast now, above 226 with a big tow. Scheckter to 8th, surpassing Hearn, Franchitti to 6th. 

(5:30 Indy Time) Franchitti is back out, car repaired. Sharp up to 2nd in his primary car, a 226.609, Kanaan to third. SportsCenter at the Indy 500 is on. Buddy Lazier is back on the track. I missed the TV show yesterday, and now I'm waiting to see some of Danica's runs to see how close she runs to the wall at the exit of turns one and three, that is something Sarah Fisher and Lynn St. James never was able to do. Well, she isn't pushing the walls yet, but I already see that she will.

(5:15 Indy Time) Here comes Kosuke, on a flyer, and Scott Sharp is out as well, dueling Fernandez cars. Matsuura is up to 2nd quick @ 225.680, Sharp bumped his speed up to 224.875, and has still only run 19 laps. Richie Hearn is the 2nd fastest Chevy, right behind Scheckter. I don't expect Panther Racing to be a player in the happy hour grand prix anyway, so if they wish, the Hearn car could be fast Chevy for the day.

(5:00 Indy Time) I'm back, took longer then I thought to go cross-town and back, I caught "the light," both ways. No change the chart though, and now it is officially happy hour. Well there goes the prediction, Wheldon at 226.808. Whether he got a tow or no tow, this is only Tuesday, the track will get faster and they will further trim out the cars. Anyone that thought the pole speed would be a 226 was delusional anyway. I have doubts about my "228" prediction, with one lap over 229 mph. Tony Kanaan is now up to 224.5, I saw this speed coming as soon as Briscoe turned the 225. Patrick Carpentier is now at least the 6th driver to be on the track in both cars. Wheldon is now 1st and 3rd on the speed chart... I wonder if they will get the Franchitti car fixed to get out and run today, perhaps the "throttle cable" was cut by a piece of connecting rod?

(4:45 Indy Time) There have now been 33 car driver combinations out today, all three RLR drivers have been out in both cars, as has Bryan Herta and Kosuke Matsuura, there has to be another, I'm looking... Ah, Hornish, found it. I'm gonna have to dash out and pay the power bell, otherwise the electric co-op won't be able to pay the gas bill to keep the two Honda generators running that powers this town and my computer. I better get 'er done before happy hour, we haven't heard much from Tony Kanaan.

(4:15 Indy Time) The slow pace sent me to the shower to keep me awake, but back and refreshed, I now see that Ryan Briscoe had a wake up call ready to deliver, if only I had waited for it, a 225.266 lap. Dan Wheldon was quick to answer, bet came up a little short. right now I am safe with my first day speed prediction of 225-something, but I am beginning to worry. For a rookie to do that, with a Panoz Toyota everyone complains about, how fast will the "real" contenders be, with Honda's and Penske Toyota's? Danica Patrick is up to 222.3. Way back in the mid-60's, road racers discovered that IMS is perfect for them, and that has been the case ever since. We are seeing this now in Briscoe and Patrick, but think back to Scheckter and Castroneves, Gil de Ferran and others in their rookie years, IMS loves road racers, even if some of us don't. 

(3:45 Indy Time) Kosuke Matsuura is now up to 2nd on the chart, much the same as in almost every practice session last year here, but the track is under green flag condition, and there are no cars on the track, back in a few minutes.

(3:15 Indy Time) Dario Franchitti was out and gaining speed when he had a mechanical problem, listed on the T&S link as a broken throttle cable. There was a short caution for the resulting tow in, but they are back to practicing now. Adrian Fernandez is out for the first time in the Mo Nunn car and Bryan Herta is now out in his "T" car. The Matsuura primary car id now shown as being on pit road, the 31st car of the day. Scott Dixon has run 44 laps in the Dallara, it's tough to see him in bottom feeder territory with Carpenter, Foyt IV and Yasukawa. Roger won't be there long though, he is very careful in bring his car up to speed. Yasukawa can break out of bottom feeder land, Foyt and Carpenter can't. Scott Sharp posted 3rd fastest speed early in the session, ran a total of 12 laps and hasn't been back on the track. Matsuura is back out on the track, and in 5 laps in his primary car, he is at 223 again and is 6th and 7th on today's chart, now that's funny.

(2:45 Indy Time) Vitor Meira is the only other driver besides Buddy Rice to be at speed in two cars, Vitor is at 222.353 in the #17, and above 221 in the "T" car. The "T" designation indicates it is a backup car. Debris caution, I'll be gone for about 20 minutes.

(2:30 Indy Time) Earlier today the T&S link listed the #9 Dixon car as a Panoz, but the PPV site had claimed it a Dallara. I don't post their confidential info, I'm happy just to be still able to subscribe, but now T&S has been corrected, Dixon is in the Dallara, and just beginning to find speed. Buddy Rice is now above 221 in both cars. The lack of speed gains has to be attributed to the heat at Indy, yesterday some or our people complained of being "scorched" at IMS, today is hotter. Tomas Scheckter and Sam Hornish have posted some minor speed gains into the 222-mph bracket and Sebastien Bourdais is "12A" on the chart, with a 221'7 lap. Bourdais has to be the most clear thinking and level-headed driver in the CCWS, he's been wanting to run Indy for two years, and admits it. He was actively campaigning to run Indy at St. Pete. Bourdais is a real talent in the CCWS, I think they listened, and made it happened to keep him happy. 11 drivers are above 222 mph, including Buddy Lazier...

(2:15 Indy Time) Richie Hearn is slowly moving up the speed chart, this is a real ride now, Richie is good at Indy, this should prove to be an interesting team. also worth noting, is that from chart positions 1-24, there is only a 4.5 mph speed gap. RaceTrack Weather now shows Indy temperature at 87 degrees, I can't wait for Happy Hour.

(2:00 Indy Time) There has been no changes at the top of the chart in close to an hour, Wheldon is shown as the only driver on the track. They must have but more sand in his bag, because Wheldon hasn't approached his 224.9 again. I'm still dazzled by Dan's first run, he was over 223 ON HIS THIRD LAP, NO ENGINE WARM UP LAPS, NO LEAK CHECK, JUST GO OUT AND FLY! Those old enough to remember the TV show LAUGH IN will remember the Artie Johnson line, "very interesting, but stupid." That was a potential crash run that didn't happen. Dan Wheldon, winner of all IndyCar events this season but one, is a real talent, lucky too!

(1:30 Indy Time) It's interesting to note that Dan Wheldon posted that "225" on his 5th lap on the track, and I'm not sure he was one of those at the tire test. That shows either extreme confidence in your car and team, a really large "set," or he is a darn fool, I'm not sure witch, but if Wheldon can do that, there has to be far more speed left in these cars than any expected 226 mph pole speed. There are 26 driver/car combos that have been on the track today, without including on driver being out in two cars, like Vitor Meira has. Jeff Bucknum, Scott Mayer, Jaques Lazier, Adrian Fernandez, Jeff Ward and Paul Dana have not been on the track, that's 32 cars, and the PDM/Roth deal would make 33.

(1:15 Indy Time) Green flag again. Helio Castroneves is moving towards the top of the chart, moving to 2nd at 223.774, not big news yet, these cars will have to all be above 226 by Saturday, and there's weather on the way. Tomorrow could be very hot, but the rest of the week looks to be wet. buddy Lazier is now up to 8th and above 222, but most of these cars are still running "tire Test" speed.

(1:00 Indy Time) Richie Hearn is finally on the track in a Panoz Chevy, this is the first time since 2002 that we have seen that combination on an IndyCar track. Back under yellow, fluid from Junqueira car.

(12:45 Indy Time) Still under a debris caution, D&G Central must be correct, the sky must have fallen on IMS causing all that debris. Speaking of "D&G," Toyota now says "they won't be running NASCAR BGN next season," all that wasted bandwidth, all the resulting whine, doom and gloom wasted. meanwhile, the series that "would never turn a wheel" has a field at IMS that is as strong as any in the past 20 years. BACK UNDER GREEN AND DAN WHELDON JUST RAN 224.998, Scott Sharp is above 223! Stunning, but not unexpected here.

(12:30 Indy Time) Wow, Kosuke Matsuura just busted at 223.205, after just 7 laps, shades of last year, when either he or teammate Adrian Fernandez shared the top of the speed chart almost every day. It's as if Matsuura was waiting for this day. After a rocky start to this season at Homestead, where he caused the "big one," he has been mid-pack since. There is a debris caution, but Dario Franchitti is now shown as being above 223 mph as well, and Sam Hornish Jr. is above 222.

(12:15 Indy Time) T&S is up and running and there are 11 cars that have at least made one lap of the IMS track. Ryan Briscoe is setting a 221 mph pace, this could be expected because his car was set up during ROP, but he hadn't been that fast before. It is interesting to note that with full sponsorship, the Sam Schmidt Motorsports/Richie Hearn Panoz Chevy is on pit road and about to make a run. This will be the first time in three years that Schmidt has not run on the 2nd weekend only. Helio Castroneves is now at the top of the chart, but still under 222 mph.

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