(9:20 AM) I will  use a "latest news first" format today, I am about to head out on the course to shoot some film before practice starts, I'll be back soon. One issue I will be watching closely will be the temperature and how it relates to the asphalt paved  pit road. The "pads" on the IndyCar air jacks are not very large, and will sink into very hot pavement. That is one of the reasons most IndyCar pit roads are done in concrete. The previous CART race was held in late February, when it is cooler, today's expected temperature should reach 80 degrees, with "track" temps in the 120-range, so I expect a problem. To counter that, once the cars are "in the air" for any prolonged time, as usual they will put jack stands under them, but perhaps some wooden spacers will become the order of the weekend also.

The media center here has a live TV feed that appears to be working well, perhaps the best way to cover the action will be to sit here in air conditioned comfort, watch the monitors and follow T&S. Nah, I'm old-school, I'll use a stopwatch and shoe leather. The "2-seater" lapped the track yesterday at 70-mph, how that relates to the IndyCars remains to be seen, but some of the "turns here are of  a very slow, sub-50 mph verity, the long wheelbase  two-seater isn't very "nimble" so I expect a speed variance far greater then the norm. I'm still looking for the IndyCars to lap above 100-mph. I'm goin' over to the window to see what pace the support cars are running. Oops, red flag, just my luck. Well, the small-engine stuff from the SPEED Challenge series is on the track, running  mid-70 mph laps. I'm loadin' film and changin' batteries, back soon.

Look for Friday afternoon results here... 

(1:30) Here is a quote from a TCGR crewmember as he got a first look at the heavy damage on the Ryan Briscoe car that essentially ended the morning practice session with hard contact into one of the tire barriers. "There is no way we can fix this one in time,  all we are going to do is see if we can save the tub, then we will put another car together." I want to get the pictures of the car first, I'll comment on each shot later. Watch as I build this update, I'll "save" the pictures as I download them.

This is extensive and expensive damage, the way the suspension was ripped off the car, there is a good chance of tub damage.

In this view it is clear that the tire has punched a big hole in and under the sidepod area.

This crewmember is looking for possible tub damage, as you can see, the wing is also damaged, knocking wings and "corner's of these cars is a normal occurrence when racing the "concrete canyons.

Actually Briscoe hurt all for "corners" on the car, this view shows the other three!

Even before the damaged Briscoe car arrived, the team had unloaded the backup car and removed the "underwing." The plumbing" shone connects the main tub with the gearbox and allows the team to easily move the car around and store it as well without an engine.

In this picture you can see the damaged car in the background as the thrash to get this car ready to run begins. As good as this team is, they're not going to run this afternoon.

AJ Foyt shows someone how to make a "wing adjustment," actually, AJ IV "adjusted" it first.

Dario gets new gearing, I saw a lot of that during lunch.

(12:40) Here are the final results from the morning session, as posted by IndyCar T&S. There is an interesting mix of engines, chassis and drivers in the top ten, with 6 Dallara's and 4  Panoz cars. There are six Honda's, three Toyota's and the Enge Chevy. Five cars are above 100 mph, if any of them would have to be considered a surprise it would be Meira, but not to me, I first noticed his road racing skills at Homestead. Several cars have made "barrier" attracts, I heading out now for a damage assessment. Next up will be the MIPS-olition cars, I'm also going to look at what an AGR prepared MIPS car looks like, and how well Marco Andretti will do with it.

(12:26) With little time left in the session, I'll put us under a "final flyer" alert, someone will go out and bonsai a hot lap and lead the morning session soon. Well, Dario tried, but the caution  came out due to hard contact with the tire barriers by Ryan Briscoe. The session has ended under the Briscoe caution.

(12:15) With 15-minutes left in the session, we are finally seeing speed gains from  most of the usual contenders. In addition, the Panther team appears to have sorted out the ROCKSTAR Chevy, Tomas Enge is now 5th quick for the session. Whether Enge's teammate felt the pressure or not, Scheckter just got into the tires.

(11:55) We were under a debris caution and the green  has just come out. It is amazing that  there is only a  3.5-mph gap between Helio's "101" and Danica Patrick in 14th. Yasukawa in the tire barrier with light damage.

(11:35) Dario Franchitti is on the track again, I expect a 100-mph run soon, and I think he will post the first one any minute now. WRONG, Helio got it! I have never felt that Sam Hornish would have trouble road racing, Sam's in 7th.

(11:25) We're close to the 100-mph lap, with the track under for a "tow-in " Helio Castroneves is at 99.251, I'm liking my 103.2 "number, remember in the fasted expect "Q" runs, the teams will bold on a set of fresh tires, "cooked" to about 165 degrees in the tire warmers. It is interesting to note that the Chevy duo of "dueling Tomas'" are at the bottom of the chart, neither driver has run more than 10 laps.

 Speeds are climbing by the lap, with first Sharp, Kanaan and now Briscoe at the top of the chart. Danica Patrick has also taken a turn in the top- as well. Kanaan just busted a 98 mph lap, virtually assuring us that in "Q" trim we will indeed surpass 100 mph.

(11:05) I'm back, and while it is too soon to post an "I told you so," Kosuke Matsuura is leading the session. His "89" is far short of what we should see later. Because this is a "first time" situation, other than computer projections, nobody is sure about the gearing or "wings settings. There is plenty of practice scheduled, but these teams are locked in with the gearing they have for this session.

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