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There is only one reason that this
pit podium would not already be in use in one of the Vision
pits, and that's because they already have one for each of their
three cars. Now if the team was going to run another car in a
2nd week deal (one of the "T" cars), they would need
another podium wouldn't they (and a garage to put it in)? I took
this picture Wednesday, I expect it's for the Roberto Moreno
entry... Unfortunately for Pupo, I also heard that there is no
chance a "supported" team would bump Marty Roth out of
the field if he is on the bubble. Roth is going to be helping
IndyCar to a larger field for the rest of the season by running
the series full time. That said, Roth might get bumped by a
"real" effort, so if I were Marty, I'd find some
speed.
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Sometimes you do the right thing even though
it might not feel right at the time. I love IMS in May more than anywhere
else in the world (I've been around it a couple of times) EXCEPT when
it's raining. Looking outside the room at the Red Roof at the rain made me
decide to head home 20 hours earlier than scheduled, but it was hard to
do. Now that I'm home and found that the rain was indeed a bother today I
feel much better. Nobody ran a lot of laps but there was some new tow
assisted speeds, but the results are bracketed almost team by team
throughout the top 16. That is about the most amazing feat as I have ever
seen from IMS. Here's the final T&S chart, Helio Castroneves was the
only driver to again work a 2nd car.
|
|
Pos
|
Driver
|
|
Best Time
|
Best Speed
|
|
|
|
Last Lap
|
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1
|
Sam Hornish Jr (6)
|
|
39.6844
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226.789
|
|
|
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19
|
|
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2
|
Dan Wheldon (10)
|
|
39.8075
|
226.088
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|
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45
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3
|
Helio Castroneves (3T)
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|
39.9030
|
225.547
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12
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4
|
Scott Dixon (9)
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|
39.9451
|
225.309
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27
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5
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Dario Franchitti (27)
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|
40.0460
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224.742
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17
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6
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Bryan Herta (7)
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40.1920
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223.925
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13
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7
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Tony Kanaan (11)
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40.1957
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223.905
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20
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8
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Marco Andretti (26)
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40.2494
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223.606
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17
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9
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Michael Andretti (1)
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40.3249
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223.187
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18
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10
|
Tomas Scheckter (2)
|
|
40.4965
|
222.241
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14
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11
|
Ed Carpenter (20)
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40.5683
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221.848
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18
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12
|
Townsend Bell (90)
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40.5963
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221.695
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11
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13
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Tony Kanaan (1)
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40.6659
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221.316
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6
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14
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Danica Patrick (16)
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40.7112
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221.069
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28
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15
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Buddy Rice (15)
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40.8839
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220.136
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14
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16
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Jeff Simmons (17)
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41.2633
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218.111
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15
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17
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Felipe Giaffone (14)
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41.3267
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217.777
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24
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18
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Buddy Lazier (5)
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41.4944
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216.897
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13
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19
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Marty Roth (25)
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43.1764
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208.447
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25
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I mentioned above how hard it was to
leave Indy when I could stay another day, I learned another hard lesson
later "watching" practice via T&S at the Cincinnati airport
gate. When someone crashes T&S leaves you a lot of "hang
time" before telling who brought out the yellow. You sit and watch as
cars are posted in the "pit" until they either finally post the
who/what/where, or there is only one car still on the track. I have always
been concerned about drivers safety in the past when I was just a fan, but
now that I talk to all of them often, it's even harder to wait to find out
who it is and the drivers condition. Perhaps the memory of Paul Dana is
still too fresh in my mind. Now that we know Buddy is OK, here are a
couple of pictures of the car.
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This is an easily fixed car,
I could ring up the damage totals, but the numbers would be astounding,
and you wouldn't want to pay at the register anyway. At least Buddy's OK.
One thing I do want to know and will find out, is if they will continue to
use the engine? I doubt it very much. Now for what I think was the cause
of the crash. Note the flags and the windsock on the pylon. The winds were
out of the west and above 20 mph when this picture was taken. Buddy said
"he hadn't even fully turned into the corner when he lost the
car." That could be a wind issue, or perhaps they have found their
Panoz cars have so much more drag that the equal engines can't push them
through the air fast enough, and were trimming out the rear wing too much.
As fixable as the car is, damaged cars can be replaced on the entry list,
perhaps this would be a good time for RLR to slip in one of their new
Dallara's
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O/IRR Photos by Dennis
Sylvia
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The only information I have came from the
T&S commentary link, they reported Buddy out of the car and into the
safety vehicle. They also reported a large debris field and SAFER barrier
damage. IndyCar information service TrackSideOnline reported "Rice
out of the car under his own power." I had checked T&S before the
accident, here's are two report's, the top one being the latest... As you
can see, Sam Hornish has posted the fastest speed on the week so far, and
by a good margin. Dario Franchitti finally found some speed as well, but
down the chart from Dario, almost everyone is running slower than earlier
in the week.
|
|
Pos
|
Driver
|
|
Best Time
|
Best Speed
|
|
|
|
Last Lap
|
|
|
|
1
|
Sam Hornish Jr (6)
|
|
39.6844
|
226.789
|
|
|
|
19
|
|
|
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2
|
Dan Wheldon (10)
|
|
39.8921
|
225.609
|
|
|
|
24
|
|
|
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3
|
Helio Castroneves (3T)
|
|
39.9030
|
225.547
|
|
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|
12
|
|
|
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4
|
Scott Dixon (9)
|
|
39.9451
|
225.309
|
|
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|
17
|
|
|
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5
|
Dario Franchitti (27)
|
|
40.0460
|
224.742
|
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11
|
|
|
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6
|
Tony Kanaan (11)
|
|
40.1957
|
223.905
|
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13
|
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7
|
Marco Andretti (26)
| | |
