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(7-3-04, Final Update) In
crunching the numbers for my "Rolling Dyno" update, I
noticed an interesting thing, in the past, "Q" speeds
from Texas Motor Speedway have been faster than at Kansas
Speedway. I looked at only the 2003 Texas I result and compared
it with the 2003 Kansas Speedway result. Last year at Texas the
pole went to Tomas Scheckter @ 219.300 while Dario Franchitti
won the pole there this year at only 209.609. In 2003 at Kansas
Speedway, Scott Dixon won the pole at 218.085 and today Buddy
Rice ran a 210.141. Not only is the Kansas Speedway result
faster than this years Texas I, but the speed gap is less as
well. To me this indicates that Toyota, Honda and Chevy on in a
rapid-fire approach to maximizing the horsepower results from
the 3.0 liter engines.
Allow me to explain the
"Rolling Dyno" concept again before I update the
numbers. I use results from all three engine manufacturers in
only Dallara chassis, because there are drag issues between the
Dallara and G Force that might skew the results. Because no
Chevy team runs a G Force, I can't use that chassis for compression
purposes. The second factor is relative speed, and rather then
make the results meaningless by including poor results from
Toyota as an example; by including Sharp and Takagi's speeds, I
use only "reasonable" numbers. With the TMS results I
could only use the Team Penske Toyota results, so I only used
speeds from the best two results for each engine. This time AJ
Foyt IV ran decent enough to use three results, so that is what
I did. With two results each from TMS and three today, this is a
five-entrant average. Instead of horsepower numbers, I use a mph
average.
Honda, 209.45 mph.
Chevy, 208.245 mph.
Toyota, 207.189 mph.
As you can see from the
previous results that will remain posted on the left side of
this page today, Chevy has narrowed the gap on Honda, and Toyota
may have lost a little to Chevy. I think this is because I
included the Foyt result, but I feel that MTP is doing a better
job than TRD now, and most of the Toyota field uses TRD supplied
engines. I feel this is one of the issues holding back the TCGR
cars, along with the G Force drag issue.
Now to twist Honda's tail a
little, could it be that because Rahal letterman Racing's
sponsor Argent is the race sponsor, could it be possible that
team got "the call" on getting the best Honda
engine for the weekend?
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(7-3-04) Simmons has made
the first run, a 205.761, but the real news is that Helio ran a
209.120, a speed he never showed in two practice sessions...
Buddy Rice didn't take long knocking Helio of the pole, posting
a 209. on his first lap and finished up with a 210.141. Honda
horsepower is having no trouble hauling this G Force around.
With Rice above 210, you have to wonder what AGR/Kanaan will
show... Bryan Herta had nothing for Rice, posting a 208.210...
Dario Franchitti was able to edge Herta, but couldn't surpass
Helio and Buddy, on the radio feed it has been mentioned that
the sun is burning off the overcast, perhaps as the track heats
up Rice's pole speed will be safe ... Tora Takagi qualified,
enough said, this team has looked awful lately... Vitor Meira
has shown that Rahal Letterman Racing is a team to be reckoned
with as he posted a 209.342 to move Castroneves to the second
row... Ed Carpenter made the second Chevy run but only managed a
206.894... Now it is time to see what a G Force/TRD Toyota can
do, with Dixon making his run, as I expected, the G Force
Toyota, out of any "tow," is only capable of a
206.990... Townsend Bell in the Panther/Menards Dallara Chevy
ran a 208.839, with that speed, one has to wonder how much more
Tomas Scheckter has in his car... Sam Hornish Jr. surpassed
Helio Castroneves in his first lap and kicked it up a little to
end up with a 209.262, good for 3rd on the grid so far... Scott
Sharp posted a 206.495 to improve on his practice speed... AJ
Foyt IV backed up his practice results with a 207.016 mph
lap and edged Dixon as 3rd fastest Toyota powered car. Darren
Manning fell in behind Scott Sharp at 206.364...Tony Kanaan was
unable to unseat Buddy rice, but he did put the AGR Dallara on
the outside pole with a 209.681... Felipe Giaffone turned a
207.o98 to surpass Little Foyt by a tick... Dan Wheldon has
placed the 4th AGR Dallara in the top ten provisionally, but I
don't think that will stick, Dan ran a 207.151... Adrian
Fernandez bumped Wheldon down to 9th immediately with a
208.020 attempt... Kosuke Matsuura, next up, bested Fernandez,
Bryan Herta and Dario Franchitti as well at 208.652, 7th on the
grid, so if Kosuke is going to bounce another driver into the
fence, he will do it from an up-front position... Tomas
Scheckter proved there is speed in the old bowtie as well,
becoming only the 5th driver above 209 at 209.138... Alex Barron
made the final run of the day and qualified well, in 12th
position at 207.668. In summation, AGR only managed to put three
cars in the top ten... In spite of the best efforts of Jeff
Simmons, the Patrick car still gravitated to the bottom of the
charts, starting on the outside of the 10th row. Simmons was put
on notice that if he crashed a couple of cars his chances were
over, so perhaps that was a factor. Mike King mentioned on the
radio feed that MIPS driver Thiago Medeiros will test the
Patrick Dallara Chevy Monday here at Kansas Speedway. Here are
the qualification results.
The Argent
Mortgage Indy 300 Starting Grid
Update: Dario
Franchitti (27), was to start in 9th place. He will be
moved to the back of the field due to an engine
change. Positions 10 through 21 will move up one
position.
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1
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Buddy
Rice (15)
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26.0396
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210.141
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G/H/F
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2
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Tony
Kanaan (11)
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26.0968
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209.681
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D/H/F
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3
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Vitor
Meira (17)
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26.1391
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209.342
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G/H/F
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4
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Sam
Hornish Jr. (6)
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26.1491
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209.262
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D/T/F
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5
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Tomas
Scheckter (4)
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26.1646
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209.138
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D/C/F
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6
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Helio
Castroneves (3)
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26.1668
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209.120
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D/T/F
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7
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Townsend
Bell (2)
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26.2020
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208.839
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D/C/F
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8
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Kosuke
Matsuura (55)
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26.2255
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208.652
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G/H/F
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9
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Dario
Franchitti (27)
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26.2262
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208.646
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D/H/F
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10
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Bryan
Herta (7)
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26.2812
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208.210
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D/H/F
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11
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Adrian
Fernandez (5)
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26.3051
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208.020
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G/H/F
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12
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Alex
Barron (51)
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26.3497
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207.668
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D/C/F
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13
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Dan
Wheldon (26)
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26.4155
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207.151
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D/H/F
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14
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Felipe
Giaffone (24)
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26.4223
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207.098
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D/C/F
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15
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A.J.
Foyt IV (14)
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26.4327
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207.016
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D/T/F
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16
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Scott
Dixon (1)
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26.4361
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206.990
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G/T/F
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17
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Ed
Carpenter (52)
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26.4483
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206.894
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D/C/F
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18
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Scott
Sharp (8)
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26.4994
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206.495
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D/T/F
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19
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Darren
Manning (10)
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26.5162
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206.364
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G/T/F
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20
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Jeff
Simmons (20)
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26.5939
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205.761
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D/C/F
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21
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Tora
Takagi (12)
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26.7264
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204.741
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D/T/F
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(7-3-04, 1:10 EDT) Qualifying
is about to begin, as noted Simmons should be first out,
followed by Castroneves, Rice and Herta. Tony Kanaan is slated
to make the 15th attempt, and by then the pole sitter should be
decided, with only Scheckter and Wheldon left that could contend
for the pole.
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(7-3-04, 12:55 EDT)
Here is
further information on the Access Motorsports situation, in a
statement to the media, Honda has said,
"We sincerely regret
that Greg Ray and his Access Motorsports team will be unable to
complete the 2004 IRL IndyCar Series season." "Greg
and his team have demonstrated great ability and commitment
since joining Honda's Indy program last year, as evidenced by
his front row qualifying performance at Twin Ring Motegi [in
April] and his frequent top- 10 finishes. We understand the
financial realities of the sport but will miss the contributions
of Greg and the Access team."
Apparently Ray arrived at
Kansas Speedway and even took the car through inspection as a
deadline for payment to Honda partner Ilmor past and was
extended. Later the team packed up their gear and left the
speedway.
Greg Ray is a survivor,
hopefully he will find the funding that will allow him to
satisfy his obligations to Honda/Ilmor and continue to race.
As I get ready to post this
update, the webcast from the IMS Radio Network has begun. Jeff
Simmons is slated to make the first "Q" run in 15
minutes.
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(7-3-04, 12:30 PM EDT) The
second practice session is over and Bryan Herta is the leader of
the pack ay 209.666, an impressive speed considering it is later
in the morning and temperatures are creeping up. Three Honda
drivers are at the top of the chart, Herta, Tony Kanaan and
Buddy Rice, all above 209 mph, followed by Sam Hornish Jr. and
Helio Castroneves in Penske Dallara Toyota's and then the
Dallara Honda of Dario Franchitti, the G Force Toyota of Scott
Dixon in 7th and the two G Force Honda's of Kosuke Matsuura and
Vitor Meira. Rounding out the top ten was Townsend Bell in the
lone Chevy powered car All of those drivers were in the 208 mph
range with the exception of Meira and Bell. AJ Foyt IV is again
showing promise in 11th, Foyt had a good run at Richmond, and
may have finally "arrived," better late than never.
Jeff Simmons was listed as 14th; on a par with others using
Chevy power, and if that car has ever been mid-pack before, I
can't remember when. Tora Takagi and Scott Sharp remain at the
bottom of the chart as usual. If there is a TCGR presence with
the Kelley operation, it has yet to be felt. In an article in THE
INDIANAPOLIS STAR, team owner Tom Kelley mentioned that all
team sponsors are in place for 2005, but that doesn't read as an
outright denial of an impending takeover to me. The newly
revised schedule calls for qualifying to begin at 1:15 EDT with
the web radio broadcast to start at 1:00 Pm, from my links page,
here is the connection, click on "YES" for the
connection.
http://www.indyracing.com/indycar/multimedia/radio.php
I will do a running recap as
soon as "Q" runs begin.
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(7-3-04, 11:30 EDT) The
IndyCars are back on the track for the 2nd practice session,
with Buddy Rice back at the top of the charts, followed by Herta
and the MTP duo, with Helio having the edge as I write this. The
cars are still in the 208 mph range. This is the last practice
session prior to the "Q" runs, and I always like to
mention that different teams have varying practice agendas, some
working exclusively on race setups and others taking a shot at a
speed run during one of the sessions. The multi-car teams
usually cover both possibilities, AGR seems to do this the best,
and that is what we came to expect from MTP when Gil de Ferran
was driving, but I don't get that felling now, as both Sam and
Helio are usually on the same page in practice.
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(7-3-04
,
10:45 AM EDT)
IndyCar has issued a
statement that the entry of the Greg Ray/Access Motorsports Team
has been withdrawn, more
on that later as more information becomes available. At this
time the second practice group is on the track and Tony Kanaan
has taken his accustomed position at the top of the charts.
While Buddy Rice still holds onto the 2nd position, we are
beginning to see some Chevy speed as Tomas Scheckter has the
Panther car in third. This is the type of track that best suits
Scheckter's driving style. In the new driver category, Townsend
Bell is shown in 8th position and Jeff Simmons is a respectable
12th.
Bell
is in the customary 2nd-Chevy
position that Panther Racing usually commands, but Ed Carpenter
is close in 10th overall. In the "Toyota drivers in G Force
cars department, Dixon has slipped to 17th on the chart, while
teammate Darren Manning has bested him so far in 13th. There is
a caution period now as I write this, due to a cut tire. I am
trying to surf the net and also cont an Access Motorsports team
member and find out what happened there. Apparently
the session has ended with no further change in the results as
mentioned, The top 5 are as follows,
1, Tony
Kanaan, AGR Dallara Honda, 209.054
2, Buddy
Rice, Rahal Letterman Racing G Force Honda, 208.790
3, Tomas
Scheckter, Panther Racing Dallara Honda, 208.282
4, Sam
Hornish Jr. MTP Dallara Toyota, 208.211
5, Dario
Franchitti, AGR Dallara Honda, 207.609
There
were 5 Honda powered cars in the top ten, 3 Chevy's and the two
MTP Toyota's. The fastest non MTP Dallara Toyota was AJ Foyt IV,
in 14th, with manning shading him by one position, I remain
confident in my assessment that the Team Penske built Toyota
engines are stronger than those produced by TRD, but collectively
still don't measure up to the Chevy engines overall. It will be
interesting to see iv the "Q" runs confirm that
assessment.
The
next IndyCar practice session will begin at 11:15 AM EDT.
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(7-3-04, 10:00 AM EDT) After
a brief delay, the cars are on the track at Kansas Speedway
under threatening skies. The early speed leader is Buddy Rice,
followed by Sam Hornish Jr. and Dario Franchitti. Jeff Simmons
is listed in 8th position of eleven, at nearly 205 mph. While I
expect there was a tire test at Kansas Speedway, there has been
no open practice here, so this is the first time most of the
teams have been on this track in the new aero/engine
configuration. Last year's pole position speed was 218 mph, set
by Scott Dixon at a time when he was a threat for every pole and
win, how times change. As I get ready to send this off to the
site, the top speed so far is a 207.4 by Rice, there are three
Honda's in the top four and Dixon, a draft-master is in 5th.
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(7-3-04) When IndyCars take to the track this morning at Kansas Speedway, all
eyes will be on the new driver combinations of Townsend Bell @
Panther Racing and Jeff Simmons in the Patrick Racing ride.
While
Bell
appears set
with Panther, Simmons is doing a one-off trial run, as Patrick
Racing will look at another driver later in the week.
Bell
is making
his first start in an IndyCar; he has been racing in
Europe
since he ended a controversial CART career, where, if I
recall correctly, he drove for Simmons' new team owner, Pat
Patrick. Jeff Simmons could have easily been named the 2004 Indy
500 Rookie of the Year, but regular top-of-the-chart daily
practice runs by Kosuke Matsuura gave the driver from
Japan
the edge.
Simmons was a quick-study at Indy; he can build on that with the
same kind of results at Kansas Speedway. The Patrick car is
usually to be found at the bottom of the charts, any result
better than that today will enhance Simmons' chance of keeping
his seat in the Patrick car, he is in a tough two-man
competition for the ride.
While it
might not be very suspenseful, there will be renewed interest in
whether Chevy and
Toyota
have been
able to whittle away at the supposed Honda horsepower advantage.
When the IndyCars last raced at Texas Motor Speedway it appeared
that Honda horsepower was clearly superior, with Chevy holding a
slight edge over
Toyota
. During
"Q" runs this afternoon, with the cars trimmed out for
speed and unaided by any "tows;" I will make another
attempt at gathering further "rolling dynamometer"
numbers to back up the TMS results. I use qualifying results in
cars with Dallara chassis as a means to gauge relative
horsepower.
It will
also be interesting if we will see any indication of the rumored
takeover of Kelley Racing by the Chip Ganassi team. I heard of
that rumor and posted as an Ovalicious Scoop at IRR on
Thursday. There has been the usual round of denials posted when
a "big news" rumor leaks out; yet no confirmation so
far. If we see a marked improvement in the Kelley fortunes this
weekend; or an actual spotting of TCGR personnel in the Kelley
garage or on pit road, that could be the only
“confirmation" we will see until any official
announcement.
The first
IndyCar practice session will begin at
9:30 EDT
this
morning, with qualifying slated to begin at
1:00 PM EDT
, there will
be live coverage from the IMS Radio Network, follow this link,
http://www.indyracing.com/indycar/multimedia/radio.php
Friday's
CTS and MIPS practice was rain delayed and eventually canceled,
and this morning is "iffy" at best, but the latest
information from weather.com indicates "cloudy"
conditions with any visible rain indicators appearing to have
passed to the east already, this with a little more then three
hours before the start of practice. The forecast for Sunday is
sunshine and temperatures in the low 80's, a first for this
usually "blistering' event, in more ways than one. Kansas
Speedway seating is linked to the Nextel Cup event, and although
the racing is arguably more exciting, the "sellout"
has always had some visibly empty grandstand seating, always
attributed to the overwhelming heat at the past events. There
will be no excuses if we see the same result on Sunday.
I will
continue with running recaps all day today, so check back here
often.
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(7-1-04) This Sunday, July 4th, the fireworks will start early as the IndyCars take to the
Kansas Speedway at 12:30 PM EDT. With the NextCup cars at Daytona Saturday
night, it will be the IndyCars day in the sunshine before a national audience. Kansas
Speedway is the place to showcase what the series does best, tight, high speed,
wheel to wheel racing. This will be the fourth running of the Kansas Speedway event
and all three of the previous races have been scorchers in more ways than one. It is
usually close to 100 degrees on race
weekend in Kansas, but this Sunday the
IndyCars may catch a break and race with temperatures in the 80's.
Eddie Cheever won the first event with his Infiniti powered Dallara, sending a wake up
call to General Motors, whose engines had dominated the series since 1997. The race
also proved to the teams and drivers just how special the Firestone tires were, as many
were blistered by the previously unheard of track temperatures, but none failed.
In 2002 Airton Dare surprised everyone in winning the last race AJ Foyt Racing has
won to date. Bryan Herta was the unexpected winner last year, parlaying an off-sequence pit strategy into a victory much needed at the time by Andretti Green Racing
and the Honda forces.
While I won't be at the Kansas Speedway, I will do a running recap here, using all the
information available to me, including news from friends and contacts at the track.
I invite you to bookmark this link and visit often.
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Panther Racing confirms it's
Townsend Bell
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(7-1-04) Panther Racing confirmed that
Townsend Bell will replace Mark Taylor in the Menard's sponsored
#2 car this weekend for The Argent Mortgage 300. This event will
be considered a 2-day IndyCar event, so the IndyCars won't take
to the track until Saturday morning.
While it almost a given that
the mainline former CART teams would shun available veteran
IndyCar drivers such as the brothers Lazier, Panther Racing has
roots dating back to the start of the series, you might have
expected them to be more loyal. In addition, there is veteran
IndyCar driver in Robby McGehee that has driven for Panther.
Jeff Ward is also an IndyCar veteran with a win as well. Panther
had crash issues with Taylor, in putting Bell in the car, they
have chosen a driver with crash issues in his past as well, and
a history of questionable decisions. Could this be an indication
of win or else Chevy pressure, after another Chevy team, Patrick
Racing chose Rookie driver Jeff Simmons, a driver that showed
great promise at Indy, but is largely untested. As Panther
Racing and Red Bull Team Cheever have learned, it is a very
costly proposition to run a rookie in IndyCar.
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An Ovalicious Scoop, Big News!
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(7-1-04) I have learned there is a deal in
the works for Target Chip Ganassi Racing to take over the
operation of Kelley Racing. It appears that this much the same
as they did with the Pac West operation, when they ran Scott
Dixon for Toyota. This is a quick breaking story, I have no
further information, nor can I, while sitting in a 757 at Midway
airport; check into it further. I'm not even sure when this will
happen, but the news is plausible enough that I took a chance
and posted it.
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