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Bombardier 500 Preview
By Miles Nelson
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The Bombardier 500 at Texas Motor Speedway may be the most confounding race to handicap since the series took to the Mickyard track for the first time in 1996. There is no data to fall back on with these aero-altered cars and horsepower reduced engines. “Q” run speed was 9 mph slower than it was this time last year, but final practice speeds were well above the “Q” speed. Those are Daytona/Talladega-like circumstances, indicative of what I think we will see in a matter of hours at TMS. The one thing I am comfortable with is that TMS has installed the SAFER barriers this year; I fear they will be needed and well-tested. Unlike the NextCup cars at “D&T,” the issue with the IndyCars is wheel to wheel contact launches, much as we saw with Kenny Brack at the series finale last year. I am sure that subject will be well-covered by Brian Barnhart in the drivers meeting this afternoon, hopefully, the tape will be shown and with the fresh image of that in mind, the drivers will respect the wheels of the other cars.
Before the Friday practice sessions I was so confident in my assessment of the Honda horsepower advantage to think the only question regarding the winner would be if it will be a G Force Honda of Rahal Letterman, SAF or Access: or an AGR Dallara. Yes I said Access; you see Greg Ray is just good enough to tease us once in a while, like he did with his Motegi “Q” run and his Bump and Carb Day antics at Indy. Unfortunately, his race day results never back that up. In talking with a crewmember at Indy, I voiced my concerns that the team was putting a fresh engine in the car after an impressive Carb Day run. The crew was confident that the change would be problem free, it wasn’t. I even talked about teams going to IRP in the old days to confirm an engine change. I am going to offend a couple of very close friends here, but at times the good people at Access turn into “F Troop” on race day.
So much for that, the final practice results support my “restrictor plate” assessment, so that will be my pre-race contention and I’m sticking to it. I am also standing on my Honda thinking, and while I think a G force Honda will be more stable, I think they will be able to run side by side with the Dallara Honda, but I don’t think they will be able to inch ahead of the Dallara as they pass under the checkered flag. Don’t forget that Sam Hornish is the TMS-master; keep an eye on him as well. In addition, remember the efforts of Scott Sharp and Greg Ray at TMS in the past, Kelley Racing won this race last year with Little Al, this team needs a good result, and Ray does as well. Look for 16-20 car packs as the lack of horsepower prevents any breakaway attempts. Set your VCR for extra time, I think this one will be a caution delayed wall-banger; all I can do is pray that no one is injured. Don’t miss this race Saturday night on ESPN, and if you must, set the VCR carefully, ESPN doesn’t do re-airs of IndyCar events. The weather forecast shows a “0%” chance of rain, expect a deluge!
I think Bryan Herta will win with eight more cars finishing “under a blanket.” Lets say the points leaders (Wheldon and Kanaan) will fall back to protect their position, and Rice will finish second, blocking Hornish from winning and followed by let’s say Helio and a desperate to win Tomas Scheckter. It isn’t a pretty thought, “a desperate to win Tomas Scheckter.” In my Indy Preview I discounted Buddy Rice as a winner and was wrong, at TMS I will discount Scott Dixon this time, good luck Scott...
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