IndyRaceReports.Com

(9-30-04) it is hard to figure out the California Speedway; it is wider than MIS, has 4 degrees less banking; yet the IndyCar track record is over 4-mph faster. Because of the shallower banking; you don't see as much side by side racing and cars three-wide is a rare sight. In spite of that, in 2002 Sam Hornish Jr. edged out Jaques Lazier in one of the best contested, closest finishes of the year. In 2003 it was Hornish again, beating Scott Dixon by .03563 of a second, with the rest of the field strung out behind them.

This year it is a story of Honda domination, and even though the Toyota teams have made some progress, Fontana is the last place you want to show up horsepower deprived. That isn't to say there won't be action, because Fontana is draft friendly as well as fast, and in two test outings I attended, I have seen cars suck up in a draft from half the backstretch away, and seen some cars you would expect to be slow post some amazingly fast numbers. Watch for Scott Dixon to be the best example of that.

While Jaques Lazier was a big part of the show two years ago, sadly he has lost his seat in the Patrick Racing Dallara Chevy to Tomas Enge, a driver who has tested IndyCars before but hasn't raced one. Enge is thought of as having tremendous potential, either as a driver or as someone that could bring funding to a team that provides him with a seat. Lazier has been instrumental in getting the Patrick car out of the slowest Chevy category, and has also helped sort the car out as the Walker Racing staffed team learned IndyCar the slow and painful way. For him to lose the seat at the end of the season for economy reasons stinks IMO. It isn't all a one-way situation though, going into Indy Jaques was just about done in the minds on most IndyCar owners, then he did well as a mid-race replacement for Robby Gordon at Indy and has given the Patrick car its best results, so at least Jaques has been able to showcase his ability and keep his name fresh anyway.

Hot is another thing Fontana usually is, but perhaps not this year, here is the weekend forecast, I will be here with a live practice report when the IndyCars take to the track Friday at Noon, EDT!

Fri Oct 01	AM Clouds / PM Sun	80°/57°
Sat Oct 02	Mostly Sunny	86°/57°
Sun Oct 03	Sunny	89°/57°

(6:05 EDT) The 2nd practice session is over, and here is the final result as posted by IndyCar T&S. With "fresh names at the top of the page, I suspect that those that were fast in the first session worked on race setup. It isn't often you see Kanaan 7th on the chart!

Pos	Driver	Best Time	Best Speed
1	Helio Castroneves (3)	33.2393	216.611
2	Adrian Fernandez (5)	33.3168	216.107
3	Kosuke Matsuura (55)	33.4318	215.364
4	Vitor Meira (17)	33.4975	214.941
5	Darren Manning (10)	33.4982	214.937
6	Sam Hornish Jr. (6)	33.4994	214.929
7	Tony Kanaan (11)	33.5011	214.918
8	Dan Wheldon (26)	33.5030	214.906
9	Scott Dixon (1)	33.5351	214.700
10	Dario Franchitti (27)	33.5391	214.675
11	Buddy Rice (15)	33.5954	214.315
12	Alex Barron (51)	33.6134	214.200
13	Mark Taylor (13)	33.6173	214.175
14	Tomas Scheckter (4)	33.6181	214.170
15	Bryan Herta (7)	33.6490	213.974
16	Townsend Bell (2)	33.6736	213.817
17	Felipe Giaffone (24)	33.6996	213.652
18	Scott Sharp (8)	33.7525	213.318
19	Tomas Enge (20)	33.7566	213.292
20	A.J. Foyt IV (14)	33.8246	212.863
21	Ed Carpenter (52)	33.8287	212.837
22	Tora Takagi (12)	34.1918	210.577

(5:55 EDT) Ten minutes left and Helio Castroneves has bumped the speed up to 216.6, it will be interesting how these speeds relate to the pole speed tomorrow. The first practice session will be at 1:30 EDT, and the "Q" runs are slated for 5:30 EDT, too late for me to cover them live.

(5:45 EDT) With 20 minutes left in practice, Adrian Fernandez has turned fast time of the day at 216.107, but again I suspect a tow job.

(5:25 EDT) First group practice is over, there were several delays that will cause the 2nd group to have an abbreviated session. Kosuke Matsuura "won" the session, which would be more in line with what you might expect except the fast speed of 215.3 came in a last minute frantic run to the checkered flag; and was probably tow-aided big time. For now Helio Castroneves holds fast time of the 2nd group cars.

(4:55 EDT) After a short stint at the head of the pack running 214's, Mark Taylor was bested by Alex Barron, but we are only talking speed gains of less than 1/4-mph now. During the session Foyt IV whitewalled his tires and caused a caution.

(4:45 EDT) The first group of the 2nd practice session is on the track, and it only took Tomas Scheckter three laps to move to the top of chart. The downside is that he is going slower than the morning, but that is to be expected, because the temperature is up from the morning as well. I also don't expect to see much speed running this afternoon, as this is the time of day that the race will be run, I expect most teams to work on race day setups.

(1:30 EDT) The first practice session has ended with few changes and fewer surprises. Dan Wheldon held on at the top of the chart with a speed of 217.225. There were 6 Honda's, four of them in G Force cars; before the Chevy of Scheckter, and only two Toyota's in the top ten, Manning and Castroneves. The fastest Toyota speed was Manning at215-mph. I will return for the second session at 4:30 EDT. Here are the final results as posted by IndyCar T&S!

Pos	Driver	Best Time	Best Speed
1	Dan Wheldon (26)	33.1453	217.225
2	Buddy Rice (15)	33.1875	216.949
3	Tony Kanaan (11)	33.2494	216.545
4	Dario Franchitti (27)	33.3135	216.129
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