http://www.tracksideonline.com A subscription news service that provides the latest news and information regarding the Indy Racing League. en-us Copyright © 2003-2005 TrackSide Online. All Rights Reserved 11-May-2008 joe@tracksideonline.com http://www.tracksideonline.com/news/story.php?id=12768 http://www.tracksideonline.com/news/story.php?id=12767 http://www.tracksideonline.com/news/story.php?id=12766 Information about 92nd Indianapolis 500 activity Sunday, May 11, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway: DAY: Second Day Qualifying/Mother's Day SCHEDULE (all times local): 8 a.m. Public Gates Open 10:15-11:15 a.m. IndyCar Series Practice 11:57 a.m. National anthem performed by Holly Lynn, Victory Circle Noon-6 p.m. Qualifications http://www.tracksideonline.com/news/story.php?id=12765 Bell Misses First 11 Starting Spots Saturday With A Qualifying Run of 222.397 http://www.tracksideonline.com/news/story.php?id=12764 They didn't get the pole position, but Team Penske drivers Ryan Briscoe and Helio Castroneves did put themselves in prime position to win the 2008 Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 25. Briscoe will start third and Castroneves fourth in the 92nd running of the famous race, which Roger Penske's team has won a record 14 times. "This is only the pole position," said Castroneves, who won the race in 2001 and 2002. "The race is the big thing. That's what we're really focused on." http://www.tracksideonline.com/news/story.php?id=12763 Delphi National Guard Driver Gives Team its Best Indy Starting Position Since 2006 http://www.tracksideonline.com/news/story.php?id=12762 http://www.tracksideonline.com/news/story.php?id=12761 Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "I have to thank Marco (Andretti) and Danica (Patrick) for the setup today. I tried a different setup this morning and it did not work so we had to take the car apart before qualifying and put on their setup. We had a decent qualifying run and we really just wanted to put the Team 7-Eleven car in the race. We're starting in the second row and that's not bad. Now we can spend the rest of practice working on our race setup and making the car as quick as possible." http://www.tracksideonline.com/news/story.php?id=12760 Sarah Fisher clocks in at 224.009 during morning warm-up; Did not attempt to qualify on Pole Day http://www.tracksideonline.com/news/story.php?id=12759 The 12-shot qualifying process that fills the field for the Indianapolis 500 created plenty of drama on Saturday, but for Rahal Letterman Racing, the only thing it created was a little more work. http://www.tracksideonline.com/news/story.php?id=12758 Vision Racing driver Ed Carpenter qualified his No. 20 Menards/Vision Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone in the top-10 for the 92nd running of the Indianapolis 500 today. The 10th place start will be the highest starting position at Indianapolis for Carpenter. http://www.tracksideonline.com/news/story.php?id=12757 Even though second-round qualifying for the 92nd running of the Indianapolis 500 is scheduled for Sunday at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway, positions 12 through 22 will not be the only thing in the limelight at the Brickyard. Sharing the attention will be the time-honored tradition of celebrating moms, affectionately known as Mother's Day. Vision Racing drivers Ed Carpenter, A.J. Foyt IV and Davey Hamilton most certainly will be keeping their mothers in mind tomorrow. http://www.tracksideonline.com/news/story.php?id=12756 It took a second qualifying attempt, but Scott Dixon successfully knocked his Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate -- 2005 Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon - off the top of the time sheets to claim his first "500" pole in first-day qualifying Saturday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. After initially slotting into third behind Wheldon and Motegi race winner Danica Patrick at 225.178 mph, Dixon elected to withdraw that qualifying time just after 3:30 p.m. and make a second run (of three permitted). That four-lap average of 226.336 moved Dixon to the top of the time charts, and also withstood a challenge from Wheldon in the final hour. Wheldon withdrew his previous speed of 225.840 mph and improved to 226.110 mph in his second run, but came up just short of Dixon. http://www.tracksideonline.com/news/story.php?id=12755 CHIP GANASSI: Thank you. On days like today, it's a real tribute to the team. It takes the hard work that, you know, that nobody realizes that's happening in October, November, December, January, February. A lot of -- still a lot of late nights at that time of the year. A lot of thinking going on, a lot of planning for the year. You know, every team works hard in the offseason to get better, and you're charged with making your team better than the other guys who make their team better. You're talking to your engineers and you're talking to your staff -- let me turn my phone off here. http://www.tracksideonline.com/news/story.php?id=12754 WILL POWER (#8 Aussie Vineyard-Team Australia Dallara/Honda/Firestone): (After second qualification run): "Well, it was actually good to go in a direction, so we have more of an idea of where we're going wrong. We thought we'd try something fairly different, but that wasn't the way to go. But it's good that we got to come out again." (On going into tomorrow): "Yeah, it's good that we found something going into tomorrow unless it rains." http://www.tracksideonline.com/news/story.php?id=12753 Qualifying Saturday for the 92nd Indianapolis 500 IndyCar Series event on the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with starting position, car number in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine and speed: 1. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 226.366 2. (10) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 226.110 3. (6) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 226.080 http://www.tracksideonline.com/news/story.php?id=12752 Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon survived the drama of Pole Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and qualified 1-2, respectively, for the 92nd Running of the Indianapolis 500. Dixon, who was fifth on the starting grid mid-afternoon, pulled his qualified time from his first attempt and put in another four-lap effort around the historic 2.5-mile oval. Minutes later, he had taken the PEAK Motor Oil Pole Award presented by AutoZone from the grasp of Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe with a 226.366 mph average. The speed held up as eight other drivers made qualifying attempts in the final two hours, including Wheldon, who was .256 mph off of Dixon's pace. http://www.tracksideonline.com/news/story.php?id=12751 Pole Day at Indy is in the books, and it was interesting in many ways, but mostly for what didn't happen. Scott Dixon turned his pole winning speed of 226.366mph at 3:39pm in the afternoon. No one - including Mike Hull from TCGR thought that would be the end of pole shots. The way it's supposed to work here is that it gets hot in the middle of the day and then cools from 4:00 to 6:00 and there is a mad dash to take the pole. There was a lot of work happening late in the day, and Dan Wheldon went from 3rd to 2nd, but it wasn't really a mad dash. The problem was the weather. It was actually cooler and the air was "better" at 3:30pm than it was at 4:30pm. And as Chip Ganassi said, once you get above 223 or 224 here, you are trying to match tiny changes in the weather. Additionally, sometimes you just can't outrun the weather. That said, Ganassi had it together as Wheldon came close to taking the pole in the 5 O'Clock hour, but it just didn't work out. http://www.tracksideonline.com/news/story.php?id=12750 http://www.tracksideonline.com/news/story.php?id=12749