Well well, my first day at the Speedway this year turned out to be a very good one. Lots of interesting stuff happening on the track, other interesting stuff happening off of it, and one very happy Scott Sharp.
Let's start with the qualifying itself. You know Paul Tracy had to be completely hopping mad after he was unable to make the field on Saturday. Then, there was no way he could feel good about the way he was being bumped down the grid again on Sunday afternoon. So, he came out and blitzed everyone but Rafael Matos to put his car on the inside of Row 5.
Speaking of Matos, what a great run he had. There was never a hitch in the throttle, there were no bobbles in the turns, and there was a lot of speed in that Luzco-Dragon Racing car. If Rafa had put together a run like that one on Saturday, he would've been on the inside of Row 3, ahead of such folks as Marco Andretti, Will Power, and Danica Patrick.
There were a couple of awkward moments during qualifying runs, most notably when Sarah Fisher made the first run of the day at noon. She was looking pretty solid for a couple of laps, but she claimed the car just went wild on her at the south end (probably from a wind gust or something) and she ended up losing 5 mph on her average. Later on, she came out and put together a much more solid run that will see her start on the outside of Row 7.
The other awkward moment came from A.J. Foyt IV, who didn't seem to have full control of his car for any part of his run. The biggest moment came on his fourth lap, when he blipped the throttle exiting Turn 1, then washed up the track in Turn 2 to whitewall his tires on the exit. Foyt eventually made the field, and his teammate Vitor Meira, who had also had some struggles with his car, was able to plant his car in the middle of Row 5.
Outside of the qualifying runs, practice saw what could have been one of the scariest moments of the month. John Andretti, trying to pull more speed out of his Dreyer & Reinbold machine, lost the back of the car and crashed out of Turn 1. Graham Rahal was right behind him and, as Andretti drifted down the track, he went high to avoid the wreck. Then, physics decided to play a trick on everyone and Andretti's car drifted back up the track. Rahal slammed the brakes and jammed his wheel to the left, where the car slid onto the pit warmup lane with no more damage than two flat tires.
Let me just say one thing: Graham Rahal is officially a freaking amazing driver. I didn't see the wreck, but I saw Rahal's car with the flats, so I assumed Rahal must have driven through some debris or something. Then I saw the replay with my jaw dropped straight to the floor; it was one of the greatest pieces of driving I've ever seen, and it came from someone who was only in his second year at the Speedway. Instead of colliding, severely damaging two cars, and perhaps severely injuring two drivers, Rahal's snap reaction resulted in two flat tires and maybe a little suspension damage. Go buy a Quarter Pounder with Cheese and eat it in his honor, would ya?
The other major note of the day is a possible driver change for Dreyer Reinbold for the #24 car. Driver Mike Conway found his way hard into the Turn 1 wall in morning practice and ended up at Methodist Hospital with a bruised lung. (an aside: if the SAFER barrier weren't there, he would have broken his back at the least) Bruised lungs fall into the category of "serious" and Conway's chances of running the 500 are slim at this point. It's looking like Darren Manning will hop in on Thursday and try to put the car in the field over the weekend.
Also on Thursday, be on the lookout for Oriol Servia and Townsend Bell, as they'll both be hopping in their cars for a chance to make the race. There are still some entries that haven't been filled, so we'll all have to keep our eyes out for any other entries as the week wears on.
93rd Indianapolis 500-Mile Race Starting Grid (as of 5/10):
1. Helio Castroneves 224.864
2. Ryan Briscoe 224.083
3. Dario Franchitti 224.010
4. Graham Rahal 223.954
5. Scott Dixon 223.867
6. Tony Kannan 223.612
7. Mario Moraes 223.331
8. Marco Andretti 223.114
9. Will Power 223.028
10. Danica Patrick 222.882
11. Alex Lloyd 222.622
12. Rafael Matos 223.429
13. Paul Tracy 223.111
14. Vitor Meira 223.054
15. Justin Wilson 222.903
16. Hideki Mutoh 222.805
17. Ed Carpenter 222.780
18. Dan Wheldon 222.777
19. A.J. Foyt IV 222.586
20. Scott Sharp 222.162
21. Sarah Fisher 222.082
22. Davey Hamilton 221.956
No comments:
Post a Comment