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Photo Courtesy BAM Media * Ross Gibb Will Power Wins Nikon Indy 300 Pole

Will Power On Nikon Indy 300 Pole

Power became the first driver to earn three Nikon Indy 300 pole positions with an all-out lap time that vaulted him back to the top of the leaderboard in the final segment of qualifying. The Australian driver set the pace early in the Firestone Fast Six ten-minute run for pole, until Kiwi pilot Scott Dixon took the ascendancy with three minutes remaining. Then in the dying stages of final qualifying, Power showed why he is regarded as one of the IndyCar Series’ top street circuit racers by eclipsing Dixon’s time by eight tenths of a second. Power heads an ANZAC triumvirate for tomorrow’s grid, with Dixon second and Australian driver Ryan Briscoe to start from third. A storm about 30 minutes before the three knockout rounds impacted the first group of the initial 20-minute session the most, with threaded rain tires the norm and steady hands on the steering wheel necessary. The racetrack dried throughout the next 60 minutes, but slick patches remained during the Firestone Fast Six.

Qualifying Notes

Paul Tracy Sues Former Team Owner

Castroneves Faces Tax Evasion Charges

Arrested For Tax Evasion

Terms of Castroneves' release allow him to travel for work in the U.S. but not abroad, meaning he will likely miss a race later this month in Australia, Seiden said. A grand jury on Thursday indicted Castroneves on charges of conspiracy and six counts of tax evasion for purportedly failing to report to the IRS about $5.5 million in income between 1999 and 2004, according to court documents. Each count carries a maximum five-year prison sentence.(USA Today)

Paul Newman Dies

Between 1983 and 1995, cars entered by the partnership of Newman and Carl Haas established themselves as a major force in the Indianapolis 500. While never able to pull off a win, the team did score a pair of strong second-place finishes, with Mario Andretti in 1985 and with Michael Andretti in 1991, plus a third in the hands of defending Formula One World Champion Nigel Mansell in 1993. Time and time again, it appeared that a Newman-Haas driver was destined to win the "500."

In 1987, Mario Andretti led 170 of the first 177 laps from the pole, only to drop out late with an ignition problem. It was one of 13 occasions on which a Newman-Haas driver would lead the "500," and one of five in which their laps-led total would be greater than by any other driver in the race. There are three separate instances, 1989, 1992 and 1995, in which Michael Andretti was forced out while leading. The most devastating loss came in 1992, when he was eliminated after having led 160 of the 189 laps he completed. Between 1984 and 1995, Mario and Michael Andretti combined for an amazing 773 laps in the lead, Mansell accounting for another 34. In 2004, after several years' absence, the Newman-Haas team returned, former pole winner Bruno Junqueira extending that record by leading an additional 16 laps on his way to a fifth-place finish.  ...More

Meira Signs With A.J. Foyt Racing

In 17 starts this season, Meira recorded seven top-10 finishes with a high of second in the 92nd Indianapolis 500. Overall, Meira has 56 top-10s and 27 top-fives in 93 starts with three teams and is looking for that first victory. The move displaces Darren Manning, who had seven top-10s with a high of second at Watkins Glen this season. “I’ve always admired (Meira) because he’s a hard racer who charges all day long,” said Foyt, the four-time Indianapolis 500 winner whose team has competed in the IndyCar Series since its inception. “He should have won a lot of races but he hasn’t had the best luck. I believe we can change that and I’m looking forward to working with him.”

As a team owner, Foyt won the 1999 Indianapolis 500 with Kenny Brack and the 1996 and ’98 series championships with Scott Sharp and Brack, respectively. Sharp (1996), Brack (1998), Billy Boat (1998) and Airton Dare (2002) won their first IndyCar Series races in a Foyt car. "This first race we’ll get situated with each other and we’ll quickly learn where we’re at, then we can know where to go -- what we need to maintain and where we need to improve,” said Meira, 31, who broke into the series at Kentucky Speedway in 2002 in a Team Menard-prepared car. “My goal is to come out and win, and by that I mean to give 100 percent no matter what is happening.”

Team director Larry Foyt will be Meira’s race strategist at Surfers Paradise, where they’ll have ample time to get to know each other better. “I’m really excited about this opportunity to work with Vitor,” said Foyt, who negotiated Meira’s deal. “We’re looking forward to getting Vitor his first win in the IndyCar Series and getting A.J. Foyt Racing back into Victory Lane with ABC Supply.”

Teams, Manufacturers Begin Off-Season Testing

"It was a good day for us," said Graham Rahal, who completed 276 laps on the .75-mile Richmond oval. "We made some big strides which will help us get closer to the frontrunners. We ought to have a good baseline setup to battle for the win here when we come back next year. I think our lap times were competitive with Tony's (Kanaan) although it's hard to tell what sort of test program they were working on. It was good to get back on track to test and start working on 2009."

The test at Indianapolis includes Dan Wheldon, who will drive the Panther Racing car for the first time since 2002. Also scheduled to test are 2008 IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon, Ryan Briscoe, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Tony Kanaan and Buddy Rice.

Fisher Honored As One Of Indy’s Best and Brightest

“I was honored just to be nominated and become a finalist and didn’t expect to win," said Fisher, who turns 28 on Oct. 4. "Being new to the whole entrepreneur thing is challenging for me as I’m use to just doing the driving part of being in auto racing, but we’ve enjoyed our time building Sarah Fisher Racing. For everyone on my team, for all my sponsors and of course, to the fans, thank you for all of your support. The 2009 racing season will be here before we know it.”

The Best and Brightest initiative was created by Junior Achievement of Central Indiana Inc. to recognize up-and-coming talent and the next generation of leaders in the Indianapolis community. Finalists in each of 10 categories were judged on professional accomplishments and leadership qualities.

IndyCar Series Drivers Headline Karting Event

“It feels like the Indianapolis 500,” said 2006 Firestone Indy Lights champion and five-race IndyCar Series starter Jay Howard. “It’s a big deal to get 100 teams to show up and try and qualify, and it’s cool that so many professional drivers come out. To me, it’s an event that I look forward to all year long. As soon as the race is over, I’ll start thinking about next year right away, just like the Indy 500.”

Howard, who runs the Screaming Talent karting team, will be among the favorites in the event. “Last year, we qualified on the front row and were leading the race when we had the exhaust break,” said Howard, who owns three British karting titles from his youth. “We ended up fifth, but for sure we would’ve won. Hopefully, this year will be different.”

Other drivers entered in the event include 2008 IndyCar Series drivers John Andretti, Ed Carpenter, A.J. Foyt IV, Alex Lloyd, Vitor Meira, Will Power, Tomas Scheckter and Dan Wheldon; past IndyCar Series drivers Dismore, Phil Giebler, Scott Goodyear and Bryan Herta; and Firestone Indy Lights drivers Cyndie Allemann, Logan Gomez and Robbie Pecorari. Team owner Michael Crawford also is entered.

Honda To Sponsor IndyCar Series Race in Toronto

Honda employs more than 22,000 Canadians, buys $1.1 billion of goods and materials annually from Canadian-based suppliers, and manufactures about 390,000 vehicles per year. Honda Canada began operations in 1969, selling motorcycles and power equipment. Four years later the Civic was the first car to be sold by Honda in Canada. Today Honda Canada sells more than 170,000 cars and trucks annually, led by the Civic which has been the best-selling car in Canada the past 10 years. "We are very pleased to be sponsoring this exciting event which has been one of the top attractions in Ontario since it first roared to life in 1986,” said Jerry Chenkin, executive vice president, Honda Canada Inc. “We salute Andretti Green for its commitment to bring the IndyCar Series back to the streets of Toronto as a premier open wheel race series, powered by Honda."

Honda and Andretti Green's event promotions business unit have also partnered on the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (Fla.) since 2005.

Indy 500 Champs Headline Petit Le Mans Lineup

Earlier, Penske Racing entered a third RS Spyder -- to be driven by 2008 IndyCar Series championship runner-up Helio Castroneves, a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner, and Team Penske teammate Ryan Briscoe. Reigning Indy 500 and IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon will co-drive the No. 66 de Ferran Motorsports car with 2003 Indianapolis 500 champion Gil de Ferran and Simon Pagenaud. Last week, Andretti Green Racing announced that Tony Kanaan, the 2004 IndyCar Series champion, and Marco Andretti would co-drive its No. 26 Acura with Franck Montagny. Reigning Firestone Indy Lights champion Raphael Matos will co-drive the No. 8 BK Motorsports prototype with Gerardo Bonilla and Ben Devlin.

Franchitti made his ALMS debut in the 2007 12 Hours of Sebring, winning the LMP2 division with Kanaan and Bryan Herta for Acura’s Andretti Green Racing team. -- “I’m really excited to be joining Patrón Highcroft Racing for Petit Le Mans,” Franchitti said. “To be back in the Acura and to race in such a competitive field, which includes my brother Marino and my new teammate Scott Dixon will be great.” -- Castroneves, the 2001 and ’02 Indy 500 champion, also competed in the ’07 Sebring race in a Penske Racing entry.

Unification Spurred Ultra-Competitive Season

That fact became clearly evident the second week of the season when newcomer Graham Rahal won on the streets of St. Petersburg in his series debut. Overall, a record-tying nine drivers visited Victory Lane during 2008, including first-time winners Rahal, Danica Patrick, Ryan Briscoe, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Wilson. Thirteen drivers recorded podium finishes. Dixon prevailed in the championship, clinching the title Sept. 7 at Chicagoland in a race where he ‘only’ had to finish eighth or better.

“It's extremely tough to try and finish eighth or better in this series,” Dixon said. “The mile-and-a-half (ovals), the guys that are new to the series this year have definitely figured it out. There were a lot of people racing up top that we didn't expect to be. It's changed a lot, the series in general. If it was the situation last year, I think finishing eighth would have been quite easy. Now you breathe a little, you give up a bit. We shuffled ourselves all the way back to 12th at one point. You definitely need to keep on it. I think it makes it extremely tough.”

Servia, Wilson and Power finished ninth, 11th and 12th, respectively in the championship. -- “To be honest, next year's going to be harder than that,” Dixon said. “So, definitely extremely happy with winning the first unified (season).”

Dixon's Transponder Improperly Installed

“The improperly installed transponder clearly affected the data we were receiving from Dixon’s car,” said Jon Koskey, the Indy Racing League’s director of timing and scoring. “With the signal going the wrong direction, it could have bounced off of any number of things and made it difficult for the antenna to pick up an accurate signal. Because there’s always the possibility of electronic equipment failing and the possibility of human error, we have multiple systems in place to insure the accuracy of the data.”

The Indy Racing League’s high-tech Timing & Scoring system is the only one in motorsports that scores to ten-thousandths of a second. Per the manufacturer, the tolerance of the system is rated at .0006 seconds for each crossing or transponder. Backing up the system is a high-speed camera, which takes a picture every ten-thousandth of a second, recording all start-finish line passings. The league acquired the S/F camera in 2004 as a back-up to the electronic system and uses it after every race to verify the finishing order of all cars. It also is used throughout the race to check close crossings. Additionally, two high-frame-rate cameras connected to a digital video system record video evidence of all start-finish line passings.

Immediately following the conclusion of Sunday’s PEAK Antifreeze & Motor Oil 300, the camera operator informed race stewards that the photos showed Castroneves’ car in the lead. Brian Barnhart, president of competition and operations for the Indy Racing League, reviewed the photos and confirmed Castroneves the winner.

“We’ve invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in this system since 2001 to make sure our timing systems are accurate and provide the officiating staff with the information necessary to make good judgment calls such as this,” Barnhart said. “The primary system includes three parts comprised of a radio transponder mounted in the same location on each car, multiple detection loop antennas buried under the track and timing decoder units that decipher the transponder signals as it crosses the antenna. We back up that system with the start/finish line camera and secondary electronic systems. We use the high-speed camera to review the finishing order of every car at every race. It’s not always that close between the top two cars, but we have close finishes further back in the field all of the time.”

No word on what the possible penalties may be, if any.

Dixon Takes Championship, Castroneves Wins in Photo Finish

Castroneves celebrated his second victory of the season and the second time he’s finished runner-up in the championship in his career. Dixon maintained a 17-point lead in the championship to become the second driver to win multiple championships in the IndyCar Series. Dixon also won in 2003. Pole sitter Ryan Briscoe finished third. Hideki Mutoh won Bombardier Learjet Rookie of the Year honors by six points over Justin Wilson despite finishing 22nd.

Dan Wheldon Signs With Panther Racing

Wheldon signed with the team originally in June of 2002 under a testing agreement. It was later the same year, at Chicagoland, that Wheldon made his debut for Panther driving the No. 15 Pennzoil sponsored entry and finished 10th. He also started at Texas Motor Speedway for the team and finished 15th despite not even making a qualification attempt. “I’m very excited to be joining the entire Panther Racing crew,” Wheldon said. “This is the place where I started my career in 2002 and with the personnel and leadership that John Barnes has put together, I know that we’ll be fighting for outright victories, the Indianapolis 500 title and the league championship. I’m looking forward to when my obligations with my current team have been honored, so I can get with the entire Panther family and start moving towards all of our goals of winning races and championships together. It’s great to be back.”

Wheldon became one of the winningest and most consistent drivers in open-wheel racing during stints with Andretti Green Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing. In 2005, he won both the Indianapolis 500 and the IndyCar Series championship during a season in which he won a league-record six races. The following season he won two more races and tied former teammate Hornish for the overall points lead at the end of the year but the title went to Hornish because he had more victories. He currently ranks fourth in the IndyCar Series points standings and has two victories this year – at Kansas Speedway and Iowa Speedway. For his career, Wheldon has amassed 15 IndyCar Series victories; five Poles, 54 Top Five and 72 Top Ten finishes in his 96 starts in the league. His 15 wins rank him third all-time in IndyCar Series history, and his 2,735 laps led are the third most in the history of the series.

Franchitti Returns to the IndyCar Series

“It is going to be very exciting to have Dario in one of our IndyCars next year," said Ganassi. "I have always admired his competitive spirit when he raced against us and have really grown to see more of what he is about this season while he raced in NASCAR. When there was a possibility of an opening on our IndyCar team, the only person I thought about was Dario. This is going to be a great move for Dario and for our team.

“Part of the reason that I signed with Ganassi last year was because of how many options that Chip has at his disposal for a driver, "Franchitti said. "You can do almost any form of racing that you want. With unification and the new schedule having more road and street courses it made me think about this more and more. I have really enjoyed this last season in stockcars and have not completely closed that chapter of my professional career but the opportunity that arose was just something I could not pass up. I am really looking forward to getting behind the wheel of one of those Target cars and be a teammate to Scott Dixon. Target is a tremendous sponsor and they and Chip always give you everything you need to win.”

Raphael Matos On Indy Lights Pole

Several Firestone Indy Lights drivers have changed seats for this weekend's events at Chicagoland Speedway. Dillon Battistini, who enters the SunRichGourmet.com 100 in fifth place in the driver standings with a series-best four wins, left Panther Racing following the Infineon Raceway doubleheader and signed to drive a one-race deal to drive the No. 22 car for Team Moore Racing. With Team E not running at Chicago, Milwaukee race winner Bobby Wilson has joined Panther Racing to take over Battistini's seat. Other changes this weekend include Pablo Donoso making his second start in the No. 3 Mo’sGold entry and 2005 series champion Wade Cunningham driving the No. 9 Integra Motorsports entry.

Pablo Donoso Picks Up First Indy lights Victory

2009 Indy Lights Schedule Released

Just like the IndyCar Series champion, the Firestone Indy Lights champion has to succeed on all types of racing circuits," said Roger Bailey, executive director of the Firestone Indy Lights. "This schedule demands the ability of both drivers and teams to master a variety of venues and the challenges each one brings with the end result being a true champion and a driver that is fully prepared to be an IndyCar Series driver.”

For the seventh consecutive year, the Firestone Indy Lights season will begin competition in the state of Florida, but for the first time a doubleheader weekend on the Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., will open the campaign on April 4-5. The series will then make its debut on the Streets of Long Beach, Calif., on April 18-19 before beginning a string of four consecutive ovals which includes the series' premier event – the Firestone Freedom 100 at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 22, two days before the 93rd running of the Indianapolis 500.

The summer stretch also features a Canadian swing with debut races on the Streets of Toronto on July 11-12 and at Edmonton's City Centre Airport on July 25-26. For the first time, the season will conclude at Homestead-Miami Speedway, which will host the Firestone Indy Lights for the seventh-consecutive season.

“Firestone Racing is quite pleased with the 2009 schedule," said Al Speyer, executive director of Firestone Racing. "It will be absolutely fantastic to see the Firestone Indy Lights name back on the streets of Long Beach, where we held our very first Firestone Indy Lights race back in 1991, and in Toronto – another great venue at which we have a lot of history. And as the sole tire supplier to Firestone Indy Lights, the diverse schedule presents our engineers the opportunity to provide different tires and technology that are suited to the both the ovals and road/street courses. We are quite eager to see the 2009 challengers in action in St. Pete.”

The Firestone Indy Lights is the premier ladder series for drivers and teams striving to compete in the IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis 500. Teams compete for nearly $4 million in prize money in cars that are second in speed only to the IndyCar Series at most tracks they visit. The complete Firestone Indy Lights schedule will be telecast in high-definition on Versus and available through live webcasts on www.indycar.com. Graduates of this fast and cost-effective series include Marco Andretti, Ed Carpenter, A.J. Foyt IV and Hideki Mutoh.

The complete 2009 Firestone Indy Lights schedule:

Date            Track
 
April 4          Streets of St. Petersburg 
April 5          Streets of St. Petersburg 
April 18 or 19   Streets of Long Beach 
April 25 or 26   Kansas Speedway 
May 22           Indianapolis Motor Speedway 
May 30 or 31     Milwaukee Mile 
June 20 or 21    Iowa Speedway 
July 4 or 5      Watkins Glen International 
July 11 or 12    Streets of Toronto 
July 25 or 26    Edmonton City Centre Airport 
Aug. 1           Kentucky Speedway 
Aug. 8 or 9      Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course 
Aug. 22 or 23    Infineon Raceway 
Aug. 29          Chicagoland Speedway 
Oct. 10 or 11    Homestead-Miami Speedway
 
* Subject to change

Indianapolis 500 Notebook ~ Sunday..by Connie Felix
Dario Franchitti Wins Indy 500..by Ron Felix
Two Minutes With an Indy 500 Driver..by Connie Felix
Milka Duno ~ Excited To Be In Indy Cars..by Ron Felix

Dixon Wins Firestone Indy 200 at Nashville
It's Sad To See Cheever Go..By Ron Felix
2006 Nashville Firestone Indy 200 Notebook..By Connie Felix
From Shanghai Surprise to Typhoon Ma-on..By Anthony Underwood
Pardon Me Mr. Montoya..By Anthony Underwood
Why No Americans In Formula One?..By Anthony Underwood
Through the Looking Glass at Target Chip Ganassi Racing..By Melisa Lalich
Johnny Rutherford: Just call me “Coach”..By Melisa Lalich

Mid-Ohio IRL Photo Gallery ~ No. One..7-20-08
Mid-Ohio IRL Photo Gallery ~ No. Two..7-20-08

Kentucky Speedway IRL Photo Gallery ~ No. One
Kentucky Speedway IRL Photo Gallery ~ No. Two
Road America Champ Car Photo Gallery
Michigan Indy Car Photo Gallery
Leguna Seca Champ Car Photo Gallery ~ No. One
Leguna Seca Champ Car Photo Gallery ~ No. Two
Las Vegas Champ Car Photo Gallery