Milwaukee Mile To Add SAFER Barrier
Officials at the Milwaukee Mile plan to add the SAFER Barrier to its 1-mile oval this spring. The energy absorbing barrier, which consists of rectangular steel tubing backed by polystyrene foam blocks that are installed in front of the track's traditional cement walls, is designed to reduce forces incurred by a car in an accident and increase driver safety. The technology is tailor-made to address each track's design. The addition of the SAFER Barrier to the Milwaukee Mile marks the first time that every oval which will host the IndyCar Series in 2006 will have the energy absorbing wall.
The SAFER Barrier was installed first on the four outside retaining walls of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's historic 2.5-mile oval in May 2002 after nearly four years of development by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indy Racing League and University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Midwest Roadside Safety Facility. NASCAR joined in the development of the project in September 2000. Since SAFER's debut in time for the 2002 Indianapolis 500, nearly every major oval racing facility in the United States has installed the system.
Time Changed For Indy 500
The start time for the 90th Indianapolis 500 has been moved to 1 p.m. local time Sunday, May 28 due to the state of Indiana switching to Daylight Savings Time this spring, Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials announced Feb. 6. -- The race originally was scheduled to start at noon local time. In addition, gates will open at 6 a.m. local time on Race Day, one hour later than in past years.
"This starting time change was made because of Indiana's shift to Daylight Savings Time, which also had an effect on scheduling with our television partners at ABC Sports," said Joie Chitwood, Indianapolis Motor Speedway president and chief operating officer. "We think this change will have minimal impact on our fans. Sunset will occur one hour later this year due to the time change, which will give us just as much daylight as last year, when the starting time was noon." Indiana will adopt Daylight Savings Time for the first time this April after previously staying on Standard Time all year. Starting in April, Indianapolis will be on the same time as the East Coast of the United States year-round. The remainder of the 90th Indianapolis 500 schedule, announced last November, remains unchanged.
Legge Named Most Promising Road Racer
With three wins and a third-place finish in the Toyota Atlantic Championship, marking the first victories ever by a female driver in a major U.S. open-wheel racing series, Katherine Legge had a year to remember in 2006.
Legge was rewarded for her groundbreaking Atlantic season in this month’s edition of RACER magazine, as racing fans from around the world voted her as the winner of this year’s Most Promising Road Racer Award.
The latest issue of the racing magazine features Legge as the winner of the Most Promising Road Racer category, making her the eighth driver with Champ Car ties to win the award since 1995. Legge burst onto the American racing scene in 2004, winning in her maiden voyage in the Atlantic cars, conquering the demanding Long Beach street course to take the victory. She used a daring pass in Edmonton to wrest the lead away from eventual series champion Charles Zwolsman en route to the win, and then paced the last 16 laps of the day on a tricky San Jose course to claim the victory.
Legge, who in 2006 will either race in the Champ Car World Series or fight for the $2 million prize awarded to the winner Champ Car Atlantic Championship, received 27 percent of the fan vote to earn the honor. She outdistanced F1 hopeful Scott Speed and RuSPORT driver and two-time Champ Car race winner Justin Wilson in taking the award. Her win breaks a three-year stranglehold on the category by RuSPORT driver A.J. Allmendinger, who is the only driver to take the honor more than once. Legge is also the only driver from an American open-wheel series to earn any of the eight RACER awards, although two-time defending series champion Sebastien Bourdais fell just one percentage point short of claiming Road Racer of the Year honors from F1 champion Fernando Alonso.
Mi-Jack Owner Buys Cleveland Event
Mike Lanigan, president of Illinois based firm Mi-Jack and a committed Champ Car sponsor and supporter, has bought the rights to run the Grand Prix of Cleveland on the runways of the Burke Lakefront Airport according to a Cleveland based business newspaper.The report, on Crain's Cleveland Business website, www.crainscleveland.com, says that Lanigan's Mi-Jack Promotions firm will run the event for the next five years, with the first task being finding a primary sponsor.
After losing its sponsor in 2002 and parting company with former owners IMG, Champ Car itself has run the event for the past two years. Now Mi-Jack, which is the main backer of Eric Bachelart's Conquest Racing Champ Car team, and Lanigan, who also owns the rights to run the returning Grand Prix of Houston in 2006, have the opportunity to return the event to its glory period in the late 1980's and mid 1990's. According to the report, Lanigan will be officially introduced as the Cleveland race's new owner at a local reception next week.(Crash.net)
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