Economaki Named Richmond Grand Marshal
Chris Economaki, the legendary motorsports journalist who was the public address announcer for Richmond International Raceway's first race nearly 60 years ago, will serve as the Grand Marshal for this weekend's SunTrust Indy Challenge Presented by XM Satellite Radio. "I remember that race very well," said Economaki of the open wheel race won by Ted Horn on October 12, 1946. "It was quite a race. The feature race was only 20 laps-10 miles- so it was very short, but it was big stuff back then. The town would turn out for it, there would be banners across the street announcing a race at the state fair." Economaki will give the drivers the command to start their engines.
Foyt Facing Surgery
Four-time Indianapolis 500 winner and IndyCar Series team owner A.J. Foyt is scheduled to have his left knee replaced with an artificial knee on Monday following the race at Richmond. The ensuing rehabilitation means that Foyt will miss both the Kansas and Nashville race events. Foyt has only missed a handful of events since he began fielding cars in the IndyCar Series in 1996. "My knee's gotten so bad that I can't wait until the season is over to have it done," Foyt said. "I've been putting it off for about five years now but I can't do that anymore."
Hornish Honored in Ohio
Ohio Congressman Paul E. Gillmor (R-Ohio) recently introduced a resolution to honor Sam Hornish Jr.'s accomplishment of winning the 90th running of the Indianapolis 500 mile race. Hornish, a resident of Napoleon, Ohio, lives in Gilmour's district and recently attended the Lincoln-Hayes dinner in Bowling Green, OH as a guest of the congressman. Rep. Gillmor issued a resolution stating that "the House of Representatives recognizes Sam Hornish Jr. for his victory in the Indianapolis 500." -- "Sam Hornish, Jr. is not just Indy's champion, he's Ohio's champion. Sam was raised in Defiance, went to school in Archbold, and even as he has become a national name, he continues to live in Napoleon," Gillmor said. "I admire Sam's leadership in the community, his charity work and his commitment to being a good role model for our next generation. He is a modest leader and deserves to be honored for his win at Indy."
Allmendinger Wins First Time Out For New Team
A.J. Allmendinger unexpectedly found himself free of his pursuers at the start of Sunday’s G.I. Joe’s Presents The Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland, and he sprinted to the first win of his Champ Car World Series career. Allmendinger led 100 of the day’s 105 laps in collecting his first Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford victory in front of a race-day crowd of 44,065. The 24-year-old fought off a strong mid-race challenge from former teammate Justin Wilson to become the first U.S.-born driver to win a Champ Car race since Ryan Hunter-Reay won in Milwaukee in 2004. The race that was the second-fastest ever run at Portland, featured just one caution for a misaligned start, and saw every car running at the end of the race for the first time in Portland history.
Wilson battled back from a seven-second deficit to pressure Allmendinger with 40 laps to go, but then had to focus on holding off series points leader Sebastien Bourdais before settling for second while two-time defending Champ Car titlist Bourdais rounded out the podium in third. Bruno Junqueira finished fourth followed by Cristiano da Matta, rookie Dan Clarke, Paul Tracy and Nelson Philippe to fill out the top eight. Clarke not only earned top-rookie honors with a sixth-place finish, he took over the lead in the Roshfrans Rookie-of-the-Year standings, holding a one-point lead over Katherine Legge after five races. Despite losing points to Wilson for the first time all season, Bourdais maintained his lead in the championship chase after five races, holding a 30-point lead over the Brit. Allmendinger vaulted to third with his win while Andrew Ranger holds the fourth spot after garnering ninth-place honors. The series will have a quick turnaround this week as the caravan travels West to East for next weekend’s Champ Car Grand Prix of Cleveland Presented by U.S. Bank. The race on the Burke Lakefront Airport circuit will be seen live on CBS Sports beginning at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
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IRP Changes Name
In a landmark announcement, historic Indianapolis Raceway Park has been renamed O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis. The O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis name and logo were unveiled during a press conference today at the multipurpose motorsports complex. O’Reilly Auto Parts is one of the nation’s largest specialty retailers of automotive aftermarket parts.
ESPN2 Debuts Andretti Reality Series
"Andretti 3," an eight-part, all-access series chronicling 19-year old Marco Andretti's rookie season in the IRL IndyCar Series, will debut this weekend on ESPN2. Produced by IMS Productions, the series gives viewers unprecedented access to Andretti Green Racing, one of the most powerful teams in the IndyCar Series, and follows Marco Andretti's rise under the watchful eyes of his grandfather, racing legend Mario Andretti, and his father, Michael, a standout racer.
Mario Andretti is with Marco every step of the way and shares his thoughts on the pressure of having the Andretti name and gives weekly updates on Marco's IndyCar Series rookie season. Michael is also with Marco from the beginning, coming out of retirement to race with Marco in the Indianapolis 500.
During the month of May, watch Michael cope with being an owner, father and driver attempting to win his first Indianapolis 500. Marco's teammates, 2004 IndyCar Series Champion Tony Kanaan, Dario Franchitti and Bryan Herta also contribute to the story.
In the premiere episode, scheduled for Noon (EDT) on June 18, "The Great One," Wayne Gretzky explains the pressure of being an 18-year old athlete, and how he dealt with the responsibilities of being in the spotlight at a young age. In future episodes, the Denver Nuggets' Carmelo Anthony and Chicago Cubs pitcher Greg Maddux also share their experiences as young athletes on the big stage.
Everybody Loves Danica
IndyCar Series driver Danica Patrick is ranked among America's favorite female athletes according to the annual Harris Poll.
Patrick, the first woman to lead the Indianapolis 500, finished fifth in the poll, highest among seven newcomers, in the survey conducted online by Harris Interactive among a random sample of 2,085 U.S. adults between May 9-16.
Tennis' star siblings Venus and Serena Williams topped the poll followed by soccer star Mia Hamm, rising golf star Michelle Wie and Patrick.
Meet the Drivers
Marco Andretti, the IndyCar® Series rookie who finished second in last month's Indianapolis 500, and his Andretti Green Racing teammate Bryan Herta will make a special appearance in the Indy Paddock Club, an all-inclusive fan-friendly hospitality area, on June 24 at Richmond International Raceway. Admission to the Indy Paddock Club includes a reserved seat for the SunTrust Indy Challenge Presented by XM Satellite Radio and the Richmond Times-Dispatch 100 USAC Silver Crown Championship Series race "under the lights" on Saturday, June 24. Additionally, the Paddock Club package includes a general admission ticket for Friday night's WRIC-TV8 Pole Qualifying for the IndyCar Series, followed by the USAC National Sprint Car Series race. Herta, driver of the #7 XM Satellite Radio car, will be signing autographs at the XM Satellite Radio/SunTrust booth from 3:20 p.m. to 3:40 p.m. (EDT) on June 24, prior to the race at Richmond International Raceway. The XM Satellite Radio booth is located in the fan midway area outside of the track near the Old Dominion Building.
Graham Rahal Wins Second Pole
You won’t see Graham Rahal doing any frantic last-minute shopping for Father’s Day on Saturday evening. The 17-year-old Mi-Jack Conquest Racing rookie picked up a couple of special presents for his famous father and racing legend Bobby Rahal on Saturday afternoon as he earned his second career pole position and established a new track record by leading the final round of qualifying for Round 4 of the Yokohama Presents the Champ Car Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda.
The young Rahal continued his special relationship with the Portland International Raceway circuit as he topped all 27 Atlantic drivers by blistering a fast time of 1:04.628 (109.401 mph) on his 19th qualifying lap at the 1.964-mile road course. After capturing a victory at the venue in karting, Rahal earned his first professional win at PIR last season in the Star Mazda series. Saturday’s impressive time in his first Atlantic visit to Portland established a new series single-lap course record, topping the mark set by French sensation Simon Pagenaud in Friday’s first round of qualifying by more that a second.
After securing his first series pole last round in Monterrey, Mexico – before producing a flag-to-flag victory south of the border to become the youngest-ever winner in the 33-year history of the Atlantic series – Rahal followed up that effort with today’s results to win his second straight Atlantic pole in just his fourth series race. He enters Sunday’s race with 62 points, just 22 markers shy of points leader Andreas Wirth. Rahal had to hold off Pagenaud under cool and sunny conditions in the 30-minute afternoon qualifying session. Friday, Pagenuad secured the provisional pole by leading the opening round of qualifying before the rains came and drenched the track. The Team Australia rookie was on his game again on Saturday, posting a quick time of 1:04.848 (109.030), but fell just under two tenths of a second short of equaling Rahal’s time. Pagenaud will join Rahal on the front row in tomorrow’s race, marking the third time in the first four races that the 22-year-old native of Montmorillon, France has qualified among the top two this season.
Looking to bounce back from a pair of poor race results over the last two rounds of competition, Raphael Matos (#6 ProWorks) qualified third with a time of 1:04.939 (108.878 mph). The Sierra Sierra Enterprises rookie, who desperately needs to score points this weekend to remain in the championship hunt, earned his top starting position since he captured the pole at Houston in Round 2. -- Rahal’s new Mi-Jack Conquest Racing teammate Ryan Lewis (#30 Insport) continued his impressive opening weekend of Atlantic action on Saturday. The 22-year-old British racer, who just joined the team for the remainder of the season last week, led this morning’s practice session and followed that up with a fourth-place qualifying run. The former British F3 standout clocked a top time of 1:05.083 (108.637 mph).
Junqueira On Portland Pole
Bruno Junqueira has had more than his share of bad luck through the first four races of the 2006 Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford season, so the Brazilian decided to take luck out of the equation in today’s final qualifying for the G.I. Joe’s Presents The Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland. Junqueira used his penultimate lap around the 1.964-mile road circuit to gain three spots and claim the Bridgestone Pole Position, winning a tight battle that saw the first three qualifiers covered by a microscopic .015 seconds. Junqueira’s time of 57.631 seconds (122.684 mph) gave him his first pole of the year and his first since the 2004 season opener, besting A.J. Allmendinger by .008 seconds, with points leader Sebastien Bourdais another .007 behind in third.
Defending race winner Cristiano da Matta was the first to make a move, jumping into the third spot, only to see the former #10 driver drop him back as Allmendinger posted his best lap, taking the pole. The Californian then overshot the approach to the Festival Curves on his next lap, forcing him to go hard on the brakes and slide the tires, effectively ending any chance he had to post a better time. With his 57.639 in his pocket, Allmendinger retired to Pit Lane to sweat out the final few minutes knowing that Bourdais and Junqueira still had plenty of time to leapfrog him and take the pole.
Wilson dropped his best time to 57.818 on his next-to-last lap while Junqueira and Bourdais rolled off with their second set of alternate Bridgestone Potenzas bolted on to their Newman/Haas machines. Bourdais used two laps to get up to speed and eventually set a best time of 57.646 seconds (122.652 mph) to take the third spot, but while most eyes were on the man who has won each of the first four races of the year, Junqueira slowly started his climb up the order. The Brazilian’s eighth lap moved him into fourth and as Allmendinger watched from the relative safety of his Forsythe pits, Junqueira’s next pass elevated him to the top spot with less than a minute left in the session.
The late flurry dropped Wilson to fourth in the starting order for tomorrow’s 105-lap race, while da Matta’s time of 58.018 seconds (121.866 mph) slotted him in the fifth spot, marking his highest starting position of the 2006 campaign.
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