2006 Nashville Firestone Indy 200 Notebook

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2006 Nashville Firestone Indy 200 Notebook

7-16-06

by Connie Felix

Tom Wood
Veteran racer Tom Wood recently spoke briefly of his accident at Kentucky Speedway in 2003, where he was nearly killed. The painful 14-month rehabilitation prevented him from advancing to the IndyCar Series as was planned for 2004. The "Sunbelt Rentals 100" at Nashville Superspeedway was Wood's 5th race since the accident in the IRL Indy Pro Series. Wood commented the track surface being concrete was rough on Indy Pro Series cars making them vibrate, practice is essential and challenging in order to get the blurred vision in check.

Marco 'It Is What It Is!" Andretti
Marco Andretti, might be a nineteen years old, but after drilling him with questions for only a few minutes, his confidence and quickness have you convinced he's really 35. Don't be fooled there must be times away from the track that he turns 15.

2006: "This is my year to be a sponge!"

CONTRACT: Marco has a three year contract with Andretti Green Racing.

ANDRETTI NAME: "It definitely isn't a curse to be an Andretti, but if the team didn't see talent I wouldn't have the job, regardless of family ties." said Marco

MEDIA: Marco refers to himself as the "New Danica" as far as the Media is concerned in 2006, partly because of his name and that he is new young blood.

FIRST WIN: Infineon Raceway should be a win for Marco, afterall he ran lots of races at the track.

CHAMPIONSHIP: Marco sees no reason why he can't have the IndyCar Series Championship in 2007.

CONCENTRATION: The closing laps of the Indy 500, Marco confided he saw people standing up as he went around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, something he shouldn't have noticed as it means you aren't focused and concentrating on the job at hand. Marco wanted it known, he was thinking clearly coming out of turn three and being passed by Sam Hornish Jr., who ended up winning the Indy 500 this season.

THE CAR: "You can tell on the first run how much work you have to do on the car."

AGE: "I'm not too young." Marco claims he has had no surprises this season in the IndyCar Series.

FUTURE ASPIRATIONS: Marco's current goal is to head for F1 after a minimum 3 years in the IRL, following the footsteps of his father [Michael] and Grandfather [Mario].

FELLOW DRIVERS: "We all know Dan Wheldon and Danica Patrick will go to NASCAR." This conversation took place well before the Jack Roush / Danica Patrick rumors surfaced.

RELAXING: Marco claims to do nothing when he relaxes, admitting he soon gets bored and wants to race again. However, he does enjoy going to the lake and that is relaxing.

RETIREMENT: With a grin, Marco stated, he just might go to NASCAR after he's 40 and retired, he would go for the $$$.

Dario One Year At A Time
Dario Franchitti drives the #27 for Andretti Green Racing, and easily admits that NO team car is doing well this season. It is a depressing reality that has to change for everyone's sanity. Franchitti has a one year contract with Andretti Green Racing which works well for him, in fact this is his ninth one year contract in racing. The contract doesn't allow for riding motorcycles, which Franchitti misses and yes - he wears a helmet. The day we saw Franchitti he was driving a Porsche Turbo S convertible and excited about his younger brother, Marino's recent driving feat.

Andrew Firestone - Grand Marshal
Andrew Firestone served as Grand Marshal for the Firestone Indy 200 on Saturday, July 15 at Nashville Superspeedway. Firestone, born on July 10, 1975, is a graduate of the University of San Diego with a bachelor's degree in business. After graduation Firestone spent three months backpacking through Europe, and ran with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, before taking on the sales and marketing activities of the family enterprise.

Grass Art
Nashville Superspeedway has four major events during the summer, two NASCAR Busch Series races and IRL Indycar Series race plus the ARCA RE/MAX Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race weekend. The event and series logo's are painted in the grass for each major race and need to be changed each event, the rain and wind dissipates a percent of the paint, mowing takes care of a great deal and any remaining signage is painted green to match the grass if still visible when the new signage is put in place.

Tracks Responsibility
The blue tarp that the Indy Racing League mandates on the lower 10 rows of seats at racetracks on their schedule, are owned by the individual tracks. It was the responsibility of Nashville Superspeedway to have these tarps in place for added race fan security from flying objects during the Firestone Indy 200 weekend.

Angry Scheckter
Tomas Scheckter driver of the No. 2 Vision Racing entry in the IRL IndyCar Series, admits he drives angry. Making this statement Scheckter commented he is always angry. When you read his bio or program interviews you can see this in his statements. Vision Racing has improved performance this season since Scheckter has joined the team and he quickly takes credit for much of the change. Yet if you speak to teammate, Ed Carpenter, he feels changes the team has made with the cars is the main reason for his improvement. "It's not the teammate and I drive the same as I always have." said Carpenter.

IndyCar Hybrid Pace
The official Pace Car for the 2006 IRL IndyCar series season, is a Honda Accord Hybrid, the first car utilizing hybrid technology to pace a major auto racing series.

The Delphi IRL Safety team also uses Honda vehicles, operating a fleet of Honda Ridgelines as well as a Honda Pilot, all outfitted with state of the art equipment for the various safety and medical needs of the team.

Revive It Up Meira
Vitor Meira, 29 year old driver for Panther Racing, announced at Nashville Superspeedway a new sponsor, Revive U.S.A, not yet on the market. Revive President and CEO Bruce Badgett stated the nutrition and beverage company, will introduce 5 powder flavors one adds to water plus Star Bar a protein and fiber bar, on September 5. Meira broke in saying, it was 'Love At First Sight' between him and Revive U.S.A. people. Team co-owner John Barnes made the comment, this sponsorship helped the team stay afloat.

Indy Pro Series - Two Spotters Turned Drivers

Travis Gregg, received a cell call on his drive to Nashville Superspeedway and was surprised to hear he would be driving the No. 9 Indy Pro Series car in the Sunbelt Rentals 100. Gregg has intending to spot for the car and driver Tom Wieringa. An issue came about and plans were changed, the sponsor and Wieringa will race at Kentucky. Gregg stated he always carries his stuff with him just in case. The Michael Crawford Motorsports car had problems and finished thirteenth out of fourteen race cars in Saturday's Nashville race.

James Chesson hit the wall in turn 3 during Friday's practice, even though he was cleared to drive by Dr. Jim Nossett, car owner Steve Eppard decided to withdraw the No. 26 car from the Sunbelt Rentals 100, Indy Pro Series race at Nashville Superspeedway.

Arie Luyendyk Jr. came to Nashville Superspeedway planning on being the spotter for Alex Lloyd and No. 26, but ended up as driver instead. Luyendyk drove the extra car No. 25 and finished eleventh. Lloyd has a lingering flu like symptom which affects his vision, making him dizzy and Dr.'s would not clear him to drive. The problem has hung around for a month, so race day Lloyd underwent tests at a Nashville Hospital and will spend the coming week in Indianapolis where league Doctor's can continue to evaluate him.