2007 IRL Rd. 7--Bombardier LearJet 550k...........

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With Milwaukee now in the rear-views, the teams and drivers of the IndyCar make their way to, if not the fastest oval on the circuit, then probably the scariest, white-knuckle ractrack in AOWR.........Texas Motor Speedway and its' 24-degree banked turns(note to self....24 degrees, NOT 26 degrees... )

Why scary? With 24 degrees banking and laps in the 214 mph range, a lap at Texas is akin to being in a supercollider........you're flying around and around; one nervous twitch, tank-slapper or wheel-touching moment can have serious, if not possibly tragic results(I'll try to post video of what can occur over on the Youtube sub-forum.... ). Just as one needs nerves of cast-iron at the Milwaukee Mile, you need that PLUS stones of brass here at Texas. As Scott Sharp once said, "It's our Talledega."; IMHO, he wasn't kidding.

With everything that happened at the Mile, could we see more fireworks in Texas(a/la Dan and Danica, round 2?.... )............

Here is the event schedule for the weekend(all times U.S. CDT/-1 hr U.S. EDT, -5 hrs GMT)....................
Practice Session #1...................2:30-3:30 pm, 7 June 2007
Practice Session #2...................4:30-5:30 pm, 7 June 2007
Practice Session #3...................2:30-4:30 pm, 8 June 2007
Qualifying Session.....................6 pm, 8 June 2007
Bombardier LearJet 550k...........9 pm, 9 June 2007

--Television.................................live, ESPN2
--Domestic AM radio....................IMS Radio Network
--Satellite Radio...........................Ch. 144, XM Sports Nation and Ch. 145, IndyCar Racing
--Intl. Simulcast...........................(radio/shortwave)United States Armed Forces Network
--Intl. Television...........................(selected countries)Australia, ESPN; Brazil, TV Bandieriantes, Band Sports; Canada, TSN/RDS; France, AB Moteurs; India, ESPN India; New Zealand, ESPN Pacific Rim; South Africa, ESPN Atlantic; Great Britain, Sky Sports, Ch. 5

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Event: Bombardier LearJet 550k
Where: Texas Motor Speedway, Ft. Worth, Tx.
When: 10 pm U.S. EDT, 9 June 2007


Past Winners.....................
1997, Arie Luyendyk
1998(June), Billy Boat; (Oct.), John Paul, Jr.
1999(June), Scott Goodyear; (Oct.), Mark Dismore
2000(June), Scott Sharp; (Oct.), Scott Goodyear
2001(June), Scott Sharp; (Oct.), Sam Hornish, Jr.
2002(June), Jeff Ward; (Oct.), Sam Hornish, Jr.
2003(June), Al Unser, Jr.; (Oct.)Gil de Ferran
2004(June), Tony Kanaan; (Oct.)Helio Castroneves
2005, Tomas Scheckter
2006, Helio Castroneves

Track Dimensions
--1.5 mile high-banked quad-oval
--Frontstretch 2250 feet banked at 5 degrees
--Turns banked at 24 degrees
--Backstretch 1330 feet banked at 5 degrees
--Track width 58 feet from outside wall to track apron
--Pit-In starts at entrance to turn 3; Pit-Out exits through turn 2

Texas Entry List......................
Tomas Scheckter, #2 Indy Vision on Joost
Helio Castroneves, #3 Team Penske
Vitor Meira, #4 Delphi
Sarah Fisher, #5 AAMCO Transmissions
Sam Hornish, Jr., #6 Team Penske
Danica Patrick, #7 Motorola
Scott Sharp, #8 Patron Tequila
Scott Dixon, #9 Commit/Target
Dan Wheldon, #10 Target
Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-11
Darren Manning, #14 ABC Supply Co.
Buddy Rice, #15 RollCoater/A1 Team USA
Jeff Simmons, #17 Ethanol
Jon Herb, #19 AERCON/Dad's Root Beer
Ed Carpenter, #20 Hitachi Power Tools
A.J. Foyt, IV, #22 Indy Vision on Joost
(R)Milka Duno, #23 CITGO
Marco Andretti, #26 NYSE Group/Argent
Dario Franchitti, #27 Canadian Club/AirTran
Kosuke Matsuura, #55 Panasonic/ARTA

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Another close finish...........the high-banks of Texas Motor Speedway have produced some of the closest finishes in IRL history; indeed, 6 of the 25 closest-ever have occurred here..........

Lone Star Links...............many of the teams, sponsors and drivers have links to the great state of Texas.............
--at the head of the line are Foyt Racing owner A.J. Foyt, Jr. and grandson A.J. Foyt, IV, both of whom hail from Waller, Tx.; Foyt Racing is currently based in Hockley, Tx.(near Houston) with seasonal facilities in Indianapolis; Larry Foyt, A.J. IV's uncle/Supertex's son, serves as team director for Foyt Racing
--expect a large crowd of 7-11 heads at the track Saturday; 7-11, one of the largest conveience store chains in North America, is the primary sponsor on the #11 AGR entry driven by 2004 IndyCar Series champion Tony Kanaan
--A couple of spotters hail from the Dallas-Ft. Worth area; spotters Danny Hunter and Dave Rodgers are from the Arlington, Tx. area(Hunter is spotter for Scott Dixon, and Rodgers is the spotter for Danica Patrick)


Some milestones to ponder............
--When Tony Kanaan won at the Milwaukee Mile last week, he gave Andretti-Green Racing their 26th win in IndyCar Series competition, most of any team in the series(breaking a tie they had held with Team Penske)
--With a win at Texas, Team Penske's Sam Hornish, Jr. can tie Scott Sharp and Helio Castroneves's record for consecutive seasons with at least one win(Sharp's streak was from 1997-2003; Castroneves' from 2001-present)
--Unless he wins Saturday, Panther Racing's Vitor Meira will continue a somewhat dubious streak; it would be his 65th consecutive start without a win, longest of any driver in the series

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Group 1..............
Kanaan, Matsuura, Foyt, IV., Fisher, Meira, Castroneves, Duno, Wheldon, Dixon, Andretti

Group 2..............
Rice, Carpenter, Patrick, Franchitti, Herb, Hornish, Jr., Scheckter, Simmons, Manning, Sharp

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Texas Practice Session #1 top-5................
1st} Dario Franchitti, Andretti-Green Racing................24.461 sec/214.138 mph
2nd} Tony Kanaan, Andretti-Green Racing..................24.468 sec/214.072 mph
3rd} Dan Wheldon, Target/Ganassi Racing..................24.512 sec/213.691 mph
4th} Scott Dixon, Target/Ganassi Racing.....................24.519 sec/213.632 mph
5th} Sam Hornish, Jr., Team Penske...........................24.530 sec/213.535 mph

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Texas Practice Session #2 top-5................
1st} Scott Dixon, Target/Ganassi Racing.........................24.458 sec/214.164 mph
2nd} Scott Sharp, Rahal-Letterman Racing......................24.572 sec/213.164 mph
3rd} Dan Wheldon, Target/Ganassi Racing.......................24.627 sec/212.692 mph
4th} Marco Andretti, Andretti-Green Racing......................24.629 sec/212.680 mph
5th} Tony Kanaan, Andretti-Green Racing........................24.630 sec/212.669 mph

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Texas Practice Session #3 top-5.......................

1st} Sam Hornish, Jr., Team Penske...................................24.390 sec/214.762 mph
2nd} Vitor Meira, Aguri-Panther Racing...............................24.465 sec/214.105 mph
3rd} Scott Dixon, Target/Ganassi Racing.............................24.472 sec/214.040 mph
4th} Dario Franchitti, Andretti-Green Racing........................24.489 sec/213.888 mph
5th} Tony Kanaan, Andretti-Green Racing...........................24.490 sec/213.883 mph

[czeckmate]

Someone here is talking to himself!

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Bombardier LearJet 550k Starting Grid................

1st} Scott Sharp, #8 Patron Tequila....................................24.333 sec/215.260 mph
2nd} Sam Hornish, Jr., #6 Team Penske.............................24.418 sec/214.518 mph

3rd} Dario Franchitti, #27 Canadian Club/AirTran.................24.430 sec/214.411 mph
4th} Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-11......................................24.495 sec/213.844 mph

5th} Helio Castroneves, #3 Team Penske.............................24.554 sec/213.327 mph
6th} Danica Patrick, #7 Motorola.........................................24.560 sec/213.274 mph

7th} Scott Dixon, #9 Commit/Target....................................24.594 sec/212.980 mph
8th} Jeff Simmons, #17 Ethanol...........................................24.615 sec/212.794 mph

9th} Tomas Scheckter, #2 Indy Vision on Joost.....................24.624 sec/212.716 mph
10th} Dan Wheldon, #10 Target...........................................24.630 sec/212.665 mph

11th} Darren Manning, #14 ABC Supply Co..........................24.648 sec/212.516 mph
12th} Marco Andretti, #26 NYSE Group/Argent......................24.676 sec/212.268 mph

13th} Vitor Meira, #4 Delphi................................................24.704 sec/212.028 mph
14th} Jon Herb, #19 AERCON/Dad's Root Beer......................24.764 sec/211.518 mph

15th} Kosuke Matsuura, #55 Panasonic/ARTA........................24.856 sec/210.731 mph
16th} Ed Carpenter, #20 Hitachi Power Tools.........................24.896 sec/210.397 mph

17th} Buddy Rice, #15 RollCoater/A1 Team USA....................24.901 sec/210.352 mph
18th} A.J. Foyt, IV, #22 Indy Vision on Joost..........................24.904 sec/210.332 mph

19th} Sarah Fisher, #5 AAMCO Transmissions........................24.922 sec/210.172 mph
20th} (R)Milka Duno, #23 CITGO...........................................25.228 sec/207.626 mph

Notes of interest.......................
--for Scott Sharp, this evening's pole position is his first since Kentucky in 2001
--for Rahal-Letterman Racing, it is the team's first pole since Chicagoland in 2005; it is the team's 10th pole in IndyCar competition and 30th in the team's overall history
--ironically, it is the first pole at Texas for either Sharp or Rahal-Letterman Racing

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..........and this just in from the wires........Dante's Inferno just froze over..........

I suspect everyone in the paddock is wondering,

Scott Sharp, who's struggled at times this year(best qual. position prior to Texas was 11th), snatched the pole away from Penske's Sam Hornish, Jr. near the end of qualifying Friday evening in Texas, giving Rahal-Letterman their first pole since Danica Patrick won the pole at Chicagoland back in late 2005. Sharp opined in the post-qual. press conference..........

This is a team that's used to running at the front. If the commitment is there, the team is going to get back there. We nailed (the setting) right off the trailer; the conditions were perfect. The sun was still out, but the shadows had cooled the track a little bit. We just nailed it.

Besides being the first pole at Texas for both Sharp and RLR, it was the first time(since Patrick's pole-winning effort at Chicagoland in 2005) that a team not either Penske, Ganassi or AGR had won the pole, a span of 22 consecutive races[in that time, Penske had won 15 poles, Ganassi four and AGR three]. In addition, what shocked many(myself included!) in the paddock was that the last driver to win with a team other than the big three(Penske, Ganassi and Andretti-Green) was.......wait for it, Scott Sharp, who won at Kentucky in 2005 with then-Aguri/Fernandez Racing.

Like I said, Dante's Inferno has just froze over..........

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Joining the coverage on lap 36 as the speeds are averaging around 213-214 mph; race control calling in the #19 of Jon Herb for a drive-through penalty on account of blocking early on


top-5 at the moment..........Hornish, Wheldon, Kanaan, Dixon, Scheckter

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first round of stops are expected in the next 10 laps or so......

watching the video, the cars are starting to spread out a little as the front-runners continue onward

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Looks like Scheckter's the first one to pitroad..................

Top-5 at lap 46............Kanaan, Franchitti, Andretti, Meira, Wheldon

Most of the cars moving onto pitroad; Dixon, Wheldon and Patrick are in.....and we now have a caution as Herb spins out going into pitlane


Caution out, caution out.............Meira now assumes the lead

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lap 49...............top-5 at the moment are Meira, Wheldon, Dixon, Kanaan, Andretti; however, Meira has yet to pit..........correction, Meira now on pitroad for fuel and tires

Herb out of the race; damage to the front suspension

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Race control sorting out the field for the restart; looks like they're going to wave-around several cars

Everyone has made their first round of stops............race control still sorting out the field