The 91st Indianapolis 500 thread.......

[mlittle]

Ok, whats this about that Danica having a go at our Ryan. Sure he has had a few offs, but he is not that bad. Is she just upset that he qualified better than she did without a full time IRL drive?

I am throwing down the gauntlet. I pick Briscoe over Patrick. Willing to bet sigs.

Multi-part posting, rah..........

~~10 days ago in the Chicago Tribune, Danica Patrick was quoted as saying the following towards Ryan Briscoe i.e. his qual. effort of 7th for the 500..........

He is fast; there's no doubt about it. But whether or not he can get that together, finish the race and be smart, that's the other half of it.

My guess....she still remembers' Ryan's bonehead move at Infineon back in 2005 and is sending a not-so-subtle message towards Briscoe.....adding insult to injury were additional remarks towards Briscoe from Andretti-Green Racing ALMS pilot Marino Franchitti, who IIRC got punted by Briscoe at St. Pete during the ALMS race last month; when he was asked about it, he replied,

Typical Ryan; my brother told me he was braindead.......he just doesn't learn no matter how many times you tell him.

~~It's not that she's upset Briscoe's one spot ahead of her on the grid; it's more like surprise and shock that it's a Penske satellite entry(which is what Luczo-Dragon Racing is..... ) ahead of her rather than a works Penske entry(both of which were expected to start up front anyway). There's probably also a little bit of anger as well in her remarks; when the 6 pm starter's gun went off last Saturday(back on 12 May) AGR had been in the process of withdrawing her time from the grid and sending her out on a last-second run for the pole(a/la Kanaan's run minutes before); from all accounts, odds on pitlane were better than 50-50 that, based on the practice times she'd run late Saturday in btwn. qual. runs from other drivers, she could've challenged for pole potentially........

~~As for your qauntlet, rah.......I've already changed my sig for the weekend; tell you what.....Ryan does better than Danica, I'll pick up the tab at the Idiots Bar for the month of June; if Danica does better than Ryan, you pick up the tab next month......

~~As for who I think will win "the Greatest Spectacle in Racing" Sunday..........GO DANICA!!

[rah]

Nah, betting on non existant drinks just isn't my thing. If Briscoe beats patrick you have to have "Milka Duno forever in your sig". Lol.

[Julian Mayo]

Nah, betting on non existant drinks just isn't my thing. If Briscoe beats patrick you have to have "Milka Duno forever in your sig". Lol.

And......"V8Supercar Drivers Rock"..........

[mlittle]

Nah, betting on non existant drinks just isn't my thing. If Briscoe beats patrick you have to have "Milka Duno forever in your sig". Lol.

I think I'll pass, rah......especially since IMHO I don't think Duno's qualified to be an IndyCar Series driver(read one of my commentaries over on the Commentaries from the Paddock thread entitled "What's Going On at 16th & Georgetown" from 29 March 2007 and you should have the idea....)

It was a good thought, though, rah.

[rah]

Nah, betting on non existant drinks just isn't my thing. If Briscoe beats patrick you have to have "Milka Duno forever in your sig". Lol.

I think I'll pass, rah......especially since IMHO I don't think Duno's qualified to be an IndyCar Series driver(read one of my commentaries over on the Commentaries from the Paddock thread entitled "What's Going On at 16th & Georgetown" from 29 March 2007 and you should have the idea....)

It was a good thought, though, rah.

Yeah mate I read, thats why I thought it would be risky for you. I know its wrong and totally against my idea of motor racing but I can't help it, I am going for her. Maybe its the whole citgo thing.

[mlittle]

Weekend 500 forecast............

~~FRIDAY 25 May 2007...........
Partly cloudy with temperatures around 79 deg.(F); humidity @ 35%; 15 pct. chance of rain; winds SSW 10-15 mph

~~SATURDAY 26 May 2007............
Cloudy with possible thunderstorms; temps. around 81 deg.(F) and humidity @ 45%; winds SW 7-10 mph

~~SUNDAY 27 May 2007
Mostly cloudy with possible thunderstorms; temps. around 77 deg.(F) and humidity @ 50%; winds SW 10-15 mph

[mlittle]

Carb Day Final Practice top-10...............................
1st} Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-11 D/H.................................39.917 sec/225.467 mph
2nd} Dario Franchitti, #27 Canadian Club/Argent D/H.............40.213 sec/223.807 mph
3rd} Michael Andretti, #39 Motorola/Jim Beam D/H.................40.255 sec/223.575 mph
4th} Helio Castroneves, #3 Team Penske D/H........................40.264 sec/223.527 mph
5th} Jaques Lazier, #21 Indiana Ice/Venture Logistics P/H.......40.274 sec/223.468 mph
6th} Scott Dixon, #9 Target D/H............................................40.291 sec/223.374 mph
7th} Sam Hornish, Jr., #6 Team Penske D/H...........................40.362 sec/222.981 mph
8th} Danica Patrick, #7 Motorola D/H.....................................40.384 sec/222.862 mph
9th} Ryan Briscoe, #12 Symantec 360 D/H.............................40.403 sec/222.754 mph
10th} Tomas Scheckter, #2 Indy Vision on Joost D/H...............40.414 sec/222.693 mph

[mlittle]

[mlittle]

[mlittle]

Broadcast info for the 91st running of the Indianapolis 500..........

~~1 pm, 27 May 2007 on ABC Sports
~~Broadcast host: Brent Musburger
~~Announcing crew: Marty Reid, Scott Goodyear, Rusty Wallace
~~Pit-lane crew: Jack Arute, Vince Welch, Brienne Pedigo, Jamie Little

Within the United States.........
~~domestic television, ABC Sports
~~domestic AM radio, IMS Radio Network
~~satellite radio, XM Satellite Radio--Ch. 144, XM Sports Nation & Ch. 145, IndyCar Racing

Outside the United States...........
~~ABC Sports is simulcasting the broadcast on television and radio(courtesy of ABC, ABC Radio and ESPN Radio) on the United States Armed Forces Network
~~Additional broadcast networks by selected countries(partial list).........
--Australia/New Zealand, ESPN
--Great Britain, Sky Sports, Channel 5
--Canada, TSN/RDS
--France, AB Moteurs
--India, ESPN
--Japan, NHK, Nippon TV
--Mexico, ESPN Desportes, ESPN Latin America
--Russia, 7TV
--Italy, Nuvolari TV
--South Africa, ESPN Atlantic


Note.....current U.S. Armed Forces Network international shortwave frequencies are as follows......
--Daytime Frequencies...........5.447 mhz, 7.811 mhz, 10.320 mhz, 12.134 mhz, 12.759 mhz and 13.362 mhz
--Nighttime frequencies..........4.319 mhz, 5.447 mhz, 5.765 mhz, 6.350 mhz, 7.811 mhz and 12.134 mhz

[mlittle]

One of the traditions of "the Greatest Spectacle in Racing", the Indianapolis 500, ironically has nothing to do with the race itself......because the race weekend falls on what is in some regards the most solemn holiday in the United States, Memorial Day. Memorial Day, once known as Decoration Day, honors those men and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice in defense of the United States, from the days of the American Revolution to present-day Afghanistan and Iraq.

The holiday began during the most violent period in American history, the War for Southern Independence(a/k/a the American Civil War to the Yankees..... ). Its' beginnings started in Columbus, Mississippi, where it was said that the townsfolk every so often would go to the various city cemetaries and lay wreaths and flowers on the gravesites of the Confederate dead.....during one such visit, one woman began walking to the far end of a cemetary where several dozen Yankee graves were. When asked what she was doing, the woman said to her friends that she was going to lay wreaths on the graves. One of her friends derisively(according to legend) replied, "But those are Yankee graves over there....." to which the first woman replied supposedly, "So? Up North there's women like us grieving over the loss of loved ones; surely they would honor our dead if they were up there." However, it wasn't until after the end of the war that the holiday began, with the urging of former Union Gen. John Logan, who had been impressed by what he had seen in Columbus, Ms. during the war.

Although the holiday, unfortunately(.... ......) has diminished in stature some(since a lot of people use it as the unofficial start of summer in the U.S.), it's still a major holiday, especially in the years following 9/11. Part of the festivities in the Indy 500 pre-race relate to the holiday......
~~the presenting of the colors by members of the U.S. Armed Forces during the pre-race ceremonies
~~the playing of "Taps" followed by an Air Force fly-by(this year the planes are from Shaw AFB in South Carolina); some years, the planes will perform the "missing man" formation honoring their fallen comrades and racers who've perished in the history of NA motorsports....the most recent flying of the "missing man" formation was in 2006).

[mlittle]

Saturday's Random Thoughts.....................

~~This morning the 33 starters for the Indy 500 gathered at the Tower Terrace near the Bombardier Pagoda for the annual public drivers' meeting.........here are some of the selected remarks given by IRL President of Competition Brian Barnhart(a/k/a the "Iron Hand of Justice"/"Darth Vader"..... )

--There were 35,000 miles of practice run this month
--Pit lane will open at 7 am for equipment dispersal; teams may bring their racecars out to pitlane no sooner than 10:30 am
--Teams are to run their race engines for up to 10 minutes starting at 11:50 am to provide Honda techs with final telemetry checks(each team has an engine tech from Honda Performance Development which assists and provides help to the teams)
--Keys to a good start are driver patience and driver discipline on each row; races are never won on lap 1, turn 1 but can be lost on lap 1, turn 1
--Drivers may not advance their position until crossing the start/finish line when the green flag is waved
--The green flag will not wave until all 33 cars are on the frontstraight
--Pit entry is at the exit of turn 4 unless otherwise designated by race control
--Drivers are reminded not to race in the middle of the straights and then swing wide to the outside before turning into turns 1 and 3; after the multiple incidents of "chopping" and "blocking" during the American Freedom 100 race Friday afternoon, race control will be aggresively watching for such incidences
--Barnhart ended the drivers' meeting as follows......

Most importantly, let's take care of each other tomorrow and let's have a fast, good, clean race tomorrow.

~~During the drivers' meeting, Team Penske owner Roger Penske and 2006 Indy 500 winner Sam Hornish, Jr. were presented with individual "baby Borg-Warner trophies"; the baby Borgs are replicas of the Borg-Warner Trophy given to the winning driver and team owner each year

~~Three in a row......for the third time in a row, it was Team Penske who won the annual Checker's/Rally Pit Stop Competition on Carb Day Friday; in 2005 and 2006 it was Hornish's team who won.....this year it was Castroneves' team that won

~~Bad vibes......considering the war of words between AGR and Penske "satellite" driver Ryan Briscoe, here's an example; during today's IPL 500 Festival Parade, wasn't it odd that the starters in P7 and P8 weren't looking towards their respective opposite sides of the parade route....then again; oh, I forgot; Briscoe's P7 and Patrick's P8.....never mind.

~~Quote of the Day...........Thursday the American Auto Racing Writers/Broadcasters Association held its' annual pre-500 banquet; during the ceremony the Jigger Sirois Award(given to the driver who experiences the worst luck during the month of May) was given to driver P.J. Jones, who said this gem of a quote about the award......

It's whipped cream on a turd.

Good luck to all 33 starters tomorrow, and as the late Greg Moore would always say.............SEE YOU AT THE FRONT!!!!

[Julian Mayo]

Briscoe reckons he has spent a lot of time mixing it in traffic to get a handle on the turbulence, when following, overtaking, and being overtaken

[mlittle]

There are a couple of things that, with the 500 just hours away, are sure predictions..........

~~Rain, or the threat of it, will push some teams.....Forecasters are predicting a 70-75% of rain at the 1 pm start time, meaning that teams have two choices......do I push early, hoping to be at the front after halfway if it does rain, or do I hang back a hair and pray for dry conditions, pushing at race's end?

~~No mistakes......as seen time and time again, often it is the team that makes as few mistakes as possible that usually wins.....there are plenty of ways to screw up; leaving with the fuel hose attached, stalling the car in pitlane, committing a pitlane speed violation, etc....

~~Racing fast, clean and smart......even if one makes no mistakes on pitlane, you still have to run smart; pass when the opportunity comes up, bide your time and make your moves when the time comes

So, putting on my moderator's cap..........who do I think will win?
Well, short answer.............anyone in the first four rows!
In all seriousness, though(I never thought I'd ever, ever actually agree w/ESPN's Scott Goodyear on anything..... ), I think, when the flagman waves the checkers' at race's end, it will be an Andretti-Green car in victory lane.....no, not the Scotsman, nor TK, nor Mikey or little ole' Marco....no, I've said on occasion that certain tracks, like Indy,
owe certain drivers a victory, and I honestly believe that at race's end, that AGR's Danica Patrick will be the one who'll roll into Victory Lane.

The darkhorses............there are 2, Ryan Briscoe and Tomas Scheckter. Briscoe, running for Luczo-Dragon Racing(a/k/a Team Penske's satellite entry) has been fast all month long, and that yellow paint scheme scares the heck' out of me(reminds me of the cars Rick Mears drove for w/Penske and the Pennzoil cars current Penske driver Sam Hornish, Jr. drove while w/Panther Racing.... ). Tomas Scheckter is the other darkhorse; he's been the only other driver besides Briscoe to crack the top-10 on the practice charts consistantly this month and wouldn't it conspiracy theorists into space if Scheckter would win the 500....after all, he drives for Vision Racing, which IIRC is co-owned by IMS CEO Tony George.

Well, those are my picks......what are your picks?

[Julian Mayo]

If Briscoe does well, and Toyota F1 are fed up with Ralf....they may swallow the loss of face n come to Briscoe.........after all they put a lot of money into his early career.
I still think he, Patrick and Scotty Dixon will feature in the top 3