2006 IRL Rd. 14--Peak Antifreeze Indy 300

[mlittle]

It's almost hard to believe, but time really flies these days.......case in point, the 2006 IRL IndyCar Series has just one round remaining. Just more than five months ago in south Florida, the series began its' 2006 season on a somber note; now, one race remains to crown a champion. Four drivers--Helio Castroneves, Sam Hornish, Jr., Dan Wheldon or Scott Dixon, get one last shot to capture the title; for Marlboro-Team Penske, it will be their first IndyCar Series title; for Target/Ganassi Racing, their second. But don't think for a moment that the other drivers will simply get out of the way; far from it. From the drop of the green to the waving of the checkered flag, it will be 200 laps of full-throttle, hold on to anything racing; and as we have seen many times this year, the race will likely come down to who makes the least mistakes.

Here is the event schedule for the 2006 season finale..............
note.....all times are U.S. CDT; -1 hr. U.S. EDT/-5 hrs. GMT

Practice Session #1}8:15 am, 9 Sept. 2006
Practice Session #2}10:45 am, 9 Sept. 2006
Qualifying Session}5 pm, 9 Sept. 2006
Final Practice Session}8:45 am, 10 Sept. 2006
Peak Antifreeze Indy 300}12:30 pm, 10 Sept. 2006

~~tv broadcast on ABC Sports
~~domestic radio coverage on the IMS Radio Network(including webcast courtesy of indycar.com)
~~XM Satellite Radio, Ch. 145, IndyCar Racing
~~and, both the tv/radio simulcasts can be seen on the United States Armed Forces Network

As always, I'll have qual. and race summaries, commentaries, and anything else that comes to mind; since we are in the heart of "Blues Brothers" country, don't be surprised if you see two individuals in Blues Brothers' clothes driving a two-tone 80's cruiser.....speaking of which, has anyone seen julian? It could be worse, though; there isn't a plider flying around, is there??

[mlittle]

Apparently, AGR driver Dario Franchitti's 2006 IndyCar season has come to an end, albeit not to his doing. As a result of a concussion suffered during a qualifying session at the Goodwood Revival races a few weeks back, Andretti-Green Racing has brought in former Foyt Racing driver A.J. Foyt, IV, to drive the #27 Canadian Ckub/Klein Tools D/H for this weekend's season finale at Chicagoland.

Hey, it could be worse.........Foyt could be driving for Arie Luyendyk....

[mlittle]

As the 2006 IRL IndyCar Series season winds down, there are a couple of interesting notes of interest........

~~when Marco Andretti won at Infineon back in late August, at 19 yrs., 134 days old, he broke the record for youngest driver to ever win a major NA open-wheel race; the previous mark in the IndyCar Series was held by Sam Hornish, Jr. who was 21 yrs., 259 days old when he won at Phoenix in 2001, the previous mark in AOWR was held by Soctt Dixon, who at 20 yrs. and 284 days won at Nazareth in a ChampCar(then-CART) race in 2001

~~only three drivers in series history have won as a true rookie driver
1997}Jim Guthrie, Phoenix
2002}Tomas Scheckter, Michigan
2006}Marco Andretti, Infineon

~~two teams are currently tied for the most wins in the IRL, Andretti-Green Racing and Marlboro-Team Penske, with 23 wins apiece

~~with his win at Indy back in May, Sam Hornish, Jr. became the first IRL driver to earn more than $11 million in earnings; he would need $14,445 in order to reach $12 million in earnings

~~Scott Sharp currently has the most consecutive starts in the IRL; Chicagoland will be his 119th start since the series began in 1996

~~the longest drought for a driver in IndyCar competition currently belongs to Panther Racing's Vitor Meira, who is winless in 58 starts

[mlittle]

While everyone's waiting for the race weekend to start, there were some interesting things of note going on around Chicagoland and the surrounding area.........in the words of Joliet Jake to his sidekick Elwood Blues........"Hit it.....!!!"

1}2 teams to contend for 2007 Indy Pro Series title. While car counts are a bit of concern in the IndyCar Series, the car count's expected to rise in the IRL's Indy Pro Series as two new teams will enter the fray for 2007. Team KMA and Andersen Racing announced late last week that they will field entries in the IPS starting with the as-yet unannounced season opener next March. Congrats, and welcome aboard!

2}2 drivers to make their debuts at Chicagoland. Speaking of the upcoming IPS race, drivers Akihiro Okamoto and Veronica McCann will be making their IPS debuts this weekend, Okamoto for Sam Schmidt Mtrspts. and McCann for Brian Stewart Racing. Okamoto is a veteran of the Barber Dodge Pro Series, while McCann finished third in the Western Australia Sprintcar championship series and will actually be making not just her first start on a banked oval, but her first rear-engine race start. From the NA motorsports desk, good luck, turn left, go fast and stay off the walls.......!

3}Who's singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame"? Ever since 9/11, every baseball park in Major League Baseball has played during the seventh-inning stretch the song "God Bless America" except for Wrigley Field, home to the Chicago Cubs, which continues to play the traditional-mid 7th inning song, "Take Me Out to the Ballgame", and the list of individuals who've led the Wrigley Field faithful in their renditions of the famous song includes singers, politicians, actors and racecar drivers. Case in point, today's game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Chicago Cubs, in which Rahal-Letterman Racing's Danica Patrick got the honor of leading the crowd to "Take Me Out to the Ballgame". Granted, it wasn't the best rendition of that hallowed song, but at least you could understand the words........

[mlittle]

With the race weekend now squarely in view, there are a couple of things of interest that fall into the category of farewells............

1}For over forty years, a staple of Indy-style racing has been the ubitquitous fuel known as methanol; when the checkered flag falls Sunday at Chicagoland, so will methanol, as the IRL will end the use of methanol fuel, instead going to 100% ethanol fuel beginning in 2007(for 2006, the IRL is using a 90-10 blended fuel of methanol/ethanol).

2}The final pieces of the U.S. Master Tobacco Settlement will become law in 2007, meaning that tobacco sponsorship will be prohibited, thus ending Marlboro's long involvement in AOWR. It also means that Team Penske will have to find new sponsorship for both of their cars for 2007.

3}Also gone is the 3.0L Honda Indy V8 engine; instead, series officials recently announced that HPD will bring back the 3.5L Honda Indy V8, to be badged as the H-16S. As has been IRL policy since 1997, the engine is a normally-aspirated(non-turbo) 8-cylinder engine which will produce 650 hp at 10,300 rpms. All current rules concerning engine leases and rebuilds, however, will still be in effect for 2007.

[mlittle]

~~19 drivers completed a total of 863 incident-free laps; fastest driver on the timing/scoring chart was Scott Dixon w/a time of 216.572 mph(25.245 sec)

Top 5 from the session........
1}#9 Scott Dixon..........................216.572 mph/25.245 sec
2}#10 Dan Wheldon......................216.687 mph/25.253 sec
3}#3 Helio Castroneves.................216.033 mph/25.330 sec
4}#6 Sam Hornish, Jr....................215.942 mph/25.340 sec
5}#8 Scott Sharp..........................215.557 mph/25.385 sec

[mlittle]

~~19 drivers completed a total of 963 laps w/out incident; fastest driver in the session was Dan Wheldon w/a speed of 216.499 mph(25.275 sec)

Top-5 from the session...................
1}#10 Dan Wheldon...........................216.499 mph/25.275 sec
2}#6 Sam Hornish, Jr.........................216.037 mph/25.329 sec
3}#9 Scott Dixon...............................215.979 mph/25.336 sec
4}#3 Helio Castroneves......................215.188 mph/25.429 sec
5}#4 Vitor Meira.................................214.586 mph/25.500 sec

[mlittle]

At the season opener in Homestead, it was a Penske on pole in qualifying; this afternoon at Chicagoland, it was a Penske in P1, as Sam Hornish, Jr. won the pole for tomorrow's Peak Antifreeze Indy 300. Indeed, all four title contenders will start on the first two rows......Here is the starting lineup for the race:

1}Sam Hornish, Jr., #6 Marlboro-Team Penske...........215.319 mph*
2}Scott Dixon, #9 Target..........................................214.592 mph*

3}Dan Wheldon, #10 Target......................................214.387 mph*
4}Helio Castroneves, #3 Marlboro-Team Penske.........213.922 mph*

5}Scott Sharp, #8 Delphi/Patron Spirits......................213.573 mph
6}Vitor Meira, #4 Lincoln Tech/Revive USA.................213.474 mph

7}Tomas Scheckter, #2 Rock & Republic.....................213.024 mph
8}Kosuke Matsurra, #55 Panasonic/ARTA....................212.715 mph

9}Buddy Rice, #15 Argent/Pioneer..............................212.644 mph
10}(R)Jeff Simmons, #17 Ethanol...............................212.182 mph

11}A.J. Foyt, IV, #27 Canadian Club/AirTran...............212.160 mph
12}Ed Carpenter, #20 Rock & Republic........................212.093 mph

13}Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-11................................211.740 mph
14}(R)Marco Andretti, #26 NYSE Group........................211.349 mph

15}Danica Patrick, #16 Argent/Pioneer........................211.153 mph
16}Sarah Fisher, #5 Fastenal/iZon...............................210.940 mph

17}Jeff Bucknum, #14 Texas State Bank......................210.700 mph
18}Bryan Herta, #7 XM Satellite Radio.........................210.679 mph

19}Marty Roth, #25 Roth Racing..................................209.713 mph
*--championship title contenders

[mlittle]

Only three drivers in the modern era of American open-wheel racing(1978-present) have ever three series championships......
~~Rick Mears, 1979, 1981, 1982
~~Bobby Rahal, 1986, 1987, 1992
~~Sam Hornish, Jr., 2001, 2002, 2006

Today, Marlboro-Team Penske's Sam Hornish, Jr. added his name to the above list with a third-place finish in the season finale of the 2006 IRL IndyCar Series, the Peak Antifreeze Indy 300. It wasn't easy, though, as Target/Ganassi Racing's Dan Wheldon not only won today's race, but led the most laps, resulting in a tie in the points, which Hornish won on the first tiebreaker(most wins, Hornish 4, Wheldon 2). Here is a race recap......
~~a pit-lane speeding violation cost Penske's Helio Castroneves a chance at the series title, although he fought back from dropping into last to finish 4th
~~in a rare departure from his normal driving style, Hornish, who had retaken the lead briefly on the last round of pitstops, allowed both Dixon and Wheldon to pass, letting them fight it out for the win(he later explained it by saying that by staying in third, it didn't matter which one of them won; he still would've won the title..... )
~~Wheldon did everything he could; he won the race and led the most laps, garnering the three extra pts. for that, setting up for only the second time in AOWR history a tie for the championship(the other time was in 1999, when Juan Pablo Montoya and Dario Franchitti tied for the CART championship; JPM won the title on most wins)

Top-10 results from the Peak Antifreeze Indy 300.......
1st}#10 Dan Wheldon.............................200 laps
2nd}#9 Scott Dixon................................-.190 sec
3rd}#6 Sam Hornish, Jr..........................-.232 sec
4th}#3 Helio Castroneves.......................-2.691 sec
5th}#20 Ed Carpenter............................-1 lap
6th}#4 Vitor Meira.................................-1 lap
7th}#11 Tony Kanaan............................-1 lap
8th}(R)#17 Jeff Simmons.......................-1 lap
9th}#8 Scott Sharp................................-1 lap
10th}#2 Tomas Scheckter......................-1 lap