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To quote then-A.J. Foyt Racing's Felipe Giaffone.........

The grass is green.....the sky is blue.....I guess it's time to go racing again.

Every season at its' beginning is a veritable tabula rasa, a blank slate; no one really knows what will happen.....just look at how last year started. But as Speed's Robin Miller put it, "We mourn, then we race."

Since 2002, the teams and drivers of the IRL IndyCar Series have traveled to South Florida and the Homestead-Miami Speedway to begin; this year marks the first time in the modern era of NA open-wheel racing that the season will begin under the lights with the season-opening XM Satellite Radio 300. The track's progressive(18-20 deg.) banking allows drivers to use multiple grooves going through the corners and as produced some close finishes over the years. Here is the event schedule for the first round of the 2007 season............

Practice Session #1.....................12 to 2 pm, 23 March 2007
Practice Session #2.....................5:40-7:40 pm, 23 March 2007
Qualifying Session.......................8:45 pm, 23 March 2007
XM Satellite Radio 300.................8 pm, 24 March 2007*
*--to be broadcast live on ESPN-2; radio broadcasts on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway(IMS) Radio Network(domestic AM radio), XM Satellite Radio Ch. 144, XM Sports Nation and international radio/shortwave broadcasts via. the United States Armed Forces Network; you can also listen to the event live on the IRL website, indycar.com.

As always, I'll have observations, commentaries, news reports and, as last year, live commentary during the qualifying session.

Here's an interesting thought......ever since Homestead's first IRL event in 2001, it seems that two interesting themes have come up:

1} New drivers, victory lane...........What do Scott Dixon in 2003, Sam Hornish, Jr. in 2004 and Dan Wheldon in 2006 have in common? They all won in their debut's for their respective teams(Dixon and Wheldon for Target/Ganassi Racing; Hornish, Jr. for Team Penske). Could this bode well for drivers making debuts with new teams in 2007(here's the list......)
~~Danica Patrick, Andretti-Green Racing
~~Scott Sharp, Rahal-Letterman Racing
~~Buddy Rice, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
~~Darren Manning, A.J. Foyt Racing
~~Kosuke Matsuura, Aguri-Panther Racing

2} In the past, I've sometimes referred to Homestead as a "champion's track".........in that, four of the past 6 races, the winner of the race has gone on to win the series championship(Hornish in 2001, 2002; Dixon in 2003 and Wheldon in 2005). Could this also bode well for whoever wins March 24th?

Just some random thoughts on the way to Homestead-Miami Speedway......

After several years absence from regular IndyCar Series competition(except for entrances in the Indy 500......), C/A/B Racing(the abbreviation stands for Curb/Agajanian/Beck) returns to the IRL, filing an entry for the season-opening XM Satellite Radio 300; their driver announcement is slated for later this week.


Hey, who'd thought........20 cars for the season-opener, while ChampCar has, what, 18?

Roth Racing no longer has to worry about empty sidepods.......

Fountain Powerboats, one of North America's more successful powerboat companies, will sponsor the #25 Roth Racing Dallara/Honda beginning with Saturday's XM Satellite Radio 300 for driver/owner Marty Roth

Question} How can you tell when the racing season is set to begin?
Answer} When you're wide awake at 5:30-6 am counting down the minutes to the race!!!

News and notes........................
~~Fisher to compete in all 17 races.........Having already been signed for the 12 oval events on the calendar, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing announced Thursday that Sarah Fisher will be competing in the 5 road/street course events on the calendar
~~The ethanol era begins........With the drop of the green flag Saturday night, the IRL continues its' mark as the first major international racing series to use an environmentally-friendly fuel source; the series will be using 100%-grade ethanol racing fuel in 2007(the series used a 90-10 mix of methanol/ethanol racing fuel in 2006)
~~No more final practices.........With the IndyCar Series dropping final practice sessions on all its' oval tracks, expect teams to work on their race setups during the two extended practice sessions prior to qualifying tonight
~~Tune in this evening.............just as in 2006, there will be a live qualifying commentary during tonight's qual. session

Practice Session #1 notes...............
~~20 drivers completed 777 laps
~~only two drivers led during the session--Sam Hornish, Jr. and Dan Wheldon

Top 5 from the session................
Dan Wheldon, #10 Target...............................25.097 sec/213.014 mph
Sam Hornish, Jr., #6 Team Penske..................25.152 sec/212.487 mph
Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-11.........................25.257 sec/211.664 mph
Scott Dixon, #9 Target...................................25.254 sec/211.644 mph
Vitor Meira, #4 Delphi....................................25.267 sec/211.584 mph

Practice Session #2 notes.............
~~20 drivers completed 835 laps
~~rain has pushed back the schedule; qualifying is set to begin within about 15-20 minutes

Session #2 top-5...................
Dan Wheldon, #10 Target............................24.989 sec/213.926 mph
Sam Hornish, Jr., #6 Team Penske...............25.012 sec/213.403 mph
Tony Kanaan, #7 Team 7-11........................25.075 sec/213.203 mph
Sarah Fisher, #15 EurUp Energy Drink..........25.141 sec/212.641 mph
Scott Dixon, #9 Target.................................25.149 sec/212.574 mph

Qual. session set to begin in a few more minutes........current weather forecast for this evening calls for a chance of isolated showers throughout the evening; current temp. is 74 deg.-F; barometric pressure is 30.41 in., and winds are coming out of the ENE at 13-14 mph(which should give the cars a 'push' going down the backstretch into turn 3 and 'headwinds' going down the frontstraight into turn 1)

Qualifying order*..............

Buddy Rice, Dreyer & Reinbold
Scott Sharp, Rahal-Letterman Racing
Helio Castroneves, Team Penske
Tomas Scheckter, Vision Racing
Dario Franchitti, Andretti-Green Racing
Danica Patrick, Andretti-Green Racing
Alex Barron, C/A/B Racing
Scott Dixon, Target/Ganassi Racing
Ed Carpenter, Vision Racing
Marco Andretti, Andretti-Green Racing
Vitor Meira, Aguri-Panther Racing
Marty Roth, Roth Racing
A.J. Foyt, IV, Vision Racing
Dan Wheldon, Target/Ganassi Racing
Jeff Simmons, Rahal-Letterman Racing
Sam Hornish, Jr., Team Penske
Kosuke Matsurra, Aguri-Panther Racing
Sarah Fisher, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
Darren Manning, A.J. Foyt Racing
Tony Kanaan, Andretti-Green Racing

*-qual. order subject to change

Release the hounds............

IndyCar qualifying has begun; first out is Buddy Rice, 2004 Indy 500 winner in the #5 RollCoater D/H entry; sets the first time of the night at 211.549 mph(25.271 sec)

qual. primers............
~~drivers get 2-3 laps to get their cars up to speed
~~fastest of the two qual. laps becomes the driver's time/speed of record in session


Now on-track is Scott Sharp, who joins Rahal-Letterman Racing in his 12th season of IRL competition; Sharp now the provisional polesitter at 25.143 sec

The first of the Team Penske drivers is out on track; 2-time(2001, 2002) Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves coming up to speed...............first lap at 25.145 sec; second lap slower by a tick; Castroneves currently slots P2

South African Tomas Scheckter now out on-track; 2007 marks his sixth season in the IndyCar Series and his third w/Vision Racing......Scheckter was 13th quickest on the combined practice charts

Scheckter slots into P3 at 25.265 sec(211.596 mph)

Next up.........Nashville, Tennesses's "adopted son", Scotsman Dario Franchitti; first lap at 212.453 sec; second lap puts him on the pole at 25.014 sec(213.714 mph)

Current prov. top-5: Franchitti, Sharp, Castroneves, Scheckter and Rice

2005 IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year Danica Patrick next on the qual. order; Patrick qual. third for last year's Homestead race; she is one of two women to qual. on the pole for an IndyCar Series race


First lap at 25.362 sec(211.091 mph); second lap quicker at 25.284 sec(211.431 mph)