Notes from the 2007 Milwaukee Mile

Notes taken during the ABC broadcast of the ABC Supply Co. AJ Foyt 225 at Milwaukee, Wisc. on June 3, 2007.

Dario Franchitti Indy 500 montage. Dario with the milk. Ashley Judd gets montage air!

Welcome to suburban Milwaukee and THEEE Milwaukee Mile. Track has been in operation since 1903, the oldest track in the U.S. For 60 years Milwaukee was the race immediately following the Indy 500.

Vince Welsh with the right sexy Dario. Big week? Dario -- Last week been crazy. Hope it slows down because he can't keep this pace up. Loves racing at Milwaukee. Won it in 2004 (I think). Difficult track. Expects to slide around. "If I were a betting man I'd put my money on Kanaan to win."

Brienne Pedigo, New Pit Hotty, with pole sitter Helio Castroneves. Helio says the track has been a bastard to him (I'm paraphrasing here). Lots of misfortune. Never finished very well. If I go out of this race, I want it to be because of something I did, not something someone else did (to him).

pressdog beer of the race is Wisconsin's Leinenkugel's Honey Weiss. I even fruited it with some lime just to make the NASCAR fans more insane. Oh, and by the way, Dario should let me drive his Indy 500 pace car for a week or something. Why? Because on my way back to my seat at the end of the rain delay at Indy, I bought a Canadian Club and Diet Coke. Enjoyed it as Dario drove his Canadian Club car to victory.

AJ Foyt is in the house to give the command: "Girls and boys, start your engines." Both guys are chortling over that one. Only AJ would go for the girls and boys thing.

Marty Reid and Scott Goodyear in the booth. No on-camera time this time that I can remember. Reviewing the points standings. Scott Dixon leads without winning a race. Leads Wheldon by 1. Goodyear gives ethanol edge today to Tony Kanaan.

Onboard cameras with Scheckter, Sam Hornish, Dixon, Tony, Darren Manning, Jeff Simmons

Jack Arute -- Danica starts second to last. Team didn't put a qualifying setup in for qualifying so it was a pig.

Starting lineup: Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Dan Wheldon, Sam Hornish Jr, Kosuke Matsuura, Buddy Rice (!) (15), Ed Carpenter, Vitor Meira, Dario Franchitti, Scott Sharp, AJ Foyt IV, Tomas Scheckter, Marco Andretti, Darren Manning, Sarah Fisher, Danica Patrick(!), Jeff Simmons (at the back because he smacked the wall in practice and did not qualify).

Two-wide start. Maybe.

Let's light this candle. We are green-green-green.

Lap 2 -- Tony and Helio are fighting. Danica is up to 15th. Expect the Danica Tracker to be in full effect.

Marty -- Everyone is holding station.

Arute -- tires perform best for the first two-thirds of the run, then start to go south.

Lap 5 -- #10 of Wheldon is in his green Fugi Film paint scheme. No sure if he is in the green Geiko Gecko race suit.

Wheldon under Dixon. Dicing and slicing.

Lap 10 -- Scheckter 13th up to 8th. Video of Scheckter driving around the outside of everyone high like he's going down the interstate.

Lap 14 -- Sarah Fisher lapped. Sarah's first time on the Milwaukee Mile is not going to be a pleasant one.

Lap 22 -- Yellow Yellow Yellow. We got debris in the front straight. ABC shows it. Hard to tell what it is, but it's there. No phantom debris yellow today.

Tony might have hit whatever it is. Pits are open. Buddy Rice will stay out. BUDDY RICE WILL LEAD.

A Dreyer & Reinbold Racing has a car in the lead. Reports of the sun starting to freeze.

Restart during the side-by-side. Hornish gets a good restart, but Buddy hangs in. He's staying in the lead.

Vince Welsh -- Buddy's peeps think there will be plenty of yellows so he stayed out.

Lap 37 -- Danica up to 9th.

Arute -- Kim Green gave extra grip to Danica's car so she could get through traffic. Will tweak it back down once she gets up front.

Lap 40 Buddy still leads under green. He's up by .9 seconds.

Goodyear -- DRR is on the up and coming team. Made great strides. Higher engineers. Got Buddy Rice in the seat. Expects great things.

Rice is coming up on Sarah Fisher and will soon lap her. Maybe Sarah can throw a block for him after he gets by. Holy AGR move! Kidding. She gets out of the way for the leaders because she's like that.

Dixon only one to complete every lap of every race so far.

Lap 57 -- Helio working on Rice who is out on old tires. Arute says something about all the downforce and high-gs shredding tires here.

Lap 59 -- Buddy dropping back. Trying to get down to pit.

Danica is now 6th after starting 17th.

Buddy in. 10.4-second pit stop. Not so stellar.

Goodyear -- this is a signal that this team (DRR) has arrived. DRR has now surpassed all the air it got in 2005 and 2006 in just this one race.

Indy montage.

Lap 77 -- Crowd looks pretty crappy, to be honest. Lots of empty seats.

Lap 79 -- Danica has gone from 17th to 6th. Expect to hear this several times.

Kansas replays. Danica pulling out into Kanaan. Danica yelling "why can't I go straight?" to get out after the incident. Tony saying if it happens again he'll never drive for the team again. Danica and TK are together in the pits again.

Lap 85 -- Marco pits. 7.3.

Lap 87 -- Danica. Wheldon. CONTACT. Yellow yellow yellow. Danica goes sideways and saves it. Why the yellow here? Dude, kind of quick yellow. If this guy would have been in the flag stand we would have never had the Spin and Win at Indy. Totally quick on the yellow, IMO. She saved it, got it back on the track, didn't take the infield and she wasn't a hazard to the other cars as far as I could see.

Replays. Danica trying to go under Dan and Danno comes down with his left rear smacking her right front. Danica's going to be hot about that one.

TJ Patrick (Danica's dad) gets air. Gesturing. Make the universal sign for "chop block." I don't think Teej is allowed in the pit because he tends to go ballistic so he's watching from some photographer's tower or some crap.

Danica in. Gets new rubber. Right front changer stomps on something bent in her suspension.

Lap 93 -- Danica back in. Thanks to the hyper generous yellow, she'll only lose one lap. TJ is probably on speed dial to the Iron Hand of Justice (race controller Brian Barnhart) for a penalty.

Lap 98 we are green green green.

Lap 100 -- Helio, Wheldon, Hornish, Dixon, Dario, Vitor, Sharp, Simmons, Ed, Kanaan.

Lap 104 -- Simmons gets major shout outs. Drove from last to 8th. Had a practice crash, so he started the race in a car he'd never driven before.

Danica's radio: "Wheldon hit me. Wheldon came down."

Goodyear says Danica is dong a tremendous job.

Lap 118 -- the obligatory Laverne & Shirley theme song montage.

Bre -- Helio leads. Sam not having a great day. He is loose loose loose.

Video of Sam getting seriously fishy and doing some major sprint car driving to keep it out of the wall. Excellent in-car stuff. Bre says Helio has made no changes to his car so far.

Vince -- Dario's Dad, George, is here. George gets air. George hit a hole in one before the Indy 500 on the Brickyard Crossing course.

Vince says everyone is running in station.

Jack Arute explains stagger. Inside tires smaller or lower in pressure than the outside so that helps ya turn.

Lap 135 -- Yellow Yellow Yellow. Debris. Show me. I see no debris. Maybe it's to sweep the corners. Maybe Danica was about to go another lap down. Hmmmm.

13 on the lead lap now.

Replay of Danica's radio: "I'd like to brake check Wheldon right now. Just rip his front wing off." (Danica was right in front of Dan at the time, although a lap down.)

Goodyear says something about Danica having the fire. Type of person who goes into the corner with ya, gives ya a hip check, says "sorry" but doesn't think about it a second time. Kind of what Wheldon did to Danica. Wonder if Danica would expect to get the penalty she's looking for against Wheldon. Most likely not. Pretty sure TJ would be OK with it two if the booty was on the other foot. Just sayin.

Lap 147 -- Restart coming. Yellow yellow yellow. We're all professionals here. Danno jumped the acceleration zone. The IHJ: "Don't jump the cones, 10." Wheldon? Jump the start? Naaaaa.

Lets try again. We're green.

Lap 150 -- Wheldon, Helio, Dario, Hornish, Kanaan, Dixon, Ed, Simmons, Vitor, Marco.

Lap 153 -- Indy 500 was Wheldon's worst finish in any Indy Car race EVER. Wheldon -- Indy 500. We need to look at what happened. No reason to be slow at Indy.

Dan may be focusing the rage.

Hornish and Dario fight for 3rd and 4th. Lap 157 -- Kanaan is HOLDING STATION.

Yellow yellow yellow. Buddy Rice is in the wall. DRR is reaching for the Patron. Crappy end for a good day for him. Radio: He's OK. Goodyear thinks maybe something broke. Replay. May have just gotten up into the Dreaded Marbles. Reminder that Buddy led 37 laps mostly under green. DRR co-owner Robbie "Incredi" Buhl gets air. Looks like he just ate a large turd sandwich.

Vince with Dennis Reinbold. That's no misprint. Vince is talking, on camera, to Dennis Reinbold. Of course he had to have someone point Dennis out first, but still. (Kidding. Vince knows who Dennis is.)  Dennis says there was no sign of trouble before Buddy walled it. Stayed out. Led. Didn't get a break. Buddy is OK which is the main thing.

Lap 160 -- A break for Danica (who sure could use a break) because she stayed out under the last caution to get her lap back. Now a yellow so she doesn't have to pit under green and lose her lap back.

Lap 164 -- Scheckter is in the pits. BLOWN UP, Sir! Got issues. He's cooked for the day. Vitor gains about 6 spots in the pits. Vitor has finished second SEVEN times in his career.

Arute -- a gas-n-go got Vitor major spots. Props to the Panther pit crew. It seriously helped Vitor out at Indy as well.

Vince with Scheckter. Drive shaft gone. Had many other issues. Tough out there. Rooting for Ed. Danica is now the last car on the lead lap.

Lap 166 -- Goodyear says restarts are key on this little track.

Pace car is off. Dan is on it. Green green green.

Bre - Dan's pit told him to be careful on the restart because they have used up their free pass and the IHJ is watching.

Sam goes under Wheldon. Wheldon is falling like a rock. Tires may be going. Or he had a shitty restart.

Lap 172 -- Bre -- Wheldon's team did not take tires on the pit stop.

Jack -- Vitor-- Team realizes it is in this for the "summer march." Don't want him to take changes. Drive where the car is comfortable.

Lap 175 -- Helio, Hornish, Tony, Wheldon, Dario, Dixon, Vitor, Sharp, Marco, Simmons.

Lap 176 -- Goodyear. Sometimes on a track like this drivers have to grab a gear in mid-turn to keep the RMPs up.

Lap 179 -- LOCK STEP.

Lap 184 -- Last year Helio and Ed Carpenter collided. Helio was pissed. Video of Helio being pissed.

Lap 190 -- Dan is in 4th. Holding there. Dixon is 6th. Goodyear: "They call him the ICEMAN" because nothing gets to him.

Dario in front of Dixon. Battling.

Lap 200 -- Helio, Kanaan, Hornish, Wheldon, Dario, Dixon, Vitor, Sharp, Marco, Danica.

Yellow yellow yellow. Holy crap, Helio's wing folded down like a convertible top and he was ass around all over the place. Smacked into the inside wall at the start/finish. Bizarre. Good thing it wasn't on a super speedway or his car may have been flipping down the track like a freshly beheaded chicken. Goodyear -- Helio was just a passenger. Helio's pit (Tim Cindric): looks like rear wing mount went. Not sure why.

Lap 207 -- Penske gets air. Helio's car is on the hook. Helio radio replay: "What the (cut out the bad word here) happened? This place here is unbelievable."

TJ Patrick claims Wheldon tampered with Helio's rear wing. (Kidding. Made that up.)

In three years, Helio's highest finish was third.

Lap 208 -- We got ourselves a trophy dash. 17 laps for the cash.

Green green green. Tony leads.

Lap 209 -- Yellow yellow yellow. Holy Shades of Indy. Marco in the wall. Same deal as Buddy Rice. Got high and was just a passenger at that point. Into the Super Evil Ice-Like Marbles and SMUCK.

Marco spanks the steering wheel on the top of the car. Careful, that cost $48,000. Wait, this AGR. Never mind. Throw it like a Frisbee, Marco. Probably got a couple of cases of them back at the shop. Goodyear says the marbles are like driving on ice.

Arute with Mike Andretti. Mike -- He's (Marco) got what it takes. Gotta try to put it all together for him.

Arute -- sense of urgency from Marco to be back on the winner's side of things. FIVE DNFs this year.

Marco has taken the wall at ovals or had major handling issues. DNF montage.

This is the sixth caution. NASCAR-esque. Goodyear gives Honda a big shout out for the total lack of engine fragging. Honda rocks.

Lap 214. One to go until we're green.

Buckle up for the 10-lap sprint. We're GREEN.

Lap 215 -- Kanaan, Hornish, Dario, Tony, Dixon, Vitor, Sharp, Ed, Danica, Simmons.

216 -- Hornish fading for some reason. Bre -- Same reason as Helio. Rear wing askew. Note to the IHJ, take a look at those rear wings, 'kay?

Hornish stays out. Slowing. Wants the most points. Hoping it doesn't come off. Everyone behind Hornish really hopes that as well.

Now Hornish is pitting. TK leads.

220 -- Hornish back out. Officials confident the wing won't fold like Helio's.

White Flag -- TK leads by a bunch. He'll win barring air strike.

Kanaan wins. Marty -- Let's listen in. Too bad you were talking over Tony, Marty, so we couldn't hear what he was saying. Dudes, the last half lap, you gotta listen to the winner's radio because he or she usually says something cool. Every year for the last 20 years, is all. So, you know, maybe plan ahead.

Lap 225 -- Tony, Dario, Dan, Dixon, Vitor, Sharp (!), Ed, Danica, Sam, Simmons.

Broadcast is running way long thanks to the yellow fest so Goodyear is going to go for the in-car Tony interview.

Goodyear -- TK? Do you got me? What a terrific run! (silence). Marty -- try again, Scott. Scott tries again. Nothing.

Danica was the last car on the lead lap. Dario leads the points now. Two points up from Dan.

We're outta here. Trackside Online reported there was some words between Wheldon and Danica after the race. Which is why you should race to TSO and subscribe to get the scoop. Do it now.

From the short track to the super speedway that makes grown drivers pee their pants. Tune in for the race from Texas Motor Speedway at 10 p.m. eastern on ESPN2.

Comments

[MoneyCJ]

As usual, I am in awe of your coverage. That was really one hell of a race...bummed for Helio. Really bummed for Marco. Really really interested to find out what went on btw Danica and Dan...

http://www.fastmachines.com/about.php#moneycj

[Chief]

Did the announce team discuss the lack of fans in the stands the whole weekend (clearly visable on TV) or the fact that 33 cars at Indy last week have been reduced to a paltry 18 this week? What happened? Looks like Milwaukee doesn't know what Indy means...anymore.

[mmack]

Speaking as someone who attended yesterday's race, I'd like to point out that the grandstands were about 2/3rds full versus the HUGE crowd that attended last year's CART/OWRS/Whatever KK's calling the series now race at The Mile. I believe that was the "Time Warner Cable invites Kevin and Gerry's employees and the five CART fans that live in Milwaukee to the Race 225", IIRC

Also, when the Jumbotron facing the main straightaway showed the ABC\ESPN replay of Danica and Dan's little "dust-up", the crowd cheered Danica giving him the shove off. What's next, throwing beer cans at the winning car if fans don't like the winner?

[Steve Barnes]

I didn't watch the race (I admit to being a CCWS fan) but watched the replays of the Danica/Dan "interaction" on WindTunnel and other SpeedTV shows.

Seems to me that if you look carefully at the video, Danica stuck her nose in, and like in many racing series (F1, NASCAR, ARCA .. whatever), she got her nose chopped off. The fact her right front hit his left rear says that she was, at best, barely coming up on him. If they'd been wheel to wheel ... I'd say it was a bad move on his part ... but to me Dan did nothing different than hundreds of other drivers would have done .... he took a "normal" line into the corner and the other driver should have expected that.

As far as the "crowd" .. the fact we're even "pissing" on each other about the size of the crowd speaks to the central issue ... there are like (say) 1 million OWR fans in America today. Split them between two series ... neither one will prosper. There has got to be a "reconciliation" (merger) or OWR in America will continue to spiral down to the point of total irrelevance.

I would go to Laguna Seca back in the 1990's and see drivers like Michael and Mario Andretti, visit a buddy of mine in Cleveland and drive down to see the race at Mid-Ohio, and see many THOUSANDS of people turn out for the races.

Today, Champ doesn't race at either track, and I can assure you, Michelle will not pay the fees to have the IRL race at her track (Mid-Ohio) unless she makes money from it .. which is pretty questionable in todays world.

Unless the split gets resolved (forget the fingerpointing of who "started it") OWR in America is at SERIOUS risk of disappearing.