Deluxe notes taken from trackside and from the VERSUS broadcast of the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 at Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, KS, on April 26, 2009.
Welcome to Kansas Speedway, kids. pressdog is in the hizzouse! Welcome also to the 35,000-ish fans who cowboyed up and came out to the track, despite the gray weather and tornadoes forming a necklace of death around the track Saturday night.
These are my people, and pressdog howls for the paying customers! Let's strap in and get this beeeeyotch on the rev limiter!
pressdog beer of the race is a 16-oz. Budweiser tall boy vended courteously to me from the nice guy who was low on ice behind the media center. I gave thanks and drank it amid the 25 mph winds blowing dead center into the apex of turn 4. Welcome to the carbon fiber zone!
I made it to the grandstand at 3:35 p.m., in time to hear "two minutes until invocation" on the Iron Hand of Justice channel of my scanner. If Kansas Speedway holds 75,000, I put it at just about half full, so that's 35 to 40k-ish. Fabulous on a gray, windy-ass day like this. Manly tears are wiped for the fans who came out.
We invoke. Anthem. No fly over due to wind. Understandable, but viewing not enhanced. Nothing like a flyover before the race to get you to drop you water and howl like a dog. Drivers to their cars at 3:42 p.m. No sign of rain. We are definitely going to light this candle.
VERSUS pops on with scenes of cars being wheeled out. Street course circus montage. Scott Dixon getting mental on the roads, sending EJ Viso airborne at Long Beach and later checking up and creating the Dreaded Accordion Effect in the hairpin. Finally getting ass-ended under yellow by Ryan Briscoe. Not Dixon's best two races.
Dan Wheldon has dominated Kansas, winning the last two. But that was with Target Chip Ganassi which owns the ovals. Now he's with Panther, and we're talking up-hill to three peat. But the team is plucky, so the pdog is with them in spirit.
Wheldon -- if you win at Kansas, you take the momentum into Indianapolis.
Windy. 25 mph out of the south gusting to 35 mph. Cut to booth announcer Bob Jenkins in the sky lair, probably wearing some Maxo Hold Hair Jell. I learned at this race that the lair is on wheels! I saw them towing it down the pit lane and back to the infield parking after the pre-race show.
Qualification recap. Dario Franchitti and Helio Castroneves clearly dipped below the white line during qualifications, which is a no-no. The Iron Hand of Justice spaketh and sent them both to the back of the pack. Then he slapped EJ Viso for a super-secret tech violation and sent him to the way back.
Graham Rahal is on the pole. (My story about it is here.) Will at isitmayyet.com shits his pants. Bad Bobby D (Doornbos) who I almost ran into (literally) in the media center earlier Sunday, is starting second on his first oval EVER. Jack Arute, the human hugging machine, says Bobby is being coached on ovals by Arie Luyendyk who knows one or two things about driving ovals.
Rahal -- Impressed with Robert Doornbos. Car felt really good in qualifying. Wind is horrible. I've raced in rain and I've raced in everything but after practice this morning I didn't think I had raced in anything as treacherous as 25 mph wins at 200 mph on an oval.
Wheldon Kansas montage. He's led 382 of 1054 run by the IRL at Kansas. Wheldon-- great track for me. Race track I seem to do well at. Dan sips his NOS energy drink with the logo properly displayed to get major air for the sponsor. Nice job.
Points roundup. Dario, Will Power (who is sitting out this race), Ryan Briscoe, Tony Kanaan, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Wheldon.
Long hair Tony Kanaan (if you call a quarter inch long) signing autographs on the way to the grid. Hair bet recap. (Dario won last week, so Tony can't cut his hair until after Indy. If Tony wins today, he gets to shave Dario's head.)
Lindy Thackston, IndyCar New Pit Hotty, is in the sky lair! Holy SHIT! Arute booted from the lair. Lindy hinted this would happen in our most fabulous Q&A.
I didn't see LindyCar in person this trip. I looked for her during qualifying but I heard she was sick, felled with the flu. I saw Arute and Robbie Floyd on the job, but no Lindy. I was working feverishly on a story about Sarah Fisher right up until it was time to walk through the tunnel and to the grandstand. So I missed her stand-up in the lair. Regrets abound.
LindyCar introduced Arute's spotter package. Video of him up with the spotters waaaaaaaay up on the top of the grandstands, which must have been fun Sunday given the massive winds.
Spotters are key on the oval. Drivers need to know what's going on several cars ahead and all around you behind. Mirrors aren't real useful on an oval. Arute busts it all down in a nice package.
Speaking of spotters, if you go to a race -- and you definitely should -- you gotta get a scanner (rent at the track or buy if you go to several races a year) and listen to your fav drivers' frequencies. I pick a few drivers per race to listen to. This race I'm going with the Vision Twins -- RHR and Ed Carpenter -- and Sarah Fisher (act shocked).
I go to Kansas Speedway and its sister track, Chicagoland, every year and they do a super fabulous job of customer (fan) service. They act like they are thrilled to see fans and would super-love it if you come back. Both tracks are easy to drive too (right near major interstates) and have a bunch of motel options in the area. Same deal for the most excellent Milwaukee Mile. The flat mile is a GREAT place to watch a combo of ovulation and street/road driving skillz because you can't go flat out there. Gotta be up on the wheel. The Mile may be the best value in IndyCar racing as well, again with tons of motel options around.
I also go to Iowa Speedway every year, which is 45 minutes from my house. IndyCars put on a stunning race at Iowa last year. It's about 30 minutes east Des Moines on I-80 outside Newton, Iowa, which is a town of about 10,000 and therefore motel challenged. Iowa Speedway got a Nationbusch race this year and immediately raised per-race IndyCar ticket prices ($60 for temporary seating, $70 for permanent upper deck) in a down economy, so I have a couple of issues there (like not being able to afford to take my family of four to the race this year), but they are working on it and improving. Plus, if they can get $70 a pop for the best seats for IndyCar, more power to them.
And, of course, Indy. Just be prepared to pay Out The Ass for a motel room for Indy. I've never been to a road/street race mainly because there are none near me here in Mighty Des Moines. Maybe if I get massive donations (click the link to the upper left of this page!) I could jet to Cleveland or Toronoto at some point.
LindyCar interviews Tony and Dario on The Hair bet, while her pony tail is flapping in the Kansas breeze. Dario is OK with his qualifying penalty. (Doesn't make a ton of difference for a Target car on an oval. He could start from pit road and still be fine.) Tony says they got "too greedy" on qualifying and tried to go too loose for speed and it backfired. Windy. Today conditions are bad. Not two grooves on the track yet due to the rain matter of survival.
Milka Duno, Sarah and Danica Patrick are the three women in the race today. Sarah gets a driver-owner montage. Sarah spent the weekend hanging with her sponsor sugar daddy, Dollar General, and feeling some pressure to perform and not to wall it going into Indy. Click here for total pdog deployment on this burning issue.
Dixon is 17th in points. Circus moment montage from the first two races. Got kind of screwed on fuel and a unlucky yellow last year at Kansas. (Check last year's race notes here.) Thinks the track might owe him one. Not real concerned with oval rookie Doornbos starting in front of him.
Arute with EJ Viso. Viso coming from the back. Got his hat backwards in the anti-wind position. Viso -- need to take any chance or opportunity we can find on the track. I will go for it. I have nothing to lose.
Many teams shit their pants hearing Viso say "I have nothing to lose. "He also has a pet boa constrictor named Tracy back in Barcelona. I am not even slightly shocked to hear this.
Helio Castroneves hugs and autographs montage. Women of IndyCar graphic. Bev Patrick (Momica) gets air in the Danica Wins Motegi montage. Danica struggles with the hair in the wind during a stand up interview. Talks about Motegi. SMILES several times.
Danica smiled repeatedly over the weekend here. Waved to fans and even LAUGHED on pit lane. I witnessed it. Dude. Could Princess Sparkle Pony be trading in her tiara for some humility? Up is down. Dogs and cats living together.
Danica says on the ovals the racing is the tough part. On street and road the stuff leading up to the race is the tougher part. Shape magazine cover discussion. Danica happy with it. Likes the mag in general. First woman's mag cover. Most all that stuff gets done in the winter months when I have time to prepare for it. (Note, I dig the photo [not that anyone cares]. Makes her look like an adult female athlete, whereas some of the other stuff makes her look 14.)
Helio acquitted montage. Floyd with Helio. Penske is great. Shows Helio the Danica cover. Helio -- "Wow ... she's looking pretty fit!" Helio is now disconcerted. Blushing.
Roger Penske and Rick Mears. Rick Mears. I have to stop the DVR for a second and lay face-down in front of the TV, because I'M NOT WORTHY to look upon Rick Mears. Penske gives Will Power a HUGE shout out. "You gotta take your hat off to Will." Will's a guy on the team for the future and we will have him in a car for Indy 500. 30 years ago Rick Mears took a temporary ride because Mario Andretti was running in F1 and, guess what, he won four Indy 500s. (And became the best oval driver ever, I just will throw in here.) Mears -- I knew even a part-time deal with Roger was better than a full time with others. Never know how play out. (This strikes me as a makeup for failing to shout out to Will after Long Beach. If so, it's well played and well deserved.)
Jon Beekhuis -- (Apologies to Jon. In the first posting of this I spelled it "Jan." I constantly screw that up. Thanks to romli for the note of correction.) -- in his stylish IZOD ensemble does a feature on the weight jacker. Killer stuff about what a weight jacker is and how the driver controls it and why. Viewing enhanced! Very nice.
Robbie "Incredi" Buhl says using the tools like the weight jacker on an oval is all about experience and keeps drivers busy on ovals. Driving an oval is not just about standing on it and steering. Have to also keep your momentum on a big oval because if you lift you get inhaled by two cars behind you.
Dan Wright, Time Warner Cable of KC: "Driver's, start your engines."
Right here my scanner locks up due to my inept button pushing, causing me to scramble and eventually go to Emergency Maneuver Alpha Tango Bravo, which is reset the entire thing. Then I madly reprogram the frequencies for RHR, Ed and Sarah.
Meanwhile, grid rolls, which is always a magic moment at the track. Starting lineup brought to you by Trackside Online, fan-supported IndyCar news service. Be like the pdog and spend $1.40-ish per race to subscribe to Track Forum. You'll get tons and tons of original material from the track and all the team PR releases. Props to Patrick Stephan who was at Kansas and representing for the customers (fans).
Graham Rahal, Robert Doornbos, Danica Patrick, Scott Dixon, Marco Andretti, Mario Moraes, Ryan Briscoe, Tony Kanaan, Dan Wheldon, Ed Carpenter, Sarah Fisher, Milka Duno, Hideki Mutoh, Vitor Meira, Raphael Matos, Mike Conway, Justin Wilson, Stanton Barrett, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dario Franchitti, Helio Castroneves, EJ Viso.
Salute to Rahal for his second pole. Arute talks about the Impending Weather Strategy, and that is to lead at half way in case it gets called. At least be in the lead pack by then so you have a chance to fight for the lead either as the rain approaches or at the end.
Magic Moment at the Track II -- when the cars go into turn 2 and 3 and start to run up the revs as they head for the green. Yappin' time is over, baby, it's time to buckle up and go. Let's light this motherf**king windy candle! We are ...... GREEN-GREEN-GREEN. Seeing the pack thunder toward the start-finish and blow by your seat is a Depends moment, baby. OH HELL YES.
Dixon inhales Doornbos quickly.
Lap 6 -- Tony, Danica and Moraes go three wide. Chairs gripped. Danica around Moraes --- CLEAR!
Lap 8 -- Dixon under Rahal, pass for the lead! Replay. Dixon flies out of 4 and under Rahal. That's a master at work right there.
Lap 10 -- Dixon, Rahal, Doornbos, Danica, Moraes, Tony, Ed, Wheldon, Briscoe, Vitor. Helio up to 14th. Dario 17th.
Cue the circus music! Lap 15 -- Yellow yellow yellow. Vitor's back wing is hosed. Not sure why. On board Helio. Replay. Vitor gets fishy, backs out of the throttle and BAM, gets assed ended by Helio who had no where to go, that sends Vitor spinning up the track and bashing his ass end against the wall, hosing the rear wing.
Onboard with Viso. Replay of the crash. BAM, a piece of Helio's fron wing comes flipping back and bashes off Viso's right front wing. Scary. That wing looked a lot like the Giant Razor Blade of Death coming at Viso's head for a second.
Helio in. Takes the wing day-bree out from under the front of the car. Send him back out to stay on the lead lap. Will pit again for new nose, etc. Everybody comes in to pit. Festival of Pitting. Doornbos gets out first! Ruh-roe. Replay. Doornbos hits a tire in set out inside the pit box of the car in front of him (Rahal) and the tire goes bounding up and hits the changer. Damn. Jon -- may see a penalty on that. Brian Barnhart, the Iron Hand of Justice, is all over the pit lane penalties so I'm afraid Doornbos will feel the pain.
Arute says he likes the way fuel is being made (racing lingo: "making fuel" means saving fuel.) The woman who spins the umbrella for the driver to see in KV Racing pits gets air. Arute says studies show it's easier to see the spinning umbrella. Jenkins says the umbrella spinner, who gets more air, is Kevin Kalkhoven's goddaughter, who has no name, apparently.
During yellows, drivers are on their radios telling the pit "how the car is." Both RHR and Sarah report the car is "neutral" in 1 and 2 and pushing in 3 and 4. The push in the wind hitting them like a freight train. Bobby D is indeed sent to the back of the pack for hitting the tire.
Lap 21 -- (after a six-lap yellow). Sarah's pit -- Let's have a good restart. Stay up on gears. Get ready to move up on Conway. GREEN. Viso is back out from the pit. Came out as the field went green. Not such a good timing for him. Must be an issue.
Lap 23 -- In-car video back from Dixon looking at Rahal. Holy Twitch! Jon -- look at that! That was a wiggle.
Lap 24 -- replay of Danica trying to Shake and Bake slingshot around Ed ... NO.
Lap 25 -- Dixon, Rahal, Kanaan, Moraes, Briscoe, Ed, Danica, Wheldon, Andretti, Mutoh. Sarah and Milka go two-wide into three and four. Breath held.
Lap 27 -- Wheldon dives under Danica on the front straight. Major dive, kind of YANKS his car over. Sarah and RHR are running together, which is convenient for me since I am watching them both this race, along with Ed.
Lap 29 -- RHR is not loving his car. Expressing concern. Spotter has to be Dr. Phil like -- Nobody is going anywhere, Ryan. It's all in front of you.
Lap 31 -- Conway is struggling. He's slowing way up on the front straight.
Lap 34 -- RHR spotter -- #24 (Conway) is going to back up in front of you. It's going to get interesting. Stay alert.
Lap 36 - Firestone Indy Lights (FIL) recap. It was a festival of carbon fiber, kids. They held the race earlier than planned -- 10 a.m., to make sure and get it in before the rain. Many many circus moments in that race.
Lap 40 -- the battle between Wheldon and Ed is well joined by now. Ed spotter -- "Wheldon is looking out, coming out ..."
Lap 43 -- Wheldon and Moraes battle. Moraes driving a great race so far. P5 and hanging around. Props to him. LindyCar says Moraes pits tell him "you need to drive like you are 20 years older than you are." (Maturity, kids. It's all about maturity.) Ed's spotter lets him know he is at half tank.
Ed takes a spot back from Wheldon. Those two are in an epic battle.
Lap 44 -- Sarah radios "I CANNOT HEAR YOU." (Radio volume issue.)
Lap 45 -- RHR radios that he's loose in 1 and 2. RHR sounds like he's on a speaker phone on his radio. Strange.
Lap 48 -- Jack -- Vitor trying to get back in the race. Being repaired in the garage. Vitor is pissed. Says the rule is if you enter high you exit high. Blames (I think it was Mutoh) for chopping down across the front of his car and de-airing it.
Right as I was calling "bullshit," Robbie jumps in and calls bullshit. Everyone in three and four using that part of the tack. High enter and down to the bottom to keep from washing up due to wind. Not a block or cheap shot.
I agree. Cars at the track were fine going into 1 and 2 and could run high, but in 3 and 4, when the wind hit them broadside, they had to dive for the line or get into the wall. Happened all day. Just wrong place wrong time for Vitor.
Wheldon replay of a tank slapper. He saved it. No big deal. Robbie -- A moment like that and most of uwould think maybe we have to pack it in (get in line) while Wheldon just keeps coming at it. He's got a high tolerance for driving a car that gets loose. (Fab info Robbie. Props. This is why Wheldon is such a killer on an oval.)
Lap 50 -- Dixon, Rahal, Tony, Briscoe, Moraes, Ed, Danica, Wheldon, Helio, Marco. Dario is 12th. Sarah is steady in 17th on the lead lap and ahead of Bobby D.
Lap 51 -- RHR's spotter tells him he is "plus 20" (car lenghts) in front of the next car. That's plainly a lie, unless they are tiny clown cars. It's 10 car lenghts, maybe. His spotter may be taking the liberty of lying to RHR to keep him from freaking.
Lap 55 -- RHR and Sarah successfully dive under Conway.
Lap 57 -- Ed gets word that he's 9 laps to pit. Ed replies "I got understeer, very light on grip."
Lap 60 -- Ed hears "five to pit. Make these count."
Lap 62 -- Sarah hears some shitty news: "The leader is behind you. The leader is behind you." About to be lapped.
Lap 64 -- Sarah about to pit. Spotter: "remember your weigh jacker" (Have to take weight jacker out when you hit the apron or you could have circus moment).
Lap 68 -- Sarah pits. Spotter: "Hold your brakes. Reset fuel ... we got Conway coming in ... CLEAR! Go-go-go!
Lap 68 -- Dixon pits. Went longer on fuel than anyone. Bad sign for the field. He was saving fuel AND still leading. He goes longer here, longer next time, comes in for a short stop on the last pit, goes full rich and nighty-night.
Lap 73 -- More spiritual help for RHR -- "Keep working with it Ryan. We're making headway."
Lap 74 -- Emma Dixon gets air. The camera more than loves her. Mother Ice gets air too.
Jon says Dixon likes to start with a car that has a push in it, then gradually tune it down over the course of the race until it's just brutally fast at the end.
Lap 75 -- Dixon, Kanaan (passed for P2 in the pits), Briscoe, Rahal Helio, Ed, Dario, Wheldon, Danica.
Arute gives us his weather forcast. Could rain. Maybe not.
Lap 80 -- Ed is 6th. LindyCar says he's complaining of understeer in turn 3 and 4 and low grip. Sarah and Danica and Wheldon go THREE-WIDE here. WTF? Sarah is a lap down and going three wide with the lead-lap cars. Now Sarah is outside RHR into 1 .. they may have touched. Nothing on the radio. Now three-wide into 3, Sarah is high. She's driving like she's enraged or something.
Lap 82 -- Danica is working on RHR to lap him. Spotter -- "She's not as good outside. She's going to wait for inside if you give it up."
Lap 84 -- Sarah looking under RHR. "She's looking low. She's all over the white line." (A few laps later, RHR spotter) "We gotta drive a straight line, Ryan" (The IHJ must have phoned down a blocking warning.) Later, RHR: "I'm NOT BLOCKING." I don't think he was. His car was just washing up and he was holding the low line when it didn't. RHR's spotter also accused Sarah of going "below the (F BOMB-ing) white line."
Lap 92 -- More leader lock step. Soon half way. Lots of techno driver speak in here.
Lap 93 -- Briscoe high on TK -- CLEAR. Briscoe takes P2.
Yellow yellow yellow for a wall smack by Matos. Right front is askew, but he continues on into the pits. Replay looking back at Matos as he washes up the track and into the wall. Jon illustrates the "wash" coming off a car and how Matos got into that turblence and was cooked.
Lap 96 -- Festival of pitting now. Talking about Dixon having a shitty pitting position due to his 17th in points. (Last year he had the pit-out box most of the year, so Dixon haters are enjoying his shitty pit box this year) for now. Dixon loses spots to both Briscoe and TK on the pit stop.
Lap 97 -- RHR calls his car a "nightmare." Sarah's team gets her out in front of RHR.
Arute says the rain has stayed away. You now want to be in th elead pack and "make fuel."
Mutoh has to go to the end of the line for running over an air hose. So does Milka, although she's already at the end of the line.
Lap 103 (under yellow) Sarah gets air. Danica gets air. Penske crew is watching a replay of their pit stop from an overhead camera at the track.
Danica has a literal sticker tire on. You can see the white sticker flapping around as she goes. TJ Patrick gets air.
RHR gets a run down from his spotter as to who is on his lap. (Fisher, Doornbos, Wilson and RHR are a lap down).
Lap 104 -- Crazy-ass accordion FUGLY restart in turn 3. I was surprised they let it go, but they did, and we are GREEN. Dixon immediately jumps Tony on the restart. P2. Arute does a nutty thing with an egg that I will leave to your imagination.
Lap 105 -- Briscoe, Dixon, Tony, Helio, Rahal, Dario, Danica, Ed, Wheldon, Moraes.
Helio recap -- 14 wind in 115 starts, 26 poles.
Helio takes a run at Tony outside --- NO.
Lap 118 -- Ed reports a vibration. "It's ridiculous." Mutoh tries to dive under Sarah and gets a "NO SIR." Door slammage in turn 3.
Lap 122 -- Dario working on Ed. Goes high ... CLEAR. Dario is P7. Tony George gets air in owners' mode. Arute says the wind has dropped from an average of 25 mph at start to about 15 mph now.
Lap 125 -- Briscoe, Dixon, Tony, Helio, Rahal, Danica, Dario, Ed, Wheldon, Moraes.
Lap 127 -- Ed reports his handling gets "way (FBOMB!) worse once this vibration sets in."
Lap 128 -- wind starts to swirl at the track. I think it may rain right here.
Lap 129 -- Helio got around Tony somewhere in here. Tony takes a run at Helio .... NO. Replay of Helio's earlier pass of Tony. VERSUS is doing a stellar job of finding us replays of key stuff that happend.
Lap 134 -- RHR says "she's loose .. wicked loose."
Lap 138 -- video of Briscoe inhaling Milka. Leaders are now inhaling RHR who has to sit there and take it, which he does, in silence. Gotta suck. Spotter talks him through as everyone passes.
Lap 139 -- Danica and Dario fight. Danica stays in front of him. Teej gets more air. He has some kind of paper or something in his mouth. He's on the back of a motorhome on a little platform type thing.
Graham and Danica go under RHR who is having a super shitty race. Arute checks the weather and declares all leaders are "making fuel."
Lap 140 -- RHR sounds kind of suicidal here. Kind of worried about him now.
Lap 146 -- Right on cue my scanner picks up a National Weather Service tornado watch for metro area until midnight. I swear.
Lap 150 -- Briscoe, Dixon, Helio, Tony, Rahal, Danica, Wheldon, Ed, Marco.
Lap 152 -- Briscoe pits from the lead.
Lap 153 -- Jon --- OHHHHHH. Dario is in the wall. Yellow yellow yellow. Briscoe was on pit in but not to the timing line so he'll have to drive through and can't stop. Sucks to be him. He's screwed, most likely, this late in the race.
Replay -- Rahal dips two tires below the line to indicate he's going to pit. Then dives under the line and slows down. HOLY CIRCUS ... Dario dives down to pit as well but thinks maybe you can pit at 220 and doesn't slow much. When he figures out Rahal's ass is appraoching, he locks up the right front and goes into the WALL. BAM.
Lap 154 -- Pitting. Floyd says Penske is upset that they couldn't pit Briscoe. He was in the pits before the yellow came out. Penske -- We were already in the pits when it went yellow but couldn't work on car. Never seen anything like it. We were already in the pits.
Replay?
Some confusion here for Sarah. About three people are talking at once plus she can't hear well, so one of her guys ends up screaming "PIT THIS LAP. PIT THIS LAP" I almost had to take my headset off it was so loud. Later -- Sarah's pit -- sorry about the confusion. Sarah -- That's alright. If my radio was louder maybe I could hear what the hell was going on.
Lap 155 -- Sarah's pit is calling her in again. Didn't get all the fuel in the car or something. Spotter: "pit this lap for fuel." Sarah -- "pit again?" Spotter -- "yeah, we had a scew up." Sarah -- "10-4, pit this lap." (Under yellow this only cost her one spot.)
Lap 156 -- Ed loses his radio. All race it had been sounding strange, like a radio sounds when four people are talking on the same frequency at once. Kind of all distorted. Now Ed can't talk to his pit but can hear them. They determine this by a "if you can hear me, give me a click" kind of thing.
Lap 158 -- Ed's pit -- we need a good start here. Weather is moving in and we're probably not going to make it the rest of the way.
Lap 159 -- GREEN. Robbie -- Sprint to the finish. No conserving fuel. No leaning the car out. Everything you got. Right now. (Robbie, you're causing a stirring in me with this kind of talk. I just gotta be honest.)
Lap 163 -- Top five (Dixon, Helio, Tony, Briscoe, Danica) in a pack and breaking away. Briscoe is looking hard for P3 under and around Tony.
Replay of Briscoe pit thing! VERSUS --- I totally love you. I just fell in love with you right now. Split screen. One screen shows Dario mashing into the wall, the other showed where Briscoe was. NO. He was not to the pit in timing line when Dario hit the wall. Missed it by about 20 yards, at the most. So good call by the IHJ. Big ups to VERSUS for showing the customers (fans) what the deal was on that yellow.
Lap 164 -- RHR -- I GOT LOOSE! Spotter -- Just play it smart, Ryan. Ride here for a while. We have 36 laps to go.
Lap 165 -- Top 5 within 1.5 seconds of each other. Gonna take brain lock by Dixon for him not to win this.
Lap 171 -- Sarah closing on Bobby D. Spotter -- "Doornbos is for position. Keep digging."
Lap 175 -- Dixon, Helio, Tony, Briscoe, Danica, MArco, Mutoh, Wheldon, Rahal, Ed. Robbie says the top five all set fastest lap on this stint, more evidence that they are at fuel position 1, baby. Jon says previous average was about 206 mph, now seeing some 208s and 209s. Wind is down as well to a 11 mph average.
Lap 179 -- RHR -- "I almost lost it again!"
Lap 182 -- Everyone is about Indy because this race is over. (185) Rahal and Mutoh goe high and low around Barrett. Sammich! Rahal goes high high high ... CLEAR. Passes Mutoh for P7.
RHR -- (I think he F-bombed here, not sure though. It sounded like:) "FBOMB it, I'm going to cruise the rest of the way. Screw this."
Lap 185 -- Dixon by .6, which is a day on an oval. Will win barring air strike. Previous biggest margin of victory for the IRL at Kansas was .197 by Eddie Cheever in July 2001. No three-peat for Wheldon who is back in P10. A little tougher without a Target car, I'm guessing.
RHR gets high and lets the lead train through. Spotter -- "Just stay up there and stay clear. Good job, Ryan, that's classy." Agreed.
Emma gets more air.
Lap 188 -- Ed spotter -- You're better than Mutoh. Go get him!
Lap 189 -- Sarah closing on RHR. This has to hurt because not that long ago Sarah and RHR were fighting for position. RHR ain't gonna pull over for Sarah. Spotter -- "She wants the inside. She's going below the (FBOMB-ing) white line again." CLEAR.
Lap 195 -- Dixon, Helio, Tony, Briscoe, Danica (lock stepathon!), Marco, Rahal, Mutoh, Ed, Wheldon.
Lap 196 -- Marco and Danica fight for P5. Marco goes high and gets looooose. Had to lift. Prettty sure he will settle for P6.
Lap 198 -- Wilson around RHR and charging on Sarah for position. She's trying to hold him off.
White flag. Checkered. Dixon wins. Sarah manages to finish about two feet in front of Wilson for P13. LindyCar with Emma -- We had a bit of a poor start to the season, so it's nice to suddenly have a win under our belt. I'm so glad he won today. He's been grumpy for three weeks so hurray.
Emma rocks. All joy and fun and not the existentialism of other drivers' wives, not to name names.
Sarah on the radio post finish line: Good job, guys. We've got some work to do. Spotter: Good job, Sarah. Good starting point. We did what we had to do. Now let's go run Indy. Sarah: 10-4.
Dixon out. Arute. Dixon agrees with Emma that he was grumpy because he wasn't winning. Had to save fuel. Last year race burned too much fuel and that cost us. Looks like same thing happened with Briscoe, unfortunately.
Winning team graphic! VERSUS puts a graphic up with the winning team members' names on it. That ROCKS. I love that whole love for the team thing. Well done.
Floyd with Helio. P2 doesn't suck. Top four or five had the car to win. Replay his crash with Vitor for Helio. Said he was watching Matos high and all of a sudden Vitor was in his face, BANG. Just focus on not spinning it at that point.
LindyCar with Tony -- Added downforce to get to the front, then wished they didn't have it once they got there. Replay of three wide. Tony -- I remember Barnhart said the last to join three-wide should be the first one out of it, so I was the first one out.
Tony is points leader by 1 going into Indy. I'm going to try my best.
Danica with LindyCar -- Top 5. Danica -- Pit crew did a great job. Moved her up a couple of spots on the stops. My engineer did a great job this weekend. Made improvements every single session including morning. Really look forward to the next one. (More of the Kinder Gentler Danica with all the shout outs to basically everyone. Even though she didn't say "and pressdog really inspired me to love this sport" I am still hip to this new schwerve Danica is putting out.)
Arute with Rahal -- lot of understeer in 3 and 4. Late in the race found the high line. Shows Rahal and someone else who I failed to note high-lowing Stanton Barrett. "Sometimes you gotta use a pick to get by. It's crazy, I know, trust me, I think it's crazy, and I'm the one out there."
Floyd with Briscoe -- Knew we were hosed when we couldn't pit. Had car to win today.
Arute. Ed. Finshed P9 -- Wild ride. First of all I have to THANK THE FANS FOR COMING OUT. YES, Ed, YES. The fans, Ed. The customers. No customers show up, everyone in the IRL is out running go-kart tracks at Disney World for food. Ed is happy to be in the top 10.
Trackside Online results: Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan, Ryan Briscoe, Danica Patrick, Marco Andretti, Graham Rahal, Hideki Mutoh, Ed Carpenter, Dan Wheldon, Mario Moraes, Robert Doornbos, Sarah Fisher, Justin Wilson, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Milka Duno, Stanton Barrett, Dario Franchitti, Mike Conway, Raphael Matos, E.J. Viso, Vitor Meira,
Points: Kanaan 100, Briscoe 99, Franchitti 96, Dixon 81, Hunter-Reay 74, Danica 74, Marco 73, Rahal 72, Will Power 69, Helio 66.
That's it from the track, kids. Hope you dug the coverage. Be sure to tip your waiters (or your pressdogs) and gird your loins for INDEEEEEEE. Me and the most excellent Jeff at MyNameIsIRL.com will at Indy, so look for on-the-rev-limiter coverage.
no clown picture? my reading was not enhanced.
Posted by: redd carr | April 27, 2009 at 03:43 PM
I can't help but wonder if you were thinking of me when you made the comment on Dixons pit. Indeed we do love it, though if (looks at the soft velvet glove of justice) we had more green flag pit stops this year it wouldn't be nearly the advantage it was last year. Never the less, I'm glad Tonys got it for may.
Thanks for all the sarah info. She barely got mentioned during the broadcast.
Shame that it came down to whoever got the lead wasn't losing it.
While he did pass for the lead on the track (at least it happened ONCE) it's not like he was passing somebody with more than ten ovals under his belt. Other than that no complaints on Dixon this week.
I'm confused about this whole pit lane thing. If the scoring line isn't actually where the pit lane starts (they said it was the yellow, and the white was the timing and scoring line) than why did he lose position. My point is--if he's not in the pits, he's on the track, if he's on the track then how does he lose position? I don't know, just seems like there's a better way to do that--that's two years in a row a guy would have won had that not happened.
Interesting that two weeks in a row a ganassi car screws up causing a full course yellow which defaults the lead to the other teammate. Don't worry not suggesting it was deliberate, just fortunate.
Posted by: The American Mutt | April 27, 2009 at 03:47 PM
One comment I had that's technically about Dixon, but really about Barnhart. Why was he allowed to pass for third and take the inside lane before the start. I realize a clean start is important, but damn man at least try to make it look like rows of two.
Posted by: The American Mutt | April 27, 2009 at 03:52 PM
Redd. Early draft. I tossed in some clown stamps for ya.
Posted by: pressdog | April 27, 2009 at 05:06 PM
Thanks for following Ed 'n Ryan on the scanner. I'm following the Vision team this year -- it's easy with the Tweet-happy team -- and I appreciate the bonus coverage from pressdog.
Posted by: mkrapfl | April 27, 2009 at 10:06 PM
We need to get a blogger/twitter get-together @ Indy. I'll be there a TON, and I'd love to meetcha'all. Nice breakdown of the race!
Posted by: djcraske | April 27, 2009 at 10:48 PM
Yeah, man! I noticed Ed saying "thanks" to the fans for coming out too, and was almost knocked over! What was especially cool about it was that it sounded sincere. I was really happy to hear it, and it honestly reminded me of you, 'dog, the fan's strongest and most outspoken advocate.
Posted by: Mike | April 28, 2009 at 02:37 AM
And the only way that egg trick of Jack's could have been any more weird...greatly enhancing the entertainment value...is if his hands had been angled 'just-so', with the raw-egg-goo ending up on his face.
Posted by: Mike | April 28, 2009 at 03:02 AM