Grahan Rahal’s great weekend continued this morning as he posted the fast time in this miorning’s warm up for the Honda Indy 200. Rahal ‘s lap of 1:08.4255 was 17hindredths of a second quicker than Scott Dixon.
David malukas was third, devlin DeFrancesco fourth, and Marcus Ericsson rcompleted the top five.
Will Power went into the turn 4 sand trap and caused the only red flag of the session.
Conor Daly, substituting for Simon Pagenaud, was 12th. Pole sitter Colton Herta was sixth fastest.
Kyle Kirkwood completed just five laps and had the slowest speed of the morning.
Graham Rahal is back in the Indianapolis 500. Rahal, bumped out of the field on Sunday by teammate Jack Harvey, will drive the number 24 Chevy on Sunday in place of Stefan Wilson
Wilson was imjured in a crash during practice yesterday. He fractured the 12th thoracic vertebra and will not be able to drive.
Stefan Wilson
“I don’t feel good filling in for an injured driver…Unfortunately in racing, things happen. But (given his relationship with the Wilsons) I felt like it was my calling to come help,” Rahal said.
Wilson (right) was injured Monday in this crash
Rahal has been a long time family friend of the Wilson family. he owes his Indycar career to Stefan’s late other Justin, who advised him to not pursue a Formula 1 career.
Wilson qualified 25th, but the driver change means the car will start 33rd, ironically next to Harvey.
Rahal said had it been another team and driver, he is not sure he would have taken advantage of the opportunity.
On driving a Chevy powered car instead of a Honda, Rahal said, “There’s a lot to learn.”
Car owner Dennis Reinbold said that he is grateful that Honda, Chevy, and all the sponsors involved were able to work things out.
Rahal drove for Reinbold at Iowa in 2010
The 24 car will have a different look when it rolls ono the track for Carb Day Friday.
The Indycar community always comes together to hep each other out when a team or driveris in a difficult situation.The 500 is bigger than any one individual, and once again we see the community come together to for the good orf the race and the series.
Bud Denker and Randy Edeker want to help ovals succeed. Denker, Of President of Penske Corporation, and Edeker, chairman and CEO of HyVee. have created a festival surrounding the Indycar double header at Iowa Speedway July 23 and 24. In a conference call with Indycar media yesterday, Denker, Edeker, and Graham Rahal talked about the Iowa weekend, which will feature four concerts, headlined by Tim McGraw, Florida Georgia Line, Gwen Stefani, and Blake Shelton. \In addition the venue features a village with 75 food trucks, and a kids’ activity area on Saturday.
Ticket sales have been brisk, Denker said.
” We only have about 12,000 to 15,000 tickets to sell each day because ticket sales have been pretty good so far. I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve never seen a lineup like this before. I’ve been in motorsports for a long time. To see what they have for that weekend in Iowa, Newton, you can’t get a hotel. Good luck anywhere around the area. Some people ahead of time must have known about this so already secured all the hotels, which is a good thing.”
I asked Denker if the type of programming planned for Iowa could be a model for other ovals to help draw more fans. “That’s a real good question because we’re already thinking about ’23 and ’24 in terms of what we’re going to do. We want to have a variety, always have a variety, as long as we own this series, of the races we have today, the ovals, short ovals, long ovals, road courses, street courses. That obviously shows the competitiveness and the world class nature of our drivers more than any other series in the world. The model we’re creating in the urban markets as you’ve seen in Nashville, Detroit next year, the streets of Detroit. Whole different model than we have on Belle Isle. Patterned a lot of what will be done in Nashville, St. Pete, other markets. As we get to these markets like Iowa, you need to create that event. Without the attachment to an urban market, you have to have the event to draw you in. You’re spot on in terms of what this model will look like. We want to take it and apply it to other tracks we go to in the future. You also see unique tracks like Road America, it lives on its own. For these other tracks that are not attached to an urban market, don’t have their own iconic nature, as Graham said you have to circle it with other things going on other than what’s going on on the racetrack, and that’s our model for the future.”
Edeker announced that HyVee will also be a sponsor of the Music City Grand Prix in Nashville as part of their marketing strategy. The Iowa based retailer chose Indycar because Iowans are big fans of the sport.
“I think it fits with our initiatives, with what we want to get accomplished. I think that it’s a sport that it’s accessible to us and it’s local. If you look at the state of Iowa, I don’t have the current numbers, but several years ago when I was over at marketing I looked at open-wheel racing in the state of Iowa. Per capita, Iowa had the largest number of open-wheel racing fans in the United States. You look at the Midwest and the dirt tracks, the open-wheel races that happen all across. I think it just fits the fan base. Most of those fans, they turn to Indy, they turn to NASCAR, they also turn to Indy as an open-wheel racing fan. I think that’s part of what appealed to us. I agree, I just look at some of the things in talking with Bud and Roger, some of the strategies they have that they’re working on. I believe you’re going to see INDYCAR start driving. You’re seeing us also invest in our driver. We came out with a dozen TV spots that we’re going to be using from now until September that are labeled ‘You Don’t Know Jack.’ Jack (Harvey) is our spokesman. “
HyVee is also an associate sponsor on the cars of Graham Rahal and Christian Lundgaard.
Rahal commented on the racing at Iowa. Some have expressed concerns about both races scheduled for daytime. many fans hoped for a night race. Rahal said,
“The thing is both are good races because it’s such a demanding track, whether it’s hot on the surface or a night race where it cools down. I mean, certainly the night race I would say broadens the amount of competitive cars, meaning at Iowa you’re going to have the talent pool deeper and deeper. You’ll have 10 to 15 cars that are battling at the end. At night that may expand by 20% or something like that. The truth is with the variety of lanes, you have three lanes, turn three and four is a two-lane racetrack, but you have 117509-1-1004 2022-03-08 00:36:00 GMT Page 5 of 8 cars all over the place, guys on new tires, guys on old tires that want to go home, forget about their day. That’s common at Iowa. I think that will continue. I don’t think it really matters day or night, frankly.”
TThe Indianapolis 500 didn’t end well for either Graham Rahal or Sébastien Bourdais, but both are ready to move on to focus on the remaining two-thirds of the Indycar season.
Rahal discussed how his race ended in general terms, concluding,
“Everybody accepted what went wrong. Now we’re moving forward. Now we’re focused on Detroit and making the restof this year as best we can. I think it’s great to turn the page now, move forward to a race that I’ve loved so much.”
Bourdais, like Rahal a two time winner at Detroit, is also eager to return to a place where he has had success.
“There was that dismal weekend at Texas. None of our fault, but that definitely set the tone a little bit for a bit of a moreconservative 500. When you’ve pretty much already wipedout your crash budget in a matter of 24 hours, I think we allfelt very conservative, maybe a little bit too conservative, in quallie trim and everything…just looking forward to the next ones, keep our a relatively new group kind of all working together and trying to make the best of our situation in a very, very competitive field right now.”
Rahal and Bourdais expressed apprecifationor Roger Penske and his team for torture of the Detroit Grand Prix, one of the races that was canceled due to the pandemic in 2020.
Bourdais : “…we can thank, like Graham was saying, Roger and the entire team on the INDYCAR SERIES side, the Detroit side for putting all the hard work, letting us do ourthing, doing it all together. on the weekend ahead.”
Rahal: “I want to say thanks to Roger and Bud and the group for keeping their heads down and making Detroit happen thisyear. I know for a while it was looking pretty limited fan-wise and everything else. We’re certainly excited to be back. It’s become a staple on the INDYCAR circuit. We’re excited to get a chance to turn the page from Indy, move on, hopefully have a great weekend.”
Both drivers expressed concern about the physical nature of the bumpy Belle Isle track and the heat that the aeroscreen will generate in the cockpit.
Bourdais talked about the aeroscreen, “The aeroscreen safety-wise, particularly for the ovals and the superspeedways, just a single biggest investment forsure is concerned as far as safety is concerned. For me for sure on the street courses I sometimes wish the screenwasn’t there because I feel like it’s making things extremely difficult and uncomfortable in the car. I think it’s just onevery tough compromise, right? You just add that big safetypiece on an existing car that really wasn’t designed for anything like this, how you manage the airflow andeverything around.For sure when it gets hot and humid, particularly on streetcourses, the body temperature inside the 120 degree cockpit gets pretty critical. Yeah, it’s never really a fun last10, 15 laps of those races. Doing it twice in a weekend, I think that dehydration level is going to be tough. “
Rahal added,
” I do think it’s going to be an exceptionally physical weekend. It looks hot, upper 80s and sunny. Detroit doesnot have any long straightaways really. I do think it’s goingto be a pretty physical weekend.Aside from everything else, everybody is pretty used to it now. We’re a year into this thing. The aeroscreen has been a great addition, a great addition to the sportsafety-wise. You look at the saves it’s already had in itstime. I think it’s been great.No, I think we’ll just go at it and try to make sure that youget rested up on Saturday night if you have a full day on Saturday because Sunday is going to be another bruiser.”
Graham Rahal led the first two hour practice session for thee 105th running of the Indianapolis 500. Rahal’ quick lap beat out Scott Dixon and Scott Mc Laughlin. Eight drivers topped 222 mph.
The practice round was interrupted three times for rain. The final stoppage occurred with just 15 minutes left. A fleet of trucks is now circling the track as the rookie/ refresher session is on hold.
Stefan Wilson and J. R. Hildebrand will take their refresher phases. R. C. Enerson needs to complete his rookie test.
Two traditions of this race went down n flames today- A clean first lap for the first time in race history, and the biggest tradition-the two winners club was intruded upon by Scott Dixon. It was only the second time a Team Penske car did not win.
Five drivers with less than three years of Indycar experience finished in the top 10.Colton Herta finished fourth, Rinus VeeKay came home fifth, Marcus Ericsson was sixth, Pato O’W and Santino Ferrucci ended up in eighth and ninth. VeeKay started 18th. His 13 spot improvement was second to Simon Pagenaud who moved up 17 positions from 20th to third.
Scott Dixon should have at least 50 career victories by season’s end. He is now just four behind Mario Andretti for second place.
What is going on with Will Power and pit stops? There have been issues in both races this year.
The yellow for Oliver Askew’s crash hurt Graham Rahal. His two stop strategy was working perfectly until then. It was nice to see Rahal fighting for the win again.
It was a great day for Ed Carpenter Racing. In addition to VeeKay’s fifth place, Conor Daly finished 12th. Daly had been in the top 10 for much of the race. I hope to see more of this kind of result from the team the rest of the year.
Andretti Autosport struggled overall for the second straight race. Except for Herta, the rest of the team was not a factor. In Texas Veach was the lone bright spot. They need to turn things around at Road America next week.
Think it’s boring watching Dixon win the first two races? We are watching one of the best ever. As someone who has been lucky enough to watch Foyt, Andretti, Jones, Mears, and the Unsers, I am telling you Dixon belongs with this group. appreciate him that you can watch someone with his skill.
A few people gathered outside the fence of IMS around 23rd and Georgetown Road to watch the race on the video board and soak in the sounds of the race. It was weird just getting tiny glimpses of the cars, but it was better than sitting at home.
I will be back with a more detailed wrap up later tonight or tomorrow.
Enjoy your holiday. wash your hands and mask up. Thanks for following along this weekend.
That turned out to be a fun race at the end. It was a pretty tame race for Texas.
Josef Newgarden has three wins already this season. No one had more than three wins in 2018. This puts Newgarden in a great position to win a tiebreaker, although should Alexander Rossi tie him in wins, Rossi has three second places to date.
If Newgarden wins the championship, Tim Cindric should get a big share of the credit. Another brilliant call to pit on the first yellow worked out and brought the car home first. All three of Newgarden’s wins this year can attributed to pit/tire calls by Cindric.
Rossi had a great save to avoid the Herta-Dixon crash. It likely saved his title hopes.
The high line never came in tonight as it usually does. Rossi lost one of his strengths without that second groove.
Graham Rahal had a quiet race, but ends up third. Glad to see him finally have a good result in what has been a frustrating season for his team.
Remember when crew members wore short sleeves and no helmets? A serious injury or worse didn’t happen on pit lane tonight because of the mandated safety equipment for crew members. That was a scary crash in Sato’s pit. Glad to see the crewman was okay.
Dixon has made race ending mistakes two straight weekends.
It’s a shame that James Hinchcliffe crashed. He had the drive of the race going until then.
Colton Herta also had a great run going. He made some incredible moves. A shame his day ended the way it did.
What can we say about Santino Ferrucci? His fourth place tonight at Texas gives him three top tens in the last four races. Ferrucci is now leading the Rookie of the Year standings. He has done this rather quietly. Ferrucci has improved every week.
Zach Veach continues his disappointing season.
Look for my full race report on Wildfire Sports tomorrow. Next week I take a look at the season at the halfway point.
Defending Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach champion Alexander Rossi nipped Graham Rahal for the fastest time in the final practice session before qualifying by 0.13 seconds. Rahal had jumped to the top of the chart with just a few minutes to go. Team Penske drivers showed more speed today with Simon Pagenaud fifth, Josef Newgarden sixth, and Will Power tenth.
A tight battle on lap 1 for fifth through ninth in Turn 5. Photo: Mike Silver
Not the best I’ve seen, but hardly the worst. I enjoyed watching Josef Newgarden turn in a flawless performance yesterday afternoon. He had pressure from Ryan Hunter-Reay all day long, but the Chevy was too strong on road America’s long straightaways. Alexander Rossi once again nearly stole the headlines from the winner, but not for the reason he usually does. More on the controversy later. Scott Dixon didn’t qualify as well as he hoped- he missed the Fast Six- but managed to be the only leader besides Newgarden to lead any laps. Dixon finished third and increased his points lead.
Best drama of the day happened just before the green flag when Will Power, who started second, was nowhere to be found as the field roared into turn one. An engine issue put him out of the race for his third DNF of the season. Outside of May, Power has really not had a great year. He drops from third to fifth in the title chase.
Tony Kanaan tried to use a four stop strategy to move up, but the caution free race didn’t allow that plan to work. Kanaan finished 14th.
Alexander Rossi- Series Villain?
Indycar has needed rivalries and villains to give the series some spark. Have they found them? The season began with hopes of a Rossi/Newgarden battle for the title. That hasn’t materialized, but a Rossi/Robert Wickens feud may be brewing. Wickens and Rossi collided in turn one at the start. After their collision on the white flag lap at St. Pete, the animosity seemed to have died down. It may be on again. Takuma Sato also took issue with Rossi’s driving in yesterday’s race. He and Rossi had contact in turn 5 later in the race.
Rossi had a suspension problem which dropped him to a 16th place finish. He is now tied with Hunter-Reay for second, 45 points behind Dixon.
I like Rossi’s style. He is bold and relentless and can pass anybody anytime it seems. He is also unapologetic. As long as he isn’t ruining other drivers’ races, I’m fine with his racing.
Road America Renews for Three More Years
Yesterday morning Road America President George Bruggentheis announced that Indycar will return to Elkhart Lake for three more years. This has been one of the more successful events on the calendar. Sunday’s crowd was equal to or may have topped the great attendance in 2016. The track instantly become my favorite road course the moment I entered the track.
On the Flip Side…
The not unexpected news that ISM Raceway in Phoenix would not return in 2019 became official over the weekend. Crowds were virtually nonexistent and the racing was not great. There was little excitement or presence for the event the two times I went to the race.
It’s sad to lose such a classic track, but the newer cars don’t always perform well on the older tracks.
The series is looking for a replacement in that that calendar slot. Many fans have made many suggestions. It needs to be a warm weather locale, and preferably another oval.
I’m wondering if other schedule changes are in the offing for next season.
On to Iowa
Next up for Indycar is Iowa, the most fun oval on the schedule. You may have heard this before in this space, but I hope this the last daytime race and beginning in 2019 this is again a night race.
I have a couple features planned for later this week and next week. Enjoy the week off.
The Pit Window by Mike Silver 