Saturday Notebook from Indy – 1


– The weather at Indy is cool and windy, with dark clouds floating overhead. The combination is playing havoc with some drivers, notably Mario Dominguez who found the wall in turn one after putting a left wheel on the grass. No sooner did practice resume and Max Papis found the wall in turn 4. Both cars have enough damage to make their return to the track this weekend doubtful. Both drivers are cleared to drive, should their teams have cars for them to drive.

– There were 26 cars on the track in morning practice, none of which are among the 11 already qualified. Unless there is a surprise entry — which is definitely possibility — there will 4 drivers miss the race.

– The quickest of the morning practice was John Andretti, who amazed the crowd with a 224.027 in a car that hadn't done more than 219 and change before he jumped into it last weekend. John has a reputation for driving a clean, conservative race, and no doubt brings a ton of setup knowledge to Roth Racing.

– If morning times are any indication, the following 4 cars will be going home: Phil Giebler (literally putting the car together this morning), Jaime Camara, Mario Dominguez (crashed as noted) and Buddy Lazier (another second-weekend effort). Lazier was 7/10 of a mile per hour slower than the next slowest car. Anything slower than 220 mph should be viewed as suspect speed this morning.

– The apocalypse is upon us. Legendary auto sports writer (and editor emeritus of National Speed Sport News) Chris Economaki has traded his legendary typewriter (manual, not electric) for an Apple notebook computer.

– Chic Report: Both Sarah Fisher and Milka Duno posted speeds that should put them safely into the field. Sarah was 13th fastest of today's non-qualifier practice session, and Milka was 20th fast. While still not as fast as she needs to be, Milka looks decided less stressed than last year.

– They're all road racers, says Ryan Hunter-Reay: "If you can drive a race car, then you can drive a race car… I mean, look at Team Penske — Castroneves, Briscoe — you look at Ganassi — Dixon, Wheldon — All of these are road racers. You don't do well in this championship if you don't have a road racing background." When asked to compare his current Dallara ride with his former rides, he responded, "I've never driven the DP01. I gotta compare it to the Lola and the Reynard. One thing I can say about this car (Dallara) is that it makes for good oval racing, but obviously on a road course I'd much prefer the Lola or the Reynard." Tim Wohlford reporting

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