ThatsRacin.com: Other Auto Racing

Feds: No credible terror threat to Indy 500

Tue, 13 May 2008 09:29 EDT

WASHINGTON -- The Indianapolis 500 is an attractive target for terrorists, federal authorities said, but there has been no credible or specific threat aimed at the Memorial Day weekend race.

In an internal FBI/Homeland Security Department assessment released Monday to local police, officials said such sporting events, which attract hundreds of thousands of spectators, are attractive potential targets. The assessment said these popular events are inviting to terrorists because of the potential to inflict large numbers of casualties while the whole world is watching.

The assessment is supported by a congressional report, expected to be released this week, about the threat to mass gatherings. The report, written by the democratic staff on the House Homeland Security committee, finds that major events — such as NASCAR races, the Super Bowl and presidential nominating conventions — are all attractive targets to terrorists. The report also raised the potential for infectious disease outbreaks and other bioterror threats at such events.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said first responders and private organizations are working hard to secure these events and prepare for mass causalities. But Thompson, chairman of the House committee that wrote the report, said in a statement Monday, "Without increased federal support and guidance, mass gatherings will remain vulnerable."

Indianapolis Motor Speedway spokesman Fred Nation said Monday, "We are fortunate to have excellent cooperation with all appropriate federal, state and local agencies to monitor and protect the security of our fans."

Officials estimate between 200,000 and 300,000 people from around the world will attend the Indy 500. And during the NASCAR season, thousands of people pack small towns across the country for as long as 10 days.

Monday's FBI/Homeland Security assessment did not address health concerns. But it hammered on the ease in which terrorists could steal or falsify identification to get access to the event areas.

The assessment listed instances in the past six months when law enforcement credentials were lost or stolen in the Indianapolis area. Among those are an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department badge and identification which were reported stolen on December 15; a local deputy prosecutor's badge and driver's license reported stolen on Dec. 21; a firefighter's badge and military ID card stolen March 3; and a Tennessee homeland security official's ID that was stolen March 30 from a car parked in Indianapolis.

For the report, congressional staffers went to the Talladega SuperSpeedway in Alabama and Lowe's Motor Speedway in North Carolina last October to observe how NASCAR managed security. The congressional investigators also met with members of Major League Baseball, the NCAA, the NFL and presidential nominating convention security officials in Colorado and Minnesota.

The congressional report found that infectious diseases or toxins and could inflict widespread illness at NASCAR events because of the sheer number of fans gathered in small towns that are not used to providing public services for that many people. The congressional report also notes that a naturally occurring disease, such as the flu, could cause an outbreak at a mass event. Because of this, it is important that people are up-to-date with their immunizations, the report said.

Last September, Democrats on the committee were criticized when a committee staffer suggested that staff aides get immunizations before visiting health facilities at the two racetracks.

Taking all this into consideration, NASCAR has found a way to work with local, state and federal law enforcement as well as public health agencies to not only protect the areas where the races are held, but also to prepare to respond should there be an attack or other emergency that would produce mass casualties, the congressional investigation found.

NASCAR requires that each host facility has an emergency plan. In addition, Alabama and North Carolina deployed regional public health teams to the stadiums during NASCAR events last year.

The congressional report encourages other states and organizations to make similar security arrangements. For major events, the highest level of officials — from NASCAR executives to state homeland security advisers — should be involved in the planning, it said.

The report also calls on state and local law enforcement and emergency responders to partner with public health agencies all year round, not just during major events.

Associated Press writer Ken Kusmer in Indianapolis contributed to this report.

Ganassi teams take top spots for Indy 500

Sat, 10 May 2008 19:35 EDT

INDIANAPOLIS - Strategy was almost as important as speed Saturday as Scott Dixon won the pole for the Indianapolis 500 with a big gamble by his Target Chip Ganassi Racing team.

Dixon and teammate Dan Wheldon, who took the second spot, both took advantage of Indy's unique qualifying format, which allows each entry up to three tries on each of the four days of time trials.

Dixon, who has three pole positions in five tries in the IRL IndyCar Series this season, got the biggest benefit of the team strategy, canceling out a four-lap average of 225.178 mph earlier in the day and making it pay off with four laps at 226.366 that held up for Ganassi's third Indy pole.

"I was part of that decision, so it wasn't really a surprise," Dixon said.

"We had been out testing, so we were confident we could go much faster. The tough part came later in the day, knowing whether or not we should do a third attempt (if we got knocked off the pole).

"One thing that was great out there, even on an average lap for us, we still had the field covered as a team. That just goes to show how strong we are this year."

The New Zealander's pole run came with just over two hours left in the session and only moments after Ryan Briscoe, the first driver to qualify Saturday, made his own gamble in an effort to give team owner Roger Penske a record 15th Indy pole. The team withdrew his earlier speed of 224.833 and Briscoe, who wound up third, put his Team Penske entry on top briefly with a run of 226.080.

Wheldon's earlier speed of 225.840, which had held the pole briefly, was then withdraw by his team with about 20 minutes left. The Englishman, the 2005 Indy winner, responded with a run that came up just short of his teammate at 226.110.

"The fact of the matter is, when your cars are good and your drivers are good, it's easy to make those calls that people say take courage," said Ganassi, who has won the 500 with Emerson Fittipaldi in 1979 and Juan Pablo Montoya in 2000.

"We've been playing poker here for a lot of years. Sometimes you're holding all the aces and sometimes you're bluffing. Just so happens that today we had a good hand."

Team manager Mike Hull added, "We had a clear plan. We knew that one attempt wasn't going to get it done. ... Truly, Chip Ganassi Racing came here to be aggressive."

Penske's other driver, Helio Castroneves, a two-time Indy winner and two-time pole-winner here, had his car pulled out of the qualifying line by his team earlier in the day because of gusty winds. When he finally made his only attempt, he also came up short at 225.733, good for fourth on the busy afternoon.

"Those (Ganassi) guys had strong cars in qualifying," Castroneves said. "They did good. We need to work a little bit better for the race and, hopefully, we'll be a little bit of ahead of them."

After a rain-marred opening week of practice for the May 25 race, there was a long line of cars ready to go when the opening time trials began at noon with the top-11 positions in the 33-car field up for grabs.

Danica Patrick, just weeks past making history as the first woman to win an IndyCar race, set the early pace, knocking Briscoe off the top spot with a four-lap run averaging 225.197 mph on the famed 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval.

That drew a huge cheer from the crowd of about 40,000 at the sprawling speedway, the biggest spectator turnout for pole day in more than a decade.

Patrick set off a national "DanicaMania" in 2005 when she qualified fourth, the best starting position for a woman at Indy.

But Wheldon spoiled her storybook moment Saturday when he came out about 20 minutes later and pushed Patrick to the middle of the tentative front row.

Patrick, who was doing an interview in the media center during Wheldon's run, just shook her head and smiled when Wheldon's speed was announced. She got back onto the track later for some practice, but never made another qualifying run and wound up fifth.

Other Saturday qualifiers included Andretti Green's Tony Kanaan at 224.794, teammate Marco Andretti at 224.417, Vitor Meira of Panther Racing at 224.346, rookie Hideki Mutoh of Andretti Green at 223.887, Ed Carpenter of Vision Racing at 223.835 and Tomas Scheckter of Luczo Dragon Racing at 223.496.

Coming up just short was 19-year-old rookie Graham Rahal, son of 1986 Indy winner Bobby Rahal, who was the fastest of the drivers transitioning from the defunct Champ Car World Series into the recently unified IRL IndyCar Series. His first run of 223.355 was bumped out and he cut short a second effort after three laps averaging just over 223.2 late in the session.

Others who had completed qualifying runs bumped out of the lineup included rookies Will Power, Oriol Servia and Mario Moraes - all transition drivers - as well as veterans Davey Hamilton and Ryan Hunter-Reay, who crashed on his second attempt.

A.J. Foyt IV and Bruno Junqueira, another transition driver, both spun without hitting anything. Foyt was on a warmup lap, but Junqueira had just begun a qualifying attempt. Neither made a second attempt.

Eleven more spots will be decided Sunday, with the final 11 positions to be determined in qualifying next Saturday. After that comes "Bump Day" next Sunday, the last chance for drivers to knock the slowest qualifiers out of the field.

With the entry list beefed up by the open-wheel unification, 32 cars took part in practice Saturday.

Filipe Massa wins 3rd straight Turkish GP

Sun, 11 May 2008 12:00 EDT

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Felipe Massa held off Lewis Hamilton to win his third straight Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday and earn Ferrari's fourth consecutive Formula One victory.

Massa finished 3.7 seconds ahead of McLaren driver Hamilton on the 58 laps at Istanbul Speed Park to continue a trend of winning from pole position in Turkey. All four winners at the circuit have come from the pole.

Defending world champion Kimi Raikkonen finished 4.2 seconds back in third place as Hamilton denied Ferrari a third successive sweep of the top two positions.

Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber was fourth, ahead of teammate Nick Heidfeld. Heikki Kovalainen of McLaren finished 12th after starting from second on the grid.

Raikkonen leads the standings with 35 points, seven ahead of Hamilton and Massa. Kubica is next with 24.

Massa's seventh career win was his second in three races. The Brazilian has taken 28 of a possible 30 points since failing to finish the first two races of the season.

"It's just fantastic, today was a very difficult race," Massa said. "Lewis was pushing me hard the entire race. Three stops was quite a lot optimistic and it opened up a reasonable gap."

Hamilton overtook Massa after 24 laps, but the McLaren driver's three-pit strategy didn't leave enough time to pass him again on the less-favored soft tires with Raikkonen bearing down.

"I'm thrilled to come second ... on the strategy we were on today," Hamilton said. "I lost a bit of time in my middle stint. We started on the harder tire and we knew it was going to be tough to battle the Ferraris, so to finish in the points is great."

Hamilton said the three-stop strategy was adopted because the safety of his tires couldn't be guaranteed. Hamilton experienced a tire failure in Turkey last year.

"We had a structural concern on the tires which we had in practice, and we discussed with Michelin and decided to make it a three-pit strategy in the concerns of safety," McLaren team principal Ron Dennis said.

Kovalainen punctured a tire as he squeezed Raikkonen out at the start. After a quick pit stop, he returned to the track in last place before working his way up to finish 12th.

Kovalainen was knocked unconscious and hospitalized for a day with a concussion after his car slammed into a wall at high speed at the Spanish GP two weeks ago.

Renault's Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber of Red Bull, Nico Rosberg of Williams, Red Bull's David Coulthard and Jarno Trulli of Toyota rounded out the top 10 Sunday.

No driver had won the same race in three consecutive years since Michael Schumacher's four straight victories at the U.S. Grand Prix in 2003-06.

The next stop on the F1 calendar is the Monaco GP at Monte Carlo on May 25.

Rahal upset with team's tire failure

Sun, 11 May 2008 09:49 EDT

INDIANAPOLIS - Graham Rahal was flirting with the 11th and final qualifying spot available Saturday, the opening day of time trials for the Indianapolis 500, when he ran into tire trouble.

The 19-year-old son of 1986 Indy winner Bobby Rahal was ready for one last qualifying run and found his team hadn't brought any new tires to pit lane.

"It makes me mad because I really feel like we could have made it," Rahal said. "I'm frustrated because we had a good car and definitely had the speed to do that. It's like shooting yourself in the foot."

Rahal, who last month became the youngest winner in the history of American open-wheel racing when he won his IRL IndyCar Series debut on the street circuit in St. Petersburg, Fla., was the only one of nine drivers making the transition from the defunct Champ Car World Series to the IRL who came close to qualifying on the first of four days of time trials for the May 25 Indy 500.

Tomas Scheckter, who was 11th late in the day, withdrew his 223.779 mph qualifying run, which he expected to be bumped. But his second qualifying effort was slower at 223.496. That's what Rahal was shooting at with time running out.

The youngster, who has raced only before twice on oval tracks, had a four-lap, 10-mile qualifying run of 223.355 mph bumped early in Saturday's session by rookie Hideki Mutoh. His Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing team then waved off a second attempt after three laps 223.2.

"We'd been doing runs in practice and the car was a lot quicker than that," Rahal said. "We went out and had no speed, so I told them to wave it off because it wasn't very good. When the track gets cooler, sometimes you get more downforce and the car goes slower."

As the clock moved toward the 6 p.m. close of the day's time trials, the team put Rahal's car back in the qualifying line. All of sudden, other teams ahead of him began pulling out of line and Rahal realized he could get one more shot.

"I was ready to go because I thought we had new tires on the thing," Rahal said. "I was excited to go out and Scheckter lowered the bump speed so much that I think we could have made it. I think we were at about that speed anyway on our last run. It's pretty sad.

"(The team) said they didn't think we were going to make it (to the front of the line), so we didn't bring tires, and that's my point. You need to be prepared."

It was an uncharacteristic mistake for Newman/Haas/Lanigan, an eight-time champion in the CART/Champ Car series. But it was a great break for Scheckter, the son of former Formula One champion Jody Scheckter and a veteran of six Indy 500s.

"I'm just so happy," said the South African driver, driving for the new Luczo Dragon Racing team. "To be honest, it feels like I've got the pole just to survive the top 11.

"We just struggled and struggled. Every time that car went out, it went a bit slower and slower."

Rahal and the rest of the drivers who failed to qualify on Saturday will get another chance Sunday, when positions 12 through 22 are set for the 33-car race day field. The lineup will then be finalized in time trials next weekend.

Patrick falls short in Indianapolis 500 qualifying

Sat, 10 May 2008 20:43 EDT

INDIANAPOLIS - Danica Patrick watched from Indianapolis' pit wall as the first day of qualifying ended.

With fans shouting her name and crew members hustling to put away her equipment, Patrick shook her head and reflected on the opportunity that had just slipped away - winning the Indy 500 pole.

For 34 minutes, Patrick sat on top of the IndyCar world with a four-lap qualifying average of 225.197 mph. Then, in the blink of an eye as often happens at this 2.5-mile oval, it was gone. She lost the top spot for the May 25 race and never got a second chance to earn it back.

"I think it was pretty apparent through the speeds that Penske and Ganassi found something that worked and we didn't," said Patrick, who will start fifth in the May 25 race. "You know, five is not a bad place to start at all."

A younger Patrick might have reacted differently.

This time, however, the 26-year-old who holds the distinctions of first woman to lead the Indy 500, the highest female qualifier in Indy history (fourth in 2005) and the first woman to win an IndyCar race, graciously accepted her starting spot in the middle of the second three-car row while falling short of the pole.

She was 1.169 mph from making history again by becoming the first woman to earn Indy's prestigious pole.

Clearly, though, her Andretti Green Racing team expected better.

In practice Tuesday, Friday and again Saturday morning, the four Andretti Green drivers, including Tony Kanaan, Marco Andretti and rookie Hideki Mutoh, consistently found themselves near the top of the speed charts. Practice sessions were rained out Wednesday and Thursday.

So when the first of four qualifying days began Saturday, most expected three of the AGR drivers — Patrick, former series champion Kanaan and 21-year-old Andretti — to contend for the pole.

Instead, Patrick and her teammates never quite got everything right.

"That's part of the deal," said team owner Michael Andretti, Marco's father and a former driving star. "It's frustrating that we didn't get it, and we were a little surprised because we just missed it."

Things started well.

Andretti had a 224.162 on his first run, and Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon followed that with a 225.178. Four cars later, Patrick had the crowd on its feet with her own impressive run that gave her the provisional pole.

"I think there's some more left in it," she said as the crowd roared. "The balance is pretty good. I think if we make some adjustments here and there, we can go faster."

By 1:09 p.m., Patrick's hold on the top spot vanished.

Just as Patrick was finishing up a news conference to discuss her qualifying run, former Indy champion and Ganassi driver Dan Wheldon topped Patrick's speed with a 225.840.

The scene played out three more times Saturday, with Patrick losing one spot each to Team Penske teammates Ryan Briscoe and Helio Castroneves and another on Dixon's eventual pole-winning run of 226.366 late in the afternoon.

Patrick and her teammates worked feverishly throughout the afternoon to figure out the secret and lobby for more chances to win the pole.

But when Michael Andretti gave Marco another shot, it resulted in the youngster moving up just one spot, from eighth to seventh and Patrick's fate was all but sealed.

"It just didn't feel like we had the speed, and we didn't want to risk something that might happen," the elder Andretti said. "I think we could have gotten closer, but I don't know if we could have taken (the pole)."

Patrick agreed.

"At this place, you can really hurt yourself, because if you're just a little off, you go straight backward," she said.

It wasn't a bad day for AGR, though.

Kanaan will start sixth, Andretti seventh and Mutoh, driving the car in which Dario Franchitti won last year's Indy race, ninth.

And no matter how frustrating Saturday was for his team, Andretti was impressed with what he saw from Patrick, who started and finished eighth here last year.

"The car was not real great and she hung on," he said. "She was very respectable, very impressive out there."

Speedway mogul Bruton Smith's $80 million incentive

Sun, 11 May 2008 00:35 EDT

Rain cancels Sunday's Indy 500 qualifying

Sun, 11 May 2008 15:06 EDT

INDIANAPOLIS - Qualifying and practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway have been canceled for Sunday due to rain.

Qualifying for positions 12-22 for drivers at the May 25 Indianapolis 500 was to be decided Sunday. Now those slots will be added to next Saturday's scheduled qualifying.

It was the fourth day this month that speedway events were canceled or limited because of rain.

Stenhouse races to first ARCA victory

Sun, 11 May 2008 00:18 EDT

SPARTA, Ky. - Ricky Stenhouse Jr. raced to his first ARCA RE/MAX Series victory, taking the lead after a late restart and holding off Scott Speed by 0.374 seconds Saturday night in the Kentucky 150.

Stenhouse, driving a Ford for Roush Fenway Racing, passed Speed's Toyota on the 107th lap in the 112-lap race on the 11/4-mile Kentucky Speedway.

"We've had good runs the last few weeks, so to finally get a win was just awesome," Stenhouse said. "It was pretty tough."

Ryan Fischer was third, followed by Ken Butler III, John Wes Townley, Brett Hudson, Patrick Sheltra, Bryan Silas, Michael Annett and Dominick Casola.

Massa wins pole for Turkish GP

Sat, 10 May 2008 10:33 EDT

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Felipe Massa of Ferrari won pole position for the Turkish Grand Prix for the third straight year Saturday.

The two-time defending race champion will start first on the grid for Sunday's race at the Istanbul Speed Park after clocking a best lap time of 1 minute, 27.617 seconds.

"I think I put together a very good lap ... it proved to be enough to be on pole," Massa said. "I'm so happy here, to be on pole for the third time here. It's a fantastic track for me."

Heikki Kovalainen of McLaren will start second after finishing less than 0.2 seconds behind Massa. Kovalainen's best qualifying of the season comes less than two weeks after a violent crash at the Spanish GP that left the Finn in the hospital.

"It's been a bit of a roller coaster obviously," Kovalainen said. "A big accident in Spain and I have been lucky to survive without any injuries. Coming here ... I felt very confident with the car. It's a pleasure to start from front row."

A defective wheel part caused a tire on Kovalainen's car to explode and sent him barreling into a wall at high speed in Spain. Though he had to spend a night in a hospital with a concussion, Kovalainen was cleared for Sunday's race after passing medical checks on Thursday.

Teammate Lewis Hamilton will start third, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari, while BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica goes from the fifth spot.

Mark Webber of Red Bull starts sixth ahead of Renault's Fernando Alonso, while Jarni Trulli of Toyota, BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld and David Coulthard of Red Bull round out the top 10.

Massa, who won his first GP in Istanbul in 2006, is seeking to become the first driver to win the same race three straight years since former teammate Michael Schumacher won four consecutive races at Indianapolis in 2003-06.

Massa's championship aspirations have gained momentum after he failed to get a point in the first two races of the season. The Brazilian driver rebounded with a win in Bahrain and a runner-up finish to Raikkonen at the Spanish GP.

"It won't be easy because our competitors are quite strong and close," Massa said. "We'll try to do everything right and put the tires on at the right moment."

All three Turkish GPs have been won by the pole sitter.

Defending world champion Raikkonen leads the overall standings with 29 points, nine more than Hamilton. Kubica is next at 19, with Massa a further point behind in fourth.

Raikkonen, who won the inaugural Turkish GP when he was with McLaren three years ago, has struggled to find his car's balance since a gearbox problem forced him out of Friday's first practice session. The Finn looked jittery through the first two rounds of qualifying but got it together in the final session.

The Turkish GP has been moved up from its usual date in the hot days of August, leaving teams grappling with cool weather instead of the usual sunshine. Track temperature increased in qualifying, helping tires warm quicker to see lap times drop while a gusting wind challenged drivers along the undulating course.

Super Aguri's withdrawal from the Formula One championship meant that only five, rather than six, cars were excluded after each of the first two parts of qualifying. Super Aguri pulled out of F1 on Tuesday due to financial difficulties.

Giancarlo Fisichella of Force India starts last despite finishing 19th in qualifying because he exited pit lane before the green light went on to start Friday's practice sessions. Teammate Adrian Sutil swapped spots with the Italian.

Will Rick Mears be Penske's ace in the hole?

Fri, 09 May 2008 20:58 EDT

INDIANAPOLIS – If Helio Castroneves or Ryan Briscoe snatches the pole on Saturday for the Indianapolis 500, the winner will likely acknowledge the Master of Faster for part of his success.

Rocket Rick Mears, one of the most admired competitors in the history of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, has taught many a driver about how to tackle the mysteries of the Brickyard and how to get around the 2.5-mile track as fast as possible.

Mears won a record six poles at Indy and a record-tying four 500s in a celebrated career with car owner Roger Penske. At 56, he is now a Team Penske adviser, who works with Castroneves, a two-time Indy 500 champ, and Briscoe, who is in his rookie year with the team.

"I try to do overall more than getting into driving the car," said Mears of his teaching methods. "It's more of a mind-set and staying relaxed, and patience, patience and patience."

During the past 15 seasons, since his retirement in 1992, Mears has helped Team Penske drivers and engineers score 67 victories, including six Indy 500 wins, 73 poles and four championships.

This year's 92nd race is May 25.

"It's definitely a huge bonus coming into this game with the experience around me, and Rick from even last year at the 500, you know, keeping an eye on us," said Briscoe, who finished fifth here in 2007 for Luczo Dragon Racing after receiving coaching from Mears.

"As Rick has said before, it's not about telling us how to drive the car and stuff but just little bits of advice here and there and talking about patience and not to get ahead of ourselves and really keeping an eye on the big picture."

Mears may well have been the greatest of all open-wheel oval racers. As a qualifier, his smoothness, consistency and pace were unmatched at the Speedway. While it appeared effortless, Mears says otherwise.

"I always said that qualifying here (putting four laps together) is one of the toughest things I ever did," said Mears, who set a world closed course speed record of 233.401 m.p.h. at Michigan International Speedway in 1986. "But it is also one of the most fun, most rewarding. Qualifying, you have to be ready, there's no second chance, and it's time to go."

After three days of rain at Indy, Saturday's battle for the pole should be fascinating, with some teams better prepared than others. Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon are genuine pole contenders, as are the Andretti Green Racing trio of Tony Kanaan, Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti.

But Castroneves, who won the pole last year and in 2003, and Briscoe, who has been consistently fast in limited practice this week, could make it 15 Indy 500 poles for Penske by the end of the day.

"I'm ready to go," Castroneves said. "I love to be under pressure because that makes me, you know, really precise, makes me go for the limit and try to achieve the impossible."

Indy rookie Alex Lloyd released from hospital

Sat, 10 May 2008 14:53 EDT

INDIANAPOLIS (May 10, 2008) – Rahal Letterman Chip Ganassi Indy Car driver Alex Lloyd (No. 16 Dallara/Honda/Firestone) has been discharged from Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis following Friday's accident during practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Lloyd, who hit the wall at the south end of the speedway on Friday, was given tests after reporting neck pain and a headache. Lloyd was kept overnight for observation.

Lloyd has returned to his Indianapolis home and will meet with IndyCar Series physicians later in the week and seek medical clearance to resume preparations for this year's Indianapolis 500.

Fast and messy Indy 500 pole qualifying in forecast

Fri, 09 May 2008 18:10 EDT

INDIANAPOLIS - In the past, there was usually little strategy involved in trying to win the pole for the Indianapolis 500. Just hold the gas pedal down and drive. Thanks to the qualifying format adopted two years ago, Saturday's opening day of time trials for the May 25 race could be a strategic nightmare.

"This year, it's going to be such a mess," said Scott Dixon, the fastest driver in this week's rain-abbreviated practice on the 2.5-mile Indy oval with a lap of 226.968 mph Friday, considerably faster than the four-lap average of 225.817 that won the pole for Helio Castroneves last May.

In fact, the five quickest drivers on "Fast Friday," the final full day of practice before qualifying, were faster than last year's pole. But it isn't as simple as just being fast now.

The unique, four-day Indy qualifying format limits the number of qualifiers to 11 on each of the first three days, then uses the fourth and final day to bump the slowest drivers already in the 33-car lineup.

Making it even more difficult, each car is allowed up to three chances per day, with the teams allowed to withdraw an already-qualified car to try to go faster.

With the recent unification of the two American open-wheel series, there are more car-driver combinations here for the first weekend of time trials than in any year in the past decade. Thirty-three cars made it onto the track during Friday's busy session, turning a total of 1,033 laps.

Dixon said he expects a lot of those drivers, particularly the ones transitioning from the now-defunct Champ Car World Series, to be chasing position No. 11 just as hard as the favorites drive for the No. 1 spot on Saturday.

"Twenty or twenty-two or maybe more cars are fighting for that spot," Dixon said. "They're going to clog up the (technical inspection) lines and things like that. It could be a tough day for everybody."

The rookies got two full days of practice Sunday and Monday, while the veterans had one dry day on Tuesday before Friday's session, cut about three hours short by yet more rain. Dixon moved to the top of the speed chart, just ahead of Marco Andretti's 226.710, Tony Kanaan's 226.688, Ryan Briscoe's 226.143 and rookie Hideki Mutoh's 225.990.

But Dixon, a New Zealander who drives for Target Chip Ganassi Racing, doesn't consider himself the favorite.

"To be fast on 'Fast Friday,' I've been in this spot before and it hasn't worked out well for me in the past," Dixon said. "It was a bit tight out there (in traffic), hard to get clear laps, so you don't really know where you are. Everybody's speed fell off an awful lot when they were in the clear.

"I think, in the morning, we're going to decide if we've got a legit shot at the pole. ... We can't waste tires or energy on going for it if we don’t have a great shot at it."

Andretti, a third-generation IndyCar driver who finished second in the 500 two years ago as a 19-year-old rookie, believes he and teammate Andretti Green Racing teammate Kanaan are definite pole contenders. He welcomed this week's rain.

"We're ready," said Andretti, who was also over 226 on Tuesday. "Bring on tomorrow. We're just hoping that, hopefully, (the rain) is just separating us from our opposition."

"The car has shown definite signs of consistency right from the start, which is definitely a positive. We're just working on what I'm sure the majority of the field is working on - taking off downforce and still trying to keeping the balance in the car."

Castroneves, a disappointing 11th on Friday's speed list, got in only 31 laps before the rain came.

"It's too bad we couldn't run more today," the two-time Indy winner and two-time pole winner said. "I would have liked to have done a few more things out there, but I still think we’re in good shape for tomorrow.

"I'm not concerned with the other drivers' speeds today because I think a lot of them were getting tows (from other cars)."

Oriol Servia, one of the transitional drivers, was 16th on Friday and happy with his progress.

"It's hard to tell because everyone gets towed, and we did, too," Servia said. "But I'm happy with how the car feels and that is the most important thing. I think ... we may have a shot at being in the top 15 and, if we do it right, we could be in the top 11."

Former Dakar champion to organize new rally in Africa

Fri, 09 May 2008 16:42 EDT

DAKAR, Senegal – A three-time champion of the Dakar Rally road race is organizing his own version of the cross-continental trek after the world-famous event was canceled because of terrorism concerns.

Hubert Auriol said in a statement Friday that he wanted to create a new race "to get the rally back to Africa."

The Dakar Rally was canceled in January for the first time in its 30-year history because of security fears sparked after suspected al-Qaida-linked militants killed a family of French tourists Dec. 24 in the desert nation of Mauritania. Eight of the 15 stages were to have passed through the northwest African nation.

Organizers decided to hold next year's rally in South America, but have said they hope to return the race to Africa by 2011 or 2012 if security is adequate.

No starting point for Auriol's version of the race has been named, but the statement said it would start in the winter of 2008-2009 from "a major European city on the Mediterranean" and would last 15 to 17 days. The race would traverse Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal, where it would wind up like its more famous predecessor in Senegal's seaside capital, Dakar.

Like the Dakar Rally, it would also include races on motorbike and trucks.

Indy notebook | Kanaan looks at big picture in qualifying

Sat, 10 May 2008 18:28 EDT

INDIANAPOLIS - Winning the pole at Indianapolis isn't as important to Tony Kanaan as it once was.

Maybe, it's because he still hasn't won the race. Maybe, he's just a little more patient.

"Five years ago, I came here and just wanted to be the fastest guy," Kanaan said after qualifying on Saturday. "Then you race, and you realize that that really doesn't matter if you are not the fastest guy on the last lap (of the race). Do I want the pole? Yes, I do. Is it going to be a big deal if we don't get it? Not really. I try to look at the big picture."

Kanaan won the pole in 2005 but finished eighth that year. His best finish was second to Buddy Rice in 2004, when the race was halted by rain 20 laps from the end.

He qualified Saturday at 224.794 mph, slowing after a first lap average that at the time would have put him on the tentative pole, but he ended up in the sixth qualifying position among the 11 who earned early spots in the May 25 lineup. Kanaan had never started worse than fifth in his six previous races at Indianapolis.

"We're not in the position that we wanted to be, but we're inside the top 11, which is the right place to be right now," he said. "It was a decent run, very consistent."

Qualifying for positions 12-22 will be on Sunday and for positions 23-33 on May 17. The final day of qualifying, May 18, will be for bumping, regardless which day a driver qualified.

Kanaan's Andretti Green teammates Danica Patrick, Marco Andretti and rookie Hideki Mutoh qualified fifth, seventh and ninth, respectively.

HUNTER-REAY UNHURT: Rookie driver Ryan Hunter-Reay has crashed during a qualifying attempt for the Indianapolis 500.

Hunter-Reay, who was bumped from the lineup earlier, went out for another attempt with about a half-hour left in Saturday's qualifying. He completed one lap at just over 223 mph but spun and hit the wall hard on the first turn of the next lap.

He climbed out of the car on his own, apparently unhurt, but the Dallara car had heavy damage to the left side.

CLOSE CALLS: A.J. Foyt IV, grandson of car owner and four-time winner A.J. Foyt, and former pole-winner Bruno Junqueira spun on their first tries at qualifying.

Foyt's car narrowly missed the wall and fishtailed back across the track without making contact on his warmup lap.

Junqueira, who started from the pole in 2002, had just completed his warmup lap at a relatively slow 207.8 mph and spun without contact in the first turn.

Neither driver was injured, and neither was among the 11 who eventually qualified.

LLOYD RELEASED: Rookie driver Alex Lloyd, injured in a hard crash during practice Friday, was released from Methodist Hospital on Saturday. With medical clearance by the IRL, he could be back on the track when practice resumes Wednesday.

The 23-year-old Englishman, last year's Indy Lights champion, completed a lap at more than 223 mph and lost control of his Dallara in the first turn. He was examined at the track's infield hospital, then taken to Methodist for further tests after complaining of neck pain and a headache.

All tests were negative, although he was kept overnight in the hospital for observation.

HAPPY MOM'S DAY: Driver Ed Carpenter's mother isn't only his mom; she's also his boss.

Carpenter's mother is Laura George, a co-owner of the Vision Racing team with her husband, Speedway boss Tony George. The 27-year-old Carpenter has driven for the family's race team since it was formed in 2005.

"My mom is what holds my family together," Carpenter said Saturday, the day before Mother's Day. "We're a close family because of her. She's just such a big part of every day and everything I do."

A nervous Laura George tried to discourage her son's racing career when he was a teenager by buying him whatever passenger car he wanted, hoping that would satisfy his automotive ambitions, Carpenter recalled. It didn't work.

"Eventually she realized that this is what I wanted to do, and she supported me 100 percent," he said.

Carpenter's best finishes in four previous races at his family's track was 11th in both 2005 and 2006. He was 31st as a rookie with Cheever Racing in 2004 and 17th last year after a crash on the 165th lap. He qualified Saturday in the 10th spot for the race.

DE FERRAN RETURNS: Former Indy winner Gil de Ferran will return to the cockpit next weekend for the first time since he retired from racing almost five years ago.

The 41-year-old Brazilian will drive for his own newly formed Acura team in the American Le Mans Series sports car race in Utah. It will be his first race since he won his IndyCar Series finale at Texas Motor Speedway in 2003.

"It's funny, because it seems like it was yesterday," de Ferran said.

"I pride myself on being rational guy ... under every circumstance, no matter how desperate or elating it may be, but at the end of the day, emotion is what drives you," he said of his return to Indianapolis. "The circumstances that led to the 500 that year and the whole buildup of the month is what I remember most."

The Indy runner-up in 2001 and 10th in 2002, de Ferran broke his neck and back in a crash at Phoenix in 2003 and missed the race before Indianapolis. Still in pain, he qualified 10th, took the lead for the first time on the 170th lap and beat Penske teammate Helio Castroneves to the checkered flag by 0.299 second.

"When you come from a hospital bed with everything aching to winning the biggest race in the world, that feeling is going to stay with me forever," he recalled.

MISSING TRACY: Drag racer Ron Capps was impressed with his first trip to Pole Day qualifying at Indy, even though his favorite driver was missing.

"Paul Tracy is my favorite, but he's not here," Capps said. "So I guess my favorite would be Davey Hamilton. What a great story that would be."

Hamilton, a two-time series runner-up, was out of racing almost six years after a devastating crash at Texas in 2001. He qualified Saturday at 223.287 mph but was bumped by his Vision Racing teammate Ed Carpenter.

Tracy, the Indy runner-up in 2002, is rumored to be in line for a possible deal with Walker Racing for the second week of qualifying.

SPARK PLUGS: When Scott Dixon withdrew his first qualification average of 225.178 mph to go for the pole, he forfeited what would have been a record for the most consistent qualifying in Indy history. The difference between his fast lap and slow lap on the first qualification was 0.0049 seconds, which would have broken Bobby Rahal's 1992 record of 0.006 seconds. The fast-slow difference on Dixon's second attempt was 0.0948 seconds.

• Mario Andretti will receive the 2008 Legendary Driver Award at a dinner Monday night to benefit the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation.

• Former driver Tero Palmroth, the only Indy starter from Finland, visited the track Saturday. "I told Tony (George) this place has great memories," said Palmroth, who raced at Indianapolis in 1988-91. "It feels like home here."

• Actor Paul Newman, 83-year-old co-owner of Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, called the merger of IRL and Champ Car "absolutely necessary for both groups. It's tragic that it didn't happen sooner, but it's good that it at least happened when it did."

Ferrari tops practice for the Turkish GP

Fri, 09 May 2008 10:19 EDT

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Ferrari led both practice sessions for the Turkish Grand Prix on Friday, and Heikki Kovalainen rebounded from a crash in Spain with the second-fastest lap in the morning session.

Two-time defending champion Felipe Massa led Ferrari in the first session with a time of 1 minute, 27.323 seconds - the fastest time of the day - before Kimi Raikkonen recovered from a gearbox problem that left him last in the morning session for an afternoon's best time of 1:27.543.

Kovalainen, who finished fifth in the second session, trailed Massa by just over one-tenth of a second while McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton was second fastest in the afternoon.

It was Kovalainen's first drive following his crash at the preceding Spanish GP.

A wheel failure caused a tire on the Finn's car to explode and send him barreling into a wall at high speed. Though the crash left him in a hospital overnight with slight injuries, including a concussion, Kovalainen was cleared for Sunday's race after passing medical checks by governing body FIA on Thursday.

Raikkonen, who won in Turkey for McLaren three years ago, is coming off a win at Barcelona. The 28-year-old Finn also won the Malaysian GP for a nine-point lead in the overall standings over Hamilton.

Ferrari, which has won three straight GPs to lead BMW Sauber by 12 points in the constructors' standings, has topped eight of the 10 Friday practice sessions so far this season.

Massa was third in the afternoon, ahead of Red Bull's David Coulthard.

Hamilton was third in the morning with 1:27.752 - which was over half a second quicker than Fernando Alonso of Renault in fourth place. Jenson Button of Honda rounded out the morning's top-five.

Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella will start the race three places lower than his eventual qualifying position after leaving the pit lane when the lights were still red in the first session. The rookie Indian team is still looking for its first points.

Drivers were increasingly tested by the elements through the day as rain fell in the afternoon following a cool morning session.

Massa, Hamilton and Force India's Adrian Sutil all spun out at turn No. 3 in the first session, with Massa recovering to set the morning pace despite also running off at a later corner. Alonso, BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica, Button and Timo Glock of Toyota all went off track in the afternoon.

A red flag was produced more than half an hour into the afternoon session when Mark Webber's Red Bull car veered straight into the wall when he tried to recover after going wide around a corner. The crash destroyed the front wing to leave both wheels dangling from the frame.

Drivers return for a final practice session on Saturday before qualifying determines the starting order for Sunday's race.