IRL

The field is set for the 88th running of the Indianapolis 500. The field was filled on a breezy, cloudy day that held really very little drama. Greg Ray was the fastest qualifier of the session while Robbie McGehee was slowest on the day and in the field. Jacques Lazier had turned some laps in Foyt’s 14T car on Friday and was well over the slowest speeds but the deal apparently fell through and he never took the track after Friday. Brian Barnhart told the potential qualifiers that a “respectable” speed was all it took to get in. Speculation was that 210+ would be considered respectable.

The fact that Lazier never got in the car smacks of politics to me. I really have to wonder if he would have made an attempt had Marty Roth been the slowest qualifier. I have said it before and I will say it again. If you raise the purse of the race to $25-30 million then you will have no problem getting 50 cars to attempt to qualify. As it stands, it just isn’t cost effective to run unless you have big sponsor money or you can get a top 5 finish.

FTRG was also in the paper yesterday talking about shortening the month. Again, if you raise the purse, that kind of problem goes away.

Here is your lineup. Final practice is Thursday at 11:00!


Position Driver Car C/E Team Average
1 Buddy Rice 15 G/H Team Rahal 222.024
2 Dan Wheldon 26 D/H Andretti Green Racing 221.524
3 Dario Franchitti 27 D/H Andretti Green Racing 221.471
4 Bruno Junqueira 36 G/H Newman/Haas Racing 221.379
5 Tony Kanaan 11 D/H Andretti Green Racing 221.200
6 Adrian Fernandez 5 G/H Fernandez Racing 220.999
7 Vitor Meira 17 G/H Team Rahal 220.958
8 Helio Castroneves (W) 3 D/T Marlboro Team Penske 220.882
9 Kosuke Matsuura (R) 55 G/H Super Aguri Fernandez 220.740
10 Tomas Scheckter 4 D/C Panther Racing 220.417
11 Sam Hornish Jr. 6 D/T Marlboro Team Penske 220.180
12 Roger Yasukawa 16 G/H Team Rahal 220.030
13 Scott Dixon 1 G/T Target Chip Ganassi 219.319
14 Mark Taylor (R) 2 D/C Panther Racing 219.282
15 Darren Manning (R) 10 G/T Target Chip Ganassi 219.271
16 Ed Carpenter (R) 52T D/C Red Bull Cheever Racing 218.590
17 Al Unser Jr. (W) 20 D/C Patrick Racing 217.966
18 Robby Gordon 70T D/C Gordon Motorsports 216.522
19 Sarah Fisher 39 D/T Kelley Racing 215.771
20 Scott Sharp 8T D/T Kelley Racing 215.635
21 A.J. Foyt IV 14 D/T A.J. Foyt Enterprises 214.256
22 Larry Foyt 41 D/T A.J. Foyt Enterprises 213.277
23 Bryan Herta 7T D/H Andretti Green Racing 219.871
24 Alex Barron 51T D/C Red Bull Cheever Racing 218.836
25 Felipe Giaffone 24 D/C Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 216.259
26 Tora Takagi 12 D/T Pioneer Mo Nunn Racing 214.364
27 Greg Ray 13 G/H Access Motorsports 216.641
28 Buddy Lazier 91 D/C Dreyer & Reinbold/Hemelgarn Racing 215.110
29 Jeff Simmons (R) 21 D/T Pioneer Mo Nunn Racing 214.783
30 Richie Hearn 33 G/T Sam Schmidt Motorsports 213.715
31 PJ Jones (R) 98 D/C CURB/Agajanian/Beck Motorports 213.355
32 Marty Roth (R) 25 D/T Roth Racing 211.974
33 Robby McGehee 18 D/C PDM Racing 211.631
(R) rookie; (W) past winner

F1
Congrats to Jarno Trulli who won the Grand Prix de Monaco yesterday and in the process ended Michael Schimachers bid for his 6th consecutive win to start the season. Trulli, who started on the pole, lead all the way in this one. Down the stretch he was chased by Jensen Buttons, but his lead was never really in doubt.
Trulli was a wildly popular champion, but to be honest anyone NOT in a Ferrari would have been a welcome change of pace.
The irony is that Schumacher pretty much did himself in that he was screwing around behind the safety car and locked up his brakes forcing Juan Montoya to hit him and send him into the guard rail. Schumacher took the low road and claimed the incident was Montoyas fault, but anyone who saw it knows otherwise.
Here is the updated Constructors Championship:

Pos Constructor Points
1 Ferrari 88
2 Renault 52
3 BAR-Honda 40
4 Williams-BMW 35
5 Sauber-Petronas 7
6 McLaren-Mercedes 5
7 Toyota 4
8 Jordan-Ford 2
9 Jaguar-Cosworth 1
10 Minardi 0
As you can see there has actually been some good racing once you get past Ferrari. Probably most surprising is the McLaren-Mercedes effort. Who would have thought they would only have 5 total points this far into the season?