The Indy 500 (practice and Qual thread)

Whilst we already have a thread for the grid throughout the year I thought we should have a tread purely dedicated to the 500: Confirmations, rumours etc. Just to keep them all together in the one thread.

Confirmed Teams Drivers

Andretti-Green-Tony Kanaan
Andretti-Green-Danica Patrick
Andretti-Green-Hideki Mutoh
Andretti-Green-Marco Andretti
Ganassi-Scott Dixon
Ganassi-Dan Wheldon
Ganassi-Alex Lloyd
Penske-Helio Castroneves
Penske-Ryan Briscoe
Luczo Dragon-Tomas Scheckter
NHL-Justin Wilson
NHL-Graham Rahal
Rahal/Letterman-Ryan Hunter-Reay
Panther-Vitor Meira
Dreyer & Reinbold-Buddy Rice
Dreyer & Reinbold-Milka Duno
Dreyer & Reinbold-Townsend Bell
Roth-Marty Roth
Roth-Jay Howard
Vision-Ed Carpenter
Vision-AJ Foyt IV
Fisher-Sarah Fisher
Beck-Roger Yasukawa
Foyt-Darren Manning
Rubicon-Max Papis
Conquest-Franck Perera
Conquest-Enrique Bernoldi
Coyne-Bruno Junquiera
Coyne-Mario Moraes
HVM-EJ Viso
KVR-Will Power
KVR-Oriol Servia

Possible Extra Entries

Andretti-Green-Raphael Matos
Rahal/Letterman-Robert Doornbos or ?
Vision-Paul Tracy or Davey Hamilton
HVM-Nelson Philippe
Playa Del-Al Unser Jr or Jacques Lazier
Playa Del-Al Unser III or Phil Geibler

Outside Chance Entries

Andretti-Green-Michael Andretti (may fancy just one more go...again!)
Penske-Sam Hornish Jr (If he can't get an automatic grid place in NASCAR)
Panther-PJ Cheeson or Buddy Lazier or CR Crews or ?
Vision-Davey Hamilton or Paul Tracy or ?
Foyt-Pablo Donoso
Foyt-Robbie Pecorari or ?
KVR-Jimmy Vasser
Red Bull-AJ Allmendinger
Red Bull-Scott Speed
Red Bull-Robert Doornbos or ?
Mann-Robbie McGehee or ?
Racing Professionals/Hemelgarn-Jon Herb or Richie Hearn
Walker-Simon Pagenaud or Matt Halliday or ?
PCM-Mario Dominguez or Alex Figge or David Martinez Jr or ?
Sam Schmidt-Buddy Lazier or ? (if I remember correctly Schmidt is now helping to run Roth. If this is the case then there is always the chance of an independant entry. If not then this is more likely)
Curb-Alex Barron or ?
PDM/American Spirit-Jimmie Kite or Tiago Medeiros or ?
Team Leader/Dollander-PJ Jones
Chastain-Stephan Gregoire or ?
Samax-Mario Dominuez or Jeff Mitrisin or ?

Even less likely is Kingdom racing, which will probably never happen.

All of the above is based on hearsay & rumors apart from the already confirmed & full time entries. I've just tried to gather it all into one. In the lists above there are 32 confirmed entries, 6 possibles & 20 outside chances, of which no more than one or two can be expected to appear. If anybody knows of any more entries it seems like this thread would be a good place to add them.

Have indy500.com released a provisional entry list, at last?

Another one to add to outside chance may be Dario Franchitti in a Ganassi car.

Move Lloyd from Ganassi to Rahal Letterman as the car's going to be run by the RLR team alongside Hunter-Reay.

I hear the entry list may be released tomorrow or early next week.....they just had a media tour at the Speedway the last two days and there were a number of announcements, including Lloyd to the joint venture between Ganassi and Rahal-Letterman. Eddie Cheever goes to the booth for the telecast. Mac Tools signed up for a promotional program with the IRL. The Indiana National Guard announced a hero card program for both Panther and service personnel. Jim Nabors will be back to sing Back Home in Indiana as part of the pre-race, a tradition that was missed last year. Emerson Fittipaldi had some comments on driving the pace car that is fueled by 85% ethanol. Lot of stuff right now at www.brickyard.com.

Here it is,

red are rookies.

Car Driver Entrant
2 A.J. Foyt IV Vision Racing
3 Helio Castroneve Team Penske
4 Vitor Meira Panther Racing
5 Oriol Servia KV Racing Technology
6 Ryan Briscoe Team Penske
7 Danica Patrick Andretti Green Racing
8 Will Power KV Racing Technology
9 Scott Dixon Target Chip Ganassi Racing
10 Dan Wheldon Target Chip Ganassi Racing
11 Tony Kanaan Andretti Green Racing
12 Tomas Scheckter Luczo Dragon Racing
14 Darren Manning A.J. Foyt Enterprises
15 Buddy Rice Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
16 Alex Lloyd Rahal Letterman Racing
17 Ryan Hunter-Reay Rahal Letterman Racing
18 Bruno Junqueira Dale Coyne Racing
19 Mario Moraes Dale Coyne Racing
20 Ed Carpenter Vision Racing
21 TBA Playa Del Racing
22 TBA Vision Racing
23 Milka Duno Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
24 Jay Howard Roth Racing
25 Marty Roth Roth Racing
26 Marco Andretti Andretti Green Racing
27 Hideki Mutoh Andretti Green Racing
33 E.J. Viso HVM Racing
34 Franck Perera Conquest Racing
36 Enrique Bernoldi Conquest Racing
41 Larry Foyt A.J. Foyt Enterprises
44 Max Papis Sam Schmidt Motorsports
67 Sarah Fisher Sarah Fisher Racing
77 TBA Team Penske
83 TBA Panther Racing
91 TBA Hemelgarn Johnson
98 TBA CURB/Agajanian/Beck Motorsports
99 Townsend Bell Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
02 Justin Wilson Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing
06 Graham Rahal Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing
TBA TBA PDM Racing

39 enteries, great! Interesting that Penske have a third car listed with Sam Hornish's Sprint Cup number. Wonder who will be driving that one then? ;)

Tony Stewart :)

good list with some TBA's on there , should make for a great month of May :)

I must admit to being slightly disappointed. Whilst I can see that 39 entries is good I just felt that there was potential for so many more. Maybe the number of entries will increase in future years as more chassis & engines become available. I suppose I was just hoping for too much but I would have liked to see a second Playa Del entry, the rumored PCM entry for Dominguez & Walker manage to get enough money for an entry. I would have liked to see a few of the smaller teams such as Team Leader/Dollander & Chastain continue to enter cars & I would have like to see another Andretti/Green entry for Matos & even another KVR entry to give Vasser another try at the 500. Matos must be really regretting not taking that Conquest seat when he could as there is Perera driving around in a full season when he doesn't even get a shot at the 500. It may turn out to be a much better move in the long term but I can imagine that there is a bit of jealousy at the moment. I'm also a bit sad that drivers like Tagliani aren't on that list yet. I'm surprised that there are no Laziers or Unsers on there yet, though I can imagine that they may be added later. I'm also very surprised that Larry Foyt is in the second car rather than one of the more expected candidates for the drive.

Also, is the Sam Schmidt entry what was originally the Rubicon Racing entry under a different name or has that been cancelled without any comment & replaced with Schmidt, or was the Rubicon entry just the Schmidt entry wit a different name...or has Mad Max just switched teams?

Matos was fastest in the Indy Lights test today at the Speedway....shouldn't be too unhappy with one of the best teams in the business.

Larry Foyt surprised me, too, but he's managing the team and MAY have just put his name on there for a second driver for the moment.

Papis was named to that ride earlier, and the team is being run by Jim Freudenberg, who is back to a team deal after promoting races for CC.

There are a number guys I've heard who are hopeful for a ride and doing some talkin' -- the Laziers, Stephan Gregoire, Davey Hamilton, Richie Hearn, Jimmy Kite. Before the month of May is over, IMO, we'll see at least some of those.

So that's 7 more drivers to come with the possibility of a few more getting added a bit late in the T cars once the main car is qualified.

21 Playa Del-Jacques Lazier or Al Unser III
22 Vision-Paul Tracy or Davey Hamilton
77 Penske-Sam Hornish Jr or Buddy Lazier or ?
83 Panther-John Andretti or CR Crews or Robert Doornbos or Davey Hamilton or PJ Chesson or ?
91 Hemelgarn-Richie Hearn or Phil Giebler or Buddy Lazier
98 Beck-Roger Yasukawa or Alex Barron or PJ Jones or ?
TBA PDM-Jimmie Kite or Cyndie Allemann or ?

It still isn't beyond the realms of fantasy that once both Ganassi's are qualified the spare car may be given to Dario Franchitti if he hasn't managed to get his automatic place on the NASCAR grid back. KVR may also put the spare out for Vasser if he wants to do it. Foyt often keeps a car back if they see a chance of getting it on the grid & it wouldn't surprise me to see a few more entries appear in the second week of May, or even on bump day.

Not sure Ganassi would enter a third car. They did outsource some of thier staff and Alex Lloyd to Rahal Letterman after all.

This is Franchitti though - if he does fail to qualify for the 600, he could always hop on a plane and get to Indy in time for bump day. Ditto Sam Hornish, although Penske are maybe already thinking of running him...?

I wouldn'y worry about there being "only" 39 entiries. There will always be a few more as the month of May goes on.

i was expecting a few more, no PT. :(

Remember that there are still TBA drivers. I'll bet that PT will be in the Vision car unless something better comes along.

Under the circumstances, I don't think we'll see a third Vision car. TG would not want to bump someone out who is committed to running the series.

Beck and Yasukawa have already been announced for Motegi and Indy.

Last I heard a couple days ago, PDM didn't have anything going at this point, but they'll have Kite if they do.

Agree with DownForce.....farming out Lloyd to Rahal-Letterman, Ganassi's gonna stick to two.

I donīt really know much about personalrelationships in american OW-racing but isnīt it a possibility that Tracy will drive the 77 Penske?

I suppose. They didn't part ways on very good terms before. But time changes things sometimes.

Don't get excited by the 3rd Penske - they always enter an extra car, then withdraw it (expect a couple of others to withdraw as well, but then a couple of T cars bought in to play, so overall number to stay about the same).

Interesting to see the Playa Del & PDM entries are both listed as Panoz chassis.

I do hope for a big name to appear in one of the TBA seats, but even Tracy is looking a bit of a long shot now.

Just glad to see the entry list isn't bulked out with the T cars this year (so we can avoid the annual arguement over whether it's 30 or 60 entries).

I imagine T cars are legally entered.....they just eliminated them to clean it up....maybe even so we can see the picture more clearly.

all in all a good list. 40+ is pushing it because there probably arent enough chassis' out there. I'd say Alex Barron for Beck and Doornbos for Panther but that is just me hoping like hell!

Chassis aren't really the problem from what has been said here & elsewhere. Engines seem more of a problem. Honda has kept up with demand but suddenly that demand has risen dramatically & they don't seem to have kept up.

There is a rumour Sam Hornish may be entered in the third Penske and David Stremme take his place for the Coca Cola 600.

I'd be surprised at this.

Honda has certainly kept up so far.......first I've heard of any shortage there.

Davey Hamilton is in for Kingdom Racing:
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/kingdom-racing-names-davey-hamilton-for-indianapolis-500,351474.shtml

A South African driver called Tschops Sipuka passed his rookie test it seems, but will probably only be in the 100 mile Indy Lights race:
http://www.dispatch.co.za/article.aspx?id=192357

I imagine T cars are legally entered.....they just eliminated them to clean it up....maybe even so we can see the picture more clearly.

I think so, and it's a good thing, after all who cares about T-cars at this stage?

I saw they're already 39, so we've got the bump day back :)

There is a rumour Sam Hornish may be entered in the third Penske and David Stremme take his place for the Coca Cola 600.

I'd be surprised at this.
Italiaracing is even mnore audacious, hinting that Sam's return to Indycar could be not just a one-race one:

http://italiaracing.net/notizia.asp?id=18718&cat=3

Italiaracing is even mnore audacious, hinting that Sam's return to Indycar could be not just a one-race one:

http://italiaracing.net/notizia.asp?id=18718&cat=3 I would love to see the ex-open wheel guys come back, and with the way things are going for them in the cup, this now seems possible.

More on the Davey Hamilton story: http://www.kingdomracing.net/

I'm waiting until I see this on the Indycar website before I fully believe this. I will admit to being a bit skeptical about this one though. Saying that, good luck to them. I don't really agree with their message but I like Davey Hamilton & I would be only too happy to see him back on track.

Given the problems he suffered in the past, and his brilliant performance last year, I think he fully deserves an entry :)

PCM and Dominguez eyeing up Indy and the rest of the season:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/66743

Will Power To Win

So Dominguez & Camera are now in for Indy. There are rumours that Beck wants Perera or Barron for his car now which would mean that Yasukawa would be out. However, as Perera is still Conquest's backup driver I wouldn't be surprised to see a T car entered for him once the other 2 Conquest drivers has qualified. Walker has also said that there is still a chance that he will have a car ready in time.

http://walkerracing.com/media/display.php?id=442&lang=en

Walker is supposed to have good relations with Sarah Fisher so he may use a spare chassis from her. Borrowing a car off Penske may be another option. We will see....

I don't think the relations are good between Walker and Sarah Fisher and I believe that's the last place he'd go.

The Beck rumors are that he'd like to get two in the show, both Yasukawa and Barron. If Perera is going to have a chance, he's going to have to get a car for a rookie test.

can't wait for indy, would love the Aussies to go well here.

Just have a funny feeling about Lloyd. Remember IndyPro last year?

Indy Car should have found a way to incorporate the Cosworth Champ Car motor somehow, some way into the Indy 500. In fact, into the whole series.

As it is, we'll be seeing a spec chassis and a spec Honda motor. In every blessed car.

Booo-ooo-oooring to the nth degree.

If this isn't remedied, I don't think fan interest will be sustained. It will devolve into IROC openwheel racing, and that's just not going to cut it IMO.

For the first time since 1967, there is no Cosworth motor in either F1 or Indy Cars. 40 years heritage discarded by a casual rules change. Sad really.

No more or less boring than having a Cosworth engine only in a spec chassis in the competing series.

It took more than a dozen years to get open wheel into the fix it is in. It is going to take more than a dozen weeks to get it out.

John, agreed. But my point was POST-"merger". If this was really a combination of the two series, rather than a mere takeover, then there was an opportunity to at least add some drama at the 500 and within the series of TWO competing engines. There are enough "smart people" in the sport who could have figured a formula to have both motors run in the "combined" series. If time is what they need to fix things, they'd better not squander any more of it IMO. Norm

Team Blitz, it's a little more complicated than that. First of all, would a Cosworth w/turbo match up with engine mounts on a Dallara? Second, without any testing at all and three months before the "500," how can you think it practical in any way that some engineer come up with some kind of equivalency formula on a sheet of paper and say, "run 'em?" Third, the DP-01 had NEVER tested on an oval and, indeed, an oval kit is not even available for it. Fourth, the Cosworth would not be badged and that would not be cool with Honda.

If you think that anyone has "squandered" any time since the blendification occurred, do you realize that the CC teams had to prepare cars in four weeks for the opener? Do you realize how much went into getting equipment into the hands of CC teams in order to compete at Homestead? Do you realize that the former IRL teams were matched up with the former CC teams to offer basic setup information just to get it done?

IMO, there's no time being "squandered," CC went bankrupt and it was NOT a merger and the ICS absorbed the former CC teams with expediting and dignity. I put your whine about Cosworth far down the list of then priorities that the ICS has had in making 2008 work.

Yes, squandered. Merger talks had been going on formally and informally for well over a year. Olive branching was well documented. A formula for merger should have been studied, and equalization of existing equipment should have been a top concern. Standing back and waiting for CC to topple was an ignorant "strategy".

The average sports fan thinks the 500 this year will be some kind of major breakthrough now that the series are, um, "combined".

Rather than enhancing the diversity of equipment on the grid, the stranglehold has merely tightened. At least Danica has provided some sizzle for the casual fan to want to tune in and view equipment of another kind.

One chassis. One motor. Meet the new boss.....

Literally the same as the old boss.

Sure, talks had been going on and going off, as I understand it, since last September. But no deal was cut till late February. There wasn't any reason to believe that these talks would yield anything different than the old talks, so why should anyone bother with equalization formulas? And the DP-01 was NEVER tested on an oval and an oval kit was never built. There's no getting around that.

How can you say sitting back and waiting for CC to topple was an "ignorant" strategy? CC was not viable without the "500." Most of its better teams had moved. CART wasn't a mistake when it was formed because with the death of Tony Hulman and the USAC plane crash, there was a leadership vacuum. But CC WAS a mistake, going ahead for the wrong reasons with its leadership thinking that CW was a large fanbase.

Getting the sport together was the priority. That is now done. It can grow BACK to diversity in cars and interested manufacturers, already has in venues, but all of that wasn't going to happen in a month, whether that tudges your pudgit or not.

Hey, I hope you're right, Cool.

Somehow, I think Honda will exert a grip on its turf for several more years.

Car Of Tomorrow sameness now in Indy Cars, for the long haul I'm afraid.

I hope I'm wrong.

The reason to have laid the plans for a TWO motor 2008 Indy 500 would have been for Indy Cars' OWN benefit, not Cosworth's. Now on Carburation Day, we'll have the spectacular drama in the pits of Honda techs downloading updates from a single CPU to 33 cars via air cards! Oooooooohhhh, thrilling!

"Look Chris, I think, yes, there it is. Tachi is about to hit the key on his PC. Wait, he's hesitating. Must not have enough bars on his cell display. OK, he's nodding now. There it is! He's just hit the Enter Key! And the crowd goes wild here at The Brickyard!"

IMO, the ICS is in a better position now to grow more attention and thus to attract manufacturers of both cars and engines. If what I read on the fora is right, it's a new car in 2010. Makes sense....a couple years to build up the series and create a market for chassis and engine builders to get in. It just isn't gonna happen overnight.

I like the idea of many engine manufacturers and engine configurations and chassis combo’s but I would like to see the series pick a tire and stick with it.
Tire wars ruin racing IMHO.
The disparity between the haves and have-nots is too great and the racing lines get too narrow from all the clag.
Again, this is my opinion...
Mike

Hemelgarn and Buddy Lazier are in.

http://www.indycar.com/news/?story_id=11154

Davey Hamilton back with Vision Racing. He will drive the #22 car.:cool:

Tony George also fired Larry Curry, the team manager.

http://www.visionracing.com/news/index.cfm?cid=16361

Phil Giebler with playa del racing renamed American Dream Motorsport.

Kingdom Racing fell through I take it? Hamilton was originally signed to them. Good news about Giebler though, he led a lap last year didn't he, the only rookie to do so...?

Lazier, Dominguez, Hamilton & Giebler now brings the entry up to 36 named entries with PDM, Beck & the 2nd Panther still TBA (I am ignoring the 3rd Penske).
Bump day is almost certain.

PDM will probably be Jimmy Kite, and Beck will probably be Yazukawa. I doubt the Penske will be driven by anyone.

It's looking less and less likley we will see PT in this race. His best bet would be getting the third Panther ride but even then he would probably still be behind the Andrettis, Penskes et al.

Why are we ignoring the 3rd Penske car? Could John Andretti have another go in the 2nd panther car?
Do you guys have a clue who will drive the second foyt car?

Penske usually enter a third car for development purposes, they have done for the past few years now. The number is usually 66, but for some reason this year it is 77 which got everyone thinking Hornish would drive it (77 is his Sprint Cup number).

Larry Foyt is supposed to be in the other Foyt machine.

I'm hearing a little bit about Barron in the second Foyt car or a second Beck ride with Yasukawa. Richie Hearn, Stephan Gregoire and Jimmy Kite are actively lookin'.

Why are we ignoring the 3rd Penske car?

Roger Penske told Rusty Wallace it wouldn't be run, (per on air quote from Rusty) on NascarNow about a week ago.

Cue Indiana Jones music.

http://www.indycar.com/news/?story_id=11185

impressive times from the first Rookie Orientation Day at Indy

Will Power - KV Racing - 220.694
EJ Viso - HVM Racing - 220.445
Oriol Servia - KV Racing - 220.102
Alex Lloyd - Rahal Letterman Racing - 219.946
Hideki Mutoh - Andretti Green Racing - 219.824
Ryan Hunter-Reay - Rahal Letterman Racing - 219.797
Jaime Camara - Conquest Racing - 219.175
Graham Rahal - Newman-Haas-Lanigan - 218.619
Justin Wilson - Newman-Haas-Lanigan - 218.142
Enrique Bernoldi - Conquest Racing - 217.338
Jay Howard - Roth Racing - 217.247
Max Papis - Sam Schmidt Motorsport -214.068
Mario Moraes - Dale Coyne Racing -106-445

Slowest quali speed was a 219.2 last year and knowing that these guys are not trying for speed so much as to demonstrate competence it is cool to see such impressive numbers. Bodes well for the race itself.

PDM's owner Paul Diatlovich has said it is unlikely he will run his car, but he is marketing his team's ability to crew and engineer a car for someone else (and the fact that they have a garage space and engine allotment).

Larry Foyt said it's unlikely he'll be in the second Foyt car. I'm thinking that Foyt just put his name on the entry blank just so people would stop speculating about it. If there's an opportunity second weekend, they'll bring the car out. If the field looks solid or someone SuperTex doesn't hate is on the bubble, then the car will stay in the garage. I imagine he'll sorta call it by ear.

American Dream has said it will run a second car, but hasn't announced a driver.

Wow, I didn't realize that Ryan Hunter-Reay still has yet to race at Indy in his career.

And, that must be underlined, no one in the wall.

I was impressed by Mutoh. Just got on with the programme, did a 219 lap and finished early. No drama, just worked through the programme and bring the car back to the garage.
THe same can be said of the Newman-Haas cars. Do what you need to do and that's it.

On the other side of that spectrum, Jay Howard was doing a lot of laps and only in the final part of the day managed to get some speed out of the roth-racing t-car.

All in all a very good day

Great start from Will - hope he can keep it going

hey if the backmarkers stay out of the way we might get an Aussie one - two (any order will do)

What are the phases of the ROP ? What do they consist of ?

I believe it consists of four phases of 10 laps each, 10 at 195, 10 at 200, 10 at 205 and 10 at 210 or above.

I believe it consists of four phases of 10 laps each, 10 at 195, 10 at 200, 10 at 205 and 10 at 210 or above.

That is correct...

thanks

Tmes from the second day of rookie orientation. Superfast times!

Alex Lloyd - Rahal Letterman Racing - 223.853
Hideki Mutoh - Andretti Green Racing - 222.600
Will Power - KV Racing - 222.267
Oriol Servia - KV Racing - 222.089
Graham Rahal - Newman-Haas-Lanigan - 221.155
Justin Wilson - Newman-Haas-Lanigan - 221.029
Ryan Hunter-Reay - Rahal Letterman Racing - 220.839
Enrique Bernoldi - Conquest Racing - 220.314
Bruno Junqueira - Dale Coyne Racing - 220.289
Davey Hamilton - Vision Racing - 219.901
EJ Viso - HVM Racing - 219.568
Max Papis - Sam Schmidt Motorsport -219.101
Jaime Camara - Conquest Racing - 219.175
Mario Moraes - Dale Coyne Racing -215.656
Jay Howard - Roth Racing - 214.587
Mario Dominguez - PCM - 214.358

Wait for tomorrow, before saying superfast.

Anyone seen any pics yet of Marco's car with the new Indy livery?

Indy as in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"

there was one on the Indycar.com homepage.

Wait for tomorrow, before saying superfast.

I know the veterans and favorites are going to go much faster than 223 but, looking at the best speeds for the rookies last year, 223 is really fast.

just read this on indy car, Jay Howard commenting on his day.
What has happened at Roth?

"Just not a very good day for us. It's pretty common knowledge in the paddock a lot of people left Roth Racing last week, and we had no engineers as of yesterday. Fortunate for us, Larry Curry has come on board, but he has definitely had his hands full. It's been a real struggle for us today. Hanging on for dear life and doing slow times is not what we came here to do. Hopefully the guys can put everything right over the next couple of days. We may even sit out tomorrow just to make sure that everything is right. We're not going to try to be heroes and do anything stupid. So far this year, we have had an up and down season, but we have always managed to come away with something good from every day. This is our first day where it's not gone so great."

Tried to find Marco's Indy car on irl.com but could not find it. This is the best I could find on the web

http://i.enewsi.com/g/albums/Entertainment/IndyCar/Indiana-Jones-Car.jpg

Anyone got any other decent pics.

Is there TV coverage of any of the qualifying? Who has it?

ABC and ESPN will definitely have coverage of all four days of qualifying

Tmes from the second day of rookie orientation. Superfast times!

Alex Lloyd - Rahal Letterman Racing - 223.853
Hideki Mutoh - Andretti Green Racing - 222.600
Will Power - KV Racing - 222.267
Oriol Servia - KV Racing - 222.089
Graham Rahal - Newman-Haas-Lanigan - 221.155
Justin Wilson - Newman-Haas-Lanigan - 221.029
Ryan Hunter-Reay - Rahal Letterman Racing - 220.839
Enrique Bernoldi - Conquest Racing - 220.314
Bruno Junqueira - Dale Coyne Racing - 220.289
Davey Hamilton - Vision Racing - 219.901
EJ Viso - HVM Racing - 219.568
Max Papis - Sam Schmidt Motorsport -219.101
Jaime Camara - Conquest Racing - 219.175
Mario Moraes - Dale Coyne Racing -215.656
Jay Howard - Roth Racing - 214.587
Mario Dominguez - PCM - 214.358

Since Bruno has driven Indy four times (and I believe had the pole one of those times), why does he have to go through rookie orientation this year?

The rookie orientation also serves as a refresher course for those who have not driven on an oval in a while or not at all.

Just found this - Danica hit one of Coyne's crew in Marco's pit during Friday practice (concussion & bloody face, but he'll be ok).

http://ballhype.com/video/crewman_struck_by_danica_patrick_s_car_in_indy/

And this one just in - John Andretti is being shown on LT&S as in the no. 24 instead of Jay Howerd (no mention of it as a news item anywhere, so could be a typo)

Andretti is driving the 24 (car of Howard), now, in the last practice befor qualifying (starts in 1.45)

Indy Star confirms the move, but offers no explanation.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080510/SPORTS0107/80510004/1004/SPORTS

Pole day qualifying is on (Video, Audio & LT&S all on indycar.com), Dixon setting the early pace with a 225.1

I have to say that I'm really dissapointed with Roth for replacing Howard with Andretti. I wanted Andretti to get a ride but not at the expense of a promising youngster. With any luck if both of the Roth entries qualify then Howard may get a run in one of the backup cars...but I'm not holding my breath. Not happy!!!!

Howard will be back in the saddle for the next race, apparantly. I hope he tries to get a ride with another team and make the 500! Roth should have been the one benched.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/67319

yep, that's what i would have done, as a team manager, if i was not the driver.

Well, as any fule kno, the way to get a ride in US racing is to be the relative of another driver. E.g. Robby Unser, Jeff Andretti, Michael Waltrip...

This qualifying format is stupid, btw.

This qualifying format is stupid, btw.

Stupid?, maybe.. but it's kept me amused for the last 5 hours..

"This last half hour is going to be kray-zeee" they just promised..

They've turned qualifying into a restrictor plate race. Hang around for ages then nail it at the last second.

I think Wheldon has a good chance at getting the pole. He turned 4 laps in the 226 mark that would have been the pole time had it been a qualifying run.

They call it "entertainment".

Hard hit for Hunter Reay, but he's climbed out and showing no signs he's in pain.

Dan has a run but only goes to second (from third).

Dixon wins the pole.

That's it,

Dixon 226,366
Wheldon 226,110
Briscoe 226,080
Castroneves 225,733
Patrick 225,197
Kanaan 224,794
M. Andretti 224,417
Meira 224,346
Mutoh 223,887
Carpenter 223,835
Scheckter 223,496

On ya Scotty

Now just go out and win the thing

nice one Scott.
awesome!

Scott Dixon has had some success at Indianapolis (three top-10 finishes, including runner-up last year), but the 2003 IRL champion is still looking for his first 500-mile win; 2008 will be the first time he has started on the front row at the Brickyard.

Dan Wheldon has started the Indy 500 on the front row twice. Both times, he finished the race one position behind where he started: in 2004, he started second and finished third, while he finished fourth from third in 2006. His 2005 Indy win came from the sixteenth starting position.

Ryan Briscoe has only qualified for the Indy 500 twice, but he finished the race ahead of his starting position on both occasions. In 2005, he finished tenth from twenty-fourth for Chip Ganassi, while he moved from seventh to fifth last year for Luczo-Dragon Racing.

Helio Castroneves has six top-10 finishes at Indy, but his third-place outing last year was his first podium at the 500 since his runner-up finish in 2003. He has only started from the second row once in his career: in 2005, he started fifth and finished ninth.

Danica Patrick has never placed outside the top ten in the race or in qualifying at Indianapolis. Her fifth-place starting position is her best qualifying effort for the 500 since starting fourth during her 2005 rookie season.

Tony Kanaan's sixth-place qualifying effort is the worst starting position of his Indy career.

Marco Andretti started ninth at both of his previous runnings at Indy.

Vitor Meira has never finished worse than twelfth in five tries at the 500.

Hideki Mutoh's ninth-place starting position ties him with Kosuke Matsuura in 2004 for the second-best qualifying effort by an Indy rookie from Japan; Tora Takagi started seventh for his first Indy 500 in 2002.

Ed Carpenter's tenth-place starting position is his best in five tries at Indy; his previous best was twelfth, in 2006.

Tomas Scheckter finds himself in a familiar position: all seven of his Indy starts have come from the fourth row.

Well done Ryan :D great qualifying effor there

Needs a craker of a start to have a chance

I haven't got a link but I've heard a rumour that Jeff Simmons may make his way into the #41 Foyt car. If so then good for him...and better for Foyt than to have Larry running around the track crashing into anything that moves.

There are also still rumours that Paul Tracy may make it to Indy through Penske lending Walker their #77 car.

Roger Yasukawa, Alex Barron and Franck Perera are all still being linked with the Beck car and it is possible that he'll run two cars if he can scrape together enough sponsorship from somewhere.

PDM have yet to announce anything much and we'll be lucky to see them get on track. The same is true for the second Panther entry. If either get on track then with any luck they'll hire somebody with a chance of getting them in the field such as Jacques Lazier or Stephan Gregoire, both of whom are still actively looking for a ride.

American Dream have said that Jacques is definatly not driving for them...but somebody else apart from Giebler may well do. There are still tons of rumours about a second ADR car. Whether any of these have any factual content remains to be seen though.

With any luck Roth will be able to field a third car for poor Jay Howard. Andretti MAY be bringing Camping World money again & if so, and both cars manage to qualify fairly safely, Roth may do the decent thing and give Howard a go in a backup.

I wouldn't give up on seeing a few extra cars appearing from around the place as qualifying draws to a close, especially from Foyt who can never be ruled out from trying to get another of his cars in the mix, no matter how badly his other cars are doing, or possibly even from HVM, who originally announced that they would try to be a 2 car team from Indy. They may try to get the spare into the mix if Viso qualifys well. We will see!!!

And well done to Scott Dixon for getting the pole! :)

Simmons confirmed for the 41 Foyt machine.

http://www.indycar.com/news/story.php?story_id=11314

Good :)

Yazukawa in at Beck.

http://www.indycar.com/news/?story_id=11335

Latest rumours from the track (ranging from maybe to very unlikely):

Alex Barron in a second Panther entry
Walker taking over the 3rd Penske
Jay Howard getting a last minute reprieve & running a 3rd Ganassi

I doubt the Ganassi one...his third is a shared entry with Alex Lloyd sitting the Rahal Letterman 16 car, who was cleared to drive again today....Ganassi won't dilute his regular two-car effort by getting personnel involved in another car for Jay Howard, IMO

The Walker deal needs to happen ASAP, if it is going to fly at all...

Panther said last week that they have received a lot of offers on the second car, but they want to focus on Vitor Meira's race, and with the weather forecast here, they are going to get very limited track time this week to dial in their race setup....they could conceivably lease the car to someone, but i'm not sure if they'll run it themselves.

I'd love to see all of those but I think that all are now very unlikely, especially with such a high chance of more rain.

Love the Wii Fitness livery on Lloyd's car btw :)

Richie Hearn has a deal for bump day only, Paul Tracy rumours won't go away (but I can't see how he would stand a chance) & Jay Howerd MAY get a last minute reprieve.

Trouble at Conquest Racing...? Apprantly they were offering Ģ10,000 to any driver to qualify the car but let Camara race it. No driver stepped up, and Camara is trying to qualifying it today. Only ran a 217 in his run.

They may very well replace him outright however, according to the commentators on IndyCar.com. Apparantly the driver is a veteran who was talking to another team. They dropped a clue as to who it was - something to do with a French sea diver named Jake? They also said he was a former winner and sometimes serves as an analysist on IndyCar.com. Ideas anyone?

french version of the name Jake is Jaques, family connection hmmm... Lazier by any chance? (he turned them down BTW, but if somebody else showed up then I am sure the offer stands).

its worth $10,000 for the driver that wants it (plus there is prize money for the final qualifier)

Apparantly it costs a driver Ģ35,000 for insurance though. Great if you have a team to pay for it, otherwise Ģ10,000 dosen't help a whole lot...

If I were Barnhart I wouldn't let Camara race under those circumstances. It wouldn't be safe. I think Dick Simon was the last rookie to buy a spot and that was when he'd been weathered out, IIRC.

The team has to be paying for that otherwise they might as well call it a day on qualifying.

Personally I think it must be difficult to find a driver who is willing to do all the leg work and reap none of the rewards.

Maybe Conquest should ask Milka Duno how she kept finding people to be her team mate.

The provisional starting grid:http://www.indy500.com/grid/

At least three cars will try and make the race on bump day. AJ Foyt IV is one of them...

http://www.indy500.com/images/news/2008/images/bumpdayqualorder.pdf

The provisional starting grid:http://www.indy500.com/grid/

At least three cars will try and make the race on bump day. AJ Foyt IV is one of them...

http://www.indy500.com/images/news/2008/images/bumpdayqualorder.pdf


Papis, Foyt and Dominguez all lave a legitimate shot at qualifying in - Roth looks to be in trouble. I can't wait to see what happens with Papis.

I'd love to see all of those, especially Papis in the field. It would be a shame though for Buddy Lazier to get bumped as I'd love to see what he could do in that car with a bit more practice time.

Rumour has it that American Dream are still trying desperatly to get their hands on a dallara chassis & they may still try to get Jacques Lazier to drive it for them. A shame for Giebler that he didn't get a better run but if the team want any hope of getting into the field they need a more experienced driver, rather than a driver that just qualified last year and who has only run just over 100 laps. If Giebler was to do the car & himself justice it really needed to be a second week programme at the very least, rather than 'lets just try our hardest to get him out there on the same day he actually has to qualify the thing.'

so how does bump day work? can anyone be bumped or only to a certain level?

anyone can be bumped. The slowest car, regardless of day, is on the bubble.

Thanks for that! So do only those who think their current time won't be good enough usually run? Or can you improve your position by running a faster time? Is pole position locked in?

Does anyone know if the race will be telecast in Australia on any free to air networks this year?

I don't believe we'll see Phil Giebler out today. That crash of his was massive on only his 15th lap or something of the month. He'd just gotten the panoz up to 218 mph but that was a hard hit.

I think if the final row gets bumped today we'll see a fantastic battle between the Beck, Hemelgarn, Roth entries and both Conquest entries for the final spot. It's going to fun!

Does anyone know if the race will be telecast in Australia on any free to air networks this year?

They stream every race on IndyCar.com, but you may be limited to the blimp cam.

If the system hasn't changed, the cars who qualify today will start behind the cars who qualified yesterday, even if their laptimes are faster.

Does anyone know if the race will be telecast in Australia on any free to air networks this year?
dont know about Free to Air but ESPN on Foxsports has it live :woot:

Well gang, speaking only for myself, I just enjoyed the snot out of Bump Day!

If this is what we get such a short time after reunification, I can't wait for the race and am really looking forward to next year (and better weather) already!

Super drive from Buddy Lazier to stick that beast onto the starting grid...

Really was exciting wasnt it John :)

Full Grid can be found HERE (http://www.ten-tenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=106502) which will also become the Race preperation and race thread :)

Buddy just drives a beautiful line around Indy...

And yeah, it was cool to see the teams literally wrenching the cars on their way to tech to try and find that extra mile-an-hour!

Didn't know what to do as my Penguins were playing trying to move on to the Stanley Cup Finals and then you have five or six guys trying to bump into the field at Indy...life is good! Just kept the remote busy...

Check out Dixon's very best Zoolander Blue Steel on the front page of indycar.com...

Buddy just drives a beautiful line around Indy...

And yeah, it was cool to see the teams literally wrenching the cars on their way to tech to try and find that extra mile-an-hour!

Didn't know what to do as my Penguins were playing trying to move on to the Stanley Cup Finals and then you have five or six guys trying to bump into the field at Indy...life is good! Just kept the remote busy...

I wrote about Buddy's classic racing line (The groove) in my pre-Pole Day column a couple of weeks ago, and in my column that will be up later today, also talked about the particulars of his run.

They dialed out 2 degrees of rear wing to get a negative setting on teh rear downforce...in that kind of wind, it was a real roll of the dice, but with a veteran like Buddy behind the wheel, that's how you make the show by an eyelash at Indy.