Wilson Takes Belle Isle: Indycar Finale Hot for Chicagoland

Congratulations to Justin Wilson for taking the street course race at Belle Isle in Detroit. I felt bad for Helio that he didn't get a warning from IRL officials before being penalized for blocking, but anytime you make two moves, it's hard to justify keeping the position. Barnhart's explanation after the race was reasonable and Helio's ABC interview was priceless but you knew he was mad when he said "Save me Jackie. I don't have anything smart to say!" I'm sure the Penske brigade wasn't happy either since their ALMS team got a penalty for blocking in the Saturday race at the Isle. But seriously folks: is that a real race track? Give me a break. Nowhere to pass. Lots of empty area with no fans along the riverside. I've seen better events on I-465 here around Indy. At least there's some passing. Anyway, good job Newman Haas Lanigan. That's two now for the pre-eminent former Champ Car team and they have managed to upstage KV Racing in terms of results this season. Good for them!

The other big news this week was about drivers for 2009. Ever the bridesmaid, Vitor Meira is out at Panther and Wheldon is in. Dario Franchitti is back from his aborted NASCAR foray in the other Target seat. How odd it will be to see him teamed with Dixon next year when they fought it out to the last corner of the last lap at Chicagoland last year. It will be good to see him back in open wheel racing. Maybe Penske can bring back Hornish now and all will be right with the world. At least until Tony Stewart decides to let someone else drive his Stewart Racing Sprint Cup car and come back to Indycars where he belongs...

So now it all comes down to one race and two men with a shot at the championship: Helio and Dixon wheel to wheel. 30 points between them so if Dixon finishes 8th or better, Helio has to accept second. Meanwhile Scott Speed and the ARCA boys will run Saturday night in the prelim that should be quite exciting. This race was a crash fest on Saturday afternoon last year and I'm glad they moved it to the evening for Speed TV this year. Then Sunday the action starts early with Indy Lights warmup and race before the Indycar "hot laps" and the main event to wrap things up in the afternoon. I'm looking forward to it all, but the schedule is so jammed Sunday I doubt I will have time to post anything from the race track like I did from Kentucky. We'll see.

Maybe I'll see you there.

Indycars go to Detroit: 2 to Go - 2 Man Show

Will Helio and Dixon be on a collision course this weekend?

Will others play a role to preserve the championship race one more week? Will "one of them misfortunate things" (as AJ used to say) befall one or the other? How will team tactics play out? What about an "inadvertent" bump or spin? Don't forget all the furor about the "intentional" spin from last year's race folks. By now, Dixon must be lamenting his St. Pete finish. And his screw up at the Glen. And last week's slow going at Sonoma. So what was a large points lead not all that long ago is now down to less than one race worth of points. And Helio finally got a win to go with his remarkable record of 7 second place finishes this year. I'm sure both teams will pull out all the stops this weekend, and both Dixon and Helio will want to be on the front row since track position will be essential at Belle Isle. That should make Turn 1 interesting!

Back soon. I'm couch racing this weekend but I'll have an opinion anyway and I'll be at the Chicagoland finale next weekend for the third year running. I hope it goes down to the last lap like the last two years.

Indy Racing League Kentucky Follow-up

I am off the road now for a few weeks and have had an awesome weekend at the Indiana Dunes to recharge and get ready for the wrap up of my racing season over the next month. I'll do some of the US Nationals at ORP over Labor Day weekend, then head to Chicago the next weekend for the ARCA/IRL show and I am excited to see they are running the ARCA event at night that weekend. SPEED TV probably dictated that. Then back to Indiana roots at IMS for the MotoGP event wrapped around the ARCA Salem fixture. Then it will be time to edit down my best of the season for American Motor Journal and start thinking about next year. By Christmas, I'm sure I'll be asking the tired old question:

"It it May yet?"

Here's a slideshow with some keepers from my Kentucky IRL work. I love shooting from the outside at that track and I managed to cover everything with a little legwork and sweat. Well, maybe more than a little. See ya next time!

Battistini Takes Kentucky Indy Lights Win

Dillon Battistini held off fierce challenges from James Davison and Arie Luyendyk Jr. to win the Kentucky Indy Lights 100 mile event tonight. Indy winner Battistini controlled the pace of the race from the front, leading every lap except the first one. Lots of drivers had trouble on a night when three and four wide pack racing was the rule rather than the exception. It looked like the race would end under yellow when a backmarker spun with less than two laps to go but he got out of harms way and the Indy Lights officials waved the white flag anyway. After the gift Davison got at Mid Ohio last month, he seemed pleased with a second place finish and was gesturing madly prior to the podium ceremonies about what looked like close calls and wheel banging during the event. These young guys sure can put on a show given the chance.

This is my last post for the evening before I hit the road for Indy. Thanks to Don Hamilton and American Motor Journal again for the opportunity. I'm loving every minute of it. It was a beautiful night for racing. Next year, they need to run the IRL race later so we get the added thrill of the bright lights. Maybe the new contract with Versus will get that changed. I'm sure the Lights guys enjoyed it. They probably felt like they were the feature, even though the stands were half full when they ran.

One last observation: for a race they said was sold out, there were a lot of fans dressed up as empty seats tonight. I wonder what that was all about.

The US Nationals are next up for me. Night qualifying. Awesome. Loud. Earth shaking. Flame throwing. My one night of the year for the straight line brigade. It should be fun!

Dixon Lucky & Good at Kentucky!

Scott Dixon overtook Helio on the last lap tonight after a Penske fuel gamble backfired in a desperate attempt to get the Brazilian into the winner's circle. Marco Andretti ran one of his strongest races in a long time and battled Dixon throughout the race. Late fuel stops scrambled the leader board several times and the outcome was in doubt to the very end. I covered a lot of territory tonight and was in Kanaan's pit for his final splash & go. Too bad for Mutoh that he had mechanical problems as he looked good early. Next up is the Indy Lights race and perhaps Ana Beatriz can pick up another win for the fairer sex. She looked great at Nashville and this should be another good test. Matos is on pole again and he has been tough everywhere in the AGR "junior" team so keep an eye on him too.



Back to work!

Kentucky Speedway IRL Update

I just took my first walk through pit lane and the garage area. I like to walk the pits to see who's pitting where and there hasn't been much mystery this season. It's usually the Target team, Penske and AGR at pit out and today is no exception. Mutoh has the pit closest to pit out of any of the AGR drivers which could be an advantage for him.

Not many drivers out in the garage area yet but the bombs are going off now for the start of pre-race festivities. There's supposed to be an ATV jump in front of the driver intro stage on the front stretch which should be strange. Must be a Bombardier tie-in. I only saw Scott Dixon in the garage are by the team haulers but he was surrounded by autograph seekers. He looked confident and even a little cocky, judging by the look on his face at right. There was the usual crowd around the Danica hauler but she never comes out until the last minute and is always mobbed. I'll get her in driver intros.





Sarah Fisher's car looks gorgeous, with Dollar General sponsorship and a bright yellow paint job. She's back in 16th starting position but after her unfortunate run-in with TK at Indy, I'm sure she's glad to be back on track. She's won pole here at Kentucky before and has run well in the past so it could be a good night for her.

I've got to go out and get ready for the festivities now and go to work so I'll be back later.

Live from Kentucky Speedway: 2 Hours to Pre-Race

A great day for a drive today from Indianapolis down I65 through Madison, Indiana and along the Kentucky side of Ohio River. Right now I'm live from the media center at Kentucky Speedway. When I got to the credential building at 2:30, the line was out into the parking lot and traffic was already backing up with fans getting to the parking lot. I've heard the race sold out yesterday and they started selling some standing room tickets today. The green flag flies at 6:36 tonight and they'll run into the twilight under the lights. I'm loving these Saturday night races!

It should be a great show with 26 cars starting the race behind Scott Dixon on pole with Meira 2nd and Wheldon 3rd. I'm sticking with my darkhorse candidate, Hideki Mutoh, to contend for the win. He will start 4th and has so far this weekend outshone his other AGR teammates, with Kanaan 7th and Marco 9th. Danica is starting shotgun on the field after crashing in practice and missing qualifying, so it will be very interesting to see how she fares coming up through the pack. She may have to play a track position game to make up ground. She'll have to wend her way through a number of the transition team drivers as they did not qualify well. The biggest surprise to me was Marty Roth who will start 11th. Servia and Power with KV are the highest starting transition team drivers in 12th & 13th. The Vision team continues to start well with Carpenter 8th and Foyt 10th. We'll see how well they race, as this is a track where speed and handling both matter. A pole speed of 218+ is plenty fast for a 1.5 mile oval and race laps over 210 should be the norm. Two-wide and three-wide racing is also expected and that should make for an exciting race, and good photo ops.

Everything's a photo op when you get right down to it, so today it will be another challenge with the skies darkening and the Musco light system firing up as the event wears on. Then the Indy Lights take the track so it will be a long night. Back again soon with more.

Indy Racing League Tackles Kentucky Next

With the 2008 season in the home stretch of the final four points-paying races, it seems only fitting that the IRL would be heading to horse racing country this weekend. I am really looking forward to seeing this event since it could make or break the championship hopes of many drivers. Scott Dixon could put some real distance between himself and others if he runs well here like he did last year. Pretenders or contenders will be the question this weekend. I'm sure Wheldon will do whatever he can to aid team tactics if he isn't in a position to win outright.

I do expect Tony Kanaan to rise above the internal furor of the Andretti Green team and challenge for the win.

The Penske duo of Helio and Briscoe can't be counted out though. Helio has been extremely consistent but his winless streak continues so I'm sure he will be highly motivated to get back into the winner's circle. I wouldn't be disappointed to have the chance to shoot some fence climbing this weekend. This was not one of the better tracks for Penske last year as Hronish crashed out and Helio never really was on the pace, even though he and TK had a bit of a run-in as I recall. Those wacky Brazilians!

This could also be a surprise opportunity for Hideki Mutoh to sneak into victory lane since he won here last year in Indy Lights from pole position . He had a great duel with Alex Loyd and he could be pumped up to return to Kentucky Speedway. I don't think Danica's luck will change this weekend and it will be nice to see Sarah Fisher back on track again.

The IRL has announced its TV package for 2009 now so the only outstanding items are a season sponsor and the disposition of a race in Australia. The schedule is set up for the Surfer's event and although it seems odd that the IRL would settle for the Versus network for the majority of its races, having the 500 and three others tbd on ABC will still be a good deal for the league. With ESPN married to NASCAR, I'm not surprised the IRL had to look elsewhere, but if the speculation is true that the IRL is paying for the TV slots, then that would be disconcerting. Perhaps increased sanctioning fees and overall event attendance will make up for that. If Versus can give some more comprehensive coverage without the need to limit starting and ending times, that would be great. No more waiting for golf to be over and still miss the start, like at Mid Ohio this year.

August 09 looks like one of the best months of the schedule for me so I better get my room reservations made! At least Kentucky is close enough to go down and back the same day. I did it in May the night before the Indy 500 so this can't possibly be that bad!

Brickyard Redux - Kentucky Indycars Next

A few final thoughts on the 2008 Brickyard to consider:

Does NASCAR need to look at repositioning the exhaust from its current location? Judging from this photo of Sam Hornish lifting to negotiate Turn 1 at Indy during qualifying, I'm wondering if this wasn't a contributing factor for the right rear tire problems. Certainly looks like it could have been, knowing how much everyone had to lift off the gas to make it through the corners.


Not a bad day for the open wheel guys after all. Nothing torn up except for Juan Pablo's tire failure early in the day. Yeley, Newman, Hornish, McDowell , Allmendinger et al managed to get to the finish which is more than can be said for some of the stock car regulars. And anyone that knows me knows I pull for the open wheel guys first and foremost. Awful day for Stewart though, and I'm glad he left before talking to the media. His radio show comments the next day seemed out of character, but then he had just had a run-in with USAC officials at ORP during the weekend, so maybe he was feeling gracious. Or just being sarcastic, more likely.

I was especially pleased to see Michael McDowell get to the end with his MWR Toyota in one piece.

Saturday morning I had been walking around the team haulers in the garage area annex and got the chance to shake his hand and talk to him briefly to wish him well. After doing some photo work for him last year during his ARCA season, I have a special appreciation for what he is dealing with and always hope he does well. His Texas crash earlier this year was unbelievable and the guy manning the MWR souvenir trailer told me that Mikey almost broke Dale Jarrett's arm punching him while watching the whole thing unfold from the top of their hauler that day. Funny the stories you hear at the race track sometimes. Now I've got a McDowell t-shirt to go with the ARCA stuff from last year so I hope he puts on a charge the rest of this season as he gets back to some tracks he's already run on once.

But enough about NASCAR. The following slide show will let you see some other things I saw.

Now I'm focusing my sights on going to Kentucky Speedway this coming weekend to shoot the Indy Racing League and Firestone Indy Lights races for American Motor Journal. Kentucky is a fun track to shoot and I've been fortunate to get there several times over the last couple of years. I went to the very first IRL race they held at Kentucky several years ago and the access is much improved since then. That race was where I first discovered Sam Hornish Jr. and immediately became a fan as he drove the wheels off an underfunded (as usual) PDM entry and battled Jacques Lazier wheel to wheel for about 30 laps. Kentucky also means there are only four more points races for the IRL season title and anything can happen, even though Dixon would clearly have to be labeled the favorite with 2 ovals and 2 road courses left. I will get to go to Chicagoland in September for the points finale again this year. If the points chase is half as exciting as last year at the Joliet track, IRL fans are in for a real treat once again. Some people don't like the 1.5 mile tracks but they are great for showcasing wheel to wheel racing at its best, especially now that Michigan is no longer on the schedule.

Speaking of schedules, the 2009 IRL schedule is out already. Rumors about the demise of Nashville have proven true, being replaced by the street race in Toronto. No big surprise there, since Andretti is the promoter and Toronto has always been well attended. Other race dates have been shuffled for next season and I still expect Surfer Paradise to slot in between Motegi and Homestead as a points race next year which would give Indycars 19 races, 9 of which would be on road or street courses. I hate to see ovals drop from the schedule, especially ones which have supported the IRL from the early days, but Nashville is essentially a one groove track, and the teams have never really been able to come to terms with the concrete surface to get a second lane worked in for better racing. I will miss the road trip and I sure feel badly for the folks in Tennessee who have supported this event and their home track. But there's more money to be made elsewhere and unification will bring other pressures on the schedule in the future.

Now if the IRL can get a season sponsor and a better TV deal, maybe some of that pressure goes away. It will be interesting to follow over the coming months. It is hard to believe the season is almost over already, as this summer has flown past. It won't be long before I ask "Is It May Yet" and we'll do it all over again in 2009. But Kentucky is next, so Sparta here I come!

Johnson Steals Sprint Cup Fiasco at the Brickyard

Goodyear and NASCAR should be ashamed. This year's Brickyard 400 was anything but a race, and for all of NASCAR's crowing about putting on a "show" and caring about the fans, the people who started leaving around lap 80 from the South Vista across from my shooting location in Turn 1 spoke volumes about the real story for this year's event. This will have to go down in racing history with some of the greatest sports blunders and the Speedway had nothing to do with it: don't let anyone tell you otherwise. In many ways this was worse than the F1 farce when the Michelin teams pulled off the Indy track a couple of years ago because everyone knows Bernie and his Euro pals never gave a rat's ass about racing at the Speedway. For an American based stock car series with a US tire manufacturer to come into town and mishandle this event is simply unconscionable.

It has taken me a couple of days to gather my thoughts and try to calm down but I am still livid. While I understand all the talk about safety and not wanting anyone to get hurt if tires failed, racing is a dangerous sport in the first place and there are risks of tire or equipment failure every time they turn a wheel on a racetrack anywhere. So why wasn't this tire problem addressed between the April tire tests and now? Many people had to have known during Friday practice that there was a problem. Even Sunday morning on race day there was talk about an early competition yellow, which I can understand but EIGHT of them? That is just absurd. At least in 1985 at the Michigan CART event, when tires started blowing, they postponed the darned thing and brought in some proper tires. Of course we know why NASCAR couldn't do that this week - they have to be in Pocono Friday and they wanted to save the equipment. There were times during the race when I wanted to throw my camera equipment to the ground over what I was witnessing. When the people in South Vista started chanting "Let them race", I got even more upset. I was a fan before I was a photographer and I've never seen anything like the travesty that NASCAR foisted on us all Sunday.

Some called it the Competition Yellow 400. I call it BS. I felt like I had just experienced a traveling circus come to town where the performers were all smiling while selling snake oil and stealing everyone's wallets before hitting the road with a promise to return next year. I had a feeling something wasn't right Saturday afternoon during the practice sessions following qualifying, but I couldn't put my finger on it. What I saw was no one running in packs like in a normal happy hour. No one ran more than 3 or 4 laps at a time. People were lifting like crazy going into Turn 1 and again into Turn 2, so that told me the cars were seriously loose. And then while watching the talking heads on SPEED's "Victory Lane" show on Sunday night, I wanted to come through the TV set and punch Kenny Wallace and Jimmy Spencer for all the hype they continued to lather on. All I could think of on the way home from the Speedway was "how are they going to dress this pig up?" Those guys tried lipstick and pretty dresses but it was still a porker in a slop pen. Contrast that show with Dave Despain's "Wind Tunnel", who doesn't appear to fear NASCAR for his job, and I think you get some idea that the truth lies somewhere in between. There were lots of empty seats in the south end of the Speedway Sunday and I doubt some of those folks will be back next year to the Brickyard.

Everyone's already asked the questions about lack of tire testing (only three teams in April when it was cool) and why Goodyear didn't act on what little data they had with the new car style, so I will take another tack and ask a few other questions. Why was there all the talk about "rubbering up" the track but no real track time allowed? Getting on the track for the first time Friday afternoon for a couple of hours isn't going to help anyone fix handling problems if they're not close right off the truck. Why not open up the track for practice from noon to 6 on Friday just like in May? Let them run some laps. Buy some more tires. Put some rubber down. And why isn't there another practice session Saturday morning before qualifying? Having two one hour sessions after qualifying makes no sense. If rubber on the track is an issue for these cars, then give them track time. Or is it more important for the teams to get their drivers out for sponsor promos and the other races in town at ORP? Do they come to race or just sell souvenirs? I keep saying to myself, "enough of the vitriol" but the more I write the more pissed I get that this debacle was allowed to grace the hallowed grounds of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

I've been to all 15 Brickyard events and though Indy is not a track that has historically been conducive to the side by side stock car action usually seen on the high banks, at least there has been drama most years, and they actually competed to win a 400 mile race, not a series of 25 mile sprints. If I wanted to see sprint races, I'd go to Kokomo or Bloomington or Paragon. In the end, I will say that the best car did appear to win this event -- and you will note that I have refused to call this thing a race in this blog post -- as Jimmie Johnson won the pole and was one of the few who actually appeared to be able to pass anyone under what little green flag time they had. So congratulations Jimmy, Chad and the Lowe's team. You owe us a race next year.


And NASCAR, don't you dare forget: 2009 will be 100 years since Carl Fisher and friends laid out the Speedway as an automotive proving ground for the fledgling auto industry in Indianapolis.

What are you going to prove on your return?

Yesterday USAC - Tomorrow NASCAR Hits the Bricks

Last night I got to go back to my roots again to shoot the USAC midget and Silver Crown series races at O'Reilly Raceway Park. The big cars are back and boy are they sweet, although they do look cumbersome compared to the midgets. One of the worst decisions USAC ever made was to try to introduce a long track car to replace the traditional Silver Crown vehicles. These are the closest race cars around to the heritage of the old champ cars that ran at Indianapolis in the roadster days. Plus the big boys from NASCAR were in town to have a fun night at ORP, with Carl Edwards there as a midget car owner, Kasey Kahne as an owner-driver of a midget, and Ryan Newman piloting a Silver Crown car. Tony Stewart was there too with his family and getting kudos for the charity work of his foundation with police dogs. I also saw Johnny Benson, and of course Billy Boat, former IRL driver, crewing for his son Chad, who unfortunately had a bad night.

It was a great opportunity for me to do some more work with flash photography and night racing, which has proven to be tricky. SOme guys are pushing all the way to 3200 ISO but adding "portable daylight" gives the pix a crisper look with more detail in my opinion. Now that I have a battery pack, I don't have to worry as much about carrying extra batteries or having the flash crap out in the middle of something. Another photo challenge.

So tomorrow it's back to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where NASCAR brings the new car for the first time, and only a handful of teams have even tested the "COT". Little E was here for the Goodyear test a few weeks ago so he could have an advantage along with the other teams that came. But the real guys to watch are going to be Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart. Kyle because he's been winning everything in sight and loves to manhandle a loose race car, and Stewart because, well he's Tony and this place is home. He's won the Brickyard twice now and he can handle a loose car as well as anyone, especially at Indy where he's probably got more laps than anyone. I'll be back with more once I finish my assignments at IMS for American Motor Journal but in the meantime, click on the following photo slideshow to look at a few pix from last night at ORP. Enjoy!

More Mid Ohio Action - Back Home Again in Indy

After driving roughly 1300 miles the last two weekends following Indycars to Nashville and Mid Ohio Sports Car Course, it's good to be back in Indy. Shooting digital is a blessing and a curse, I tell you! Flash cards hold a ridiculous number of images, even at the largest file sizes. Getting them saved, sorted and edited is time consuming.

But those are also good features of high speed digital photography as I get to re-live the race looking at the pix. Shooting at 5 of more frames per second is like watching a movie and blinking repeatedly -- you don't really "see" what the camera is capturing. An old rule of thumb is: if you see it you didn't get the picture. So I have to look at everything afterwards (and then watch the DVD recorded while at the race of course) to really understand what happened sometimes. It's especially bad on road courses where walking from place to place to shoot takes time, PA systems usually are woefully weak (with earplugs in, it's almost impossible to hear anything but car noise anyway), and the quest for variety in my images pushes me from spot to spot. It's all good.

This week, much of the racing world will focus on Indianapolis again, with the Sprint Cup teams converging on the westside for the Brickyard 400 for the 15th time. It's hard to believe there have been that many already! I'm ready to go, having picked up my credentials today to cover the event for American Motor Journal, and it will be nice to sleep in my own bed and still get to racetracks! I also get to shoot the USAC midgets and Silver Crown series run Thursday night at O'Reilly Raceway Park so that will be fun and another opportunity to perfect my high speed flash work. The only thing missing this year are boats, F1 and lawnmowers I suppose!


Click on the following image to see a collection of Indycar, Indy Lights and American LeMans series action from Mid Ohio. Post #101 and counting! Call me the rain man when you see me at the track and be sure to bring a poncho.

Indy Racing League Indy Lights American LeMans Series

Fans Swarm Mid Ohio for IRL & ALMS Double - Penskes Rule

There's a TV ad out now from an insurance company that has the tag line, "life comes at you fast" and that's certainly been the case for me lately. This weekend at Mid Ohio was an absolute whirlwind, leaving Indy at 6 a.m. Saturday, finishing editing over 1300 images Saturday night, then back up at 6 Sunday for a 7:15 photo meeting, rain, multiple races, then leaving the track finally at 6:30 and arriving home after 11:30 last night.

But it's all good and I'm sure the humongous crowd at Mid Ohio was thrilled with the show put on by the ALMS and Indycar series over the weekend. The Lights race Sunday was very entertaining too, since it rained right before the start and multiple yellows led to a confusing finish where the leader at the time pulled into the pits under yellow thinking he had won the race, but he came in too soon and gave the race away!

Right now I'm running again but wanted to get at least a couple pix up as I never had time this weekend. I'll come back later and add more here and on my picasa and flickr pages. In the meantime, I'm wondering if the IRL championship tables maybe turning with all the road courses coming up. Better check those standings each week from here to Chicagoland to see who might make a charge from the transition teams. Edmonton should be a true test since the champ car guys have been there before and IRL has not. Wilson was especially strong at Mid Ohio so I expect him to break through soon.

Back in a little while folks. Thanks for listening (if you're out there!). I've now done 100 posts on this blog so if you've been touching base every once in awhile, I thank you for that. Drop a comment off once in awhile!

Nashville IRL Notes

Having been back in Indy for a day now, I have had some more time to go through my pix from the races at Nashville Superspeedway and am generally pretty happy. I shot more with flash at high speed settings and there are more lessons learned every time I go to a racetrack it seems. Night races are tricky anyway and the lighting always seems better to the eye than the camera perceives it, so that's one. Another is the need to shoot at higher ISO and shutter speeds, even with the digital noise that brings sometimes. It's still better than pushing film to 1600 or higher. I'll take digital over film any day.

So now I set my sights on the Mid Ohio weekend ahead for the ALMS and Indycars. I just finished watching the DVD I recorded of last weekend's ALMS race at Lime Rock and I would expect this weekend to go about the same. The P2 cars should be quicker than the P1 cars at Mid Ohio since it is such a twisty track with relatively few places to pass. It's too bad there aren't more P1 cars available, but they sure are beautiful regardless of the car count. Dealing with traffic from the GT cars always makes these races interesting. And I would expect to see Marco run both races to get more road racing seat time, as the IRL now has more road races left on the schedule than ovals. That is going to make the Kentucky and Chicago races even more interesting and even though it looks like Dixon is poised to take the title, there are still lots of laps to run and anything can happen. Watch for Rahal, Wilson, Servia and the other transition teams to be even more competitive this weekend than at the Glen. It should be fun.

In the meantime, click on the following photo of TK racing with young Rahal to go to my picasa album page for more from both Nashville races this past weekend. See you Saturday, or maybe before. If you're out there reading this, then please leave a comment or two.

Nashville Indy Racing League and Indy Lights races

Dixon Takes Nashville IRL Win - Mid Ohio Next

After another wet weekend, I'm back in Indy following a 687 mile trek to the concrete oval at Nashville Superspeedway. Just call me "Rain Man." Salem, Indy, Mid Ohio. Now Nashville. Everywhere I go the rains seem to follow. This time, the event was effected dramatically when the lightning brought an early finish as the skies opened up to drench us all. This shot is from Dixon's mid-race pit stop when it looked even then like rain might shorten the event.

Scott Dixon's Target team gave him the call too late for a final pit stop, but the blue liveried machine inherited the win after 171 laps when the rains came again, this time in earnest, and ended the day's action. With rumors flying in the local media and at the track that this may be the last IRL visit to Nashville, Scottie D made it a memorable one to take his third straight win at the Tennessee racetrack. While the racing is not typically as heated here as at some of the other larger asphalt ovals, the close calls are numerous every year. Marco got caught out early and spun into Ryan Briscoe's path taking them both out. Everyone trying to pass lapped cars had to take chances they wouldn't ordinarily take to keep pace. But that's normal here. And I guess it's fitting that Dixon has won all three times I've been to Nashville, the last two effected by rain. Tony Kanaan and Danica were the ones most effected by Dixon staying on track, as they pitted around lap 148 for the last time, Dixon did not, then rain came. Wheldon and Helio inherited second and third and seemed quite happy to pick up some additional hardware when the victory "podium" ceremonies were completed in the media room once the race was finally called.

Rains came earlier in the afternoon too - just as the Indy Lights drivers were being called to their cars for their 100 mile race, but the shower was brief and sun and wind got them on track a little after 5 p.m. local time. Ana Beatriz made history becoming the first woman to win an Indy Lights race, which is doubly cool since she's also a Brazilian and everyone knows how quick the Brazilian men seem to be wherever (and whatever) they race. She started outside Row 1 and dropped back early on the newly green racetrack and then drove her way from fourth to first as her main competitors, teammate and pole sitter James Davison, Jeff Simmons and others all ran into problems (or other cars as was the case with Davison). Bobby Wilson and Arie Luyendyk Jr. Followed her home without really mounting much of a challenge as far as I could see.

It was a great weekend all the way around as the drive back today was clear and traffic was moving well. Having a travel companion made it really enjoyable and it was nice to share the passion for this crazy racing game with someone who hasn't experienced it much before. And a special thanks to Don Hamilton and American Motor Journal for helping to make that happen. Next weekend I hit the road again to go back to Mid Ohio for the ALMS and Indycar race weekend, so I guess I better be prepared for rain again. Or maybe I should say the teams should be ready for rain since I'm coming, since rain seems to follow me to every track I'm at this year. Like they even care, eh? I'll take my firesuit next weekend to be sure I can shoot some driver exchanges and pit stops in the ALMS race Saturday too. Last year I got kicked out of the pits but didn't know they required them, since the IRL typically doesn't anymore. Nothing like a wet firesuit and driving boots! Wooo racing!

IRL Heads to Nashville: Hunter Reay Bags First Win

With Scott Dixon's inexplicable mistake and spin under yellow that also took out Ryan Briscoe at Watkins Glen this past Sunday, the "other " Ryan in the IndyCar Series stormed past Darren Manning on the ensuing restart to win his first IRL race. No stranger to victory lane from his stint in Champ Cars, Hunter Reay got the Rahal Letterman team back into Victory Lane for the first time in almost four years. Now the series heads to Nashville, the only concrete track on the circuit, where the groove is narrow and starting position is critical. And I get to hit the road again to see it all. It seems like forever since I've seen Indycars in person and May is a distant memory. The season is on the downhill side of the schedule now and the competition should really start heating up from here on out.

So far this season, the IRL has produced four first-time winners: Graham Rahal, Danica, Briscoe and now Hunter Reay. Will Mutoh or one of the transition drivers like Servia or Power be next? I can't wait to see what happens, and each race now takes on even more meaning for the season championship. Let us not forget that Dixon lost the series title last year on the last corner or the last lap of the last race of the season, so DNF's or poor finishes can be a source of continuing off-season lament for the guys leading the standings.

This will be my third trip to Nashville and it is a great track to shoot. The cars bottom out and send up showers of sparks in Turn 1 on full fuel loads. This year I have a travel and shooting partner as well so that will make it even more fun. I love to drive and don't mind long road trips by myself, but sharing what was witnessed at the track with someone always makes an event more memorable.

And this season has been nothing if not memorable, especially in hindsight now that we're halfway through the schedule. Richmond was a crashfest and Milwaukee was an airshow. The Glen saw lots of contact, much of it under yellow, and I think it is indicative of a higher level of competitiveness from the front of the grid to the back. The transition teams are also coming into a part of the schedule where driving skill should equalize the advantage the more experienced IRL teams have with equipment. Next week is Mid Ohio, and I'll go back there for that weekend. Other road and street courses follow with Edmonton at the end of July. I will be at Kentucky in August and Chicagoland for the points finale in September, and much can happen between now and then.

My hope for this weekend is for dry weather. I seem to be a rain magnet and last year at Nashville, I left my sunroof open as I didn't expect rain and the inside of my car got drenched. I didn't have a hotel room either so the whole weekend was a scramble to stick it out for the delayed race the next day which turned out to be beautiful. The rains can come back next weekend at Mid Ohio which features the ALMS cars on Saturday and Indycars on Sunday. Then the weekend after that comes the Brickyard back here in Indy. An excellent string of weekends for this fanatic photog. See you at the race track!

Sports Cars Wet & Wild at Mid Ohio: Gainsco Steals Grand Am Win

Before I left for Mid Ohio, I was hoping for a little rain to make things interesting. What we got was a deluge on Saturday and only slightly less intense rain on Sunday with a bonus of lightning. And the Gainsco bunch made it through all the carnage to blast from third to first in the last five minutes of the main Rolex Series event on Saturday to pass the Rum Bum team which was just hanging on with worn rain tires and couldn't hold Gurney and Fogarty back.

I had a great weekend and keeping the camera gear dry turned out to be the greatest challenge of the weekend. Everyone needs to go to Mid Ohio for a race weekend. I probably walked five miles over the two days I was there, but then I'm half nuts and tried to cover the whole track by myself. Or you can camp under the trees and just watch the cars go by if you choose. Standing next to a 15 foot high metal catch fence under tall trees in a lightning storm wasn't quite what I had in mind for the weekend, but then I was there at least. Thanks to Don Hamilton and American Motor Journal again. I had a bear of an editing job to do for them, sorting through over 1200 images to send them 20 or so from each race on the weekend. Whew!

Click on the following photo to see another collection from the weekend. See you there next month for the ALMS and IRL weekend. It should be awesome. Maybe it will rain then too!

Mid Ohio Rolex Series Event

Online Again: Off to Mid Ohio For Rolex Action

After a hectic couple of weeks without internet access while moving into a new home, I am back online again at last and am making final preparations to hit the road for the Mid Ohio Sports Car Course and the Rolex Grand Am Series event this weekend. These pix are from the 2007 event and I anticipate that this year's race should be much more competitive as the big cars ran solo last year and the Gainsco team led by Alex Gurney ran away and hid for most of the event. Saturday's feature should be much more competitive with many teams flexing their new bodywork and getting into mid-season form. I'll be back again next month for the American LeMans and Indycar Series weekend too.


This is a track I started going to back in 1982 and it's one of the most beautiful natural terrain road courses in the United States. Just a few hours from Indy, it's hard not to go when something's going on at Mid Ohio. I love it even more after having the chance to drive the track for two days as a student in the Mid Ohio School of Performance Driving. I highly recommend it to anyone who has the need for speed. You will gain a whole new appreciation for what these guys do week in and week out. It was certainly the fastest I've ever driven and I can't wait to do it again someday. In the meantime, I'll stick to photography for American Motor Journal and enjoy watching the sports car experts finesse this place Saturday and Sunday.

I hope to post from the media center at the track this weekend and am raring to go racing again. It seems like forever since the Indy 500 and I am itching to get back to a race track. But I've still got a life to live and work to do so until I get to Lexington Saturday morning, be safe and I hope you'll come back soon!

Briscoe Takes Milwaukee - Avoids Air Show

Kudos to Ryan Briscoe for the comeback of the season so far, going from zero to hero in a weeks' time. After being vilified at Indy for taking out Danica with his pit exit wheelspin, he showed everyone up with race savvy I didn't know he had. He also demonstrated he knows where the brake pedal is by narrowly avoiding Vitor Meira's Turn 2 flight over Marco Andretti who, as I predicted, would take an ill advised chance and cause a mess. But he's young and he'll learn. I just hope everyone else gives him space to make his errors without damaging anyone else's race chances. There will be no place for that at Texas this weekend, that's for sure.

I'm again wishing I could be there but I have to move this weekend and my next race event won't be for three weeks when I go to Mid Ohio for the Rolex sports car weekend. In the meantime, I've put together the following group of pix as a sort of segue out of May into the rest of the Indycar season. I'll go to Nashville, Kentucky, Mid Ohio and Chicagoland later this season so please check back for other Indycar pix and views here. Check out the following slideshow to see a sequence of AJ Foyt's fiery Bump Day wreck and my whole May gallery from Indy. There will be more later!



Back to Briscoe: redemption has never been sweeter than this! For a guy who wadded up lots of cars for Ganassi a couple of years ago trying to amke up for an underpowered Toyota powerplant, to winning ALMS races in Penske's Porsche Spyder last season to an Indycar win now is quite the journey. Well done Ryan!

Indycars Take On Milwaukee Mile

Even though much of the jabber since the Indy 500 has focused on Ryan Briscoe and Danica Patrick's tangle in pitlane, Indycar's young guns stole the show in qualifying for today's 225 lap race on the Milwaukee Mile. Outside of Indy, State Fair Park in Milwaukee has the longest tradition of running Indycars of anywhere. Wisconsin's famous flat track should be especially challenging with 26 cars taking the green flag. There should be some dicey moments throughout the 225 laps and I would still expect one of the Indycar Series regulars to take the checkers. With Marco Andretti and Graham Rahal leading the way, the tussle into Turn 1 should be a sight to see. Rahal's front row starting spot is impressive but not altogether surprising to me, since the Newman Haas Lanigan team has experience here from CART and Champ Car, even though these are different cars than what they are used to. Qualifying is one thing but racing is another as we saw at Indy, so the transition teams are still going find tough sledding adjusting to conditions during the race.

Bravery and youth can make up for poor handling at times so Rahal should still show well. Marco must overcome the Andretti exuberance and apparent family tendency to run cars into the ground or take unwarranted chances. We'll see how he handles lapped traffic if he can grab the lead early on. And the lappers should be encountered within the first 10 laps or so.


Danica didn't show well in qualifying although she has run well here before. Her run-in with Dan Wheldon will be shown over and over today but it's still good for the series. I'm thinking Scott Dixon is the man to beat however, and I doubt that Wheldon's poor race at Indy with a malfunctioning car will be repeated here. Watch for Kanaan to charge and Helio will be one to watch as well, especially since the Penske bunch has had its troubles at Milwaukee in the past. Remember the collapsing rear wings not that long ago? It will be fun to watch as these cars on short tracks are a site to behold, and the wheel to wheel battles should be intense since aero issues are reduced and increased levels of downforce translate into great cornering grip. Being out front won't be as important as at Indy. This is where the phrase "Go fast. Turn Left" takes on new meaning.

I wish I could be there.

Dixon Dominates Indy 500

Scott Dixon's Target Chip Ganassi Racing team maintained their month-long stranglehold on Indianapolis by holding off my darkhorse candidate Vitor Meira to take the win at the wild & woolly 92nd running of the Indianapolis 500. Chip said afterwards his team is in this business to win races and championships, and certainly winning Indy from pole position looks like an excellent springboard for the Indycar series season title.

With Indy's 500 miles the longest race of the season, for me it was more like the 24 hours of Indianapolis, beginning with the 500 drivers' meeting and the Indy Lights race at IMS Saturday, then driving to Kentucky Speedway to shoot the Frank Kimmel Street Stock Enduro race that evening, returning home at 1:30 Sunday morning to catch two hours of sleep before heading back to get parked inside IMS at 5:30 in the morning. Then the wait for the 500 began and was it ever worth it.

I decided to stay put inside Turn 1 to shoot the 500 this year rather than wander as I had done for most of practice and qualifying. A mammoth race day crowd was greeted with a gorgeous spring day and one of the hairier races in recent memory. From my vantage point, there was not much racing in the corner as the relatively equal equipment among the leaders meant Indy was a one groove track to navigate safely except on the long straightaways. Many drivers found out why. The youngest driver, Graham Rahal, and the oldest driver, Marty Roth, both found the marbles and the SAFER barrier in Turn 4 early in the race. Debris from Roth's wreck rearranged the nose wing on Helio's car which put him in traffic the rest of the day. AJ Foyt's horrible month continued with a pit fire. Jaime Camara bounced of the fence in 1 and then slid helplessly into the Turn 2 wall with a bang. Shortly after taking the lead, Tony Kanaan was left with nowhere to go by teammate Marco Andretti in Turn 3, slid wide and then was collected by Sarah Fisher, putting an end to a very eventful (and forgettable) month for her and stealing TK's chance for victory. Alex Lloyd bounced off the Turn 4 wall and spun into pit lane, narrowly avoid a "Cogan moment" with the pit lane attenuator. Justin Wilson spun off in the south short chute and hit the inside wall. Danica and Briscoe tangled leaving pit lane knocking them both out on the final pit stop of the race. Danica was spitting nails mad and went looking for Ryan after the incident while the crowd roared its approval of her competitive spirit. In the end, whoever was in clean air had the advantage all day, and with a near record number of cautions, the race never settled into any kind of rhythm. Dixon made the most of it and led 115 laps to taste the best winner's trophy in racing: a cold bottle of milk.

All in all, I had my best month of May at Indy in many, many years. The Indy Lights race was very entertaining (for once) and I got to cover more of the month's events at the Speedway than ever before. So the photo galleries I have linked below cover more than just race cars - scenes from race day before dawn to victory lane; Indy Lights racing; and the meat in the weekend's racing sandwich, the street stock race in Kentucky.

It doesn't get much better than this. Next up for me is the Rolex series at Mid Ohio the third weekend in June. Seems like I was just there a couple of weeks ago.

By the way: is it May yet?

Indy 500 Race Day 2008

Indy Lights Indianapolis

Kimmel Street Stock Enduro

Indy 500 Carb Day Washed Away

Carb Day for the 2008 Indianapolis 500 was just about all wet. There's a surprise. NOT!

In what seemed to be a fitting end to practice for the race with all the rains this May, Carb Day runs for the Indycar Series started late and then were reduced to just 12 minutes by rain. I think the only people that didn't care about the rain were those watching the Stone Temple Pilots concert held on the road course in the infield.

The pit competition was washed out completely and the Firestone Indy Lights race was postponed to noon today. I'm going back out for that shortly and then heading directly to Kentucky Speedway from there for the Kimmel Street Stock Enduro where local short track guys get the chance to run on the big track. They've got 89 cars entered so it should be fun. Last year, I got to shoot from the pace car during the parade and pace laps, and I don't know if I will get the chance to do that again tonight, but it's great to see these guys get a chance at a superspeedway.

The following pic from yesterday shows a glimpse of what it was like on Carb Day. The puddle reflection shot (above) of the Pagoda says it all however. Safe travels everyone.

Indy 500 Carb Day

Indy 500 Carb Day Preview: Drivers to Your Cars

When I started my work for American Motor Journal at Indy this month, I had two primary goals: shoot from as many places as I could, and get driver shots of every entrant. On the first goal, I am very happy with the variety in my pictures, plus I got lucky on the second weekend with accident shots of Dominguez and Mutoh on Saturday, and Foyt's fireball on Sunday. On the second goal, the only entrants I missed were Giebler, Simmons and Yasukawa. Giebler wasn't around long enough to get a driver picture, and I didn't happen to be in the pits or garage area when Simmons or Yasukawa were around. At any rate, I did get every car that saw track time and besides, I have a blue million race car pictures in the can, plus I've posted bunches in my photo galleries, both on picasa and on my flickr site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/indyjay42/ so tonight I decided to put up just driver shots of those actually starting the race Sunday for my Carb Day preview.

The link to the photos on my picasa gallery at http://picasaweb.google.com/jayalley/Indy5002008StartingFieldDrivers has a current pic of every driver except one: Jeff Simmons, and his is from Nashville last year before he got canned by Rahal Letterman. I hope to make up for that tomorrow. All 33 starting drivers are depicted for Sunday's 500. You can also click on the following photo to go to that gallery.

Indy 500 2008 Starting Field - Drivers

Carb Day is always one of the best days of the month, as the whole field is out and often running in packs of 10 or more cars nose to tail. Race day conditions prevail in the pits, and although I don't expect anyone to run too many laps, you will still know who's ready and who's not by the end of the one hour practice session. I will stick around for the Freedom 100 Indy Lights race and hope to post another update after tomorrow's action is over. Saturday I head down to Kentucky Speedway to shoot the Frank Kimmel Street Stock Enduro race and then will be up with the sunrise and out to the 500 Sunday morning with my Mom, my brother and his son. Seventy-two hours from now, the winner will be on Speed Channels' "Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain" and my pick remains the same:

Helio Castroneves. He knows how to pass on this track and will have his car set up to pull off the 2nd & 4th turns so he can get under people at the end of the long straightaways. Two-wide racing in the turns could lead to calamity, especially with so many rookies in the field this year, so let's hope everyone gets through Carb Day with their cars intact. Don't be surprised if Buddy Lazier makes a charge from 32nd folks. Don't forget 1992 when Scott Goodyear almost won the race from the last row so although I don't think Buddy's got the team to repeat that feat, watching a veteran like him come from the back should be fun. He's a sentimental favorite of mine anyway, along with John Andretti, so I hope they fare well.

God bless everyone involved this weekend and may everyone get home safely.