Indy 500 Practice Resumes: Three Days to Pole Shootout

After a complete washout of practice Monday May 17th, the IZOD Indycar teams got back to business today with nearly a full day of practice in cold and overcast conditions. Most of the teams ran in coordinated groups doing fuel runs and practicing in the draft with teammates and others. Scott Dixon led the way today and the track was very busy until almost Happy Hour, when a few sprinkles created two brief caution periods. Mario Moraes and Marco Andretti jumped into the top 5 speed list today but the day ended ten minutes early after EJ Viso clouted the Turn One wall after spinning. I was in Turn 3 today hoping for favorable lighting conditions and am probably changing my race day game plan to shoot from there. Three is the last corner at Indy without tall fencing to shoot through and I have had good luck there in the past.

Even though the teams put lots of laps in today, it may prove to be rather meaningless come Pole Day, just three days from now. The weather forecast is typical for us Hoosiers, as the old saying goes, "if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes and it will change." And change dramatically as the weekend is predicted to be hot with temperatures in the 80's, quite a contrast to the damp and cool conditions which have prevailed since the track opened Saturday.

There have been no less than 36 drivers on the track in the limited practice so far this week and there are several others pounding the pavement hoping to get a shot at qualifying. I've seen Jacques Lazier, and today Oriol Servia was talking to Dario Franchitti and Alex Tagliani at different points during the day. The tough part about a shortened practice week is other drivers won't have time to put together late deals, unless someone gets desperate this Sunday when Bump Day rolls around. It wouldn't be the first time someone jumped in a car on the last qualifying day and stuck it in the show with hardly any laps. Greg Beck's entries have not hit the track as yet so his equipment might be available to someone with a big enough pocketbook.

Everyone seems to have no trouble getting up to 220 right away (even Milka!) so I would expect the bump speed to be around 221.7 by the time all the shouting stops this Sunday when the gun goes off at 6 p.m. It also looks like a pole speed of close to 227 might be possible, but it will need to be ideal conditions and a near-perfect four lap run to make that speed. Lots of folks are already running faster than last year's pole speed of 224+, but they are also running in packs with help from the draft. As the weather warms up by Friday and teams begin to roll out their qualifying setups, the real speeds will emerge as the pack practice will stop and drivers will be looking for open space on track to run by themselves.

The Speedway is really pumping up the "shootout" angle as they are playing an amped up electric guitar version of the theme song from the classic Clint Eastwood western, "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" with regularity on the track's PA system and video boards. The good will take pole position Saturday evening, the bad will go home Sunday night, and the ugly will probably scare themselves (or worse: become acquainted with the SAFER barrier) just trying to make the field of 33. It doesn't get much better than this folks. C'mon out!

Helio Fastest For Indy's Opening Weekend

The opening weekend of practice for the 94th Indianapolis 500 is now over and the usual suspects are at the top of the speed chart, led by Helio Castroneves. Target teammates Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti are close behind after a weekend of schedule interruptions and changes caused by intermittent rainy weather. The only incident of the weekend occurred late Sunday when 2005 Indy winner Dan Wheldon smacked the Turn 4 SAFER barrier. This year's crop of rookies looked smooth and got through an abbreviated rookies only session today with no problems. The track was opened up for all comers at 2:15 and teams quickly got down to business with packs of cars drafting and looking for fast times. Nearly 1400 laps were run today even though the track closed around 5:30 when a steady mist finally got the track too wet to continue practice.

Tony Kanaan shook down five Andretti Autosport cars Saturday but focused on his 7-Eleven ride today and the results showed on the speed charts. Pole Day is shaping up as a battle royale for the Fast Nine spots among the Penske, Target and Andretti camps. With five more days of practice until then, and the prospect of more rain in the forecast every day this week, track time will be at a premium and I expect teams to take advantage of every bit of green light time they get. Indy Racing League officials adjusted today's schedule after Saturday was mostly washed out, so I would not be surprised if more schedule changes are made throughout the week to make sure teams get the time they need to prepare for qualifying. Top speeds today were set in the draft, so it will be interesting to see what Helio et all can run by themselves without benefit of a tow from another car. More of that will be seen later in the week as teams hone in on a qualifying setup.

It was like old home week for me at the Speedway this weekend as I ran into lots of photographer friends and began to feel as though drivers were recognizing me after spending so much time shooting Indycar races the last five seasons. I even ran into Soctt Dixon's dad and shook his hand, asking him if he had been to Marsh lately, after talking with him there a couple of weeks ago in the express checkout line. My brother and I stopped into the 500 Oldtimers suite during one rain delay and Johnny Rutherford walked in with a greeting of "Looks like a bunch of oldtimers in here!" I have not made it out to the corners to shoot yet but there was plenty to do this weekend as I tried to get as many driver shots as possible and spent quite a bit of time atop the F1 garages shooting cars entering Turn 1. It is a great vantage point and one of the few places at Indy where you can really see the drivers working the steering wheel. Several cars were bottoming out going into one when tire pressures were low and showers of sparks were flying as a result. There are a few rookies who still are searching for the correct entry line into One, but I was very impressed by how quickly they all got up to speed.

The prettiest car at the track is the Lotus-themed Dallara of rookie Takuma Sato, who looked quick and smooth throughout his rookie test. The following slideshow is a quick look at pix from this weekend and there will be much more to follow this week as I spend as much time as possible at the Track. I'll be the one wearing the Canon photo vest. See you there!

Countdown To Indy: 1 More Day to Track Time

Every May around Indianapolis, you can always tell when the Speedway is about to open for Indy 500 practice. "500 Festival" hotshots are tooling around in their pace cars. Checkered flags start showing up in people's yards or hung from their homes. Drivers start making publicity appearances for their sponsors. The local news media ramps up their print and video coverage of preparations for the opening of the Track.

The teams are now all ensconced in Gasoline Alley and getting down to the business of preparing their cars to hit the track in a little more than 24 hours from now. Drivers are gearing up with media appearances at places like Macy's, which has a huge push on now for sales of IZOD Indycar Series merchandise. Driver "experts" will soon be in demand for the local television stations. Earlier this week, I attended a live broadcast of the Autosportradio.com show at McGilvery's Pub on the westside and heard Ed Carpenter, Vitor Meira and AJ Foyt IV talking about their preparations. They appeared relaxed and ready to go as the best time of year in Indy is about to get underway. The pub was packed for the show and the Hoosier 100 promoter was also there, so if you are in Indy for the 500 weekend, go out to the State Fairgrounds after Carb Day activities are over and watch the USAC Silver Crown cars run 100 miles on the mile dirt. If you still can't get enough racing that weekend, then go to O'Reilly Raceway Park the next night for the "Night Before the 500" USAC Midget show on the 5/8 mile paved oval. The Star Mazda series will also be featured that night.

At the Autosportradio.com show, it was especially interesting to hear Vitor and AJ talk about being teammates this year. Vitor has made an incredible comeback from back injuries suffered in his crash with Rafael Matos during last year's 500, and he told a great story about discussions with team owner AJ Foyt about reassurances he got about the ride being available to him when he recovered. He also talked about the new Pole Day qualifying format and indicated he knew it was for the benefit of the fans. Foyt IV was very entertaining and said he would be happy to qualify 10th on Pole Day and didn't seem to want any part of the Fast Nine session that day. He was asked about his relationship with AJ and said it is much better now that he is not crashing AJ's cars. The best part of the interview was his comment that there have been times with these IRL cars when they weren't handling (like at Richmond) where he "just wanted to crash and get it over with". The crowd loved the comment and of course everyone understood that he wasn't really hoping to crash and that he was describing what it was like trying to maneuver an ill-handling race car when every corner the thing might swap ends on him.

The six rookies entered for this year's race will get the bulk of the track time this weekend after the veterans are given the first two hours Saturday and Sunday to shake things down. Takuma Sato, Simona De Silvestro, Ana Beatriz, Jay Howard, Bertrand Baguette, Mario Romancini and Sebastrian Saavedra each have good teams behind them and while they may be limited in big car, big track experience, none are newcomers. Sato has a wealth of Formula One experience (plus Honda money) and ran the USGP at Indy for Honda's F1 program on Indy's road course, although turning left exclusively will be new for him. De Silvestro was the last Formula Atlantic champion, won several races in that now-defunct series and has looked stout on the road courses so far this year in her maiden Indycar season. Ana was the first woman to win a Firestone Indy Lights race (at Nashville two years ago) and comes back to Indy this year hoping to forget her huge Turn 1 Indy Lights wreck that I photographed in the 2009 Freedom 100. Howard is teamed with Sarah Fisher and got laps at Indy last May but looked shaky in his initial foray at the Speedway so I hope he keeps his foot down and that Sarah's little team can give him a good car. Baguette is an unknown but Saavedra dominated a number of Indy Lights races in 2009 so he should do well with sufficient track time.

I'll be there tomorrow to bring it all home and I hope you'll come back for further updates as the run-up to Pole Day next Saturday continues. Go fast. Turn Left. Bring it back in one piece. That is what these rookies hope to do this weekend before the Track opens up for all entrants on Monday.

Indy 500 Countdown: 5 Days Until the Roar Begins

Having moved to Indianapolis shortly after my 11th birthday, it wasn't long before the lure of the Brickyard had me smitten. My grandfather introduced me to racing at about the age of the boy in this photo, and with my birthday near 500 race day every year, I have great memories of listening to Sid Collins call the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing" on the radio while eating watermelon and birthday cake at Grandpa's house. My dad took me to see the movie "Winning" for my 12th birthday and I saw my first 500 for my next birthday. I've been every year since 1976 and the changes that have occurred at 16th & Georgetown have been well documented through the years. I was reminded last week while picking up Mini Marathon packets at the Indiana Convention Center that much of the race's allure has been lost since the 500 was only available on radio. The saddest part is that casual fans will never know what they have been missing. And where will the next generation of Indycar fans come from?

As I shot pictures of this young man walking around Danica's show car at the Convention Center, I flashed back through my years as a fan, spectator and photographer. Every year it seems photographers talk and wonder where the next generation of shooters are who will put in the time that so many of us have invested, waiting for three seconds of action day after day to get "the shot". Around here, Indianapolis Motor Speedway is simply "The Speedway", or "The Track", as in, "Are you going out to The Track today?" It was commonplace to skip class in high school on a nice May day and go watch practice for a couple of bucks. Spending all night waiting for the gates to open on race day to run in and get a spot on the infield fence was an annual event in and of itself. So many rituals like that have fallen by the wayside; many say it is because there are so many entertainment options available to people today.

One reason not often given is a simple change in philosophy at the Speedway: when the decision was made to erect grandstands where the infield crowd used to gather in the Turn 1 Snakepit, the opportunity for casual fans to be part of an "event" began to dwindle. That crowd got moved to Turns 3 & 4 and then the road course was built and the spaces by the fence dwindled even further. I will agree that the spectator mounds have been a great addition for fan comfort. But I still miss the chaos of bikers and loaded-down vans racing into the track at 5 a.m. on race day, now replaced by orderly processions into lined parking areas inside Turn 3. And while it is true that the rowdy fans of years past are fewer in number due to physical limitations, I really believe the loss of that rowdy element has had an effect on the Indy 500 fan base and pushed people to NASCAR where they could camp out for days on end and carry on with relative abandon. Racing has always had that element of wildness and its loss to a more corporate environment is hard to explain to people whose only knowledge of Indy is what they see on Sportscenter.

Ignore if you can all the infighting that followed the IRL-CART split and the bickering among fans who still want to place blame for the "demise" of open wheel racing. The fact remains that creature comforts at Indy are vastly improved and Indy is still the race that every race fan anywhere knows about. Winning the Indy 500 itself is still highly sought after by racers. The Indycar rules since the IRL was formed have arguably created the closest competition that the Speedway has ever seen. I know Indy diehards lament the loss of 100,000 people turning out on pole day, but when the action is available on TV and the Internet, who can blame today's fans for staying home? Something more must be done to get people to the track and it has to start at an earlier age. More school bus field trips to the Track, not just in May but year-round. Organized tours of the 500 Museum, the track and garages with "open house" style events for all comers, free of charge. Chances for average people to drive their cars on the track and kiss the bricks like the winners. Raffles for suite passes and bronze badges for garage area access when the Track is open for practice. Individual and group visits with drivers and team owners, not just for people associated with sponsors. More contests for tickets to other Indycar events. Chances to drive an Indy Lights car. Hot laps at other non-IRL race events to help people understand the sounds and smells of an ethanol fueled Indycar. Indianapolis racing has got to get personal again so that new fans can understand their fathers' passion for all things Indy and go to the racetrack in truckloads like we used to do.

The photos of the boy at Danica's car got me started on this post, but the clincher for me occurred a few minutes after taking the shots as I was about to leave the Convention Center. On the PA system, I heard an announcement that Firestone Indy Lights driver Martin Plowman was on hand to sign autographs. I walked over to the table where he sat preparing his hero cards to hand out. No one knew who he was and there was no one near him. There were no banners or anything denoting this was a racer on the ladder to the Indy 500. Not even a Firestone backdrop for his autograph session. So I went and talked to Martin for quite a few minutes and told him what a great show the Lights cars put on at the Speedway, where they can run three wide through Turn 1 with room to spare. We talked about the pictures I had of his crash in last year's Freedom 100 and the other race tracks the Indy Lights run as companion to the IZOD Indycar Series. He was very gracious and willing to talk, for as long as I wanted to it seemed, and while I was excited to have this one-on-one time with him, I walked away a bit angry that a good PR opportunity for Indy Lights and Indycars wasn't being maximized. The IRL had their fan trailer there near Danica's car, but Martin was sitting more than 50 yards away. With 40,000 runners coming to the Convention Center to get their Mini Marathon packets, I was surprised there wasn't more of a push to bring more focus to Martin's presence and the real reason there is a Mini Marathon in the first place: The Indy 500.

Today is Helio Castroneves 35th birthday and it only takes one conversation with him to know how passionate he is about Indy. We've got to share that fire with anyone who will listen. I know I do, at every chance I get, and just like this blog post, you get me started talking about Indycars and the 500 and I may never stop. It's still the greatest race in the world. If you don't believe me, put down the iPhone and satellite remote and go to the track next week. Experiencing Indy in person is nothing like television so pack a cooler, take grandma and the kids and find a spot on the Turn 3 mounds. Go smell the ethanol exhaust just once and you'll want to go back for more.

But that's just one Hoosier's opinion. I've got plenty more where that came from. Just ask me.

Indy 500 Countdown: 10 Days to Opening Day

With his dominating win on the 1.5 mile Kansas oval, Scott Dixon has thrown down the gauntlet for his Indycar competitiors. Not only did the Target Ganassi gang have something up their sleeve (as I suspected) for the first oval race of the 2010 IZOD Indycar Series, they blew everyone away taking the top two steps on the podium with Dario Franchitti claiming second. Dixon leading an IRL oval race is nothing new, nor is leading the vast majority of race laps (167 of 200) a new experience for him. He and Dario have consistently been pack leaders with everyone else chasing on oval tracks. With eight days of practice leading up to Pole Day at Indy May 22nd, Dixon and Dario will be tough to beat. Season points leader Will Power finished two laps down in 12th at Kansas, although his Penske teammate Helio Castroneves ran strong to finish fourth. With all eyes on Indy beginning May 15th, a spirited battle for pole position between the Ganassi and Penske teams is virtually assured. With 40 entrants going for the first 24 spots on Pole Day, competition will be fierce, especially for the top 9 spots on the Indy scoring pylon: those drivers will have two shots at the pole between 4:30 and 6:00 p.m. that day.

Kansas began a string of four straight oval races for the IRL, and it remains to be seen if Will Power can hold onto his series points lead. Dixon is nipping at his heels now in second, with Helio third and Andretti Autosports' Ryan Hunter-Reay in fourth. By the time the IRL has finished this run of oval tracks in June, the season will be nearly half over and questions remain for many of the regulars. Can Power maintain his points lead or will he change his focus to the new road/street circuit championship? And what will happen to Hunter-Reay after his IZOD money dries up following Texas? If he is still in the top five in points and outrunning his other Andretti teammates, how in the world can the team realistically park him over funding? Tony Kanaan had a solid run to third at Kansas, his best finish in quite some time, and RHR was right there in fifth behind Helio. So perhaps TK is about to turn the corner, but his luck has never been very good at Indianapolis. Justice would be served if RHR qualifies for the 500 in the top 9 and finishes strongly in the race; IZOD surely would see the light and come up with a way for their man to continue and fight for the season championship. He appears to be one of the most confident drivers out there now, and May 2010 should have a whole different feel for him than last year when he barely made the show.

And where the heck is Danica? Nowhere near the front is the answer. The darling of the IRL has been outclassed everywhere so far this season with dismal results for the Go Daddy girl. A crash at Brazil on slicks when rain tires were needed, poor starts (and finishes) on the other road courses, and a distant 11th at Kansas two laps down don't bode well for Indy. Perhaps the extra track time at the Speedway will help her find her way again, but my guess is the struggle will continue. Look for the surly girl more often than not along pit lane and in Gasoline Alley this May. I'll be watching Indy's other lady racers Simona De Silvestro and Ana Beatriz to see if they outshine their more famous colleague. The only good news for Danica is she still has fight in her, evidenced by her Kansas dice with Helio while being lapped.

As for Pole Position, don't count Helio out. He has shown the ability to be fastest when four laps are needed at Indy. He will also be going for a fourth Indy 500 win this year to join Indycar legends AJ Foyt, Al Unser, Sr. and Rick Mears in that elite group. These and other great stories remain to be told this May and there is always a surprise or two that comes from the month. As a 500 Oldtimer, I look forward to more surprises this year at 16th & Georgetown. I'll be there most every day to cover the activity on the track, on pit lane and in the garage area with daily blog posts and photo galleries, both here and on American Motor Journal's website.

The Speedway continues its Centennial Celebration this year pointing towards 2011 which will mark the 100th year since the first 500 in 1911. While Tony Hulman has been gone for quite awhile now, you wonder how he would view the current state of affairs in Indycars. With a shorter "Month of May" than in recent years, new Pole Day qualifying rules, perhaps as many as five women starting the 500, new oval and road/street course awards, and a host of other changes in the IRL for 2010, many Indy "traditions" have fallen by the wayside in an effort to recoup lost ground with fans. There is still nothing better than going into the track race day before dawn, hearing the bomb go off when the gates open, and seeing those balloons drift skyward before the racers are unleashed into Turn 1 for the first time. Praying for some "Tony Hulman" race day weather is one tradition that will continue as long as they turn left 800 times to find victory at Indianapolis. See you at the track!

Racin' This 'n That: It's Almost May & That Means Indianapolis

Lots of people are talking about Kevin Harvick winning the NASCAR lottery at Talladega last weekend, but for my money, the best show was Friday's ARCA race won by star-in-the-making Dakoda Armstrong (pictured). With a healthy assist from ARCA regular Patrick Sheltra on the last lap, this 18 year old Hoosier from New Castle pulled off an outstanding pass to snag his first win at 'Dega. His Victory Lane celebration looked like the real deal and this kid is going places. He's already got an entourage of sorts, judging from the way fans hooted for him during introductions at Salem a couple of weeks ago. With his rock star looks and a bundle of talent, he seems destined for greater things in racing. With the young guns from ARCA showing well in the other Talladega events (see Steve Arpin, Parker Kligerman, Justin Allgaier, et al for more on that), perhaps you can understand why I enjoy covering the ARCA series so much. These guys are going places and just need seat time to show their stuff. Well done gentlemen.

While the stock car series are heading for short tracks, the IZOD Indycars are about to attack the first oval race of the season at Kansas Speedway. In another sure sign of spring for IRL fans, that can only mean the Indy 500 is not far off and it is almost May. With a little more than two weeks before the Speedway opens for practice, this weekend's Kansas race will be an opportunity to see what everyone has for their oval track packages. And the news lately has been that Penske has more than everyone else and isn't sharing! What a surprise! Everything from ride height control to front suspension tweaks are rumored to have been on their cars for quite some time. I'm sure the Target Ganassi boys have a few tricks up their sleeves for Penske this weekend and I wish I could be there. Maybe next year...

The 500 entry list is looking quite healthy this year with close to 80 cars ready to roll for about 40 drivers. One idea that new IRL boss Randy Bernard has floated this week involves offering additional prizes and recognition for oval and street/road course "champions" in the future. This is not exactly a new idea as I wrote about that very concept here and on google's usenet Indycar group several years ago. I've often wondered what would have happened if Tony George had done something similar for the initial IRL Indy 500 in 1996 instead of protecting 25 spots for IRL regulars. Racers need cash and while we will never know what might have happened if TG had offered more cha-ching for Indy back then, I will bet the current teams will be quite happy for the extra financial motivation if it happens. I'm not so sure they are going to be as happy about the new Fast 9 Pole Day format at Indy, but it should be a great show for the fans and television.

Speaking of New Castle, one of the best karting facilities around is located there just off of I-70. It is owned by former IRL driver Mark Dismore and the racing there is entertaining and highly competitive. They also offer fast rental karts so if you're coming to Indy this May, it's only about 30 minutes east of town so get out there and fill that need for speed. One of the great things about living here in the Indianapolis area is proximity to grassroots tracks like New Castle and Whiteland Raceway. But the best part is seeing people in racing. Just this week, I ran into Scott Dixon's father at the Marsh grocery in Zionsville. I saw Tim Cindric at the NCAA Final Four earlier this month. Where else do you have a chance to rub elbows with open wheel racing's personalities? In the past, I've run into Vitor Meira at Target, seen Tiago Monteiro jogging on the Monon trail, talked to Mike Conway and Tomas Sheckter at a Colts game, and had the opportunity to play basketball against and talk racing with AJ Foyt IV at La Fitness.

On top of Indy boasting the greatest race course in the world, lots of other tracks are close by. Short tracks like Eldora, Winchester and Salem are within a couple hours easy drive. Chicagoland Speedway, Kentucky Speedway, Mid Ohio Sports Car Course and Michigan International are all with four hours by interstate. And Indiana is peppered with great dirt tracks from Lawrenceburg and Steve Kinser's home track in Bloomington down south to the Terre Haute "Action Track" out west and Gas City in the northeast. If you can't find some racing to enjoy in the Hoosier state, whether as a fan or participant, then you really aren't trying very hard, especially in May, where Anderson Speedway lines up 33 sprinters to run 500 laps on its quarter-mile high banks and O'Reilly Raceway Park runs midgets the night before the 500. And no, I'm not shilling for the chamber of commerce. To paraphrase a local tv ad for another product: "I don't want to sell tickets; I just love to go racing..."

See you at the track soon - but not soon enough.

Hunter-Reay Upsets Penske Juggernaut at Long Beach

The Indy Racing League continues to come up with "feel good" stories in 2010 as Ryan Hunter-Reay takes advantage of Will Power's gearbox glitch to snatch the Long Beach Grand Prix victory out of the Penske team's grasp. To top it off, RHR dedicated the win to his his recently deceased mother who passed away over the winter from cancer. On the weekend in Indianapolis where the Komen Race For The Cure event was held, I found this dedication especially poignant for a man who struggled mightily at Indy last year just to make the 500 for Vision, and who entered this season as an afterthought driver for Andretti Autosports apparently just because he had IZOD money. Anyone who has followed the IRL knows how quick RHR can be in the right equipment and now he's backed up his earlier strong road course finishes this year for Andretti with a front row starting spot and an opportunistic win in the most historic street circuit in America for open wheel racing.

It was a very unusual Long Beach event with some of the longest green flag running in memory and from the outset, it looked like the other great "feel good" story of the season was going to continue unabated for Will Power. I love the fact that these two drivers are showing the way, as even though Helio has one win to his credit, Power has been the dominant Penske driver so far this season. Who could have imagined before the season began that Hunter-Reay would upstage his Andretti teammates and now be in third in the season standings at this point? His nearest Andretti teammate is Tony Kanaan in ninth and he is even ahead of the powerhouse Target duo of Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon.

Speaking of Target Ganassi Racing, where have these guys been so far this season? Dixon found concrete at St. Petersburg but bounced back at Barber while Dario's team made a bad tire call at Brazil and his only TV time at Long Beach was when he was getting passed for 10th place by Mike Conway so these guys have been mysteriously erratic during this first quarter of the season where road racing has been featured. Now four oval tracks follow so it will be interesting to see how Dario and Dixie respond, with Kansas, Indy, Texas and Iowa up next to get the series just about halfway through this season. An early points lead like Will Power has today could easily evaporate with a single crash or DNF on the ovals, but you can bet that the Chipster will be kicking butt and taking names over the next eight weeks if the Target boys don't get their act together.

The other "feel good" story I love is Justin Wilson. I felt bad for him after Pink Lloyd slammed the door on him while Wilson was chasing Hunter-Reay yesterday, but if he had been a little more patient, Justin could easily have passed Alex at the end of the next straightaway. Evenso, Wilson finds himself fourth in the season standings for longtime IRL entrant Dreyer & Reinbold which is finally seeing some results worthy of their dedication, thanks to Wilson's obvious talent at the controls. He will win at least a race or two before this season is over and you can bet he will learn from this Long Beach incident. He took Dale Coyne's oft-maligned team to the promised land of victory lane last year and I'm sure he can do it again with D&R. Wilson is another guy who has had to bounce around Indycars since his champ car days, going from Newman Haas Lanigan as Graham Rahal's teammate two years ago in the first year of the IRL-Champ Car unification, to where he is now: a real threat on any road course. Let's hope Larry Curry can pull a rabbit out of the hat for Justin on the ovals this year and keep him up there as a championship contender.

Speaking of Rahal, one more "feel good" story is needed for May: he needs to land a ride for the rest of the season. Watching Long Beach yesterday on Versus, I had remarked to a friend that Graham's job for Sarah Fisher Racing was to bring the car home in one piece, as he was mired with the backmarkers and didn't seem to be making any headway. Not five minutes later, Graham gets taken out in a silly incident by Mario Romancini who "missed his braking marks" going into Turn 1 and stuffed Sarah's pretty yellow car into the tire barrier. Graham was none too happy as you can imagine and it was encouraging to hear him say they thought the tub might have been cracked sometime before the race since none of the adjustments they threw at the car the whole weekend made a lick of difference. If he can land somewhere in a strong team, he will be highly motivated to show well at Indy and the rest of the season.

Now it is on to Kansas and the teams have to change over to oval track trim for the next two months - away with the big nose wings and on with the stagger! Now it's time to go fast, turn left and take no prisoners. With a new Pole Day format for the Top 9 at Indy competing for extra points and cash, it should be a sight to behold. I can't wait to get my first whiff of ethanol for the season. See you in Turn One or Gasoline Alley in a few weeks.

Arpin Takes Salem ARCA Slugfest

Steve Arpin outlasted the field and was nearly the last man standing in the ARCA Kentuckiana Ford Dealers 200 at Salem Speedway today. Craig Goss and ARCA points leader Justin Marks chased Arpin to the checkered flag in a hard fought battle. The win catapulted Arpin into a tie in season points with Marks as the series now heads for an inaugural run at Texas Motor Speedway. Last September's ARCA Salem winner Patrick Sheltra took fourth ahead of Tom Hessert.

Arpin's Venturini Motorsports team could hardly have been more excited about taking the Salem victory. It was Arpin's first career win in ARCA and was marked by some hard driving through numerous restarts in the last fourth of the event due to a rash of crashes suffered by his competitors. On a beautiful spring day in southern Indiana which began with another teen sensation on the pole, 16 year old Max Gresham, Arpin was the class of the field late in the race and bested Craig Goess who also got his best career finish. Gresham ended up sixth ahead of another young gun, Dakoda Armstrong.

As is often the case at bumpy and aging Salem, lots of cars found the unforgiving walls or each other, some on several occasions. Joey Coulter started and ran strong until a couple of late wall contacts ruined his day. Frank Kimmel was a lap down at one point but fought back and was his usual racy self at Salem to snag an eighth place finish. Lady racer Alli Owens looked strong in taking ninth ahead of Ron Cox. My hard luck competitor for the day was the #1 of Nick Igdalsky as every corner on his machine was bent or broken but he kept coming back on the track to record laps. The top 10 somehow managed to stay on the lead lap through 11 caution periods. The race was highly entertaining for the large and enthusiastic crowd and the Salem ownership must be happy with the way the day turned out. It was by far the largest crowd I have seen in years for the spring ARCA race and the chamber of commerce weather surely had a lot to do with the turnout.

ARCA has run at Salem more than any other track in series history and while the track surface has certainly seen better days, Salem Speedway's best days may lie ahead. A new small oval that can also be used for figure-8 features is laid out in stone in the infield, soon to be paved. And a demo run by winged sprinters prior to the ARCA feature surely got the fans excited as another fast and furious event is being added to the Salem calendar. The Kimmel Street Stocks ran a clean and competitive feature before ARCA took the stage, so there was plenty of eye candy for the diehard southern Indiana race fans to ogle. It was my first race to shoot for the season, and it was great to shake the rust off in a place that has become a second home race track for me after Indianapolis. I can't wait to see ARCA again this summer and look forward to seeing the up and coming stars of stock car racing hit the high banks at Salem in the fall. By then, the series title will be winding down and today's young stars will be more seasoned, although it is hard to argue with their race craft after a day like today, where hotshoes Gresham, Armstrong and last year's pole winner Chris Buescher were all highly competitive against much more experienced drivers. That is the great thing about ARCA that I have come to appreciate so much: come one, come all, young and old. Strap in and hang on, the show is about to start!

Go Dawgs!

This blog post will depart from my normal subjects in honor of an amazing story that all the media has adopted: the Butler Bulldogs are 40 minutes and one win away from being crowned NCAA Men's basketball champions. Never in my life have I dreamt that I could write those words, and I'm sure for many of the Butler faithful, the feeling is mutual. Having had the opportunity to work at Lucas Oil Stadium for the games yesterday, I was blessed with the chance to see how Butler students reacted once the game was over. While I did not see much of the game action because of my job duties in gate security, I couldn't help but feel a personal connection to Butler and its storied basketball program. And while I don't know any of the team's current players or coaches personally, that feeling of connection to the Bulldogs has never been stronger. Here's my connection, and please bear with me as I have been overcome with an urge to write about a topic that, like motorsports, has been a staple and life long passion of mine: basketball.

As it says in my blog bio, I am "just a Hoosier." By the time my family moved to the Butler Tarkington neighborhood in June 1968, I was long since overcome with basketball fever. Watching the high school kids play on a dirt court at a rim nailed to a tree in Logansport; going to watch the Berries play mighty Anderson in the sold-out Wigwam; playing on a snow covered hoop with chain nets at the end of a cul-de-sac in Kokomo; going to the gym with my Dad before I was in kindergarten in Bourbon; bringing home the Ring-A-Bell hoop from the dime store and nailing it to the tree in our driveway; watching the Pacers play the New Jersey Americans at Kokomo High School the first year of the ABA and sitting in the front row for a professional basketball game. I still have my "Play Better Basketball with Oscar Robertson" book with the Big O on the cover in his Cincinnati Royals uniform. Growing up, all I ever wanted to do was play basketball.

Moving to Indianapolis a block away from Hinkle Fieldhouse took my basketball fever to an insane new level. Tony Hinkle was the Butler coach then, and the Indiana High School sectionals, regionals, semi-states and state finals were played there through 1971. We charged fans to park their cars in our driveway for the finals in an organized effort of neighborhood kids, then we would watch the games on Channel 6 with Tom Carnegie at the mike, hit Hamaker's Pharmacy and load up on candy and pop before coming back to shoot hoops in our gravel driveway until it was time for the championship game that night.

Attending games of any sort at Hinkle has always held a special place in my life, and we used to sneak into Butler games whenever we could pool a couple dollars for one ticket to send someone in to pop the doors by one of the ramps so the rest of use could run in. We never got caught and it was rare that we couldn't get in. Butler's teams were not all that great back then but they had some incredible players with local connections who were always accessible to me as a player. I used to go into Hinkle all the time, just to see if anyone was playing on the raised court, often getting the opportunity to shag balls for Billy Shepherd. Or I'd sneak a couple of jump shots in before the old security guard with his little dog would chase me out. Or weasel my way into the girls gym to play against the college kid by telling security that my Dad was a professor at Butler. In the dead of winter or during Christmas break, my brother and I or another friend would go to Hinkle and check every outside door to see if any had been left ajar, and many times found ourselves playing there with the whole place to ourselves. All through high school, I'd work out there and run steps or the ramps and play games in my head, imagining myself competing on the big court down below.

If there is a basketball heaven on earth, then Hinkle Fieldhouse is it. Long before the movie Hoosiers came out, I was one of those kids whose only dream was to play in the "big game" there. Even as many times as I have seen that movie, I still get goosebumps and weepy when the Huskers walk up the ramp from the locker room to the playing area. I have made that walk too and the memories are etched in my mind. Playing in front of over 11,000 people in the sectional final my senior year at Shortridge was a surreal experience, and while I was never recruited by Butler, I cannot escape the allegiance I feel to its program and Hinkle Fieldhouse. It has been awesome to watch all the national coverage this week and hear about media from everywhere wanting to make the trip to the historic old barn on West 49th Street. As a high school player and neighborhood kid in the early '70's, I knew and played with/against lots of Butler guys there. Dave Speckman, a fellow Blue Devil four years my senior, took me under his wing and got me in games anytime I showed up. Darryl Mason, Billy Shepherd, Marty Monserez, Clarence Crane and one of my high school teammates Wayne Burris were Bulldogs I looked up to and tried to emulate. Tony Hinkle was always there at Butler games in the front row after he retired and the coach who succeeded him, George Theofanis, had been coach at Shortridge before my high school days. Then years later, Todd Lickliter, who I played against in high school in the sectionals at Hinkle, became the Bulldogs' coach and created another attachment for me to the place where I felt like an alum despite never having been inside a Butler classroom.

A basketball season does not pass without attending at least one game at Hinkle and the photos I shot at their game against Loyola this season are going to be mementos for the ages. Now to top it all off, Butler has to play Duke for the National Championship. I have a personal connection to Duke as well, as my University of Chicago team played at Cameron Indoor Stadium my junior year and although our little Division III program got crushed by the Duke team that was national runnerup to Kentucky and featured Mike Gminksi, Gene Banks, Kenny Dennard and Jim Spanarkel, the Duke wristband I found in the locker room before that game is a cherished artifact of my college playing days and another reminder of those boyhood dreams of being a basketball player.

After Butler beats Duke tomorrow night 67-66, all of the Butler faithful can rejoice once more for the little school that could. Wouldn't Mr. Hinkle be proud? Go Dawgs!

Power Repeats In Indycar on St. Pete Streets

Australian Will Power continued his resurgence in Indycars with a second consecutive win to start the Indy Racing League season, the first IRL driver since Sam Hornish to do so. And this from a man who lay broken in a California hospital bed just a few months ago. Power displayed uncanny race savvy on the drying track and let the race come to him, leading half the race laps in the process. No one could be happier that the monsoon conditions washed this event from Sunday to Monday morning. With a road course at Barber Motorsports Park up next, followed by another street circuit race at Long Beach, Power could enter the ovals at Kansas and Indy as the driver to beat for the IZOD Indycar championship.

In the second straight highly enterntaining IRL road race, in one respect it is a shame that the event had to be run Monday morning and got shifted to ESPN2 from its original ABC time slot. After a 76% jump in television ratings for the first race of the 2010 season, I am sure the Indycar brass are wondering what might have been, as St. Pete was highly competitive from fourth place on back with heavyweights like Dario Franchitti charging back after a lap one spin on the damp track to take fifth, and media darling Danica Patrick getting a 7th from her 21st starting position. In the middle was Simona DeSilvestra with another strong run before getting punted and Scott Dixon making uncharacteristic mistakes to DNF against the wall after leading the race's early laps. Graham Rahal had a fantastic run into 9th for Sarah Fisher's "little team that could" and Justin Wilson continued his early season success with Dreyer & Reinbold, chasing Power home to take second. Power's Penske teammates Ryan Briscoe and Helio Castroneves trailed Wilson to the finish and gapped the drivers in fifth through tenth that swarmed around the St. Pete circuit snarling like a swarm of angry bees for position. Alex Tagliani had another impressive outing for his fledgling Fazzt team in sixth. It's clear that the first two races of 2010 have set the stage for perhaps one of the most hotly contested Indycar seasons in years.

Healthy car counts with 24 machines at each of the first two races bodes well for the series this year. The Indy 500 could have as many as 42 or 43 bonafide entries this year if reports around the circuit are accurate. John Andretti will likely run with cousin Michael's Andretti Autosport and Graham Rahal could be headed back to Newman Haas Lanigan, with Davey Hamilton, Paul Tracy, Townsend Bell, Tomas Scheckter, Jay Howard, AJ Foyt IV, Ed Carpenter, Ana Beatriz and Sebastien Saavedra said to be set for May's abbreviated schedule. Teams need to keep their equipment together over the next two raod races so that the Kansas tune-up for the 500 can help everyone get their oval legs under them heading to Indianapolis.

Pressure is on from sponsors for the IRL to deliver value this year, and no one knows that better than new IRL leader Randy Bernard. His appearance on SpeedTV's Wind Tunnel with Robin Miller last week was upbeat. I have surprised myself by beginning to warm up to Bernard filling this position, as he seems to be doing what all good leaders do: get good people involved and get their input. The formation of a committee to evaluate chassis options and provide recommendations is on the money, and recent reports indicate that 2011 may not be the drop dead date for a new car after all, especially if it means that teams have to spend more money when cash is already hard to come by. That realization is a good one in my book. Getting fan input is also a good idea, and I know I am not the only one who got the IRL survey via email about the chassis designs.

If the weather would just cooperate and fans could watch what the IRL is doing from week to week, there is an excellent opportunity to build significant momentum for May and the title chase. With more road courses than ovals on the schedule this season, one bad finish on either type of circuit could make or break a contender's opportunity. I for one can't wait to see what is next. While the IRL is at Barber, I will be at Salem for the ARCA race but rest assured I'll have something to say about both - thanks to my DISH Network DVR! See you at the track.

Indycar Comeback Stories Top Brazil Podium - Will Power Wins for Penske

A late mistake by teammate Ryan Briscoe opened the door for an improbable comeback win by Aussie Will Power in Sao Paolo, Brazil today in the inaugural street course race in Brazil's largest city. The anticipated Penske-Ganassi team duel never materialized, even though Dario Franchitti led a number of laps early on. Instead, the IRL storylines involved three drivers on the podium who missed most of the 2009 season due to crash injuries or financing woes.

Will Power was close to tears in his post race interview as he talked about his doubts he would be able to come back and be fast after his horrific accident last fall at Sonoma. He made a classic inside pass under braking with a handful of laps to go to relegate another comeback kid, Ryan Hunter-Reay to second place. IZOD got its money's worth today as Hunter-Reay was the class of the field most of the race but he lamented a lack of straight line speed after finishing second to the charging Power. Hunter-Reay jumped in and out of rides last season and struggled mightily with Vision Racing at Indy last year, only to see himself now becoming the face of IZOD in Indycars with Andretti Autosports. Brazilian Vitor Meira took third in front of his home crowd after missing most of last season with severe back injuries suffered in the 2009 Indy 500. Always a fan favorite, Vitor is one of the nicest guys on the circuit and his homage after the race to AJ Foyt Racing for keeping the seat warm for him until this year was very touching.

It was a very interesting weekend in Brazil with track surface problems caused by slippery concrete postponing qualifying to race morning and a deluge complete with hailstones swamping the race track during the race at about half distance. The day started with a scary first corner incident involving multiple cars, with drivers flying blind through the concrete dust and Mario Moraes ending up on top on Marco Andretti. Alex Tagliani and the new Fazzt race team were most impressive until he got punted by Dan Wheldon and ran into innocent bystander Tony Kanann spoiling his race. Go Daddy girl Danica Patrick had a spin in the rain and finished a lap down while the newest lady on the circuit, Simona di Silvestro, was quite impressive, leading laps in her first ever Indycar start. Of the newcomers, Brazilian Ana Beatriz showed that she belonged in this series with a smart rave to finish on the lead lap, ahead of all the other rookies and the more celebrated female drivers.

The biggest surprise for me was the botched strategy of the Target Ganassi team who kept Dario and Scott Dixon out on wet weather tires too long and once the track got dry, they were too far back to challenge for the podium. Dario was charging at the beginning and might have won had it not been for the team's tire strategy. Dixon got caught up int he first corner incident that was trigger by my darkhorse candidate Takuma Sato, so Dixie had a long fight to get back into the Top 10 as it was.

While I am sure that the Brazilian crowd would have been happier with Helio or TK winning this event, the track was very racy and mostly devoid of the point & squirt style of driving that seems to typify most street circuits. There were bonafide passing zones, high speeds on the long straightaways and not much bouncing off the concrete or other drivers once the concrete dust had settled from the first corner incident. Now the Indycar brigade packs up for the St. Petersburg Grand Prix in two weeks where former winner Graham Rahal will rejoin the fray, this time driving for Sarah Fisher Racing. I look forward to the next chapter in all these comeback stories. See you at the track!

Oh BTW. Is it May yet?

Indycar Season Finally Here: Penske- Ganassi Battle Expected

By now, all the teams and their gear are settled in for the Sao Paulo season opener this weekend. Unfortunately, I will be couch racing instead of shooting this event and I am looking forward to seeing how all the new combinations handle this inaugural street race. I'm sure a festival atmosphere will prevail as everyone knows Brazilians love their racing. With six (6) native sons or daughters racing in the IRL this weekend (four of whom list Sao Paulo as their hometown), their time will be in demand off the track as well.

Three time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves, leader of Penske Racing, brings his race winning savvy and local heritage back home. Considering where his life was a year ago at this time, under the microscope of the Internal Revenue Service, Helio will no doubt be all smiles this weekend. Outside of Helio's Penske teammates Ryan Briscoe and Will Power, defending Indycar champ Dario Franchitti and teammate Scott Dixon of Target Chip Ganassi Racing will likely provide Helio's toughest competition. I think Helio's biggest personal challenge will be reigning in his natural exuberance since there is no margin for error on street courses like this one. A crash in qualifying could put any of these contenders at the back and passing is expected to difficult between so qualifying results will likely set the stage for the anticipated race winners.

I do expect there will be some surprise results this weekend as numerous new car/driver combinations have surfaced since last season. Of the 24 cars expected to start this weekend, roughly half involve drivers at new teams. A first time event such as this street race can also be expected to reward teams with the most experience with the Indycar street course setups, as they can go fast almost as soon as they unload and wheel out on the track. Street races are notorious for wall contact and the experienced drivers are not exempt, so someone like Justin Wilson, now with Dreyer & Reinbold, could sneak through to victory lane if the big boys run into concrete (or each other).

The ultimate darkhorse this weekend has to be Takuma Sato so it will be interesting to see how he adjusts to the IRL's close quarters racing and the relatively sluggish performance of Indycars compared to the F1 equipment with which he is more familiar. My personal favorite to do well would be Ana Beatriz as I have been impressed with her in Indy Lights equipment the last two years and the opportunity to do well in her hometown in her first IRL race will undoubtedly bring pressure, but I think she will be able to handle it even though she is not a likely podium candidate. Three women will start this race, two of them rookies, and Sarah Fisher is not among them. How will the Brazilian press treat Danica, Ana and Simona di Silvestro? I hope they all do well and it will be interesting to see the highly touted di Silvestro take on this circuit after a scintillating Atlantic series in 2009. I hope we see four women qualifying for Indy in May! No other high level racing series can boast of this kind of gender diversity.

Coverage will again be provided by Versus, and I feel badly for DirectTV customers who will not have access to the telecast. At least they can catch it on Indycar.com! With no Sprint Cup race this weekend and the Formula One opener also slated for Sunday, this should be an excellent weekend for the open wheelers to take center stage. Let's go racing!

IndyCar Season On The Brink: Barber Test Done - Brazil Next

Indycars have completed their only open test of the pre-season, conducted last week at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, and are now aiming for the season opening race in Brazil in less than two weeks. The usual suspects led the Barber test but there were some surprising names near the top of the charts as well.

Team Penske sported new black and red livery and its three drivers led the way in combined testing results for the two-day run at Barber. Quick Aussie Will Power was followed by teammates Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe. It's good to see Power back up to speed after his horrific crash at Sonoma last season! Target Ganassi took Scott Dixon to fourth quick time but defending IRL champ Dario Franchitti's test was cut short after he found the barrier on the second test day. Justin Wilson surely buoyed the spirits of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing by slotting in fifth quick with former F1 Honda driver Takuma Sato in sixth for KV Racing Technology. That is good news for the Wilson and Sato teams as Justin brings a race winning heritage and Takuma brings funding from Honda. The teams head to Brazil next for the first race of the season March 14th.

The Brazil race should be a very interesting event and could serve as a springboard for the IRL in popularity this year. I have been an IRL supporter from the beginning but I have the sense that this year is critical for the Indy Racing League. Here's a few reasons why I think so:

New Leadership. The end of the Tony George era has been well documented and now that Jeffrey Belskus runs the Speedway and Randy Bernard is the IRL kingpin, how will that play out this year? First impressions are meaningful and with the former-PBR founder & CEO taking on the IRL, his first day on the job is March 1st so what will he be able to bring to the table? My concern would be that if he doesn't make a splash immediately, his tenure may be limited like so many other IRL leaders in the past. With the NASCAR juggernaut seemingly regaining its momentum early this season, this is a crucial season for the IRL and results will need to come quickly and be evident to everyone involved: teams, sponsors and fans alike. If Belskus keeps the financial screws tightened up so much that the Speedway and the IRL can't effectively market themselves, then sayonara to this leadership group and hello precipice.

New events. The first Indycar race in Brazil will now start the season on the international stage. The bad news is the Formula One opener is the same day. Diehards may watch both (like I will) but newcomers may still be confused about the differences between the series. I can almost hear them now: "Those cars all look alike. Don't the grand prix cars always run on road courses?" Differentiation is going to be the key to grab new fans for the IRL so I hope Versus and the IRL are buying ad time associated with Speed's F1 coverage and every NASCAR telecast where Danica will race. The Barber race in April is also a new venue and helps tip the scales in favor of road racing for 2010. If these events can showcase some good racing and not be follow-the-leader parades, then perhaps they can develop some history and staying power for the IRL. If they are just quick paydays and go by the wayside when current promotion contracts expire, then I don't think the IRL has gained much of anything. How many fans from Brazil are going to travel to another Indycar race this season? Or how many from Alabama, for that matter?

Versus. This is the second season of the Versus/ABC television package and unfortunately, DirectTV subscribers still cannot see the IRL events on Versus. Danica even went so far recently as to suggest that the IRL needs to be on ESPN so viewers can get their racing fix with the IRL in the mix. Searching for Versus or paying for upper tier cable or satellite channel feeds cannot be a good thing for the IRL long term. Comcast needs to get its act together and push the DirectTV issue to a solution and get Versus in the standard packages for cable and satellite.

New chassis spec for 2012. From what I can gather, the Delta Wing concept just won't fly. Even Danica, the IRL's most recognizable personality, has made comments that aren't exactly flattering. I've beat this drum here before so it goes without saying that the next chassis spec could make or break the IRL.

Abbreviated Indy 500 schedule. Sure the teams and IMS will save a lot of money but will this really result in greater fan interest during the lone practice week? With only two days for qualifying, rain could be the biggest nemesis for Indy this year and the disappointing crowds at the last few pole days could vanish altogether if qualifying gets washed out to the "next available day" when everyone is back at work. Obviously the television coverage will suffer as well with programming to fill rain delay time never as interesting as pole or bump day qualifying drama. If time for the teams gets squeezed even further, then the pressure to get in the race builds and you can bet there will be drivers who find the fence in desperation rather than setting quick lap times.

Danica. ESPN2 seems to have become the Danica channel lately since she is running the Nationwide Series. The IRL people have got to get in the mix and play off of that publicity. They need to have an IRL show car at every stock car race Danica runs, offer ticket promos, race weekend package contests and other goodies to get the stock car nation out to see the IRL product on race weekends. GoDaddy can certainly do more than just flashing Danica's face on the screen or in the email marketing. Show both cars - Indy and stock - in every ad. Get Mark Martin on board to help since he has Go Daddy money for his Sprint Cup car.

Penske & Ganassi Dominance. Can anyone else step up and challenge either of these teams? Andretti Autosport has the most to gain with Michael Andretti as the sole owner now, but they also have the most to lose, and Danica outran her more seasoned teammates in 2009 so it will be interesting to see how Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti fare as the season goes on. It's good to see Ryan Hunter-Reay get rewarded with a seat for a limited schedule with Andretti, although with IZOD behind him and the series, I would think more could be done for him. And IZOD, will you please update that commercial? It is just so tired. Finally, what will become of Newman Haas-Lanigan? Hideki Mutoh took his Formula Dream money to NH-L and will run the #06 car but I don't see him as a front runner. And why on earth can't Graham Rahal get some backing for the #02 NH-L car? Losing Rahal from the series makes absolutely no sense, especially when the IRL is already short on American talent behind the wheel.

Fans. This is the most important element for the Indy Racing League this year. Will fans come out to the races and find the IRL on television? I was a race fan long before I became a motorsports photographer, so I am anxious to see what kind of crowds come out to places like Chicagoland and Kansas for comparison to the NASCAR craowds at the same venues. If the Indianapolis 500 has a larger crowd than the Brickyard again this year, then the IRL may have turned the corner with fans. And if wheel to wheel photo finishes, and a season championship fight among mulitple drivers at the Miami Homestead finale once again, don't get your racing juices flowing, then I don't know what will.

This is not your father's Indycar series; it never will be again. A series with so much promise and potential is at the axis of change in 2010 and this season on the brink will go a long way towards determining whether change means growth or decline. My belief is that growth is coming for the most competitive high speed series in the world of motorsports. I'll be at the tracks as often as possible. How about you?

IRL Car Concepts Update: Lola In Game Too

The final designer is now in the mix for the future of Indycars. The venerable brand Lola has submitted its concept drawings, and similar to Swift and Dallara, its design is evolutionary in contrast to the radical Deltawing. With four potential designs to choose from and a reported goal to make a decision by May 2010 for the 2012 season, the new brass at the Indy Racing League will surely have their hands full. How mush influence will Chip Ganassi have since the Deltawing concept comes from his shop? And will their be brand loyalty to Dallara since they have taken over the IRL chassis supplies since the G-Force went by the boards a couple of seasons ago? The IRL has never been at a more critical juncture in its history as the decisions made this year on the future chassis will set the table for at least the next five years. Then the engine manufacturers will know what they have to work with as well.

Personally, I like the Swift as it just sounds like it should be an Indycar. Lola has a vaunted history in Indycars and is currently involved in other top flight racing series as a chassis supplier so don't count them out. And if it is true that Dallara only sold nine (9) new cars in 2009 as I have heard, then whoever gets this deal stands to make some real money beginning in 2012, even with the cost reduction goals in place, since there will likely be a need for 50 or more new chassis to be cranked out in time for the 2012 Indianapolis 500. Stay tuned.

IRL Future Car Concepts: Update

In today's Indianapolis Star, readers posted the following comments to the Star's "Let It Out" column of reader feedback:

"I wonder if the IRL got permission to use the Batmobile for its next body style."

"Is William Shatner going to be the new track announcer for the 2012 Indianapolis Sci-Fi 500?"

Of course we can't read too much into just two readers' comments that the Star published.

Or can we?

Danica Invades Daytona - Indycar Concepts Unveiled

By just about any measure, Danica Patrick's first weekend of stock car racing has been a success. She ran strong all week at Daytona, finishing 6th in her debut with ARCA and surviving a lurid spin down the front strecth after getting shoved into the grass by fellow rookie Nelson Piquet, Jr. Her Nationwide Series result was marred by getting collected in one of the "big ones" that she couldn't avoid, but she looked good while she was out there and her feedback on the car's performance was excellent.

Meanwhile, leadership of the Indy Racing League missed an opportunity to make hay while the sun shines as they unveiled future car concepts at an auto show rather than at the race track where their marquee star and best known name was competing. On top of hiring a CEO from professional bull riding, I wonder where this is all leading. The Delta Wing concept is so radical as to bear little resemblance to anything run in Indycars before. Some have likened it to a Bonneville Salt Flats machine or an NHRA top fuel dragster. If the stated desire is to embrace technology, then this machine may fit the bill but it is beyond my understanding how this will attract new fans without alienating the fan base that has supported the IRL since its first season in 1996. The Delta Wing concept is a product of Chip Ganassi's organization but it's never been on a track nor crash tested. It does not look to me like it would be very stable on ovals, although it would be very slick aerodynamically. It's hard to imagine this creation sideways in Turn 1 at Indianapolis and a driver being able to save it with the narrow front end that has been depicted. Besides that, it is not an open wheel car! Indycars don't have fenders so those have got to go!

The Swift and Dallara concepts are much less radical and more evolutionary. All of the manufacturers want exclusivity of their designs for cost recovery; that makes sense for the IRL in terms of keeping team costs down. The last thing the IRL needs is a chassis war, or teams like Penske deciding to run one brand for road courses and another on the ovals.

Much work remains to be done before any of these concepts hit the racetrack for testing. I wonder if these concepts have been floated simply to gauge public reaction before the real money has to be spent on prototypes and testing. Something will have to be done soon to have a new chassis available for 2012 which has been the expressed goal. Turbo powered, smaller displacement engines that can fit in any chassis still must be designed as it seems clear to me that the non-turbo Honda will eventually go by the wayside in favor of more engine manufacturers in the IRL. Development of the current Dallara has maxed out and this next chassis/engine spec may be either the saving grace or the next step downward in the spiral of popularity for the series. The Indy 500 will still be run every year as the prestige and cache of a century of races cannot be duplicated anywhere else in racing with the possible exception of LeMans. But teams need races to run to attract sponsors and a series must be viable around Indy to make open wheel racing relevant for the next generation of race fans. The new Speedway and IRL brass have their work cut out for them this year, and having Danica involved in whatever technical direction they decide to go is going to be essential for development of fan interest for the years ahead.

Tony George Update - Vision Racing Shuttered

One day after I posted about the problems Tony George has encountered with the Hulman family empire, the Indianapolis Star reported this morning that Tony George has decided to suspend operations of his Vision Racing Indycar team. I am sure that was a tough pill to swallow for the IRL founder, perhaps moreso even than relinquishing some of his other duties at IMS and with the IRL, since he had to let personnel go. This puts Ed Carpenter out ride-hunting and takes away another IRL team, one which had become increasingly competitive on ovals in 2009. Ed ran the race of his life at Kentucky Speedway last summer in earning Vision a best-ever second place finish, losing by inches in a photo finish. Of course I am sure there are folks out there who are gleefully celebrating TG's comeuppance, but I am not one of those. It took courage to create a breakaway series and stay the course through difficult economic times, and now barely two full seasons after getting the Indycar series unified, Tony must watch from the sidelines. For me, anything that hurts the IRL is not good, and losing a team that seemed to be on the verge of really good consistent results is a horrible loss. I for one hope Tony rebounds strongly. If the Speedway is not for sale, maybe the IRL would be, so go get 'em Tony.

Hulman Family Upheaval Continues: Tony George Resigns

With the 2010 auto racing season beginning in earnest this weekend in Florida with the running of the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, it seems odd to me that the major story in big league auto racing recently comes from Indianapolis. In the completion of an apparent falling-out with family members, Tony George announced last week that he resigned from the board of the Hulman family business and now will be just an Indycar team owner. Even his Vision Racing team is said to be struggling for sponsorship dollars to stay afloat this season.

It's been a long hard fall for the man who has been demonized by many for his creation of the Indy Racing League in 1996. It's really too bad that he has now been sacked by his own family from any leadership roles at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the IRL and now Hulman & Company. Meanwhile Jeff Belskus is said to be courting the CEO of Professional Bull Riders, Randy Bernard, as the next IRL leader. Excuse me, but what does bull riding have to do with 200 mph racing? With names like Zak Brown of Just Marketing International in the mix, how in the world can the Speedway's current leadership think a guy from the PBR will have an impact on the needs of the Indycar Series? The learning curve will be too steep in my opinion, and who among the IRL competitors is going to take Bernard seriously when it is decision time for the next chassis spec to be issued? All I can say is he better leave the tech stuff to Brian Barnhart and others, and get out there and beat the bushes for funding and promoting the series as it needs to be. Otherwise, his tenure will be as short as and IRL pitstop.

Which leaves me here in the cold and snow of the midwest instead of at Daytona where I should be, shooting the Rolex series this weekend. The Gainsco team is still probably the team to beat, although likely not this weekend, but probably for the series title, since NASCAR champ Jimmie Johsnon wadded up their 99 car in a practice wreck this morning. Tough break for IRL vet and team owner Jimmy Vasser who was also going to co-pilot the Gainsco entry. Chip Ganassi has loaded his team with IRL talent as champion Dario Franchitti and his IRL teammate Scott Dixon team with Juan Montoya - all Indy 500 winners! - and Jamie McMurray. Ryan Hunter-Reay is also entered so the open wheel racers will be well represented at Daytona. My guess is Helio couldn't make it since he's recently become a father and his girls probably need him at home for awhile.

I may not be the only one who has been effected by breathing too many methanol/ethanol fumes. Nelson Piquet Jr. to NASCAR? Are you serious? He should go run Salem too. Michael Schumacher un-retires to run F1 again, this time for Mercedes? Has he run out of money or just gotten bored? At 40 years of age and away from the sport for more than three years, his performance will be closely watched by all. Marty Reid and Scott Goodyear will return to the broadcast booth for ABC's IRL coverage and Eddie Cheever will be with them for Indy 500 coverage. Speaking of Eddie, I can't wait to see him at a race track this year and ask him what movie he and his son went to see at the Glendale Kerasotes theater last month. I think he was surprised that I recognized him as he was buying their drinks and popcorn. In the department of not really news: seating capacities at NASCAR tracks is being reduced due to lower demand. I guess that's one way to make the tracks look like they have bigger crowds. At least there won't be so many fans disguised as aluminum bleachers on TV this year.

The best news is that Dario was recognized as driver of the year for 2009 by the Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association. He truly deserved it and adds the award to the one he won in 2007 after his previous IRL championship. Best wishes to all the IRL contingent this weekend, and I will see you soon. If you're looking for a good racing photographer this season, I know where you can find one.

2009 Full of Memories - Best Is Yet To Come

As the first decade of the 21st Century winds down this week, I am struck by a flood of memories from my fourth racing season shooting for American Motor Journal. Racing news is generally hard to come by at this time of year, and Danica seems to be the main focus of interest with her Nationwide Series deal for next year. Yes, I wrote about it here a couple of months ago long before it was confirmed and I'd still like to see her run at Salem! It was funny that after her first ARCA test at Daytona, she said the car was slow. Well yeah - compared to Indycars, of course the ARCA car is slow!

But she's not the only one in the news. Helio and his girlfriend have just had a baby. Ryan Briscoe has recently gotten married. The IRL is debating whether to go radical or traditional on its next gen chassis spec. Layoffs at IMS have stretched into marketing and PR departments. Tony Stewart was behind a growing motorsports industry show in Indy that has already booked twice as much convention floor space for next year. IZOD came on board as the IRL series sponsor. And the 2010 Indy 500 practice schedule has been cut to one week. Barely a month from now, the Rolex Series will be running the 24 Hours of Daytona and then the madness starts all over again for the various series. I can hardly wait. Please enjoy the following slide show of many of my "Best of 2009" photos from various racing series.

If you've been here before, you know my 2009 season began and ended with the ARCA races at Salem Speedway. In between April 5th and September 19th much has transpired and thousands of miles have been driven or flown chasing race cars. I've heard it said over and over: do what you love and love what you do. I've tried to incorporate that into my life as well, leaving a job I didn't enjoy in October to pursue the passions that drive me onward: photography, racing, basketball and teaching. As Joe DiMaggio said in his famous speech, "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth." Believe it or not that rings true for me and I trust that the best is yet to come.

After Salem in April came the "Month of May" in Indianapolis; naturally the Indy 500 practice doesn't take a whole month anymore, but oldtimers like me still call it that. I was accepted into the Indy 500 Oldtimers Club this year and had an incredible time shooting all over the place at the track. Turn One was the busiest it's ever been in my experience, and there were days you really had to be on your toes - second day qualifying for instance, when there was a crash the second lap after the track went green in the morning practice. Lots of people got no pictures as the morning "hello, how are ya's" were still being exchanged along the fence. Not me. I got pictures. That's what I do. Then poor Vitor Meira got steamrolled during the 500 and he came down off the wall right in front of me in one of the wilder accidents I have ever photographed at Indianapolis. Indy Lights ran a highly competitive race on Carb Day and Anna Beatriz pounded the inside fence to my left in Turn One - I don't think anyone else got pictures of it as I was the last person in the row of photographers and shot through the gap in the safety fence where the crash trucks come out. The photo which leads this blog post is one of this series and is spectacular for the trash and debris thrown off in the incident.

Soon after the 500, I got to go to Texas for the IRL race for the first time. We stayed at the Champions Marriott within sight of the track. We spotted Tomas Scheckter and Mike Conway in the hot tub the day of the race while we were relaxing by the pool. It was great being there as race team personnel were all around. My brother and his son were there for the weekend and we thoroughly enjoyed the action at Texas.

Two weeks later, my assistant and I took off for Ohio and the Rolex Series at Mid Ohio Sports Car Course, which is absolutely one of my favorite race tracks for photography. From that standpoint, the racing is almost secondary, as they fill the weekend schedule with cars on track from dawn to dusk and memory cards get filled early and often. These beautiful machines sound and look wonderful on the rolling Mid Ohio course and the angles to shoot are plentiful.

Then came a couple of bonus short track races for me. First, on July 2nd, the USAC sprinters were at super-fast Winchester and put on a good show despite a short field for the pavement race. Street stocks also ran with USAC here, and I shot one of my most interesting crash shots as the driver's hands flew off the steering wall after backing hard into the inside wall coming off of Turn 2 onto the backstretch. I had my 300 on at the time, and was right next to the track so through the camera it looked like he was coming right at me. "Keep shooting" was all I could think. The following weekend, I shot the USAC sprinters at Kokomo Speedway on dirt July 12th as part of the Indiana Sprint Week tour and a huge car count meant plenty of qualifying, heat races and a highly competitive feature. I hadn't shot dirt track racing action in awhile, so it was a great refresher for my technique.

At the end of July, NASCAR came to Indy for the Brickyard 400 the last Sunday of the month. It was a boring parade as Juan Pablo Montoya had everyone covered until a bogus pit lane speeding violation took away his chances and manufactured a "race" between Jimmy Johnson and Mark Martin on the final restart. Something has to be done to make the Brickyard more exciting as the last two races have been godawful to watch and shoot, with almost no side by side racing in Turn One. Maybe I need to change locations...

The very next weekend, I was off to Kentucky for the IRL race and I had intended to go down and back in one day as I had done before. I got up that morning and saw on the IRL website that rain had effected Friday's schedule so Indy Lights and the IRL were going to all be jammed into Saturday with an earlier start. I got on my horse earlier than planned and hustled down to Sparta, where more sprinkles as I arrived jumbled the schedule further. As a result, Lights and the IRL ran back to back with essentially no practice; shooting nothing but racing was great. It reminded me of the CART 500 race at Michigan in the late '80's where Saturday was a washout and I was up cooking over a campfire Sunday morning with race cars on the track. For some reason I was not given a race mode sticker for the race so I couldn't shoot any pit action, but I still managed to get a great shot of the IRL's photo finish between Ed Carpenter and Ryan Briscoe while standing on somebody's golf cart behind the pit lane fence near Victory Lane. I got pictures again, despite less than ideal working conditions.

Continuing a hectic mid-summer schedule, I was on the road again the next weekend, heading back to Mid Ohio for the entire three-day ALMS/IRL weekend. Indy Lights were also on the schedule so the track action was non-stop and I shot more pictures that weekend than any other in my life. I even had to go back to my car Saturday morning to download memory cards to my computer after rain hit the ALMS warmup and made for very interesting shooting. I recall sitting on the photog bleachers in Victory Lane Sunday waiting for the last 10 laps of the IRL race to be completed and thinking how tired I was and that I had done a good job that weekend. I wish I knew how many miles I walked those three days at Mid Ohio. It was awesome.

With three weeks away from the track following Mid Ohio to regain a semblance of my personal life, my assistant and I then went to Chicagoland for the IRL/Indy Lights event with the feature on Saturday night another fantastic finish under the lights. This time I had the race mode sticker and got the photo finish pictures from the vantage point I wanted along pit wall. It was also the last time I saw Steve Snoddy, God rest his soul.

Back in Indy for work, I read about the scheduled Rolex test at the Speedway so I managed to get out there to shoot for a couple of hours. I was amazed by the big crowd that turned out to watch a test session for the sorts cars on a workday. The minimal publicity which preceded the test was apparently enough for thousands of gearheads like me to go racing at IMS again. It was like old home week at the track as I saw lots of my photographer friends along the fences snapping away as the test progressed. I sure hope they get an endurance race scheduled for the Rolex Series at Indy and that they run into the darkness. That would be truly spectacular.

Finally, yet it felt like it was suddenly upon me, September 19th my assistant and I went back to Salem for the ARCA night race to wrap up my season of racing. We love that place and I am thankful for the opportunity to shoot the future stars of stock car racing at this famed little track. At the spring race, I got to shake Parker Kligerman's hand before the event and to see him battling for the season title with another young gun, Justin Lofton, several months later was one of those unexpected treats that comes from racing photography.

There were poignant times this year also, with the sudden and unexpected death of photog Steve Snoddy among them. As I write this today, I am filled with gratitude for the opportunity I have had to be involved in so many great events. The people that have helped me over the years are so numerous that it would be impossible to mention them all. Folks like Don Hamilton, Penny Holder and Kevin Thorne at American Motor Journal are at the top of the list. Ron Green and Ron McQueeney at IMS are in there. Keith Pritchard, Glenn Smith and numerous other photographers are there too. Most importantly, I recognize the blessings in this life that have enabled me to travel and shoot the racing caravans of all descriptions while my life has undergone a transformation the last few years. I have not done it alone and I know the best is yet to come. God bless everyone and have a safe and happy new year! Let's go racing!