At the tone, in one minute we’ll begin the next IMS Radio Network Broadcast… Get ready to roll tapes, at the next tome will equal 45 seconds…
We’re countin’ down the hours ‘til “Speedy Saturday,” a la “Fast Friday.” And there’s actually been a FULL day of practice this weekend, with 35 cars taking to the track yesterday and another full day of practice expected today, but did I mention that the forecast for Saturday is now THUNDERSTORMS with Sunshine & Showers for Sunday…
Indy live
Last night I listened to Indy Live for the very first time, which was somewhat amusing as it featured five drivers competing in this years Indy 500. First up were the Target Chip Ganassi boyzs and this was a fairly straightforward interview, albeit Scott Dixon got a hearty chuckle out of the audience upon saying that EVERYBODY KNOWS who Danny “SPIKE” Wheldon is… As HE tells everybody and I had him figured out in about one minute…
Next up were the Vision Racing trio and I enjoyed the question of what’s it like driving for AJ Foyt? AJ Foyt IV deferred to Davey Hamilton since he’d driven first for ‘Ol Super Tex back in 1996, before Foyt IV said reluctantly that things had gone pretty sour for him, while Davey could be heard laughing in the background… What do you mean by this, asked the show’s host Mike King? Well, let’s just say it didn’t go too good and fortunately Tony George had the “Vision” to hire me and now my relationship with AJ is much better… Now what do you mean exactly by souring? To which Ed Carpenter broke in saying; What time did you go to bed last night Anthony in a high pitched nagging voice, while Davey sat laughing some more…
And Davey must have supreme faith that his Kingdom Racing deal will lead to something next year as he continued to vocally put down the current qualifying procedure… From no less the Brickyard Crossing’s restaurant; Doesn’t he know that Tony doesn’t like being criticized, eh?
Kicking Barron to the CURB
As previously mentioned, the CURB/Agajanian/Beck Motorsports ride was up for grabs between Alex Barron and Roger_Yasukawa, with Greg Beck saying it was down to whoever’s money showed up first… As Yasukawa managed to get his Yen wire transferred in time to climb aboard the #98 Dallara when practice finally commenced at 5:19PM Wednesday…
Fisher lands new sponsor
Sarah Fisher got some much deserved good news in her never ending quest for sponsorship, by announcing Wednesday that she had just obtained associate sponsorship from IUPUI. (Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis)
“The sponsorship of Sarah Fisher Racing and her No. 67 Honda-powered Dallara is a collaborative effort between the Indiana University School of Liberal Arts, the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology, and the IUPUI campus administration.”
Fisher is still hopeful of finding the necessary budget to compete in further races this season and ultimately a full schedule in 2009, while ironically, my latest Speedgear catalog features a picture of the Sarah Fisher model, part of the 2008 Greenlight diecast release with the #67 sporting ResQ on the sidepods… Which obviously is INCORRECT!
And with all of the Energy Drinks companies failing to hold up their end of the bargain, makes you wonder if Tony George is second guessing having Frank’s Energy Drink as the “Offical” Drinks sponsor of Indy…
Cutting it close
As usual, the second week programs are scrambling to get their drivers on track in the nick of time in order to possibly practice before having to hold their breaths for four laps, as Buddy Lazier and Phil Giebler had still NOT been on track at the end of practice Thursday.
As Lazier said earlier to the IndyStar’s intrepid reporters; Cabin & Ballard; (Although I’m still NOT sure Who’s who? As in who’s Batman and who’s the Boy Wonderer?)
“The guys have put a nice car together considering six days ago it was just a pile of pieces."
This makes me wonder just exactly what the gang at “Johnson ‘N Johnson” (Hemelgarn Johnson) have been doing? Or is this just one more example of how thinly stretched the supply of Dallara chassis is?
Toronto gets race
Michael Andretti has added a second race to his portfolio of race promotions with the announcement that Andretti Green Toronto, a newly formed subsidiary of his burgeoning empire has landed the rights to promote the Toronto street race beginning in 2009.
Andretti Green currently promotes the St Petersburg street race. Now all Mikey needs to do is start his own wine company, eh? Nah, he’s busy running two racing teams in the American Le Mans Series along with his four car IRL stable, but then again he’s got the perfect spokes-model…
(Quotes from IndyStar.com)
