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Dan Peters Sports Editor
Car Racing Writer
Oak Park Journal
Feb 15, 2004
It's a lot quieter before the Race starts.... © Oak Park Journal photo by Dan Peters Indy Car Drivers end a busy week with sixth, eighth
DAYTONA BEACH, Feb. 13, 2004 – IRL Drivers Helio Castroneves,
Scott Dixon and Scott Sharp finished sixth, eighth and ninth, respectively,
in the first round of the Crown Royal International Race of Champions on
Feb. 13 at Daytona International Speedway.
NASCAR Nextel Cup driver Ryan Newman passed fellow Nextel Cup star Kurt Busch on the final lap to win the 40-lap race on the high-banked Daytona oval. Helio Castroneves, the highest finishing IndyCar Series driver, rebounded from a penalty to finish just outside the top five. The two-time Indianapolis 500 winner was running third, when he was forced to move to the back of the pack. Sharp, who was fourth at the competition caution at lap 25, ran as high as second before losing the all-important draft when he couldn’t secure a drafting partner in an attempt to improve positions. Round two of the Crown Royal IROC is April 2 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. Royal Crown took over the series this year from True Value. Helio Castroneves Leads the way in Day 1 of testing at Phoenix AVONDALE, Feb. 11, 2004 — Helio Castroneves and Scott Dixon posted the top two laps in the morning session and those laps remained the quickest of the day as the IRL IndyCar Series began a two-day Open Test at Phoenix International Raceway on Feb. 11. Helio's Marlboro Team Penske Dallara/Toyota/Firestone lapped the 1-mile oval in 20.3095 seconds, 177.257 mph. He was closely followed by Dixon, the 2003 IndyCar Series champion, who posted a fast lap of 20.3126 seconds, 177.230 mph in his Target Chip Ganassi Racing Panoz G Force/Toyota/Firestone. Michael Andretti's Green Racing driver Dario Franchitti
was fastest in the afternoon session and third-quickest overall
Several drivers struggled with the reconfigured oval
as the caution flag fell four times in the morning session for four separate
incidents.
Highlights from Day 1 of Testing at Phoenix.... Tora Takagi, Scott Sharp and Darren Manning all spun in the reconfigured Turn 2 at PIR, but none of the drivers were injured and continued to practice during the afternoon session. Team Purex/Aventis/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing left the test session early after driver Robbie Buhl severely damaged his car following contact with the SAFER Barrier in Turn 4 early Wednesday morning . Scott Dixon Fastest in Final Day of Pre-Season IRL Testing at Phoenix..... AVONDALE, Ariz., Thursday, Feb. 12, 2004, Scott Dixon set the pace on the final day of the IRL IndyCar® Series Open Test at Phoenix International Raceway leading both sessions at the 1-mile oval. Dixon, the 2003 IndyCar Series champion, lapped the track in 20.1438 seconds, 178.715 mph in the No. 1 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Panoz G Force/Toyota/Firestone in the morning session and backed that up with a lap of 20.2732, 177.574 in the afternoon session. The three-fastest laps of the day were all in the morning session as Marlboro Team Penske’s Sam Hornish Jr., and Helio Castroneves posted the second- and third-best laps, respectively. Sam Hornish’s best lap was 20.1993, 178.224 in the Marlboro Team Penske Dallara/Toyota/Firestone, slightly faster than Castroneves, whose best lap was 20.2969, 177.367. The 2004 IRL IndyCar Series season begins with the
Toyota Indy 300 at 2 p.m. (EST) on Feb. 29, 2004, at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The race will be broadcast live on ESPN and the
Open 2-Day Test ... by the Numbers.... It’s hard to judge results at test sessions, as teams and drivers concentrate on different aspects of performance besides pure speed. Some teams work on aerodynamics. Some focus on race
setups and make long runs using full fuel tanks, which in turn, slow
But looking at statistics, defending IndyCar® Series champion Scott Dixon was the top overall driver during four days of Open Testing, Jan. 28-29 at the 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway and Feb. 11-12 at the 1-mile Phoenix International Raceway. The Rankings were determined by adding each driver’s position on the final speed chart each day. The driver with the lowest score prevails. Six drivers, led by Marlboro Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves, ranked in the top-10 on each day of testing, but that list did not include Dixon, who was 11th on the opening day of testing at Homestead. Michael Andretti & Green Racing was the most consistent team in the preseason, with Tony Kanaan, Dan Wheldon, Dario Franchitti and Bryan Herta ranking third, fourth, seventh and eighth, respectively, in their Dallara/Honda/Firestone entries. Top Ten In Testing at Phoenix: Miami/Miami/Phoenix/Phoenix
Miles and miles: IndyCar Series drivers turned a combined 10,100 laps during the four days of preseason Open Testing, 5,062 at Homestead-Miami Speedway and 5,038 at Phoenix. That equals 12,631 miles, approximately the same distance as flying three roundtrip flights from Homestead-Miami Speedway to Phoenix International Raceway. Menards Infiniti Pro Series drivers turned a combined 1,335 laps during two days of testing, 240 at the rain-shrotened test at Homestead and 1,095 at Phoenix. That equals 1,455 miles. Happy Birthday: IndyCar Series rookie Kosuke Matsuura
helped fellow Japanese driver Tora Takagi celebrate his 30th birthday on
Feb. 12 by bringing him a cake for Japanese television. The happy event,
however, deteriorated into a
Some funny happenings From Phoenix..... Where’s My Car?: IndyCar Series driver Scott
Sharp had
A Phoenix police officer was in the paddock during the lunch break to return luggage and other items from Sharp’s rental car, which was stolen from a hotel earlier that day. "I was already checked out and I stopped at the front
desk to leave a note for a friend, and someone stole the car," Sharp
Fortunately, for Sharp, the car was found. Sharp said the only missing items were headphones, a radar detector and a heart-rate monitor watch.
In the swim: This week’s Sports Illustrated contains a special treat. The 40th annual swimsuit issue includes an IRL IndyCar® Series schedule advertisement featuring two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves with the tagline “200+ plus mph topless entertainment.” Veronica Varekova, 26, a model from the Czech Republic, is on the cover of the issue, which hit newsstands Feb. 11. IRL meets NBA: A.J. Foyt IV’s No. 14 Conseco/A.J. Foyt
Racing show car will be on display for “Indy Racing League Night” during
the Indiana Pacers/New Orleans Hornets NBA game Feb. 17, at Conseco Fieldhouse
in Indianapolis. Foyt IV will appear and sign autographs from 6-6:45 p.m.
(EST). Tip-off is at 7 p.m. (EST). The first 10,000 fans attending the
game will receive IRL schedule magnets.
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