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Oak
Park Journal
Sports
Dan Peters Sports Editor
Oak Park Journal
CAR
RACING PAGE
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4 Star General Tommy Franks observes Old
Glory being
Displayed Prior to the Start of The Race.
© Oak Park Journal photos by Joe
Paolella & Dan Peters
Paul Tracy Reigns
at The
Milwaukee Mile, winning
The Time Warner Cable 225
by Dan Peters
Oak Park Journal
Beautiful Summer-like weather greeted the Milwaukee crowd and drivers
on this first full weekend in June. This year's event was a day-time
race as opposed to the past two years... when they were run at night.
Paul Tracy entered this weekend as the unquestioned king of The
Milwaukee Mile. The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford rolled into
the Legendary Track for this weekend's Time Warner Cable Road Runner
225 Presented by U.S. Bank.
Paul Tracy led 192 of the day's 221 laps in a dominating victory at the
Mile. The 2003 Champ Car World Series champion took the
lead with a gutsy outside move that carried him around pole-sitter
Jimmy Vasser, and then fought off the advances of young A.J.
Allmendinger and veteran Oriol Servia to secure his first win this
season.
Heavy Traffic at the Start and Time will
Tell and Take a Toll.
©
Oak Park Journal photo by Joe Paolella
Vasser led the first 18 laps of the day, 13 of which came under caution
after Ryan Hunter-Reay suffered a hard impact with the Turn Two wall.
Ryan Hunter-Reay was transferred to Froedtert Memorial
Lutheran Hospital where X-rays and a CT scan showed no
injuries. He was expected to be released from the hospital
Saturday evening
Green-flag pit stops caused Tracy to lose his lead momentarily
on two occasions, but Tracy easily motored back in front upon
completion of his pit stops.
#8 DHL Car Get Some Quick Service
in the Pits.
©
Oak Park Journal photo by Joe Paolella
Fire
in the Pits, Wrong time for a Tail Gator.
©
Oak Park Journal photo by Dan Peters
Allmendinger made things interesting in the latter half of the race,
whittling away on what was once an eight-second advantage for Tracy
after his second pit stop. The young American moved to within a couple
of car lengths on Tracy on Lap 185, shaving the
lead to less than a quarter-second just prior to the final set of fuel
stops, which started with 20 laps to go.
The stops showed why Forsythe Championship Racing is among
the most-accomplished teams in all of open-wheel racing as they
not only got Tracy out with the lead, but added nearly four full
seconds to his advantage over Allmendinger, Servia and Justin Wilson.
The stops ended any chance of a top-five run for series points leader
Sebastien Bourdais as he exceeded the pit-lane speed limit when
entering the pits, earning a drive-through penalty that dropped him out
of contention.
Fast
and Furious into the Turns.
©
Oak Park Journal photo by Dan Peters
The lead that the Forsythe team fashioned for Tracy vanished in
one flick of starter J.D. Wilbur's hand however, as a yellow flag
for debris bunched the field back up on Lap 210. Champ Car Race Control
had already announced that the event would be run under
a time limit, meaning that the field had little more than five minutes
to run the last 15 laps.
Tracy took the Lap 215 restart ahead of Allmendinger, who was
handcuffed by the fact that he had used all of his Power-To-Pass
allotment in securing the second spot. Tracy used that to his
advantage, using his reservoir of extra horsepower to build a
cushion at the drop of the green flag. That cushion ended up
telling the tale as the Canadian built a 3.3-second margin by the
time the checkered flag flew four laps short of the scheduled distance.
Tracy took no chances in the last trips around the Mile, running the
fastest lap of the day on his final trip around the Milwaukee oval.
"The car was great all weekend. After warm up we knew we would be in
good shape. I had a good start and went to the outside to get AJ. I
then focused on Jimmy but he squeezed me to the inside so I stayed on
his gearbox until the first restart. On the restart we were
side-by-side for a lap but I was able to get him in Turn 4. My car was
good in traffic and we were able to cruise on the way." Tracy said.
Tracy Takes the Lead
©
Oak Park Journal photo by Dan Peters
The second-place finish for Allmendinger established a new career high
for the second-year driver, and propelled him into the top-five
in points for the first time in his young career. Servia scored the
third spot in his first race after replacing the injured Bruno
Junqueira in the Newman/Haas machine, earning the sixth podium
of his career and his first since a third-place effort at Mazda Raceway
Laguna Seca last season.
"It was a great race. The RuSPORT car was very consistent today. Paul
(Tracy) is the man on the start, so when I lost the position
on the start I wasn't too worried. We were just running along and
as the tires got older we were able to run down Paul. He was stronger
on fresher tires, so we are very pleased with second place. We needed a
good run and I'm glad I got one today.
Third place Oriol Servia..... "I'm very happy I had a chance in the
PacfiCare car this weekend. We had a very good car and I'm
happy I was able to deliver. The team was happy and I want to be back
in the car, it is a really good car."
Paul
Newman Having a Taste of the Victory Champagne, and
perhaps Getting a New Idea for Another Dressing.
©
Oak Park Journal photo by Dan Peters
His Car owner's Carl Haas & Paul Newman also shared in the podium
finish for Servia.. with The Legendary Newman indulging
in a sip of victory champagne.
Servia's third-place finish was the highest finish for a driver making
his debut in a Newman/Haas car since Bruno Junqueira finished
third in the 2003 season opener in St. Petersburg.
Wilson ran in the top five all day and has solidified his status as a
title threat in 2005 with today's fourth-place finish, marking the
third time in as many events this season that the lanky Brit has
ended his day in the fourth spot. Polesitter Vasser celebrated his
200th consecutive Champ Car start with a top-five run, leading 18 laps
on the day, putting him ahead of Bourdais. The Frenchman
was able to take solace in leaving Milwaukee with the points lead,
assuming a seven-point advantage in the standings over Wilson,
with Tracy coming in just a single point behind Wilson.
Mario Dominguez ended his day in the seventh spot. He was followed by
eighth-placed Ronnie Bremer and Alex Tagliani.
Paul Tracy is the winner (Center)...
A J Allmendinger finishes Second (Left), Oriol Servia finishes
3rd (Right).
©
Oak Park Journal photo by Joe Paolella
The Champ Car World Series will have one week off as the teams prepare
for their first set of back-to-back race weekends of the
year with a June 19 trip to Portland being followed the next week
by a visit to Cleveland's Burke Lakefront Airport course.
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