Indy 500 & month of May

[DooberRoni]

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk279/DooberRoni/INDschedBann.png


We're running a few days behind but wanted to get something started for the Indy 500. Prior to rain spoiling opening day, PT was fastest in rookie practice. Duh. More throughout the day as we try to catch up. In the mean time, if you'd like to get started posting, fire away!

[ÜberDoober]

Day 2 practice just finished up. I watched on Indycar.com and here's what I wrote down:

1. Marco Andretti 225.478
2. Helio Castroneves 225.237
3. Ryan Briscoe 224.603
4. Scott Dixon 224.448
5. Dario Franchitti 223.679
6. Robert Doornbos
7. Dan Wheldon
8. Danica Patrick
9. Graham Rahal
10. Will Power

Other notables:

12. Paul Tracy 222.671
13. Tony Kanaan 222.595
18 Sarah Fisher 221.665

Hope to be able to catch some of Fast Friday tomorrow?

[ÜberDoober]

Fast Friday! Track has just gone green after a rain delay with an hour and 11 minutes left to go. As of right now, it's:

Briscoe 225.981
Castroneves 225.438
Franchitti 224.985
Dixon 224.882
Patrick 224.755

What the hell is up with the new indycar.com? Their news stories are buried somewhere but thank goodness, the headlines are still on Dooberville.com. As far as getting up something of a traditional live timing screen? Forgeddaboutit.

OMFG!!
Is that the voice of Shouty Ralph Shaheen I'm hearing? Oh Jeebus Christmas! If it isn't him, it sure as hell sounds like his twin brother. It can't be him. This has nothing to do with SPUUDtv. No wait - just heard him again. I don't think it is Shaheen but damn, they sound almost identical.

[ÜberDoober]

Fast Friday Happy Hour just wrapped up. Things picked up a little today. Briscoe just a hair under 226 and Castroneves the only driver in the 225's both days.

Will post up complete times later. Here's top five for Friday

Briscoe 225.981
Castroneves 225.430
Franchitti 224.984
Dixon 224.822
Patrick 224.755

Mentionables:
12th Kanaan
15th Tracy
17th Fisher

Doornobs and Scott Sharp both hit the wall today. Doornbos back on track in the spare car. The top 28 are all over 220. 3cars under 220 are Philippe, Duno and Barrett.

Tomorrow should be fun. Let's keep fingers crossed for sunny skies!

ps
PENSKE ROCKS! :winky:

[LittleAlguy]

Qualifying is underway. A few cars have come out to put in times. Will Power is the provisional polesitter @ 223.028 mph. Still a ton of time left, of course.

[LittleAlguy]

Not sure what is up with the audio on the streaming vid. They're supposed to show interviews with drivers who have qualified but the audio comes from a Paul Tracy interview. Might be time to go back to the old format (Meesh will smite them if they don't).

Briscoe just put up the first 224 avg. speed.

edit: now it's fine. Still would be better to have it work right away.

[ÜberDoober]

Oh cool! I finally found the normal timing and scoring screen. Can't say it's particularly zippy at updating. The new site had me confused yesterday.

Looks like Briscoe is on top for the moment but like you said, there's a lot of time left in the day, like five hours worth! :winky: Penske is looking very good though.

[LittleAlguy]

Both Ganassi, TK, Doornbos, PT, Sharp, Lloyd and Wheldon among the faster drivers yet to make a run.

Wilson's first attempt is thrown out due to illegal ballast placement.

Ah, interesting piece. Never seen the ballast before.

[LittleAlguy]

Franchitti had P1 then lost it on the last two laps. 224.010 mph

Back to practice.

[ÜberDoober]

Richard Petty is one of my all time favorite guys. The indycar.com timing screen is either broken or I'm not smart enough to understand what it is trying to tell me. :realMad:

About that ballast piece...I find it funny that for all their high tech (relatively speaking) they still have wood on the cars. I know F1 cars have the legality plank but I don't think it is really still made or or looks like wood?

Franchitti squeezes up to 2nd. He still had a chance up until his 4th lap dropped his average.

[LittleAlguy]

Regarding the T&S, they change it over to practice times when no one is making a qualifying attempt (if that's what you're talking about).

Yup, it's great seeing the King there. Who knows, it could lead to something more. Maybe he convince tell some of his NASCAR friends to try out this IndyCar stuff. :winky: Btw, that was a cool thing seeing him and A.J. in the same shot.

[ÜberDoober]

Oopsie! Tough luck for Wheldon.

[LittleAlguy]

Yeah, it looked like he saved it but the last correction wasn't enough.

[LittleAlguy]

Dixon is now 4th. The car went away a bit as the time went by.

[LittleAlguy]

Bumped out so far, Carpenter and Matos.

[ÜberDoober]

Cool piece with PT. Nicely done.

PT, Duno and Mutoh's cars all look too much alike. Even the Petty car some.

I think all the swapping things around AGR has done is pretty interesting. I was a little surprised yesterday to see drivers going out in their teammate's car. If TK should happen to win, his struggles early will make a good story.

Ooo! More PT interview. Wow!

[LittleAlguy]

Yeah, it's one of the better interviews I've seen in a while. I just hope he can finally get a full-time ride for a couple more seasons.

[LittleAlguy]

The first withdrawal: Danica goes for her 2nd attempt. Makes a lot of sense.

Not sure if this was the case for anyone else (or even her on attempt 1) but she's in 4th gear. Seems to have worked, though.

[ÜberDoober]

She done good! 10th up to 7th.

I saw the 4th gear thing earlier but don't remember who it was.

[ÜberDoober]

OH NOES! TK's effort DQ'd! Sounds like Rahal had a problem too?

[LittleAlguy]

That worked.

TK's tough week continues. That attempt, which probably was sketchy to hold up, is DQ'ed.

[LittleAlguy]

With all this, Carpenter is back on the bubble.

Now bumped off. Helio on positional pole.

[ÜberDoober]

Castroneves! :D

[ÜberDoober]

Nice comeback for Kanaan. Won't be surprised to see a few more trys.

[LittleAlguy]

That's the TK I know. 5th quick.

Yay, PT is on track! 11th bumping Mutoh.

[LittleAlguy]

Mutoh out to try to bump back in. He lost .8 mph on that 2nd lap. More on that 3rd. Still a cushion, though, over Paul. He's back in.

[ÜberDoober]

Mutoh bumps PT. Since you mentioned it, both the Penske cars were running 6th gear but Mutoh just used 5th.

Looks like Danica might go out again? This last bit should be pretty exciting?

[LittleAlguy]

That would surprise me if Danica goes back out. Then again, I guess AGR doesn't want to pull a Ferrari (i.e. feel comfy and then get burned by a faster track).

[ÜberDoober]

.... doesn't want to pull a Ferrari (i.e. feel comfy and then get burned by a faster track).

Did you see that this morning? Raikkonen did what Massa did. Amazing. I put up starting weights in the F1 thread if you haven't seen them. Hamilton is way heavy?

Andretti back out. Wheldon ready to try the car.

[LittleAlguy]

Did you see that this morning? Raikkonen did what Massa did. Amazing. I put up starting weights in the F1 thread if you haven't seen them. Hamilton is way heavy?

Andretti back out. Wheldon ready to try the car.

Yup, I saw that. Unbelievable.

Now PT bumped AGAIN.

[LittleAlguy]

It's getting pretty exciting now.

[LittleAlguy]

One more attempt: it's Wilson. Can he bump Alex Lloyd?

Nope.

Helio is the 500 polesitter.

[ÜberDoober]

Very cool! Great last minute effort by Lloyd.

Congrats Helio! Tears, how endearing. Makes me a bit misty too.

[LittleAlguy]

The only real surprise is Moraes making the top 11 though even that isn't a HUGE shock.

[LittleAlguy]

Fisher and Duno have completed their attempts. Meira is next. Fastest at 221.934 avg speed.

[LittleAlguy]

Now in is PT @ 222.749 mph. Justin is next.

[LittleAlguy]

Not being to watch stinks. Hopefully, I can get the remote soon.

edit: mission accomplished.

[LittleAlguy]

I love this stuff that Donald Davidson comes up with. I wish I had that job.

[LittleAlguy]

Time to eat. I'll be back later for the end of qualy.

[LittleAlguy]

We got some stuff from Daisy May's for Mother's Day and it was delicious. :thumbup1:

Anyway, Quattro is back in the field, Sharp out. Scott Sharp needs to get it done now with the ALMS commitment next weekend.

Great run earlier by Rafa Matos to be the fastest today.

[LittleAlguy]

Here it is, Scott. Gotta do it NOW.

Great job, Scott and the Patron team.

[KingKenny]

I luv Little Al [Unser?]. We went to the same HS a few yrs apart. Glad to see he's gettin together. Won the Celebrity champship with ease. Duh! truly hope he can find a way back into a ride in the IRL and get that 2nd Indy 500 win. :thumbup1:

[ÜberDoober]

Last weekend of qualifying is on tap but man, the month of May really does seem dragged out. We'll tune in later and try to stay on top of the action. Funny how they keep finding cars, drivers and teams that decide to play at the last minute.

From what I can tell, these are the guys that need to qualify and/or get bumped:

#8 Townsend Bell - KV Racing
#17 Oriol Servia - Rahal-Letterman
#06 Robert Doornbos - Newman-Haas-Lanigan
#34 Alex Tagliani - King Tut/Edmonton
#13 EJ Viso - HVM Racing
#19 Tomas Scheckter - Dale Coyne Racing
#43 John Andretti - Window World
#36 Bruno Junqueira - Conquest
#21 Ryan Hunter-Reay - Vision Racing
#91 Buddy Lazier - Hemelgarn Johnson
#99 Stanton Barrett - CURB/Agajanian/Team 3G
Predicted bump bubblers ?:
#23 Milka Duno - CITGO/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
#24 Mike Conway - Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
#00 Nelson Philippe - HVM Racing

[KingKenny]

:winky: Well it is the INDY 500 - just making the show is an honor and big time glory.

[LittleAlguy]

Yeah, I could do with a shorter month especially with how things are but for now, it's closing in on happy hour. Who will make it, who won't?

[LittleAlguy]

Scheckter looks ready for a qualifying attempt. John Andretti after that. Then, who knows?

Bubble speed set by RHR.

For Tomas, this is for being safe in the field.

[LittleAlguy]

Tomas looks safe. John needs a little extra to bump back into the field these next two laps.

edit: not enough. Buddy is next.

[LittleAlguy]

Buddy and Stanton wave off. They're not fast enough. Andretti makes his last attempt for qualifying.

[LittleAlguy]

Hunter-Reay eeks in. Tags is bumped. Lazier and Barrett also DNQ.

[ÜberDoober]

Ha! For all the haters, Duno makes it. I was so glad to see John Andretti get in on his last run. That was very cool. Stanton Barrett probably shouldn't have been in anyway but I was kind of hoping Tags would have made it.

2009 Indianapolis 500 Starting Grid - Courtesy of indycar.com (http://www.indycar.com)

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/IndyGrid1.jpg
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/IndyGrid2.jpg
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/IndyGrid3.jpg

[KingKenny]

GO Patrick, Kanaan, and Tracy. Kick Helio's buns.

Thx for the play by play LittleALguy. I luv it. Great read for those of us without the time to watch. Thx. :thumbup1:

[ÜberDoober]

A little extra programming note:

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/VS-extra.jpg

[KingKenny]

I am unsure who VS is? Is this [cough cough] SpeedTV?

[ÜberDoober]

Nope, VS/Versus used to be OLN, I think? Check your cable/sat lineup. http://www.versus.com/

The race is on ABC. Weather is starting to look iffy for Sunday. :mad:

I have to work onsite for half the day today and will miss most of the Carb Day action. Not that there's much going on and not that there are any carbs involved but I'd still like to have it on in the background.

[LittleAlguy]

I found out through a baseball site of all places that May happens to be one of the rainiest months for them. I'm betting if they had a do-over, they'd move the race to a less rain affected time. Ah well.

Sorry for being a little late but glad to hear you enjoyed the commentary, King Kenny. :thumbup1:

For those who want to join me live, I'll be hosting a live blog: http://and-that-happened.blogspot.com/2009/05/live-blog-memorial-day-sunday-race-day.html

[LittleAlguy]

I feel it. Can't wait for this thing to start. Remember to join me for the live blog.

[ÜberDoober]

Intros are done, the sun is shining and now we get a special Danica feature!

[LittleAlguy]

I see they haven't lost the "focus on DP" cue.

[LittleAlguy]

Heh, Cheever is shoving the Indy win in Goodyear's face again.

[ÜberDoober]

Man! I'm pretty excited about this. I'm kinda tingly even! Hope it's a good safe race that goes the distance.

Oooh! B-52's. A B-2 would have been cool too!

[ÜberDoober]

Hey! I see petetp from Pittsburgh is online. Hiya guy!

LittleAlguy, put the link to your blog chat up again. I'll do both if you do. :winky:

[ÜberDoober]

Damn, Jim Nabors can still sing. Surprised he can even still stand up. He must be what, 100?

All very cool and oh so traditional. :thumbup1:

[LittleAlguy]

Here you go: http://and-that-happened.blogspot.com/2009/05/live-blog-memorial-day-sunday-race-day.html

Jim Nabors singing gives me the tingles. I know the start is near.

[petetp]

Yeah, It's "Back Home In Indiana"
Now it feels like an INDY 500!

[petetp]

Hi there, I'm really looking forward to this race myself. I had to record F1 from MONACO. so please don't let things slip here... hehehe... (thanks in advance) :)

[LittleAlguy]

Oh boy. How cool would it be if Lloyd won.

I'll make sure not to, peterp.

[ÜberDoober]

I am so glad they waved that crap off

[petetp]

Oh Crap!...

[ÜberDoober]

Great start - not!

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/moraes.jpg

Tough luck for Marco. That sucks ass.

<edit> Sucks for Moraes too.

[petetp]

Nice screen grab!

[LittleAlguy]

It didn't look like the 2nd start was that much better than the first.

Ooo, Marco verbal smackdown.

[ÜberDoober]

Ok, let's manipulate a little controversy.

[LittleAlguy]

If they're responsible, they'd make sure there's nothing to happen between those two.

Alright, they're separate.

[LittleAlguy]

Six car battle up front. Well, more like a train.

[ÜberDoober]

PT into the top ten!

[ÜberDoober]

RHR bins it:

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/RHRbinsIT2.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/RHRbinsIT.jpg

[LittleAlguy]

I got to talk to Hunter-Reay briefly when they had the autograph session at Macy's. I just wish his luck were better.

[LittleAlguy]

PT made some bold moves on the restart. Got around Danica on the outside.

[LittleAlguy]

Wait, DP and Will got around Paul? How did that happen?

[LittleAlguy]

Wow, some save by Doornbos. Too bad it seems as though he has too much damage to continue it seems.

[ÜberDoober]

Briscoe to the lead. Dario slowing down.

[LittleAlguy]

Sheesh, another year, another winless Indy for Newman-Haas-Lanigan.

[ÜberDoober]

Oh man! Tough luck for Graham Rahal. :ack2:

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/rahal1.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/rahal2.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/rahal3.jpg

[LittleAlguy]

Seems like he tried to go around Duno.

[ÜberDoober]

Kanaan and Patrick both move up one during the pit stop.

Wilson goes backward:
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/Wilson.jpg

[ÜberDoober]

Crazy action on the track. Briscoe off the pace and in the pits. Suddenly, it's a race! :ack2:

[petetp]

:willy_nilly: wow, some risky traffic manuvers going on out there!... :willy_nilly:

[LittleAlguy]

Wheldon is steadily moving up as is his M.O. it seems.

[LittleAlguy]

Sweet pass, Oriol.

[LittleAlguy]

Eeek, that was a vicious hit. Glad to see that he's relatively unscathed. Another tough break for him at Indy.

[ÜberDoober]

Oh, poor Kanaan. :mad:

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/TK3.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/TK2.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/TK1.jpg

Thank goodness he is okay. Car just went snap and there was nothing he could do. Wow.

[petetp]

WOW! THAT WAS A HARD ONE! POOR TK... :eek:

[LittleAlguy]

Yeah, glad to see he's OK.

Some big movers: Bell to 7th, Tagliani to 11th.

[LittleAlguy]

This is the time of the race called: let's mention all the people who aren't in the script who haven't crashed.

Speaking of, Ed Carpenter is putting a solid run in 8th.

[LittleAlguy]

Philppe ends the day on a bad note.

Not sure why there was a need for a FCY. I guess they saw something I didn't.

[ÜberDoober]

Scary moments and some screw ups in the pits.

After this, Meira is back on track. How?
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/pitfire.jpg

[ÜberDoober]

Matos sneaks in for a little extra fuel/strategy.

Dario was lucky to not do a Meira.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/DariosMoment.jpg

[ÜberDoober]

Things are starting to look serious. 40 laps and another round of stops to go - it's far from over! :thumbup1:

<edit> and as soon as I say that, Wilson hits the wall.

[LittleAlguy]

Final stint. Make it counts, drivers. I wonder if any driver will need a splash.

[LittleAlguy]

Wow, that was a big accident. Tough luck for both.

[ÜberDoober]

Matos and Meira have a big one. Possible injuries. Not good.

[ÜberDoober]

Rafa is okay. Vitor, not so much. How unfortunate.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/mm4.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/mm1.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/mm6.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/mm3.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/mm2.jpg

[ÜberDoober]

A few more. Meira is conscious and complaining of pain. That's encouraging. Here are a few more grabs.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/mm7.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/mm8.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/mm9.jpg

[ÜberDoober]

8 laps to go and things are riveting! :ack2: :ack2:

[LittleAlguy]

This is Helio's to lose. Wheldon, Patrick and Bell don't have anything on their own.

[LittleAlguy]

HELIO TAKES THE CHECKERS! Indy 500 no. 3 for him.

[ÜberDoober]

Helio Wins!

Now we can expect him to bawl like a baby!

Wheldon, with a great run finishes second and Danica takes 3, her best finish in the 500. Great race. Storybook ending for Castroneves.

[ÜberDoober]

Helio drinks the milk.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/Heliomilk.jpg

[ÜberDoober]

Thanks guys for showing up today. Pete, it was nice to see you, if only for a little while and Evan, thanks for the chat. It was fun and I might even set up one here.

That was a decent race. A few long cautions, a lot of commercials but it was a spectacle. Any time you put a crying Castroneves in the winner's circle and the traditional drinking of the milk, you've got a show that's hard to beat.

Without having even seen the Coke 600, I'm giving the 500 the nod as the top race of the day.

[LittleAlguy]

Yeah, the race kind of took a deliberate feel early on before the action really started about when Briscoe had that handling problem. Not a bad race and I'm sure the league is pretty happy about who won.

Glad I could talk with you again.

[KingKenny]

Well spoke to my son by phone late Sunday evening. He was sitting 3rd row where Konan's car stopped. He updated Marias condition as "2 broken vertebrae but no permanent damage". That's good news. He said it was a particularly strong hit. He also says Marco was at fault and turned down into the other guy [name?]. Anyway, I was totally disappointed that Danica didn't win. Tracy obviously didn't have a competitive car. Hope they go back to NON_SPEC in 010 instead of 2011 so we can have a real 500 again. That was pathetic...

btw... LilAL - I just moved from Indy to CO in Jan.06. 23 yrs of Indy past now behind me. At least I get to watch "live" on TV now. LOL.