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lewisthegreat2

Greatest Spectacle In Auto Racing

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Classic drama at the Speedway today:

Scott Speed gets into a verbal altercation with the team over his car being too loose and quits! He walked right out!

Jaques Lazier is getting ready to take the Fuzzy's special for it's fastest laps of the month.

I find this hilarious. Speed said for years how "easy" these cars are to drive (without having ever driven one), and trashing the sport about how he'd never go there, how NASCAR was the place to be, etc. How easy were they to drive again, eh, Speed? Speedway did what it does best: kicked your ***. Tested his character, and the results weren't pretty.

It's great, too, that he had a ride for the Nationwide race this weekend in Harvick's 33, one of the best cars out there by far. Rather than have a chance to revive his NASCAR career with a quality performance, he chose to do this, and the end result was making a complete douchebag of himself. Team owners in all levels of all disciplines will take notice.

Franz Tost was in the wrong for how he handled Speed, but I'm embarrassed to have defend this gutless bag of immaturity. Sack up and drive faster, little *****.

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Fast lap so far is a 228.611. Fast single-car times without a tow are in the high 227s. Tagliani, Wheldon, Rahal, and Bell are all very fast without a tow.

Despite increased heat, the cars are about 2 mph faster than last year; pole time could hit 230 in the Shootout, which would be rather nice. You might need to hit 225 to even qualify for this one. It's going to be one hell of a Bump Day Sunday (after what should be a great Pole Day tomorrow).

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Classic drama at the Speedway today:

Scott Speed gets into a verbal altercation with the team over his car being too loose and quits! He walked right out!

Jaques Lazier is getting ready to take the Fuzzy's special for it's fastest laps of the month.

I find this hilarious. Speed said for years how "easy" these cars are to drive (without having ever driven one), and trashing the sport about how he'd never go there, how NASCAR was the place to be, etc. How easy were they to drive again, eh, Speed? Speedway did what it does best: kicked your ***. Tested his character, and the results weren't pretty.

It's great, too, that he had a ride for the Nationwide race this weekend in Harvick's 33, one of the best cars out there by far. Rather than have a chance to revive his NASCAR career with a quality performance, he chose to do this, and the end result was making a complete douchebag of himself. Team owners in all levels of all disciplines will take notice.

Franz Tost was in the wrong for how he handled Speed, but I'm embarrassed to have defend this gutless bag of immaturity. Sack up and drive faster, little *****.

Good. Deserves it if he acts like that. Hopefully he's now learned one of life's most important lessons. To keep your mouth shut. :P

I'll see if I can watch qualifying, what time is it on?

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i am not into nascar or indycar, but if speed is quitting Dragon Racing’s Fuzzy’s Vodka car i think i know who could be his replacement. he would have to be an exception and privileged to go directly to indycar, but it happened once when he was coming to f1,so why not do it again and start Dragon Racing’s Kimmi's Vodka car?

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78T is entered on the qualifying roster, so I guess they plan to go out with somebody. Simona still needs to be approved.

Good. Deserves it if he acts like that. Hopefully he's now learned one of life's most important lessons. To keep your mouth shut. :P

I'll see if I can watch qualifying, what time is it on?

Hopefully it teaches him to have some talent. :lol:

Cool story: he didn't actually win the Red Bull shootout. He was just the only finalist who would sign such a binding contract! I know Patrick Long, A.J. Allmendinger, and Ryan Hunter-Reay were all offered to join the program along with Speed. I think the first two would have done better, personally.

Qualifying...gah, if only you knew how hard it was for me to tell you that. :lol: You see, VERSUS, the channel airing it, was owned by Comcast, which bought NBC, and is in the process of becoming NBC Sports, so their website just redirects to NBC Sports' website, which doesn't have VERSUS TV listings unless you really dig, and trust me, I dug...

Qualifying runs from 11:00 AM my time to 6:30 PM my time. TV coverage is 11:00 AM to 2:30 PM (still my time) and then picks up again from 4:30 PM to close (still my time). Shootout for pole will be toward the end. There will be periods of nothing happening at times. and periods of practice when no cars want to go out.

Bump Day is Sunday...noon to 6:30 PM my time. As always, the action picks up at the end.

And as a side note, because you asked earlier: http://www.indycar.com:8080/var/assets/pole_day_spotter_web1.pdf

A few corrections: Speed isn't in the 20 anymore (obviously), Tung has a sponsor on his sidepod, and the Hildebeast (or is it Captain America? Or General J.R.?) has more of a desert camo feel to the car than the normal green (maybe something to possibly do with something that was kind of sort of in the news over the last weeks and still is, albeit a different division of the armed forces, but still). The rest looks good to me.

i am not into nascar or indycar, but if speed is quitting Dragon Racing’s Fuzzy’s Vodka car i think i know who could be his replacement. he would have to be an exception and privileged to go directly to indycar, but it happened once when he was coming to f1,so why not do it again and start Dragon Racing’s Kimmi's Vodka car?

:lol: Well, he is in the Perky Jerky truck tonight, so perhaps he has gone full Montoya in the food department. If it were jerky made from kippers, I'd see it, but beef and turkey? Nah.

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And of course now there's information out that Scott Speed will be back in the 20. I wonder if there was sponsor pressure of some sort, because you can't just quit, change your mind, and expect to come back. Unless Jay Penske is one hell of a pushover.

Drivers looking to be in the 78 if Simona can't:

Roger Yasukawa

Jimmy Kite

P.J. Chesson (spotting the 07)

Jaques Lazier (if not in the 20)

Buddy Lazier (if not in the 57)

Alex Barron (maybe)

Obviously, there's one guy on that list who could actually get the car in the show on Bump Day, and I'll give you a hint: he won an Indy 500 with a broken back. He finished second in a junker...twice. He finished fifth after having to change his nosecone and then getting his wing taken off by Scott Sharp. He qualified a total sled last minute in 2008. He's done a lot with a little and while he's not much good elsewhere, Indy just seems to be his place. But if I'm Sarah Fisher, I'm putting him in my 57...

By the way, did I not mention Bertrand Baguette? Well, now I have. It's so competitive this year and I love it.

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It's Pole Day! Practice this morning for another hour and change.

Simona de Silvestro has been cleared to drive in practice; she will be re-evaluated after that.

racecontrol.indycar.com will have coverage of Pole Day qualifying from 2:30 to 4:30 (my time) when VERSUS isn't televising it.

Scott Speed is in the 20 car still. One more comment and Jimmy Kite or Jaques Lazier take over.

Taglinai, Rice, and Bell the top three so far. Tagliani the only one over 228.

Briscoe had a hard crash today, so Penske were really going for it.

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I've got it on. I'm going out later, so I'll see how much I can catch.

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John Andretti sneaks in there in the 43 and it starts raining.

His four teammates, however, are out of the top 24. Andretti Autosport are awful. I'm surprised that Danica didn't even make it; she'd done well all week. She was mature about it in her interview, though, and I think she's learned that from NASCAR. She just said "that's Indy, you have to earn it." Indeed.

I'm sure that if one of the Andretti guys fail to qualify on Bump Day tomorrow they'll take John's seat, which sucks big ones, but...

The big story, of course, is Simona de Silvestro.

She comes out in a 2003 chassis that's 15-25 lbs heavier than a modern one, second-degree burns on both of her hands, and very little time in the car following that wreck, and you know what? She's all smiles about everything, great attitude, and lays down a 223.9 on her first lap. Not quick enough that time over the four-lap average, but she came back out just about 20 minutes ago. And she got it.

Simona de Silvestro is, as of right now, with the rain falling, P24. She's in on Pole Day if that stands. She was a lock to FTQ this morning, and she was likely to not even drive yesterday. What a champ. This doesn't guarantee she'll race, but it's a good start.

If the rain holds, they won't do the Shootout, and Alex Tagliani, driving for Sam Schmidt, will win a huge pole position. His teammate, Townsend Bell, is also up there in fifth. Sam Schmidt was paralyzed in an accident in 2000. What he's done since, not the least of which is being alive after that wreck, has been really impressive, and it is so great to see two guys who really could have fallen out of love with auto racing on top in a city arguably more synonymous with the sport than any other. Wanting a life in racing when it nearly took your own, and having the courage to get back behind the wheel after an emotionally dark period following the Alex Zanardi wreck...two guys who really deserve what they're getting this month. They're both people you need to meet if you're at the Speedway, or any other IZOD IndyCar Series event.

A lot goes out to Ed and Sarah doing it for the sprint/midget racers of the world. Short trackers getting it done on a tight budget and with a lot of grit. That's good stuff. Watch for the yellow car on race day. Ed's going to be a factor in this one, and throughout the season at the oval races. He's here on hard work, determination, and results, whether or not he's Tony George's step-son. He's earned.

Penske just didn't have the pace today. Ryan Briscoe's T car had the wing so far back that you could only read the "IZOD" logo from a rear-shot. Head-on and all you saw was the bottom. Radical setup, but it didn't work. Someone got more from her T car than Briscoe, though if it weren't for rain...

But c'est la Indy. It rains every month. You got have a little luck sometimes. This has been a glorious day of qualifications if it ends here, and if it continues, even better. I love this race so much. It may be a marketing term, but the Greatest Spectacle in Auto Racing truly applies. We have underdogs at the top, favorites scrambling for speed on Bump Day, and a healthy dose of stories about overcoming adversity. A great American sporting event, I'd say.

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Worth mentioning:

The first is procedures. Only positions 1-9 are locked in as they are. 10-24 have their times stand tomorrow. 25-end have their times erased. In theory, someone 10-24 can FTQ. It's not likely unless weather is radically different. Essentially, if ten drivers qualify faster than position 24, the P24 driver better get back out there. So Simona isn't guaranteed in, but her P24 time stands, meaning it will be hard to knock her and those ahead of her up to P10 out. Hard, but not impossible, and if some of these guys show the speed we'd expect from them...

Speaking of Simona, her T car (the one she qualified), Pork Chop, is Tweeting.

http://twitter.com/#!/78_PORKCHOP

Ho-Pin Tung is a very likable guy and easily had the field made until his huge wreck. Looks like a concussion, which would obviously have him out. It was a vicious hit. Dragon's month has been terrible and I hate to see it happen to Tung. He was a surprise, for sure, and just a nice guy. He did nothing wrong until the money lap. I hope he'll be back sometime. I was wrong about his ability.

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Driving Indy with burnt hands is not without precedent, Eric...so hopefully the commentators are not making a deal over it as if it was the first time ever.

Denny Hulme wrecked it in and burnt the tips off his fingers - back in those days they were using methonal and it burnt clear....the marshalls were busy extinguishing the car whilst Denny was actually on fire and rolling about on the track. He raced with bandages on, and literally had his hands pried off the wheel after the race. His finger tips were skinless and it took several years for the charred bone to finally drop off.

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Nope, no commentator said it was the first ever, and to be quite honest, most are making a bigger deal about her doing it in the T car and the work she and the team put in to get the car to speed rather than the fact her hands have some ouchies. Her attitude's the thing that gets me.

But no one mentioned the Hulme story either, so thanks for sharing that.

The tough guy of the modern era, to me at least, is Buddy Lazier. Won it in 1996. With a broken back.

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Hearing 30 minutes until the Shootout begins. Jet dryers off.

John Andretti found the problem with the balance of the Andretti cars; they expect them to be back on pace tomorrow so the other four can qualify. I still think Mike Conway's going to FTQ. I just hope that if any Andretti driver does, they don't reward John for finding the problem by replacing him with someone else.

Should be fun. Shootout will be interesting. The participants are:

Alex Tagliani

Scott Dixon

Dario Franchitti

Dan Wheldon

Townsend Bell

Ed Carpenter

Will Power

Oriol Servià

Buddy Rice

I'm really hoping for a Tagliani, Wheldon, Bell, Carpenter, or Servià pole today. That would be awesome.

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I now know what mouser.com is. Thanks Mr Tung. I don't need any of it, but thanks anyways.

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My excitement when the Ganassi boys had a little less fuel than they needed was massive.

ALEX TAGLIANI GOT THE POLE!

How about that? Two underdogs on the front row. Two guys who had doubtful funding for the year; Tagliani wasn't going to be able to race this year until Schmidt saved the team. What a story. What a drive. Opening at 227.7 sealed the deal.

Going to be a great Bump Day and a glorious race.

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Row One

1. Alex Tagliani

2. Scott Dixon

3. Oriol Servià

Row Two

4. Townsend Bell

5. Will Power

6. Dan Wheldon

Row Three

7. Buddy Rice

8. Ed Carpenter

9. Dario Franchitti

10-24 times stand; spots 25-33 filled tomorrow but drivers 10-24 can still FTQ.

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What the winners are saying:

Like I said before, the one thing that also makes me very happy is that I'll be able to get rid of some beers that I have in the bus.
Well, you know, it's difficult to explain. A lot of sacrifice and tears and pain through my career, but you know, I think for this team, just the fact that everybody is still intact, and they accepted my offer to be part of this adventure last year, and they take the risk to lose credibility if the driver is no good and if the resources are not there; and for Joe Atkins from Bowers & Wilkins after a 20-minute phone call, he said, 'OK, I'll sponsor you,' and he got hooked to be the sponsor of this team; and for Sam that looked at it and said this is an entity that is good and deserves to continue; and just for the boys. Like I'm at the shop most every day, and I see how much passion they have to build this car. You know, it's good already. We sit on the top most of the week, but every time you go into our garage, you know, they always do something on it, and I think that shows how much they care and how much they want to have results.
I think Scott [Dixon] realized that we don't have the luxury to go out there and risk a car that is capable of being on pole, and it was the smart approach. I think knowing it from the NASCAR guys, when they have a car that is very good, they just never run it other than at that track, and that's why they keep accumulating cars in their shop, because they're just getting paranoid that that car is just good at that particular track. So this car is the car I drove last year. It was fast. It unloaded fast. If you feel that you have a shot to be on the pole for the 100, you're not going to go out there and draft people and put yourself at risk.
I don't know how long people have known Alex, but I don't think he has a problem with that as far as a positive attitude. For me when something like this happens you can either choose to stay at home and watch ESPN all day or you can get out and do something with your life. For me, I've done a lot of things in my life. The thing that made getting up every morning worthwhile, beyond my faith and my family pushing me, was the ability to come out here and compete. I make no bones about it; I'd much rather be in the driving seat rather than in the owning seat, but this is definitely the second-best thing, and this is really special because at the end of the day, as Alex has said a couple times, it's much more difficult to put the right group of people together, and it's much more challenging. To get this all to work is really difficult.
And the other day, it started like being a bad day. It was last Friday, and I opened my phone, I get like this $2,600 invoice, my pool is broken, the pool guy has to repair it and all kinds of things, and I was like, 'Oh, I really hope that we'll stay on the top; maybe I can get a bit of money and pay that invoice.' And then Castroneves goes out and starts drafting just to be like ‑‑ I was p**sed; I said it right here, give me my five minutes of fame and my check. But now it's a much bigger check. So I'm happy for this team and for Sam and for all the guys. I think more than the money and all of that, I think it's the timing is great for what we've done this week.

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And what the others are saying:

I think the speed will hold, and I'm very fortunate to be with such a good team. Teams tend to panic in these kinds of situations because you don't have many places to turn to, you keep digging and talk about things and see how your teammates are doing. And then you quickly try to build off of it. They did everything right. And I am really, really proud of them. Obviously, I don't think that God wants any particular person in the race at any point in time - but I sure do appreciate Him holding off the rain until I got my run done. This is the biggest race in the world. I grew up here. It means a lot to my family. It started motorsports, in my opinion. So, for me to be in the race is, especially on the 100th anniversary, I don't have that many more times to stand at the plate and swing the bat, so it's nice to be able to do it one more time.
To be honest, the speed is a testimony to this team. It's not me; the guys have done a fantastic job. I know what I want from the race car, and we're making it work. Being in a race car is what I love to do. My time off made me realize how much I love motor racing. I'm having a blast. We will be a force to be reckoned with.
I know there are a lot of people cheering for me to start in the back so I can make some passes to the front.
My body's shaking. I was pretty nervous out there. We didn't do many laps. I really have to thank Nuclear Clean Air Energy for the support they've given me. The team, too, they worked really hard to get the car back together. A day ago, I wasn't sure if I wanted to get back in the car. I was really freaked out about it. But I think I made the right decision to get back in, and the doctors have taken really good car of me. After the crash, I was like, 'I don't need this. This is too crazy. It's way too dangerous.' You know, after a while you're back to being a race car driver and thinking, 'Nah, I can do this.' And you suck it up. This morning, I felt pretty good. Then I went to qualify and thought, 'Ah, I'm not too sure about that.' And especially when you're sitting and they're showing your crash on the screen. It's like, really? Thanks. But it's great, the crowd, too. They've really lifted me up yesterday and today. Because of them, I really want to do something well here.

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More:

I think the most frustrating thing is that we went out with the exact same car as Davey, and he ran 225s, but our car just wouldn't go. Right now, we're just scratching our heads as to why two cars that are identical aren't putting up the same speed. I guess that's Indianapolis.
Tony Kanaan helped a lot. He has tons of ideas. We have all been really good in sharing.
I really appreciated the fans cheering when I finished the run. At this place, that means a lot to me.
It's a really nice race car and full credit to Tagliani and his engineering staff that really led the program through last year until now. It's just a joy to drive the car.
We haven't made any improvements. We were slow when we rolled off the truck, and we're still slow in qualifying. It's beyond me. I don't have an answer, and that's why I'm super-frustrated right now. I'm really nervous about qualifying. I think as long as we can field this car, we can win. It's just whether we can field this car right now. We're in a bad spot. I've been working on qualifying, trying to find speed all week. In an ideal world, you bank one today and work on the race car tomorrow. But this is going to be the longest weekend of my life, that's for sure. I just don't have any answers right now.
Absolutely; it's just so interesting how one small change we did turned out to be kind of like a big change out there. But this is Indy, baby.
We just have to buckle down at this point. I guess we are going to have to risk it a little more come tomorrow.

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Warm and humid tomorrow. Likely means 10-24 are locked in as speeds will be down.

Drivers that need to qualify:

Ryan Briscoe

Danica Patrick

TBA (the 8 car)

Raphael Matos

James Jakes

Alex Lloyd

Scott Speed

Paul Tracy

Ana Beatriz

Marco Andretti

Mike Conway

Ryan Hunter-Reay

Sebastián Saavedra

Pippa Mann

Graham Rahal

TBA (the 57 car...it's Buddy Lazier, by the way)

Charlie Kimball

My predictions?

In: 6T, 7, 23, 24, 26, 28, 38, 57, 83

Out: 8, 17, 18, 19, 20, 27, 34, 36

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Patrick Carpentier was in Scott Speed's car. Not sure why Dragon kept going with guys who left open-wheel years ago to be unsuccessful NASCAR drivers. Speed was still in the Dragon garage so I think the driver was to see if the problem was Speed, or if the problem was the car, like Speed was saying. The problem was indeed the car, but still no sympathy for how Scott expressed that. Second year in a row that's happened; Foyt walked out last year after his grandfather stubbornly said there's no way it could ever be the car, but Jaques Lazier in, and Lazier gave the same exact feedback after driving slower.

Carpentier dirt-tracked it off of Turn 1 and hang on. A few minutes later, he was hard into the wall. Had trouble getting out. Car looked miserably loose.

Jay Penske's turn to quit. That would be two less cars qualifying today, which makes 15, and the 57 hasn't been out...so perhaps only 14 will go for 9. 20 was going home anyway. 57 could make it if it tried.

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