Norris McDonald's Auto Racing Blog

No tag days for Indy winner Wheldon

Although surprise Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon remains unemployed – he didn’t have a ride before his one-off at Indy and he doesn’t have one now – his share of the winnings (usually between 40 and 50 per cent) should help to keep him in the manner to which he’s become accustomed.

Wheldon picked up a cheque for $2,567,255 at last night’s Victory Banquet in downtown Indy. That amount was the winner’s share from the overall purse of $13,509,485 that was up for grabs in the 100^th Anniversary 500 Mile Race.

Wheldon, who started sixth, became just the 18^th driver to win the race at least twice. He first won the classic in 2005, when he also captured the IZOD IndyCar Series championship.

Wheldon has six top-four finishes in nine career Indianapolis 500 starts, including second, second and first in the last three years, respectively.

Wheldon represents yet another challenge for IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard. How do you promote races in the rest of the series – the Honda Indy Toronto, for instance – when you don’t have the Indy 500 winner in the lineup?

My suggestion: hire him as an IndyCar ambassador and send him into places like Toronto a week or two ahead of the race. Every media outlet in town will want to interview the Indy 500 winner and Wheldon can easily explain his absence while suggesting IndyCar is seriously on the comeback trail and he’ll very likely be in a car the next time there’s a race in Toronto (or wherever).

He might also remind them it could be - could be - the last time they'll see Danica Patrick in an Indy car, racing through the streets of Toronto, so don't miss out.

P.S.  Talking about women racing drivers, a little bird tells me that Simona de Silvestro will be in a Team Penske car in 2012. Either Ryan Briscoe or Helio Castroneves - likely the former - won't be invited back.

Better late than never, dept. F1 tire manufacturer Pirelli says the series should consider changing the rules to prevent teams from changing tires if a race is stopped.

Pirelli director of motorsport Paul Hembery told autosport.com that he thinks fans were robbed of a great finish at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Ya think?

In the closing stages, when eventual winner Sebastien Vettel’s tires were about to become useless, a three-car accident brought out a red flag. He had been holding off Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button, both of whom had made several pit stops for tires while he had only stopped once and was gambling they would hold up.

In just about every other form of auto racing in the world, a red flag means no work is to be done on the racing car but in F1 you can just about rebuild the car – if there’s enough time. And you can change tires, too.

Ergo, Vettel got fresh rubber and was able to win the race. No problems (when there should have been).

Hembery said he thinks that the tire-change robbed fans of an entertaining finish to the race and believes the rules should be tweaked to prevent teams from switching rubber if there is a late red flag and restart.

Don’t count on it ever happening, but it’s the thought that counts.

No sitting in traffic jams for Mario: This from his appearance on SPEED's Wind Tunnel program the other night:

"Every year from the hotel, you get the (police) escort and some years back I was getting the escort and you never saw a soul until you got to the gate. I said, ‘Wait a minute, why am I spending this money?’ This morning, it was like 6 o’clock, 5:30, 6 o’clock in the morning, the sirens were going immediately like they used to be."

Translation: Indy is back, big-time.

Carpentier to try NASCAR next weekend: Patrick Carpentier of Montreal will return to the NASCAR circuit next weekend driving Frank Stoddard Jr.'s #32 Ford in the Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway.

"This will mark the first time in my Sprint Cup career that I will be driving a car that is already qualified for the race," said Carpentier, who will be making his 40th Sprint Cup start in Stoddard’s car that is in the top 35 in points, meaning it’s locked in.

"There will be a lot less pressure when we practice on Friday, because we will be able to work both on qualifying and race set ups. I am thrilled that Frank (Stoddard) chose me to drive the number 32 car in Kansas. With the confirmation of my ride in the Nationwide race in Montréal with Michael Waltrip's team next August, it's two good news items out of three." (Note: Carpentier was alluding to the fact that he crashed during qualifying at Indianapolis.)

Carpentier is the team’s fifth driver. Terry Labonte, Kenny Schrader, Mike Bliss and Mike Skinner have all driven the car this year.

Dynamic Duo win again: Quebec driver Antoine L’Estage, of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., and co-driver Nathalie Richard of Halifax won this past weekend’s Rocky Mountain Rally, the second round of the 2011 Canadian Rally Championship, amidst extreme weather conditions in the Kananaskis region of Alberta. This marks their fifth consecutive victory in the series, having won the last three events in the 2010 season and the first round of 2011 earlier this year.

Two versions of the same story: James Hinchcliffe of Oakville and E.J. Viso of Venezuela had a coming together during the Indy 500. Both had different versions of what took place:

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 06 Sprott Newman/Haas Racing, 29^th): "It was a disappointing day. A disappointing end for the Sprott car because we rebounded pretty well. At that point, we were driving on borrowed time after what happened with Viso and I forget who else it was on that restart. He got into us, we got hit and had to come in and save the car from going into the wall on that one." 

E.J. VISO (No. 59 PDVSA-KV Racing Technology-Lotus, 32^nd): "I was running with Graham Rahal and James Hinchcliffe, and I believe that James Hinchcliffe missed a gear and he lost his momentum out of Turn 4. Graham Rahal went on the inside, and I went on the outside. Then when we were approaching Turn 1, I got hit on my rear left tire and it spun me."

For the record: E.J. Viso is a crasher. James Hinchcliffe is not. I leave it to you to decide whose version you believe. Having said that, I suggest Viso hit Hinch and not vice-versa.

And, in conclusion: Robert Wickens of Guelph and Toronto finished second in the World Series by Renault Formula 3.5 race at Monaco at the weekend and is now just a point out of first place in the standings.

Wickens will be in Montreal for the Grand Prix of Canada a week from next weekend. Whether he will be there officially with the Virgin F1 team, or just there in an unofficial capacity, is unknown at this point in time.

Translation: Uhhhh - maybe.

Auto racing: 3 races, 3 lucky winners

Dan Wheldon, right, wins the Indy 500 after J. R. Hildebrand, left, crashed into the wall on the final lap of the race on Sunday, May 29, 2011. (REUTERS/Brent Smith)

WEEKEND HEADLINES:

1. Vettel lucks into Monaco F1 victory

2. Wheldon lucks into Indy 500 victory

3. Harvick lucks into Coca-Cola 600 victory

SYNOPSIS: It’s Memorial Day weekend in the United States and the U.S. National Guard sponsors cars in NASCAR and IndyCar. In both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600, those National Guard-sponsored cars were within a half mile of winning the iconic races until disaster struck. At Indy, J.R. Hildebrand crashed at the last turn and handed the victory to Dan Wheldon. In Charlotte, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s car ran out of gas within sight of the checkers and a delighted Kevin Harvick crossed the finish line first. What rotten luck. And talking about luck, because his tires were on the verge of disintegrating, Sebastien Vettel was about ready to be eaten alive by both Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button at the Grand Prix of Monaco when a red flag stopped the race with just a few laps to go and everybody got to put on fresh rubber. Go figure. When the race restarted, Vettel had no trouble staying in front. Next race: Canada.

1. Red flag helps Vettel to another F1 victory.

Results: Vettel, Alonso, Button, Webber, Kobayashi, Hamilton, Sutil, Heidfeld, Barrichello, Buemi. Full report here.

So my question this morning is: since when, under a red flag, does everybody get to work on their race cars and – specifically – change tires and repair damage?

Silly me. I always thought a red flag meant a race had been stopped temporarily – suspended, if you will – to resume if and when whatever had caused the red flag was fixed, or removed.

It would continue, at that point, as if nothing had happened.

A red flag is not a checkered flag, or even a caution flag. Like a traffic light, it is meant to interrupt the flow but activity can continue once conditions improve and it is safe.

Or so I thought.

I was at a speedway in New York on Saturday night, in which there was a red flag. Permission was given for refuelling – but crews were reminded there was to be no work done on the cars.

Remember the 2000 Daytona 500,  when – during a red flag period late in the race – Stirling Marlin (who was leading!) scrambled out of his car and snuck around the front and tried to pull out a fender that was rubbing against a tire? That got him sent to the back of the pack and lost him the race.

Now, I know Oswego Speedway and even NASCAR aren't Formula One but when the red flag was displayed in Monaco, both the announcers, David Coulthard and Martin Brundle, were of the impression the race was over.

But, obviously, the crews didn’t think so because they were all running toward where the cars were stopped on the racing surface and they were pulling carts full of new tires and stuff along with them.

It turned out not to be a red flag in the classic sense but a giant pit stop instead.

Which was a godsend for Vettel, who had led the race from the start. But after making his one and only – during the actual race, that is – pit stop on Lap 16, he hadn’t been back in the pits. Alonso (Ferrari) had stopped twice and Button (McLaren-Mercedes) went in three times and both had been hounding him as the race wore on.

Both announcers were convinced that Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) was dead meat as the race drew to a close. The Pirelli tires have a built-in obsolescence that makes them useless after a certain period of time. That Vettel had managed to nurse his along was commendible but they were down to the canvas and couldn’t go on much longer.

But then came the accident, and the red flag (during which the McLaren crew even got to fix Lewis Hamilton’s wrecked rear wing), and the rest is history.

Notebook jottings:

– To make this blog report official: The red flag came out after three cars hit the wall near the Swimming Pool with only nine laps remaining. One of the drivers, Vitaly Petrov, had to be removed from the car, which meant rescue vehicles went onto the track; the safety car led the field around for a lap but it was too dangerous with people wandering about so the decision was made to red flag the race.

- Now, by the way, before people start filling my mailbox and calling me an imbecile, I'm sure the F1 rule book is completely different than any other racing series on the face of the Earth and everything that happened during that red flag period in Monaco on Sunday was completely legal.

Of course it was, or else it wouldn't have happened.

But that doesn't make it right. Alonso and Button took on new tires and Vettel gambled on not changing his, which is right and of itself. But he was about to lose his gamble and only the misfortune suffered by Petrov saved his bacon.

A red flag means stop. Period. It should not mean everybody gets a haircut, a shave and a tuneup.

– Sometimes you have to force the issue to make a point. Monaco is so narrow that it is difficult to make a pass so you just have to bull your way through. Hamilton tried that at the hairpin against Massa – he was up on the curb, in fact – and ran into the Ferrari. Massa crashed shortly after and Hamilton was hauled onto the carpet.

Gimme a break.

I thought it was just hard racing. Maybe the stewards in F1 should just look the other way, on occasion. Just like that hockey game the other night between Boston and Tampa Bay. No penalties. Of course there were penalties, but the refs chose not to call them. F1 stewards, take note.

– Hamilton said the stewards were picking on him because he’s black. Then he said it was a joke.
Perhaps the problem with Hamilton is that he won too soon. He still has a lot of growing-up to do.

2. High drama at the Indianapolis 500

Results: Wheldon, Hildebrand, Rahal, Kanaan, Dixon, Servia, Baguette, Scheckter, Marco Andretti, Patrick. Full report here.

There were so many storylines in this year’s 100th anniversary Indianapolis 500 that it was hard to pick one.

For instance, I was going to start this by saying: “The two fastest rookies in this year’s Indy 500 made the same rookie mistake – they got too high in a corner and they both crashed into the outside wall. You can bet that J.R. Hildebrand and Oakville’s James Hinchcliffe won’t be doing that again.”

This is another thought I had: “Rookie Indy 500 driver James Hinchcliffe of Oakville might be too nice to be a professional racing driver. He was preparing to let Bertrand Baguette pass him in Sunday’s Indy 500 when he got too high going into turn three and wound up hitting the wall.”

Or, how about this one: “An unemployed driver hired for a one-off by an owner who doesn’t have his own equipment and had to make a deal with another team for technical support and a crew wound up winning Sunday’s Indianapolis 500.”

Actually, any of those paragraphs could have been the lead of a story about the Centennial of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

In the first instance, poor Hildebrand (Hinch had made his mistake earlier and crashed out) was winning the 500 and all he had to do was pass Charlie Kimball in the fourth turn and sail home when he enexplicably went too high and slammed the wall.

Wheldon – in a move reminiscent of A.J. Foyt’s in 1967 when he had to pick his way through a four-car crash to make it to the finish – managed to tread carefully past the still-crashing Hildebrand, a slowing Kimball and a lapped car to cross the line of bricks in first place for his second Indy 500 victory.

Wheldon, who doesn’t have a regular ride in the IZOD IndyCar Series, drove the race for Brian Herta, a retired Indy car driver who has been running an Indy Lights team. Herta, with sponsorship from the William Rast high-end jeans company, had to make a deal with Sam Schmidt’s organization in order to run the 500.

So it really was a David vs. Goliath day in Indy as the big Indy teams of Chip Ganassi and Roger Penske were – with the exception of Scott Dixon – exactly nowhere in this race.

It was a great race, with lots of good dicing in the pack and drama. The pre-racing celebration of the 100 years of Indianapolis was an excellent piece of work.

Jim Nabors was great singing “Indiana,” (which is the official name of that song, by the way), and David Foster's playing, with Seal and Kelly Clarkson singing, the Star Spangled Banner was terrific. Florence Henderson massacred God Bless America – again – but she’s been doing that for years and nobody seems to mind.

Three  things:

– Brent Musburger was – again – a disaster. Although he finally learned how to pronounce Dario Franchitti’s name correctly, he pulled one of the great boners yet again.
As the camera panned across the face of arguably the greatest, all-‘round, racing driver the world has ever seen, Mario Andretti, ol’ Brent made mention of the living legend, but then called him “Marco Andretti.”

- Alex Tagliani of Montreal started from pole - the first Canadian to win the pole at Indy - but crashed out on Lap 147 and finished 28th. James Hinchcliffe of Oakville crashed out on Lap 99 and was officially classified 29th. Paul Tracy of Scarborough brushed the wall early in the race but returned to finish 25th, 25 laps behind the winner.

– There were rumblings in the last year to 18 months that the Speedway was for sale. In fact, one “reliable source” said the deal was done and it would become public after the 100th anniversary.
They say that everything has a price. I sure hope this one doesn’t.

3. Earnhardt Jr. has victory in sight, runs out of gas

Results: Harvick, Ragan, Logano, Kurt Busch, Allmendinger, Ambrose, Earnhardt, Smith Reutimann, Hamlin. Full report here.

Going into last night’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, Dale Earnhardt Jr. hadn’t won a NASCAR Sprint Cup race in 104 tries going back to 2008. This morning, you can make that 105.

Little E. was three-quarters of the way through a green-white-checkers finish when his tank ran dry and as a 100,000-plus crowd collectivelly gasped, along with millions watching on the tube, Kevin Harvick seemed to come out of nowhere to win the second U.S. Memorial Weekend classic.

David Ragan followed suit and Joey Logano had his best finish in a long while when he arrived home third. Three more cars driven by Kurt Busch, A.J. Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose got the checkers before Dale Jr. coasted across.

The last 40 laps of the race were pretty routine with Greg Biffle leading, Kasey Kahne second and Earnhardt third.

With five laps to go – and just about everybody running low on fuel – Jimmie Johnson’s engine let go (resulting in his crew chief, Chad Knaus, dropping the F-bomb on live TV, for which anchor announcer Mike Joy immediately apologized) and all bets were off.

Biffle had to give up the lead and pit for fuel. Ditto Kahne and others. Earnhardt stayed out, driving onto the apron and turning off his engine to conserve fuel. Harvick turned his off and was pushed for awhile during the yellow by his teammate, Paul Menard. Other drivers copied Menard and started pushing their teammates.

Finally, the green fell and Earnhardt took off – only to come up dry.

Like Hildebrand, Earnhardt’s car is sponsored by the National Guard and, like Hildebrand, he was sooooo close.

Notebook Jottings:

- Kevin Harvick has won a lot of races but never the Coke 600. He changed that Sunday night.

- Kyle Busch had a miserable night. He lost control twice, once spinning through the grass and once into  the wall, right-side. He wasn't hurt. He also wasn't happy.

- There were a record 14 cautions. The worst accident involved Mark Martin and David Gilliland and it was a ka-boomer that also collected Ryan Newman.

- Whether Danica Patrick stays in the IZOD IndyCar Series or moves to NASCAR full-time will likely be up to her sponsor. With the exception of the Indy 500, NASCAR enjoys better TV ratings than IndyCar and also has more exposure through more races, which would appear to be a major attractions.

While she's been driving for Dale Jr.'s Nationwide team (by the way, he looks much better without his beard, as does Jimmie Johnson), the chances are good that she will sign with Tony Stewart's team and race in the Sprint Cup series.

I hope she insists on a clause in her contract that will allow her to run the Indy 500, should she move to NASCAR.

Now . . . because I-Can’t-Be-Everywhere, or Watch Everything, this following report about the opening race of the 2011 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series national championship was sent to me by NASCAR Canada’s Shon Sbarra:

Scott Steckly rebounded from problems during a pit stop to win the Dickies 200 at Mosport Speedway on Saturday night, as the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series kicked off its 2011 season.

The 2008 series champion from Milverton, Ont., had dominated much of the 200-lap event on the half-mile banked oval and led a race-high 112 laps, but lost the lead during a pit stop when an air gun jammed as a crew member was changing the right rear tire on his No. 22 Canadian Tire Dodge.

Steckly's fast pace earlier in the race, which left only five cars on the lead lap by just past the midway point, served to minimize his setback.

He restarted fifth and quickly began his charge to the front. He caught Pete Shepherd III of Brampton by Lap 153 and moved by for the lead a few laps later. Steckly held on through two restarts in the last 10 laps to take the win, the ninth of his career.

Shepherd edged Don Thomson Jr. of Hamilton for second;with fourth going to Brad Graham of Glencoe, Ont.. Defending series champion DJ Kennington of St. Thomas was fifth. Jason Hathaway of Apin was sixth, J.R. Fitzpatrick of Cambridge was seventh, Jeff Lapcevich if Grimsby was eighth, Ron Beauchamp Jr. of Windsor was ninth and series rookie Steven Mathews of New Liskeard was tenth.

Fitzpatrick had led the initial laps, after winning his seventh career series pole in qualifying. Mathews charged out front and set the pace but Kennington later slipped by as they battled through lapped traffic.

Steckly, who had started second on the grid, chased down Kennington and moved by for the lead on Lap 58. He maintained the lead until everyone made their pit stops during a caution on Lap 124. After the pit stop issue, he charged his way back to the front and retook the top spot on Lap 157.

A & W-sponsored driver Jason White of Sun Peaks, B.C. suffered a loose oil line fitting, which put him several laps behind but he rallied to finish 15th. Meantime, Isabelle Tremblay of St. Hippolyte, Que., suffered from handling problems and a flat tire but managed a 14th-place finish.

The Dickies 200 will be televised on TSN next Saturday at 1 p.m. EDT.

The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series will be back in action next weekend when the circuit makes its inaugural visit to Circuit ICAR at Mirabel Airport north of Montreal. Indianapolis 500 pole sitter Alex Tagliani is entered in the event.

NOTES: David Ostella of Maple finished eighth in Friday’s Freedom 100 Firestone Indy Lights race at the Indianapolis Speedway. The Jensen Motorsports driver is currently eighth in the series’ standings. Eighteen drivers started the race. Ostella was on the lead lap when the checkers fell. . . AIM Autosport of Woodbridge is pleased to announce that fuel and oil supplement manufacturer GAMMA88 will continue as primary sponsor of its BMW-Riley Daytona Prototype for three more races this season – Road America, Watkins Glen and Montreal. . . A new sprint car sanctioning organization, the Ontario Topless Sprints, is planning its first event at Humberstone Speedway in Port Colborne on Fri., Aug. 26th. Wingless sprinters from Ontario, Quebec and the U.S. border states are expected to run the inaugural show. . . Ohsweken Speedway’s 2011 opener was rained out yet again and they’ll try again next Friday night.  Meantime, the Pro Modified Racing Association, the Quick 32 Sportsman Series and the Pro Bike & Sled Series, which had their runs washed out at Toronto Motorsports Park on Victoria Day weekend, will try again June 10-12 during the Extreme Mayhem Nationals.  

Monaco, Indy, Coke 600: Racing's biggest weekend

It’s the biggest weekend of the year for big-league auto racing with Formula One, IndyCar and NASCAR all featuring iconic races.

Oh, and the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series is opening its season Saturday night at Mosport Speedway.

More about that in a minute.

At 7:55 a.m. Sunday on TSN, the most famous and romantic of all F1 races, the Grand Prix de Monaco, will go to the post in Monte Carlo. Sebastien Vettel is coming off yet another decisive win in Spain and the question is: can he keep up the pace?

I suggest he can, but Lewis Hamilton is looking pretty racy these days himself.

Qualifying will be Saturday morning at 7:55, also on TSN.

At 11 a.m. Sunday, also on TSN, the Indianapolis 500 pre-race show will start and will feature all the pomp and pageantry leading up to the 100^th anniversary of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

Hear the Purdue University Band play "On the Banks of the Wabash," and Florence Henderson sing "America, the Beautiful" and David Foster, with Seal and Kelly Clarkson singing, play the U.S. National Anthem and, finally, Jim Nabors sing "Back Home in Indiana."

Then (and I’m guessing here), Mari Hulman George will say something like "In company with the four women drivers who have qualified for this Centennial race . . ." and then there will be a recording of the late Tony Hulman crying out,. "Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!" and there won’t be a dry eye in the 300,000-strong house,

 I guarantee it.

Our own Alex Tagliani is on pole, Oakville rookie James Hinchcliffe is inside Row 5 and Paul Tracy will start outside Row 7 (and pass five or six cars on the first lap).

A Hot Wheels stunt (cross fingers it all goes well) will also be worked in somehow and look for some Canadian content there, too.

My pick for the 500? Team Penske’s Ryan Briscoe. And look for young Hinchcliffe to finish right up there.

At 5:30, again on TSN, the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 will be shown from Charlotte Motor Speedway and look for all the things that NASCAR is famous for – close racing, violent crashes and a tight, tight finish. My vote in this one is Kyle Busch.

Now, Kimi Raikkonen has left the truck series ("Been there, done that,") and will race in the Nationwide Series event at Charlotte on Saturday afternoon. Kyle Busch and Joe Nemechek have teamed up to get Kimi in the show.

Next up for the Kimster? The Sprint Cup Series. You’ll remember that Kimi went F1 racing directly from karts and he’s not wasting any time launching his NASCAR career either.

Now, at Mosport, D.J. Kennington of St. Thomas will be out to defend his championship against all his old foes – Kerry Micks, Scott Steckly, Don Thomson Jr., Mark Dilley, Jason Hathaway, Jeff Lapcevich, Jason White, Pierre Bourque and all those guys.

Practice will take place early Saturday afternoon with qualifying set for 5 p.m. and the green flag scheduled for 7 p.m.

Canadian David Foster to play U.S. anthem at Indy 500

Canadian musical genius David Foster has been commissioned by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to pen a special arrangement of the U.S. National Anthem for Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 and he will play a piano accompaniment for singers Seal and Kelly Clarkson.

You can bet that it will be a dignified arrangement. It has been horrifying, in recent years, to watch and to listen to any number of "singers" massacre that incredible song, whether at Indy, at any NASCAR race or, more recently, the Super Bowl.

Blame it on Jose Feliciano, who "interpreted" it first, way back in 1968 before a Detroit Tigers World Series game. He was booed and heckled for turning the anthem into a blues. Of course, since then, just about every singer invited to "Honour America" has used it to show off.

Shame, I say, and I don’t expect anything like that on Sunday.

There is a video on YouTube in which Foster talks about the 500 and the anthem. It’s revealing for yet again perpetuating the myth that Billy Foster, a cousin of David’s, was "the first Canadian to qualify and race in the Indy 500, in 1966."

I’m not blaming David Foster. This misinformation is still out there. The program for the first Molson Indy Vancouver in 1990 had a cover article praising Billy (of Victoria, by the way) for being the first. And Billy Foster was inducted, in 1993, into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame as the "first Canadian" in the 500.

He wasn’t. In fact, he was the sixth. And he became the sixth in the 1965 500, not the one in ‘66. (For the record, Oakville’s James Hinchcliffe will become the 19th Canadian, when he takes the green flag Sunday. If you want the full list, email me: nmcdonald@thestar.ca)

But be that as it may, ain’t it delightful that a venerable American institution, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which is celebrating the 100^th anniversary of the Indy 500, has turned to a Canadian to make certain that their national anthem is done right?

And now, if either Alex Taglian, Paul Tracy or ‘Hinch" can win the thing, it will be one perfect day.

VIDEO: David Foster talks about the Indy 500 and the U.S. National Anthem

'King’ Richard Petty coming to Toronto

Two of auto racing’s highest-profile people are coming to Toronto next week.

"The King," Richard Petty, will be at the Hard Rock Café (beside Yonge-Dundas Square) next Tuesday from 11 a.m . till 1 p.m. to promote the "Richard Petty Driving Experience Canadian Summer Tour."

That’s where you show up at a speedway, pay some money, strap yourself into a NASCAR-type stock car and follow a pace car around for "x" number of laps.

I know people who have purchased rides – at Daytona Speedway, Charlotte, et al – and they say the experience is worth every penny.

Petty, winner of 200 NASCAR races, a seven-time NASCAR Winston Cup Champion and a member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, hasn’t been to Toronto for many years. One time came in the Sixties when he raced at Mosport. I can still recall a great television story done on him by Larry Solway (remember him?). Always looking for a different way to present a story, Solway went for a drive around Toronto with "the King" at the wheel and directed him onto the Don Valley Parkway at Gerrard during the height of the evening rush hour.

It was great – Petty talking about racing at more than 100 miles an hour while putting on his ticker and looking into the rear-view mirror to try to merge with the stop-and-go northbound traffic.

And always remember that Petty made his very first NASCAR Grand National start (before they called it the Winston Cup) at the long-gone CNE Speedway in 1958. His father, Lee Petty, won that race while "Dick" Petty finished back in the pack.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Also coming to town next week is Indianapolis 500 pole winner – and maybe even Indy 500 winner (we’ll know more about that on Sunday afternoon!) – Alex Tagliani, who will trade his Indy car for a NASCAR Canadian Tire Series stock car and race with the series at Mirabel Airport’s Circuit ICAR a week from this weekend, June 3-5.

"Tag" will miss the Canadian Tire Series opener at Mosport Speedway Saturday night, what with being a bit busy in Indy. But he has a free weekend the week after, so will suit up with Canada’s best stock car drivers and race with them. He'll be in T.O. to promote that race.

Tagliani owes a lot to the Canadian Tire stock car series. When he was temporarily out of an Indy car ride several years ago, he proved to everybody that he still had the Right Stuff by racing – and winning – in stock cars. One memorable outing came in a race at Edmonton when he left Canada’s best in his dust. Shortly thereafter, he was back in the bigs.

Now, I have a friend, John Bassett. He wonders why no PR person (or Canadian newspaper headline writer) saw fit to write the immortal words:

CANADIAN TIRE STOCK CAR RACER WINS INDY 500 POLE

Well, John, maybe they were just waiting to write . . .

CANADIAN TIRE STOCK CAR RACER WINS INDY 500

We can only hope.

Talking about the Indy 500, Paul Tracy caught a great break when Michael Andretti and A.J. Foyt got together to kick Bruno Junqueira out of his ride and give it to Ryan Hunter-Reay (d’ya think he’s gonna get booed during driver introductions next Sunday morning?).

This means the car has to move to the back of the pack. Hunter-Reay will start 33^rd, and last, as a result.

Last weekend, Tracy qualified on the inside of Row 8. With him in that row was Danica Patrick and Ryan Briscoe, two other pretty good racing drivers who would be champing at the bit to make a charge for the front right off the bat.

Ergo, while running on the inside, Tracy would be held pretty much in check for a few laps.

But with the Hunter-Reay change, Tracy now moves to the outside of Row 7.

When the green flag falls, the outside line will beckon and, for the Thrill from West Hill, it will be bombs away!

I project Tracy will pick off a minimum of five cars on the first lap and be up running with the leaders by the end of the first dozen.

Why the fuss over Indy driver switch?

Big league auto racing is big business and there is no room for sentiment.

There is a hue and cry over A.J. Foyt’s decision on Monday to remove Bruno Junqueira from the car he qualified for next weekend’s 100^th anniversary Indianapolis 500 in favour of Michael Andretti’s driver, Ryan Hunter-Reay, who was bumped out of the field at the last minute on Sunday.

But so what? Like it’s never happened before?

People talk about the closest finish in Indy 500 history – in 1992, when Al Unser Jr. beat our own Scott Goodyear by 0.043 seconds. In fact, I wrote a bit about that in my newspaper column on Saturday.

What everybody forgets is that Goodyear was bumped out of the race at the last second that year and had to take over a car that had been qualified by Mike Groff.

Several years ago, Junqueira qualified a car and was then asked to vacate the seat in favour of our own Alex Tagliani, who hadn’t made it into the race himself. (What is it about Canadians and kicking drivers out of cars at Indy?)

That Goodyear and Tagliani were primary drivers who asked hired guns to step aside is immaterial. The fact of the matter is that guys who qualified cars for the Indianapolis 500 were kicked out in favour of other drivers.

It’s happened before and it will happen again because it's the car that's qualified, not the driver.

As I said, sentiment can’t play a part here.

It costs millions and millions of dollars to play this game. Millions. Sponsors pay all of the freight, one way or another, whether it be as primary sponsor of a car or as the sponsor of a driver.

Now, most of these sponsors participate in the whole IZOD IndyCar Series but I’ve got news: the only race that counts – the only race that counts – is the Indianapolis 500.

For a major sponsor to miss the world biggest race would be a total disaster. It might be enough to cancel the sponsorship. So arms get twisted to make sure it doesn’t happen.

Hunter-Reay is sponsored by DHL, which calls itself the world’s largest courier and shipping company. The car that Bruno Junqueira, who is an unsponsored driver, drove fast enough to qualify for next Sunday’s 500 is, itself, largely unsponsored.

So it was a no-brainer that Foyt would agree to a deal with Michael Andretti and DHL to give Bruno the boot and let Hunter-Reay saddle up next Sunday.

In a perfect world, Bruno Junqueira would still be in Foyt’s second car. But the world is not perfect – it’s a cruel world, in fact – and money talks.

Michael Andretti had to find a way to keep DHL happy. This worked, to everybody’s satisfaction. Well, maybe not to Bruno’s, but he doesn’t count.

And by the way, if Danica Patrick hadn’t qualified for the 500 on Sunday, you can bet that the exact same thing would be happening.

Indy 500: Four women make race

Four women will start next weekend’s Indianapolis 500, the 100^th anniversary of the iconic event, after superstar Danica Patrick put the hammer down in final qualifying Sunday and set the second-fastest time of the day after Toronto’s Paul Tracy.

Simona De Silvestro of Switzerland had qualified on Saturday. Ana Beatriz of Brazil, Pippa Mann of
England (both graduates of the Firestone Indy Lights Series) and Patrick made the 33-starting field on Sunday.

It was a nerve-wracking day for Patrick, arguably the biggest name in the sport. After practicing most of the past week in the top five (of 40 drivers entered), her speed literally disappeared on Saturday when she first tried to qualify.

Sunday, when she was scheduled to try to qualify second (of the 17 or so drivers remaining), her car failed tech inspection and was sent to the back of the line – a potentially disastrous turn of events, considering what happened during the day.

After qualifying started, a storm hit and it took 90 minutes to dry the track.  Then, when qualifying continued (during which Paul Tracy set the day’s fastest time), storm clouds gathered again and, with Patrick strapped in and ready to go behind Tracy, it started to rain once more.

Although Tracy made it in comfortably, Patrick was left to sweat out another 90 minute delay. When she finally made it in, her first reaction was short and to the point: “I need a drink.”

An emotional Patrick, who reportedly burst into tears when she got got out of the car, described the Indianapolis Speedway as a person.

“There is no explanation for why you can be fast one day and slow the next,” she said. “It reads you when you’re nervous, it reads you when you’re not confident and it reads you when you are. That`s why it`s the greatest race track in the world.`

Patrick said there were no plans in place for her to replace another driver in a qualified car, in case she had failed to qualify. If she didn`t make it, ìt would be one of those things. Terribly disappointing, but . . .``

Bump Day had drama right up till the end. Marco Andretti was bumped from the field by Alex Lloyd and with no time left, Andretti went back on the track and bumped his way back into the field by knocking  out his own teammate, Ryan Hunter-Reay.

It was a terrific weekend of race driving, competition, tension and drama. Everything pretty much came out right in the end, as  my following rolling blog from Sunday will illustrate.

This sounds like a commercial, but you`ll find out about Tracy`s run in the rain, and how Patrick Carpentier nearly became the fourth Canadian to make the field for this 100^th anniversary 500.

By the way, if you scroll down, my F1 report is at the bottom. It was nice of the Indianapolis Speedway to have the Speed Channel on in the cafeteria for the Grand Prix of Spain.

Earlier Sunday . . .

Danica Patrick qualified for the Indianapolis 500 today by turning four laps at an average speed of 224.861. She will start the race beside Paul Tracy of Toronto, who turned the fastest speed of the day earlier.

Previously . . .

One of the biggest names in auto racing, Danica Patrick, is in danger of missing the world’s biggest race, the 100^th anniversary Indianapolis 500.

Moments after Toronto’s Paul Tracy bumped himself into the 33-spot starting field – by turning the fastest speed of second-day qualifying, 224.939 miles an hour – the heavens opened for the second time today and qualifying trials were suspended.

Next in line was Patrick, who wasn’t fast enough to qualify on Pole Day Saturday and expected to make a run today. She was second in line to attempt to qualify but her car apparently flucked tech inspection this morning and that put it to the back of the line.

Every driver has an opportunity to make a qualifying run. Or to bump their way in. That Andretti Autosport wasn’t ready to pass tech does not bode well for them, or her.

For her to miss the race would be a disaster for Andretti Autosport, the Indy 500 and the Memorial Day television ratings for the race, not to mention Patrick personally. Her major sponsor, GoDaddy.com could very quickly become known as NoGoDaddy.com.

An Indy 500 without the biggest star in the IndyCar series would be like a Super Bowl in Indianapolis with the Colts in it and Peyton Manning unable to play.

In his post qualifying session media conference, Tracy asked if he had any idea what Patrick was feeling and he didn’t hesitate to reply:

“I know exactly how she’s feeling,” he said. “She’s very stressed. I went through this sort of thing last year (when he missed the race after his team inexplicably withdrew his already qualified car). It’s a very stressful time, knowing you can probably get in the race and yet not have an opportunity.”

Tracy said that halfway through his qualifying run, it started to rain and his final two laps were totally on the edge.

“It was definitely scary,” said Tracy. “ The car started to slip and slide on me and that’s not a comfortable feeling. I was adjusting the car to keep the balance just right (there are buttons on the steering wheels of Indy cars that drivers can push to make chassis adjustments in flight).  

“But then when I started to see the mist (rain at more than 200 mph), it took a little bit of a slide on me in (turn) three and I had to stiffen the front bar to try to settle down the rear a little bit. “

Incidentally, IndyCar officials now say that if the weather holds, they’ll try to resume qualifying at 4:45 p.m., 15 minutes after Bump Day TV coverage is scheduled to start.

Earlier. . .

Toronto`s Paul Tracy bumped his way into the 100th anniversary Indianapolis 500 today by setting the fastest of the second-day speeds: 224.939 miles an hour.

GTracy will start the race from inside the ninth row. Eleven rows of three make up the field.

And then it started to rain again - with Danica Patrick next in line.

Tracy said he noticed rain on his visor halfway through his third lap. `The car started to slide around and I really had to keep my foot in it,`Tracy said.

At the moment, three women have qualified - Simona

de Silvestro, Pippa Mann and Ana Beatriz. Patrick would make four - a record for the 500.

Previously,

The field has now been filled for the 2011 Indianapolis 500, the 100^th anniversary of the world’s most famous race.

But two of the biggest names in car racing, Danica Patrick and Paul Tracy, aren’t in the lineup and will have to bump their way in.

Ryan Briscoe,  Pippa Mann, Rafel Matos, Charlie Kimball, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Mike Conway drove their way into the field after qualifying resumed following a rain delay.

Bumping will now begin.

But the rain clouds are approaching again.

Previously . . .

The sun is shining but there's still "weather" all around the Indianapolis Speedway.

Track officials say, however, that if the weather holds, qualifying will resume at 2:30 p.m.

Earlier. . .

Ana Beatriz and Graham Rahal qualified during the first minutes of Bump Day today but then a torrential rainstorm hit and proceedings were suspended.

Tow trucks and jet driers are on the speedway, trying to accelerate the drying process. The sun comes out periodically but with more rain around, it could be a long day.

Every driver – there are 15 more scheduled to try, including Toronto's Paul Tracy – will get at least one chance to make the field, either by qualifying or by bumping their way in. If that happens today, the field will be frozen.

If not everybody gets their one shot by 6 p.m. , the time qualifications are scheduled to end, then
Bump Day will be put over until Monday for the cars remaining.

Rahal qualified at a speed of 224.380 miles an hour. Beatriz turned in a speed of 223.879.

Previously. . .

When first-day qualifying for next weekend’s 100^th anniversary Indianapolis 500 ended on Saturday, Toronto’s Paul Tracy was as concerned about the failure of Jay Penske’s team to make it into the race as he was about his own.

Tracy was bumped out of the 24 fastest cars at the last minute Saturday and will now have to fight it out against 17 other drivers today for the final nine starting places remaining in the traditional 33-car field.

But he was worried that his primary employer for five races this IZOD IndyCar Series season wouldn’t be able to qualify and would miss out on a serious payday, as a result. (Tracy is driving for another team this weekend.)

“So I told them yesterday to call Pat Carpentier,” Tracy told me this morning in a quick Gasoline Alley conversation. “(Scott) Speed had never been able to get the car above 220 (miles an hour) in practice. You saw it, Pat had it up to 223 without breaking a sweat.”

Unfortunately, in pushing the car to go even faster during first practice this morning, Carpentier - a veteran of CART, IRL and NASCAR competition - lost control mid-way through turn one and spun, hitting the outside wall. The left side of the car was demolished; Carpentier was not injured.

Although there were rumours that Penske was working to make a deal with his father, Roger Penske, to take over one of Team Penske’s spare cars and let Carpentier take another shot, Tracy said it wouldn’t happen.

“(Ryan) Briscoe (the only one of three Team Penske drivers not in the race) is having a hard time getting up to speed in the one spare Penske (Roger) has together, so there’s no way they’ll try to pull out another car,” Tracy said.

“In fact, they’re (Jay Penske's team) scrambling now to get cars together for Texas (a racing double-header at Texas Motor Speedway in two weeks).”

As to why a veteran racer like Carpentier, whose only scheduled ride so far this season was the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Montreal in August, would lose it, Tracy said that Indy can bite a driver.

"He pinched down a little below the white line and that can get you," Tracy said. "There's a bit of a ledge, there. If you go  over it, it will whip you right around. There's nothing you can do at that point. 

Bump Day qualifying is scheduled to go at the Speedway at noon - weather permitting. As I write this, it has suddenly become very overcast.

Tracy, who turned the fifth fastest time this morning (“don’t worry; we’re okay”), is scheduled to make his first qualifying run in fourteenth position. Danica Patrick, who was second fastest in the morning practice, will qualify third.

Once the field is full, bumping will begin. Every driver gets three shots in his or her primary car. Then, to continue trying to get in, they would have to turn to their spare cars but that's easier said than done - as Ryan Briscoe is finding out.

It can be complicated. It can also be very exciting.  

VETTEL (WHO ELSE?) WINS SPANISH GRAND PRIX

It has to be totally discouraging to win a drag race to the first corner and take the lead of a Formula One Grand Prix  and then to stay in front for the first two stints, only to wind up not only losing the race but being lapped in the process.

That is what happened to Ferrari’s No. 1 driver, Fernando Alonso of Spain, in his home race Sunday. All he could do after he made his third pit stop was sit back and watch as Sebastien Vettel made mincemeat of him en route to winning his fourth race of the 2011 Formula One season going away.

Lewis Hamilton was a very close second in his McLaren-Mercedes with his teammate, Jenson Button,  third.  Mark Webber, driving the sister car to Vettel’s Red Bull-Renault, was fourth.

It was a rough day for Webber. He won his first pole of the season on Saturday but was passed by both Alonso and Vettel by the time they got to the first corner. He trundled around in third place for much of the race but eventually was put away by Button.

Alonso was the first of the 11 drivers who were lapped once. He officially finished fifth, one spot ahead of Michael Schumacher in his Mercedes. Nico Resberg (Mercedes) was seventh, Nick Heidfeld (Renault) eighth, Sergio Perez (Sauber-Ferrari) ninth and Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber-Ferrari) tenth.

Six drivers were lapped twice (including Rubens Barrichello and Jarno Trulli and isn’t it time those guys called it a day?) and three (including Ferrari’s Felipe Massa) did not finish.

Tire strategy again played a major role in this race, as did pit stop tragedy. The disgraced Max Mosley once said that F1 racing is like a game of chess, and it’s looking more and more like he’s right.

But does that make it right? Isn’t a race a race, rather than a game of cat-and-mouse?

Indy 500 – Tagliani on pole, pressure's on Tracy

 The Indiana rains of May came about 10 minutes too late for Toronto’s Paul Tracy on Saturday.

 When he initially qualified for next weekend’s 100^th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500, at about 11:45 a.m., his speed of 224.353 miles an hour put him in 11^th place on the sheets. He appeared to be in good shape to be among the 24 fastest Pole Day qualifiers who would then be locked into the field for next Sunday’s big race.

But as the day wore on, and Tracy watched fellow Canadians Alex Tagliani of Montreal and James Hinchcliffe of Oakville qualify ahead of him (Tagliani will start on the pole of the traditional field of 33; Hinchliffe will start on the inside of row five), his name started slowly slipping down the list as the track seemed to get faster and drivers not of his calibre (Jay Howard, Bertrand Baguette) turned faster times.

 At about 3:30, with rain clouds passing overhead and Tracy on the bubble – 24^th fastest – John Andretti went out to try to fight his way back into the top 24 (he`d been bumped out himself a half hour earlier) and went 224.981 mph for four laps.

 Before Tracy could get back into his car to try to retaliate, the rain started to pour and the first part of Saturday qualifying was concluded.

 It dried up in time for the fastest nine qualifiers to go out and fight each other for the pole (results later) but it was a crushing blow for Tracy, who missed this race last year and wanted to get qualifying out of the way in order to concentrate on his race setup.

 Now, along with Danica Patrick and one or two other high-profile performers, he`ll have to go through Bump Day qualifying Sunday, in which the 15 or so remaining drivers will try to grab hold of one of the remaining nine starting positions.

 As Scott Goodyear said in an interview I published in Saturday`s Toronto Star Wheels section, all eyes will be on Tracy to see if he still has it.

 I think he does, but Indy is a strange place. As Tracy himself said: ``Ì think the most frustrating thing is that I went out with the exact same car as Davey (Hamilton, his teammate) and he ran 225s, but our car just wouldn`t go. We`re frustrated. If you don`t have the right car, then you can`t get the speed out of it. Right now, we`re just scratching our heads.`

Let`s hope they figure things out in time for Sunday.

Tagliani had no such problems. Fast all week,  he turned a speed of 226.954 for the fastest time before the pole shootout in which he then put his stamp on qualifying by turning a speed of 2227.472 mph.

It`s the first time a Canadian has won the pole for the big race. Only one Canadian has ever won the 500, Jacques Villeneuve in 1995. Tagliani says he hopes the become the second.

"I'm thrilled,` he told the Star. "We worked toward this from the start. We were fast in practice all week and this was just the culmination."

One huge surprise in the pole shootout was Dario Franchitti, who appeared to run out of fuel on his second lap. There will be hell to pay in Chip Ganassi's garage tonight, you can bet.

 Hinchcliffe, who qualified with a speed of 225.572 mph, missed out on being fastest rookie to American driver J.R. Hildebrand, who made it in with a speed of 225.579 – two 1,000ths of a second faster than `Hinch.``

 Want to know how close that really is? Over four laps of the 2.5-mile oval, which is 10 miles, Hildebrand beat Hinchcliffe by 1.5 feet – or 4.5 inches per lap.

 By the way, three of the fast six drivers who went out to fight for the pole – Buddy Rice, Dan Whelson and Townsend Bell – don`t have regular rides in the IZOD IndyCar Series.

 What does that tell you?

Change of pace: Kimi Raikkonen finished 15^th in that NASCAR truck race at Charlotte Friday night. He hit the wall on his second lap but was able to keep going. He finished ahead of ex-F1 drivers who are now NASCAR veterans Nelson Piquet Jr. and Max Papis. Kurt Busch won that race, by the way.

 Tom Carnegie, the “voice” of the Indianapolis Speedway for several generations, died during the winter and Pole Day was dedicated to his memory.

Several recordings of his voice were played, including a piece in which he traditionally welcomed race fans to the first day of qualifying and later, when qualifying began and the first driver on the speedway, Sebastien Saavedra, flashed across the starting line on his first lap, his signature “he-e-e-e-‘s on-it.”

 There were two serious accidents Saturday – one during practice and the other during qualifications, making three for the month - Simona De Silvestro having piled up on Thursday, suffering burns to both hands

Ryan Briscoe lost control of his Team Penske mount early in practice, badly damaging the car. He was not injured and was cleared to drive his backup car.  He qualified the car but was bumped out of the first 24, so will have to try again Sunday.

And Ho-Pin Tung, the first Chinese driver to try to qualify at Indy, lost control of his mount going into turn one and hit the wall backwards. As was the case with Briscoe, the car was demolished but the driver was not hurt.

 Leo Mehl, who ran Goodyear’s racing tire program worldwide for years, was an interested spectator and - unlike many people who are optimistic - thinks that the jury is still out on the future of Indy car racing.

“It takes money,” said Mehl, who directed Goodyear’s operations in Formula One, NASCAR and Indy car. “There’s not a lot of it around. In fact, Canada’s doing better. I buy Canadian stocks.”

 Mark Webber won his first pole of the 2011 Formula One season Saturday in Spain. His Red
Bull-Renault teammate, Sebastien Vettel, will be on the front row with him for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Spain (TSN, 7:55 a.m.).

Lewis Hamilton was third fastest in his Mercedes-McLaren, Fernando Alonso was fourth for Ferrari and Jenson Button was fifth, also for McLaren.

Michael Schumacher made it into final qualifying but could do no better than tenth place.

Tagliani takes aim at Indy pole

Scott Speed, who may or may not be driving Jay Penske’s Indy car when practice and qualifying begin Saturday for next weekend’s 100^th anniversary Indianapolis 500, is arrogance personified.

Although he has enough talent to keep a 220-mile-an-hour Indy car off the wall, he’s done absolutely nothing in a racing career that lasted five years in the world’s two top series, Formula One and NASCAR Sprint Cup.

A guy with more luck than skill and ability, he got his F1 seat by winning a contest – the Red Bull Driver Search conducted by Danny Sullivan. Red Bull was determined to get an American into F1 to boost the American sales of its energy drink, so Speed was their boy.

After several years in F1 with Toro Rosso, in which he had a perfect score – big fat zeros in every possible category – he was dumped and wound up in NASCAR with Red Bull backing. (I know, I’ve been wondering why, too.)

While he was in NASCAR, Speed authorized the release of a communiqué announcing to the world that while all the other open wheel drivers who’d moved to NASCAR (Jacques Villeneuve, Dario Franchitti and Sam Hornish) had been dismal failures, he, Scott Speed, was the most successful of them all.

That he would even dare to lump himself in with Villeneuve, Franchitti and Hornish shows how big this guy’s ego is.

In any event, he was dumped out of NASCAR and now he’s trying to make it in Indy Car. He signed a one-race deal with Dragon Racing (young Penske’s team) and Friday he was the slowest of the 39 drivers who took to the speedway for final practice before Saturday qualifying.

That’s when he fell into a snit and either walked out or threatened to walk out. Derek Daly (retired F1 and IndyCar driver, who was at the Speedway reporting for a local Indianapolis TV station) said it was doubtful Speed would be back in the car.

I hope they don’t kiss and make up. There are good drivers available to get into that Penske car – 1996 Indy 500 winner Buddy Lazier, for one – and they deserve the shot more than a guy who figures he’s entitled to just about everything racing has to offer without paying too many dues to earn them.

Meantime, Canadian Alex Tagliani turned some of the fastest times recorded at the Speedway this week and is favoured for the pole Saturday, along with Helio Castroneves and Scott Dixon. All three were over 228 miles an hour Friday.

James Hinchcliffe was 16^th fastest and Paul Tracy was 23^rd.

Starting positions 1 through 24 will be set during traditional four-lap qualifying runs between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday. The top 9 cars from that session will transfer into the final session from 4:30 to 6 p.m.  Those nine drivers will have their earlier speeds erased and they will then be able to make unlimited runs for the pole until the session ends.

Pole for the Indy 500 will go to the fastest driver from the final session, and the top 9 will also be set from that session. On Sunday, qualifying goes from 12 to 6 p.m.to set positions 25 though 33.

Simona De Silvestro, who was burned on both hands in a practice crash on Thursday, was not allowed to practice Friday. If still unable to drive Saturday, her team might hire a driver to try to qualify her car for her. She would then be able to drive the car in the 500,  although she would have to start at the back of the pack.

Woman driver burned at Indy

Simona de Silvestro suffered burns to both hands at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Thursday when a mechanical problem resulted in her losing control of her car, which crashed upside down and caught fire with her inside it.

De Silvestro, from Switzerland, was practicing for next weekend’s 100th anniversary of the Indy 500. Her burns — second-degree burns on her right hand and superficial burns on her left — could keep her from attempting to qualify this weekend for the big race.

Although her team was preparing her backup car, and she will drive it if she’s cleared by Indianapolis Speedway medical officials, HVM Racing owner Keith Wiggins said it was possible the team would hire a driver to qualify the car in order for her to race it next weekend.

Wiggins said the driver, 22, who was burned during an accident at Texas Motor Speedway last year, was okay but shaken up.

If interested, you can watch the accident here.

Meantime, Penske driver Will Power topped the speed charts Thursday as practice resumed after two days of rain. His run of 39.5340 seconds around the 2.5-mile race track translates into 227.652 miles an hour as teams start to trim out the cars in advance of Saturday’s qualifying trials.

Canadian Alex Tagliani was second fast (39.6097/227/217 mph) and Penske’s Ryan Briscoe was third at 39.6097 — 227.217.

Paul Tracy was 12th fastest and James Hinchcliffe was 30th of 40 drivers who took time.

Said Hinchcliffe:

“We got a lot of work done today.  We had made a change to the Sprott car back on Monday night that we have been waiting three days to try.  It was good that we did it but unfortunately it wasn’t a step forward and it took quite a lot of downtime to go back on it and we missed a big chunk of the afternoon. 

“But we still got a good number of laps in and really started to trim the car a bit more.  We were focusing on running by ourselves and not really trying to compete in the ‘tow Olympics’ out there so I don’t think 30th on the time charts is very representative of where we are, speed-wise.

“We’re going to keep chipping away at it.  Tomorrow we will focus on qualifying runs and we will see where we are at the end of the day.”

Television coverage of the Indy time trials starts on TSN2 Saturday at 11 a.m. and resumes at 4:30 p.m. Bump Day Sunday coverage will start on TSN2 at 4:30 p.m.

Other racing:

—      Kimi Raikkonen makes his debut in NASCAR Friday night in the Camping World Truck Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Speed Channel has the race at 8 p.m.

—      The NASCAR All-Star race goes Saturday night at 7 p.m. By the way, Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne has been scratched again from all racing this weekend. He’s still suffering ill effects from that insect bite a month or so ago.

—      TSN will carry qualifying for the F1 Grand Prix of Spain on Saturday at 7:55 a. m. and the race itself on Sunday at 7:55.

In local news:

—      The Southern Ontario Sprints season starts Saturday night at Brighton Speedway. Four-time series champion Glenn Styres will pay out a bonus to the winner of every SOS feature this season. Styres owns Ohsweken Speedway, where the SOS runs on occasion.

—     Speaking of Ohsweken, their season-opener scheduled for this weekend has been put off a week because spring rain has left the pit area and parking lot a quagmire. They’ll go next weekend, hopefully.

—      Don’t forget the Victoria Day weekend programs at Mosport and Toronto Motorsports Park.

Me? I’ll be blogging from Indianapolis.