Danica Patrick earns her third pole of 2005
© Oak Park Journal photo by Joe
Paolella
Dan
Wheldon Wins...Record sixth race at Chicagoland
©
Oak Park Journal photo by Joe Paolella
Dan's The "Man" Wins Record Sixth Race Of 2005, All but clinches Title.
by Dan Peters
Oak Park Journal
Sunday, Sept. 11, 2005.. on a day that the nation will never
forget Dan Wheldon recorded his single-season-record sixth
victory in the Peak Antifreeze Indy 300 presented by Mr. Clean. He
beat Helio Castroneves by 0.0133 of a second.It was the
eighth closest finish
in series history.
Danica
Patrick's car before the start of the race.
© Oak Park Journal photo by Dan Peters
The victory all but assured that the 26-year-old English driver will
win the IRL IndyCar Series title. Wheldon leads reigning series
champion, and Andretti Green Racing teammate Tony Kanaan, by 102 points
with two events remaining.
All Wheldon has to do to clinch the championship is run a practice lap
at Watkins Glen International in two weeks.
The start of
the race with the skies clear and stands loaded.
© Oak Park Journal photo by Dan Peters
"Until it's done, then I'm not champion," Wheldon said. "If it's just a
practice lap, that practice lap is going to be the slowest practice lap
I've ever taken in history. Don't expect me to set a flyer on the first
one. I'm going to tell them not to even put the tire warmers on."
Wheldon held off a strong challenge from Helio Castroneves and
Sam Hornish, who set the previous record with five wins in 2002.
Wheldon led three times for 88 laps in an event that featured 17 lead
changes among eight drivers.
"It's not often that you can dominate like we did," Wheldon said.
"I knew I had the fastest car when I was leading, but I did make a
mistake today and forgot to push the pit land speed button. I cost
myself with the pit lane speed violation so I had to go to the back.
At the point, the car was pretty difficult in traffic. With the
aggressive setup we chose, it meant I would be quick up front, but
in traffic, I was going to struggle."
Danica Patrick
comes into the pits and mom watches her girl, and
the favorite of
many get back in the race.
© Oak Park Journal photos by Joe
Paolella
Weldon's only miscue happened during a pit stop on lap 100, Wheldon
forgot to hit his pit speed button and was disciplined for speeding. He
had to return to the pits on lap 103 to serve the penalty after being
moved to the back of the field. Even then, he knew he still could win.
"Yeah, I absolutely knew I had a chance," Wheldon said. "On the
superspeedways, with the cars we have at Andretti Green Racing, you can
get to the front pretty quick. I was confident of that. It
was kind of a silly mistake. I didn't think they would catch me because
I didn't have it on for such a short period of time and
they caught me. I couldn't believe that."
Down, but not out, Wheldon quickly found his way back to the
front. Sam Hornish Jr., who has won twice at Chicagoland
Speedway, finished a strong third. Tomas Scheckter was fourth, Kanaan
fifth and pole sitter Danica Patrick sixth.
Pole-sitting rookie Danica Patrick, from nearby Roscoe, and the crowd
favorite finished sixth in front of what is considered her
hometown, but had to fend off criticism from Kanaan, who
called her an "idiot" after the race.
Mr. Clean Makes a Showing at His
Race.
© Oak Park Journal photo by Dan Peters
"There were a lot of guys I could call idiots today," Patrick said.
"There's a lot going on out there and people are moving all over
the place and sometimes stuff happens that you don't intend to.
I thought there was a chance to win after the cars got bunched
up because I was 20 feet away from the lead opposed to 200 feet.
"No matter what happened at the end, it was a great race."
Patrick jumped Scheckter on the restart on lap 188 but had to
relinquish the position when IRL officials said she left too early.
Afterwards, Castroneves gave her a hug and said, "I'm really
proud of you. You are going to win a race soon."
There was a frightening crash on lap 20 when rookie Ryan Briscoe's
Panoz-Toyota went airborne after running over the
back of Alex Barron's car. The contact with the wall and fence broke
the car in two, creating a huge fireball that engulfed both cars. The
radiator, gearbox and cockpit all went flying in separate directions
with debris scattered across the track.
Kosuke Matsurra also was involved in the crash, which was so severe it
forced the race to be halted for 17 minutes because of damage to the
fence above the SAFER barrier. Briscoe, who lost the pole on Saturday
because of an illegal rear-wing mount, was airlifted to Chris Hospital
in Oak Lawn, complaining of head and neck pain but was awake and alert.
According to Dr. Jason Lindel, the 23-year-old Briscoe suffered
a concussion, bruised lung and a broken clavicle but is good condition
and will spend the night at the hospital. However,
his season likely is over.
It was the 27th crash for the three-driver Target-Chip Ganassi
team this season, including practice and qualifications.
"I just felt a thump from the left rear of my car," Barron said. "Ryan
was up over me. He was upside-down and there was a lot of fire. It was
a quick thud and then the next thing you know we were in the wall. It
was all behind me and people were moving around, so I can't really say
what happened. I just felt a thump and a lot of fire and that was it."
PEAK Antifreeze Indy 300 presented by Mr. Clean
JOLIET, Ill. - Results Sunday of the Peak Antifreeze Indy 300 presented
by Mr. Clean IRL IndyCar Series event at the 1.5-mile Chicagoland
Speedway, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses,
driver, chassis-engine, laps
completed and reason out (if any) and money earned:
Dan
Wheldon Wins...Record sixth race at Chicagoland
©
Oak Park Journal photo by Joe Paolella
1.
(5) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 200, $96,300
2. (11) Helio
Castroneves, Dallara-Toyota, 200, $80,150
3. (4) Sam Hornish
Jr., Dallara-Toyota, 200, $67,150
4. (3) Tomas
Scheckter, Dallara-Chevrolet, 200, $54,500
5. (13) Tony Kanaan,
Dallara-Honda, 200, $59,900
6. (1) Danica
Patrick, Panoz-Honda, 200, $54,200
7. (20) Vitor Meira,
Panoz-Honda, 200, $43,000
8. (9) Scott Sharp,
Panoz-Honda, 200, $44,000
9. (16) Patrick
Carpentier, Dallara-Toyota, 200, $42,000
10. (7) Buddy
Lazier, Dallara-Chevrolet, 200, $40,800
11. (14) A.J. Foyt
IV, Dallara-Chevrolet, 200, $39,600
12. (10) Dario
Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 200, $38,600
13. (2) Buddy Rice,
Panoz-Honda, 200, $37,500
14. (6) Bryan Herta,
Dallara-Honda, 200, $36,200
15. (15) Roger
Yasukawa, Dallara-Honda, 200, $35,100
16. (21) Jaques
Lazier, Panoz-Toyota, 200, $34,100
17. (19) Ed
Carpenter, Dallara-Toyota, 199, $32,900
18. (17) Jimmy Kite,
Dallara-Toyota, 199, $32,900
19. (22) Scott Dixo,
Panoz-Toyota, 169, Gear box, $31,700
20. (8) Tomas Enge, Dallara-Chevrolet,
140, Suspension, $30,600
21. (18) Alex
Barron, Dallara-Toyota, 19, Accident, $30,600
22. (23) Ryan
Briscoe, Panoz-Toyota, 19, Accident, $30,600
23. (12) Kosuke
Matsuura, Panoz-Honda, 19, Accident, $30,600
Race Statistics Winner's
average speed: 169.160 mph
Time
of race: 01:47:49.6126
Margin
of victory: 0.0133 of a second
Cautions:
4 for 27 laps.
Lead
changes: 17 lead changes among 8 drivers
Lap leaders: Patrick 1, Scheckter
2-37, Wheldon 38-78,
Scheckter 79-80, Enge 81, Herta 82, Enge 83-84, Castroneves 85-94,
Kanaan 95, Castroneves 96, Kanaan 97-98, Herta 99-104, Kanaan
105, Herta 106, Kanaan 107-148, Wheldon 149-173,
Rice 174-178, Wheldon 179-200.
Point standings: Wheldon 570, Kanaan 468, Hornish 456,
Franchitti 413, Castroneves 400, Sharp 390, Meira 375,
Herta 354, Scheckter 349, Carpentier 341.
Jeff Simmons
Holds off Marty Roth to Win Chicagoland 100..
Sunday Sep 11, 2005
JOLIET, Ill.
Jeff Simmons passed race leader Marty Roth at the exit to Turn
2 on the final lap to claim his third victory of the Menards Infiniti
Pro Series season by 0.2306 of a second.
It was the sixth consecutive top-five finish for Simmons, who started
seventh in the No. 24 Team ISI car for Kenn Hardley Racing.
I was set up the best way I could to be second and try to make
that move on the last lap, "said Simmons, whose previous
victories this season were on 1-mile ovals. "It worked out
perfectly. It's not often where you're able to get those last-lap
wins in the most dramatic style. "
"That was really excited. I'm so happy for everybody at Kenn Hardley
Racing. We've gotten on a little roll the second half of
the year. It was a tough first half, but it's closing up a lot right
now and we've got a chance at two more coming up."
Roth would certainly like to know that feeling. But he was enthusiastic
after his career-best finish in 28 starts. Fourth at Chicagoland
Speedway in 2002 was his previous best.
"Well, it was close but no cigar, " said the owner-driver, who advanced
eight spots from the green flag. "It was the first time I ever looked
down the track and didn't see a car in front of me.
It was a really good feeling. Unfortunately, I couldn't hold it for
that last lap. And Jeff, he timed it beautifully. He took that run on
the white flag lap. That's the one that counted. He got me, took
the checkered."
Roth led 11 laps, taking the point with a pass of Simmons on Lap 62. He
led by 0.0613 of a second on Lap 64, and wasn't rattled the
following two laps with Simmons on his tail.
A promising start for pole sitter Sarah McCune came to an abrupt end on
Lap 6. McCune, making her series debut, was leading
when the No. 20 Vision Racing car driven by Jay Drake attempted to
squeeze past on the left side. Drake's right-front tire touched the
left rear of McCune's No. 8 Sam Schmidt Motorsports car, knocking it
off-balance.
It slid backward up the track at the exit to Turn 3 and into the No. 33
Motorsport New Zealand car driven by series points leader Wade
Cunningham. Cars driven by Chris Festa and Bobby
Wilson were collected in the incident.
"We were just going down into Turn 3 and he hit me, and kept driving
right through me, " said McCune. "I don't know what he was thinking."
All drivers were checked at the infield care center and released.
Though Cunningham was taken out early, he remained first in the
standings. Travis Gregg's fifth-place finish produced a gain of 10
points on Cunningham, but he trails 431-408 heading into the race on
the permanent road course at Watkins Glen International on Sept. 25.
Chicagoland
100, September 11, 2005
JOLIET, Ill. - Results Sunday of the Chicagoland 100 IRL Menards
Infiniti Pro Series event at the 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway, with
order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver,
chassis-engine, laps completed and
reason out (if any) and money earned:
1. (7) Jeff Simmons,
Dallara-Infiniti, 67
2. (10) Marty Roth,
Dallara-Infiniti, 67
3. (4) Nick Bussell,
Dallara-Infiniti, 67
4. (9) Jon Herb,
Dallara-Infiniti, 67
5. (2) Travis Gregg,
Dallara-Infiniti, 67
6. (6) Jaime Camara,
Dallara-Infiniti, 67
7. (3) Jay Drake,
Dallara-Infiniti, 55, Handling
8. (11) Bobby
Wilson, Dallara-Infiniti, 6, Accident
9. (1) Sarah McCune,
Dallara-Infiniti, 5, Accident
10. (5) Wade
Cunningham, Dallara-Infiniti, 5, Accident
11. (8) Chris Festa,
Dallara-Infiniti, 5, Accident
12. (12) Scott
Mayer, Dallara-Infiniti, 0, Did Not
Start
Race
Statistics
Winner's average
speed: 151.129 mph
Time of race:
00:40:25.8974
Margin of victory:
0.2306 of a second
Cautions: 1 caution
for 9 laps
Lead changes: 15
changes among 6 drivers
Lap
leaders: McCune 1-5, Simmons 6-14, Camara 15, Herb 16-23, Simmons
24-25, Herb 26, Simmons 27, Herb 28-29, Simmons 30-31, Bussell 32-32,
Simmons 33, Bussell 34-38, Simmons 39-47, Bussell 48-61, Roth 62-66,
Simmons 67.
Point standings: Cunningham 431,
Gregg 408, Simmons 384, Bussell 370, Camara 357, Drake 323, Festa 323,
Herb 323, Roth 309, Andretti 208.
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