Sunday, July 23, 2006 Unlike last year when the weather was hot and
unbearable, The IRL drivers were greeted with nearly perfect weather...
Sunny and near 80 degrees.
2004 IndyCar Series champion Tony Kanaan held off a late race
charge by Sam Hornish Jr., to win the ABC Supply/A.J. Foyt 225
at The Milwaukee Mile, giving Andretti Green Racing its first victory
of the season & a sweep of the weekend events at the historic Mile.
Kanaan passed teammate Marco Andretti in Turn 4 of Lap 179 and beat the
IndyCar Series point leader, Hornish, to the finish line by 1.8276
seconds. The victory marks Andretti Green Racing's 22nd win in the
IndyCar Series, making it the IndyCar Series winningest-team. It was a
double-victory weekend for Andretti
Green Racing as Jaime Camara won the Indy Pro Series race on
July 22.
Tomas Scheckter finished third in his No. 2 Honda-powered Dallara,
giving Vision Racing its best finish in team history. Danica Patrick
posted her second consecutive fourth place finish after advancing
10 positions in her No. 16 Rahal Letterman Racing Team Argent
Honda-powered Dallara, while Andretti rounded ou t the top-five in his
No. 26 NYSE Group Honda-powered Dallara.
Hornish retains the lead in the championship points race, 25 points
ahead of Scott Dixon, who finished 10th, and 30 points ahead of
teammate Helio Castroneves, who finished 14th after contact with Ed
Carpenter.
This is Tony Kanaan's first win this season and the seventh win
of his IndyCar Series career. His last win came at Infineon Raceway in
August 2005.
Kanaan is the fifth different winner this season.
This is Andretti Green Racing's first win this season and its 22nd win
in the IndyCar Series. The team is again the winningest-team in the
IndyCar Series, breaking a tie it had with Marlboro Team
Penske entering this event.
Sam Hornish Jr. finished second, his sixth top-five finish this season.
Tomas Scheckter finished a season-best third. It is Vision Racing's
first-ever top-five finish and Scheckter's best finish since posted
back-to-back third place finishes at Milwaukee and Michigan in
2005.
Danica Patrick
finished fourth for the second-straight race,
matching her career best. Patrick also posted consecutive fourth-place
finishes at Motegi and Indianapolis in 2005.
Castroneves posted a lap of 21.1854 seconds, 172.477 mph, in
the No. 3 Marlboro Team Penske Honda-powered Dallara. Castroneves time
broke Sam Hornish Jr.'s 2005 track record
and was .0196 of a second faster than Hornish, who recorded a
lap of 21.1974, 172.380 mph, in his No. 6 Marlboro Team Penske
Honda-powered Dallara.
Cheever Racing withdrew the No. 51 Cheever Racing Formtek car from the
Milwaukee 100. Driver Chris Festa is being treated for an infection in
his lower back. It will end his streak of 21 consecutive Indy Pro
Series starts. Festa, Nick Bussell and Jaime Camara were tied for the
longest active streak of consecutive starts in the Indy
Pro Series.
CHRIS FESTA: The pain is right in the center of my lower back where I
can't sit down, put any pressure on it, which is exactly
where most pressure would be on my body if I were in the car. It's just
a very sharp pain. We felt if I couldn't be at 100 percent, and
we were having to start last anyway, we had less to gain and
more to lose, so it would be a wiser decision to sit it out and let me
get over it."
Members of the University of Wisconsinbs national championship hockey
served as honorary race officials today. ABC Supply CEO Ken Hendricks
served as the honorary starter.
Four-time Indianapolis 500 winner A.J. Foyt gave the command to start
engines. Foyt's opted for a more colorful: Boys and girls, start your
engines A.J. Foyt couldn't pass up the IndyCar Series race at The
Milwaukee Mile, and made certain his personal physician knew of his
travel plans only three weeks after knee replacement surgery.
The IndyCar Series team owner and four-time Indianapolis 500 champion
did not attend the races at Kansas Speedway (July 2)
and Nashville Superspeedway (July 15) after having his left knee
replaced. But because the race at the venerable Milwaukee Mile bears
his name along with his teams title sponsor Foyt put the pain out of
mind and traveled to Wisconsin.
After attending the annual ABC Supply Co. Inc. picnic in nearby Beloit
on July 20, Foyt positioned himself in a golf cart next to the teams
pit cart for practice sessions the next day. He gave the command to
start the engines on race day.
After about 3 weeks with a new knee, it still hurts like hell,
Foyt
said. I'm glad to be up and I think every day is going to be a better
day. If I didn't have so many fans and ABC was here, I probably
wouldn't have been here today. But I made up my mind and told
my doctor I had to be here. I definitely had to make this race; I
couldn't miss this race. I probably shouldnt be here, but I'm here.
He said, "Do whatever you have to do. "
Foyt has suffered with knee pain the past three-plus years, the product
of a racing accident.
Last year, I got to where I could hardly walk, he said. I've got the
papers on what you can and cant do; mostly now I'm just trying to get
the flexibility. Everyone tells me it will get better.
Foyt took the final victory for a traditional roadster at Milwaukee in
the 1964 Rex Mays Classic. Although he also would switch to a
rear-engine car before that season was over, Foyt had one unintended
appearance at The Mile in a front-engine car. In 1965,
he was forced to tow his dirt track car, a front-engine Offy, to
Milwaukee from Springfield when his rear-engine Lotus-Ford,
along with his crew, did not arrive in Milwaukee in time for
qualifying.
He proceeded to prepare the car himself for racing on pavement and then
put the car on the pole with a speed of 107.881 mph. Foyt led 16 of the
200 laps but eventually finished second to Gordon Johncock.
"It'a tricky little racetrack," Foyt said. "Milwaukee always has been
a very interesting racetrack. I've been burnt here and hurt here. I
have a lot of memories and a lot of great fans here, and I've always
liked coming to Milwaukee."
ABC Supply/AJ Foyt Indy 225
WEST ALLIS, Wis. - Results Sunday of the ABC Supply/AJ Foyt Indy 225
IRL IndyCar Series event July 23 at the 1 -mile Milwaukee Mile, with
order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver,
chassis-engine, laps completed, reason out (if any) and money
earned:
1. (4) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running $121,400
2. (2) Sam Hornish Jr., Dallara-Honda, 225, Running $99,050
3. (8) Tomas Scheckter, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running $86,050
Point standings: Hornish 356, Dixon 331, Castroneves 326, Wheldon 324,
Kanaan 277, Meira 277, Franchitti 231, Andretti 226, Patrick 223, Herta
215.
Jaime Camara passes Wade Cunningham on a late restart to win the
Milwaukee 100.
Camara became a series-record seventh different winner in a season.
Cunningham finished second with rookie Jonathan Klein posting his third
consecutive third-place finish.
The Milwaukee 100 is the first race that two Indy Pro Series champions
have raced in the same event. Defending series champion Wade Cunningham
is the first champion to return to the series to defend his title,
while 2004 Indy Pro Series champion Thiago Medeiros made his first
start since his title-winning season.
MILWAUKEE 100 POST-RACE NOTES
This is Jaime Camaras first win this season and the third win of his
Indy Pro Series career. He won at Indianapolis (oval) and Nashville
last season.
Camara led two laps, tying the series record for fewest laps led by the
race winner. Jeff Simmons led 2 of 80 laps at Gateway in 2003. James
Chesson led 2 of 50 laps at California in 2004.
Camara is the seventh different winner this season, the most winners in
series history.
This is Andretti Green Racings first win this season and its fourth win
in the Indy Pro Series. It won three events in 2005 with Marco Andretti.
Wade Cunningham finished second, his fourth top-five finish this season.
Cunningham led 98 laps, most laps led by a non-race winner in series
history.
Jonathan Klein finished third for the third consecutive race. It is his
sixth top-five finish in eight Indy Pro Series starts.
WEST ALLIS, Wis. - Results Saturday of the Milwaukee 100 IRL Indy Pro
Series event at the 1-mile Milwaukee Mile, with order of finish,
starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis, laps completed,
reason out (if any) and money earned:
Tony Kanaan Celebrates
