June 3,
2007
Saturday, Milwaukee Mile, Wisconsin
Tony Kanaan
Wins...He's been here before...a year ago.
©
Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc. photo
Tony
Kanaan wins at Milwaukee, second consecutive victory at the Mile
by Dan Peters
The best car does not always win, just ask Tony Kanaan.
Kanaan inherited the lead when Helio Castroneves’ No. 3 Team Penske car
unexpectedly spun multiple times exiting Turn 4 and made contact with
the inside retaining wall on the front stretch. Kanaan, who
started third in the No. 11 Team
7-Eleven Dallara/Honda/Firestone, went on to a 2.5707-second victory
over Andretti Green Racing teammate Dario Franchitti.
Buddy
Rice Lead his First Laps in over 2 Years... Then crashes in turn two.
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Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc. photo
“I had the race won”, said a dejected Castroneves. “It's a shame
that something so odd happened there at the end. The car just
started spinning when my rear wing broke. I'm not exactly sure what
went wrong. It's unfortunate because the Team Penske car was
fantastic all day. The car was getting better and better throughout the
race. I just have to laugh it off. It's amazing that I have such bad
luck at this place. Now we just have to forget about this and
move on to Texas."
“Sometimes it’s not always the best car that wins the race”, said
Kanaan. “We could say that many times. I just hung there all day. It
was a difficult race. We had a couple of misfortunes. I didn’t hit my
marks and I made my guys waste precious time, but when I make mistakes,
they make up for them. When they make mistakes, I make up for them.
That’s what makes this team so strong. I definitely had to race this
race, apart from the last five laps. Before that I had to be on the
charge. Next is Texas. I’m excited to go there.”
Helio Leads Early and often at
Milwaukee, but crashes late in race.
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photo
Marco Andretti's Team gets Marco back on the track... to only crash a
few laps later.
©
Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc. photo
The win was Kanaan's second consecutive victory at The Mile, and ninth
career in the Indy Car Series. Dan Wheldon finished third and
Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott
Dixon was fourth. Delphi Panther Racing's Vitor Meira was fifth. His
last victory came at Twin Ring Motegi in April. He is the first Indy
Car Series driver
to repeat at Milwaukee.
This is the Andretti Green third win of the season and its 26th win
in the Indy Car Series, most of any Indy Car Series entrant. Three
of AGR’s wins have come at Milwaukee (Dario Franchitti in 2004, Kanaan
2006 and 2007).
The turn of events took both Kanaan and Castroneves by surprise.
Castroneves, the pole sitter for the second year in a row, has not
scored a top-10 finish in four Indy Car Series races at The Mile.
Castroneves led Kanaan by 2.1228 seconds on Lap 200 when the short-oval
rear wing element collapsed, which caused the car to
veer out of control.
Michael Andretti can only watch as
Marco crashes for the
second week in a row.
Dario Franchitti
finished second, his fifth consecutive top-five finish. It is the 21st
1-2 finish by teammates in the Indy Car Series. It is AGR’s ninth 1-2
finish.
Tony Kanaan superstitious? Hardly.
Kanaan changes plans, still wins: Tony Kanaan threw superstition to the
wind at The Milwaukee Mile. It worked, and in the process another was
born.
Last year, a laundry mix-up necessitated that the Andretti Green Racing
driver wear the same fire suit for three days of practice, qualifying
and racing at The Mile. He won, and indicated that he would follow the
same path for the June 2-3 ABC Supply/A.J. Foyt 225 presented by Time
Warner Cable.
Well, Kanaan changed his mind – and suit – for the race. He won again,
beating teammate and Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti to the
checkers by 2.5707 seconds.
Marco Andretti remains focused
even after another crash.
© Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc.
photo
"I changed suits today," Kanaan said after exiting Victory Circle.
"See, all my superstitions go to the trash every time I change
something. It's just in your head really."
The victory moved Kanaan to fourth in the championship standings after
six of 17 rounds. He'll have little time to celebrate as practice for
the Bombardier Learjet 550k at the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway begins
June 7.
Franchitti made his way to Victory Lane to congratulate Kanaan, who led
the 91st Indianapolis 500 when rain brought out the red flag. The race
re-started after a 2-hour, 57-minute delay, and Franchitti was ahead of
the pack when rain cut short the race by 34 laps.
Franchitti said, 'If there is a payback, I think you got yours,' ''
Kanaan said. I said, 'Yeah, the difference is it's a $1 million check
versus $100,000.'''
Franchitti predicted Kanaan, who started third, would win at The Mile.
"Between me and him, it's such a special relationship as friends,”
Kanaan said. “As soon as I crossed the finish line, I saw he was
second, I knew he was leading the championship. We're doing what we
were supposed to do. As a team, We’re working really well
together, the two of us. Now we need to bring the other two guys up the
way we have. The more help we get up in the front, the easier it's
going to be for us to win this championship."
Wheldon, who finished third, was a popular driver to the media after
the race. Not because of his pit strategy, but because of yet another
run in with Danica.
“I don’t know (what happened). I think she had a run on Dario,
and I think she thought she was alongside me. Unfortunately for her,
she wasn’t. As she got out of it, I don’t know what happened. She
spun or dropped to the back. She’s a little disgruntled,
but as Brian Barnhart says, what goes around, comes around.
She nearly put me in the pit wall at Indianapolis, and I certainly have
no problems with anyone else on the track. She’s probably feeling the
pressure of not winning races when her teammates are. It’s unfortunate
for her. I’ve been in this business long enough to know when someone is
there and when somebody is not. Maybe it’s a bit of inexperience there
on her part. Certainly, everyone else that was alongside me got by, no
problem. I thought it was a real clean race.”
Well at least
Danica hugged Ashley after the race. The same could not be said for Dan
Weldon. Danica and Weldon had a on trach scirmish that led to some
extra words and push by Danica as she confronted him after the
race. Weldon replied " I am a much tougher driver than Danica."
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photo
When asked about her confrontation after the race… “She’s just feisty.
There’s a lot of pressure on her because she has not won a race, and
her teammates are (winning). I think in a situation like that,
sometimes you get desperate. It’s never nice to come into contact with
somebody.” (Did she shove you?): “She’s just being Danica. She’ll be
fine when she calms down. She’s messing with the wrong person if she
wants to get feisty. I’m a lot tougher than she is on track.”
UNOFFICIAL
INDY CAR SERIES POINT STANDINGS:
1.
Dario Franchitti 221
--
2. Dan Wheldon
218 -3
3. Scott Dixon
216 - 5
4. Tony Kanaan
201 -20
5. Helio Castroneves 188
-33
6. Sam Hornish Jr.
173 -48
7. Tomas Scheckter
143 -78
8. Scott Sharp
138 -83
9. Vitor Meira
133
-88
10. Danica Patrick
133 -88
TONY KANAAN WINS WILD ABC SUPPLY / A.J. FOYT 225 PRESENTED BY TIME
WARNER CABLE
Controversy Reigns As Danica Patrick Fired Up About Incident With Dan
Wheldon
West Allis, Wis. (June 3, 2007) —When the checkered flag fell on the
ABC Supply / A.J. Foyt 225 presented by Time Warner Cable Sunday
afternoon, it was Tony Kanaan who pulled into the newly-christened A.J.
Foyt Victory Lane at The Milwaukee Mile. The IndyCar Series stars
offered a little bit of everything from unexpected part failures to
tempers flaring on pit road.
By winning the Road Runner High Speed Online Pole Award on Saturday
afternoon, Helio Castroneves appeared to have the race in hand,
dominating the event and leading a race-high 126 laps from his front
row starting spot. The feisty Brazlian was on pace to win his
frst race at America’s Legendary Oval, but hopes of victory came to a
freakish end on lap 201 when the rear wing on his car suddenly broke
while leading, sending him in a wild ride before crashing into the
inside front stretch wall.
"I had the race won," said Castroneves dejectedly after placing
16th. "It's a shame that something so odd happened there at the
end. The car just started spinning when my rear wing broke. It's
unfortunate because the Team Penske car was fantastic all day. The car
was getting better and better throughout the race.”
The incident was eerily similar to Mario Andretti’s freakish accident
at The Milwaukee Mile in 1987 when the rear wing broke on his Lola at
the tricky one-mile oval entering turn one. Castroneves was
helped from his Dallara, but escaped injury.
Kanaan stayed in the hunt throughout the 225-mile sprint after
overcoming a penalty for pitting too early under caution just shy of
the 100-lap mark.
“Sometimes it’s not always the best car that wins the race,” Kanaan
said after scoring his second consecutive victory at The Milwaukee
MIle. “We could say that many times. I just hung there all day.
It was a difficult race. We had a couple of misfortunes. I didn’t hit
my marks and I made my guys waste precious time, but when I make
mistakes, they make up for them. When they make mistakes, I make up for
them. That’s what makes this team so strong. I definitely had to race
this race, apart from the last five laps. Before that I had to be on
the charge.”
His Andretti Green Racing teammates Dario Franchitti and Danica Patrick
raced hard with Ganassi Racing’s Dan Wheldon, as Penske drivers Helio
Castroneves and Sam Hornish Jr. provided the ignition that led to the
race’s dramatic conclusion.
For Team Penske, their race turned from bad to worse, as Sam Hornish’s
car suddenly slowed while running second with five laps to go, when the
wing appeared to be falling off his machine was well. Hornish
made a pass through of the pit lane and then gingerly finished the race
in ninth place.
Franchitti’s team struggled with understeer handling issues early,
before bouncing back to take second one week after becoming the first
Scotsman since Jim Clark in 1965 to win the Indianapolis 500. He
found himself with a front row seat for an incident that sent Patrick’s
car into a long slide on lap 89, touched off by contact with Dan
Wheldon.
Wheldon and Franchitti were racing hard for position when both were
slowed momentarily exiting the corner, allowing Patrick to get a strong
run on both of them. Patrick passed Franchitti and was able to
pull alongside Wheldon down the front straightaway. Franchitti
darted to the inside setting up a three-wide situation approaching the
first turn. While Franchitti lifted, contact ensued with Wheldon
entering the corner on the outside with Patrick on the inside.
Patrick slid sideways between turns one and two and made a brilliant
save but was forced to pit and lose a lap as her team needed to replace
a steering arm.
Patrick was able to make the lap up and sliced her way forward to wind
up with an eighth place result, her second straight top ten Milwaukee
Mile IndyCar Series effort. As the drivers exited their machines
on the pit lane, a frustrated Patrick confronted Wheldon and walked off
after an apparently heated exchange.
“Brian Barnhart (Indy Racing League Official) always tells us ‘third
man in should be the first man out’,” Franchitti said of the accident.
“I was backing off when Dan (Wheldon) and Danica (Patrick) made
contact.”
“Dario (Franchitti) and Dan (Wheldon) got slowed up and I passed Dario
and got alongside Dan,” Patrick stated. “I saw Dario pull to the inside
and I heard ‘three-wide’ going into the corner so I held me line and
Dan just turned down. He told me later he didn’t want to get in the
marbles but that usually means you got passed. He just turned into me
and I spun.”
“Danica was just being Danica,” Wheldon retorted when asked about the
two driver’s post-race discussion of the incident. “"I think she
had a run on Dario, and I think she thought she was alongside me.
Unfortunately for her, she wasn't. As she got out of it, I don't know
what happened. She spun or dropped to the back. She's a little
disgruntled, but as (race chief steward) Brian Barnhart says, what goes
around comes around. She nearly put me in the wall at Indianapolis, and
I certainly have no problems with anyone else on the track. I've
been in this business long enough to know when someone is there and
when somebody is not."
“The grass actually helped me, “Patrick continued, explaining how she
kept the car from crashing. “When it hit the grass the front wheels
slid more than the rear and I was able to keep it going. I actually
felt proud of myself, but it’s frustrating to have a car like that and
then have an end to the day like this. I don’t know how many eighth
place finishes I have had, but I know I’ve had enough of them.”
Wheldon finished the distance in third place ahead of his Ganassi
teammate Scott Dixon, while 2004 event pole winner Vitor Meira
completed the top five. Scott Sharp finished in the sixth
position and Ed Carpenter was seventh. Patrick, Hornish, and Jeff
Simmons in a back up car that started shotgun on the field completed
the top ten.
Andretti Green Racing has won three of the four IndyCar Series events
held at The Milwaukee Mile, with Michael Andretti enjoying his return
visit to the podium as an owner for the fourth time, counting Jaime
Camara’s 2006 Indy Pro Series win. He scored five Indy car
victories at The Mile, throw in a Super Vee triumph as a driver in
1992, he has carried on the Andretti magic at The Mile to ten
collective victories.
Up until Sunday, Michael Andretti was the most recent back-to-back
Milwaukee Mile winner in 1991 and 1992. A feat he accomplished in
1986 and 1987 as a driver, as well.
Franchitti may have summed it up best when he reflected on his
run. “To finish second to Tony (Kanaan) was a great end to the
day. It was just another crazy, exciting, Milwaukee race.”
Official
Results of the ABC Supply / A.J. Foyt 225 presented by Time Warner Cable
1.(3)Tony
Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 225,
Running $121,400
2. (10) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running $99,050
3. (4) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running $92,050
4. (2) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running $65,500
5. (9) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running $61,400
6. (11) Scott Sharp, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running $51,900
7. (8) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running $50,400
8. (17) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running $49,000
9. (5) Sam Hornish Jr., Dallara-Honda, 224, Running $49,000
10. (18) Jeff Simmons, Dallara-Honda, 224, Running $47,400
11. (15) Darren Manning, Dallara-Honda, 224, Running $45,800
12. (6) Kosuke Matsuura, Dallara-Honda, 223, Running $44,400
13. (12) A.J. Foyt IV, Dallara-Honda, 222, Running $43,000
14. (16) Sarah Fisher, Dallara-Honda, 221, Running $41,300
15. (14) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 209, Contact $39,900
16. (1) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 201, Contact $48,500
17. (13) Tomas Scheckter, Dallara-Honda, 159, Mechanical $37,000
18. (7) Buddy Rice, Dallara-Honda, 156, Contact
$39,000
Race Statistics:
Winner's average speed: 127.220 mph
Time of race: 1:47:42.4393
Margin of victory: 2.5707 seconds
Cautions: 6 caution flags for 51 laps
Lead changes: 8 among 4 drivers
Lap leaders: Castroneves 1-24, Rice 25-61, Castroneves 62-91, Kanaan
92, Wheldon 93-98, Castroneves 99-138, Wheldon 139-169, Castroneves
170-201, Kanaan 202-225.
CASTRONEVES
EARNS AAMCO TRANSMISSIONS POLE AWARD
WEST ALLIS, Wis., Saturday, June 2, 2007 – Helio Castroneves grabbed
his second consecutive AAMCO Transmissions Pole Award – and fourth of
the season –claiming the top starting spot for the ABC Supply/A.J. Foyt
225 presented by Time Warner Cable.
Castroneves turned a lap of 171.071 mph (21.3596 seconds) to claim
TeamPenske’s third straight pole position at The Milwaukee Mile.
He also started from the pole last year, and teammate Sam Hornish Jr.
won the 2005 race from the pole.
Series points leader Scott Dixon will start on the outside of Row 1.
Tony Kanaan, driving the No. 11 Team 7-Eleven car, recorded a quick lap
of 169.158 mph and will join Dixon’s teammate, Dan Wheldon (169.097),
on Row 2. Hornish (168.258) will share Row 3 with Super Aguri
Panther Racing’s Kosuke Matsuura (season-high sixth; 167.462). Dreyer
& Reinbold Racing’s Buddy Rice
(167.456) and Vision Racing’s Ed Carpenter (167.066) both posted season
bests and will be on Row 4. Delphi Panther Racing’s Vitor Meira
(166.981) will share the fifth row with Indianapolis 500 winner Dario
Franchitti.
Jeff Simmons did not make a qualifying attempt after the No. 17 Team
Ethanol Dallara/Honda/Firestone made contact with the SAFER Barrier at
the exit of Turn 2 in the second practice session.
Also on June 2, Alex Lloyd led every lap to claim his record-setting
fifth Indy Pro Series victory winning the Road Runner 100.
The Englishman topped Apex Racing’s Mike Potekhen by 2.2826 seconds in
the Road Runner 100. Lloyd’s seventh career victory tied former series
champions Thiago Medeiros and Mark Taylor for the most in Indy Pro
Series history.
Jonathan Klein, making his fourth start for Team Moore Racing, finished
third. Sean Guthrie finished a career-best fourth and Bobby Wilson was
fifth.
Before the First Lap is Completed,
the Race is Completed for Four Drivers. (photo from the Pro Series the
day before)
© Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc.
by Dan Peters
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