Mid-Day report from Mid-Ohio

– Weather conditions at Mid-Ohio have improved considerably since this morning, and certainly since last night. Weather forecasts are now for 83 degrees with mostly sunny skies at race time.

– The pit road is one of many areas that need to be modernized at Mid-Ohio. It’s not that the pit road is too narrow – certainly it is wider than, say, Indy. The problem is that each pit stall is very short, and very tight turns are required to turn into the pits. “It’s tight… very tight. If every pits under a yellow, it will be a mess!" said Graham Rahal while walking back to his hauler from morning practice.

– Scott Dixon lead morning practice, followed by Graham Rahal, Will Power and… story of the weekend… Simon Pagenaud. Simon is filling in for injured Justin Wilson, and is still wearing borrowed equipment from a variety of places. Everyone was on black tires for the practice. Pagenaud is fast in an Indy car, and if his fill-in for Ana Beatriz in Alabama is any indication, he will be a factor today.

– Justin Wilson was hospitalized overnight with a broken thoracic vertebrae, and will be transported this morning to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. His car became airborne after Wilson went off in turn 1 and hit a turnoff road. If you recall the Joey Hand crash at Mid Ohio a few years ago in his BMW, this is roughly the same kind of thing, only not a rollover.

– Pippa Mann is still working on a deal for next year. She has three more races scheduled for this year.

– If you like sedan road racing as a contact sport, be sure to check out the SCCA’s World Championship series (WCC). Very similar to the Continental Tire series that runs with Grand-AM, they are street cars modified for racing. The major difference between Continental Tire and WCC is that WCC races are roughly 50 minutes long, where the Continental guys race for 3 hours. Tim Wohlford reporting from Mid-Ohio