IndyCar: Friday morning update from Mid Ohio (Update 1)
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| RC Enerson makes his IndyCar debut this weekend |
IndyCar practice has just ended. Scott Dixon was the fastest this morning, followed by Will Power and Juan Montoya. The only yellow flag was caused by Conor Daly having an off track incident. I asked him what happened to cause the mishap and Daly answered, "It felt like I hit a patch of oil. I had no grip. But the car is fine."
Scott Dixon, driving the number 9 entry for Chip Ganassi Racing is the winningest driver at Mid-Ohio with five victories (2007, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2014). The series champion had a birthday last week, turning 36 years old. After this disappointing finish in Toronto and the news this week about loosing his long time sponsor Target, the Kiwi needs a good finish here to keep in the championship race. Dixon also holds the track record here for qualifying from 2015.
RC Enerson is making his IndyCar debut this weekend driving the No. 19 Dale Coyne Racing Honda. The New Port Richey, FL native has won races here before in Indy Lights and USF2000 series. "This track is probably in a handful of my top favorites, one of my top 5 tracks," said the 19-year-old. "My goal this weekend is to learn as much as possible. I am still getting comfortable in the car and learning how to push it. The car has so much downforce and the tires have so much grip, it is pretty insane. It is always a big learning curve when you move up."
I commented on how tall Enerson is. "Yes, I need to shrink. It's difficult to fit in the car when you are almost 6'1"!"
Some teams have covered their tires in the pits, which means the rain is on the way. The darker clouds are moving in now.
I will update you more this afternoon..
Lucille Dust reporting from Mid-Ohio
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| AJ Foyt with Nickell (R) |
07/29/16 Good morning from Lexington, Ohio, home of Mid Ohio Sports Car Course. A layer of fog covered the area this morning, but the sun is out and has burned it off. Temperatures are expected to reach mid eighties today, but scattered thunderstorms are expected after 2 pm. So we might have a wet practice session later this afternoon.
A memorial service was held this morning for one of our family, Jenny Nickell.
Nickell who died last week at age 56 after falling ill over the weekend while working at the Honda Indy Toronto race, was the popular pit producer for NBCSN the past 10 years in a television career that spanned four decades.
A native of Middletown, Ohio, Nickell fell for racing and A.J. Foyt in the 1960s when her dad first took her to a race. She worked for ESPN and worked her way up to pit producer.
Bob Jenkins, the former IndyCar announcer in the broadcast booth has this to say about Nickell, "She studied the sport and she knew it, she wasn’t a Johnny-come-lately that had to do a lot of homework about a driver or a racetrack. She knew her stuff and she was also cool under all the pressure that job entails."
I also worked with Nickell, having worked with the TV production in the CART/Champ Car days. She was so knowledgeable about the sport, it amazed me the facts she knew and shared with the pit announcers. She will be missed by her racing family.
Nickell's job required her to work in the production truck, so you did not see her in pit lane. You would hear her if you listened to the producer's feed of the broadcast. I was happy when Jenny joined a group of us for dinner last year in June in during the Fontana race weekend. It gave us a chance to catch up on things without talking over race cars.
Many of her racing family were in attendance this morning, including her favorite, AJ Foyt. Our condolences to her family. She will be missed by her racing family.
The Indy Lights will be out for their first practice at 9:15 this morning. They will have two races this weekend, one Saturday and one Sunday before the IndyCar race.
The IndyCars will practice at 10 am today.
More updates to follow from Mid Ohio.
Lucille Dust reporting life from Lexington, Ohio.