St. Petersburg GP: Saturday Notebook
Hamilton will attempt to qualify for his 10th Indianapolis 500, and compete at Texas Motor Speedway and the IZOD INDYCAR World Championships at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in October. He partnered with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing for the 2009 Indianapolis 500.
"It's good to be back with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing," said Hamilton, who . "We had a great relationship in the past, and after a brief absence it's nice to be back with the team and to have HP with us as well. I have high hopes for the three races and I'm very excited about the possibilities."
HP also will serve as a season-long associate sponsor on the No. 22 entry with Justin Wilson.
"I'm also very excited about HP not only sponsoring me, but that they will be a sponsor on Justin's car for the season," Hamilton added. "I look forward to being teammates with Justin. We're hoping to be able to give each other a lot of information to further the team's growth and to get a victory."
Hamilton's has a best finish of fourth in the Indianapolis 500. Until 2001, he was a regular in the series, finishing second in the standings twice. The Idaho suffered multiple lower leg injuries in a crash at Texas Motor Speedway in 2001. After 23 operations and two years of rehabilitation, he returned to racing in 2007.
"We are excited to be partnering with HP and Davey Hamilton again on this program for three events, as well with Justin Wilson on the No. 22," team co-owner Dennis Reinbold said. "This is just another example of how Dreyer & Reinbold Racing continues to grow. Our off-season improvements with research and development and our investments commercially will hopefully help us achieve significant results all year."
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A.J. Foyt Racing Team Director Larry Foyt will be calling the shots this weekend for the ABC Supply team at the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg while his father A.J. Foyt recovers from a procedure to insert a stent in his main artery Friday. Doctors had discovered a more than 95 percent blockage in the artery after an angiogram was performed on Monday.
"It was touch and go according to Dr. Civitello," A.J. Foyt said last evening after the procedure. "They had a full surgical team on board with the surgeon [Dr. O.H. Frazier, an internationally renowned heart surgeon who trained under Dr. Denton Cooley] who did my wife Lucy's triple bypass, prepared to do a bypass if the stent didn't work. Their challenge was that they had to go through several stents first to get to the blockage and then get the artery opened enough to take the stent. I watched on the machine while they did it. After what seemed an awful long time, my doctor stepped back and said 'We got it A.J.' I can't tell you how happy and relieved I was. I think he was too."
Foyt, in his typical no-holds-barred style, spent the previous weekend working on his track hoe at his ranch in Del Rio much to his doctors' dismay. "Well, I had some things I wanted to get finished in case I was laid up for a while," Foyt explained.
Dr. Andrew Civitello, a leading interventional cardiologist, performed the procedure at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston, home of the Texas Heart Institute, a pioneer in innovative approaches to cardiovascular disease.
Foyt is expected to be released from the hospital later today with strict orders to "take it easy for the next three or four days." He will be watching as Vitor Meira and the No. 14 ABC Supply Dallara/Honda team compete in tomorrow's race.
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Telemundo Communications Group, a leading producer of content for Hispanics in the U.S. and audiences around the world, has developed a marketing collaboration with Newman/Haas Racing's No. 02 car entry with driver Oriol Servia.
Telemundo is a division of NBC Universal.
"Our clients are always asking us for new opportunities to reach the Hispanic consumer. Now Telemundo Station Group can offer a new and unique branding opportunity in a sport that has international appeal just like our soccer and boxing properties," said Jose Jimenez, account manager of Telemundo National Sales Office.
Servia, a native of Catalonia, Spain, has made 15 starts for NHR, which include his first Indy car win (Montreal 2005) and pole (Surfers Paradise, Australia 2005) as well as a total of seven top-three, 11 top-five and 13 top-10 finishes. In 2005, Servia replaced NHR driver Bruno Junqueira, who suffered a season-ending injury at the Indy 500 on May 29, and then went on to finish second to teammate Sebastien Bourdais in the Champ Car standings after 11 events with the team. Servia returned to NHR in 2009 for four IZOD IndyCar Series races with a season-best finish of fourth at Twin Ring Motegi.
"I am very happy to be back in the IZOD IndyCar Series with Newman/Haas Racing, which has always been my best recipe for success, and to represent Telemundo and their partners," Servia said. "We have been working really hard to put a program together with Telemundo and have had a genuine connection with them since the beginning.
"The U.S. Hispanic population is not only an important segment overall, but it is also an important fan base for our sport. The team and I are really eager for success and will do whatever it takes to get where we want to be which is the top of the podium."