Notes from Indy – 4
– Everything here, including the press cafeteria, is closing down. The rain, high winds and low temps took today's qualification and practice sessions. Strangely, the sun is now starting to come out…
– Team Rahal has taken both of their wrecked cars — one each for Ryan Hunter-Reay and Alex Lloyd — back to Columbus for repair. Look for Alex — and presumably Ryan — to be back on the track on Wednesday. To make matters worse, a car carrying team members hit a deer on their way back to Columbus, meaning that the team has wrecked 3 passenger cars this season.
– Sarah Fisher has stopped talking with her sponsor, speaking now only through attorneys. ResQ Pure Power Energy Drink http://www.resq.net/ was scheduled (and announced) to be their sponsor for the Indy 500, but the check that was supposedly in the mail never arrived. She is now funding the team based on her personal savings account, so making the race has become a matter of financial life and death. She was 16th fastest in Saturday's practice session.
– Dale Coyne Racing's chief mechanic Charles Buckman was NOT released from Methodist Hospital, as was previously reported. He was involved in a pit road accident on Friday when he was struck by Danica Patrick's car. He is being kept for further evaluation.
– It's not often you see an Indy car blush, but pole winner Scott Dixon was obviously squirming with the praise that Dan Wheldon gave him during the front row interview. Scott had previously credited Wheldon for teaching him a new driving style that turned his career around, and the gregarious Wheldon returned the favor: "When you get to know him, he's bloody funny… He's definitely come out of his shell since I've been in the team, that's for sure. I think a lot of that's his wife, too, Emma, because he's in a good place right now."
– A New Zealander, a Brit and an Aussie in the front row, driving Italian cars with engines built by a Brit company that are branded with the name of Japanese company. The second row has two Brazilians, and the third row has one Brazilian and one Japanese drivers. Only 3 of the top 11 qualifiers are American-born, and 9 of the top 11 are from former CART teams.
– CCWS fans can expect the "transition" drivers to qualify next weekend. Graham Rahal, Ryan Hunter-Reay (okay, not officially a transition driver, but close enough), Oriol Servia, Will Power, Mario Morales, Justin Wilson, and Townsend Bell would've held positions 12-18 under the old format. Buddy Rice, Sarah Fisher, AJ Foyt IV and Darren Manning should also be fast enough to qualify.
– Conventional Wisdom in the garage area has Milka missing the race this year, as her speed on Saturday was 29th fastest. Probably 36-38 cars that will attempt qualification this year, depending on the number of last-minute entries by bigger teams that are already in the show. Thirty-seven have passed tech inspection already in the month, and a total of 40 are entered. Tim Wohlford reporting form Indy
05/11/08 Weather stories continue to dominate the Indy story today. While the weather was nearly perfect for Pole Day yesterday, the weather forecasts are for rain all day today. Currently — you guessed it — it's raining at Indy, and the radar doesn't look good. If qualifying rains out today, the drivers who did not qualify on Day 1 (only the top-11 are locked in) will have to wait until next weekend to qualify, meaning they will be focusing on qualifying speed all week instead of race setups, putting them at a real disadvantage on race day. Tim Wohlford reporting form Indy