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photo: Bret Kelley

The weather could not have been better for Carb day.  The sun was shining.  Light clouds rolled in here and there but most important of all, NO RAIN!  If you remember last year, Carb day was a wash.  The IndyCar Series were on the track for about 15 minutes before the rain came ending practice, canceling the pit stop competition, and postponing the Firestone Indy Lights race to Saturday.  This was not the case this year.

The Firestone Freedom 100 proved to be an eventful one.  Martin Plowman of Panther Racing lost control of his car in turn one causing team mate Pippa Mann to head up into the wall.  Their appeared to be no damage to her car other than the the two right side tires being flat.  She limped the car to the pits and the crew found other probems with the car.  This was definitely an upset for Panther Racing and Mann’s and Plowman’s first Firestone Freedom 100. 

Ana Beatriz went into the wall hard missing the safer barrier on lap 16.  She sustained minor injuries and was later released.

Wade Cunningham went on to win the race after passing JR Hildebrand with a lap and a half left.  Wade Cunningham did start from pole position and despite the many lead changes stayed up front.  

The whole race was to and fro. I got to the front early and knew I couldn’t lead all 40 laps, so I fell back because I didn’t want to be leading at the end. I knew I had a fast car, and it was a matter of being at the right place at the right time.  The last lap I was yelling at my car to keep going like a jockey on his horse

JR Hildebrand’s P2 finish placed him first in the points standings.  Andretti Green has shown that they have a good oval and road/street course setup this year.

It was great that we were able to have the pit stop competition this year.  Helio Castroneves and Team Penske won this year showing that they are having and excellent month of May.  I believe he was also the fastest at the final practice.  If they win the race, they will be the first since Buddy Rice driving for Rahal Letterman Racing in 2004 to get the pole win the pit stop competition and the race.  A task that does not happen often.

But wait… It gets better for Helio.  News reports also stated that the IRS has dropped the last charge pending against him. 

Coverage of the 93rd running of the Indianapolis 500 begins tomorrow at noon on ABC.

photo: Chris Jones

Today was a beautiful day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  I hope that this weather stretches on into race day Sunday.  I had the pleasure of meeting a few IRLblog.com readers as well as Jeff from MyNameIsIRL.  Jeff is a great individual and if you don’t already read his site you should head over there and check it out.

Today was a day dedicated to the Firestone Indy Lights.  They were given a morning practice session and then went out on the track one by one for their qualifying session at 3 p.m.  22 drivers took to the track to qualify for the Firestone Freedom 100.

You know what they say, records were meant to be broken.  Sebastian Saavedra broke the track qualifying record with a two lap average speed of 190.023.  His record holding run proved to be short lived when Wade Cunningham of Sam Schmidt Motorsports qualified with an average two lap speed of 190.177 mph. Cunningham stated:

(The pole) is a byproduct of the track conditions and the new engine package.  I’ll take the track record, but the pole is what I’m interested in.”

Wade Cunningham was the Firestone Indy Lights champion in 2005 and won the Firestone Freedom 100 in 2006 where he won from pole.  He is going to be a tough one to get by tomorrow.  He needs to hold off 21 other drivers for 40 laps.  With a field of drivers that we have this season that will be no easy task.

Junior Strous who won both races on the Streets of St. Petersburg will be starting 14th (186.942 mph). 

The Firestone Freedom 100 is tomorrow with Versus network broadcasting live at 11 a.m. followed by the pit stop challenge

Ok, so everyone is on twitter.  Twitter is free service that allows you to let everyone know through tweets what you are doing, thinking, or how you are feeling.  Twitter is a recent phenomenon that is now used by news companies, athletes, sports teams, and even fortune 500 companies to give a live update of what is happening. 

Twitter can be used by anyone.  I even have a Twitter account to let my readers in the blogosphere know what’s going on when I am at various racing venues as well as when I update IRLblog.com.

Danica Patrick recently joined the Twitter world.  What makes this so different than anyone else that has joined is that Danica is one  of the first , if not the first athlete to join Twitter and have sponsor backing in doing so.  Tissot (watches) has signed as her sponsor.  

Tissot watches views social media as a new way of advertising in a less-invasive way.  They want to connect with social media using one of their company’s faces.  Tissot along with Danica are entering into this new venture cautiously knowing that they are treading through new territory as far as sponsorship on Twitter.  Prior to her first tweet on May 17, she already had roughly 2700 followers.

Social media is proving to be the wave of the future.  I expect to see more companies backing atheletes in the social media world.  After all, services like Twitter are free to use and for anyone that is following, it can be used as a form of direct advertising.

You can follow Danica on twitter by going to http://twitter.com/danicapatrick

As many people know, this year marks the first year of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Centennial era. Back in 1909 plans were laid down to build what would later become the world’s greatest race course as well as home to the Indy 500, the world’s greatest spectacle in racing.  The early work on the first track surface laid down consisted of 3.2 million paving bricks laid down in just about 2 months time. The first 500 mile automobile race, then called the “International Sweepstakes” was held on May 30, 1911, and started what will be 100 years of tradition in 2011.

What most don’t know was that the first race ever held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was a gas balloon race.  To commemorate this, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is holding a 3 day Centennial era balloon festival that is presented by AT&T Real Yellow Pages.  This will jump start the month of May and be the first of many activities to come before this year’s 93rd running of the Indy 500.  The festival will consist of 33 balloons that will pay honor to the 33 starters of the annual Indianapolis 500 mile race. Scott McClinton, event ballonmeister said,

Just as the Indy 500 showcases the best in motor racing, we have selected a strong lineup of colorful balloons and professional and personable pilots for the Centennial era Balloon Festival.  The pilots are ready to put on a show, both at the evening glows and morning races from the IMS infield, that the public will soon not forget.”

Energizer is also celebrating the Energizer bunny’s 20th anniversary this year.  To commemorate this, Energizer has entered it’s Energizer Bunny “Hot Hare” Balloon, which is the tallest ballon in the world standing at a staggering 166 feet tall.  This ballon is taller than the Statue of Liberty by 15 feet. 

The public is invited to come to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway infield and attend the Friday and Saturday night balloon “glows” as well as the launch of the 100 years race on Sunday morning.  Admission is free and parking is in the IMS infield.  You can visit the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s site here for more info, a schedule, and list of the Centennial Era Ballon festival activities that are presented by AT&T Real yellow Pages.