IRLblog.com

photo: Dana Garrett

What a month it has been for 2 , make that 3 time winner Helio Castroneves.  This Sunday he joined an elite club of Indy 500 drivers such as Bobby Unser and Johnny Ruthorford that have won the greatest spectacle in racing 3 times. 

Helio’s off-season was a rough one as he was still dealing with his trial in Miami.  He missed the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and almost did not make the Grand Prix of Long Beach due to his trial and the jurors deliberating.  

Helio started off his season with a crash during the qualifying session at the Grand Prix of Long Beach.  He went on and started to build momentum for that race finishing in 8th position.  He then went on to Kansas and finished 2nd and carried that momentum into the month of May by getting the pole, winning the pit stop competition, and winning the race, a feat that has not been accomplished since Buddy Rice and Rahal Letterman Racing in 2004.   Helio became emotional as he was being brought to victory circle.  He could not thank the fans enough as he tried not to completely break down.

Danica Patrick drove a strong consistant race bringing her Andretti Green car home in P3.  Danica’s crew did a phenominal job getting her in and out of the pits quickly.  Just about everytime that she pit she came out at least one position ahead. She pushed really hard during the closing laps of the race but Wheldon was able to hold her off as Helio extended his lead to more than 2 seconds by the finish. Danica stated:

I was happy to put the Boost car up there in the front of the pack. At the end of the day, I could see the fans getting excited under that second to last yellow, so it was a good day.”

The day proved to be a rough one for Danica’s Andretti Green team mates Marco Andretti and Tony Kanaan.  Marco was involved in an on track incident in the short chute between turn one and two on the first lap of the race with Mario Moraes.  Moraes thinking it was Marco’s fault and wanted to confront him after leaving the infield care center.  Moraes was told it was his fault and upon reviewing the replay returned to his pit box where he appeared to become somewhat emotional.  I would’ve too.  It’s a long month of practicing and setting up to end on the first lap.  Marco later returned to to the track after his crew repaired his car.  He was able to turn in a few laps before the end of the race. 

Tony Kanaan has had nothing but bad luck at Indy.  During the race, something broke on the rear of Kanaan’s car nose diving him into the wall in the back stretch.  It was a very hard hit followed by another hard secondary hit in the turn 3 wall.  If you remember, last year he was involved in an on track incident with Sarah Fisher. 

Vitor Meira is going to be ok but will be out of the car for at least 4-6 months according to Curt Cavin of the Indianapolis Star.  Vitor got tangled up with Raphael Matos and went into the wall hard.  The car actually rode the wall on its side before coming to a stop.  Vitor also had a small fire in pit lane prior to this but was able to get right back on track after it was extinguished.  It is unclear at this time who will be in the #14 ABC Supply car.  My guess would be Foyt’s grandson AJ Foyt IV, or Will Power.  We still have a rather large list of drivers that are searching for a ride that had one last season.

Townsend Bell had a great drive as well for KV Racing.  Townsend worked his way up to finish  4th after starting 20th. He did have two race strategists working together on his strategy after Moraes was out.

This Sunday we are off to the Milwaukee Mile where Ryan Briscoe recorded his first IndyCar Series victory last year.  You can watch it Sunday at 3:30 p.m. on ABC.

photo: Steve Snoddy

Paul Tracy might have landed  a part time ride this year for the 93rd running of the Indianapolis 500 with KV Racing technology.  This team which is owned by ex Champ Car owner Kevin Kalkhoven and Jimmy Vasser could field Tracy in a few other races as well.  I would think that they would be the Edmonton and Toronto races.

The last time that Paul Tracy ran in Indy was at the 86th running of the Indy 500 in 2002 where he finished second behind Helio Castroneves after a  controversial call was made stating that Paul Tracy made the pass after the yellow flag had flew in turn 3 of lap 199.

Paul Tracy showed that he still has what it takes last year when he ran at the Rexall Edmonton Indy for Vision Racing with Subway sponsoring him.  He just missed the podium finishing in P4.  This was Vision Racing’s best finish up until this years Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg where Ryan Hunter-Reay finished in P2.

It would seem that the driver pool is not the only thing growing.  Mechanics, crew workers, and strategist alike are being let go at an alarmning rate.  Just a few days ago Rahal Letterman racing announced that they would be more than likely not be running an IndyCar program in 2009, but to not count them out of the month of May.  Just this Friday, KV Racing let go of roughly 18 employess from their Indianapolis based organization.  This was the crew for the second car. When jimmy Vasser was asked about the recent cut he stated

It was a very difficult thing to do because we have a good family atmosphere built up here but were past the date on our budget to carry the compliment of people for a two-car team. Those are just the facts.  Last year we had no engine lease so it’s $2 million more we’ve got to come up with and we’ve got less money.  I’ve never seen anything like this economy in my lifetime and it’s tough but we’re fighting and we’re doing everything we can.

KV Racing along with Paul Tracy have submitted a budget to Monster Energy Drink to run the complete 2009 season as well as just running the Indianapolis 500 and are still waiting on an answer.