photo by Bob Jennings

After a relentless, cold winter, the grass is finally green and trees and bushes are in full bloom around Indianapolis. In fact, beginning with warm temperatures the final week of March, the landscape began the spring time transition and now, more than four weeks later, it's lush and colorful in central Indiana when the sun shines. The official opening of practice for the 87th "Indianapolis 500" is today at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It's hard to believe it's May and it's "500" time again. 

I've seen the yellow Corvette "500 Festival" courtesy cars driving around town. Commercial bill boards advertising Miller Lite beer and featuring Kenny Brack, Bobby Rahal and Dave Letterman, can be seen at various places around the "Indy" area. Seats have been re-installed in the huge grandstands at the south end of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which were repaired over the winter months. I was at the Speedway on April 25 and there was a flurry of activity as May approached, with hospitality tents being built on every available space. 

The more popular of the numerous topless clubs in our city are hiring extra dancers to accommodate the usual expected visitors next month. Take it off and they will come. The 27th annual "500 Festival" mini-marathon was run through the streets of Indianapolis yesterday with more than 25,000 runners and walkers taking part.

The first big story of May 2003 occurred in April at the Speedway. That was Mario Andretti's  spectacular crash on Wednesday April 23, while testing Tony Kanaan's 7-Eleven Dallara - Honda for son Michael. Can you believe that crash? Although violent and dangerous, Mario's wild ride started people talking about the "Indianapolis 500" and as frightening as the accident was, Papa Andretti emerged unhurt while the people in the IMS marketing department had to be excited about the publicity, being grateful at the same time the former "500" winner was okay.

I have never been a big Mario Andretti fan. Certainly Mario was one of the greatest competitors ever but he whined more than anyone and lost a lot of races to poor judgment. Andretti's hostility regarding the Indy Racing League has been a big negative to me since the series started competition in 1996. So intense is Mario in his opinions about the IRL, the relationship with his son over the younger Andretti's decision to leave CART has been strained. Mario refused to attend any of the three opening races on the IRL schedule.

I have to hand it to the old guy however. Andretti is 63 years old and he was turning laps at 226 mph at the Speedway before his crash. Although he didn't come out and say it, I honestly think Mario was contemplating a return to the "Indianapolis 500" before he wrecked. 

Still, the violence of the crash and the fact Mario Andretti came out with only a few scratches and that he is the oldest driver to ever test an Indy car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and can still run fast, had to be exhilarating for the tough old racer. Perhaps even better for Andretti was all the attention he received, standing once again on top of the racing world. 

As I told my co-workers, Andretti's exploits make it obvious the guy still carries "big ones" at age 63 and even though I don't appreciate Mario as much as many others, I admit he's a real man - to say the least. 

It's been a good time recently for Mario. Andretti was successful in his attempts to have the annual CART race at Road America restored to the schedule. The CART announcement was made the same day as Mario's spectacular crash. Obviously having the four mile, 15 turn circuit back in the series is a positive development for CART too, as was Paul Tracy's selection as the first quarter winner in the Driver of the Year award balloting conducted by Speed Channel, which televises CART events. However my question is how valid is this balloting given the connection with CART?  

Prior to Andretti's successful arbitration, which admittedly was very impressive, there was speculation the beautiful Elkhart Lake circuit would be on the Indy Racing League schedule for 2004. That doesn't appear to likely now, since CART and Road America announced a race next year too. So, it was a good thing in a season marked so far by small TV viewer numbers for its races, reports of huge financial loss for Championship Auto Racing Teams and rumors of a takeover by Bernie Ecclestone.      

Meanwhile, the first three races of the eighth season of Indy Racing League competition have been run and the 2003 IRL season is in the early stages of developing the personality of the current campaign.   

The initial thing that comes to mind about the opening IRL races is the way Toyota and Honda both hit the ground running in their introduction to IRL competition. The two Japanese auto makers have unleashed powerful forces which leave General Motors helpless in terms of the relative performance of the new IRL spec Chevrolet V8 power plant. In fact Chevrolet has been so overwhelmed in the season's first three events, the best finishes by Chevy powered cars were a pair of sixth place finishes by Jaques Lazier (Phoenix) and Sam Hornish (Japan) respectively.

I heard figures that range from a twenty to forty horsepower deficit from the Chevy to the two Japanese engines. Unbelievably two time series champion Hornish has yet to lead a competitive lap in a total of 428 laps completed so far this season. 

In case you're a NASCAR, Formula One or CART fan and haven't noticed, all seven Chevy powered cars in the most recent IRL race at Twin Ring Motegi were entered by "traditional" Indy Racing League teams; Panther, Dreyer & Reinbold, Menard, Cheever, Hemelgarn and PDM. With the exception of the Kelley team and A.J. Foyt's cars, the other Toyota powered entries are fielded by former CART competitors, Roger Penske, Chip Ganassi and Mo Nunn. Honda has added longtime IRL competitors Greg Ray and Greg Beck to their roster along with the new team fielded by Adrian Fernandez and former F1 racer Aguri Suzuki. But the headliners for Honda are the newly organized Andretti Green Racing cars and Bobby Rahal's Pioneer/Miller Lite Dallara driven by Kenny Brack. 

There were rumors going around after the race at Twin Ring Motegi that Sam Hornish was asking the Pennzoil Panther team to switch to Japanese power for the "Indianapolis 500." That rumor has been denied. It would seem unlikely the yellow Pennzoil car would switch engines since Gary Pedigo, who puts up most of the money for the Panther operation, is a local Chevrolet dealer in Indianapolis. 

It's obvious Chevy is in a rut at the moment and it's causing big problems for the "bowtie brigade." 1998 "Indianapolis 500" winner Eddie Cheever announced several weeks ago he wasn't planning to run at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this May. I wonder how much of Cheever's decision is due to racing team and business obligations, how much is due to a lack of competitive desire shown during 2002 and how much is due to the fact Cheever realizes he stands little chance of winning with Chevrolet.

John Menard and Eddie Cheever have joined forces in an alliance that has the appearance of Eddie running the show and the Wisconsin hardware billionaire paying the bills in an unofficial merging of their two Indy car teams. 

The Menard and Cheever cars are painted in a similar shade of bright blue, with each carrying the famous Menard insignia yellow, orange and red stripe at the top of the tub. Team Cheever retains its Red Bull sponsorship while the Menard cars carry Johns Manville signage on the side pods. But longtime Menard crew member Butch Meyer, who built the Menard engines and was promoted to general manager, left the team. Like Red Bull Team Cheever, the Menard team will get its Chevy engines from Tom Walkinshaw. At the same time, Owen Snyder, who as much as anyone, provided Cheever with the "500" winning car in 1998, left Eddie's organization and was replaced as the "head man" by former Trans Am racer Max Jones.

The new environment has left Cheever's protégé Buddy Rice, the "new sensation" of the second half of the 2002 IRL season, with finishes of sixteenth, ninth and thirteenth in the IRL races in Miami, Phoenix and Japan. 

Among the Chevy set, perhaps the driver I have been most impressed with this spring has been Jaques Lazier. The younger Lazier brother has yet to lead a lap in IRL competition in 2003. But my impression has been that Jaques has given it everything he has to make his Menard Dallara - Chevrolet competitive. For his efforts, Lazier crashed at Miami and Twin Ring Motegi and had that Chevy season high sixth place finish in Phoenix.

Older brother and 1996 "Indianapolis 500" winner Buddy Lazier was in danger at one point, of needing a ride this year. At the start of the season when Buddy failed to compete at Homestead Miami Speedway, that looked like a bad deal. 

Buddy Lazier's results have been lackluster in his two starts this season at Phoenix and Japan, with nineteenth and eleventh place finishes respectively. Who would've imagined that Buddy Lazier, the first driver to win eight career IRL victories, would slip so far in Indy Racing League competition? I honestly do not believe however that Lazier has lost an ounce of driving talent. More likely, the reason is due to the relative competitiveness of the Hemelgarn team in this new era for Tony George's series. 

This is a new IRL, unlike any we've observed in seven previous seasons. It's obvious the current personality of the Indy Racing League is very reminiscent of the way things were at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the early 1990s, in terms of competitive makeup. 

In other words the current version of the IRL looks a lot like CART before that series became the intermediate step in the trip from European Formula 3000 to Formula One. In other words Tony George's Indy car series has become a battle ground once again for Roger Penske, Chip Ganassi, Mo Nunn and now Michael Andretti and Bobby Rahal, at the expense of traditional series competitors like Ron Hemelgarn, John Menard, Eddie Cheever and perhaps even the two time series champion Pennzoil Panther team.

Is that bad? Well not necessarily, if you think about what the Indy car split was actually about. The primary battle between the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Championship Auto Racing Teams was about who would control Indy car racing. Although CART struggles to exist and retains a number of its loyal fans, the important things happening in open wheel racing in the U.S. today are occurring in the Indy Racing League. That means the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has more or less won the power struggle.

At the same time, now that Tony George has managed to bring the sport's major players back into the fold, those same major players are back on top of the competition. While I watched the three IRL races held so far this year, I kept thinking (especially at the season opener at Homestead) that I was looking at a CART race (circa 1999) rather than what I had come to expect from my favorite series during its first seven years of competition.

Did I like what I saw? It was pretty good but it lacks the refreshing innocence of the old Indy Racing League. Things are complicated like they were in CART and the competition is less equal than before. With Toyota and Honda coming to race, there are engine lease programs in the IRL and the level of technology has risen dramatically along with the expense of racing.

With the economy on such shaky ground, its difficult for even the richest teams to find money to compete, let alone the smaller outfits which gave the "old" IRL so much personality. There has even been speculation there may not be 33 cars lining up on May 25th at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Although 67 cars have been entered, the most recent car driver count I saw was 34. 

Actually I'm not that worried there will be 33 cars in this year's "500." I even expect to see three or four cars bumped from the starting lineup during qualifications. Some new money will probably appear once on track activity gets underway tomorrow and spare cars will be fitted for drivers not currently assigned rides at the moment as happens every May in Indianapolis.

There will be a lot of unemployed drivers walking around looking for a job at the Speedway however. Alex Barron, Jeff Ward, Airton Dare and Richie Hearn come to mind right off the top of my head but there are a bunch of other familiar names that come up when I think more about it, like Stephan Gregoire, Eliseo Salazar, Rick Treadway, Max Papis, Jimmy Kite, Robby Unser, Raul Boesel and  Roberto Guerrero. The list goes on and on.  

However the economy has also made its impression on ticket sales for the "Indianapolis 500." For the first time since the early 1980s, the "500" has not sold out going into May. Did you notice the commercial, during the ABC telecast of the race in Japan, advertising available tickets for the 87th running of the race? That was a shocker and brings back the reality that people are hurting for money now.

With the Indy Racing League coming off the 2002 season and into 2003 with so much momentum, so much boost from the arrival of Toyota and Honda and more of CART's leading teams joining the series on a full time basis, it's a stroke of bad luck that all the positives are being offset by economic gloom. Unfortunately, most of us in this country are suffering from the same misfortune.

The crowds for the races at Homestead and Phoenix were disappointing. Perhaps there were more people at both races than in 2002, but not nearly as many as I had hoped for. I think the crowd estimate at Miami-Homestead Speedway was in the 25,000 - 30,000 range. At Phoenix International Raceway, I believe the figure I read most often was around 20,000 people. 

From the TV coverage of the race at Twin Ring Motegi, it appeared there was a nice crowd assembled for the first Indy Racing League event outside the United States. Curt Cavin gave this observation about the crowd for the IRL race at Twin Ring Motegi on The Indianapolis Star racing website: 

"This clarification might help you: Motegi announced 71,000 for the IRL race, but the facility only has 60,000 seats and it wasn't near full. I estimated 40,000. Bottom line: Several of the team owners and manufacturer people told me the crowd was almost identical in size to recent CART races. I wouldn't read too much into the size of the crowd at Motegi; I am convinced the Japanese don't give a hoot for the politics in American motorsports. They supported the IRL race, the four Japanese drivers and clapped politely when Scott Sharp won. They also bought thousands of dollars worth of hats, shirts, programs, etc., and it was one of the most enjoyable race weekends any series could ask for. I remarked that Homestead, Pikes Peak, Fontana and even Indy could learn from how efficient and supported the Motegi race was." 

A bigger issue for me than whether there will be 33 cars racing in the 87th "Indianapolis 500" is if there will be a full house at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 25th. My feeling is the usual "500" crowd will show up on race day but it's not beyond expectation there will be visibly empty seats. That bothers me more than anything else. Hopefully the poor practice and qualification crowds of recent years at the Speedway in May will increase this time. I expect the local weather conditions will have a lot to do with the number of people who come to the track in the days leading up to the race.   

By the way, it's apparent that having the CART elite back at the Speedway in May hasn't done a damn thing to bring more people to the track. With the exception of the Forsythe Player and Newman Haas teams, and drivers Paul Tracy and Bruno Junqueira, there is nobody who is anybody in the world of high speed American open wheel competition (excluding Tony Stewart of course), who will be missing at "16th and Georgetown" this May. 

There's no doubt that NASCAR has a large audience in the Indianapolis area. I dropped by a local tavern after work on April 25. Qualifications for the Winston Cup race at California Speedway were shown on large screen TVs around the bar room and people were paying attention. There was a man  probably in his sixties, wearing a red Dale Earnhardt Jr. Budweiser cap on his head and a full beard on his face. This fellow was sitting with his wife, drinking (you guessed it) Budweiser and smoking cigarettes while he discussed NASCAR with another couple sitting at the bar. Maybe the old guy wearing the Dale Jr. cap might've been an "Indianapolis 500" fan back in the days of A.J. Foyt. 

I was playing in a Winston Cup pool each weekend at another local pub. I didn't do worth a damn and quit. I don't know whether there have been pools for Indy car races, other than the "500," at local bars but my guess is there were a lot more people thinking "Indy" this time of the year in earlier times than today.

Still, there is usually a crowd of people hanging out at the Hall of Fame Museum, when I go to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and I assume the majority of the folks are coming for the "Indianapolis 500." There's still magic in the air for the "500" in Indianapolis and there likely always will be. The magic is still there but sadly the enthusiasm isn't what it used to be.

Watching NASCAR races in Indianapolis has become something like a basketball or football preoccupation, just one of the things people do each weekend. The "Indianapolis 500" is something that happens one month a year. The local buzz will depend on how much excitement the racers at the Speedway generate and how much local fans identify with the drivers making that excitement. 

Interest in the Indy Racing League events usually picks up after the "Indianapolis 500." I hope that continues when the series races at Texas Motor Speedway in early June. Last season, 83,000 attended the June IRL race and 86,000 came for the season finale in September. Any sizable reduction in attendance for the IRL races in Texas will be disheartening. But again we are in the worst economic period I have seen in my 56 years.

I don't recall the exact figures now and don't know how to find them, but the TV ratings for the races at Miami and Phoenix were pretty good, somewhere around 1.8. In contrast, the ratings for the CART events on Speed Channel have been around .2, which translates into about 200,000 homes across the U.S. watching the races. I never saw a ratings figure for the race in Japan, but I imagine the numbers were lower since the race was televised nearly twelve hours after the race. 

Having covered the ancillary issues surrounding the events leading to the 87th "Indianapolis 500," it's correct to actually look at what has happened so far on the race track in the Indy Racing League.

Tony Kanaan won the initial contest of 2003 for Andretti Green Racing, Honda, Dallara and sponsor 7-Eleven when the Brazilian qualified at 203.560 mph to win the pole for the "Toyota Indy 300" at the 1.5 mile Miami-Homestead Speedway on March 1. Kanaan shared the front row with his car owner and 7-Eleven teammate Michael Andretti, who qualified at 203.014 mph.

As I wrote just before the IRL race at Miami-Homestead Speedway, the biggest surprise so far in 2003 to me has been the immediate performance of the Honda V8 engine, created in a cooperation with Ilmor Engineering in little more than nine months. I honestly expected the new Honda power plant to lag behind Toyota and Chevrolet during the earlier races. Obviously that hasn't happened. 

The next day at the end of the race however, the Chip Ganassi team, Toyota and G Force were celebrating in the winner's circle with young Scott Dixon. The 22 year New Zealander was driving in his first Indy Racing League event after coming over from CART with the Ganassi Target team. 

After starting in twelfth grid position, Dixon made a steady, consistent run for most of the race. Scott was tenth after the first lap. On lap 25, the number 9 Target Panoz G Force moved to ninth position. Dixon was seventh after 50 laps. The winner of the 2001 CART race at Nazareth ran sixth on lap 75. At the 100 lap halfway point in the race, Scott was in fifth place. After 125 laps, the New Zealand driver ran in third place behind the two Marlboro Team Penske Dallara - Toyotas, driven by Gil de Ferran and Helio Castroneves.   

Robbie Buhl brought out the yellow flag at Miami-Homestead Speedway on lap 145 when car 24, the Purex/Aventis/Dreyer & Reinbold Dallara - Chevy, hit the outer retaining wall in turn two. Three laps later, most of the leaders came to the pits. The Target Ganassi crew got car 9 out first and Scott Dixon moved into the lead for the first time on lap 148.

When the green flag waved on lap 156, Dixon led the field into turn one with de Ferran giving chase. During the remaining laps, the young New Zealand driver held off the two time CART champion by as much as two seconds. In the final laps however the Penske driver was able to get closer. At the finish, Dixon beat the Brazilian by .5752 seconds.  

At the start of the race at Homestead, the "boss man" Andretti got the jump and led the first lap. Michael stayed in front until he was passed by teammate Kanaan on lap fourteen. Tony kept the white and green 7-Eleven car in the lead until lap 46. But when de Ferran pulled alongside Kanaan on lap 47, Gil was able to position Tony behind Jaques Lazier, who was about to be lapped, and grab the lead.

The Marlboro Team Penske number 6 Dallara - Toyota remained in front until de Ferran pitted on lap 58. Kanaan inherited the lead when the Penske car stopped and Tony remained in front for the next three laps, until he pitted on lap 61. When the 7-Eleven car made its stop, Kenny Brack put the Rahal - Letterman Pioneer/Miller Lite Dallara - Honda in front for one lap until the 1999 "Indianapolis 500" winner came in on lap 63.

de Ferran resumed his lead on lap 62 after the sequence of green flag pit stops. When Kanaan stalled during a pit stop and fell off the pace of the leaders, Castroneves came up to challenge his Penske teammate. When they both pitted on lap 91, Helio beat Gil out of the pits. However on a green flag restart, de Ferran went past Castroneves to resume his lead five laps later.    

Dixon passed Castroneves on lap 143 to take second and five laps later Scott took the lead when the Target car beat de Ferran out of the pits and remained in front for the remainder of the race. Following Dixon and de Ferran to the checkered flag were Castroneves, Kanaan, Scott Sharp's Delphi Dallara - Toyota, Andretti, Dario Franchitti's Alpine/Archipelago/Motorola Dallara - Honda, Tomas Scheckter, Felipe Giaffone's Hollywood Mo Nunn G Force - Toyota and Sam Hornish Jr.  

Of my two "guys" on the race track, Tomas Scheckter and Al Unser Jr., the South African had the better performance. Scheckter got as high as third place (lap 75) before falling back to eighth at the finish. Obviously Tomas was out run by his winning Ganassi Target mate Dixon.  

Little Al had a lousy race. The Corteco Dallara - Toyota ran eleventh for most of the event, with a tenth place at 100 laps the highest Unser rose in the standings. During the final 50 laps, Al faded and dropped back to thirteenth where he finished. I wasn't very happy  with Junior's run and like Scheckter and Dixon with Target Chip Ganassi Racing, Kelley racing teammate Sharp was the only bright spot of the "old time" Indy Racing League representatives and outpaced Unser Jr. markedly in Miami.

In the competition between Toyota and Honda, the former came away with overwhelming honors, capturing first, second, third, fifth, eighth and ninth places. Kanaan had the top result for Honda with a fourth while two time IRL champion Sam Hornish had the highest finishing Chevy, coming home tenth.

Another interesting footnote from the season opener at Miami-Homestead is that all but three cars were running at the end of the race. Each of those three cars, driven by Robbie Buhl, Jaques Lazier and Scott Mayer, were eliminated by accidents rather than mechanical attrition. 

While the Miami-Homestead race had more the feeling of a CART race than an Indy Racing League event, the "Purex Dial Indy 200" at Phoenix International Raceway on March 23, had more of the usual IRL flavor, even though CART veteran Tony Kanaan took his second consecutive IRL pole position, won the race and led the most (79 of 200) laps.  

The Phoenix front row of the starting grid was all Brazilian but from a technical aspect, the make up was as diverse as possible. Kanaan (178.512 mph) was joined on row one by Felipe Giaffone (177.766). So the engineers from Honda were probably glaring at their Toyota counterparts when the front row photos of Tony's 7-Eleven Dallara and Felipe's Hollywood Mo Nunn G Force were taken. 

I was covered by a curtain of sadness while I watched the Phoenix race on TV. It had only been ten days since John Dailey's death. Visions of John kept coming to me while I watched the Phoenix race. My only trip to Phoenix came in April 1993, when I flew from Chicago to visit John and see Nigel Mansell make his oval racing debut. Had John still been alive, he would've been at Phoenix International Raceway with his friends on March 23, 2003, Jerry Renn, Roman Comer and the guys.

After Scott Dixon was victorious at Miami-Homestead Speedway, the New Zealand driver expressed surprise that he had been able to win in his Indy Racing League debut. Dixon's win wasn't a fluke however. When the green flag waved in Phoenix, Dixon's number 9 Target G Force - Toyota took off from third on the grid to lead the field into turn one.

Dixon moved out and led by varying distances (anywhere from one to two seconds) with Giaffone leading the chase from second place. When Sam Hornish and A.J. Foyt IV made contact between turns three and four on lap 32, most of the leaders came to the pits. 

Rookie Roger Yasukawa stayed on the track and assumed first place. After pitting, the leaders lined up behind Yasukawa's number 55 ARTA Dallara - Honda in the following order: Giaffone, Dixon, Helio Castroneves, Kanaan, Dario Franchitti, Tomas Scheckter, Michael Andretti, Gil de Ferran and Scott Sharp. 

When the green flag waved to restart the Phoenix race on lap 41, Giaffone passed Yasukawa for the lead as the cars raced to turn one. The next lap, spay became visible from the rear of Dixon's red and white Target number 9. The gearbox had failed in Scott's G Force - Toyota and he was out of the race.

The colorful number 21 Hollywood car with Giaffone at the wheel remained in front in the Phoenix race until he pitted on lap 91 under yellow for debris. Andretti pitted out of sequence and stayed on track, assuming first place when Felipe went to the pits. When the race restarted on lap 96, Michael stayed in front with Giaffone chasing the number 7-Eleven Dallara - Honda.

Andretti managed to hold on to the lead until Giaffone passed him in turn three. The yellow lights flashed again on lap 117 when Scott Sharp and Robbie Buhl made contact. On lap 120, Giaffone brought the first place car 21 into the pits and Kanaan moved to the front of the race for the first time.

The green flag flew again on lap 125 with Kanaan leading and Castroneves passing Giaffone for second on the outside, going through turn two. Sarah Fisher remained on track when some of the leaders pitted and moved into second place behind Kanaan. 

There were still fourteen cars on the leader's lap with 150 laps down. The order was Kanaan, Fisher, Castroneves, Giaffone, Scheckter, Gil de Ferran, Al Unser Jr., Franchitti, Andretti, Buddy Rice, Kenny Brack, Jaques Lazier, Scott Sharp and Buddy Lazier. However two laps later, Jaques Lazier had a 360 degree spin in turn two but didn't make contact with the wall. The yellow flag came out for the seventh time during the Phoenix race.

With the caution out, Sarah Fisher came in for tires and fuel on lap 154. It all went wrong for the crew on the Dreyer & Reinbold crew as car 23 had to be pulled back to the pits to re-attach a left front tire. When the green flag waved on lap 159 to restart the race, Kanaan led Castroneves, Giaffone, Scheckter, de Ferran, Unser, Franchitti, Andretti and Brack.  

Caution lights flashed again on lap 165 when spray appeared from Franchitti's white and blue number 27 Dallara - Honda. When the green came back out on lap 170, Scheckter tried to pass third place Giaffone on the outside and wheels touched on cars 21 and 10. Tomas came out the loser as his Target car hit the outside wall in turn two and the young South African climbed out of his car unhurt.  

Up to his old ways, Tomas Scheckter crashed again, as he did in six races during the 2002 Indy Racing League season. Scheckter crashed while leading the IRL race at Twin Ring Motegi on April 13 and he crashed another Target G Force - Toyota on April 23, while testing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I hope Chip Ganassi doesn't get pissed off with the South African's recklessness and exuberance. This kid is so fast but he needs to learn when to make a move and when to show patience. Had he played things with a bit more intelligence, Scheckter would've not only had the victory at Michigan International Speedway, Tomas would have also been the 86th "Indianapolis 500" winner and enjoyed winning two or three other IRL events.

Helio Castroneves is credited with leading lap 159, but from lap 160 to the checkered flag, Kanaan's 7-Eleven Dallara - Honda remained in first place at Phoenix International Raceway on March 23. 

On lap 187, there was a scary accident involving Gil de Ferran and Michael Andretti when their cars touched wheels in turn one. Andretti climbed out of his car unhurt but de Ferran suffered injuries that have kept him out of a race car until today at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. 

It was Gil's second incident of the race. He spun the number 6 Marlboro Team Penske - Dallara - Toyota on lap two, exiting the second corner, which caused Tora Takagi to spin behind de Ferran and make contact with the inside wall, heavily damaging the number 12 Pioneer Mo Nunn Racing G Force - Toyota. After a quick pit stop, Gil was able to continue and climb back into contention. de Ferran was battling Andretti for fifth place at the time of the crash.

After a green flag restart on lap 198, Kanaan crossed the finish line by .9328 seconds over Castroneves at the end of lap 200. The remaining top ten finishers in order were Giaffone, Al Unser Jr., Kenny Brack, Jaques Lazier, Scott Sharp, Sarah Fisher, Buddy Rice and Shigeaki Hattori.

Little Al had a nice race in Phoenix, that was more reminiscent of his racing in 2002 than his performance at Miami-Homestead Speedway to open the 2003 season. John Dailey would've been pleased. Unser started the race from 20th on the grid. The number 31 Corteco Dallara - Toyota moved up six positions at the start and was in fourteenth when the field completed the first lap. Al ran eleventh on lap 25. Car 31 ran ninth after 50 laps. On lap 75, Junior was up to eighth place. After 100 laps, Unser Jr. was in fourteenth but was up to seventh on lap 125. Little Al was still running seventh on lap 150. On lap 175, Junior had climbed to fourth. 

Over the final 25 laps of the Phoenix race, Unser was fighting hard for position and he held off Brack, Jaques Lazier and Kelley Racing teammate Scott Sharp to claim fourth. It was a pretty good show and the white, red and black number 31 Corteco Dallara was right there, mixing it up with those drivers and third place Giaffone as well.

Since the beginning of competition at Walt Disney World in January 1996, there have been eight different types of engine brands powering racing cars in the Indy Racing League. Beginning with that first season, when the IRL used the "old" turbo formula, the Ford Cosworth turbo V8 and the Buick "stock block" turbo V6 engines fielded by John Menard were in the rear of every car with the exception of Rick Galles' entry, driven to second place by Davy Jones in the 1996 "Indianapolis 500." The Galles car carried the CART style Ilmor Mercedes turbo V8 engine. During that 1996 season only Ford Cosworth powered cars were victorious.

In 1997, the IRL began its stock block formula which is still in force, although there's a lot less stock in the Indy engine of 2003 than there was in 1997. General Motors brought the four liter Oldsmobile Aurora V8 to race against the Infiniti Indy V8 fielded by Nissan. The Olds engine won every IRL event over the next few seasons. In fact, the first win by an Infiniti didn't come until June 2000 when Eddie Cheever won at Pikes Peak International Raceway. 

For the 2000 season, the IRL adopted a 3.5 liter rule and the engines became a bit more sophisticated than those used during the 1997, 1998 and 1999 seasons with less "stock" and more "specially built" for racing being designed into the unit. Oldsmobile and Nissan still provided the power for IRL teams. Cheever took a second win for the Infiniti engine at Kansas Speedway in July 2001. 

The Olds Aurora V8 carried a new badge for the 2002 season in the final year of the IRL technical package for the period 2000 - 2002. Since General Motors is phasing out production of its Oldsmobile brand, the 3.5 liter Indy V8 package was renamed the Chevy Indy V8. In the fifteen race 2002 Indy Racing League season, only Tomas Scheckter's win at Michigan in the Red Bull Cheever Dallara - Infiniti broke the string of Chevrolet victories.

Now, with new specs for IRL engines for the next three seasons and a lot more technology designed into the packages, two more automobile manufacturers have joined the series and each has earned a victory. Toyota and Honda join Ford Cosworth, Oldsmobile, Infiniti and Chevrolet as winning brands in Indy Racing League competition. 

The race at Twin Ring Motegi was televised on a twelve to thirteen hour delay in the United States. I made an attempt to follow the race on the Indy Racing website. After the 100 lap halfway point in the event, I became tired and went to bed. But the next morning I couldn't resist finding out who had won  and signed on to The Indianapolis Star racing website to read that Scott Sharp had won a crash filled contest. Knowing that, I still eagerly watched the race in Japan, when it was telecast on ABC to see how Sharp's win developed.

There were nine caution periods during the race in Japan and a number of the leading contenders were involved. Scott Mayer brought out the first yellow flag when he pushed into the wall coming out of the track's fourth turn, on lap nine, in the PDM Bank One Dallara - Chevrolet. There was a debris yellow on lap 18. The next caution was for Sarah Fisher, when she hit the outside wall in turn three on lap 35. 

Yellow came out on lap 44 when Roger Yasukawa spun in turn one and hit the wall. Unfortunately the rookie Yasukawa's spinning car trapped Helio Castroneves and the two time defending "Indianapolis 500" received some bumps and bruises and was taken to the care center.

A.J. Foyt IV was the next driver to deal with the Twin Ring Motegi barriers. On lap 105, young Anthony caught the wall coming off turn four. 

On lap 168, Alex Barron, substituting for injured Gil de Ferran, in a Marlboro Team Penske G Force - Toyota, brushed the outside wall coming off the fourth corner. Almost simultaneously, Tomas Scheckter, trying to defend the lead from Tony Kanaan, did a move similar to what happened on lap 173 of the 86th "Indianapolis 500" and slid into the wall in almost the same way Barron had done moments earlier.

On lap 178 Scott Dixon made a move inside Tony Kanaan for the lead in turn three. But the New Zealand driver didn't allow the Brazilian enough room and cars 9 and 11 "rubbed" tires sending both cars into the wall and Dixon and Kanaan to the hospital with broken bones.  

The final mishap of the day took place on lap 194 when Jaques Lazier and Shinji Nakano had contact in turn four. This forced the race to end under caution with steady running Scott Sharp cruising to a record tying eighth career Indy Racing League victory. 

The race was almost like a story of the last man standing. Tony Kanaan led a race high 70 laps. Tomas Scheckter chased down Kanaan with laps exceeding 201 mph and took the lead on lap 124. Thirty six laps later, the 7-Eleven Dallara - Honda came up to confront Scheckter's leading Target G Force - Toyota and Tomas pushed into the wall and out of the race.

Scott Dixon led a total of 40 laps and after Scheckter's crash, the other Target Ganassi driver put the move on Kanaan on 178 that took both drivers out. Sharp had been hanging around the front for most of the race and assumed first place after Kanaan and Dixon crashed.  

Kenny Brack finished second to Sharp, after running in front for fifteen laps. Kenny claims he could've caught Sharp were it not for the race's final yellow on lap 194. Perhaps. Perhaps not. Felipe Giaffone, who led eight laps during the race in Japan, finished third. Michael Andretti finished fourth, one position ahead of Al Unser Jr. Sam Hornish, rookie Dan Wheldon, who was substituting for injured Dario Franchitti, Tora Takagi, Greg Ray and Robbie Buhl.

The top ten drivers in current Indy Racing League standings are in order: Sharp (106 points), Kanaan (102), Giaffone (92), Brack (89), Castroneves (83), Unser (79), Andretti (77), Dixon (75), de Ferran (58) and Hornish (57). It's doubtful the IRL championship is foremost in the minds of any of those ten drivers however. With official activity for the 87th "Indianapolis 500" starting today, IRL drivers will be thinking about winning their sport's biggest, most time honored prize. 

Even during hard times, millions of us look to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May for our annual major dose of adrenaline. There's no NASCAR race in the world (or for that matter all of the Cup races put together) that brings on the thrill we get from "Indy." I just wish Tony Stewart still felt that way.

For me, the neatest thing that has happened so far in this young racing season occurred on Easter Sunday April 20. A few days earlier, Dario Franchitti went to Scotland to visit family and suffered injuries when he crashed a motorcycle that will keep him out of action for three months. That Franchitti was hurt isn't neat. I could've done a better job with that. 

I don't know who started the story, perhaps Robin Miller, but the rumors began circulating in the media that Tony Stewart would replace Franchitti in the Andretti Green Racing entry, number 27 Alpine/Archipelago/Motorola Dallara - Honda, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and attempt the Indianapolis - Charlotte "double header" on May 25 for the third time. I first found out about the proposed deal in The Indianapolis Star, when I arrived at work the following morning. 

Did the prospect of having Tony Stewart back in the "Indianapolis 500" get me going or what? All of the sudden, May took on more magic as I pondered the prospects of watching "the Rushville Rocket"  running in the "500" for Honda in that neat looking bright blue and white car 27.

But my excitement was for naught. When I left work later that day I heard the news that Stewart released a statement repeating his declaration made earlier this season that he wouldn't race in the "Indianapolis 500" in 2003.             

"It's flattering to know that my name still comes up this time of year as some teams want to have me in their car at Indy. But as I've said from the beginning of the season, I am not going to compete in the Indianapolis 500.

I want to win that race really bad, but there are a lot of guys that haven't won the Indy 500. I always had the feeling that if I never won that race it was going to be a void in my career. I don't feel that way anymore.

I'm pretty proud of what I've accomplished in 24 years of racing. If I get a chance to go back someday, and the circumstances are right, I will. But I think it's about priorities."

So said Tony Stewart in regard to the "Indianapolis 500" rumors. I wonder how much of Stewart's statement came from Joe Gibbs? Maybe next year.