| LIVE UPDATES Sunday, May 18 - BUMP DAY |
NOTES: Updates are listed with most recent post at the top. If you have any specific questions that I can
answer regarding activities at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, please e-mail them to me HERE and I'll do
my best to post a response below.
Sunday, May 18 PHOTOS - BUMP DAY
Starting Field for the 92nd Indianapolis 500 BEFORE Bump Day qualifying
FINAL Starting Grid For the 92nd Indianapolis 500
1. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 226.366
2. (10) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 226.110
3. (6) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 226.080
4. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 225.733
5. (7) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 225.197
6. (11) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 224.794
7. (26) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 224.417
8. (4T) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 224.346
9. (27) Hideki Mutoh, Dallara-Honda, 223.887
10. (20) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 223.835
11. (12) Tomas Scheckter, Dallara-Honda, 223.496
12. (99) Townsend Bell, Dallara-Honda, 222.539
13. (06) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 222.531
14. (14) Darren Manning, Dallara-Honda, 222.430
15. (18) Bruno Junqueira, Dallara-Honda, 222.330
16. (02) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 222.267
17. (15) Buddy Rice, Dallara-Honda, 222.101
18. (22) Davey Hamilton, Dallara-Honda, 222.017
19. (16) Alex Lloyd, Dallara-Honda, 221.788
20. (17T) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 221.579
21. (24) John Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 221.550
22. (67) Sarah Fisher, Dallara-Honda, 221.246
23. (8) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 221.136
24. (41) Jeff Simmons, Dallara-Honda, 221.103
25. (5) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Honda, 220.767
26. (33) EJ Viso, Dallara-Honda, 220.356
27. (23) Milka Duno, Dallara-Honda, 220.305
28. (19) Mario Moraes, Dallara-Honda, 219.716
29. (36) Enrique Bernoldi, Dallara-Honda, 219.422
30. (34) Jaime Camara, Dallara-Honda, 219.345
31. (2) A.J. Foyt IV, Dallara-Honda, 219.184
32. (91) Buddy Lazier, Dallara-Honda, 219.015
33. (25) Marty Roth, Dallara-Honda, 218.965
UPDATES:
5:00 pm
Jaques Lazier is now serving as a spotter for Mario Dominguez, who just made a qualification attempt but was not
fast enough to bump his way into the field.
3:45 pm
Was just in the garage and the Vision team was rolling a #2 backup machine from their transporter to their
garages - put it in Davey Hamilton's garage. The team can repair the damage to the primary #2, but they may
shake down the backup and give AJ some laps in race trim.
3:10 pm
AJ Foyt IV has been checked by the infield medical center and cleared to race. He has minor burns to the back of
his neck and some singed hair.
Phil Giebler has been released from Methodist Hospital, and has a cervical sprain. He has not been cleared to
race.
3:05 pm
A chronology of the rebuilding process of the #44 Rubicon Race Team/Lifelock Dallara/Honda/Firestone car
driven by Max Papis, which was damaged in a crash during practice Saturday:
Noon-4pm Saturday - Team received parts from several groups, including Dallara and Vision Racing;
Approximately 5pm Saturday - Changed engine;
5-10pm Saturday - Took several parts to Sam Schmidt Motorsports shop in Indianapolis for continued work;
1am today - Several team members left IMS for the night. Some team members continued to work through the
night;
10am today - Rebuilt car goes through IndyCar Series technical inspection;
10:30am today - Team continues to prepare car in Gasoline Alley;
1:14pm - Max Papis is back on track for the first time today.
Rubicon Racing crew chief Chris Griffis has not left the Indianapolis Motor Speedway since arriving at the track
Saturday morning.
2:50 pm
AJ Foyt IV, who qualified for the race earlier today, just crashed in turn 3 - not sure what happened, but it looked
like something flew off of his gearboxx or the back of his car before it started spinning and caught fire, then hitting
the wall. He got out of the car under his own power and will be transported to the infield care center for a
checkup. The car - his primary, qualified car - looks pretty bad. Talk about highs to lows here on Bump Day - AJ
has seen it all today. Will update soon...
Bumped Buddy Lazier is practicing at above 218 mph - not quite good enough yet.
Max Papis has not been able to go 215 mph yet - he needs plenty more practice this afternoon.
Scott Dixon tops the practice chart this afternoon at 221.514 mph.
2:15 pm
Max Papis' crew got his car repaired, safe and race-ready and he's back on track getting up to speed.
Team Penske has withdrawn car #77.
Today is Armed Forces Day here at the Speedway, and a lot of military personnel are on the grounds. There's
two military vehicles parked in the Pagoda Plaza. At 11:20 am, new enlistees were inducted into the Armed
Forces in a ceremony held in front of the bombardier Learjet Pagoda as part of Armed Forces Day activities. The
new enlistees were sworn in by Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana.
Bobby Rahal and Michael Andretti did a Q & A on the Coke Zero stage, then signed autographs for the fans.
1:30 pm
AJ Foyt IV successfully bumped his way into the field with a four-lap average of 219.184 - he was the first and
only qualifier as the track opened for qualifications at noon.
Marty Roth was bumped by Foyt, but practiced a bit after AJ qualified, and bumped his way back into the field with
an average of 218.965 at around 1:30 pm. Roger Yasukawa is now in danger of being the next to be bumped
with his average of 218.010 being the slowest in the field. Then Foyt will have to sweat it out as he's next (if no
one goes slower in their qualifying average).
Davey Hamilton, out this early afternoon, suffered a rare occurrence in recent IRL history - a blown Honda
engine. Lucky for him, it happened on a straighaway, and not in a turn, which would have been disasterous. In
year's past, blown engines were common every day, and a top reason for cars to fall out of the race. Honda is so
reliable that it was a real surprise to see that trail of smoke behind Davey's machine.
American Dream Motorsports, which got their Panoz only last Tuesday and their Honda engine only last
Thursday, crashed hard yesterday as driver Phil Giebler attempted to take some initial practice laps. Phil was
hurt and remains in Methodist Hospital with lung bruises, and the car was destroyed. There was a lot of
speculation that the team would try to find a way to acquire another car, and possibly get driver Jaques Lazier up
to speed to try to qualify him today. I stopped by the garage and was told that there is no way they are going to
attempt to do anything more for this year's Indy 500. They were taking what was left of the car apart, and getting
their powerplant ready to send back to Honda.
American Dream Motorsports has announced that they are making an entry into the Texas race on June 7 with
driver Jaques Lazier, buying a new Dallara for their renewed effort. Phil Giebler is still the team's driver, but until
he's well, Jaques will fill in for him. They plan to run three or four more IndyCar races this year (Texas, Chicago -
all ovals), as well as a full Firestone Indy Lights program with driver Al Unser III. They plan to do a full IndyCar
season in '09.
Jaques Lazier was seen busy working deals on his phone standing across from brother Buddy's Hemelgarn
Racing garage. Buddy was still in street clothes as he waited out a gear change - most likely to accommodate the
wicked, wicked winds that are plaguing the Speedway today.
Alex Barron is also busy on the phone in the garage area today, and Roberto Moreno is still hanging around.
Indy 500 veteran and current Firestone Indy Lights team owner Tyce Carlson was walking Gasoline Alley this
afternoon, and his former PDM Racing boss Paul Diatlovich was also seen in the garage area.
When AJ Foyt IV's team rolled their now-qualified #2 back to the Vision garage, it was nice to see Ed Carpenter's
crew give them a round of applause for their efforts.
10:45 am
If you want to watch Bump Day action on the television, it will be on ABC from noon-3:00 pm, then on ESPN2 from
5-6:30 pm.
The likely scenario I am anticipating for qualifying/practice today includes AJ Foyt IV taking his qualifying attempt
early in the day - between noon and 1:00 pm - as he's got plenty of speed to stick himself in the field. They are
taking some morning practice laps right now to make sure they have the gearbox problem that plagued them late
yesterday figured out (AJ took two attempts yesterday, but he - like everyone else today - is allowed three more
today). Taking a shot at it early guarantees the Vision team some time to fix any problems should they arise,
allowing them to still qualify later in the day. I expect most of the other non-qualified drivers to take their time and
get some good practice in this afternoon. If any of them can reach somewhere around 220 mph consistently, I
expect them to shut the track down and take an attempt - there's no reason to add more drama to the day by
waiting until Happy Hour. Anything can happen that could prevent them from getting their four laps in - weather, a
crash (or several), a mechanical problem, etc.
I really don't expect today to be too exciting until the last hour of qualifying between 5-6 pm. Most of the day will
be under practice conditions. And even then, I only expect the teams that qualified yesterday who may be
struggling a bit for speed/consistency to be out pounding out the laps. Once a car is safely in the field, there's no
need to risk it or the driver's health to continue to run lap after lap if the car is handling OK and the driver feels
confident.
Saying that, I do expect a surprise or two by the end of the day. Dale Coyne Racing is assembling an oval-track
car, they say for Milwaukee, but that car - a Dallara - could land in the hands of Jaques Lazier if they can build it
in time for him to get some laps. I also would not rule out a third car from AJ Foyt Enterprises - they love the
drama they can create by pulling out a car no one's seen this month at the last minute. And, AJ also knows the
value of that drama on Bump Day, televised all over the world. If the gun goes off today at 6:00 pm with no
surprises, it's not good for anyone.
As far as bumping, I do expect the last row to be in danger, but that's about it. Marty Roth will get bumped by the
first qualifier - the speed he took yesterday was simply too low. But I do understand why he took it - there was no
reason not to, and if today rained out, he's in the field. Buddy Lazier would be next to get bumped, and I expect
that as well. But similar to Roth, Buddy - who only has had a few laps here this month to get up to speed - had no
reason not to take that time. Next would be Roger Yasukawa, who has struggled since getting in the Beck
Motorsports entry earlier this week. I am hearing that if he gets bumped, and that team cannot suddenly find
some speed with him behind the wheel as the day progresses, expect to see Alex Barron make a bonzai run later
in the day to keep the car in the field.
10:00 am
Practice this morning will run from 10:15-11:15 am - let's hope we can get through the hour without any more
incidents like we saw yesterday during the AM practice (or later in the day).
There have been a total of 10,496 laps turned at the Speedway this month.
Weather is great so far this morning. It's about 60 degrees, and we may get a tiny bit warmer, but that's probably
it for today. It's not supposed to rain at all, but it's going to be very windy all day - not good for the remaining
drivers who have to qualify.
Drivers expected to qualify today include AJ Foyt IV, Max Papis (crashed yesterday), Mario Dominguez (crashed
yesterday), and possibly Jaques Lazier in the American Dream Motorsports entry - should they find another car
for him after Phil Giebler destroyed their primary car yesterday afternoon (suffered lung bruises).
The field is full as of Marty Roth's late day qualifying effort. Anyone who qualifies today will be bumping Marty or
the slowest qualifier thereafter.
answer regarding activities at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, please e-mail them to me HERE and I'll do
my best to post a response below.
Sunday, May 18 PHOTOS - BUMP DAY
Starting Field for the 92nd Indianapolis 500 BEFORE Bump Day qualifying
FINAL Starting Grid For the 92nd Indianapolis 500
1. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 226.366
2. (10) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 226.110
3. (6) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 226.080
4. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 225.733
5. (7) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 225.197
6. (11) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 224.794
7. (26) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 224.417
8. (4T) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 224.346
9. (27) Hideki Mutoh, Dallara-Honda, 223.887
10. (20) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 223.835
11. (12) Tomas Scheckter, Dallara-Honda, 223.496
12. (99) Townsend Bell, Dallara-Honda, 222.539
13. (06) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 222.531
14. (14) Darren Manning, Dallara-Honda, 222.430
15. (18) Bruno Junqueira, Dallara-Honda, 222.330
16. (02) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 222.267
17. (15) Buddy Rice, Dallara-Honda, 222.101
18. (22) Davey Hamilton, Dallara-Honda, 222.017
19. (16) Alex Lloyd, Dallara-Honda, 221.788
20. (17T) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 221.579
21. (24) John Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 221.550
22. (67) Sarah Fisher, Dallara-Honda, 221.246
23. (8) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 221.136
24. (41) Jeff Simmons, Dallara-Honda, 221.103
25. (5) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Honda, 220.767
26. (33) EJ Viso, Dallara-Honda, 220.356
27. (23) Milka Duno, Dallara-Honda, 220.305
28. (19) Mario Moraes, Dallara-Honda, 219.716
29. (36) Enrique Bernoldi, Dallara-Honda, 219.422
30. (34) Jaime Camara, Dallara-Honda, 219.345
31. (2) A.J. Foyt IV, Dallara-Honda, 219.184
32. (91) Buddy Lazier, Dallara-Honda, 219.015
33. (25) Marty Roth, Dallara-Honda, 218.965
UPDATES:
5:00 pm
Jaques Lazier is now serving as a spotter for Mario Dominguez, who just made a qualification attempt but was not
fast enough to bump his way into the field.
3:45 pm
Was just in the garage and the Vision team was rolling a #2 backup machine from their transporter to their
garages - put it in Davey Hamilton's garage. The team can repair the damage to the primary #2, but they may
shake down the backup and give AJ some laps in race trim.
3:10 pm
AJ Foyt IV has been checked by the infield medical center and cleared to race. He has minor burns to the back of
his neck and some singed hair.
Phil Giebler has been released from Methodist Hospital, and has a cervical sprain. He has not been cleared to
race.
3:05 pm
A chronology of the rebuilding process of the #44 Rubicon Race Team/Lifelock Dallara/Honda/Firestone car
driven by Max Papis, which was damaged in a crash during practice Saturday:
Noon-4pm Saturday - Team received parts from several groups, including Dallara and Vision Racing;
Approximately 5pm Saturday - Changed engine;
5-10pm Saturday - Took several parts to Sam Schmidt Motorsports shop in Indianapolis for continued work;
1am today - Several team members left IMS for the night. Some team members continued to work through the
night;
10am today - Rebuilt car goes through IndyCar Series technical inspection;
10:30am today - Team continues to prepare car in Gasoline Alley;
1:14pm - Max Papis is back on track for the first time today.
Rubicon Racing crew chief Chris Griffis has not left the Indianapolis Motor Speedway since arriving at the track
Saturday morning.
2:50 pm
AJ Foyt IV, who qualified for the race earlier today, just crashed in turn 3 - not sure what happened, but it looked
like something flew off of his gearboxx or the back of his car before it started spinning and caught fire, then hitting
the wall. He got out of the car under his own power and will be transported to the infield care center for a
checkup. The car - his primary, qualified car - looks pretty bad. Talk about highs to lows here on Bump Day - AJ
has seen it all today. Will update soon...
Bumped Buddy Lazier is practicing at above 218 mph - not quite good enough yet.
Max Papis has not been able to go 215 mph yet - he needs plenty more practice this afternoon.
Scott Dixon tops the practice chart this afternoon at 221.514 mph.
2:15 pm
Max Papis' crew got his car repaired, safe and race-ready and he's back on track getting up to speed.
Team Penske has withdrawn car #77.
Today is Armed Forces Day here at the Speedway, and a lot of military personnel are on the grounds. There's
two military vehicles parked in the Pagoda Plaza. At 11:20 am, new enlistees were inducted into the Armed
Forces in a ceremony held in front of the bombardier Learjet Pagoda as part of Armed Forces Day activities. The
new enlistees were sworn in by Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana.
Bobby Rahal and Michael Andretti did a Q & A on the Coke Zero stage, then signed autographs for the fans.
1:30 pm
AJ Foyt IV successfully bumped his way into the field with a four-lap average of 219.184 - he was the first and
only qualifier as the track opened for qualifications at noon.
Marty Roth was bumped by Foyt, but practiced a bit after AJ qualified, and bumped his way back into the field with
an average of 218.965 at around 1:30 pm. Roger Yasukawa is now in danger of being the next to be bumped
with his average of 218.010 being the slowest in the field. Then Foyt will have to sweat it out as he's next (if no
one goes slower in their qualifying average).
Davey Hamilton, out this early afternoon, suffered a rare occurrence in recent IRL history - a blown Honda
engine. Lucky for him, it happened on a straighaway, and not in a turn, which would have been disasterous. In
year's past, blown engines were common every day, and a top reason for cars to fall out of the race. Honda is so
reliable that it was a real surprise to see that trail of smoke behind Davey's machine.
American Dream Motorsports, which got their Panoz only last Tuesday and their Honda engine only last
Thursday, crashed hard yesterday as driver Phil Giebler attempted to take some initial practice laps. Phil was
hurt and remains in Methodist Hospital with lung bruises, and the car was destroyed. There was a lot of
speculation that the team would try to find a way to acquire another car, and possibly get driver Jaques Lazier up
to speed to try to qualify him today. I stopped by the garage and was told that there is no way they are going to
attempt to do anything more for this year's Indy 500. They were taking what was left of the car apart, and getting
their powerplant ready to send back to Honda.
American Dream Motorsports has announced that they are making an entry into the Texas race on June 7 with
driver Jaques Lazier, buying a new Dallara for their renewed effort. Phil Giebler is still the team's driver, but until
he's well, Jaques will fill in for him. They plan to run three or four more IndyCar races this year (Texas, Chicago -
all ovals), as well as a full Firestone Indy Lights program with driver Al Unser III. They plan to do a full IndyCar
season in '09.
Jaques Lazier was seen busy working deals on his phone standing across from brother Buddy's Hemelgarn
Racing garage. Buddy was still in street clothes as he waited out a gear change - most likely to accommodate the
wicked, wicked winds that are plaguing the Speedway today.
Alex Barron is also busy on the phone in the garage area today, and Roberto Moreno is still hanging around.
Indy 500 veteran and current Firestone Indy Lights team owner Tyce Carlson was walking Gasoline Alley this
afternoon, and his former PDM Racing boss Paul Diatlovich was also seen in the garage area.
When AJ Foyt IV's team rolled their now-qualified #2 back to the Vision garage, it was nice to see Ed Carpenter's
crew give them a round of applause for their efforts.
10:45 am
If you want to watch Bump Day action on the television, it will be on ABC from noon-3:00 pm, then on ESPN2 from
5-6:30 pm.
The likely scenario I am anticipating for qualifying/practice today includes AJ Foyt IV taking his qualifying attempt
early in the day - between noon and 1:00 pm - as he's got plenty of speed to stick himself in the field. They are
taking some morning practice laps right now to make sure they have the gearbox problem that plagued them late
yesterday figured out (AJ took two attempts yesterday, but he - like everyone else today - is allowed three more
today). Taking a shot at it early guarantees the Vision team some time to fix any problems should they arise,
allowing them to still qualify later in the day. I expect most of the other non-qualified drivers to take their time and
get some good practice in this afternoon. If any of them can reach somewhere around 220 mph consistently, I
expect them to shut the track down and take an attempt - there's no reason to add more drama to the day by
waiting until Happy Hour. Anything can happen that could prevent them from getting their four laps in - weather, a
crash (or several), a mechanical problem, etc.
I really don't expect today to be too exciting until the last hour of qualifying between 5-6 pm. Most of the day will
be under practice conditions. And even then, I only expect the teams that qualified yesterday who may be
struggling a bit for speed/consistency to be out pounding out the laps. Once a car is safely in the field, there's no
need to risk it or the driver's health to continue to run lap after lap if the car is handling OK and the driver feels
confident.
Saying that, I do expect a surprise or two by the end of the day. Dale Coyne Racing is assembling an oval-track
car, they say for Milwaukee, but that car - a Dallara - could land in the hands of Jaques Lazier if they can build it
in time for him to get some laps. I also would not rule out a third car from AJ Foyt Enterprises - they love the
drama they can create by pulling out a car no one's seen this month at the last minute. And, AJ also knows the
value of that drama on Bump Day, televised all over the world. If the gun goes off today at 6:00 pm with no
surprises, it's not good for anyone.
As far as bumping, I do expect the last row to be in danger, but that's about it. Marty Roth will get bumped by the
first qualifier - the speed he took yesterday was simply too low. But I do understand why he took it - there was no
reason not to, and if today rained out, he's in the field. Buddy Lazier would be next to get bumped, and I expect
that as well. But similar to Roth, Buddy - who only has had a few laps here this month to get up to speed - had no
reason not to take that time. Next would be Roger Yasukawa, who has struggled since getting in the Beck
Motorsports entry earlier this week. I am hearing that if he gets bumped, and that team cannot suddenly find
some speed with him behind the wheel as the day progresses, expect to see Alex Barron make a bonzai run later
in the day to keep the car in the field.
10:00 am
Practice this morning will run from 10:15-11:15 am - let's hope we can get through the hour without any more
incidents like we saw yesterday during the AM practice (or later in the day).
There have been a total of 10,496 laps turned at the Speedway this month.
Weather is great so far this morning. It's about 60 degrees, and we may get a tiny bit warmer, but that's probably
it for today. It's not supposed to rain at all, but it's going to be very windy all day - not good for the remaining
drivers who have to qualify.
Drivers expected to qualify today include AJ Foyt IV, Max Papis (crashed yesterday), Mario Dominguez (crashed
yesterday), and possibly Jaques Lazier in the American Dream Motorsports entry - should they find another car
for him after Phil Giebler destroyed their primary car yesterday afternoon (suffered lung bruises).
The field is full as of Marty Roth's late day qualifying effort. Anyone who qualifies today will be bumping Marty or
the slowest qualifier thereafter.
