News for March 29th 2010

Danica Patrick is back in action at Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

One race into the Indy Racing League season, and the year already qualifies as a success for Will Power, the soft-spoken Australian driver for Team Penske. Power won the season opener in Brazil two weeks ago, and was the fastest qualifier for today’s Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, which takes the green flag on the downtown street circuit at 3:30 p.m.

Last year, Power, a refugee from the shuttered Champ Car series, was tapped by Penske to stand in for Helio Castroneves, who was (successfully) battling federal tax evasion charges. But in August, at the race at Infineon Raceway in California, Power crashed hard in practice, and left the track in a medical helicopter. His back was badly broken, and his prognosis as a driver was uncertain.

So with the victory in Brazil, it was official: Will Power is back. “It was quite emotional to be honest,” Power said last week, “because when you have an injury like that, you have a lot of downtime during the recovery period. You can become a little bit uncertain whether you’ll come back as strong as you were, and whether you’d be as quick as you were, and that was just confirmation that everything is back as it was.”

This race is also the return to the U.S. market for Danica Patrick, whose much-publicized foray into NASCAR earlier this year is on hold until after the Indianapolis 500. Patrick has had a frustrating time in the IRL this year as she has had trouble getting up to speed in both practice here and at the Brazil race.

She is joined in the field this year by Swiss driver Simona de Silvestro, a graduate of the now-defunct Atlantic series, where she had multiple wins — something Patrick couldn’t accomplish when she was racing in the Atlantics. Backmarker Milka Duno is back, to make a total of three female drivers in the 24-car lineup. Duno qualified 24th, more than five seconds behind the next-slowest car. Patrick qualified 21st, and de Silvestro starts 14th, one spot behind 2009 series champion Dario Franchitti.

Also worth watching is Graham Rahal, son of Indy 500 winner Bobby Rahal, who found himself without a ride as the season began because his Newman/Haas/Lanigan team lost the McDonalds sponsorship. He sat out Brazil, but driver and team owner Sarah Fisher, who is more comfortable on ovals than street and road courses, offered her Dollar General-sponsored car to Rahal for this race and at the next race April 11 at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama. In an unfamiliar car, Rahal, the 2008 winner, will have a tough time repeating this year after qualifying 16th. Also starting from deep in the pack is last year’s winner, Ryan Briscoe, who is in 19th.

Today’s 100-lap IRL race is preceded by a Formula 2000 race at 8 a.m., a World Challenge race at 10:15 a.m., a Star Mazda race at 11:40 a.m., and an Indy Lights race at 12:45 p.m., which will include Kissimmee racer Jonathan Summerton. Typically the American Le Mans Series races here this weekend too, but with the 12 Hours of Sebring being just last week, the ALMS thought it would put too much pressure on the teams to get ready for St. Pete. If the St. Pete race returns to a schedule that allows two weeks between this race and Sebring, expect the ALMS to come back.

Edited: March 29th, 2010

NASCAR Odds To Win Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500

Edited: March 29th, 2010

Talladega Superspeedway sets Easter Egg Hunt for April 3rd

The sixth Annual Easter Egg Hunt at Talladega Superspeedway which is near Treasure Island Bed and Breakfast  has now been set for April 3rd.

The hunt will take place on the infield of the superspeedway and children 1-10 are invited to this free event.

The Easter Bunny will be there to judge the event and pose for pictures. The winner of the Easter Basket competition will get a 3-foot stuffed Lucky Dog provided by Aaron’s.

17,500 eggs will be hidden in the infield and will be filled with candy and prizes. 50 eggs have prize slips for an 18-inch stuffed Lucky Dog. Some other eggs have prize slips for Superspeedway merchandise.

“This will be our largest Easter Egg Hunt to date,” said Talladega Superspeedway Chairman Grant Lynch.  “Each year we have increased the number of eggs we hide and the number of activities we have during the day.  And, each year, more and more guests show their support for the track and attend ready to hunt eggs.  We look forward to welcoming everyone for the day and making it our best Easter Egg Hunt yet.”

Edited: March 29th, 2010

Rain postpones Martinsville NASCAR race and return of spoiler until Monday at noon

The fans munched on the famous Martinsville hot dogs, the television crew filed the air with driver interviews, and fans at home switched over to the NCAA basketball playoffs.  In the end the weather was the winner Sunday as NASCAR was forced to postpone the Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 until Monday.

Rain also canceled Friday’s qualifying session at the Martinsville (VA) track.  As a result, the 43-car field for Sunday’s 500-lap race was set by current car owner points per the NASCAR rulebook.

Perhaps the driver that will be most affected by the delay is Denny Hamlin who had surgery scheduled on his knee for Monday.  The delay in surgery will give him a little less time to rehab his knee before the next scheduled race on April 10 at Phoenix.

The Martinsville race will see the return of the spoiler to the Sprint Cup cars. That debut will have to wait at least one more day.

“I think it’ something that the fans wanted from a cosmetic standpoint”, Stewart-Haas driver Ryan Newman said earlier this week about the spoiler.

“I think NASCAR’s grown so much in the last 50 years with that spoiler on the back of the car, so I think that’s part of it,” Newman continued. “I also feel the safety factor of the wing versus the spoiler is important, as well. I think that wing, as it goes forward, it creates downforce. But when it gets turned around, as it goes backwards, it creates a percentage of lift. That’s what we saw with (Brad) Keselowski’s car at Atlanta and my car at Talladega last year. I think it’s a good thing for multiple reasons.”

Newman, a Purdue engineering graduate, was involved in a tumbling crash last year at Talladega and Keselowski had a similar ride at Atlanta when their cars got airborne.

“We haven’t tested it at a short track,” Newman observed. “I know that we have had our short-track car in the wind tunnel, looking at what effects the spoiler might have on the car, so we’re ready. I’m looking forward to the spoiler’s debut this weekend.”

Edited: March 29th, 2010