- Giuseppe Victorious
- Car or Driver
- Hy-Vee To Sponsor INDYCAR Weekend At The Historic Milwaukee Mile
- Rolex 24 Race Report
- HSR Classic 24 At Daytona
- Rennsport VII
- UPDATE: Ben Keating – Ironman
- Motul Petit Le Mans – Redemption
- IndyCar Returns To The Milwaukee Mile For A Tire Test
- Anticipation Builds as Larson Passes Indy 500 Rookie Test
Brickyard 400 Practice Notes
- Updated: July 28, 2007
7/28/07, Speedway, IN – Reed Sorensen was fastest today in final (and only) practice for Sunday?s Allstate 400 at the Brickyard at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Sorensen led a trio of Target-Chip Ganassi Racing Team drivers who made half of the top-6 fastest. Sorensen had a fast lap of 184.098 (48.887 sec.) while teammate David Stremme was second at 183.929 mph. Juan Pablo Montoya was the third member of the Ganassi team in the top-6 at 183.681 mph (6th fastest). Kyle Busch was third at 183.831 while Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Elliott Sadler filled out the top-5.
J.J. Yeley who is known to be in the hot-seat at Joe Gibbs Racing did not help his cause when he clammed the Interstate Batteries Chevrolet hard again the turn four wall with the left side of the car early in practice. “The car got going the wrong direction. We went out made three or four runs and the car was really good. We were going to make an eight lap run to see how our tire wear was and for whatever reason it got loose on the exit of turn four. It really caught me by surprise. We did a couple of things and the car was actually a little bit snug at that point. I was already on the throttle at that point and winding the wheel to get to the exit, the car got sideways. I thought I had it saved for a minute, I just couldn’t keep it the car caught up. It spun around and the left side hit the wall real, real hard. It is a shame, it is a brand new car and it was driving really, really good. We hadn’t done any kind of qualifying yet. We will have to go to a backup car and go from there.”
Robbie Gordon also had to go to a back-up car when hit the wall coming out of turn two.
Six cars will fail to make the race (49 attempting to qualify), the six slowest in practice of those in danger of going home early are, Ward Burton, Kevin Lepage, Ken Schrader, A.J. Allmendinger, Joe Nemechek and Kenny Wallace. Looking good are Scott Riggs was 8th fastest, Scott Wimmer 10th, Jeremy Mayfield, Brian Vickers and Dale Jarrett. Qualifying will start just after 5pm local time Saturday.
Steve Zautke, a Milwaukee, WI native, was raised in the sport of auto racing. His father, Bill, was a movie photographer that shot racing footage at tracks such as the Milwaukee Mile and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the 1960’s and 1970’s Steve’s first professional job in racing was as an Emergency Medical Technician at tracks such as Angell Park and Hales Corners Speedway (1988-1991). Steve has also worked for the Milwaukee Mile as videographer, in media relations and historian (1993-2011). Steve also has worked as a reporter for Racing Information Systems (RIS) and has written features for ‘Vintage Oval Racing’ and ‘Victory Lane’ magazines. Most recently, Steve has written a book on Road America for Arcadia Publishing. ( http://www.amazon.com/Road-America-Nascar-Library-Collection/dp/1467111457 ) Steve co-hosts “Sparky’s Final Inspection” a motorsports-based radio show with hosts, Steve “Sparky” Fifer and “NASCAR Girl” Summer Santana on Sports Radio 1250AM in Milwaukee and is also available on the internet at www.Sportradio1250.com. A member of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Induction Committee, Steve follows all types of racing from the dirt tracks to Formula One.