RacingNation.com
Home / IndyCar Series / Field Full As Bump Day Approaches For Indy 500

Field Full As Bump Day Approaches For Indy 500

Speedway, IN, May 17, 2008 – The action was fast and furious at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the grid was filled for the 92nd running of the Indianapolis 500.

The track was open for qualifying at Noon as Will Power in the Aussie Vineyard-Team Australia Dallara-Honda #8 was first out. Power powered himself to a 221.136 mph average, rebounding nicely after the KV Racing crew was in the garage until 1:45AM last night piecing back the car after Power hit the turn two wall during final practice on “Fast Friday.”

The first practice before qualifying was spiced with two accidents. The first involved rookie, Mario Dominguez in the Visit Mexico-PCM Racing #96, “I just lost the rear-end going into turn one. We’ve been fighting understeer there all week and working hard to stabilize the car. This is a huge setback for us. Fortunately, I wasn’t going that fast at that point, and lost it early so I scrubbed a lot of speed, so it looks like the damage isn’t too bad.” PCM Racing hopes to have the car ready for qualifying on the final day of qualifying tomorrow-“Bump Day.”

Max Papis in the Lifelock-Rubicon Racing had one of the hardest hits of the month when at the close of practice, Papis did a quarter spin in turn three making heavy contact with the left rear of his Dallara. Papis was uninjured. Papis was checked and cleared to drive, afterwards was quoted, “It was definitely a very unfortunate moment for the Rubicon Lifelock team. We are trying to understand and analyze what happened, but the bottom line is we don’t have a car to qualify right now. I drove into turn three, and right when I was turning in, the car just came around. It was very, very unusual feeling as I had never had this problem before. It was very, very unexpected. I have lots of confidence with my guys, they are coming up with a solution and we’ll see what happens.”

After Bruno Junqueira and Graham Rahal put their cars safely in the field, Oriol Servia went out on the track when a slight sprinkle interrupted his second and third laps. Servia was not charged an attempt, after a fifteen minute delay, Servia put his car safely in the field with a 220.767 MPH average.

Townsend Bell set fast time of the day with a 222.539 MPH average in the Dreyer & Reinbold William Rast Racing Dallara-Honda. That time was in jeopardy when A.J. Foyt Racing-ABC Supply driver Darren Manning had the fastest time going into his fourth and final lap. “We were surprised to go so fast, but it was just because the car was that much better. I had to actually come off the gas a little in turn two on the last lap, which dropped me out of fastest of the day. But with the down force we got in, you know, we’re nearly ready on race setup, so that really bodes well for the race.” Manning ended up third fastest behind Rahal and Bell for the day’s top-three.

With seasonal temperatures hitting 70 and partly cloudy skies, everyone who was ready, went out to take advantage of the decent qualifying weather. E.J. Viso, Mario Moraes, Milka Duno, Bell, former Indy 500 winner Buddy Rice, Justin Wilson, John Andretti, Alex Lloyd, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Enrique Bernoldi, Darren Manning and Roger Yasakawa all completed their runs. Jamie Camera, Marty Roth, Jeff Simmons and A.J. Foyt IV all waved off their initial attempts. However, Camara and Simmons both completed their second attempts. On Foyt’s attempt he nearly hit the wall coming off turn two. Simmons initially did a shallow 213+ after several quick adjustments from the Foyt crew Simmons was in with a comfortable 221.103 average.

Newly formed American Dream Racing’s dream appears to be over. Driving the only Panoz chassis entered, American Phil Giebler hit the turn one wall hard causing extensive damage to the long-shot Panoz chassis. Giebler was awake and alert and transported and later admitted to Methodist Hospital for bruising of the lungs.

Also, rookie Hideki Mutoh of Andretti-Green hit the turn two wall, “I lost control. That was my in-lap, and I wasn’t pushing very hard. I don’t know why , but I suddenly lost it.”

With about fifteen minutes to go and one spot left in the field Foyt went out to qualify however was not able to get the car into the correct gear. With Foyt returning to the pits, Marty Roth went out for his second attempt of the day. Roth went out and did a four-lap average of 216.506 MPH which was the slowest of the day. Foyt’s crew hurried repairs to the Vision Racing #2, however time expired before the car could go through tech.

Thus, 22 spots will filled and the field for the 92nd running of the Indianapolis 500 is complete. It appears that three cars will look to bump their way into the field. A.J. Foyt IV in the Vision Racing #2, Mario Dominguez in the PCM #96 and Max Papis in the Rubicon #44. Jim Freudenberg (Co-owner, Rubicon Race Team): (Will you be back on track today?) “The car will be back together today, but that wouldn’t be the safest thing for Max or anybody. We’ll work until it is done tonight, and we’ll be back on the track tomorrow. (About getting parts to rebuild the car): Sam Schmidt Motorsports had a lot of spare parts. Chris (Griffis), the team manager, was scrambling through the garage to get parts. Dallara and the League have helped us out, so we’re just not trying to get it back together.” (About getting help from other teams): “This is the good thing that comes from the bad part of racing. Even people you are trying to beat are trying to give you a fair shot. To me, that doesn’t happen in many places. It is the positive thing about this sport.” (About the racing community): “Most of us have known each other for many years, so when you don’t burn bridges and you make friends, you’ll be able to count on each other. We’d do the same for other teams if they were in this same position”. So, one day remains, and bumping will occur tomorrow, Sunday, May 18th. With only a 20% chance of rain, this should be interesting.

Share Button