Indy Car Notes – St. Pete

Big Bend, WI (4/1/09) – The racing season is starting to kick into high gear this weekend with the opening of the 2009 Indy Car season in picturesque St. Petersburg, Florida.

Today’s news was that Darren Manning is joining the Dreyer-Reinbold Team for St. Pete as teammate to fellow Brit, rookie, Mike Conway. With Manning the St. Pete entry list is at 22 cars. Manning drove A.J. Foyt’s famous No. 14 last year had his best runs on the road courses including St. Pete. The 33-year-old veteran of four seasons in the IndyCar Series has made three starts at St. Pete, leading three laps in 2005 and qualifying fifth in 2007. Manning finished a career-best second at Watkins Glen last year. Manning drove for the Target Chip Ganassi Race team in 2004-05. It is reportedly a one-race deal. Manning remarked today in an IndyCar Series conference call, “Well, I guess I’ve been on the minds of Dennis (Reinbold) and Robbie (Buhl) since the end of last year. We were in talks about trying to get a deal together for Australia, which didn’t come about. They wanted to try and get me in the car for that, and we had several conversations around that kind of time. I guess I was just on their minds when the opportunity arose that they needed a guy at the last minute. And literally late evening, I got the call, and fortunately I wasn’t doing anything else.

Manning added, “I know St. Pete very well and can offer the team and their primary driver, Mike (Conway), a good head of experience and hopefully some good speed and a good performance that I’ve always had ?? good performances. Maybe not the results that I might have had, and we were running up in fifth place with only a few races to go when my gearbox broke last year, and that would have been good, and similarly other times with Ganassi and Foyt, as well. So it’s a good track and a good little team. I know what they’ve been doing over the winter, and I’m pretty excited, especially seeing as I wasn’t doing anything on Monday, and then yesterday afternoon it all came about. I’ve got to get myself ready and shaped up for this coming weekend and leaving this afternoon to go down there.”

Earlier in the week, the rumor of Ryan Hunter-Reay driving for Vision Racing came together. Ryan is excited to be back in a racing car, even on short notice. “Well, we have high expectations right off the bat. I haven’t been in the car at all, so the first session in St. Pete, depends on how much we need to change around. The braking, the steering rack, all these things are fitted to the driver and the driver’s preferences, so we might have to climb through some of that. But there’s no reason why we can’t be very competitive this weekend. I certainly expect us to be. He added, “I worked with the team this past week on what we need to see out of the car. We have a game plan set, and I was lucky enough to get in the car there at Sebring with HVM, and that was a very productive test. At least I’ve got 50 laps under my belt here prior to jumping in at St. Pete. But yeah, we’re way behind the other teams and the testing they’ve done. But it’s a street circuit, and this is probably the best venue I could ask for to start out because I feel at home there. And also, I’m used to jumping in cars at the last minute, with the pressure on with no practice. That’s what I did with Rahal in ’07 and that worked out well.”

Alex Tagliani, veteran Champ Car driver who drove well with Eric Bachelart’s Conquest Racing at the end of last year was also announced today. Tagliani is ready to go racing and build on last year’s success, “It was definitely a fantastic opportunity for me last year to join the IndyCar Series for the first time and having the opportunity to do it with Conquest. Obviously, the first scenario was not the best. I jumped mid?weekend on Saturday morning. You’re not racing a little go?kart at the local race, you’re racing with the best in the world. So it was a little bit difficult, but I was surprised that I adapted quite well to the cars. The Conquest team has a very good group of people, and they’re capable of giving me a fantastic car. We gel well. We went to Australia, and we had a great weekend, very competitive. So we’re motivated. This event unfortunately happens really late, but we’re working on something for the rest of the year, and it’s really important that we join the IndyCar Series in St. Pete, and we feel that with everybody on board and with the group of people that Conquest has, we could have a good car and definitely do a good showing in St. Pete, even if it’s difficult conditions.”

Tomas Scheckter who raced part-time with Luczon-Dragon Racing last year was hoping to race at St. Pete this weekend. However he announced today that his deal with Team 3G will not begin until Long Beach, following St. Pete.

Look for more Indy Car racing on television. This Sunday, IndyCar Series opener, the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will be telecast live in High Definition at 2 p.m. (EDT) by VERSUS. The good news is on Saturday VERSES will have two hours of qualifying starting at 5 p.m. (EDT). The 2009 Firestone Indy Lights season begins with a doubleheader race weekend April 4-5 at St. Petersburg. The races will be telecast at 6 p.m. (EDT) on April 6 by VERSUS.

Sad news to report, Can-Am designer, Peter Bryant passed away yesterday at age 71 in Las Vegas. Peter was best known as the designer of several of the popular Shadow Can-Am cars of the early 1970’s and the Ti-22 Can-Am car which was made from titanium. Peter was also a young crew member for Mickey Thompson on Dave MacDonald’s crew at Indianapolis in 1964. Peter was outgoing, witty and entertaining to be with. I had several opportunities to spend time with Peter, including Siebkens in Elkhart Lake which on a race weekend is fun alone. However, add Peter to the mix and it made a unforgettable evening extraordinary.

Pete Lyons wrote a nice column on Peter at: http://www.autoweek.com/article/20090401/FREE/904019978

Veteran Indy Car driver Bob “Caveman” Christie is experiencing some medical issues. Bob who drove Indy Cars from 1956-1968, including eight Indianapolis 500’s is still popular with many longtime Indy 500 fans. Bob who still lives in Oregon is one of the few drivers to have driven an IndyCar at the Daytona International Speedway. Get well Bob.

Steve Zautke

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.

racingnation.com

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