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TV ratings, merchandise sales perk up for IndyCar Series

There’s a lot of work to do yet, but the unification of open-wheel racing has done the IndyCar Series some good in the first half of the 2008 campaign.

In the television department, the IRL has scored bigger ratings on all three of its major TV channels. Also, at-track merchandise sales have jumped 70 percent, and that has a chance to increase in the future with Izod set to announce its partnership with the Indy Racing League this weekend as the league’s official clothier.

I’ve also noticed much better work lately by ESPN on promotion for the last few IndyCar races on both its television and internet platforms. However, they really ought to make some new ads that don’t trumpet the generic “new era of IndyCar” and try to focus on hyping the drivers.

By that, I mean hyping the drivers besides that “chick driver” and “Twinkle Toes.” I guess they’re just waiting to see if the latter’s actually gonna hack a chunk out of Scott Dixon’s points lead on Sunday.

Dario the domino?

Could Franchitti’s NASCAR flop trigger the demise of more teams lacking sponsors in all forms of racing — including the IndyCar Series?

It certainly was off-putting to see Dario Franchitti’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series ride get shut down earlier this week, especially after standing next to his team’s pit box to watch the first few laps of last Sunday’s race at Loudon, N.H. before retreating to the media center to carry out my duties.

While there are some that may say that the 2007 Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar Series champion is suffering a karmic payback for whatever reason, it is tough to see somebody’s dream deterred like that. I also feel for the 70+ workers that got laid off from Chip Ganassi Racing as a result of the shutdown.

I must say that Franchitti’s showing some guts for choosing to lie in the bed he’s made and stick with Ganassi. He’s still bent on making this NASCAR thing work out for him, even though Felix Sabates (Ganassi’s partner on his stock car operation) has mentioned that a third Ganassi IndyCar is an option for the Scottish pilot. Dario told the AP’s Jenna Fryer:

“Let’s see what the future holds. I really just need to sit with Chip and see where his head is. But NASCAR is where I want to be. I want to be successful here and I certainly don’t want it to end like this.

“I made a big commitment coming over here and I’d like to get in an opportunity to be successful.”

He doesn’t see himself returning to IndyCar and neither do I; expect Franchitti to get into the Nationwide series as soon as possible.

According to all parties involved, the main reason for the death of Franchitti’s No. 40 NSCS squad is lack of funding from sponsors. Even though the No. 40 Dodge has worn many paint schemes and companies this season, Ganassi’s been paying the bills — it’s basically been an unsponsored car all year.

Other teams in NASCAR are also feeling the heat from the downturn in the U.S. economy — ESPN’s David Newton has a pretty good story with plenty of details on that matter. With this in mind, is the IndyCar Series set to take a hit as well?

I suppose, in this case, it’s okay to lump NASCAR and the IndyCar Series together. Let’s start with television ratings, which are jumping upward for both sides. Certain reasons can be cited for this. NASCAR, for example, has the return of its prize pig Dale Earnhardt Jr. to competitiveness, and for IndyCar, there’s the unification of open-wheel racing.

But we would be kidding each other if the $4/gallon gas prices that have short-circuited family vacations from coast to coast weren’t also sticking race fans squarely on the couch. This would be one of the reasons why I didn’t take kindly to Eddie Gossage squawking over his attendance figures when the IndyCars came to his Texas Motor Speedway last month.

Now, sponsorship. NASCAR teams have seen its share of financial problems and while it’s the little teams that have been getting the brunt of it, others such as Richard Childress Racing aren’t attracting new brands as Nationwide driver Kenny Wallace attests.

IndyCar has garnered some names like Coca-Cola, DirecTV and the National Guard, but they haven’t been bulletproof either.

A business scandal involving one of Conquest Racing’s partners forced the team to stretch its other sponsorship with Brazilian education company Sangari across both their cars and kick Franck Perera out of his seat. Dale Coyne Racing, Dreyer and Reinbold Racing and several other teams are also lacking a sponsor for at least one of their machines.

The bright side in all of this for IndyCar is that it takes a good deal less to sponsor a top-flight team in their series than it does in NASCAR. Combined with the fact that NASCAR’s dominant teams (Hendrick, Roush Fenway, Joe Gibbs) are kicking the crap out of everyone, the return of investment for some NASCAR sponsors may not be enough to justify in the face of a bad economy.

Of course, we have to say the same for IndyCar, since they too have their Big Three (Ganassi, Penske, Andretti Green) that can mess up a competing sponsor’s ROI as well.

At a glance, there doesn’t seem to be a surefire solution to solving the sponsorship problem that will affect motorsports as a whole if the economy continues to flounder and fuel prices continue to skyrocket.

It’s not just racing’s problem to bear. It’s America’s problem. It’s the world’s problem. According to 1998 Indy 500 winner and former IRL team owner Eddie Cheever, we’ll have to deal with it. He told Mark DeCotis of Florida Today:

“If you stop making penicillin, the world will have a big problem. If you stopped racing, the world would be angry but it wouldn’t stop turning. We have to find ways to adapt to the reality of higher fuel costs and bring more return on investment to our sponsors.”

But even if racing adapts, by the time that the economy starts to go back up, the sport may never be the same again. And by the time that the economy rises again, we may be missing several teams that had been part of the IRL’s DNA for many years.

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All quotes used in this article were attributed to their proper subjects and their proper writers/organizations. 

IRL Notes: Howard, Dominguez set to return at Watkins Glen

After multiple races on the sidelines, IndyCar Series drivers Jay Howard and Mario Dominguez are coming back this weekend at Watkins Glen, N.Y.

Howard, who had been replaced for the last five races by John Andretti, will re-take control of Roth Racing’s No. 24 machine for Sunday’s Camping World Grand Prix at the Glen. Andretti took over Howard’s ride leading up to the Indianapolis 500 in May and managed to score a high finish of 11th in June at Iowa Speedway.

As he prepares to make his return to the IndyCar Series, Howard told Dave Lewandowski of IndyCar.com that he’s trying not to look back at his time out of the car:

“It’s hard to describe feelings when I’m on the sidelines watching. More than anything, I’m looking at this point forward and not looking at what happened over the last five races. I’m just going to go out and do what I do best and try to get a good result for the team.”

Also looking to get back on track properly is Dominguez and his Pacific Coast Motorsports team, who sat out Iowa and Richmond to re-evaluate their program after a tough start that saw them fail to qualify for the 92nd Indianapolis 500.

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Bruton’s bent on IndyCar date at New Hampshire

I was a part of the Boston Globe’s team up at Loudon, N.H. this past Sunday for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

As this was the first major race for NHMS under its new management at Speedway Motorsports Inc., there were plenty of power players around, including SMI CEO Bruton Smith and Texas, NHMS general manager Jerry Gappens, and Texas Motor Speedway general manager Eddie Gossage.

Smith held a press conference to discuss a variety of topics including his company’s plans for the speedway (still in progress), whether SMI will take a NASCAR date from New Hampshire (a terse “No”), and the rumors of a third weekend at Loudon involving the IndyCar Series. You can read my account of the meeting here.

Gossage is currently serving as SMI’s negotiator with the IRL as the company attempts to put five of their tracks onto the 2009 schedule — Kentucky, Texas, Sonoma, New Hampshire and Las Vegas in a possible season finale. That being said, Smith told the media that he wants an ‘09 IndyCar date — or else.

As a result, Gossage is in damage-control mode, but in my opinion, it’s much ado about nothing. From Smith and Gappens’ comments, I think we can assume a date is coming to Loudon in short order. Let’s just hope Gossage can find a decent date in between NHMS’ two Cup events to do it.

I also talked to Gossage a little as well and some of his comments were off-record, so I can’t relay them to you unfortunately. But I could tell that he and SMI were confident that they can help the IRL even further.

Speaking of which, if you find yourself in Smith’s presence, don’t say “IRL.” He took some light-hearted offense when I mentioned the moniker in a question to Gappens, and then whispered “IndyCar, IndyCar, IndyCar” at another reporter when he also used the IRL handle. Again, it was fun to hear him speak.

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All quotes used in this article have been attributed to their proper writers, subjects, and/or organizations. 

Running Blog: SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond

(Note: Since I am heading out to Loudon, N.H. early tomorrow to help cover the NASCAR Sprint Cup event for the Boston Globe, here’s my observations of tonight’s event. I’ll try to make a normal recap sometime before the race, but I can’t promise anything. — CE)

Lap 1: Ryan Hunter-Reay spins out on start of race, keeps going. Eventually goes to pit road along with Justin Wilson and Enrique Bernoldi. RHR gets four tires and fuel, while Bernoldi is longer than usual on his pit stop at Lap 5 due to suspension problems that may stem from his wreck in practice on Saturday.

Lap 8: Restart.

Lap 9: Will Power destroys the right side of his car after the No. 8 got loose, then snapped to the right and went all the way to the Turn 4 wall. He comes to rest on the front straight.

“It just looked like Helio was coming around the outside,” said Mark Johnson, general manager for Power’s team, KV Racing Technology to ESPN. “…[Power] gave no indication of anything that went wrong.”

We want to re-iterate that Helio was not near Power at the time of his incident. As for Power, he emerged from his car for his trip to the infield care center.

Lap 15: ESPN’s Jack Arute reports that Scott Dixon’s second gear is, in the driver’s words, “mushy.” This could mean trouble for him on re-starts.

Lap 21: Restart.

Lap 25: Helio Castroneves has jumped seven spots to 11th as he gets by A.J. Foyt IV.

Lap 27: “I just got loose,” Will Power says to ESPN’s Brienne Pedigo. “It’s just really unfortunate. I was looking forward to this race. No points.”

Lap 29: John Andretti and A.J. Foyt IV make contact with each other in Turn 2, while Foyt’s teammate Ed Carpenter sustains right-front suspension damage that is terminal. Both Vision cars are out in one shot, while Andretti gets away with the wheel bump.

Lap 32: It appears that the debris that caused Carpenter’s damage was the rear attenuator off of Foyt’s machine. He’s pretty angry about it.

Lap 34: Pit stops begin and Danica Patrick is one of the early ones to hit pit road.

Lap 37: Carpenter tells IMS Radio’s Bob Jenkins that they’re planning to return to the track later in the race. Bernoldi is also out of his car after terminal steering problems.

Lap 40: Restart.

Lap 43: Helio Castroneves is trying to make me look stupid. He’s up to eighth now.

Lap 48: Jaime Camara has jumped 12 spots to 12th position. Meanwhile, Townsend Bell is in 11th, he’s jumped 10 spots.

Lap 51: Camara gets by Bell in Turn 2 for 11th.

Lap 52: Camara gets by Briscoe in Turn 3 for 10th. Somebody’s on a rampage…

Lap 60: Camara has a close call with Servia and saves the car, but drops two spots to 12th as a result of his lost momentum.

Lap 61: Tony Kanaan has a car that’s slightly loose according to ESPN’s Vince Welch.

Lap 65: Here’s your Top 10 so far: Kanaan, Marco Andretti, Rahal, Dixon, Wheldon, Rice, Mutoh, Castroneves, Servia, and Briscoe.

Lap 68: Caution is out for reported debris on the backstretch. Pit road is open.

Lap 71: The leaders pit now. Kanaan gets out first, while Castroneves jumps 6 positions to thanks to his pit crew. Dixon was the big loser, falling five spots after getting caught in a traffic jam. Camara has grabbed the lead and Danica Patrick is in second — they both pitted on Lap 34 following the John Andretti/A.J. Foyt IV incident.

Lap 74: Here’s the Top 10 after the stops: Camara, Patrick, Kanaan, Castroneves, Andretti, Wheldon, Rahal, Rice, Servia, and Mutoh.

Lap 76: Carpenter looks ready to get back to racing after suffering suspension damage in his teammate’s accident.

Lap 79: Caution is back out just on the re-start. Buddy Rice and Bruno Junqueira are in the wall, while Ryan Briscoe has suffered left-front damage. It looks like Marty Roth was very slow on the re-start, jacking up the field somewhat. This is caution number five.

Lap 80: There appears to have been a second incident earlier on the restart in Turn 3, when Darren Manning got spun out by Ryan Briscoe and into Vitor Meira.

Lap 83: “Whoever’s up there starting the race in the car, I don’t know what they’re doing,” says Briscoe to ESPN’s Jack Arute.

Lap 85: Buddy Rice to ESPN’s Brienne Pedigo: “I think I screwed up, that’s what it comes down to.”

Lap 86: Manning is behind the wall. The only one still standing after involvement in the two restart incidents is Meira, who is in 13th.

Lap 92: Patrick is slow on the restart, causing Kanaan and Castroneves to try and split around her in Turn 2. John Andretti and Vitor Meira then crash in Turn 2 for the sixth caution of the night.

Lap 94: Meira appeared to have been slowing into Turn 1 when Andretti tried to go under him and instead tagged him from behind to send them both into the Turn 2 wall.

Lap 97: Nine cars are out of the race.

Lap 101: 58 of 100 laps complete have ran under the yellow flag tonight.

Lap 103: Danica Patrick takes four tires, fuel, and gets a wing adjustment to try and correct an understeer problem on her No. 7 machine.

Lap 106: Vitor Meira to IMS Radio: “Everybody was having a really tough time on the restarts until when the tires came up to temp…[John Andretti] just pushed a little too hard.”

Lap 108: Restart. Kanaan tries to get by Camara on the restart but is unable to do so.

Lap 114: Marco Andretti gets by Kanaan for second place in Turn 2.

Lap 116: Marco gets to the inside of Camara and takes the lead, but Camara isn’t done with the American yet.

Lap 118: A failed pass for the lead by Camara causes Marco to open up his lead by multiple car lengths.

Lap 125: Marco’s opened up a two-second edge on Camara. Marty Roth is on pit road.

Lap 129: Marco is checking out. The lead is now four seconds.

Lap 133: Graham Rahal has crashed in Turn 4 after losing the back end of his machine in the middle of the corner. The mayhem continues as we go under caution numero siete.

Lap 136: Leaders hit the pits and Kanaan comes out first.

Lap 142: Restart. Castroneves and Camara are able to get by Patrick.

Lap 143: Caution again. Ryan Hunter-Reay and Mario Moraes’ cars are now stuck together in a busted mess.

Lap 145: Moraes got underneath RHR, but ended up T-boning him into the wall. Both drivers emerge unscathed but the American has some words for the Brazilian rookie as they both head into the Safety Crew’s medical car.

Lap 149: Dixon hits the pits in order to try and get him back up from ninth position on the track.

Lap 150: Halfway home, half the field gone. Just a nasty night.

Lap 153: RHR to Pedigo: “We were gonna salvage something tonight and we didn’t do that…It is what it is at the moment.”

Lap 156: Darren Manning has returned to the track.

Lap 158: Mutoh, Patrick and Dixon are in the pits for fuel top-offs.

Lap 165: Restart.

Lap 166: Dicey racing involving E.J. Viso and the leaders.

Lap 170: Your Top 5: Marco Andretti, Kanaan, Castroneves, Camara and Servia.

Lap 179: Wheldon has a moment coming out of Turn 2, but keeps the car off the wall. Briscoe is getting ready to head back out onto the track.

Lap 182: Briscoe returns to action. There are now 15 of 26 starters on the track.

Lap 185: Marco Andretti has gone over 110 laps on fuel; unless he gets a yellow shortly, he’ll have to make a green flag stop.

Lap 196: Marco will have to come in around Lap 204. Meanwhile, Mutoh and Patrick are about to go a lap down to Marco and Kanaan.

Lap 202: Patrick voices his displeasure at Mutoh over the radio.

Lap 205: Tires are out in Marco’s pit box.

Lap 206: Marco goes to pit road, but he needs to make sure that the race stays green or he’s toast. Four tires and fuel in 8.1 seconds. Kanaan inherits the lead.

Lap 209: Kanaan is probably going to hit the pits in about 20 laps…he’s gonna be close to 100 laps on this fuel load by then.

Lap 212: Kanaan, Castroneves, Camara, Servia and Wheldon make up the top five.

Lap 217: Camara’s stellar run is over after he crashes his No. 34 machine. The car got loose from him coming out of Turn 4 and his machine ended up at rest by the start/finish line.

Lap 220: Leaders come into the pits. Mutoh is out of the race after breaking the in his pit box and the team has told him to shut down the No. 27.

Lap 223: Kanaan, Castroneves, Wheldon, Servia and Dixon are your Top 5.

Lap 229: Restart. Kanaan gets a good jump on the green, while Dixon gets by Servia for fourth place.

Lap 243: Kanaan has stretched his lead over Castroneves to 1.47 seconds.

50 to go: Your Top Five is Kanaan, Castroneves, Wheldon, Dixon and Servia.  Danica Patrick is in sixth.

44 to go: Briscoe is making laps, but he’s also a bit slower than the leaders.

40 to go: Briscoe is coming back into pit lane. Meanwhile, rain is in the area but it’s moving to the north of Richmond International Raceway.

34 to go: Kanaan’s lead has dropped from four seconds to 3.4 seconds over Castroneves.

29 to go: The lead has jumped to over four seconds again for Kanaan. Of course, ESPN shows his incident at Homestead in March where he led by a comfortable margin only to sustain suspension damage in the last ten laps. Was that a jinx? Guess we’ll see…

20 to go: Castroneves continues to fade; he’s now six seconds behind Kanaan.

14 to go: This is Kanaan’s race to lose. Will luck finally be on his side tonight?

8 to go: Carpenter hits the pits and parks it for the night after salvaging as many points as he can following his early-race incident.

4 to go: Patrick is trying to get by Servia for the fifth spot, but can’t do it.

CHECKERED: Tony Kanaan wins the SunTrust Indy Challenge over Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Dan Wheldon and Oriol Servia!

Short track smackdown: IndyCars set to battle Richmond bullring

It’s all for one as AGR teammates help Kanaan grab pole

Perhaps this weekend will eventually stand as the time where Tony Kanaan truly came to grips with his role as Andretti Green Racing’s team leader.

After a great run at Iowa ended in a crash with less than 40 laps to go last week, the 2004 IndyCar Series champion decided to call a team meeting to discuss the problems that have threatened to dismantle AGR this season. He told IndyCar.com’s Dave Lewandowski about what led him to force the round table huddle:

“We had some moves on the team this year, had a rookie coming in and it took us a while to adjust. We always helped each other, but they’re all very young and I think we got caught into bad momentum and we didn’t sit down and talk.

“I’ve been in the team for the last six years and we did that a lot in the past, and that’s why I called that meeting.”

It looks like the pep talk paid off, because after Kanaan won the pole for tonight’s SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway with a four-lap average of 167.876 m.p.h., he credited his teammates Marco Andretti, Danica Patrick and Hideki Mutoh for the tenth pole of his IRL career:

“I have to thank my teammates, Danica, Marco and Hideki. Danica and Hideki came and tested here a few weeks ago, and I think it helped us a lot. Me and Marco worked really well together this morning trying to find a good setup, and it was really good.

“I’ve been in the front quite a lot, but I haven’t been able to accomplish things in the front. So we start all over again.”

AGR had a somewhat mixed qualifying session last night at RIR. Andretti was able to grab a front row spot with a four-lap average of 167.795 m.p.h., while Mutoh will start seventh and Patrick from 14th. But Marco still hailed the evening as “a great day for Andretti Green Racing:”

“We really nailed the setup on the Blockbuster car today, especially when you consider that we didn’t get proper runs in practice because we caught traffic each time…It’s good to start up front, especially at this place. Tony and I both have very good race cars, so I’m excited about tomorrow.”

Graham Rahal managed to grab a third-place starting position as numerous changes to his No. 06 Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing car worked out well for him during his four-lap blitz. He rattled off an average of 167.250 m.p.h. around the 3/4-mile, high-banked track.

After languishing in 22nd and 16th in the two pre-qualifying practice sessions respectively, the American driver said he only had to deal with a slight gearing problem that kept him from gunning for the pole. Still, he was thrilled with the unexpected result:

“Everything really came together for us in qualifying. We’ve been struggling here all weekend. Luckily, if it was going to come together at one point, it’s good that it’s in qualifying.

“It would be even better if it came together tomorrow. Obviously, it’s important to start up front here because it’s really hard to pass, so we’re pretty happy.”

Scott Dixon wasn’t quite as enthused with his qualifying effort, which saw him grab the fourth spot at an average speed of 167.120 m.p.h. He chalked it up to he and teammate Dan Wheldon having to go early in the qualifying order.

But with his closest rival in the championship Helio Castroneves stuck in the 18th starting position, the Indy 500 champ found a silver lining:

“Going earlier was a big problem for us tonight. As you can see, a lot of slower cars [in practice] went quicker than us at the end [of qualifying]. It’s tough but [the order] is drawn out of a hat, so maybe it will help us out later in the season.

“All in all, it looks pretty decent. The Target cars are quite far up, and the Penske cars are back a little bit, and we’ve got very good race cars.”

Buddy Rice and Wheldon will share Row 3 for tonight’s 300-lap affair. Row 4 belongs Mutoh and A.J. Foyt IV, who enters Richmond coming off a nice fifth-place finish at Iowa last week. Row 5 features two IndyCar rookies in Bruno Junqueira and Oriol Servia.

You can check out the full starting grid here. Now, let’s get to the picks.

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Chris’ picks

Favorites — Scott Dixon, Dan Wheldon, Tony Kanaan

Something tells me that Dixie’s right about he and Wheldon’s machines for the race. I mean, they finished second and third respectively in last year’s Richmond event. But considering that AGR utterly dominated the ‘07 Suntrust Indy Challenge with winner Dario Franchitti (who led 242 of 250 laps), Kanaan will definitely be in the hunt. He just needs the racing gods to smile on him for a change.

Contenders — Marco Andretti, Hideki Mutoh, Buddy Rice

Andretti’s third-place finish at Iowa should set him up rather nicely for tonight’s event; same goes for Mutoh, who performed admirably last week. They just need to keep out of trouble that may emerge with the bigger grid as well as the smaller pit boxes when they need to make a stop. Rice has been quietly plugging along and has rang up three top-10s in the past four weeks. He was fifth last year at Richmond. Keep an eye on him.

Dark horses — Graham Rahal, A.J. Foyt IV, John Andretti

I see three former Champ Car drivers in the top 10 on the grid — Rahal, Junqueira and Servia. While I think Servia can do well tonight, track position is track position and Rahal’s really going to appreciate his third-place start if he keeps his nose clean and comes to the end of the race somewhere in the top five.

I’m also betting that Foyt will have a load of confidence after finally netting a solid finish at Iowa, as well as the theory that 21 NASCAR Sprint Cup starts at RIR can give some sort of knowledge to Andretti for his first IndyCar start on the Virginia bullring.

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All quotes used in this article have been taken from last night’s trackside report unless otherwise noted and attributed. 

Heavy rain shortens second IndyCar practice at Richmond

Heavy rain and lightning has cut short the second practice session for the IndyCar Series at Richmond International Raceway as they prepare for tomorrow night’s SunTrust Indy Challenge.

Qualifying is scheduled to go off this evening at 7:30 p.m. ET.

In today’s first practice session, Ryan Hunter-Reay — who has not yet competed at Richmond before — topped the charts with a lap of 16.2003 seconds at 166.664 m.p.h. in the No. 17 Rahal Letterman Racing car. Following him closely was current points leader and reigning Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon, who turned in a lap of 16.2198 seconds at 166.463 m.p.h. in the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing machine.

Dixon would later lead the second practice session up to its abrupt conclusion. The New Zealander was slightly slower later in the afternoon with a time of 16.2366 seconds (166.291 m.p.h.). Buddy Rice, who was third in Practice One, was second in Practice Two (16.3271; 165.369).

Also, give a shout to IndyCar rookies E.J. Viso and Oriol Servia, who had never seen Richmond before this weekend. Viso was fourth in both practice sessions, while Servia climbed into the top five in the first practice session. Bruno Junqueira managed to overcome himself being the last driver on the track during Practice Two and break the top five in just seven laps of work.

The yellow flag is out right now, but remember to keep following IndyCar.com’s video streaming and Live Timing and Scoring for further updates.

The secret of success for the IRL’s “Big Three”?

Straight-line testing gets the job done for AGR, Penske, Ganassi

While I’m sure there’s more to the utter dominance of Andretti Green, Team Penske and Target Chip Ganassi Racing in the IndyCar Series, USA Today’s Nate Ryan may have found one really good reason why the Big Three have been that way for several years now.

It ain’t glamorous, but apparently, straight-line testing is working out for them. Ryan writes:

“Cars accelerate to 200 mph, then coast to a stop as teams calculate wind resistance and down force. Such information also can be gleaned from a wind tunnel, but straight-line testing affords better data collection because the readings occur while the car runs at speed.”

The Big Three are apparently the only ones that do this in the IRL, which heavily restricts testing but doesn’t rule out straight-line work. What’s more, while it’s meant to be a largely secretive art, it looks like Ganassi’s location for straight-line testing isn’t so secret after all.

Considering that the league won’t be trotting out a new car until 2011, maybe some of the smaller teams oughta find their own patch of asphalt for the time being.

Again, check out Ryan’s article. It’s a very interesting read, although I’m sure some people would rather not see this much attention given to it.

IndyCar rookies, Richmond newcomers get first taste of the bullring

IndyCar Series rookies, as well as drivers that haven’t yet competed at Richmond International Raceway, had a two-hour afternoon practice all to themselves today at the 3/4-mile bullring.

It didn’t take nearly as long for Oriol Servia to realize that Saturday’s SunTrust Indy Challenge is going to be one of the more unique obstacles he’ll have to face in his inaugural IndyCar season:

“I can see that the race must be really tough in traffic, because on your own already, everything is narrow, and you already have issues getting your marks. I can only imagine how it’s going to be like with 26 cars and dirty air and this and that.

“I can see that this is a place where you can make mistakes easily, so we’re going to have to keep our brain on top of the game.”

One day after he and teammate Will Power tested at Watkins Glen International, Servia topped the charts in today’s 90-minute rookie practice with a fast lap of 16.1392 seconds at 167.295 m.p.h. in the No. 5 KV Racing Technology car. Power was right behind him in second place with a time of 16.3453 seconds at 165.185 m.p.h. in the No. 8 Aussie Vineyards machine.

Four other drivers that haven’t raced at RIR before in an IndyCar — John Andretti (who has 21 NASCAR Sprint Cup starts at the track), Ryan Hunter-Reay, Townsend Bell and Marty Roth — opened the afternoon with a 30-minute block. Bell was the fastest of the foursome with a quick time of 16.6655 seconds at 162.011 m.p.h. in the No. 23 Dreyer and Reinbold Racing special.

Two afternoon practice sessions (12 - 1:45 p.m. ET, 3:15 - 5:15 p.m. ET) and qualifying (7:30 p.m. ET) will make up tomorrow’s preparation for Saturday’s 300-lap event (8 p.m. ET on ESPN, IMS Radio, XM Channels 144/145 and IndyCar.com).

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All quotes used in this article were taken from today’s trackside report.