Dixon Leads Practice on ?Fast Friday? at Indianapolis

May 11, Indianapolis – Target Chip Ganassi team proved to the racing world that they are the favorites for tomorrow?s running for the Pole Position for the 91st running of the Indianapolis 500. Scott Dixon led the final day of practice with quick time. Dixon was the first over the 227 mph barrier this month as he set a fast time of 227.167mph, 39.618 seconds. Dixon set the fast time at 1:10 pm. Teammate Dan Wheldon was second fastest at 226.650 mph. Andretti-Green Racing driver Tony Kanaan was third at 226.236 mph.

Dixon was happy with the session, “I think this morning as everyone could see lots of people were running early on the track when it was cooler. There was pretty good grip because it hasn’t rained that much. On our first run we had a bit of understeer and for our second one, we took some wing out, and it just went quicker. We got a bit of a tow off of Sam (Hornish) Jr. and got a 227. (About qualifying): “Clean laps, healthy cars on the track, time of day (will affect things). I think both of our cars are very quick at the moment. (Tony Kanaan) looks very strong. I think just running the speeds he did out there looked pretty clean. Last year, the groups were quite split, and you didn’t have people to work with. I think it is easy to start a lap but then fight traffic quietly on a run and you normally get to see what passes over the length of four laps. We were even talking about it in the meeting early this morning about not running those decisions. I think we will have to do at least one base line but not get too caught up to them.”

Rookie Milka Duno made heavy contact with the short chute wall between turns one and two just before 2pm local time (EST). Duno escaped injury though her car had heavy damage to the rear.

Team Penske was quiet today as defending Indy 500 Champion Sam Hornish, Jr. was not in the top-five. Hornish ended the session as sixth fastest at 225.587 as teammate Helio Castroneves was ninth fastest at 224.26. Vision Racing?s Ed Carpenter was eighth fastest at 225.015 mph and teammate Tomas Scheckter also was in the top-ten at 224.215 mph. All regular Andretti-Green drivers were in the top-seven (Kanaan, Marco Andretti, Dario Franchitti and Danica Patrick) and co-team owner Michael Andretti was 14th fastest. Ryan Briscoe who was is driving the Symantec Luczo-Dragon team which is being operated by Team Penske?s ALMS team was 12th fastest. A.J. Foyt Racing ABC Supply driver Darren Manning was 11th quick.

Jon Herb made his first on-track appearance since hitting the wall on Tuesday.

Practice for 91st Indianapolis 500 Day 6

Session Time: 6h 38m 27s

Laps: 1263

FASTEST SPEEDS OF DAY

Pos. Car Name C/E/T Speed

1 9 Scott Dixon D/H/F 227.167 mph

2 10 Dan Wheldon D/H/F 226.650 mph

3 11 Tony Kanaan D/H/F 226.236 mph

4 26 Marco Andretti D/H/F 226.230 mph

5 27 Dario Franchitti D/H/F 226.189 mph

6 6 Sam Hornish Jr. D/H/F 225.587 mph

7 7 Danica Patrick D/H/F 225.295 mph

8 20 Ed Carpenter D/H/F 225.015 mph

9 3 Helio Castroneves D/H/F 224.726 mph

10 2 Tomas Scheckter D/H/F 224.215 mph

The 2007 IndyCar Series season continues with the 91st running of the Indianapolis 500 at 1 p.m. (ET) on May 27. The race will be telecast live by ABC and broadcast by the IMS Radio Network. The IMS Radio Network broadcast also is carried on XM Satellite Radio and www.indycar.com. The sixth season of Indy Pro Series competition continues with the Freedom 100 on May 25 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The race will be telecast as part of ESPN2’s coverage of Carb Day at 4 p.m. on May 25.

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.

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