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Wheldon Leads Rain-Shortened Day At Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS, Wednesday, May 9, 2007 ? Dan Wheldon took all of seven laps to lay down the fastest lap of the month at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway ? 226.391 mph (39.7543 seconds) ? during a rain-abbreviated second day of practice for the 91st Indianapolis 500.

Helio Castroneves certainly wouldn’t allow that to go unchallenged, ripping off a 225.820 mph lap in the No. 3 Team Penske Dallara/Honda/Firestone, as Happy Hour wound down.

The procession of “top that speed” began in earnest as the May 12 run for the AAMCO Transmissions Pole Award and the first 11 spots draws neigh. Wheldon’s Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, Scott Dixon, was third (224.902 mph) in the No. 9 Honda-powered Dallara, while Marco Andretti jumped to fourth (224.745). Tony Kanaan (224.112) was fifth in the No. 11 Team 7-Eleven car, and defending champion Sam Hornish Jr. (224.054 was sixth).

Twenty-six driver/car combinations recorded 680 total laps during the two-hour window without incident. The No. 77 Chastain Motorsports Panoz/Honda/Firestone made a pit road appearance, but Stephan Gregoire didn’t get on the track.

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FASTEST SPEEDS OF DAY

Pos. Car Name C/E/T Speed

1 10 Dan Wheldon D/H/F 226.391 mph

2 3 Helio Castroneves D/H/F 225.820 mph

3 9 Scott Dixon D/H/F 224.902 mph

4 26 Marco Andretti D/H/F 224.745 mph

5 11 Tony Kanaan D/H/F 224.112 mph

6 6 Sam Hornish Jr. D/H/F 224.054 mph

7 27 Dario Franchitti D/H/F 223.844 mph

8 2 Tomas Scheckter D/H/F 223.539 mph

9 7 Danica Patrick D/H/F 223.476 mph

10 55 Kosuke Matsuura D/H/F 223.331 mph

POST-PRACTICE NOTES:

ESPN on ABC’s live telecast of the 91st running of the Indianapolis 500 will be in high definition via Sony high-definition broadcast technology, a first for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” The race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway will be run on Sunday, May 27 beginning at 1 p.m. (ET).

In addition to the race telecast, coverage of both weekends of qualifying on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN on ABC also will be presented in HD. ABC will cover the Indianapolis 500 for the 43rd year in 2007, extending the second-longest relationship in television history between a sporting event and television network. Only The Masters and CBS have been together longer.

Sony is supporting the production of the 2007 Indianapolis 500 through its longstanding relationship with IMS Productions, which has and will continue to feature Sony state-of-the-art technology at its headquarters and will be expanding that technological reach into further HD efforts in the years ahead. The Sony broadcast and production equipment to be used includes a “matrix” flypack, designed by All Mobile Video and consisting of Sony HDC-1500 cameras, an MVS-8000A switcher, an array of Sony professional displays and SRW decks for storing HD content.

JOHN WILDHACK (Executive vice president, programming and acquisitions, ESPN): “The start of the Indianapolis 500 is one of the most dramatic moments in sports, and providing flag-to-flag coverage of ‘The Greatest Spectacle in Racing’ in high definition will add to our viewers’ enjoyment of the race.”

ROBERT WILLOX (Director of content creation group, Sony Electronics): “We consider the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race the kind of world-class event that will come to life like never before in HD technology. We are pleased to be working with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the IndyCar Series and IMS Productions to bring fans the brilliant video produced by Sony HD broadcast technology.”

JOIE CHITWOOD (Indianapolis Motor Speedway president and chief operating officer): “One of the most frequent requests from our fans is a high-definition telecast of the Indianapolis 500, and we’re thrilled to fulfill that demand,” said “This will bring home the color, pageantry and excitement of ‘The Greatest Spectacle in Racing’ in vivid detail to the ever-growing numbers of homes with HD sets.”

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