IRL Day Part 2/ Pro Series Preview/ Toyota Pit Stop

IRL Day in the Blog Part 2
We continue our preview of the IRL’s 2006 season with a look at the Indy Pro Series, formally the Menards Infiniti Pro Series but first lets look at today’s top stories.

Traction Control
TrackSide Online.com is reporting that the Indy Racing League is looking at the possibility of the Indy Car Series utilizing traction control this season. I believe TC would be a good thing for 2006 as long as the IRL had a good way to police the new tool.

Where is the Marlboro Man?
If you saw footage on ESPN of Rusty Wallace testing the Marlboro Team Penske car, you might have noticed that it did not have any Marlboro markings. According to a reporter for TrackSide Online that I spoke with this morning, the reason for the missing Marlboro logos had to do with the laws governing the amount of exposure a cigarette company can have on TV and in the media. According to the reporter, the team changed clothes and the car was started at the end of pit road away from the pit box so the Marlboro logos would not be visible. The logos will return for the actual races. Wallace turned 8 laps on the 2.21 mile road course at Homestead Thursday.

“I had a good time,” said Wallace. “I feel like I need to breathe a little while and then try it again. I need to talk to Penske about running a third car at Indy. You never know.”

Expect Wallace to drive the Indy Experience two-seater at each IndyCar Series event kind of like what NBC and FOX does with their ride-a-longs on their NASCAR broadcasts. Hopefully, there will be no screaming like the hideous Wally’s World on NBC. Rusty Wallace will join Marty Reid and Scott Goodyear in the broadcast booth this year. Reid, Goodyear, Jack Arute, Jamie Little and Dr. Jerry Punch were in the garages Thursday talking to teams and preparing for the 2006 season.

Penske on Top
Wallace’s former teammates with Penske, Helio Castroneves and Sam Hornish Jr. topped the speed charts Thursday. Castroneves turned the fastest lap of the day of 1 minute, 11.0146 seconds, 112.033 mph, on the 2.21 mile road course while Hornish Jr., was second fastest with a lap of 1:11.1228, 111.863 mph.

Here is a list of the top ten practice times:
1 Helio Castroneves (3) ... 71.0146
2 Sam Hornish Jr. (6) 0.1082 71.1228
3 Scott Dixon (9) 0.3375 71.3521
4 Dan Wheldon (10) 0.5346 71.5492
5 Vitor Meira (4) 0.6619 71.6765
6 Tony Kanaan (11) 0.692 71.7066
7 Dario Franchitti (27) 0.7195 71.7341
8 Kosuke Matsuura (55) 1.0384 72.053
9 Buddy Rice (15) 1.0882 72.1028
10 Bryan Herta (7) 1.1829 72.1975

IRL Indy Pro Series Preview
The fifth season of the Indy Racing League Indy Pro Series will bring several changes. Most notably, the series prize money has tripled to $3 million. The series champion will have to master an equal number of road courses and ovals (6-6). 2005 champion, Wade Cunningham will return driving for Brian Stewart Racing. As we have previously reported, the IRL has new testing rules that allow IndyCar Series teams more testing time if they field Indy Pro Series teams. The rules also make it easier for IPS drivers to gain test time in IndyCar seats. The fifth season of Indy Pro Series competition opens with the Miami 100 at 12:30pm on March 26 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The race will be telecast at 1pm on March 31 by ESPN2.

Dodge Report
TSO reports that Knoxville National Rookie driver Geoff Dodge will run ovals this season. He is seeking funding to run the road courses as well. TSO says that Dodge has moved to Indianapolis for the season and is in the process of finding a sprint car ride presumably in the Indy area for this season.

Indy Pro Series
Car Driver Hometown C/E/T Entrant
1 Wade Cunningham Auckland, New Zealand D/S/F Brian Stewart Racing
2 Matthew Hamilton (R) Christchurch, New Zealand D/S/F Dave McMillan Racing
3 Brett Van Blankers (R) New Westminster, British Columbia D/S/F Brian Stewart Racing
4 Marty Roth Toronto D/S/F Roth Racing
6 Jon Herb Chicago D/S/F Racing Professionals
7 Jay Howard (R) Basildon, England D/S/F Sam Schmidt Motorsports
8 Mishael Abbott Coral Springs, Fla. D/S/F Michael Crawford Motorsports
8 P.J. Abbott (R) Grand Prairie, Texas D/S/F Michael Crawford Motorsports
8 Troy Hanson (R) Hollywood, Calif. D/S/F Michael Crawford Motorsports
8 Jamie Morrow (R) London, England D/S/F Michael Crawford Motorsports
8 Jimmy Pagliese (R) Manhasset, NY D/S/F Michael Crawford Motorsports
11 Jaime Camara Goiania, Goias, Brazil D/S/F Andretti Green Racing
27 Jonathan Klein (R) Long Grove, Ill. D/S/F Andretti Green Racing
33 Geoff Dodge (R) Colorado Springs, Colo. D/S/F Brian Stewart Racing
41 Travis Gregg Camden, Ohio D/S/F Guthrie Racing
42 Jeff Simmons Hartford, Conn. D/S/F Kenn Hardley Racing
51 Chris Festa Atlanta D/S/F Cheever Racing

Toyota Pit Stop
The creative folks at Toyota have come up with a pit stop game on theirwebsite. http://www.toyota.com/motorsports/pitpass/game.html My best time was 30.879