KB- Is this prophetic or what?!! Check out the Excite Indy Car! One day it bounces off the wall, later crosses with THE FASTEST LAP TIME OF THE TRIALS BEATING ALL OTHERS!!!
Link is to picture of the car crashing. Story relates to the crash and then the recovery the next day to beat all other times. Not too shabby. See ATHM anywhere on the car?
excite.com
Indianapolis 500 notebook for Sunday, May 14
Updated 9:34 PM ET May 14, 2000
By Bruce Martin
SportsTicker Contributing Editor
INDIANAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Tyce Carlson, a driver in the Indy Racing Northern Light Series, was involved in the first serious crash since practice for the 84th Indianapolis 500 began on Saturday.
With 32 minutes left in today's practice session, Carlson hit the outside wall in the exit of turn 1, skidded across the short chute, and stopped alongside the inside wall at the entrance of the first turn.
Eyewitness reports indicated Carlson was knocked out from the crash, but Dr. Henry Bock, director of medical affairs for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indy Racing League, said Carlson was conscious and alert. He was transferred to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis for further examination after complaining of pain in his left ankle.
Carlson was admitted with a concussion and his condition is listed as good. He also suffered a contusion on his left ankle. His driving status will be determined sometime midweek by Bock.
CHEEVER FASTEST OF THE DAY: Eddie Cheever, the 1998 Indianapolis 500 winner, was the fastest driver of the day when he ran a lap at 220.881 miles per hour on the final lap of practice before the track closed at 6 p.m. Central Daylight Time.
Cheever had a brake caliper problem that caused him to crash on Saturday. He was quickly able to rebound from that setup and put the Infiniti engine on top of the speed chart at Indianapolis for the first time ever.
"It's kind of like having the best grades on the first day of school, but today was a lot of fun," Cheever said. "Today was for the mechanics. They have worked really hard. The Excite@home car wasn't perfect, we had some push in turn 2 - and the westerly wind was making things very tricky. The winds will actually move you over about 10 feet going through the corners, and it's not a nice feeling when you are going 230 miles per hour.
"You have to take a deep breath and hope the car sticks all the way around. The Infiniti engine was just tremendous today, we are extremely pleased with the performance of the Firestone tires and the Dallara chassis is handling very well."
Cheever admitted some carryover affects from Saturday's crash in the second turn wall. A piece in the car broke and the same thing happened on Greg Ray's car before he went out on the track, so his team was able to correct the problem without any damage.
"I woke up this morning feeling sore after hitting the wall yesterday in turn 2," Cheever said. "I was also a little bit (ticked) off that something as silly as that happened. We're not quite sure why the rear flange broke and the left tire opened, but Dallara and Pankel (a parts manufacturer which built the drive flange) are analyzing those pieces to try to find the reason. I know that everybody was sent a bulletin because I had two teams come and ask us what happened to us, but I would have liked to have had that information yesterday when it happened to Greg Ray before I went out.
"If we would have known, we wouldn't have had that accident. But as they say, there is no point in closing the barn door after the bull has already bolted. In our case, that little mishap knocked us back about two days."
Cheever beat Al Unser Jr. for fastest time of the day. Unser had run a lap at 220.686 mph.
"I find it so funny that people think Al is done, that he is washed up, he's finished," Cheever said. "As far as I know, Unsers give up when they want to give up. I do get great pleasure out of beating the redhead today."
Robby McGehee was third quick at 219.780 in a G Force/Aurora followed by Scott Sharp's 219.769 in a Dallara/Aurora and Buddy Lazier's 219.453 in a Dallara/Aurora.
Thirty-six different cars participated in Sunday's practice session.
Yadda, yadda, yadda then...
LINE OF THE DAY: Team owner A.J. Foyt had this to say about Tony George Jr., the teenage son of Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Tony George.
"Are you still playing hockey," Foyt asked.
"Yes, sir," George said.
"You still have all your teeth, so you must not be playing very good," Foyt said.
Perhaps with TJ out, others too and new management boarding, the Virginia courts ruling, and ten thousand other 'little positives we are getting off the ground. |
