INDIANAPOLIS 500 RACE
REPORT
INDIANAPOLIS
May 27, 2007--In one of the most competitive and crazy
Indianapolis 500s in years, the ABC Supply team was
competitive but suffered from the crazy aspects of the race
as well. With full-time driver Darren Manning starting 15th
and two-time Indy 500 winner Al Unser Jr. starting 25th, the
team was looking forward to a strong race.
It started out well with both cars running competitive lap
times, albeit on the conservative side, as they settled in
for the long distance run. The craziness started for the ABC
team with their first pit stop at the end of lap 13, brought
on by track debris.
Ahead
of Unser on the track, Manning had pitted first and was
leaving his pit when teammate Unser pulled into his own pit
box seconds before. Manning struck Dan Brown, the right rear
tire man on teammate Unser’s crew. Brown’s foot was
fractured in the mishap and will require surgery to repair.
It was very unfortunate for the former full-time member of
Foyt’s crew who has filled in for Foyt off and on since
departing the team three years ago.
Unser’s crew had problems on their stop with plugging in the
fuel (a problem that several other teams experienced in the
race) causing their stop to go long. The next couple of
stops went without incident for Manning but he was
complaining about his car being very loose on his fourth
stint and owner Foyt called him in a couple laps early to
correct the loose condition which caused Manning to drop
from 13th to 16th in three laps.
A
yellow came out for the fourth crash of the day as Manning
was leaving his pit box. Had the team not pitted early,
Manning would have been sitting in eighth position and could
have pitted under yellow. As it was he emerged in 20th. By
the time the caution period had turned to red, Manning
picked up three positions and was in 17th when the rain came
the first time.
The rain stopped, the track was dried and the race was
resumed, renewing the hope of the No. 14 team. Unser’s car
was not a factor in the race because of the time they lost
in the first half. He soldiered through it , getting as much
as he could out of the No. 50 ABC Supply car. He would
eventually finish 26th.
“I just want to thank A.J. for giving me the opportunity to
run,” he said afterwards. “Once we got through a couple of
pit stops, we started to even things out. After the red
flag, we finally made some good stops, and ran pretty good
after that. We finally got the car right. It’s a shame the
race had to end under red flag with the rain. I hope that we
can come back and be together again next year and have a
better run,” said the two-time Indy champ.
On the restart of the race, the No. 14 team pitted to be on
a different fuel strategy which would have worked in their
favor had they not stretched the next stint one lap too
many. Manning ran out of fuel coming off turn two and
coasted into the pits. It took him a minute, forty seconds
to complete the sequence under green flag conditions costing
him two laps and any chance for a top-10 finish.
After that miscue, the strategy became one of just avoid
trouble and finish the race. It was the one strategy that
worked in their favor as Manning sliced through the major
accident caused by Marco Andretti clipping Dan Wheldon.
Andretti spun, rode over a wheel and flipped down the
backstretch in a spectacular accident. He emerged uninjured,
giving vivid testimony to the improved safety of today’s
Indy cars.
The rain came again on the lap the race restarted and it
finished in a heavy downpour; 166 of the scheduled 200 laps
were completed. Dario Franchitti claimed the checkers in a
popular victory for the personable Scotsman. Second through
fifth were Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves, Sam Hornish and
Ryan Briscoe.
Manning placed 20th.
“It was a very crazy race and a very unfortunate one for us.
I never hit so many bad luck spots in one race,” he said
afterwards. “I didn’t know I hit a crewman, I’m very sorry
about that. I actually thought it was the tire. I hope Dan
will be alright.
“We had a push in the car and we were adjusting for that and
then in the middle of one run, the car went loose all of a
sudden. We pitted a little early and immediately after, the
yellow came dropping us from 9th to 17th and then the rain
came. So we were battling the backmarkers on the restarts
[due to track position] and they were slower but still hard
to overtake. Then we ran out of fuel trying to stretch it a
bit and we lost two laps which probably cost us a top 10
finish. I’m happy with the speed of the car—we’re going
forward with that and that’s primary. Now that we are
running closer to the front, the little mistakes are costing
us a lot. We’ve got to address that and make things better
every time out.”
When asked about the race and the Indiana weather, Manning
said, ““I've never seen anything like it. I talked to Al
(Jr.) and A.J. – those guys have a lot of races around here
– and they said that no two races are ever the same here. I
think they just proved it today. It rains, it dries, and it
rains again. We go around 40 mile per hour aquaplaning. I
thought I’d never see that in my life.”
With A.J. Foyt’s 50th Indianapolis 500 in the record books,
he and his ABC Supply team are focusing on the upcoming ABC
Supply A.J. Foyt 225 at the Milwaukee Mile. The race will be
televised live this Sunday, June 3rd, on ABC-TV starting at
4:00 pm eastern time.
AL UNSER JR. QUALIFIES
FOR HIS 19TH INDIANAPOLIS 500
INDIANAPOLIS May 19, 2007 – Al Unser Jr. qualified
for his 19th Indianapolis 500 driving A.J. Foyt’s No.50 ABC
Supply Dallara/Honda with a four-lap average speed of
220.876 mph. He will start on the inside of row nine in the
25th spot. His teammate Darren Manning qualified the No. 14
ABC Supply Dallara/Honda on the first weekend; he will start
15th, on the outside of row five.
“Well, the run was pretty
good," said Unser, Jr. in the post-qualifying press
conference. "I’m a tenth slower than what I ran last Sunday
for the four-lap average. You know, the conditions were a
little bit worse today. Turn 1’s a little bit loose. Then,
Turn 2, the way the wind’s blowing, it’s washing the front
end out over there. So, it took the run to get my bars set,
and really, the last lap, we let it loose and opened it up
and it ran a good lap. So I was happy. We were getting
faster every lap. At least we’re going in the right
direction. It was a good run. I’m glad it’s in. I was a
little bit careful with it.”
Unser Jr. has won the 500
twice: in 1992 and 1994, driving for Rick Galles and Roger
Penske respectively. He almost won it in 1989 for Galles
when battling Emerson Fittipaldi for the checkered. The two
touched wheels going through turn three, sending Unser to
the wall and Fittipaldi to victory lane. When he came back
in 1992, he edged out Scott Goodyear by .043 seconds, a
record for the closest finish that still stands.
In his past 18 starts at
the Speedway, Unser, Jr. recorded seven top-five and 10
top-ten finishes.
“Experience is a plus
here,” said the second-generation Indy car driver. “There’s
a reason why there was an old guard here for so long. Uncle
Bobby, dad (Al, Sr.), A.J., Johnny Rutherford, Mario. . . .
The cars kept getting safer and those guys were tough to
beat. They were tough to beat because they had 20 years of
experience under their belts. Hopefully, that’s on our side
now. The formulas of the cars have changed dramatically from
the ‘80’s. Now the engineers are telling the drivers how to
drive. Back then, the driver came in and told the engineer
everything. Now, the engineer plugs in his laptop and tells
you what’s going on.”
Unser, Jr. doesn’t regret
the changes and feels the cars today are easier to drive
than when he first started racing in the early ‘80s.
“These cars handle so much
better in traffic,” he said. “You can feel these cars, so
there’s no surprises, and they’re safer in every aspect.
“The experience helps a
little bit,” said Unser, who turned 45 April 19th. He added,
“The victories don’t help at all. That was then, and this is
now. There’s a lot of similarities, but there’s a lot of
differences. We just enjoy racing. I love the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway. I love the Indy 500, and this year has been
really special because of who I’m driving for. You, know,
‘The King’ is working on my car, and I’m getting to talk to
him, and we’re having a lot of fun. That’s what racing’s
about is having a good time, having fun and enjoying
yourself. With A.J. Foyt working on my car, that’s exactly
what it is.”
Both drivers will be on
track the final day of practice. Manning who practiced in
race trim today, will practice pit stops on Bump Day. Unser
Jr. will work on race trim and finish up with pit stop
practice.
The next day that the cars
are on track will be Carb Day, Friday, May 25th. The Indy
500 takes place on Sunday, May 27th starting at 1 p.m. on
ABC-TV. The pre-race show starts at noon.
DARREN MANNING PUTS THE
NO. 14 IN THE 500; AL UNSER JR. TO QUALIFY NEXT WEEK
INDIANAPOLIS May 13 –
Darren Manning can rest easy. He qualified the No. 14 ABC
Supply Dallara/Honda at an average speed of 223.471 mph to
start 15th in the 91st Running of the
Indianapolis 500. Al Unser Jr.’s initial qualifying attempt
today—220.963 mph—didn’t hold up and he will qualify again
this coming Saturday.
After coming so close to
making it in the race the first day (missing by only 13
hundredths of a mile an hour over a four-lap average),
Darren Manning did not sleep very well Saturday night.
“I wish we had this car
yesterday,” said Manning in his post-qualifying interview.
“I really feel we would have had some low 24s with this car
in yesterday’s conditions. I didn’t sleep very well last
night…No one really likes qualifying around here—I think if
you like qualifying around here, you’re going too slow.
“It’s been my feeling all
year that when we’ve made the car drive better, we’ve gone
faster,” he continued. “But there was no sense pushing it
today, we just wanted to get it in the show solid and we did
that. Now we can focus on race set-up.”
Manning did go out later
in the day to test some race set-ups and ran consistently in
the 220-221 mph range. The ABC Supply team will begin
fine-tuning when the track opens up for practice on
Wednesday.
Unser will also work on
race set-ups in the No. 50 ABC Supply Dallara/Honda after he
finds a comfortable qualifying set-up.
“There was definitely no
white-knuckling in the qualifying run, and I’m not gonna
have it there, either,” said the two-time Indy 500 winner.
“We tried a little bit less wing this morning, and it made
the back end a little bit too light for my comfort, and so
we put it back in there. We were searching for more speed
and I just wasn’t confident enough in everything to put that
much on the line for one or two mile an hour when the best
we can do is 12th today. Like my dad said, two,
three, four cars in front of you, where you start isn’t
gonna make any difference. I got a ton of people in front of
me already. We’ll get it in the show, and we’ll get
comfortable with it.”
When asked about driving
for A.J. at Indy, Unser replied, “It’s a real honor to be
driving for A.J., with his 50th anniversary at
Indy, and they tell me I’m his 50th driver, so
that’s cool. There are some car owners you want to drive for
in your career, and A.J. is just one of them.”
The cars will practice
from noon to 6 pm Wednesday through Friday with qualifying
scheduled to start at noon on Saturday for positions 23
through 33. Final Bump Day for the race will be Sunday, May
20.
DARREN MANNING BARELY
MISSES TOP 11 ON POLE DAY AT INDY
INDIANAPOLIS May 12, 2007—Darren Manning barely
missed being locked into the top 11 qualifiers today at
Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Manning’s four-lap average
speed of 222.656 mph was just 13 hundredths of a mile an
hour short of Michael Andretti’s 222.789 average speed.
“Our car was really good, really free and pretty trimmed out
for us but I think I had another half a mile an hour or more
if I had chosen the right top gear,” said Manning
afterwards. “The problem is that you only get one out lap
and you’re getting up to speed and trying to hang on to your
tires while deciding which top gear to use based on the wind
conditions,, the shadows on the track and everything. I just
chose the wrong one and that cost us a little bit of time.
But, the important thing is, we are heading in the right
direction.”
Manning will attempt to qualify tomorrow along with Al Unser
Jr. in Foyt’s second entry,the No. 50 ABC Supply Dallara/Honda.
Positions 12 through 22 will be locked in tomorrow.
With the new qualifying format at Indy finally being used in
its third year (rain on pole day the last two years negated
the new format), the drama for the pole position came down
to the final hour.
Dario Franchitti had been on pole for most of the day with
his early qualifying run of 225.191 mph. However, Helio
Castroneves took the pole late in the day with an average
speed of 225.817 mph. Tony Kanaan was on track when the gun
went off but his run fell short of the pole. He will start
in the middle of the front row with his speed of 225.757
mph. Franchitti starts third.
A.J. FOYT RACING GETS
ON TRACK AT INDY
INDIANAPOLIS May 10, 2007 -- A.J. Foyt’s ABC Supply
Racing team took to the track in earnest today at
Indianapolis Motor Speedway as preparations continue for A.J.
Foyt’s 50th straight Indy 500.
Darren Manning popped into the speed charts at 14th quickest
with a speed of 223.693 mph and called it a day with about
10 minutes to go. A couple other cars bumped him down to
16th when the checkered came at 6 p.m. It was his first day
of practice as the team was still putting the finishing
touches on the brand new No. 14 Dallara/Honda.
Al Unser, Jr. continues to improve his speed in the No. 50
ABC Supply/Dallara/Honda. He is currently 25th in the
standings with a speed of 218.466 mph.
“At least we’re in the ballpark with Darren’s car and I’m
confident we’ll get there with Al’s car,” said team owner
A.J. Foyt at the end of the day. “We haven’t trimmed out for
speed yet.”
The team has one more full day of practice before qualifying
for the 500 begins on Saturday, May 12th at 12 noon.
