Indy 500 *Live*

Ok… so I’m playing catch up now. Damn real life scheduling a meeting on the morning of the race. Gah! ooooooh! Awesome fucking camera shot there!!! Alright, where was I… so ya, had to work this morning, slept in, had time to throw on clothes and run out the door. (literally was awoken by my boss saying “I’m about a minute away” oops.) So, didn’t manage to set my PVR for anything. Missed the F1 race completely, missed the start of the race, ran in the door on lap 12 I think.

Anyway, here I am, lap 33. Looks like everyone is still running. Bruno had mirror issues. (poor bastard and his shitty luck). Sarah had a brain fart and spun herself on the yellow, tossing her back to the back of the pack.

1:45pm – Lap 36
Oh Damn… Graham Rahal finds the wall coming out of turn 4. No story book finish for one of the pedigreed ones. Holy crap that was a hard hit. He’s out and fine. Next year buddy… next year.

1:49pm – Pit stops
The princess had a bad stop, and they tried to Bar-B-Q AJ Foyt IV. Dayum, If I were him I’d be trying to figure out who I had pissed off on the crew as they have been trying to cook him all month.

1:55pm – still under yellow
They are trying to clean off Foyt’s car and putting him back out there (get out the basting brush…)
Graham is cleared, turns out Daddy’s driver was the cause of Graham’s wreck… nice

1:59pm – Lap 45
Green green green! Apparently we don’t care who is leading, it’s all about the princess winning 13th… :rolleyes:
The TCGR boys are duking it out with each other, and Ka-nose is going along for the ride.
Going into the commercial break (or Danica pimping products/self break) the top five are:
Dixon
Wheldon
Kanaan
Andretti (does he get “the call” this year?)
Scheckter

2:08pm – Lap 58 – back from commercial
Damn, I love that overhead pitlane camera shot. The crowd looks massive! I’ve not watched for years, so I have no gauge as to improved attendance or not, but they seem to be unafraid of showing the stands, so it must be good.

2:09pm – lap 60 – Caution 3
Marty Roth runs out of talent *mocks surprise* (could be moving chicane Lazier’s fault)
Twinkle toes ran over debris, snapped his front wing. Love how the crack broadcasting team of fucking talking heads are trying to compare the “preparation” of Penske vs DCR. Unfucking believable. Not even going to bother going into it. God I hate these guys.
Commercial…

2:30pm – still under caution.
Buddy Rice clips Manning in the pits (seriously these guys are like the fucking Keystone Cops when it comes to pit stops)
Hey Marty, nice bald spot dude! (explain to me again why Jay Howard isn’t in the car?)
Still cleaning the track… Back to commercial

2:24pm – Lap 69 -still under caution
blah blah blah… Dixon/Wheldon teammates helping each other… hmmm… 300,000+ in attendance apparently.

2:29pm – Lap 73
Green green green (lets see how long this lasts…)

2:34pm – Lap 80 – Yellow #4
Apparently 7 laps…
Camara runs out of talent (surprised it took him this long to be honest) Hits the wall not once, but twice. (hey, go big or go home right?)(or in this case go big AND go home)
Clean up, commercial, blah blah blah (geesh, I rushed home for this???)

2:42pm – Pit stops
The Princess picks up 2 spots (getting around RHR) Everyone else clean. Boring. back to commercial.
*looks longing outside thinking perhaps I should go for a walk…)

2:46pm – still under caution
Camara gives a shout out to his sponsor while describing the crash and track conditions.
The princess is whining about something…
Now were talking to the princesses crew chief…
WGAF?!
I’m out of beer… damn.
yay, Nascar commercial!!! LOL!

2:55pm – Lap 92
back from commercial, cheesy promo (vomit)
Green green green
Kanose has become the filling in the TCGR sammich… er, wow, takes the lead and pulls away.

3:11pm – *interjection of personal opinion*
the timing and scoring on IndyCar.com sucks donkey balls. Fuck. It crashes my fucking browser everytime. Just give me simple, html, timing. That’s all I need. Fuckers.

3:12pm – Under caution (surprise surprise)
lets see… just after Kanose took the lead, Tile Teeth started to fade and Andretti the lesser and Scheckter slingshotted by. Went to commercial.
Come back from commercial, Kanose is in the wall, Sarah Fisher is in the wall, Whindretti looks pissed and has nothing to say in explanation.
Andretti the lesser made a move on Kanose, taking his air and forcing him into the marbles and the wall, after which Fisher, with no where to go, collected him.

3:14pm – Poor Kanose. Can’t win for losing. He’s pissed at his teammate (rightly so) but has nothing but sympathy for Sarah Fisher. (apparently she was sobbing in the ambulance on the way to the medical centre)

3:19pm – still under caution
while playing a pre-taped clip of the drivers talking about focus, we come back live to Jeff Simmons driving into the wall under caution… BWHAHAHAHA!
Weird.
This is a tiresome race… enough with the cautions! 49 yellow flag laps… zzzzzzzzzzzz

3:23pm – back from commercial
Sarah Fisher is breaking my heart…

Green green green.
Servia turns into a wild man! Go get the Princess!!! LOL

Andretti the lesser is in second. If this arrogant little prick gets the call, I may rethink my coverage of IndyCar. It’s too damn obvious.

3:27pm – 79 laps to go
Andretti the lesser takes the lead. I can feel the bile building up in the back of my throat.
Come on Snotty! Get him!

3:35pm – 68 laps to go
Justin Wilson into the wall. Not much damage to the car. Rear wing knocked off and dragging.
Ass end slipped out on him and spun him around, slid across the grass and hit the inside wall.
He’s out and headed for the mandatory medical centre clearance check. Disappointing.

3:39pm – pit stops
Come on Snotty, clean stop, get the little bastard. Ugh… oh well, get him on the restart.
Ed Carpenter runs out of talent in the pits. Gear shift issues. Welcome to the back of the pack Ed.

3:41pm – under caution…
Mario Moraes is in the lead!!! bwahahahahahaha!! I love Dale Coyne!! He does this with his young protege’s to give them a since of pride and confidence! Go Mario Go! (the restart could be sketchy however)

3:44pm – under caution
Justin Wilson is fine. Was experimenting with his lines. Apparently the experiment failed.
The Princess is whining again… Apparently she’s sloooooooooooow.

3:45pm – 61 laps to go
Green green green!
Mario Moraes is being picked off one by one, no surprise. Bless his rookie heart that must be in his throat right now. Almost kisses the wall.
Snotty gets the lesser on the re-start. Come on Snotty!!!

3:53pm – 50 to go
Mario Moraes has white walled the tires again, and is driving waaaaaaaaaaay off the pace. (likely will be parked)

3:55pm – Lap 145 – Caution out – Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!
Dayum! Lloyd into the wall out of turn 4 then careens across the track and down pitlane. Miraculously no one else is collected or injured. Lloyd is out and fine.
Do you think that the pit crews are rethinking their professions this month???
Commercial for clean up.

4:00pm – still under caution
Pitlane is now open. Dixon out first. Andretti the lesser lost 2 more positions.
Commercial.

4:02pm – side by side
Wheldon looks like he’s having problems, Sheckter is out!! Oh major suckage!!!! Broken drive shaft! He was running 3rd! Heartbreak!

4:06pm – 41 laps to go
They completely miss the restart interviewing Lloyd.
Vitor Meira takes the lead!! (where the hell did he come from??)
Top 5:
Meira,
Snotty
Twinkle toes
the lesser
RHR

4:09pm – 37 laps to go
Um… when did Viso go out? How is Milk&Donuts still running?

4:12pm – lap 169 – caution
oops spoke to soon… LOL! Milk&Donuts just spun herself out. Actually, looks like Lazier squeezed down on her. (shouldn’t he have been black flagged yet??) No contact but her day is done me thinks.
Commercial…

4:16pm – 30 to go – Pit stops
Dixon takes the lead. OOOH… someone took out the Princess! Briscoe!
Briscoe will probably get back on track. The Princess loses her right rear suspension.
Add some more tempertantrumwheelslapping to the highlight reel.
On the bright side, we don’t have to listen to anymore bullshit about her for the rest of the race…
BWAHAHAHAHA…. I couldn’t even type that with a straight face.

4:16pm – Lap174 – side by side
Oh man! LOL Princess pissy pants is storming through the pits. LOL! She was heading down to Briscoe. Then got cut off by security and sent back to her own pits, chased by media, pushing people out of the way. BWAHAHAHA!

4:23pm – Green green green – 23 laps to go

4:34pm – 8 to go
Andretti the lesser got by Twinkle Toes, trying to catch Meira. I can’t see Meira letting him by. He wants a win too badly, especially this one.

4:38pm – 3 to go
Meira is on Dixon’s tail. oops… wiggle.
Traffic!!
Dixon clear
Meira clear

4:40pm – white flag
Dixon on the backstretch, cleared the lapped traffic! Come on Snotty!!!

Checkers!!!!!
Yay Scotty!!!!!

Ok seriously, WE DON’T CARE ABOUT THE PRINCESS! God damnit! enough already!!

Post race:
So happy for Dixon.
The lesser needs to just shut up.
Vitor… you’ll get a win this year buddy. Keep at it!
Helio, always with a smile! LOL
The media really needs to get over their boner for the Princess.

Ok… off to write this up into something more politically correct … *snicker*

Boogit eh, Boogit eh, Boogit eh!

I just got home from the season opener of the Canadian Tire Nascar Series… boy HOWDY.

So, ok… I must admit, it was a lot of fun, and waaaaaaaay more engaging than I thought it would be. I am basically going to be following and writing about Tagliani and Ranger for the site for the season (the Open wheel tie in), focusing mostly on Tags foray into this new venture.

It was really nice to watch the fans coming up to Alex and telling them how glad they were that he was there and how they had followed his career. (lots of CART/Champ Car related hats and jackets around today) I ran into a few people I knew, which was pretty comical. “What the heck are YOU doing HERE?? was the reaction. I answered… I was jonesing to watch some Canadian open wheel drivers! (ironic no???)
It was great to see Andrew again. (who remembered me oddly enough) He’s grown into a man all of a sudden. Wow.

Tags had major engine problems! MAJOR. He qualified with only 7 of 8 cylinders working… oops. So they basically had the hr and a half between qualies and the start of the race to rebuild the engine. And I mean rebuild. The guts of the engine were out of the car and on the pit wall and still there at 7pm when we left the infield to go watch from the stands. We were so happy when Tags fired up the car at 7:20pm and drove around the the track to join up at the back of the pack just prior to “start your engines”

His engine completely died on lap 98. No electronics, no starter, nothing. Major dead battery. They pushed him into the pits and made a bunch of changes. Discovered there was an intake leak, drawing air through the intake manifold. He was a shitload of laps down, but went back out there just to get the experience and learn the track. (they’ll be back there later this summer)

His throttle was stuck at 4500 rpm, so on yellows he was stuck in 1st and on the brakes the whole time so as not go careening into the cars in front of him. The car was essentially driving itself! Lap 165, the engine went again. (this time we actually heard it go.) This time, they patted him on the back and called it a night. Add to that the major understeer, and our diminutive friend had an eventful debut. But he was doing some sweet passing and holding his own out there.

Andrew also had an eventful night, spun out twice by others, and spun others out (including himself a third time.)(word on the street is there is a big target on his back this year since he came in and showed them all up last year) I believe suspension issues plagued the champ. (his car was extremely loose) I had Tags on my scanner for the race, so only picked up bits and bobs about Andrew once Tags parked it for the night.

Probably the most fun was driving back to Toronto with Tags, (which began with him doing burn outs in the grass LOL!) (thankfully I had an empty stomach!!) Let me just say this: that guy can talk!! LOL! (Sadly, nothing I can share with you folks at this time, but as the summer progresses I’m sure I’ll get the greenlight to be a little more forthcoming.

I do appreciate his candor and openness, and am always grateful for the chance to just shoot the shit with a driver to gain insight and a different perspective, so I am also very very loyal to the “off the record” clause.

Anyway. It was a full day, and a long night, and the boss will be knocking on my door early tomorrow, so I’m going to try to get a couple of hours of sleep.

Lots of racing tomorrow! Monaco, Indy and the Coca Cola 600. I’ll see the start of Monaco, the middle/end of Indy, (damn stupid job schedule this weekend) and I’ll put the Coca Cola 600 on in the background tomorrow evening just cause I feel a kinship now… LOL!

anyway, nodding off big time, so more to come at a later date…

hold on to your helmets boys…

it’s going to be a “bumpy” day.

Yes kids, it’s the fabled “Bump Day” When the track becomes a flurry of activity while drivers frantically take to the track laying down fast laps to keep themselves in the show!!

Or, when we watch most of the teams drive around working on their race trim, and some pack it up early and go home because of the conditions, while Marty Roth, Buddy Lazier & Roger Yakusawa duke it out for the last spot on the grid.

*yawn*

anyway… Updates from the track:

It’s a blustery, windy day, which is not lending itself to any speed for the drivers, which means it is highly unlikely that anyone securely in the show is going to attempt to better their position.

Davey Hamilton’s engine blowed up real good like in this mornings practice. Oops.

American Dream Racing is putting their “dream” on hold for this year following Phil Geibler’s nasty accident yesterday. The car is toast. Phil’s still in the hospital with bruised lungs. Ain’t gonna happen kids.

AJ Foyt IV wasted no time getting in the field, qualifying and bumping Marty Roth about 10mins into the session. Not the best time, but he’s in the show.

Marty Roth went out and laid down 4 blistering laps (ok not really) to get himself back in the field so he can play the roll of speedbump on race day. Anyone else enjoying the irony that Jay Howard was removed from the seat for running “slow laps” that were actually faster than anything Marty has been able to lay down the last two days…

Stupid Mario and Max Pompous, who both ran out of talent in practice yesterday, will be able to attempt to qualify today thanks to their crews who worked over night to repair their cars. Whether either will have enough torque to actually make it into the field is another story.

more to come…

*EDIT*

AJ Foyt IV, hard into the wall. Heavy damage left side of the car.
He’s out of the car. Appears to be ok.
What a weird incident. Looked like something exploded on the car first, turning the car into a fireball and careening into the wall. Ah, they are now saying that it looked like the fuel buckeye popped off when he was exiting the pits, which lead to fuel leaking out onto the tire once he got up to speed and catching on fire. zoinks. When you look at the replay it was just showering out and over him as he spun around and headed to the wall.

Geesh, hopefully for his sake the rest of the qualifiers don’t find serious speed today or he could be bumped.

*EDIT*
Phil Geibler diagnosed with a cervical sprain (will not be cleared to drive)
AJ Foyt IV is cleared to drive (minor burns on back of his neck. )

American Open Wheel…

a breakfast rant.

So, as you many of you may know, I’m a managing editor/writer at a racing website. We started as a Champ Car centric site, covering the Champs and the feeder series (Atlantics).
When unifimergamalgimamorphacation happened we decided we would “transition” along with our teams and drivers. We also decided since we were now the more generic “OpenWheelWorld.net” that we would jump at the opportunity to cover some of the other major junior formulas in N.Amercia. Give those up and comers a little extra coverage and get to know the kids coming up the ladder. So we now cover IndyCar, Indy Lights, Atlantics, Star Mazda & Formula BMW. (and will add the odd article about other open wheel series if the situation warrants)

We do this as a labour of love. We rock on our own dime. We do it because the mainstream media doesn’t or won’t. I do it because over the years I got to know many of the players, especially the young drivers trying to make their mark in the world, and I figured if there was any way I could help them on their journey, I would, as I too reaped so much pleasure out of watching them pursue their dream.

So, fast forward to yesterday. All hands on deck. IndyCar was qualifying their final starting grid positions, Atlantics were qualifying for round 2 of their season. Star Mazda was contesting round 2 of their season, and Formula BMW was kicking off their season. Great! Busy day ahead for Meesh but I was looking forward to all the action!

but see, here is where the wheels fell off…

Were I not in possession of a computer, some savvy and some connections, I wouldn’t have had a fucking clue what was happening or when or where.

IndyCar gets an A, as they manage to provide some sort of coverage for anything that happens on track. Sometimes without any formal commentary, but nevertheless, there is live visual coverage. Apparently there was some TV coverage as well, but being that I live in Canada, ESPN2 is not an option. (nor should IndyCar be relegated to that channel… but that’s a separate rant) I had everything I needed to write my reports in a timely fashion, with very little effort or frustration on my part.

Atlantics get a C. Their trainwreck of a website (lots of now obsolete fluff, very little substance) is so out of date it’s infuriating. No schedule uploads. (had to go to the Laguna Seca website so I knew what the session times were) No Session reports. (they uploaded Friday’s practice times about 3 hrs after yesterdays 2nd qualifying session. Helpful huh?) The timing and scoring was working. The commentary however was from the Long Beach race. Again, not very helpful. And no working video coverage. Today I will hopefully be able to watch the race via their website. (since there is no tv coverage in Canada) We’ll see how that works out. I managed to get my articles up, but with very little flavour as I had no first hand accounts of anything that happened.

Star Mazda gets a C-. While their website was more up-to-date and cleaner, and they posted the session results in a more timely fashion, their timing and scoring was majorly fucked up. Surprising since they are hooked up to the IMSA site for that. It looked like it was working just fine, but see here is where the savvy and connections come into play. I happen to know John Edwards PR rep. I also happened to know that he had kicked ass and had smoked the field in practice. So I knew to give him a call when the timing and scoring showed him doing an installation lap then never returning to the track for qualification. Turns out he was on pole. Fast forward a couple of hours to the race. Again, no video coverage. IMSA radio was rebroadcasting some race from last weekend, and IMSA timing and scoring was again about as useless as a tit on a bull. This time John Edwards, who was on the pole remember, wasn’t even listed in the field. I watched, perplexed as the entire race unfolded, with no commentary, just times, and no JE. Again, a call to his PR rep (who btw is in Laguna with some of his other clients, not in Utah) to ask WTF?? was going on. He, being at the mercy of the T&S like I was, was equally perplexed. Turns out John had not only participated in the race, but had won by a substantial margin. A few hrs later I managed to get all the details in the SM press release. What I didn’t get however were any photo’s for editorial use. Nor did I get a response from the series PR rep when I wrote to request some for our coverage. Article up, hours after the fact, with an old Atlantic’s pic of John to coincide with it.

Formula BMW: They get a D. No schedule breakdown. No T&S. No video coverage. A press release that arrived at 11:30pm EDT and no photo’s to accompany the story available anywhere. It’s little wonder there are 4 teams and 10 drivers contesting this season. (two teams of 4 drivers btw…)

So, here’s the thing. We live in a N.America. A society filled with the most advanced information technology. Why then is it so fucking hard to provide timely and accurate accounts of the on track action in open wheel? Even something as simple as an email providing a timely session report with 2 or 3 photos for editorial use sent to a distribution list an hour after the event would do the trick.
Over in Nascarland, you not only know whats happening on and around the track, 24/7, but you know when every driver wipes his ass & what brand of toilet paper he uses. Then you get live coverage from 10 different angles on two or three networks, with a panel show to analyze it afterwards.

And what is it with these junior formula PR folks? Their series and their drivers are flying so fucking low under the radar that they don’t even register, yet someone contacts them for information to promote them and they ignore it. (I can’t tell you how many emails go unanswered) Ironically Champ Car was rarely any better as far as responses go. If you got a response, it was curt and mostly a one line answer, with no niceties. No big surprise that we were writing eulogies a month ago.

By sharp contrast, the “evil IRL” has been nothing but courteous, immensely helpful, & very welcoming. The media sites (for the series and the brickyard) are a plethora of information and access. Every email has been answered, with salutations, and if the person contacted didn’t have the answer, they not only replied but forwarded my email to the right person on the team. Just yesterday I received a reply from the brickyard folks. First she apologized for the tardy response. (it had been over a month, but I just assumed the answer was no as I was used to being ignored) Then she went about giving a detailed explanation. I replied right away thanking her for even replying at what surely had to be a crazy busy time for her, while adding a few other things. She replied again, right away! Such a simple thing but it makes all the difference in the world. Immediately my labour of love, and a lot of times inconvenient, attempts to cover the series is worth it. I know my efforts are appreciated by them. (Jeff Olson be damned!)

Someone else who gets it all right is A1GP. I had more access to their races, media, information and pictures, and they don’t even race in N.America! Their online coverage was amazing. Full live streaming video race coverage. Full live video podium. Full live video post race interviews. All free online. Cross platform. Simple.

So why do some get it so right and yet others get it all wrong?

Atlantic, Star Mazda and Formula BMW have no excuse!! Tell me those title sponsoring car companies don’t have the money and resources to at the very least have state of the art websites and I’ll tell you bullshit.

People sit and complain about the state of Open Wheel in this country. How we get no coverage, how sponsors ignore us. Well, when the sanctioning bodies of these series stop shooting themselves in the foot and start getting their acts together, only then will it change.

I feel bad for the drivers who are out there raising their own funding and busting their asses so they can pursue their dream. Hell, most drivers have more advanced websites than the series they are whoring themselves out to. What does that tell you?

So what is the answer? Well first of all, get your shit together people! Make some simple changes and build from there. Find an example of who gets it right, then emulate them, adapt, and make it work for you and if you don’t know how, ask! Cause I’m telling you, a few more days like yesterday, and I will be hard pressed to continue to put the effort in at my end.

Indy 500: Final Qualifying- *live*

Grid Positions 12 thru 33 to be determined.

IndyCar’s were on track for final hr of practice before this afternoon’s qualifying.

Super Mario stuffed it into the wall with about 15 mins to go. :rolleyes: He has been cleared, but the crew is going to have a hell of a task getting that car repaired for qualifying. (front and rear suspension damage to the right side of the car)

Papis stuffed it into turn 3 as the checkers waved. Oops. Out under his own power. Heavy damage to the car.

50% chance of rain between 3-6pm, so look for most of the action to happen in the early part of the session.

Qualifying Order:

1 #8 Will Power (221.136)
2 #18 Bruno Junqueria (222.330)
3 #44 Max Papis (no time-down for repairs)
4 #06 Graham Rahal (222.531)
5 #5 Oriol Servia (incomplete due to rain/won’t count) (220.767)
6 #14 Darren Manning (222.430)
7 #33 EJ Viso (220.356)
8 #98 Roger Yasukawa (218.010)
9 #36T Jaime Camara
10 #19 Mario Moraes (219.716)
11 #41T
12 #23 Milka Duno (220.305)
12A #17 Ryan Hunter-Reay (221.579)
14 #67 Sarah Fisher (221.246)
15 #83 TBD
16 #25T Marty Roth (did not run)
17 #2T AJ Foyt, IV (did not run)
18 #99 Townsend Bell (222.500)
19 #15 Buddy Rice (222.101)
20 #02 Justin Wilson (222.267)
21 #4 Vitor Meira (did not run)
22 #96 Mario Dominquez (no time-down for repairs)
23 #34 Jaime Camara ((219.345))
24 #88 Phil Geibler (did not run)
25 #41 Jeff Simmons (221.103)
26 #24 John Andretti (221.550)
27 #22 Davey Hamilton (222.017)
28 #16T Alex Lloyd
29 #16 Alex Lloyd (221.788)
30 #25 Marty Roth (waved off attempt)
31 #TBD PDM Racing
32 #17T Ryan Hunter-Reay (221.579)
33 #24T TBD
34 #91 Buddy Lazier (217.939)
35 #36 Enrique Bernoldi (219.422)
36 #2 AJ Foyt, IV (waved off attempt after going squirrelly)
37 #14T Darren Manning (did not run)

*EDIT* 12:21pm EDT

Session is on hold due to rain. (jeezus! Mother Nature is seriously PMSing this month)

Gusty winds are also really affecting the times today. (as are the cooler temps)

*EDIT* 12:34pm EDT

Session has resumed.

*EDIT* 1:30pm EDT

Rumour from the track: Conquest offered $10,000 a veteran driver (Jacques Lazier)to get the car in the show for Jaime Camara (wtf??)
Clearly he was not aware that that wouldn’t be allowed.

*EDIT* 2:11pm EDT
The grid order as it stands so far:
12 Bell 222.539
13 Rahal 222.531
14 Manning 222.430
15 Junqueira 222.330
16 Wilson 222.267
17 Rice 222.101
18 Hamilton 222.017
19 Lloyd 221.788
20 Hunter-Reay 221.579
21 J. Andretti 221.550
22 Fisher 221.246
23 Power 221.136
24 Simmons 221.103
25 Servia 220.767
26 Viso 220.356
27 Duno 220.305
28 Moraes 219.716
29 Bernoldi 219.422
30 Camara 219.345
31 Yasukawa 218.010
32 Lazier 217.939
33

*EDIT* 2:21pm EDT
Things have quieted down substantially at the track. There is one more grid position to be filled. All but a handful of drivers have made their first runs to qualify. Now everyone is regrouping and making decisions on whether or not to run again.

*EDIT* 2:31pm EDT
Track is now green for practice, All cars welcome on track.

*EDIT* 3:55pm EDT
Hideki Mutoh stuffed it into the wall. He’s out, he’s been cleared. Heavy damage to the right rear of the car.

*EDIT* 4:20pm EDT
Phil Geibler stuffed it hard. Dropped down below the white line, may have hit the grass, popped up and stuffed it into the SAFER. Major damage to the car. Damage to the wall. Session stopped for repairs and clean up. (lots of debris) He was awake and alert the whole time but taken Methodist Hospital as a precaution. (why is this guy in a car anyway??) He hadn’t even attempted to qualify yet. Doubtful they will get the car ready to get in the show.

*EDIT* 5:20pm
Update on broken cars:
Papis: destroyed the car basically. They are desperately rebuilding it out of pieces of Milka Duno’s old SAMAX car. They are hoping to have something together by tomorrow.

Dominguez: No damage to engine or gearbox. Mostly front/rear suspension. They are hoping to have it together for at least a practice run this afternoon. He will qualify/bump tomorrow.