msrpk.com blog

Tires? Indianapolis? Surely you jest......

This is the Goodyear garage at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Yesterday, we mentioned the tire wear problems for right side tires on the Sprint Cup cars in happy hour. Goodyear brought in extra tires to insure that all 43 teams would have enough to race. Stu Grant, Goodyear's racing boss, told me the tires were the same construction that will be used next week at Pocono. A tractor trailer and box truck full of tires and interliners is parked in the back of Gasoline Alley, and teams are grabbing sets as fast as they can be unloaded. The race is scheduled to start at 2:20 +/- thanks to ESPN, so the tire busters and team tire specialists can get the extra sets mounted, balanced and prepared for pit stops.

Scott Dixon, The "Carl" Impress

The IndyCar series gets needed time off after their first visit to Edmonton--the points are the same...Helio Castroneves led a lot of laps...point leader Scott Dixon took the win...with Helio 2nd. Paul Tracy showed that he still can get the road course work done...he placed 4th in the amalgamated Vision/Walker Racing entry. I'm wondering whether PT might try that again at Infineon in a few weeks.

We don't have a lot of time to mention Nationwide Series results and news on our programs, but watching last night's race from O'Reilly Raceway Park gave us even more reasons to be impressed with Carl Edwards. Although Kyle Busch won (and gave an in-your-face to NASCAR for restricting the Toyota engines), "The Carl" put on a gutty drive after having to pit for seven minutes to remove a leaking oil cooler. That put Edwards three laps down. Edwards passed Busch on track, and finished 11th on the lead lap. Busch now has 15 NASCAR wins across the three top touring divisions (Sprint Cup, Nationwide, and Craftsman Trucks)

Boys Will Be Boys--Smoke Not On His Best Behavior

At a USAC Race at the aforementioned O'Reilly Raceway Park on Thursday, July 24, Tony Stewart jumped ugly with an official whom he felt treated one of his drivers unfairly. The video is available on the WTHR-TV (Channel 13, Indianapolis) website. Smoke will be called to meet USAC to find out what penalties he'll serve. I wonder just how long that act will be welcomed in NASCAR's "Big Show".

We'll join you with our observations on the race...and our usual winner's snapshot...afterwards.