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May 27, 2011
On track this weekend INDYCAR SERIES Indianapolis 500 Site: Indianapolis. Schedule: Today, Carb Day, including Firestone Freedom 100 Indy Lights race (Versus, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.); Sunday, race, noon (ABC, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.). Track: Indianapolis Motor Speedway (oval, 2.5 miles). Distance: 500 miles, 200 laps. Last year: Dario Franchitti raced to his second Indianapolis 500 victory, winning under caution after a spectacular, airborne crash with a lap left that sent Mike Conway high into the fence and to the hospital with a broken left leg and fracture in his back. The victory made Chip Ganassi the first owner to win the Indy 500 and NASCAR’s Daytona 500 in the same year. Last race: Will Power won the Sao Paulo 300 on May 2 for his second victory in four races this year – all on road or street courses. Graham Rahal was second. Fast facts: Alex Tagliani became the first Canadian to earn the pole,
topping the field with a four-lap average of 227.472 mph Saturday for Sam Schmidt Motorsports. Target Chip Ganassi’s Scott Dixon, the 2008 winner, qualified second, and Oriol Servia completed the front row. ... Franchitti qualified ninth. Helio Castroneves, the winner in 2000, 2001 and 2009, was 16th. Danica Patrick earned the 26th spot Sunday. ... Ray Harroun won the inaugural event in 1911. Next races: Firestone Twin 275s, June 11, Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth, Texas. SPRINT CUP SERIES Coca-Cola 600 Site: Concord, N.C. Schedule: Saturday, practice (Speed, 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m.); Sunday, race, 6 p.m. (FOX, 5:30-11 p.m.). Track: Charlotte Motor Speedway (oval, 1.5 miles). Distance: 600 miles, 400 laps. Last year: Kurt Busch held off Jamie McMurray for the second of his two 2010 victories. Busch also won the exhibition All-Star Race the previous week at the track. Last week: Carl Edwards won the All-Star Race to take the $1 million prize. He won three of the four segments in the 100-lap race, holding off Kyle Busch for the v i c t o ry. Fast facts: Five-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson has six Charlotte victories. He won five times in a six-race stretch at the track – taking the 2003 Coca-Cola 600 and sweeping the spring and fall races in 2004 and 2005 – and also won the 2009 fall race. ... Jeff Gordon won the 1994 race for his first victory. He also won in 1997 and 1998, and has two Charlotte fall victories. ... Darrell Waltrip won the race a record five times. ... Edwards leads the season standings, 24 points ahead of Johnson. ... Kyle Busch was cited for careless and reckless driving and speeding Tuesday after a sheriff’s deputy closed him driving 128 mph in a 45 mph zone between Troutman and Mooresville. ... Dale Earnhardt Jr. is winless in 104 races and has one v i c t o ry – on fuel mileage at Michigan in June 2008 – in 119
starts for Hendrick Motorsports. He had 17 victories in 291 starts in nine seasons for Dale Earnhardt Inc. Next race: STP 400, June 5, Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, Kan. FORMULA ONE Monaco Grand Prix Site: Monte Carlo, Monaco. Schedule: Saturday, practice, qualifying (Speed, 8-9:30 a.m.); Sunday, race, 8 a.m. (Speed, 7:3010 a.m.). Track: Circuit de Monaco (street course, 2.075 miles). Distance: 161.9 miles, 78 laps. Last year: Mark Webber won from the pole for the second of his four 2010 victories. Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel was second. Last week: Vettel won the Spanish Grand Prix for his second straight v i c t o ry and fourth in five races this year. McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton was second. Fast facts: Vettel swept the opening races in Australia and Malaysia and also won in Turkey. The German star has a 41-point lead in the season standings over second-
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place Hamilton, the Chinese Grand Prix winner. ... Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher has a record 91 victories, winning at Monaco in 1994, ‘95, ‘97, ‘99 and 2001. He’s winless in two seasons with Mercedes GP after a threeyear retirement. Next race: Canadian Grand Prix, June 12, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal. NATIONWIDE SERIES Top Gear 300 Site: Concord, N.C. Schedule: Saturday, qualifying (ESPN2, 10-11 a.m.), race, 2:30 p.m. (ABC, 2-5:30 p.m.). Track: Charlotte Motor Speedway (oval, 1.5 miles). Distance: 300 miles, 200 laps. Last year: Kyle Busch won the fifth of his series-record 13 2010 victories. Last week: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
raced to his first Nationwide Series victory, winning at Iowa Speedway to become the first Nationwide regular to win since Justin Allgaier at Bristol in March 2010. Sprint Cup driver Carl Edwards was second a day after winning the AllStar race. Fast facts: Busch has five victories this year to push his career total to 48, one behind Mark Martin’s series record. Busch skipped the Iowa race. He has 97 NASCAR national series victories – 21 in Sprint Cup, 48 in Nationwide and 28 in Trucks – to tie Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip for third place on the career list. ... Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 Formula One champion, is making his Nationwide debut. He was 15th last week at the track in his first Trucks start. Next race: STP 300, June 4, Chicagoland Speedway, Joliet, Ill. GRAND-AM ROLEX SERIES Memorial Day Classic, Monday (Speed, 2-5 p.m.), Lime Rock Park, Lakeville, Conn. WORLD OF OUTLAWS Sprint Car, Outlaw Showdown, Friday (Speed, 8-10 p.m.), The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, N.C.; Monday, I-96 Speedway, Lake Odessa, Mich. Super DirtCar, Sunday, Rolling Wheels Raceway
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Park, Elbridge, N.Y. U.S. AUTO RACING CLUB Silver Crown, Hoosier Hundred, Friday, Indiana State Fair Grounds, Indianapolis. Sprint Car, Thursday, Terre Haute Action Track, Terre Haute, Ind.; Monday, Lernerv i l l e Speedway, Sarver, Pa.; Tuesday, Grandview Speedway, Bechtelsville, Pa. CAMPING WORLD TRUCKS Next race: O’Reilly Auto Parts 250, June 4, Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, Kan. Last week: Kyle Busch raced to his second straight Trucks win at Charlotte, his third straight Trucks victory and fourth of the year. NHRA FULL THROTTLE Next event: NHRA Supernationals, June 2-5, Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, Englishtown, N.J. Last week: Robert Hight gave John Force Racing its 200th win, beating Funny Car teammate Mike Neff in the Summer Nationals in Topeka, Kan. Spencer Massey (Top Fuel) and Shane Gray (Pro Stock) also won.
Local tracks have big plans for the holiday weekend THE LEADER STAFF If you’ve got the digital recorder all set up, then you might as well hit the road for the weekend with four days of racing at two local tracks. The Chemung Speedrome gets its season under way Friday at 7 p.m. with the Sunoco Modifieds, Super Stocks, 4 Cylinders and INEX Legends all hitting the 3/8mile semi-banked oval just east of Elmira. For more information, call the track at (607) 529-9998 or visit chemungspeedrome.net. Now go home and pack, because you can spend the next three nights at Woodhull Raceway. On Saturday, the track honors its founder with the George Williams Memorial Twin 20s for the 358 Modifieds at the
standard 6:30 p.m. starting time. On Sunday at 1 p.m., the track will host a tractor pull at 1 p.m. and Sunday will feature the BRP Can-Am Series first visit of the year. Supporting races will include the Crate Modifieds, Street Stock and Front-Wheel Drive cars. Gates open at 2:30 p.m. with racing slated for 4:30 p.m. For more information, call (607) 458-5275 or visit woodhullraceway.com. The Black Rock Speedway, which normally holds events on Friday nights, will be closed for the holiday weekend and will reopen on June 3. Watkins Glen International will be hosting the 30th running of the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on June 2-4, featuring the GrandAm Rolex Series and Continental Tire Series.
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May 27, 2011
Give the Indianapolis 500 another chance T
his weekend is the 100th anniversary of the first Indianapolis 500, the kind of event in American sports only Major League Baseball can claim to have enjoyed. The tradition at Indy is so rich, when other events try to stake their claim on history, it seems trite – like a child boastCOMMENTARY ing of his/her life’s accomplishments. That said, most Americans won’t stop what they’re doing to watch Sunday’s race Chris Gill the same way they plan around the Super Bowl or stay up late for the World Series. If they happen to be in front of a TV, they might
tune in, but those who literally plan their day around the race are far and few between. Why? For a nation that loves pounding its chest every time mom or apple pie is mentioned, why doesn’t the U.S. of A. get all whipped up about the biggest, oldest auto race in the world? While people raced cars before the first Indy 500 in 1911, the annual Memorial Day festival of speed became an instant classic derailed only by two world wars (no races held in 1917-18 and 1942-45). At its peak, nothing in sports – not the Kentucky Derby, not the World Series and not the upstart Super Bowl – could match the pageantry, excitement and awe of Indy. Honestly, none of those will ever be able to match the thrill of seeing cars lined three abreast diving into the first
turn. After time, the facility grew to accommodate nearly 400,000 people, which makes the Big House in Ann Arbor, Mich., seem like a wood shed. The race pitted all-American boys who learned their craft driving dusty dirt tracks in cars of their own design against the Europeans who drove exotic sports cars on country roads. Race winners became super stars; manufacturers used the race for more than a promotional tool, but as a research and development facility; and the world watched. Not so much anymore. After 100 years in a car-crazy culture like ours, you’d think the Indy 500 would be the most celebrated event of the year. The popular theory as to why the race has suffered in fame – the one hard-liners like to cling
to – is the Great Open-Wheel Schism in 1996. A seismic event, to be sure, but that alone didn’t take the sheen off. Others point to the exodus from Europe and South America to IndyCar racing, which brought in new sponsorship streams and squeezed out the boys and girls from USAC and the SCCA. No doubt that changed the perception of the sport and killed interest from the American kids who turned their attention to NASCAR. Then there are the cars – what used to be a various assortment of engines, chassis and tires is now one big spec series with only paint schemes and corporate logos defining the machines. That doesn’t mean its doomed for nichedom into eternity. The Indy 500 has staying power, which is critical in a society that bores of things quickly. Since 2005, the race has become exciting again, even if the rest of the world is slow to catch up. Danica Patrick caused quite a stir in 2005, taking the lead late before Dan Wheldon’s late pass. Sam Hornish Jr.’s made a lastlap pass on Marco Andretti in 2006 to secure his first, and only to date, 500 win. The next year saw fan favorite Dario Franchitti win in the rain, while his movie star wife pranced
around in a wet sun dress. Open-wheel unification brought some credibility back to the Speedway in 2008, even though the Champ Car teams were overmatched and Scott Dixon won without pressure. In 2009 reality TV hero Helio Castroneves claimed his third victory, putting him one away from immortality. Last year Franchitti almost ran out of fuel before a gruesome car crash (let’s be honest here, they get people’s attention) locked up his second win in the prestigious race. Even in the dark days of the Indy Racing League, the race was worth watching, but now it takes on added prestige because it is the singular event in American open-wheel racing, and far removed from February’s Daytona 500. I don’t pretend to know what it will take to bring the greatest spectacle in racing back to national prominence, but I know it’s not one thing – it several factors to push it into relative obscurity. I do know it can be great again, in fact, it’s been pretty good the last few years. You just have to see it to believe it. ■ Chris Gill, who covers auto racing for The Leader, can be reached at cmgill@the-leader.com.
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Two wide, too dangerous? Drivers cringe at thought of new restarts at Indianapolis 500 MICHAEL MAROT AP Sports Writer
INDIANAPOLIS | After a crazy qualifying weekend and frantic deal-cutting Monday to get Ryan Hunter-Reay back into the race, Indy 500 drivers now can focus on the greatest controversy in IndyCar racing: the new double-file restarts. Pole-sitter Canadian Alex Tagliani calls the restarts “really stupid,” and such short, curt responses have been the norm from drivers all month. “That’s what happens when you try to imitate NASCAR,” Marco Andretti said after getting collected in a crash at the season-opener in St. Petersburg. “Our cars have too much power to start right nose-to-tail, you know. It creates disasters.” With Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s narrow groove, excessive rubber buildup in the corners and traditionally tricky winds, Sunday’s race could turn into a demolition derby. At least that’s the warning coming from Gasoline Alley. So IndyCar officials have
Indy 500 Odds DRIVER
Dario Franchitti Scott Dixon Alex Tagliani Will Power Helio Castroneves Oriol Serv i a Ryan Briscoe Dan Wheldon Marco Andretti Tony Kanaan Danica Patrick Ed Carpenter Vitor Meira Paul Tracy Tomas Scheckter Graham Rahal John Andretti Field (All Others)
ODDS
7-2 4-1 6-1 7-1 9-1 10-1 12-1 12-1 25-1 25-1 25-1 30-1 30-1 40-1 50-1 60-1 75-1 8-1
spent the past week meeting with track officials to figure out a solution. One change already has been made. IndyCar spokeswoman Amy Konrath said Tuesday the track will use four sweepers to clean the tiny rubber pieces, often referred to as marbles, out of the corners. Two trucks will be used in tandem to clean the first two turns, and two more will the clean the third and fourth turns. Traditionally, the track has used only two sweepers on race day. The hope is the marbles will be cleaned up before the race restarts. One key issue still to be deter-
mined is where drivers will be told to accelerate in the milelong front straightaway. The farther back it is, the less likely it is for a massive pileup in the first corner. Brian Barnhart, IndyCar’s president of competition and racing operations, is scheduled to meet with three drivers on Thursday about that concern. But no matter what Barnhart decides, it’s unlikely to tone down the reaction in Gasoline Alley. IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard said it was team owners who lobbied for the new restarts. In January, he announced they would be used only on ovals this season. When drivers com-
INDYCAR SERIES INDIANAPOLIS 500 STARTING GRID After Sunday qualifying; race Sunday, May 29 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis Lap length: 2.5 mile Name (car number), time and speed 1. (77) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda (227.472). 2. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda (227.340). 3. (2) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Honda (227.168). 4. (99) Townsend Bell, Dallara-Honda (226.887). 5. (12) Will Power, Dallara-Honda (226.773). 6. (98) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda (226.171). 7. (44) Buddy Rice, Dallara-Honda (225.786). 8. (67) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda (225.121). 9. (10) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda (226.379). 10. (5) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda (225.736). 11. (14) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda (225.590). 12. (4) JR Hildebrand, Dallara-Honda (225.579). 13. (06) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Honda (225.572). 14. (30) Bertrand Baguette, Dallara-Honda (225.285). 15. (11) Davey Hamilton, Dallara-Honda (225.250).
16. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda (225.216). 17. (43) John Andretti, Dallara-Honda (224.981). 18. (59) EJ Viso, Dallara-Honda (224.732). 19. (41) Bruno Junqueira, Dallara-Honda (224.691). 20. (22) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda (224.511). 21. (88) Jay Howard, Dallara-Honda (224.483). 22. (07) Tomas Scheckter, Dallara-Honda (224.433). 23. (82) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda (224.417). 24. (78T) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Honda (224.392). 25. (23) Paul Tracy, Dallara-Honda (224.939). 26. (7) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda (224.861). 27. (6T) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda (224.639). 28. (26) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda (224.628). 29. (83) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda (224.499). 30. (38) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda (224.380). 31. (19) Alex Lloyd, Dallara-Honda (223.957). 32. (36) Pippa Mann, Dallara-Honda (223.936). 33. (24) Ana Beatriz, Dallara-Honda (223.879).
plained it would be too dangerous on Indy’s historic 2.5-mile ovals, Bernard adapted, deciding to use them on the road and
street courses, too. Bernard contends IndyCar drivers are the best in the world, and they should be able to fig-
Page 6 ure out how to make double-file restarts work safely. “Look, I think as long as we keep the double-file restarts, they’re not going to be satisfied,” he said. “But I have a tremendous amount of respect for Chip Ganassi and Roger Penske, and this was their idea. This is racing.” S u n d a y ’s 33 starters might pick a more colorful term to describe what’s happened on the track this season. At St. Pete, there were four full-course cautions in the first 14 laps, with five cars running into trouble on the opening turn. At the next race, in Alabama, Barnhart tweaked the procedure and things improved over the last three races. Still, concerns remain about double-file restarts at Indy. “I think when you double file you have no opportunity to pass,” said points leader Will Power, the Aussie who drives for Team Penske. “You’re sort of stuck in your row, so that’s going
May 27, 2011
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Will Power leads Graham Rahal around Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
to make it really interesting. I think the last two restarts of the day are going to be pretty wild.” Most drivers seem resigned to the change, and complaints have become more muted this week, with drivers saying they’ll follow the rules. “If they tell us to line up three-wide, four-wide, double file, we’ll do it,” said Paul Tracy, who’s driving for Dreyer & Reinbold and will start 24th. “They tell us what to do, and we do it.” Clearly, though, drivers don’t like the concept, the carnage or the conversation. No matter. Officials are not changing their minds or their rules. “I’s great for the fans if they want to see 10 cars piled up in the first turn, but maybe we can get ourselves sorted out at some point,” South African Tomas Scheckter said after qualifying the No. 07 car for KV Racing Technology. “My predication is there’s probably gonna be some crashes.”
May 27, 2011
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Roush Fenway hopes for another successful weekend at Charlotte BY JENNA FRYER AP Auto Racing Writer
CONCORD, N.C. | Things couldn’t possibly have gone any better for Roush Fenway Racing last weekend, when the organization swept the three races it entered. Now RFR heads back to Charlotte Motor Speedway, eager to return to the dominance it once showed in NASCAR’s longest race of the year. It doesn’t look like it will be a problem. Carl Edwards goes into the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday with momentum from last weekend’s victory in the $1 million All-Star race. He won three of the four segments, and outran Kyle Busch over the final 10lap sprint to claim his first AllStar win. Greg Biffle won the only other segment of the All-Star race that Edwards didn’t claim, and David Ragan won the Sprint Showdown held for drivers not already qualified for the main event. The final running order showed all four RFR cars in the top eight, and left team owner Jack Roush feeling good about his chances moving ahead.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Carl Edwards shrugs in victory lane after tearing up his car during celebratory donuts. “The guys worked hard,” Roush said. “I’m just proud to be part of their program.” I t ’s a program that obviously had turned a corner at the start of this season, when Edwards and Ragan contended for the Daytona 500 victory.
Although the win went to Roush development driver Trevor Bayne, driving for the Wood Brothers in a car that’s closely aligned to the RFR organization, the Roush cars were clearly at a pace to run up front again.
It’s continued week after week, as Edwards won at Las Vegas and is the current Sprint Cup Series points leader. Matt Kenseth has two wins, Biffle has had dominant cars at points this season, and Ragan has shown clear improvement.
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May 27, 2011 Toss in a win Sunday at Iowa by Ricky Stenhouse Jr., the first series regular to win in the second-tier Nationwide Series, and RFR is clicking. Roush credited everyone but himself for the turnaround, from competition director Robbie Reiser, to manufacturer Ford and engine builder Doug Yates. “There’s a lot of discussion about hard work in this business, but the Roush Fenway guys have really, really suited up for it in the winter,” Roush said. “They’ve got me really close to the door, so there’s not as many tools I can get my hands on and not as many things I could screw up as I used to. “The engine is good, the car is good, the engineering is just incredible.” Maybe good enough to get Roush back to Victory Lane on Sunday. His drivers once reeled off four consecutive wins in the Coca-Cola 600, starting with Jeff Burton’s victory in 1999. Then came a win by Kenseth, another one by Burton, and finally Mark Martin’s victory in 2002. The dominance ended the next season with the emergence of Jimmie Johnson, who strung together five wins in six points races at Charlotte, including three-straight 600 victories.
RFR began to slide the other way, and Edwards himself admits Charlotte became a struggle. His average finish is 13.1 in 12 career Cup starts at Charlotte, and his 2006 victory in the Nationwide Series is his only win at the track. But he credits crew chief Bob Osborne for helping him turn it around, and is confident he’ll be good this weekend. “It’s fair to say that we have been not very good here, and sometimes terrible,” Edwards said. “I think that we figured some things out. Bob and the guys have done a really good job. I think it bodes well for the 600, for sure.” He’s the not the only one. “I feel great about next week, I really do,” Biffle said after his fifth-place run in the All-Star race. “We’ll run good for sure.” And Kenseth, who finished sixth, will race Sunday in the car that led 169 laps earlier this season in a win at Texas. He knows making it to the final 100 miles is the key to winning the race, and is excited to use strategy to be in it at the end. “I think you really want to be in at least the top 15 the whole race, especially at the beginning to make sure you don’t get lapped or if you have a problem you get too far behind,” Kenseth said.
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Johnson missing his Superman cape at Coca-Cola 600 BY RANDY COVITZ
when the sun was out. We had adjustability built into the car at every stop. If I wanted it or not, we had a proven track, proven road to go down that we made these adjustments. And we could stay competitive, and then when it came time to race for the win at the end, we had the car we needed to and won a lot of races that way.” Johnson, who trails Carl Edwards for the Sprint Cup lead
McClatchy Newspapers
There was a time when NASCAR’s Jimmie Johnson felt invincible at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Heck, he even owned the place in a way, because the sponsor of his No. 48 Chevrolet, Lowe’s, was also the title sponsor of the track. Johnson won six times in Charlotte, tied for the most alltime with 2011 Hall of Fame inductee Bobby Allison and Hall of Fame nominee Daryl Waltrip. Three of those wins – 2003, 2004 and 2005 – were in the CocaCola 600. Then, they repaved the darn place before the 2006 season. And re-named it in 2010. Suddenly, Superman lost his cape. “When they repaved it, it changed things a lot,” said Johnson, who also won the fall race at Charlotte in ’04 and ’05 and in ’09 en route to two of his five Cup championships. “I think around that point in time the new generation tire was coming out, then we certainly ended up with a new (Car of Tomorrow) that really kind of eliminates the advantage that we had in the past. “But this track was just one of those tracks where we knew what to do. We knew how balanced the car needed to be
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jimmie Johnson belts in for practice at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Odds to Win Coca-Cola 600 DRIVER
Carl Edwards Kyle Busch Jimmie Johnson Matt Kenseth Denny Hamlin Kevin Harvick Tony Stewart Greg Biffle Jeff Gordon Clint Bowyer Dale Earnhardt Jr. Kasey Kahne
ODDS
9-2 5-1 7-1 10-1 12-1 12-1 12-1 15-1 15-1 20-1 20-1 20-1
by 24 points, was 37th last season in the Coca-Cola 600, and finished 13th, 39th, and 10th and second in the five years since his last win in the event. Some drivers feel like the 600mile race – the longest of the NASCAR season – feels like it’s two different tracks because the car handles differently at night than in the heat of the day. “In the old days, you would always get tighter as the sun
would set and the track would pick up grip, and with the new car and new surfaces . . . it’s kind of tough to know which way is going to go,” Johnson said. “It does happen more often than not where you start strong and then you end up suffering, and some of that has to do with the fact of when we practice. “We don’t get any night practice. The only night practice we got were the guys that competed
Page 10 in the All-Star event. So it’s a big plus to have that on your side being in that event. So it’s a bit of a guessing game right now.” The beautiful part of the race is it’s such a long event, there’s time to recover from driver error or mechanical trouble from early in the race. “The key is just really staying on the road all night long,” Johnson said. “Being 600 miles, you just can’t get caught up in things that happen too early. The track changes a lot. The night is
just ever-changing. If you keep your head in the game and stick around for the 600 miles, you’re going to have a good finish. Being smart all night long is going to be the key.” Johnson doesn’t have much trouble maintaining his concentration for the 600 miles. “When you’re in the car, it’s pretty easy to keep your focus,” Johnson said. “There’s so much going on that the laps and the times that you spend in the car go by pretty fast. ... We’re so
used to 400- to 500-mile races ... that there’s like a mental time clock that’s ticking along, and then at the 600 every year, I feel like we’re getting to the end of it, and I’m either reminded or I ask, ‘How much longer?’ “Then I hear the distance, and I’m like, ‘Oh man, this is the 600.’ So there’s more of a mental clock that you have to get used to. Now that I’ve done it this many years, it’s just something that you realize and think ... ’Is it important right now to take that
May 27, 2011 much risk, maybe at the start of the race or the midway point of the race?’ and you have to remind yourself that there’s an extra 100 miles here to get your stuff right.”
May 27, 2011
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Stars turn out as Gumball Rally kicks off in London BY STEVE DOUGLAS AP Sports Writer
LONDON | Olympic ski champion Bode Miller and NFL star Reggie Bush were among the celebrities who sped out of central London Thursday for the 12th edition of the Gumball 3000 Rally, a seven-day car race stretching across 10 European countries. Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, Indianapolis Colts linebacker Cody Glenn and Buffalo Bills outside linebacker Shawne Merriman were other NFL players embarking on the 3,000-mile trip across the continent alongside personalities from TV, music and entertainment. A total of 120 cars, ranging from Ferraris to Lamborghinis and Bentleys, will roll through Paris, Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Venice, Belgrade and Sofia before crossing the line in Istanbul on June 1. There will be parties aplenty en route. “I think it’s just a really cool opportunity for people who are normally not able to hang out together and come together to have a party and have fun,” said Miller, the five-time Olympic THE ASSOCIATED PRESS medalist and two-time overall Fans check out some of the cars that will compete in the World Cup champion who is Gumball Rally, which began Thursday in London’s Covent teaming up for the race with Garden. Swedish X Games champion freeskier Jon Olsson. “You know, they are all really successful, fun-loving people ... car enthusiasts but more just fun enthusiasts, so that just fits me pretty well,” Miller said. “I’m happy to be here.” Merriman roared out of a rainsoaked Covent Garden square in the heart of the English capital in a white Bentley VT, complete with gold rims. “It’s pretty cool, man, one of the coolest cars out here,” Merriman said. Merriman said he wasn’t worried about the dangers of racing high-powered cars around foreign roads. “I’m not really bothered about
that — I’m up against 350pound guys every day, I can deal with this,” he said. “I would just say that I’d do anything to win, including letting down a few tires. Anything you got to do to win, that’s all that matters.” The race will stop in Monte Carlo on Sunday for Formula One’s Monaco Grand Prix. “This year’s route is a great one. Ten different languagespeaking countries in seven days and there’s a really eclectic group of people in the cars as always,” race founder Maximillion Cooper said. Former Baywatch actor David Hasselhoff, hip-hop star EVE and members of the Jackass and Dirty Sanchez are also among the field of 250 entrants, many of whom attended the race’s launch at the Playboy Club in central London on Wednesday.
Ecclestone hopeful Bahrain Grand Prix goes ahead MONACO | Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone still hopes the Bahrain Grand Prix will go ahead, saying that finding a prospective date is the biggest stumbling block. F1’s governing body has given Bahrain until June 3 to decide if a new date can be set for the race this year. It was meant to be the season opener on March 13, but was canceled by Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa after antigovernment protests in the country. Ecclestone addressed the issue, saying “I hope F1 will be racing there, the teams are happy, the problem is the date.”
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May 27, 2011