A sports blog by and for Midwest Sports Fans
(Indianapolis, IN) Wednesday was Community day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of the greatest spectacle in racing, the crown jewel of Midwestern sports venues.
Even without cars on the track, it was apparent that though the times are changing in terms of mechanical specifications, qualifying formats and the like, the spirit of the “Month of May” has remained the same.
The IndyCar Series rolls into Kansas this weekend and kicks off the first oval race of the season. Given the differences in the kinds of racing we will see you can take the past two race results and throw them away. The standings so far will not mean much as we transition to the sort of racing that the IndyCar Series is known for. On Sunday, we will see these beautiful cars within just feet of each other driving at speeds in excess of 200 mph.
There are a number of items to discuss regarding this race, so lets take a few minutes to discuss some of the items that make this such a pivotal race in the schedule:
1) This is the race before the Indy 500. That means we are seeing a few drivers this weekend that are in it mainly to gain some seat time before transitioning the World’s Greatest Race Course, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Two drivers come to mind there, Milka Duno and Sarah Fisher. They will both be in the race this weekend and will transition some of their experience from this weekend to the month of May.
2) This weekend is the first oval of the season. The past two races have been on temporary street circuits. They are bumpy, curvy and not ideal for side by side racing. Now, we move over to the super smooth, super fast and super tight racing of a high speed oval. For a driver’s psychological preparation as well as the physical preparation, they must address this race much differently than the races so far in 2009. Rest assured, they are professionals and will have no problem adapting to those changes, but from a fan’s perspective it can be easy to look pass some of the subtle nuances of what impacts the drivers of the IndyCar Series.
3) We have a shot at a three-peat. Dan Wheldon won this race both in 2007 and 2008 with Target Chip Ganassi Racing. Now, with his move to Panther it should make it more interesting. It will be tough to pull it off given the first oval race with a new team. Panther has been very successful in the past on ovals and given another year I think Dan could win at Kansas. My gut tells me not this year. But, just in case you wanted another reason to watch…there you go.
Recap and Prediction:
This is a great racetrack. 1.5 miles in length and a 200 lap race. The first oval of the season and a couple of drivers who are far less than full time that are entered into the mix. I expect it be a very close race and that it will come down to Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti. Who will take the checkered? Watch and find out.
The INDYCAR SERIES ROADRUNNER TURBO 300 AT KANSAS SPEEDWAY IS APRIL 26th at 4pm Eastern and is only on VERSUS! Tune in…
We will have a race recap on Monday to discuss the results.
Also be sure to check back throughout the Month of May with updates live from INDY!!!
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Today, the FIA announced the official schedule for 2009 after its meeting in Paris. The schedule is different than its proposed schedule in June. Most notably, the Canadian Grand Prix is gone. For a series that held two races in North America in 2007, they have switched their direction post haste.
The United States Grand Prix in Indianapolis was left off the 2008 calendar and in 2009 that continues. There are rumors about a potential return for the World’s most watched racing series to the United States. If anything, I feel this has become even less likely with the new schedule for Formula 1. In 2007 and the years prior, it mad
e some sense to have a US date when there was a Canadian date. Logistically, this made the trip overseas much more viable. With the removal of Canada from the Grand Prix season, the only thing that could bring the Formula 1 circus back to America is an awful lot of dough.
Tony George has made it clear he would welcome back a Formula 1 race to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In 2000, he spent millions of dollars to revamp the inside of “The Worlds Greatest Racecourse”, so more F1 races would certainly help to pay for those improvements. The most recent news we have there is that they are searching for a “big league” corporate sponsor to help with the dollars requested by Formula 1 to host an event.
