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NOTES & QUOTES: Kentucky Indy 300
Vitor Meira: ABC Supply No. 14 Dallara/Honda/Firestone
· Vitor Meira on the key to Kentucky: “The car needs to be good in traffic but most of all it needs to be good over the bumps. The track surface at Kentucky keeps changing every year and new bumps appear. They fix it, they shave it, but still new bumps appear—it is a very ‘live’ track. A setup that was good last year doesn’t mean it will be good for sure this year because it might be bumpy or it might not—it depends on how much work they’ve done on the track. It’s a track that keeps changing every year and we have to make sure the car is good over the bumps.”
· Meira made his IndyCar debut at Kentucky in 2002. He remembers: “I have very, very good memories of Kentucky. It was my first oval track race. The learning curve was just so steep and I had so much to learn. It was the first time I raced on an oval, the first time I did pit stops, my first time for wheel-to-wheel racing, so I had a lot to learn. We had 25 cars and I ended up finishing 13th which was good and the reason is, I learned a lot. I remembered in the last 50 laps passing Raul Boesel! I used to watch him when I was in go karts and he was in Formula 1 and Indy cars so it was a cool feeling and from that point on, things took off.” [For the record, Boesel passed Meira back as Boesel finished 11th that day].
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Chicagoland
 By A.J. Foyt
The race at Chicagoland Speedway last Saturday night turned out to be a helluva race! It was definitely exciting to watch as the cars ran in three-abreast packs at speeds over 214 mph lap after lap. I hope the fans appreciated what those kids did out there that night.
For the drivers, it was probably the most intense race of the season – it looked like a thrill a minute. More like 10 thrills a minute. They all looked pretty worn out when it was over.
I can tell you one thing, everyone on pit lane was glad when it was over! Whew.
For our ABC Supply team, the weekend started out pretty bleak. Our driver Vitor Meira liked the way the car handled but there was no speed. He could barely keep up with the draft! When we qualified 24th I said that’s it, we’re changing the motor. We did and we knew after final practice that we had a shot in the race.
I didn’t know we would be up and down the scoreboard like a yoyo though. It started with Vitor getting his front wing damaged trying to avoid the first accident of the night on lap five. We changed the nose quickly enough. Since we were last in line (no one pitted), we decided to top it off but I should have told him to stay out because it was too close to going green. But I called him in. The stop went fine but by the time he could get up to speed he was half a lap down.
The thing is when you make mistakes, you can’t stew over it. You just have to keep your head up and keep going. That’s what we did.
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Race Report: Peak Antifreeze Indy 300
JOLIET, IL Aug 28—Nobody does high-speed, wheel-to-wheel racing better than the drivers of the IZOD IndyCar Series and they proved it again Saturday night at Chicagoland Speedway.
In a wild and crazy night of three abreast, pedal-to-the-metal racing, Vitor Meira and the ABC Supply crew’s night was wilder and crazier than most. Before all was said and done, the crew replaced two front nose assemblies, Meira went a lap down and got it back, led twice, posted his first top-10 finish in two months and jumped three positions in the point standings! And drove the last half of the race with an injured right wrist!
“It was a very interesting race,” said Meira afterwards. “We knew it would be, but it was really crazy! Getting two front wings, getting lapped, and then my team did a good job getting the lap back. This was very tough. I thought after the second wing replacement our race was gone but we didn't give up, never gave up, never.
“We needed this after four tough races,” he added. “I'm glad we did it here in Chicago close to ABC Supply headquarters. They support us so well! I guess I’ll have to visit them before every race—they gave me good luck.”
Starting 24th in the 29-car field, Meira had begun moving up when on lap 5, Raphael Matos and Tomas Scheckter crashed in turn 2. In the ensuing melee, Meira sustained damage to his front wing and flat-spotted his right front tire. The crew replaced it in less than 16 seconds. Restarting last, a bad decision to have Meira pit to top off saw him lose half a lap to the field on the restart on lap 13.
Meira kept pace and was inching his way to the front when the pit stop cycles began on lap 55 of the 200-lap race. By lap 62, he was in the lead and on lap 63 he was in the pits getting tires and fuel in 8.1 seconds. On lap 74, he was lapped by Ryan Briscoe and Marco Andretti but he ran with them until the yellow came out on lap 78 for Ana Beatriz’s brush with the turn 4 wall.
Meira stayed out to get his lap back while the rest of the field pitted. Lucky for the ABC Supply crew he did because two cars made contact resulting in Takuma Sato spinning backwards into the ABC Supply’s pitbox.
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