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Chicagoland
By A.J. Foyt
 Chicagoland
Speedway is a 1.5-mile superspeedway where horsepower rules. Those
who have it, get to race, those who don't, get to watch. With the
notable exception of one team and one exceptional driver, most of
the Toyota-powered teams were watching from the rear in the PEAK
Antifreeze Indy 300 Sunday afternoon.
I wish I had made the switch from Toyota to Chevy a long time ago.
Despite not testing our ABC Supply Dallara at Chicagoland earlier
this month with the new aero package the IRL put in place to slow
speeds, we were still able to field a competitive race car for A.J.
Foyt IV.
He started the race in 14th spot and finished 11th. He'd been
flirting with another top-10 finish for the last 60 laps of the
race, running as high as eighth. We hoped that a timely yellow would
reward us (and several others) for our pitstop strategy.
Unfortunately, everyone had a chance to pit before that yellow came
out so our advantage disappeared.
 Still,
we finished on the lead lap for the third time in the last four
races, something we were only able to do once last year and once
this year before we switched to Chevy. It's good to see the red,
white and blue No. 14 running in the lead pack instead of
tail-end-Charlie. It's been better for our fans and our sponsors.
Our primary sponsor, ABC Supply, had a big turn-out this weekend
because the race isn't that far from their headquarters in Beloit,
Wisconsin. David Luck, the president of ABC Supply came out with his
family as did Kevin Hendricks who is one of the executive VP's (he's
in charge of operations across the country). ABC also had close to
300 guests there. This is a sponsor who really does use the
sponsorship beyond putting decals on the race car. I feel better now
that we can give them something to cheer for and get excited about.
Speaking of feeling better, I bet Chip Ganassi's driver Ryan Briscoe
must be feeling better even if he is in the hospital recovering from
the injuries he suffered Sunday. He had one spectacular and fiery
crash. He rode over the wheel of another car which launched him in
the air. His car smacked the wall and the light pole and broke
apart, poking a hole in the catch fencing too. The oil in the
transaxle spewed out and caught fire (hence the huge flash of orange
flames) and then it quickly died down. If it had been a fuel fire,
you'd never see it because methanol burns clear. Anyway, it was
because things were flying off the car that Briscoe didn't get hurt
more than he did.
When the race cars break apart like that (which they're designed to
do), it's scary to look at but the energy is being dispersed. If the
cars didn't break apart, then that impact energy would be
transferred directly to the driver and the injuries would be worse,
maybe even fatal. Briscoe has two broken clavicles and a bruised
lung plus some cuts and bruises but the doctors expect him to make a
full recovery.
Dan Wheldon won the race for an IRL record-setting sixth victory. He
all but clinched the title for Andretti-Green Racing and he'll only
have to start the next race to win the title outright. He did a
heckuva job in winning the race because he had to restart in the
rear due to a pit road speed violation (too fast!) and climb his way
back to the top. Second through fifth were Helio Castroneves, Sam
Hornish, Tomas Scheckter and last year's champion Tony Kanaan.
Well our next race is at Watkins Glen International on Sunday,
September 25th. It will be televised live by ABC-TV starting at 3:30
pm eastern time. |
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