Race Report: Motorola Indy 300
SONOMA, Calif. Aug. 26, 2007 – Darren Manning drove
the ABC Supply Dallara/Honda to a 12th place finish in the
Motorola Indy 300 at Infineon Raceway Sunday afternoon.
Visiting an Indy car race for the first time was rock star
Sammy Hagar who was watched the race from A.J. Foyt’s pit
box. Hagar’s lead guitarist Vic Johnson worked as part of
the pit crew on the No. 14 which carries associate
sponsorship from Hagar’s Cabo Wabo Tequila company.
On Saturday, Manning qualified 16th which was
uncharacteristically slow for the road racing veteran, who
has put the ABC Supply car in the top 10 in his three
previous starts on road and street courses this season.
“The car was a little loose in qualifying and I made a
mistake in the chicane which cost us some time,” said
Manning afterwards. However, the car ran better in the final
practice on race morning.
Before
the race began, Foyt, Manning and crew met Hagar in the
paddock area. In a tribute to Hagar, the pit crew sported
the names of songs written and made famous by the Red Rocker
on the backs of their uniforms, including “I Can’t Drive
55.”
At the beginning of the race, Manning may have been humming
that one to himself as he tried to negotiate his way around
Ed Carpenter, finally pulling off the move on lap 15 of the
80-lap event. By that time however, he’d lost quite a bit of
track position as the lead pack sprinted away in the early
going.
“I was a bit lonely out there, Once I got by Ed, I was
pretty much running by myself the whole race,,” said Manning
afterwards.
 There were few yellows to bunch up the field so Manning
paced himself around the 2.3 mile road course.
There were only two full course yellows near the end of the
race brought on by a clash between teammates Marco Andretti
who was leading and Dario Franchitti who was trying to
regain the lead he had held for most of the race. The move
cost both drivers—Andretti was out and Franchitti sustained
a damaged front wing. The second yellow was for Anthony A.J.
Foyt IV when Scott Sharp made contact with Foyt on a
restart.
The first restart triggered a possibility of Manning moving
into 11th as he pulled alongside Buddy Rice as both of them
exited the hairpin turn before the start finish line.
Manning could not complete the pass.
“There was a jumble-up on the restart and I got around the
outside of Buddy but he had the better line and more
momentum so I couldn’t get it done. I wasn’t going to make
any silly moves on him for 11th place,” said Manning.
Scott Dixon won the race and took over the point lead from
Dario Franchitti who finished third.
The Series moves to Belle Isle in Detroit for the Detroit
Indy Grand Prix this week; the race is slated to start at
3:30 pm eastern time on ABC-TV.
Notes & Quotes: Motorola Indy 300 at Infineon Raceway
Darren Manning: No. 14 ABC Supply Dallara/Honda
· Darren Manning on racing at Infineon: “It’s a great track
that has a lot of history. It’s very interesting with the
mix of slow and fast corners and all of the elevation
changes—there are some corners where you can’t see the exit
because of the elevations. That makes it quite exciting for
the driver. As always with the road and street courses, the
key will be getting a good set-up for qualifying; hopefully
we can be in the Fast Six and be near the front for the
race. In the race, it will be difficult to pass so you have
to pressure the guy in front of you into making a mistake.
I’m looking forward to racing at Infineon; it looks to be
challenging and fun.”
Special guests to visit on race day: Sammy Hagar and Vic
Johnson, his guitarist in the “Waboritas” band, will be
visiting with A.J. Foyt and his team Sunday morning. Hagar’s
Cabo Wabo tequila is an associate sponsor of Foyt’s No. 14
car this season. Johnson, a motorsports enthusiast, is also
going to be working in the pits during the race helping to
pull back the rear tires. As a special tribute to Hagar, the
pit stop crew members will have the name of their favorite
Sammy Hagar song featured on their race uniforms: I Can’t
Drive 55 – Craig Baranouski, (fuel hoses); Only One Way To
Rock – Pat Jordan, outside front tire changer; Right Now –
Wade Crews, outside rear tire changer; Dreams – Ronnie
Schultz, inside front tire changer; Heavy Metal – Buddy
Blackburn, inside rear tire changer; Three Lock Box – Randy
Baden, airjack; Mas Tequila – Rodney Klausmeyer, fueler;
Cabo Wabo – Shanyu Yip, fuel strategy. Driver Darren Manning
won’t be wearing a song on his uniform but he has to go with
I Can’t Drive 55. A.J. Foyt is still trying to decide on his
favorite song.
· Manning returned to Indy from England Monday evening after
racing in the LeMans Series 1000km race at the famed Spa-Francorchamps
circuit in Belgium. Driving for Embassy Racing, Manning and
his teammate Warren Hughes lined up third on the grid and
were running second when Hughes came in for the driver
change. A sticking throttle had to be fixed prior to
Manning’s two-hour stint which cost the team 45 minutes in
the pits. Once Manning returned to the race, however, he
posted the fastest lap of the race in his LMP2 class and for
a time, had the fastest lap of the race overall. The team
placed seventh in class and 31st overall. Manning is
scheduled to compete in two more races after the IndyCar
season ends at Chicagoland Sept. 9th. Manning will race at
his old stomping grounds the Silverstone circuit in the U.K.
the weekend of Sept. 16th and at Mil Milhas in Brazil Nov
11.
· Past performances at Infineon: Darren Manning has never
raced at Infineon but he did participate in the Open Test
held there in April, 2005. Foyt Racing hired Jeff Bucknum to
drive the ABC Supply Dallara/Honda for the 2005 event and
asked him back in 2006. In 05, Bucknum qualified 17th and
finished 10th and last year he started 15th but was out
after nine laps when he and Jeff Simmons tangled in turn 11,
resulting in damage to the No.14’s right rear suspension.
· Northgate Roofing, located in Novato, Calif., is this
weekend’s winner of the ABC Supply Your Name Here Promotion
for its customers. The company name will be put on the top
of the sidepods of the No. 14 ABC Supply Dallara/Honda.
Patrick Newman will receive selected merchandise, race
tickets, hospitality and garage passes, plus a Meet and
Greet with A.J. Foyt and Darren Manning. The “Your Name
Here” promotion selected winners by random drawing from a
pool of entries sent in by ABC Supply customers earlier this
year.
The Motorola Indy 300 will be shown live at 3:30 p.m.
eastern time Sunday afternoon, August 26 on ESPN.
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