Race Report - Firestone Indy 400
 BROOKLYN,
MI Aug.5, 2007—Postponed for four and a half hours due
to rain, the Firestone Indy 400 may well be the last race
that the IndyCar Series runs at Michigan International
Speedway; if so, it will be remembered as a demolition
derby!
Six caution flags slowed the event, five of them for
crashes, including the No.14 ABC Supply car driven by
Englishman Darren Manning.
 Manning
was running a strong race Sunday when he spun and backed it
into the wall. He escaped with a cut on his knee.
“Marco [Andretti] cut across the front of me and I had to
put a lot of wheel lock into it and when the air hit it, it
grabbed and snapped the back end around….it’s a shame
because we had a good car today. My car was definitely
better on long runs. It seemed that everyone else’s cars
fell off after the new tires wore a little bit but my car
didn’t fall off as much. It was crazy out there.”
Manning had started 18th but had climbed into the top ten
and had a brief stint in the top five through a quick, fuel
only stop. He faded back to 11th until the next round of
stops when the team made another adjustment on the 14 car.
He came back out in 10th and during the next five laps
dropped back as far as 12th but then he came marching up
through the field. He was running ninth and challenging
Andretti for eighth when the incident happened.
It was the fourth crash and fifth yellow of the afternoon.
The crashing didn’t stop however, because the leaders
tangled 24 laps after the restart, triggering a spectacular
seven car crash.
Dario Franchitti was passing Dan Wheldon on the outside when
the two vets made contact in turn 3 which sent Franchitti
pirouetting through the air. The ensuing chain reaction saw
five more cars end up in the pits. Everyone escaped without
injury.
Tony Kanaan won the race followed by Marco Andretti, Scott
Sharp, Kosuke Matsuura, Buddy Rice, Ryan Hunter-Reay and
Danica Patrick.
The next race will be televised live at 6:30pm on Saturday,
August 11th by ESPN2.
Notes & Quotes: Firestone Indy 400 at Michigan
International Speedway
Darren Manning: No. 14 ABC Supply Dallara/Honda
· Darren Manning on racing at Michigan: “I quite like racing
at Michigan, it’s very fast. We’ve been talking about our
race strategy this week, trying to figure out what to do in
every situation, i.e. running single file or running in the
draft, pit stops, etc. When you run in the draft, you don’t
use as much fuel so you take on less fuel during the pit
stop which means a quicker stop. We may run mid-pack to stay
in the draft and then go for it at the end. We’ll just have
to see how the race plays out.”
· Manning on his last race at MIS: “We were having a good
race, running from sixth to third for the last half of the
race. Then with two laps to go, Dixon and I were lapping
someone [Tomas Scheckter] in turn four and Dixon pushed up
into me which damaged my front wing and that shredded my
front tire. I nearly crashed going into one and then I
limped around to pit lane which is where I finished. The
next day after that race, we did over 600 miles of testing
for Firestone which was pretty boring but I have plenty of
miles there.”
In 2004, driving for Chip Ganassi, Manning started 12th and
was credited with 13th. He led four laps (128 – 131) and
also posted the fastest lap of the race: lap 117 at 216.578
mph.
· MacDermott Roofing, Inc. in Detroit 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. Dave
MacDermott 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.
Team manager Craig Baranouski grew up in nearby Quincy,
Mich. Baranouski, 46, joined Foyt’s team after the end of
the 1986 season and is second only to General Manager Jack
Starne in terms of consecutive years of service (Starne has
been with Foyt since 1967). Baranouski began his Indy car
career in 1982 with the late Scott Brayton, with whom he
worked for four years before working on Pat Patrick’s race
team for a season. As a kid, Baranouski watched races at
nearby Butler Motor Speedway in Quincy and later worked on
several race teams competing there.
· Mid-Ohio performance: Manning started eighth and finished
sixth in the ICS’s inaugural running at Mid-Ohio. It was the
fourth time in the last five races that Manning has posted a
top-10 finish. In 12 starts, he has been running at the
finish 10 times. He is currently 13th in the standings, 15
points out of the top-10.
· Past Performances on ovals in 2007: Manning’s best start
on an oval this year is 11th which is where he qualified at
Kansas and Texas. His best finish is his fifth place showing
at Iowa; it is also his best finish of the season to date.
· Past performances for Foyt at Michigan: Foyt’s team
competed in all of the IndyCar races at MIS with their best
start of ninth posted by Eliseo Salazar in 2002 and their
best finish of 12th posted by A.J. Foyt IV in the ABC Supply
No. 14 in 2005. Team owner A.J. Foyt won twice at MIS in his
Coyote/Foyt Indy cars and both times from the pole: the
200-miler in July, 1975 and the 150-miler in September,
1976. He won five straight poles at events held there: 9/74,
7/75, 9/75, 7/76 and 9/76. He won four USAC stock car events
at the track (’70, ’73, ’74, ’76).
· The Firestone Indy 400 will be televised live Sunday,
August 5th starting at 12 noon ET on ESPN2.
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