August 2002 (8/30 - Toyota has held two engine tests this month for its upcoming entry into Indy racing. They are testing with Team Kelley and have tested at Kentucky and Gateway. (8/30) - Greg Ray clarified the situation with his quitting Foyt Racing. He is under contract with them through 2003. He is stepping out of the car to try and build up the team. He says they are trying to stretch their resources too far with a 3-car team. He said "A.J. Foyt made a commitment to me for this year and for next season regardless of the sponsorship situation. A.J. is a man of his word, and in his heart of hearts, he keeps the commitments he makes. But I believe it?s in no one?s best interest for me to run a third car at Chicago and Texas." (8/30) - Have you been wondering "Who is this Vitor Meira who appeared out of nowhere and is driving for Team Menard?" The 25-year-old Meira is no stranger to racing. A native of Brazil, he started racing go-karts in 1990 and has worked his way up through Formula series in Europe and South America. He was the South American F3 champion two years ago, when he won eight races, and was fifth in the European F3 series in 2001. But like fellow Brazilians Helio Castroneves, Gil de Ferran, Felipe Giaffone and Airton Dare, he wanted to race in the United States. And he wanted to race in the IRL. "It's the higher level of everything," he said. "Drivers, teams, investors -- everything is higher level. Everyone is competitive. Even without a big budget, you can be there and win the race." When Jaques Lazier was injured this year, Team Menard had a seat to fill. Vitor got ahold of them and ran a test and they were very impressed. Vitor has since ran in two IRL races. He says "I'm still learning. It's completely different than Europe. You've got the pit-stop rules, the oval courses, the warm-up lanes. But I'm learning." (8/30) - Team Penske says that Helio Castroneves will have an F1 test for Toyota after the IRL season ends. (8/30) - Continuing sagas... Villeneuve and manager Pollock, said they never received any $50 million offer to decline. (That sounded too unbelievable to be true.) Scheckter's manager says Cheever has no control over his contract and that Scheckter will be joining another IRL team. Yeah right. They must do contracts different in Italy (where his manager is from.) I've always said that a driver who doesn't want to return to racing after a crash is not a racer. Jason Priestley ain't returning to open-wheel... (8/30) - Craig Pollock has denied any involvement in the purchase of the Arrows F1 team and believes another party stepped in at the last minute. When Arrows announced it was heading to Belgium this weekend with an American investor on the brink of signing a deal, it was speculated that Pollock, who is backed by Canadians, was involved. "Absolutely not, it's nothing to do with me," Pollock told Reuters at the Belgian Grand Prix. "My interest in Arrows is officially finished. That's it." The former BAR boss said he was close to buying Arrows but: "Obviously not close enough. I'd say just at the very last minute somebody else came in." Dieter Mateschitz, the Red Bull boss who is aiming to set up an American F1 team, was also linked with Arrows but he reportedly has no part in the recent deal. Enrique Bernoldi, Arrows' sole driver as of the moment, was present at the Spa circuit today but said he did not know who his team mate would be. (8/29) - Word is, Heinz-Harald Frentzen has joined Sauber and a mysterious American has coughed up the dough to help the Arrows team get to Belgium for this weekends Grand Prix. (8/28) - Olivier Panis will be leaving BAR next year and joining the Toyota Formula One team. This makes room for BAR's newly acquired Jenson Button who will team with Jacques Villeneuve for 2003. 2002 was the first year for the Toyota team. They are releasing both of their 2002 drivers, Allan McNish and Mika Salo, for 2003. They have not announced who will team with Panis next year. Hmm, how 'bout H-H Frentzen? (8/28) - Greg Ray is again leaving A.J. Foyt's Indycar racing team. He joined the team this year to replace the injured Eliseo Salazar. I think its a mutual arrangement. Greg hasn't liked A.J.'s cars this year and A.J hasn't like Greg's lack of results. (8/28) - Jacques Villeneuve has a contract with BAR for next year and a salary of $20 million. Rumors of him leaving for CART has been ridiculous, or so I thought. Now there's a rumor that his team from his CART days has offered him a 3-year deal for $50 million. Fifty Million?! Where in the world does Gerry Forsythe hope to come up with that from??? Well the rumor says BAT, which own BAR, and evidently Players, was offering it. The deal was that JV go to CART in 2003, then return to BAR for '04-05. Their sponsorship in CART must end soon and they wanted a championship. This mega offer should certainly help current driver Patrick Carpentier re-negotiate. (8/28) - Going down with the ship... Mario Andretti has joined the CART board. (8/25) - In an exciting IRL race at St Louis's oval track, The two Penske cars fought at the front mainly with Sam Hornish, Jr., Vitor Meira (new rookie on Team Menard), Alex Barron, and Felipe Giaffone before bringing them home 1-2. Gil de Ferran was the winner. Buddy Lazier had a miserable car all day. (8/25) - Tomas Scheckter, who won his first race at Michigan last month, decided he didn't want to race at St Louis! He murmored something about race safety. Race Safety?! If anyone should be a poster-child for how safe the IRL cars are, its Tomas! After all, he's crashed in six races this year and has come away relatively unscathed. After Buddy finished in 4th place at Gateway today, team-owner, Eddie Cheever commented, "Buddy did a phenomenal job! I was watching him in the race. He took a car that should have finished eighth and finished fourth. Three races, and three finishes. That is a new record for Red Bull Cheever Racing. We are pleasantly surprised with Buddy." Cheever also stated that any team interested in buying out Scheckter's contract, which runs through 2003, can. (8/24) - Jeff Gordon finally won a race this year - Bristol! (8/23) - In what could be the worst damage a Nascar car could see, Mike Harmon had his car ripped in half when he crashed during practice for a Busch series race at Bristol. The wall that Mike hit was some type of gate that wasnt' locked. It flew open and his car met the edge of concrete. The concrete won. If that wasn't bad enough, along came Johnny Sauter in the blue #2 car and T-boned him! Luckily, Mike was ok and walked away. (8/22) - Finally! A sponsor has stepped up for Sarah Fisher. Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer has signed to a longterm endorsement contract. Currently a sponsor in Formula One, TAG Heuer's president and CEO stated, "If one woman will ever make it to Formula One, it will be Sarah Fisher. She's so talented, determined and young but still so experienced that, without a doubt, she will grow to become a great champion." Congratulations Sarah! (8/19) - No big surprise considering they've won every race this year except for two - Ferrari clinched the Formula One Constructor's Championship yesterday with their 1-2 finish at the Hungarian Grand Prix. (8/18) - Craig Pollock, who is one of the bidders for the Arrows team: "At the moment there is nothing signed," he said. "We are probably closest (to a deal) but it's getting further away; there's no team here (Hungary) this weekend." (8/16) - People who have purchased four or more tickets to the U.S. Grand Prix can drive a lap around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's 2.6-mile road course Sunday from 1-4 p.m. The event includes a photo to be taken of the lap between turns eight and nine along with a chance to be photographed with a Formula One car along the front straightaway. (8/15) - Sarah Fisher was fastest yesterday in testing at St Louis. (8/15) - Richie Hearn has had surgery on his ankle. He is out for the remainder of the IRL season. (8/13) - CART has scheduled their Chicago race next year for May 18th which may interfere with those teams wishing to compete in the Indy 500. (8/11) - The new team principal at BAR suggests the 1997 World Drivers Champion leave his team to free up money that the team can spend elsewhere. Of course he doesn't mention taking a pay cut himself, nor does he mention Jacques Villeneuve going on to another F1 team. "The decision is Jacques', but his move to CART would allow us to focus on chassis development," said David Richards. "I would like the move to happen, but Jacques has a contract with us for the 2003 season. I hope to be able to discuss the matter with him in Hungary." I'll bet JV would like Richards to move to CART instead! BAR did sign Jenson Button for next year. Heinz-Harald Frentzen quit Arrows (and maybe F1). (8/11) - Sarah Fisher started on pole at today's IRL race in Kentucky (221.390 mph)! Felipe Giaffone battled off Lazier and Hornish to win. He was the 9th different race winner in a row in the IRL (Sarah was the 9th different pole sitter too.) Kelley Racing took some hits. Earlier in the day, their Infiniti Pro Series driver was seriously injured in a crash. Then during the IRL race, rookie Tony Renna hit some of his pit crew - Bernie Hallisky, Rusty Hurford and Jeff Horton were injured when Renna came down pit road for service, the car striking Hallisky. Hallisky sustained a compound fracture of the right leg and possible hip injuries. He was transported to Indianapolis' Methodist Hospital where surgery was performed to stabilize his injured leg and he was evaluated for further possible injuries. Hurford was transported to a local hospital for precautionary x-rays of the head, neck and back. He suffered a strained neck, was treated and released. Horton suffered a deep bruise to his hip area, was treated in the infield care center and released back to his duties as the fueler for the #78 car. He completed the remaining pit stops of the race. Richie Hearn had to go to the hospital. Hearn broke his ankle in a Turn 2 crash on Lap 24. Tomas Scheckter, who won the last race, lost control of his back end and hit the wall, collecting Airton Dare' and sending him into the wall. (8/6) - Jim Crawford, 54, died today. A Scotsman, he raced briefly in F1 in 1975. He competed in the Indy 500 from 1985-1993, his best finish being 6th. He retired to become a fishing boat captain in Florida. Survivors include his wife, Annie, and son, Geoffrey. (8/6) - NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver Tony Stewart has been fined $10,000 and placed on probation through Dec. 31 as a result of an altercation with a media member following Sunday's Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, NASCAR officials announced today. Stewart, driver of the No. 20 Pontiac, was penalized under Section 12-4-A in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series Rule Book:"Actions detrimental to stock car racing." In addition to the fine and probation, NASCAR will require Stewart to make a formal apology to the media member. The penalties were assessed after NASCAR officials conducted a thorough investigation of the incident. "It is imperative that we protect the integrity of our sport," NASCAR President Mike Helton said."This type of behavior cannot be tolerated and is in no way indicative of the manner in which our drivers, teams, tracks and sponsors interact with the media. We take pride in our accessibility and interaction with the media and we intend to protect that relationship." (8/6) - They say Little Al will be returning to his race car for this weekends IRL race in Kentucky. Tony Renna was filling in for him for the two races he missed in July. Kelley Racing is going to keep Tony on the team and will expand to a 3-car team. At least for the time being. Brickyard 400! (8/4) - Bill Elliott won the 9th Brickyard 400 in his red #9 car! His car was fast and the only other person who looked to have a chance of beating him was Dale Jarrett. But after Jarrett left the pits with a gas can hanging off the back of his car, he was accessed a stop-and-go penalty that dropped him out of contention. Tony Stewart was charging hard once more to try and win his first race at the speedway and while he led for over 40 laps of the 160 lap race, he fell back at the end. Once more his hot temper caused some gossip in the local media as he shoved a photographer who was in his way after the race was over. Kurt Busch made a spectacle of himself as he climbed from his crashed car walked out in the middle of the track and gestured at the Jimmy Spencer who put him in the wall. Jeff Gordon started midpack and worked his way up to second place for awhile. Some stats: Average speed: 125.033 mph Time of race: 3 hours, 11 minutes, 57 seconds Margin of victory: 1.269 seconds Cauton flags: 8 for 36 laps Lead changes: 16 among 10 drivers Top 10 Finishers: 1. Bill Elliott 2. Rusty Wallace 3. Matt Kenseth 4. Ryan Newman 5. Kevin Harvick 6. Jeff Gordon 7. Steve Park 8. Robby Gordon 9. Jimmie Johnson 10. Dale Jarrett INDIANAPOLIS, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2002 -- Bill Elliott finally broke through for his first Brickyard 400 victory, passing Rusty Wallace with 12 laps remaining to take the lead for good Aug. 4 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The victory ended a string of near misses in this event for Elliott, who had five top-eight finishes entering the ninth annual NASCAR Winston Cup Series at the historic 2.5-mile oval, including two third-place finishes. "It's the greatest," Elliott said. "Man, it's the greatest." Elliott, from Dawsonville, Ga., beat Wallace to the finish by 1.269 seconds in his No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge. He averaged 125.033 mph, and it was the first win by a Dodge in this event. Matt Kenseth finished third in the No. 17 DeWalt Power Tools Ford. Indiana native Ryan Newman was fourth and the top-finishing rookie in the No. 12 ALLTEL Ford, and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top five in the No. 29 GM Goodwre! nch Service Chevrolet. Elliott, 46, became the oldest driver to win the Brickyard 400. He dominated most of the race after starting second, leading 93 of 160 laps and holding a lead as large as 4.64 seconds on Lap 121. But it appeared late in the race that Wallace, now a three-time runner-up in this event, might be the driver breaking through for the elusive first win, not Elliott. Mark Martin led a restart on Lap 134 in his No. 6 Pfizer/Viagra Ford, but pole sitter Tony Stewart wasted little time passing Martin for the lead on that lap, easing his No. 20 Home Depot Pontiac in the short chute between Turns 1 and 2. Elliott was fifth on the restart. Wallace took the lead on Lap 137, pushing his No. 2 Miller Lite Ford under Stewart entering Turn 3. Elliott passed Stewart for second entering Turn 3 on Lap 139 and then began stalking Wallace. Elliott trailed Wallace by .749 of a second on Lap 139 but closed the gap to! .215 of a second by Lap 147. Wallace pushed his car too deep into Turn 2 on Lap 149, letting Elliott pull even on the inside on the back straightaway. Elliott nosed under Wallace entering Turn 3 and took the lead for good. "When Bill (Elliott) passed me, I was just getting too loose," Wallace said. "I was tight all day long. The last stop, we took a bunch of wedge out, put a bunch of air in the right-rear tire. We were smoking down the straightaway, big horsepower, and I said, 'Man, I don't think he can catch me.' "Then with 10 laps to go, I got up off of Turn 2, and I got loose. He stuck his nose underneath, and the aero push kicked in, and I couldn't do nothing." Said Elliott: "I kept working on him, working on him, and I felt like if I could ever get to him, I'd be OK. I finally got to him and got him a little loose and was able to power under him." Wallace had one final chance on a restart on Lap 157 after the final caution pe! riod, but Elliott pulled away easily for the win. Stewart ended up 12th. Defending event champion Jeff Gordon finished sixth in the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet. Points leader Sterling Marlin finished 27th in the No. 40 Coors Light Dodge, one of an event-record 30 cars on the lead lap at the finish. Rookie Jimmie Johnson climbed to second in the Winston Cup point standings with his ninth-place finish in the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet. Mike Wallace, Brett Bodine, Kurt Busch, Geoffrey Bodine, Casey Atwood and Elliott Sadler were unhurt in accidents. All were separate accidents except for an early crash between Wallace and Brett Bodine. Wallace and Bodine collided in Turn 2 on Lap 11, as Wallace's No. 14 Conseco Pontiac owned by four-time Indianapolis 500 winner A.J. Foyt became the first stock car to hit the SAFER Barrier. "If I did hit the barrier -- I wasn't sure if I hit the barrier or the concrete wall -- I guess I'm glad I h! it that because it hit a ton just then," Wallace said. "So I'm glad it was there." (5/3) - Tony Stewart has won the pole position for tomorrow's Brickyard 400! (5/3) - Dale Jarrett passed Kenny on the first lap and led the entire IROC race, with Helio Castroneves finishing 2nd. This was the fourth and last IROC race for 2002 and the champion is..... Kevin Harvick from the NASCAR Busch Series! (5/2) - They were able to fit Helio's last name on his IROC cars! Kenny Schrader starts on pole in the IROC race at Indy tomorrow. (5/2) - The first day of practice at the Brickyard 400 began with some rain, but cleared up early and the sun heated things up to 90 degrees. Kurt Busch led the opening day of practice turning a top lap at 181.734 mph.

July 2002 (7/29) - The IRL had a very exciting race at the two-mile Michigan speedway this weekend, especially the last 20 laps. We saw racing speeds break 220 mph. Although "my" driver continued to have problems, I was very happy to see his teammate and the only girl in the field, Sarah Fisher, charge to the front to lead part of the race. Wow! She's the read deal. If there are any disbelievers out there, her performance Sunday should stifle them. After spending the season griping at his protoge' for crashing, Eddie Cheever ironically crashes into the wall, while his young teammate, Tomas Scheckter, went on to win his first Indy Racing League race, leading most of the day. This was the 8th different IRL winner in the last 8 races! (7/29) - Formula One raced in Germany Sunday. Poor Heinz-Harald Frentzen had his ride yanked out from under him last year at his home grand prix and this year, his car stalled on the grid and he didn't get to race a lap! The great and powerful Michael Schumacher led from flag to flag. There was a brief and furious battle between Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikonnen, a battle that JPM would win. He went on to finish 2nd and Kimi's Mercedes engine would blow up. All Honda engines would blow up too, but I did get to enjoy a pass by Jacques Villeneuve early on. He pulled off an impressive pass on Jenson Button in the hairpin. I think it was Jacques way of saying "Hi" to his new 2003 teammate. (7/25) - Cheever Racing will be running a third car this weekend at Michigan, giving Buddy Rice his first chance at racing in the IRL. Buddy is 25 y/o and won the Toyota Atlantics championship in 2000. (7/23) - Eddie Cheever is looking for a new driver. Scheckter is wrecking too many of his cars..... As rumored, Michael Andretti bought Team Green and will likely be heading to the IRL next year! .... Another CART team, Fernandez Racing, is considering running one of their drivers, Shinji Nakano, in the IRL next year. (7/22) - Formula One team, BAR, announced that they have hired Jenson Button for 2003! Who will they now release? The inexpensive Panis, or the $15 million world champion, Jacques Villeneuve? (7/21) - Michael Schumacher has clinched the 2002 World Drivers Championship early in the season when he won the French Grand Prix today. This is his 5th championship. Kimi had the French GP wrapped up, but ran off course a few laps from the end, handing the win to Michael, who had fought back after having received a stop-and-go penalty. Rubens, never even got off the starting grid in his Ferrari. (7/19) - Little Al announced he is going to seek help at a drug rehab place as he may have a drinking problem. The Indy courts are not going to press charges against him as they do not have enough proof. The local prosecutor said that people that know him, know that he would prosecute his own mother for any offense he had evidence for. Yeah... nice guy. Anyway, lucky for Al, this guys' not on his back. Al may miss an IRL race or two and an IROC race. He hopes to be back in the car by August. (7/19) - Attendance figures released by CART for their Chicago race - 25,000. Actual number of ticket stubs - 14,000 Cart claimed 51,317 on race day and 111,438 for all three days at Cleveland Airport. Reality check - only 18,000 seats available. (7/19) - Eliseo Salazar is returning to racing this weekend in Nashville. He was injured during practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway back in April. Greg Ray will move to Foyt Racing's #41 car and Eliseo will slip into the #11. Welcome back Eliseo! (7/19) - Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Arie Luyendyk has decided to drive a Treadway-Hubbard entry in the Michigan Indy 400 on July 28. It will be Luyendyk's first IRL start, other than the Indy 500, since October 1998, when he won the season-finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Since then, he has competed only in the 1999, 2001 and 2002 Indy 500s. He finished 14th in this year's 500. (7/19) - Chevrolet and Pontiac Winston Cup teams tested at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway July 9-10 and July 15-16. (7/17) - Germany has cancelled its CART race. This leaves CART with 19 races. (7/13) - IRL drivers finished in the top 3 positions in the IROC (International Race of Champions) race near Chicago. Buddy Lazier won, leading flag to flag. He was followed by Al Unser, Jr and Helio Castroneves. Tony Steward had to quit on the 19th lap due to engine problems. This is the first time the IRL has grabbed the top 3 positions in an IROC race since 1996. Little Al has gotten himself some bad publicity starting with a hassle with his girlfriend while he may have been drunk. And now some guy in Canada is telling people that he used to smoke pot. The next you thing you know, his 5th grade teacher will be telling us how he cheated on a spelling test in 1975. (7/7) - Foyt Racing wins inaugral IPS race at Kansas as well as the IRL race. June 2002 (6/17) IMS makes U.S. Grand Prix tickets available on-line. Just go to IMStix.com Formula One fine Ferrari, Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher 1 million dollars for their behavior on the podium after Michael gave the trophy to Rubens (since he really won the race in Austria.) (6/1) - Barry Green continues arguing that his team won the Indy 500. He thinks Paul Tracy got around Helio Castroneves before the caution came out for the wreck of Laurent Redon.

May 2002 (5/29) - Jason Leffler won the Hoosier Hundred (Silver Crown race) at the Indiana Fairgrounds. (5/29) - Eddie Cheever, Jr. bought out partner Clyde Perlee to become sole owner of Red Bull Cheever Racing. (5/26) - Helio Castroneves won again! He only led 23 of the 200 laps. Rookie Tomas Scheckter led the most laps, at 85. Helio is the first person to win in both of his first two starts. This was Penske's 13th Indy 500 win. The 86th 500 was ran on a beautiful day and there were 5 cautions. (5/24) - This has been a cold rainy May, but Carb Day was warm and sunny, if a little windy. (5/24) - Honda announced they would compete in the Indy Racing League next year and has hired Ilmor Engineering to help supply engines. Toyota comes on board next year also. Both of these manufactures recently competed in CART and currently butt heads in F1. They'll join Infiniti in making three Japanese car companies competing against the General. Robert Clarke, who is the president of Honda Performance Development, was asked if any CART teams had talked to them about this move, "No, not really. We've tried to keep this whole program very secret. It seems as though we've done a fairly good job in keeping it secret. There's been a lot of speculation, I believe, but no one was able to really connect all the dots. But, no, because of that we have not been free to go out and discuss with our current CART teams or any other CART team. [see related story further down the page on 4/26] He was asked about Honda's rivalry with Toyota, "Basically we hate each other, I think; it's kind of in each other's culture. I've been with Honda 21 years, and it's basically driven into you that you're not supposed to like Toyota." (5/24) - Tony George replied to the idea of the IRL racing at Motegi Japan, "But at this point there's nothing imminent to announce regarding Motegi. So I guess we'll just have to wait and see on that one." (5/19) - Although there were rain delays and BUMP DAY ended early, We have a full field of 33! This race has the fastest slowest-qualifying speed in history. Andretti withdrew his entry and qualified his backup car faster, but lower on the grid. Boat survived his 3rd trip on the bubble. Who didn't make the show: Johnny Herbert, Donnie Beechler, Jimmy Kite, Robbie McGehee, Jon Herb, Orial Servia, John de Vries, Davy Jones, Billy Roe, Memo Gidley (5/17) - Ha! Ha! Some old man landed his Cessna on the drag strip at Indianapolis Raceway Park yesterday, thinking it was a runway! He had never been to the Eagle Creek airport before which is about 5 miles from IRP. (5/17) - Robbie Buhl, set fastest time in practice today. The temperature was in the low 50's, but Buhl cleared 228mph! (5/17) - It appears that the second car 310 Racing had entered in the 500 for Jimmy Kite, has been withdrawn. Unfortunately for Anthony Lazzaro, Kite is now the driver of his No. 99 Sam Schmidt Motorsports Racing Special. Wow, can you imagine the let down for Lazzaro?! Tis better to have raced and lost, than never to have raced at all. (5/17) - Robby Gordon's Schedule May 17 - Practice, Lowe's Motor Speedway May 18 - The Winston, Lowe's Motor Speedway May 19 - Back to Indianapolis in morning, practice (tentative) May 20 - Back to Charlotte in morning May 21 - Charlotte May 22 - Charlotte, back to Indianapolis in afternoon May 23 - Coors Carb Day at Indianapolis, back to Charlotte in afternoon May 24 - Coca-Cola 600 qualifying, Lowe's Motor Speedway May 25 - Winston Cup Happy Hour, back to Indianapolis in evening May 26 - 86th Indianapolis 500, back to Charlotte for Coca-Cola 600 immediately after race May 27 - Back to Indianapolis in morning, Indianapolis 500 Victory Celebration (5/16) - In a windy practice day at the speedway today, Bruno Junqueira lost control of his pole-winning car when coming in toward the pits. His back end slid out and he dove right back onto the track and nearyl hit the inside retaining wall head-on. The car then slid across the track and had some light contact with the outside wall with the left side of his car. The car should be ok and Bruno is ok too. (5/15) - Indy Racing League driver Eliseo Salazar was at the Speedway today. Salazar was injured in a testing accident in April at the Speedway. He thinks he'll be back on A.J. Foyt's race team by August or September. Eliseo said, "Feeling great. We came in last night, actually to spend my son's first birthday here. The center of our lives is Indianapolis, and what better place than to spend it here?" Remarking to whether he has considered retirement, since the accident, he said, "It (racing) has been my whole life, career. I've been competitive the last few years, and I don't want to waste it." Since Eliseo can't compete in this year's 500, he is going to broadcast the race to his countrymen in Chili! (5/12) - Formula One: Austrian grand prix Rubens Barrichello continues impressing with his improved maturity and driving skill. He qualified for the pole position over Ralf; Michael was back on the 2nd row! I hoped Ruben's Ferrari wouldn't let him down for the start of this race. It didn't. He kept the lead at the start while his teammate, M. Schumacher grabbed 2nd. Kimi once again outqualified DC and Ralf outqualified Montoya. Jaques Villeneuve qualified poorly, but on race day his car seemed to be a contender. Although he had an incident in the beginning stages of the race (he ran Fretzen right off the track) he quickly worked his way all the way up to 4th. But after a pitstop shuffle (he had 3 pitstops) he was in 8th. This was a very exciting race. In the beginning of the race, Kimi again had car trouble, his engine blew. When Panis' BAR Honda engine blew, it locked up his rear wheels and gave him a scare. He handled the car beautifully, it stayed on the track and came to a stop in the middle toward a turn. This brought out the Safety Car. On the last lap, JV's engine blew and gave him a hot seat. He shot out of the cockpit fast and he hopped over the guardrail and got away from that smoking car. The end was disappointing as Ferrari issued the order at the end of the race to Ruben's to slow and let Schumacher take the win. It is sad that Barrichello will miss having his name in the record books after having such a good weekend. The crowd really booed the decision. UP ON THE PODIUM, SCHUMACHER PUSHED RUBENS UP TO THE TOP SPOT. This helped relieve the anger somewhat. He then joined him. Then he gave Rubens the trophy. Montoya drove a smart race, he ran the harder compound tires than his teammate, and ended up in 3rd. (5/12) - Bernie said that Red Bull was trying to start a driver's academy to bring an American driver over to Europe and run them up through the Formula ranks to Formula One. I find that interesting since they pushed a South African on Cheever Indy Racing then, but I guess Scheckter Senior had some pull, not to take anything away from Tomas who has real potential. (5/11) - Target/Chip Ganassi and driver Bruno Junqueira qualified for the pole position for the Indy 500. He is coming off a win at Motegi Japan. He was the first qualifier of the day. Although, it was expected to get rained out, the rain stayed away on this cool day in Indy where 24 drivers qualified. (5/11) - Rubens Barrichello qualified for the pole position for tomorrow's Austrian G.P. (5/10) - The IRL and Firestone Tire made an interesting statement. They are giving an extra five sets of tires to all entrants in the Indy 500 whom participated on a "full-time" basis during the first week of practice. This would up their number from 28 sets for the month of may to 33. Firestone will charge the teams the same price as they agreed to pay for the first 28 sets. (5/10) - Oriol Servia a CART driver who was Indy Lights champ in 1999, has worked a deal with Walker Racing to drive in this year's Indy 500. Servia will be only the second driver from Spain to ever compete in the Indy 500 (Fermin Velez ran in the 1996 race). (5/10) - Local man Mark Dismore hit the Turn 1 wall during practice, tearing up one of Sam Schmidt's cars. Mark went to the hospital with a concussion. (5/8) - Raul Boesel will be trying for his 13th Indy 500! The Brazilian has just landed a ride in the #2 John Manville Dallara/Chevy for Team Menard. This was the entry that P.J. Jones had been planning to qualify before he wrecked. (5/8) - After leaving Walker Racing, Sarah Fisher has picked up sponsorship from Allegra and gotten a ride on Robbie Buhl's team - Dreyer and Reinbolt Racing. This news will make her many fans happy! (5/8) - P.J. Jones, who hit the wall late yesterday, has fractured his c-6 vertebrae and will be out 6-weeks. Team Menard will be looking to replace P.J. who had just stepped in this month to replace Jacques Lazier who injured his back at Nazareth two weeks ago. This is a brutal sport regardless of what safety innovations they develop. Rookie Tomas Scheckter, who caused Jacques' accident, will be released from his 3-day IRL suspension tomorrow and begin to turn some laps at Indy. (5/8) - Cahill Racing is NOT out. They purchased another car yesterday and started putting it together last night! (5/7) - Robby McGehee, who hit the wall Sunday, suffered small fractures in his upper spine and lower left leg and is on crutches and is wearing a soft cast on his left leg. My guess is he's out for the 500, but we'll see. Its pretty certain that his team, Cahill Racing, is out, as this totalled racer was their only car. (5/6) - I saw the rookie Tomas Scheckter yesterday and he wasn't testing. He is still recovering from his wreck at Nazareth (concussion/back pain). He caused that wreck and it resulted in a broken back for Jacques Lazier making him miss the rest of the season. Tomas is going to be suspended by Barnhart when he returns to health for unsafe driving. Tomas has wrecked in 3 of 4 IRL races this year. (5/5) - Thousands of fans came out to the Speedway for opening day. The sun was out and there was good breeze. The prediction of rain later in the week prompted many teams to get out and do some testing as 30 drivers tested 39 cars for a total of 1,006 laps. All went well until Robby McGehee smacked the turn 3 wall hard. He hit the new soft-wall that the speedway had just erected luckily. He climbed from his car, but complained of leg pain. (5/3) - Dreyer & Reinbold Racing is working on a plan to get Sarah Fisher in the 500. She filled in for Robby Buhl at the IRL race in Nazareth, where she finished 4th. Robby returns for May though and will definately be in the 500. (5/3) - Sam Schmidt has decided on a joint effort with PDM Racing for rookie driver Anthony Lazzaro. PDM Racing will provide the car, equipment and crew. He will remain in the #99 car. (5/2) - The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the first super speedway to install an energy-absorbing system to the walls of the track. The system that IMS is employing consist of blocks of foam that stand inbetween the old concrete wall and new steel-tubular walls that are not attached to the ground. The idea is that these steel walls will move inward upon contact but then bounce back out into position so that a race could continue while still lessening the crash impact on the driver. IMS has put the barrier in the corners where impact is the most likely. This appears to reduce the width of the track by a few feet.