Klein Tools/Jim Beam Driver Dan Wheldon Starts Season
If the following text-only file is not easily readable, particularly any tables of numbers, try enlarging this window since every line has a forced end and there is no word-wrap. Otherwise, this report will look and print better from the following PDF file: http://www.sportssystems.com/applib/PDFload.cfm?file=/email/filehost/WF384.pdf&id=BC384WF9EC574 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For Immediate Release Klein Tools/Jim Beam Driver Dan Wheldon Starts Season with Fourth Fastest Time in Opening Day of Practice HOMESTEAD, Fla. (Feb. 27, 2004) - Klein Tools/Jim Beam driver Dan Wheldon opened the 2004 Indy Racing LeagueŽ IndyCarŽ Series season with a fourth-place showing on the first day of practice at Homestead-Miami Speedway with a lap at 216.336 miles per hour. The 2003 IndyCar Series Rookie-of-the-Year put his Klein Tools/Jim Beam Dallara/Honda/Firestone through the paces at the reconfigured 1.5-mile oval, completing 77 laps while concentrating on how the car will handle during the race. Wheldon's Andretti Green Racing teammate Bryan Herta was seventh on the day with a best speed of 216.082 miles per hour. Tony Kanaan posted a quick speed of 215.472 miles per hour and Dario Franchitti turned a best lap at 214.702 miles per hour. Qualifying will begin at 1:15 p.m. (EST) tomorrow with the start of the 2004 season coming at 2 p.m. (EST) on Sunday. Dan Wheldon, Driver, #26 Klein Tools/Jim Beam Dallara/Honda/Firestone "This race is going to be difficult. The conditions are going to change a lot between now and the checkered flag so we need to make sure we have a good race car. The Klein Tools/Jim Beam team did a good job preparing the cars and we are just hoping the weekend keeps going the way it has started. I haven't had a chance to run in a big pack yet and that is why it is difficult to get excited about the handling of the car. We have a good idea of where we need to be for the race so I like where we are." Tony Cotman, Team Manager, #26 Klein Tools/Jim Beam Dallara/Honda/Firestone "We worked a lot on our race set up today, but having said that I would like to qualify up at the front tomorrow. We struggled this morning with our race car so we really had to work hard this afternoon. We made up a little ground. We aren't quite there, but we are more comfortable than where we have been. It looks like passing is going to be difficult. The challenge is to have a car that handles well enough to stick on the high-side, because that is where you will be able to make passes." -AGR- Contact: Tom McGovern, (317) 872-2700 ext 264, tom.mcgovern@andrettigreenracing.com Carol Wilkins, (317) 872-2700 ext 241, cwilkins@andrettigreenracing.com