SCHECKTER AND CHEVY PUT ON A SHOW AT MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL
SPEEDWAY
BROOKLYN, Mich., Aug. 1, 2004 - If the Indy Racing League
awarded championship points for style, outright speed and dogged
determination, Tomas Scheckter and the Pennzoil Panther Racing team would
have been the big winners in the Michigan Indy 400. After starting 13th,
Scheckter drove his yellow Chevrolet Dallara through the field, gaining
positions with every lap until he was racing the leader. As he entered the
Panther Racing pit stall for fuel on the 36th lap, Scheckter was hit by
another car, sending crewmen flying and damaging his race car.
Rejoining the race in 20th place, the South African again knifed
through the pack to regain his lost lap. An ill-timed caution period
negated his determined effort, but he continued the fight and ran as fast
as the frontrunners. As he pushed to catch the yellow flag he desperately
needed, the fuel cell ran dry, leaving Scheckter to coast into the pits. He
ultimately finished 19th, but proved that his car and engine were the equal
of any on the 2-mile superspeedway.
Scheckter's teammate Townsend Bell was again Chevy's top finisher,
eighth across the stripe in Panther Racing's Menards/Johns Manville
Chevrolet Dallara. Bell was on the lead lap after 200 laps and 400 hard
miles of racing. Red Bull Cheever Racing teammates Alex Barron and Ed
Carpenter finished 11th and 14th respectively. Felipe Giaffone lost a
gamble on fuel and finished 16th in the Team Purex/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
Chevrolet Dallara. Jaques Lazier was 18th for Patrick Racing. Buddy Rice
scored his third victory of the season in a Honda G Force.
"We were fast from the beginning, and our Chevy was the car to
beat today," said Scheckter after his standout performance. "I could drive
around people, and when other drivers lifted, I didn't. We just had one of
the great setups that Panther has given me so many times this year.
"We were running second, and the team behind me sent their car out and
hit us," he explained. "It's just one of those things. I went through the
field a couple of times and we showed that we've got a really strong
package. We could have been in the top three in this race. We'll come back
strong for the rest of the season."
Panther Racing crewman Steve Namisnak sustained a fractured right tibia
in the pit lane accident and was transported to Indianapolis for treatment.
Bell ran a different strategy on the high-speed oval and delivered
another top-10 finish for Chevrolet.
"Tomas was the rabbit and I was going to be patient and wait for the
end," Bell reported. "We did all that fine, but unfortunately I didn't have
the balance to push hard at the end. We had good power and I felt that we
could run with those guys.
"The car was at its best in the middle of the race," he noted. "We
had another top-10 finish and we were on the lead lap, so I'm happy about
that."
Alex Barron wasn't able to repeat his victory last year at MIS, but
his 11th place finish showed why he is one of the IndyCar Series top
drivers.
"We missed our race setup by a little bit, but were able to fix
things throughout our pit stops," Barron said. "Overall, my car had a
really good balance and was good in traffic, but we just couldn't keep up
with the front pack. By the end of the race my car was running great, but
we were still pretty far behind. It's not a race win like last year, but
it's still good points for the team.
Barron's rookie teammate Ed Carpenter also ran a clean race and
brought his Red Bull Cheever Racing Dallara home in 14th.
"It was a really long day," Carpenter said after finishing his
second 400-mile race. "We were struggling quite a bit throughout the whole
race, but we stuck with it and kept digging. Our first goal was to finish
the race and get some points, so we accomplished that. We initially put too
much downforce on the car and had to keep making changes when we came into
the pits."
The Red Bull Cheever Racing team will conduct a test with Firestone at
MIS on Monday to continue to work on their speedway setups.
Felipe Giaffone lost radio contact with spotter Robbie Buhl and the
Dreyer & Reinbold pits. Hampered by communication difficulties, the team
gambled on a late-race caution to gain track position.
"We tried a different strategy at the end with the pit stops,"
said Giaffone. "It maybe cost us a couple of spots, but it was the right
call. It was the only way for us to gain spots because we really wanted a
top-10 finish.
"It was a frustrating day with the radio because I could hardly hear.
It didn't cost us anything, but it was hard to hear the spotter and the
team. I was concerned around people when we were three-wide because I
couldn't hear Robbie and I was just going by my mirrors."
After three races in three weeks, the IRL IndyCar Series will take a
break next weekend. The competition will resume on Sunday, August 15, at
Kentucky Speedway. The Belterra Casino Indy 300, the 11th round of the
16-race IndyCar Series, will start at 3:30 p.m. EDT and will be televised
live on ABC.
RACE SUMMARY
Track: Michigan International Speedway, 2-mile oval
Winner: Buddy Rice, Rahal Letterman Racing Honda G Force
Margin of Victory: .0796 seconds
Average Speed: 182.123 mph
Pole: Tony Kanaan/Honda, 215.871 mph
Fastest Lap: Darren Manning/Toyota, 216.578 mph
RESULTS
Pos./Driver/Engine/Laps
1. Buddy Rice/Honda, 200
2. Tony Kanaan/Honda, 200
3. Dan Wheldon/Honda, 200
4. Sam Hornish Jr./Toyota, 200
5. Vitor Meira/Honda, 200
8. Townsend Bell/Chevrolet, 200
11. Alex Barron/Chevrolet, 199
14. Ed Carpenter/Chevrolet, 199
16. Felipe Giaffone/Chevrolet, 199
18. Jaques Lazier/Chevrolet, 198
19. Tomas Scheckter/Chevrolet, 197
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (After 10 of 16 events)
Driver/Engine/Points (victories in parentheses)
1. Tony Kanaan/Honda, 400 (3)
2. Buddy Rice/Honda, 343 (3)
3. Dan Wheldon/Honda, 311 (2)
4. Helio Castroneves/Toyota, 280
5. Sam Hornish Jr./Toyota, 267 (1)
Manufacturer/Points (victories in parentheses)
1. Honda, 97 (9)
2. Toyota, 71 (1)
3. Chevrolet, 52
NEXT EVENT
August 15, Belterra Casino Indy 300, Kentucky Speedway, 1.5-mile oval
TV: ABC, 3:30 p.m. EDT
