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INDYCAR (INDIANAPOLIS) - SERIES NOTES


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1. If you missed it: May 30 Teleconference

2. Sharp, Crew Chief Grahn Win Special Indianapolis 500 Awards

1. If you missed it: May 30 Teleconference: IndyCar Series points leader Scott Dixon and Indy Pro Series rookie Andrew Prendeville were the guests on the Indy Racing League teleconference. Dixon, who had recorded three second-place finishes and a pair of fourth-place finishes this season, discussed how he approaches racing with the points lead.

Q. Do you have a different mindset as the points leader as to when you are being chased? SCOTT DIXON: Especially not this early in the season. I think you want consistency. At this stage in the season, you want to go out for race wins. We've had I think three seconds so far this season. That's not nearly good enough for me. I think some of them we could have turned into wins. We definitely need to do that. We'll be as aggressive as we need to be.

Prendeville discussed the partnership he has formed with the Best Friend Animal Society to raise funds for one of the nation’s largest animal sanctuaries.

Q. Finally, one of the big thing from your standpoint in the last month has been introducing a new tie-in with a charity, the sponsorship prior to Indianapolis with Racing Laps For Best Friends. Give us some background about that program, how you're involved with it. ANDREW PRENDEVILLE: Really we launched the full scale of it at Indianapolis. What we've done this year is we've done it, the signage on my race car, to the Best Friend Animal Society. We thought that was a good thing to do. We didn't have a whole lot of other companies to put on the car, so we thought it was a logical thing to do. Almost immediately after we made that decision and talked to Best Friends, we came up with the idea of Racing Laps For Best Friends, which is a program to help bring in donations for Best Friends. The way we've done it is that it's based off of the amount of laps that I complete. A person can go on to racinglapsforbestfriends.com or they can visit us at the donation centers that we'll have at the track, and you sit down and pledge, for example, $1 a lap. When we go to Milwaukee, if you pledge $1 a lap, I complete 100 laps, the donation is $100. If I complete 50 laps, the donation is $50. Also tied into this, we're trying to build awareness for Best Friends. It's a whole bunch of different things. But we've just started at Indy. I think we'll progressively improve it as we go through the season.

2. Sharp, Crew Chief Grahn Win Special Indianapolis 500 Awards: IndyCar Series veteran Scott Sharp received the AAA “Safe Driver” Award for his skilled performance in the 91st Indianapolis 500 on May 27 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Sharp received $20,000 for the award, presented to the Indianapolis 500 driver who best exemplifies safe driving during the Month of May at Indianapolis, as determined by the Indy Racing League. 1996 IndyCar Series co-champion Sharp finished sixth in the No. 8 Patron Sharp Rahal Letterman Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone. It was his best finish in 13 career starts at Indianapolis. AAA (American Automobile Association) is the Official Auto Club, Official Travel Agency and Official Auto Insurance Company of the Indianapolis 500. Jeff Grahn, crew chief for the victorious car driven by Dario Franchitti, won the Honda Motorcycle Indy 500 Winning Crew Chief Award. Grahn received a Honda Valkyrie Rune cruiser motorcycle. Honda Racing HI7R Indy V-8 engines powered all 33 starters in the 91st Indianapolis 500. Honda Performance Development became the single provider of engines for the IndyCar Series in 2006, and the last four Indianapolis 500 winners have used Honda engines. The 92nd Indianapolis 500-Mile Race is scheduled for May 25, 2008. *** The 2007 IndyCar Series season continues with the ABC Supply/A.J. Foyt 225 presented by Time Warner Cable at 4 p.m. (ET) on June 3 at The Milwaukee Mile. The race will be telecast live by ABC and broadcast by the IMS Radio Network. The IMS Radio Network broadcast also is carried on XM Satellite Radio and www.indycar.com. The sixth season of Indy Pro Series competition continues with the Road Runner 100 on June 2 at The Milwaukee Mile. The race will be telecast at 6 p.m. on June 7 by ESPN2.