IRL: Trackside Report, MBNA Mid-Atlantic 200, Dover Downs International Speedway

31 July 1999

Practice -- Friday, July 30, 1999

The Infiniti Indy V8 engine faired very well today on "The Monster Mile" by scoring the second fastest time of the day with Eddie Cheever's run in the No. 51 The Children's Beverage Group/Team Cheever Infiniti-powered Dallara/Goodyear. Cheever's quickest lap around the 1-mile, high-banked oval was 182.066 mph, just under Scott Goodyear's 182.315 mph lap.

Tomorrow's schedule of events includes practice at 9 a.m. (EDT), qualifying at noon and a 30-minute final practice session at 3:45 p.m. The 200-mile race on "The Montser Mile" starts at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 1.

SpeedVision will televise PPG Pole qualifying live on Saturday. The MBNA Mid-Atlantic 200 race will be televised on a same-day, tape-delayed basis at 3 p.m. (EDT) Aug. 1 on FOX. The Indy Racing Radio Network race broadcast also will be available live on the Internet at: http://www.broadcast.com/sports/motorsports/autoracing/indy/irl/ as part of a partnership between Indy Racing Online and broadcast.com, the world's leading Web broadcast site.

Quotes:

Frank Honsowetz, Manager, Infiniti Motorsports: "The Infiniti engine in Eddie's car today is the same spec as his race engine in Atlanta. The engine performed very well in the Atlanta race with Eddie charging through the field several times and eventually finishing sixth. We are seeing that same strong performance here at Dover. The real good news is that we think we have an even stronger engine for the race."

Eddie Cheever Jr., No. 51 The Children's Beverage Group/Team Cheever Infiniti/Dallara/Goodyear: "We are very close on our engine and we are improving race by race. We are definitely in better shape horsepower-wise now than we were this time last year. I hope Infiniti is as pleased with where we stand today and where we'll be tomorrow as I am." About Track: "They smoothed out the track a lot, but you have to be really careful out there...it is like driving in an oblong salad bowl...faster and more furious than you might expect at any one given time.This is the only oval where you can keep up the speeds the whole time. Unlike some of the other tracks we run on, the speeds, the temperatures and the concrete will make this a very physically demanding race."

Practice Highlights:

Session #1

1. Mark Dismore, 181.864 (average mph)
2. Scott Sharp, 181.342
3. Davey Hamilton, 181.196
4. John Hollansworth, 180.977
5. Scott Goodyear, 180.768
7. Eddie Cheever Jr., 180.433

Session #2
1. Scott Goodyear, 182.315
2. Eddie Cheever Jr., 182.066
3. Scott Sharp, 182.030
4. Mark Dismore, 181.938
5. John Hollansworth, 181.378


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