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IRL: Harrington dominates practice at Pikes Peak

28 August 1999

FOUNTAIN, Colo. - Pep Boys Indy Racing League leading rookie Scott Harrington ruled the speed charts Friday in practice for the Colorado Indy 200 presented by Deloitte & Touche at Pikes Peak International Raceway, posting the two top speeds of the day.

Harrington's best lap on the 1-mile tri-oval was 20.544 seconds, 175.234 mph in the CertainTeed Building Products Special Dallara/Aurora/Firestone during the morning session. His best afternoon lap of 174.258 was the second fastest overall of the day.

The fast laps came as little surprise to Sprint PCS Rookie of the Year points leader Harrington, who ran in the top five at the Radisson 200 in June at this track before crashing late in the race. He drove in that race just two weeks after suffering a broken leg during practice for the Lone Star 500 presented by MCI WorldCom at Texas Motor Speedway. "We ran quick here in the last race," Harrington said. "We definitely had the fastest car in the race. During the race and final practice, we learned a lot. It's like our last race was our test, and we're ready to race now.

"Physically, as far as being in the car, I'm way better now. Probably the biggest thing now is the physical conditioning. In the last several weeks, I've been able to do a lot more."

Sam Schmidt posted the third-best speed, 173.972, in the Sprint PCS G Force/Aurora/Firestone. Jeff Ward was fourth fastest at 173.871 in the Yahoo!-MerchantOnline.com Dallara/Aurora/Goodyear. Scott Sharp was No. 5 at 173.611 in the Delphi Automotive Systems Dallara/Aurora/Goodyear.

PPG Pole qualifying starts at 12:30 p.m. (MDT) Saturday and will be broadcast live on SpeedVision. The 200-lap, 200-mile race starts at 2 p.m. (MDT) Sunday and will be broadcast live on FOX Sports Net.

Schmidt's strong lap Friday continued his run of success on 1-mile ovals this season. He is the only driver to record top-10 finishes in the three previous Indy Racing events on mile tracks, at Phoenix, Pikes Peak and Dover, Del. Schmidt finished second by .120 of a second to Greg Ray in the Radisson 200 on June 27 at PPIR.

Pep Boys Indy Racing League points leader Scott Goodyear was 10th fastest at 171.739 in the Pennzoil Panther G Force/Aurora/Goodyear. Ray, two points behind Goodyear, was ninth fastest at 171.928 in the Glidden-Menards Dallara/Aurora/Firestone.

Tyce Carlson was unhurt when his Hubbard Photographics Inc.-Immke Auto Group Dallara/Aurora/Firestone did a half-spin and hit the outside retaining wall in Turn 4 during the morning practice. Carlson returned to the track in the afternoon session in a backup car.

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