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INDY LIGHTS: Casey Mears Third in Fontana Lights Qualifying

29 October 2000

        FONTANA, Calif. (Oct. 28, 2000) - - Casey Mears was grateful and
invigorated when his best track session of the weekend came during single
car qualifying for the Dayton Indy Lights Championship finale set for
Sunday, Oct. 29, at 9:30 a.m. (PT). 

        The 22-year old Indy Lights ace from Bakersfield, Calif., careened
around California Speedway's 2.029-mile oval with a third best qualifying
time of 0:39.612 = 184.399 mph. Brazilian Felipe Giaffone earned his third
Indy Lights pole of the season behind a time of 0:39.478 = 185.025 mph.

        "It goes without saying I wanted to win the pole, but it wasn't in
the cards today," said Mears. "Regardless, we qualified well and basically
had our best track session of the weekend. Now I have to carry it over to
the race."

        Of key significance to Dorricott Racing and Mears was series leader
Scott Dixon, of New Zealand, failing to win the pole. Dixon was fast enough
to secure the outside pole at 0:39.577 = 184.562 mph but lost a valuable
championship bonus point by not scoring the fastest time. Mears trails
Dixon by five points, 134-129.

        Qualifying played cruel tricks on most of the field but Bright and
Bell were particularly stung. The culprit was fickle weather. Low
temperatures and shifting winds made each lap a new exercise. Trackside
wind gusts created a completely new speed inhibitor since wind was not a
factor in either of the previous two practices. Gusting westerly breezes
exceeded 15 mph when blowing down the front straight-away. Dayton Tire
engineers reported a track temperature of 74 degrees at the start of
qualifying with an ambient temperature of 65 degrees.

        Bell, who was third out in single-car qualifying, found track
conditions hostile to his car's set-up. His best lap could only place the
DirecPC Lola 16th on tomorrow's 18-car starting grid at 0:40.156 = 181.901
mph.

        "This was obviously a very disappointing qualification for me,"
said Bell. "The race looks even more like a 'foot to the peddle and hope
you don't have to slow for a moment' type of affair. The other factor is
the unknown of the race. Superspeedway races can frequently hold surprises
that are completely unforeseen."

        Bright meanwhile faced an even worse problem. Qualifying began
under partly cloudy skies, light winds, and a faint ray of sunshine. Bright
was last to qualify but the weather had drastically changed during his
40-minute wait. Bright took the track under dark, ominous skies with strong
winds and quickly falling track and ambient air temperatures. The result
was an admirable 10th fastest at 0:39.890 = 183.114 mph, but this was much
slower than his practice times.