Dario Just Continues to Whine.

I just don't understand it, Dario is now tied with Will Power in the IZOD IndyCar Series Championship Points Standings for first and he just won the race, but he continued to complain after the race while being interviewed. All the stuff he was complaining about was uncalled for especially by saying that Penske needs to watch out next time he is pulling into the pits. In my opinion he should have been penalized for hitting Will Power's right front tire changer. Dario has made sure that his whining after each race has been consistent to. It is unsportsmanlike, and not everybody gets their way all the time. Dario please stop acting like the world revolves around you, because it doesn't! Your also not making a good example for the IndyCar Series either, so just please stop.

Milwaukee 225 race Preview

Dario Franchitti. From:indycar.com

Dario Franchitti is on the pole for today's race. Surprisingly Will Power will have to start 17th today will a bad qualifying run yesterday. KV Racing also did a good job qualifying with Tony Kanaan starting in 4th, Takuma Sato in 5th, and EJ Viso in 6th.

Simona De Silvestro

Simona de Silvestro has been cleared to race today after a bad crash while qualifying yesterday. She crashed into the SAFER barrier on turn four and made contact on the wall a second time. She was released from the hospital at around 10 p.m. on Saturday. She met with the track's medical team this morning and was cleared to drive.

Attendance is set to be around 20,000 today. The Milwaukee facility is trying to get back some much needed fans by offering a 2 for 1 deal for buying tickets.

It rained this morning in West Allis, WI, but it is supposed to be clear for the rest of the day. The race will be aired live on ABC 3:30pm ET.

Milwaukee 225 Starting Grid

The Milwaukee 225 will be on ABC today at 3:30 ET.
1.  (10) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 170.841
2.  (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 169.999
3.  (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 169.582
4.  (82) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 169.365
5.  (5) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 169.308
6.  (59) EJ Viso, Dallara-Honda, 169.082
7.  (28) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 169.014
8.  (6) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 168.598
9.  (26) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 168.456
10.  (2) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Honda, 168.320
11.  (24) Ana Beatriz, Dallara-Honda, 167.863
12.  (38) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 167.674
13.  (22) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 167.621
14.  (19) Alex Lloyd, Dallara-Honda, 167.162
15.  (7) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 166.779
16.  (06) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Honda, 166.558
17.  (12) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 166.248
18.  (4) JR Hildebrand, Dallara-Honda, 166.070
19.  (77) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 166.031
20.  (27) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda, 166.003
21.  (83) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 165.592
22.  (14) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 165.375
23.  (18) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 164.814
24.  (34) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Honda, 164.440
25.  (67) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 163.304
26.  (78) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Honda, no speed

500 Miles' Week in Review

Some big news has appeared out of nowhere in the last few days in the IndyCar Series world.  Let's see what came up.

Pippa at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. From:speedtv.com.

Pippa Mann has a ride with Rahal/Letterman/Lanigan Racing for Loudon, Kentucky, and Las Vegas. This is great news for the driver which had only planned to run in the Indy 500 this year. Also it is great news for a team that is wanting to come back, and run a full season in the IndyCar Series next year.

In other news it has been reported by Randy Bernard on Trackside Live this week that he has been trying to contact Bryan Sperber, the president of the Phoenix International Speedway, but has had no luck with getting a hold of him. Sounds like Randy Bernard tried to get Phoenix back on the schedule for the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series season, but Mr. Sperber does not want to deal with the IndyCar Series.

Texas Twin 275's Recap.

The Texas Twin 275's race format was interesting to say the least. For the most part I liked it, but there needs to be some tweaking to do if this format comes back next year. Many things happened before and after the Texas race lets see what happened.

Dario celebrating his race win. From:speedtv.com

In race 1 Alex Tagliani started out on the pole, but Dario Franchitti dominated by leading virtually every lap and winning the race. The only crash that happened during this race and all of Saturday night was when Wade Cunningham(R), and Charlie Kimball(R) hit each other and were knocked out of race 1. Overall race 1 was a flop, Tagliani didn't fight for the lead for long at all, and Franchitti led for most of the race. Both of the Target cars finished well with Franchitti first and Dixon second.

Will Power doing his signature move. From:speedtv.com

Race number 2 had some more action to it with Tony Kanaan on the pole. For the first 40 laps Tony Kanaan and Will Power battled for the lead, until on lap 41 when Will Power took over for the rest of the race and won race 2. Once again Scott Dixon finished second, and Kanaan ended up finishing 5th. The problem everyone is pointing out about this race is that Dario Franchitti started 28th, and moved up to 7th by the end of the race. Franchitti has complained that if he didn't have to start in the back of the field, that he would have been a contender for first position.


Dario Franchitti definitely didn't hold back voicing his opinion on the random draw that caused him to start in the very back of the field. He has said that if they continue to have the two race set up at Texas that the plans need to be redrawn. Even Randy Bernard has said that he agrees with Franchitti on tweaking the two race setup. Although I kinda enjoyed the whole thing, I think they need to take the 70 minute break in between and cut that in half. Also for the whole setup I kinda like Dan Wheldon's idea he he gave the next day on twitter "My idea. Twin 275's - first race regular points, 2nd race, random draw, no points, $1,000,000 for winner!!! That's what is should be!!!"

Dan Wheldon as a race commentator?
I liked Dan Wheldon's position as a commentator during the race he added some much needed personality, and we need someone that's new and fresh.

Did the new Texas Twin 275s setup spark up better TV ratings? 
Well kinda. The overnight Versus overnight TV ratings were at a .38, which is up 12% from last year. I think if they would cut down on the amount of time between the races the ratings would be so much better.

Texas Twin 275's

First of all this new race format for Texas will be just awesome from my point of view! The races will keep people standing on their feet the whole time! Lets discuss what happened this week in the IndyCar world, and lets talk about the Texas Twin 275s!

First what happened this week?
-Alex Tagliani's engineer Aleen McDonald left to go back to Andretti Autosport as a part of their rebuilding. Alex Tagliani didn't have to search for long for a new one, because he found Todd Malloy the next day.

From:http://www.autoracing1.com/Images/2002Misc/OvalCrash2.jpg

-I would also like to note that this will be Davey Hamilton's first race at Texas since his almost career ending crash in 2001. 
-During a fitness promotion JR Hildebrand injured his knee on a hurdle last Thursday. He said, that his knee will have no affect on him while driving in the race. 


Everything is Big in Texas. 
The 1.5 mile Texas Motor Speedway has offered some of the best IndyCar racing around, I think with the two separate races that track's racing will just get better. Lets go over the rules for the Twin 275s. 
-Points and prize money will be divided in half for each race. 
-Each team is allowed to bring two cars per driver, in case they crash in the first race, they can use the (T) car. 
-The teams will be allowed to work on the cars in the hour break between the races. 
-The starting position of each driver for the second race will be decided with a random draw with each driver pulling their position. 
-Each race will be 114 laps(275 kilometers). There will be a hour break between the first and second race. 
Texas Twin 275s race one starting order.

Pos  Driver               Team               Speed
 1.  Alex Tagliani        Sam Schmidt        215.186
 2.  Dario Franchitti     Ganassi            214.801
 3.  Will Power           Penske             214.716
 4.  Takuma Sato          KV                 214.470
 5.  Ed Carpenter         Sarah Fisher       214.373
 6.  Tony Kanaan          KV                 214.252
 7.  Scott Dixon          Ganassi            214.021
 8.  Wade Cunningham      Sam Schmidt        214.013
 9.  Ryan Briscoe         Penske             213.891
10.  Danica Patrick       Andretti           213.850
11.  JR Hildebrand        Panther            213.458
12.  Vitor Meira          Foyt               213.429
13.  Helio Castroneves    Penske             213.232
14.  Oriol Servia         Newman/Haas        213.023
15.  James Hinchcliffe    Newman/Haas        212.970
16.  Ryan Hunter-Reay     Andretti           212.938
17.  Charlie Kimball      Ganassi            212.797
18.  Davey Hamilton       Dreyer & Reinbold  212.555
19.  EJ Viso              KV                 212.494
20.  Graham Rahal         Ganassi            212.404
21.  Paul Tracy           Dragon             212.305
22.  Mike Conway          Andretti           212.260
23.  Marco Andretti       Andretti           212.223
24.  Ana Beatriz          Dreyer & Reinbold  212.221
25.  Alex Lloyd           Dale Coyne         212.091
26.  Sebastian Saavedra   Conquest           212.033
27.  Justin Wilson        Dreyer & Reinbold  211.762
28.  Jay Howard           Rahal/Schmidt      211.691
29.  Simona de Silvestro  HVM                210.855
30.  James Jakes          Dale Coyne

The Texas Twin 275s coverage will be on Versus and it will start on 8pm ET. 

The Sidenote.  

Remember the big controversy over the Delta Wing project for the new 2012

IZOD IndyCar Series race car?  Well there is an announcement that has been made 

that the Delta Wing will be allowed to race in the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans. The 

program which is called Project 56, will be ran by Highcroft Racing. 
The Delta Wing Le Mans Prototype. From:Delta Wing

The Weekend Recap

Although there wasn't a race this weekend, many things still pop up throughout the IndyCar world.What Happened?

First of all the Indianapolis 500 winner should at least have a ride for the Texas Twin 275's, but never was asked to do so. At least Dan Wheldon will be at the Texas Twin 275's as a Versus TV analyst during the broadcast of the race. So with this conclusion, Dan Wheldon is still trying to find a ride for the rest of the season.

The IndyCar Series will not be racing at the oval in Motegi, instead they will be using the 2.98 mile natural terrain road course during the final year at the Twin Ring Motegi motorsports facility in Japan. The race is scheduled to be on Sept. 18th.

After successfully completing her test last week in Milwaukee, Simona de Silvestro feels that she is a fast healer, and will be at the Texas Twin 275's. Even with her hands burnt up.

From: indycar.com

Finally I count that there will be 31 drivers with Jay Howard announcing he will race with Rahal/Letterman this week for the Texas Twin 275's. Remember only the top 26 driver's will receive official IZOD IndyCar Series Championship points. The race will be on Saturday at 8 pm ET on Versus.