TBK-Light.com

Off an interesting Dual in Detroit that featured a fairly clean race for one and a small team winning and a wreckfest and a small team winning, it's time for the second of 6 ovals on the schedule (and the first of four consecutive ovals). With 6 different winners in 7 races, will we see that number grow in the season of parity? Will Penske or Ganassi FINALLY get their first win of the season? Will Sebastian Saavaedra continue to be a talentless chode? Is Barnes still a douche? (SPOILER: yes)



1.5-mile quad-oval
228 laps/550 kilometers (342 miles)

Track Schedule (All times Central)
Thursday, June 6
6:30am NCWTS Registration Opens
7:00am NCWTS Garage Opens
8:00am IZOD IndyCar Series Transporters Enter
9:00am - 5:00pm Texas Motor Speedway Credentials Office Open
9:00am 7:00pm IZOD IndyCar Garage Opens
10:00am South Tunnel & Reserved Infield Camping Opens
10:00am Burnout Alley Load In
11:00am Gate 4 Open
11:00am – 4:00pm IZOD IndyCar Credentials Open
11:30am - 12:45pm NCWTS Practice
1:15pm – 2:30pm NCWTS Final Practice
6:00pm NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Qualifying Night
7:00pm NCWTS Registration Closes
8:00pm NCWTS Garage Closes

Friday, June 7
9:00am - 8:00pm Texas Motor Speedway Credentials Office Open
10:00am – 7:00pm IZOD IndyCar Credentials Open
10:00am - 9:00pm IZOD IndyCar Garage & Registration Opens
12:00pm Gate 4 Open
12:30pm - 1:45pm IZOD IndyCar Practice
2:00pm NCWTS Registration Opens
3:00pm Gates Open (2, 3, 5, 6, 7 &
3:00pm Luxury Suites and Victory Lane Club Open
3:30pm – 5:00pm IZOD IndyCar Series Qualifying Night
4:00pm NCWTS Garage Opens
4:30pm – 5:30pm NCWTS Autograph Session (Location: Between Gates 6 & 7)
6:45pm – 7:15pm IZOD IndyCar Series Final Practice
8:00pm NCWTS WinStar World Casino 400 (167 laps, 250.5 miles; TV:SPEED/ Local Radio: 105.3FM The FAN KRLD)
8:30pm NCWTS Registration Closes
9:00pm IZOD IndyCar Garage Closes
12:00am Burnout Alley Load In Closes

Saturday, June 8
12:00pm IZOD IndyCar Garage & Registration Opens
12:00pm – 7:00pm Texas Motor Speedway Credentials Office Open
12:00pm – 7:30pm IZOD IndyCar Credentials Open
3:00pm Gates Open (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 &
3:00pm Luxury Suites and Victory Lane Club Open
3:00pm - 4:00pm IndyCar Autograph Session (Fan Village on Midway Gate 6)
5:20pm Pre-Race Show Begins
5:30pm Wild Asphalt Circus Ultimate Daredevil Jump Presented by Port-A-Cool
7:30pm IZOD IndyCar Series Firestone 550 (228 laps, 342 mi, TV:ABC Sports/Local Radio:105.3FM The FAN KRLD)

TV Schedule (All times Eastern)
Saturday 8 PM, ABC

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Ducks Angels Sounders Spurs

If this race goes as well as last year, I hope they start thinking about Kentucky and some ISC tracks again. Would be nice to have Chicagoland, Kansas, and Watkins Glen in the summer, Homestead and Kentucky in the fall

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I decide herewith to be the first one to bitch about the race distance in this year:

Make it 500 Miles!!!

Best race of 2012 IMO. Hope the tire wear is a factor again this weekend.

500 milers should be at only the big tracks.

I wouldn't mind seeing this go to 400 miles and Pocono go to 500... Won't happen for obvious reasons but would still be nice.

But... If they did kick this to 400 miles then they could include it in the Fuzzy's Million. Win 3/4 of the 400/500 milers like the old Winston Million. Winner would still have to win one of the two 500 mile races to take home the cash.

Yea, hope it's exactly like last year's race. It was near perfect in every way.

I hope I can catch the race. Gotta take care of the girlfriend. I should have compromised one of the duels for this one D:

I support the 400 mile idea as it is the most feasible one. But they won't do it cause 550K sounds cooler..

While last years race was good, it was kind of embarassing they were running laps not too much quicker than a Sprint Cup car, and near dead on the same lap times when the tires started going off.

I'd rather cars spread out with drivers fighting the car and track conditions than 225 mph 3 wide pack racing, leave that to NASCAR.

Traditional CART races on big ovals were never like that, it was always come and go type racing.

I agree, kind of, but then again, this is a stock car track. It isn't built for Indycars! It would be many times more embarrising if the old pack racing would still happen.

It isn't like that on any other oval on the Indycar schedule.

It's probably less embarrassing than having to cancel a race at this track due to high speed G-force induced vertigo, as they did in the CART era.

I wouldn't call that embarassing at all, though.

I think most sensible people would call that making the best of a shit situation.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, do some reading and you'll learn the real story of that weekend, that "embarrassing" decision probably saved half a dozen lives, if not many more.

I don't think he meant that the decision was embarrassing but the situation, which it was for having to cancel a race and send the fans back home.

I still have never been able to find it, but what was Brack's pole speed that year?

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/motors ... cancel_ap/



[youtubeidiot]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWHXbsri40A[/youtubeidiot]

More information here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firestone_Firehawk_600

April 28, 2001 - Qualifying Speeds 
Rank Driver Time Speed Team 
1  Kenny Bräck 22.854 233.447 Team Rahal 
2  Patrick Carpentier 22.864 233.345 Forsythe Racing 
3  Oriol Servia 22.900 232.978 Sigma Autosport 
4  Bryan Herta 22.931 232.663 Zakspeed/Forsythe Racing 
5  Shinji Nakano 22.988 232.086 Fernández Racing 
6  Alex Zanardi 23.003 231.935 Mo Nunn Racing 
7  Gil de Ferran 23.067 231.291 Team Penske 
8  Alex Tagliani 23.077 231.191 Forsythe Racing 
9  Christian Fittipaldi 23.079 231.171 Newman/Haas Racing 
10  Paul Tracy 23.097 230.991 Team Green 
11  Cristiano da Matta 23.105 230.911 Newman/Haas Racing 
12  Adrian Fernandez 23.116 230.801 Fernández Racing 
13  Michel Jourdain Jr. 23.120 230.761 Bettenhausen Racing 
14  Tony Kanaan 23.142 230.542 Mo Nunn Racing 
15  Nicolas Minassian 23.146 230.502 Chip Ganassi Racing 
16  Dario Franchitti 23.165 230.313 Team Green 
17  Max Papis 23.176 230.204 Team Rahal 
18  Michael Andretti 23.215 229.817 Team Motorola 
19  Hélio Castroneves 23.292 229.057 Team Penske 
20  Scott Dixon 23.319 228.792 PacWest Racing 
21  Bruno Junqueira 23.373 228.263 Chip Ganassi Racing 
22  Jimmy Vasser 23.479 227.233 Patrick Racing 
23  Tora Takagi 23.533 226.711 Walker Racing 
24  Roberto Moreno 23.580 226.260 Patrick Racing 
25  Max Wilson 24.308 219.483 Arciero-Blair Racing 

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BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

Yeah that's true, had they actually conducted a legitimate test things might have turned out for the better.

They just had Kenny Brack do a test didn't they?

Complain all you want about Team Rahal not doing the test properly but Brack was the fittest driver around at the time. He was one of the few that wasn't effected at all by the speeds that weekend.

According to the wikipedia article there were more tests and all were dlower than 230. Than a track smoothing (requested by CART and the drivers) took place before the race weekend.