Champion Driver John Paul Jr. Now Drives Home A Cure

March 6, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Van Nuys played host to Kevin Cogan (L) and John Paul Jr. (R) and a crowd of well wishers as they discussed increasing the awareness of Huntington’s disease. Image Credit: Tom Stahler (2013)

Champion Driver John Paul Jr. Now Drives Home A Cure 

The following post, written by Tom Stahler, details a “where are they now” encounter with a motor culture icon this last weekend, a weekend that had many a Porsche owner and fan visit Southern California for literature, restoration/race-team open houses, and specialized Porsche commemorations using the LAX based 30th annual LA Lit and Toy Show as the excuse.

– BEGIN –

The hardware earned throughout a career that spanned 19 years. Image Credit: Tom Stahler (2013)

Many race fans around the globe remember John Paul Jr.  He was the youngest ever Champion in the IMSA GT series, Won at the 24 Hours at Daytona, scored a podium finish at the 24 Hours of LeMans, Led the Indianapolis 500, and won races in both CART and the IRL — but then in 2001 he vanished, almost without a trace …

John Paul Jr. would discover that his skills were rapidly deteriorating.  “My crew kept radioing to me that I was braking too early and decelerating into the corners.” said John Jr.  “I was always a late braker..”  John Paul Jr. didn’t notice how erratic his driving had become.  Sadly, as it would turn out, he would be diagnosed with the debilitating genetic disease, Huntington’s.

This would lead to his stepping out of the driver’s seat — forever.  Like so many before him in the passionate world of big-time racing, the vortex of his career closed and the sport marched on with a new set of heroes.  But this hero has re-emerged to come forward with a message that he hopes will help many others.

John Paul Jr. (L) shares a moment with Vintage Motorsports magazine’s Tom Stahler and John Morton at HD awareness event. Image Credit: Tom Stahler (2013)

On Saturday March 2, John Woerheide, a long-time friend and racer, gathered a number of notable race drivers, including IMSA legend John Morton, Indy star Kevin Cogan, collectors and friends of the embattled former racer to unveil the JLP-HD1 Porsche 935 — encompassing all the great 935s that John Paul Jr. notably drove with so much success in IMSA.  The car will be campaigned throughout the year to raise awareness of the rare disease — related to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

The awareness platform of JLP-HD1 Porsche 935 twin turbo to be driven throughout the year at selected racing events [Ctrl-click to launch VIDEO]. Image Credit: Tom Stahler (2013)

Similar to Parkinson’s, Huntington’s effects the brain and motor skills.  John Paul Jr. would step out of the racing seat and begin a new race — one to fight for quality of life and find a cure for the degenerative condition.

Dr William Yang, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at David Geffen School of Medicine, and head of the Yang Research Group at UCLA explained, “Huntington’s Disease is genetic and is present in 1/10,000 people.  if you have the gene, you have a fifty-fifty chance you will be effected.  The disease causes the degeneration of cells in certain areas of the brain leading to uncontrolled movements, loss of intellectual faculties and emotional disturbances.”

UCLA research Scientist Dyna Shirasaki has dedicated many hours and written many papers to finding the cause of the disease and reports, “We have isolated the gene and the protien that causes the disease.  We hope that though treatment of the cause that we will be able to develop treatments that will not only help with Huntington’s, but positively contribute to the treatment of Alheimer’s and Parkinson’s.”

Heads … no longer in the game. Collectors and friends of the John Paul Jr. gathered in Van Nuys to raise awareness to Huntington’s disease. Image Credit: Tom Stahler (2013)

Since HD is not as well-known as Alzheimer’s (AD) or Parkinson’s (PD), funding and research have lagged behind. However, while they are all different diseases, they share some pathological similarities. As a result, it is hoped that breakthroughs in the treatment of one disease may shed light on the others.

The JLP-HD1 that will promote John Paul Jr.’s cause is built on a chassis that attempted the 12 hours of Sebring six times, the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona three times and the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen twice, but never finished on the podium.

While it may never achieve the collectability status of the cars John Paul Jr. previously drove, it hopefully will help underscore the reality that it is the people who made previous victories possible, and it will again be the people who make the difference in the battle against HD that lies ahead.  As for John Paul Jr., he continues to make history as he competes against the toughest opponent he has ever faced: Huntington’s disease.

The car will make its competitive debut at the 12 Hours of Sebring, March 13-17, and during the year will be driven by a host of celebrity drivers including Brian Redman, John Andretti, Elliot Forbes-Robinson and racer/instructor Jim Pace.

– ENDS –

This life is finite with infinite paths that can be taken. John Paul Jr. stands as an example of always braking late, at keeping the peddle down, and making the most out of the road ahead, no matter where the path leads.

VIDEO – Huntington’s Disease: John Paul Jr. shares his story

Please follow champion driver John Paul Jr. on this path creating awareness and a finding cure for Huntington’s Disease at www.johnpauljrhd.com.

… notes from The EDJE

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Opinion: IndyCar’s CEO Randy Bernard Battling Mutiny

May 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The new DW12 was a brilliant competitor in this years Indy 500

Alcoholics have a sentiment about life and the bottle: ‘Taking another drink happens more often when you succeed than when you fail’. If you think about that statement in the context of CART vs. the IRL, it begins to makes sense. Awash with IPO money, the CART owners couldn’t resist taking another drink while running the series into the ground. What makes precious little sense is that when IndyCar is beginning to see daylight, a team owner, who is lobbying recruits in the mutiny, want to wrap their hands around that bottle, get rid of CEO Randy Bernard, and with shaking hands, slowly take another drink. It’s always someone else’s fault, right?

IndyCar had nearly experienced a mass extinction event when Tony George and the CART team owners of the day decided that hating each other wasn’t enough, they all ran to the cliffs of mutual destruction like Lemmings on acid. Funny thing about the ultra rich, they can prop up a dying horse for quite some time whether it’s the right thing to do or not.

Seeing Bernard tweet that ‘certain’ team owners were trying to oust him was a brilliant strategic move on his part. A new car that races well, the best television ratings in years for this past Indy 500, participation from different auto manufacturers and a competent, well run management team in place have everyone looking at IndyCar as a Phoenix while the fans are crossing every appendage available hoping it continues. It isn’t luck. Bernard has had a positive impact on the series and that cannot be denied. Bringing a posse of fans in with the fight thru Social Media is military strategy at it’s finest. Hearts and minds won without a single shot fired.

Now watching this little drama play out are the core fans, the casual fans and those on Twitter who love a good drama. Bernard’s tweet set off a firestorm of denials, most notably Andretti himself proclaiming on Twitter that he denies any role in the potential coup. Bernard knew that he could access the hundreds of thousands of fans and potential fans through Twitter and it’s a move that his detractors didn’t expect. He knows who the opposing team owners are and he knows that the best defense is a good offense. There will be a point where the insurgents will have no choice but to out themselves, if Robin Miller doesn’t get to them first, and be forced to defend their point of view. Bernard knows this as well. Niccolo Machiavelli would be proud.

In the case of Randy Bernard I watched carefully when they brought this soft-spoken man out of the bull-riding arena and into the modern day equivalent of the Roman Senate, auto racing. I didn’t have high hopes seeing someone outside the racing business trying to resuscitate a dying segment of the sport.

However, my concerns were ill conceived. He stabilized the sport in a time where the competitors were financially forced to race old Dallara’s to the point where people couldn’t stand the sight of them. The fans demanded that mule change and the DW12 was born. That’s one of the big gripes from what I’m hearing, the cost of the cars and spares packages. Yes, they’re higher than first thought. OK. Invoke the 3/2 rule here, which every single one of the team owners should know: “Everything costs twice as much as you think, is twice as hard as you think and takes twice as long as you think”.The team owners didn’t think. They and they alone have the burden of due diligence if they’re going to play in this sandbox.

The old Dallara chassis, in the end, did nothing for the fans imagination

Bernard inherited a television deal that was one step above infomercial status. Fortunately the media companies are in turmoil as well which has given IndyCar the potential for a better television package to negotiate. Time will tell if the mix of road courses and ovals will work to attract fans as planned. Filling the stands isn’t as important as filling the television sets, evidence this by looking at Formula One.

In Formula One this type of behind the scenes back stabbing is common and is life as usual. Treachery, Faustian pacts with the Devil, AKA Bernie Ecclestone, is all in a days work. One major difference exists in operating Formula One and IndyCar. The team owners, including giant manufacturers haven’t been able to oust Eccelstone. He knew early on that grabbing the television rights to the sport were key in retaining power. Bernard, however, knows that his stock is high with the fans and that is who ultimately counts in racing, whether on television or in the stands. The fans.

It was only after he took over as CEO did the talent pool begin to grow deeper. Competition does that. Brazil is now as much an IndyCar nation as the United States and all the while more American potentials have arrived on the scene to join the British, French and Samurai Sato. How can this be anything except a positive direction?

The owners, post USAC, have always thrown their weight around to get what they want. That strategy is natural unless you have a firewall in place to keep them from having too much power. Power grabs haven’t worked in NASCAR, just ask Roger Penske or Chip Ganassi. If anything, Bernard gave them too much say, too much power and the added burden of dealing with the auto manufacturers.

What’s next for Bernard? No one can accurately predict a battlefield situation, should it become one, but one things for sure, in his tenure at IndyCar he has improved a racing series that had one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel.

Everyone needs to take a long hard look at the global political/economic situation as it stands. It’s going to be a long hard slog getting back to, or anywhere near, what we as Americans would consider normal. In fact, we’re looking at the new normal for the foreseeable future. Would you rather have a puppet in place that cannot make their own decisions or someone who recognizes where it all stands and can operate in that environment?

NASCAR took every advantage of the spilt, what could they be devising in Charlotte to grab more at IndyCar’s expense. Bernard should stay right where he is.

Maybe that team owner should think about another series, Chump Car comes to mind.

 

 

 

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Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame honors Scott Pruett and Rick Galles

April 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Scott Pruett at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance Lexus stand just up from the The Lodge. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2010)

The City of Long Beach and the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach will honor racing legend Scott Pruett as well as the legendary racing team of Galles Racing at the seventh annual Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame induction ceremony.

“Scott Pruett and the Galles Racing team have made legendary contributions to the field of motorsports, and they deserve to be honored in the Motorsports Walk of Fame,” said Mayor Bob Foster, who will be presenting the medallions to the honorees. “Scott Pruett is one of the most decorated American road racers in the history of motorsports, and the Galles Racing team has five consecutive wins at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.”

The public is invited to the Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame ceremony on Thursday, April 12, at 11:00 am on South Pine Avenue in front of the Convention Center, along the route of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

“These two honorees have made outstanding contributions here in Long Beach, and are considered motorsports legends,” said Jim Michaelian, president and CEO of the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach. “The Galles Racing team is the only team with five consecutive victories at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, and Scott Pruett has earned several podiums here during his illustrious career.”

Scott Pruett holds the American record of nine major sports car championships. He has four Rolex 24 at Daytona overall victories, four Grand-Am Daytona Prototype Rolex championships and a class victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. His accomplishments at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach include 2nd (1995) and 3rd Place (1997) finishes, along with victories in the Grand-Am (2006) and Trans-Am Series (1987). Throughout his career he has secured 49 wins, 116 podiums and 30 pole positions.

1992 Indianapolis 500 – Al Unser Jr./Rick Galles

The Galles Racing team boasts a proud legacy of five consecutive wins at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach from 1988-92, competing as Galles-Kraco Racing from 1990-92. Founded in 1980 by Rick Galles the team scored 21 wins, including the 1990 CART Championship and the 1992 Indianapolis 500, which resulted in the closest finish in race history. Some of the most celebrated drivers in racing history such as Bobby Rahal, Danny and Al Unser, Jr. have secured wins for the Galles Racing team throughout its 22-year history.

The Walk of Fame medallions include renditions of the racers’ cars and their major achievements in motorsports.

The Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame is an annual free event honoring the outstanding achievements of those who have made significant contributions to the sport of auto racing and the City of Long Beach. The walk of fame and its brass medallions entered into the walk that honor each inductee itself are located on a palm-lined public sidewalk on South Pine Avenue in Long Beach’s downtown waterfront next to the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center and The Pike At Rainbow Harbor entertainment complex.
(ht: gpalb and the city of long beach)

To repeat, the public is invited to the Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame ceremony on Thursday, April 12, at 11:00 am on South Pine Avenue in front of the Convention Center, along the route of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. This event kicks off four days of Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach weekend of events.

The 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series season continues with the third race of the season, and the second temporary street course with the new DW12 formula on April 15 on the Streets of Long Beach, Calif. The race will be telecast live at 3:30 p.m. (ET) by NBC Sports Network. The IMS Radio Network will also carry the race live on XM Channel 94 and Sirius 212. The next Firestone Indy Lights race is the Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 15. It will be telecast by NBC Sports Network at 5 p.m. (ET) on April 19. NBC Sports Network’s coverage of the Grand Prix of Alabama will be telecast at 5 p.m. on April 5.

… notes from The EDJE

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Saint Petersburg – Let The New Era 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series Begin!

March 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Official event name: Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg - Location: Albert Whitted Airport - St. Petersburg, Florida, United States - Course: Temporary airport & street circuit 1.806 mi / 2.906 km - Distance: 105 laps, 189.630 mi / 305.130 km - Twitter HASHTAG: #gpstpete - Caption and Image Credit: Wikipedia

Saint Petersburg – Let The New Era 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series Begin! – UPDATED w/Qualifications & Race Results

Let the new era of unified American Open-Wheel Racing (#aowr) begin with the temporary street course Honda Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg. This year, 2012, will go down as the first year that American open-wheel racing is truly unified since there are no excuses that were first raised when the merger happened suddenly at the beginning of the 2008 season. Everyone will be competing on new Dallara DW12 equipment, with a choice of three new turbo-charged 2.2 liter engines, on tracks that are the most favored by fans of both series.

The season will favor street/road courses as opposed to NASCAR styled ovals and the oval tracks featured in this truly unified season are, for the most part, ones made famous through the sport of open-wheel automobile racing.

Five oval venues out of sixteen races are on the schedule and appear as follows:

The first oval race on the schedule is the grand-daddy of them all, The greatest specticle on all of autosport, the Indianapolis 500 – May 27, 11:00AM ET – ABC Sports.

Next will be the high-banked, super high-speed Firestone 500 at the Texas Speedway. This track holds a string of closest finishes in open-wheel racing. Broadcast set for the night of June 9, 8:00PM ET – NBC Sports.

Third comes the Milwaukee IndyFest, West Allis, WI – run on the famed flat four-cornered bull-ring of a track near the Wisconsin fairgrounds. This race venue was saved by the Andretti family primarily because of the history this track holds as a contrast to all other oval tracks ever run. This track was originally a flat dirt track that transformed itself into a concrete ring that challenges drivers with close quarters and the challenge of virtually no banking. Broadcast set for June 16, 1:00pm ET – ABC Sports.

The Iowa Corn 250, Newton, IA – represents a hold over from the Indianapolis Racing League days and gives a nod to the corn based Ethanol fuel that powers these 2.2 liter turbo-charged Chevrolet, Honda, and Lotus engines of this modern era season. In order to spice things up, this race will be run at night under the lights as they do in Texas. Broadcast set for June 23, 8:00PM ET – NBC Sports.

The last oval race of the season happens to be the final race of this 16 race benchmark of the modern era in American Open-Wheel Racing. This track holds the speed records for racing of any kind on a closed course for both qualifying and at race lap speeds. Yes, the venue is the Auto Club Speedway (formally, California Speedway) at Fontana, California.

On October 28, 2000, during CART qualifying, Gil de Ferran set the track record for fastest lap at 241.426 mph (388.537 km/h), breaking the record (240.942 mph) set by former F1 driver, Maurício Gugelmin (PacWest Racing) who went even faster — 242.333 mph, to be precise — in practice. Mark Blundell, also a former F1 driver (PacWest Racing – Gugelmin’s teammate), was originally credited with the fastest “at race lap” speed record with a lap at 237.000+ (lap time unknown). Wikipedia shows that Greg Moore actually set fastest lap during the race on lap 80 with a time of 30.900 sec. over the 2.029 mile D-shaped oval (awaiting email clarification from Auto Club Speedway). All of these times are suspect as official by the FIA due the measurement of the track at being slightly longer than exactly 2.0 miles, but the recorded speeds recorded are factual.

What is not in dispute, however, is that the 2003 IndyCar race held at Fontana (the Auto Club Speedway) was the fastest closed-circuit race ever in motorsport history, with an average speed of 207.151 mph(333.306 km/h) over 400 miles (640 km) by Sam Hornish Jr. The 2012 race broadcast is set for a dusky night-time ending, September 15, 8PM ET – NBC Sports.

KV Racing Technology's driver Rubens Barrichello gives the new DW12 Chevrolet powered Dallara a spin at Sebring after signing a one-year agreement to run a full year in the IZOD IndyCar Series. Here Rubens is being followed on the track by fellow ex-pat F1 driver, Takuma Sato, driving the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda. Image Credit: LAT via IZOD IndyCar Series

This weekend features a temporary street course e set up in the Florida city of Saint Petersburg first run under ChampCar (CCWS) sanctioning in 2003. After a one year break in order to regroup, the event was resumed with the sanctioning of the Indy Racing League (IRL) from 2005 to the 2007 and continued uninterrupted after the merger of CCWS and IRL as today’s IndyCar beginning in 2008 through to today.

Past winners of the Honda Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg event are as follows: Paul Tracy (2003), Dan Wheldon (2005), Helio Castroneves (2006 and 2007), Graham Rahal (2008), Ryan Briscoe (2009), Will Power (2010) and Dario Franchitti (2011), Team Penske is the most successful with 4 wins … track speed record is held by Sebastien Bourdais (McDonalds/Newman-Haas), set competing in ChampCar (2003) when he qualified for the pole, besting Paul Tracy (Players/Forsythe) with the time of 1:00.928 as his Lola-Cosworth turned an average of 106.472 mph.

A field of 26 drivers — listed below — are expected to take to the track for the race set to start Sunday, March 25, 12:30PM ET broadcasted to national network TV audience by ABC Sports.

Car# | Driver (R – Rookie) | Hometown | Sponsor Car Name | Engine (Chevrolet/Honda/Lotus) | Team Entrant
2 Ryan Briscoe Sydney, Australia IZOD Team Penske Chevrolet Team Penske

3 Helio Castroneves Sao Paulo, Brazil Shell V-Power/Pennzoil Ultra Chevrolet Team Penske

4 JR Hildebrand Sausalito, Calif. National Guard Panther Racing Chevrolet Panther Racing

5 E.J. Viso Caracas, Venezuela Citgo – PDVSA KV Racing Technology Chevrolet KV Racing Technology

6 Katherine Legge (R) Guildford, England TrueCar Lotus-Dragon Racing Lotus Lotus-Dragon Racing

7 Sebastien Bourdais Le Mans, France Lotus-Dragon Racing Lotus Lotus-Dragon Racing

8 Rubens Barrichello (R) Sao Paulo, Brazil BMC/Embrase KV Racing Technology Chevrolet KV Racing Technology

9 Scott Dixon Auckland, New Zealand Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda Target Chip Ganassi Racing

10 Dario Franchitti Edinburgh, Scotland Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda Target Chip Ganassi Racing

11 Tony Kanaan Salvador, Brazil GEICO/Mouser Electronics KVRT Chevrolet KV Racing Technology

12 Will Power Toowoomba, Australia Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet Team Penske

14 Mike Conway Bromley, England ABC Supply Co./A.J. Foyt Racing Honda A.J. Foyt Enterprises

15 Takuma Sato Tokyo Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan

18 Justin Wilson Sheffield, England Sonny’s BBQ Honda Dale Coyne Racing

19 James Jakes Leeds, England Boy Scouts of America Honda Dale Coyne Racing

20 Ed Carpenter Indianapolis Fuzzy’s Vodka / Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet Ed Carpenter Racing

22 Oriol Servia Pals, Spain Lotus-DRR Lotus Lotus-Dreyer & Reinbold Racing

26 Marco Andretti Nazareth, Pa. Team RC Cola Chevrolet Andretti Autosport

27 James Hinchcliffe Toronto Team GoDaddy.com Chevrolet Andretti Autosport

28 Ryan Hunter-Reay Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Team DHL/Sun Drop Citrus Soda Chevrolet Andretti Autosport

38 Graham Rahal New Albany, Ohio Service Central Honda Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing

67 Josef Newgarden (R) Hendersonville, Tenn. Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing

77 Simon Pagenaud (R) Poitiers, France Kingdom/Schmidt-Hamilton HP Motorsports Honda Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsports

78 Simona de Silvestro Thun, Switzerland Nuclear Clean Air Energy Lotus HVM Racing Lotus Lotus-HVM Racing

83 CharLinklie Kimball Camarillo, Calif. Levemir and NovoLog FlexPen Honda Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing

98 Alex Tagliani Lachenaie, Canada Team Barracuda-BHA Lotus Bryan Herta Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian

—-

First Practice Laps At #GPSTPETE

Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon set first ever mark in an event for the new DW12 formula as he was fastest in the first official practice session of 2012, leading Team Penske’s Ryan Briscoe by 0.4784 seconds.

Briscoe’s teammate, Will Power, ran third, posting a lap of 1:03.57 around the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street course.

Dario Franchitti served as a bookend for the Penske duo, placing fourth with a lap of 1:03.60 seconds.

Schmidt Hamilton Racing’s Simon Pagenaud rounded out the top 5, turning a 1:03.64-second lap in hot, humid conditions.

Honda engined-cars placed 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th and 9th, with Chevrolet runners occupying the rest of the top 10 slots.

The fastest Lotus-engined car was Oriol Servia’s DRR entry in 19th with a lap of 1:04.29.

The session was mostly trouble-free, barring Charlie Kimball’s nose-first crash at Turn 10 with less than five minutes remaining in the session.

With so little rubber down, times are expected to drop throughout the weekend.

Practice 1 for the Honda Grand Prix of St Petersburg at the St Petersburg Street Circuit:

Rank | Driver | Diff. | Best Lap
1 Scott Dixon 0 1:03.0406
2 Ryan Briscoe 0.4784 1:03.5190
3 Will Power 0.5341 1:03.5747
4 Dario Franchitti 0.5607 1:03.6013
5 Simon Pagenaud 0.6011 1:03.6417
6 Justin Wilson 0.6298 1:03.6704
7 Marco Andretti 0.7522 1:03.7928
8 Mike Conway 0.7927 1:03.8333
9 Graham Rahal 0.8116 1:03.8522
10 Helio Castroneves 0.8322 1:03.8728
11 Josef Newgarden 0.8366 1:03.8772
12 EJ Viso 0.8736 1:03.9142
13 James Jakes 0.9228 1:03.9634
14 JR Hildebrand 1.0508 1:04.0914
15 Takuma Sato 1.0666 1:04.1072
16 James Hinchcliffe 1.0673 1:04.1079
17 Ryan Hunter-Reay 1.0833 1:04.1239
18 Tony Kanaan 1.0998 1:04.1404
19 Oriol Servia 1.2540 1:04.2946
20 Alex Tagliani 1.3455 1:04.3861
21 Sebastien Bourdais 1.4468 1:04.4874
22 Charlie Kimball 1.6226 1:04.6632
23 Simona de Silvestro 1.8741 1:04.9147
24 Rubens Barrichello 2.6275 1:05.6681
25 Ed Carpenter 2.9904 1:06.0310
26 Katherine Legge 4.2925 1:07.3331
[Reference Here]

UPDATE: Power Tops Second St. Pete Practice

Team Penske’s Will Power nearly matched his pole speed from last year in only the second practice session of the weekend, leading Briscoe and Franchitti.

The top 20 cars all ran fastest laps in the 1:02 bracket, with first through 20th separated by just .978 seconds.

Practice 2 for the Honda Grand Prix of St Petersburg at the St Petersburg Street Circuit:

Rank | Driver | Diff. | Best Lap

1 Will Power 0 1:02.0077 1:06.1375
2 Ryan Briscoe 0.0854 1:02.0931
3 Dario Franchitti 0.2155 1:02.2232
4 Graham Rahal 0.2847 1:02.2924
5 Scott Dixon 0.3040 1:02.3117
6 Helio Castroneves 0.3113 1:02.3190
7 James Hinchcliffe 0.4555 1:02.4632
8 Tony Kanaan 0.4737 1:02.4814
9 Ryan Hunter-Reay 0.5224 1:02.5301
10 Mike Conway 0.5260 1:02.5337
11 Marco Andretti 0.5547 1:02.5624
12 Simon Pagenaud 0.5920 1:02.5997
13 JR Hildebrand 0.7606 1:02.7683
14 Josef Newgarden 0.7761 1:02.7838
15 Justin Wilson 0.8838 1:02.8915
16 Simona de Silvestro 0.9059 1:02.9136
17 James Jakes 0.9075 1:02.9152
18 Takuma Sato 0.9517 1:02.9594
19 Sebastien Bourdais 0.9701 1:02.9778
20 EJ Viso 0.9780 1:02.9857
21 Charlie Kimball 1.0827 1:03.0904
22 Alex Tagliani 1.1735 1:03.1812
23 Rubens Barrichello 1.3213 1:03.3290
24 Oriol Servia 1.3458 1:03.3535
25 Ed Carpenter 2.5954 1:04.6031
26 Katherine Legge 2.7515 1:04.7592
[Reference Here]

UPDATE – Qualifications Highlights:

Will Power breaks his own track record by 0.2305 (old mark = 1:01.6026). Teammate Ryan Briscoe nails down P2 by breaking Will Power’s old mark as well.

The top five positions on the grid are held by Chevrolet powered DW12′s with seven of the top ten grid positions being filled by the new era engine supplier over longtime supplier and race sponsor, Honda.

A less than competitive showing by the cars powered by the Lotus/Judd effort with the highest placing driver of the “Lotus Legion” (highlighted in BOLD below), being one of the most consistent performing drivers of the series, Oriol Servia.

Probably the biggest surprise of this first qualification session of the new formula 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series season is that even though cars fielded by Target Chip Ganassi Racing did very well in practice, the highest placing car from the Ganassi stable was Scott Dixon in P7 – none made it into the Firestone Fast Six qualifications round.

Team Penske had 3 cars, Andretti Autosport had 3 cars – 2 in the Firestone Fast Six round, Ganassi had only 2 cars, Kingdom/Schmidt-Hamilton had it’s one car effort place P6 in the Firestone Fast Six, and KV Racing Technology with only one car rounding out the top ten positions on the grid.

FIRESTONE FAST SIX VIDEO HERE>>

Pos  Driver               Team/Car                      Time        Gap
1.  Will Power           Penske DW12-Chevrolet         1:01.3721s
2.  Ryan Briscoe         Penske DW12-Chevrolet         1:01.5357s  + 0.1636s
3.  Ryan Hunter-Reay     Andretti DW12-Chevrolet       1:01.9321s  + 0.5600s
4.  James Hinchcliffe    Andretti DW12-Chevrolet       1:01.9701s  + 0.5980s
5.  Helio Castroneves    Penske DW12-Chevrolet         1:01.9987s  + 0.6266s
6.  Simon Pagenaud       Schmidt-Hamilton DW12-Honda   1:02.1095s  + 0.7374s

7.  Scott Dixon          Ganassi DW12-Honda            1:01.7636s  Top 12
8.  Marco Andretti       Andretti DW12-Chevrolet       1:01.7895s  Top 12
9.  Tony Kanaan          KV DW12-Chevrolet             1:01.8699s  Top 12
10.  Dario Franchitti     Ganassi DW12-Honda            1:01.9570s  Top 12
11.  Graham Rahal         Ganassi DW12-Honda            1:02.0233s  Top 12
12.  Mike Conway          Foyt DW12-Honda               1:02.5084s  Top 12

13.  EJ Viso              KV DW12-Chevrolet             1:02.5146s  Group 1
14.  Rubens Barrichello   KV DW12-Chevrolet             1:02.2009s  Group 2
15.  Takuma Sato          Rahal DW12-Honda              1:02.6015s  Group 1
16.  Justin Wilson        Dale Coyne DW12-Honda         1:02.2538s  Group 2
17.  Alex Tagliani        Herta DW12-Lotus              1:02.6506s  Group 1
18.  JR Hildebrand        Panther DW12-Chevrolet        1:02.4426s  Group 2
19.  Josef Newgarden      Fisher Hartman DW12-Honda     1:02.7155s  Group 1
20.  James Jakes          Dale Coyne DW12-Honda         1:02.5271s  Group 2
21.  Simona de Silvestro  HVM DW12-Lotus                1:02.8218s  Group 1
22.  Charlie Kimball      Ganassi DW12-Honda            1:03.0437s  Group 2
23.  Oriol Servia         Dreyer & Reinbold DW12-Lotus  1:02.8771s  Group 1
24.  Ed Carpenter         Carpenter DW12-Chevrolet      1:03.3591s  Group 2
25.  Katherine Legge      Dragon DW12-Lotus             1:03.6048s  Group 1
26.  Sebastien Bourdais   Dragon DW12-Lotus             1:05.6858s  Group 2

Penske Racing's Helio Castroneves ends year long winless drought on the streets of St. Petersburg. Helio celebrates win by climbing a fence and honoring the memory of Dan Wheldon along the newly christened Dan Wheldon Way at turn #10 at the track. Image Credit: Honda Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg

 

This excerpted and edited from the Tampa Bay Times –

How the 2012 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg unfolded
By Joey Knight, Times Staff Writer – Monday, March 26, 2012

On Lap 73, Castroneves gets far outside, breaks as deeply as he can and passes Dixon on Turn 1 for second. “It was awesome because the car (stuck), and I was like, ‘Yesss!’ ” said Castroneves, who soon after passes Hildebrand.

By Lap 80, Castroneves’ lead on Dixon grows to more than five seconds. Hunter-Reay, in third, falls seven seconds behind Castroneves as his crew implores him to conserve fuel. E.J. Viso, on the brink of dehydration following an overnight bout of food poisoning, is fifth — seven places ahead of his starting spot — 93 laps into the race before a final pit stop ultimately drops him to eighth. His lead edging closer to insurmountable, Castroneves drives conservatively on the last dozen or so laps and wins by 5.5292 seconds.
[Reference Here]

How the field of 26 DW12′s finished in their first race:

Pos | Driver | Team/Car | Time/Gap
1. Helio Castroneves Penske DW12-Chevrolet 1h59m50.9863s
2. Scott Dixon Ganassi DW12-Honda + 5.5292s
3. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti DW12-Chevrolet + 7.5824s
4. James Hinchcliffe Andretti DW12-Chevrolet + 10.6526s
5. Ryan Briscoe Penske DW12-Chevrolet + 11.7854s
6. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt-Hamilton DW12-Honda + 31.2623s
7. Will Power Penske DW12-Chevrolet + 34.6582s
8. EJ Viso KV DW12-Chevrolet + 35.5943s
9. Charlie Kimball Ganassi DW12-Honda + 43.1425s
10. Justin Wilson Dale Coyne DW12-Honda + 44.3141s
11. Josef Newgarden Fisher Hartman DW12-Honda + 44.8275s
12. Graham Rahal Ganassi DW12-Honda + 45.1080s
13. Dario Franchitti Ganassi DW12-Honda + 45.8468s
14. Marco Andretti Andretti DW12-Chevrolet + 1 lap
15. Alex Tagliani Herta DW12-Lotus + 1 lap
16. Oriol Servia Dreyer & Reinbold DW12-Lotus + 1 lap
17. Rubens Barrichello KV DW12-Chevrolet + 2 laps
18. Ed Carpenter Carpenter DW12-Chevrolet + 2 laps

Did not finish:

JR Hildebrand Panther DW12-Chevrolet 96 laps
Mike Conway Foyt DW12-Honda 75 laps
Sebastien Bourdais Dragon DW12-Lotus 73 laps
Takuma Sato Rahal DW12-Honda 73 laps
Katherine Legge Dragon DW12-Lotus 59 laps
Simona de Silvestro HVM DW12-Lotus 22 laps
Tony Kanaan KV DW12-Chevrolet 21 laps
James Jakes Dale Coyne DW12-Honda 19 laps

Most of the problems of cars not finishing had to do with electrical gremlins on a car most engineers are still trying to figure out.

So, the new era 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series (#indycar) has begun at the Honda Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg (#gpstpete) — Twitter #hashtags included!

… notes from The EDJE


** Article first published as Saint Petersburg – Let The New Era 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series Begin! on Technorati **

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