With weather interfering with early preparations for this year’s Indianapolis 500 May 25th, hard-core fans now have to wait until Saturday to see how this year’s field shapes up. Because the only qualifying so far was last Saturday — with a new 11-car per day maximum in effect — many fan favorites will be waiting to go when qualifying resumes this weekend. Had there been no 11-car limit, the 500 starting field would be half full by now. The new IRL regulations do make for interesting TV viewing, as repeat runs are now permissible even for those already qualified. A few drivers, solidly in the field, took advantage of this, aiming for the pole position. That coveted starting place, as we now all know, went — on his second try — to New Zealander Scott Dixon, who will be flagged off first alongside his Ganassi Racing teammate Dan Wheldon of England with Australian Ryan Briscoe in the third front-row starting spot, making for an all-foreign-born front row. The fastest of Saturday’s three American qualifiers in the top 11 was Danica Patrick, fifth quick for a middle row-two starting place. Of the first-day qualifiers making the race, eight are foreign-born.

Needed: Big Bucks. With Sears’ (whatever happened to Roebuck?) Craftsman tool line in the 13th and final year of its contract as sponsor of NASCAR’s truck-racing series, a big push is on for a replacement backer. No news yet.

With only two restrictor-plate races remaining on the 2008 Sprint Cup calendar, researchers have decided it takes a different style of driving than usual to excel in “plate” racing. One driver who has learned this lesson better than all others is Jeff Gordon, who has a record 12 “plate” victories, including the first in a Car of Tomorrow, in which the only lap he led was the final one! Gordon started that race in 34th position. Daytona and Talladega are today’s only restrictor-plate tracks and drivers say it takes a lot of study to master this type of race in which the cars no longer have the “acceleration snap” found in non-plate events.

In our nation’s capital city of Washington, a major conference on sports franchising and facility management will be held May 21-22. Some 45 key players from all forms of pro sports will speak, including just one from auto racing, Gillian Zucker, who is the president of the Auto Club Speedway, formerly known as California Speedway.

An interesting article on NFL rookies reveals all such tyros must first attend a league symposium dealing with finance and other matters. The same article reports the MINIMUM annual salary for an NFL rookie is now $295,000, jumping to $370,000 for second-year players and $445,000 for third-year players. One can easily understand why racing teams are seeking chief financial officers.

The obituaries appearing after the death of Cameron Argetsinger, credited as being the father of road racing in this country, were the longest and most elaborate Ye Ed has ever seen for an U.S. motorsport figure.

Citing a plethora of weekly dirt-track racing at nearby tracks in places like Waycross, Screven and Golden Isles, the management of the two-year-old Douglas (Ga.) Motorsports Park last week announced cancellation of all oval track events for 2008. Its drag strip, however, will continue its twice-weekly operation. But elsewhere in the Peach State, short-track racing is looking up. Last Saturday’s Watermelon Bowl 300 at Watermelon Capital Speedway in Cordele, Ga., was a $3,000-to-win, $600-to-start, $25,200 purse event! It was round three of the ASA’s Southern Division. Here’s a pat on the back for Dale Terry for keeping this column up on hardtop racing in the Southland.

For many years, while in pursuit of a career in U.S. auto racing, Ye Ed has long been annoyed by the opinion, shared by many, that those of us involved in auto racing are an uneducated lot, dummies, to be exact. Though no longer quite so prevalent, it’s still shared by far too many. So, on May 6th while watching “NASCAR Now” on ESPN2, it was a jolt when — in big block capital letters — the word preventative appeared on the screen, misspelled from preventive! Later on the same night and same channel, on a Super Bikes show, the word premiere appeared instead of premier. Didn’t anyone ever take English?

More Up! The audience rating for the live telecast of the Indy Car Series race at Kansas Speedway was up 164 percent from last year and, at .074, the second-highest ever for a race on ESPN2.

The IndyGo shuttle service to Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 500-mile race from the airport area and downtown locations is back on. IndyGo has announced reinstatement of the shuttle, which 15,000 fans used last year to get to the track. Round-trip tix are $15 with children under age 2 free. Service begins at 9 a.m. race day and continues for three hours after the checkered flag waves. IndyGo will also serve the Allstate Brickyard 400 NASCAR race July 27, but not the Red Bull motorcycle classic Sept. 14. For specifics, call (317) 635-3344.

Fans of the SCCA’s long-gone Trans-American Sedan Championship racing series which matched Chevy Camaros against Ford Mustangs and Dodge Challengers, are elated over the news that Dodge will offer a full line of “muscle car” Challengers for 2009. The 2008 Hemi-engined SRT8 was 90 percent sold before the first car ever came off the assembly line. The planned run of 5,000 examples of the 2008 model Challenger was stretched by Chrysler to 6,400 due to spirited demand. The ’09 Dodge Challenger, soon to be shown, will be available in three models, each with a different engine. Hear this Detroit: Bring back the Trans-Am Series!

An Australian friend, Dennis Newlyn, a writer who now runs things at Sydney’s Paramatta City Raceway, is in need of data on the racing career of the late California midgeteer Johnny Tolan. He is writing an article for an Aussie publication on Tolan, whose career was ended when he suffered serious back injuries at the Sydney Showgrounds track. Newlyn is particularly interested in learning of Tolan’s experiences at Indy and elsewhere, including photos. If you can help, e-mail your response to Dennis Newlyn speedwayillustrated@optusnet.com.au.
A frustrated Jim Thurman e-mails this corner that the recent triumph of Graham Rahal has revived interest in just who the youngest winner of a USAC race might be. Clouding this issue is that, years ago, several teenagers used fake or altered birth certificates to get an AAA license. Thurman’s research reports Scott Dixon was NOT the youngest winner before Marco Andretti’s IRL victory at Sonoma, but rather it was Jimmie Davies’ triumph in an AAA national championship race at Del Mar, Calif., on Nov. 6, 1949 — using, of course, an altered birth certificate. Thurman also reminds that 1952 Indy 500 winner Troy Ruttman also used a phony birth certificate to get his first AAA license. Thurman bemoans the fact that both the AP and ESPN currently have incorrect records on this matter. Share your thoughts on this issue directly with Thurman at jim.thurman@verizon.net.

From The Staff

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis has received approval to debut a Motorsports Engineering program at the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. The four-year program will focus on teaching fundamentals of engineering from a practical viewpoint. Officals project an enrollment of approximately 21 students for the first year. The program is similar to those offered at other universities, including the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

The inaugural Lakewood Speedway Reunion is scheduled for Aug. 9 at the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame in Dawsonville, Ga. Tickets for the event are $15 in advance and $18 day of show. For information, log on to www.thunderroadusa.com.