DETROIT — One of the few remaining goals left for Sam Hornish, Jr. to accomplish in the IndyCar Series was a victory on a road course.
After all, Hornish has accomplished everything else.
He leads the series in career wins with 19 including the 90th Indianapolis 500 in 2006 and a series-high three championships.
But as he appears to be heading to NASCAR Nextel Cup racing, Sunday’s Detroit Indy Grand Prix at Belle Isle could be his last chance to win on a race course where he has to turn left AND right in the car that suits him best, the Team Penske IndyCar.
Hornish started seventh for Team Penske with a lap at 101.219 miles per hour in Saturday’s qualifications and missed the “Saturday Six” which puts the six-fastest cars back on the track for 10 minutes in an attempt to improve position.
He finished 12th after he was involved in a crash with Sarah Fisher on lap 32. The crash also involved Vitor Meira, Darren Manning and Danica Patrick.
The star from Defiance, Ohio, laments over the one goal that he hasn’t been able to accomplish in an IndyCar.
“We got as close as we could do it without actually winning,” Hornish said. “We had a good car at Watkins Glen and had a really good car at Mid-Ohio but botched qualifying, couldn’t get through the field and I made a mistake trying to get around Dario. We’ve had good opportunities this year. It’s not as big a deal as winning the Indy 500.
“There is a steady group of guys who are a little bit better than we are, like Dario (Franchitti), Tony (Kanaan) and Scott (Dixon),” Hornish admitted. “Those are the guys I look at to see where they are. All of them are accomplished road racers from winning the 12 Hours of Sebring or the 24 Hours of Daytona. I don’t feel like I have a whole lot to prove. I’ve beaten some of them and they’ve beaten me.
“Second place is good enough for me. If we never get another one again it shows that we can do it on the right day.”
When the IndyCar season ends next Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway, Hornish will compete in the five “Car of Tomorrow” races in the 10-race “Chase for the Championship” in NASCAR.
Hornish, who has had to almost starve himself to be able to fight inside the cramped cockpit of an IndyCar, isn’t going to put on a few pounds in NASCAR.
“I don’t want to get fat and end up not being able to fit into an IndyCar because I love running these cars,” Hornish said. “No matter what I do, I want to try to continue to run in these from time to time. It’s always tough to fit in these cars and that’s always been one of the concerns on road courses because there is no room for me to turn and shift like I need to.
“There is more room in the other (NASCAR) cars, but I don’t want to be a pig and take advantage of that. I don’t want to be much heavier than I am now.”

• Helio Castroneves broke Billy Boat’s IndyCar Series pole record on Saturday as he won his seventh of the season for Sunday’s Detroit Indy Grand Prix at Belle Isle.
But what’s more important to Castroneves is turning starting up front into finishing at the front.
“I never thought of pole position but I always enjoyed qualifying and just wanted to go fast,” Castroneves said. “But seven poles — I only have one win. I’m just happy that I broke the record.
“It’s always nice to have records but I’m going to go for it because it’s a very good chance for me to win.”
Boat won six poles in 1998 when he was driving for team owner A.J. Foyt in what was then known as the Indy Racing League.
It was also Castroneves’s fourth pole on the five street- and road-course events this season.

• Joe Dumars, the Detroit Pistons’ president of basketball operation and a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, waved the green flag to start Sunday’s race.
“Unless you’ve been at a race in person, you can’t appreciate it,” said Dumars, who is a past visitor to the Indianapolis 500. “People don’t understand the size of NBA players and people don’t understand the speed of these cars.
“Any time I can be part of something like this is great. It’s great for the city of Detroit. All the people who have made this happen, my hat’s off to them because they are doing this because they want to and not because they have to. That’s when you know it’s genuine.”
 
• Gil de Ferran, the 2003 Indianapolis 500 winner, was in Detroit as a weekend guest of Team Penske.
He is a former pole winner of the Detroit Grand Prix and was the sporting director for Honda’s F-1 effort before he was released earlier this season.
“It’s been great for me to be here in Detroit this weekend,” de Ferran said. “I really used to enjoy coming to Belle Isle to compete, so it’s nice to be back. The venue really looks fantastic this year. Roger Penske has done a great job promoting the race and taking this facility to a whole new level.
“It’s also been good to see all my friends here in the paddock, both in the IndyCar paddock and the ALMS. It’s exciting to see some of my good friends do battle here this weekend for the IndyCar series title as well.”