All Three Of Tony George’s Indy Cars Finish In Top 10 At Kentucky

SPARTA, Ky. — With three cars finishing in the top seven in Saturday night’s Meijer Indy 300, Vision Racing may have established itself as a middle-tier team ready to move up in the IndyCar Series.
A.J. Foyt IV finished third for the highest finish of his IndyCar career and gave the young Texan a sense of redemption after he was much maligned and often criticized when he was driving for his grandfather’s team when he was just 18 years old.
Foyt even led three times for 13 laps and was in front with 11 to go before he was passed by Tony Kanaan, who went on to win the race.
“It’s about time, that’s all I can say,” the young Foyt said. “I haven’t seen the back of the pace car since I was in the Infiniti (Indy) Pro Series. It’s good to be back up there again and be a contender for the win. I knew with Kanaan back there, it would be tough to hold him off, but this is something to build on. It can give us momentum.”
Tomas Scheckter finished fifth to give Vision two drivers in the top five.
“What a weird race,” Scheckter said. “We were doing 217s and were racing and by the time Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti got side by side we were doing 215s and then I got pretty pissed off because everybody behind me was bunching up. Then we started to get in a big fight. I tried to push Dixon ahead, I tried to push Dario ahead but no one wanted to go.”
The team’s third driver, Ed Carpenter, was seventh.

• With three races remaining, Dixon is just eight points behind Franchitti in the battle for the IndyCar title.
At least one former teammate thinks Dixon is the driver that will win the 2007 championship.
“Scott Dixon is solid as a rock,” Scheckter said. “He was my teammate, and he won a championship when I was there. He is certainly a very good pick.”

• Scott Sharp’s sixth-place finish left the last of the original IRL drivers excited.
“That was one of the best cars I have had on a mile-and-a-half track in a long time,” Sharp said. “We could put the car anywhere we wanted. We made a lot of gains today. That’s the most competitive we’ve been this year. The car was balanced and felt good in traffic and enabled us to try a few things. We got good points and that’s what counts.”

• When it came to race setups, Kanaan’s car was virtually a mirror image of Franchitti’s. So it was no surprise that the Andretti Green Racing teammate shared the front row in Friday night’s qualifications.
Kanaan won his second pole of the season with a fast lap of 218.086 miles per hour. Shortly after his qualification attempt, Kanaan thought the one driver that could keep him from starting on the pole was Franchitti.
But Franchitti, winner of this year’s Indianapolis 500, didn’t have enough to knock Kanaan off the top starting position with a lap at 216.810 mph.

• While Franchitti was uninjured in the frightening crash at Michigan, the same could not be said for the car that he drove to victory in the Indianapolis 500. It was totaled in the crash.
“My guys had a busy week because they had to build a complete new car after what happened last week,” Franchitti said. “The car was really good straight off the truck. Tony and I worked together, and it definitely helped us. We have good balance on both cars, and I’m happy with the speed in qualifying.”
 
• With the temperature approaching 100 degrees Thursday, Tom Browning probably wished he was sweating on the pitcher’s mound at Cincinnati’s Great American Ballpark rather than on the pit lane at Kentucky Speedway.
The left-handed pitcher, who hurled a perfect game for the Cincinnati Reds in 1988 and won 123 games over 12 seasons in the major leagues, had the opportunity to take two laps around the 1.5-mile oval at 160 mph in the Indy Racing Experience two-seater.
Browning, who retired in 1995, traded in his Reds ball cap for a white Bell helmet and his khaki shorts for a Delphi firesuit. Gloves — he got one for each hand.
As he climbed into the reclined cockpit behind seven-time Indianapolis 500 starter Davey Hamilton, the nerves started to make Browning feel a bit claustrophobic.
“When I first stepped in there, I felt really confined.” Browning said. “I had to get my breath again, kind of get my wits about me, and then as soon as I got strapped in they took off. It was awesome.
“I never felt that nervous on a baseball field. No way, not even close. I practiced my whole life to do what I did.”