224 replies to this topic

[Risil]

Once again: our localized nostalgia field brings us to a 1995 IndyKar Klassic as a field that is 7 short of 33 sets up to race 500 miles around the attritional and appallingly fast high banks of Michigan International Speedway. This is pre-Handford device Michigan, so passes are earned, gaps can develop and half the battle is having a car that can keep going for all 250 laps. 1994 saw a rare defeat for Penske as all three cars retired with mechanical issues, along with three-quarters of the field. Scott Goodyear, who was really good at winning 500-mile races that weren’t at Indy, gave Kenny Bernstein his only Indycar victory and Arie Luyendyk gave Sal Incandela an even less likely second-place finish.

The last 500-mile race, or indeed big oval race, was at Indianapolis where about 15 drivers could’ve won but only Jacques Villeneuve did, steering past chaos, hubris, headrests and a two-lap penalty to win the Borg-Warner trophy at his second attempt. The other 14 drivers now have a second chance to win an equally challenging but considerably less prestigious test of cunning, ability and machine. Jacques is also a mile ahead in the points standings, 33 points ahead of Bobby Rahal and more than 40 ahead of Michael Andretti and Al Unser, Jr, who have at least shown the pace to overhaul the Canadian, if not the consistency. A dominant performance at Road America aside, Villeneuve’s wins this year have been just about against-the-odds enough to make the possibility of lower-order collapse a straw worth clutching. Or perhaps it’s all about building for next year. There’s a Firestone-shod Honda on pole, after all.
 
What has qualifying told us?



It’s Parker, baby! In scenes reminiscent of the Indy 500 earlier in the year, pole position goes to a part-timer driving something a bit nonstandard. In fact, Johnstone is driving the same Reynard/Honda/Firestone combination that Scott Goodyear used to all but win the Borg-Warner trophy back in May. So is Andre Ribeiro, for that matter, but he is tenth and Parker is on pole. All hail Parker! Joining him on the front row are the ultra-experienced Ford pairing of Teo Fabi and Michael Andretti. In fact it’s Fords all the way down, with Adrian Fernandez the best Mercedes and the Penskes will down in the midfield, albeit actually qualified for the race which is already a major improvement. But what’s qualifying at the Michigan 500? The track’s a mile wide, most of the cars will break and there’ll be 250 laps of racing. Here’s your top 12:
 
1. Parker Johnstone 230.469 mph, Comptech Racing R/H/F
2. Teo Fabi 228.528, Forsythe R/F/G
3. Michael Andretti 228.412, Newman-Haas L/F/G
4. Jacques Villeneuve 228.238, Team Green R/F/G
5. Jimmy Vasser 227.978, Ganassi R/F/G
6. Mo Gugelmin 227.841, PacWest R/F/G
7. Bryan Herta 226.650, Ganassi R/F/G
8. Paul Tracy 226.543, Newman-Haas L/F/G
9. Danny Sullivan 225.734, PacWest R/F/G
10. Andre Ribeiro 225.719, Tasman R/H/F
11. Adrian Fernandez 225.578, Galles L/M/G
12. Scott Pruett 224.838, Patrick L/F/F
 
Al Unser, Jr starts from row 4 in 13th, and Bobby Rahal and Emerson Fittipaldi are a row behind in starting positions 16 and 17. If you’ve got time on your hands, Youtube has a qualifying broadcast, see below. Of course I've just ruined the results.


So there you have it. Nicely poised. Can Parker outrun the opposition? Will Jacques out-drive them all again? We’ll see. Video linked below, we'll get this underway at 6pm on Sunday, June 21. In the meantime, happy midsummer!

[paulb]

Awesome!

Indycar for fathers day.

Thanks, Risil.

[rghojai]

Excellent!! The week's highlight (of my wretched existence) has arrived.

[Ellios]

 

The sun in the sky heats up the track and that's what makes the tyres hot folks!

[Risil]

Can't argue with logic like that!

[jonpollak]

Shaq Fillanew.
Jp

[Risil]

Spotter's guide:

 

Buddy Lazier is back in Eric Bachelart's #19 car, as he was at Nazareth and Milwaukee. For whatever reason Rick Galles hasn't entered Marco Greco's #55 Lola, and the part-time Project Indy team is a no-show once again. However we do get Parker Johnstone, and Lyn St James is back behind the wheel for her last-ever CART start with an extra Dick Simon car.

 

Since Parker is starting on the pole, I've dug out a picture of his car as keeping with PHOTO NOT AVAILABLE seems rather churlish given the circumstances. At this time Parker was apparently most famous for being a stuntman in the Keanu Reeves/Sandra Bullock movie Speed.

[Risil]

It's sort of amusing how heavily this wire report leans into Parker "Cheap and Dirty" Johnstone's Hollywood career:

 

On Friday, some of the other competitors were running faster laps than Johnstone, but many of them were aided by drafting, where the air vacuum from another car works as a 'tow' for the cars running behind it. Johnstone concentrated on running by himself to set up his car for a pole-winning run. 'Paul Tracy spent Friday trolling for a tow,' Johnstone said. 'I towed him on his fast lap yesterday. 'I felt cheap and dirty after helping him get his fastest lap.' Apparently Johnstone has learned his script very well because in the movie 'Speed' he was a tow truck driver. On Saturday, instead of making a cameo appearance, Johnstone was able to finally earn top billing in a starring role.

[FLB]

Wonder how the Penskes will do after the Indy débâcle?

[Risil]

Concentrating on race pace, by the looks of things. But Fittipaldi has been driving like a defeated man since Indy.

[FLB]

Is this the first pole for Firestone since The Return of 1994?

[FLB]

In any case, last year (1994), the Michigan 500 was the very definition of race going IndyCar! 

 

 

On the same day that Gerhard Berger won Ferrari's first Grand Prix since 1990 at Hockenheim... after Mika Häkkinen tried to take half the grid out at the start.

Edited by FLB, 21 June 2020 - 14:34.

[thegforcemaybewithyou]

jacQues viLleneUve

Edited by thegforcemaybewithyou, 21 June 2020 - 16:24.

[Risil]

10 mins! Dipping into the qualifying broadcast, Big Mo has been saying that the track is so smooth after the resurface that however much aero they trim, it's flat out all the way round.

[ANF]

qualifying was on espn2. no caps.

[Risil]

Scott Pruett had an engine blow up on his first qualifying run. He qualified the spare in 12th.

 

Robby Gordon had a crash in practice that knocked him unconscious, so he won't be racing in the 500 owing to CART's concussion rules.

 

Parker Johnstone is feeling pretty irritated right now that he couldn't find the funding to race at the Indy 500, as with all his testing miles and superspeedway pace, he'd surely have been in contention for victory that month.

[GlenWatkins]

Almost time to Bring The Action!

Edited by GlenWatkins, 21 June 2020 - 16:59.

[rghojai]

And the heat.

[Risil]

Go!

[GlenWatkins]

30C and 70% humidity here in NH today

[Risil]

The heat has aged Paul Page prematurely.

[GlenWatkins]

PaaaaauuuuuL "turn the"  PPPPAAAAAAAGE!!

Edited by GlenWatkins, 21 June 2020 - 17:02.

[Risil]

30C and 70% humidity here in NH today

 

It's a beautiful 19C and 53% humidity here in the Heart of England.

[Risil]

Parker Johnstone: confirmed post hole digger.

[Risil]

Vasser/Pruett sixth in points. Shame they can't pool their scores together really.

[GlenWatkins]

How did Parker "the moving chicane" Johnstone ever get pole?

[rghojai]

93 degrees, 74% humidity at 9 pm.

[Risil]

"This place, nobody takes any risks at all. And if you do, you're not too smart."

 

Or so says Mikey. Onto the next item in the pre-race show: Robby Gordon crashed Friday and will not start.

[GlenWatkins]

93 degrees, 74% humidity at 9 pm.

 

I feel ya, no AC for me!!  We only get a couple of weeks of this a year.

[Risil]

Ha, on-screen graphic for Jimmy Vasser reading "BEST MICHIGAN FINISH: 25TH"

[rghojai]

I feel ya, no AC for me!!  We only get a couple of weeks of this a year.

 

Oh it will get much worse!

[GlenWatkins]

Tayoooo. TaaaYYYOOO!  

[Risil]

Hey, it's Sam and Bobby! I never thought we'd see them again.

[ANF]

Look, Bobby Unser is back!

[Risil]

I think they're about 500 yards closer together than they're comfortable with.

[Risil]

Hey, it's a youth-oriented JV spot!

[Risil]

So Jacques says it's something like "Veel-nev"

[paulb]

Wait, what was the official pronunciation?

[GlenWatkins]

You heard it here on Autosport forum!

Edited by GlenWatkins, 21 June 2020 - 17:11.

[GlenWatkins]

Isn't this Danny Sullivan's last race?

[Risil]

Isn't this Danny Sullivan's last race?

Yes.

[rghojai]

I guess they couldn't scare up anyone w. a clue to run Gordon's car. Strange?

[Risil]

That's some very listless cap waving from the grandstand!

[Risil]

I wonder if Rick Mears also spoke to the front row of this race a year later.

[Risil]

I guess they couldn't scare up anyone w. a clue to run Gordon's car. Strange?

I think it's a little strange. Alex Zanardi was in a similar situation after practice at Fontana in 1997 and Arie Luyendyk was found to step in.

 

Perhaps Scott Goodyear was under contract with Honda. He'd have been perfect.

[paulb]

Full house.

[Risil]

COME ON PARKER.

[Risil]

Vellernevv

[paulb]

Love the anhedral front wings.

[ANF]

Aborted start. Bad alignment.