Honda Grand Prix of St. Pete ... via Tweet

Cars on pitlane on gray morning Image Credit: luczodragon

Honda Grand Prix of St. Pete ... via Tweet

In a rare rain delayed Monday morning start, the second round of seventeen races, and the second of four street/road course races, will be run on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.

Some Andrettis [and a Kanaan] in discussion on the grid. Image Credit: IndyCarNation

The Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is set to start at 10:00 am ET (broadcast on ESPN2) and on a gray morning with the sun coming out, the Dallara cars are expected to be fielded with wets but the track should dry out quickly.

This post will be a compilation of selected "Tweets" from Twitter, Race Control announcements from IndyCar.com, Twitpics and direct dispatches as the race is run.

RogerYasukawa Sun coming out and they won't be on the wets for long I think. Also some variance on downforce level.

FuriousWedge @MyNameIsIRL I won't be "live-blogging" but will be tweeting, somehow managed the luck to pick the perfect day to take a day off

MyNameIsIRL The last race I missed watching because I had to work was won by Arie Luyendyk. I'm telling you in case I'm ever a category on "Jeopardy".

RogerYasukawa Jon Secada singing the National Anthem. Pretty Cool!!

FuriousWedge Anthem done, drivers called to the cars, looks like this is going to get underway immediately once the ESPN2 coverage starts

Broadcast starts and there expects to be a 10 minute delay which will allow the teams to decide to run on wets or drys (tires) which could mix things up pretty well.

RADIO IS LIVE!! RT @IndyCarNation: Today's Radio coverage of the Honda Grand Prix of St. Pete. Tune in here http://ow.ly/1s6hA

kvracing Mario Moraes waiting for command to get in car.

If we stay dry start, the race will run the scheduled distance of 100 laps and teams will be required to use the alternates [REDS] for 2 green laps.

VisionRacing ARGH! #IZODIndyCar Race Control track feed is NOT making us online viewers happy! Any suggestions on a fix @IndyCarNation ?

TheEDJE @VisionRacing - Have IndyCarNation stream ESPN2 #indycar

Row "HOT" announcements - all cars fired up! Cars out on warm-up.

IndyCarPR #18 Duno spins in Turn 14 on the first pace lap. No contact.

luczodragon Rafa says front stretch still pretty damp

indy44 #facepalm RT @cdy_bradshaw: Milka already spins! Its the fxxxing warm up laps! @MilkaDuno23

GREEN! GREEN! GREEN!

Clear through the first corner - Power, Dixon, Andretti, Castroneves, and Kanaan round out the first five

Dario Franchitti and Mike Conway have power spins on wet spots.

kvracing Full course yellow for Franchitti and Conway, separate incidents. Viso 9th, Sato 10th & Moraes 17th

DRRIndyCar Mike has spun in T2 but the car looks ok. Full course yellow. We're pitting when we can.

RESTART - Green Flag

Andretti up to second place on a strong pass.

Half lap later, Marco passes Will Power for firts place - Lap 5

BeccyGordon holy marco! Great racing here in St. Pete. Ryan's right on @jwilson22

Dixon moves up past Power ... then passes Andretti for the lead on Lap 6 - Power has slipped to fourth.

Marco26Web Dixon goes by to take the lead off Marco. Marco keeps close.

FuriousWedge Also of note as I said earlier Vitor is picking off everyone, has moved up 7 spots so far, just said bye bye to Wheldon/Panther

TheEDJE Lap 10 - Dixon, Castroneves, Andretti, Power, Kanaan, Wilson, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Tagliani, Sato, and EJ Viso round out the top 10 #indycar

Briscoe in on Lap 13 to switch to Blacks

indy44 Milka parked with handling issues. Barnhart can't handle it anymore.

TheEDJE @indy44 - Milka thinks she is racing in CUP cars - Start and Park!

kvracing Sato 9th, Viso 10th & Moraes 18th. Lap 14. Dixon, Castroneves, Andretti

VisionRacing It should go w/o saying, @EdCarpenter20 would rather be behind the wheel + we'd rather be in the pits "race tweeting" for you guys....

TheEDJE @VisionRacing - We do too! #indycar

DRRIndyCar There's a banner flapping around in Turn 10, warning the drivers to be careful in that area.

Marco26Web Power takes MA turn one and quickly takes second too. Marco now P4. Gap to TK is just a second

FuriousWedge Will Power has had enough of sitting back now taking down both Marco and Helio in consecutive laps, Marco may have killed his tires early

FuriousWedge Alex Lloyd out the race due to suspension break from tapping the wall in Turn 10 #izodindycar , sounds like the car not handling before that

A great start and a competitive race with actual passing for the second race in a row!

Dixon leads as Power looks to catch up after slipping back in the pack at the start of the race. Image Credit: ScottDixon9

IndyCarPR Lap 20: @scottdixon9 leads #12 Power by 5.9 seconds.

Marco26Web Lead change behind Marco as Wilson gets by TK. Hes now racing for Marco's P4

TheEDJE Lap 26 - Takuma Sato crashes into the tires - so much for Formula 1 experience

Pits closed on first opportunity - Rahal, Tagliani, and a couple of others will not have to go in because they were in a couple of laps earlier.

luczodragon We are staying out

All top cars into the PITS!

IndyCarPR #14 Meira stayed out and is the new race leader. #10 Franchitti, #2 Matos and @ryanbriscoe6 stay on course.

Sweeper truck jams up the field just after the cars come out from pitstops.

TheEDJE Field Reset - Lap 30 - Meria, Matos, Franchitti, Briscoe, Tagliani, Mutoh, Moraes, Rahal, Dixon, and Castroneves are the top 10

FuriousWedge Vitor should have pit before the field caught back up to him, that would have been great to see them try and sort out, hah #izodindycar

Vitor has 34 laps on its fuel - suspect a 2 stop strategy --- Matos could be working the same strategy.

IndyCarPR Lap 31: We're back to Green racing at St. Pete.

Dixon tries a pass on Moraes - touches and bends wing ... cuts Moraes tire

Meria comes in for fuel and tires - Matos inherits the lead followed closly by Franchitti

luczodragon Dario in hot pursuit

indy44 With all the different pit strategies we might be seeing a long shot winning

FuriousWedge For those wondering why Vitor stayed out, he can easily make race on one stop now, a bit of chess being played by A.J. Foyt #izodindycar

MarcoZone MA flat was from Dixon debris...so has TK

PlanetIRLdotcom Nice of Marty to let us know that Mafa Ratos is coming in

HVMracing simona is now in stalking mode in 12th

IndyCarPR Lap 37: Leader #2 Matos pits for four red tires and fuel.

indy44 Martyisms LMAO RT @IndyRacingNut: @PlanetIRLdotcom Don't forget Mideki Hutoh and Arco Mandretti. LOL

TheEDJE Lap 40 - Franchitti, Briscoe, Mutoh, Castroneves, Tagliani, Power, Wilson, Hunter-Reay, Rahal, and Conway are the top 10 #indycar

Franchitti comes in - surrendering the lead to Briscoe - the sixth driver to do so today

Briscoe leads and has 33 laps on his car at lap 46

TheEDJE CRASH - Dan Weldon and Mario Moraes pull a full course caution - Weldon locked up tires coming in too hot! Lap 46 - #indycar

Weldon had a broken rear shaft and was unable to avoid the accident.

TheEDJE Lap 50 - Power, Wilson, Viso, Briscoe, De Silvestr, Castroneves, Patrick, Conway, Franchitti, and Meira are the Top 10 - top three - no pit.

A turning point for the fortunes of DRR driver, Justin Wilson - stays outon a call from his pitbox during the caution period and assumes P2. Image Credit: DRRIndyCar

DRRIndyCar We're P2 with @JustinWilson22. Halfway to the checkered.

FuriousWedge de Silvestro 4th, Danica 5th... insert comment here __________ #izodindycar

VisionRacing RT @indycarnation: Top 11 cars did not stop. New top five #12 Power, @justinwilson22, @ejviso @simdesilvestro and @danicapatrick

Restart - GREEN! GREEN! GREEN! Lap 53

IndyCarPR Lap 54: #10 Franchitti on pit lane with flat left rear tire,

curtcavin Dixon is flying! Up to P5 Great dice. Now P4, passes de Silvestro

OpenWheelWorld Simona is having a spectacular run & definitely holding her own. But we at OWW have always known the talent she posesses

luczodragon P7 giving Danica chase

TheEDJE Lap 60 - Power, Wilson, Viso, Dixon, Silvestro, Patrick, Matos, Kanaan, Briscoe, and Castroneves are your Top 10

VisionRacing Lap 60 #IZODIndyCar St.Pete update: Top 5 Power Wilson Viso Dixon De Silvestro. Interesting race!

curtcavin Dixon should win. He can make it on one more stop. Power cannot.

TheEDJE Viso in - can go 32 laps on a full tank with 35 left - needs help - Conway into the tires on a pass - Viso gets help! #indycar

FuriousWedge I know in the turn itself Matos had nowhere to go but Matos was blocking people for about 15 laps now, feel bad for Conway #izodindycar

luczodragon Conway tried to sneak in a pass and connected with rafa's front wing

luczodragon Were still 9th when we come in

kvracing Just after Viso pitted, yellow flag came out, and everyone in front of Viso still needs to pit!!

Everyone except Viso on pitstops for Yellow Flag Stop - to the end

TheEDJE Lap 67 - Meira stays out - WHY? - Viso, Power, Wilson, Briscoe, Dixon, Castroneves, Tagliani, Patrick, and Silvestro are the Top 10 #indycar

GREEN! GREEN! GREEN! at Lap 69 - Great, tight racing without an incident

indy44 This is good!

curtcavin How was there not a big crash on that restart lap?

EJ Viso takes over the lead as Meira steps out for a pitstop.

luczodragon 72 laps complete Rafa 9 and about to go to 8

Full course caution as Viso looses a gearbox, and several cars begin to mess up with the compression and sorting out of the field

VisionRacing Dixon in the wall?!

BeccyGordon caution. Rahal spun Simon. Ryan looked like he got into the back of Graham but he thinks the wing might be okay.

IndyCarNation Now we're full course yellow for @scottdixon9 who is in the Wall in Turn 9.

Marco26Web Small amount of mayhem in front but the #26 avoids trouble. After this latest caution Marco is now P12. RHR ahead

TheEDJE Restart Lap 78 - Power, Wilson, Briscoe, Castroneves, Tagliani, Patrick, Matos, Rahal, Kanaan, and Franchitti round out the Top 10 #indycar

FuriousWedge Hate how all the Penske drivers always jump the start and Barnhart never calls them on it; at least Wilson was ready for it #izodindycar

DRRIndyCar 20 laps left. @JustinWilson22 still P2, running behind Will Power. Lot of racing left!

IndyCarPR Lap 80: #12 Power leads @justinwilson22 by 1.0830 seconds.

IndyCarPR @BeccyGordon watched an in car replay...looked like RHR touched GR under braking

DRRIndyCar Car 22 timing stand http://twitpic.com/1brt2w

luczodragon The work force is a little lighter today in Tampa/st. Pete http://twitgoo.com/m56qp

BeccyGordon Ryan got the short end of the stick when the caution came out & knocked the fuel game out of the picture. He was P3 of that group.

luczodragon Team Penske occupying three of top four spots

indy44 RT @MikeM_PR: 15 to go @justinwilson22 just set fast time. Hunting down Will Power for P1

kvracing 14 laps remain. Power leads Wilson, Briscoe, Castroneves, Tagliani. Viso is 17th and just ran fastest lap of race 63.8605 secs

IndyCarPR 13 to go... #12 Power leads @justinwilson22 by 1.0144 of a second.

TheEDJE Two drivers who transitioned from the ChampCar World Series are leading the race! GO CCWS SPIRIT! #indycar

kvracing 10 laps remain, Viso running 17th. Moraes and Sato are out.

VisionRacing 10 laps to go at St.Pete #IZODIndyCar: Power Wilson Briscoe Helio Tag Danica Matos Rahal Kanaan Dario

luczodragon Can Power run table and win every race? He's started very strong

OpenWheelWorld Despite a rough weekend, Rahal is really hustling that Dollar General Car around today. Should be a nice result for SFRacing

Franchitti passes Rahal for P8 then Matos for P7 and sets up Patrick for P6

luczodragon Dario making hard charge moves ahead of Graham and rafa

kvracing @VisionRacing here is your current top10, power, wilson, briscoe, helio, tagliani, danica, matos, dario, rahal, kanaan (5 laps to go)

FuriousWedge Dario does what no ones else can, gets around Danica's blocking #izodindycar

indy44 After early problems Dario is wiping the field in his Cottenelle car. #lastTPreference

TheEDJE Dario Franchitti moves from 11th to 5th in 10 laps - passes Tagliani #indycar

WHITE FLAG LAP - Wilson tries to close

TheEDJE Team Penske holds three of the top four positions to finish the race & two drivers from the former CCWS are P1 & P2 - classy race! #indycar

indy44 Another great race. Looking good for #IZODIndyCar this season. Heading back to work, have a great day friends!

paultracy3 Dave Faustino - Powers engineer - is the man right now

Podium finishers P1 - Will Power, P2 - Justin Wilson, and P3 Ryan Briscoe. P1 and P2 were drivers who came into the IRL through the merger of the CCWS and IRL. Image Credit: DRRIndyCar

Final Order at 100 laps - Will Power/Penske, Justin Wilson/DRR, Ryan Briscoe/Penske, Helio Castroneves/Penske, Dario Franchitti/Target Chip Ganassi, Danica Patrick/Andretti, Raphael Matos/Luzco Dragon, Rahal/Dollar General Fischer Racing, and Tony Kanaan/Andretti for the Top 10!

... notes from The EDJE

UPDATE - Results:

Pos  Driver               Team                         Time/Gap
1.  Will Power           Penske                  2h07m05.7968s
2.  Justin Wilson        Dreyer & Reinbold           + 0.8244s
3.  Ryan Briscoe         Penske                      + 4.7290s
4.  Helio Castroneves    Penske                      + 5.1699s
5.  Dario Franchitti     Ganassi                    + 22.2172s
6.  Alex Tagliani        Fazzt                      + 29.3224s
7.  Danica Patrick       Andretti                   + 30.3360s
8.  Raphael Matos        de Ferran Luczo Dragon     + 30.6695s
9.  Graham Rahal         Sarah Fisher               + 30.8426s
10.  Tony Kanaan          Andretti                   + 31.3508s
11.  Ryan Hunter-Reay     Andretti                   + 31.6286s
12.  Marco Andretti       Andretti                   + 32.1703s
13.  Mario Romancini      Conquest                   + 39.8086s
14.  Hideki Mutoh         Newman/Haas/Lanigan        + 39.9949s
15.  Vitor Meira          Foyt                       + 56.0593s
16.  Simona de Silvestro  HVM                           + 1 lap
17.  EJ Viso              KV                           + 3 laps

Retirements:

Scott Dixon          Ganassi                 73 laps
Mike Conway          Dreyer & Reinbold       64 laps
Dan Wheldon          Panther                 46 laps
Mario Moraes         KV                      45 laps
Takuma Sato          KV                      21 laps
Alex Lloyd           Dale Coyne              10 laps
Milka Duno           Dale Coyne              7 laps

Descriptive race review HERE>>
(ht: autosport.com)

“Vacation” Pays Dividends For Franchitti At INDY Long Beach

Dario Franchitti, driving the Target Chip Ganassi #10 Dallara, receives the White Flag as he crosses the Start/Finish Line on Shoreline Drive with one more lap to go for the win of the 35th Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach. Image Credit: James Doss, Have Camera Inc. (2009)


“Vacation” Pays Dividends For Franchitti At INDY Long Beach

On a 97 degree day (a record for this day) at Long Beach, one of the most demanding street courses in modern motorsports history, a driver has to bring his (or her) “A-Game” in order to win. Relaxed, Ready. And Rested … after taking a one year “vacation/break” from open wheel motorsports competition, Dario Franchitti, 2007 ICS Champion (and Chip Ganassi) - out pitted, out conserved (on fuel), and out communicated Will Power (and a Penske pit crew managed by Rick Mears) to win the 35th Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach.

Will Power had secured the pole position and maintained the position through the first round of pit stops. Chip Ganassi brought Dario in a little early during the first stint, suspecting that because most all of the teams had opted to start the race using the Red Option sidewall, softer compound tires, that the grip of the tires would go away … and some of the drivers would tangle, or make a mistake that would bring out a full course Yellow Caution Flag. Chip was right.

Mike Conway nosed his Dreyer & Reinbold, Dad’s Root Beer car into the Turn 1 wall bringing out a local Yellow. Then, Transition Player hopeful, EJ Viso of HVM Racing (starting in position #4) was tapped by Franchitti’s Target Chip Ganassi teammate, Scott Dixon (P6), stalling Viso’s broken Dallara at turn #7.

This incidents served to jumble the field and catch Power out for 32 laps until the next pit stop… along with a five car pile up going into the hairpin turn #11 that leads to the long right sweeping straightaway of Shoreline Drive. This incident put another top qualifier, and another Transition Player hopeful, out of the race from the damage the incident had caused. Justin Wilson, who had qualified for the pole position at the last ChampCar World Series race held here at Long Beach in 2008, qualified and started in position #5.

A disruption in communications had Will Power at a little disadvantage. Radio communications with the in-car radio system only operated with a small window of one-way (in) delivery so the Penske team had to resort to Pit Boards hung over the wall to let their driver know when to PIT and etc. Will believed he heard that there was a full course Yellow Flag caution when, in fact, the call was a local Yellow Flag caution. Will slowed and a couple of cars went by – one of them was Dario’s full communications enabled Target Chip Ganassi Dallara.

The stage was set for a show down of pit strategy and driving to conserve fuel. The attitudes of both drivers, in the end, was that each would have had the best of each other if they did not have to drive, maintaining position due to fuel conservation tactics, to win and to keep second place.

To be honest, the way the weekend unfolded for Will Power, and how he responded to the multiple unusual challenges thrown at him and the team (Helio Castroneves late arrival due to an acquittal on Tax issues – Will having to break in a new, untested chassis and still have the fastest track times), Dario needed his prior ChampCar track experience and the one year “Vacation/Break” … just to beat the former ChampCar and current ICS rising star!

How the field fared (*** denotes Transition Player):

Pos / Driver / Team / Gap
1. Dario Franchitti Ganassi
2. Will Power*** Penske + 3.3182s
3. Tony Kanaan Andretti Green + 4.0537s
4. Danica Patrick Andretti Green + 5.0742s
5. Dan Wheldon Panther + 6.5655s
6. Marco Andretti Andretti Green + 7.5900s
7. Helio Castroneves Penske + 8.6332s
8. Raphael Matos Luczo Dragon + 9.4835s
9. Robert Doornbos*** Newman/Haas/Lanigan + 9.9583s
10. Alex Tagliani*** Conquest + 13.6185s
11. Ryan Hunter-Reay Vision + 15.2097s
12. Graham Rahal*** Newman/Haas/Lanigan + 15.8507s
13. Ryan Briscoe Penske + 1m05.1013s
14. Vitor Meira Foyt + 1 lap
15. Scott Dixon Ganassi + 1 lap
16. Darren Manning Dreyer & Reinbold + 1 lap
17. Stanton Barrett 3G + 1 lap
18. Ed Carpenter Vision + 3 laps

Retirements:

Driver Team Laps
Mario Moraes*** KV 71
Hideki Mutoh Andretti Green 60
Mike Conway Dreyer & Reinbold 51
Justin Wilson*** Dale Coyne 24
EJ Viso*** HVM 16
(ht: autosport.com)

Unification of the series had brought out the best in Long Beach for this 35th edition of the race on Shoreline Drive. The competitors were very pleased with the crowd reaction and the environment during the four days of event activity.

Dario said it best during his post race news conference (to paraphrase) - "We went to local eateries at night and the crowds ... the buzz in the atmosphere surrounding the venue were fantastic ... pretty cool."

View Video Highlights From VERSUS Here>>

... notes from The EDJE

Transition Player, Will Power, Takes INDY LB Pole

Rick Mears (center profile with black cap) stands as "Captain" of the Will Power, Penske Racing, Verizon Wireless sponsored pit operation. Will Power takes the pole for the first ever IRL Long Beach Grand Prix ... Will was last year's ChampCar Long Beach Grand Prix winner. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2009)

Transition Player, Will Power, Takes INDY LB Pole

Dario Franchitti, Justin Wilson***, Raphael Matos, EJ Viso***, Scott Dixon and Will Power*** battled for the pole in the Firestone Fast Six after advancing out of the second round. Three Transition Players (***) make the Firestone Fast Six for sunday's race ... now, that's parity!

How they fared ...

Will Power will defend his Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach title from the pole on Sunday after running the fastest lap in the Firestone Fast Six final round of qualifying this afternoon.

Power, driving the "NEW" Vorizon Wireless No. 12 Team Penske machine (with the pit crew managed by Rick Mears) after Helio Castroneves returned to the No. 3 this morning, ran a lap of 1:09.7107 (101.631 m.p.h.) to defeat Dario Franchitti for the top spot.

Row 2 will feature rookie driver Raphael Matos and E.J. Viso, who earned his best starting position in IndyCar Series competition. The third row will see Justin Wilson on the inside and defending series champion Scott Dixon on the outside.

By comparison, last year, Justin Wilson captured the pole position in his ChampCar DP01 with a time of 1:06.6020 (105.898 m.p.h.).

... notes from The EDJE

INDY Long Beach - Dallara's First Practice Sessions

Hot Wheels IndyCar Dallara - Hot Wheels take to the track at Long Beach the first time in unification of North American Open Wheel Automobile Racing. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2009)

INDY Long Beach - Dallara's First Practice Sessions

The sound of the Dallara Honda engines filled the air and bounced/reverberated off of the buildings in downtown Long Beach for the first time today.

Here is a sample of the experience with updates to follow.

At the end of the first practice session, three of the top five lap speeds were registered by Transition Players from the former ChampCar World Series!

Top Five As Follows (** denotes Transition Player):

Dario Franchetti - 1:11.1915
Ryan Briscoe - 1:11.5385
Mario Moraes** - 1:116395
Will Power** - 1:11.6512
Graham Rahal** - 1:11.6777

All covered by less than a half of a second on the clock!

Dallara Logo painted on the side of the manufacturer's transport truck. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2009)

Well, it's back to the track for the 2:00 PM PT session #2.

----

Second practice leaderboard. Screen Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2009)

The second practice ended and the Transition players did not fare as well as expected. It was the general consensus around the track that local knowledge would win out given all other things being equal. Guess again.

Penske Racing has a manufacturer's knowledge, a ChampCar ex-patriot as one of it's drivers, and a former home field advantage to take into account as the team has placed last year's winner Will Power in the lead speed position with Ryan Briscoe taking station at P9 - This just in ... Helio Castroneves, the two-time Indianapolis 500 champion, was just acquitted by a Florida jury of six counts of tax evasion and he will drive the #3 Dallara platform.

Chip Ganassi, team owner of the cars driven by ICS Champions Scott Dixon (2008) and Dario Frachetti (2007). Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2009)

Closely following Will Power and Penske (who will be assigned a third Dallara sponsored by Verizon Wireless and it will carry the #12) is Target Chip Ganassi's Scott Dixon in P2 and his teammate, Dario Franchetti notching in at P6.

Positions 3, 4, 5 are held by relative rookies to the track with Luczo Dragon Racing's Raphael Matos, Panther's Dan Weldon, and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing's Mike Conway.

This leaves the Transition Players (after Will Power who has to take on an untested chassis) struggling along at positions 10 - Graham Rahal, 11 - EJ Viso, 12 - Justin Wilson, 14 - Robert Doornbos, 15 - Mario Moraes, and finally, 17 - Alex Tagliani.

A slow, sad day for the merged ChampCar crowd and the people who follow their fortunes.

... notes from The EDJE

Two Questions With Graham Rahal - VERSUS

Two Questions With Graham Rahal - VERSUS

Actually, we at The EDJE had a few more questions that we would have loved to ask Graham, but VERSUS has a business model that serves a larger audience than just Edmund Jenks.

In fact, the above interview was part of a list of questions VERSUS asked from "... notes from The EDJE" that made up a larger exclusive video package produced by VERSUS in order to kick off the 2009 IndyCar Series championship season.

Here is an interview I had with Graham Rahal before the last ChampCar race held at Long Beach on turn 8. The Long Beach Motorsports Walk Of Fame induction ceremony had concluded and this small crowd had gathered in what appeared to be a track inspection and review process. Graham Rahal, Jonny Summerland and engineers from Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing were discussing bumps and other traits of the track at this corner on Pine Avenue (the one that begins at the back straightaway), and Graham decided to break off the discussion and give an impromptu interview. At the time, Graham had just won the first street course race of the first "Merged" ICS season in 2008 and Graham had mentioned in a previous interview that teams that were transitioning into the IRL from the ChampCar World Series had trouble getting parts for the Dallara cars they had been assigned ... especially OVAL racing parts.

Racing parts are not an issue this season and, in fact, the racing has developed some amount of parity in this young season. The first race of the season saw a front row filled with two of the eight drivers that were ChampCar Transition rookies to the IRL last season with Graham Rahal in the Newman/Haas/Lanigan, McDonald's sponsored Dallara holding down P1 and Justin Wilson driving for the Sonny's BBQ sponsored Dale Coyne Dallara in P2.

Graham Rahal answers questions from Bill Zahren of Pressdog.com. Now that you are the leader of the team at Newman/Haas/Lanigan .... and, What is the biggest challenge?

Graham Rahal answers questions from Will McCarty of IsitMayYet.com. Growing up, which drivers had an impact on you ... and, What do you expect from your team ... on OVALS?

Graham Rahal answers questions from James Black of 16thandGeorgetown.com. What do you expect out of the month of May this year at the INDY 500 ... and, Is there any added pressure following N/H/L/Racing's legacy of 8 Championships and 100 races won with the like of Tracy, Fittipaldi, Mansell, Mario and Michael Andretti?

The list of questions that did not make the VERSUS Exclusive Blogger Interview cut from "... note from The EDJE" were as follows:

Questions For Graham Rahal – VERSUS Interview 3-24-2009:

The first truly unified test of the new IRL for 2009 was held about a month ago and a couple of questions come to mind:

First off - How did it feel to be at a test where the Dallara and the IndyCar Series team were the only major overriding issues?
----
Robert Doornbos ("Bobby D"), a fellow CCWS competitor, Panoz DP01 pilot, and 2007 Rookie of the Year will be joining Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing for the season this year:

Question Used - Will he be able to catch on as quickly to the nuances of the Dallara and the competition in the IRL as he did at ChampCar?

What are your general impressions of Robert as a teammate? ... "Bobby D" as competition?
----
Milka Duno is a transferee to NHLR from an "Established" IRL program:

Have you seen any transitional differences between her understanding of CCWS culture and her approach to the IRL way?

What are your general impressions of Milka as a teammate? ... as competition?
----
You have had a very interesting association with open wheel racing and the Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing team in terms of the international exposure delivered by the teammates you have had to share space with (Bourdais, Doornbos, Duno, and etc.) - How has this effected the way you look at the job of driving competitively, say over other pure American racing teams in the IndyCar Series?
----
It has to feel good to open the 2009 season - First, at a track you became the first ChampCar transition team driver to post a win and personally won your first IRL race - St. Petersburg and second, at a venue you have an intimate knowledge with your shared CCWS experience with the rest of the Transition Team drivers (this includes your teammate "Bobby D") at Long Beach. Looking forward to Long Beach:

Your father, Bobby Rahal, will be honored in the 4th annual installation of the Long Beach Motorsports Walk Of Fame along with Al Unser, Jr. - Have you had a chance to talk to your father about his reaction to this event and honor?

How does he feel about being able to catch up and share this event with Al Unser, Jr. and the rest of the Unser family?

What is your personal reflection on the Long Beach Walk Of Fame event?

How do you think the Dallara chassis will perform on its maiden voyage at "The Beach"?

Will the pre-race "walking the track" inspection be any different for driving a Dallara than it would be inspecting the track when driving a Panoz DP01?

The "Established" teams and drivers will be with a car they know but racing at a track they will be seeing for the first time at Long Beach: How great of an advantage will the former CCWS drivers and teams have at Long Beach? Will it be a large advantage or small advantage? Why?
----
Last year, there was a question mark placed on the availability of parts for the IRL Dallara chassis to the teams that were transitioning from the ChampCar World Series in the merger (especially parts related to the performance of the chassis on ovals), do your foresee the shortage of parts as being a potential problem this year?

Question Used (in part) - Correct me if I am wrong - I believe that this is the first time NHLR has fielded three cars for a full season! How will it affect team resources to be a driver racing on a three car team this season? Do you have any concerns?

Good luck and great fortune to you, your father (yes, I know he is a competitor), and the teammates of Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing.

Edmund Jenks
The EDJE (pronounced edge)
http://theedje.blogspot.com/
Feature Page Manager/Editor – Motorsports – NowPublic
http://my.nowpublic.com/tag/Motorsports

The 35th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach is just around the corner and we all in Los Angeles, can not wait to welcome a unified North American Open Wheel Racing championship series to our house!

The history comes full circle with Al Unser, Jr. and Bobby Rahal being inducted into the Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame, Al Unser, Jr. making apperaences as the Grand Marshal of the event, and eight Transition Players filling the field having a better knowledge of the track than most of the other drivers while Dallaras appear for the first time on the streets of Long Beach and a are able to receive the checkered flag on Shoreline Drive!

... notes from The EDJE