Photo: top of the Borg Warner trophy
Ron's letter from America - 17th May 09*
I’m in Florida but will be at Indy later next week. We still have to run the Palm Beach International Raceway while the main show is on at the Indianapolis Speedway.
Here we have had an SCCA meeting (Sports Car Club of America) . Although we had rain numbers were still good and it was a great event. It is a bit like our summer series at home (in NZ) but includes a lot of older cars, Formula Vee, Formula Alantics. It is an incredibly large club. There are guys out there with old F1 cars, Tranzams, NASCAR. Actually it is something that I could get into because all the drivers have a lot of fun.
Today the last eleven qualifiers for the Indy 500 were decided but tomorrow (Sunday US time) is bump day.
The last eleven qualifiers make interesting reading.
It’s great to see Tomas Scheckter in the field (27th)
Ryan Hunter-Reay has qualified in 30th position which he won’t be thrilled about. He’s a good driver and should be further up the field.
John Andretti is thirtieth-first and is also capable of being in the top twenty.
Tomorrow is Bump Day. This is when anyone who hasn’t qualified can line-up and if they put in a fast time they can ‘bump’ the slowest qualifier out of the current starting thirty-three.
I’m not sure how many will line up and try. There are approximately forty-eight cars that have been tech’d and are ready to go, and thirty-five drivers who have been on the track. However if you are a driver and have $US300k you can rock up tomorrow and bump your way into the Indy 500.
More soon
Top 33 qualifiers
1. Helio Castroneves
2. Ryan Briscoe
3. Dario Franchitti
4. Graham Rahal
5. Scott Dixon
6. Tony Kanaan
7. Mario Moraes
8. Marco Andretti
9. Will Power
10. Danica Patrick
11. Alex Lloyd
12. Raphael Matos
13. Paul Tracy
14. Vitor Meira
15. Justin Wilson
16. Hideki Mutoh
17. Ed Carpenter
18. Dan Wheldon
19. AJ Foyt IV
20. Scott Sharp
21. Sarah Fisher
22. Davey Hamilton
23. Robert Doornbos
24. Townsend Bell
25. Oriol Servia
26. Alex Tagliani
27. Tomas Scheckter
28. Mike Conway
29. EJ Viso
30. Ryan Hunter-Reay
31. John Andretti
32. Milka Duno
33. Nelson Philippe
Other letters from Ron
Qualifying was average, the racing should be great
*Ron Dixon is father to Indianapolis 500 winner and 2003 & 08 IndyCar champion Scott Dixon. He is also the President of Palm Beach International Raceway, Junpitor, Florida. This season nzracer.com follows Ron on his road trip around America with the Indycar Championship. Each week Ron will give us the insiders view from track side, pit lane and behind the scenes.
