Ron's letter from America - 30th May 09*
Milwaukee is on this weekend so we are right back into the IndyCar championship after the Indianapolis 500. You have to be so careful at this track. It’s a real track that if you get the car right you can win, if you don’t get it right then it can hurt you. It is one of the most difficult tracks in the series.
An example is ChampCar. Paul Tracy won it one year, in fact he beat the pants off the rest of the field. The next year he was running in the middle of the field.
Scott (Dixon) has won here in Indy Lights but has gone out in Indy Cars and crashed in practice and crashed in qualifying.
The reason is that each corner is different. You may get the car set up right for two corners, but the other two are wrong. It is a matter of finding a happy medium. The configuration of the track makes it difficult to set up.
If the cars is working you can dominant. So don’t worry about where Scott qualifies, it is more important on whether he has a race car that works, not a qualifying car.
You never see a great race, there is always yellows and most of the field can struggle.
IndyLights
This weekend Charlie Kimball is racing in our Team PBIR Indy Lights car with Pablo Donoso who is filling in for Jay. Getting sponsorship for Jay (Howard) has been difficult. He is only 35 points off the lead which is unfortunate.
Donoso was off pole last year at Milwaukee. He loves this track while Jay does not.
The 500
The 500 was very disappointing as Scott had the car to win it. You’ve got to feel sorry for the team after the pit lane incident that dropped him back down the field.
Before the stop we heard on the radio (my wife and I watch from the pits and have head-sets on to listen to the team during the race), that one of his wheels was unbalanced. Scott had to back right off but knew that when he came in he would be right. In fact everyone was confident that he could come in nice and hard then exit the pits in the lead. They had been doing that all day, but then the opposite happen. The car was sitting there, the fuel was in the car but not all the wheels were on.
Anyway sixth is better than nothing. A lot of people didn’t finish the race.
Palm Beach International Raceway
Its been one of those weeks when everything seems to have gone wrong. We’ve had a lot of rain here at Palms Beach International Raceway. It
is really hurting us because it means that numbers are down. It is the
rainy season so we have to grin and bear it. We also had a very bad accident on the Kart track the other day which was very unfortunate.
More soon....
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.
