Round 9: Firestone 600, Texas Motor Speedway, 10th-11th June, 2016.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Round 9: Firestone 600, Texas Motor Speedway, 10th-11th June, 2016.


This Saturday's race at Texas Motor Speedway, will mark the second half of the 2016 season.

On June 7th 1997, the Indy Racing League held the "1997 True Value 500", the 6th round of the fledgling series at the Texas Motor Speedway, or TMS. It was the first night race in the history of AOWR and was won by Arie Luyendyk, driving a Panoz G-Force-Oldsmobile for Treadway Racing. Since then it has been a perennial event on the IndyCar series calendar.

From 1998-2004, the track hosted a second race in October and in 2007, the race distance was increased from 500 to 550 km. In 2011, the 'Firestone Twin 275s' were held, made up of two 275km races, separated by a "halftime", with half points awarded for each race. The grid for the second race was decided by a random draw, which proved so unpopular the twin race format was scrapped the following year. In 2014, the race was further extended to 600 kilometers.

In 2001, CART scheduled the "Firestone Firehawk 600" at TMS for April 29th. However, after practice and qualifying, the race was cancelled as most drivers reported vertigo like symptoms and vision problems, after sustaining high lateral forces of 5.5G, due to driving in excess of 230 mph or 370 km/h on the 24 degree banking. TMS sued CART, after it emerged CART officials had ignored repeated requests to test their cars before the race. This resulted in a settlement estimated to have been around $5–7 million, which CART paid to TMS. Many pundits have cited the law suit and subsequent settlement as a key reason for CART's eventual demise.

Some Trivia:
Driver with the most wins, 4.
Hélio Castroneves: 2004, 2006, 2009, 2013.
Team with the most wins, 8.
Team Penske: 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013.

Track Layout:



Length: 1.5 Miles (2.4 km)
Turns: 4
Lap record:
Paul Tracy, April 28 2001. 0:22.542, 239.552 mph (385.521 kmh) Team Green, Reynard 01i-Honda HR-1 V8t, CART FedEx Championship Series.

Last year's winner:
Scott Dixon,
Chip Ganassi Racing,
Dallara DW12-Chevrolet.

Laps: 248
Distance: 372 Mi (598.676 Km)
Time: 1:52:48.
Average speed: 191.94 Mph (308.89 km/h)

TV Coverage:
NBCSN, 8:00pm ET.

[fieldodreams79]

Maybe the CART deal is why I have such hatred for this race and track. Plenty of fault on CART's side, but still feel like these cars aren't meant for these tracks and vice versa.

Come 8 pm Saturday, if nothing else is happening, I'll sit and cringe at the TV for a bit. If this is your thing, hope you enjoy.

Good post #1 as always, BJS.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Maybe the CART deal is why I have such hatred for this race and track. Plenty of fault on CART's side, but still feel like these cars aren't meant for these tracks and vice versa.

Come 8 pm Saturday, if nothing else is happening, I'll sit and cringe at the TV for a bit. If this is your thing, hope you enjoy.

Good post #1 as always, BJS.

Cheers,

I don't think we'll see the current incarnation of the DW12 match the speed of Paul Tracy's Reynard-Honda. However, this season, we have seen track records being broken because of the increased downforce the aero-kits provide. Hopefully, they won't produce the high lateral Gs that caused the cancellation of the CART event.

[Purist]

Practice 1 is running.

[Purist]

Qualifying is underway. I have the video stream going.

[NaBUru38]

Qualifying results:

1. Carlos Muñoz, 217.1
2. Scott Dixon, 216.9
3. Helio Castroneves, 216.7
4. Takuma Sato, 216.7
5. Josef Newgarden, 216.6
6. Simon Pagenaud, 216.6
7. Will Power, 216.6
8. Tony Kanaan, 216.3
9. Alexander Rossi, 216.2
10. James Hinchcliffe, 216.2
11. Ryan Hunter-Reay
12. Marco Andretti
13. Graham Rahal
14. Ed Carpenter
15. Charlie Kimball
16. Mikhail Aleshin
17. Juan Pablo Montoya
18. Sebastien Bourdais
19. Max Chilton
20. Jack Hawksworth
21. Conor Daly

[bjohnsonsmith]

Qualifying result:

Congrats to Munoz on his first Pole. An excellent result for Honda and for Andretti Autosport.

1 Carlos Munoz, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 217.137
2 Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 216.901
3 Helio Castroneves, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 216.740
4 Takuma Sato, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Honda. 216.740
5 Josef Newgarden, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 216.684
6 Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 216.663
7 Will Power, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 216.647
8 Tony Kanaan, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 216.295
9 Alexander Rossi, Andretti Herta. Dallara/Honda. 216.262
10 James Hinchcliffe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 216.262
11 Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 216.260
12 Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 216.162
13 Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Dallara/Honda. 215.927
14 Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 215.751
15 Charlie Kimball, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 215.533
16 Mikhail Aleshin, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 215.299
17 Juan Pablo Montoya, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 215.279
18 Sebastien Bourdais, KVSH Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet 215.030
19 Max Chilton, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 214.864
20 Jack Hawksworth, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Honda. 214.568
21 Conor Daly, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 213.826

Completely missed qualifying.

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Maybe the CART deal is why I have such hatred for this race and track. Plenty of fault on CART's side, but still feel like these cars aren't meant for these tracks and vice versa.

Come 8 pm Saturday, if nothing else is happening, I'll sit and cringe at the TV for a bit. If this is your thing, hope you enjoy.

Good post #1 as always, BJS.

I always admire someone who continuously finds the time to follow and post on the Indycar forum - telling people how they can't or won't find the time to watch the racing on television

Oh the irony.

[S griffin]

My word for the next day in Texas in America is not what it is wow

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

I always admire someone who continuously finds the time to follow and post on the Indycar forum - telling people how they can't or won't find the time to watch the racing on television

Oh the irony.

Ironically, I continuously watched the other races this year, posting about enjoying them and have several others about why I have a hard time watching this race, but you choose to single out this one. Bravo.

[Paradise City]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

I always admire someone who continuously finds the time to follow and post on the Indycar forum - telling people how they can't or won't find the time to watch the racing on television

Oh the irony.

Try again, That's mountainstar. fieldofdreams is generally sympathetic towards Indycar iirc.

Anyway, as far as I'm concerned haterz can post here too. I like being challenged and enjoy different perspectives.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

I always admire someone who continuously finds the time to follow and post on the Indycar forum - telling people how they can't or won't find the time to watch the racing on television

Oh the irony.

I don't think we really need any of this thanks.

[Paradise City]

Munoz is really on form. Dunno if Texas and Takuma Sato mix exactly.

[bjohnsonsmith]

The race has been delayed because of rain and the projected Green Flag is at 9:45pm ET.

[Purist]

I think it's safe to say they won't be running tonight. The track just isn't drying worth, well, pick your choice word. (No sun, no wind, and high humidity is a BAD combination.)

[bjohnsonsmith]

They just showed the back stretch and there are damp patches.

If they don't race and it looks unlikely that they will, that 's going to affect Bourdais and Dixon, particularly Dixon because he's second in the championship, as they both have to be at Le Mans tomorrow.

[bjohnsonsmith]

The race has now been postponed until tomorrow, 2:00pm but I didn't hear whether that was ET or local time.

Edit:
2:15pm ET.

[fieldodreams79]

https://youtu.be/sWjlUfLqKcc

Tomorrow at 2 pm est. Better under the lights but is what it is.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

https://youtu.be/sWjlUfLqKcc

Tomorrow at 2 pm est. Better under the lights but is what it is.

The Canadian GP is being broadcast from 2:00pm ET, with the race starting at 3:00pm ET.

That will make for some interesting viewing.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

The Canadian GP is being broadcast from 2:00pm ET, with the race starting at 3:00pm ET.

That will make for some interesting viewing.

Oh man. Hadn't thought about that! The clicker and / or dvr will be busy.

[Yannick]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

They just showed the back stretch and there are damp patches.

If they don't race and it looks unlikely that they will, that 's going to affect Bourdais and Dixon, particularly Dixon because he's second in the championship, as they both have to be at Le Mans tomorrow.

I don't believe the teams would like to call in their reserve drivers because their regular drivers would need to go elsewhere to drive because of the postponement.
Probably, the regular drivers' individual contracts spell out how exactly this situation is to be handled.
However, I guess it would be kind of interesting to see a few reserve drivers in that Texas race, even if they would have to start from the back. They would need an additional practice session before that, though, and it's hard to imagine they would get one.

On another message board, somebody mentioned the drivers which need to arrive at Le Mans soon are not just Dixon and Bourdais, but Aleshin and Townsend Bell as well. Since Bell is not racing at Texas but merely commenting, finding a capable pundit to substitute for him in the booth should be a lot easier than the actual racing drivers, if need be.

All of the teams in question, Ganassi, KVSH and Schmidt have run additional cars at Indy and/or have an associated development driver. Most likely, they have already phoned these guys to check if they are available just in case.

But why do I even bother? This is still being held completely out of my time zone.

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

They just showed the back stretch and there are damp patches.

If they don't race and it looks unlikely that they will, that 's going to affect Bourdais and Dixon, particularly Dixon because he's second in the championship, as they both have to be at Le Mans tomorrow.

Both drivers won't make it to Le Mans to Monday and will do scrutineering then. Indycar is their priority and ACO are working with them to accommodate

Aleshin and Bell effected as well

[Paradise City]

We may not have the 3 races in 1 timeslot. Fort Worth weather looks grim indeed for this evening.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Paradise City

We may not have the 3 races in 1 timeslot. Fort Worth weather looks grim indeed for this evening.

Here's a link to the weather in the Fort Worth area. I've found this site good for US weather forecasts.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=we...LdHS8Afk0IzoCQ

[bjohnsonsmith]

The IndyCar website says the Green flag is projected for 2:06pm ET and CNBC will be broadcasting from 2:00 p.m. ET.

http://www.indycar.com/News/2016/06/...xas-race-setup