Recently in Indy Racing League Category

Tickets for the 35th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, scheduled for April 16-19, are on sale by calling (888) 82-SPEED or visiting the race web site, www.gplb.com.
The Grand Prix of Long Beach will include the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series, American Le Mans Series, Team Drift Challenge, Indy Lights and the 33rd annual pro/celebrity race. There will be an additional racing series added to the lineup.
Ticket prices for the three-day event range from $25 for a Friday general admission ticket to $125 for a three-day ticket that includes Saturday and Sunday reserved seating in grandstand upper levels. Pre-paid parking packages are also available.

MB2 Raceway opened a new racing facility in Thousand Oaks at 1475 Lawrence Drive. The racetrack, described as an impressive, modern, environmentally conscious, high-performance kart racing circuit and consumer entertainment venue is at the old Northrop site in Thousand Oaks.
It is the second MB2 Raceway track in the area. The other opened in Sylmar in 2006.
Apparently Valencia's Bryan Herta, a veteran of the Indy Racing League and American Le Mans Series, and Ricky Carmichael, supercross champion turned stock car driver, have been racing at the MB2 facility in Sylmar to hone their skills and continue racing.
Herta was most recently with Andretti Green Racing in the American Le Mans Series and raced for Michael Andretti's IRL IndyCar Series team.

Kyle Busch is up for two ESPYs and Jimmie Johnson is up for one.
Busch is nominated for Best Breakthrough Athlete and Best Driver. Johnson is up for Best Driver as well.
Dario Franchitti, who recently lost his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series ride with Chip Ganassi, is also nominated for Best Driver. He did win the Indianapolis 500 and the IRL IndyCar Series championship last year.
The other drivers nominated for Best Driver are:
Lewis Hamilton, Formula One
Scott Dixon, IRL
Tony Schumacher, NHRA

The others nominated for Best Breakthrough Athlete are:
Adrian Peterson, Minnesota Vikings
Stephen Curry, Davidson Basketball
Ana Ivanovic, Tennis

Danica Patrick had the fastest car in practice Friday for the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series race at Iowa Speedway.
She was ahead of Team Penske drivers Ryan Briscoe and Helio Castroneves in the abbreviated practice session on the 7/8th-mile oval. There were 26 drivers on the track for Friday's practice. Two sessions were scheduled, but the two-hour afternoon session was cancelled because of rain.
"I think that anybody watching could see we were running a more traditional racing line around the track instead of around the bottom," said Patrick, driver of the No. 7 entry for Andretti Green Racing. "I was able to drive on the bottom for some of the track when I did a sticker (tire) run at the end, but I couldn't do it the whole way around. The racing is going to be a lot more exciting with a lot more passing and just better, in general, than last year."
Qualifying for the Iowa Corn Indy 250 is Saturday.

Starting Friday with coverage of Carb Day, the Pit Stop Challenge and the Indy Lights Firestone Freedom 100, ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Classic will have more coverage from Indianapolis Motor Speedway than is probably healthy.
Carb Day coverage begins at 8 a.m. on Friday on ESPN2, followed by the Pit Stop Challenge and Firestone Freedom 100, a developmental series race in the Indy Racing League.
ESPN Classic will have a marathon of Indy 500 specials and past races throughout the day on Saturday. It starts with a "SportsCentury" feature on Al Unser at 10 a.m. Indy 500s from 1987, 1991 and 2005 follow. The 1987 race was won by Unser, the fourth of his career, and one of many heartbreakers for Mario Andretti, who won the pole.
Rick Mears won the 1991 Indy 500, joining Unser as a four-time winner, and adding to the Andretti curse at Indianapolis. Michael Andretti finished a disappointing and frustrating second.
The 2005 race was the first for Danica Patrick and also the first time a woman led the Indy 500. The race was eventually won by Dan Wheldon.
ESPN2 will have coverage of the festival parade from Indianapolis at 2 p.m.
Pre-race coverage of the Indy 500 begins at 8 a.m. on Sunday on ESPN2 and continues at 9 a.m. on ABC. The race coverage begins at 10 a.m. on ABC. And for those who miss any action, the race will be replayed on ESPN Classic on Monday at 6 a.m.
Happy viewing.

Max Papis had a fast lap of 219.920 mph during Thursday's practice session at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The top three drivers not qualified for the race -- Will Power, John Andretti and Bruno Junqueira -- had speeds over 222 mph.
Papis, driving the No. 44 car for Rubicon Race Team, owned in part by actor Jason Priestely and working with Sam Schmidt Motorsports, turned 81 laps on the track on Thursday.
"It was a good day to run and we took our time, and made a lot of changes," Papis said Thursday. "Most of them were for race day. We tried to take off a little downforce, and we didn't get that extra speed we wanted."
Papis said he wants to get a little more speed out of the car before qualifying begins on Saturday.
"It is what it is. We have a solid race car but we need to see if we can get that extra mile per hour," Papis said. "That will make a really, really big difference in qualifying."

Roger Yasukawa said he wasn't happy about the speeds his car posted during Thursday's practice for the Indianapolis 500.
He had the slowest time of the 35 cars on the track. Only 33 cars will start the race. Yasukawa, driving the No. 98 car for Beck Motorsports, has not qualified for the race and will get his chance Saturday.
"I'm not very happy about not being up the (speed) chart but then again, you need to do the basics right in order to go fast," said Yasukawa, a driver from Los Angeles. "It's going to take us another day, really throughout the day (today), to get up to where we need to be. But I'm very confident we can get the job done."
Yasukawa has been with Beck Motorsports for only three days. He agreed to a deal to drive the team's car on Wednesday. Rain washed out most of the practice session on Wednesday.
"We got more laps in (Thursday)," Yasukawa said. "We're still going through some fundamental stuff to make the car go faster. So we're not quite there yet before we start trimming the car out."
Yasukawa's best lap on Thursday was at 217.490 mph.
"Again, we're making sure we have the right platform because you have to have a good platform in order to trim the car down," Yasukawa said. "Without that you're pretty much wasting time. We're spending a lot of time looking through the data and making sure we have what we need."

The rain cleared and the drivers who have not qualified for the Indianapolis 500 were able to get some valuable track time on Thursday.
Mario Dominguez, driving the No. 96 car for the Oxnard-based Pacific Coast Motorsports, turned 75 laps, his best at 219.929 mph. He was more than 3 mph off Will Power's top speed. Power was the fastest driver among those not qualified for the race.
"We had the opportunity to really work with the car," Dominguez said. "Almost like a test in that we tried so many different combinations. Now that we have some knowledge about the car under our belts, we will develop our qualifying set-up. It's tough to get the car stable, but I've got great engineers who are doing a very good job."
Conditions today are expected to be warm and sunny as teams prepare for qualifying on Saturday. The top-11 spots have already been determined with Scott Dixon on the pole. Drivers will begin qualifying for the remaining 22 starting spots on Saturday.
"There are so many factors here, it is really quite challenging, but I am excited about our progress," Dominguez said.
Michael Harvey, team manager for Pacific Coast Motorsports, said while his team did not gain any speed during Thursday's practice session, other teams lost speed.
"We are concerned about qualifying and obviously concerned about having enough speed to get in (the race)," Harvey said. "This wasn't a day for speed. It is a fine balance to work on qualifying and the race. We (also) did work on a stint with tires."

The Pacific Coast Motorsports Web site is adding features to let fans have better access to the race team.
The Oxnard-based race team has driver Mario Dominguez entered in the Indianapolis 500 and drivers Frankie Muniz and Carl Skerlong in the Atlantic Series.
The new site will offer contests, insider interviews, pod casts and prizes through Club PCM.
The site also contains team news and history, driver bios and photo galleries.
On the track, Dominguez turned some valuable laps at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Wednesday. His best lap was at 219.319 mph and should be good enough to land in the middle of the field for the start of the Indianapolis 500.
"We did 22 laps and from our point of view, any laps we can do here are very valuable," said Michael Harvey, team manager for Pacific Coast Motorsports. "I believe that we closed the gap."
Track time for the team has been limited. Rain and a crash on Friday have prevented the team from getting on the track the past couple of weeks. Additionally, the car did not pass tech inspection on the first day of practice and Dominguez had to delay the beginning of his rookie orientation program.
"We still need a full day of practice but we were close to the speed we did last week with the 219.319 lap we did," Harvery said. "But we're starting to get there."

Max Papis, driver of the No. 44 car for the Rubicon Race Team, owned in part by actor Jason Priestley and working with Sam Schmidt Motorsports, had an encouraging, but short practice session on Wednesday.
His best lap was at 219.654 mph, the 13th fastest of the day and the eighth fastest among the drivers who have not qualified for the race.
If he can turn four consistent laps at the speed during qualifying, he would be 19th on the starting grid, inside the seventh row.
Qualifying continues Saturday for the final 22 spots in the Indy 500.
"We had a very short but very productive day," Papis said. "That was the best the car has felt so far. I think we were 13th fastest overall. We have a very good race car in our hands. We made a couple of small adjustments to see where the car was going and it responded exactly the way we wanted it to."

After reaching a deal to drive the No. 98 car for Beck Motorsports, Roger Yasukawa turned his first laps for his new team on a rainy day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Wednesday.
His top speed was 212.349 mph on a day when he only got an hour of track time.
"For a shakedown I think it was pretty good," Yasukawa said of his No. 98 Curb/Agajanian/Beck Motorsports entry. "We got a couple of runs out of it, but we still need to short out the arrow balance for (Thursday). It's good to get the shakedown out of the way. I'd certainly love to have more track time, but it is what it is.
Yasukawa, a driver from Los Angeles, has started five Indianapolis 500s. He was in the No. 77 car for Wellman Racing for the Indy Racing League race at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan and finished 14th in a 18-car field.
"It's great to be back here again," Yasukawa said. "Every lap you get to go around here (is worth it). You don't get to do this every day. You have to really appreciate it and I'm just smiling in the car every turn that I go through."
Rain has washed out two days of practice, part of Wednesday's practice and the second day of qualifying. Yasukawa will be one of the drivers trying to secure one of the final 22 spots in the Indy 500 field.
"We're probably going to focus more on the race setup from here on," Yasukawa said. "It's very important to have a good platform that you can work with and there's no need to keep trimming the car out without having that platform. You're probably risking a lot at that point. We're just going to have to play it by ear with the weather and do the best we can."

Roger Yasukawa and Phil Geibler have found rides for the Indianapolis 500.
Yasukawa, a driver from Los Angeles who has started five Indy 500s and has two top-10 finishes, will be driving the famed No. 98 car for Beck Motorsports.
Geibler, a graduate of Oxnard High School and the rookie of the year in last year's Indy 500, will be in the No. 88 car for American Dream Motorsports.
The teams announced both drivers Wednesday during a rainy day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Both cars were already entered in the race. There are 36 cars with drivers competing for 33 starting spots. Qualifying continues Saturday. The first 11 spots have already been secured. Rain washed out the second day of qualifying, when the next 11 spots would have been determined. Drivers will begin qualifying for the remaining 22 spots in the race on Saturday, weather permitting.

Mario Dominguez, driver of the No. 96 entry for Oxnard-based Pacific Coast Motorsports, turned 40 laps at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and had some of his best speeds since arriving a week ago, but he did not make a qualifying attempt.
The top 11 cars in qualifying Saturday for the Indianapolis 500 earned starting spots in the race. Weather permitting, the next 11 cars will qualify Sunday. Dominguez expects to be one of them.
"We had some valuable time on the track and we made a lot of progress," Dominguez said. "We are still learning the car, but today, I'd say we learned a lot about it. We made adjustments in several areas, some worked, some didn't. We need to find more speed, but we are on the right track."
The best lap Dominguez made at the track was 220.597 mph, by far his best and 2.7 mph better than his previous fastest lap.
"We haven't been able to practice much because of the rain, but I'd say today was very positive," Dominguez said. "We are keeping our fingers crossed that the weather holds out tomorrow and we get another productive day of running in. We will give it a shot in qualifying tomorrow if Mother Nature cooperates."
Scott Dixon won the pole on Saturday. His teammate at Chip Ganassi Racing, Dan Wheldon, was second and Team Penske driver Ryan Briscoe was third, making up the three-car front row.

Mario Dominguez, driver of the No. 96 entry for Oxnard-based Pacific Coast Motorsports and one of 13 rookies entered in the Indianapolis 500, made contact with the pit exit wall during practice Friday and was only able to complete 16 laps around the track.
Rain has washed out the past two days of practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and shortened Friday's session.
Dominguez was not injured in the crash. But his team has only one operational car. The team does not have a rolling spare car and will have to make repairs on the car that crashed. Pole day, when the top 11 starting spots in the Indy 500 will be determined, is Saturday.
"I am really disappointed," Dominguez said. "I was returning to the track for our second full run and I exited too fast coming out of the pits. I lost the rear of the car and crashed into the inside wall."
He had the 31st fastest time at 217.918 mph in practice Friday.
"I got a few laps at speed and this is so unfortunate because we were on the way to making our car better," Dominguez said. "Everyone is telling me to keep my patience. We are already behind and I guess I was trying to rush it back out there. We are working hard and we have a lot of work to do."

The pole position and the top-11 starting spots for the Indianapolis 500 will be determined in qualifying Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Mario Dominguez, driver for the Oxnard-based Pacific Coast Motorsports, was asked what his expectations are for the first day of qualifying.
The pole position is most likely out of the question. He said his team, making its first appearance in the Indy 500, is focusing on qualifying somewhere in the field and being in the top 22 when qualfying ends Sunday.
"Well, I have to be honest with you, I don't think at this point in time we have a shot at pole position Saturday," said Dominguez, driver of the No. 96 entry for Pacific Coast Motorsports. "We are years behind in development of cars. We just got the car a week and a half ago, and we will be competing against teams that have been developing this car for the past five years."
Dominguez is part of a 13-driver rookie contingent that is entered in the Indy 500. He had to begin a rookie orientation program earlier this week and completed three of the four phases. Pacific Coast Motorsports is one of the team's making the transition from Champ Car to the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series and it will be making its first IRL start of the year at Indianapolis.
While Dominguez said his chances of winning the pole are slim, he expects be one of the 22 drivers who qualify on Saturday and Sunday. Eleven drivers will qualify for the Indy 500 on Saturday. The next 11 drivers in the field will be determined on Sunday.
"But I think qualifying on Sunday, on the first week of qualifying, we have a very good shot of doing that," Dominguez said. "It's not going to be easy, but I think we can do it."
His time in the team's Indy car has been limited and coming from Champ Car will no doubt present some challenges. But Dominguez is learning quickly how his new car reacts to the track.
"I think what it takes to be fast around here, you need a car that doesn't have much grip," Dominguez said. "So you need to take a lot of aero out of it, and at the same time, it has to be steady. It has to be stable in the corners, because this place is tough. It can bite you pretty hard. And it's certainly a completely different oval to anything I've ever driven."