Notes from the AMBER Alert Indy 300 (Kentucky) 2005

Notes from the ABC broadcast of the IRL race at Kentucky Speedway on 8/14/05.

Female Rookie Sensation Round Up: Tough week for female rookie sensations. Toyota Atlantic Rookie Sensation Katherine Legge got tangled up on the start of the Toyota Atlantic Grand Prix of Denver on 8/14 and ended up 17th. Rookie Sensation Sarah Fisher started 17th, ran as high as 11th until her rear end blew and she ended up 17th at the NASCAR Grand National West Series race in Stockton, CA on 8/13.

Rookie Sensation Erin "No Relation to Betty" Crocker was the one bright spot when she started third and finished third in the ARCA race in Nashville on 8/13. Crocker then jetted to tony Knoxville, Iowa to complete in the Knoxville National sprint car championships on Sunday. Got 16th in the B Feature.

ABC rolls out a new theme "Make a Move." Speed City is retired. Minimal mention of Danica.

Qualifying was washed out so Danica wins the pole based on qualifying times.

Todd Harris calls the Andretti Green team a "four-headed monster." Shout out to Todd for that one. Let's go to Jack the Root who has the Danica Patrick beat today.

Jack trying to keep up with Danica who is walking. Jack asks "when are you going to close the deal?" When will we get the trip to victory lane? Jack, seriously, how is Danica supposed to answer that? Sha.

Danica: "We do everything we can but the bottom line is is the reason why the guys with experience win is because they got experience and I'm just lacking." Shot of Danica walking away shows that her hair is half as long as she is. Didn't realize it was that long.

Danica and Dan on the front row, so ABC has to flash back to the Indy 500 when they battled briefly.

Dan Wheldon interview. How do you stop Danica? "Danica is obviously a very talented individual and she's been quick all week here." He doesn't seem to concerned, however.

Dan gives a shout out to Darren Manning! Right on camera. Makes up for the attempted shout out from Bryan Herta that got cut off by ABC last week. Go Danno! Fight the ABC director power!

Um, as if Wheldon isn't going to pass Danica as soon as possible. Whatever. He's ON IT from the get go.

SHeDAISY does the national anthem. Funky. Harmonic.

Commercial -- Toyota -- if there's a way to make our driver's faster, we'll find it. Maybe like delivering them a Chevrolet engine, perhaps. Kidding. I kid Toyota, because I care.

Interesting up-close segment on Bryan Herta which nobody got to see since the video went fuzzy. Looked just like an Iowa blizzard -- snowy. At one point I heard Herta say he "had to cheat just to keep up with the light little bugger." Probably not talking about Danica but, with no video, you never know. The feature sounded good, at least.

Jamie Little (get her in a car!) tells us that torrential rains in New York are screwing up the video.

Harris and Scott Goodyear in the booth. Goodyear says "Sarah Fisher" right out loud. Talking about Sarah winning the pole in 2002. Goodyear is a maverick! Loose cannon! Last week he said "Champ Car" right on the air and this year he mentioned the non-Danica. Look for ABC to install a shock collar by next race.

Track temp 130 degrees. Lots of support for Sammy in the crowd. 60,000-plus people there.

KY Gov. Ernie Fletcher says "Lady and Gentlemen 'unbridle your spirit' and start your engines." Must be the state motto or something.

Graphic of pole sitters. Todd Harris says "Sarah Fisher" right out loud as well! Mutiny! Graphic of pole speeds shows the track record holder. Who holds the track record? Who would that be? Hmmmmm, ah, Sarah Fisher. 221.390 mph. Bam. She edged the always fabulous Billy "Show" Boat for the pole that year, if memory serves.

Jamie talks about AJ Foyt taking on about 200 "killer" bees on his ranch. Foyt is tougher than 200 damn bees, that's for damn sure. Saved himself by slapping his face into a creek. I'm thinking AJ went back and burned the section of brush where the bees once lived. Don't mess with AJ. Jamie also talks about AJ 4 (Quatro!) ditching Toyota for a Chevy. Rock and roll, Quatro. We'll keep an eye on Quatro.

Jack The Root on camera. Kicky shades, Jack. Skinny shades. Stylish. Talking about the race being one of compromises, but I was digging the shades.

Parade laps. Running down the field. Harris says Danica "doesn't want to get jumped" in the acceleration zone. At least he's not talking about her "turning the trick."

Let's light this candle. Green flag, green flag.

Harris: "They're off like thoroughbreds in the bluegrass state and a filly leads the way!" ABC's writers are already working on one for Pike's Peak. This is A-level stuff. I'd give $5 to hear Dario say "She's quite a filly" in his Scottish accent. Think Mike Meyers.

Tony Kanaan in a vintage TK move, weaves round the restart like someone looking for a parking spot at Wal-mart. Goes from fifth to first on the first lap.

Punch tells us Danica ran over an air wrench in practice and screwed up the undertray. Because of that, RL tells her to find a hole and don't be too aggressive early on.

Danica back to third after 1, fourth after 5, 5th after 7, 6th after 10. Scheckter goes from 22nd to 14th in 10 laps. Quatro starts 12th and up to 9th by lap 7, down to 11th by lap 10.

Vitor closing in on Danica.

Quatro gets air time! Ditch Toyota, get air. Video of AJ and many shout outs for him surviving the bee attack. AJ is tougher than an 8-year-old bull.

Danica reports understeer. Onboard with Danica. Much analysis of her hands and how comfortable she is.

Yellow-yellow-yellow. Dixon blows up. Whoever had Dixon in the First Out Pool wins what's left of a used Toyota engine. Dixon goes high to spew fluid. Many shout outs for going high and not spreading debris and oil all over the track.

Yellow pit stops coming up. Mike Hull of the Target team gets air. Chip must be busy or still recovering from his hour and a half of air time last week. Mike says didn't see the blown engine coming. Also says Toyota has been working really hard on the engines.

Pitting. Wheldon loses three stops on pit road. They'll be some yellin' about that.

Dario's wheel is off. Its bounding down the track like a dog that got away from its owner. Harris says the wheel weighs "in excess of 200 pounds." Those pit guys must be hulks they way they throw those 200 pounds wheels around. Maybe he meant 20.

Jack the Root and the cut-away car. Interesting. Shout outs for the cut-away car. Looks like there are no threads on the lug nut. They spin on and have some spring locking device. I did not know that. Interesting.

Jamie updates us on the Red Bull guy who got hit by a wheel coming off Rookie Sensation Ryan Briscoe's car last week. Torn MCL, blown hammy, concussion. Saved by his helmet, I guess. Pit video of the guy getting hit. Clipped from behind on the leg. Nasty. Kids, wear your helmets!

Real commercials (and lots of them) in this race. Danica is selling some air time! ABC is digging that.

Green flag, green flag -- Scheckter is charging. Sounds like he's on the rev limiter. He's around Buddy Rice on lap 43. Scheckter is 5th! Up from 16th. Hornish and Scheckter about touch. Dario charging back up from 21st after losing his wheel.

Lap 50 -- Wheldon, Kanaan, Scheckter, Sam, Vitor, Helio, Danica, Sharp, Kosuke, Dario. Quatro -14th.

Danica looks to be hanging tough in 7th. Let's go to Buddy Rice's pit. Scott Roembke of RL. All is well. He expects Buddy to be up front.

Harris says Danica turns the fast lap of the race so far. Much talk about her charging back up to the front. Shades of Indy. Harris getting a little excited. Holding it together pretty well, though. Scott says Danica was more determined than ever today. A "different Danica."

Herta 11th. Jack the Root says keep an eye on him. Dark horse to win. Getting good gas mileage.

Lap 69 -- Yellow, yellow, yellow -- Ed into the wall. Wall Vision. Ed is OK. Not sure what happened. Replay shows suspension blew. Ed about popped a wheelie. Many shout outs to the SAFER barrier. (Big ups to the posse at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln for developing that bad boy.)

Yellow pit stops. Jamie in the Danica pit. No changes. It's STALLED. Danica's car stalled. Much scrambling in the pit. Get it restarted. Jack calls it a "typical rookie mistake." Hmmm. Shades of Indy. DP back out in 20th.

Lap 75 -- Kanaan, Wheldon, Scheckter, Hornish, Vitor, Dario, Sharp, Helio, Kosuke, Quatro! (10th)

Green-green-green.

Danica back into the pits. Gears are shot. Cost her a lap "probably take her out of contention" Goodyear says. Sucks to be Danica. Ray Leto says she's got no 4, 5 and 6 gear. Gear thing could be why it stalled earlier.

Scheckter slowing. More gear problems. Punchy says same issue as Danica. All Scheckter has is high gear.

Dario flying up the field. Started almost dead last after losing a tire and now up to 5th.

Interview with Scheckter. Wasn't the gears. Half his engine wasn't working. Maybe bad injectors. Running on four cylinders. Not good. Came in and called it a day.

TK slowing down. "Dropped the anchor" as Harris says. Shout out to Harris for the anchor reference. Goodyear speculates bearings. Jack says it's wheel bearings. Right rear. AGR needs a new bearing supplier. Their bearings end up looking like burned calamari rings.

Lap 100 -- Wheldon, Vitor, Helio, Sharp, Dario, Sam, Kosuke, Herta, Quatro (9th) Carpentier.

Quatro passes Herta for 8th. Gets air time. Quatro has doubled his air time from the last year in just this one race. He's en fuego with the bow tie engine.

Jack with Tony. Tony says "I was protecting Dan. Dan was protecting me." Protecting mean blocking? NO WAY! Blocking is not allowed in the IRL.

Lap 107. Vitor leads.

Yellow-yellow-yellow. Debris. ABC may have needed more time to get commercials in and dispatched interns to chuck carbon fiber onto the track for a NASCAR-style "debris" yellow. Just speculating.

Wheldon? What was that dive into the pit in front of Vitor under yellow? Almost passed him on the pit road. Sha. A bit of a wanker move there.

Danica is back out. Only reason I know is I saw her in the background of a shot. No mention from the booth. They are treating her like any other driver 15 laps down. I'm somewhat shocked at this.

When Vitor took the lead, Rahal came down from Danica's pit to Vitor's. Vitor's pit is highly honored! With Danica 15 laps down and Buddy Rice solidly in 11th, it dawned on Rahal that he had another driver and someone gave him directions to the Vitor pit.

Wheldon beats Vitor out of the pits.

Green-green-green. Vitor taking a look at Wheldon. Sam is looking high. (Shocker!) Dario is now third after losing his wheel. Impressive climb back through the field. Danica-esque, even.

Dario second!

Lap 125 -- Wheldon, Dario, Vitor, Sharp, Hornish, Helio, Kosuke, Barron, Carpentier, Quatro (10th!)

Sharp (Sir Blocks-a-lot) is charging. He's up to third on lap 128. Harris talks about how fit Sharp is. Sharp is very fit. Booth guys ALWAYS mention what good shape he's in. Not sure why.

Sharp passes Dario for second. Extreme Fitness is paying off. Working on Wheldon.

Dan vs. Scott -- Battle of the Blockers. Block Wars 2005. Dan Wheldon has "changed his line" based on pressure by Sharp. Lap 134 Sharp makes a nice slingshot move around Wheldon and takes the lead. ADRIANNNNNNNE! Your driver is in the lead. Panoz chassis car in the lead. Alert the media.

Shot of Sharp family in the pit. No sign of Danica's mom.

Herta in the pits with the cowling off. He's done. Jack says it's the gear box.

Lap 148 -- Vitor looking at second. Working on Wheldon. Wheldon doesn't have anyone to "protect" him right now.

Lap 150 -- Sharp, Wheldon, Vitor, Dario, Buddy Lazier (5th), Sam, Helio, Barron, Quatro, Kosuke.

Michael Andretti gets his first air of the day. Says we need a quick stop. Jack the Root is all over the pits. He's giving us end-to-end coverage.

Hornish in. A little early. Having some tire wear issues. Punch shows us video. Tire was three laps from blowing. Pretty chewed up. Probably over or under inflating them causing the wear.

Lap 161 Wheldon leads. Side-by-side around the track. Lap 163. Sharp and Wheldon playing chicken.

Lap 169. Yellow-yellow-yellow. Dario high. Looks like a dying quail. Who was ahead at yellow? Sharp was ahead. Dario fried another wheel bearing. Sucks to be Sam who pitted under the green about 10 laps earlier.

Yellow pit stops. Sharp in, 7.1 seconds. Miera out in second!

Green green green. Vitor takes a look. No way Sharp gets passed in the last 25, especially since the IRL tends to misplace its black flag for the leaders late in the race.

Lap 175 -- Sharp, Vitor, Wheldon, Barron, Kosuke, Quatro (6th!), Helio (who is radioing his spotter to find out "who is this white number 14 car in front of me?"), Buddy Lazier, Rookie Sensation Ryan Briscoe, Jimmy Kite.

Jimmy Kite is in 10th in a non-Penske Toyota! Holy Ethanol. Jimmy Kite in the top 10 and Quatro in 6th. I'm frothing at the mouth. Barron is 4th. (Lap 176) Barron! In the non-Penske Toyota. Shut up. I'm checking to see if the sun has indeed frozen.

2 years since Sharp won. Punch with Kim Sharp who says "I think this proves to everybody he's not a has-been and he can drive a race car and he's an exceptional talent." Kim gives the sponsors a shout out. Nice job with the interview. Very poised.

20 to go. Danica in 17th. Harris says "She'll certainly be back next week at Pikes Peak" (so tune in!) Pressdog note: Sarah Fisher will be racing at Pike's Peak on 8/21, immediately after the IRL race. Could there be a brawl? Stay tuned. Pretty sure they won't be spotting for each other. Or maybe they'll go drinking together the night before. Never know.

Kim Sharp side-by-side with 10 to go. Vitor has to go high if he's going to get around Sharp and he just doesn't have the car.

Last lap. Harris says "turn the trick" again. Stop saying that, Todd.

Sharp wins. Sharp wins. Screams into his radio. ABC plays it on the air and doesn't talk over it. Thank you very much ABC. Sharp's first win since 2003 (41 races). Many donuts.

Lap 200 -- Sharp, Vitor, Wheldon, Barron (Red Bull Toyota in 4th! Amazing.), Helio, Buddy Lazier (Buddy rocking in the Panther Chevy!), Sam (drove from 13th to seventh in 25 laps), Kosuke, Quatro! (9th) and Kite (10th!) Jimmy Kite gets a top ten. Everyone rush out and buy a tank of ethanol.

Kim Sharp interview: Says hi to the kids first. "We've worked so hard for this. We've been down in the trenches and this sport can be so brutal to ya." Amen, sister. Enjoy the victory party.

Sharp: "I gotta thank all the people who prayed for me." Says he's giving a piece of his winnings to a mission trip. Impressive. Sharp gives Honda a big shout out. "Honda is THE BEST company I've ever been with."

Danica finishes 16. 16 laps down but had the fastest lap of the race (216.882) but it came after the gearbox problem. If not for blowing the box, she might have been Vitor-ish at the end.

Vitor is all class in his post-race interview with Jamie.

Wheldon -- Says on the last pit stop he overshot his marks. Takes the blame for it. May have cost him second place for sure.

AJ interview. Looking happy. Bubbly even. AJ says he was tired of getting beaten during his two years with Tie-yota. Had to make a change. Says Quatro drove a super race today. Lost fifth gear at the end of the race or maybe would have had a couple more spots. AJ says he's feeling better today after the bee attack last week. Quatro is wearing a Chevy cap! Sticking it in Toyota's face. Quatro says the engine "made a word of difference."

©2005 Bill Zahren