Scott Dixon Claims Indy 500 Pole
Written by Allan Brewer · May 10, 2008
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon scored the team’s third Indianapolis 500 pole on Saturday, picking up a cool $100,000 check on his way into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway record books.
Dixon put up a four-lap average speed of 226.366 mph, landing him on the inside of the front row for Sunday next’s Memorial Day race. He’s joined there by teammate Dan Wheldon who qualified at a speed of 226.110 mph late in the day, bumping Team Penske’s Ryan Briscoe (226.080 mph) to the outside spot of the first row.
“Days like this are a real tribute to the team,” said team-owner Chip Ganassi of the feat. “A lot of thinking and planning, and work goes into getting better; and I can’t tell you how hard the guys work to make this all pay off here.”
Helio Castroneves won the fourth spot on the grid, the inside of row two, on the strength of a 225.733 mph qualifying run. Andretti Green’s Danica Patrick led her team with an average 225.197 mph tally, with teammate Tony Kanaan (224.794 mph) on her immediate right outside.
Marco Andretti (224.417 mph), Vitor Meira (224.346 mph) and Hideki Mutoh (223.887 mph) qualified in the third row; while Ed Carpenter (223.835 mph) and Tomas Scheckter (223.496 mph) round out the top eleven qualifiers to make the 33-car field.
Fair skies greeted a crowd of somewhere south of one hundred thousand patrons to Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Pole Day. The expansive Pagoda Plaza was alive with couples, families, kids and seniors on a day that began with brilliant sunshine in central Indiana.
After two and a half consecutive days of rain-out the drivers were eager to get back on the throttle, and wasted little time in doing so after the track was dried of moisture from light overnight showers in Speedway, Indiana.
Morning practice was divided into two groups, with Marco Andretti leading the way at 228.318 miles per hour among the first group of racers.
The second stanza lasted for forty minutes, same as the first. Dan Wheldon capped the field at 227.223 mph.
In a surprise move, Jay Howard lost his seat (temporarily) to Indy 500 veteran John Andretti at Marty Roth Racing. Andretti quickly got up to speed, taking only three laps to move into the 220 mph range.
“When we came to this race our engineer left, so we had to make some quick decisions to get these cars competitive,” said team owner Marty Roth. “John’s been here quite a few years and can work with us to develop these cars and get them in the show.”
Team Penske’s Ryan Briscoe was first out to qualify at 12:03 PM, setting an average mark of 224.833 mph over four laps of qualifying. He later withdrew and repeated qualifying to secure the front-row spot he eventually won.
Danica Patrick appeared on-track at the bottom of the first hour, bringing fans of all ages and gender to their feet with her then-quickest lap of 225.537 mph.
Dan Wheldon sped about the 2.5 mile oval shortly after 1 PM EDT to post a 225.840 mile per hour average that stood as best deep into the afternoon.
Rahal Letterman driver Ryan Hunter-Reay spun midway through Turn 1 near the conclusion of Pole Day, striking the SAFER barrier in nearly the same spot as Alex Lloyd on the day prior. Hunter-Reay was seen in the trackside medical center and cleared to drive again shortly afterwards.
AGR rookie Hideki Mutoh’s initial 223.653 mph average speed went for naught when his car failed post-qualifying technical inspection. He rebooted and put up the ninth-best average speed of the day in spite of the setback.
Off the track, RLR Chip Ganassi Racing driver Alex lloyd was released from the hospital after an overnight period of observation. He’ll undergo medical re-evaluation next week before returning to the No. 16 car, which is tentatively expected to be back in the hunt for a spot in the 33-car field on Wednesday.
Lloyd struck the SAFER barrier in Turn 1 on Fast Friday as he attempted to find speed greater than his 223 mph effort of that day.
Dale Coyne Racing’s Chuck Buckman, struck by Danica Patrick on Friday, was transferred out of ICU and into a regular room at Methodist Hospital on Saturday. He suffered a skull fracture and intra-cranial hemorrhage subsequent to the accident on pitlane.
Qualifying continues on Sunday at Noon EDT. The second set of eleven qualifiers will be determined prior to bumping, in accordance with the modified rules of Indy 500 qualifying adopted several years ago.
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