Wheldon, Dixon, Hornish & Helio Contest Chicagoland Championship
Written by Allan Brewer · September 10, 2006
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Photo: ChrisJonesIRL
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Hornish Takes Fourth Pole of the Season for Sunday’s Showdown
“We have to do everything by all accounts to try and win the race and lead the most laps, to try and get a Ganassi car to win the championship” says Wheldon
Sam Hornish, Jr will lead a familiar band of high-velocity brothers into the first turn at Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday as the race for the 2006 IndyCar series championship comes to a close.
Hornish, driving the Number 6 Marlboro/Team Penske Dallara/Honda, put the car’s number at the top of the scoring pylon at this beautiful 1.5 mile oval southwest of Chicago when he roared around the pavement at a speed of 215.319 mph for the pole.
“The car was right where we needed it to be. We hit the gears right on. Actually it was a little better than we thought,” he added in the pressroom with teammate Helio Castroneves and Target Chip Ganassi Racing drivers Dan Wheldon and Scott Dixon alongside.
“Obviously in this kind of race, it doesn’t really matter where you start. It’s always nice to start on the pole if you can,” he said. With a win, Hornish can snatch the 2006 drivers’ title from his teammate Castroneves and the two TCGR drivers.
The biggest obstacle to Hornish’s ambitions may be the weather on tap Sunday for the Joliet, Illinois area. There’s a forty percent chance of thunderstorms in the offing.
“It was supposed to rain today as well. It turned out to be a really nice day. Hopefully we get the same for tomorrow,” he optimistically predicted. Hornish has two previous Indy Racing League titles to his credit already. He won in 2001 and in 2002 while driving for Panther Racing.
Scott Dixon joins the Indianapolis 500 winner on the front row for the Peak Antifreeze Indy 300, scheduled for live telecast at 1:30 PM (EDT) on ABC TV. Dixon’s speed of 214.592 mph was almost two miles an hour slower than his field-besting pace in practice earlier in the day before a brisk crosswind out of the north became a factor.
Dan Wheldon takes the green flag in third position (214.387 mph) alongside Castroneves (213.922 mph). Castroneves can also take home the championship trophy if he wins the event on Sunday, by bumping Hornish aside and into second place. It would be a career first for the Brazilian veteran.
Wheldon and Dixon are counting on some grace from the deities to forward their title hopes. They trail points leader Castroneves by nineteen and twenty-one points respectively in the drive for the championship of the 14-race series.
“There’s a championship at stake. I really don’t care if I come in fourth, third, second
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