Autoextremist.com ~ the bare-knuckled, unvarnished, high-electron truth...

July 30, 2008

Scott Dixon, Target Chip Ganassi Racing. Scott Dixon (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone) won the IRL's Rexall Edmonton Indy - his fifth victory of the 2008 season - by 5.9327 seconds over Helio Castroneves (No. 3 Team Penske D/H/F). Dixon pulled out his lead in the championship standings to 65 points over Castroneves with four races to go. Castroneves finished second for the sixth time this season. Justin Wilson (No. 02 N-H-L McDonald’s Racing Team D/H/F), the winner at Edmonton in 2006, finished third, and Canadian Paul Tracy (No. 22 Vision Racing Subway D/H/F), who was making his first series start of the season, drove a superb race to finish fourth (after starting fifteenth). Next up for the IndyCar Series is the Meijer Indy 300 Aug. 9 at Kentucky Speedway. The race will be telecast live in High Definition at 6:30 p.m. (EDT) by ESPN2. The 2008 Firestone Indy Lights season resumes with the Kentucky 100 on Aug. 9. That race will air at 2 p.m. Aug. 14 on ESPN2.

(Shawn Payne/IRL)
Scott Dixon’s triumph at Edmonton was his fifth victory of the season. He is the fourth driver in IndyCar Series history to win five races in a season. Dan Wheldon won six in 2005, Sam Hornish Jr. won five in 2002, and Tony Kanaan won five in 2007.

(Shawn Payne/IRL)
Paul Tracy burns out of the pits in his Vision Racing entry in Edmonton. Wanting to put a deal together all season, Tracy finally got an opportunity through Tony George's Vision Racing (with the help of Derrick Walker and sponsorship from Subway). Tracy drove a superb race, displaying a veteran's patience and the kind of speed to compete with these guys on a weekly basis. Let's hope for Paul's sake - and the long term health of the series - that he lands a full time ride in IndyCar for 2009.

The IRL. The IndyCar Series will travel to Surfers Paradise, Australia, for the Gold Coast Indy 300 on Oct. 26, the first IndyCar Series event in the country. "We are pleased to announce that the IndyCar Series will hold its first event in Australia this October to celebrate the completion of a successful first season of unified open-wheel racing," said Terry Angstadt, president, commercial division for the Indy Racing League. "Dating back to 1991, the Gold Coast Indy 300 has been labeled the race with the hottest cars, the hottest parties and the hottest beaches, with one of the world's most famous beach-side cities, Surfers Paradise, hosting 96 hours of non-stop excitement on and off the racetrack." The 2.75-mile, 14-turn street circuit in Queensland has hosted Champ Car and CART events since 1991. Following the event at Surfers Paradise, the IndyCar Series will continue its post-season celebration with a championship banquet in Las Vegas.

The IRL. Getting the 2009 schedule out early is a good idea. The highlights of the 18-race schedule? The season opener will be run through the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., on April 5. The season-finale moves to Homestead-Miami Speedway and will be run on Oct. 11 with the speedway and series developing a championship weekend celebration, extending the IndyCar Series season a month longer than the previous two seasons. The Grand Prix of Long Beach will be run on April 19, marking the IndyCar Series debut at the 35-year-old event that has hosted F1, CART and Champ Car races as its premier event. The IndyCar Series will debut in Toronto on July 12. The Indy Toronto, which dates to 1986, will be the first of back-to-back temporary course events in Canada with Edmonton scheduled for July 26. The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course will shift from July to Aug. 9, allowing the series to break up what was six consecutive weeks of racing in 2008. With this date change, the Kentucky Speedway event will move one week earlier to Aug. 1. The Raceway at Belle Isle Park and Chicagoland Speedway are exchanging weekends, with Chicagoland running on Saturday evening Aug. 29 and the temporary street event in Detroit running Sept. 6. The Indy Japan 300 at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan is shifting to Sept. 19 after running in April since 2003. The low lights? Keeping Belle Isle on the schedule is a joke. And no Road America? That's even a bigger joke.

The 2009 IndyCar Series Schedule:

Sunday, April 5 - Streets of St. Petersburg, 1.8-mile street course

Sunday, April 19 - Streets of Long Beach, 1.968-mile street course

Sunday, April 26 - Kansas Speedway, 1.5-mile oval

Sunday, May 24 - Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 2.5-mile oval

Sunday, May 31 - The Milwaukee Mile, 1.0-mile oval

Saturday, June 6 - Texas Motor Speedway, 1.5-mile oval

Sunday, June 21 - Iowa Speedway, .875-mile oval

Saturday, June 27 - Richmond International Raceway, .75-mile oval

Sunday, July 5 - Watkins Glen International, 3.4-mile road course

Sunday, July 12 - Streets of Toronto, 1.721-mile street course

Sunday, July 26 - Edmonton City Centre Airport, 1.973-mile airport course

Saturday, August 1 - Kentucky Speedway, 1.5-mile oval

Sunday, August 9 - Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, 2.258-mile road course

Sunday, August 23 - Infineon Raceway, 2.245-mile road course

Saturday, August 29 - Chicagoland Speedway, 1.5-mile oval

Sunday, September 6 - The Raceway at Belle Isle Park, 2.906-mile street course

Saturday, September 19 - Twin Ring Motegi, 1.5-mile oval

Sunday, October 11 - Homestead-Miami Speedway, 1.5-mile oval