THE LINE - MAY 21, 2014

(Photo By Walter Kuhn/INDYCAR)
Ed Carpenter (No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Fuzzy's Vodka Chevrolet) will start from the pole for the Indianapolis 500 for the second year in a row. Carpenter was the final qualifier on Sunday, May 18th, recording a four-lap average of 231.067 mph to bump James Hinchcliffe (No. 27 Andretti AutosportUnited Fiber & Data Honda) from the top spot and claim the $100,000 Verizon P1 Award for the 98th Running of the Indianapolis 500. "It's awesome to do this two years in a row; I was surprised last year and didn't expect to do it this year with such deep competition," Carpenter said. "It's exciting, but after going through this last year and not winning the race I've been so much more determined. Now it's all about the race, and we want to close the deal." Carpenter's four-lap average was the fastest since 2003, when Helio Castroneves won the pole at 231.725 mp. The 33-car field is the fastest in Indianapolis 500 history (229.382 mph), breaking the previous record of 228.648 mph set in 2002.

(Photo by Mark Reed/INDYCAR)
James Hinchcliffe (No. 27 Andretti Autosport United Fiber & Data Honda), who suffered a concussion in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis eight days earlier and was cleared to drive May 15th, turned 231.618 mph on his first lap in the session and averaged 230.839 mph in qualifying on Sunday. He will start from the middle of the front row.

(Photo by Walter Kuhn/INDYCAR)
Will Power (No. 12 Team Penske Verizon Chevrolet) averaged 230.697 mph and will start on the outside of Row 1. It will be his second front-row start.

(Photo By Walter Kuhn/INDYCAR)
Seeking his fourth Indy 500 victory, Helio Castroneves (No. 3 Team Penske Pennzoil Ultra Platinum Chevrolet) recorded the fastest qualifying lap of the two days of qualifying at 231.671 mph in the Fast Nine Shootout. He will start on the inside of Row 2.

(Photo by Walter Kuhn/INDYCAR)
Simon Pagenaud No. 77 Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Racing Honda) will start on the middle of Row 2 with a speed of  230.614. "It's Indianapolis, so it's the most nerve-wracking  place for the entire Indy Car season," Pagenaud commented. "I'm almost shaking. I think all of us are shaking. Nobody can say they're comfortable during qualifying. We're running as littler wing as we can, as little grip as we can to be fast on the straights, and it's 'hang on' in the corners. It's enjoyable, and it's a challenge. It's nerve-wracking, but enjoyable. I had great fun. It doesn't matter where we wind up, I'm just very happy, and we'll go race very hard."

(Photo by Shawn Gritzmacher/INDYCAR)
Marco Andretti (No. 25 Andretti Autosport Snapple Honda), who qualified third last year, will start on the outside of Row 2 with a speed of 230.544 mph.

(Photo by Eric Anderson/INDYCAR)
Carlos Munoz (No. 34 Andretti Autosport Cinsay AndrettiTV.com HVM), who started and finished second last year as a rookie, qualified in seventh position on the inside of Row 3 with an average speed of 230.146 mph.

(Photo by Walter Kuhn/INDYCAR)
Josef Newgarden (No. 67 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing/Hartman Oil Honda), in his third season with Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing, qualified eighth at 229.893 mph.

(Photo by Walter Kuhn/INDYCAR)
JR Hildebrand (No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing/Preferred Freezer Chevrolet), the 2011 race runner-up as a rookie and the first qualifier in the "Fast Nine Shootout" session, qualified ninth with a 228.726 mph. Juan Pablo Montoya (No. 2 Team Penske Verizon Chevrolet, above) recorded a four-lap average of 231.007 mph for the tenth qualifying spot.

(Alison Padron, Red Bull Global Rallycross)
Scott Speed (No. 77 Andretti Rallycross 7UP Volkswagen Polo) won the first round of the Global Rallycross Championship in Barbados. Although the California native suffered a mechanical failure during the heat rounds, he came through to win the final in the team’s first outing in the series. "It was an awesome weekend here in Barbados,” said Speed. “We had the pace right away, but with a big mechanical issue in the heat race, we had to come from behind from that point on. The guys did a great job twice, getting the car ready to make qualifying and to make it into the last heat. We were hoping that we were going to win first time out this season, but it's really special for everyone at Andretti, Volkswagen, 7UP and United Fiber & Data." The Red Bull Global Rallycross event from Top Gear Festival Barbados will be broadcast on Saturday, May 24 at 1:00 pm Eastern Time on NBC. The next round of the series will take place at X Games Austin, held at Circuit of the Americas on Saturday, June 7.

Editor-in-Chief's Note: Check out Gordon Kirby's excellent new book - Jim McGee, Crew Chief of Champions - here. - PMD

Editor-in-Chief's Note: Part III of the wonderful series Dan Gurney All American Racer presented by Bell is well worth a look. Watch it here. - PMD

(Goodwood Motor Circuit Photos)
Two of sports car racing’s most legendary names - the Porsche 917 and Brian Redman - will be reunited at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on June 26-29. The ex-works Porsche 917 PA that Redman will drive at Goodwood was raced by Grand Prix winner Jo Siffert in the 1969 Can-Am season, taking a best finish of third at Bridgehampton and finishing fourth in the championship. Milt Minter and Sam Posey also raced the car in factory livery. Redman, 77, is world-renowned as the king of Formula 5000, the Burnley-born racer having taken a record 16 wins in the North American series and three straight titles from 1974-76 - fitting in perfectly with the Festival of Speed theme: "Addicted to Winning." He is also one of the most successful drivers in sports car history, having won the Spa 1000km four times, the Daytona 24 Hours on three occasions, and the Sebring 12 Hours, Nurburgring, Monza and Osterreichring 1000km races twice each. Redman’s first driving stint with the car came in 1973 after privateer entrant Vasek Polak recruited him to race it alongside the sister car of Jody Scheckter. By that point, however, the car had undergone a complete refit with a turbocharged engine, producing 1100bhp, now fitted to the lightweight body and rendering it as a 917/10. The Porsche 917 PA is now in its original configuration and part of the Collier collection in Florida. Redman drove the car at the Festival of Speed in 2009.

(Photo by Dave Friedman, courtesy of the Ford Racing Archives)
Brooklyn, Michigan, September 27th, 1969. World Champion Jack Brabham in the No. 15 Agapiou Brothers Ford G7A Can-Am car during practice for the Can-Am race at Michigan International Speedway. Based on a roadster version of the Ford Mk IV, the 427-powered G7A was uncompetitive and obsolete before it even hit the grid. Brabham qualified tenth, ten seconds off of the pole position time recorded by Denny Hulme (No. 5 Team McLaren McLaren 8B Chevrolet), but suffered a DNF. Jack Brabham passed away over the weekend. Here is Dan Gurney's statement: 

It is with great sadness that I received the news that my former Formula boss and team mate, the 3 time 1 World Champion Sir Jack Brabham, passed away in Australia over the weekend. A motor racing giant has left our planet whose combined achievements of F1 World Championship driver and car constructor in all likelihood will never be equaled.  Dark haired "Black Jack" was a fierce competitor, an outstanding engineer, a tiger of a driver, an excellent politician and a hands-on creator and visionary, he opened the rear-engine door at Indianapolis and raced there, he was a doer, a true Aussie pioneer!

 Jack and I go far back in history together. We raced against each other on the F1 circuit since 1959 driving Coopers, Ferraris, BRMs and Porsches. In 1963 he hired me as his team mate for his newly established Brabham FI team and during the next three years we really got to know each other. We discovered we shared similar traits. We were not only interested in driving racing cars but in building them, improving them, searching for every tiny bit of technical advantage we could find. I see both of us sitting in garages all over the world bent over engines, talking to each other and to our team: Ron Tauraunac, Phil Kerr, Roy Billington, Tim Wall, Nick Gooze and Denis Hulme.

 We shared the camaraderie of a closely knit team pursuing a common purpose, the racing tragedies and the glory days of the 1960s bonded us for life.

 Since we retired from driving, both in the fall of 1970, we have stayed in touch. I last spoke to Jack a few months ago on the phone, we were looking forward to the golden anniversary of the first World Championship  F1 victory for the Brabham marque: The French Grand Prix at Rouen, June 28th, 1964, which I won for the team 50 years ago this summer.

In 1966 we both went our separate ways, I followed the trail he had blazed by trying to build, race and win with my own F I cars. I have been told that only three men in the history of auto racing have managed to do that, Bruce McLaren and I won races but Sir Jack Brabham won World Championships, he will be forever in a class all by himself.

I will miss you Jack! You showed the way!

With gratitude and admiration.   

Dan 

Dan Gurney
Chairman
All American Racers, Inc.