Full Throttle

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Australian racer Will Power, in a near letter-perfect performance, led almost the entire way Sunday to capture the Rexall Edmonton Indy in a race marred by a pit fire that burned driver Tony Kanaan in his hands and face.

Former Champ Car series’ champion Paul Tracy has had strong words against his old rival Sébastien Bourdais who’s been ousted from the Toro Rosso Formula 1 team.

Ryan Briscoe dominated qualifying for the Watkins Glen IndyCar race, taking pole with an 0.8s margin over underdog front row hero Justin Wilson.

Lloyd Ruby, has died. He was 81 years of age. Ruby is too often remembered as one of the greatest drivers never to win at the Brickyard. He raced there every year from 1960 through 1977 and came close numerous times.

On the 50th anniversary of the first and only time that USAC open-wheel championships cars competed at Daytona International Speedway, five-time Rolex 24 At Daytona champion Hurley Haywood paced eight restored Indy Roadsters around the storied 2.5-mile tri-oval for parade laps at speeds near 100 mph.

Note to Danica Patrick, that tall skinny peddle on the right is the Go Peddle. The larger rectangle one in the center is the Woe Peddle.

Although not officially announced, it appears that IndyCar officials are at least talking publicly about part of that future… and it is said it will use turbos.

Editor’s note: Say hi and welcome to Australia’s Peter G. He has been a long-time commentor at FT and has gotten the “bug,” (read, pissed off) to write this open letter to V8 Supercars boss Tony Cochrane concerning his letter relating to the Gold Coast IndyCar event scheduling.
As a side note, Peter may be [...]

The release of the 2009 IndyCar schedule has clouded the future of the Gold Coast event (Held as a Champ Car event prior to the reunification), and is in grave doubt whether the Gold Coast will return.

The Indy Racing Series leaving Nashville Superspeedway.
Both sides have failed to negotiate an agreement for a 2009 race. Track officials made the announcement Monday.
The IndyCar Series had raced here the past eight years, including July 12 when Scott Dixon won a rain-shortened race.
The superspeedway is owned by Dover Motorsports, [...]

LEXINGTON, Ohio - Australia’s Ryan Briscoe won the Indy 200 IndyCar Series race today, by defeating pole sitter and Team Penske teammate Helio Castroneves.

Former Champ Car title-winner Paul Tracy - out of work since the series’ IndyCar merger earlier this year - will be back at Edmonton, he has confirmed - only not with Vision Racing, as had been surmised.

Scott Dixon grabbed the lead on lap 149 and had enough fuel to stay there until rain ended the Firestone Indy 200 yesterday with 29 laps left, giving him his third consecutive victory at Nashville Superspeedway.
Miscommunication kept Dixon from pitting along with leader Tony Kanaan, helping him grab the lead.
“When they called me to pit, [...]

Scott Dixon showed no sign of relinquishing his grip on the Camping World Grand Prix at The Glen, the winner of all three previous IndyCar Series events at Watkins Glen International topping the timesheets as 26 drivers participated in two-and-a-half hours of practice on Friday.

Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage is reported to be trying to entice IndyCar officials with a five-race package he believes will open up the series to regions as yet not encompassed.
According to ESPN, Gossage - who still laments the loss of a second round at TMS - is negotiating a five-race deal for Speedway [...]

Honda has confirmed that Danica Patrick will get a test in one of its Formula One cars later this year, fuelling speculation that the American is also to be given a race chance in the top flight in the not-too-distant future.
Patrick currently sits sixth in the IndyCar Series point standings following her breakthrough victory at [...]

Australian takes first IndyCar Series race win, and the 300th for Penske racing, to deny Indy 500 winner repeat.
Ryan Briscoe and a multi-cat accident three laps from home denied Scott Dixon the chance to join the elite list of drivers to add victory at the Milwaukee Mile to the one he took at Indianapolis last [...]

Who needs Danica when you can have this?
Kristi can wave my, ahem… flag anytime.
1992 Olympic gold medalist, popular professional figure skater and recent “Dancing with the Stars” winner Kristi Yamaguchi will wave the green flag to start the 92nd running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 25.
As the first female honorary starter in Indianapolis [...]

Thanks to a tip from Tomaso comes a story of Sarah Fisher’s efforts to field her own team at Indy this month.
Tomaso points to an Indy Star article by Bob Kravitz who thinks Fisher may need to contact a collection agency to get what has been promised to the fledgling team.
One company, Gravity Entertainment is [...]

… Danica’s eyes are cast in a future direction:
Danica us hoping to test her skills in Formula One, admitting that she would relish a “proper” test with one of the teams.
“Every driver would love to drive a Formula One car at some point in their life, so yeah,” she told Autosport.
“I don’t think there’s anything [...]