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Carpenter Leads Pro Series Graduates at Indy 500 |
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May 29, Speedway, IN. With the IRL Mendards Infiniti Pro Series
being a development series for the IndyCar Series, and its motto being,
“The Fast Track to Indy,” we’ve decided to keep tabs on how the
“graduate” are doing. Three former Pro drivers drove in today’s
500, Ed Carpenter, A. J. Foyt IV, and Marty Roth.
Ed Carpenter, who qualified 26th, finished 11th. This is the
highest any Pro Series graduate has ever finished the 500. He
drives for the new Vision Racing Team.
Ed finished third in the Pro Series points in both the 2002 and 2003
Pro Series, and won the 2003 inaugural Futaba Freedom 100 race at the
IMS. Carpenter drove for A. J. Foyt in 2003. Last year Ed
drove in the IndyCar Series for Eddie Cheever’s Red Bull Team. Ed
qualified 16th for his first 500, but finished 31st because of an
accident on lap 63.
After today’s race Ed said, “I am really happy. Last year I
didn’t get to finish this race, and I was really disappointed about
that. My first priority this season was go finish.” He went
on to say, “The team did a nice job, and the car drove excellent the
first three-quarters of the race. The last two stints, we just
got a little loose. This was the best finish for Vision Racing and my
best 500 finish. We have a lot to build on from this. We
wanted to hit stride by Indy, and we are really coming into our own.”
A. J. Foyt IV started 28th and finished 28th, dropping out after 84
laps. Driving for A. J. Foyt Racing, he was involved in an
accident on lap 78 with Bruno Junqueira. Although he was able to
drive to the pits and come back, his return was only for 6 more laps
before retiring. Regarding the accident, Foyt said, “It happened
real quick. We got past Turn 1; Bruno came up on me. It’s
unfortunate for him. I hope he’s all right. We ran good for a
while, but it just fell off in the pits. We haven’t had a bad
month. We missed it in the race setup.”
Anthony won the initial 2002 Infiniti Pro Series Championship, and
moved up the IndyCar Series the following year. In 2003 he
finished 18th in the 500, having run 189 laps. Last year he
finished 33rd after only 26 laps completed.
Although Marty Roth is still running in the Pro Series this season,
today was his second 500. Running for Roth Racing/PDM Racing, Marty
qualified 29th and finished 31st. He dropped out after 47 laps
with handling problems.
Of his short race, Marty remarked, “It’s unfortunate. I guess
it’s the powers that be that make these decisions. It’s a
500-mile race. We got some garbage on our tires. We brought
it in, put a new set of tires on. Unfortunately, when I got back
around, we came out right where the leaders were. I was trying to
be courteous and got up in the gray, and it just started washing out on
me. If you’re out there, and you’re not up to speed, you get out
of the way and let the leaders come through. And I will continue
to race that way.” Marty was given two black flags for running
below the minimums speed.
Marty ran six Pro races in 2002, six in 2003 and four in 2004. He
started 32nd in last years 500 and ran 128 laps before an accident left
him with a 24th place finish.
Two other “graduates” were here in the month of May and took a shot at
qualifying. They were Arie Luyendyk Jr. and Paul Dana.
Arie, ran in the Pro Series in 2002 (and finished second in the points
standing), 2003 (seventh in total points) and 2004 (third in total
points), along with a Phoenix appearance this year. He qualified
33rd for the 500, but was bumped on the last day by Felipe Giaffone.
Paul Dana, who finished second in last year’s Pro Series points, had an
Indy ride with Ethanol Hemelgarn Racing. During practice,
however, before the first day of qualification, he hit the wall in Turn
4 and sustained two fractured vertebrae. Jimmy Kite replaced him in the
team’s number 91 car, and qualified 32nd. Paul’s fastest time in
practice had been 218.030 mph, which if he would have qualified with
that as a four lap average would have put him in the field. His
practice speed was faster than Luyendyk’s and Giaffone’s. We hope
that Arie and Paul both get another try at the 500 next year.
Mark Taylor, the 2003 Pro Series Champion, also ran in last year’s Indy
500, as well as finishing the IndyCar Series driving for Greg
Ray. Mark’s lap 62 accident landed him in a 30th finish, even
though he qualified 14th.
Jeff Simmons had a 29th position start and a 16th finish in last years
rain shortened 500. He ran the 179 laps. Jeff finished the
2003 Pro Series second in the points. He ran
five Pro races last year. This year Jeff is also running in the Pro Series.
Jon Herb, who ran in three Pro races last year, and is running the Pro
season this year, ran in the 2001 Indy 500. We will make Jon wait
until he gets back to the Indy 500 again before we consider him a
“graduate.” We will acknowledge, however, that Jon has a
financial interest in the Playa Del Racing Team that put Jaques Lazier
in this year’s Indy 500. Since Jon is a Pro Series team
owner:driver should we give should we give him an honorable
mention? After all, Michael Andretti received a lot of
credit today for being one of the owners of Andretti Green Team – and
got some of Dan Wheldon’s milk!
What is perhaps surprising is that last year’s Pro Series Champion,
Thiago Medeiros, did not get a shot at this year’s Indy 500.
Thiago won six of the twelve races last year, and led eleven of those
races. He also bagged eight poles.
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