Friday, August 24, 2007

Aug. 24 newsstand

It's Friday of race weekend
So let's get into the nitty-gritty.
Today: IndyCar practice, IPS quals
Saturday: ICS practice, 12:30 p.m. EDT; IPS race 2:45 p.m. EDT (30 laps); ICS qualifying, 4 p.m. EDT; GrandAm race to follow
Sunday: IPS race 1:20 p.m. EDT (30 laps); IndyCar Motorola Indy 300, 3:30 p.m. (live - TV ESPN, Radio-IMS Network). Audio/video/T&S of IRL events (ICS & IPS) can be found at IndyCar.com.

Race previews
San Francisco Chronicle: Call for caution at 220 mph
TK is calling for people to keep their heads on while they're behind the wheel, saying, "The fans love it, and they're just jumping up and down, but we're just praying."

Contra Costa Times: IRL aims to curb road rage
A similar story to the one above.
Great quote from Sam Hornish Jr.: "There's people that feel like they ought to be winning, and maybe they're not. And they give you less room than what you need. And there's also people who feel like since they have won a couple races this year that you should just move out of their way."

San Francisco Chronicle: The shear terror of a win
Great headline. Danica's two goals: win a race, and then avoid TK's clippers when she does.
"This is something you do when someone steals your wife or burns your house down or crashes your car. It's not for winning. Cutting my hair off is a horrible thing."

S.F. Chronicle: Race preview and Drivers to watch
A few facts & figures about the weekend, as well as capsules on some of the key drivers.

Sonoma News: Motorola 300 arrives at Infineon

IndyCar.com: Ins and outs of pit stops
How a car does in the pits will make a big difference this weekend.

Opinions & more
Herald-News (suburban Chicago): IRL stays old school
While NASCAR and the NHRA have adopted gimmicks to determine their points championships, the IRL still does it the traditional way -- making all of the races in the season count exactly the same. (what a novel concept!) The writer tends to point out that the IRL season points chases have managed to stay close, while insinuating NASCAR & NHRA penalize people who happen to have a good first part of the year. A decent opinion piece from David Allen.

Mike King says championship momentum will come from this weekend's race.

The Detroit News' Angelique Chengelis has a piece that's mostly about NASCAR, but references next week's Belle Isle race.

The Marco Beat
Lots of stories about the defending Infineon champ in this week's press.
Sacramento Bee: The more fun he has, the faster he goes.
Says Marco, "I thank God every day that there's racing. I don't know what else I'd do."

The Express-Times: California has been kind to Marco
Veteran journalist Chuck Givler checks in with Marco's hometown paper.

Inside Bay Area: Andretti back in groove
Says Marco: "Whenever we finish the race, we seem to be well into the top five ... but I couldn't get out of my own way at the beginning of the season."

Napa Valley Register: Marco the Magnificent

Other driver stories
Defiance Crescent-News: IndyCar getting to nitty-gritty
An update on Sam Hornish Jr.'s season, with Sam saying he'd like to vault Wheldon into fourth and "see if third is still possible."

Paddock Talk has a Q&A with the 2006 Indy winner and 3-time ICS champ.

The Marin Independent Journal has a piece on former IndyCar Series driver Memo Gidley and IPS driver J.R. Hildebrand, both of whom will run in this weekend's support races.

Non-IRL news
1995 Indy 500 winner Jacques Villeneuve is going to test a NASCAR car with Bill Davis Racing.

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