Dan Wheldon was caught up in a lap 41 incident to finish 17th in round 12 of the IRL IndyCar Series at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The race began under wet conditions and finished just under the two hour time limit for the event.
The turning point of the race for Wheldon came on lap 41 when contact between Justin Wilson and Mario Dominguez started a pileup that left Wheldon stopped and stalled in the grass. Wheldon’s team would make a total of six stops on the day, keeping him in the championship hunt by making up four positions (21st to 17th) after the incident.
"A tough day for the Target team today." Wheldon said. "We were obviously on another strategy and we were doing alright and minding our own business. On the restart, Wilson and Dominguez got together and I got hit from behind. There was really nowhere to go so it’s unfortunate. We came into the pits a few more times to top off and make sure we could run the remaining laps and get the most points available to us."
Scott Dixon maintained his IndyCar Series championship lead with a 58 point advantage (455 to 397) over Helio Castroneves, with Wheldon now a single marker back of Tony Kanaan in fourth with 364 points. Up next for the Target team is the Rexall Edmonton Indy at Edmonton City Centre Airport on Saturday, July 26th (5:00 p.m. EDT, ESPN).
2007 Mid-Ohio race winner and recent Indianapolis 500 champion Scott Dixon sits atop the Series' driver point standings, 63 points ahead of Team Penske's Helio Castroneves. Dixon, last year's IndyCar Series Championship runner-up, has secured four race wins and five poles and will look to increase his lead not only over Castroneves, but also Target Chip Ganassi teammate Dan Wheldon who sits in third, and Andretti Green Racing's foursome of Tony Kanaan, Danica Patrick, Hideki Mutoh and Marco Andretti.
"As always I look forward to going to road courses during the season and more so when it is a race that we won last year," said Scott Dixon. "Mid-Ohio is a very challenging track and requires a lot of emphasis on qualifying well. I hope to improve on our qualifying from last year. We tested for a few hours just recently and I believe we found a few things. So all in all I can't wait to get back this weekend and try to defend our title."
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course may be the great equalizer in the field of 27, as all of the drivers who moved to the IndyCar Series in 2008 have a strong road racing background. Both Enrique Bernoldi and Justin Wilson have experience competing in Formula One while Mario Dominguez, Bruno Junqueira, Oriol Servia, Will Power and Graham Rahal all participated in Champ Car. E.J. Viso competed in GP2 and Mario Moraes in the British Formula 3 championship. Look for the top five to be challenged up front by these experienced road racers during the 85-lap race.
The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio presented by Westfield Insurance is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 20. ABC HD will televise the race live beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 20, while XM Satellite Radio will air the race at 1:30 p.m. ET on XM Satellite Channel 145.
"But all this must be suffered by those who profess the stern order of chivalry" Most Interesting Blog, June 16, 2008 and six other occasions. Lisa awarded him Best "breaking news" blogger March 31, 2008. Blog of The Day, Christmas Day, 2007. edhardiman wrote, "Falco's tribute to Rocket Richard reminds us all the stars of today stand on the shoulders of giants..." October 23, 2007. Three Golden Swirrly p00p Awards (Hockey, NASCAR and Use of Graphics), FlyingPig, July 18, 2007. 2007 Memorial Day Weekend Trifecta sponsored by williamwilman . Featured on WFORacingFans April, 2007. "Stylin'" award, Dusty, February 07. "One of ten new bloggers to watch" Dudski, January 2007.
