In the race for presidential endorsements, Mike Huckabee has the kitschy pop culture celebrity vote on lockdown.
First it was martial arts hero and "Walker, Texas Ranger" star Chuck Norris, who appears with Huckabee in his first TV ad.
Then hard-rocking hunting enthusiast Ted Nugent jumped on the Huckabee bandwagon, citing the Republican's support for second amendment rights.
Now, Huckabee is getting ready to rumble: wrestler Ric Flair, a.k.a. The Nature Boy, is supporting the former Arkansas governor in his bid for the White House.
Last week's Open Test on a modified Daytona International Speedway road course was the first opportunity for the full IndyCar Series field to use the 100 percent fuel-grade ethanol in its 3.5-liter Honda Indy V-8 engine, which will power the series in 2007. The 17 drivers and teams who participated in the two days of the first testing of '07 recorded almost 1,700 laps on the 10-turn, 2.72-mile road course with no major issues. "I really didn't notice any difference at all, which I think is the point," 2005 IndyCar Series champion Dan Wheldon said. "It's better for the environment, fuel efficient and hasn't affected engine performance."
Tony Kanaan
The IndyCar Series is the first and only in motorsports to run on a renewable fuel. Andretti Green Racing's Dario Franchitti noted the absence of fumes, which in the past bothered his eyes while a few drivers noticed a different, but familiar, smell while running in traffic. "I think it smelled like popcorn," joked A.J. Foyt Racing's Darren Manning.
Race drivers Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button each conducted two days of running in the new RA107 with test driver James Rossiter completing two days in the RA106 car as it comes towards the end of its testing schedule. Following a successful first test in Barcelona last week, the RA107 programme focused on the evaluation of different set-up options and the new controls software whilst continuing to put further mileage on the new chassis. The inclement weather experienced in the first two days of the test also allowed the team to run the RA107 on the Bridgestone Potenza wet tyres for the first time.
Rubens Barrichello...“We made a step forward this week in our understanding of the car, despite the poor weather which limited the amount of mileage covered on my two days of running. We focused on electronic controls work and set-up developments, along with some reliability running, before further new parts become available for the next tests. It is early days yet but I am happy with our current position.”
The Honda Racing F1 Team completed its four-day test at the Valencia circuit in Spain Friday. After inclement weather at the start of the week, the test was extended for an extra day to allow the teams to make up some of the track time lost on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Jenson Button continued his running in the RA107 for a second day and spent the early part of the morning session conducting check runs to establish a good balance on the car, before completing short new tyre runs. In the afternoon, Jenson continued the set-up programme for the RA107 as he ran through various set-up changes over longer runs.
Honda are feeling confident for the season ahead after the team’s 2007 challenger, the RA107, passed its first test with flying colours. The new car completed 178 laps, some 823 kilometres, at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya last week during the Japanese team’s three-day session. After a brief shakedown run at Silverstone on Monday of last week, the RA107 headed to Spain. Race driver Rubens Barrichello completed a private run on Wednesday, before taking charge of the new car during its official launch in front of the media on Thursday. In total the Brazilian covered 92 laps in the new car, clocking a fastest time of 1m 23.030s.
"It's been an exciting test for us this week and I'm glad to have had the chance to drive the new RA107 car,” said Barrichello. “The whole team has done a great job and the car is already on the same pace as last year's car, despite not having all of its development parts yet. There is a lot of work to do to get us ready for the start of the season, but from my laps this week, I really enjoyed the feeling of the car." The Brazilian’s team mate, Jenson Button, was also in attendance, although his initial run on Thursday was interrupted by a minor problem which saw him stop out on track. Button made it back out on Friday and completed 86 laps, the British driver’s best time a 1m 23.16s.
Andretti Green Racings IndyCar Series program wrapped up its first test of the 2007 season Thursday at Daytona International Speedway. All four of AGR s driver participated in the two-day road course test and offered the following thoughts on their first outing of the year:
Dario Franchitti, #27 Canadian Club Dallara/Honda/Firestone The Canadian Club guys had a decent test plan and we made some good progress yesterday. Today, I think we took a little bit of a step backwards, but that is part of what you deal with when you're testing.
Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda/Firestone I think we did some positive things during the test to the Team 7-Eleven car. We seemed to go back a step in the last session today but I think we learned some things and that's what we were here to do. It felt good to finish at the top yesterday and to post the overall top speed during the test. I m really happy for the guys on the Team 7-Eleven crew and the rest of the team. We've made up some ground and have to keep working to get better.
Road Course Open Test An Important Starting Point For 17-race Season
From a team standpoint, Target Chip Ganassi Racing managing director Mike Hull will be looking for execution, communication and at the competition. His team's drivers, 2005 IndyCar Series champion Dan Wheldon and 2003 series title holder Scott Dixon, each won two races last season. But Wheldon came up one point short in the season-long championship race to Team Penske's Sam Hornish Jr.
"Basically in testing, what we do is you've got to understand the tuning changes and the parameters that affect the car the greatest, and we can learn all of those things at Daytona," he said. "So testing is very important for us. Everybody works hard during the winter to try to improve their individual product. It's the first opportunity that you really have to come out and test with everybody that's represented in the IndyCar field.
AN INTERVIEW WITH DARIO FRANCHITTI AND DARREN MANNING
THE MODERATOR: We’re now joined by Dario Franchitti. Tell us a little about the testing, so far?
DARIO FRANCHITTI: The track conditions have changed a little bit for yesterday, so the entire team is stuggling to adjust to that. Other than that it’s been a good test.
Q. Is there any difference from methanol to ethanol and the new 3.5-liter engine?
DARIO FRANCHITTI: Well it smells a little different when you are following a car. Actually, in the past when you race with methanol when you would sit in the car the fumes would sting your eyes. It doesn’t do that with the ethanol. The engine has a lot of torque and you can feel that.
Q. About a possible race at Daytona
DARIO FRANCHITTI: “If we’re going to go racing here, I would like us to see us use the full 24-hour course. It’s my opinion. I think that would be good fun. There are a couple of things that maybe we would have to change because of the higher speeds of these cars but I would definitely be interested in doing that.
Can we learn anything? Yeah, we can. In a perfect world, we would go run down the streets of St. Pete or up at Mid-Ohio just now. I think that’s under snow so that could be a problem. But we sort of look at a corner and say yeah, this is similar to this type of corner. We try to get a general amount of information first of all and then try to get a specific corner to corner.
Andretti Green Racing’s Tony Kanaan Had The Fastest SpeedAt Daytona
The IndyCar Series wrapped up a two-day preseason test session at historic Daytona International Speedway on Thursday. Seventeen IndyCar Series teams have been navigating the twists and turns of the 2.72-mile road course at the “The World Center of Racing” for the last two days as they prepare for the five road/street course events on the 2007 IndyCar Series schedule. Even though the IndyCar Series doesn’t hold a race at Daytona International Speedway, drivers say they can pull information from the course and utilize it in their future setups. Overall, Andretti Green Racing’s Tony Kanaan had the fastest speed of the entire two-day session with a speed of 135.549. The stock portion of Speedweeks 2007 will kick off with the Budweiser Shootout and ARCA 200 on Saturday, Feb. 10.
Overall Speeds
1. Tony Kanaan, 135.549 2. Helio Castroneves, 135.335 3. Dan Wheldon, 135.226 4. Dario Franchitti, 135.134 5. Sam Hornish Jr., 135.056 6. Scott Dixon, 134.438 7. Vitor Meira, 134.149 8. Marco Andretti, 133.887 9. Scott Sharp, 133.456 10. Jeff Simmons, 133.260 11. Kosuke Matsuura, 133.006 12. AJ Foyt IV, 132.821 13. Tomas Scheckter, 132.663 14. Darren Manning, 132.124 15. Buddy Rice, 131.766 16. Danica Patrick, 131.645 17. Ed Carpenter, 130.843
The preseason test is the second visit for the IndyCar Series to Daytona International Speedway. Last September, the IndyCar Series held a compatibility test at Daytona International Speedway with four teams – Chip Ganassi Racing, Penske Racing, Panther Racing and Andretti Green Racing. “The name says everything,” said Andretti Green Racing’s Tony Kanaan, who was the fastest driver of the day with a speed of 135.549 mph in the four-hour afternoon session. “I walked into this place in September, it was my first time ever here, and I was pretty impressed. Again, last night when I walked in again, it always gives you that.”
Dan Wheldon, Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves, Sam Hornish Jr., Scott Sharp, Buddy Rice, Darren Manning, Ed Carpenter and Tomas Scheckter are participating in the two-day testing session just after competing in last weekend’s Rolex 24 At Daytona.
“No question that it’s a challenging place – especially when you are coming from a 24 hour,” Helio Castroneves said.
“To make the change from the DP (Daytona Prototype) car to the Indy car – it’s a big change. You can ask anyone that did the 24. It’s kind of a relearning. “The only time I ran here is with the DP cars, so for me to find the braking points and the turning and everything in an Indy car, and all of the sudden becoming three times faster than I am used to. Again, after two laps I got used to it and back to the same rhythm.”
I usually do not pay much attention to the 24 hours of Daytona but this year's race has me hooked. The sound of racing engines hath restored my soul and that howling winter wind outside will soon give way to gentler spring breezes. More and more well known drivers are finding that the Rolex 24 hours of Daytona is the place where they can show off their skills and compete with one another. Check out this partial list of drivers in this year's competition.
Ed Carpenter, Indianapolis, IN
Tomas Scheckter, Indianapolis, IN
Tony George, Indianapolis, IN
Anthony Foyt, Houston, TX
Scott Pruett, Auburn, CA
Juan Pablo Montoya, Colombia
Scott Dixon, New Zealand
Paul Tracy, Scarborough, ON Canada
AJ Allmendinger, Denver, CO
Jeff Gordon with the SunTrust Team
Jeff Gordon, Vallejo, CA
Patrick Carpentier, Las Vegas, NV
Darren Manning, England
Bill Lester, Atlanta, GA
Bobby Labonte, Corpus Christi, TX
Tony Stewart, Rushville, IN
Christian Fittipaldi, Brazil
Eddie Cheever Jr, Indianapolis, IN
Buddy Rice, Phoenix, AZ
Scott Sharp, Tequesta, FL
Helio Castroneves, Miami, FL
Sam Hornish Jr, Defiance, OH
Max Papis, Miami, FL
Oriol Servia, Miami, FL
Wally Dallenbach, Spring Branch, TX
Katherine Legge, Indianapolis, IN
Jimmie Johnson, El Cajon, CA
Ryan Hunter-Reay, Boca Raton, FL
Jimmy Vasser, Las Vegas, NV
Pontiac Racers Look Strong Going Into Night Fall at Daytona
Lowe's #91 Leads Pontiac Charge in DP, Banner in GT at Five Hours
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. Jan. 27, 2007 - Pontiac powered Daytona Prototypes (DP) led the 69 car field to the green flag this afternoon for the start of the 45th running of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve season opening Rolex 24 at Daytona.
Alex Gurney managed to lead the first six laps before having contact with a stricken GT car causing the pole sitter to limp around to the pits for extensive repairs. The result was the No. 99 Gainsco Pontiac Riley going 20 laps down.
The top running Pontiac powered DP car is currently the No. 91 Lowe's Pontiac Riley currently shown in second position. Reigning NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson just relinquished the wheel to teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay.
"I had a good run," Johnson relayed. "I was trying to keep pace with Montoya, on some laps I would gain and on some I would lose, but the gap was pretty close. The traffic with all of these cars really keeps you focused. The track, off the line, is pretty dirty and that will make it hard to pass as the night goes on. I am used to running around with here with guys going about the same speed. There is possible rain, I am looking forward to it. The last time I raced in the 24 it rained most of the night. The team has a good set-up in the rain and we should be strong."
Personally I like to cheer for "local" drivers. In this race I found a guy from Little Rock Arkansas. This kind of racing doesn't normally lend it self to what I typically think of when I consider Ozark Mountain folk, so I found this interesting. But there is no one in the race from Tennessee, Missouri, Louisiana, Iowa or Alabama. So I am making this Arkansan my homey.
47DPTruSpeed Motorsports
Charles Morgan, Little Rock, AR Rob Morgan, Ladera Ranch, CA Timo Bernhard, Germany BJ Zacharias, Cincinnati, OH
Porsche RileyQuerencia Golf Club, Los Cabos/ TruSpeed Motorcars/ Wright Motorsports
What is TruSpeed Motorsports?
When the Green Flag signals the start of the 45th Rolex 24 at Daytona Saturday, January 27th, the TruSpeed Motorsports team of Charles Morgan, Rob Morgan, Timo Bernhard and B.J. Zacharias will be ready put their No. 47 Querencia Golf Club, Los Cabos/TruSpeed Motor Cars/Wright Motorsports/VelocityVille.com Porsche Riley right into the thick of battle. Even though the team has extensive experience and success in the Rolex 24, there are so many variables in play as the race unfolds that it proves difficult to foresee all potential circumstances. And contrary to the sprint races that make up a sizeable portion of the Grand Am schedule, restraint and a steady pace pay dividends in the 24. While there are many stars of American and international motorsports in the field, many of the big names have little or no experience in endurance racing. TruSpeed Motorsports has endurance experience behind the wheel and experience behind pit wall.
Who is Charles Morgan?
Thirty-one of the 70 cars entered will have at least one driver on board with a previous victory in the twice-around-the-clock classic. And TruSpeed Motorsports is no exception. Charles Morgan has a pair of Rolex 24 class wins in his long and storied career, going to victory lane in 1989 (GTP-Light) and 1996 (GTS-1). Rob Morgan has earned one victory, also in 1996 (GTS-1) and finished second overall in 1997. German Timo Bernhard was part of the team that scored the overall win driving a GT class machine in 2003 and he also picked up a class win in 2002 (GT). The fourth member of the team, B.J. Zacharias, has yet to taste the victory champagne but was putting pressure on Bernhard in 2002 before settling for a fourth-place finish.
Get your TV over on Speed right now. Two more hours of coverage has just started.
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Jeff Gordon with the SunTrust Team
