Honda Indy Toronto

Here is your starting grid..

Row 1

#22 Justin Wilson
#12 Will Power

Row 2

#3 Helio Castroneves
#37 Ryan Hunter-Reay

Row 3

#10 Dario Franchitti
#9 Scott Dixon

Row 4

#6 Ryan Briscoe
#11 Tony Kanaan

Row 5

#77 Alex Tagliani
#26 Marco Andretti

Row 6

#2 Raphael Matos
#7 Danica Patrick

Row 7

#8 EJ Viso
#02 Graham Rahal

Row 8

#4 Dan Wheldon
#36 Bertrand Baguette

Row 9

#34 Mario Romancini
#5 Takuma Sato

Row 10

#24 Tomas Scheckter
#32 Mario Moraes

Row 11

#78 Simona De Silvestro
#06 Hideki Mutoh

Row 12

#19 Alex Lloyd
#15 Paul Tracy

Row 13

#18 Milka Duno
#14 Vitor Meira

TSN has just bumped coverage of the Cdn Tire race from TSN to TSN2 which I and most Cdns. do not get. It is a premium channel. It was supposed to be on TSN.
At least I can watch the Indy race on ABC tomorrow as again in Canada it is on TSN2.
Shows what our sports network thinks of racing.

Not only did Justin Wilson get the pole, he set the new track record with a lap time of 1:00.2710 and a speed of 104.827 mph. Kudos Justin.

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Originally Posted by DanicaFan

Not only did Justin Wilson get the pole, he set the new track record with a lap time of 1:00.2710 and a speed of 104.827 mph. Kudos Justin.

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Justin ran a 58.182 in '06...not sure what recored book you're looking at.

In fact, in '07, the entire field was faster than the pole time today.

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Originally Posted by Starter

Different cars, different engines, different series. Of course you knew that.

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Of course I do, but I also know that the records and record books were officially combined with the merger...so, the official track record was not set today, unless you qualify it with an asterik or something. Of course, we all knew that too.

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Originally Posted by TURN3

Of course I do, but I also know that the records and record books were officially combined with the merger...so, the official track record was not set today, unless you qualify it with an asterik or something. Of course, we all knew that too.

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Were the record books really combined? I remember a big fuss about Scott Dixon becoming the winningest IndyCar driver... I don't know what A.J. thought about that.

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Originally Posted by NickFalzone

Although I certainly do not agree with DanicaFan's assessment, I am starting to wonder about PT. He has perhaps not been in the fastest equipment this season, but his quals and finishes have been fairly poor... hopefully he gets it together for this race because the 14th place and worse finishes are not going to get him anywhere near a season ride next year, and likely not going to even get him the few races he's made this year.

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As a person ages, there are certain physiological changes that affect his ability to be a racing driver. The field of vision narrows, acuity lessens, and moving objects are seen less clearly. I stayed in Formula Ford until I was 40, and at that time I could begin to notice the decline. I get the impression that as long as a driver is at speed frequently that the rate of decline is less, but if you're out of the car for an extended period of time that your visual acuity declines from that of a racing driver to what a non-driver experiences.

I've noticed that most open wheel drivers begin to lose pace at about age 35. I think that HCN is experiencing that right now. He's still plenty racy, but I think you'll see that he wins fewer races than he used to, and when he does win it will be from a combination of speed and racecraft.

PT is 41, and will be 42 in December. During the last years of ChampCar, he didn't have the ultimate pace of some of the other drivers. Since then, he's been mostly out of racing. Undoubtedly, much of his poor showing is due to less-than-topnotch equipment, but I'd suspect that age and his limited schedule are part of the issue.

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Originally Posted by FormerFF

As a person ages, there are certain physiological changes that affect his ability to be a racing driver. The field of vision narrows, acuity lessens, and moving objects are seen less clearly. I stayed in Formula Ford until I was 40, and at that time I could begin to notice the decline. I get the impression that as long as a driver is at speed frequently that the rate of decline is less, but if you're out of the car for an extended period of time that your visual acuity declines from that of a racing driver to what a non-driver experiences.

I've noticed that most open wheel drivers begin to lose pace at about age 35. I think that HCN is experiencing that right now. He's still plenty racy, but I think you'll see that he wins fewer races than he used to, and when he does win it will be from a combination of speed and racecraft.

PT is 41, and will be 42 in December. During the last years of ChampCar, he didn't have the ultimate pace of some of the other drivers. Since then, he's been mostly out of racing. Undoubtedly, much of his poor showing is due to less-than-topnotch equipment, but I'd suspect that age and his limited schedule are part of the issue.

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yeah, it's disappointing, but probably true. PT is 3-4 years past his prime and his recent results are not just due to poor equipment. I am only 31 but have noticed that sometimes I need to turn my head more to see traffic when making turns, my field of vision is definitely a few degrees less than it once was. I'd guess that in top equipment, PT could still be a threat, but the combination of time off, age, and so-so equipment has really come together this year in a negative way.

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Originally Posted by Starter

Different cars, different engines, different series. Of course you knew that.

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It's a series track record, not the official track record. The official track record is the 58.182 set by JW in a Champ Car.

Maybe once the new cars come out in a couple of years, they will be able to set 'a new track record'! ;)

Props to JW for pole. But a lap record???

I expected it to be against the laws of physics for a crappwaggon to hold a lap record.