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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend May 16, 2005 Kanaan wins pole; Patrick a disappointing fourth By MIKE HARRIS The Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS — While Danica Patrick and her team agonized over whether to make another qualifying attempt Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Tony Kanaan waited nervously. Even when Patrick rolled her car back to the garage, done for the day and a disappointing fourth among Sunday’s 22 qualifiers for the May 29 race, Kanaan wasn’t able to relax. He sat restlessly in his car as several other drivers took unsuccessful shots at knocking him off the top spot in the final hour of pole qualifying. "I had my fingers crossed and I almost broke most of them," Kanaan said, grinning. "I was hiding them inside the car so nobody would know." In the end, though, Kanaan held onto the prestigious pole. Advertisement "When I got hired by this team, I think they had a lot of trust in me," said Kanaan, in his third year with Andretti Green Racing, co-owned by former driving star Michael Andretti, Kim Green and Kevin Savoree. "I hadn’t had a lot of good results in my career up until that point and they put a lot of faith in me. "I gave them the (team’s) first pole position, the first win, the first championship and the first Indianapolis pole. The list is getting shorter. Maybe an Indianapolis 500 win is next." Kanaan, whose best previous Indy start in three tries was second in 2003, has finished third and second in the race the last two years. He was third qualifier Sunday, posting a four-lap, 10-mile qualifying average of 227.566 mph on the historic 2½ -mile oval. Kanaan then had to wait through nearly six hours while other drivers tried to knock him off his perch. "It was a long day, but I think it was good for the fans and exciting," Kanaan said. "Obviously, it was nerve-racking for me. That last 45 minutes was really tough. I told Kim, ‘I’m probably going to have to check my heart tomorrow morning.’ " He was referring to the fact that several drivers took advantage of Indy’s new qualifying rules that allow up to three shots at qualifying on each day of time trials to try to beat Kanaan’s speed. Two-time Indy Racing League champion Sam Hornish Jr., who had qualified 11th early in the day at 225.847, withdrew that speed and re-qualified at 227.273, taking the middle spot on the first of what will be 11 three-car rows for the race. Dario Franchitti, one of Kanaan’s AGR teammates, also gave it a shot, withdrawing a 226.475 that was good for seventh at the time, and improved to 226.873, good for sixth. The final serious pole contender to take a shot at Kanaan was two-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves, Hornish’s Marlboro Team Penske teammate, who withdrew a 227.077 that was fourth on the grid, and slipped to fifth at 226.927 in the final 10 minutes of the session. "I wouldn’t have slept Sunday night if I didn’t try," Castroneves said. Franchitti, who had waved off a slower attempt after two laps earlier in the day, said the new format was good for the fans, but not a lot of fun for the drivers. "It is high pressure because the car is absolutely on the edge," Franchitti said. "It’s risky. To do it once is hard enough. To do it three times is really pressure. One small mistake and you’ll be in the wall. "And I felt sorry for Tony, having to sit there all day," he added. "He spent a lot of the day sitting back in the engineering room holding his head in his hands." Scott Sharp, a former pole winner and another early qualifier, wound up third at 227.176, while Patrick managed to overcome the mistake on the first lap that resulted in a speed of 224.920. She backed that up with three of the fastest laps of the qualifying and an average of 227.004 that gave her fourth place on the tentative grid. The 23-year-old Patrick, a rookie, is the fourth woman to qualify for the Indy 500 and the only female entered this year. The best previous qualifying effort by a woman was sixth by Lyn St. James in 1994. "I feel like I wasted a pole car," lamented Patrick, who had a lap of 229.880 in the morning practice after being among the fastest drivers all week. "But, maybe I saved it, too." "I don’t know if it was my mistake or not. Whether an itty-bitty gust of wind or the tires weren’t up to temp, God knows. But it’s not easy to save an oversteer." "I never celebrate when people make mistakes or crash because I want to beat the best," Kanaan said. "She made a mistake and I didn’t. That’s the way you win races and the way you win pole positions." After some practice later in the day, team co-owner Bobby Rahal made the decision not to withdraw her speed and try again. "I don’t think we could have been consistent enough for the pole," said Rahal, who won the Indy 500 in 1986. "The car was not quite there." Kanaan’s other two AGR teammates, Dan Wheldon, the current IRL points leader, and Bryan Herta were also among Sunday’s qualifiers. The only accident of the day came when rookie Ryan Briscoe crashed on the second lap of a qualifying attempt, nearly turning over his car. He was not injured and will have another chance to make the race in further time trials next Saturday and Sunday. The new qualifying rules mandated that 11 cars would qualify each of the first three days of time trials, with the fourth day reserved for bumping the slowest cars from the field. Saturday’s opening round of qualifying was rained out, so 22 drivers qualified on Sunday. Alex Barron, Jaques Lazier and Patrick Carpentier were all bumped out, but Barron later got back in as the slowest qualifier of the day at 221.053. Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback www.bingo.com Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker dvd-r Distance Education Computer Security Ztech Media Hosting Sports Equipment Online Casino Reviews Student Loans tcg student loan consolidation Online Pharmacy online casino Myspace Home Equity Loans Windermere Van Vleet Rogue Valley Travel Reservationstogo Hotel Reservations Southern Oregon Loans Online Casino News Natto Kinase Nattokinase Casino Gambling Sites Budget Website Templates Investments & Loans Advertisement s