2010 INDY RACING LEAGUE® OFFICIAL WALL CALENDAR NOW AVAILABLE

The Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation is pleased to announce the

availability of the 2010 Indy Racing League® official wall calendar, “Up Close & Personal,” just in time forthe holidays.

United Medical Providers (UMP, Inc,) and JMKC Express, long-time sponsors of the Sam SchmidtParalysis Foundation, have produced a sixteen month, 12” x 12” photographic wall calendar withproceeds from the sale of the calendar benefiting the Foundation.

The calendar is available online at http://www.samschmidt.org/indyracingcalendar2010/ for $13.99.

Bulk quantities at discounted prices are available for gift giving. For information, please direct inquiriesvia email to: admin@umponline.com.

The “Up Close & Personal” calendar is sure to excite Indy Racing League® fans every day of the year bygiving a glimpse into their favorite drivers’ lives with images of intense racetrack moments and driversenjoying their favorite pastime hobbies. The calendar, which will also include the 2010 IndyCar Series®schedule, will feature some of the league’s hottest racing stars.

About The Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation

The Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation (SSPF) was started in 2000 by Indy Racing League driver SamSchmidt shortly after a practice-run crash left him paralyzed from the chest down. SSPF is leading thecharge to cure paralysis by funding scientific research, medical treatment, rehabilitation andtechnological advances, benefiting stroke victims and people diagnosed with ALS, Alzheimer’s andParkinson’s diseases. In addition to initiating local and national advocacy efforts on behalf of thosedisabled, SSPF funds various quality of life grants to organizations, provides college scholarships forpeople with spinal cord injuries/paralysis, and funds the national Day at the Races program. Ida Cahill,President, is a member of the Spinal Cord Leaders Council.

Sam Schmidt was recently recognized by the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation with the 2008Visionary Leader Award, because of his dedication and commitment to funding research and bettering the lives of those who are paralyzed. For more information, visit www.samschmidt.org.

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Dario Franchitti 2009 Championship Press Conference Audio Clip

Dario Franchitti 2009 Championship Press Conference Audio Clip

Post Race Driver Quotes Homestead

DARIO FRANCHITTI (No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing): (Can you believe it?): "No, I can't. I can't. Like 2007, I just had to try to save some fuel and stay on strategy. And it just worked out. The Target car wasn't great early that first stint. Chris (Simmons, crew chief) and the boys made some changes. From the second stint on, we were right there. But we had lost so much ground. We were saving fuel. We were sticking to our strategy. The car was really good at the end. A win is a win. On the cool-down lap, I was thinking of my buddy Greg (Moore). I was in a championship fight 10 years ago, but it didn't matter because we lost him. This one is for him. It's been a hell of a year for the Target boys. I've got to thank Chip (Ganassi) for gving me a job."

RYAN BRISCOE (No. 6 Team Penske, second): "It's pretty frustrating. It was one of the best races I've ever run. I just hate that it came down to fuel strategy. It's a whole championship. Dario (Franchitti) has been great all year long, so congrats to him. It's hurts." (Did you think it was yours to win?): "I thought it was going to be between me and Scott, definitely. I guess the 10 car (Franchitti) had the advantage."

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing, third): "At the start of the race, I didn't think it would be wise to go out and burn a lot of fuel. It ended being the fact and coming true. You just have to take it on the chin and come back and try again next year. At the end of the year, you'd think the fastest car is going to win, but several times, it hasn't been. I think Briscoe and I had a pretty good race going on, but we got what we got."

TONY KANAAN (No. 11 Team 7-Eleven, fourth): "It was a long race. It looks like those three guys (Franchitti, Briscoe, Dixon) were in another league. I think it was an A-league and a B-league, but we tried. We did what we could. The car was OK. It was just not fast enough, so I guess we'll take the fourth place. After the season that we had, to finish up with a top four, it is what it is."

HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Team Penske, fifth): "It was two races. There was those three guys (Franchitti, Briscoe and Dixon) and then the rest of the field. It's a shame. But first, I want to thank all the people here. They were awesome. I mean, I was thirsty; I can imagine you guys. Our Penske boys and Ryan did everything they could to bring this championship home. It's a shame. But fifth is definitely good for us. Fourth in the championship. And I have nothing complain about this year. It was a fantastic year. It was a bit difficult, but I have to thank the fans that supported me all the way through. Indy was great. So thank you, everybody. Next year, it's going to be different. Hopefully going to be different."

RAPHAEL MATOS (No. 2 US Air Force Luczo Dragon Racing, 14^th, 2009 IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year): "I'm very happy. It couldn't be better. I think this title means a lot to me and a lot to the team. There's a lot of famous names in the Rookie of the Year gallery and I dreamed about (joining them). I think this shows that we are ready for bigger and better things in the series."

MARIO MORAES (No. 5 Azul Tequila/Votorantim/KVRT, seventh): "The KV Racing Technology team didn't qualify the way we wanted. Then we lost some more ground during the first stint of the race. But for the last two stints, the car was really good. And on the last stint I had one of the fastest cars on the track, so I was able to pick up some positions. Of course, I am a little disappointed, but finishing seventh wasn't too bad. This was a very tough season, for a lot of reasons. We had had a fast car all season, especially in qualifying. But there were a lot of things going on, and we had some bad luck. Then things changed and started going our way. We had some good races at the end of the season finishing in the top-five and getting our first podium, so overall, because of the way we ended the season, I am happy. I definitely learned a lot from last year to this year. Actually, I learned more this year than at any other time in my racing career. For that, I have to thank Kevin Kalkhoven, Jimmy Vasser, Mark Johnson, all the KVRT engineers and mechanics. Everyone worked hard all season and did a great job."

RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 14 ABC Supply Co. AJ Foyt Racing, 13^th): "We made some changes during the race and found the sweet spot on the last stint. Wish we could have started that way. The ABC supply guys did a great job for me. We had solid stops. I'm glad we're rolling it back on the truck!" (About how he feels after driving in Grand-Am and IndyCar Series races today): "As fresh as a daisy. I feel good right now."

E.J. VISO (No. 13 PDVSA HVM Racing, 16^th): "It was a difficult race, but I'm pretty happy with the result. We didn't have the speed to go any faster, but we ran a very clean and stable race. I need to thank everyone that works at HVM Racing, and I need to thank all my sponsors, friends, family and everyone who helped me these past two years. Maybe they haven't been the most successful years of my career, but I definitely learned a lot. It's from these tough years when you learn the most. It's when you start pushing more as a driver and as a person and make the margin of mistake smaller and smaller every time. What HVM taught me in these two years is going to be very useful in my 2010 season. I'm looking forward to it being in IndyCar. I have the option to go back to Europe, but I really like this series. I think I want a long-time career here. It's very competitive, it's been a pleasure to race with all these drivers, and I'll hopefully be here next year."

ROBERT DOORNBOS (No. 33 HVM Racing, 20^th): "We had such a horrible car coming off the truck into practice, so we were lost going into qualifying, in general just lacking pace. Going into the race, we found out the car was bad the first two stints, so we made some big changes in the pit stops. And I think the last stint was good. I could keep the pace of the leader, and I did enjoy myself on that last stint. Unfortunately, we couldn't finish the race. We lost a mirror, which is sort of symbolic of how the season went. But we'll forget it, put it behind us and focus on next year."

ALEX LLOYD (No. 40202 HER Energy/Newman/Haas/Lanigan, eighth): "All in all, it was a pretty good day for the HER Energy team. We lost a quite a few places on the start, and I think that was just me being overly cautious. I've never raced an Indy car on a 1.5-mile oval, and I wasn't quite sure what to expect in Turn 1. Everybody just nailed it, and I lifted too much and we got swarmed by people. In the second half of that stint, we had a good car and came through quite a few cars, so I thought, 'OK, this is looking quite good.' I felt like we could race with some of the quick guys. And then as the race went on, every stint we started to get more and more understeer that we couldn't get rid of, and that really cost us. We finished about where we were at the end of the day. All in all, it was a good day. There are a lot of things that I am learning as I go along, which is an extremely good thing. We had a good car all weekend. We certainly could have been a little bit better in the race, but I think we came away with some really good things, a lot of positives. There were a lot more positives than negatives, so I'm definitely happy, and I think everybody at HER Energy will be happy, too."

MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 26 Team Venom Energy, 22^nd): "I'm really disappointed for the Venom boys tonight. We had a great car for our first stint, and once we put some front wing in, we have been able to continue to run at the front. After the first stop, the brakes hung up, and we just started getting slower and slower. By the time we came in, it was too late, and that was it for the No. 26 car. It's just a shame to have to end the season this way."

HIDEKI MUTOH (No. 27 Formula Dream, sixth): "Physically, it was a very tough race for me. I am still recovering a bit from my crash during qualifying at Motegi, but the car was fantastic overall and very good in traffic. I have to thank my guys. They did a great job all night, and we were able to gain some positions during pit stops. I had a great season with the team, and a sixth-place finish is a nice way to end the year."

DANICA PATRICK (No. 7 Boost Mobile/Motorola, 19^th): "The Boost Mobile/Motorola car was really good today. From my feelings out there, it looked like the first six cars were really going out there, and it was good to be in that mix. The car was getting better every stop. But we came in for what would have been our final stop, and Dan Wheldon was coming out of his pit box. He went, then he stopped, then he went and he hit me. His team sent him, and they shouldn't have. It's pretty unfortunate because it took me out and it took him out. As far as the season goes, I'm happy. We've got some work to do over the winter. We know what we need to do, and we'll be ready for next year."

ED CARPENTER (No. 20 Menards/Vision Racing, 12^th): "At the start, I went by (Ryan) Briscoe and I thought it was going to be a great race, but the tires went away. And by Lap 3, I was almost out of adjustments in trying to get the car's understeer under control. And then I had to deal with some oversteer, and it was just a shame. It's not the race that I wanted to end my season on, and it was a heck of a lot like the races earlier in the season before the aero changes. Plus the race was all green, so it couldn't have been too excited to watch, but congratulations to Dario (Franchitti). He outlasted those other guys and got it done. So congrats to him. It's just not a good way for us to finish the season. It makes for a long offseason not knowing when we are going to be able to get on track again to try and sort all of this out." (About season): "Kentucky was an obvious highlight for us. At Indianapolis, we didn't have a great car, but I felt like we had a good finish there for the car that we had in the race. But to be honest, outside of Kentucky, nothing else this season went the way I wanted it to go."

GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 02 McDonald's Racing Team, 11^th): "It was not a good day for us. Others that were in the championship battle with us had problems, and we couldn't capitalize because the car wasn't good. We literally had to finish the race because of the championship, but it was challenging. The car was so loose. If I was on my own, the car was OK. But if I got even remotely close to someone, the car went incredibly loose. It was the hardest race of my life because I was holding my breath every single corner of every lap. There is so little track time, and coming here to put it all together on a race weekend puts too much pressure on us. We're going to keep working hard, and the McDonald's team will be back at the front. We made huge gains from last year to this year, but we can't make the same amount of gains from this year to next because we're already close now that we can't expect the same amount. All we need to do is make some gains, and we'll be right in the hunt, week in and week out."

Homestead Post Qualifying Driver Quotes

RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 14 ABC Supply Co. AJ Foyt Racing, qualified 21^st): "It wasn't what we were hoping for. We lost some time in the morning with a radiator problem, so we were kind of behind the 8-ball all day on getting the balance with the car. Unfortunately, we are still figuring it out in qualifying. Hopefully tomorrow we'll go into it with a pretty good balance. We want a balance to go racing with because these are some long races, and 10 laps in, the tires will have about had it. We're going to have to keep the car under us, that'll be the key."

E.J. VISO (No. 13 PDVSA HVM Racing, 18^th): "Homestead is special for me because it's the first track I touched when I came over from Europe to do IndyCar, and it's always good to come back to a place you have a good memory of. The expectations were high. We tested at the beginning of the season, so we had a lot of data to work with. But unfortunately today is a lot hotter than when we tested - it's over 40 degrees hotter - so that data is not helping much. Today we had a rough start of the day but we were able to improve the car a bit. For qualifying we even made the car a little bit faster than we thought we would. Tomorrow is going to be a long day. and my racecraft as a driver needs to be very complete. Pits stops, strategy, everything needs to be good, and I think we can achieve a top 10."

ROBERT DOORNBOS (No. 33 HVM Racing, 22^nd): "It's a bit frustrating. We're obviously not where we want to be. I'm going flat out, but it just wasn't enough. We'll see what kind of work we can do."

HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Team Penske, 11^th): "Today was a great team effort. I tell you those guys on the No. 3 car really did an incredible job in getting a backup car ready for me to qualify. Because we were in such a rush to get out there, we probably went a bit conservative on the setup. But if we didn't get to qualify, we would've had to start last, so 11th isn't that bad."

MARIO MORAES (No. 5 Azul Tequila/Votorantim/KVRT, 10^th): "KV Racing Technology qualified 10^th, which is very disappointing for everyone on the team, especially after starting on the front row at Motegi and having such a good test here last week. But the important thing is I feel we have a good car for the race, so I am confident we can have a good result tomorrow."

MILKA DUNO (No. 23 CITGO/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, 17^th): "The car was good, and I think we had a pretty good qualifying. We also learned a lot today and the team gave me a great car, so it was a good combination. I drove the car, and they gave me the car and I put it together."

TOMAS SCHECKTER (No. 43 Mona Vie/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, 12^th): "The car was good, and I think we could have done just a little bit better, but I think we got the maximum out of it. My Mona Vie crew did a great job again. We have a ton of people coming tomorrow, and I'm really excited about that. The race is a whole other story for us, and we just need to work on it tonight."

MIKE CONWAY (No. 24 Roll Coater/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, 20^th): "Qualifying wasn't that good for us. We struggled a little bit in practice today, and we weren't sure what to expect. We just need to work hard during the race. With it being the last race of the season, we need to give it all we've got, work hard tonight and bring the car home with a good result tomorrow."

RAPHAEL MATOS (No. 2 US Air Force Luczo Dragon Racing, ninth): "I'm very happy with the run. I worked with my tools and got everything I could out of the car. I have to thank the Air Force Luczo Dragon team for putting together a good car for the weekend. I feel confident that we will have a good race car tomorrow. Grip will be the issue; everyone has been dealing with it. We will make some adjustments tomorrow, and hopefully we will finish strong and win the Rookie of the Year title. A strong finish would give the team some nice momentum heading into next season."

ED CARPENTER (No. 20 Menards/Vision Racing, fourth): "I'm really happy with that qualifying effort. I felt like we were definitely going to be in the top 10, but we were flirting with a top five in practice. This is a challenging place. The car has been really good, then really bad, then really good again, but we made some good changes for qualifying. The Vision team has worked really hard all year long, and it good to have such a strong qualifying effort to end the year. I'm happy to be starting fourth in the No.20 Menards car, and it's going to be an interesting race because everyone seems to be struggling in traffic on a challenging track. We thought it would be a little easier with all the aero changes than what it has been, but at the same time it is kind of fun to come to a track where you really have to nail the setup to have a good car. I think a lot of people are hoping to see the three championship contenders duking it out three-wide in the end, but I'm don't think that will be the case. The best car is going to win, and truthfully I think we have a good shot at it."

GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 02 McDonald's Racing Team, sixth): "We struggled with a lot of under steer since the start, and it was really hard for me to get the car down at the exit of Turn 4. The last two laps, I crept up a little too high, and it cost us a lot of speed. We made a lot of improvements today, though, because when we showed up the McDonald's car was a real handful. This has been a challenging place for me, for sure. We're pretty happy to be where we are. Obviously, Alex had a good run, too. So for the team, it's good. We'll keep working on this obviously, and hopefully we'll get the McDonald's boys up front in the race."

MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 26 Team Venom Energy, eighth): "We had good speed in the Venom car for qualifying today. Considering we've been focusing on race setup, I'm pleased with where we will start for the race tomorrow. I believe a race can be won from eighth, and winning the race is the highest goal I can have. Hopefully everything will fall into place."

ALEX LLOYD (No. 40202 HER Energy/Newman/Haas/Lanigan, fifth): "Everybody at HER Energy and Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing is very excited about our starting position. I was fortunate enough to win here (in Firestone Indy Lights). Racing here in an Indy car is different than in an Indy Lights car, but at the same time it's nice to have some experience at the track and have that feeling. It's great to be back competing in the IndyCar Series. We had a good car in qualifying and a good car in traffic. We want to go out there and be able to mix it up. There are some things I need to learn, but at the same time I think we can run at the front. Having only done the race at Indianapolis, it feels like a very quick weekend."

DANICA PATRICK (No. 7 Boost Mobile/Motorola, seventh): "Overall, it was a productive day for the Boost Mobile/Motorola car. The changes we made in practice today made the car better, which is what you hope for on a race weekend. The last run in the afternoon session was the best the car has felt yet. To go from that and then end up faster in qualifying is a good sign, and it makes me believe we have a strong car for tomorrow's race."

HIDEKI MUTOH (No. 27 Formula Dream, 19^th): "We struggled to find speed during qualifying today, and that is a little frustrating. Tomorrow is another day, and I think we have a better race setup for the car. We will keep working to finish the season strong."

TONY KANAAN (No. 11 Team 7-Eleven, 15^th): "We didn't really work on the qualifying setup for the #11 car this morning. We concentrated on the race because we know it will be tough tomorrow. Consistency is going to be the key. I worked on the car during my timed laps, and we were able to gain some speed. I'm confident for the race. It's hard to race at home, so we want to do well."

Homestead Post Qualifying Interview Briscoe Dixon Franchitti

An interview with Ryan Briscoe, Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti

An interview with Ryan Briscoe, Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti

Q. Ryan talk about your afternoon out there today?

RYAN BRISCOE: Not bad. Just Dario was really fast. I thought the car was pretty good and we did a great job getting prepared for qualifying. Speed was about where I was expecting it to be. We did a best lap this morning of 12:06 in the draft. And I've got to tell you, I was out there in pit lane watching Dario and I saw him do 12:08, 12:07, 12:07. I was like, where is this coming from? I thought the track must be a lot faster or something. I saw Rahal go out and do high 11s and felt pretty confident that the speed was just going to come to us, and it didn't. So the car felt pretty good. It wasn't just stuck; it was a challenge. I guess we were all thinking the track might get quicker at the end but it looks like it might have gotten slower.

Q. All this build-up to the race and it's finally here, any last‑second jitters, nerves going on?

RYAN BRISCOE: For sure. There's been a lot of focus to today on getting the car set up and ready for qualifying. I'm sure tomorrow it will escalate and the nerves and so on, it's definitely a big deal, a huge deal for me.

But I feel ready. I know I've got some very tough competition. The Target guys are way too quick in qualifying, and they are going to be strong in the race. So it's going to be a tough battle, but you know, there's a lot that goes into a good race, and hopefully I can beat them.

THE MODERATOR: We are also joined by our pole winner, his fifth peek pole award of the season, third on an oval, that's Dario Franchitti and with his pole he gains a point on Scott Dixon, now four points behind the leader. Talk about your afternoon out there.

DARIO FRANCHITTI: Obviously pretty happy with what we managed to achieve there. We tested here and we were not very ‑‑ the ten car side of the team, we were not that great. We found some problems. We came back today, we weren't happy with the balance really, and race trim or qualifying trim, we were a little bit off.

And Chris and Brad and the old engineering group on the Target side just went to work, came up with the setup. It was great. It was the first three laps were damn near perfect as far as the balance of the car. The fourth lap between three and four I had a little slip there, but a great job by the team, and this is one of the tracks that a driver can make a bit of a difference, one of the one‑and‑a‑half‑mile tracks that the driver can make a difference, anyway, in qualifying and I was really happy with the job today. To get one point was handy, and tomorrow the hard work begins because Ryan and Scott are right there and there are a few other guys that I watched in practice that looked very, very strong for the race tomorrow.

THE MODERATOR: Before we get to questions, we'll start with Scott Dixon, who will start from the front row for the fourth time this season. Scott, talk about your afternoon out there.

SCOTT DIXON: The morning two sessions were good. It was definitely exciting for me in the qualifying round. I was really, really loose. I think I was turning right more than I was turning left. And then I made the mistake of actually going stiffer on the rear bar, I was reaching for the front and got the rear and that made it even more exciting. Definitely had my hands full. Car was definitely quick. I think we definitely had a shoulder pole and our straight line seemed to be pretty good on the numbers, but obviously not so good through the corner. So all in all I think we are looking strong for tomorrow. It was a huge effort from Team Target and definitely a big congrats to Dario stealing that one point. Nice one. Let's hope it doesn't come down to that tomorrow. But looking forward to it and it's going to be exciting.

Q. We heard the Grand Am guys talk a lot about tire degradation. What do you guys feel, because I've heard from some of your count are parts that you're just having trouble with overall grip, for any kind of long run.

DARIO FRANCHITTI: I think as hot as it is, No. 1, the cars don't have the aero grip that we have had in the past. So that makes it pretty difficult. And this track has definitely lost grip every year we've come here. So we're asking a lot of the tires, and you've got to keep the balance. You've got to keep the balance in the car. If you get too much understeer, too much over steer in the car, it just gets worse and worse as the run goes on. So it definitely makes it a challenge.

Q. Would you call it an easy flat?

DARIO FRANCHITTI: Well, depends how close you get the car to being perfect.

Q. If I could, if you could comment just very briefly, what happens now, is it this thing go into like a massive planning strategy session into the night and then tomorrow or do things just sort of edge themselves into the race and everybody pretty much knows what's going on or somewhere in the middle?

SCOTT DIXON: I don't know. I hope we don't have a meeting right after this. I wanted to grab some food. It's very easy to overanalyze things and your mind starts running, and it's only going to do worse. For me I'm just going to treat it just like another race. That's what we have been doing all season. It's obvious that there's a lot more on the line but you can't really do anything to change the outcome of that. It's kind of ‑‑ most of the planning and the preparation for the cars and things like that have already been done. Tomorrow night might be the person that wins is the one that makes the least mistakes.

DARIO FRANCHITTI: I think the same as Scott. I think a lot of the planning has been done. I'm definitely going to sit and talk with my engineer about the changes we made for qualifying and how it translates into what we are going to do are to the race. We have a meeting in the morning as usual, any race day, actually afternoon because it's a night race and Chip will give us the benefit of his wisdom and we will go from there.

RYAN BRISCOE: Well, yeah, I think as Scott said, you don't want to overanalyze things too much, treat it like any other. I think the difference with this race is going to be towards the end of the race where we will all be figuring out and being told by our strategists what the points look like and what we'll need to do. That's where it will change a little bit. Every race we go to we have our standard meetings, set up work, and just try and go out and be the best guy on the track. So there's no reason to head into this race any differently.

Q. With the championship being so close and every point being so critical, did you place any additional emphasis on qualifying both for the point and the psychological advantage that may go with having the pole?

DARIO FRANCHITTI: I haven't placed any extra emphasis on it, there's only the tire allotment that we are given, there's only so much you can do on it. But the extra point that was by no means lost on any of us. I saw Ryan do two qualifying sims the second thing today, so everybody is pushing pretty hard.

RYAN BRISCOE: I think the point was maybe most important to me out of the three of us. We certainly put a lot of focus into it but you can only do so much, and we may have I think done an extra run in P2 today, just trying to get the confidence and be where we needed to be. But you know, at the same time, still in that session, we tried to do race set up work because that's really where it's going to count.

Q. Scott, for you, was there any with the extra point?

SCOTT DIXON: Our plan was the same as Dario's, and I think you have to be quite careful on the amount of the tires you use. Really, qualifying being the tires are good for about the four or five laps that you do and then you kind of start chasing grip levels that you typically are going to have for a race. It is very hard to do a lot of concentration on just qualifying stuff.

Q. Do you have any update with Helio's mechanical failure and any concerns this might be a carry over problem?

SCOTT DIXON: I was told it's nothing I need to worry about on my car, and I know that they will try and figure it out. I thought that was just to make me feel good going into qualifying. I have full confidence we will work it out, and they did a fantastic job getting him out for qualifying today. So you know, there's a big investigation going on. Hopefully it doesn't happen again.

Q. Normally the money, you get a big check and it looks all snazzy but it really was about the point today; the $10,000 doesn't mean much if the point is the difference in the championship.

DARIO FRANCHITTI: I can only speak for Dixie and myself, I'm from Scotland and he's a Kiwi. So it's all about the money. No, the point was big today. The point was a big deal, and yeah, as I said, full marks to my boys for going out and doing what we needed to do to get it.

A.J. Foyt Racing Signs Mexcor International as an Associate Partner for Miami

HOMESTEAD, FL -- October 8, 2009—Mexcor International Wine and Spirits has signed as an associate sponsor with A.J. Foyt Racing for the IndyCar Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway this weekend. The Agavales Tequila logo will be on the No. 14 Indy car driven by Ryan Hunter-Reay in the Homestead-Miami Indy 300.


Mexcor International, based in Houston, is making its first venture into motorsports with one of the icons of the sport--A.J. Foyt, the Houston-born all-time leader in IndyCar victories. The association of the two Texas-based, family operated companies is expected to grow as Mexcor increases its distribution across the country.


“As our company grows in the United States, I look forward to this opportunity to build our brand through the Indy Car Series and especially A.J. Foyt Racing,” said Eduardo J. Morales, CEO of Mexcor International Wine and Spirits. “I hope to continue this relationship into the 2010 season.”


“We’re excited to introduce Mexcor into IndyCar racing,” said Team Director Larry Foyt. “We believe we can offer them the marketing platform they need to increase distribution and sales in the U.S. This weekend, they can see what IndyCar racing is all about and the excitement that it can generate for their business. The company prides itself on its long-term business relationships and so do we. I think they are going to like what they see.”


The company produces Agavales Tequila, a premium tequila produced in the Jalisco region of Mexico. It is made from the best blue agaves from the region, creating three different Tequila flavors: Blanco (110 proof), Gold (80 proof), and Reposado (80 proof). More information on the company is available at www.mexcor.com.

16thandGeorgetown in hospital...send him well wishes

James over at 16thandGeorgetown.com had to have an emergency appendectomy Tuesday morning after his appendix burst, and is still in the hospital until probably Saturday.

I'm sure he would appreciate any well wishes from those that appreciate all the hard work he puts into his site, please drop him an e-mail if you have the time and wish him a speedy recovery.

Post Race Driver Quotes ... Motegi

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing, winner Indy Japan 300): "A fantastic day for Team Target. A 1-2. For me it's tremendous. It's a track I've always wanted to win in. I kind of put Motegi just below the Indy 500. It's a very difficult circuit. I remember coming here in the early years and competing for different engine manufacturers and how much emphasis is put on this race. If you have a fast car, you can still get to the front. Put on a good show. Over the moon. Definitely a good day for points and very happy."

DARIO FRANCHITTI (No. 10 Lifelock, finished second): I think we could see the Target cars were very strong. Both cars were very equally matched. Probably my car more so in traffic, and Scott maybe a little bit in clean air. But both cars, whichever one was in front was going to win. I managed to go longer than Scott in the first run. It was looking good. We came out of the pits after the second stop having pulled a pretty substantial gap. I was coming up to lap the No. 2 car, and I went to go on the inside and he came down, so I moved up, he moved up. He kept moving up until I hit a bump and ended up in the marbles. I managed to gather it back up, by which point Scott had a massive run and passed me. It was unfortunate to lose the lead that way, but we've seen that all year from him, to be honest. After that, it's just trying to pass Scott. We tried on the pits, on the restarts. We were so equal today, I needed traffic in front of us to slow Scott so I could get a run on him, and there wasn't any. "

GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 02 McDonald's Racing Team, finished third): "The McDonald's boys have been working awfully hard this entire time, and we've had the pace and it's nice to get our first podium on a superspeedway and second of the season on an oval. It's such an interesting track and a change from what we're used to with the classic superspeedway shape. The McDonald's boys did a great job in the pits today and we saved a lot of fuel which put us in that position."

ORIOL SERVIA (No. 06 Newman Haas Lanigan Racing, finished fourth): "It was a very good race. I'm extremely happy for the team to finish just behind Ganassi is very good. I'm very pleased, but obviously, I would have preferred to be on the podium but Graham had a run on me there at the end and he got the best out of it. I'm happy with the performance. I'm happy that the team gave me the opportunity. We had a good four races and definitely gained momentum, and I hope we can continue the momentum next year. I think we can be contenders for the championship if we start together from Day 1. That's what I really hope will happen. I'm happy how things have gone. I want to thank Carl and Bernadette Haas, Mike Lanigan and McDonald's for the opportunity."

MARIO MORAES (No. 5 Azul Tequila/Votorantim/KVRT, finished fifth): "I am happy for the KV Racing Technology team. They did a great job all weekend. We started second, but I fell in line in third place at the start of the race. Then on the first pit stop we had a problem refueling and had to come back in for more fuel. That put us two laps down. But, the whole team fought back and we got some luck with a yellow flag to get back on the lead lap in fuel sequence and finished fifth. It is our third consecutive top-five finish, so I am happy about that. I am also looking forward to going to Homestead. I think we are going to have a very good car there, so we can finish the season off really strong.

DANICA PATRICK (No. 7 Boost Mobile/Motorola, finished sixth): "The No. 7 car was strong all day; unfortunately it just wasn't strong enough to defend my win from last year. We could have had a run on Mario (Moraes) but I got caught in traffic and just wasn't able to gain the position. Overall it was a good day and a solid finish for us."

MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 26 Team Venom Energy, finished seventh): "Today wasn't a bad showing for the Venom boys, especially considering our starting position. A better qualifying run obviously would have made our day a lot easier, but we were able to work through some traffic and make the best it. Had that last yellow fallen a couple laps later I think it would have been a much brighter outcome for the #26 car, but you can't depend on yellows."

DAN WHELDON (No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing, finished eighth): "It was really good to be back and running up front again, and obviously from the entire Panther Racing team standpoint I feel everybody did an excellent job. The engineering staff made a big change last night for the race and it was very positive and I could see that it made the car very nice to drive today and certainly when catching lapped traffic I was able to make a lot of time up. Unfortunately it was one of those things for us today; we got caught on the yellow flag. But like I said everybody here has come here and put a lot of effort into this weekend and unfortunately they weren't rewarded. We again showed that we can run with the best."

HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Team Penske, finished 10^th): "We were shooting for a top-10 finish for Team Penske here in Japan and we got it today. It was very difficult to pass out there but we did the best job we could. The team made some great calls and we had good pit stops. It's a shame that Ryan lost the points lead, but we know we will be strong at Homestead and our goal is to bring home a championship for Team Penske."

RYAN BRISCOE (No. 6 Team Penske, finished 18^th): Yeah, it was pretty frustrating. With the accident leaving the pits, it was a huge opportunity for me to get the race lead. I just gassed it too much leaving my box, and the car spun. I hit the wall. We had to change the front upright. The team did a great job doing it in the time they did, but unfortunately that was our day done pretty much. Just sort of brought the car home without pushing too hard at the end. The good thing is that it's only eight points to Scott. I feel real good going into Homestead. We've been strong on all the one and a halves this year. This track is unique. Ganassi had the upper hand on us this weekend. Homestead, Team Penske I'm confident is going to be the team to beat. Eight points is the difference between first and second. It looks like is it's going to be a pretty tough battle to see who can win the race.

Post Qualifying Driver Quotes Motegi

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing): "I think actually the whole day for Team Target has been pretty decent. Obviously both in the second session, we were at the top of the charts. My car was definitely good in the first session. This morning we stuck with one set of tires. We didn't run another set like everybody else was just to try to save them for two qualifyings and practice, too. It's always hard to know what you're going to get out there especially when you have a couple guys that hit the wall, put All Dry down, things like that, the track conditions changing. I think they all seemed to be in our favor today. I think the track cooled off a little bit. There was no real wind. The car had a real balance. The outlook was nice to see when you see that come up on the dash and obviously you know you got to go a little bit quicker. But it didn't seem we had to pull out as much as maybe some of the others. The car was definitely quick. Hopefully it's consistent. We did a nice full-tank run in the second session, seemed pretty decent. We'll see what tomorrow brings."

MARIO MORAES (No. 5 Azul Tequila/Votorantim/KVRT, qualified second): "We have a really good car on ovals, and though It's a tough track I had a good car today. We were fifth (on the speed chart) in the second practice and I think we're going to have a good finish. KV Racing has been doing a great job."

DARIO FRANCHITTI (No. 10 Lifelock): We struggled this morning with the LifeLock car. We didn't have a good balance at all. The guys made some great changes on it from the first to second session. We were very happy with the car. Qualifying, my out lap leading to my first lap, I wasn't quite quick enough on that. I was a little concerned. Took one, two, three, four coming to the green. Ultimately that cost me some lap time. Still wouldn't have been quick enough to challenge Scott. He did a fabulous job there. Really impressive qualifying run. But we're starting close to the front. Yeah, it's going to be a long race. As Ryan says, hopefully it doesn't come down to a fuel race. But I think we're in good shape for that. I think our race car is better than our qualifying car right now.

RYAN BRISCOE (No. 6 Team Penske): Pretty good. Just a little bit loose on the first two laps. It wasn't really giving me of the confidence to get the throttle down out of Turn 4, so I left a bit on the table there. The car has been pretty good in practice. We had good, long runs today. It's going to be a tough race, it always is here. Hopefully doesn't come down to a fuel event, which it usually does, but we'll be aiming for it if that's the case. Hopefully we can still come out of here leading the points going into Homestead.

GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 02 McDonald's Racing Team, qualified fifth): "I really enjoy this track. The McDonald's car has been working well since the second we showed up. I'm definitely happy with that; I couldn't ask for much more. We're working hard. Obviously we still have room to develop but we're competitive and that's where we want to be. It would be great to get a win this year - that's the biggest think -- and there is a great opportunity for us here since the car has been good since we showed up."

DANICA PATRICK (No. 7 Boost Mobile/Motorola, qualified sixth): "We're here to win so I'm a little disappointed with where we qualified. On my third lap instead of downshifting to fifth gear the car went all the way down to fourth. I'm not sure if it did it by accident or if it was an electrical problem, but I'm sure that affected my last lap. The car has been pretty good today, Eddie (Jones), my engineer, has done a great job and we were really strong in the last practice session before qualifying and made great progress. The entire #7 crew has been working hard and I think we'll be okay for tomorrow's race.

ORIOL SERVIA (No. 06 Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, qualified seventh): ""The car improved so much between the practice session and qualifying. The car had more in it than I was able to get out of it. Every lap I pushed more and more but I never got to the limit of the car even on the last lap so I'm pretty confident that there was a faster lap in the car. I'm not sure if the track was a lot better or we made the right changes. I am with a great team so I have to say they made the right changes. The good thing though is that tomorrow I have 200 laps to reach the potential. It feels like I have a great car under me and that's what we need to be consistent and get to the front tomorrow"

DAN WHELDON (No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing, qualified eighth): "It wasn't a bad run in the National Guard Panther Racing car today, we just have a little too much understeer on the exit of Turn 4. That's what we've been trying to dial out today, and we have a reasonable race car to be quite honest, and we did a long race run with the car earlier today, and it was good. I feel like we're well prepared for the race and might be just a little bit behind the Penskes and Ganassis on the longer runs. But for the most part, we're in pretty good shape. The key here is you've got to be able to get on the power real early coming out of Turns 3 and 4 and you've got to be able to drive the car in there really deep, as well. If you can get on the power early, and with confidence, coming out of there you can get a good run on people coming down the straight."

HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Team Penske): "My car was running smooth, but there was an unexpected understeer in Turn 4 and unfortunately it didn't work out the way I wanted."

HIDEKI MUTOH (No. 27 Formula Dream): "I don't know what happened. Maybe I pushed too hard. I am disappointed because I wanted to do well because it's my home race in my home country. I'm a bit sore but I'm OK. I have a great setup and we have a good strategy, so I am looking forward to the race tomorrow. I will do my best to move up to the front and finish the race with a smile."

Viso and Doornbos Prep for Overseas Race HVM Drivers Focus on Schedules, Sleep … and Sushi

Indianapolis, Indiana (September 10, 2009) – The upcoming IndyCar Series race in Motegi, Japan, will take E.J. Viso and Robert Doornbos half a world away, and they know the trip will take a physical toll. So the HVM Racing drivers are prepping early to make sure they are adjusted by the time they climb into their cars at the Twin Ring oval. For starters, Motegi is 13 hours ahead of Eastern Time. To prepare for the huge time variance, both Viso and Doornbos plan to arrive plenty early to adjust. “I'm planning to go a few days before, and I'm going to have a couple of appearances with some sponsors,” said Viso, driver of the No. 13 PDVSA HVM Racing Honda Dallara. “So that's going to give me some time to adjust to the difference in time.” “Having the time changes, I'm sort of getting used to it, because with traveling from Europe to the U.S. you always go back in time, which is not bad,” said Doornbos, driver of the No. 33 HVM Racing Honda Dallara and native of The Netherlands. “But now we actually go ahead into time, which is something new. So you do have to adjust your body, your bio-rhythm. You try to arrive five or six days in advance. Try to prepare yourself in the best way so you're not sleepy for the race.” Doornbos says getting the body into a regular exercise routine will help. “What I like to do is running, cycling, swimming, just a lot of cardio work,” said Doornbos. “And I think it's one of the best ways to relax as well after a 12-hour flight, just to move the arms and legs. Just move the body a bit, make yourself tired. And then early to bed and focus on the race weekend.” Making themselves tired shouldn’t be too difficult. Between sponsor visits and promotional events, the drivers will have busy schedules once they land in Japan. But everyone agrees the overseas trip is good for the sport. “It’s always good to take open-wheel racing to different markets and to appeal to different audiences,” said Keith Wiggins, team principal and owner. “It’s only going to help the sport grow and build the fan base. There is a lot of work involved with taking a race team overseas, but in the end there is a great benefit to it.” One thing Viso and Doornbos won’t have any difficulty adjusting to is the Japanese cuisine. They both say they are looking forward to eating sushi. “I love sushi,” said Viso. “I’m sure I’ll eat plenty.”