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Wednesday, May 9
Sharp, Dismore have paced practice
Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS -- Tom Kelley has been shuttling drivers to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for five years.
He has never had a week quite like this.
|  | | Scott Sharp posted Wednesday's fastest lap in practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. |
The weather has been good, the track kind, and his drivers, Scott Sharp and Mark Dismore, have two of the three fastest laps
this week.
Kelley couldn't be happier and neither could his drivers, who posted the top speeds on consecutive days.
"It felt good, it felt real good," Sharp said after posting Wednesday's fastest lap, 226.137 mph. "We're right where we wanted to be. We had a few mechanical gremlins that kept us in the garage a lot of the time the last couple days, so it's nice to be able to go out there."
And perform the way Sharp did.
The week, however, started more typically for Sharp.
He blew an engine Sunday, then an electrical fire in the backup car limited Sharp to just 36 laps Tuesday. Meanwhile, Dismore zipped around the track at 224.823, easily the fastest lap of the week until the final 20 minutes Wednesday. Sharp only got in 48 laps the first two days of practice.
On Day 4, though, Sharp made amends. Just 56 minutes into the practice session, he moved to the top of the speed chart with a 224.382. Then, about 20 minutes before practice ended, Sharp became the first driver to surpass 225.
"It's great to see the way things are finally coming together for this team," Sharp said. "I think Delphi and the Kelleys deserve to start seeing some of the fruits for their involvement the last few years."
Kelley has never changed drivers, but he has changed just about every other component and now it seems to be paying dividends.
Last fall, Kelley hired the engineer Sharp wanted, Jeff Britton, and when the two tested at Indianapolis three weeks ago, Sharp said he knew immediately that he had a good car.
"The speed really came then, during testing," Sharp said. "But it's still nice to come out and do that this morning."
What's allowed both drivers to go so fast this week, Kelley believes, is a growing confidence within the team.
"Both our engineers have a good feel for this track, they've got a good feel for the grip on this track," Kelley said. "If you don't have confidence in the grip at 217 or 218, it's awfully hard to do the things you need to do to make it go 223 or 224."
Nobody was even close to Sharp.
Tony Stewart was clocked at 225.004 and Greg Ray was third at 223.848.
Only Sharp, Stewart, Dismore and Ray have cracked 224 mph all week, making it appear the race for the pole is between two teams -- Kelley's and John Menard's -- and Stewart.
Ray disagrees.
"I think the practice speeds are all indicators but you don't really know who's doing what," he said. "You don't know if someone's using a race setup or a qualifying setup, you don't know what conditions somebody did their time in, you just don't know."
The known quantity typically are Menard's drivers, who routinely qualify near the front of the pack. Three times in the last six years, Menard has put a driver on the pole, including Ray last year.
Now Kelley's team seems poised to challenge Menard for that title of Indy's fastest car.
"We can't outspend John," Kelley joked. "But I think we've got as good a shot at Greg Ray as anyone this year."
The speeds would indicate that.
But given Kelley's track record at Indianapolis -- three accidents and two mechanical problems in seven starts -- he can only hope the good fortunes continue.
"I'd say for both guys going as well as they are, this is as good as we have done here," he said. "We're really pleased with the progress we're making, but this is still May where you take four steps forward and two backward."
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