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Thursday, June 7
Teammates Dismore, Sharp on front row
ESPN.com news services
FORT WORTH, Texas -- When it comes to open wheel racing at Texas Motor Speedway, the Indy Racing League could be called "old reliable."
Mark Dismore proved that slower is better at the 1.5-mile oval Thursday night, winning the pole for Saturday night's Casino Magic 500 with a lap at 215.508 mph in a Dallara/Oldsmobile Aurora.
|  | | Mark Dismore earned his fourth career IRL pole Thursday night at Texas Motor Speedway. |
By contrast, Kenny Brack won the pole at 233.447 mph in a Reynard/Ford-Cosworth for the Firestone Firehawk 600 CART race in April. That was the event that was later called off after CART teams backed out, claiming their drivers were experiencing dizzy spells and vertigo at the 24-degree banked oval.
On Thursday night, the IRL drivers were steady, using their normally aspirated engines and higher downforce cars to go fast enough for high-speed racing, but slow enough to remain sensible.
"We had an uneventful day, we only did three hot laps in practice," Dismore said. "The engine was smoking in practice and we made an engine change during the time it rained. We were guessing and we were the guys who guessed best."
The big winner on Thursday night may have been the IRL formula of race car and engine package.
"I think the speeds we are running here is all we need to run," Dismore said. "You could bump it up 5 miles an hour, but that would be tops. The amount of speed we have is totally realistic for the type of cars we are running. You don't have to go 230 miles an hour to put on a good show and I think we put on a good show here."
Scott Sharp, the pole winner for the Indianapolis 500, gave Kelley Racing a sweep of the front row with a lap at 215.065 mph. Sharp was the driver who gained entry immediately before Dismore made his qualification effort.
"We had a good day with the car," Sharp said. "We didn't have the car quite like we wanted to this morning. We decided to make a bunch of changes with the car. With the rain washing out our final practice session, it was a bit of a gamble."
After winning the pole, Sharp congratulated his teammate Dismore by saying, "Good job, Dizzy."
Someone immediately quipped, "Hey, don't say dizzy around here," referring to the CART debacle.
Sharp is the defending winner of this after 31 lead changes. He won by a margin of 0.059-seconds over Robby McGehee in a race that looked like a NASCAR restrictor-place race at Talladega Superspeedway.
"I think we can have a race like last year," Sharp said. "This is probably one of the biggest races on our schedule. The draft plays such a role here. We started 24th last year and after a few laps, we were in the top five. I think guys are close enough that when you get side-by-side, it sucks people up there."
Eddie Cheever was third with a lap at 214.926 mph -- the highest qualified Infiniti engine.
"It was a good run. We spent a lot of time after the Indianapolis 500 taking care of small details, and I think we've taken quite a few pounds of draft out of the car," Cheever said.
Sam Hornish Jr., who won the first two IRL races this season, was fourth at 213.255 mph in a Dallara/Aurora followed by Shigeaki Hattori's 213.119 mph also in a Dallara/Aurora. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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