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Race Report: ABC Supply/A.J. Foyt 255
MILWAUKEE June 1, 2008—The fourth annual ABC Supply/AJ Foyt
225 was held under sunny skies before the largest crowd in the
race’s short history at the Milwaukee Mile Sunday afternoon. With 26
cars starting, it was the second largest field ever at the Mile, and
the largest in the history of the Indy Racing League at the historic
Wisconsin track.
A.J. Foyt gave the command to start engines with a nod to the only
female driver in the field, saying, “Danica and gentlemen, start
your engines!”
The race got off to a chaotic start as the field hurtled into turn
one, with four drivers racing for the first time at the flat track.
The yellow came out as Oriol Servia and Helio Castroneves made
contact with Servia having to replace the nose assembly.
Driving the ABC Supply Dallara/Honda, Darren Manning started 20th
and was 16th at the end of the second lap. As the run wore on, the
car began to pick up a push and Manning’s lap times slowed as he
dropped back to 19th. He battled hard to stay on the lead lap,
staving off pacesetter Scott Dixon for 15 laps before a yellow for
debris was thrown on lap 62.
With everyone pitting under yellow, the ABC Supply crew adjusted the
front wing to correct the push on the 14 car; they gained two spots
on the stop. Over the next 10 laps, Manning gained two more
positions on the track and was battling Marco Andretti for 14th.
“Something happened in turn one and the car jumped sideways and I
thought for sure I was going to hit the fence,” said Manning. Trying
to gather it up while in the track’s “marbles,” he lost four spots,
a lot of track position and went a lap down to leader Scott Dixon.
“I think he hit that bump in turn one in a way that it pitched the
car,” said team owner A.J. Foyt. “But overall, he ran a good race.
He hustled the whole time.”
“I thought something happened to a tire, I thought I had a
puncture,” said Manning. The engineer, reading the air pressures on
the computer, assured Manning that all four tires were fine and he
should get his rhythm back.
He was doing just that when Buddy Rice pitted early and Manning,
following closely, had to go high to avoid hitting him. The move put
Graham Rahal (running third at the time) into the marbles and he hit
the wall in turn four, ending his day.
In the second half of the race, Manning was running a steady pace
with his lap times similar to those of the leaders.
With three laps to go, the most spectacular accident occurred in
what had been a relatively caution-free race. Andretti challenged Ed
Carpenter for sixth going into turn one and then slid up into him,
causing both to spin. Vitor Meira plowed into Andretti and launched
over him careening into the wall with Hideki Mutoh also getting
caught in the melee. No one was hurt, and only Mutoh was able to
contine.
Manning did a great job avoiding the carnage and finished 13th.
“It was crazy out there from lap one,” he said afterwards. “We had a
pretty good race going until halfway through when my car jumped
sideways in turn one. If that hadn’t happened I’d have had a top ten
finish based on where I was running at the time. It’s a shame
because we really wanted to put on a good show for our sponsor ABC
Supply since this race is in their backyard.”
Ryan Briscoe won his first career Indy car race, while Scott Dixon,
Tony Kanaan, Dan Wheldon and Helio Castroneves rounded out the top
five. The series moves to Texas Motor Speedway for the Bombardier
Learjet 500k Saturday night, June 7th.
Notes & Quotes: ABC Supply/AJ Foyt 225 at the
Milwaukee Mile
Darren Manning: No. 14 ABC Supply Dallara/Honda
· Manning on Indy momentum: “Indy provided a big boost to our
ABC Supply team which is great since our next race is in or
sponsor’s home state of Wisconsin. The Company always brings a lot
of employees to the track so we want to give them something to cheer
about. We’re feeling really good about our chances there. The track
is similar to Indy in that it is a flat track but you run a lot more
downforce. It requires more driver input than the superspeedways
which I like. It’s tough to pass which makes it more like a road
course so you have to get the car comfortable enough so that you can
put it where others can’t. Milwaukee is the type of track where the
good cars really show up and the bad cars can’t hide.”
· Over 850 ABC Supply employees and guests will be on hand
this weekend to see the fourth annual ABC Supply/AJ Foyt 225.
· AMZ Construction of Green Bay, WI is this weekend’s winners
of the ABC Supply Your Name Here Promotion for its customers. The
company name will be put on the top of the sidepods of the No. 14
ABC Supply Dallara/Honda. Patrick Zoeller and his guest will receive
selected merchandise, race tickets, hospitality and garage passes,
plus a Meet and Greet with A.J. Foyt and Darren Manning. The “Your
Name Here” promotion selected winners by random drawing from a pool
of entries sent in by ABC Supply customers earlier this year.
The ABC Supply/AJ Foyt 225 will be shown live at 4:00 p.m.
eastern time Sunday, June 1 on ABC-TV.
For more information on the Foyt Racing program, please check
our web site: www.ajfoytracing.com.
Indy 500 Miscellaneous Notes….
· Indianapolis’ Eastwood Middle School students paid a visit
to the Speedway and were treated to a meet and greet with Darren
Manning trackside. Manning answered questions from the crowd of
nearly 90 seventh-graders who had been to foytracing.com to learn
about Darren and the race team. Manning signed 90 hero cards which
he left with the kids before joining his team for practice. As a
thank you, the students created a photo montage poster and signed
it, adding their own personal wishes for success in the race.
 · Once again Darren Manning commissioned a special design for his
Indy 500 helmet. This year’s pale lime green helmet bore the
names of his family members including his parents, sister, her
children as well that of his girlfriend and her son’s names. Unlike
his owner, Manning doesn’t believe in the superstition that green is
an unlucky color. Last year’s helmet was dedicated to A.J. Foyt’s
50th Indy 500 and given to A.J. after the race.
 · “Parents’ weekend” could describe this year’s Indy 500 for
the ABC Supply team. In addition to driver Darren Manning’s parents
Val and Peter making the trip from England, other team members’
parents also came to the race. Team director Larry Foyt’s mother
flew in for the race from Houston while team manager Craig
Baranouski’s dad Bob drove in from Craig’s native Michigan. Rookie
crew member Brian McEntire’s parents Jackie and Chuck Whiting and
left rear tire changer Kevin Ockwood’s dad Jeff flew in from Texas
to see their first Indy 500. The team’s chief engineer and native
Ohioan Mike Colliver’s parents Bob and Merrilyn have been watching
the race from the same top row seats in turn three since the late
1950s. The prize for longest distance travelled however goes to
part-time crew member Tetsuo Kuramochi of Utsonomiya, Japan.
Kuramochi’s parents Masao and Ikumi flew in from Tokyo on Saturday
to see their first live Indy 500. After the race they flew to New
York to tour Manhattan for a couple days before heading back to
Japan.
 · Continental Airlines’ Online Auction winners of the Indy 500
VIP Weekend Mike and Rita Burke, of Austin, Texas, began their
memorable weekend in Gasoline Alley’s Garage A-1 on Saturday where
they met driver Darren Manning and team owner A.J. Foyt. Manning had
to leave shortly afterwards for the parade downtown but Foyt, who
owns a summer home in Austin, spent time with them talking about
Texas.
 · CitizenKate.TV’s Kate Soglin visited the ABC Supply team
the day of Indiana’s Democratic primary. What resulted was a
hilarious video: Indy 500 Tips to Win the Presidential Race as the
comedian learns tips from Darren Manning and A.J. Foyt in the team’s
garage at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Check out the featured video
posted last Saturday at: www.citizenkate.tv
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