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Race Report - Bombardier Learjet 550
FT. WORTH, Texas June 7, 2008--“The car just completely
stopped dead on the track,” said a disappointed Darren Manning
following his early exit from the Bombardier Learjet 550 at Texas
Motor Speedway Saturday night.
“There’s nothing we can do on pitlane to fix it,” he continued. “The
car was really good, the best car I’ve had here. We had a fuel pump
driveshaft problem on Thursday and we missed all of practice, so we
qualified with a race setup. In the beginning of the race, I was
trying different lines and the car worked everywhere. It's a shame
because I thought we could get to the front."
Manning’s problems started on Thursday when the fuel pump driveshaft
failed after just six laps in practice. To change it, the engine had
to be pulled which meant the remainder of the 90 minute session was
lost for the ABC Supply team.
After being tenth quickest in Friday’s shortened 40 minute practice
session, the team missed slightly on one gear ratio causing the car
to take longer than usual to spool up. Manning qualified 17th.
“I wasn’t too worried about where we qualified,” said Manning,
“because Texas is one place where you can race side-by-side if you
have a good race car and I felt we had a good race car. In the race
the car started to push a bit so we made a wing adjustment on the
early pitstop. It was just what we needed.
"I’m really disappointed for all of the ABC Supply people because I
really figured I’d be giving them something to cheer about and I was
going to have fun doing it. It’s a shame.”
“As bad as this is, the good news is that we are getting close to
what Darren likes on the superspeedways,” said A.J. Foyt. “Tonight’s
deal is hard to take because it’s a part that doesn’t usually fail
although I’ve heard that other teams have had problems. It’s
something that we bolt on so it’s hard for me because I have no
control over that. We thought we knew the reason for the first
failure but after the second one failed under completely different
conditions, it just may have been bad parts. We’ll get to the bottom
of it when we get the car back to the shop.”
The ABC Supply team will be looking forward to their first real
weekend off since the season started at the end of March. The next
race is the Iowa Corn Indy 250 at Iowa Speedway on Sunday, June 22.
It will be televised live on ABC-TV starting at 1 pm eastern time.
NOTES & QUOTES: Bombardier Learjet 550k
Darren Manning: ABC Supply No. 14 Dallara/Honda/Firestone
Darren Manning on the best part of racing at Texas: “I think
it must be the close racing. You get help from the banking so even
if your car isn’t perfect, you can still run with the lead pack.
This year, with so many more cars entered (28) and being so
competitive, I think you’ll see a much bigger pack. The turns are
more open than they are at a place like Kansas so there’ll be more
side-by-side racing. Running under the lights gives the race more
atmosphere. It’s not that much different for the drivers because the
lighting is so good on the track but all-around, it should be a
great night of racing for the fans.”
The key to a good result at Texas Motor Speedway: “Focusing
on our race set-up will be the key because we need to have a really
good car for the whole fuel stint. Unlike Indy or Milwaukee where
track position is very important because passing cars is so
difficult, Texas is wide open in that regard. But with the big pack
racing that we have at Texas, you have to make the car work well in
the draft. ”
Augmented training regimen for Manning: Taking advantage of
the summer weather and living on a lake, Manning bought a kayak.
“It’s a lot of fun and it develops strength in the upper body and
back muscles which you use in driving,” he explained. And he can
work on his tan!
Last race at Texas: Manning would have had a good run, having
qualified 11th, but the car had a big push early and after six laps
he pitted under green; the crew found he had a cut right rear tire.
They lost two laps. There was a problem with IRL scoring (pace car
picked up wrong leader) and it cost the team another lap. Manning
continued to run until a multi-car accident knocked out his right
front suspension. He logged enough laps to finish 13th.
Best Finishes at TMS: Manning’s best finish at Texas came in
2004 when as a rookie he finished eighth. The Foyt team’s best
finish is first which they did with Billy Boat in 1998 (and in ’97
although official records show Boat was credited with second behind
Arie Luyendyk). In ’98, Foyt’s other car, with driver Kenny Brack,
finished third. More recently, the Foyt team’s best finish was third
in 2002 with Airton Dare and 10th in 2005 with A.J. Foyt IV.
Whatley Roofing, located in Plano, Texas, is this weekend’s
winner 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. Joe Whatley 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 Bombardier Learjet 550k will be shown at 10:00 PM eastern time
Saturday night, June 7th on ESPN2. |
