YAMAHA 400 INSIDE LOOK: HEARN NOT IN CLUTCH PART FAILS DRIVER, WHO QUALIFIES 19TH.Byline: Tim Haddock Staff Writer FONTANA - A burned-out clutch probably cost Indy Racing League The Indy Racing League, better known as IRL, is the sanctioning body of a predominantly American based open-wheel racing series. The League consists of two series, the premiere IndyCar Series driver Richie Hearn Richie Hearn is an American auto racing driver born January 4, 1971 in Glendale, California. He ran in the Toyota Atlantic championship for two seasons, winning the title in 1995. In 1996, he began driving for John Della Penna in both the IRL and Champ Car ranks. about 16 places in the starting grid for today's Yamaha Indy 400 at California Speedway The California Speedway is a two-mile, low-banked, D-shaped oval superspeedway in Fontana, California, similar to that of "sister track" Michigan International Speedway. It is located approximately 40 miles east of Los Angeles on the site of the former Kaiser Steel mill. . The Pasadena High graduate, substituting for injured Sam Schmidt Motorsports Sam Schmidt Motorsports is an auto racing team in the Indy Racing League owned by quadriplegic former driver Sam Schmidt that currently fields several full-time cars in the Indy Pro Series and a part-time effort in the IndyCar Series. Racing Special driver Anthony Lazzaro Anthony Lazzaro (Born August 26, 1963, Charleston, South Carolina) is a NASCAR and sports car driver. He is usually classified as a NASCAR road course ringer, however he has made other starts in the NEXTEL Cup. He also has open-wheel oval racing experience. , will start 19th after clocking a lap at 216.799 mph in 33.2105 seconds during qualifying at the two-mile superspeedway. Hearn was turning laps in the 219-mph range at practice Friday and Saturday. His best lap was 219.888 mph in the last practice session Friday. That speed would have put him on the second row, in the third starting position, if he had turned it in qualifying. ``We didn't have any problems (Friday),'' said Hearn, who is competing in his first IRL 1. (jargon, chat) IRL - In real life. Generally synonymous with f2f. 2. (language, robotics) IRL - Industrial Robot Language. event of the season. ``We could have easily qualified in the top 10 with the way we ran this morning. I'm not very happy.'' Hearn blew his clutch in practice Saturday morning. His team had about an hour between the end of practice and the beginning of qualifying to replace the engine and give Hearn a chance to qualify. While his team gave Hearn a shot, the No. 99 Dallara Chevrolet couldn't get up to speed with the new engine. It made for a frustrating qualifying session. ``There were not any problems for me,'' Hearn said. ``I was flat out. I can't put the pedal down any farther.'' Eddie Cheever Jr., driver and owner of the No. 51 Cheever Racing Infiniti, won his first pole of the season with a lap at 221.422 mph in 32.5171 seconds. His teammate and driver Tomas Scheckter, driver of the No. 51 Cheever Racing Infiniti, qualified third at 219.661 mph. Team Menard driver Jaques Lazier, driver of the No. 2 Dallara Chevrolet, was second at 220.909 mph. |
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