Because of prior commitments i was unable to go to the Iowa Speedway on Friday for the Casey's USAC Challenge and the IZOD Indy Car Series Heat Races, thats right i said Heat Races. The Heat Races were in the place of qualifying and was determine the first 8 fast in the 2nd practice on friday would be in heat 3 with the other heats divided up by the reminder of the cars with the odd spots in one and even spots in the 2nd practice in the other.
In Heat #1 on Friday it was Graham Rahal leading all 30 laps with Josef New Garden, JR Hildebrand, EJ Viso, Oriol Servia, Mike Conaway, Ed Carpenter and Takuma Sato. In Heat #2 it was Tony Kanaan taking the lead from Alex Tagliani on lap 20, Kanaan would take the win with Tags in 2nd, Rubens Barrichello, Justin Wilson, Charlie Kimball, Katherine Legge, James Jakes, Simona de Silvestro and Simon Pagenaud would finish out the running order. In Heat #3 it was 2 Time Iowa Corn Indy 250 Winner Dario Franchitti taking the lead from Marco Andretti on lap 8 and go on to the win. Helio Castroneves would get by Andretti for 2nd. James Hinchcliffe was 4th, Ryan Briscoe was 5th, Will Power was 6th, Ryan Hunter-Reay was 7th and Scott Dixon was 8th.
Bobby Santos would take the win in the Mopar USAC National Midget Race with Mario Clouser, Brad Kuhn, Darren Hagen and Adam Kramer. Traxxas USAC Silver Crown Race saw Bobby East taking the top honors with Kody Swanson, Levi Jones, Jerry Coons Jr. and Russ Gamester.
On to Saturday i headed to the Iowa Speedway and arrived there at about 12:30pm and began to have a fun day and just shortly after the Star Mazda Series Race completed 91 laps and the Indy Car Autograph Session would come to an end a severe Thunderstorm would roll in and this would force the star mazda race completed and the rest of the schedule for the night would see a modification.
In the Star Mazad Series Iowa Speedway Foundation 100 it was Sage Karam getting the win in the rain shorten race. Martin Scuncio, Connor De Phillippi, Petri Suvanto and Gaby Chaves round out the top 5.
Because it kept raining for another hour the track crew would get the track dry just in time for the Iowa Corn Indy 250 which would go to the track at just a little after 9 pm and the Sukup 100 for the Firestone Indy Lights Series would race immediately following the Iowa Corn Indy 250.
In the Iowa Corn Indy 250 some bizarre stuff would happen right as the race was scheduled to go to start as Alex Tagliani would lose power and come to a stop and while the Indy Safety Team was there trying to get him restarted, Pole sitter Dario Franchitti would see his honda engine expire. So the first 9 laps were run under yellow and it would see Helio Castroneves leading them.
James Hinchcliffe, Mayor of Hinchtown, would take the lead on lap 52 from Castroneves and then 16 laps later the caution would come out when EJ Viso and Will Power would get together in turn 2. Hinchcliffe would lose the lead Rubens Barrichello when he pitted, the next lap Barrichello would give the lead to James Jakes when he would pit.
When Jame Jakes would then give the lead back over to Castroneves a lap later. The 3rd race caution would come out on lap 98 when Jr Hildebrand would get in the turn 4 wall and then roll to a stop in turn 1.
Castroneves would give the lead to Ryan Hunter-Reay on lap 155. Hunter-Reay would give the lead over to Stott Dixon on lap 157. Dison would hold on to the lead until 177 when Ryan Briscoe would take the lead. Marco Andretti would take the lead away from Briscoe on lap 179 when the the caution would come out for Briscoe and Josef Newgarden would get together in turn 2.
Andretti would give the lead back over to Dixon on lap 182. The next race caution would come out on lap 197 when James Hinchcliffe would spin his tires. Dixon would continue to lead until Hunter-Reay would get by on lap 238 and 10 laps later the caution would come out for Katherine Legge getting in the turn 2 wall.
Ryan Hunter-Reay would take his 2nd win in a row, Marco Andretti would get 2nd, Tony Kanaan would get 3rd, Scott Dixon was 4th and Simon Pagenaud was 5th. Top 3 cars were all Chevrolet powered engines and hondas would finish 4th and 5th.
After all the victory lane photos and interviews completed it was time for the Sukup 100 for the Firstone Indy Lights Series. Tristan Vautier would lead the first 70 laps before his teammate Esteban Guerrieri would get by and take the lead. The only race caution would come out on lap 109 when Oliver Webb would make contact with turn 4 wall. The Indy Crew would get it cleanup and they would have a green-white-checkered finish. Guerrieri took the win, Gustavo Yacaman would take 2nd, Victor Carbone was 3rd, Vautier was 4th amd David Ostella was 5th.
It was a fun day despite the rain that fell out of the sk but i was so tired by the time i arrived home at just after 1 am meaning i spent 13 hours at the speedway.
Photos are uploaded on Facebook from Saturday at Iowa Speedway: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151049133531215.483515.502511214&type=3
