Ron McQueeney/IMS
Paul Tracy said driving an Indy car at Indianapolis Motor Speedway after a seven-year break would be as familiar as riding a bicycle.
Tracy, who hasn’t competed at the Speedway since finishing a career-best second in the controversial 2002 race, predicted a fast lap would come early in the day, but it came earlier than expected. Knowing the No.15 KV Racing Technology car felt right as soon as he entered the third corner of his first lap, he mashed the gas. His third lap was 220 mph. Auto Racing Daily
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“I just want to race. It’s all I’ve ever done,” said Tracy, who was declared the runner-up to Helio Castroneves in the controversial 2002 500 Mile Race. “I’ve been racing since I was 6 years old and I didn’t want my career to just come to an abrupt stop after racing Indy cars for 16 or 17 years. When the merge happened, my team owner decided to stop and when the music stopped, it kind of left me without any seats to sit in.”
INDIANAPOLIS - Practice Tuesday for the Indianapolis 500 Rookie Orientation Program IndyCar Series event on the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with position, car number in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine and speed:
1. (15) Paul Tracy, Dallara-Honda, 223.089
2. (16) Scott Sharp, Dallara-Honda, 221.878
3. (06) Robert Doornbos, Dallara-Honda, 221.735
4. (2) Raphael Matos, Dallara-Honda, 218.613
5. (34) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 218.333
6. (24) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda, 217.063
7. (00) Nelson Phillippe, Dallara-Honda, 214.786
8. (99) Alex Lloyd, Dallara-Honda, 213.032
9. (98) Stanton Barrett, Dallara-Honda, 207.522
