The IRL IndyCar® Series will open its 10th season of competition with the Toyota Indy 300 on March 6 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Originally configured as a quad-oval similar to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the 1.5-mile asphalt oval at Homestead-Miami Speedway was reconfigured in 2003 to a variably banked layout that is ideally suited for Indy Racing League cars.

The track now has three distinct racing lanes banked at 18 degrees at the bottom, 19 degrees in the middle and 20 degrees at the top, and presents a challenge to the 22 drivers, team engineers and Firestone engineers as described in the following first-person narratives:

THE DRIVER:

Sam Hornish Jr. has won three of the four IndyCar Series races at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He dominated on the track’s former “flat” configuration, winning twice in three starts. In 2004, he used an atypical pass on the bottom to win in his debut with Marlboro Team Penske.

“Homestead is unique because none of the other tracks have that many steps of variable banking. The only place that has anything like it is Turns 1 and 2 at Michigan.

“It is a big change from the way the track used to be. I liked the old track because of how flat it was. You really had to have your car handling well, and it was a big adjustment between having a car that would go well down the straightaways to what would handle well in the corners. Some people would go for all-around straightaway speed and they couldn’t get through the corners. It really was all about being able to make your car handle well in traffic.

“But the new track has its challenges too because you want to have as little amount of downforce as possible but still be able to run up behind the guys. So there often are a lot of tradeoffs. People don’t realize just because you might be able to go around a bit easier by yourself.

“The track, the way it used to be, was all setup, all making sure the car was prepared right at the beginning of the race. You have that, but there is a lot of mental because you have to wait and make your move at the right time because other people can draft back by you. You have to have the car and the engine and all the things right.”

THE ENGINEER:

Andy Brown led Sam Hornish Jr. to 11 of his 12 victories in the IndyCar Series as his race engineer. He’s now the head engineer for Panther Racing’s two-car effort for Tomas Scheckter and Tomas Enge.

“Since we last raced at Homestead, we’ve lost 0.5 liter off of the engine, and gained a significant amount of downforce with the new chassis underbody from Dallara. One of challenges is just how much we can trim out the rest of the aerodynamic package (rear wing flap angles, underbody trailing edge wickers, etc) to suit the above. We don’t want to go too far, as we still need to produce a “raceable” package for Sunday. The track was re-paved before last year’s race,. How has the surface weathered over the year, will we have as much grip from the tires and track? That’s another aspect to consider when adjusting the car. We also have some new team personnel to get to know, including a new driver (Enge). Pre-season testing has gone well, but how will these people react under the increased pressure of a race meeting, and what’s it going to take to get the best out of them? It takes a couple of races for the whole team to gel, and one challenge for me is how best to help this proce!ss along in the engineering department. 

“Perhaps the biggest issue is ‘getting back in the groove.’ We’ve all had a winter’s layoff, the last race was back in October, and sitting at a desk thinking ‘what if,’ trying to predict possible issues and putting suitable solutions in the bank, is no substitute for having to think on your feet in the pressure cooker of the pit lane at a race.

“By the third or fourth race, meeting the ‘rapid fire’ deadlines that occur at a race track becomes second nature, but for the first couple of events there’s some rust to be chipped away.”

WHERE THE RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD:

Firestone’s race tire development team considers the configuration of each track as it chooses the tire compound to be used at each track. According to Firestone engineers, Homestead-Miami Speedway’s high banking angle and tight corner radius create Firestone’s most challenging track conditions.

TRACK FACTS:

WHAT:

Toyota Indy 300, First race in 17-race 2005 season

WHERE:

Homestead-Miami Speedway, 1.5 mile asphalt, oval

WHEN:

2 p.m. (EST), Sunday, March 6

DISTANCE:

200 laps/300 miles

PAST RACE WINNERS:

IndyCar Series: 2004 – Sam Hornish Jr.; 2003 – Scott Dixon; 2002 – Sam Hornish Jr.; 2001 – Sam Hornish Jr.

TV:

ESPN (live), 2 p.m. (EST), March 6.

Talent: Todd Harris (play-by-play), Gil de Ferran (analyst), Scott Goodyear (analyst), Jamie Little, Dr. Jerry Punch and Vince Welch (pit reporters).

RADIO:

Qualifying webcast: 11:30 a.m. (EST), .indycar.com

Qualifying wrap-up show: IMS Radio Network, 2:30 p.m. (EST), March 5

Race: IMS Radio Network, 1:30 p.m. (EST), March 6

Talent: Mike King (host), Pancho Carter (driver analyst), Dave Wilson (color commentary), Mark Jaynes (backstraight play-by-play), Kevin Lee and Nicole Manske (pit reporters).

***

The IRL IndyCar Series opens its 10th season of competition with the Toyota Indy 300 at 2 p.m. (EST) on March 6, 2005 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The race will be televised live on ESPN and the IMS Radio Network. The 2005 Menards Infiniti Pro Series season also opens on March 6 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The race will be televised by ESPN2 at 4 p.m. (EST) on March 17.

IRL IndyCar® SeriesToyota Indy™ 300At Homestead-Miami Speedway2 p.m. (EST) Sunday, March 6, 2005ESPN/IMS Radio Network (live)Car Driver Hometown Car Name C/E/T Entrant Chief Mechanic

2 Tomas Enge (R) Liberec, Czech Republic ROCKSTAR Panther Racing D/C/F Panther Racing Steve Namisnak3 Helio Castroneves Sao Paulo, Brazil Marlboro Team Penske D/T/F Marlboro Team Penske Rick Rinaman4 Tomas Scheckter Cape Town, South Africa Pennzoil Panther D/C/F Panther Racing Eric Haverson6 Sam Hornish Jr. Defiance, Ohio Marlboro Team Penske D/T/F Marlboro Team Penske Matt Jonsson7 Bryan Herta Valencia, Calif. XM Satellite Radio D/H/F Andretti Green Racing Jeff Grahn8 Scott Sharp Norwalk, Conn. Delphi P/H/F Delphi Fernandez Racing Tony Leith9 Scott Dixon Auckland, New Zealand Target Chip Ganassi Racing P/T/F Target Chip Ganassi Racing Sean Hanrahan10 Darren Manning North Yorkshire, England Target Chip Ganassi Racing P/T/F Target Chip Ganassi Racing Dave Higuera11 Tony Kanaan Salvador, Bahia, Brazil Team 7-Eleven D/H/F Andretti Green Racing Jeff Simon14 A.J. Foyt IV Hockley, Texas A.J. Foyt Racing D/T/F A.J. Foyt Enterprises Bill Spencer15 Buddy Rice Phoenix Rahal Letterman Racing Argent/Pioneer P/H/F Rahal Letterman Racing Ricardo Nault16 Danica Patrick (R) Roscoe, Ill. Rahal Letterman Racing Argent/Pioneer P/H/F Rahal Letterman Racing Ed Daood17 Vitor Meira Brasilia, Brazil Rahal Letterman Menards Johns Manville P/H/F Rahal Letterman Racing Greg Cates20 Ed Carpenter Indianapolis Vision Racing D/T/F Vision Racing Kevin Kukulewicz24 Roger Yasukawa Los Angeles Dreyer & Reinbold Racing D/H/F Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Brian Franzosi26 Dan Wheldon Emberton, England Klein Tools/Jim Beam D/H/F Andretti Green Racing Mike Horvath27 Dario Franchitti Edinburgh, Scotland ArcaEx D/H/F Andretti Green Racing Dave Popielarz33 Ryan Briscoe (R) Sydney, Australia Target Chip Ganassi Racing P/T/F Target Chip Ganassi Racing Ricky Davis51 Alex Barron  Menifee, Calif. Red Bull Cheever Racing  D/T/F Red Bull Cheever Racing Craig McCain55 Kosuke Matsuura Aichi, Japan Panasonic ARTA P/H/F Super Aguri Fernandez Racing Don Lambert83 Patrick Carpentier La Salle, Quebec, Canada Red Bull Cheever Racing D/T/F Red Bull Cheever Racing Rhodri Griffiths91 Paul Dana (R) St. Louis Ethanol/REMY/LifeFitness D/T/F Ethanol Hemelgarn Racing Pat Jordan

Legend: Chassis: D=Dallara, P=Panoz. Engine: C=Chevrolet, H=Honda, T=Toyota. Tire: F=Firestone. (R)=Rookie.