Welcome to the most dangerous race in the IndyCar Series
The race may not end before midnight on the East Coast, but Saturday's IndyCar Series race at Texas will be worth staying up for, writes Terry Blount.
Fast Life: Danica vs. Wheldon
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FORT WORTH, Texas -- Saturday night at the fights. Well, probably not.
Danica Patrick and Dan Wheldon have reconciled (we don't dare say they kissed and made up) so the "Rumble at the Speedway" is your typical hype without substance.
After an on-track and off-track altercation last weekend in Milwaukee, followed by a few days of name-calling, Patrick and Wheldon say everything's fine between them.
Those comments came after they had a meeting with IRL president Brian Barnhart Thursday afternoon. What would you expect them to say?
Barnhart didn't reveal what was discussed, but it's likely he warned both drivers that any racing incident between them this weekend could result in a penalty and fine.
It's one of those things the top racing official has to do, but this little rivalry is a blessing for the league. Nothing better than the most popular driver (Patrick) confronting the best driver (Wheldon) on TV for everyone to see.
Had this happened between Jeff Simmons and Ed Carpenter, no one would care. But we're talking about the Paris Hilton of racing. Everything Danica does is news, especially if she loses her cool.
"This whole thing is funny, but I think it's good," Carpenter said. "It's getting our sport more media. Even better yet, it's real emotions. It's not made up. This is what needs to happen. Dan pissed her off and she went and told him about it, and that's the way it should be."
It was a fun way for Texas Motor Speedway officials to garner added attention before the Bombardier Learjet 550, usually one of the best IndyCar Series races each season.
But this event doesn't need the sideshow. If you can stay up past your bedtime, it's 228 laps you don't want to miss. The race will start sometime between 9:30 and 10 p.m. ET, which makes for a midnight finish in the Eastern time zone.
Stay awake for the end. The 1.5-mile TMS oval has produced some of the closest finishes in IndyCar history.
Six IndyCar races at TMS ended with less than a tenth of a second as the margin of victory. That means at least two cars were side-by-side at the checkered flag, and a couple of those finishes were three-wide at the stripe.
Sam Hornish Jr. edged Helio Castroneves by .0096 of a second at TMS in September of 2002, the third-closest finish in league history.
Hornish was involved in three of the top four finishes in the TMS record book. He defeated Scott Sharp by .0188 of a second in the 2001 season finale, but lost to Tomas Scheckter by .0534 of a second in June of 2005.
Hornish loves this place. Six times he has finished in the top four here, including three of the last four races.
Texas is one of the most intense races of the year. And it's one of the most exciting races for the fans because the cars are so close. But it's a tough race for us. You have to be perfect with every move you make on the track.
Dario Franchitti
The three-time IndyCar Series champion could use a little of his TMS magic this weekend. He's in a bit of a minislump. Hornish has gone eight consecutive races without a victory.
By his standards, that's a big deal.
Hornish ranks sixth in the season standings among the big six (Dario Franchitti, Wheldon, Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon and Castroneves), the top drivers on the three teams that dominate the league.
Hornish is the master of making the outside move at TMS to pass someone for the lead. It takes guts to pull it off on what may be the most dangerous track in the IndyCar Series.
Along with close finishes, the TMS events have produced some horrifying crashes. Racing wheel-to-wheel at more than 215 mph is breathtaking to watch, but a tiny error in judgment can lead to disastrous consequences.
"Texas is one of the most intense races of the year," said Franchitti, the Indy 500 winner last month. "And it's one of the most exciting races for the fans because the cars are so close. But it's a tough race for us. You have to be perfect with every move you make on the track."
Being perfect in a pack of cars isn't easy. Racing at TMS is IndyCar's version of restrictor-plate racing in NASCAR. One small incident can cause a chain reaction of mangled race cars.
The worst TMS accident came in October of 2003. Kenny Brack's car shot in the air on the backstretch, slammed into a catch-fence pole and virtually disintegrated.
The engine bounced down Turn 3 like a rubber ball as Brack's cockpit tub spun across the track like a top. Miraculously, Brack survived, but suffered multiple fractures.
Davey Hamilton was involved in a scary crash at TMS in 2001 and suffered serious injuries to both feet. He made an emotional return to racing at the Indy 500 two weeks ago.
Racing Indy cars at high-banked ovals like TMS requires two things -- trust and courage. Trust that the driver next to you, only inches away, will hold the racing line. And courage to make the necessary moves in traffic to get to the front.
Terry Blount covers motorsports for ESPN.com. He can be reached at terry@blountspeak.com.
