By Jim Pedley | Managing Editor
RacinToday.com
A couple of random useless thoughts and opinions on racing:
Can’t remember a time when asphalt was making a big buzz the way it has been this year. No kidding, pave jobs are making headlines.
And, stirring debate: My aggregate is better than yours. Oh yeah, well my substrata is less prone [...]

When Michel Jourdain Jr. begins “scraping off the rust” at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway next month, he might need a sandblaster.
Sixteen years after competing in his first Indianapolis 500, Jourdain will attempt to qualify for the 96th edition of the race on May 27 for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Team co-owner Bobby Rahal, the 1986 [...]

RacinToday.com
INDYCAR, sanctioning body for the IZOD IndyCar Series, has scheduled a hearing for a protest filed by General Motors (GM) regarding INDYCAR’s April 18 decision to approve use of a 0.74 A/R compressor cover for the single turbocharger.
The hearing will take place Thursday in Indianapolis.
Honda and Lotus have been invited to participate in the hearing [...]

RacinToday.com
The IndyCar Series’ Will Power was named winner of the Driver of the Year panel’s first-quarter award, it was announced Tuesday morning.
Power edged NHRA Funny Car driver Robert Hight by a single point to earn the award, which goes to the top driver in United States-based racing series. It is voted upon by a panel [...]

RacinToday.com
The 96th Indianapolis 500 will offer 12 days of varied on-track action featuring the IZOD IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights, and two special days of fan-friendly activities during the Month of May at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Opening Day is Saturday, May 12. Pole Day is Saturday, May 19, followed by Bump Day, Sunday, May 20. [...]

By John Sturbin | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Three former winners and seven rookies – including Indiana boy Bryan Clauson living his “surreal dream” – bracket the list of drivers named to 34 entries filed for the 2012 Indianapolis 500.
The 96th running of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” is scheduled for Sunday, May 27, at the 2.5-mile Indianapolis [...]

By Jim Pedley | Managing Editor
RacinToday.com
Some thoughts about a rather large weekend of racing and many hours in front of the flat screen (LCD, not that plasma crap):
– Robert Hight’s Funny Car season is shaping up to be one of those special jobs that seems to come along every decade or so in the NHRA. [...]

INDYCAR has placed IZOD IndyCar Series driver Graham Rahal on probation through the next six race for blocking and initiating avoidable contact during the race on the Long Beach temporary street circuit April 15.
On Lap 22 of 85-lap race, Rahal made contact with the No. 26 car driven by Marco Andretti in Turn 8, which [...]

RacinToday.com
Not even being penalized 10 spots on the starting grid could slow street-racing monster Will Power as the Team Penske driver overcame his 12th-place starting position to win Sunday’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach IZOD IndyCar Series race.
The victory was the second of the season and second in a row for Power, who won [...]

RacinToday.com
Ryan Briscoe of Team Penske was the fastest qualifier on Saturday for Sunday’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, but he will not start from the front row of the grid.
That’s because Briscoe drives a Chevrolet-powered Dallara and earlier this week, INDYCAR officials penalized all teams using the GM engines. The penalties  – 10 spots [...]