Sam Schmidt pleased with team’s progress at Indy 500

Thursday, May 12, 2005 | 10:44 a.m.

SUN WIRE SERVICES

Indianapolis 500 team owner Sam Schmidt of Henderson is ecstatic over his team's progress at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway after just two days of practice.

Driving the Sam Schmidt Motorsports Meier/Coca-Cola Panes/Chevrolet, Ritchie Hearn, also of the Las Vegas area, cranked off a fast lap of 226.090 miles per hour (39.0822 seconds) a few minutes before rain cut practice short by 30 minutes. Hearn's fast lap was sixth fast among 30 driver-car combinations on the 2 1/2-mile oval Wednesday.

"We're extremely pleased with the day; we just have to keep our heads about us," Schmidt said. "What I really like is that we haven't trimmed our car out as much as some of the guys ahead of us. Ritchie is really comfortable with the car."

"There are a lot of big dogs out there, so this is much more rewarding when we wind up P6 (sixth fastest) for the day and you have everybody shooting their top guns at you," Schmidt noted. "And we were the top Chevy and that's really satisfying."

Schmidt is the only team owner with the Panoz chassis and Chevrolet engine combination among entrants for this year's race.

Seeking his sixth Indianapolis 500 start, Hearn remarked, "It feels good to end the day on a high note. I caught the draft just right and that's what it takes the get the speed, but you still have to have the car to be able to do it. We have a lot left as far as drag that we can get out of the car."

Patrick Carpentier, also of Las Vegas, is trying to make his first Indianapolis 500 start. He had a frustrating day, coaxing a fast lap of 219.867 mph among his 21 laps Wednesday in the Red Bull Cheever Racing Dallara/Toyota.

"The Dallara chassis does not respond to the changes we make," Carpentier said. "It's an extremely complex chassis and difficult to understand. We pretty much lost our day."

Reigning Indy Racing League champion Tony Kanaan had the fast lap of 227.453 mph (39.5686 seconds) on Wednesday, with rookie Danica Patrick second fast at 226.944 mph and Scott Dixon third fast at 226.816 mph.

Practice continues through Friday with qualifications Saturday and Sunday and May 21-22. The race will be televised live by ABC Sports at 1 p.m. ET Sunday, May 29.