Even as urban sprawl eats the landscape like a plague of locusts, there is still a streak of Phoenix, Arizona's Old West heritage that stubbornly fails to die.

Although the rustlers, ranchers, and outlaws that once populated this desert city have largely been replaced by young families, celebrities in tony mountain retreats, and a nexus of warmth-seeking retirees, it's hard for the city to shake its public image of toughness and intractability that was forged in the crucible of the nation's westward expansion.

Maybe that's why people seem to think that Phoenix International Raceway president Bryan Sperber has been waging some sort of staring contest with INDYCAR, each party standing at a stalemate, waiting for the other to make a move towards his pistol like some clichéd scene from High Noon.

People who think that PIR is waging a cold war with INDYCAR may be surprised to discover that the idea Sperber finds the whole idea laughable. Literally. "I've read and have seen a lot of the various news reports and columns that speak with great certainty about PIR's relationship with INDYCAR and about what we would or wouldn't do relative to IndyCar racing," Sperber says with a wry chuckle. "Quite candidly, most of it is completely false."

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Americans in Formula 1.

It is a concept with which many in the F1 community have a love-hate relationship. On the one hand, some feel like getting an American driver, American team, or even a US Grand Prix is simply stunt casting - a blatant pandering attempt to corral the highly-sought-after United States consumer market. But at what cost? And how successful would it be given the stranglehold that NASCAR stock car racing holds on the American motorsports landscape?

Still, there has been no shortage of effort to get some representation of the Stars and Stripes on the F1 grid. But outside of Scott Speed's two-season tenure with Red Bull's Toro Rosso squad and a couple of aborted-in-embryo attempts to build a US-based F1 team, the World Championship has remained bereft (or, some say, unsullied) by American participation.

Speed made it to Toro Rosso in the first place because of his long-term association with Austrian-based Red Bull - an association made nearly a decade ago after the inaugural Red Bull Driver Search. The RBDS was a marketing idea that came into being during a heavy period of interest in an "all-American Formula 1 team," a concept that intermittently springs up every few years like a religious revival.

In 2002, the prevailing rumor was that American F1 vets Dan Gurney and Phil Hill were collaborating to create such a team. That no such plans existed did not stop the racing press from badgering Gurney and Hill relentlessly of a period of weeks - even months - for details. Though the furor eventually died down when it became clear that there was nothing to the rumors, the kerfuffle proved that there was an appetite for the concept even if there was no execution.

It was into this atmosphere that Red Bull introduced its Red Bull Driver Search program. Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz and former F1 driver and Indy 500 "spin-and-win" champ Danny Sullivan, backed by an opportunistic marketing firm named Maxim Sports Management, announced the program to the world as the first step towards an "all-American Formula 1 team."

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Wade Cunningham in the cockpit of the #99 Creatherm Dallara for Sam Schmidt Motorsports (Photo: IndyCar)

One could hardly blame Wade Cunningham if he had decided to move over to the Perrier & Brie set and race exotic sports cars with unpronounceable sponsors, or return to his native land and herd sheep with a modded go kart.

Or even if he had utilized his off-beat sense of humor and gone to work as the new assistant for Murray Hewitt at the New Zealand consulate.

It's been a long, strange trip from Auckland to the top rung of the American open wheel racing ladder.

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While you are waking up and enjoying that first bit of morning coffee and Hobbsian wisdom from the Spanish F1 broadcast, take a moment to feel sorry for someone.

Yes, I'm talking about that junior mechanic from Andretti Autosport, who probably spent the night jacked up on Red Bull - err, Venom Energy - and the threat of a layoff through no fault of his own.

"Team Chaos," as some in the paddock refer to AA, was not the only team to struggle during the first day of Indy 500 qualifying, but was perhaps the most surprising. After all, who would have thought the only one of Michael Andretti's five cars in the field would be erstwhile cousin John Andretti (224.981 mph). who stuck his aqua and red Window World car into the field just before the rain interrupted qualifying?

When the fast nine qualifying shootout ended just after 6:00 p.m., there were 24 cars locked into the provisional field, and four of the them were not the full-time AA entries of Danica Patrick, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Marco Andretti and Mike Conway.

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Elite athletes are competitive by nature, even when taking part in an event outside their chosen sport, and veteran IndyCar driver Vitor Meira is no exception.

But when Meira competes in the the Foster Grant Ironman World Championship 70.3 - his first time doing the 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride and 13.1 mile run of a full Ironman competition - this Saturday, Nov. 13, in Clearwater, Fla., he's just as likely to be watching the rest of the 1,500-strong field.

"This is the world championship, where the best get together and go for it. I'm really excited to join them and at least be part of it," said Meira in a phone interview late last week from his home in Miami. "You know when people go to the racetrack, and get mixed up with the drivers and get all excited? That's going to be me at the Ironman. I'm going to be mixed up with them and I'm going to be looking at them, star-struck."

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When Dario Franchitti rolled over the yard of bricks, doused himself with milk and picked up his second Indy 500 victory in May of 2010, there was possibly no one happier and more directly relieved than his chief engineer and pit box computer jockey, Chris Simmons.

So it came as no surprise Friday evening, when, with an IZOD IndyCar Series championship hanging in the balance, Franchitti made sure to first thank his Simmons and his crew on his IMS Radio Network interview after getting out of the car with the fastest speed on the big board, and a Peak Performance Pole Award and $10,000 bonus check to collect.

"I don't know what (crew chief) Chris Simmons did to the Target car between practice and now, but that thing was beautifully balanced," Franchitti said. "(The first timed lap) felt like a good lap, and I looked down and saw 213 and said: 'Oh, nice. Let's see if we can not screw up the second lap.' I felt it; I was able to take the line I wanted. Now I can relax a little."

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Courtesy: IZOD IndyCar Series

WEST ALLIS, Wis. (Sept. 10, 2010) - The return of two traditional venues and the addition of an exciting new downtown event are highlights of the 17-race 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series schedule announced Sept. 10.

Series officials unveiled the 2011 event lineup at the historic Milwaukee Mile, which will return to the schedule next June. New Hampshire Motor Speedway also is back, and the inaugural street race in Baltimore joins the schedule.

In its continuing effort to offer competitors the most diverse and challenging championship in motorsports, the 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series schedule features eight oval races and nine road/street events.

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Ed Carpenter and Vision Racing pulled off the seemingly impossible today, wresting the top spot in qualifying from the clutches of Penske Racing's Will Power at the Kentucky Indy 300.

Carpenter and Vision, both of whom are working in conjunction with Panther Racing in a limited schedule this season, are no strangers to Kentucky Speedway. Last year, Carpenter nearly won the IZOD IndyCar Series event at this track, losing by a fraction of a second to Penske's Ryan Briscoe at the line.

This is Carpenter's first pole position and only the third pole position this year won by anyone other than Team Penske. Ganassi's Dario Franchitti won the pole at the season opener in Brazil, and Justin Wilson of Dreyer and Reinbold Racing qualified quickest at Toronto.

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