Iowa Corn Indy 250

Indycar race infobox
Name=Iowa Corn Indy 250
Track_

Venue=Iowa Speedway
Sponsor=Iowa Corn Promotion Board
First race=2007|
First IRL race=2007
Distance=218.75 miles
Laps=250
Previous names=none

The Iowa Corn Indy 250 Presented by Pioneer is an Indy Racing League IndyCar Series race held at the Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa on June 24, 2007, for the first time. The next running of the race was June 22, 2008.

Past IndyCar History in Iowa

The first Championship Car race in Iowa took place on July 9, 1915. AAA held a 100-mile race at Tri-State Fair Grounds in Burlington, Iowa, won by Bob Burman. Additional AAA races were held at Des Moines Speedway in Valley Junction, a one-mile wooden board track. Only two championship car races, won by Ralph Mulford and Ralph DePalma respectively, were held at Des Moines, as the track closed and was dismantled shortly thereafter.

2007 Race

Pre-Race

Practice scheduled for Friday was shortened due to thunderstorms in the area. Despite lack of Friday practice, many drivers expressed awe at the 7/8th mile track for being so fast, with practice speeds averaging over 180 mph. Drivers originally believed that it would be a competitive race, but soon found out that passing would be very difficult. The other main concern of the track was the physical requirements, with the 7/8th mile track driving like a superspeedway and drivers experiencing 4.8 latteral G-Forces during the race. Scott Dixon won the pole in qualifying on Saturday (182.360 mph/17.6486 secs). Helio Castroneves qualified 2nd (182.272 mph/17.6571 secs), while Danica Patrick came in 11th (180.974 mph/17.7838 secs).

Race

The first half of the race was a "crashfest" with 7 cars crashing out in the first 100 laps. The largest crash occurred on a restart on lap 100, when cars tried to go 4 wide on the frontstrech. Danica Patrick, Sam Hornish Jr., and others were eliminated. Many driver's blamed the hard tires of the race. This was caused because of an unusually cool day, with temperatures around 75 degrees for the race, originally forecast as late as the night before the race around 90-95 degrees. Pole sitter Scott Dixon had steering problems at the start, and originally retired, though his team repaired the car and he ended up 10th, many laps down. The race ended up a battle between Andretti-Green Racing teammates Dario Franchitti and Marco Andretti, with Franchitti winning. Scott Sharp came in third.

Past winners

Indy Lights

References

* [http://www.iowaspeedway.com/ http://www.iowaspeedway.com/]
* [http://www.indycar.com http://www.indycar.com]

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