A View From the Indianapolis 500: Sun Shines On Wednesday's Practice

"Don't be alarmed race fans, that strange object is actually the sun," bellowed the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's public address system with just 20 minutes left in Wednesday's practice runs for the May 30 main event, the Indianapolis 500. 

Indeed, the sun was a welcomed site for everyone, as the most famous racetrack in the world has been covered in clouds and rain all week. The crowds cheered, and some even stripped down to take in the rays, at least for the few minutes they lasted.

Oh, and there was plenty of on track action, too. You'll have to excuse that racing is the side note today, but the weather has truly been that atrocious.

Wednesday marked the first truly full day of practice for the teams, as there were no weather delays for the first time all month. And the drivers took advantage, as 2,282 total laps were run on the day between 35 different cars.

EJ Viso sat out Wednesday after a bad accident on Tuesday, but was cleared by IMS doctors to race.  Bruno Junquiera is also waiting to take to the track, as the team waits for a check to clear.

Tony Kanaan took home the warrior of the day title, running 134 total revolutions around the 101-year-old facility. He finished seventh on the speed chart to finish the day, noting, "Today had to be our day to work for the race and as long as we are improving, I don't care how many laps we do." 

Scott Dixon again led the field with a top time of 226.971, however, his time was set early in the day while running in a pack. This aided his speed, and can make his mark at the top of the speed charts misleading.

Helio Castroneves only ran 49 laps, but was easily the fastest car when running by himself. Castroneves posted a fast time of 225.56 while running alone on the track.  This was good enough for eighth overall, but was nearly a full second quicker than anyone else running alone.

Seven different teams worked their way into the top 10 spots on the speed charts for the day.

Alex Tagliani continues to impress, as the former Champ Car veteran ranked third on the charts with a 226 mph lap. Tagliani took a short day, however, only running 13 laps at the start of practice before calling it a day. He had been hospitalized earlier in the month with bronchitis, and is still feeling some effects.

With the weather warming up slightly, teams began to work more on qualifying setups for their machines. This weekend's qualifications are expected to bask in lots of sunshine and temperatures reaching 80 degrees. Thursday looks to have similar conditions, but with rain expected on Friday, teams will use Thursday to trim down their cars for qualifications.

"Friday, the weather still looks questionable so we're still working towards having the car where we want it to be by Thursday night for qualifying on Saturday in case we can't run on Friday due to weather," said FAZZT general manager Rob Edwards.

Graham Rahal and Ed Carpenter both picked up their speeds, as they look to finish well enough to continue their race deals past Indianapolis. Both drivers posted times over 224.5 mph.

Carpenter received an extra surprise, as pro golf legend Fuzzy Zoeller appeared at the race track to chart the team's progress. Zoeller is behind the Fuzzy Premium Vodka sponsorship on the No. 20 joint Panther/Vision Racing venture.

Zoeller is excited about the opportunity, saying, "I've won some majors in my golf career, and there is no doubt the Indianapolis 500 is the major championship in the world of motor racing. I would love to add another major to my resume."

The entire six-hour practice session was incident free, with only a few minor cautions for debris and track inspections. The crowd at the speedway was much larger Wednesday, with this reporter's favorite seat being heavily crowded for most of the day.

Thursday's action gets underway at noon ET, and can be seen live on Indycar.com.  Pole Day qualifications can be seen live Saturday on Versus, starting at 11 a.m.

Track veteran John Andretti echoed the sentiments of many drivers and fans with the warmer weather coming, "We're looking forward to seeing what the car can do (Thursday)."

So are we John, so are we.