TV TIMES EXTRA – By Lou Modestino (for 5/27/11)

by Jay | May 26, 2011 | NASCAR, New England

The 100th Anniversary of the Indy 500 is scheduled to take place this Sunday. And capitalizing on the occasion was Gerry Gappens, the vice president and general manager of New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, NH. He was in the Hub earlier this week at the Fours Restaurant on Canal Street, along with three Indy Car drivers who flew into Logan from Indy, in the effort to set the tone for NHMS’s return to an IZOD Indy Car race to be held there on Sunday, August 14, the date for the Indy Car 225. The fastest open wheel race cars will return to New England after a 13-year absence.

On hand to promote the return engagement was Australian Will Power, now a resident of Charlotte, NC, the center of NASCAR country. Power reflected on his recent qualifying run at Indianapolis, “I expected to be running for the pole but my car wasn’t fast at first. But I’m still happy to be in the second row at Indy (starting fifth).” Will drives the Team Penske Honda and is the point leader in that series after he scored two wins at the Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham and at the Sao Paulo Indy 300. The other Penske cars didn’t qualify as well as Power did. Will thinks that his biggest opposition will come from Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti, Townsend Bell and Dan Weldon. “I really haven’t thought about winning the 500 but if I did, it would be a big deal,” he said.
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