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Player's/Forsythe Transporter Crashes
The Player's/Forsythe IndyCar team postponed its test session this week at Michigan International Speedway because of an accident involving the team's transporter. The rig, returning to Indianapolis from the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, was traveling along Interstate 40 in Arizona early Monday morning when the driver, Mike Bauer, swerved to avoid an animal crossing the highway. The action caused the transporter to tip onto its side, but Bauer and Mark Hunter, a second driver on board, were not injured. "The most important thing is that Mike and Mark are okay" said Neil Micklewright, the team's vice president of operations. "The truck sustained substantial damage, but the cars and equipment inside were fine. As a result, we've decided to postpone the testing session at Michigan and get ourselves ready for the next race at Nazareth."

Viewer's Speak Out!
According to an ESPN Chilton poll, the inaugural U.S. 500 is winning the race for television viewers on Memorial Day weekend. Of those polled, 47 percent said that they would be tuning in to the U.S. 500 at Michigan International Speedway on May 26 while 37 percent said they would watch the Indianapolis 500. The remaining 16 percent had no preference. Also, the poll revealed that 80 percent of the respondents who had an interest in auto racing had not even heard of the Indy Racing League.

MTV Goes IndyCar!
MTV will be tagging along with Jimmy Vasser (Target Reynard Honda) and the Target/Chip Ganassi Racing team at the Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix. The music cable network is filming a documentary-style program that follows the team from the recent Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach through the inaugural U.S. 500 on May 26 at Michigan International Speedway. The 22-minute show is scheduled to air August 16 with several replays of the program scheduled that same weekend.

Firestone On a Roll!
Firestone, which returned to Indy Car racing last season after a 20-year absence, has won all four of this season's PPG Indy Car World Series events and stands two victories shy of its last winning streak. Firestone won six in a row in 1971, beginning with a race in Rafaela, Argentina in February and concluding with one in Milwaukee in June. Al Unser Sr. won five of those events for Firestone and Mike Mosley added the other. This season Vasser has won three races (Miami, Australia, Long Beach) and Andre Ribeiro one (Rio) for Firestone. "This is hard to describe. We're incredibly happy to be 4-for-4" Bridgestone/Firestone Motorsports Manager Al Speyer said. "Once again our Firehawks were consistent and showed their strength at the end [at Long Beach] when it counted."

IndyCar Drivers Test Nuclear Power!
Parker Johnstone (Motorola Reynard Honda) was among a group of IndyCar drivers, including Scott Pruett (Firestone Patrick Racing Lola Ford), Eddie Lawson (Delco Electronics Lola Mercedes), Jeff Krosnoff (Arciero-Wells Reynard Toyota) and Fittipaldi, who took a two-day cruise earlier this week on the USS Carl Vinson. The drivers were flown to the Nimitz class nuclear-powered super carrier in the Pacific on a COD C-D Greyhound prop-driven aircraft and landed "on the wire" with a trapped landing. "If I wasn't a race-car driver, this is what I would want to be doing" Johnstone said. "It was unbelievable."

Unser/Pruett/Gordon Will Have Busy Race Weekend!
Al Unser Jr. (Marlboro Penske Mercedes), Scott Pruett (Firestone Patrick Racing Lola Ford) and Robby Gordon (Valvoline/Cummins/Craftsman Reynard Ford) are scheduled to hop on a jet after Saturday's qualifying session of the Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix and fly to Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway for the second round of the International Race of Champions. The race, scheduled to start 5 p.m. EST, will be 38 laps on the 2.66-mile oval. Gordon is second to NASCAR Winston Cup's Dale Earnhardt in the IROC points, trailing, 23-17, after one event. Unser Jr. is fifth (10 points), and Pruett 10th (5 pts.) in the 12-driver all-star field. ABC-TV will broadcast the race on June 30, beginning at 5 p.m. EST.

Groff To Sub For Goodyear!
Mike Groff, who last raced in the PPG Indy Car World Series in 1994 for Rahal/Hogan Racing, returns to the series at the Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix as a substitute driver for Walker Racing. Groff will step in for Scott Goodyear, who fractured a vertebrae in his mid-back at Rio, in the DuraBlend Special Reynard Ford. Groff had 16 starts in 1994 for Rahal/Hogan Racing and finished 20th in the PPG Cup points. He had a pair of top-10 finishes, including a season-best sixth at Phoenix. Walker Racing had not fielded an entry in Goodyear's car since the practice accident at Rio.

Nazareth Notes
Four of the last six Indy Car races at Nazareth have been decided by less than a second, including last season's record-setting finish. Emerson Fittipaldi defeated Jacques Villeneuve by .309 seconds, the closest Indy Car race in Nazareth Speedway history. ... Andretti has led more laps (468) than any other driver in the history of the Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix. Fittipaldi is second with 358, but holds the event all-time records for most races led (6) and most times led (11). ... This marks the 10th running of the Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix, but only the second time it has been run in April. The first eight events were run in the September slot of the PPG Indy Car World Series schedule.

Source: IndyCar Website

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Editor's Note: This is not the entire article as some of the information is already available on Trackside