The 2003 Firestone Indy 400 was an IRL IndyCar Series open-wheel race that was held on July 27, 2003, in Brooklyn, Michigan at Michigan International Speedway before 30,000 spectators. Contested over 200 laps, it was the 10th round of the 2003 IRL IndyCar Series and the second running of the event. Alex Barron of Mo Nunn Racing won the race starting from the sixth position. Panther Racing driver Sam Hornish Jr. finished second and Tomas Scheckter came in third for Chip Ganassi Racing.
Scheckter won the pole position, the fifth of his career and second consecutive at Michigan, by posting the fastest lap of qualifications. Hornish Jr. led 126 laps—more than any other competitor—as his performance was boosted by a new variant of the Chevrolet Indy V8 engine, which sparked controversy among some drivers. Along with Hornish Jr., the first position was hotly contested throughout the race by Scheckter, Scott Dixon, and Barron, the latter of whom spun into Scheckter on the 164th lap but avoided causing any damage to his car. The last green-flag stint, beginning on lap 169, saw Hornish Jr. and Barron battle for the win, with Hornish Jr. utilizing the inside line to his advantage. Barron finally nosed ahead of Hornish Jr. on the final lap to take the victory by 0.0121 seconds, the fourth-closest finish in IndyCar Series history (at the time). Barron, substituting for the injured Felipe Giaffone, earned his and Mo Nunn Racing's second and final win in the IndyCar Series.
With six races left in the season, Tony Kanaan, who led the Drivers' Championship prior to the race, fell to second behind fifth-place finisher Dixon as Gil de Ferran was relegated from second to third. Toyota continued holding their lead in the Manufacturers' Championship over Honda and Chevrolet.
Background
The Firestone Indy 400 was the tenth of 18 scheduled open-wheel races for the 2003 IRL IndyCar Series and the second annual edition of the event dating back to 2002. It was held on July 27, 2003 in Brooklyn, Michigan, United States, at Michigan International Speedway, a four-turn asphalt tri-oval track with 18-degree banking in the corners, 12-degree banking in the front stretch, and 5-degree banking in the back stretch, and was contested over 200 laps and . Before the race, Tony Kanaan led the Drivers' Championship with 303 points, 14 more than Gil de Ferran in second and 15 more than Scott Dixon in third. Hélio Castroneves held fourth on 282 points and Kenny Bräck, with 245 points, was fifth. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Toyota led on 84 points, followed by Honda with 67 and Chevrolet with 47. Tomas Scheckter was the defending race winner. Between the 21 entries for the race, the lone driver change was of Mo Nunn Racing's 21 car, which was driven by Alex Barron for the second consecutive race while Felipe Giaffone recovered from injuries that he suffered in a crash during the Kansas Indy 300.
A private testing session was held for rookie drivers Dan Wheldon and Roger Yasukawa at Michigan International Speedway on July 1 to prepare for the Firestone Indy 400. Wheldon and Yasukawa completed a combined total of over 160 laps without incident, and both drivers later stated that the pack racing at Michigan would force competitors to have patience in order to succeed. Chevrolet debuted the "Generation IV" variant of their Indy V8 engine, manufactured by Cosworth, for this race after General Motors received clearance from the Indy Racing League (IRL). Although mid-season engine changes are usually forbidden, IRL vice president Brian Barnhart noted that Chevrolet was at a "performance deficiency" compared to Honda and Toyota. Sam Hornish Jr. was selected to drive with the engine in the Firestone Indy 400 as he was the highest Chevrolet driver in the Drivers' Championship standings; the next-highest Chevrolet driver in the standings would obtain the new engine for the succeeding Emerson Indy 250. The IRL's decision to permit the new engine drew criticism from drivers, with Dixon calling the decision "kind of shady" and Greg Ray feeling that it was a bad move from a financial standpoint.
Practice and qualifying Four practice sessions preceded the race on Sunday, two on Friday and two on Saturday. The first two sessions lasted 90 minutes and were both divided into two groups that were determined by the entrant points standings and received equal track time. The third lasted 60 minutes and the fourth 30 minutes. Hornish Jr. was fastest in the first practice session on Friday morning with a time of 32.1677 seconds, nine hundredths of a second quicker than second-placed Bräck. Dixon, Bryan Herta, and Barron rounded out the top-five. Later that day, Dixon's time of 32.3605 seconds made him the quickest driver of the second practice session, besting Hornish Jr., Scheckter, Barron, and Wheldon. On Saturday morning, Dixon again led the third practice session with a time of 32.3682 seconds, with Scheckter in second, Ray in third, Hornish Jr. in fourth, and Barron in fifth.
During the qualifying session later in the morning, held under warm and somewhat windy conditions, each driver was required to complete up to two timed laps, with the fastest of the two determining their starting position. Scheckter earned his fifth career pole position and his second consecutive at Michigan with a quickest time of 32.3657 seconds. He was joined on the grid's front row by his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Dixon, who held the pole position until Scheckter's lap. A gust of wind helped Castroneves qualify third, ahead of Hornish Jr. in fourth and Al Unser Jr. in fifth. Barron, Ray, and Bräck occupied the next three positions. De Ferran took the ninth position after his team alleviated a mechanical issue during the third practice session, while Scott Sharp started in 10th. The rest of the starting positions were taken by Tora Takagi, Yasukawa, Andretti Green Racing teammates Wheldon, Herta, and Kanaan, A. J. Foyt IV, Vítor Meira, Buddy Rice, Robbie Buhl, Sarah Fisher, and Buddy Lazier.
The fourth and final practice session on Saturday afternoon was led by Scheckter with a time of 32.4822 seconds, with second-quickest driver Sharp trailing by four hundredths of a second. Barron was third, Herta fourth, and Wheldon fifth.
Qualifying classification Driver Team 1 10 Tomas ScheckterChip Ganassi Racing 32.3657 222.458 12 9 Scott DixonChip Ganassi Racing32.3704 222.425 23 3 Hélio CastronevesTeam Penske32.4393 221.953 34 4 Sam Hornish Jr. Panther Racing32.4563 221.837 45 31 Al Unser Jr.Kelley Racing32.5108 221.465 56 21 Alex Barron Mo Nunn Racing32.5222 221.387 67 13 Greg Ray Access Motorsports32.5286 221.344 78 15 Kenny Bräck Team Rahal32.5878 220.942 89 6 Gil de Ferran Team Penske32.5988 220.867 910 8 Scott Sharp Kelley Racing32.6580 220.467 1011 12 Toranosuke TakagiMo Nunn Racing32.7036 220.159 1112 55 Roger YasukawaFernández Racing32.7350 219.948 1213 26 Dan WheldonAndretti Green Racing32.8099 219.446 1314 27 Bryan HertaAndretti Green Racing 32.8577 219.127 1415 11 Tony Kanaan Andretti Green Racing32.9059 218.806 1516 14 A. J. Foyt IV A. J. Foyt Racing32.9442 218.551 1617 2 Vítor Meira Team Menard33.1127 217.439 1718 52 Buddy Rice Team Cheever33.3599 215.828 1819 24 Robbie Buhl Dreyer & Reinbold Racing33.5761 214.438 1920 23 Sarah Fisher Dreyer & Reinbold Racing33.5852 214.380 2021 91 Buddy Lazier Hemelgarn Racing33.7884 213.091 21Sources:
Race Weather conditions towards the start of the race were overcast and windy, with air temperatures at and track temperatures measured at . Approximately 30,000 people attended the event. Live television coverage of the race in the United States was provided by ABC and hosted by Bob Jenkins, with Paul Page and Scott Goodyear serving as commentators and Jack Arute, Gary Gerould, and Jerry Punch taking the roles of pit reporters. Al Unser, four-time Indianapolis 500 winner, commanded the drivers to start their engines. During the pace laps, Yasukawa believed one of his sidepods was loose and drove into pit road, only for his crew to discover it was not. The race began at 3:00 pm. local time (UTC−04:00) with Firestone brand marketing executive director Phil Pacsi waving the green flag.
On the first lap, Hornish Jr. immediately swerved up the track to take the lead as Dixon improved to second, Kanaan moved up ten positions into fifth place, and pole sitter Scheckter was relegated to sixth. While Dixon trailed closely behind Hornish Jr., Bräck moved to the third position by lap four. Two laps later, Kanaan, Barron, Bräck, Scheckter and Castroneves all raced alongside each other for third. Scheckter took the position on lap seven, passed Dixon a lap later, and overtook Hornish Jr. on the outside line of turn one for the lead on the 10th lap. By lap 11, Dixon fell to fourth place behind Castroneves. Meira, who was in tenth place, slowed on the front stretch on lap 17; he drove into pit road two laps later and exited the car as a small fire emerged from an internal fuel leak. Wheldon's car began spewing smoke because of an engine failure on the 20th lap, forcing him to retire from the race. Ten laps later, Hornish Jr. drove up the track to take the lead from Scheckter in the third corner. Dixon briefly lost fourth place to Kanaan before reclaiming the position on lap 31, and Scheckter drove on the inside line to take back the lead from Hornish Jr. on lap 34.
The first round of green-flag pit stops began on the 38th lap with Hornish Jr. giving up second place to make his stop. Herta, running in the eighth position, came in with an engine issue and became the race's third retiree. Scheckter made his stop on lap 42, relinquishing the lead to Dixon for the next two laps. After Barron pitted on the 46th lap, Dixon picked up the lead once again. Scheckter steered to Dixon's left-hand side on the backstretch a lap later to retake the lead. Hornish Jr. passed Dixon for second place on lap 49 and drove alongside Scheckter in an attempt to claim the first position; Hornish Jr. led lap 50 and Scheckter led the next lap before Hornish Jr. pulled ahead of Scheckter on the 52nd lap. Five laps later, Scheckter again tried racing side-by-side with Hornish Jr. until the first caution flag of the race was flown for debris found on the track. All of the leaders, excluding Ray and Fisher, made stops under the caution period for tires and fuel. After Foyt IV exited pit road, he sensed a problem within his car and drove back in. His right-rear tire then fell off his car and bounced into the inside wall, nearly hitting several spotters in the process.
Hornish Jr. led the field back up to speed for the restart on lap 64, followed by Castroneves, Kanaan, Dixon, and Scheckter. On the next lap, Bräck's car experienced a mechanical issue and slid into the outside wall in turn two, necessitating the second caution flag. During the caution, Castroneves' faulty radiator leaked oil into his engine, sidelining him from the rest of the race. Green-flag racing resumed on the 71st lap, with Hornish Jr. maintaining his lead over Kanaan, Dixon, Scheckter, and Barron. By lap 76, Unser Jr. moved into fourth place ahead of Scheckter and Barron, while Unser Jr.'s Kelley Racing teammate Sharp came into pit road with a punctured tire. He rejoined the track a lap behind the leaders. Over the next 14 laps, Kanaan trailed Hornish Jr. by as little as 0.1 seconds but was unable to overtake him. Kanaan was then passed by Scheckter for second place on the 91st lap. Hornish Jr.'s lead grew to one second over Scheckter by lap 100.