The 2006 Bombardier Learjet 500 was an IndyCar Series motor race held on June 10, 2006, in Fort Worth, Texas, at Texas Motor Speedway. It was the sixth round of the 2006 IndyCar Series and the seventeenth running of the event. Marlboro Team Penske driver Hélio Castroneves won the 200-lap race. Scott Dixon, driving for Target Chip Ganassi Racing, finished second, and Dixon's teammate Dan Wheldon finished third.
Sam Hornish Jr., who had won the Indianapolis 500 two weeks prior, won the pole position with the fastest overall time of the qualifying session. He led the first lap before being quickly passed by Wheldon, who led 171 of the next 184 laps and only gave up the lead during green-flag pit stops. However, during Wheldon's final pit stop on lap 185, one of his crewmen dropped a lug nut, dropping him back to third in the running order when he rejoined the track. Race leader Hornish Jr. also stalled his engine during his last pit stop on lap 193, giving Castroneves the opportunity to steal the victory which he successfully took. With only two cautions and no crashes from any driver, race winner Castroneves accumulated an average speed of 185.710 mph (298.871 km/h), making this the third-fastest race in IndyCar history (at the time).
Castroneves' win was his third of the season and the tenth of his IndyCar career. As a result, he extended his lead in the Drivers' Championship to 22 points over Dixon. Wheldon's dominant performance helped him advance to third over Hornish Jr., while Kanaan placed fifth with eight races remaining in the season. Background
The Bombardier Learjet 500 was confirmed to be included in IndyCar's 2006 schedule in September 2005. It was the 6th of 14 scheduled races for 2006 and the seventeenth iteration of the event. It was held on Saturday, June 10, 2006, in Fort Worth, Texas, United States, at Texas Motor Speedway, a asphalt oval-shaped circuit with four turns, and was to be contested over 200 laps and . Tomas Scheckter was the defending race winner. Heading into the event, Marlboro Team Penske driver Hélio Castroneves held the lead in the Drivers' Championship with 182 points, twelve more than Scott Dixon, who had won the previous race at Watkins Glen. Sam Hornish Jr. sat in third with 162 points, while Dan Wheldon and Tony Kanaan vacated the fourth and fifth positions with 157 and 138 points, respectively.
In 2006, Texas Motor Speedway was celebrating its tenth season of competition. The track had become a staple on the IndyCar schedule for its close-quarters racing and photo finishes. One of the most enthusiastic drivers entering the event was Scheckter, who, in addition to his 2005 win, had also earned three pole positions at the track. Scheckter lauded the racing style and atmosphere at the track, favoring it over Formula One and NASCAR races. Two-time Texas winner Hornish Jr. was glad to leave the inclement weather at Watkins Glen behind, and commented on how drivers became accustomed to using the draft at Texas: "It's a fine line. You have to get out there and experience to know how good your car works behind somebody else, figure out where you need to be and how close you should be to them." Teammate Castroneves added: "The main factor you have to look at are how your car is handling by itself. The second is how your car handles behind another car because sometimes it will push. Sometimes, if you have too much front wing, it will be loose. If you get out of a car too fast, that's when you get turbulence."
After Michael Andretti and Al Unser Jr. came out of retirement to participate in the Indianapolis 500, track president Eddie Gossage proposed a $100,000 sponsorship fee to them if they both competed in the race at Texas; the fee would be split amongst their two teams. However, Andretti and Unser Jr. declined the proposition, citing a lack of preparation time and sponsorship as the main reasons.
Practice and qualifying
Four practice sessions preceded the race on Saturday; the first two were held on Thursday, and the last two were held on Friday. The first session lasted for 90 minutes, the next two sessions lasted for 60 minutes, and the final session lasted for 30 minutes. The first three sessions would be split in half among two groups of drivers. Rahal Letterman Racing drivers Buddy Rice, Danica Patrick, and Jeff Simmons were all given ten extra minutes of practice in order for them to adapt to their new Dallara chassis. Dixon was fastest in the first practice session with a time of 24.5455 seconds, ahead of Castroneves, Wheldon, Hornish Jr., and Scheckter. Dixon later topped his fastest time during the second practice session with a lap at 24.3782 seconds, besting Wheldon, Hornish Jr., Kosuke Matsuura, and Marco Andretti.
During qualifications, which was held on Thursday night, each driver was required to complete two laps in their qualifying attempt; the best of the two laps would determine their starting position. Hornish Jr. won the ninth pole position of his IndyCar career with a time of 24.5197 seconds and a speed of . He was joined on the front row by Wheldon, whose quickest lap was only 0.0041 seconds slower than Hornish Jr. Castroneves qualified third, Dixon took fourth, and Scheckter started fifth. Kanaan, Scott Sharp, Dario Franchitti, Andretti, and Matsuura rounded out the top ten, and Bryan Herta, Ed Carpenter, Vítor Meira, Rice, Patrick, Simmons, Eddie Cheever, Buddy Lazier, and Felipe Giaffone completed the starting grid for Saturday's race. Franchitti only completed one qualifying lap after his team pulled his car out of line to repair fuel pressure issues. Giaffone was unable to qualify because of a malfunctioning throttle position sensor. After qualifying, Hornish Jr. said: "Everything is going really good for the Marlboro Team Penske car. Our run was pretty good, even though we slowed down from where we thought we'd be. The car ran really good earlier today when we were running in practice."
On Friday afternoon, Dixon lapped the fastest time of the third practice session at 24.4744 seconds, ahead of Castroneves, Sharp, Hornish Jr., and Wheldon. Later that evening, Hornish Jr. would surpass Dixon's time and set the fastest lap of the final practice session at 24.4100 seconds, exceeding ahead of Castroneves, Wheldon, Dixon, and Sharp.
Qualifying classification Driver Team Lap 1 Lap 2 1 6 Sam Hornish Jr. Marlboro Team Penske24.519724.53491 210 Dan Wheldon Target Chip Ganassi Racing24.523824.53662 33 Hélio Castroneves Marlboro Team Penske24.570624.59983 49 Scott Dixon Target Chip Ganassi Racing24.710224.59984 52 Tomas Scheckter Vision Racing24.642124.61205 611 Tony Kanaan Andretti Green Racing24.671124.73096 78 Scott Sharp Delphi Fernández Racing24.679424.71527 827 Dario Franchitti Andretti Green Racing24.7154—8 926 Marco Andretti Andretti Green Racing24.749624.71659 1055 Kosuke Matsuura Super Aguri Fernández Racing24.760724.776810 117 Bryan Herta Andretti Green Racing24.762224.787518 1220 Ed Carpenter Vision Racing24.778324.778511 134 Vítor Meira Panther Racing24.791324.800912 1415 Buddy Rice Rahal Letterman Racing24.807124.805513 1516 Danica Patrick Rahal Letterman Racing24.826924.848714 1617 Jeff Simmons Rahal Letterman Racing24.890124.890215 1751 Eddie Cheever Cheever Racing25.012725.034516 185 Buddy Lazier Dreyer & Reinbold Racing25.044025.067917 1914 Felipe Giaffone A. J. Foyt Racing——19 Source: Notes Bold text indicates fastest time set in session. — Bryan Herta started in 18th because of an engine change the night prior to the race. Herta started ahead of Felipe Giaffone because he made a qualifying attempt, unlike Giaffone.
Race The race began on Saturday, June 10, at 8:15 PM Central Daylight Time (UTC−05:00), and was broadcast live on ESPN in the United States. Commentary was provided by Marty Reid, while Scott Goodyear and Rusty Wallace took the roles of race analysts. Weather conditions at the speedway were muggy and humid, with air temperatures and track temperatures topping out at . An estimated 91,000 people were in attendance for the event. Actor Patrick Dempsey of the drama series Grey's Anatomy commanded the drivers to start their engines, and three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Johnny Rutherford drove the pace car. Hornish Jr. maintained his pole position advantage on the first lap, but he was quickly overtaken by Wheldon the next lap. From there, Wheldon held onto the lead for the next 55 laps, gradually gaining a 0.9-second gap over Hornish Jr. by the 50th lap. Meanwhile, Matsuura clawed his way up to the fourth position within the first 30 laps, while Giaffone improved to 12th.
With tires beginning to wane, Carpenter and Cheever drove into pit road and began the first round of green-flag pit stops on lap 53. Many drivers would soon follow in the next four laps, including Wheldon, who gave up the lead to Hornish Jr. on the 57th lap. A lap later, the first caution flag of the race was warranted when Lazier's car slowed on the apron of the track; he had reportedly suffered either an electrical or drive shaft failure and retired from the race. Hornish Jr. pitted for four tires and fuel on the 61st lap, yielding the lead back to Wheldon and sending him back to second. Only two laps after the restart on lap 69, the second caution flag was issued for Rice, whose car trailed a cloud of smoke from a faulty engine. He became the second retiree of the race. During this caution period, several drivers towards the rear of the field took the opportunity to enter pit road for fuel. Wheldon continued his sheer dominance over the other drivers following the lap 79 restart, leading 66 consecutive laps; however, Hornish Jr. was consistently within reach of Wheldon, as the gap between the two drivers by lap 115 was only 0.2 seconds.
Carpenter, anticipating another caution period, commenced the second cycle of green-flag pit stops on the 121st lap. Wheldon made a pit stop on lap 128 and conceded the lead to Hornish Jr. before he entered pit road on lap 131. From there, Sharp inherited the lead and remained on the track for five laps before driving into pit road on the 136th lap, handing the first position back to Wheldon. Castroneves' wing adjustment, coupled with a fast out lap, helped him claim the second position over teammate Hornish Jr. by the time pit stop cycles had ended. By utilizing the draft from several backmarkers, Wheldon maintained his lead and extended his gap over Castroneves to over half a second on lap 160, by which point Dixon had also passed Hornish Jr. for third. Castroneves inched evermore closer to Wheldon, but was still unable to get by him. Once again, Carpenter was the first driver to reenter pit road and kick off the final sequence of green-flag pit stops on lap 176, though most other drivers, including Castroneves, Dixon, and Kanaan, would not make pit stops until lap 183.