From: Michael Powell 

IN SEARCH OF THIRD TITLE, HORNISH TESTS AT TEXAS

FORT WORTH, Texas, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2003 – Two-time IRL IndyCarTM Series
champion Sam Hornish Jr. tested Sept. 30 at Texas Motor Speedway in
preparation for the season-ending Chevy 500 Oct. 12 at the 1.5-mile oval.

Hornish, driver of the No. 4 Pennzoil Panther Dallara/Chevrolet/Firestone,
is no stranger to the Texas track, having won the last two fall races at
TMS.

“We are working hard on our race setup,” Hornish said. “We are really close
on the car. We want to be able to go through some aero bits, other things
that have to do with the engine. (We’re) running all the new things that we
found since the last race to see if they will help or are an advantage to
us here.”

Hornish, 24, from Defiance, Ohio, is attempting to win his third
consecutive IndyCar Series championship. Only one driver, Ted Horn in
1946-48, has won three consecutive Indy-style championships. 

Helio Castroneves and Scott Dixon are tied in the standings with 467
points, followed by Tony Kanaan with 460 points and Hornish with 448. Gil
de Ferran is fifth with 437.

Hornish’s fourth-place ranking is impressive considering that after
finishing 10th in the Bombardier 500 in June at TMS, he was 11th in points,
85 behind then-leader Kanaan. 

Since then, Chevrolet introduced the Gen IV Chevy Indy V-8 engine, which
has given Hornish, as well as other Chevrolet drivers, more horsepower. 

“We are running eight miles an hour faster here now than we qualified in
June,” Hornish said. “That’s a big difference.”

In addition to Hornish, Alex Barron tested at Texas in the No. 52 Red Bull
Cheever Racing Dallara/Chevrolet/Firestone. Barron has driven nine races in
2003 with three different teams, the last two with Cheever.

He finished seventh with the team at Chicagoland and 10th at California.

“We haven’t had a lot of time together,” Barron said. “It is only our third
race together coming up. We have made a lot of strides in the right
direction but have been missing it by just a little bit. That is what we
want to accomplish: to have a good car when we come back for race weekend.
We definitely need to have good results at the last race of the season.”

Richie Hearn tested in the No. 91 Metabolife/Delta Faucet/Life Fitness
Dallara/Chevrolet/Firestone for Hemelgarn Racing. His first experience with
the team was Sept. 21 at California Speedway. He finished 21st when
handling problems ended his day after 133 of the 200 laps.

“We are trying to give ourselves a good race car for next week,” Hearn
said. “This is only my second time with the team. We have a lot to
accomplish in a short time. It is a good idea to come down for this test.
We are going to try things with the car and see how I like it. We will have
a better race car next week than we had at the last race.”

Other drivers who tested at Texas included Vitor Meira, driver of the No. 2
Menards/Johns Manville Dallara/Chevrolet/Firestone, and Robbie Buhl, driver
of the No. 24 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Dallara/Chevrolet/Firestone. 

Testing is expected to continue Oct. 1, with 2003 Menards Infiniti Pro
Series champion Mark Taylor testing a Panther Racing IndyCar Series car.

The season-ending Chevy 500 at Texas Motor Speedway is Oct. 12 and will be
broadcast live at 3:30 p.m. (EDT) by ESPN and the IMS Radio Network. For
tickets, log on to www.texasmotorspeedway, call (817) 215-8500 or go to any
Ticketmaster location.	



--- Internet Rex 2.29