WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - Ryan Briscoe couldn't help but flash a big smile.
A week after spinning out at Richmond and losing the IndyCar Series points lead, Briscoe won his second straight pole at Watkins Glen International. He turned a lap Saturday in 1 minute, 28.5970 seconds around the 11-curve, 3.4-mile road course in the Firestone Fast Six Shootout. It was his second pole of the season and sixth overall.
"I haven't had this much fun around a road course in a long time," said Briscoe, who eclipsed the former track record of 1:29.1919 set in 2007 by Team Penske teammate Helio Castroneves. "These red tires were just unbelievable. They have a lot of grip."
This season Firestone introduced so-called "option tires" for all road/street course races. The tires, marked with a red line around the outer edge, have a softer tread compound for better grip but also are less durable than the standards.
Each team will be required to use the so-called "red" tires once Sunday in the 60-lap Camping World Grand Prix, but they also could use them in qualifying. That and a hard crash in the shootout by series points leader Dario Franchitti on his first lap that caused a full-course caution made the difference for Briscoe. The six-driver field only had enough time to run one fast lap.
Justin Wilson of Dale Coyne Racing finished second to the Australian for the second straight year and was left to wonder what might have been with a set of unused red tires still sitting in his pit stall.
"That's just how it goes," Wilson said. "I was hopeful because we had a new set of red options left and everyone else had used them in the first session. Unfortunately, I never got the opportunity."
Qualifying on road and street courses is broken down into three sessions. In the first, each of two groups have 20 minutes on track to run as fast a lap as possible. The fastest six cars from each group advance to the second session.
The 12 cars in the second session get 15 minutes to post their fastest lap, and the top six move to the Firestone Fast Six Shootout. In the Shootout, the finalists are allowed a new set of tires and have 10 minutes to post their best time.
Briscoe was fastest in every session, and in the second round seven drivers surpassed the track record.
Wilson was followed by three-time Watkins Glen winner Scott Dixon, Mario Moraes, and Graham Rahal. Franchitti was sixth, just ahead of rookie Mike Conway and Danica Patrick.
IRL says it's doing well: Four days after Tony George was ousted as president and chief executive officer of the IndyCar Series, the president of the commercial division said the series was on sound ground.
"We're pretty pleased with the direction and management of the company," Terry Angstadt said Saturday after a meeting with team owners at Watkins Glen International. "We see monthly financial statements. We know if we're achieving and we are. We are exceeding sponsorship by sixfold and net income by fivefold. That's a pretty solid performance.
"That's important for everyone to hear. We're exceeding the plan and our job is to make it stable in the future."
The board of directors overseeing Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Hulman & Company announced Tuesday that a new management team was taking over both entities beginning Wednesday. Longtime IMS executives W. Curtis Brighton and Jeffrey G. Belskus assumed the leadership roles, leaving George out as president and CEO of the speedway and his family's business. He remains on the board and also owns Vision Racing.
"I was just wishing what was the best for Tony," said Brian Barnhart, president of competition and operations. "He seemed very comfortable with the decisions. Tony has been in this position for nearly 20 years. He's done a great job."
"This is kind of a lifelong thing Tony signed on for," Angstadt said. "He's going to be very involved in our day-to-day business."
Angstadt said the 2010 schedule would be announced by the end of the month and would include 17 or 18 races, including a foray into Brazil. He also said the league had not had talks with Australian officials about a race there and keeping the Milwaukee Mile on the schedule remained iffy at best.
Milwaukee track promoters have paid prize money to teams but have not fully paid sanctioning fees owed to both NASCAR and the IRL. Earlier in the week, IRL spokesman John Griffin acknowledged the league's issue with the Milwaukee promoter and said league officials were trying to set up a meeting to work things out. Until they do, the track's date on next year's schedule is in limbo.
"We hope to include Milwaukee, but it continues to be a challenge and has probably gotten worse," Angstadt said. "We felt we could develop a plan. It remains to be seen. It does look like pretty tough operating conditions up there."
Barnhart said five manufacturers have expressed interest in the future: current engine supplier Honda, Audi, Fiat, Porche, and Volkswagen. He said two chassis also are being considered with a focus on reducing costs.
Barnhart also said the IRL was not ruling out 2011 for the debut of a new car, but because the league is considering two designs that are signifcantly different from each other and what it currently has, the target date remains 2012.
"The challenge is a little bit of the unknown and doing due diligience," he said. "You have to build a prototype, learn how to race those cars. Equally, and more important, we're going to have to learn how to crash those cars. If it can be done quicker, it will be, but in 18 months? I'm not sure that's a comfortable time frame."
Charlie Morgan, president and CEO of IMS Productions, said the series was happy with its television packages with cable channel Versus and ABC. This season, ABC is broadcasting five races, including the Indy 500; Versus has a 10-year deal to televise at least 13 races annually.
"We have to have more time on the air to tell our story," Morgan said. "We have work to do, Versus has work to do. That's why it's a 10-year package. Our job is to give them compelling content."