Catchfence

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – (May 21, 2010) – National Guard Panther Racing driver Dan Wheldon started Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway by speaking on a video uplink with National Guard troops stationed in both Iraq (Task Force 38) and Afghanistan (Task Force Cyclone), and finished it by solidifying the race setup on his No. 4 entry.

Both Wheldon and teammate Ed Carpenter turned as many laps as they could during open practice time in between and exciting day of Bump Day qualifications. The drivers came away feeling good about the race setup on their cars and were competitive while running in traffic throughout the day.

Carpenter and Wheldon will be making a trek to Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York for a media tour on Monday and Tuesday along with the 31 other IZOD IndyCar Series drivers participating in the 2010 Indianapolis 500. They can be seen at the Speedway again on Wednesday for the Community Day fan activities, including an afternoon autograph session.

IZOD IndyCar Series action will resume Friday at 11:00 a.m. for a one hour practice during Carb Day festivities.

The 94^th Running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race will be broadcast live on ABC on Sunday, May 30^th at 12:00 p.m. with additional coverage provided by the IMS Radio Network, www.indycar.com,  XM channel 145 and Sirius channel 211.

Dan Wheldon, No. 4 National Guard Dallara Honda:

“We definitely continue to work on the National Guard Panther Racing car and we certainly made it better and continue to learn a lot. I think it was a very positive day, and the conditions obviously – from what we know, but you never know in Indiana – are what we are expecting on raceday. So that made today a very important day for the Panther team and probably the most important day we’ve had so far this month. It’s one of those days we had to use the track time wisely and get a good data bank of knowledge so you can pick out what will work best come the race.”

Ed Carpenter, No. 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka Dallara Honda:

“It was a really good day but tricky conditions, a lot like yesterday, and not the kind you really want to be running but at the same time if you can get your car working well in these conditions and be happy with it for the race, I feel like we’ll be pretty prepared for whatever the conditions may be. It was a really productive day and very happy with where we ended the day. I think the speed is good and the car has good grip. I’m excited.”

- Panther Racing/Vision Racing, Press Release