But Some Light Bulbs Had to be Replaced

The object of our journey was a 1996 Hummer H1 pickup, 25,000 miles, “Desert Storm” tan, one owner—namely Tom’s father-in-law, who bought it new and deployed it as a tractor on his 160-acre farm. A dedicated Hoosier, the Hummer was built in Mishawaka and never departed the state.

“It might be a little rough,” Tom allowed as we passed Karl Kinser’s shop in Oolitic. “Lots of sinkholes in the local limestone, and my father-in-law—plus the Hummer—fell into a couple. More than a couple. He went completely vertical one time. Things got wet.” (Indeed. The brake-light bulbs were filled with liquid the color of Yoo-hoo.) In truth, the body was in great shape, which Tom proudly pointed out as he circled the behemoth, a boy in love.

One of life’s great joys is articulating the hideous flaws in another man’s freshly acquired vehicle. “Wow, you think the starter should be attached with more than one bolt?” I probed. “Was it your dad’s habit to fill the heater core with grain?” And, “I gotta tell you, I’ve never seen tires called ‘IROK Super Swampers.’ ”

Audi no match for Peugeot

Many in the Audi compound tonight are left muttering under their breath and shaking their head in bewilderment. That's because the team was flat-out beat on Wednesday by Peugeot. It was the first day of practice for the 78th running of Le Mans, and the day started with a French celebration and ended with one as well.

This morning the winning Peugeot drivers from the 2009 race were given one last gift to remember their winning ways. The mayor of Le Mans hosted a ceremony in the center of town honoring David Brabham, Marc Gene and Alexander Wurz. They saw their handprints cast in bronze set in the cobble stones of Le Mans.

By the time everyone returned to the circuit it was time to get down to business, and that is exactly what the Peugeot team did. Throughout the late afternoon and into the evening it seemed each Peugeot driver--first Franck Montagny, then Stephane Sarraazine, and finally Sebastien Bourdais took turns setting the fastest lap. Bourdais finally grabbed the top spot with a time of 3:19.711. He has provisional pole; however the forecast for Thursday is for heavy rain and the French seem content to begin their race preparations.

Rick Dole

Sebastien Bourdais is on the pole for Le Mans after the first day of qualifying.

Preparation or lack there of seems to be the lowest common denominator with the Jaguar team. When the green flag dropped at 4 o'clock this afternoon the team didn't even start its engine. Problems continue to plague this effort, and while Ryan Dalziel and Marc Goossens completed a few laps, Paul Gentilozzi finished none. And there seems to be a lot of confusion on whether or not Gentilozzi has violated a rule requiring some sort of minimum lap requirement during the first day of practice. This is probably the least of his worries. As qualifying began at 10 p.m., the Jag crew had the engine apart trying to find another gremlin. Not a very good first impression and plenty of less-than-positive comments by the Radio Le Mans folks who have followed this team since its debut at the ALMS race at Laguna Seca in 2009.

Johnny Kane sits on pole in the Strakka Racing HPD. He is a second quicker that the Highcroft Racing HPD. Kane set his time of 3:36.168 on qualifying tires. David Brabham was the quickest Highcroft driver with a time of 3:37.202 while running on full tanks.

Former Formula One world champion Nigel Mansell is driving his first Le Mans with sons Greg and Leo. He had a moment during his first stint spinning off at the PlayStation chicane. No harm, no foul.

The same can't be said for the No. 12 Rebellion Racing Lola which was crashed while Marco Andretti was at the wheel. The car did not return to the track this evening.

Rick Dole

One of the iconic sights of Le Mans: the Dunlop Bridge.

The Risi and Corvette ALMS teams traded fastest times in GT2, and Gianmaria Bruni setting the best time in class.

While the 'Vette and Ferrari boys have to feel good following today, the Audi camp cannot. It has spent an enormous amount of euros redesigning and rebuilding the R15, and German sources close to the team confirmed the 2010 model has the same major problem as the 2009 version--understeer. With all of the money, all of the testing and all of the development, the Audi is essentially no quicker than last year's car. And the team is nearly four seconds slower than pole-sitting Peugeot. And 2.2 seconds slower than the semi-works Peugeot of Team Oreca.

The fastest Audi starts on row three.