Behind the Barriers: Texas

Tomas Scheckter has secured a ride with Dreyer and Reinbold Racing for nine races this season, beginning this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. With sponsorship from MonaVie, Scheckter was in a DRR car at Milwaukee where he qualified 10th and finished 13th. MonaVie Founder and President Dallin Larsen said, "Our relationship with Tomas and team Dreyer & Reinbold Racing will help introduce MonaVie's new energy drink to those looking for the perfect equation of health and energy to recharge both body and mind."

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This is the 20th IndyCar Series event to be held at Texas Motor Speedway. The speedway held its first IndyCar race on June 7, 1997. From 1998 through 2004, the track was host to two races each year. Starting in 2005 the track has held one race each year.

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For official timing and scoring purposes the track distance is 1.455-miles.

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Danica Patrick is on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list. Angelina Jolie tops the list with Oprah Winfrey second. President Barack Obama came in at number 49 while Danica is listed at 100.

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Steve Luczo is not at Texas this weekend. Luczo is in Sicily to present a scholarship in honor of his mother Rose Luczo to students in Corleone, his family's hometown. Luczo and Dr. Philip Zimbardo, Professor Emeritus at Stanford University and host of the PBS Series "Discovering Psychology" will receive honorary citizenship June 6 in a ceremony at City Hall.

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Three rookies are entered at Texas this weekend. Raphael Matos, Robert Doornbos and Mike Conway are separated by 28 points in the rookie of the year standings.

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Alex Tagliani is making his second attempt to compete at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend. In 2001, Tagliani was competing in the CART series. The race at Texas was canceled after it was deemed that racing on the high banked oval was too dangerous. "It was pretty crazy having to cancel the race because of the sustained G Forces," said Tagliani. "I enjoyed running at Texas back then so I'm looking forward to my first race here this weekend."

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Dario Franchitti's Ganassi Racing No. 10 entry is blue this weekend, sporting sponsorship from Energizer. Franchitti drove a green car at Milwaukee one week ago with sponsorship from Tom Tom. Scott Dixon drove the Energizer colors three times, winning each time (Watkins Glen, 2006 and Nashville, 2007 & '08). Franchitti said, "I just want to win races regardless of what the car looks like."