Career
Biography
Race News
Other News
Photos
Team
Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix of Houston
Race
Team KOOL Green Press Release, Houston, 1st October:
SIMMONS 11th and KANE 13th IN HOUSTON
Team KOOL Green drivers Jeff Simmons and Jonny Kane had a tough day in Sunday's Dayton Indy Lights race on the streets of downtown Houston, as both drivers' races ended before the checkered flag.
Kane, who had started fourth, was the first to experience problems on the race course. On lap 21 of the 45-lap race, as Kane was running third, his gearbox broke and locked up the rear wheels as he was entering turn six. Kane was unable to move away from the corner due to the gearbox problems and first Derek Higgins, then Jason Bright slid on oil from Kane's gearbox and hit his car. Derek Higgins also slid on the oil and hit the wall. Kane was credited with a 13th-place finish.
When the race restarted at the beginning of lap 28, Simmons had moved up to fifth place courtesy of Kane's incident, but his brakes were getting soft. When fourth-place driver Mario Dominguez ran into the back of third-place runner Felipe Giaffone as the field approached turn one, Simmons was forced down the runoff area at turn one when his brakes failed. He rejoined in 10th place but he only made three more laps before coming to pit lane to have the crew attempt to fix the brakes. As he exited pit lane, his brakes failed again and his race ended against the pit wall.
Casey Mears won the race by 1.241-seconds over Townsend Bell and 1.782 seconds in front of third-place finisher Felipe Giaffone.
JONNY KANE, #27 Team KOOL Green Lola T97/20: (Started 4th / Finished 13th)
"It's a bit unfortunate. Something broke in the gearbox going into turn six. I downshifted into second gear and there was a loud rattle from the rear of the car. The rear end locked up and I spun around in oil from the gearbox. I was trying to drive away again when two cars came into the corner and hit me. From what the boys tell me there was a lot of oil on the road so we wouldn't have been able to continue anyway. I'm obviously disappointed.
"We started fourth and the Team KOOL Green crew made a good call with the set up for the race. I knew that Derek (Higgins) was holding me up quite a bit at the start and I made a pretty good move on him to get past for third place. We were slightly quicker than the leaders at that time with 30 laps to catch up about six seconds, which would have been tough but I think I could have chipped away and gotten pretty close."
JEFF SIMMONS, #26 Team KOOL Green Lola T97/20: (Started 8th / Finished 11th)
"The brakes were getting softer before the first caution, and after that the brakes were just going all the way to the floor. I could barely keep up with the field under yellow. The long caution period obviously made it worse because at such slow speeds we weren't getting enough air to the brakes.
"After we went green again I tried to brake real early going into turn one and still couldn't make the corner. The Team KOOL Green crew decided to give the brakes a quick bleed and that helped a bit. I was trying to beat the pack out of pit lane and the brakes worked the first couple of corners and I got to the end of pit lane and couldn't slow down at all."
Saturday qualifying
Team KOOL Green Press Release, Houston, 30th September:
KANE AND SIMMONS QUALIFY FOURTH AND EIGHTH IN HOUSTON
Team KOOL Green teammates Jonny Kane and Jeff Simmons qualified fourth and eighth, respectively, for Sunday's Indy Lights race in downtown Houston.
Kane sat at the top of the standings in morning practice and looked destined to remain there in qualifying, but he spun and hit the tires in turn 9, knocking off the rear wing and damaging the gearbox. Simmons, who had struggled with his set-up on Friday, was showing improvement but was the victim of two red flags that temporarily stopped the session, both coming out just as he was making quick laps on new tires.
Casey Mears will start from the pole after posting a lap of 1:04.722 (84.936 mph). Townsend Bell is second on the grid (1:04.905 / 84.696 mph) and Derek Higgins is third (1:04.979 / 84.600 mph).
There is a morning warm-up session for Indy Lights drivers tomorrow from 8:30 a.m. - 8:45 a.m., with Sunday's 50-lap race scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m. The race will be televised on tape delay on ESPN2, Sunday, Oct. 8, at 5:00 p.m. (All times are Central Daylight Time)
JONNY KANE, #27 Team KOOL Green Lola T97/20: (4th with a lap time of 1:04.985 / 84.692 mph)
"I did a pretty good time early on then backed off for a lap, and then was going for another quick one and just went a little bit wide at one corner and spun the car around. I nudged the tire wall with the rear wing and unfortunately broke the gearbox casing as well, so it took a little while to fix it. We had an eight-minute penalty because of that (causing a red flag) but we were able to serve it while making the repairs in the pits.
"I only got a total of eight laps in. I think if I could have got one more lap in at the end I might have been able to get pole. We've been one of the quickest all weekend, it's just unfortunate I made a slight mistake. But the Team KOOL Green crew did a great job getting me back out and we'll give it a good run tomorrow."
JEFF SIMMONS, #26 Team KOOL Green Lola T97/20: (8th with a lap time of 1:05.141 / 84.389 mph)
"This morning in practice the car was pretty good, especially considering the old tires we were on. We came out this afternoon and the understeer was back like yesterday. I don't know if the track was starting to come to us or if the changes we made helped, but at the end of the qualifying session the KOOL car was getting better and better. I think in a couple more laps we could definitely have moved up the grid. I don't know if I would have been on pole or not but I think we'd have been in the first couple of rows.
"My best lap was my last one before the red, and I think I was on one that was better when the red flag came out. And I'd just put new tires on when the first red came out. So we have to start back in 8th and it's going to be really tough to pass. It's a shame the reds didn't work out right for us today."
Jonny Kane Racing, Houston, 30th September:
"I made it very difficult for myself today as I only got eight laps in and I had two sets of tyres," Jonny said. "I went a little bit wide at turn nine and I spun the car around. I touched the tyre wall with the rear wing and unfortunately I damaged the gearbox casing as well, which took a while to fix. I think if I had been able to get at least one more lap in we could have had pole. It was unfortunate that the session was cut short. I have been one of the quickest all weekend so hopefully we'll have a good race tomorrow."
Friday qualifying
Team KOOL Green Press Release, Houston, 29th September:
KANE & SIMMONS ARE SIXTH AND 10th FASTEST IN FRIDAY QUALIFYING
Jonny Kane was sixth and Team KOOL Green teammate Jeff Simmons was 10th following today's provisional qualifying for Sunday's Indy Lights race through the streets of Houston.
Kane was quickest in morning practice and was second when a red flag interrupted afternoon qualifying with just minutes to go, but elected not to return to the track, thereby saving his remaining two new sets of tires for tomorrow's sessions. Kane's quick lap was 1:06.389 (82.803 mph). Simmons, who struggled with the set-up on his car all day, was clocked at 1:06.876 (82.200 mph).
Jason Bright set quick time of the day with a lap of 1:05.964 (83.336 mph). Geoff Boss came in second at 1:06.035 (83.247 mph) and Mario Dominguez was third at 1:06.223 (83.01 mph).
JONNY KANE, #27 Team KOOL Green Lola T97/20: (6th with a lap time of 1:06.389 / 82.803 mph)
"It usually seems to go quite well when we come to the street circuits. We were quickest this morning and second when we stopped (for the red flag) this afternoon and unlike a lot of the other front-runners, we've got two new sets of tires for tomorrow, so it looks good.
"The Team KOOL Green crew made the right decision not to go out again with just a few minutes left after the red. We decided we could probably go quicker than we had already, but I didn't feel we would get the very best out of new tires. There are only a couple of laps where you can get a really good time and it's better just to save them for a good go tomorrow. It's all going to be very close tomorrow, I think."
JEFF SIMMONS, #26 Team KOOL Green Lola T97/20: (10th with a lap time of 1:06.876 / 82.200 mph)
"I don't know, the car was just much worse than it was this morning. I've been fighting a mid-corner understeer but now the KOOL car has understeer throughout the whole corner. I can't really go any faster because with the push (understeer) we can't go quicker into the turns and can't get out of the corners any better, either.
"We made a number of changes after this morning's practice but we ended up going back almost to where we started. We'll have to think about it, have a look at Jonny's (Kane, teammate) car and see what he's doing. Hopefully we'll be able to pick it up and move up the chart tomorrow."
2000 Race News
Motorola 300, St Louis Gateway
Honda Grand Prix of
Monterey, Laguna Seca
Molson Indy, Vancouver
Miller Lite 200, Mid-Ohio
Target Grand Prix of
Chicago
Detroit News 100, Michigan
Freightliner/G.I.
Joe's 200
Detroit News Challenge
Miller Lite Milwaukee Mile
Toyota Grand Prix
of Long Beach