Today was the second day of practice for the 97th running of the Indianapolis 500. If yesterday’s weather was cold, then today might best be described as arctic. It was definitely colder than Opening Day, but the fans were still coming through the gates, eager to see some IndyCar action. There were plenty of mothers that decided to spend their special day at the Speedway.

I arrived at the Speedway around 9 am and it was about 38 degrees. The wind was whipping around at 15 mph, and it only got stronger throughout the day. Instead of hiding from the sun and drinking a lot of water, most people were hiding from the wind and grabbing something hot to eat or drink. Many people were wondering how much action we would see on the track today. Most of the teams I spoke to said they were targeting the 4:00 hour as the time they would head out.

When practice began, last year’s pole sitter, Ryan Briscoe made his way onto the 2.5 mile oval. His white and blue number 8 Ganassi machine took 10 laps around the course before heading back to Gasoline Alley. Ryan’s new teammates, Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti also went out to put in some more laps. They weren’t the only team on the track though.

Andretti Autosport had all of their cars out early, each of them taking the track by themselves. One at a time, they went out for about six or seven laps before coming back in. One team member told me that all of the teams were “burning the midnight oil” last night. They were working just as hard on the track as well, providing some excitement in the last 90 minutes of today’s practice session with all five of their cars.

Around 4:30 all five Andretti machines went out together, in a pack that AJ Allmendinger quickly found himself a part of. There were some dicey moves, some questionable decisions, and nearly one big mistake by rookie Carlos Munoz. He got below the white line going into turn 1, nearly taking out a few of his teammates. Luckily about two minutes later, a yellow came out for track inspection, and team owner Michael Andretti could breathe a sigh of relief.

To the surprise of no one, the five Andretti cars, and Allmendinger took the top six spots on the speed chart. It was the rookie at the very top, with a lap of 223.023 mph.

It was interesting to note how much support Takuma Sato had today. There were many Japanese fans in attendance today, and they were all surrounding AJ Foyt’s garage and pit stall. I talked to a few of them that said they have always supported him, but that the support has grown in Japan since his win in Long Beach earlier this year.

The RLL trio of Graham Rahal, James Jakes, and Michel Jourdain Jr all got some valuable track time today. I spoke to Jourdain’s spotter this morning and he said that the team is trying to get a feel for each other, but things are coming along nicely.

Another team that didn’t run yesterday but did today was Dragon Racing. Sebastien Bourdais and Sebastian Saavedra turned quite a few heads today, when their cars left Gasoline Alley. Bourdais’ car is all chrome and red, while Saavedra’s is a shiny blue that reflects the sun like a mirror. The theme today must have been the liveries, because another team had a good one to show for the first time.

Panther Racing usually supports our heroes, the National Guard. This May, they are riding with another kind of hero. Superman. That’s right, Hildebrand’s car features the super hero himself, who is displayed nicely on the side pods of his Chevrolet-powered machine.

According to Curt Cavin, Sam Schmidt said that he had heard from Jaques Lazier, Buddy Rice, Jay Howard, and Richie Hearn about his third car. Buddy was in Gasoline Alley and said that he hoped he would be able to get into Tristan Vautier’s car sometime later this week. There is still no driver assigned to drive the number 99 car that he entered yesterday.

Conor Daly is expected to run tomorrow, where he will attempt to complete all three phases of his Rookie Orientation Program. He finished 5th in his GP 3 event earlier today, and is en route to Indianapolis.

There were 23 cars that turned a total of 730 laps on this chilly Sunday. Munoz was the fastest with the help of a tow. Tomorrow’s practice will run from Noon – 6 pm, and the weather forecast looks a little better than today’s. It should be very similar, but a few degrees warmer. The temperatures are supposed to climb into the 80’s for the rest of the week.