The 2007 Iowa Corn Indy 250 was a race in the 2007 IRL IndyCar Series. It was held over the weekend of June 22–24, 2007, as the eighth round of the seventeen-race calendar. It was the inaugural race at the brand-new Iowa Speedway.

Pre-Race

Practice scheduled for Friday was shortened due to thunderstorms in the area. Despite lack of Friday practice, many drivers expressed awe at the 7/8th mile track for being so fast, with practice speeds averaging over . Drivers originally believed that it would be a competitive race, but soon found out that passing would be very difficult. The other main concern of the track was the physical requirements, with the 7/8th mile track driving like a

superspeedway Oval track racing is a form of motorsport that is contested on an oval-shaped race track. An oval track differs from a road course in that the layout resembles an oval with turns in only one direction, and the direction of traffic is almost uni ...

and drivers experiencing 4.8 lateral G-Forces during the race.

Scott Dixon Scott Ronald Dixon (born 22 July 1980) is a New Zealand racing driver who races the 9 Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) Dallara DW12-Honda car in the IndyCar Series. He is a six-time drivers' champion of the IndyCar Series, having claimed the title in ...

won the pole in qualifying on Saturday (182.360 mph/17.6486 secs).

Hélio Castroneves Hélio Castroneves (; born Hélio Alves de Castro Neves; 10 May 1975) is a Brazilian auto racing driver. He competes part-time in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 06 Dallara-Honda for Meyer Shank Racing. He is one of four drivers to have w ...

qualified 2nd (182.272 mph/17.6571 secs), while

Danica Patrick Danica Sue Patrick (; born March 25, 1982) is an American former professional racing driver and model. She is the most successful woman in the history of American open-wheel car racing—her victory in the 2008 Indy Japan 300 is the only win ...

came in 11th (180.974 mph/17.7838 secs).

Race

The first half of the race was a "crashfest" with 7 cars crashing out in the first 100 laps. The largest crash occurred on a restart on lap 100, when cars tried to go 4 wide on the frontstretch. Danica Patrick, Sam Hornish Jr., and others were eliminated. Many driver's blamed the hard tires of the race. This was caused because of an unusually cool day, with temperatures around 75 degrees for the race, originally forecast as late as the night before the race around 90-95 degrees. Pole sitter Scott Dixon had steering problems at the start, and originally retired, though his team repaired the car and he ended up 10th, many laps down. The race ended up a battle between Andretti-Green Racing teammates Dario Franchitti and Marco Andretti, with Franchitti winning.

Scott Sharp Scott Sharp (born February 14, 1968) is an American professional racing driver in the United SportsCar Championship. He is the son of six-time SCCA champion Bob Sharp. Sharp is best known for his years as a competitor in the Indy Racing Leagu ...

came in third.

Classification

Note

Milka Duno Milka Duno (born April 22, 1972) is a Venezuelan former race car driver who competed in the IndyCar Series and ARCA Racing Series. She is best known for holding the record of highest finish for a female driver in the 24 Hours of Daytona. She en ...

was ordered by race officials to maintain a minimum speed and when she failed to meet that speed she was parked.

Caution Periods

There were six caution periods during the race, with a total of sixty-seven laps run under yellow.

References

IndyCar Series
{{s-end Iowa Corn Indy 250 Iowa Corn Iowa Corn Indy 250