Spreading sunshine

This post brimming with positive information from the last few days can best be summed up by a saying my stepfather likes to often use: “Don’t give me good news – it only weakens me!”

Charles Bucknum, who spent several days in the care of medical personnel after he inadvertently stepped in front of a moving Dallara, has also been released from hospitalization. Bucknum suffered a “traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage and a skull fracture”, which is probably about as much fun as it sounds.

The same article notes Alex Lloyd, who has also spent the past few days in the hospital while recovering from his rear-end collision with Turn Three, has been released and cleared to resume driving activities this weekend for his Ganassi Incorporates Rahal Letterman (GIRL) Racing team, which also has a new "Wii Fit" paint scheme to show off.

As for otherwise healthy people, Roger Yasukawa has been named as the official driver for the Curb/Agajanian/Beck Motorsports entry, winning the job over prior Beck driver Alex Barron. As team owner Greg Beck declared, “It’s just a matter of whose money shows up first.”

Jeff Simmons has been announced as the driver of a second Foyt Racing entry for The Month of May. This means he will be setting out to do something he did in 2004, which is driving in both the Firestone Indy Lights Freedom 100 on Carb Day and the Indianapolis 500 on the following Sunday. Call it the “Indy 600”.

And lastly also announced for the Freedom 100 are both Robbie Pecorari and My Name Is IRL favorite Mike Potekhen, who will be paired as teammates for SWE Racing in the event. These two good old American boys each managed to have some success last year despite racing for second-tier teams, and their additions should bring the total number of entrants for that race to approximately 100 cars. Give or take a few.