Thurs practice: Foyt cars to the fore

"We made some small changes," said Ray. "The speed wasn't much faster, but the improvement in feel and confidence was huge. The car was fantastic in Turn One, and the conditions out there weren't that good.

"We've been a little more conservative than usual in our approach. With the small changes we made this morning, the car came right. So a little more of that, and we'll be good for qualifying."

Despite bringing practice to a halt with an unusual crash into the pit wall (for separate story, click here.), Bruno Junqueira recovered well to set the second fastest time of the day. This put him ahead of the second Foyt car of Airton Dare.

Sam Hornish Jr. and Felipe Giaffone used their back up cars and were fourth and fifth respectively, while Donnie Beechler made it an encouraging day for Foyt by setting the eighth best time.