"We had a small fire while we were doing an insulation check. We had a little too much blocker on the radiator and didn't get any air through there, so we burned. It's something AJ Foyt taught me years ago - I don't know if it makes a difference, but the luck he's had at the Speedway made me figure I'd better follow in those footsteps!"
Reigning series champion, Scott Dixon, was fourth quickest on the day, despite having to drive his Target Chip Ganassi entry with the after-effects of the ankle he fractured at Motegi two weekends ago.
"We tried a few things out today, but there was no point in fighting the wind," the Kiwi said, his mind obviously pre-occupied by matters other than his physical condition, "I'm happy with what we've done so far, but there's a lot of time to improve things. The track is getting faster and faster, and we should pick up more speed by the time qualifying rolls around."
Ganassi team-mate, rookie Darren Manning, rounded out the top five on his first real run at the Brickyard since moving over from Champ Cars at the end of 2003.
"The car was really good right from the start," the Briton reported, "We tried things out there on our own without running in traffic, and I'm pleased with the results so far. We called it a day a little early to save tyres for tomorrow, when the conditions should be a bit better."
There was good news too for both
Red Bull Cheever entries as local boy Ed Carpenter and team-mate Alex Barron annexed the next two places.
"We had another good day," Carpenter, who won last year's IPS race at Indy - and who passed his ROP test on Monday - noted, "We didn't get as much track time as we wanted because of the wind, but we made some more progress and are ready to give it another go tomorrow."
