Dearborn, Mich. — This is an important weekend for racers. For one thing, gettin’ reservations at a restaurant in Indianapolis could be pretty difficult. After all, all three of NASCAR’s major racin’ series will be competin’ in the area this weekend. Plus, USAC has a race there, too. Racers can get pretty hungry. Especially those tryin’ to get to victory lane or make the Chase.

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But, more important, especially for the Cup teams, it is a very important race weekend at a very important venue. The results on Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway generally go a very long way in indicatin’ how well a team will do for the rest of the season.

It is not easy to win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Winners there are, well, winners. Look at the list of those who have found victory lane there: Jeff Gordon (four times), Dale Jarrett (twice), Jimmie Johnson (twice), Tony Stewart (twice), Dale Earnhardt, Bill Elliott, Bobby Labonte, Kevin Harvick and Ricky Rudd.

Notice anything, in particular?

Thirteen of the 15 Cup races held there have been won by a driver who has won a championship. And, to go one step further, almost half of the winnin’ drivers at Indy—seven times, to be exact—have gone on to win the championship that very same year, includin’ current Ford racer Bobby Labonte in 2000.

But, with the annual trip to Indianapolis, comes the realization that the season is windin’ down, and opportunities to make the Chase become fewer and fewer. This is race No. 20 of 36, leavin’ only seven checkered flags until the 12 Chase contenders are determined.

And, right now, save for, perhaps, Carl Edwards, there are no guarantees for Ford drivers. Edwards, who in his four previous full seasons in the series has made the Chase three times, is currently in sixth place in the standings, 143 points ahead of the 12th, and final, transfer spot. And, Edwards hasn’t even won a race yet this year, after leading the series with nine victories in 2008, including six after Indy.

However, it’s Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle who are probably doin’ a little lookin’ in the rear-view mirror.

It is Kenseth who, right now, is in that all-eyes-on 12th spot. The good news is that he is not too far out of seventh. The bad news is that he is 10 points ahead of 13th-place Greg Biffle. Back to the good news: Ol’ Steady Matty has never not made the Chase.

The Biff, who finished second in the standings in 2005 and third last year, won at least one race every season from 2003 and 2008. He, like Edwards, is still lookin’ for his first victory of ’09.

Prior to Sunday’s Cup race, the Nationwide Series will compete at nearby O’Reilly Raceway Park on Saturday, and the Camping World Truck Series will race at ORP on Friday. Rick Crawford, driver of that No. 14 Ford F-150, won at ORP in 2006. Crawford, right now, is in 10th place in the standings after last weekend’s race at Kentucky.

The Sparkster spent last weekend at Kentucky Speedway, the first time Ol’ Sparky had ever made it to that facility. With an event called the Built Ford Tough 225 presented by The Greater Cincinnati Ford Dealers, how could the Sparkster miss it?

Plus, it was an excellent opportunity to catch up with Crawford, an old-school racer from way back, and Colin Braun, who ran well all weekend until he got helped into the wall late in Saturday night’s race. Otherwise, Braun, driver of the No. 6 Ford F-150, looked like he was a shoe-in for a fifth consecutive top-10 finish.

CALL HIM TIM WIN-KERSON
The newest of the Ford Racing racers, Tim Wilkerson, picked up his first victory of 2009—and in a Ford Mustang Funny Car—during the weekend. Wilkerson won at Kent, Wash., the second leg of the NHRA’s three-events-in-three-weeks western swing. Wilkerson, who led the standings for much of 2008, is now in fifth place. Ashley Force Hood drops to second place, 21 points out.

And, also winnin’ in Seattle was Ashley’s sister, Courtney Force, in a Top Alcohol Dragster. It was her very first victory in an NHRA national event.

CALL HIM PARNELLI JONES
The Sparkster had the wonderful opportunity to talk a little racin’ last week with none other than Parnelli Jones. Okay, not a little racin’ because with Parnelli, it’s a lotta racin’, only because he’s done so very much of it. There are only a handful of drivers in the Cup garage today of whom it’s said they could race—and win with—pretty much anything.

The same could be said of Parnelli Jones. (And, not to get side-tracked or anything, but isn’t Parnelli Jones the greatest name in the history of racing? It just sounds like a racer’s name. If Parnelli Jones didn’t exist, someone could make a movie about racin’ and introduce a character named Parnelli Jones and everybody in the audience would instinctively know: “Ah, that’s the guy who’s goin’ to win all the races.”)

It would take forever to list Jones’ accomplishments, but look at how varied these are:

· Won the Indianapolis 500 in 1963
· Won Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in 1963 and ’64
· Won USAC championships in stock cars (1964) and sprint cars (1960, ’61 and ’62)
· Won the Trans-Am championship in 1970
· Won four races and three poles in just 34 NASCAR Cup races

One of the coolest race cars ever had to be that 1970 Mustang that Jones ran for Bud Moore. Orange, No. 15. Still seems like yesterday, doesn’t it?

Anyway, look at the first two wins on the above list: Indianapolis 500 and Pikes Peak. Both were, and are, very prestigious, but the first was on a two-mile flat oval and the other was straight up a mountain. Could two forms of racin’ be any more different? And, Jones won both in the very same year.

That is a racer.

Anyway, he said that Pikes Peak was a difficult course for first-year drivers, and that’s what the Ford duo of Marcus Gronholm and Andreas Eriksson found out last weekend. Still, Gronholm, drivin’ a Ford Fiesta, finished second in the Unlimited Class and fifth overall en route to winnin’ Rookie of the Year honors. Now, if he comes back to compete in ’10…

MAILBAG
While mappin’ all the routes to Indianapolis, and between the two race tracks, the Sparkster went through this week’s mailbag.

Sparky,

What is up with the Fords in NASCAR racing? The Trucks and Sprint Cup cars are not doing very well since the first two races of the year. Yeah, Carl, Matt and, almost, the Biff are in the top 12 for the chase, but the trucks and the bigs boys are getting beat every weekend now by Chevy and the toy. It just drives me crazy to see the guys have a rough time with keeping up with the field. Why can't the Ford COT car stay up with everyone? And the trucks are not doing any better. What gives? I'm a big Ford fan and that is all I drive is Ford.

Dale,
Lynnwood, Wash.

First of all, Dale, thank you for your loyalty to Ford. Second, you’re right: It has been one of those years. So far. There is still plenty of racin’ left in 2009, and like the Sparkster has said before: Last year at this time Ford had three victories, and finished with 11. Again, Carl Edwards, who had nine wins last year, had three at this time in ’08, but that means he won six down the stretch. Greg Biffle won the first two races of the Chase. So, there is still plenty of time for the Ford racers to find Victory Lane again and again and again. As far as the Trucks are concerned, there aren’t a whole lot of F-150s in the field these days. Rick Crawford is Rick Crawford: an old-fashioned racer who gives 110 percent 110 percent of the time. And, Colin Braun certainly is makin’ the rest of the series take notice this summer, isn’t he? His first career win at Michigan last month was in the middle of four consecutive top-10s—which, really, could’ve been five straight had he not been given some “help” at Kentucky Saturday night.