2012 Mini Indy 500 qualifying races

The 2012 Mini Indy 500 qualifying races were a trio of qualifying races designed to set the field for the 2012 Mini Indy 500.

They were held at Indianapolis Raceway Park in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Procedure
After pole qualifying was held to set the front row, the remainder of the field (107 cars) was randomly seeded into one of three qualifying races. The top 13 finishers from each event would advance to the Mini Indy 500.

Also, a provisional slot was reserved for the driver highest in the points that did not advance from the qualifying races, meaning that in essence, 106 drivers would compete for the remaining 39 slots on the grid.

Each race was 75 laps in length.

Race one
Polesitter Kellan Rogers was looking to make her ARLA debut driving the No. 106 car usually occupied by team owner Ryan Matthews, who was in Wales for the TM Master Cup race. Unfortunately for her, her day would go south quickly and she would finish in 32nd place, nine laps off the pace and nowhere near a transfer spot.

Herbie Finkleberg thoroughly destroyed the field, leading 53 of the 75 laps, and if he wasn't already a favorite to win the race, he probably is now.

The only caution flew at the end of the first lap, when Ike Durbin got into Rence Brown, who had put himself into the Turn 4 wall. Todd Wodarczyk piled into the back of the No. 86.

Libby Bell continued her miserable luck by blowing her clutch. Her hopes of snagging the provisional spot were dashed when points leader Ebenezer Quiggles, Jr. struggled all night, and got the provisional for himself.

Trey Ashby was still as fast as he was in pole qualifying. A slow pitstop briefly took him out of a transfer spot, but he made it up after the rest of the field pitted.

The FAC Motorsports cars were surprisingly competitive, as well as debutante Vincenzo Fochesato.

Results

 * x - indicates one-off entry

Failed to qualify

 * Jacob Eichholtz (14th)
 * Bobby Porteau (15th)
 * Rip Tyler (16th)
 * Edwin Schwarzloski (17th)
 * Jim More (18th)
 * Ricky Navarro (19th)
 * James West (20th)
 * Nicole Moreno (21st)
 * Yevgeny Kuznetsov (22nd)
 * Ebenezer Quiggles, Jr. (23rd) &Dagger;
 * Scott Dalitz (24th)
 * Gary DeSouza (25th)
 * Paul Lyons (26th)
 * Jessica Graham (27th)
 * Todd Wodarczyk (28th)
 * Thomas Tucker (29th)
 * Kalvin Oreiller (30th)
 * Seiju Dejao (31st)
 * Kellan Rogers (32nd)
 * Cletus McGuffie (33rd)
 * Rence Brown (34th)
 * Ike Durbin (35th)
 * Libby Bell (36th)
 * Bill Tissom (37th)

&Dagger; Quiggles advanced to main race by virtue of being highest in points not already qualified

Race two
Rachel Rainsford won when she actually decided to be fast for once, and there's no better time to do that than when you have to race your way in.

Both of the MT Motorsports cars made it in, and Ben Atkins avenges his teammate Jacob Eichholtz's DNQ by putting himself in the race.

Jason Teller and Holden Roberts were their usual slow selves (Xenos is reportedly not happy with Teller's lack of results this year...). Benji Flynn, who had been very fast on the short tracks earlier this year, was nowhere all night. Nami Mura's DNQ means that Kurt Walker will be the only representative of his own team on the grid.

Bigsby Foote is the only PSI representative to qualify, but rumors started circulating of the team switching him out for Bell.

Sentimental favorite Steve Johnson got wrecked by Scott Morales on the first lap. Johnson's car was one of Nick Howard's backup cars, but the team covered the numbers with ugly duct tape boxes and painted a 60S over them.

Results

 * x - indicates one-off entry

Failed to qualify

 * Makoto Yamada (14th)
 * Mac Rhylen (15th)
 * Nami Mura (16th)
 * Scott Morales (17th)
 * Isaac Lightener (18th)
 * Benji Flynn (19th)
 * Harry S. Enola (20th)
 * Jason Bates (21st)
 * Brenda Riggs (22nd)
 * Jarkko Forsstrom (23rd)
 * Tyson Lautenschlager (24th)
 * Zach Gott (25th)
 * Magnus Skov (26th)
 * Jeff Little (27th)
 * Barney Ward (28th)
 * Jason Teller (29th)
 * Holden Roberts (30th)
 * A.J. Young (31st)
 * Ryan Gregory (32nd)
 * Ryan Griffin (33rd)
 * Steve Johnson (34th)

Race three
Dan Richards, Bob Stephans, and Laura Cyrus fought for the lead for the whole caution-free race, but after pit stops, Dale Hill came rocketing to the front and won quite easily.

Joe Olenick and J.W. Lester will be making their first starts in ARLA competition. Former Rockford 200 winner Rush McCloud made it as well.

Tiffany Matthews drew last place for the start, but she made it all the way to the last transfer spot.

Results

 * x - indicates one-off entry

Failed to qualify

 * Tanner Clason (14th)
 * Todd Stater (15th)
 * Raibeart Scott (16th)
 * Lucas Flint (17th)
 * Alex Carson (18th)
 * Darren Grant (19th)
 * Eric Jackson (20th) (see below)
 * Kodi Richards (21st)
 * Brenda Riggs (22nd)
 * Jason Munich (23rd)
 * Greg Woodard (24th)
 * Barton Sandy (25th)
 * Leigh Gruell (26th)
 * Gavin DeGray (27th)
 * Joseph Howard (28th)
 * Alessandro Rossini (29th)
 * Richard Scott (30th)
 * Seb Harb (31st)
 * Patrick Henderson (32nd)
 * Ray Smith/Team M-Pire (33rd)
 * Doom-O (34th)
 * Verity Logan (35th)
 * Derek Dudding (36th)

Post-race lineup changes

 * Rush McCloud replaced by Eric Jackson after Jackson finished 20th in his race