I must admit that this doesn’t come as too much of a surprise as we’ve seen Peter Dempsey’s car running sans a primary sponsor since MidOhio. Peter, who had won the Firestone Freedom 100 in dramatic fashion in May and had several strong finishes in the races since, has run out of funds to continue the 2013 season. We’ve really appreciated having Peter on the OpenPaddock.net podcast and sharing his race weekend thoughts with us throughout the season. We’re bummed and disappointed that he’ll not be able to continue with…
Read MoreTag: 2013
IndyCar- The business of racing 2.0
Which of these drivers would you hire? Driver A has 104 career IndyCar starts. He has 8 wins, 26 podiums, 37 Top Fives, 13 Poles, 10 Fastest Laps with a lowest full time season placing of 6th. Driver B has 82 career IndyCar starts. he has 1 win, 8 podiums, 16 Top Fives, 2 Poles, zero Fastest Laps with a best full time season placing of 7th. Driver A spent most of those starts at the helm of one of the series’ top seats. He’s been in championship contention, raced well on…
Read MoreEpisode 205 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast
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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadNeely, Whitesell, and Patterson rip through all the news from IndyCar, USCaR, F1Car, and RallyCar. We examine the 2014 USCR schedule, and worry about the 2014 IndyCar schedule. Congratulations to Peter Portante and Scott Rettich for their victories at the SCCA Runoffs. We wrap up recaping the Singapore GP and the ability of the FIA to squash the last vestiges of sportsmanship and personality from the sport. Oh, and Ogier being a whiney about Loeb stealing his spotlight in France. OpenPaddock.net Podcast: Episode #205…
Read MoreSCCA – A Week Filled with Cheese (Usually Fried): Peter Portante’s Journey to the National Runoffs
Through many complicated Italian conspiracies and many other auspicious things, I found myself somehow eligible to race in the 2013 Runoffs at Road America. Saturday I had arrived late last night to the Packed flight full of Green Bay fans headed to the game, alright I’m sorry, that joke was a bit cheesy. As I have just read the poor quality joke, I should probably apologize to all the readers for this, as I am writing this is a quite delirious state (One, I cannot believe I actually won. Two,…
Read MoreEpisode 204 – OpenPaddock.net Paddock
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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadNASCAR imitates Formula One as Bowyer scratches an itch, Montoya will make an encore appearance in open-wheel racing, Kimi is confirmed at Ferrari as the 2014 calendar takes shape, and we recap the WRC Rally Australia and ERC Rally Poland. OpenPaddock.net Podcast: Episode #204 – Tuesday September 17, 2013 The continuing NASCAR saga NASCAR changes rules to deter race manipulation Jeff Gordon added to NASCAR’s Chase field IndyCar Montoya turns down Andretti IndyCar offer Juan Pablo Montoya’s return will give IndyCar a villain Munoz…
Read MoreFlag to Flag – 19 September *14:40 Update*
14:40 EST: GRC – Chevrolet Sonic Set for Debut The all new Chevrolet Sonic is set to make its Global Rallycross Championship debut at Charlotte. The Sonic will look to compete with rivals Ford but are realistic on their current position. The fact is this effort is a privateer entry with manufacturer support, but not a full team of folks like we see with the Fiestas. Head over to Racer.com and check out the story and look for the Sonic on a track near you. 10:00 EST: Formula 1 –…
Read MoreFlag to Flag – 18 September *Update 1:58 Eastern*
In an attempt to try something new, I would like to test a flag to flag post that will be a running microblog if you will of key stories throughout the day on the various series we cover here at the site. This will be a living and breathing post that will be compiled throughout the day with bigger stories getting a whole article dedicated. A lot of these stories will be linked to pages like Autosport and Racer, but will have a little sprinkling of opinion for good measure!…
Read MoreUSF2000 – Hargrove Extends Championship Lead at Laguna Seca
The Cooper Tires Presents the USF2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda joined the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series in Monterrey, CA to compete at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, home of the most infamous corner in North American road racing “The Corkscrew”. The young Mazda Road to Indy drivers ran two races over the weekend, one on Saturday and one on Sunday, with open testing on Friday. Scott Hargrove came to Monterrey with 46-point lead over a resurgent Neil Alberico. Alberico, however fast he may be, has had issues with consistency…
Read MoreIndyCar-Tuesday Talk
Tuesday Talk is a segment where we discuss news bites from around the world of IndyCar. All opinions expressed within are those of the writer, and should be taken as the exact opinion of absolutely everyone involved with OpenPaddock, because Kevin Neely is an amazing, insightful writer. So it looks like Andretti Autosport has roughly half the funding needed to run Juan Montoya in the 2014 season. Michael is working hard to make the Montoya ride happen. This leads to some questions, though. If Andretti digs up the cash to…
Read MoreEpisode 202 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast
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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadThe OP Boyz are joined this week by Belardi Auto Racing’s Peter Portante to discuss the insanely close Indy Lights championship, relive the crazy Race 3 USF2000 start at Mid-Ohio, and preview of the up coming USF2000 race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Everyone joins in the ranting fun over the demoltion derbys that IndyCar and ALMS called races on the streets of Baltimore, we look forward to the Italian GP at Monza, and Mr. Shaw runs through the latest rally news. We also…
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