SCCA – Newgarden Moonlights in Formula Ford, Kicks Everyone’s Backside!

So what does a Verizon IndyCar Series driver do during an off weekend? How about going to a Formula Ford race and kicking everyone butt! That’s exactly what Josef Newgarden did this past weekend down at the Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL. I contemplated going to this event, and now I wish I’d done so! Here’s the official recap from the SCCA… Official Release from the Sports Car Club of America Newgarden Wins Formula F 45th Anniversary Feature Race at Barber BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Aug. 10, 2014) – Taking a…

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Pro Mazda – Can Pigot Get His Groove Back at Houston?

The first four races of the 2014 Pro Mazda Championship, two at St. Pete and two at Barber, saw Juncos Racing’s Spencer Pigot dominate the rest of the field. In those first four races, Spencer won two poles, and in all four races set the fastest race lap, lead the most laps, and was first to take the checkers. That all changed when the Pro Mazda Championship came to Indianapolis for the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis. It all went wrong for Spencer on the exit of Turn 1 on…

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Indy Lights – The Year of the Veterans

The 2014 Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires championship is underway and has it’s first two races are in the books. The series started with a increase in participants over the last season with a total of twelve entrants at both of the opening street races. I know it’s not a large of a field as we’d like to see, but it’s an improvement over the single-digit fields of last season. As usual, there are a number of European drivers coming over from the multitude of formula series that abound,…

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SCCA – Formula F 45th Anniversary Highlights Barber Festival

I know we talk a lot about the big cars whether it be IndyCars, Le Mans or Daytona Prototypes, or WRC rally cars, but let’s not forget the little machines that can! One of the things that attracts me to the Mazda Road to Indy is the raciness of the smaller formula cars especially on a tighter and more technical circuit like Barber or Mid-Ohio. They’re just a lot of fun to watch! This year is the 45th anniversary of the SCCA’s Formula F class and they’re throwing a party…

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IndyLights – Peter Dempsey Blog: St. Petersburg and Barber Motorsports Park Review

Hello everyone and welcome to my first blog entry for OpenPaddock.net! My name is Peter Dempsey and I am competing in the Firestone Indy Lights series this season driving for Belardi Auto Racing in the #5 car. I will be writing weekend review blogs after each of my FIL races this season. With a busy start to 2013, this first blog consists of both my St. Petersburg review and my Barber Motorsport review. The Streets of St. Petersburg The first race of the year is always one of the most…

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Indycar-Barber From A Fan’s Perspective

While riding the tram around the track at Barber Motorsports Park this past Sunday, I met two young fans wearing matching Dario and Dixon shirts. I struck up a conversation with them to discover these two young female fans were from Birmingham, and one of them has an interest in becoming a writer. I gave them my card and asked them to send me their experiences from the weekend. Well, Annika Reitenga did exactly that. Here’s the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama in her words…. Race Weekend By Annika…

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IndyCar-Wire to Wire: Hunter-Reay Takes Barber Win

Defending IZOD IndyCar Series Champion Ryan-Hunter Reay took the first victory by a non Team Penske entry at the immaculate 2.3 mile Grand Prix course at Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds, AL today in a very exciting event. Scott Dixon took the runner up spot for the fourth consecutive time in the Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Helio Castroneves completed the podium with a strong run all day, but using up the tires late in the race to drop from the lead to third place. All this happened in front…

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Grand Am-Max The Axe Cuts Down The Field

LEEDS, AL- Max “The Axe” Angelelli drove a masterful final hour in his #10 Velocity Worldwide Corvette Daytona Prototype to hold off a hard charging but underpowered Alex Gurney in the #99 GAINSCO Red Dragon Corvette to secure his 22nd career win in Grand Am’s top series. On the GT side of things, Robin Liddell in the #57 Stevenson Auto Group Camaro outpaced a tightly contested battle with Alessandro Balzan in the #63 Scuderia Corsa  Ferrari 458. On a remarkably beautiful day in the Appalachian Foothills of North Central Alabama,…

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IndyCar-Hunter-Reay Puts Number One in P1

BIRMINGHAM,AL-  In a most surprising qualifying session, defending IZOD IndyCar Series Champion Ryan Hunter-Reay beat out Verizon Team Penske driver Will Power for the Verizon P1 Award at the 2.38 mile Grand Prix course at Barber Motorsports Park. Will Power completes the front row with a lap of 1:07.3304. All of today’s qualifiers ran under the previous track record of 1:09.82. Group 1 was the “Death Group” this time. In fact, by the end of Round 1, every car with the exception of Ana Beatriz would have been fast enough…

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