Tag: Belardi Auto Racing

Indy Lights – Triumph and Tragedy for Belardi at the Freedom 100

Doug Patterson

The 12th running of the Indy Lights Freedom 100 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway took place yesterday on Carburetion Day, and the 100-mile, 40-lap sprint was the magnificent race that I’ve been raving about for years. As we came into the Month of May and started with the Indianapolis Grand Prix, Andretti Autosport’s Zach Veach and Belardi Auto Racing’s Gabby Chaves were leading the championship having split the victories in the first four events. The grand prix weekend didn’t go as planned for either of the two drivers, as they…

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Inside The Helmet – Gabby Chaves, A Family Tradition of Motor Racing

Doug Patterson

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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadGabby Chaves, driver of the #5 Belardi Auto Racing machine for the 2014 Indy Lights season visits with us and talks about his unique family racing history, his experiences racing in America versus Europe, his progress through the Mazda Road to Indy system, and his expectations for the 2014 Indy Lights season. Gabby Chaves: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gabby-Chaves/ Twitter: @GabbyChaves Website: http://http://www.gabbychaves.com/ Belardi Auto Racing: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BelardiAutoRacing Twitter: @BelardiRacing Website: http://belardiautoracing.com/

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Inside the Helmet – Michael Epps

Doug Patterson

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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadMichael Epps, driver of the #44 UNATION Van Diemen for Belardi Auto Racing the Cooper Tires Presents the USF2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda joins us in this off-season episode of Inside the Helmet. Michael talks to us about his early days in karting and the challenges of transitioning from club racing to pro-level racing. He also shares with us the driving style changes necessary when moving up from a kart to a winged car like the Formula Renault that he ran in 2012.…

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From The Cockpit – Michael Epps’ Thoughts on Texas, Tango’s, and Flying Tyres

Doug Patterson

Editor’s Note: In our continuing From the Cockpit series, Belardi Auto Racing’s Michael Epps offers the following recap of his race weekend on the rolling hills of the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. We thank Belardi Auto Racing and their drivers for their support and the excellent insights their drivers have offered us through this series of articles. At the end of the article, you’ll find links to Belardi Auto Racing’s and Michael’s social media connections. Be sure to follow them on Facebook and Twitter. Well, well, well. Actually I’m not…

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IndyLights – Dempsey Is Out for the Remainder of 2013

Doug Patterson

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…

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From the Cockpit – Michael Epps at the Allied Building Products USF2000 Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio

Doug Patterson

Editor’s Note: In our continuing From the Cockpit series, Belardi Auto Racing’s Michael Epps offers the following recap of his race weekend on the rolling hills of the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. We thank Belardi Auto Racing and their drivers for their support and the excellent insights their drivers have offered us through this series of articles. At the end of the article, you’ll find links to Belardi Auto Racing’s and Michael’s social media connections. Be sure to follow them on Facebook and Twitter. Well, since I’ve not written on…

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Inside The Helmet – Danilo Estrela

Doug Patterson

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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadDanilo Estrela, driver of the #11 USF2000 machine for Belardi Auto Racing, joins us all the way from his hometown in Brazil for this edition of Inside the Helmet. We begin our conversation talking about Danilo’s late start in motorsports, not getting into a kart until the age of 14, and immediately breaking all the rules laid down for him. We then turn our attention to his transition into cars and why he chose to pursue open-wheel racing over touring cars. Danilo spent a…

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Indy Lights – Dempsey’s Trial at the Mile

Doug Patterson

Coming off a great race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the Firestone Freedom 100, I was really pumped heading to the Milwaukee Mile for the IndyFest. The week before the race, I was very fortunate to be able to spend eight days back in Ireland visiting friends and family. I arrived back on Tuesday the week of the race. Luckily, I was able to get over the jet lag quickly enough to be fresh for the first practice day on Thursday. The great thing about racing in Milwaukee is that…

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IndyLights – Peter Dempsey: Winning at Indianapolis

Doug Patterson

The month of May is always special in Indianapolis. All the IndyCar teams are flat-out testing and developing their race cars. I was fortunate to get to attend Pole Day this year for the first time, and what a day that was! Ed Carpenter lit up the field with his impressive pole run, and also to see Carlos Munoz qualify 2nd for the 500 was great. This really was amazing by him to out-qualify his seasoned teammates. Practice and Qualifying The FIL cars weren’t on track until Thursday with one…

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IndyLights – Peter Dempsey: Thoughts and Insights from Long Beach

Doug Patterson
Start of the Firestone Indy Lights race on the Streets of Long Beach -- Photo by John Cole, INDYCAR

It’s been a while since my last blog entry for OpenPaddock.net, and a lot has happened since then! Long Beach ended before it started, an amazing four wide finish win in the Freedom 100, and a trip back to Ireland to get my visa extension and to see some family. I am going to fill you in on how I made it through all this crazy stuff over the past few weeks. Let’s start off with the race weekend on April 24th at one of my favorite streets courses, the…

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