Episode 160 — OpenPaddock.net Podcast
Podcast: Play in new window | Download If you missed it last night on ETV Live!, we had the honor of speaking with the newly signed pilot of the #9 Firestone Indy Lights racing machine for Belardi Auto Racing, Mr. Peter Dempsey. Peter shared with us his experiences struggling to find a stable ride through the end of 2011 with Andretti Autosport, racing and coaching in 2012 at Indianapolis and Detroit this past season with Younessi Racing, and ending... [Read More...]
Mazda Road to Indy – Fall IMS Test Recap: USF2000
This past weekend, all three series that are part of the Mazda Road to Indy program tested for two days on the infield road circuit at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. While there were certainly many familiar faces present, including Star Mazda champ Tristan Vautier and USF2000 champ Petri Suvanto, there were also many new-comers testing at all three levels. We’ll break down the test not by day, but by series and look at how things went for... [Read More...]
Indy Lights – Reigning Indy 500 Champ Drives Lights Car of Belardi Auto Racing
INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 7) — Dan Wheldon hopped into the Firestone Indy Lights car of Belardi Auto Racing’s Anders Krohn at Indianapolis Motor Speedway yesterday. No, you are not mistaken, it is not May. Wheldon was invited to test drive the three cars of the Mazda Road to Indy ladder system during a media day at the famed speedway. The two-time Indy 500 winner was like a kid in a candy store; eyes gleaming at the chance to take the cars for... [Read More...]
IndyLights – Andretti Autosport Strikes Back
So far the 2011 Firestone Indy Lights Championship has been dominated by Sam Schmidt Motorsports. In past years, Andretti Autosport, when they were in partnership with AFS Racing, had fielded back-to-back championship winners with Raphael Matos (2008) and J.R. Hildebrand (2009). Up until the Toronto race, SSM drivers had won five of the six races, only losing the Barber race to Team Moore’s Victor Garcia (who may have been running with an... [Read More...]
Inside The Helmet – Jorge Goncalvez at the Iowa Speedway
Indy Lights – Milwaukee Wrap-Up
Discord and dissension plagued this weekend’s Firestone Indy Lights event. The minimal car count on Saturday for qualification got smaller still on Sunday as Peter Dempsey pulled off the track refusing to take the green flag in protest to what he and his team, O2 Racing Technology, feel is favouritism shown to some teams by INDYCAR by ignoring technical violations found in post-race and post-qualifying inspections over the past years. In a... [Read More...]
USF2000 – Milwaukee Wrap-Up
What a crazy busy weekend as open-wheel racing returned to the Milwaukee Mile. The weekend certainly didn’t go as smoothly, nor as successfully as many had hoped, but there were some fans that showed up and we got to see some racing in spite of the downpour on Sunday morning. It seemed like this weekend was filled with all kinds of off-track drama from the way the race was promoted and managed, to some extremely serious controversy in... [Read More...]
USF2000 – Belardi Signs Two Former Formula Car Champions
Belardi Auto Racing wrapped up their Firestone Indy Lights roster late last month, and now they’ve secured two former formula car champions to be their drivers in the Cooper Tires presents the US F2000 National Championship powered by Mazda, Wayne Boyd and Cole Morgan. Wayne Boyd, a Belfast native, started racing in the Super 1 National JICA Championship where he had mixed results. After moving to cars, his results improved dramatically, winning... [Read More...]
Indy Lights – Belardi Auto Racing Finalizes Driver Roster
Today, Belardi Auto Racing announced that Jorge Goncalvez would join Anders “The Viking” Krohn to round out their 2011 Firestone Indy Lights driver roster. Jorge has made it to the Firestone Indy Lights series through a somewhat unique route. While he has has some experience in karting, beginning in 2006, he also started racing cars that same year. He ran one race in the Formula Renault 1.6 Panam GP Series and made the podium! Not bad... [Read More...]
Mazda Road to Indy Wrapup: 1/29-2/5
There’s not been much in the way of announcements this past week from the Mazda Road to Indy teams and series, but there has been a lot of testing! Winning top prize for “Most Grueling Testing Program” is Juncos Racing which took their four-driver team on a three-week boot camp tour, testing at three very different tracks in three consecutive weeks. Not only does the non-stop testing give the engineers a lot of data and the drivers... [Read More...]
