IndyLights – New Hampshire Beat Down

The Firestone Indy Lights race at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway can only be described as a beat down by Josef Newgarden (@RacerOfTomorrow) who was the ONLY driver to finish on the lead lap. That’s right. He lapped the entire freakin’ field! He might have done it twice if not for the yellows. The three primary Sam Schmidt Motorsports cars of #11 Newgarden, #7 Esteban Guerrieri, and #77 Bryan Clausen (@BryanClauson) were in a completely different class during qualifying. During practice, Josef, Bryan, and Esteban posted times of 147.457, 145.749,…

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IndyLights – Influx of New Drivers

As we head into the coming race weekend on the Streets of Toronto, we have a few driver announcements. Two new drivers from the Formula 3 ranks and a change of team by a third. While this still doesn’t swell the ranks beyond the low- to mid-teens, its better than nothing. Right now the Firestone Indy Lights Series is in a bit of crisis with the specter of inequity haunting it, rightly or wrongly, and car counts barely making it into the double-digits. Seeing new drivers come to the series…

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Winning the 500 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin me as I sit and talk with Emily Jones about her summer internship with Bryan Herta Autosport. She gives us a first hand account of what it was like working with the team that won the 100th Anniversary of the Indianapolis 500! She also answers accusations of nearly assassinating 2/3rds or the Paddock crew. All in all it is a great account from start to finish of May and all the hard work that goes into winning the ‘Greatest Spectacle in Racing’! We…

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IndyCar – Saavedra Joins Bryan Herta Autosport for 2010

Sebastian Saavedra who drove in the #27 AGR/AFS Firestone Indy Lights entry in 2009 has recently been announced as Bryan Herta Autosport’s second driver. Saavedra finished third in the 2009 championship after battling his teammate and eventual champion JR Hildebrand all season long. He had never raced on an oval, let alone a superspeedway, before coming to the Firestone Indy Lights series, yet he won his first oval race at Kansas in the most racing treacherous conditions I’ve ever seen. He backed up his strong oval performance with great run…

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