Tag: Ganassi

IndyCar – Indianapolis 500 Qualifying Recap

John Olsakovsky

Fast Friday This weekend’s qualifying for the 98th Indianapolis 500 Mile Race started with questions, albeit not the usual ones. The new format did away with the traditional Pole Day and Bump Day. And lets not forget the points for qualifying and the Fast 9, making starting position mean far more than pit selection. When IndyCar turned up the boost for practice on Friday, Tony Kanaan and Ryan Hunter-Reay both posted laps in the 231mph range and Marco Andretti laid down a 232.2mph lap.  Of those, only Hunter-Reay’s was truly…

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IndyCar – Tuesday Talk

John Olsakovsky

Tuesday Talk is a weekly rumor/opinion section about happenings in the IZOD IndyCar Series, Firestone Indy Lights, Pro Mazda Series and the Cooper Tires USF2000 Series. All opinions expressed within should be considered as 100% accurate and infallible, because everyone knows I’m never wrong. Houston. Wow. What an event. Taking away all the ancillary factors, Houston wasn’t a bad race. The field was pretty racy. Just go back and look at the box scores. Bourdais went from 13th to 5th. Servia went from 21st to 7th. Vautier went from 22nd…

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IndyCar – BREAKING NEWS: Tony Kanaan to Ganassi

John Olsakovsky

Jenna Fryer of the Associated Press reports that 2013 Indianapolis 500 Mile Race Winner and 2004 IRL Series Champion Tony Kanaan has signed a deal to drive for Chip Ganassi Racing in 2014. The popular Brazilian has made his free agency aspirations well known in the media since it was discovered that KV Racing Technology was having difficulty financing his 2013 effort. His name had been linked to the Ganassi seat, but also seats at Andretti Autosport, Bryan Herta Autosport, Panther Racing and a possible return to KV Racing Technology.…

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IndyCar-Tuesday Talk

John Olsakovsky

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…

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IndyCar – Round 10: Iowa Corn Indy 250 Presented by DEKALB preview

John Olsakovsky

WHAT: Iowa Corn Indy 250 Presented by DEKALB WHERE: Iowa Speedway, Newton, IA WHO: Defending Series Champion and Race Winner Ryan Hunter-Reay looks to repeat his performance form 2012 after winning last week’s event in Milwaukee. Points leader Helio Castroneves has never won at Iowa, but he looks to break through this weekend after a 6th place finish at Iowa last season. Marco Andretti has looked poised to take another victory several times in 2013, but has suffered some sort of unfortunate ending every time. Can the former Iowa winner…

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IndyCar – Former IndyCar/NASCAR Driver Jason Leffler Killed in Sprint Car Crash

John Olsakovsky

BRIDGEPORT, NJ (June 12, 2013)– Former IndyCar and NASCAR driver Jason Leffler was killed at Bridgeport Speedway in New Jersey when his Sprint Car flipped during a 412 Sprint race. Leffler was transported from the scene via helicopter, where he was later pronounced dead. Leffler’s upper level racing career began in USAC, where he was a three time National Midget Champion and the 1998 Silver Crown Champion. He made 4 Nationwide Series starts for Roger Penske in 1999 while also pursuing an IRL career. He made his first IRL start…

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Grand Am – Round 4: Visual Studio Ultimate Grand Prix of Atlanta Preview

John Olsakovsky

What: Visual Studio Ultimate Grand Prix of Atlanta Where: Road Atlanta, Braselton, GA When: Saturday, April 20 4:30pm EDT Who: The Grand Am Rolex Series makes its first visit to Road Atlanta. Max “The Axe” Angelelli and Jordan Taylor took home First Place at Barber for the Velocity Worldwide team and look to continue their success on Grand Am’s southern swing this weekend. Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas in the #01 Telmex Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Riley-Dinan/BMW are contenders in every Grand-Am event alongside Jon Fogarty and Alex…

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IndyCar-Round 1: Honda Grand Prix of St. Pete Preview

John Olsakovsky

What: Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Where: Albert Whitted Airport Circuit, St. Petersburg, Florida When: 12:30pm EDT on Sunday, March 24 (TV: NBC Sports Network) Who: Helio Castroneves, defending race champion, looks to defend his race title on the Streets of St. Pete against 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series Champion Ryan-Hunter Reay, four-time series champ Dario Franchitti, perrenial road and street course ace Will Power and the rest of the IZOD IndyCar Series field. Storylines Ryan Hunter-Reay begins his title defense on a very hit-or-miss track. Even though he finished…

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Grand-Am—Ganassi Announces Rolex 24, Season Plans

John Olsakovsky

This morning, Chip Ganassi Racing announced both their plans for the 2013 season as well as the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Returning to the 01 Telmex BMW-Riley are Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas, who are making a run at their fourth consecutive Grand-Am Rolex Series Daytona Prototype championship. Pruett and Rojas have essentially been on top of the DP Series since 2008, only missing out on the championship in 2009 to the Alex Gurney/Jon Fogarty duo at Gainsco/Stallings Racing. Pruett has five DP Series championships while his co-driver Memo Rojas…

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Indycar-Grading the 2012 Season: Teams Edition

John Olsakovsky

With the 2012 season on the books, it’s about time to start breaking down the good and the bad. In this multi-part series, I’ll cover everything from races to drivers, taking an in-depth examination of exactly what went down. Today, let’s kick things off with a look at the teams of the 2012 IZOD Indycar Series. 1. Team Penske Will Power had a typical Will Power season, aside from the fact that he didn’t win another race after Sao Paulo. Once again, Will couldn’t quite find the handle on the…

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