Road to Indy – Night Before The 500 Summary and Photos

Summary and Quotes Saturday night, the Night Before the 500, saw the first visit to an oval for the US F2000 National Championship presented by Cooper Tires powered by Mazda and the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear. Unlike the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race the next day which was brutally hot, the weather was perfect. We sat in the Turn 1 grass and enjoyed the mild temps and the gentle breeze as we watched the future of open-wheel racing do battle on the 5/8-mile paved oval at the O’Reilly Raceway…

Read More

Road to Indy – Test Results Are In!

Wednesday and Thursday of last week, the US F2000 National Championship presented by Cooper Tires powered by Mazda and the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear held a test on the 5/8-mile oval at O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis. For many of the drivers, this was not just their first time driving on an oval circuit, it was their first time BEING at an oval circuit! That didn’t seem to intimidate some as some blindingly quick times were posted. US F2000 Test Of the teams that tested at ORP on…

Read More

Star Mazda – The Season So Far and Drivers On The Move

The 2010 Star Mazda Season The 2010 season for the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear started alongside the American Le Mans series at the Sebring International Raceway. Anders ‘The Viking’ Krohn, a 2nd-year competitor in Star Mazda driving the #47 Andersen Racing car, set the pole, but was caught up in traffic early allowing Conor Daly to claim the lead. This is Conor’s sophomore year as well, races the #22 car for Juncos Racing. Many will find his name familiar as he’s the son of famous Formula 1 and…

Read More

USF2000 – The Season So Far and Drivers On The Move

The 2010 US F2000 National Championship Season The US F2000 National Championship opened their season on March 27th and 28th along with Star Mazda and the Firestone Indy Lights on the Streets of St. Petersburg as support races to the IZOD IndyCar Series. It was a weekend of great open-wheel racing, torrential rainstorms aside. So good in fact, the officials decided, “What the heck! Let’s play two!” Ok, perhaps it wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision, but the series did run two races that weekend. The class of the field that weekend…

Read More

US F2000 – A Brief History and Introduction

The new US F2000 National Championship presented by Cooper Tires and powered by Mazda will make its debut at the O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis on Saturday May 29th, the night before the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race. They will be part of a larger celebration of speed, The Night Before The 500, which will also feature the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, and USAC Midgets. It should be a great night of racing, and you can bet that the whole OpenPaddock staff will be there. History of F2000 and…

Read More

IndyCar – Night Before the 500

This year’s Memorial Day weekend will be an even larger speedfest than usual for fans of open-wheel racing. For the past seven years, the Firestone Indy Lights series has had their Firestone Freedom 100 race on Carburetion Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In addition, there’s also plenty of midget and sprint car action throughout central Indiana the weekend of the 500. Most famously are the Night Before The 500 USAC midget race at O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis and the Little 500 at Anderson Speedway in Anderson, IN. This…

Read More