Defending IZOD IndyCar Series Champion Ryan-Hunter Reay took the first victory by a non Team Penske entry at the immaculate 2.3 mile Grand Prix course at Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds, AL today in a very exciting event. Scott Dixon took the runner up spot for the fourth consecutive time in the Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Helio Castroneves completed the podium with a strong run all day, but using up the tires late in the race to drop from the lead to third place. All this happened in front…
Read MoreAuthor: John Olsakovsky
@JohnTheRaceFan
Grand Am-Max The Axe Cuts Down The Field
LEEDS, AL- Max “The Axe” Angelelli drove a masterful final hour in his #10 Velocity Worldwide Corvette Daytona Prototype to hold off a hard charging but underpowered Alex Gurney in the #99 GAINSCO Red Dragon Corvette to secure his 22nd career win in Grand Am’s top series. On the GT side of things, Robin Liddell in the #57 Stevenson Auto Group Camaro outpaced a tightly contested battle with Alessandro Balzan in the #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458. On a remarkably beautiful day in the Appalachian Foothills of North Central Alabama,…
Read MoreIndyCar-Hunter-Reay Puts Number One in P1
BIRMINGHAM,AL- In a most surprising qualifying session, defending IZOD IndyCar Series Champion Ryan Hunter-Reay beat out Verizon Team Penske driver Will Power for the Verizon P1 Award at the 2.38 mile Grand Prix course at Barber Motorsports Park. Will Power completes the front row with a lap of 1:07.3304. All of today’s qualifiers ran under the previous track record of 1:09.82. Group 1 was the “Death Group” this time. In fact, by the end of Round 1, every car with the exception of Ana Beatriz would have been fast enough…
Read MoreIndyCar-Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama: Practice 1
A mostly uneventful S1 ended with chart-topper Tristan Vautier sliding off in Turn 2, across the gravel trap and into a rather muddy fence area. Vautier ends the session atop the speed charts at 1:09.0120 after 15 laps of running. Honda made a strong showing during the first session with Vautier finishing P1, Scott Dixon in P2, Charlie Kimball in P3 and Will Power as the fastest Chevy in p4. Dario Franchitti rounds out the Top Five with a 1:09.3202. The top 10 times were evenly split between Chevrolet and…
Read MoreOp Ed-Not Seeing The Line For The Marbles
Birmingham AL City Council Member Steven Hoyt, what are you thinking? A recent request from Zoom Motorsports, producers of motorsports events at Barber Motorsports Park, for $300,000 in support from the City of Birmingham was recently rejected via a coalition headed up by Councilor Hoyt on the grounds of Birmingham being a majority African-American populated municipality and the people who run Barber Motorsports Park and Zoom Motorsports being primarily Caucasian. The fact of the matter is Councilor Hoyt has no problem with the city directing hundreds of thousands of dollars…
Read MoreIndyCar-Round 2: Honda Grand Prix of Alabama Preview
What: Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama Where: Grand Prix Circuit, Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, AL Who: Will Power looks to repeat as race winner, taking three of four visits to the circuit by IndyCar. Power’s teammate, Helio Castroneves, is the only other former winner at Barber, and comes off a strong second place finish at St. Pete. Points leader James Hinchcliffe ran well at Barber last year and in preseason testing. Hinch looks to extend his points lead early in the season. When: Race time is 3pm EDT on…
Read MoreIndyCar-Conor Daly enters Indy 500 with Foyt
Today, A.J. Foyt Enterprises and Conor Daly made the worst kept secret in IndyCar official; young Conor will pilot A.J.’s #41 entry at this year’s Indianapolis 500. Conor had a quite successful offseason test with the Foyt team, leading to speculation that he might do the entire IZOD IndyCar Series schedule as his European aspirations hung in the balance. Funding eventually materialized, leading Conor to return to Gp3 with the ART team, and even getting a shot at GP2 in Malaysia. Daly, a 21 year old from Noblesville, IN, is…
Read MoreIndyCar-Neely’s Nine: Field Rankings after GP St Pete
With round one of the 2013 IZOD Indycar Series down, the field now leaves the Albert Whitted Airport circuit in sunny St. Petersburg, FL for the luxurious Grand Prix Circuit at Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds, AL. We learned a good bit about 2013 in St. Pete, but increased speeds and grip at Barber should prove to separate the contenders from the pretenders as we get the real feel of how the season should play out. These rankings are nothing more than my personal opinion, and not always reflective of…
Read MoreIndyCar-No Runoff Needed: Mayor Hinchcliffe Takes GP St. Pete
In an outstanding display of racecraft, James Hinchcliffe took his first IZOD IndyCar Series victory on the Albert Whitted Airport Circuit in St. Petersburg, FL today. Hinch managed to hold off defending race champion Helio Castroneves for over 20 laps near the end of the event, giving Andretti Autosport its first win in St. Pete. Completing the podium was Marco Andretti in the #25 RC Cola Andretti Autosport Chevrolet. After starting 4th, Hinch ran up near the front of the field all day. Helio Castroneves ended the day with most…
Read MoreIndyCar-2013 Social Media Guide
Here we are at the start of the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Season, so it’s time to make sure all your social media bookmarks and follows are up to date. I’ve put together this handy 2013 Season Social Media Guide to help you all Twitter your Facebook and Instagram your Pinterest. As always, you’ll want to start your Social Media bookmarking with us! Open Paddock on Facebook Open Paddock on Twitter And hows about giving me a follow on Twitter as well! Kevin Neely on Twitter Indycar Website Facebook Twitter YouTube Flickr…
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