In addition to the IZOD IndyCar Series and the USF2000 National Championship, the American Le Mans Series and the SCCA Pro Racing Pirelli World Challenge were at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course last weekend. As always, the Cadillac CTS-Vs in the PWC sounded absolutely amazing! Robertson Racing’s FordGT were missed this week, but the new SRT Viper made it’s debut. I must admit that although it looked cool, it’s sound and performance were underwhelming compared to the Corvettes. MidOhio was their first event, however, and given that, I can cut…
Read MoreAuthor: Doug Patterson
Motorsports enthusiast since ...well... always. Grew up watching Mario and AJ, took my first lap around IMS in the tour bus in 1977, fell in love with anything that went fast.
Currently, I work as a professor of astronomy and physics at a college in the suburbs of Kansas City, http://staff.jccc.edu/dpatter/, and own a photography business, Patterson Prints, with my wife. http://www.pattersonprints.com/
IndyCar and USF2000 Photos from MidOhio
I *FINALLY* have all of the photos from the IndyCar & ALMS weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Here’s the USF2000 National Championship and the IZOD IndyCar Series photos. The sports car photos will be up in a separate post soon. USF2000 National Championship Photos IZOD IndyCar Photos
Read MoreOpEd – Caption This: USF2000 at MidOhio
Spencer Pigot, driver of the #2 Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing USF2000 car sponsored by Team Pelfrey, won Race #1 on Saturday at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. In Victory Circle, he enjoyed the spoils of his winning drive. Ah! The thrill of victory! Leave your ideas for a caption in the comments section below! Get a good/funny/weird photo from the races? Send it to me at doug@openpaddock.net and we’ll post it for all to enjoy and caption.
Read MoreGRC Round 5: New Hampshire
Editor’s Note: Here’s the latest in a series of fan-submitted commentary on the Global Rallycross Championship from Mike Shaw (@oregonwings). We hope you enjoy it as much as we here at OpenPaddock have. The X-Games was over. Loeb returned to France, Toomas Haikkenen is recovering with his broken ankle after a gnarly collision with the jump ramp, and Marcus Gronholm was still out after his bad concussion. Round 4 of the GRC was going to New Hampshire, and I was beginning to lose interest in this new take on a…
Read MoreGRC Round 4: X-Games 18 – Was there any doubt?
Editor’s Note: Mike Shaw (@oregonwings) continue to provide us with excellent insight to the Global Rallycross Championship. My apologies for the delay in the release of this and a post that will be released tomorrow. Those of you know me know what’s been occupying every scrap of my spare time lately. –Doug Patterson The X-Games round of the Global RallyCross Championship was supposed to be an epic battle. We have had 2 time World Rally Champion Marcus Gronholm dominating the season in his Ford Fiesta, and then coming into the…
Read MoreUSF2000 – Friday Practice at Mid-Ohio
It’s been a long summer off for the USF2000 drivers. The Championship class last competed in May on the 5/8-mile oval at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis the Saturday before the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race. The National class hadn’t competed since the Grand Prix of Long Beach in April! Now after over two months, three for the NAT drivers, the drivers for the first rung of the Mazda Road to Indy ladder system are back on track at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The Cape Motorsports duo of #2 Spencer…
Read MoreRally – New England Forest Rally Preview
The 2012 New England Forest Rally is this weekend, and our friends at Last Ditch Racing return to Rally America to compete in their home event. Driver John Cassidy and co-driver Jennifer Daly will be taking his 2003 Subaru WRX-STi to the difficult Maine roads in their one Rally America appearance of the season. “We haven’t missed a Maine Forest Rally / New England Forest Rally for the past thirteen years, but I think we still have more speed to show on our home roads. We really enjoy the rough…
Read MoreIndy Lights – Championship Tightens Up After Toronto
The Firestone Indy Lights race on Saturday was just as chaotic and messy as the Star Mazda race on Sunday, even though there were only eleven drivers this past weekend. Four of the eleven would end up parked with broken equipment, on Lap 1 and the other two late in the race on Lap 30. A driver that we mentioned at the beginning of the season would be coming into strong form this season, Victor Carbone, put his #3 Sam Schmidt Motorsports machine on pole during a qualifying session where…
Read MoreStar Mazda – Two-Fer at Toronto for Hawksworth
The Star Mazda Championship Race #2 at Exhibition Place in Toronto Sunday morning had a lot more chaos and mayhem than the previous day. Grip levels were at a premium and many drivers made several unforced errors creating what the Star Mazda PR folk called “an ugly mess.” Jack Hawksworth, started from pole thanks to his setting fast lap on his way to winning Saturday’s Race #1 and executed a great race strategy, managing his tires and his gap to P2 expertly. ““It was a great weekend. It was such…
Read MoreStar Mazda – Beginning the Canadian Swing
The IZOD IndyCar Series, Firestone Indy Lights, and Star Mazda Championship began their three-race Canadian stint on the streets of Toronto this weekend. Sage Karam was fastest during Friday practice with a 1:08.793 and nearly eclipsed Dane Cameron’s 1:08.755 track record, falling a mere 0.038 sec short. Sage’s hope for Canada is to close the gap on the championship leaders riding the momentum of his great results on the two ovals races at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis and the Iowa Speedway in Newton, IA. “The track picked up a…
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