Author: 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/

IndyLights – Influx of New Drivers

Doug Patterson

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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IndyLights – Iowa Wrap-up, and a Soap Opera Update

Doug Patterson

The Firestone Indy Lights series heads north of the border this weekend to race on the Streets of Toronto as part of their three-event Canadian Tour. Before coming to Toronto, though, the Firestone Indy Lights series was in the middle of corn country at the Iowa Speedway for their last oval race until the middle of August in Loudon. There’s been quite a bit happen in the Firestone Indy Lights series since the Iowa race, some good, some not so good. Let’s recap the Iowa weekend first. Iowa Sukup 100…

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Star Mazda Wrap-up – Iowa Results, and a Mid-Season Summary

Doug Patterson

Its been an eventful week for the Mazda Road to Indy, for both good and bad reasons. Before we get into the drama filled soap opera that has suddenly surrounded the Firestone Indy Lights series, let’s first focus on the outstanding racing we saw at the Iowa Speedway this past weekend and amid-season new-driver announcement from Jensen MotorSport and Andretti Autosport. Racing at the Iowa Speedway The Star Mazda race at the Iowa Speedway started out much like most oval races in this series. The opening laps were an absolute…

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IndyCar – The Iowa Corn 250 in Photos

Doug Patterson

The IndyCar and Mazda Road to Indy events at the Iowa Speedway this past Friday and Saturday were outstanding, and it was great fun to take part in it. Seeing most of it through a viewfinder, though, meant that I didn’t have much time to actually follow the race play-by-play. Normally, I would do a wrap-up post of the Mazda Road to Indy events, and there was certainly a lot of good action, but instead I will direct you to the outstanding Star Mazda and Indy Lights race reviews from…

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IndyCar – Changes Coming to Technical Inspection Processes

Doug Patterson

The Milwaukee weekend was not a good one for INDYCAR Race Control and the technical inspection process, both of which are shrouded in a cloak of secrecy. The long-standing policy of non-disclosure when it comes to rules infractions and assessed penalties has created an atmosphere of suspicion and mistrust within the Firestone Indy Lights paddock and among the fan-base as well. The lack of disclosure and shrinking technical personnel roster has lead to inconsistencies, misinterpretations, and misunderstandings. While there’s still very little genuine information directly from the league, here are…

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Star Mazda – Open Practice at Iowa Speedway

Doug Patterson

The Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear started off the competitive laps at the Iowa Speedway this afternoon with a four-hour open test/practice session. The two Juncos racing drivers Martin Scuncio in the #60 and Gustavo Menezes in the #28 topped the charts this afternoon, but not by much, after putting up times of 22.028s and 22.044s, respectively. The Team Pelfrey duo of Connor De Phillippi (#11) and Nick Andries (#81) weren’t too far back falling short of Scuncio’s time by 0.016s and 0.050s, respectively. Good enough for P3 and…

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Indy Lights – Milwaukee Wrap-Up

Doug Patterson

Discord and dissension plagued this weekend’s Firestone Indy Lights event. The minimal car count on Saturday for qualification got smaller still on Sunday as Peter Dempsey pulled off the track refusing to take the green flag in protest to what he and his team, O2 Racing Technology, feel is favouritism shown to some teams by INDYCAR by ignoring technical violations found in post-race and post-qualifying inspections over the past years. In a release issued by the team later Sunday evening, it was revealed that not only were team officials and…

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