Well, this came out of left field. …at least for me. After a very successful three-year partnership, Andretti Autosport and AFS Racing have decided to end their relationship and pursue their individual paths in Firestone Indy Lights and the IZOD IndyCar Series. The partnership yielded 11 race wins and back-to-back championships in 2009 and 2010 with Raphael “Rafa” Matos and JR Hildebrand. Here are some quotes from the two team principals, Gary Peterson of AFS Racing and Michael Andretti of Andretti Autosport. “AFS Racing’s partnership with Andretti Autosport has certainly…
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 – Sarah Hands the Keys to Carpenter
In a move that many of us were sort of anticipating would happen for 2011, Sarah Fisher has announced her retirement as a driver and will focus her efforts on being a team owner. There was much speculation amongst us fans as to who would eventually be selected for the #67 seat, although we all knew it was NOT going to be Jay Howard. In a press conference held at the Sarah Fisher Racing shop, we find that Ed Carpenter will be racing in nine events in 2011 sporting the…
Read MoreIndyCar – Edmonton Return Makes Headway
Late Friday afternoon, the Edmonton City Council voted 9-2 in favour of a plan to revive the Honda Edmonton Indy 300. The initial deal between the City of Edmonton and race promoter Octane Racing Group fell through when the city demanded that the runway currently used as part of the racing circuit remain open and operational during the race weekend. This meant that an additional $3M needed to be invested in the venue to lay new tarmac and rebuild the pit and grandstand areas on the opposite side of the…
Read MoreF1 – Williams Abandons Their Flybrid for 2011: Shocking!
In what could end up being a shocking turn of events, Williams F1 has elected to abandon its flywheel-based kinetic energy recovery system in favour of a fully electric storage design, according to a recent article at Autosport.com. “I think it’s fairly well known that we’re going to be running a battery system,” said Head. “It’s not that we… Had we run KERS in 2009, and we did run the flywheel in the car, but not at a grand prix, it was a flywheel-based system. “The flywheel, by the very…
Read MoreRoad To Indy – 2011 Schedules for The Road to Indy
The 2011 schedules are set for all three steps in the Road To Indy program and there are some significant changes from the 2010 schedule. First, lets look at just what the schedules are. US F2000 National Championship Date Venue Mar 17 Sebring Race #1 Mar 18 Sebring Race #2 Mar 26 St. Pete Race #1 Mar 27 St. Pete Race #2 May 28 O’Reilly Raceway Park Jun 18 The Milwaukee Mile Aug 5 Mid-Ohio Race #1 Aug 6 Mid-Ohio Race #2 Aug 19 Road America Race #1 Aug 20…
Read MoreStar Mazda – Sage Karam Brings the Andretti Team to Star Mazda
Andretti Autosport announced today that it would compete in the 2011 Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear with Sage Karam. Sage competed in the Cooper Tires Presents the US F2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda for Andretti Autosport along with his teammate Zach Veach and won the series championship in strong fashion winning nine of the twelve races. Zach will continue running the US F2000 series for Andretti in 2011. “Andretti Autosport did such a fantastic job of preparing me for the USF2000 series that choosing a Star Mazda team…
Read MoreF1 – Our Thoughts on Abu Dhabi and the 2010 Championship
Well, the long 2010 Formula 1 season has finally come to an end. Ultimately, it has come to the end that we sort of expected toward the beginning of the year, but given the results of the last few races, there was some serious doubt regarding the final outcome of the drivers championship. Red Bull Racing lead out the season strong taking pole position in the first seven races. With a bit of foreshadowing, the team would only realize victory in three of those first seven. In fact, the eventual…
Read MoreIndyCar – 2012 Chevrolet Engine Announcement
IndyCar – I Love the Smell of Speculation in the Morning!
It smells like… PROGRESS! If you’re a fan of IndyCar, then you likely have already heard about Peter De Lorenzo’s article on his blog, The Autoextremist, where he claims that General Motors will make a return to the IZOD IndyCar Series in 2012 along with an increase in motorsports across the board. You also likely are already aware that SpeedTV’s Marshall Pruitt and the Indianapolis Star’s Curt Cavin are both claiming extreme skepticism of the announcement. So where does this leave us fans? It leaves us in a whirlwind of…
Read MoreIndyCar – The History of the Indy Downforce Fan Club
As some of you may have already heard, we have started a new segment at OpenPaddock.net called Garage 36 in which we cover the news and happenings of Indy Downforce, the official fan club of the IZOD IndyCar Series, Firestone Indy Lights, and the Road to Indy. The name comes from the fact that the fan club takes over Garage 36 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the Month of May. As part of our introduction to the new segment, I thought perhaps some background on the origins of the…
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