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/

Episode 217 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Doug Patterson

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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadYour host Shaun, his co-host Mike and his other co-host Mike lead you through this week’s news in motor racing. The trio look at how the IndyCar grid is shaping up, and comment on the National Guard deal with Rahal that we all knew was all but complete. Shaw previews Rally Sweden and the first round of the Canadian Championship. Rally America officially announces it’s deal with NBCSN and the WRC will air on MAVTV. Bernie slams the F1 farce, and Whitesell brings us…

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SCCA – NBCSN Adds the Pirelli World Challenge to its Line-Up

Doug Patterson

NBC Sports Network is now the home of nearly every motor racing series we love! The newly arrived network which was the evolution of the old Versus network after NBC acquired ComCast has quickly established itself as the new home for motorsport. When Fox’s SPEED channel became Fox Sports 1 (or 2 or the Foxy Ocho…whatever) it ceased being a racing-centric channel, although many would argue that it already had when the old Speedvision died. NBCSN which already had the IndyCar Series acquired the rights to Formula 1, they aired…

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Episode 216 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Doug Patterson

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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadYour regular quartet of misfits meet once again to discuss the week’s news in motorsport. We even talk about NASCAR! I know, right? We discuss the wee bit of IndyCar news that’s out there and highlight a couple of USF2000 driver announcements. Pechin and Shaw discuss the biggest event of the past week, IMSA’s TUDOR United Sports Car Championship Rolex 24 at the Daytona International Speedway. We look at the exciting race that it was, but also discuss the indecision and waffling by the…

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Episode 215 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Doug Patterson

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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadThe illustrious Mr. Shaun Pechin returns to the OpenPaddock.net Podcast as he, Mr. Mike Whitesell, Mr. Mike Shaw, and Dr. Douglas Patterson stumble and stagger their way through the week’s motorsports news. We begin with a little NASCAR (that’s right!) and move into some of the changes happening in IndyCar. We also review the list of IndyCar and IndyLights drivers that will be competing in this weekend’s Rolex 24. Mr. Shaw gives us a rundown of the WRC’s first event, Rallye Monte Carlo, and…

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MRTI – Champion of the Future Contest

Doug Patterson

Our good friend, Peter Portante, is participating in the Champion of the Future contest and needs your help! Champion, you know, the spark plug people, are holding a contest to find the racer they will back for the 2014 season with a $50,000 scholarship. Right now, the contest is in Phase 2, meaning that all the participants have uploaded a two-minute video entry and are now looking for your vote! You can cast your vote for Peter at Champion’s website, http://alwaysachampion.com/search-for-a-champion/entry/1568560#.UsxSJvRDvT8 With your vote, Peter will make it to Phase…

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SCCA – World Challenge Participation Booms

Doug Patterson

Whitesell and I have been saying for a number of years now that the SCCA Pro Racing’s Pirelli World Challenge series is some of the best racing you’re ever going to see. It’s one of the things we look forward to the most when we go to Mid-Ohio. For a time, the World Challenge series suffered from small grid sizes and perinnial teams like Bimmerworld Racing moving from the SCCA’s World Challenge to Grand-Am’s Continental Tire SportsCar Championship. As the series retooled, redefined their classes, and took a close look…

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IMSA – Rolex 24 Promo

Doug Patterson

Off-season? Bah! Off-season is for chumps! It’s a new year, time to go racing! We have the Dakar at the beginning of the month, Rallye Monte Carlo in the middle, and the Rolex 24 at the end. If you’ve been missing the beautiful sounds of motorsports over the holidays, we offer to you this promo for the 2014 Rolex 24 at Daytona. Enjoy and Happy New Year! [youtube_sc url=http://youtu.be/RQDKeLFNgNw]

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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Doug Patterson

Merry Christmas from all of us here at OpenPaddock.net! This has been a year with lots of ups and downs, both personally for us and within the racing community. We saw the Tony Kaanan’s triumph at Indianapolis after an absolutely epic 500 miles, and we saw the ending of Dario Franchitti’s legendary racing career at Houston. Dan Andersen’s assumption of the operation of the Indy Lights series brought immediate positives and progress continues toward revitalizing that series and the Pro Mazda Championship. The world of sports cars continues to flow…

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