First driver to lose their ride in 2011; Tony Kanaan, four weeks before round 1. So the only bigger shock than Tony Kanaan being released by Andretti Autosport, TK being cut from de Ferran Dragon Racing, just a month before the season opener. They did avoid telling people who would be the sponsor when they announced this deal in December 2010. TK went to his native Brazil and was said to have secured some sponsors there. So if the de Ferran Dragon team is on the verge of collapse as…
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Episode 77 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast
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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadWe are joined this week by Todd McCandless from Formula1blog.com to discuss Bahrain and all things F1 off season. We get into the Las Vegas announcement and all of the hot INDYCAR news. Doug hits us with his weekly Mazda Road to Indy topics and we prepare for the 100 Acre Wood Rally. GREAT conversation on the show and a must download for sure!
Read MoreUS F2000 – New Incentives Offered to SCCA, FF, and F2000 Drivers
The Cooper Tires Presents the USF2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda is positioning itself to be the premier F2000 series in North America by reaching out to various amateur and semi-pro formula series throughout the country by offering scholarships to various SCCA, Formula Ford, and F2000 competitors to step up to the US F2000 National Championship. I understand that there’s some bitterness in the F2000 community about US F2000, but it is the first step on the Mazda Road to Indy program and the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development Ladder. That’s not…
Read MoreF1 – Season Opening Bahrain GP CANCELED!
There’s been a lot of talk about this being a strong possibility throughout the interwebs in recent weeks, and we should give a loud shoutout to Formula1Blog.com for really leading the discussion and analysis of the potential implications. Today, the official word came down from Crown Prince, Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, that the season opening grand prix at the Bahrain International Circuit has been canceled due to the explosion of civil unrest. There had always been protests in Bahrain as the Shi’a felt that their rights and…
Read MoreMazda Road to Indy Weekly Wrapup: 2/13-2/19
There’s not been a whole lot going on this past week in the Mazda Road to Indy Program, but we did get a couple of big driver announcements late in the week. The fields are starting to fill up, so in the coming weeks, we’ll be putting together a preview of the 2011 seasons for the Cooper Tires presents the US F2000 National Championship powered by Mazda, the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, and the Firestone Indy Lights Series including a summary of driver/team combinations. For now, though, let’s…
Read MoreRally – Araujo Set as MINI WRC Customer
Armindo Araujo is set to graduate from the PWRC and take on the World Championship later this season. Earlier this off season, Araujo had indicated he was very close to signing a deal to drive the world championship level cars this season. The Portuguese driver and two times production champion received the personality of the year award from the WRC based on a fans vote. An award he won over the likes of Ken Block and Petter Solberg. He will debut for MINI in a S2000 car in Portugal before…
Read MoreStarMazda – Nick Mancuso Joins JDC MotorSports for a Partial Season
The driver announcements keep coming! As we approach the open test for the Star Mazda Series down at Barber Motorsports Park, teams and drivers are rapidly finding accommodation and signing contracts. JDC MotorSports is back at it again this week with another driver signing with young sports car racer Nick Mancuso. Although he’s tested with JDC MotorSports previously, this season will be his first competitive run in a single-seater formula car. “Things have been coming together nicely for our team in the last few weeks and we are very excited…
Read MoreEpisode 76 – Openpaddock.net Podcast
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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin the Paddock crew as they discuss Rally Sweden. An exciting weekend in the WRC and we do the best we can to break down all the madness. We also hit F1, Le Mans, MRTI, and the IZOD IndyCar Series. So sit back and enjoy the rants and debates. Should also throw out that we don’t hate NASCAR fans…just the series. Enjoy!
Read MoreIndy Hump Day Report, On the bubble: National Guard Cash?
Could Panther be looking for a new sponsor in 2012? (All views expressed are those of Spike Rogan, and not that of OpenPaddock.net) If Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minnesota has her way, YES! Representative McCollum has proposed cutting the Department of Defense (DoD) spending on sponsorships. Mainly on auto racing. We learned last year that Panther has received about $30 million (over three seasons) of U.S. Tax Dollars from the DoD. We also learned that well over a million dollars was paid in salary to British Citizen, Dan Wheldon. Now the…
Read MoreStar Mazda – JDC MotorSports signs Tristan Vautier
The young French driver, Tristan Vautier, returns to the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear with JDC MotorSports. In 2010, Tristan drove for Andersen Racing and won the season opener in Sebring and Race #2 at New Jersey Motorsports Park before finishing 5th in championship points at the end of the season. “We are very happy to have concluded a deal with Tristan for the 2011 season. We feel that Tristan has the ability to run up-front and put our team back up in a championship position for 2011.” —…
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