It all comes down to this weekend. The final race of the 7 round Rally America Championship season. There is nothing left to conserve. It will be win it or bin it at the Lake Superior Forest Rally on the forest roads outside Houghton, Michigan. Thanks to the Federal Government shutdown taking so long to be resolved, the originally scheduled stages for Friday that were on federal forest lands are no longer available. Instead Saturday’s scheduled stages on private lands are going to be repeated on Friday as well.…
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From The Cockpit – Michael Epps’ Thoughts on Texas, Tango’s, and Flying Tyres
Editor’s Note: In our continuing From the Cockpit series, Belardi Auto Racing’s Michael Epps offers the following recap of his race weekend on the rolling hills of the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. We thank Belardi Auto Racing and their drivers for their support and the excellent insights their drivers have offered us through this series of articles. At the end of the article, you’ll find links to Belardi Auto Racing’s and Michael’s social media connections. Be sure to follow them on Facebook and Twitter. Well, well, well. Actually I’m not…
Read MoreIndyCar – Tuesday Talk
Tuesday Talk is a weekly rumor/opinion section about happenings in the IZOD IndyCar Series, Firestone Indy Lights, Pro Mazda Series and the Cooper Tires USF2000 Series. All opinions expressed within should be considered as 100% accurate and infallible, because everyone knows I’m never wrong. Houston. Wow. What an event. Taking away all the ancillary factors, Houston wasn’t a bad race. The field was pretty racy. Just go back and look at the box scores. Bourdais went from 13th to 5th. Servia went from 21st to 7th. Vautier went from 22nd…
Read MoreEpisode 206 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast
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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadKevin Neely and Mike Shaw are joined by special guests John Olsakovsky, regular Op-Ed contributor to OpenPaddock.net, and USF2000 pilot for Belardi Auto Racing and friend of OpenPaddock.net Peter Portante. The boys hash out all the news in IndyCar as everyone including all of the MRTI head to Houston, the details of the Indianapolis GP opening the Month of May, and the driver swaps and additions in Indy Lights. Formula 1 heads to Korea as the WRC heads to France, and Shaw wraps things…
Read MoreALMS – International Sports Car Racing Weekend at Circuit of the Americas
Editor’s Note: Regular contributor, John Olsakovsky, was at the Circuit of the Americas for the ALMS weekend and gives us his thoughts on the experience and a recap of the racing action. I thoroughly love working from home. It affords me flexibility to attend practice and qualifying sessions on Fridays while still on the clock, which exactly how I worked this past weekend to see ALMS & WEC race at CotA. All went well until a customer’s server crashed about 4:00 pm Friday afternoon, but that’s another story. Mother Nature…
Read MoreIndyCar – BREAKING NEWS: Tony Kanaan to Ganassi
Jenna Fryer of the Associated Press reports that 2013 Indianapolis 500 Mile Race Winner and 2004 IRL Series Champion Tony Kanaan has signed a deal to drive for Chip Ganassi Racing in 2014. The popular Brazilian has made his free agency aspirations well known in the media since it was discovered that KV Racing Technology was having difficulty financing his 2013 effort. His name had been linked to the Ganassi seat, but also seats at Andretti Autosport, Bryan Herta Autosport, Panther Racing and a possible return to KV Racing Technology.…
Read MoreIndyLights – Conor Daly Returns to Indy Lights With Team Moore Racing
Conor Daly, who has been running a full-season in GP3 for ART Grand Prix, returns to American open-wheel racing for a encore performance in Firestone Indy Lights. Team Moore Racing announced today that the Irish-American hotshoe will be driving their #22 TMR/RUS Industrial/ALS Association Dallara in Houston. Conor has been pursuing an open-wheel career along any avenue that he can. His primary goal has always been to compete in Formula 1, and he has been racing in GP3 and GP2 this season toward that end. He hasn’t shut the door…
Read MoreIndyLights – Dempsey Is Out for the Remainder of 2013
I must admit that this doesn’t come as too much of a surprise as we’ve seen Peter Dempsey’s car running sans a primary sponsor since MidOhio. Peter, who had won the Firestone Freedom 100 in dramatic fashion in May and had several strong finishes in the races since, has run out of funds to continue the 2013 season. We’ve really appreciated having Peter on the OpenPaddock.net podcast and sharing his race weekend thoughts with us throughout the season. We’re bummed and disappointed that he’ll not be able to continue with…
Read MoreWhat Next Year Holds – 2014 Tudor United Sports Car Schedule
On September 20th 2013 IMSA announced the Tudor United SportsCar Championship Schedule. The season will be a total of 12 events visiting many of the old standbys but there will no doubt be some people missing some of the old venues. The finalized schedule is below. 2014 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship Schedule Date Event Jan 25-26 Daytona International Speedway Mar 15 Sebring International Raceway Apr 12 Long Beach Street Circuit May 4 Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca May 31 Detroit Belle Isle Jun 29 Watkins Glen International Jul 13 Canadian Tire…
Read MoreIndyCar- The business of racing 2.0
Which of these drivers would you hire? Driver A has 104 career IndyCar starts. He has 8 wins, 26 podiums, 37 Top Fives, 13 Poles, 10 Fastest Laps with a lowest full time season placing of 6th. Driver B has 82 career IndyCar starts. he has 1 win, 8 podiums, 16 Top Fives, 2 Poles, zero Fastest Laps with a best full time season placing of 7th. Driver A spent most of those starts at the helm of one of the series’ top seats. He’s been in championship contention, raced well on…
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