INDYCAR – Page 29 – OpenPaddock.net

IndyCar – STEM Education Days

September 17, 2012 Doug Patterson

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadLast week, we had a conversation with INDYCAR’s Vice President of Marketing, Kasey Coler, to discuss their new STEM Education Days program. The series has been piloting the program in select markets this season, taking engineers from various teams and partners as well as drivers like JR Hildebrand to local high schools to discuss the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics that goes into making an IZOD IndyCar Series machine race at 220+ mph. So far, the series has been to Iowa, Baltimore, and Fontana…

Indycar-Hunter-Reay Reaps Racing Rewards

September 17, 2012 John Olsakovsky

Under the sparkling lights of the Auto Club Speedway grandstand towers, Ryan Hunter-Reay broke through as one of racing’s great underdog stories to win the 2012 IZOD Indycar Series Championship over Will Power, becoming the fourth driver to bring home the title for Andretti Autosport. Hunter-Reay joins Tony Kanaan, Dario Franchitti and Dan Wheldon as drivers who have won the series championship for the fabled racing family, and the first for the team under the IZOD Indycar Series banner. Just a few short years ago, Ryan Hunter-Reay was testing a…

USF2000 – Pigot Forces Championship Battle to the Last Race

September 14, 2012 Doug Patterson

The 2012 USF2000 National Championship Presented by Cooper Tires Powered by Mazda won’t decide it’s champion until the final race of the season set to take place tomorrow at 9:15am EDT. All season long, the two Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing drivers, #83 Matthew Brabham and #2 Spencer Pigot, have had a back-and-forth battle for the championship lead. After suffering a DNF in the second race in Baltimore, Brabham had a significant advantage over Pigot, leading by 41 points, 307 to 266. When the USF2000 drivers took to the…

Indy Lights – Team Viso’s Palli Will Compete at Fontana

September 13, 2012 Doug Patterson

Movin’ on up! The Team Viso Project is already paying dividends for Bruno Pally, driver of the #15 Juncos Racing car in the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear. With five top-ten finishes so far this year, Bruno will now move up to compete in the Firestone Indy Lights season finale in Fontana alongside J.V. Horto with Juncos Racing. This is exactly the type of graduation that the Mazda Road to Indy program was designed to foster, and it’s good to actually see it begin to happen more frequently. There’s…

Star Mazda – Hawksworth is Your 2012 Champion

September 11, 2012 Doug Patterson

Sage Karam’s hopes of catching Team Pelfrey’s lightning fast rookie, Jack Hawksworth, ended in Race #1 of this past weekend’s double-header at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Hawksworth won the pole for Race #1, and as he has done so often this season, he took the checkers after leading every lap of the race. Karam started off the race on scuffed tyres which fell off more rapidly than expected causing Sage to run off course twice in Turn 6 on consecutive laps. Relegated to mid-pack, there wasn’t much else he could…

Indycar-The Fight in Fontana

September 9, 2012 John Olsakovsky

Will Power. Ryan Hunter-Reay. Helio Castroneves. Scott Dixon. These are the drivers that still (theoretically) have a shot at winning the Astor Cup as IZOD Indycar Series Champion at the World Championship to be held in Fontana, California on September 15. Of the four, only Dixon has previously won a championship. Power currently leads the standings with Hunter-Reay a tight second. Here’s a quick breakdown of the title fight contenders and scenarios. 1. Will Power (Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet) 3 wins, 5 Poles, 453 points. After knocking out three consecutive…

Indy Lights – Won and Lost In the Blink of an Eye

September 7, 2012 Doug Patterson

It’s often said that winning a championship doesn’t happen in an instant, but is cultivated race after race over the whole season. Certainly, that’s true, but while a championship can’t be won in an instant, two contenders for the 2012 Firestone Indy Lights championship found that it can certainly be lost in an instant this past weekend on the Streets of Baltimore. Going into Baltimore, three drivers were battling for this year’s Indy Lights title, Sam Schmidt Motorsport’s drivers Tristan Vautier and Esteban Guerrieri and Andretti Autosport’s Sebastian Saavedra. Coming…

Star Mazda – Hawksworth All But Champion

September 6, 2012 Doug Patterson

As with the two USF2000 races this past weekend on the Streets of Baltimore, the two championship contenders in the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, Andretti Autosport’s Sage Karam, and Team Pelfrey’s Jack Hawksworth each took a victory, but a DNF by Karam would allow Hawksworth to stretch his lead. With three more races to go, it’s still a battle, but Hawksworth is definitely the favourite. Four drivers are still in contention, mathematically, but the two practical contenders are Jack and Sage. Star Mazda Race #1 Qualifying for Race…

USF2000 – Advantage Brabham

September 4, 2012 Doug Patterson

The Cooper Tires USF2000 National Championship double-header on the Streets of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor saw major changes in the championship standings in both the Championship class and the National class. In one case, the lead was extended and the championship all but assured, and in the other the points battle got even tighter. The Championship Class The two championship contenders in the 2012 Cooper Tires USF2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda each came away from the two events on the Streets of Baltimore with a win. Brabham, however, comes away…

MRTI – USF2000, Star Mazda, & Indy Lights Photos from Baltimore

September 3, 2012 Doug Patterson

Our East Coast photography team of Tom and Brenda Turk of Piratical Photography were at the Grand Prix of Baltimore this past weekend and have supplied us with some remarkable images from the event! Here is their gallery of the Mazda Road to Indy photos from the weekend. If you’re in the DC/Baltimore area and need a photographer for your event, wedding, or portraits, be sure to give Tom and Brenda a call.