INDYCAR – Page 36 – OpenPaddock.net

IndyCar – Beatriz to Andretti Autosport

April 5, 2012April 5, 2012 Mike Shaw

Is blood thicker than water? Even if it is, money talks. Andretti Autosport apparently will not enter a car for Michael Andretti’s cousin Jeff Andretti in the Indy 500, as it will enter three cars for its regular IndyCar pilots, adding A.A.’s Indy Lights standout Sebastian Saavedra in a fourth Ilmor-powered car, and announcing Ana Beatriz in a fifth car. ‘Bia’ Beatriz intends to race car #25 in her ‘hometown’ race in São Paulo at the end of this month, then in the Indianapolis 500 as a Conquest Racing/Andretti Autosport collaboration.…

Star Mazda – New Faces on the Podium at Barber

April 4, 2012 Doug Patterson

While a little moist at times, the Barber Motorsports Park featured some great racing in the Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear, and a bit of a mixup in regards to who we saw on the podium and especially on the top step. Unfortunately, Barber gets a bad wrap for a course that doesn’t permit much in the way of passing. I think every series there this weekend proved that Barber could support some great racing action. Rain on Friday delayed Race #1 for the Star Mazda Championship, after Team…

IndyCar – Massive Momentum Post Barber

April 2, 2012 Shaun

Will Power was not the only guy smiling after the race at Barber Motorsports Park yesterday. I am sure the smile on Randy Bernard’s face was probably even bigger. He too had won on Sunday as the IZOD IndyCar Series delivered one of the best road races in a very long time. Barber Motorsports Park is easily one of, if not the best looking facility on the schedule. I have never really had a problem with the on track product either, but yesterday was something that truly fit the bill…

IndyCar – Friday Recap from Barber

March 31, 2012 Shaun

Editor’s Note: Kevin Neely has been kind enough to write some articles for us while down at Barber Motorsports Park this week. I would like to personally thank Kevin for reaching out and offering his observations! LEEDS, AL (March 30, 2012) — Right there on the backstretch, in front of the Red Diamond Fan Zone, she sits there. Her blank expression looks off to the southwest as if she’s searching for something. Perhaps she’s searching for a moment of zen as the apex of a corner unfurls in the drivers…

IndyCar – Misty Morning

March 31, 2012April 3, 2012 Mike Shaw

A new day has dawned at Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds, Alabama, and fog has blanketed the lush, green hills for hours since the rain abated. Not much to see until the IndyCars roll out for yet another practice, at 8:00. Stay tuned. . . . . . .

IndyCar – Rain, rain, go away …

March 30, 2012April 2, 2012 Mike Shaw

After noon at Barber Motorsports Park, I returned trackside to photograph the Star Mazda Series qualifying session for Open Paddock’s coverage of the Mazda Road to Indy. Five minutes after that qualifying, the IndyCars were due to practice again. I could’ve resumed photographing from the ‘outside’ of Turn 2 or Turn 3, where I’d been yesterday and today for quite long enough, or try a new vantage. So I went to the inside of Turns 2 and 3, onto a landscaped (pruned trees, flowering shrubs) hill around which the race…

IndyCar – Afternoon in Dairyland

March 30, 2012April 4, 2012 Mike Shaw

Greetings from Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds, Alabama. Lightning is striking and rain is falling on this “picturesque, gorgeous” racing facility in the hills east of Birmingham. So all the camera monkeys, like me, scurried for shelter. Some of the photographers are carrying equipment that costs as much as my car. Serious hardware, including 600mm autofocus lenses. That’s right, kids; the biggest lenses that I’ve seen that weren’t called telescopes. The cloudy, slightly breezy morning at B.M.P. saw two sports car series practice, then a lunch break. This afternoon I…

IndyCar – Welcome to Barber Motorsports Park

March 30, 2012April 4, 2012 Mike Shaw

Hello from beautiful Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds, Alabama, near Birmingham. I’ve been spectating here at sports car, IndyCar, and motorcycle races since 2007, and I’ll chime-in with my agreement that this is a “gorgeous facility.” Unlike Sebring International Raceway and other race tracks you can easily call to mind, this is repeatedly referred to, year after year, as a ‘beautiful, park-like setting.’ I rolled in mid-day Thursday, a day or two after race teams, and found Parking Lot C already nine-tenths full. I was surprised, but I shouldn’t have…

IndyCar – Friday Comedic Relief

March 30, 2012March 30, 2012 Shaun

Happy Friday and welcome to the weekend! To make sure we get the best weekday started off right, we have this for you. Along with Kevin, we also have Brian McKay back at it behind the lens at Barber Motorsports Park. As we know, Alabama is true NASCAR country. The folks are some of the nicest people I have ever met but man do they love their NASCAR! Brian stopped off at a local retail store when he had this conversation with one of the clerks…enjoy! Clerk: “You here for…

IndyCar – Thursday, March 29 Barber Report

March 29, 2012 Shaun

Editor’s Note: Kevin Neely has been kind enough to write some articles for us while down at Barber Motorsports Park this week. I would like to personally thank Kevin for reaching out and offering his observations! There’s one thing for certain about late March/early April in Central Alabama; the weather is going to be anything but predictable. For the past two years, the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama presented by Legacy Credit Union has had the luxury of Chamber of Commerce weather conditions. This year, however, that streak looks…