Late Friday afternoon, the Edmonton City Council voted 9-2 in favour of a plan to revive the Honda Edmonton Indy 300. The initial deal between the City of Edmonton and race promoter Octane Racing Group fell through when the city demanded that the runway currently used as part of the racing circuit remain open and operational during the race weekend. This meant that an additional $3M needed to be invested in the venue to lay new tarmac and rebuild the pit and grandstand areas on the opposite side of the…
Read MoreCategory: INDYCAR
The latest news from the IndyCar Series, Indy Lights, Pro Mazda, and USF2000!
Pre-Turkey Indy Hump Day Report, On the bubble: Your third cousin Lee Roy
Well for us American IndyCar fans the gluttony of Holidays is here. Tomorrow we will load up on dead birds, potatoes, beer, green beans, cranberries, awful NFC teams on national TV, and being annoyed by our nit witted family members we only have to sit near three times a year. For our non-American fellow fans tomorrow is just Thursday. (Or Friday if you’re in Asia.) First I would like to list what I am Thankful for as an IZOD IndyCar series follower: That Randy Bernard is now the man in…
Read MoreLotus building a new IZOD IndyCar Engine & Aerokit: Respecting its old school roots
It was short and to the point. Tonight at the Los Angeles Autoshow the IZOD IndyCar series and the Lotus group made it official. In 2012 there will be three engine makes in the IZOD IndyCar series. The brand which has never made their own engine for a race car will now be a manufacturer in IndyCar. Lotus Group CEO, Danny Bahar did not give any technical specifications on the 2012 IZOD IndyCar series engine. In a Press Release from earlier in the day IZOD IndyCar series and Lotus says technical specifications…
Read MoreRoad To Indy – 2011 Schedules for The Road to Indy
The 2011 schedules are set for all three steps in the Road To Indy program and there are some significant changes from the 2010 schedule. First, lets look at just what the schedules are. US F2000 National Championship Date Venue Mar 17 Sebring Race #1 Mar 18 Sebring Race #2 Mar 26 St. Pete Race #1 Mar 27 St. Pete Race #2 May 28 O’Reilly Raceway Park Jun 18 The Milwaukee Mile Aug 5 Mid-Ohio Race #1 Aug 6 Mid-Ohio Race #2 Aug 19 Road America Race #1 Aug 20…
Read MoreIndy Hump Day Report: On the bubble Spec Engine Racing
Proper attire at Penske Racing requires Bow Ties Well my predictions for who would be the first teams on the new Chevy party boat was wrong. (in that Ganassi & Dreyer Reinbold were not part of the Friday announcement, yet many agree Chip is still very likely between his NASCAR success with Chevy, and the monkey see, monkey do mentality of Ganassi/Penske.) When I was a guest the other night on The Inside Line, I addressed the issue of how great this is for American fans. Yes, obviously it is…
Read MoreStar Mazda – Sage Karam Brings the Andretti Team to Star Mazda
Andretti Autosport announced today that it would compete in the 2011 Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear with Sage Karam. Sage competed in the Cooper Tires Presents the US F2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda for Andretti Autosport along with his teammate Zach Veach and won the series championship in strong fashion winning nine of the twelve races. Zach will continue running the US F2000 series for Andretti in 2011. “Andretti Autosport did such a fantastic job of preparing me for the USF2000 series that choosing a Star Mazda team…
Read MoreIndyCar – 2012 Chevrolet Engine Announcement
IndyCar – Chevy is Back! Momentum Baby!
This past week has been a mounting crescendo of articles coming out from increasingly reliable sources making the claim that GM would be back in IndyCar for 2012. Autoextremist, Autoblog, Speed, Autosport and now Curt Cavin at the venerable Indianapolis Star have all weighed in. The rumor can be put to bed. There will be an announcement made at the IMS Hall of Fame Museum on Friday at 10am EST welcoming Chevy back into the fold for 2012. Other parts of this rumor have indicated that Chip Ganassi will be…
Read MoreWelcome to Indy Hump-Day 2010, on the bubble is Edmonton
I would first just like to thank the crew at Open Paddock for brining me on board. This is one of the best places for Motorsports Consumption of the IZOD IndyCar Series, F1, and Rally. Check the site every Wednesday for my off season Indy Hump-day Reports. Edmonton, is it really gone? You would think the race in Edmonton is dead, heck the series pulled it from the 2011 schedule, and issued an inverted pyramid declaring as much. However why did the event that went viral with Helio’s meltdown fail?…
Read MoreIndyCar – I Love the Smell of Speculation in the Morning!
It smells like… PROGRESS! If you’re a fan of IndyCar, then you likely have already heard about Peter De Lorenzo’s article on his blog, The Autoextremist, where he claims that General Motors will make a return to the IZOD IndyCar Series in 2012 along with an increase in motorsports across the board. You also likely are already aware that SpeedTV’s Marshall Pruitt and the Indianapolis Star’s Curt Cavin are both claiming extreme skepticism of the announcement. So where does this leave us fans? It leaves us in a whirlwind of…
Read More