The last 2 weeks have been an absolute drought when it comes to IndyCar information. The only thing we have had to talk about was the press release that the IRL accidentally leaked on their website and quickly took down claiming that Brazilians hacked their website. (Look for a Rio announcement on Friday by the way. That cat is well and truly out of the bag.) But today Panther put an end to that by announcing that Dan Wheldon has been signed for the 2010 season. This also ended speculation…
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The latest news from the IndyCar Series, Indy Lights, Pro Mazda, and USF2000!
IndyCar – IRL to Sanction a Revived F2000
Amidst the uncertainty surrounding many things involving the Indy Racing League (title sponsor, Brazil race, new engine/chassis specs), one more iron is added to the fire: F2000. The Indy Racing League has recently signed an agreement to be the sanctioning body for the U.S. F2000 National Championship. This is certainly an interesting move, and an uplifting one in some respects. If successful, the new F2000 series could provide a solid ladder sequence for young drivers to make their way to Indianapolis. Last year, the IRL supported the Snap-On Stars of…
Read MoreIndyCar – Newman Wachs Coming in 2010?
Newman Wachs Racing is set to take Altantics champion John Edwards to either GP2 or IndyCar. As of now, they’re leaning strongly towards IndyCar, and it would seem to be a good fit since all of their work and efforts thus far, and all of the experience of Edwards, has been in domestic open-wheel series. John Edwards has won consecutive championships in Star Mazda (2008) and the Atlantic Championship (2009). The latter was thanks to a fantastic drive on his part in the season finale at Laguna Seca enabling him…
Read MoreIndyCar – Homestead Review
The last race of the season was did not offer too much in the way of surprises. Like all of the 1.5 mile ovals this season, it was the Ganassi and Penske show. Right at the beginning of the race, Dario and Dixon provided some great side-by-side action as each of the TCGR drivers fought for lead. There wasn’t much change until Dario had to lift just a bit on Lap 10 which allowed Briscoe to take the position. Dario’s strategy then was one of fuel conservation. Dixon and Briscoe…
Read MoreIndyCar – Grid Set for Finale!
The field is set for the 2009 season finale in Homestead and Dario has secured pole position. The pole position has moved one point closer to championship leader Scott Dixon in what promises to be an excellent race. The stands were packed with fans waiting to see who would take the valuable one point in a championship that is now closer than ever. Dario Franchitti drew an early qualifying slot, but was able to set a blistering spped of 212.696mph over a four lap run. Dixon will slot in at…
Read MoreIndyCar – Free Practice #2 Update
The season finale of the 2009 IndyCar Series is finally here and the cars have taken to the track for both practice sessions. The three title contenders have their cars really dialed in as they are in a class of their own to this point. We said on the show this week that it will be awesome to see the full might of both TGR and Penske go to battle and thus far they have not backed down from each other. A very impressive run thus far for the NHL…
Read MoreIndyCar – Tagliani and FAZZT Racing
Back at the end of August the FAZZT racing team announced their intention to compete full time next year in the IndyCar series with Alex Taglianni their driver. The ownership group consists of Montreal entrepreneur Andre Azzi, Rubicon Sports Agency owner Jim Freudenburg and actor Jason Priestley. Clearly, this endeavor is not just a pipe dream. They purchased the assets of Roth Racing which included their Indianapolis race shop and four good Dallara chassis. Further, they have signed Taglianni to a four year deal with an option on a 5th…
Read MoreIndyCar – Possible Momentum
The IndyCar series is suffering from another long delay between races. Not only is the series out of the public consciousness on the DirecTV-less Versus network, they are suffering from these huge gaps in the schedule during NFL football season. Keep in mind though that the IRL, when putting together this years schedule was lobbying hard to keep Surfer’s Paradise on the schedule and team it with the flyaway race in Japan. But even with the setbacks, there are some signs of possible momentum on the near horizon. We will…
Read MoreIndyCar – Danica Back for Three More Years
Curt Cavin of the Indianapolis Star reported this evening that Danica Patrick has signed a three-year contract extension with Andretti-Green Racing (soon to be simply Andretti Racing). Much speculation has been thrown about the interwebs regarding her departure from open-wheel racing to seek even more fortune in NASCAR. Even we at Openpaddock.net has dabbled in such speculation. Although she may yet run a race or two (or several) with Tony Stewart’s team, she’s now committed to three more full-time seasons in the IndyCar series. Love her or loathe her, this…
Read MoreIndyCar – Versus Acknowledges History
We have complained a bit here at Open Paddock about the way the TV broadcast ignores the historic records of past greats like AJ, Mario, and even Paul Tracy when they wax poetic about the winningest driver in IndyCar history being Dixon or Hornish before him. Both Versus and ABC have been equal opportunity offenders on that count. I thought at the beginning of the season when the IRL published their first combined historic record book, that we had seen the end of this. The combined book includes all records…
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