Going into the Motegi race, Ryan Briscoe had a comfortable 25 point lead and with the promise of Penske perfection behind him, looked to be a shoe in to win the Championship with only two races left. But a giant monster pit exit cone attacked him, ending his chance at extending his points lead. You can see our race wrap up for more details on that. Scott Dixon went on to score maximum points for the weekend (53) for pole, most laps lead and the win. Dario Franchitti took home…
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IndyCar – Daikaiju Cone Attacks Briscoe
The Land of the Rising Sun played host to the IndyCar series last night at Twin Ring Motegi. Non-typical for Motegi, the race ran the full distance without any rain. For the most part, the affair was pretty exciting. Scott Dixon started the race on pole, and the running order was established early on. Dixon and Franchitti led pretty much the entire race, but there was a bit of intrigue behind them. Briscoe, who started the race 25 points ahead in the championship, was clearly saving fuel from the start.…
Read MoreIndyCar – Stagnant Momentum
Shortly before the beginning of the 2008 IndyCar season the long cold war with CART/CCWS came to an end when the former series declared bankruptcy after making a deal with the IRL. The IRL offered the existing CCWS teams a free 1-year engine lease and a free chassis for 2 years to any team that would run the entire season. On top of that, the IRL’s TEAM program guaranteed all full time participants 1.24 million USD per car that ran the full season, plus additional bonuses for podiums, poles and…
Read MoreIndyCar – Danica May Do Double Duty
According to an article on ESPN.com, Danica to try NASCAR in ’10, Ms. Patrick will attempt to follow in Tony Stewart’s shoes by running a full-time IndyCar schedule while also running a significant number of NASCAR Nationwide and ARCA Series races for Tony Stewart’s team. In fact, it looks like she’s be running more races in the taxis than in proper race cars. As I see it, this is very unfortunate. The additional workload will certainly not help her racecraft in an open-wheel car, rather I’d say it will hurt…
Read MoreIndyCar – Pink Lloyd for Miami
If you recall a few weeks ago, Alex Lloyd ended his relationship with Chip Ganassi. He signed with Chip after winning the 2007 Indy Pro Series championship in the hopes of getting a race seat. But this proved to be very difficult. Chip’s contract with Target would not allow him to run a 3rd car unless it had the same funding as the two Target cars (estimated at $8 million per car), so Alex drove for Chip (through Rahal and Schmidt) at the last two 500’s, and that was it.…
Read MoreIndyCar – DirecTV Drops Versus
DirecTV has been in negotiations with Versus over the fee that Versus charges for DirecTV to carry their channel. Yesterday was the last day of their previous contract and no agreement was reached, so as of now the final two IndyCar races of the season will not be available to DirecTV subscribers. The argument between the two companies boils down like this. DirecTV says Versus cannot justify the price increase they are asking for DirecTV to carry them. Versus claims they have added significant value to their network which merits…
Read MoreIndyCar – Post-Sonoma Soap Opera
If you missed the Sonoma race this weekend, you missed a lot. For the first time in many seasons, I remained conscious for the entirety of the race at Infineon. Now before the haters start digging into me, let me say (and if you read my Mid-Ohio post you’ll know this to be true) I love road courses. In fact, the circuit at Sears Point, aka Sonoma, aka Infineon, is a heck of a lot of fun to drive. Sadly, its not a heck of a lot of fun, typically,…
Read MoreIndyCar – When it Rains it Pours
This weekend the IndyCar series will be without two of its drivers after a massive practice accident. Nelson Philippe and Will Power had a nasty coming together during practice for this weekends race in Sonoma California. This continues to highlight a rough summer for race drivers as we have suffered 3 racing fatalities and another two that have seen serious injury to competitors. The accident happened at turn 3A which is a blind hill corner when Ryan Philippe spun for the second time and was then clipped in the nose…
Read MoreIndyCar – Danica Staying Put?
While the silly season has been in full swing across all forms of major motorsport, no move has received as much attention as Danica Patrick and her future. The rumors have been in full affect all year as the female drivers contract comes to an end. Arguably one of the hottest commercial properties and a pretty good driver in her own right, Patrick has been rumored from USF1 to Stewart Haas Racing all the way to TCGR. However, Autosport has just ran a story that indicates Danica will stay at…
Read MoreIndyLights – Mid-Ohio Review
The general fan reaction around the blogs, forums, and twitter streams to the IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights races at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course have all been about the same, and in my opinion, completely off the mark. I can hear the detractors now, “So, Doug, what makes you think that you’re right in the face of so many who say that the races were boring.” I have two comments to that: I was actually there, and I paid attention to more than just the leader. Listen to the…
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