LSPR Day 1 – Rally America Championship Still Too Close To Call

If you don’t follow rally racing, then this would be a good time to start.  These are the events that rally fans dream about.  A final championship battle that wages between great competitors who are willing to go flat out and not conserve anything to be crowned champion.  Mother nature threw a bit of a curve ball preventing top speeds, but the battle continues with leaders barely ahead of their rivals.   Hoonigan Racing Division’s Ken Block and Craig Drew started first on the road in wet slippery, or as he put…

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Episode 207 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadOpenPaddock.net Podcast: Episode 207 – Tuesday, October 7th, 2013 IndyCar Houston Review Standings Local viewer video of Grand Prix of Houston crash Franchitti ruled out of Fontana race Fontana Preview 2014 IndyCar schedule set to be revealed Penske confirms Allmendinger for Fontana Alex Tagliani tabbed to replace Dario Franchitti in IndyCar season finale National Guard switches IndyCar allegiance to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing from 2014 – Racer.com Chip Ganassi Racing confirms Kanaan and Chevrolet engines for 2014 Honda: IndyCar needs third supplier MRTI Lights…

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Rally America Season Finale – Champions To Be Crowned

It all comes down to this weekend.  The final race of the 7 round Rally America Championship season.  There is nothing left to conserve.  It will be win it or bin it at the Lake Superior Forest Rally on the forest roads outside Houghton, Michigan.     Thanks to the Federal Government shutdown taking so long to be resolved, the originally scheduled stages for Friday that were on federal forest lands are no longer available.  Instead Saturday’s scheduled stages on private lands are going to be repeated on Friday as well.…

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Episode 206 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadKevin Neely and Mike Shaw are joined by special guests John Olsakovsky, regular Op-Ed contributor to OpenPaddock.net, and USF2000 pilot for Belardi Auto Racing and friend of OpenPaddock.net Peter Portante. The boys hash out all the news in IndyCar as everyone including all of the MRTI head to Houston, the details of the Indianapolis GP opening the Month of May, and the driver swaps and additions in Indy Lights. Formula 1 heads to Korea as the WRC heads to France, and Shaw wraps things…

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Episode 205 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadNeely, Whitesell, and Patterson rip through all the news from IndyCar, USCaR, F1Car, and RallyCar. We examine the 2014 USCR schedule, and worry about the 2014 IndyCar schedule. Congratulations to Peter Portante and Scott Rettich for their victories at the SCCA Runoffs. We wrap up recaping the Singapore GP and the ability of the FIA to squash the last vestiges of sportsmanship and personality from the sport. Oh, and Ogier being a whiney about Loeb stealing his spotlight in France. OpenPaddock.net Podcast: Episode #205…

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Episode 204 – OpenPaddock.net Paddock

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadNASCAR imitates Formula One as Bowyer scratches an itch, Montoya will make an encore appearance in open-wheel racing, Kimi is confirmed at Ferrari as the 2014 calendar takes shape, and we recap the WRC Rally Australia and ERC Rally Poland. OpenPaddock.net Podcast: Episode #204 – Tuesday September 17, 2013 The continuing NASCAR saga NASCAR changes rules to deter race manipulation Jeff Gordon added to NASCAR’s Chase field IndyCar Montoya turns down Andretti IndyCar offer Juan Pablo Montoya’s return will give IndyCar a villain Munoz…

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Flag to Flag – 19 September *14:40 Update*

14:40 EST: GRC – Chevrolet Sonic Set for Debut The all new Chevrolet Sonic is set to make its Global Rallycross Championship debut at Charlotte. The Sonic will look to compete with rivals Ford but are realistic on their current position. The fact is this effort is a privateer entry with manufacturer support, but not a full team of folks like we see with the Fiestas. Head over to Racer.com and check out the story and look for the Sonic on a track near you. 10:00 EST: Formula 1 –…

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Flag to Flag – 18 September *Update 1:58 Eastern*

In an attempt to try something new, I would like to test a flag to flag post that will be a running microblog if you will of key stories throughout the day on the various series we cover here at the site. This will be a living and breathing post that will be compiled throughout the day with bigger stories getting a whole article dedicated. A lot of these stories will be linked to pages like Autosport and Racer, but will have a little sprinkling of opinion for good measure!…

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Episode 203 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadShaun, Mike W, Kevin, and Doug talk about the Singapore-ish shenanigans in NASCAR (yes, we talk a bit about NASCAR), the punishment of Scott Dixon in IndyCar, more chatter about the IMS road course, and we look at potential changes in the 2014 schedule, Doug recaps the USF2000 races at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and congratulates the MidWest Division SCCA drivers who brought home hardware from the SCCA Solo Nationals. In Formula 1, Massa is out and Kimi is in, tires are still up…

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Episode 202 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadThe OP Boyz are joined this week by Belardi Auto Racing’s Peter Portante to discuss the insanely close Indy Lights championship, relive the crazy Race 3 USF2000 start at Mid-Ohio, and preview of the up coming USF2000 race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Everyone joins in the ranting fun over the demoltion derbys that IndyCar and ALMS called races on the streets of Baltimore, we look forward to the Italian GP at Monza, and Mr. Shaw runs through the latest rally news. We also…

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