I had the chance to speak with James Hinchcliffe, driver of the #27 Andretti Autosport GoDaddy.com car this week. James is set to start Middle Front Row this Sunday in the 96th Indianapolis 500 Mile Race, the second Indy 500 of his career. Thanks to the Indycar PR staff, I was able to ask James a few questions during a media scrum held on Wednesday. For the past few years, the IZOD Indycar Series has used the Shootout to decide pole. In this format, drivers take their first qualifying run…
Read MoreRow By Row-The 96th Indianapolis 500 Mile Race
This year is a unique Indianapolis 500. Not only do we have new cars and engines, but lots of new drivers as well. Filling this year’s filed are eight rookies, four other drivers that were not in last year’s 500, and only three returning winners. Interestingly enough, this has also been one of the cleanest Months of May ever. Contributing to that might be the fact that of the eight rookies, only two had never driven at a Champ Car, IRL or Formula One level before. Four drivers in this year’s…
Read MoreEpisode 139 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadMike and Doug run amuck as Shaun enjoys time off and discuss all the silliness surrounding the IZOD IndyCar Series, the Lotus (Slowtus?) engines, and preview the Indianapolis 500, the Mazda Road to Indy races, WRC Rally Acropolis, and the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix.
Read MoreIndyCar – Fuzzy’s Vodka, Supporting Those Who Support Us
It’s been said often enough by those of us on Twitter, but the best way to encourage sponsors to continue to fund and support the sport we love is to give those sponsors our custom and let them know what we appreciate their involvement. If you’re a fan of IndyCar and especially of Ed Carpenter Racing, then you have a special opportunity to personally meet and thank one of the big supporters of the IZOD IndyCar Series, Fuzzy Zoeller. He and Ed Carpenter have been visiting various local liquor grocery…
Read MoreIndy Lights – 1st Quarter Recap & Firestone Freedom 100 Preview
It’s been far too long since we’ve talked about the Firestone Indy Lights series. The first quarter of the 2012 season is over and the championship battle is tight! There were three different winners over the first three events, creating a situation where the top three in the championship are separated by one point each! Andretti Autosport’s Sebastian Saavedra leads the way with 129 points after finishing 3rd at the season opener in St. Petersburg, scooping Barber by winning from pole, leading the most laps, and setting the fastest race…
Read MoreIndyCar – Caption This: Bump Day
How cute is this?
Read MoreIndyCar – Bump Day Photos
The 2012 “Bump” Day is in the books, and the only bumping that actually happened was allegedly done behind the scenes as Pippa Mann and Jay Howard, who both had funds and deals secured for a car and a Honda engine, had their engine deals withdrawn unexpectedly. The rumor is that Lotus, in exchange for releasing Dragon Racing from its engine contract, were guaranteed two spots on the grid, and that the league ordered teams to not bring out their backup cars. The league has denied the rumor, but there’s…
Read MoreIndyCar – Caption This: Pole Day
Over the next week, I’ll try to post a slightly odd/weird/sketchy photo each day I’m at the track for a caption contest. First one is this of a gal terrified of something, and the sketchy/creepy Fire Chicken sneaking up behind her. Leave your captions in the comments section below!
Read MoreIndyCar – Pole Day Photos
Talk about a place of legend! The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, steeped in legend it self, was crawling with living legends all day long! Parnelli Jones graced us with two parade laps in the roadster in which he broke the 150 mph speed barrier. …ah, the days when we actually pursued speed! And what a fantastic sound! Deep, throaty, rumbly, magnificent! He didn’t really get on it, but it was still cool to see the old machine motoring it’s way around the speedway. One of the things most people fail to…
Read MoreIndyCar – Live Blog Pole Day End of Day
Welcome to Pole Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Going to bring you the live blog again today after a one day absence. We will have group times updated and will also update the blog if a member pulls their time in an attempt to reach the top nine. Doug is on the grounds today and will be taking stunning shots of the cars as always as we try and decide pole position for the 96th running of the Indianapolis 500. 12:22 – So we are at the 11th car…
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