New American Rally Association Coup Apparently Not Yet Complete

Mike Shaw

Yesterday one of the biggest bombshells in American rally racing was dropped with the announcement of the new American Rally Association as a new sanctioning body.  Admittedly we’ve seen this before when just a year ago the formation of the US Rally Association threatened to replace the often criticized Rally America Championship Series, but it never came to fruition.  So what’s different this time, and will ARA be successful?   As stated in the press release below from the American Rally Association and Team O’Neil, the ARA already has 4 of the…

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RallyCast Episode 08

Mike Shaw

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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadIn this episode Mike, Matt, and Andrew Pascarella (a.k.a. Raced in Anger), review the New England Forest Rally from a week ago.  At the 1:26 mark we get a bit more local as Mike and Doug Patterson talk with special guest Kito Brielmaier of the Northwest Rally Association and about SCCA RallyCross and some new technologies being developed to bring RallyCross into a new era.  Thanks for listening!

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Episode 297 UMMM-Cast – OpenPaddock.net

John Olsakovsky

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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadAfter a month of life interfering, Doug, John & Tom are back to recap the astounding finish at Le Mans that had us all gobsmacked, not to mention the Formula One soap opera from Toronto to Baku. The Verzon IndyCar Series gets more than a nod with four races that resulted in two solid hits, one strikeout and an out-of-the-park home run! (Sorry for the American baseball references, Tom!)

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Le Mans – Triumph, Agony and Controversy

John Olsakovsky

Through various racing-related (or racing-adjacent) connections, I’ve been fortunate to gain a number of friends and acquaintances, all of whom I enjoy discussions about racing. One of my fellow “chatnecks” (an inside joke among one subgroup) wrote up his account of this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.  Thanks speeddemon787!   You can’t make this stuff up for this year’s 24 Hours of LeMans with Porsche winning the overall race for the second year in a row.   How can you feel about Toyota’s devastating lost after dominating most of the…

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STPR 2016 – Review & Photo Gallery

Mike Shaw

By Andrew Pascarella   We were hoping the 2016 Waste Management Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally would provide a continuation of the close battles at the front we saw from the previous rounds that included Subaru Rally Team USA Teammates David Higgins and Travis Pastrana.  Coming into the event, Travis had won 100 Acre Wood while David won the Oregon Trail Rally.  They had one victory each with the two trading stage wins and gaps so close that each event was only decided on the final stages.  Unfortunately before STPR began the gap between Travis and David…

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Op Ed – A Racing Travesty

John Olsakovsky

The Pike’s Peak International Hill Climb is one of those events that every racer looks at with respect and admiration, if not a desire to attempt. The race has claimed lives with hairpin curves winding up and around a mountain peak with no guardrails. That is FiA Grade “Are you kidding me?!?” Despite this, it’s almost a complete unknown that this is 100th Anniversary of The Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Let that sink in for a moment. Racers have been challenging themselves to climb up this mountain, risking…

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Le Mans – A Tale of Three Minutes and Two F’s

John Olsakovsky

Or “How I learned to love Le Mans and hate the ACO.” I have a ritual for watching the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Of course, I watch as much pre-race as I can (usually through a bootleg internet stream) and through the start. My favorite times are the “golden hours” at sunset and sunrise. Watching sunset isn’t much of a challenge, but I usually fail to see the sunrise, as I invariably fall asleep about an hour before sunrise. None of our readers care about my sleep habits.  You…

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IndyCar – 2016 Indianapolis 500 Galleries

John Olsakovsky

It’s taken far too long to get photos resized and watermarked and uploaded into galleries. At long last, they are uploaded.  These are hardly professional shots like you’d see form Brian or Doug. I’m just a race fan w/ a cellphone that takes pretty good pictures.  I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I had taking them! Carb Day   Legends Day   Race Day

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IndyCar – How To Be Successful at Indianapolis as A Rookie

John Olsakovsky

I’ve started, erased and rewritten this piece three times now. Three weeks after the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race, countless articles have been written about Alexander Rossi’s incredible win and the history he has made. That is a phenomenal story, no doubt.  However, there’s a deeper tale that has parallels with my own rookie experience at The Brickyard. Much like the 2016 Indianapolis 500 Champion, I had an ace in the hole going into the month of May to insure not only a fun race weekend, but…

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Episode 296 UMMM-Cast (part 2) – OpenPaddock.net

John Olsakovsky

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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadA while ago, we all connected to talk about what is arguably the greatest weekend of racing, which includes the Monaco Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race. As you know, Mike, Dug and John were at Indianapolis for the historic event. We went on so long that I felt it prudent to break the podcast into two parts. Sorry it’s taken so long to get this out there, for our tens of fans. Life gets in the way, sometimes. Here’s the second…

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