IndyCar-Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama: Practice 1

A mostly uneventful S1 ended with chart-topper Tristan Vautier sliding off in Turn 2, across the gravel trap and into a rather muddy fence area. Vautier ends the session atop the speed charts at 1:09.0120 after 15 laps of running. Honda made a strong showing during the first session with Vautier finishing P1, Scott Dixon in P2, Charlie Kimball in P3 and Will Power as the fastest Chevy in p4. Dario Franchitti rounds out the Top Five with a 1:09.3202. The top 10 times were evenly split between Chevrolet and…

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IndyCar-Round 1: Honda Grand Prix of St. Pete Preview

What: Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Where: Albert Whitted Airport Circuit, St. Petersburg, Florida When: 12:30pm EDT on Sunday, March 24 (TV: NBC Sports Network) Who: Helio Castroneves, defending race champion, looks to defend his race title on the Streets of St. Pete against 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series Champion Ryan-Hunter Reay, four-time series champ Dario Franchitti, perrenial road and street course ace Will Power and the rest of the IZOD IndyCar Series field. Storylines Ryan Hunter-Reay begins his title defense on a very hit-or-miss track. Even though he finished…

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IndyCar – Barber Test Wrapup

Any shock at who finished at the top of the speed charts? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Once again, Verizon Team Penske’s Will Power was the machismo of the circuit by dominating all sessions at the magnificent 2.3 mile Barber Motorsports Park circuit. Will finished the two day testing session with a fast time of 1:07.1329 (123.337 mph for you speed junkies.) Power turned a total of 128 laps in two days in the #12 Verizon Chevrolet. Second in combined testing was James Hinchcliffe in the #27 GoDaddy Andretti Autosport Chevrolet with…

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Indycar-Top Stories of 2012 Part 2

In the first installment in this series, I broke down what I considered storied 6-10 of the 2012 IZOD Indycar Series. We talked about Rubinho, Mike Conway, the Detroit Pothole, Hinch’s fast start and Ed Carpenter winning the final race yet again. Now it’s time to wrap up the top 5 stories of the 2012 season. Story #5-The finish of the Indy 500 As the laps counted down during the 2012 Indianapolis 500, Tony Kanaan found himself in the lead late in the race. Unable to hold off Franchitti, Dixon…

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Indycar-Detroit Grand Prix-Dixon Dodges Ditch Disaster

Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon absolutely dominated the competition on Belle Isle to handily win the Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix. Dixon not only won the race, but he also won pole and led every lap. As most everyone predicted, there wasn’t much happening up front between Dixon’s dominance, the tight ARMCO and concrete canyons of the Belle Isle Circuit, the neutered track layout and EJ Viso doing a fabulous job holding up traffic for 27 mind numbing laps. Oh, then the track started coming apart. It’s a…

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Indycar-Power Rankings After Round 5 of 16

Around 1/3rd of the way through the 2012 IZOD Indycar Series schedule, and we’re still seeing tight competition all the way through the grid. Yes, every race this season has been won by a “Red Car,” Will Power has won three of five races, and Penske/Ganassi cars have dominated Pole Position. It doesn’t feel like the overwhelming dominance by the “Red Cars” this year like it has in the past though. Perhaps it’s masterful drives by guys like James Hinchcliffe, Simon Pagenaud and the post-Lotus Oriol Servia. Maybe it’s the…

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INDYCAR – Dixon Finally Breaks Through at Mid-Ohio

When you talk about luck this year, Scott Dixon has easily had some of the worst. There have been a number of drivers suffer, but driving for a team like Ganassi, Dixon’s stood out a bit more than the rest. Sunday however, it finally took a turn in the right direction as the New Zealand driver stormed to his first victory of the year. Here are just a few of my thoughts overall. Passing: Heading into Mid-Ohio, one should never expect much passing. The course is just not conducive to…

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