Tag: FIL

Inside the Helmet – Juan Pablo Garcia

Doug Patterson

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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadIn this edition of our driver interview series, Inside the Helmet, we speak with Juan Pablo Garcia, driver of the #2 Team Moore Racing machine in the Firestone Indy Lights series. Juan Pablo shares with us the story of how he came to see motorsports as a potential career choice as a young karter, his experiences in formula 2000 cars in Mexico, and in A1GP and Formula Renault and other junior formula series in Europe before coming to the US to race in the…

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Indy Lights – Iowa Sukup 100 Review

Doug Patterson

The Sukup 100 at the Iowa Speedway marks the halfway point in the 2013 Firestone Indy Lights racing season, and the third straight oval race of the season. With Karam’s win at Milwaukee, Muñoz’s lead in the championship narrowed to the point where Karam had the potential to take the lead in just one race if everything happened just right. Practice and Qualifying My expectation as the series headed to Newton Iowa was that Sage Karam would run away with the event. After all, Sage has won every time he’s…

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Episode 194 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Doug Patterson

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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadWithout Kevin’s voice of reason and professional influence, the show devolves into a rantfest by a bunch of drunks! The boys offer mad props to Plowman for his LMP2 victory at Le Mans, we review the IndyCar and Indy Lights races and news from the Iowa Speedway, Mr. Shaw leads us through the WRC news and recaps the Nameless Performance Rally (formally the Olympus Rally) and Shaun and Mike round out the show with commentary on the recent FIA tribunal involving Pirelli and Mercedes.…

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Indy Lights – Dempsey’s Trial at the Mile

Doug Patterson

Coming off a great race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the Firestone Freedom 100, I was really pumped heading to the Milwaukee Mile for the IndyFest. The week before the race, I was very fortunate to be able to spend eight days back in Ireland visiting friends and family. I arrived back on Tuesday the week of the race. Luckily, I was able to get over the jet lag quickly enough to be fresh for the first practice day on Thursday. The great thing about racing in Milwaukee is that…

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IndyLights – Dan Andersen to the Rescue! …again!

Doug Patterson

We’ve known that the Firestone Indy Lights series has been on the ropes for a couple of seasons now. Over the past seven years, the number of full-time drivers (75% minimum participation) dropped from 19 in 2007 to a scant eight this season. The number of participating teams has also plummeted from 17 to six. Of those six, there’s only four that have been competing on a regular basis: Schmidt Peterson Motorsport, Andretti Autosport, Belardi Auto Racing, and Team Moore Racing. There are several reasons for this drop in participation…

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MRTI – Pro Mazda and Indy Lights Championships Take Shape at Milwaukee

Doug Patterson

The Mazda Road to Indy teams, at least the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires and the Firestone Indy Lights Series portions of it, did battle last weekend at the oldest active racing venue in the world, the Milwaukee Mile. Traditionally, the Pro Mazda and Indy Lights races at the Mile have usually been processional affairs, but there was more racing action and passes this year than there’s been in a while. On Episode 192 of the OpenPaddock.net Podcast, we had eluded to fact that, especially in Indy Light,…

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IndyLights – Peter Dempsey: Winning at Indianapolis

Doug Patterson

The month of May is always special in Indianapolis. All the IndyCar teams are flat-out testing and developing their race cars. I was fortunate to get to attend Pole Day this year for the first time, and what a day that was! Ed Carpenter lit up the field with his impressive pole run, and also to see Carlos Munoz qualify 2nd for the 500 was great. This really was amazing by him to out-qualify his seasoned teammates. Practice and Qualifying The FIL cars weren’t on track until Thursday with one…

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IndyLights – Peter Dempsey: Thoughts and Insights from Long Beach

Doug Patterson
Start of the Firestone Indy Lights race on the Streets of Long Beach -- Photo by John Cole, INDYCAR

It’s been a while since my last blog entry for OpenPaddock.net, and a lot has happened since then! Long Beach ended before it started, an amazing four wide finish win in the Freedom 100, and a trip back to Ireland to get my visa extension and to see some family. I am going to fill you in on how I made it through all this crazy stuff over the past few weeks. Let’s start off with the race weekend on April 24th at one of my favorite streets courses, the…

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IndyCar – Indianapolis Race Weekend in Photos

Doug Patterson

Wow, what a long an exciting week and a half at the World’s Greatest Race Course! Although we didn’t beat the rain to IMS on Fast Friday, we were there for Pole Day, Bump Day, Community Day, Media Day, Carb Day, the Night Before the 500, and of course Race Day. It was great meeting up with old friends and seeing some twitter folk for the first time. Best of all, I got to show off our new baby girl on Carb Day! 😀 I shared the qualifying weekend photos…

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IndyLights – Best. Finish. EVER!

Doug Patterson

One of the highlights of my traditional week and a half at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is Carburetion Day. …and no, not for the “Has-Been Band-of-the-Year” concert. Besides, I trashed my animal-print spandex pants long ago, so no Poison concert for me. For one, Carb Day is a day I share at the track with my Dad as we watch the Firestone Indy Lights race from the stands above the suites just to the south of the Pagoda, after which we adjourn to our favourite Irish pub, the Claddagh, and…

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