The Spring Years: 2007-2009 As exciting as the summer races at the Kansas Speedway were, the spring races have been lack-luster. During the 2007 race, the leaders ran away from the rest of the field. Dan Wheldon crossed the checkered and yellow flags ahead of the eventual season champion Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti as the race ended under caution. There was no doubt about who the winner was going to be, though. Dixon was definitely the class of the field that day. 3rd and 4th place finishers Helio Castroneves…
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IndyCar – Post-Sonoma Soap Opera
If you missed the Sonoma race this weekend, you missed a lot. For the first time in many seasons, I remained conscious for the entirety of the race at Infineon. Now before the haters start digging into me, let me say (and if you read my Mid-Ohio post you’ll know this to be true) I love road courses. In fact, the circuit at Sears Point, aka Sonoma, aka Infineon, is a heck of a lot of fun to drive. Sadly, its not a heck of a lot of fun, typically,…
Read MoreIndyCar – Castroneves/Tracy Crash…Judges?
IndyCar – Richmond Highlights
IndyCar – Teammates Tussle at Texas
The IndyCars under the lights at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, TX always look spectacular, and this year was no exception. The weather was excellent and so was the crowd. Attendance at this week’s event was strong, something that the series desperately needed for a 1.5-mile oval after the anemic showing at Kansas. As usual this year, the start’s and the restarts were fantastic with lots of jockeying for position all through the grid. After a few laps, however, the ability for drivers to pass lapped traffic, let…
Read MoreIndyCar – Helio in for Long Beach!
Robin Miller is reporting that Helio will be driving for Team Penske in his familiar #3 this weekend. Will Power will drive the #12 entry that as of yet, Team Penske hasn’t even unpacked. We incorrectly assumed that the #12 would be for Helio, not for Will Power. Trackside Online reports that Team Penske has called a press conference for later this afternoon to discuss the situation, but currently the media and even Brian Barnhart are swarming the Penske operation at Long Beach for quotes and information. It will good…
Read MoreIndyCar – Helio Acquitted!
The AP is reporting that Helio Castroneves, his sister and his lawyer have been acquitted on all charges. However, the jury was hung on the count of conspiracy against Helio. The US government may choose to retry him on the conspiracy charge at a later date, but it looks like for now Helio is a free man. Open Paddock will keep you apprised of all developments to this story as it unfolds, but what we are most interested in is how quickly Helio can get to Long Beach. As we…
Read MoreIndyCar – Helio’s #12 Hauler Spotted?
Our friends over at trackside online took this image of a Penske #12 hauler painted up with Verizon logos this morning at Long Beach. Two weeks ago during the St. Petersburg weekend Roger Penske and Tim Cindric both made comments to the effect that Helio would have a car waiting for him as soon as his trial was over, and by implication it would be a third car for Penske. So presumably, the hauler contains all the necessary trappings for a third Penske entry. This seems to go against a…
Read MoreIndyCar – Helio Verdicts Trickling In
We here at open paddock have yet to really comment about the ongoing tax evasion trial of Helio Castroneves. Taxes are a boring subject and one that I am loathe to comment on this time of year since I just sent my check in to the government this week. But now that the trial is over and jury deliberations have been taking place since last Friday, it is time for us to break our silence. Jury deliberations are over for the day, but the jury has returned verdicts an several…
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