The new US F2000 National Championship presented by Cooper Tires and powered by Mazda will make its debut at the O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis on Saturday May 29th, the night before the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race. They will be part of a larger celebration of speed, The Night Before The 500, which will also feature the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, and USAC Midgets. It should be a great night of racing, and you can bet that the whole OpenPaddock staff will be there. History of F2000 and…
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Episode 36 – Open Paddock Podcast
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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin Mike and I this week as we give a brief review of the Olympus Rally. We try to hash out IndyCar engine news and go over the landmark (yeah right) WRC 2011 calendar. We briefly talk F1 as the circus continues and Mike uses profanity…thats new! lol 🙂 Sorry Mike
Read MoreIndyCar – 500 Qualifying Details are Astounding
There are some new ways of thinking at 16th and Georgetown, and they are being fully displayed in the format for Pole Day at the Indy 500. There has been no official announcement about qualifying this year, other than the budget conscious slashing from four days down to two. While this was a move made for bean counting purposes, it also could be viewed as a good move to allow another race to take place in May to help the build up to the Memorial Day classic. But with radical…
Read MoreIndyCar – Simona De Silvestro To Run Big Cars With HVM
In a bit of a surprise to us here at Openpaddock.net, Simona De Silvestro secured a full-season ride in the IZOD IndyCar Series with HVM Racing. In a collaborative effort with HVM Racing, Team Stargate Worlds will enter the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series with driver Simona De Silvestro. Known as Team Stargate Worlds/HVM Racing, the team will carry primary sponsorship from Stargate Resistance and associate sponsorship from Bernard Richards Manufacture (BRM), FireSky, Cheyenne Mountain Games, and Cardinal Technologies. De Silvestro and the # 78 entry will also lead the Do…
Read MoreIndyCar – Lotus Returns to the Greatest Spectacle In Racing
The folks at Racecar Engineering are reporting that Lotus is looking to return to the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race, as Team Lotus USA. Motorsport Director Claudio Berro told highly regarded British publication Motorsport News “the Indycar dream is very real for us. We are talking to an existing team about forging an alliance. The American marketplace is very important for Lotus and there is a pedigree and history at the Indy 500. When people think of Lotus they think of competition and racing, it is…
Read MoreIndyCar – More Drivers Confirmed for 2010
Today, we got confirmation that Viso and Mutoh were confirmed full-time drivers in the IZOD IndyCar Series for the 2010 season. E.J. Viso was announced today as the second full-time driver at KV Racing Technologies joining their other full-time driver, Takuma Sato, and part-time driver, Paul Tracy. Hideki Mutoh was announced as Newman-Haas-Lanigan Racing sole full-time entry for 2010. We had been expecting Mutoh’s confirmation for some time, but Viso’s confirmation is good news for a series that has really struggled for good news lately. KVRT Announces EJ Viso As…
Read MoreOpEd – Beauty Pageant or Racing Series?
The interwebs have been all a buzz over the release of the chassis concepts for the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series from Dallara, Swift, and especially the much anticipated Delta Wing. There’s been much commentary offered for and against all of the designs, but none has received more discussion and more scorn than the extremely radical concept car from Delta Wing, LLC that was revealed last Wednesday at the Chicago Auto Show. We’ve gone over various aspects of the proposed concepts here, as have many others, and there are certainly a…
Read MoreIndyCar – Sam Schmidt Motorsports Secures Townsend Bell for the 500
Sam Schmidt Motorsports announced today that it will be returning to the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race in partnership with Chip Ganassi Racing, a relationship that they continue from 2009. Best of all, they’ve secured Townsend Bell to drive the car! Bell has had a great run in the 500 the last couple of years with his best finish coming last year finishing fourth while running for KV Racing. This year he’ll be running the #99 car for SSM and hoping for an even better finish. While there are some who…
Read MoreIndyCar – Interesting Changes for 2010 and THE KNOB IS GONE!
The IZOD IndyCar Series had its annual pre-season safety meeting today at which several changes were announced for the 2010 season. Some of which were already known, some were speculated, and one comes as a bit of a surprise. So Long Fuel Knob! The knob is gone! However, don’t get too elated thinking that we’ll see the end of fuel mileage races. We’ll still have those, but “making fuel” will now be relient on the driver’s skill to finesse their machine and precisely control the throttle. “Teams and drivers can…
Read MoreIndyCar – Back to the Short Schedule
Curt Cavin reported this morning in the Indianapolis Star that the Month of May would be shortened to the Two Weeks of May. The track will open on May 15th for practice and rookie tests, but qualifying will be condensed to a single weekend. Pole Day will be on Saturday, May 22, and Bump Day will be on Sunday, May 23. The reasoning behind the change is to reduce the operating costs for all parties associated with the event. The teams will spend less money on room and board, the…
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