MRTI – WinterFest Round 1: NOLA Motorsports Park

It seems the racing world was dominated by NASCAR news surrounding driver drama and the Daytona 500, but it wasn’t the only racing going on. February 19-20 saw all three series that comprise the Mazda Road to Indy at NOLA Motorsports Park for Cooper Tires WinterFest.  USF2000 and Pro Mazda had three races each, while Indy Lights was able to get some needed test sessions with the new IL-15. WinterFest is unique in that the races accumulate points that don’t transfer to the series’ regular seasons and a WinterFest champion…

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IndyLights – MidOhio Two-Fer Preview

It’s Mid-Ohio Weekend!!! Next to Indianapolis, the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is my favourite track to visit. The IndyCar weekend is filled with activity and the circuit is never quite. Between the IndyCar Series, the Indy Lights, Pro Mazda, USF2000, and the SCCA Pro Pirelli World Challenge, there’s always someone circulating and there’s a variety of racing machines to enjoy. One of the biggest battles during the weekend will be the fight for the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires 2014 Championship. Belardi Auto Racing’s Gabby Chaves and Andretti Autosport’s…

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Indy Lights – Freedom 100 Qualifying and the New 2015 Chassis

Media Day is a pretty dead day at the Speedway from a fan attendance standpoint. There were some people there, but not many. For that matter, there weren’t many media folk there either! It’s unfortunate, because the Indy Lights drivers had a great practice and a fun and exciting qualifying session. In addition to the three hours of practice and the qualification session, the new 2015 Indy Lights chassis, the Dallara Automobili IL-15 was unveiled. It was a great day of preparation for today’s Freedom 100. Press releases are below…

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Indy Lights – Freedom 100, Can We Expect Another Close One?

Last year we were treated to the most spectacular finish in the history of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the Indy Lights drivers Carlos Munoz, Gabby Chavez, Sage Karam, and Peter Dempsey ran four-wide down the front stretch and across the yard of bricks. Every year, I try to convince people that as much fun as the 500 is, and in recent years as good of as the racing has been, that the best racing action at the Speedway is really seen on Carburetion Day when the Indy Lights Series…

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Episode 232 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadDoug returns this week to join the Mikes in discussing the qualifying weekend for the 98th running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race. We also preview this weekend’s Road to Indy races on Carb Day and the Night Before the 500. Shaw recaps the news from the GCR, WRC, and Rally America, and we wrap up the show with a preview of the Monaco GP and which Mercedes we think will win. OpenPaddock.net Podcast, Episode 232 – Tuesday, May 20th, 2014 [yop_poll id=”3″] IndyCar…

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IndyCar – Road to Indy Well Represented in 500 Field

The Mazda Road to Indy has been a very successful program since it’s inception. We’ve certainly done our best to document that here at OpenPaddock.net and to follow the progress of many of the drivers that have come through the Road to Indy, but admittedly, we’re fans and a bit biased. There is objective evidence of the program’s success, and it can be seen in the list of the 33 drivers who will contest the 98th running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race. Although the formal program has only been…

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IndyLights – Newton-John Returns to Indy (No, not Olivia)

This year will see the return of Emerson Newton-John to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as he replaces Vittorio Ghirelli in the #22 Team Moore Racing machine. Ghirelli did not compete at the Indy GP last weekend, and the team has been looking for a solid driver to place in their second car. Zack Meyer will continue in the team’s #2 machine. It’s been a while, two years to be exact, since Newton-John has been in an Indy Lights car, and he performed very well in 2012 even if his last…

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Episode 228 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadFearless Leader Shaun Pechin returns to the show as we preview this weekend’s IndyCar and Mazda Road to Indy event at Barber Motorsports Park, recap the week’s news in the WRC and Rally America, and review the news in Formula 1 and last weekend’s grand prix in China. OpenPaddock.net Podcast, Episode #228 – Tuesday, April 22, 2014 Misc. Pickett racing pulls out of TUSCAR — Is anyone surprised? IndyCar Saavedra on probation, fined 10k Helio’s new twitter problems Is Will Power getting kid glove…

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Indy Lights – The Year of the Veterans

The 2014 Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires championship is underway and has it’s first two races are in the books. The series started with a increase in participants over the last season with a total of twelve entrants at both of the opening street races. I know it’s not a large of a field as we’d like to see, but it’s an improvement over the single-digit fields of last season. As usual, there are a number of European drivers coming over from the multitude of formula series that abound,…

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