Tag: INDYCAR

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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IndyCar – Round 10: Iowa Corn Indy 250 Presented by DEKALB preview

John Olsakovsky

WHAT: Iowa Corn Indy 250 Presented by DEKALB WHERE: Iowa Speedway, Newton, IA WHO: Defending Series Champion and Race Winner Ryan Hunter-Reay looks to repeat his performance form 2012 after winning last week’s event in Milwaukee. Points leader Helio Castroneves has never won at Iowa, but he looks to break through this weekend after a 6th place finish at Iowa last season. Marco Andretti has looked poised to take another victory several times in 2013, but has suffered some sort of unfortunate ending every time. Can the former Iowa winner…

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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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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 – Former IndyCar/NASCAR Driver Jason Leffler Killed in Sprint Car Crash

John Olsakovsky

BRIDGEPORT, NJ (June 12, 2013)– Former IndyCar and NASCAR driver Jason Leffler was killed at Bridgeport Speedway in New Jersey when his Sprint Car flipped during a 412 Sprint race. Leffler was transported from the scene via helicopter, where he was later pronounced dead. Leffler’s upper level racing career began in USAC, where he was a three time National Midget Champion and the 1998 Silver Crown Champion. He made 4 Nationwide Series starts for Roger Penske in 1999 while also pursuing an IRL career. He made his first IRL start…

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IndyCar – Round 9: Milwaukee IndyFest Preview

John Olsakovsky

What: Milwaukee IndyFest 2013 Where: The Milwaukee Mile, West Allis, WI Who: Defending IZOD IndyCar Series Champion Ryan Hunter-Reay also happens to be the defending race winner. Helio Castroneves comes to the Mile as the most recent oval winner. Unfortunately, The Mile hasn’t exactly been kind to him; in 11 starts, Castroneves has 2 top 10’s with a best finish of 2nd way back in his first appearance at the track in 1998 with Bettenhausen Racing. When: Saturday, June 15 at 4pm EDT. NBC Sports Network Storylines This was where…

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