I tried to come up with a better, more professional title to this post than “…well, crap.”, but let’s be honest. Nothing else really works for a day like today unless I allow myself to decend into a explitive-laced tirade about the two major bombs that were dropped today. Let’s get this morning’s news out first… “It is with profound regret & heavy hearts that we share the following update with you all. Despite the team’s best efforts, Vision Racing will be suspending all racing operations. We have an amazing…
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IndyCar – Belskus is Searching for New IRL Leader
Word is on the street (and in the Indianapolis Star) that the IRL is looking for a new CEO. Jeff Belskus took over for Tony George last year after his mom, his sisters and the consigliori voted him out of his positions of leadership within the family business. At this time, Jeff serves as the CEO of Hulman & Co., IRL, IMS, IMS Productions and the radio network. Busy man, but he is looking for help, especially since Joie Chitwood (IMS CEO) and Charlie Morgan (IMS Productions CEO) left for…
Read MoreIndyCar – New Fuel Probe for 2010
Hopefully a recently announced change to the refueling system for the 2010 IndyCar season will see a reduction in the number of premature drive-offs and fuel spills that lead to the fiery pit-lane incidents that we saw in 2009. Two such incidents stand out in my mind: Meira’s fire at Indianapolis, and Tony “The Torch” Kanaan’s fire in Edmonton. In both of these incidents, fuel was sprayed over the driver and car during a refueling stop and was ignited by the exhaust manifold. These situations are often caused by premature…
Read MoreIndyCar – Ryan Hunter-Reay Livery for 2010
Ryan Hunter-Reay has posted a picture of his 2010 livery on his twitter account. For your pleasure, we have taken the liberty of posting here for you to enjoy. This will probably not be his livery for the entire season since Andretti Autosport has only announced a partial season effort with IZOD as the primary sponsor. No further word has come as to what races he will be contesting, other than Indy. Michael Andretti said that they were still working on making his deal a full season effort and that…
Read MoreIndyCar – FAZZT Reveals Tagliani Livery for Sao Paulo
The FAZZT Racing Team used the opportunity presented by the Montreal International Auto Show today to reveal their sponsorships and livery for the #77 car to be piloted by Alex Tagliani in this coming season of IZOD IndyCar Series racing. From the team press release: The FAZZT Race Team has announced a partnership with Bowers & Wilkins (B & W), the worlds leading producers of reference quality hi-fi and home theater speakers, and unveiled their livery for the inaugural race of the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series March 14 in Sao…
Read MoreEpisode 22 – Open Paddock Podcast
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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin Mike, Doug, and myself this week as we get into IndyCar winter meetings, VW snubbing IndyCar and every other form of racing, Dakar, WRC/IRC and the sorry but always entertaining world of Formula 1. See if Doug and Mike like their Jersey Shore nicknames…
Read MoreIndyCar – More Details About the Delta Wing Concept
Robin Miller has a new article up on Speed’s website revealing a few more pieces of information about the radical new design being championed by the majority of the IndyCar owners. The Delta Wing concept car has been the object of much discussion among the IndyCar faithful of late, and now we have some more tidbits to tide us over until we can actually lay our eyes on this car. And that chance is reportedly coming soon. Add all of the following details in to what we already know about…
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 – Bad News from the VW Conglomerate
The VW group has indicated that they will not be providing an engine for the as yet undetermined new specifications for 2012. Autosport quotes VW Motorsports Director Kris Nissen regarding a new IRL program, “I am not 100 per cent sure of the latest status. But I think it is not realistic for the moment that the VW group will do it.” Kris goes on to indicate that the whole US market needs to stabilize and the IndyCar series needs to grow and develop before they would be interested in…
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