It was a concern going in to the weekend that Newman Haas Lanigan Racing would have trouble getting Robert Doornbos up to speed on ovals. However, it has been a noticeable trend that road course drivers have an easier time learning ovals than vice versa. On top of that, Doornbos is an accomplished driver with F1 and Champ Car experience. Shocked would be the word I would use to describe my reaction to Robert’s eventual P2 in qualifying at Kansas City. Granted, Helio and Dario qualified faster than he did,…
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IndyCar – Kansas City Thoughts
As you are most likely aware by now, Scott Dixon pulled off the win on Sunday in the threatening Kansas City weather. The truck series race scheduled for Saturday night was rescheduled for Monday due to tornadic activity and the IndyCar feature looked like it might suffer the same fate with thunderstorms predicted for the entire day. On top of the uncertainty with the weather, there were high winds all day long making car setup an exercise in high drag, high downforce wing angles. Unfortunately, this appeared to make passing…
Read MoreIndyCars – Kansas Quali Update
The rain stayed away just long enough on Saturday for the 22 IndyCar drivers and the 24 Firestone Indy Lights drivers to have a couple rounds of practice and qualify their machines for the two races on Sunday. Getting the races in might be a challenge. Severe weather moved into the area not long after the qualification and the same front will still be in the area on race day. Expectations are for dry, but windy weather until mid to late afternoon. The Indy Lights race will likely be run,…
Read MoreIndyCar – 500 Entry List Update
New addition to the Indy 500 entrants list. Buddy Lazier has been announced with the Hemelgarn Johnson #91. Lazier ran the #91 last year and started 32nd and ended up 17th. Lazier’s entrance makes him the 5th previous winner of the 500 So here is the updated list of 41 entrants. Team # Driver AJ Foyt Enterprises 14 Vitor Meira AJ Foyt Enterprises 41 AJ Foyt IV AJ Foyt Enterprises 48 TBA Andretti Green Racing 7 Danica Patrick Andretti Green Racing 11 Tony Kanaan Andretti Green Racing 26 Marco Andretti…
Read MoreIndyCar – Milka is Back
Dreyer and Reinbold has announced that Milka Duno has been picked up again for a limited schedule. With their 2nd car for Kansas and their 4th car for Indy listed as TBA, it was clear that Dreyer and Reinbold had something in the works with somebody other than Darren Manning and Milka’s name was most heavily linked with said works. While Milka definitely improved over last season, she is still not nearly as talented as most of the Indy Lights field. And while the media has to grudgingly accept that…
Read MoreIndyCar – Attendance and Ratings
Attendance figures have been released for the Long Beach Grand Prix with a weekend total of 175,000. This is up from last years 170,000 for the Champ Car World Series finale. On the surface, a bump of 5,000 doesn’t seem to carry much significance, but with the stagnant economy, the numbers should be read as a win for the race promoters. But the numbers only tell part of the story. This event’s headline act is far more stable than CART or CCWS was in their last few visits here. The…
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IndyCar – Kansas City Preview
The IndyCar series makes it’s first visit to an oval this weekend on the hectic return trip from Long Beach. Kansas City is one of the five 1.5 mile ovals on the circuit this year, including Texas, Homestead, Chicago and Kentucky. And while the usual suspects (Ganassi, Penske & Andretti Green) are expected to continue their total domination of the ovals, there might be more hope for the other teams this year. An excellent article was posted today on IndyCar.com describing how the IndyCar series has fixed the wheelbase of…
Read MoreOpenpaddock.net Live From Kansas City
As the IndyCar series moves to Kansas City this weekend, so does openpaddock.net. We will be reporting everyday from the track with updates and editorial as events happen! The entire staff will be in attendance and we will be in the paddock getting the low down on all of the weekends activities. We will also be covering the Indy Lights series as well as the other happenings in the world of motorsports. Keep it tuned to Openpaddock.net and join the conversation all week long for your IndyCar content as well as reports all…
Read MoreIndyCars in Kansas City: A Little History
Believe it or not, the first Indy car race in Kansas City didn’t happen in 2001, but in 1922. For three years, 1922-1924, AAA sanctioned a total of four championship car races at the Kansas City Speedway, a one and a quarter mile board track. Sadly, the track has since been demolished, but the winner of that first race in 1922 was none other than Tommy Milton, two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Sweepstakes, once in 1921 and again in 1923. Milton won the 240-lap 300-mile event at the…
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