The season of discontent with the IndyCar series is well in hand now. We are waiting patiently to hear any good news out of the IRL head office. Brazil, title sponsorship, Versus getting back on DirecTV, new chassis for 2012, new engine for 2012: all are stories that we need to hear about in the very near future. The IRL has strung all of these things along for quite some time now. Among those items, the title sponsorship has the potential to make the most visible impact on the series.…
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IndyCar – Penske to Field Three
Autoweek just ran an article quoting Team Penske President, Tim Cindric, as saying that he plans on running three cars in the IndyCar Series and not running Grand Am. “It’s not done yet, but we’re closer,” Cindric said. “I’m planning on running three cars full-time, but I don’t have the deal done yet.” This bodes well for Will Power who signed with Team Penske as a replacement driver while Helio Castroneves fought off charges of tax evasion and fraud. When Helio was exonerated, Will had to relinquish the seat to…
Read MoreIndyCar – Wheldon Signs at Panther
The last 2 weeks have been an absolute drought when it comes to IndyCar information. The only thing we have had to talk about was the press release that the IRL accidentally leaked on their website and quickly took down claiming that Brazilians hacked their website. (Look for a Rio announcement on Friday by the way. That cat is well and truly out of the bag.) But today Panther put an end to that by announcing that Dan Wheldon has been signed for the 2010 season. This also ended speculation…
Read MoreIndyCar – IRL to Sanction a Revived F2000
Amidst the uncertainty surrounding many things involving the Indy Racing League (title sponsor, Brazil race, new engine/chassis specs), one more iron is added to the fire: F2000. The Indy Racing League has recently signed an agreement to be the sanctioning body for the U.S. F2000 National Championship. This is certainly an interesting move, and an uplifting one in some respects. If successful, the new F2000 series could provide a solid ladder sequence for young drivers to make their way to Indianapolis. Last year, the IRL supported the Snap-On Stars of…
Read MoreIndyCar – Newman Wachs Coming in 2010?
Newman Wachs Racing is set to take Altantics champion John Edwards to either GP2 or IndyCar. As of now, they’re leaning strongly towards IndyCar, and it would seem to be a good fit since all of their work and efforts thus far, and all of the experience of Edwards, has been in domestic open-wheel series. John Edwards has won consecutive championships in Star Mazda (2008) and the Atlantic Championship (2009). The latter was thanks to a fantastic drive on his part in the season finale at Laguna Seca enabling him…
Read MoreIndyCar – Homestead Review
The last race of the season was did not offer too much in the way of surprises. Like all of the 1.5 mile ovals this season, it was the Ganassi and Penske show. Right at the beginning of the race, Dario and Dixon provided some great side-by-side action as each of the TCGR drivers fought for lead. There wasn’t much change until Dario had to lift just a bit on Lap 10 which allowed Briscoe to take the position. Dario’s strategy then was one of fuel conservation. Dixon and Briscoe…
Read MoreOP-Ed – The Role of a Series
The Indianapolis 500 made good gains this year in both attendance and viewership, but the rest of the season hasn’t been as rosey. This got me thinking, what makes for a successful series? What standards should we use? When I think of various series throughout motorsports that are perceived to be successful, Le Mans and ALMS come to mind, as does Formula 1, SCORE, IndyCar (in its various forms AAA/USAC/CART/IRL), and NASCAR. However, what makes those series memorable isn’t the whole sequence of races that make up the series, but…
Read MoreIndyCar – Grid Set for Finale!
The field is set for the 2009 season finale in Homestead and Dario has secured pole position. The pole position has moved one point closer to championship leader Scott Dixon in what promises to be an excellent race. The stands were packed with fans waiting to see who would take the valuable one point in a championship that is now closer than ever. Dario Franchitti drew an early qualifying slot, but was able to set a blistering spped of 212.696mph over a four lap run. Dixon will slot in at…
Read MoreIndyCar – Free Practice #2 Update
The season finale of the 2009 IndyCar Series is finally here and the cars have taken to the track for both practice sessions. The three title contenders have their cars really dialed in as they are in a class of their own to this point. We said on the show this week that it will be awesome to see the full might of both TGR and Penske go to battle and thus far they have not backed down from each other. A very impressive run thus far for the NHL…
Read MoreEpisode 10 – Open Paddock Podcast
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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadThis week Mike and I get into Singapore and the Petit Petit Le Mans. Mr. Alonso goes to Maranello and we discuss all the hot topics and look ahead to Suzuka and WRC Spain. Get your fix of this weeks news in the most politically incorrect way possible.
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