Indycar-Zen and the Art of Relevance

Hooray for sinus infections. I’ve had one for the better part of this week. Instead of suffering through another day at the office, I elected to stay home and rest up a bit. On the tube right now is a replay of the Daytona 500. Undoubtedly, NASCAR is the benchmark of motorsports here in the United States. I can remember a time not so long ago when Indycar drivers were the household names and NASCAR was pretty much a regional series. Now things are pole shifted; NASCAR drivers are widely…

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Indycar-IMS, Indycar Leadership Changes

Indianapolis, IN: Interim INDYCAR CEO Jeff Belskus named Doug Boles as Chief Operating Officer of IMS and Robby Greene Interim COO of INDYCAR. These moves take effect immediately, and are believed to be at the recommendation of Boston Consulting Group, a team of advisers hired by Hulman & Company to analyze the structure and efficiency of INDYCAR and IMS management. Doug Boles, who had been serving as IMS Communications VP, has also been involved in Indycar as a co-owner of Panther Racing in the series’ early days. His background as an attourney,…

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Indycar-Simona in at KV Racing

Simona de Silvestro looks to finally get the ride she deserves. Various sources confirm the 24 year old Swiss driver is leaving HVM Racing after three seasons to join Tony Kanaan at KV Racing Technology. Simona brings her NuClear Clean Energy sponsorship with her to Kevin kalkhoven and Jimmy Vasser’s squad. It had previously been reported that HVM and KV planned to join forces, but it looks as if that plan has fallen through. Simona has done wonders in the HVM car, which is generally considered a third or fourth…

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Indycar-Detroit Grand Prix-Dixon Dodges Ditch Disaster

Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon absolutely dominated the competition on Belle Isle to handily win the Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix. Dixon not only won the race, but he also won pole and led every lap. As most everyone predicted, there wasn’t much happening up front between Dixon’s dominance, the tight ARMCO and concrete canyons of the Belle Isle Circuit, the neutered track layout and EJ Viso doing a fabulous job holding up traffic for 27 mind numbing laps. Oh, then the track started coming apart. It’s a…

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Indycar-Power Rankings After Round 5 of 16

Around 1/3rd of the way through the 2012 IZOD Indycar Series schedule, and we’re still seeing tight competition all the way through the grid. Yes, every race this season has been won by a “Red Car,” Will Power has won three of five races, and Penske/Ganassi cars have dominated Pole Position. It doesn’t feel like the overwhelming dominance by the “Red Cars” this year like it has in the past though. Perhaps it’s masterful drives by guys like James Hinchcliffe, Simon Pagenaud and the post-Lotus Oriol Servia. Maybe it’s the…

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Episode 140 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadShaun returns after a two week break to talk all about the 96th Indianapolis 500. Join Shaun and Mike as they talk all about the happenings this past weekend and break down what has been called one of the best Indy 500s ever. The show uses the new format with a primary focus on the IZOD IndyCar Series and Mazda Road to Indy. We do briefly cover a couple F1 and rally topics at the end. Given the new format, you may be disappointed…

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Episode 61 – Openpaddock.net Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin myself and Doug as we firmly plant our head in the wall over no motorsports news. We talk about Korea and Rally Spain of course as well as get into some IndyCar news. Also we prepare for the Indy Down Force Banquet and go into all of the great features and services the Indy fan club offers.

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IndyCar – Highcroft Looking to IICS

So what do you do when you have won two American Le Mans series titles? Take your program IndyCar racing of course. The back to back champions Highcroft Racing are preparing for a select program for the 2011 season. While nothing is wrote in stone, the team has the ambition and will look at a couple of rounds for next year. Who said that all of the news after the finale had to be bad? Duncan Dayton had this to say in a SPEED article posted yesterday: “We are aware…

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Episode 59 – Openpaddock.net Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadApologies for the late arrival. The show is 24 hours old but I left all of my important server uploading info on an external drive that I left at the hospital. #EpicFail! We take a good look at the season finale as well as the pecking order that is the IZOD IndyCar series. Silly season rumors are everywhere for IndyCar and the WRC, while we talk a little bit about Petit. Great discussion and a little comedy makes for a really long show time,…

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