The Mazda Road to Indy was fully represented in Toronto this weekend with the USF2000 National Championship back in action for the first time since the Night Before the 500 in May, and the Pro Mazda Championship racing after it’s last event in Milwaukee. They shared the weekend with the Firestone Indy Lights series and of course the IZOD IndyCar Series with everyone except Lights doing a double-header. After five events, Cape Motorsports driver and championship leader, Scott Hargrove had accumulated three poles, four podiums, three fastest race laps, and…
Read MoreTag: Mazda Road to Indy
Episode 195 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadThis week, we review the triumphant return of the IZOD IndyCar Series to Pocono and look ahead to Toronto, Doug recaps the Indy Lights race at Pocono, and gives us a rundown of where all three of the Mazda Road to Indy series stand as they all head to Toronto, Mike and Shaun look at the tyre failures at Silverstone and point their fingers squarely at the teams, and they review the German Grand Prix, and Mike Shaw runs through the latest news and…
Read MoreIndyCar – The Pocono Weekend in Photos
In addition to our own native of the Poconos, Constable Spike Rogan, giving us great updates and insights over the weekend as the IZOD IndyCar Series finally returns to the Pocono Speedway, Tom and Brenda Turk if Piratical Photography have been creating some magnificent images of the events. With Tom behind the lens and Brenda behind the laptop editing, we now have two new wonderful galleries of images of the Firestone Indy Lights and IZOD IndyCar Series races. Enjoy! Firestone Indy Lights – Pocono 100 IZOD IndyCar Series – Pocono…
Read MoreInside the Helmet – Juan Pablo Garcia
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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…
Read MoreIndy Lights – Iowa Sukup 100 Review
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…
Read MoreEpisode 194 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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.…
Read MoreIndy Lights – Dempsey’s Trial at the Mile
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…
Read MoreIndyLights – Dan Andersen to the Rescue! …again!
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…
Read MoreMRTI – Pro Mazda and Indy Lights Championships Take Shape at Milwaukee
The Mazda Road to Indy teams, at least the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires and the Firestone Indy Lights Series portions of it, did battle last weekend at the oldest active racing venue in the world, the Milwaukee Mile. Traditionally, the Pro Mazda and Indy Lights races at the Mile have usually been processional affairs, but there was more racing action and passes this year than there’s been in a while. On Episode 192 of the OpenPaddock.net Podcast, we had eluded to fact that, especially in Indy Light,…
Read MoreIndyLights – Peter Dempsey: Winning at Indianapolis
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…
Read More