The Blocking Problem Blocking is certainly nothing new in motorsports, or racing in general for that matter. As soon as two people raced each other on foot, I’m sure that the leader blocked the person behind and probably violently. In various types of horse racing, we see blocking and crowding a competitor against the rail, and given that automobile racing is simply an extension of horse racing, its no surprise that we see blocking in modern motorsports. The challenge of the various sanctioning bodies of modern motorsports series is to…
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TV – Your Weekend Racing Schedule
I’m going to try something new here at OpenPaddock. To be honest, this is really driven by a selfish motivation to be more organized about my TV viewing/recording after realizing that I’ve been missing the SCCA World Challenge races on Versus. Grr! Every Friday, I’m going to try and have a listing of the racing being aired each weekend with all times in Eastern. I’ll focus just on those forms of racing we cover here, so you NASCAR fans are on your own. Sorry. Also, I cheated a little by…
Read MoreOpEd – Lessons Learned: Attending a Race at Mid-Ohio
This year was my third year attending the ALMS and IndyCar races at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, and for the third year in a row I had a blast. Each year, I’ve picked up a little bit more insight about how to attend, what to avoid and what to enjoy. This year, it was a little different for me in that in addition to a spectator ticket I also had a photo badge which gave me great access to the track and the pits, but it also limited my…
Read MoreIndyCar – Honda Indy 200 @Mid-Ohio
Mid-Ohio Weekend Review – Openpaddock.net Podcast
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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadA day early on this one as we welcome Mike back to the fray. We take a look back at the weekend that was Mid-Ohio. We talk IZOD IndyCar as well as ALMS. We tell the haters to shut up as well. Thankfully there is not much in the realm of F1 to talk about but there is some rally. We talk potential of Saab as well as Sordo splitting with his co-driver. So sit back with your favorite beverage and enjoy the show!
Read MoreIndyCar – Photos from the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
Here are some of the better pics from this weekend’s Firestone Indy Lights and IZOD IndyCar Series events at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. I ended up with a TON of pics from the weekend, and these are just the ones that I picked out after a first cursory glance. Keep checking our photo gallery throughout the rest of the year, and especially during the off-season. One of the things that keeps me going through the winter is going back through my photo archives and searching for images I missed…
Read MoreALMS – Friday Practice and Qualifying Photos
These certainly aren’t all of the pics from today, but I only have my netbook with me and my photo editing resources are very limited. …ok, that’s an excuse. Real reason is that I’m completely beat and worn out! More ALMS photos tomorrow, and a lot of IndyCar photos as well as the IZOD IndyCar Series and the Firestone Indy Lights Series have their qualifications. ALMS Practice and Qualifying from Friday
Read MoreRally – Peugeot Starts Crying and Threatens to Leave
The Peugeot IRC effort has not really come close to the same dominance it had last year. Kris Meeke has crashed hard and often in his Peugeot S2000 and that has Olivier Quesnel upset and throwing toys from the pram. The team boss has went as far as to say Peugeot will be out of the IRC next year if Skoda fields a factory effort. In contrast to Peugeot’s terrible luck, Skoda has had an amazing year. They have had drivers on the podium at every event and lead the…
Read MoreRally – Saab to Join WRC??
Now that MINI has joined the small list of WRC manufacturers, there is rumor of another team that is not Toyota possibly joining as well. SAAB has expressed a strong interest in the WRC and may be willing to join with one of their vehicles. I will admit that this particular announcement has caught me off guard. If we think back to just a couple months ago, SAAB was in serious trouble and about to go out of existence. Now, it seems that everything is in line for a potential…
Read MoreEpisode 50 – Openpaddock.net Podcast
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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin Doug and I as we take a look back at last weekends races. We also discuss the ususal news that has surfaced as a result of the events. We also look ahead to Mid-Ohio as that is where the whole OP crew will be this weekend! Hope to see all of the readers and supporters out there! Sit backa nd enjoy the show and prepare yourself for the siege of information that will be Mid-Ohio.
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