Tag: MRTI

IndyLights – WillyT Returns to IMS!

Doug Patterson

For you old school fans, you remember Willy T Ribbs as the first African-American driver to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race in 1991, exactly 20 years ago today, with Walker Racing and funding from comedian Bill Cosby. Those of you who are newer to the sport may only know Willy T as the straight-speaking analyst on Versus coverage of the Firestone Indy Lights Series. Mr. Ribbs now returns to competition at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, not as a driver, but as a team owner. In a partnership with…

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IndyLights: Long Beach 100 Recap

Doug Patterson

Last week after the Firestone Indy Lights race at Barber Motorsports Park, I went on a bit of a rant regarding the need for these young aspiring drivers to learn a modicum of control. Apparently, many of their team managers went on similar rants as this week’s race on the Streets of Long Beach was far less chaotic. To be sure there were incidents and accidents, but just your normal racing incident type of things, not the mass carnage and mayhem we saw at Barber. For a circuit that has…

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IndyLights – Long Beach Qualifying and New Additions

Doug Patterson

The Firestone Indy Lights Series will be racing tomorrow in support of the IZOD IndyCar Series on the famous Streets of Long Beach, and today’s qualifying session was very exciting. Before we get to the qualifying results and the implications for the race, first let’s look at some very positive news for the series that broke this week. Two new drivers join the Firestone Indy Lights ranks, and if you’re a regular reader of OpenPaddock, you’ll know that the car count in this step on the Mazda Road to Indy…

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IndyLights – Control! Control! You must learn control!

Doug Patterson

Yoda would be shaking his head in disappointment if he saw the carnage at Barber, and I don’t mean to only point at the Firestone Indy Lights drivers. There was plenty of carbon fiber shrapnel in the IZOD IndyCar Series race as well. During the Firestone Indy Lights race, a number of cars capable of victory or at least a podium were taken out by silly, over-aggressive moves. Even the qualifying for the Indy Lights drivers was a bit chaotic. Josef Newgarden, who had been so strong in testing and…

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Star Mazda – Familiar Teams, New Faces on the Podium

Doug Patterson

The second round of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear was contested this past Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL. The race on Sunday morning turned out to be an indicator of things to come as all three races this weekend, Star Mazda, Indy Lights, and IndyCar, would all follow the same pattern. Tristan Vautier started from pole and never looked back, leading all 33 laps of the race and taking the checkers a whopping 39.586 seconds ahead of 2nd place finisher, Nick Andries. “We knew that…

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Star Mazda – Barber Qualifying Results and Analysis

Doug Patterson

The Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear is going to have a hard time of it for their race on Sunday. The drivers qualified on Thursday afternoon and will have to wait until Sunday before their race. On Race Day morning, they will get a 15-min warm-up which is just long enough to check for fluid leaks and not much else. The conditions between when they practiced and qualified on Thursday certainly won’t be any where near the same as they will be on Sunday when temperatures are to be…

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Mazda Road to Indy – Barber Preview

Doug Patterson

Sorry for the lack of a MRTI Weekly Update this past weekend, but there really hasn’t been much happening. I’m sure that I could have found something to blather on about, I usually can. Just ask my students! #rimshot But seriously, its been pretty quiet since the three races on the Streets of St. Petersburg. There was no on-track action this past weekend, and there were no new driver announcements, so the news and PR feeds have been pretty quiet. This coming weekend, however, is the second round for both…

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Inside the Helmet – Peter Dempsey

Doug Patterson

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadWe were fortunate enough to have a wonderful conversation with the winningest driver in the history of the Star Mazda Championship, scoring a total of 9 wins over the 2008 and 2009 season, Peter Dempsey. Dempsey now drives the #36 Pulse/Microbiology car for O2 Racing Technology in the Firestone Indy Lights series. Last weekend in his first race, he led the first 11 laps of the race, and finished on the podium in P3. In our interview, Peter talks with us about his early…

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Episode 82 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Shaun

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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadBoys are back and talk all things motorsport. Portugal review, Australia review and all things St. Pete. Show is long, but sit back and relive the best moments of the weekend.

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UFS2000 – Diverse Field Finds Parity

Doug Patterson

Race #2 this past Sunday on the Streets of St. Petersburg was the fourth race of the 2011 Cooper Tires Presents the US F2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda season, and it saw its fourth race winner as Cape Motorsports’ driver, Petri Suvanto, would take the checkers after starting from pole and successfully defending his position as Andretti Autosport’s Spencer Pigot mounted a challenge during a restart. In addition for separate race winners, the season thus far has seen five separate drivers on the podium and nine different drivers finish…

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