IndyLights – Dempsey Is Out for the Remainder of 2013

I must admit that this doesn’t come as too much of a surprise as we’ve seen Peter Dempsey’s car running sans a primary sponsor since MidOhio. Peter, who had won the Firestone Freedom 100 in dramatic fashion in May and had several strong finishes in the races since, has run out of funds to continue the 2013 season. We’ve really appreciated having Peter on the OpenPaddock.net podcast and sharing his race weekend thoughts with us throughout the season. We’re bummed and disappointed that he’ll not be able to continue with…

Read More

Indy 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 More

IndyLights – 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

IndyLights – Peter Dempsey: Thoughts and Insights from Long Beach

Start of the Firestone Indy Lights race on the Streets of Long Beach -- Photo by John Cole, INDYCAR

It’s been a while since my last blog entry for OpenPaddock.net, and a lot has happened since then! Long Beach ended before it started, an amazing four wide finish win in the Freedom 100, and a trip back to Ireland to get my visa extension and to see some family. I am going to fill you in on how I made it through all this crazy stuff over the past few weeks. Let’s start off with the race weekend on April 24th at one of my favorite streets courses, the…

Read More

IndyLights – Peter Dempsey Blog: St. Petersburg and Barber Motorsports Park Review

Hello everyone and welcome to my first blog entry for OpenPaddock.net! My name is Peter Dempsey and I am competing in the Firestone Indy Lights series this season driving for Belardi Auto Racing in the #5 car. I will be writing weekend review blogs after each of my FIL races this season. With a busy start to 2013, this first blog consists of both my St. Petersburg review and my Barber Motorsport review. The Streets of St. Petersburg The first race of the year is always one of the most…

Read More

Episode 160 — OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadIf you missed it last night on ETV Live!, we had the honor of speaking with the newly signed pilot of the #9 Firestone Indy Lights racing machine for Belardi Auto Racing, Mr. Peter Dempsey. Peter shared with us his experiences struggling to find a stable ride through the end of 2011 with Andretti Autosport, racing and coaching in 2012 at Indianapolis and Detroit this past season with Younessi Racing, and ending the 2012 season with Belardi. We also asked him to do some…

Read More

Indy Lights – Dempsey Signs With Belardi for 2013

The engines and tyres have barely had time to cool down from the The Chris Griffis Memorial Mazda Road to Indy Test that took place yesterday and today on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway infield road course and we’re already seeing driver signings for 2013. Peter Dempsey has had a tough few years in the Mazda Road to Indy program, his last full-season ride being with AIM Motorsports for the 2009 Star Mazda season. In 2010, he returned to his native Ireland and ran Formula Ford events for his father’s team,…

Read More