SCCA — Trans Am is Back, and Bigger Than Ever

On May 9th, 2015, Trans Am had a staggering 74 cars entered in the two races at beautiful Road Atlanta. To say that the grid was packed would be an understatement. This, of course, is great news for racing fans, because a full grid means lots of cars are fighting over the same real estate. If you’re looking for racing that’ll hold you on the edge of your seat, look no further. One of the season’s hottest series has kicked off the summer with a healthy list of entries and fierce competition in…

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SCCA — Koch Clinches Double Pole at Road Atlanta

Points leader Kenton Koch will be leading Rounds 11 and 12 of the Mazda MX-5 Cup Series Presented by BFGoodrich Tires, after setting some blistering times in qualifying . Provided he can at least start both races, Koch will mathematically secure this year’s championship. Although, based on his qualifying times, it appears that Koch doesn’t plan on merely starting; he is in it for the podium. For those who have followed the MX-5 Cup throughout the season, Kenton has been consistently fast nearly every race, and shows no intention of slowing down now. He is not…

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Grand Am – Round 4: Visual Studio Ultimate Grand Prix of Atlanta Preview

What: Visual Studio Ultimate Grand Prix of Atlanta Where: Road Atlanta, Braselton, GA When: Saturday, April 20 4:30pm EDT Who: The Grand Am Rolex Series makes its first visit to Road Atlanta. Max “The Axe” Angelelli and Jordan Taylor took home First Place at Barber for the Velocity Worldwide team and look to continue their success on Grand Am’s southern swing this weekend. Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas in the #01 Telmex Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Riley-Dinan/BMW are contenders in every Grand-Am event alongside Jon Fogarty and Alex…

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GrandAm – Southern Swing

Grand-Am Road Racing continues its march through the southern U.S. Following the season-opening 24 Hours At Daytona, and races in Elroy, Texas and Birmingham, Alabama, Grand-Am rolls into scenic Braselton, Georgia. As Open Paddock’s “southern photographer” I have foregone a cross-country trek to see the American Le Mans and IndyCar races in Long Beach, California in favor an easy drive to Road Atlanta Raceway in Braselton. I’ll share photographs of practice, qualifying, and racing of Grand-Am Road Racing’s Rolex Sports Car Series and Continental Tires Sports Car Challenge. This is…

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ALMS – Photos from Petite Le Mans

While down at Road Atlanta for the final round of the 2012 Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear, our photographer Brian McKay, also collected some outstanding images of the American Le Mans Series action and their final race of the season, the Petite Le Mans. This was a unique event as many of the teams brought in additional drivers from other series to compete alongside the ALMS regulars. IZOD IndyCar Series three-time champion and this year’s winner of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race, Dario Franchitti, was there racing as teammate…

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Star Mazda – Photos from Road Atlanta

If you’re a regular reader of OpenPaddock.net and a regular listener of OpenPaddock Live on Tuesday nights, you already know that our excellent photographer, Brian McKay was at Road Atlanta last weekend to cover the final round of the 2012 Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear. Be sure to listen to his interview with Andretti Autosport driver Zach Veach. We’ve given teasers of Brian’s photos from the weekend in our coverage of the event, but here is his full gallery of Star Mazda images. Enjoy! Photos from the 2012 Star…

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Star Mazda – Chavez On Pole at Road Atlanta

The final round of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear takes place this afternoon at the Road Atlanta circuit outside of Braselton, GA. Jack Hawksworth, pilot for Team Pelfrey and 2012 champion, has stepped out of the car this week and is coaching Ryan Tveter who is taking his place in the #82. Jack has dominated the season, but there’s been one driver who has been consistently on his heels and on the podium, Gabby Chavez. Gabby drives the #19 CLARO/Marca Colombia/Tecpro Mazda car for JDC MotorSport and sits…

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TV – Weekend Racing Schedule for Oct 2nd and 3rd

The event list for this weekend is pretty light, but that doesn’t mean that we won’t have hours of motorsport goodness! Saturday starts with the Mustang Challenge in the “Why We Race” series on Discovery HD Theater. Its not bad way to start a Saturday morning, and its certainly better anything else that’s on now that we have no quality Saturday morning programming like Kung Fu Theater or any number of Godzilla movies. Next up is THE sportscar event of the year in North America, the Petit LeMans at Road…

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Star Mazda – 2009 Season Review – Battle for the Championship

Star Mazda Series – 2009 Season Review Battle for the Championship: Circuit Trois-Rivières Headed into the home stretch for the 2009 Star Mazda Championship, rookie Adam Christodoulou and Peter “The Irish Steamroller” Dempsey were locked in a battle for the lead. Coming to Quebec, Dempsey had a slight edge on Christodoulou, but with four races left Peter’s 19-point lead was tenuous at best. The first weekend for the series north of the border wouldn’t turn out great for either contender, but especially not for Peter. He and his team missed…

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