INDYCAR – Toronto Street Fight

This weekend marked the first of two Canadian rounds on the championship as the IZOD IndyCar Series traveled to the streets of Toronto. The circuit has always been known for passionate fans and chaotic races that usually end with a decent attrition rate. Well this weekend went over the top as all hell broke loose Sunday afternoon. Not only did Dario further his title lead, but a lot of drivers let their feelings hang out more than usual and that has fans buzzing. While I would love to do a…

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IndyLights – Q & A with Andretti Autosport’s Peter Dempsey

Peter Dempsey started out the 2011 Firestone Indy Lights season with O2 Racing Technology, and got off to a great start finding the podium in the first two races and leading for a time at Long Beach. If you’re a regular reader here at OpenPaddock, or a regular listener of our podcast, you already know what happened to Peter and his team during the David Hobbs 100 at the Milwaukee Mile. Peter had already sat out of the entire 2010 racing season here in the US after becoming the winningest…

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Firestone Indy Lights – 2009 Season Review – Mid-Season Grind

The Mid-Season Grind The two oval races at Kansas and Indianapolis really took a toll on equipment. The devastation seen at Kansas put several teams out of contention for the remainder of the season including Guthrie Racing being banned for their harsh response Sean Guthrie’s endangerment of the Delphi Safety Crew. The first few races of the season saw strong grids with cars numbering in the mid-20s. After Indianapolis, the fields were significantly reduced averaging around 17 cars. This was a disappointing, but considering how many shards of carbon fiber…

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Indy Lights – The Canadian Swing

No doubt that the Watkins Glen and the Toronto IndyCar races were pretty good, but the oval products has definitely suffered this season. This is certainly NOT the case with the IRL’s feeder series, the Firestone Indy Lights (FIL). On all types of tracks this year, super speedways like IMS, short ovals like Iowa, road courses, street courses, the racing in the Indy Lights series has been fantastic. Sadly, the car count has diminished as the season has worn on, but with a strong core of highly talented drivers, the…

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IndyCar – Toronto Review

The IndyCar series travelled into Canada this weekend for a street race that had a lot to live up to after a great weekend at Watkins Glen. Needless to say they had no problem duplicating a brilliant show with possibly the best race so far this year. This race had great passing, strategy, and plenty of controversy to go around. The start of the race was great and Will Power instantly suffered as we seen contact before the green flag that almost sent him a lap down. The race then…

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IndyCar – Toronto Preview

The IRL IndyCar Series moves this weekend to Toronto for their first visit. But while many in the series have not raced the street course before, the CCWS teams such as KV, Coyne & Newman Haas Lanigan have experience that will help them out. The entry list for the race includes the usual suspects plus a few extra faces. Alex Tagliani and Paul Tracy will be making appearances in an attempt to attract the interest of the Canadian audience. They will be driving for Conquest and KV Racing respectively. Both…

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