Dario Franchitti

Dario Franchitti Fun Facts

3-time Indianapolis 500 winner 

 4-time Izod Indycar Series champion.

...and he still made time to answer some questions we emailed to him!  Thank you, Dario.

Indycar News

THUMBS UP!

*  Ryan Hunter-Reay won the ESPY for Driver of the Year on July 17th at the 21st annual event. (He was the first Indycar driver since Jimmy Vasser, in 1997 to win the award)
CONGRATULATIONS RYAN!!!

Pocono at Indycar Media day

In the three week lull of no Indycar races we like to watch some of our favorite driver videos.

At the pre-season Indycar media day in March, Brandon Igdalsky, CEO of Pocono Speedway interviewed drivers.

He asked some in depth questions such as:

"What's the biggest bug you've ever hit?"

and

"Do you know what all the buttons in the cars do?"

 

Pocono at Indycar Media Day #1

Turbo

Turbo has arrived!

And, being big Indycar fans,
 we had too see it right away. 

We loved it!

Our favorite part was when he first figured out that he was fast.

Power of 2 Charity Campaign

Alex Tagliani and Scott Dixon

are raising money for charities

with the Power of 2. 

The power of 2 is a fun way for two Indycar drivers to raise money for a charity they support. 

 * Alex Tagliani is raising money for Anaphylaxis Canada 

*  Scott Dixon is raising for CanTeen which helps young people living with cancer.

Turbo is coming

 

The movie Turbo is coming out July 17th!

Dario Franchitti consulted on the film, and the producers spent time at Indianapolis trying to get things just right.

 

 

 

We got to meet Turbo when he was

 promoting his movie at Indianapolis...

 

 

 

and in the garages at Pocono...

 

 

 

 

so we can't wait to see the movie!

Three in a Row for Dixon!

* Dixon gets his 32nd Indycar win for seventh on the all time list behind AJ Foyt, 2 Andretti's (Mario & Michael) and 3 Unser's (Al, Bobby and Al Jr.)...not bad company.

*  Sebastien Bourdais continued his great weekend with another podium finish...and didn't break the trophy this time.

*  Helio Castroneves finished 2nd to keep a comfortable 29 point lead over Dixon who jumped to second place in the season standings with his recent wins.

*  Top Five.  Dixon, Helio, Bourdais, Franchitti, and EJ Viso

Dixon wins first race at Toronto!

*  Scott Dixon won for the second weekend in a row winning in Toronto for the first time.

*  Dixon passed Sebastien Bourdais in the closing laps and is now tie with Bourdais, Franchitti, and Paul Tracy for 8th on the all time Indycar wins list with 31.

* Dixon sits on the pole for tomorrow's 2nd race in Toronto.  If he wins that race he gets a $100,000 bonus.

* Top five.  Dixon, Bourdais, Dario Franchitti, Marco Andretti, Tony Kanaan.

Do it Again!

 

Tomorrow.

 

3:00 EST.

 

NBC Sports.

Honda Indy Toronto

Honda Indy Toronto!

Two Days.

Two Races.

One Standing Start.

(that's gonna be cool.)

Both races will be shown live on
NBC Sports Network at 3:00 (Eastern on Saturday & Sunday)

You can catch qualifying too, 
today from 5:30 - 7:00 on NBC Sports.

*  Mike Conway, winner of the first Dual in Detroit, will be racing in the number 18 car for Dale Coyne Racing.


*  Can James Hinchcliffe or Alex Tagliani become only the second Canadian to win on the streets of Toronto. 
(Paul Tracy won in Indycars in 1993 and 2003).

*  Can Ryan Hunter-Reay follow up last year's Toronto win with another victory...or two?

*  Can one of the four Andretti Autosport drivers give their team owner Michael Andretti, the winningest driver here (with 7 wins), another victory?



Can't wait!

Pocono Media Center

The Media Center was part of our 'special access tour' and it was really neat!

 

 



 

Meeting BIgdalsky, President of Pocono Raceway was really cool.

 

 

Lots of cool photos of the track from it's early days.





Questions anyone?



 

We got to see Marco and Dario answer questions.

In our excitement we forgot to take a photo.



Scott Dixon had trouble holding this up on race day, must be really, really heavy! 



 

Dixon wins Pocono!

Scott Dixon started 17th.

*  Scott Dixon won the Pocono Indycar 400 today to give Ganassi racing it's 100th victory in motorsports, and Honda its 200th victory in Indycar competition.

*  He led an all Ganassi sweep of the podium. 

*  Charlie Kimball had his best career finish in 2nd and Dario Franchitti was 3rd.

*  Andretti Autosport, which had swept the top three positions in qualifying had a difficult day as James Hinchcliffe and Ryan Hunter-Reay were involved in incidents and Marco Andretti had to go into super fuel conservation mode and finished 10th after leading 88 laps.

Marco Andretti's #25 being towed back to his pits after running out of fuel after the race.

*  Dixon became the 8th different winner in 11 races this season.

*  Ganassi became the 7th different team to win this season.

*  Rounding out the top 5 was Will Power and Josef Newgarden, who tied his career best finish of 5th and had our little sister Alex super excited.

 

On to a double header in Toronto Saturday and Sunday!

Mark Donahue the 1971 Pocono Winner

 

Mark Donahue won the Inaugural Schaefer 500 in 1971. 

It was Donahue's first Indycar win and gave Roger Penske (gee, that name sounds familiar) his first Indycar win as an owner.

The rest of the Top 5 from the 1971 Schaefer 500.

 

2nd Joe Leonard

3rd AJ Foyt

4th Mario Andretti

5th Bill Vukovich

Pocono Indycar Qualifying & Indy Lights Race

Busy Day at the Pocono Raceway.

 

Qualifying for the Pocono Indycar 400.

 

The pole won by Marco Andretti with a speed of 221.277

 

An all Andretti Autosport front row.

Marco, Ryan Hunter-Reay, James Hinchcliffe.

Second Row.  Will Power, Tony Kanaan, Helio Castroneves

 

 

 

The Indy Lights Race won by Carlos Munoz for Andretti Autosport.

 

The Indycar Fan Village with lots of fun stuff to do...

 

 

And Ziplining!

 

Can't wait to do it all again tomorrow!

1 day till Pocono 400!

Only one more day till the Pocono 400!! 

We're so excited!!

24 years ago, in 1989, Danny Sullivan won the last Pocono 500 driving for Team Penske. 

His teammate, Rick Mears, finished second. 

A Day with the 3-2-1 Indycar Kids

Inspired by Josef Newgarden's 'The Life of a Race Car Driver' (Alex's favorite 'Josef video') we decided to put together our own version of 'A Day with the 3-2-1 Indycar Kids'.

We had a blast making it and we hope you enjoy it!

Tricky's Kit Kamp at Pocono

 

Tricky's Kit Kamp is a playground to keep little kids busy at the track.

 

It was the first thing our little sister ran to when we entered by the grandstands at Pocono raceway.

 

 

Stop by!

Your kids will love it just as much as our little sister did!
 

Foxes and bunnies and bears, Oh My!

 

Only 2 More Days till Pocono Indy 400

Marco Andretti topped the speed charts in testing yesterday at his 'home track' with a speed of 220.963. 

 

Wow!

Can't wait to see them all at speed in the three wide start on Sunday.

 

 

Pocono Indycar Testing - Special Access!

We can't believe Indycar testing is over already!

We just got back from Pocono, where we had special access to the pits, media center, and the garages!

 

 

Thank you, Pocono Raceway C.E.O Brandon Igdalsky

 
and

Kevin Heaney

 for the personal tour.

 

 It was the best day ever!!
 

 

 What we learned.
 

 

* Lots of drivers and teams ride scooters everywhere.

 

* The cars are really, really loud when you're right next to them...

  and they're even louder when they squeal and smoke their tires pulling out of the pits.

 

 

 

* All the drivers and team members go to their trailers for lunch AND,

* You get to see almost all the drivers, if you get your 'tour guide' to let you stand in the garage area long enough.

 

 

 

* Mario hangs out on Marcos pit box, to make sure he is getting the fastest time.

 

 

*  There are pace cars sitting in the garages all ready for race day.

 

* Victory Lane is really cool.  Who will be here Sunday afternoon?

 

 

 

* They have lots of extra nose cones and new Firestone tires by the pits.

 

 

 

* Team members hold umbrellas over the drivers in the cars when it's hot. 

 

 
 
 
 
 

And the number one thing that we learned today was that Indycar race control does not allow kids to lean over the pit wall, (we got our tour guide in trouble for allowing us to do that.)

 Sorry Kevin. 

 

Indycars at Pocono are amazing!

 

Be there Saturday for qualifying and Sunday for raceday!  We will be!!!

 

 

 

See you at Pocono!

 

The Izod Indycars will be testing at Pocono today getting ready for the Pocono Indycar 400 which is in just 3 DAYS!

 

Plus there's lots going on this weekend for the race.   

Check out the Pocono Raceway site for plenty of Driver Appearances and Special Fan Events.

 

 

 

 

Pocono Indycar Fun Facts

*  A.J. Foyt won the most Pocono Indycar races with 4.  Rick Mears had 3 wins.

*  The only non-American winner was Teo Fabi in 1983 (the same year he sat on pole for the Indy 500).

*  Al Unser, Sr. is the only driver to have won the three Triple Crown races in the same season.  1978.  The Indianapolis 500, Pocono 500, and Ontario (CA) 500.

*  In the 19 Indycar races run at Pocono between 1971 and 1989 all of the drivers but two have also won at Indianapolis.  (Joe Leonard and Teo Fabi).

Pocono Indycar 400 Fueled by Sunoco in just 4 Days!

Indycars Racing at Pocono in 5 Days!

Turn 2 at Pocono Raceway.

 

The Tunnel Turn. (Because a traffic tunnel runs under it.)

Originally modeled after Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

More Pocono Schaefer 500 Programs

 

 

 

We really liked this photo. 

The cars were so cool.  Just a wedge shape.

 

 

A.J. Foyt The 1975 Pocono winner.

He also won in '73, '79 and '81.

 

Almost time for Pocono Indycar 400

Guess we won't be able to get in the garages this week.

 

But there is an autograph session with the drivers Sunday before the race in the Fan Village from 8:45 - 9:45.

 

Alexandra will be happy to see Josef again.