Friday, October 25, 2013

Indycar Behind the Scenes - Krystin Wiggs

We met Krystin Wiggs, PR person for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Racing when we were in the garages at the GP of Baltimore.

 

 

We were just coming out of the restrooms when a woman stopped us and asked "Are you the 3-2-1 Indycar kids?" (really she recognized us from our videos, how cool is that???)

We started talking, and before we knew it, we had our very first 'indycar interview' with Krystin.

 

Q:  How did you get interested in Indycar?

A:  I grew up in Indianapolis and every year when May rolled around, all everyone talked about was the Indy 500.    My dad was a race fan, so I always knew lots about Indycar.
It was around then that I decided that I wanted to go into journalism.

 Q:  What was your first job?

A:  My first job was reporting in a newspaper for two years in Phoenix, Arizona.  Working there, I decided I would rather work in PR where I could write with more of an opinion.  I moved to Indy and
the opportunity came up to work with Grand Solutions.  I thought it would be fun and creative, because I can try new ideas, and anything that might work to help team.
With the race team I get to write about how Tristan and Simon are doing and how the team is doing.


Q:  Did your dad take you to any races?

A:  Yes. He took me to the Indy 500 a lot when I was younger, and every now and then we went to a Sprint car race like Terrehaute.

 Q:  What are your favorite memories?

A:  That's a hard one, there's been some really cool moments, I remember being in the green room at the Indy 500 with Josef (who I did PR for last year) before the driver intros, meeting celebrities and that was really neat because it was the first Indy 500 (in that capacity) for both of us.

 Q:  What about Simon's win? (Interview was done prior to his win in Baltimore)

A:  Yeah, definitely Simon's win in Detroit. The team worked so hard, and to just see it pay off, everyone was so happy.  It was the team's first win and that was really exciting.


Q:  Do you have a favorite type of track?

A:  All street circuits, because I like the atmosphere and its cool having the track right in the middle of downtown.  You get to see people waking up and seeing Indycars racing where they normally walk to work.


Q:  What's your favorite part of your job?

A:  I like the challenge of trying to increase people's knowledge of the race team and drivers, Tristan and Simon.  I get come up with ideas to create ways to get our drivers in the news, like having Simon  make crepes on local TV shows in the race market, which led to Simon's 'He loves crepes' t-shirt.

Q:  What do you do in the off-season?

A:  I am still busy, but there's no traveling to races and such, so it's really nice to be home.   We collect all the team's media at the end of the season and create a report for the sponsors. 
Then in January we start all over again for the upcoming season.  There's a lot of planning and organizing and finding new ways to do things better.

Q:  Do you do a lot with the team's sponsors?

A:  Marketing does more with the sponsors.  My job is more dealing with the drivers and the media. 

Q:  Are you in the drivers' pit boxes during the races?

A:  Yes, and I wear a headset so that I know everything that is going on.  I relate to the pit reporters and media things such as what laps our drivers pitted on and any changes to tires, or adjustments that they make during their stops.

Q:  Do you put out tweets about the team and drivers?

A:  Yes, I'm tweeting and face-booking all the time to keep fans up to date on our team.

Q:  Do you help make some of the driver videos we see (and love)?

A:  I do some video quotes.  For most videos we work with Piranha Productions, who was hired by Indycar to help create funny driver videos, along with IMS Productions.  We work together to come up with ideas such as the Bass Pro Shops video, which is a great way to show the driver's personalities outside the racecar.



Thanks Krystin,
 for being our first 'Behind the Scenes in Indycar' interview!!!
We hope to see you again at races next year!


Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Dan Wheldon Memorial Karting Challenge


 
It times like this when we wish we lived a little bit (like 500 miles) closer to Indiana.

This Saturday at New Castle Motorsports Park is the
It's a two hour race to benefit Alzheimers
and will feature lots of our favorite Indycar and Indy Lights drivers.
 
James Hinchcliffe, Ed Carpenter, Tristan Vautier, Sage Karam, Zach Veach and many others will be participating. 
(Oh yes, Josef will be there too so Alex really, really wants to go.)

Also, some of Dan Wheldon's family will be competing.
 
 

The race is part of the 10th annual RoboPong 200 race weekend (Dan Wheldon won the race in 2005).
Sunday's '200' race will feature several additional drivers such as Will Power and Simona De Silvestro.
 
The best part.
Both races are free and will offer a ton of great racing.

 
 

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Indycar End of Season

 
 
Will Power wins his third race of the season.
 
Scott Dixon wins his third Indycar Championship.
 
Only 8 cars finish the race due to accidents, blown engines and who knows what else.
 
It was exciting!
 
Carlos Munoz won the Indy Lights race and
 
18 year old Sage Karam won the Indy Lights Championship
in his rookie season.
 
Can't wait till next season!

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Indy Lights Championship


Exciting to see Zach Veach win his first Indy Lights Pole at the season finale in Fontana.
Congratulations Zach!
 
 
We met him in Baltimore and he seemed super nice.
 
 
And we'll be rooting for our hometown guy, Sage Karam, to win the Indy Lights Title today.
 
 
 

 
 
Go Sage!
 
 
 
 

Friday, October 18, 2013

Indycar Leading up to Fontana.

The final race of the season is a day away and lots of stuff is going on in Indycar.
 
 
* Dario Franchitti had a second surgery on his ankle to repair it after his Houston crash.
 
* Alex Tagliani is filling in for Dario at the season finale this weekend at Fontana.
 
* Chip Ganassi Racing is switching to Chevy power for the 2014 season and rumor has it Andretti will switch to Honda.
 
* Tony Kanaan has signed a multi-year deal with Chip Ganassi for the fourth Ganassi car.
 
* Tony Kanaan and Scott Dixon will both be going for 250,000 dollar bonus from the Fuzzys Triple Crown at Fontana
 
*  Sebastian Bourdais has signed with KV Racing for 2014 and Simona DeSilvestro could be headed to another team.
 
Carlos Munoz will be filling in for E.J. Viso for the season finale.
 
*  In addition to the Indycar Championship being decided between Helio Castroneves and Scott Dixon,  The Indy Lights Champion will be crowned.  Will it be Sage Karam or Gabby Chaves???
 
 
 
 
Don't miss the MAVTV 500 Saturday on NBC Sports at 8:00 EST.
 
Qualifying will air Friday at 7:00 EST on NBC Sports

Indycar Championship


We're conflicted...
 
Not sure who we'd like to see win the Indycar Championship in 2013

 
 
One thing we're sure of is we're thrilled it's coming down to the final race for the 8th year in a row!

 



Reasons we'd like to see Helio win.
 
*   Although he has 3 Indy 500 wins he has never won the season championship
 
Team Penske has 12 Championships, but hasn't won the the season since 2006 with Sam Hornish
 
*  At 38 years old Helio may not be racing too many more years
 
*  Helio seems super nice and funny
 
*  The Indycar Championship trophy would look good setting next to his Mirror Ball Trophy from Dancing with the Stars

*  He had completed all the laps this season until one really really bad weekend in Houston that unfortunately, for him, had two races.



 Reasons we'd like to see Dixon win.

*   It's been five years again since he's won the championship so he's due for another championship ('03, 08)

*  He's won four races this year.

*  After Ryan Hunter Reay (Andretti Autosport) won the Championship last year, Ganassi wants to get back to winning Indycar every year like he did from 2008-2011.

*  Every other year he has won, he has beaten Helio and it was decided in the final race.

*  His two little girls will look really cute on Championship photos.



GOOD LUCK HELIO & SCOTT!
We're looking forward to the excitement!


PS Alex isn't conflicted....she just wants Josef to win the race....nothing else matters.

 

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Remember Dan Wheldon


For this week's Throwback Thursday
we remember a great Indycar driver, Dan Wheldon,
 who died in the Indycar season finale 2 year's ago yesterday.

From the 2006 Indianapolis Star.


To honor Dan, everyone wore his signature white glasses at the start of the 2012 Indy 500.

 

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

We want to go to the GP of Indy!

Do we want to go to the Grand Prix of Indy?

What a silly question! Of course we do!
 
 
Why do we want to go?
 
You might want to sit down for that one, it might take a while.
 

1.  If it's half as good as the Indy 500, it will be a race worth remembering!

2.  We can't wait to see the Indycars driving the 'wrong way' on the IMS track.

3.  The Month Of May is back!!!

4.  We love road/street courses!

(Big breath)

5.  Josef is in it!! (Alex made us put that)

6. All the Mazda Road to Indy Series will be competing that weekend.  Lots of racing is always good!

7. 2.4 Miles.  14 Turns.  Very Cool!

8.  It will be the first GP of Indy ever, and we want to be there to see history made

(Big breath)

9.  More time to run around one of our favorite places in the world.  The Indianapolis Motor Speedway!

10.  We bet there'll be a ton of action, just the way we like it.

11.  We want to extend our annual Indy 500 trip to two weeks and get to see two Indycar races and Indy 500 qualifying for the first time!

12.  We want another chance to do a race countdown.

13.  It's a lot more fun than doing schoolwork those days (but don't worry, Mom and Dad, we learn lots of math and science while we're there)

(Big breath)

14.  It's something to tweet, blog and video about

15.  Josef is in it!! (um, please excuse the repetition, but Josef is the reason Alex wants to go to/watch any Indycar race)

16.  We can get more Indy stuff when we're there!

17.  Well, don't you want to go?


And that is why we want to go to the first ever, Grand Prix of Indianapolis!









Thursday, October 10, 2013

Grand Prix of Houston

 
We Went camping at Assateauge Island for a few days, but
even that didn't keep us away from Indycar. 
Luckily we could get twitter feeds on our phone and followed the races that way.
 
As soon as we got back yesterday we watched the races on dvr. 
Here's what we thought.
 


*  Super scary crash for Dario.  Glad that he will be ok and the fans were ok too. 


*  Good to see the championship get close on Saturday, but felt bad for Helio Sunday with another terrible day.  Hopefully he makes it's a close finish in Fontana.



*  Really cool that Simona got her first podium in Race 1.  She was so excited and Tony Kanaan seemed just as happy for her.

*  Need we mention that Alex was excited Josef finished 5th on Saturday.  She was not nearly as happy Sunday after he had to do a drive thru penalty with a few laps to go.






Thursday, October 03, 2013

George Bignotti and A.J.


As we mentioned in an earlier post,
The great chief mechanic George Bignotti
passed away last week at the age of 97. 
 
For our Throwback Thursday post this week we found this great neat ad featuring him and A.J. Foyt from 1964.