USAC Magazine Cover Sept 1970

 

The United States Auto Club Magazine Cover

from September 1970.

 

Previewing the Inaugural California 500 at the Ontario Motor Speedway.

 

 

Can you name all of the Indycar drivers sketched

who would be racing there?

(answers in tomorrow's post)

 

Indycar Season Countdown 60 Days

60
 That's the number of days till the GP of St. Pete,
the Indycar season opener!
 

That's also the number of Indycar starts Mike Conway has in his Indycar career.
 

Mike Conway celebrating his win at the first race in the Dual in Detroit in 2013.

Mike will get lots more starts driving the road and street courses
for Ed Carpenter Racing in 2014.

Indycar Season Countdown 61 Days!

61 days till Indycars come back with racing action
in the GP of St. Pete 
for the first race of the 2014 Indycar season!

 1961
 AJ Foyt won his second Indycar Championship and his first Indianapolis 500
 

A.J Foyt

 

 

Photos from the 1961 USAC Yearbook

 



IndyCar Season Countdown 62 Days

62 more days till the Indycar season starts!

 

In 1962 Parnelli Jones broke the record of 150 MPH
at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

 



Parnelli Jones with car owner J.C. Agajanian and crew after breaking the 150 mile per hour barrier during qualifying at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1962.

Sage Karam in Rolex 24 at Daytona

 

We hope our hometown driver Sage Karam does great in his first Rolex 24 at Daytona!

Sage Karam will be racing with

Chip Ganassi Racing

with

 Scott Pruett

 Jamie McMurray

and

 Memo Rojas

 

 He will also be cheered on by us throughout the whole race!

 

Here's an article about Sage, 'Test Of Endurance' , that came in our local paper.

 

A little background:

Sage Karam won the Indy Lights championship with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports

in 2013.  Hopefully this ride in Daytona helps him to get a ride for the 2014 season

 

 

Go Sage!!

 

Rolex 24 at Daytona

 

Can't wait for the start of the 24 hours of Daytona tomorrow!

 We always love to watch it, but this year it's even better!  Their are 30 drivers who have started at least one Indycar race!

 

 

By the numbers:

 

 

30 Drivers who have started at least one Indycar race (Count Sage Karam you have 31)

 

16 Drivers who have won at least one Indycar race

 

10 Current Indycar drivers

 

5 Indycar drivers who have won the Izod Indycar series before

 

3 Indycar drivers who have won the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona before
 

 

 

 The Indycar drivers who are racing in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona are:

 

Ryan Hunter-Reay

Sebastien Bourdais

Scott Dixon

Tony Kanaan

Justin Wilson

Conor Daly

Alex Tagliani

Graham Rahal

James Hinchcliffe

Tristan Vautier

Ryan Briscoe

Sebastian Saavedra
Mikhail Aleshin
James Davison
Katherine Legge
A.J. Allmendinger
Townsend Bell
 

 

The Indy Lights drivers:

 

Gabby Chaves

Sage Karam
Gustavo Yacaman
 

 

Former Indycar drivers:

 

 Bruno Junqueira

Scott Sharp
Scott Pruett

 

 

The drivers who have won an Indycar title:

Scott Sharp (Indycar 1996)

Scott Dixon (Indycar 2003, 2008, 2013)

Tony Kanaan (Indycar 2004)

Ryan Hunter-Reay (Indycar 2012)

Sebastien Bourdais (Champ Car 2004, 2007)
 

 

The Indycar drivers who have won the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona before:

Justin Wilson (2012)
Graham Rahal (2011)
Scott Dixon (2006)

That's a lot!
 

 

 

 Catch the Action

 

Saturday, Jan. 25    

2-4 p.m. ET on FOX

 4-9 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 2

 

Overnight (Jan. 25-26)
9 p.m. – 7 a.m. ET on IMSA.com

 

Sunday, Jan. 26
7 a.m. – 3 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1





 

 

'Tales from the Indianapolis 500' book

 

 

Tales from the Indianapolis 500
A collection of the greatest Indy 500 stories ever told.

Our Moms late Christmas present, but we got to read it before her.

 

Reasons why you should read it:

 



* It's about Indycar!! (okay, you know that)

 

* It has many first hand short stories of dozens of different drivers on and off the track!

 

* A true 'behind the scenes' look at the Indianapolis 500 over the course of several decades

 

* It has great pictures (Thanks to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway)

  

* It has stories including pit crew guys, team owners, drivers, other media people, and more!

 

* A.J. Foyt liked it and says you should get it. (He wrote the forward for the book.)

 

 

We gave the book back to our mom now.

Since it was technically her gift we thought we ought to let her read it now. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A. J. Foyt

Happy Birthday to the legendary A.J. Foyt.

 

We've read and heard many stories about the first 4 time winner of the Indianapolis 500 (1961, 64, 67 and 77).

 

 

 

Our pappy was at every Indy 500 he raced in, and was there in 1992 with our mom at qualifying when A.J. announced his retirement and took a lap around the speedway.

 

Picture taken from the Floyd Clymer's 1963 Indianapolis 500 Mile Race Yearbook.

 

 

 

Indycar Offseason #3

Indycar meetings are going on in Indianapolis this week. 

Yeah, that means the season is getting closer!

Andretti Autosport unveiled it's 2014 cars today at their shop in Indy.  Can't wait to see them on the track!

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing is still looking for a second driver for their team alongside Graham Rahal.

Indycar hasn't confirmed it yet, but there might be a new qualifying format for the Indy 500 this year! The pole might be decided on Sunday instead of Saturday.

Sure wish we could be in Indianapolis this week just hanging around to see some of the goings on.

Pocono Indycar 1972 Front Row

 

 

Bobby Unser on Pole for the Schaefer 500 at Pocono.

Gordon Johncock P2

Mario Andretti P3

 

July 2, 1972

 

 

Bobby Unser ended up finishing 20th and won $6,524 for his drive.

(Joe Leonard won the race and got $80,280)

Indycar Christmas Gifts

 

Great Christmas!

This Indycar stuff is just what we wanted!!
Five more Indycar things to add to our endless collection...

 

 

Dario Franchitti car!

A 2013 Indy 500 shirt.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway hat that Alex is wearing constantly.

Alex's 'Josef' mug, which she won't drink out of because she doesn't want to ruin it. 

And Alex's special delivery Indycar game featuring who else but Josef.  She's very happy.

Note to mom and dad.
Noticeably missing from our gifts, tickets to the GP of Indy.

We hope everyone had a great Christmas and got lots of neat Indycar stuff too!