GP of Houston 2014

The Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston is here!!

One weekend, 2 days, 2 races!

 

Thanks to NBCSN and Verizon

Practice for the Houston

and all other races this season

will be live on Indycar.com,

and are announced by Paul Page!

(so cool to watch the coverage live and hear Paul Page's commentary!)

 

 

 

Helio, Scott Dixon and Will Power preview the races.

 

Catch both races on NBCSN
Saturday & Sunday, June 28 & 29 at 3:00 EST

Saturday's qualifying will be tape delayed
at 2:00 EST on NBCSN.


 

9 Days till Pocono Indycar 500

Only 9 days remaining till the Pocono Indycar 500!!

 

Can Marco Andretti win the pole again?

Can he dominate the whole race this year,

or will fuel mileage play a role again?

 

 

One thing we know for sure?

The race will be exciting and we can't wait!

 

 

 

Josef Recap Texas 600 +

We're behind again.  Indycar has two weekends off and here it is just before the double header weekend in Houston and we're just doing our Josef update post from Texas.
And Alex even forgot to remind us (given she is the reason we do 'Josef' posts in the first place), but she was busy planning and having her Josef (and kitty cat) themed 7th birthday party.

So on to the update.

Josef finished 11th in the Firestone Texas 600!

After starting second, he stayed in the top ten most of the race,
but got passed by Charlie Kimball on the last lap.

Alex was super excited he started on the front row, especially since it was in his super shiny, 'spacey' Strike car.  But as Josef gradually dropped back all race her mood was not so good.

Honda Recap of Firestone 600 at Texas.

(Josef's interview is at the 2:12 mark.)

 

 

 

 

On the off weekend of June 14th,

Josef participated in the Outrun the Sun Charity race in Indianapolis.



 

He was starter of the kids race...and seemed to have a very good time.


And in helping another charity, that we love
(& our mom's been a member for over 20 years)
Best Friends Animal Society 
Josef recently did an ad for their shelter campaign.

Can't wait to see how Josef does this weekend in Houston
in his 'spacey' Strike car again!




 

10 Days till the Pocono Indycar 500

 

Only 10 days

till the Pocono Indycar 500 fueled by Sunoco!

(9 till the Indy Lights race)

 

 

 

We love all the old programs and stuff

that our grandparents have (who can say this isn't cool?)

 

Pocono 500 Countdown 11 days!!

 Yes! Its almost here!
The Pocono Indy 500 is only 11 days away.
Last year was awesome, and it was only 400 miles. 
This year, its 500!
More Miles.  More Racing.  More Fun!

 

 

And yes, Alex, Josef Newgarden will be there again.

 

Pocono Kids Club

Check out Pocono Raceways new (and awesome) Kids Club!

When you become a member you get

*A Welcome bag with:
   - A membership card
   - A stuffed Tricky animal (Yay, now we can take selfies!)
   - A two-pocket folder
   - A Tricky autograph card
   - Writing tools (That's fancy talk for "pens and pencils")

* Benefits at the track:
   - Free admission to all weekend race events on a Friday or Saturday (with your membership card)
   - An automatic entry for a chance at being the “Honorary Starter” for a Pocono ARCA or Indy Lights race.

Weekend events (non-race):
Pocono is working on two weekend events for members of the Kids Club. The dates and what kind of events are not decided (But we bet they're going to be great!)

* And just plain fun!

 

 

 

 

Sage Karam's 2014 Indy 500

Sage Karam was in his first Indy 500!
and he finished 9th!

To see his Indy 500 post race Banquet interview check out the 1:42:30 mark in the video

Stats:

* Was the biggest mover (moved up the most positions) in the race

* Moved from 32nd to the top ten and than fell back after a yellow came out just after a pit stop, then he worked his way back up and finished 9th.

* He restarted 12th after a red flag which is when he moved up to 9th in just the final 6 laps

* He got 2nd in the pit stop competition.

* We thought he was going to get a top 5!

* He finished the race in 2 hours, 41 minutes and 51 seconds

He's gotten really popular around here in the Lehigh Valley, and even threw out the first pitch for the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs (the Phillies AAA team).  And there was a lot more Indy 500 coverage in our local paper thanks to Sage.

Wish he were running in his 'home' race at Pocono in a few weeks.

 

Texas 600 Race Re-cap

 The Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway was awesome Congrats Ed Carpenter!

 

Will Power led the most laps, but after a late race penalty for speeding in the pits he was last on the lead lap (6th).  A yellow for Takuma Sato's engine expiring allowed Power to get fresh tires and he made a great charge to the front and almost caught Ed Carpenter.

 

What was exciting:

 

* Marco Andretti flew around the outside of lots of cars on the opening 2 laps...unfortunately his engine blew shortly thereafter

 

* There were a lot of green flag runs meaning lead cars had to deal with lots of lapped traffic.  There were only 6 cars on the lead lap at the end of the race. 

 

* Ed Carpenter won, giving Ed Carpenter Racing its second win for the year (Mike Conway won on the streets of Long Beach) and it was Ed Carpenter's third win of his career!

 

 

The top Eleven (because Josef finished eleventh):

 

Ed Carpenter (3rd career win)

 

Will Power (led most laps)

 

Juan Pablo Montoya (first podium and first laps led since returning to Indycar this season)

 

Simon Pagenaud (5th top 5 this year)

 

Scott Dixon ( 4 top fives this year)

 

Tony Kanaan (his car was charcoal gray. On the gray track it was like watching black and white tv)

 

Mikhail Aleshin (only rookie in the top ten in only his 2nd oval race ever! Wow!)

 

Helio Castroneves (last year's Texas winner)

 

Ryan Briscoe (10 Verizon Indycar series seasons)

 

Charlie Kimball (2nd top ten finish this year)

Josef Newgarden (after a career best P2 start he struggled with the rear of the car all night)

 

 

 

Facts:

 

* 8 Chevrolets & only 2 Hondas were in the top ten

 

* Only 3 different drivers led:

 

Juan Pablo Montoya, Will Power, and Ed Carpenter

 

* There were 11 different lead changes

 

* 6 penalties were handed out:

 

-1 to Power

-2 to Saavedra

-1 to Newgarden

-1 to Kimball

-1 to Briscoe

 

* There were 3 cautions for 23 laps

 

* The fastest 1-lap average speed was 214.824 set by Tony Kanaan

 

* The biggest mover was Graham Rahal, who moved up 9 positions

 

 

Varying Pit stops:

 

* 3 drivers made 8 stops

 

* 4 drivers made 7 stops

 

* 5 drivers made 6 stops

 

* 5 drivers made 5 stops

 

 

Pocono countdown 27

Yeah!!

 

It was cool seeing Dale Earnhardt Jr. win the NASCAR race at Pocono yesterday

and now we can not wait to see the

 

INDYCARS running around there again

 on July 6th!

 

And for

 

500 Miles this year!

 

AND

 

It's part of the Indycar TRIPLE CROWN!

 

AND

 

It's worth Double Season Points!

 

 

 

Fun stop:

We saw 11 'Pocono' words in this picture, find them all, and then try and find more!

Then find:
5 FUZZYS signs
2 Pocono logos
3 water bottles
9 TARGET circles

and... try to recognize as many logos as you can on that banner in the middle of the photo!

Josef Update #7 Detroit & Beyond

Why Detroit and Beyond you might ask....

well because as a Josef fan Detroit Race 1 and Race 2 were not something to remember.

('nough said)

 

BUT

 

Jump ahead a few days and head south to Texas and put Josef in his super shiny 'spacey' Strike car (because Alex says it looks like a spaceship)

and Josef had his BEST EVER Indycar qualifying effort!!!

 

He will start the Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway from P2 alongside Will Power on the front row!!!

 

 

Catch the race on NBCSN Saturday June 7th at 8:00 EST!