2013 Indycar Season

Can't believe the season is over.  

We miss it already. 

 

We miss...

 

 The cool race cars

 

 

and Pace cars

  

 

 and snails???
 

 

 

  The teams working on the cars

 

  

Seeing drivers up close (Really close)

 

Getting driver autographs

 

Super nice drivers

 

 

Shhh. 
No one tell Josef his #1 fan was getting
another driver's autograph.

 

 

We miss all the drivers

 

 

  Cool Flyovers.

 

 

The thrill at the start of the races!!

 

 

The excitement at the end of the races!!

 

 

 

 

Cool bikes the drivers ride around on.

 

 

Fun Fanfests!

 

 

 

Meeting Legends

 

 

 

And the #1 thing we'll miss this Indycar offseason...

Seeing Josef all the time.

(Alex made us write that.)

 

 

 

 

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

6 days til Baltimore!

It keeps getting closer!!

Only 6 more days til the Grand Prix of Baltimore!

 

 

 

Time to start packing.

See you at Baltimore, Indycars!

9. Days. Till. Baltimore!!

9 Days Till The G. P. Of Baltimore!!!
 Yaaayyy!!!

 

We're so excited!

 

 

We're already planning on what we're gonna do on the car ride there. 

Luckily it's only 3 hours.

 

 

 

 

Indycar Grand Prix of Baltimore

 

Guess what!?

Only 11 more days till the Grand Prix of Baltimore!

 

We wish it wasn't that long of a wait.

 

But hey!
 

At least we can watch the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma on TV this weekend!

 

*NEW VIDEO* Pocono Indy 400 with the 3-2-1 Indycar kids

 

 

Yup, that's the name of our newest video showing all the fun we had at the Pocono Indycar race in July.
 

We had a blast, and can't wait to make another video. 
(At the Grand Prix of Baltimore!!!)

 

 We hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

 

 Please, before watching it, make sure you read what "ingredients" are mixed in so you may know whether to laugh (Yes) or cry (No) while watching it.
 

 

* Silliness        * Cuteness

 

* Cheering        * Excitement        * Cool music
 

 

and of course, Alex's favorite driver, Josef Newgarden.

 

 



 

 Hold it!

Don't forget to check out our first video, "A Day with the 3-2-1 Indycar kids"

 

 

News Flash

Thumbs up:
* Glad to see that J.R Hildebrand will be driving the number 98 Barracuda Racing car at Sonoma and Fontana.  It'll be his first start since the Indy 500.

* For the first time since his breaking his wrist at Toronto, Ryan Briscoe is back in the #4 Panther Racing car for Sonoma.



Thumbs Down:
* Indycar points leader, Helio Castroneves crashed in Brazil while practicing in a stock car and cut his leg, and had reported back and neck pains. Luckily he will still be able to race at Sonoma.

* We'll miss seeing Alex Tagliani in the 98 car.

Charlie Kimball Wins at Mid-Ohio!

*  Charlie Kimball became the fourth first time winner in the Indycar series this year with a great drive at the Honda Indycar 200.
(the record for first time winners in a season is 5 in 1965)

*  Honda swept the top three spots with Simon Pagenaud and Dario Franchitti joining Kimball on the podium.

*  It was the 5th win in a row for Ganassi Racing at Mid-Ohio.

*  Rookie drivers James Davison and Luca Fillipi finished 15th and 16th driving in their very first Indycar race.

*  Helio Castroneves stretched out his championship points lead to 31 points over Scott Dixon.

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

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!

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!

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!

Hinchcliffe Wins at Iowa!

* James Hinchcliffe won his third race of the season, and the first oval race of his career.

* Hinch jumped up 5 spots in the season point standings to 5th.

* 7 Different Teams finished in the Top 10....

* ...Why only 7?  Because all 4 of the Andretti Autosport cars finished in the Top 10.

* Andretti Autosport had cars finish one-two for the second year in a row and won the race for the 5th time in 7 races with 5 different drivers. (Hinchcliffe, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Marco, Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti.)



On to Pocono, only an hour from our house....we're so excited!!!

Iowa Corn Indy 250

Saturday Heat Races!

 

 Sunday the Iowa Corn Indy 250 at 2:30 on ABC!

 

 

 

* Heat Races!!   Three 50 lap heat races on Saturday will determine the lineup for Sunday's race.  You can watch the heat races on the Official Indycar Website.

 

* Don't blink or you'll miss the action.   The cars come around every 17 seconds because the track is less than a mile long.

 

* The Indy Lights race will be held Saturday night following the Indycar Heat Races.

 

* Get James Hinchcliffe's amusing overview of Iowa as he blogs for the Des Moines Register for race weekend.

 

* Not sure where Iowa Speedway is (like us), it's about 425 miles Northwest of Indianapolis, near DesMoines ,which is the capitol of Iowa (but we didn't know where that was either...geography lesson anyone.)

 

*Iowa Indy past winners are:

2012: Ryan Hunter-Reay

2011: Marco Andretti

2010: Tony Kannan

2009: Dario Franchitti

2008: Dan Wheldon

2007: Dario Franchitti

Thoughts on the Milwaukee Indyfest

*Ryan Hunter-Reay won the Milwaukee Indyfest, for the second year in a row, capping a successful weekend for Andretti Autosport which had three of their four drivers finish in the top 5. 

*This was Michael Andretti's fifth win at Milwaukee as an owner.  Mario and Michael combined to win 9 races at the track as drivers.

*We thought it was pretty neat that two drivers from our area sat on the poles at Milwaukee this weekend.  Sage Karam (Indy Lights) who also won that race, and Marco Andretti for the Indycar race.  It would be cool to see them repeat the feat at their 'home' track in Pocono in July.

*Our little sister, Alex, was disappointed that her favorite driver Josef didn't win the race on her birthday.

*We've started a race count for how many times Leigh Diffey says Dario Fran'kitty' during a race.  Milwaukee 8 times.

and HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to our Dad and all the other Dad's who read our blog!

Andretti on the Pole for Milwaukee

* Marco won the pole for Saturday's Milwaukee Indyfest breaking the track record.  I'm sure his dad (Michael also his car owner) would appreciate a win for Father's Day.

*Andretti Autosport looks to have a good shot at winning Saturday with all four of their cars (Marco, Hinchcliffe 2nd, Hunter-Reay 4th and E.J. Viso 5th) starting in the top 5.

*Ana Beatriz is back driving the #18 car for Dale Coyne Racing which she drove for 5 races earlier this season.

*Ryan Briscoe will be running the #4 Panther car at the track where he got his first Indycar win back in 2008.

*With Chevy sweeping the top 7 positions, Josef Newgarden was the highest qualifying Honda in 8th.

The Milwaukee Mile

The Milwaukee Indyfest is this Saturday.

We sure wish we lived nearby and could go.

They've got an Indy Lights Race, a Pro Mazda Race, and a Rickshaw Championship, and even though we're not sure what exactly that is, it would be fun to find out.

Plus they've got free carnival rides and lots of other fun looking stuff to do.

The neat thing about Milwaukee is that it's the oldest operating motor speedway in the world.  They've had at least one race there a year since 1903, except for during World War II.

Our grandparents lived in Wisconsin a long time ago, and apparently they went to the race at Milwaukee because we found an old program from there from 1963, so we'll share some photos from it.