Fontana MAVTV 500 Pre-race

The season finale is lined up and ready.
Helio Castroneves on pole
(gaining him a valuable extra point for the championship),
Juan Montoya 2nd,
and Josef Newgarden will start on the outside of the front row. (a qualifying podium is what Alex calls it.)
 

 

 

Championship leader Will Power struggled in qualifying, after having been fastest in practice and is starting second last. 

 

 

Helio Castroneves has to finish 3rd or better if Power finishes last if he wants this championship. 
If Simon Pagenaud were to win it, he has to win the race, and Will Power and Helio Castroneves have to finish last-18th. 

 

We're hoping that guys like Josef Newgarden, Ed Carpenter, and Takuma Sato can finish off the season on a high note.

Final Practice was shortened by an accident involving Mikael Aleshin.  Aleshin is not able to race tonight, wish him well.

 

Helio Castroneves has 41 poles, now 5th all time.

 

Watch the race at 9:00 PM Eastern Time on NBCSN


Final Practice:

Unfortunately, Mikhail Aleshin crashed in the final practice session on Friday evening and is in the hospital with fractured ribs, a broken clavicle, a concussion and chest injuries.  Charlie Kimball was also involved in the crash but was uninjured and will still race on Saturday night.


 

We will be keeping Mikhail in our prayers for a good recovery and hope to see him back at Schmidt Peterson Motorsports in 2015.

 

 

 

 

The 2 in TO

The 2 in TO (Toronto) was awesome!!

 

Race 1 got postponed from Saturday to Sunday because of rain,
so it made for a real double header on Sunday.





Race 1's were dominated by the French Drivers.

Sebastien Bourdais won the Indycar Race.

Alex Baron won the Indy Lights race
and the USF2000 race was won by Jake Eidson

Race 2 was run a few hours later in the afternoon
and after some sun and some rain and some more sun,
 Mike Conway won for his second time this year.

 

Race 1 - The Top Ten

  

1st. Sebastien Bourdais - 33 career win. First since 2008.

 

2nd. Helio Castroneves - Still championship points leader (6th podium in 2014)

 

3rd. Tony Kanaan - 9th Top Ten this year

 

4th. Simon Pagenaud - Led 6 laps after being involved in 1st lap incident

5th. Scott Dixon 

 

6th. Graham Rahal
 

7th. Charlie Kimball
 

8th. James Hinchcliffe
 

9th. Will Power - moved up 14 positions after starting in back after damaging his car in the rain Saturday before the race started.
 
10th. Justin Wilson

* No Rain
* 3 lead changes
* 3 different leaders
* 60 laps under green
*5 laps under yellow

*6 Chevys
*4 Hondas



Race 2 - The Top Ten:

1st. Mike Conway  - Second win of the year
                                  - 3rd win for Ed Carpenter Racing this season

2nd. Tony Kanaan - 2nd double header weekend this year that he had 2 podiums

3rd. Will Power - Gained points on his teammate Helio in the Indycar standings

4th. Charlie Kimball - Finished in the top ten both races

5th. Takuma Sato - moved up 17 places after starting 22nd

6th. Jack Hawksworth - 3rd in Rookie points standings

7th. Scott Dixon - 8th top ten this year but still no win

8th. Marco Andretti - finished where he started

9th. Sebastien Bourdais

10th. Justin Wilson

* 6 lead changes
* 5 different leaders
* 36 green laps
* 20 yellow laps

*6 Chevys
*4 Hondas





 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

Pocono Indycar 500 Re-cap

The Pocono Indycar 500 was amazing!!

 

Will Power, Helio Castroneves, Juan Montoya and Tony Kanaan dominated the race, with a determined rookie Mikael Aleshin running in 5th for much of the day.
The race stayed green for the first 168 laps until Graham Rahal brought out the only caution of the day.

It was the fastest 500 mile race in Indycar history at 202.402.
The fans at Pocono seemed really got into the closing laps and seemed thrilled to see Montoya win in Indycar for the first time in 13 years.
 

 

 

After starting from the last position, Josef Newgarden led with just 6 laps to go, but had to make a splash and dash pit stop and finished 8th.  Kanaan took over the lead but also had to stop for gas. Will Power was penalized for blocking Helio.

So pole sitter Juan Montoya won the race, Helio Castroneves 2nd, and rookie Carlos Munoz finishing 3rd.

How many Montoya's does it take to win at Pocono? Just Juan.... Congrats @jpmontoya on the win! And @CarlosMunoz034 on another great run!
— James Hinchcliffe (@Hinchtown) July 7, 2014

 

 

The Top Ten:

5 Chevys, 5 Hondas
5 Different Teams
7 Different Countries

 

1st Juan Montoya 

 

-First driver this year to win from the pole

-His 12th Indycar win
-Can he win the championship?

 

2nd Helio Castroneves

 

-Now tied with Will Power in the season points

-His 5th podium this year

 

3rd Carlos Munoz 

 

-He has 3 podiums this year                                                                              

-Is 6th in points         

 

4th Ryan Briscoe

 

-Highest Ganassi Racing finisher

-His best finish this season

 

5th Scott Dixon

 

- Last year's Pocono winner

- Is this the turning point in his season?

 

6th Simon Pagenaud

 

- 3rd in points

- Can he beat the Penske team to the championship?

 

7th Mikhail Aleshin

 

- Was running fifth all race till the last 10 laps

-  For someone who has never been to these tracks he is amazing!

 

8th Josef Newgarden
 

- Led laps 188 to 194
- Previously had only led 1 lap in his Indycar career

 

*9th Marco Andretti

 

- 2nd top ten in 2 years at Pocono
- Had a drive through penalty for speeding on pit lane early in the race

 

10th Will Power

- Seriously blocked his teammate late in the race

- His 5th penalty of the season cost him a podium finish


 

 

 

 

 



GP of Houston

Breaking News!

 

 Houston we have a problem...

 

That was probably heard by a lot of teams this weekend as 2 crazy indycar races took place on the streets of Houston.

 

The GP races 1 and 2 held lots of chaos, finger pointing and exciting racing. 
Saturday's Race 1 got off to an interesting start in the rain. taking out drivers like Mike Conway, Simon Pagenaud, Takuma Sato and Mikael Aleshin. 
Josef Newgarden slammed the wall halfway, as did many others when their tires hit a wet spot or two.  We interviewed one of his biggest fans, Alex in Pa, and she was not happy. 
 

The really interesting part of the race was when the rookie Carlos Heurtas won. 
He was the first Indycar driver to win in his rookie year since Marco Andretti in Sonoma in 2006.
 Juan Montoya finished 2nd, and Carlos Munoz, another rookie finishing 3rd,
which made for a Columbian podium sweep,
the first in Indycar History.






Race 2 was just as exciting and crazy, despite no rain.

Race 2 began with a rolling start, and all was pretty status quo until the mid-way point when perhaps the intense heat and humidity started to affect the drivers and crews.
 

Lots of contact and wild racing ensued including pole sitter Helio Castroneves who crashed while running in second.  Josef Newgarden had a wheel come off after his final pit stop, Sebastian Bourdais ran the last twenty laps with a broken front wing (and still finished 5th) and points leader Will Power finished 11th after a problem with just a lap and a half left.
 

The winner?

 Simon Pagenaud, for the second time this year, and
Schmidt Peterson Motorsports who had there first one two finish ever
with rookie Mikael Aleshin finishing second.
The podium was rounded out with another rookie, Jack Hawksworth( Who had a great battle with Juan Montoya) finishing third.

So if you're keeping tabs,

All four (full season) Indycar rookies finished on the podium this weekend! 
Wow!








 

 

 

The top ten:

 

Race 1:

* 7 Hondas and 3 Chevys
* 3 Rookies

* 5 teams
* All the Andretti Autosport cars

 * A Columbian Podium Sweep

 

* Carlos Heurtas

* Juan Montoya

* Carlos Munoz

* Sebastien Bourdais

* James Hinchcliffe

* Jack Hawksworth

* Ryan Hunter-Reay

* Marco Andretti

* Helio Castroneves

* Justin Wilson

Fun Facts:

* 7 drivers had DNF's
* Marco Andretti got penalized for holding up Takuma Sato
* 5 different drivers led
* There were 6 lead changes

 

 

 

Race 2:

* 8 Hondas and 2 Chevys
* 2 Rookies
* 6 teams


* Simon Pagenaud

* Mikael Aleshin

* Jack Hawksworth

* Charlie Kimball

* Sebastien Bourdais
* Ryan Hunter-Reay
* Juan Pablo Montoya
* Ryan Briscoe
* Marco Andretti
* Tony Kanaan

Fun Facts:

* 5 drivers had DNF's
* 2 different drivers led
* There were 3 lead changes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

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

 

 

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!

 

 

Alex's Josef Update #6 Indy 500

The 'Indy 300' went really well for Josef as he started 8th and ran in the top ten for most of the first 300 miles....
Then things turned ugly.

First Josef came sputtering down pit lane and ran out of gas, and apparently when you run out of gas in an Indycar it's really hard to restart it.   So he sat in the pits for about 10 laps.

He was then in 29th place until a yellow came out on lap 167 for a spin by Dixon and Josef was rear-ended by rookie Martin Plowman as he slowed in Turn 4.   OUCH. 
He was done for the day....and finished 30th.
(and since the '500' was worth double points he dropped to 14th in the Indycar standings).
 
(Don't worry Martin, Alex forgives you since Josef was already way behind....it's not like he was leading like when a certain future Indy 500 winner ran into him)

 

But as upset as Alex was about Josef's finish in the 500 she did have a very nice memory from the weekend to keep her in good spirits.

 

JOSEF HELD ALEX!!!!

  

Oh wait, in case you don't already know about Alex's obsession for Josef, go to our post 'Josef Newgarden and Alex'. (But please be quick, Alex is going to get upset if we don't tell you about Josef picking her up soon)

 

 

Okay then, so Alex saw (and talked to) Josef thru the fence at his pits right before he went out for carb day practice, but she was a little disappointed she couldn't get a hug.   We had to break it to her that she probably wouldn't because he's "kinda busy all weekend" with a little race thing.

 

So you can imagine her excitement when, while waiting for her dad to come down the elevator by the media center, she saw Josef coming down the steps. 

 

He immediately scooped her up and gave her a hug and Alex didn't want us to say this, but Josef said that she had gotten quite a bit heavier.... uh oh, maybe next time Alex will just have to settle for a ground hug.

 

 

THANKS JOSEF FOR MAKING OUR LITTLE SISTER'S INDY 500 WEEKEND SPECIAL!!!

and

We know that first Indycar win is coming really soon!

 

 



'500' Week at IMS Carb day

There are lots of neat events on Carb Day
(Carb is short for Carburetion and even though they haven't used carburetors in the '500' since 1963 the name has stuck)
 

The last practice for the Indy 500:

(the whole reason for carb day is the teams/drivers get one more hour to perfect their cars for race day.)

We sat in the Gasoline Alley seats at the South end of the front stretch and it was great watching the cars come down the front straightaway. All the teams took full advantage of the session and seeing everyone coming off pit lane at once with their engines roaring is so exciting.

Alex, of course, spent her time watching for only one car, Josef Newgarden's, and she loved watching his pit stops (which was easy since we were sitting just above his pitbox...no coincidence there).

The Indy Lights race:

(Our second favorite part of carb day.  Seeing the up and coming Indycar drivers racing 40 laps on the IMS track. It has previously been won by guys like Ed Carpenter and Josef Newgarden)

This year's race was fantastic with plenty of passing and a close finish for the second year in a row!

One of the most exciting Indy Lights race we've ever seen. The top three drivers were swapping back and forth most of the race and winner Gabby Chaves and Matthew Brabham crossed the line almost side by side winning by only .005 seconds!!!

 

 

 

The Pit Stop Challenge:
(IMS plays really loud music and drivers & crews compete two by two against one another until only one team is left.)
We were really excited when rookie Sage Karam got in the finals, and even though Scott Dixon won, we still think he did really good.  (Alex was not really interested in it that much because Josef was not competing)

 

PLUS
There was a
vintage car display
Stadium Super Truck Races
and
2 Music Concerts including Sammy Hagar

Oh, and one more thing...
This was the cool FREE pin that Firestone
gives out on special days at IMS.

Free Carb Day Pin 2014

 

 

 

Youth Movement in the Indy 500

 
Making a 10 hour drive back home from Indianapolis, we had a lot of time to look through the GP of Indy and Indy 500 programs and got to noticing that there are a lot of young drivers trying to make the 500 this year.  Which is pretty cool.

 

 

There are young 'veterans'



Sebastian Saavedra
Age 23
3 '500' starts  Best Finish: 23rd (2010)
 

Josef Newgarden
Age 23
2 '500' starts  Best Finish: 25th (2012)
 

Carlos Munoz: 2nd year (22)
Age 22
1 '500' start  Best Finish: 2nd (2013)


And some Rookies

Jack Hawksworth
Age 23
2012 Star Mazda Champion
 

Carlos Huertas
Age 23 
2nd highest rookie in points (18th)

Sage Karam
Age 19
2013 Indy Lights Champ


Looking forward to seeing them all running
in the 98th Indianapolis 500!!!

 

GP of Alabama Recap

What a great first road course race of the season!
 

 

Wet track...kinda dry track... keep on rain tires or go to slicks?

 Cars weaving around the track trying to find water so their rain tires wouldn't overheat, then trying to avoid water so they wouldn't go sliding off the track on their slicks (which many of them did).
 

After a 3 hour rain delay and a timed 1 hour and 40 minute race, Ryan Hunter Reay won for the 2nd consecutive time at Barber.


 

 

Race Stuff: 

 

* Josef finished 8th! (Alex wanted you to know)

 

* Sebastien Bourdais served a drive thru penalty for punting Mikhail Aleshin

 

* Helio pulled into Justin Wilson's pit because their crew uniforms are similar (he had to serve a stop and go penalty for his mistake)

* First time since Iowa 2013 that Andretti cars went 1-2

* Will Power is the only driver to finish in the top 5 every race so far

* There was 7 lead changes and 16 laps run under caution
 

* Saavedra led for the second time in his career

* Marco Andretti moved up 12 positions in the championship to 6th

* Dixon had the fastest lap of the race

The top 10 Finishers

1. Ryan Hunter-Reay (said driving on the slicks was like 'on an ice skating rink with sneakers)

2. Marco Andretti (a great run to the front but couldn't catch Hunter Reay)

3. Scott Dixon (his worst finish ever at Barber, he had four 2nds)

4. Simon Pagenaud  (another solid finish, he is 3rd in points)

5. Will Power (Awesome save when he skidded into the gravel and just grazed the wall, although it did cost him the lead)

6. Justin Wilson (led a lap)

7. James Hinchcliffe

8. Josef Newgarden (They finally gave him an in-car camera!)

9. Tony Kanaan (The biggest move of the race after starting 23rd)

10. Charlie Kimball (His best finish of the season thus far)

 

Top Ten included..

 

*  Drivers from 6 different teams

*  Drivers from 7 different countries

*  6 Hondas, 4 Chevys

*  Three of the four Andretti Autosport drivers

*  Three of the four Ganassi drivers

*  No rookies

*  And......Josef!

 

 

 

Can't wait till the Grand Prix of Indy on Saturday, May 10th on ABC!

 

 

Grand Prix of Long Beach

 

 

Almost time for the Indycar race at Long Beach!

 

 

Past winners

2013-Takuma Sato

2012-Will Power

2011-Mike Conway

2010-Ryan Hunter-Reay

2009-Dario Franchitti

2008-Will Power

2007-Sebastien Bourdais

2006-Sebastien Bourdais

2005-Sebastien Bourdais

2004-Paul Tracy

2003-Paul Tracy

 

 

There's some other great racing at Long Beach besides Indycar:

* Pro/Celebrity Race

* TUDOR Championship

* Indy Lights Race

* Stadium Super Trucks Race

* Pirelli World Challenge Race

* Motegi Racing Super Drift Challenge Finals



See what last year's winner Takuma Sato, Ryan Hunter Reay and Josef Newgarden have to say about the GP of Long Beach

 

 

 

Watch the action on NBC Sports Network

Indycar Qualifying
Saturday (4/12) at 6:00 pm EST

Indy Lights Race
Sunday (4/13) at 2:30 pm EST
 

The Grand Prix of Long Beach
Sunday April 13th 
4:00 pm EST

 

 

Follow along with the practices

on Indycar.com Live Timing and Scoring

 

12 Hours of Sebring 'Indycar' results

The 12 Hours of Sebring goes to Ganassi's  #1 car of Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas and Marino Franchitti!!

Sage Karam ran two stints (and a great race) teaming

with Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan

and they finished sixth.

 

Other Indycar drivers results included

Sebastien Bourdais and his team finishing 3rd

Simon Pagenaud's team finished 5th

Justin Wilson' s team finished 9th.

 

Can't wait the 12 days till we get to see

all the Indycar drivers

driving in the season opener at the GP of St. Pete!

 

 

Indianapolis 500: Only 86 days away!

Only 86 days till the Indianapolis 500!!

 

 

Did you know

that 86 is the number of laps

Bob Sweikert led en route to winning

the 1955 Indianapolis 500?

 

He went on to win the championship that year to.

 

 

 

Photo courtesy of The Encyclopedia of Auto Racing Greats, 1973

Indycar Season Countdown 31 DAYS!!

Only 31 days
till the Indycar Season-opener
in St. Pete!

 

That's the age that Helio Castroneves was
when he won the GP of St. Pete in 2007!

 

 

 

Rolex 24 at Daytona

The Rolex 24 at Daytona

Ok, so we had this post done, and then got caught up in snow shoveling and snow shoveling and more snow shoveling. And yes, we did play in the snow too, but then we got sick...and so our posting stopped for a while even though we've been watching all the happenings at Daytona and following along all the Indycar happenings.
So we're back, and even though this post is a few weeks old we thought we'd post it anyway.

 

What a great race!!

 

Here's why we think it was a great race:

 

* It had lots of passing.

 

* It looked really cool in the dark.

 

* It was especially neat because there were different drivers in the same car.

 

* It had a ton of cars so there was always action everywhere.

 

* The Indycar drivers did really good!

 

 

Here's the places they got:

 

Sebastien Bourdais = 1st

 

Simon Pagenaud = 11th

 

Ryan-Hunter-Reay = 12th

 

Graham Rahal = 14th

 

Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan = 15th

 

Mikhail Aleshin = 21st

 

Sage Karam = 43rd

 

Justin Wilson = 47th

 

James Davidson = 48th

 

Tristan Vautier = 56th

 

James Hinchcliffe = 57th

 

Conor Daly and Alex Tagliani = 58th

 

Gabby Chaves = 61st

 

Sebastian Saavedra and EJ Viso = 62nd

 

 

 

Can't wait for next years race!