2010 Indy 500 Program

The 2010 Indianapolis 500

marked the first time a driver would be attempting to join the elite 4 time winners club since Rick Mears won his fourth '500' in 1991.

(Helio will make his 7th attempt at a fourth win in the 100th Indy.)

 

 

Dario Franchitti won the 2010 running of the race

and went on to join Helio as a three time winner in 2012.

 

 

Recognize two of these Indy Lights drivers from 2010

that have gone on to win Indycar races?

Charlie Kimball finished 2nd, and James Hinchcliffe finished 3rd in the Firestone Freedom 100 at Indy that year.

 

Two great drivers were featured in the program in 2010. 

 

Dan Wheldon and Justin Wilson.

We're glad we got to see them race.

17 DAYS till the 100th RUNNING of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing!!!

3 Days. Indycars. Pocono!!!

Only 3 days left till the

#3 Helio Castroneves can attempt

to win the
ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway

 and keep his

Indycar Championship hopes alive.
(he is currently 58 points out of first)

 

 

He finished 2nd behind teammate Juan Montoya last year,

and 8th in 2013 so a good finish is to be expected.

 

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.

 

 

 

 

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.


 

Drivers in carts

Do Indycar drivers race Indycars or golf carts?

 Ryan Hunter-Reay
(well, the back of him anyway, we'll get a better one)

 Helio Castroneves
(on Will Power's cart!....is this allowed?)

 

 

Helio, on a bike this time.
And still smiling!

 Tony Kanaan defending 500 champion
(love his shoes)

James Hinchcliffe
(glad he recovered from the hit in the GP)

Simon Pagenaud
(congrats on the Indy GP win)

 Rick Mears - 4 time 500 winner!!!
(got his autograph!)

 Ryan Hunter-Reay
(we told you we would get a better one)

 Dario Franchitti - 3 time 500 winner
(miss him on the track but great to still see him at the track!)

 Jack Hawksworth rookie
(awesome helmet)

 

Carlos Huertas a

(another rookie)

 

 

 

 

 

Past Winners in the 500

We did a young drivers post,
and now we are doing a post
on the older more experienced 
drivers and past winners 

 They include...

Helio Castroneves: 3 time winner
'01, '02, '09

 

Tony Kanaan: 1 time winner
'13

 

Scott Dixon: 1 time winner
'08

   

Juan Pablo Montoya: 1 time winner
'00

 

 

Buddy Lazier: 1 time winner
'96

Jacques Villeneuve: 1 time winner
'95


The record number of past winners in the field for the 500 was 10 in 1992 with a combined total of 20 wins. There were also 3 future winners in the race. (Al Unser, Jr., Buddy Lazier & Eddie Cheever)
The neatest part was that all three 4 time winners were in the 500 that year.



The former winners in that race were:

A. J. Foyt (4 wins)

Al Unser, Sr. (4)

Rick Mears (4)

Gordon Johncock (2)

Mario Andretti (1)

Tom Sneva (1)

Danny Sullivan (1)

Bobby Rahal (1)

Emerson Fittipaldi (1)

Arie Luyendyk (1)

Will we see a four time winner this year?

Or maybe another 2 time champ. 

We can't wait!

GP of Indy Weekend

Road Course Practice & Qualifying Friday.
 

Inaugural GP of Indy Saturday.
 

First day of Indy 500 Practice Sunday.

Plus 6 Mazda Road to Indy Series Races.

 

What a weekend!!!  We didn't want to leave.

 

 

Why we loved it:

The weather made qualifications really cool


Dry Track


Wet Track

Dry Track

Wet Track
(which led to a crash by Ryan Hunter Reay that ended qualifying )


 

We saw lots of cars and drivers:

The winning car.

(being pulled out to qualifying)

Josef (...does anyone else matter? Not for Alex)

This is one of a million times we saw Helio on his bike
(he certainly gets his exercise at the track...and he's always smiling!)

And this is Helio's cool car

with the old Pennzoil paint scheme

(our mom really likes this) 

 

Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Dixon, Marco Andretti's cars

headed to qualifying on Friday.

  

The Mayor of Hinchtown on Friday. 

Get well Hinch!

We hope we will see back in his car soon after his concussion in the race Saturday.

 

 

We got pictures with lots of friendly drivers:

 

Pippa Mann

(She even took a selfie with us)

 

 

Oh, and the Kids Zone and the

racing simulator games were awesome!

The two USF2000, two Pro Mazda and two Indy Lights series
on Friday and Saturday were really cool!

Colton Herta (#98) & Peter Portante (#24)
Cars getting lined behind the grandstands to go out for Race 2



THANKS IMS for a Great Time

Can't wait to see you again soon for the 500!




 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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!

 

 

 

'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. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

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.

More from The Grand Prix of Baltimore

Other Stuff from around the GP of Baltimore.
 

Makenna and Alex were thrilled their favorite drivers,
Tristan Vautier and Josef Newgarden
were starting side by side in row 3.

 

 

Our first 'Behind the Scenes in Indycar' interview. 

Krystin Wiggs, the PR person for Simon Pagenaud's winning team (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports) sat down with us the Friday before the race to answer some questions.

 

 

 7 Indianapolis 500 wins in one place.

Rick Mears ('79, '84, '88, '91) and Castroneves ('01,'02,'09) 

talking in the paddock.

 

Indycar invades Camden Yards.

 

We spent lots of time in the Paddock.  

 Lots to see and it was air conditioned.

 

Almost ran into Power and Castroneves on their scooters.

A map on the sidewalk. 

We wished we had our mini Indy cars along!

 

Lots of great places to watch all the action!

 

 

 

 Did we mention,

 

WE LOVED THE GP OF BALTIMORE!!!