The Indy Lights Championship

The Indy Lights series crowned the 2015 Champion Sunday at Laguna Seca Raceway. 

Heading into the weekend, Jack Harvey had a 6 point advantage over Spencer Pigot. 

Pigot swept the double header to win the 1 million dollar Indycar  scholarship and give Juncos Racing its first Indy Lights Champion.

It was fitting that Pigot won the championship since he has spent his career winning at each level in the Mazda Road to Indy feeder system that is to prepare drivers to race in the Indycar Series. 
He has 24 total wins in the MRTI series.

With his Indy Lights Championship, the (almost) 22 year old driver from Orlando, Florida receives a 1 million dollar scholarship to use towards an Indycar ride.

We look forward to seeing him in the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 in 2016.

'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

 

 

 

Road To Indy Series

The 'minor league' of Indycar
The Mazda Road To Indy is a series that prepares drivers for the Verizon Indycar Series.


There are three series.

USF2000
- Drivers first time in competitive open wheel cars
- Drivers first proper race team
- The car is the lightest with small wings
- The top speed is 140 MPH
- Youngest current driver is 14 year old Colton Herta


The champion of USF2000 goes on to:




Pro Mazda
- First experience with traction control
- Top speed 160 MPH
- Heavier wings



The champion of this series goes on to:

Indy Lights
- Bigger wings and tires
- Excess of 200 MP
- Drivers get a feel of what Indycar is like

- The winner gets a 1/2 million to 1 million dollar scholarship to race with an Indycar team the following season.

- They will run 14 races on 10 different tracks in 2014

- Past champions include Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon, Townsend Bell, Scott Dixon, JR Hildebrand, Josef Newgarden!!!, Tristan Vautier and our hometown guy, Sage Karam.

- Sage Karam is the first driver to compete in all three series and was the youngest Indy Lights Champion at 18.



Some other information
-Drivers come from all over the world
-They're ages range from about 14 to 25 depending on series
- They race on many of the same tracks as the Indycar series

All Three Series will be racing on the Road Course at Indianapolis the weekend of the GP of Indianapolis.

 

 We can't wait to see them all.

GP of Alabama Road To Indy recap

There was lots of action at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama, and not just Indycar.
 

Here's what happened in the
Road To Indy series 

 

 

 

USF2000
Colton Herta (son of former Indycar driver Bryan Herta) became the first driver born in the 21st century to drive in an Indycar feeder series event.
 

  

 Top Threes

 

Race 1                                                      Race 2

 

                                                        RC Enerson                                             RC Enerson

                                                      Florian Latorre                                          Aaron Telitz

                                                        Jake Eidson                                           Victor Franzoni

  

 RC Enerson won 3 of the 4 races this season and placed second in the other one.

 

 

 

 

Pro Mazda
 

 

Top Threes

 

                                                  Race 1                                                            Race 2

 

                                             Spencer Pigot                                                  Spencer Pigot

                                            Scott Hargrove                                               Scott Hargrove    

                                              Kyle Kaiser                                                Shelby Blackstock

 

  

          Spencer Pigot has won all four races this season.

 

 

 

Indy Lights
Zach Veach started on pole and dominated Race 1 on Saturday, but Sunday he started with a wet setup but the rain held off allowing Gabby Chaves to take the win.
 

  

Top Threes

 

                                                          Race 1                                                      Race 2

 

                                                       Zach Veach                                             Gabby Chaves  

                                                       Luiz Razia                                                Alex Baron

                                                      Jack Harvey                                              Zach Veach

   

       Zach Veach and Gabby Chaves have each won two races this season.




Catch all these series on the Indianapolis road course on May 9th and 10th!

 

 

 

 

 



GP of St. Pete Qualifying

Takuma Sato will start on the pole for the 2014 GP of St. Pete driving for A.J. Foyt.

A four hour rain delay left a somewhat wet track and made for an (really) exciting qualifying session.

Rounding out the Top 6 was Tony Kanaan, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Will Power, Scott Dixon and Marco Andretti.

In the Top Ten:

5 Chevys and 5 Hondas
5 Different Teams (A.J. Foyt Racing, Ganassi, Andretti Autosport, Penske, Bryan Herta Racing)
2 Rookies (Carlos Munoz, Jack Hawksworth)

Full Qualifying Results can be found on the Indycar site.

Josef Newgarden qualified 22nd...Alex, his #1 fan is not happy.




INDY LIGHTS:
Qualifying was canceled due to rain so the starting positions were set by practice times.

Gabby Chaves will start on pole
followed by Zach Veach and Matt Brabham

Full Qualifying Results are at Indy Lights on the Indycar site.

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





 

 

Indycar Offseason News #1

While we've been busy with school, there's been lots happening in Indycar.

Indycar News!...

 

 

Here's some of the news for the offseason

*  One of our favorite drivers, Dario Fran'kitty' has retired due to injuries from his last lap crash in Houston race #2.  We sure hope we'll still see him around the races.  Gonna miss rooting for him to win his fourth Indy 500 next May.

*  Paving of  the new road racing surface for the Indy GP was finished this month.  Can't wait to go to Indy and see it!

*  Indy 500 Rookie of the Year and 2nd place finisher, Carlos Munoz has officially signed with Andretti Autosport for the 2014 season, and is testing at Sebring this week.

*  The inaugural Dan Wheldon Pro-Am Karting Challenge raised over $100,000 for the Alzheimers Association in October!

*  'Turbo' is now on DVD!!!  Didn't get ours yet, hoping for Santa to bring it.  (or mom)

*  Zach Veach receives the Firestone Indy Light KeyBank Community Leader Award
  for his participation in STEM, Racing for Cancer, No Bull(anti-bully), and Miles Ahead.

*  Ed Carpenter Racing signed Mike Conway (2013 Detroit race #1 winner) for 2014.   Carpenter will now only be racing on ovals for the 2014 season, while Mike Conway will race the road/street courses.

*  Josef Newgarden (wearing his shiny 'Strike' racing suit) teamed with Mark Dismore, Jr. to win the 10th annual Robo Pong endurance Karting event at New Castle.