ABC Supply 500 Indycar at Pocono

An exciting race at Pocono was marred by the fatal crash of fan favorite Justin Wilson when he was hit by flying debris from Sage Karam's single car crash. 

Ryan Hunter Reay beat the arguably stronger car of Josef Newgarden to the finish line.
Deja vu from Iowa a few weeks ago.
Only 10 cars were running at the end of the race.


 
 

The top 10 Finishers

1. Ryan Hunter-Reay - His second win in the last three races after a terrible start to the season.

2. Josef Newgarden - Led the most laps (47) and would have had a strong chance of passing Hunter Reay had the race stayed green for the last three laps.  Josef was super passing cars on the outside of turn 1 all day including jumping from 4th to 1st on lap 1.
 

3. Juan Montoya - Ties his average finish in 500 mile races, 3rd.  Although he didn't lead a lap he was steady all day and not surprisingly finished on the podium increasing his season points lead to 34 over Graham Rahal.
 

4. Will Power - A spin in the pits and a near stall in the pits didn't deter him from hanging out near the front most of the day.  His 7th Top 5 in 15 races this season.

5. Carlos Munoz - Ran in the Top 5 most of the race.  Has finished in the Top 5 in 25% of the Indycar races he has run in his career (9/36).

6. Takuma Sato - His 4th Top 10 of the season.

7. Simon Pagenaud - Simon led 30 laps and ran in the Top 3 most of the day.  It looked like he might be able to get his first 500 mile win, but he fell back after a late race pit stop.
 

8. Ryan Briscoe - Led 3 laps and ran solid all race after starting 18th on the grid.
 
9. Scott Dixon - The 2013 Pocono winner was uncharacteristically quiet all day.  Didn't ever contend during the race.

10. James Jakes - His fourth Top 10 of the season, the most in one season in his four year Indycar career.
 

Top Ten included...

*  5 Chevys and 5 Hondas

*  Drivers from 7 different countries

*  1-2 Finish for Americans

*  Both Schmidt Peterson cars

*  3 Penske cars



OTHER

Lead Changes: 33

Caution Laps: 74

Fastest Lap: 219.927 mph by Juan Pablo Montoya

Average Speed 146.245


Shout Out To:

Gabby Chaves  He had such a good race car and was leading laps, but his engine blew with three to go.

Takuma Sato  It looked like he might be able to get the win for his sponsor, at their title race.  The ABC Supply car was out front with just 7 laps to go before falling back to 6th.

Honda  They have won 4 of the last 5 races going into the finale at Sonoma. 

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)

 

 

 

 

 

GP of Indy recap

Lots of action today at the IMS for qualification and practice for the GP of Indy

The top six in quals:

Sebastian Saavadra

Jack Hawksworth

Ryan Hunter-Reay

Simon Pagenuad

Will Power

Scott Dixon

More about it:

* Ryan Hunter-Reay crashed exiting turn 14 that ended his day

* Josef ended up 15th

* Mikhail Aleshin got a penalty for interfering and got bumped out of the top twelve putting Graham Rahal in

 

Had a blast checking out all the views from around the track and can't wait till the race!

 

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!

 

 

GP of Long Beach Qualifying

Four of the Firestone Fast Six drivers had never won an Indycar pole, but it was Ryan Hunter-Reay who won his 6th career Indycar pole (his first at Long Beach). 

 

Top Six:

 1  Ryan Hunter-Reay

2  James Hinchcliffe

3 Sebastien Bourdais (A three time winner at Long Beach)

4 Josef Newgarden (Alex was a bit excited when he was P1 with under 2 minutes to go) 

 

5  Jack Hawksworth (rookie)

6  Simon Pagenaud

 

(Click here for the full results)

 

Other Stuff:

 

* Takuma Sato lost his two fastest laps in Round 1 because of a qualifying interference

* Five different teams are represented in the Top Six

* Today was the first time in the history of the Firestone Fast Six (Since 2005) that no Penske or   Ganassi car was in the Fast Six

* Five of the top Six are Hondas

 

INDY LIGHTS

Zach Veach won the pole for the Indy Lights race fresh off the success of his win at the GP of St. Pete

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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!!!

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!

Racing for Kids Charity

Indycar drivers aren't just great racers, they also do a lot of great stuff through charities.   
Racing for Kids is a charity that consists of drivers.  The drivers visit kids in hospitals wherever they race.

 

 

Racing for kids was founded in 1989 and since then drivers from many forms of motorsports have visited more than 25,000 kids in 500 hospitals worldwide and raised more than 6 million dollars.

  Ryan Hunter-Reay, James Hinchcliffe, Tristan Vautier, Michael Andretti, Katherine Legge, Justin Wilson, Simona deSilvestro, Oriol Servia, and Graham Rahal, are just some of the drivers who have made a sick kid feel special in the past year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ryan Hunter-Reay

 FUN FACTS ON RYAN HUNTER-REAY
the 2012 Indycar Champion

Ryan Hunter-Reay in the 2012
Indy 500 parade

*Has the car number 1 to represent his 2012 championship and has the number
  28 inside of the 1 to represent the 28 million people who suffer from cancer

*Rookie of the year in 2007 when        
  only competed in 7 of the 17 races

*Has more wins than all other current
  American indycar drivers combined

*Is the only Indycar driver ever to lead all of the laps in a single race
  
*Was the highest placed American driver in points in 2010, 2011 and 2012

*Is the only driver to ever win in CART, Indycar, Alms, Champcar and Grandam

*Had the most Indy car wins in 2012 with 4 wins

*Is the only American driver who won in 2012