Josef update at Mid-Ohio

Josef had one of the best races of his Indycar career at Mid Ohio.

He qualified 2nd in wet conditions, then went on to stay up front and raced for the lead all day, Battling with the likes of Scott Dixon and Sebastien Bourdais.

Unfortunately (there seems to always been an 'unfortunately' in our Josef posts....) there was an error in the pits on his last pit stop.  A hose was laying in the middle of his pit box and he couldn't avoid hitting it.  He got a drive through penalty that ruined his day.

He finished 12th.

 

 

 

 

Apparently the race results did not dampen Josef's usual fun self or appetite as he hit the Indiana State Fair with Mikhail Aleshin, Simon Pagenaud, Robin Miller and Dave Furst the next night.

 

AND

 

On his off weekend of August 10th Josef took part in and won the Formula F 45th Anniversary Race at Barber Motorsports Park.

 

 

 

Now if he can continue that winning momentum at the Milwaukee Mile this weekend.

 

Josef Update - Honda Indy Toronto

Double Headers this year have not been kind to Josef.

He has four 20th place finishes out of the 6 races and a 17th and 13th.
Needless to say Alex would like all double header races taken off the schedule for next year.

(she would also like for their to be more races at Iowa speedway)

Josef didn't have a good weekend at Toronto, where he ended up finishing 20th and 13th.
In race 1, Josef got hit from behind and got involved in a six car crash on lap 1. They got the car fixed under a red flag and did not lose a lap. Yeah!
He made his way up to 11th (to the delight of  Alex),
but then spun the car on lap 63 and couldn't finish the race. Wah!

In race 2 the weather was very wet and lots of cars went in for rain tires, but Josef stayed out and led laps 14-20, until he spun in turn eleven and then went in for rain tires.
When the track dried, he stayed on rain tires and was running fifth,
but when a red flag came out and the cars restarted, the rain tires weren't working as well as the other cars on reds, and he dropped down to 13th.




 

Josef Update - Iowa Corn Indy 300

Josef got second in Iowa!

 Alex was so excited and I think it's rubbing off on us. 

 

To see him just zoom through the field on new tires in the last few laps was super cool.

The only problem was that Ryan Hunter Reay (or as Alex refers to him as 'the guy who crashed Josef out of the lead at Long Beach) had new tires too.

  

   (by the look on Josef's face we have to wonder what he and Robin Miller were joking about before the camera started rolling.)

Josef and Simon Pagenaud had a little fun before the race at Iowa too.

(We've watched this video way too many times)

 

 

 

Yes, we got a little behind on our Josef posts but we guarantee it was not for lack of watching and Alex crazily cheering him on.  So we'll go into Josef overload and get caught up this week.  

 

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

 

 

Hinchcliffe can't live without...

In a Toronto Life newspaper article, James Hinchcliffe wrote down in his own words what he can't live without, here are a few of them.

My onesie pajamas
 I’ve wanted a pair of these forever. Last year, Kirsten (His girlfriend) finally got me some. They’re the full deal: red flannel, bum flap and everything. When you’re hanging around the house on a Sunday, there’s nothing better to have on.

 
My lighters I’ve been collecting lighters since I was a kid. I have about 80 of them now (just to look at—I don’t smoke). My favourite is from WWII. I love thinking about where it’s been, whose it was and what happened to him.


My hero’s steering wheel It’s from Greg Moore’s first race car, which he used before he made it big on the CART circuit, and it’s signed. I met him after a race in Toronto in ’99. I stood outside his trailer for hours before he finally came out.

 

 

If you want to read more of Hinch's things he can't live without, click here.

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.

Dario Franchitti

Dario Franchitti Fun Facts

3-time Indianapolis 500 winner 

 4-time Izod Indycar Series champion.

...and he still made time to answer some questions we emailed to him!  Thank you, Dario.

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.

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 Fun Facts

*  A.J. Foyt won the most Pocono Indycar races with 4.  Rick Mears had 3 wins.

*  The only non-American winner was Teo Fabi in 1983 (the same year he sat on pole for the Indy 500).

*  Al Unser, Sr. is the only driver to have won the three Triple Crown races in the same season.  1978.  The Indianapolis 500, Pocono 500, and Ontario (CA) 500.

*  In the 19 Indycar races run at Pocono between 1971 and 1989 all of the drivers but two have also won at Indianapolis.  (Joe Leonard and Teo Fabi).

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.

Simona De Slivestro

Simona is a great driver from Switzerland, sometimes called the 'Swiss Miss' 

She had a tough year in Indycar last year with a bad engine but is doing pretty well this year with 3 Top Tens.  Plus she has finished all but one race and is currently 17th in points.

Simona is another one of the Indycar drivers who was nice enough to answer some of our questions when we emailed her.

*She says she doesn't have a pet, but always wanted a dog or cat when she was little and her mom wouldn't let her get one. 

*She had some favorite stuffed animals when she was a kid and still has a mini moose that sleeps with her every night when she's at home.

*Her least favorite chore as a kid was doing the dishes, and she still doesn't like to do them now, and her worst habit is biting her nails.

*She was featured on Indycar 36 preparing for the Brazil race this year

*Simona started racing in Europe and came to the US in 2006.

*In 2009, racing in the Atlantic Championship Series she became the first woman to win the most  races, and poles,  and to lead the most laps in a single season and finished third in points.

*2010 was her first full year in Indycar and she won Rookie of the Year honors in the Indy 500.

*Currently races for KV Racing and is teammates with Tony Kanaan.



Si

 

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.

 

 

Congratulations Simon Pagenaud

Winner of the Second Dual in Detroit.

Simon Pagenaud scores his first Indycar win in Detroit.

So far, in 7 Indycar races this season there have been ...

6 Different Winners from

 

6 Different Countries on

 

5 Different Teams and

 

3 of them have been *First Time Winners in the Indycar Series!

*James Hinchcliffe (Canada) - Andretti Autosport

Ryan Hunter Reay (USA) - Andretti Autosport

*Takuma Sato  (Japan) - A.J. Foyt Racing

Tony Kanaan (Brazil) - KV Racing

Mike Conway (England) - Dale Coyne Racing

*Simon Pagenaud (France) - Sam Schmidt Motorsports

Can't wait to see who wins at Texas on Saturday night!

 

 

The Duals in Detroit

Two weekend days, two Indycar races this weekend.  Yeah!

How cool to get to watch races Saturday and Sunday.

Each race will be 70 laps and will be shown on ABC tv at 3:30 EST.

Qualifying for Saturday's race was today, in the rain, with Dario winning the pole.
Qualifying for Sunday's race will be Saturday morning.


Drivers you won't see racing in Detroit.

JR Hildebrand and Panther racing ended their contract and JR will be replaced by Ryan Briscoe this weekend.

Ana Beatriz is being replaced by Mike Conway in the Dale Coyne Racing car.

The Indy 500

To get to the Indy 500 race in time, we had to get up at 4:30 in the morning, none of us liked that, but it was definitely worth it, this was one of the most exciting races ever.

* It was the first time the number 11 car has won

* There were a record 133 consecutive green flag laps

* It was the record for the fastest average speed of the race

* There were a record 68 lead changes, which doubled the old record of 34

* It was the record for the fewest cautions laps (21 laps) since they started recording them in 1976

* Carlos Munoz set the record highest speed for a rookie (187.433)

* Scott Dixon has completed 1,566 Indy 500 laps without a crash

Alex was kinda bored with the pre-race activities, so she was really excited when the WWII planes did the flyover before the race started.

 

Qualifying Overview

 

Bump Day Sunday

 

 

* Michel Jourdain Jr got bumped from the field and will not start the 500.

* Josef Newgarden was the fastest Bump Day qualifier and will start in the 25th position.

 

* Katherine Legge, who first sat in her car on Saturday, made the race in the 33 starting spot.

 

* Four Indy 500 winners, with a combined total of 8 Indy 500 wins, will start the race. 

Helio Castroneves (3), Dario Franchitti (3), Buddy Lazier (1), Scott Dixon (1).

 

* Four women will start the 97th running of the 500.  Simona deSilvestro (24th), Ana Beatriz (29th), Pippa Mann (30th), and Katherine (33rd).

 

*  Four rookies will start the race.  Carlos Munoz (2nd), AJ Allmendinger (5th), Tristan Vautier (28th), Conor Daly (31st).

* Drivers from 13 different countries will compete in the race.  United States (11), England (4), Brazil (3), France (3), Australia (2), Canada (2), Colombia (2) and 1 each from Japan, New Zealand, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland and Venezuela.

* Youngest driver in the field is 21 (Munoz), the oldest is 45 (Lazier).

* Marco Andretti became the first Andretti to qualify for the 500 on the front row in 20 years.


 

 

 

 

 

 

Scott Dixon fun facts

   Scott Dixon fun facts

* Has a total of 28 race wins and 20 poles in Indycar.

* Is the son of two dirt track racers.


* Wanted to be a race car driver since he was 5 but first climbed inside a car when he was 13.                                             

* His "secret obsession" is chocolate.

* He can't stand airport security lines, or slow people in fast lanes.

* His pets are two Maltese dogs, George and Arthur, named after two kings.

* His nicknames are "Iceman" and  "Dixie".

                                   

 

 

Here's the 2009 ticket showing Scott Dixons 2008 Indy 500 win