Indycar offseason news #5

Almost the start of the season and there's plenty going on in Indycar!

 

  

There will be a new qualifying format for the Indy 500 this year.  Of course we never fully grasped the old format, and our mom still misses the 2 weekends of qualifying.  We just hope we can go to Indy to watch it this year however they qualify.

 

NASCAR driver Kurt Busch will do the 'double' and race in the Indy 500 and Coca Cola 600 in Charlotte on the same day.  Cool!


 

 

Indy Lights alumni Jack Hawksworth  signed with Bryan Herta Autosport for the 2014 season.

 

Looks like Verizon will soon be announced as the new sponsor for Indycar.

 

Indycar Off-season News #4

Here are some Indycar happenings!

 

 

 

* The Indycar season is getting close.  The building of the GP of St Pete track began, with the help of defending winner, James Hinchcliffe. 

 

* A.J Foyt Enterprises picked up Martin Plowman for the Indianapolis 500.

*  Simona Silvestro has signed with an F1 team, Sauber, in the hopes of running in the F1 series in 2015. We will miss her in Indycar.

*  Sebastian Saavedra has signed with KV Racing and will join Sebastien Bourdais for the 2014 season.

 

* The GP of ST Pete will have a standing start.  What a great way to start the season!

* 2013 Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan unveiled the ticket artwork for the 2014 Indy 500.  Can't wait to get our 'blue' envelope in the mail with our tickets!

* 1995 Indy 500 winner Jacques Villeneuve returns!!  He has a ride with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports for the Indianapolis 500 this year.

 

 



 

Indycar Offseason News #2

 

Indycar Offseason #2!!!

 

Lets begin.

 

*  2013 Indy 500 winner Tony Kannan's image was unveiled on the Borg Warner trophy on Dec. 2nd.

 *  Paul Page, chief radio announcer for IMS Radio Network from 1977 to'87, will return to that position in 2014.  Our mom is excited about that.

 

*  Josef Newgarden and Graham Rahal had a Tricycle Showdown on the Pat McCarthy show.   (It starts at the 6 minute point in the video.)  Very funny....and you can probably guess we've watched it many times since it has Josef in it.
 

*  The 2014 Indycar tv schedule was released and the great news is that their will be more Month of May of network tv in 2014!

*  Sebring Raceway in Florida has been busy the past few weeks with teams testing for 2014.  Ganassi racing was there this week with Alex Tagliani filling in in the #10 car.  Prior to Thanksgiving Penske Racing tested there including their new driver Juan Pablo Montoya.   Andretti Autosport, Dale Coyne Racing and RLL drivers have also tested there in recent weeks.
And to keep Alexandra happy we need to mention that Josef will be testing there on Dec. 18th and 19th with Sarah Fisher Hartman racing.

 



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.

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!!!

News for Texas

THUMBS UP!


* It's great to see that Oriol Servia will drive the #4 National Guard car for Panther Racing at Texas on Saturday night and again in Iowa.  He's was eighth in points going into Detroit, but has been without a ride since Dreyer Reinbold closed its doors after the Indy 500.

*Pippa Mann will drive in the #18 car for Dale Coyne Racing at
    Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday night.  It's the same car Mike Conway drove to victory in Detroit on Saturday.   

* Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan will drive the Sunoco 'Turbo' car for the next 4 races starting this weekend.

 

 

*Drivers are headed to Texas today for practice that begins tomorrow!

 

 

UPDATE:

Helio Castroneves won the Firestone 550 in Texas.

Oriol Servia finished 19th.

Pippa Mann finished last after just 2 laps with a mechanical problem.

 

 

News

In the Indycar News

 

 

THUMBS UP!

Pippa Mann, is going to try to make her 2nd Indy 500 this year in a car for Dale Coyne racing.  We always like seeing women drivers at Indianapolis so we hope she makes it!



Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon will be driving to give the Target Chip Ganassi racing team its 100th victory this weekend at the Sao Paulo Brazil Indy race.  Their first win came with Michael Andretti way back in 1994 in Australia.




THUMBS DOWN.

Could Indycars race on the old Formula 1 road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway?  We hope not.  Indy is a special place for the 500. So we agree with Robin Miller's article on this. 


Driver Oriol Servia will be without a ride after the Indianapolis 500 as his team Panther Dreyer Reinbold Racing cannot find enough sponsership and will be shutting down.