Race Day Recap and Photo Gallery

The ABC Supply 500 was a super exciting, if windy, race!  Pocono Raceway has always been a great track to be at, and we put together a race day recap that summed up our day at the track

 

 

 

 

 

 

...And a few extra pictures

 



Why We Love Indycar!

The season is finally here as Practice begins at the GP of St. Petersburg today!!!

 

A full slate of 

 USF 2000, Pro Mazda, Indy Lights

and

Indycar

practices, qualifying and races are going on

Friday thru Sunday on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.

 

In our excitement for the season's start we've been watching some 2015 races and some of our videos from Indianapolis and Pocono. 

We put together a little video of Why We Love Indycar!

 

 

 

Josef Newgarden's First Win. Alex's view

The 2nd GP of Indy is almost here,

 but Alex is still so excited about Josef Newgarden's first win

at Barber Motorsport Park

that we made a little video commemorating the occasion.

 

Good Luck in Indianapolis, Josef,

We can't wait to see him get his next win!

GP of Long Beach

The 41st running of the Grand Prix of Long Beach ran under sunny skies and with just one caution!

Helio Castroneves, starting from the pole, led most of the first half of the race, but Scott Dixon led the most important one.  The final lap. 
This was Scott Dixon's first win at Long Beach, and before this his average finish there was 15th!

The top 10 Finishers

1. Scott Dixon.  His 36th career Indycar win vaulted him to 4th in the season points.

2.  Helio Castroneves. Pole sitter for the 42nd time in his career.

3. Juan Montoya.  Finished third to maintain his season points lead over teammate Helio.

4. Simon Pagenaud.  His second Top 5 this season.

5. Tony Kanaan. Another strong run keeps him 3rd in points.

6. Sebastien Bourdais.  Led a lap. 

7. Josef Newgarden.  Ran 5th much of the day but dropped a few spots pitting. 

8. Marco Andretti.   A second Top 10 this season, but would love to see him win here where his dad and granddad had such success.

9. Carlos Munoz.  Had a solid run for his first Top 10 of the season.

10. Sebastian Saavedra.  A great run in Ganassi's #8 car especially considering he hadn't been in a car in  9 months.

Top Ten included..

* Drivers from 6 different teams

* Drivers from 5 different countries

* 7 Chevys, 3 Honda

* Both of the CFHR drivers
* Three Penske Drivers
* Three Ganassi Drivers

Can't wait till the Grand Prix of Alabama on
Sunday, April 26th on NBCSN.

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.

 

 

 

 

Indycar Pocono 500 Videos Getting to the Track

 

We decided to have a little fun at Pocono before the 500.

Enjoy our two short videos!

Thanks Brandon Igdalsky and Pocono

for letting us run around outside your track unquestioned!

 

 

 

Pocono 500 Indycar Mission

 

 

 

Pocono 500 Weekend is Here!

GP of Houston

Breaking News!

 

 Houston we have a problem...

 

That was probably heard by a lot of teams this weekend as 2 crazy indycar races took place on the streets of Houston.

 

The GP races 1 and 2 held lots of chaos, finger pointing and exciting racing. 
Saturday's Race 1 got off to an interesting start in the rain. taking out drivers like Mike Conway, Simon Pagenaud, Takuma Sato and Mikael Aleshin. 
Josef Newgarden slammed the wall halfway, as did many others when their tires hit a wet spot or two.  We interviewed one of his biggest fans, Alex in Pa, and she was not happy. 
 

The really interesting part of the race was when the rookie Carlos Heurtas won. 
He was the first Indycar driver to win in his rookie year since Marco Andretti in Sonoma in 2006.
 Juan Montoya finished 2nd, and Carlos Munoz, another rookie finishing 3rd,
which made for a Columbian podium sweep,
the first in Indycar History.






Race 2 was just as exciting and crazy, despite no rain.

Race 2 began with a rolling start, and all was pretty status quo until the mid-way point when perhaps the intense heat and humidity started to affect the drivers and crews.
 

Lots of contact and wild racing ensued including pole sitter Helio Castroneves who crashed while running in second.  Josef Newgarden had a wheel come off after his final pit stop, Sebastian Bourdais ran the last twenty laps with a broken front wing (and still finished 5th) and points leader Will Power finished 11th after a problem with just a lap and a half left.
 

The winner?

 Simon Pagenaud, for the second time this year, and
Schmidt Peterson Motorsports who had there first one two finish ever
with rookie Mikael Aleshin finishing second.
The podium was rounded out with another rookie, Jack Hawksworth( Who had a great battle with Juan Montoya) finishing third.

So if you're keeping tabs,

All four (full season) Indycar rookies finished on the podium this weekend! 
Wow!








 

 

 

The top ten:

 

Race 1:

* 7 Hondas and 3 Chevys
* 3 Rookies

* 5 teams
* All the Andretti Autosport cars

 * A Columbian Podium Sweep

 

* Carlos Heurtas

* Juan Montoya

* Carlos Munoz

* Sebastien Bourdais

* James Hinchcliffe

* Jack Hawksworth

* Ryan Hunter-Reay

* Marco Andretti

* Helio Castroneves

* Justin Wilson

Fun Facts:

* 7 drivers had DNF's
* Marco Andretti got penalized for holding up Takuma Sato
* 5 different drivers led
* There were 6 lead changes

 

 

 

Race 2:

* 8 Hondas and 2 Chevys
* 2 Rookies
* 6 teams


* Simon Pagenaud

* Mikael Aleshin

* Jack Hawksworth

* Charlie Kimball

* Sebastien Bourdais
* Ryan Hunter-Reay
* Juan Pablo Montoya
* Ryan Briscoe
* Marco Andretti
* Tony Kanaan

Fun Facts:

* 5 drivers had DNF's
* 2 different drivers led
* There were 3 lead changes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.


 

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

 

 

Alex's 'Josef' view of the Indy GP weekend

 

There are two distinct aspects to this Josef post.

 

          The Sad Part

Josef finished 17th on race day, which basically ruined Alex's day.
But she was still happy when he drove by every lap. 

 

 (you're probably expecting some pictures, but Alex wants no reminder of that day.
She barely let us put it in the post)

 

   and

 

The Super Happy, Ecstatic Part

 

 

- ON FRIDAY

- Alex got to see and talk to Josef in his pits (basically because we stood by his pit until he got out of the car and noticed her and came over.)           

- Alex got to talk with Josef's mom and dad before qualifying                                                  

- Alex got to go into Josef's shop and met some super nice ladies who work there.

- Alex got to get a Josef shirt (her first 'official' Josef shirt that wasn't homemade).

 

 

- ON SATURDAY

- Alex got to see Josef & he waved at her in a tweet up

- Alex got Josef's chef's hat that he wore while cooking with Joe Namath in St. Pete because Jarod won it for her at the tweet up.

- We met Josef's web designer who took a picture of her in her 'Josef dress' and posted it to Josef's website. (She was kinda a little excited about that.) Thank you, Rob!

 

 

- ON SUNDAY

- Alex got to see Josef

- Alex got to talk to Josef

- Sadly, she also had to say goodbye to Josef (but only for a week and a half so it was all good.)

 

Josef driving his car in the pits

  

You'll notice some other drivers in the background,
they do not matter to Alex & she was upset that we didn't crop them out

  

Alex wants to sit in this section for the 500
(we're not)

 



Looking for Josef
(wrong way, Josef comes from behind you this is the GP not the 500)

 

Josef's garage.

We admit that we took these pictures just to rub it in to Alex that
we can get in the garage area and she can't....she's too young.



And now Alex is really happy because she gets to go back to Indy to see Josef again (race...what race?)

But she's really super happy because

JOSEF qualified 8th for the Indianapolis 500!!!!

  



Indycar School Video #2

Indycar made simple. 

By kids.

 

Part 2 in our video series.

 

In this 'class' learn more of the basics

of the super exciting and competitive Indycar series.

 

 

(Be sure to watch for Alex's shout out for her favorite driver Josef Newgarden)

 

Josef update #4 Barber Motorsports Park

Josef Newgarden finished a strong 8th in the rain delayed, wet and tricky GP of Alabama.

 

After starting fourth for the second race in a row Josef dropped to tenth by lap 4, but slowly worked his way back up to 6th before falling back to 8th after his final pit stop.
He is now 10th in Indycar Points!

And it seems like Josef had some fun before the race too.

Here he is selling race tickets from atop a spider (with an 'interesting' voice):

 

He also had some fun with Hinch at the space camp at the US Space and Rocket Center:

 

 

 

OTHER JOSEF STUFF:

 

*  There was a article about Josef in the USA Today before the Alabama Race! 

 

*  Sarah Fisher Hartman racing announced Klipsch Audio will be Josef's primary sponsor for the GP of Indy on May 10th.

 

Cool Car.
Can't wait to see it in person when we're at the race!!!

 

 

Watch Josef May 10th in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis on ABC.

Josef Update #2 GP of St. Pete

JOSEF finished 9th at the GP of St. Pete!

(after starting last)

Josef Newgarden started last for the GP of St. Pete  and stayed in the back for a long, long time.  Alex was almost ready to stop watching the race.  Little did she know it was tire strategy.  He used his black tires first (which he wasn't very fast on) and then had his grippier red tires left (which he was much better on) for the rest of the race.

As Josef moved up thru the field there was much smiling, cheering and jumping up and down from Alex and although ABC did not interview Josef after the race, always a disappointment, Alex was thrilled to find this post race interview from the Sarah Fisher Hartman racing team.

With a good finish after his first race with a new engineer and new chief mechanic, Alex can't wait to see how Josef does the rest of the season!  First Indycar win?...or two?

Indycar School video #1:

Indycar explained! 

 

 By kids.

 

 The 1st video in the '3-2-1 Indycar Kids Indycar School' series!

 

 

 

Learn some of the basics about this

super fast, super exciting racing series

from some of its biggest fans!

 

 

12 Days of Christmas Indycar Edition

 

It's Christmastime
 

but everything still reminds us of Indycar

 

so we changed the '12 Days of Christmas' song 

just a little bit.

 

HAVE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

 

 

 

*NEW VIDEO* Pocono Indy 400 with the 3-2-1 Indycar kids

 

 

Yup, that's the name of our newest video showing all the fun we had at the Pocono Indycar race in July.
 

We had a blast, and can't wait to make another video. 
(At the Grand Prix of Baltimore!!!)

 

 We hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

 

 Please, before watching it, make sure you read what "ingredients" are mixed in so you may know whether to laugh (Yes) or cry (No) while watching it.
 

 

* Silliness        * Cuteness

 

* Cheering        * Excitement        * Cool music
 

 

and of course, Alex's favorite driver, Josef Newgarden.

 

 



 

 Hold it!

Don't forget to check out our first video, "A Day with the 3-2-1 Indycar kids"

 

 

Who wants to ride around the Indiana State Fair in a beaver costume?

Dixon wins the Power of Two contest!

 

 

 

 

That means that Alex Tagilani rode a tricycle around the Indiana State Fair in a Beaver costume.  

 

 

Here is a video of tagliani riding around:

A Day with the 3-2-1 Indycar Kids

Inspired by Josef Newgarden's 'The Life of a Race Car Driver' (Alex's favorite 'Josef video') we decided to put together our own version of 'A Day with the 3-2-1 Indycar Kids'.

We had a blast making it and we hope you enjoy it!

Indycar 36 on NBC Sports

Alexandra is so excited, her favorite driver, JOSEF (Newgarden), is featured on a new episode of Indycar 36 on NBC Sports tomorrow night at midnight.  It was taped in Indianapolis a few weeks ago.

She's watched the episode shot last year at Fontana about Josef many, many times.

Problem is that she thinks she's staying up to watch the show at midnight. 

Wait till mom breaks it to her that she'll have to wait to see it till Saturday.

 Indycar 36 follows drivers for 36 hours leading up to a race.

 

You can view past episodes of Indycar 36 on Youtube.

Tony Kanaan at 2012 St. Petersburg

Graham Rahal at 2012 Alabama

Ryan Hunter-Reay at 2012 Long Beach

JR Hildebrand at 2012 Indy 500 Qualifying

Helio Castroneves at 2012 Indy 500 Race

Charlie Kimball at 2012 Texas and 2013 Long Beach

Ed Carpenter at 2012 Iowa 

James Hinchcliffe at 2012 Toronto

Simon Pagenaud at 2012 Mid Ohio

Will Power at 2012 Sao Paulo

Oriol Servia at 2012 Baltimore

Josef Newgarden at 2012 Fontana

Simona de Silvestro at 2013 Sao Paulo

Indianapolis Daily Video Blogs

If you can't get enough of Indianapolis and want a daily driver's perspective on the happenings at the brickyard, or
if you're like our five-year-old sister Alex, and can't see enough of Josef Newgarden, you can watch his daily video blogs from the speedway or check out some of the other Indianapolis videos of what's going on at the track.
                                   

Here is Newgarden's video blog from Monday, May 13th