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.

 

 

1963 Indianapolis Yearbook

We're a little late with this since the 50th anniversary of Parnelli Jones' win at Indy was a few weeks ago, however we just stumbled upon this book in Pappy's stuff today and couldn't pass up sharing the photos from the front and back cover.

Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation

 

Sam Schmidt was a race car driver that our mom and dad used to watch race at Indy in the late 1990's.

But he got paralyzed in a really bad crash practicing at Walt Disney World Speedway in 2000.

 

 

Since he couldn't race anymore he started a race team to help other drivers race.  

 

He now owns cars that race (and win alot) in the Indy Lights Series and in Indycar (where he got his first win with Simon Pagenaud in Detroit on Sunday). 

 

 

 

He also started a charity to help find a cure for paralysis.

 

 

 

Each year for the past 14 years before the Indy 500 there is a Racing to Recovery Gala and auction to benefit the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation. 

 

Many drivers attend the event and support the foundation.  This year included Tristan Vautier, Katherine Legge, Simon Pagenaud, Pippa Mann and Ed Carpenter.

 

 

Our dad is paralyzed too, just not as badly as Mr. Schmidt, so this is one of our favorite charities that was started by and is supported by drivers.

 

We hope they continue to raise lots of money to cure paralysis some day.

And THANK YOU to Sam Schmidt for starting his foundation, and to all the drivers who support 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!

 

 

A Good Day for Mike Conway

First he wins the pole for tomorrow's second race in Detroit.

Then, he follows that up by winning today's first race in Detroit.

All that when he just flew in from England earlier in the week and got very little practice in a car he never sat in before.

Not bad.

Congratulations Mike and Dale Coyne Racing!