2012 Indy 500 ticket featuring Dan Wheldon

2005 & 2011 Indy 500 winner , the late Dan Wheldon

Will Power new look

The 2010 & 2011 IZOD Indycar runner-up

Cheers!

Cheers!

Ed Carpenter Racing and Zuzzy’s Vodka has teamed up with media personality Lindy Thackston for the 2012 INDYCAR season. Lindy will be running ECR social media and activation. Expect lots of “CHEERS” from Lindy via social media from official Vodka of INDYCAR and Ed Carpenter Racing.

Ed Carpenter Racing on twitter

Fuzzys Vodka on twitter

Previously Lindy had worked for VERSUS (Now NBC Sports) and local Indianapolis TV Station WTHR.

Driver lineup for 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series starting to take shape

Driver lineup for 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series starting to take shape

Team – Andretti Autosport – Chevy engines
Drivers – Marco Andretti, Ryan Hunter- Reay , James Hinchcliffe , 4th – TBA

Team – Ganassi Racing – Honda Engines
Drivers – Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti, Graham Rahal, Charlie Kimball

Team – Penske – Chevy Engines
Drivers – Will Power , Helio Castroneves, Ryan Briscoe

Team – KV Racing – Chevy Engines
Drivers – Tony Kanaan, 2nd – Rumored to be E.J. Viso , 3rd – TBA

Team – A.J. Foyt Racing – Honda Engines
Drivers – Mike Conway , possibly 2nd car TBA

Team – Panther Racing – Chevy enginesDrivers – J.R. Hildebrand, possibly 2nd car TBA (rumored to be Tomas Sheckter)

Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing – TBA Engine
Driver – Josef NewGarden

Dale Coyne Racing – TBA Engine
Drivers – Justin Wilson, 2nd –TBA (rumored to be James Jakes)

HVM Racing – Lotus Engine
Drivers – Simona De Silvestro, 2nd car TBA

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing – Lotus Engine
Drivers – Oriol Servia , 2nd car TBA (rumored to be Katherine Legge)

Bryan Herta Autosport – Lotus Engine
Driver – Alex Tagliani

Sam Schmidt Motorsports – Honda Engine
Drivers – Simon Pagenaud, 2nd car TBA

Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan Racing – Honda Engine
Drivers – Nothing confirmed, rumors include Takumo Sato, Jay Howard, and Bertrand Baquette

Ed Carpenter Racing – Engine TBA
Driver – Ed Carpenter

Michael Shank Racing – Lotus Engine
Driver – TBA (prefer a veteran)

Dragon Racing – Engine TBA
Driver – TBA

Conquest Racing – Engine TBA
Driver – TBA

Drivers in the mix for FT rides in 2012 – Tomas Sheckter, Paul Tracy, James Jakes, Raphael Matos, Ho-Pin Tung, Katherine Legge, Ana Beatriz, Pippa Man, Sebastian Saavedra, Esteban Guerrieri , Martin Plowman, Wade Cunningham, Townsend Bell,

Possible Indy 500 one off drivers
(Note all drivers listed in the mix for FT would count as Indy 500 1 offs) John Andretti, Davey Hamilton, Jean Alesi, Danica Patrick, Kasey Kahne, Buddy Rice,

Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing future is bright

Yesterday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Sarah Fisher confirmed her driver plans for 2012 by announcing the signing of a three year contract with American Josef Newgarden, the 2011 Indy Lights champion. The news by all accounts, was great, Sarah Fisher Racing is a small team of 17 employees and literally started from the ground up in 2008.

The even better news was that Fisher announced her team is rebranding as Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing, (SFHR). The partnership of Wink Hartman and Sarah Fisher dates back to 2008, but the financial involvement of Hartman has strengthened and will allow Fisher’s Indianapolis based team to grow.

SFHR won their first race at Kentucky in 2011 with fellow American Ed Carpenter , but a bright moment was overshadowed by the departure of primary sponsor Dollar General to full-time NASCAR involvement, and later Carpenter’s formation of his own team. SFHR had their ace in the hole with Hartman.

Hartman, who owns a professional indoor soccer team and football teams in Kansas, will now be fully involved in the growth and development of the one car team piloted by Newgarden. Hartman, whose money is tied into oil, has deep pockets and according to sources, has pledged to take SFHR to the next step in the IZOD IndyCar Series.

SFHR has an engine contract in place, but has yet to announce it, is widely rumored to be partnering with Honda. SFHR should also have some exciting announcements in regards to their relocation of their new race shop. That announcement could happen at the start of the new year.
The hire of Newgarden will allow his sponsorship money from the Mazda Road to Indy to be applied to the 2012 season and will help off-set the costs of new equipment. Newgarden had five wins for SSM in 2011 in the Firestone Indy Lights series. Newgarden, 20, brings another American to the IZOD IndyCar Series, and is the immediate favorite to win Rookie of the year in 2012.

Continue to follow www.IndyCarGarage.com for updates on Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing and complete coverage of the IZOD IndyCar Series.

Sarah Fisher Racing Press Conference Tomorrow

Sarah Fisher Racing will have a press conference tomorrow at 2 p.m. at the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway on their 2012 plans. It's widely rumored that 2011 Indy Lights Champion
Josef Newgarden will use his partial sponsorship from winning the Lights Championship and become the full-time driver for SFR in 2012.

SFR also could be announcing their engine partner tomorrow as well. They have been rumored for Honda for awhile.


Newgarden tweeted late Tuesday night that he was headed to Indy the following day,

"Only one thing I like more than an empty airport, and that's an empty plane! Flying out to Dallas. Back in Indy tomorrow."


Stay tuned for more developments on SFR announcements and the location of their new race shop.

The announcment will be streamed live on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway network, through www.IndianapolisMotorSpeedway.com

Hunter-Reay wins at Loudon and Power flashes the double bird!

Hunter-Reay wins at Loudon and Power flashes the double bird!

INDYCAR returned to their small bull-ring ovals at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and it was anything but dual.

It all started on lap one when Graham Rahal made contact with Mike Conway’s spinning car on lap one. Both cars were done for the day.

Dario continued to dominate the race until light rain brought out the caution.

On the restart after a lengthy caution delay, Dario Franchitti came down on Takumo Sato and hit the inside way of the front stretch. Franchitti day was done and he put all the blame on Sato in his post-race interview.

Ryan Hunter-Reay resumed the race in position number one and that would prove to be his finish position until the race was called with five laps left.

The highlights of this race will be the call by INDYCAR race control to attempt to re-start the race with five laps to go. Rain brought out the yellow again with just under 20 laps to go in the Movethatblock.com225.

Coming off turn four on the re-start with five to go, Danica Patrick spun her tires and took out multiple cars. Among the cars, Will Power, Ed Carpenter, Takumo Sato, and Danica. The race was then red-flagged. About 15 minutes passed until the checkered was displayed and Ryan Hunter-Reay was declared the race winner.

What happened in between the red flag and the checkered flag is what will keep INDYCAR in the news for a few days.

Among the highlights of ABC’s coverage was Michael Andretti’s rant directly after the restart with five to go, with Michael being quoting

“This is the worst officiating I’ve ever seen, sorry Brian, but this was bad”

“You just don’t do that , it was wetter than when they threw the yellow earlier”

“Normally Brian does a great job, but this one, he really missed it”

Among the Will Power quotes after he flipped the double bird to race control while walking next to Penske President Tim Cindric (see picture)

“I was begging him, we were begging him, please don’t go green”

(On Brian Barnhardt) “ There is no use, he makes such bad calls all the time this is gonna be it, they can’t have this guy running the show , because this was his decision that put a lot of drivers in danger and you saw how many people crashed on the front straight and it was no condition to race in, shame on him.”

“I just can’t believe they make decisions like that, I mean what are those guys up there doing, I mean they have Al Unser Jr, he’s raced, he would never race in these conditions. So to me it was disgraceful.”

(On fines coming Power’s way) “Yeah I know I lost my temper , but it was bad of me to do that, I couldn’t help it, I was so emotional about it. We had such a good day and we begged them, begged them not to do it.”

In the end Ryan Hunter-Reay captured his first race win of 2011 and the third for Andretti Autosport. As Michael Andretti , CEO of Andretti Autosport said “ This is the third race winner of the season from our team and I just have to thank our sponsors for the decision they made this year” .

A very exciting race for INDYCAR and hopefully for T.V. ratings as well.

Zach Veach heads into Mid-Ohio with momentum and fans

Zach Veach heads into Mid-Ohio with momentum and fans


Andretti Autosport driver Zach Veach continues his USF2000 summer racing schedule with a stint on his home turf at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course this weekend. Veach, 16, joins the full “Mazda Road to Indy” developmental ladder system in support of the IZOD IndyCar Series’ headliner at the 50-year-old racing facility. Veach has also been a guest on IndyCar Garage Weekly and was featured as part of Andretti Autosport’s Road to Indy week on www.IndyCarGarage.com

“Our season started out great, we won the first race of the season, captured poles at Sebring and really have been focused on finishing as high as possible in each race.”

Veach sits currently second in the points championship, trailing Petri Suvanto by 17 points. Veach’s teammate, Spencer Pigot, sits one point behind in third.

“It’s a good and bad thing when your teammate is really fast, you can learn from each other, but also it makes you push harder and do your best. “

Veach enters his very first race at Mid-Ohio on the heels of two straight runner-up finishes at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis and at The Milwaukee Mile. The Zakosi Data Backup car No. 7 is now second in series points heading into the 13-turn 2.25 mi paved road course. Already this year, Veach has taken two race wins and three pole positions to capture the inaugural Cooper Tires presents the USF2000 Winterfest Championship. This season, he has earned three pole positions, a race win and five top-five finishes.

Mid-Ohio, a natural road course, while Veach’s home race, it’s not his preference of track. Veach prefers oval racing over road/street course racing.

“I’ve always felt more in tune on the ovals, it’s all about being smooth.”

“The USF2000 cars have little downforce so you have to almost throw the car around and get in through each turn (on road courses).”

Even though Veach’s prefers the ovals, it still will be special to race so close to home. Veach expects almost two dozen family members at this race, as well as a number of representatives from his new sponsor The Young Marines. This “home field” feel makes the 2011 Mid-Ohio all the more special to Veach, who places a strong value on family.

To follow Veach’s progress at the Mid-Ohio in Lexington, OH, live timing and scoring is available on www.usf2000timing.com or for more information, please visit www.ZachVeach.com or www.AndrettiAutosport.com.

NASCAR invades IMS... but with fewer fans..

NASCAR invades IMS…..but with fewer fans…

The 18th annual Brickyard 400 rolls out this Sunday for 160 laps of Sprint Cup racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. NASCAR’s first race at IMS took place in 1994 and won was by Indiana boy Jeff Gordon. From 1994 until 2007 the race played to a packed house of over 250,000 fans. The Brickyard 400 also helped finance the Indy Racing League, which split from CART in 1996. Some would say that the Brickyard 400 hurt IndyCar racing because fans could see the stars of NASCAR racing (Stewart, Gordon, and Earnhardt) at the famous 2.5 mile oval, while the stars of IndyCar racing didn’t come back to the 2.5 mile oval until the early 2000’s.

Then came 2008….

The tire debacle of 2008 happened when the NASCAR COT (Car of Tomorrow) literally tore the right rear tires off nearly ever car in the race. Drivers could barley last six laps without tires fading. Cautions were thrown every 10-12 laps and Jimmie Johnson won his second Brickyard 400 under a cloud of controversy.

If you also think back to 2008, it was the first season under unification after a nasty 12 year split in the open-wheel community. The IRL absorbed Champ Car after the 2007 season and IndyCar racing started to put back the pieces of what was left of their sport.

2008 also was the first year of the economy downturn and NASCAR was hit hard. Combined with the economy and the dislike of the COT in Sprint Cup racing, NASCAR started facing issues it hadn’t dealt with in nearly 25 years. Layoffs on all three national series, attendance issues and rating dips, all were non-factors in NASCAR’s massive popularity boom during the 1990’s and early 2000’s.

IndyCar racing, during the split years, went the direct opposite way of NASCAR. The IRL / Champ Car split lasted long enough to cripple open wheel, and in 2008 it barley resembled what it looked like in the early 1990’s.

Now, here we are, July of 2011 and NASCAR and IMS sit at major crossroads. No longer is the Brickyard 400 the highest attended race on the Sprint Cup schedule, which has been the Daytona 500 the last two years. Attendance and T.V. Ratings for the Brickyard 400 the past three years has been as followed:
2008 – 270,000 (5.1)
2009 – 180,000 (4.8)
2010 – 140,000 (4.2)
2011 – expected 100,000 (TBA)

No longer is the Brickyard 400 the anchor event at IMS, that is now reserved for the Indy 500, the way it was prior to the NASCAR invasion in 1994. While INDYCAR is still fighting for respectable T.V. Ratings and attendance everywhere, the Indy 500 appears to be headed back to where it was in the pre-split years. Attendance and T.V. Ratings for the Indy 500 the past years has been as followed:
2008 – 220,000 (4.5)
2009 – 230,000 (4.0)
2010 – 230,000 (3.6)
2011 – 300,000 (4.0)

Of course all attendance figures are estimated and IMS doesn’t release attendance figures for any of its events, so none of those numbers are official.

IMS already had major changes planned for 2012 and its “Super Weekend” for NASCAR. The Brickyard 400 will become the Crown Royal 400, and this will be announced this Thursday at 11:30 A.M. 2012 will also feature the first ever Nationwide (former Busch) Series race at IMS. The Nationwide Race will take place on Saturday and will cap a full-day of action at IMS. Sprint Cup qualifying and practice, Nationwide practice, qualifying and finally race will all take place the day before the Cup race in 2012. Also added to the 2012 slate will be the first ever Grand-Am race on the IMS road course. The expected three hour race will take place on the Friday before the Cup and Nationwide races. IMS crews are expected to work through the night to transition the road course into an oval ready track. But the real question what does this all mean?

Some of the attendance issues at the Brickyard 400 are related to over congestion of NASCAR racing in the mid-west. 18 years ago the only race within 200 miles of IMS was Michigan. Today, Chicago, Kentucky, and Michigan twice all feature Sprint Cup races. Take into account that Nationwide and Trucks race at mid-west tracks as well and you have a market that is full of tracks and races for fans to pick from. Another factor is that IMS is one of the few tracks that you can’t see every turn, combine that with NASCAR racing at IMS features little passing and often strung out follow the leader type racing.

According to reps from IMS, the relationship with NASCAR has never been better, and that was shown when their Sprint Cup points leader, Carl Edwards, and President Mike Helton were present for the 2012 Super Weekend announcement. NASCAR needs IMS now more than ever, that’s a big switch from the early 1990’s when IMS needed NASCAR for the IRL.

The underlying theme this weekend that not many NASCAR media will touch on is that the Indy 500 attendance from 2011 will literally blow the Sprint Cup attendance of the Brickyard 400 out of the water. It’s fair to say that NASCAR premiere race, the Daytona 500, blows the Indy 500 out of the water in terms of T.V. Ratings. It’s also fair to say that IndyCar racing has a long way to go before they even enter the same ballpark at NASCAR in terms of popularity, attendance, and T.V. ratings, but at least now INDYCAR is starting to defend their home turf.

Will Power cuts into Dario's Championship lead

Will Power cuts into Dario’s championship lead

Will Power won his 4th race of the 2011 IZOD IndyCar season at Edmonton. Power’s win cuts Dario Franchitti lead down to 38 points with seven races left, four of which are road/street courses, Power’s specialty. Helio Castroneves finished second, his best result of the season. Castroneves now sits 9th in the points championship. Franchitti rounded out the podium with a third place finish. Scott Dixon finished a distance 23rd place after being taken out by KV Racing’s E.J. Viso. Dixon trails his teammate, Franchitti, by over 106 points and unless major breakdowns occur, it is a two driver race for the championship.


Among the other highlights of the Edmonton Race:

Paul Tracy barley completed half a lap after nearly t-boning Graham Rahal. Rahal had a flat tire after Alex Tagliani crashed into the back of his Service Central machine.

Danica Patrick finished 9th , her second best finish on a road/street course this season

Ryan Hunter-Reay appeared to have a car to win, but unsuccessfully passed Takuma Sato and received a drive-through pentaly.

Attendance seemed strong, but according to Curt Cavin, the grandstands only held around 15,000.

Sebastien Bourdais finished 6th for Dale Coyne Racing, the team’s best finish of the season.