tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81613329602088997802024-03-19T06:01:19.887-04:00IndyCar GarageIndyCar Garage provides a free, online community for IndyCar Series fans to create member profiles, upload video and pictures and keep up with the latest news on the IndyCar Series.IndyCar Garagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11694309116840764941noreply@blogger.comBlogger303125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8161332960208899780.post-59015599612594435432012-06-11T11:50:00.001-04:002012-06-11T11:58:12.274-04:004 Reasons why INDYCAR needs to return to Texas Motor Speedway<b>Fort Worth Texas, </b><br />
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As I sit in a local bar in Fort Worth Texas the day after one of the most exciting races in recent IZOD IndyCar Series memory, the only thing that comes to mind about the past 48 hours is the news of Texas Motor Speedway not being on the 2013 INDYCAR Schedule. I have read the AP reports, IndyStar reports, and everyone else in between and below are my four conclusions on why INDYCAR should always be at Texas Motor Speedway in June. <br />
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<b>1. The safety issue is now an none issue after the aero changes. </b><br />
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The biggest concern for everyone involved in the IZOD IndyCar Series in returning to a 1.5 mile high banked oval was the concern of safety. Everyone within the racing community knows that IndyCars go very fast on the high banked ovals that were built for NASCAR. Everyone also knows that pack racing on those type of tracks finally caught up to INDYCAR with the tragedy of Dan Wheldon at Vegas in 2011. Those concerns should have been eased if not erased with the spread out type racing that we saw at Texas Motor Speedway. Drivers were forced to lift off the throttle and the race literally turned into survival of the best drivers and cars. Three different wrecks took place , and all were single car incidents that came from handling issues. The pack racing situations of previous 1.5 mile ovals were non existent last night. The race we witnessed last night was not only safe, but eased concerns of pack racing still being alive in IndyCar style racing. With pack racing being eliminated, there is no reason IndyCars can't race at tracks like TMS. <br />
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<b>2. Attendance on Ovals </b><br />
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Texas Motor Speedway holds over 140,000 seats and if you count the suites and Texas Motor Speedway Club, the number swells to over 175,000. Per reports from ESPN, attendance last night was right around 70,000. Attendance in 2011 was 73,000. TMS used to draw between 90k - 100k, based off weather and other factors. So my question would be and maybe this is to obvious, why would you throw away an oval that hosted 24 straight INDYCAR races and is the second best attended oval and sometimes best race of the entire season. If you look at recent INDYCAR ovals, the break down of most recent attendance can be seen by the following comparison. The ovals that remain on the 2012 schedule have drawn the following numbers based off 2011, Iowa (35K), Milwaukee ,(15K) Indy (250K) , and California is unknown. Lets look back at recently dropped ovals from the INDYCAR schedule and their attendance. Kansas in 2010 was just north of 25K, Kentucky in 2011 was close to 20K, Chicagoland in 2010 was right around 25k, Loudon in a one year deal in 2011 was just under 30k. If you go back further to the days of Nashville, Michigan, and Homestead your not going to find an oval that draws even close to 50K. The answer is very easy, Indy is the best attended oval and Texas is second and continues to be. Texas looks thin on TV because of the massive grandstands, but considering the other ovals on the INDYCAR schedule, it's a well attended event. <br />
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<b>3. Three different markets can work in the BIG state of TEXAS </b><br />
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In theory you take away Texas Motor Speedway and add what? INDYCAR needs oval races, and the last time they had only five ovals, the year was 1996 and they only had three. INDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard already announced a street course race in Houston for 2013, ok great, but not a game changer. Bernard also claims there is tremendous interest from the new F1 track in Austin, once again, that's great but I would love to know how many people from Houston and Austin travel to the Dallas/Fort Worth metro plex for IndyCar racing. My point is that INDYCAR draws fans to IndyCar racing at TMS by attracting die-hard fans that are loyal to TMS and racing in general. I guarantee you that half if not 2/3s of the crowd at TMS are NASCAR fans at heart but come to the IndyCar race because its just another reason to get out to the Great American Speedway and enjoy some racing. So INDYCAR, keep a huge market of NASCAR cross-over fans on your schedule in Dallas/Fort Worth. Then add the Houston and Austin races because your not going to see fans travel down to Houston or Austin for twisty style racing when the markets are totally different. Back to the point of dropping TMS and adding what? Two more twisty races? Let's look at the comparison of twisty races to oval races in 2012, 11 twisty and 5 ovals. So of Bernard's 5 ovals he has, he wants to throw his 2nd best attended oval out the door over what? Not safety, but point number four below is probably the main reason Texas Motor Speedway is on the chopping block. <br />
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<b>4. The sanctioning fee </b><br />
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From information I have gathered and read in various reports, INDYCAR typically charges around 1.5 million for a sanctioning fee at venues it hold races at. Throughout the past years, sanctioning fees have changed based off demand of the event. The Brazil race probably is higher than 1.5 and China was rumored at around 8 million until reports of it being canceled have came to light. Baltimore was reported around 2.25 million in 2011, and I've heard that Michael Andretti and his marketing team didn't have to pay a sanctioning fee this year for Milwaukee. Regardless, the base line sanctioning fee is a ball park of 1.5 million to host an INDYCAR race. Just for comparison sake, NASCAR Nationwide racing charges around 750K per race. There is allot of reasons behind sanctioning fees, and NASCAR gets allot of help from their TV partners (FOX, ESPN, TNT) while INDYCAR is lucky to have a TV deal that pays. NASCAR can afford to charge less for sanctioning fees because the TV partners are a bigger help to the series. Back to the sticking point of INDYCAR and TMS, most likely Eddie Gossage and his team don't want to pay 1.5 million to host a INDYCAR race. Eddie probably believes that a number of 750K to 1 million is more reasonable. Because lets not forget that the Nationwide Series was off this past weekend and could easily fill the bill as the Saturday Night headliner instead of INDYCAR. I know that Nationwide races twice at TMS (Spring & Fall) but NASCAR could easily adjust that to Nationwide being a headliner on Saturday Night of this past weekend and turning their spring event into a Trucks on Friday Night and Sprint Cup on Saturday Night. <br />
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To conclude, INDYCAR needs Texas Motor Speedway to stay on the schedule long term. Eliminating Texas from the schedule would be a big mistake by Bernard. Hopefully a quick solution can be found and the doubts of IndyCars not returning to TMS are put to rest.<br />
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<br />IndyCar Garagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11694309116840764941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8161332960208899780.post-9168700121612874492012-06-08T20:01:00.001-04:002012-06-08T20:01:36.691-04:00Texas Day 1 Recap w/ IndyCarGarage<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/B4KxUzzI-6E" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>IndyCar Garagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11694309116840764941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8161332960208899780.post-71048814359388468902012-05-22T11:43:00.002-04:002012-05-22T11:46:59.663-04:0096th running of the Indy 500<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdb2OWbrSvKuOPAuKGUhoFuk_6-819hdtnLFugQV74Mcv7E62VRVASpiMVHmpvYW-00rZ4S4_iPQEuyHoh5iN-K8rT6evEchhmzlScPIl8ESB8KmoYNXzSxP3fEBx5Grdi98Gl5rswnstm/s1600/Logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdb2OWbrSvKuOPAuKGUhoFuk_6-819hdtnLFugQV74Mcv7E62VRVASpiMVHmpvYW-00rZ4S4_iPQEuyHoh5iN-K8rT6evEchhmzlScPIl8ESB8KmoYNXzSxP3fEBx5Grdi98Gl5rswnstm/s400/Logo.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong><u>96<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> Running of the Indy 500</u></strong><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The 96<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> running of the Indy 500 will be run this
Sunday at 12 EST (12:12 green flag) on ABC, with pre-race starting an hour
earlier at 11A.M. In the first year of the post-centennial era, the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway has experienced a wealth of storylines over the
past two weeks. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>IndyCar Garage breaks
down what to watch going into Sunday’s race. </span></div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> 1.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Can Honda keep with up Chevy? <o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Chevy engines are back in the IZOD IndyCar
Series for the first time since 2005 and have dominated the first part of the
2012 season and the speed charts at IMS this may. Chevy won the first four
races of the season, put eight of the nine cars in the fast nine shoot out on
pole day, and has captured all five poles (without counting the LB engine switches)
in 2012. That leaves Honda scrambling to figure out their engine program
heading into the biggest race of the season. With two time Indy 500 winner
Dario Franchitti and 2008 winner Scott Dixon starting 15<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> and 16<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup>
and serving as the top Honda drivers anything is possible, but it appears that
Chevy headed to their first Indy 500 victory since 2002 with Helio Castroneves.
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Will we see a new 1<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">st</span></sup> time
winner this yr? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The last time the Indy 500 had a first time
winner, was in 2008 when Scott Dixon won. 2009 brought us Helio’s 3<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">rd</span></sup>,
2010 was Dario’s 2<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">nd</span></sup> and 2011 was Dan Wheldon’s 2<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">nd</span></sup>. From
a fans perspective, a new Indy 500 winner would be great for the series and the
event. With only three former champions in this year’s race, it’s a far cry
from the early 1990’s when the Indy 500 featured 8 – 10 former winners on a
year to year basis. An American hasn’t <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>drank the milk since 2006, so with the likes
of Marco Andretti, Graham Rahal, J.R. Hildebrand, Josef Newgarden, Charlie
Kimball, Ed Carpenter, Townsend Bell, Bryan Clauson, and Ed Carpenter all
searching for their first Indy 500 victory, we could be looking at an American
in victory lane. </span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The debut of the DW12 on super speed way<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The new generation of IndyCars named after
the late Dan Wheldon will debut on their first of the season in the biggest
race of the 2012 IZOD IndyCar season. After hearing driver’s quotes and
comments from the past week, anything is possible for the type of racing on Sunday.
The most common theory of how the racing could be is based on the difference in
cars from 2011 to 2012. The DW12 creates a big hole of clean air for trailing
cars to draft in and pick up a tow much further back than the IR07 (the 2011
IndyCar). Will Power was quoted earlier in the week as saying, we could see a
version of Indy 500 pack racing, where groups of cars will be within split
seconds of one another. However the racing turns out, the DW12 has already been
tested over qualification weekend by Ed Carpenter, Bryan Clauson, Charlie
Kimball, and Oriol Servia. Each of those drivers made contact with the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>safer barrior and tested the impacts of the
new Dallara chassis. Early results seem positive, but as all fans remember from
Vegas, preventing these cars from going air born in major collisions will be
what all eyes will be watching Sunday. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiizG4AnShZkbF8QtMsd8CWhXEfelB9JKHl6z78wW57CzyuJJ5jFURkesicrwRM0oNzeSwyrzliEoWchCIdlXNgEjBAgyaumiPrhyZbb0WOrmpXxcErsjF_E1Irbpkx2nT3Ld2q-WDOZT7r/s1600/Wheldon+Indy+500+Ticket.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiizG4AnShZkbF8QtMsd8CWhXEfelB9JKHl6z78wW57CzyuJJ5jFURkesicrwRM0oNzeSwyrzliEoWchCIdlXNgEjBAgyaumiPrhyZbb0WOrmpXxcErsjF_E1Irbpkx2nT3Ld2q-WDOZT7r/s320/Wheldon+Indy+500+Ticket.jpg" width="202" /></a></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Will the weather impact the racing
conditions on Sunday? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The forecast calls for a 0% chance of rain
on Sunday and a high of 96. The track will obviously be hotter than the air
temperature and that should lead to slippery conditions on track. With most of
the rubber on the track still grooved in from last week and no rain in the
forecast until after rain day. Fresh tires could be at a premium<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sunday, expect wrecks in the corners and the
type of crashes that Bryan Clauson, Ed Carpenter, and Charlie Kimball
experienced over qualification weekend. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Who is the favorite? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When you start to think of who can win the
96<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> Indy 500, its realistic to think that any of the 31 cars
powered by Honda or Chevy could be around at the end. Driver skill and team
elements will come into factor and that’s where the lists gets reduced to
around 10-15 drivers. Briscoe, Helio, and Power are all listed as the favorites
in Vegas. Close behind on Dario and Dixon, with the Andretti bunch of Marco,
Hinch, and Hunter-Reay all in the mix. If you include Rahal, Carpenter,
Hildebrand, TK, Tagliani, Justin Wilson, and rookie Josef Newgarden that brings
the list up to 15 of the 33 drivers in the field. I would be very surprised if
one of the drivers listed above isn’t in victory lane on Sunday. </span></div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">6.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Indy 500 Predictions <o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
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<strong><em><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2012 Indy 500 Champion : Ryan Hunter-Reay</span></span></em></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">2<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">nd</span></sup> place: Will Power</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">3<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">rd</span></sup> place: Marco Andretti </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">4<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> place: Josef Newgarden</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">5<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> place: Helio Castroneves </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">ROY: Josef New Garden </span></div>
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<br /></div>IndyCar Garagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11694309116840764941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8161332960208899780.post-30110899360625236022012-05-08T11:37:00.001-04:002012-05-08T11:37:06.750-04:002012 Indy 500 Pace Car - pic III<div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPLUpx21-2Bb8MLcc2ZGO7JZcRBboRGHucFk-FJVfnSYZMkFGGPH8ZXVa-q7aamunvB8VsudyYEvKgrdtdNL7SiR_1ybDuyJCom6Xhnpwg1dHV58l9XnyPwf-rA9CpusrZFPC4LQbxyRr7/s640/blogger-image--462039322.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPLUpx21-2Bb8MLcc2ZGO7JZcRBboRGHucFk-FJVfnSYZMkFGGPH8ZXVa-q7aamunvB8VsudyYEvKgrdtdNL7SiR_1ybDuyJCom6Xhnpwg1dHV58l9XnyPwf-rA9CpusrZFPC4LQbxyRr7/s640/blogger-image--462039322.jpg" /></a></div>IndyCar Garagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11694309116840764941noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8161332960208899780.post-12987250691790797092012-05-08T11:36:00.001-04:002012-05-08T11:36:17.888-04:002012 Indy 500 Pace car - pic II<div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiewygsSkA_BFczMM5___RZcwUVgJuodss6QnF0A2LVcT1OKwuu-movgBxdiKxgVXhKPx9-arL6wVJY2KBljCukhIWIU4LRfXdZFg3OLkJjS6DCWFHv5_bLe8HvhO-iaWz2-JCrGR3e5afe/s640/blogger-image--251692245.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiewygsSkA_BFczMM5___RZcwUVgJuodss6QnF0A2LVcT1OKwuu-movgBxdiKxgVXhKPx9-arL6wVJY2KBljCukhIWIU4LRfXdZFg3OLkJjS6DCWFHv5_bLe8HvhO-iaWz2-JCrGR3e5afe/s640/blogger-image--251692245.jpg" /></a></div>IndyCar Garagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11694309116840764941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8161332960208899780.post-20051253485165349172012-05-08T11:21:00.001-04:002012-05-08T11:21:55.291-04:002012 Indy 500 Pace Car<div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFg_cu7kvd1IC9GWxmLadrgg0uxzRgYF0b8QSWdwIn2bIXflemgQjarXB1wh5lBlCEhyphenhyphenD294XSlH6gZxBkgaWC2rH85SC8j0l4CtcFXzNTKDNTkonMy5jSAHng2zqmLCp-_S5aVXAQaoat/s640/blogger-image-1128358842.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFg_cu7kvd1IC9GWxmLadrgg0uxzRgYF0b8QSWdwIn2bIXflemgQjarXB1wh5lBlCEhyphenhyphenD294XSlH6gZxBkgaWC2rH85SC8j0l4CtcFXzNTKDNTkonMy5jSAHng2zqmLCp-_S5aVXAQaoat/s640/blogger-image-1128358842.jpg" /></a></div>IndyCar Garagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11694309116840764941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8161332960208899780.post-16364078859816809902012-03-06T11:44:00.001-05:002012-03-06T11:44:11.051-05:002012 Indy 500 ticket featuring Dan Wheldon2005 & 2011 Indy 500 winner , the late Dan Wheldon <div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN3VB8ctKGniH_wxoG9SHuwqlYdKGyetCEo0HJSgqL0RgDYMH8fe9ro-rnIMGF6ycF0bBksjdwXAJCIumDxRb84jA0CrIBUAa_YyStyBT0CM6oQXvi-NVr4TSrWGQa7_KD7W4pIVQX0GIe/s640/blogger-image--1764303898.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN3VB8ctKGniH_wxoG9SHuwqlYdKGyetCEo0HJSgqL0RgDYMH8fe9ro-rnIMGF6ycF0bBksjdwXAJCIumDxRb84jA0CrIBUAa_YyStyBT0CM6oQXvi-NVr4TSrWGQa7_KD7W4pIVQX0GIe/s640/blogger-image--1764303898.jpg" /></a></div>IndyCar Garagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11694309116840764941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8161332960208899780.post-62031745215273262792012-02-22T11:12:00.002-05:002012-02-22T11:19:50.277-05:00Will Power new lookThe 2010 & 2011 IZOD Indycar runner-up<div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy4jN3LsfABLiwUFhe8iu5NldDcxMZzRpfih1Uo8oFx9pUj_JTEH0ANWfJzTg0WFh-P84VrINs6itiDjXFKQvj-pI4o_M65YdISkuEBvLxfVOzvERrPK3zR10kwvf8iaOgP2qp6iB_yLuE/s640/blogger-image-1881053593.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy4jN3LsfABLiwUFhe8iu5NldDcxMZzRpfih1Uo8oFx9pUj_JTEH0ANWfJzTg0WFh-P84VrINs6itiDjXFKQvj-pI4o_M65YdISkuEBvLxfVOzvERrPK3zR10kwvf8iaOgP2qp6iB_yLuE/s640/blogger-image-1881053593.jpg" /></a></div>IndyCar Garagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11694309116840764941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8161332960208899780.post-7041042982740910322012-02-21T11:20:00.003-05:002012-02-22T11:22:56.130-05:00Cheers!Cheers!<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/#!/FuzzysVodka">Ed Carpenter Racing on twitter </a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/#!/FuzzysVodka">Fuzzys Vodka on twitter </a><br />
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Previously Lindy had worked for VERSUS (Now NBC Sports) and local Indianapolis TV Station WTHR.<div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgad_0iOqezV4os0zc52FnykgMW9ZGX80XzBPeK64-YUjcoPjYLxQj3U7MGIAgwymbq31YEzzUDJAzVSFDqAsUhBzp-s5JqU2kD0ZOVjAP3i77c3GBJwCX189NfmWl4WvbsiiTzpS8MVyLm/s640/blogger-image-1658751588.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgad_0iOqezV4os0zc52FnykgMW9ZGX80XzBPeK64-YUjcoPjYLxQj3U7MGIAgwymbq31YEzzUDJAzVSFDqAsUhBzp-s5JqU2kD0ZOVjAP3i77c3GBJwCX189NfmWl4WvbsiiTzpS8MVyLm/s640/blogger-image-1658751588.jpg" /></a></div>IndyCar Garagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11694309116840764941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8161332960208899780.post-32847107177059175602012-01-10T11:59:00.003-05:002012-01-10T12:02:22.508-05:00Driver lineup for 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series starting to take shape<strong>Driver lineup for 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series starting to take shape</strong><br /><br /><strong>Team – Andretti Autosport – Chevy engines<br /></strong>Drivers – Marco Andretti, Ryan Hunter- Reay , James Hinchcliffe , 4th – TBA<br /><br /><strong>Team – Ganassi Racing – Honda Engines<br /></strong>Drivers – Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti, Graham Rahal, Charlie Kimball<br /><br /><strong>Team – Penske – Chevy Engines<br /></strong>Drivers – Will Power , Helio Castroneves, Ryan Briscoe<br /><br /><strong>Team – KV Racing – Chevy Engines</strong><br />Drivers – Tony Kanaan, 2nd – Rumored to be E.J. Viso , 3rd – TBA<br /><br /><strong>Team – A.J. Foyt Racing – Honda Engines</strong><br />Drivers – Mike Conway , possibly 2nd car TBA<br /><strong><br />Team – Panther Racing – Chevy engines</strong>Drivers – J.R. Hildebrand, possibly 2nd car TBA (rumored to be Tomas Sheckter)<br /><strong><br />Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing – TBA Engine</strong><br />Driver – Josef NewGarden<br /><br /><strong>Dale Coyne Racing – TBA Engine</strong><br />Drivers – Justin Wilson, 2nd –TBA (rumored to be James Jakes)<br /><br /><strong>HVM Racing – Lotus Engine</strong><br />Drivers – Simona De Silvestro, 2nd car TBA<br /><br /><strong>Dreyer & Reinbold Racing – Lotus Engine</strong><br />Drivers – Oriol Servia , 2nd car TBA (rumored to be Katherine Legge)<br /><br /><strong>Bryan Herta Autosport – Lotus Engine</strong><br />Driver – Alex Tagliani<br /><br /><strong>Sam Schmidt Motorsports – Honda Engine</strong><br />Drivers – Simon Pagenaud, 2nd car TBA<br /><br /><strong>Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan Racing – Honda Engine</strong><br />Drivers – Nothing confirmed, rumors include Takumo Sato, Jay Howard, and Bertrand Baquette<br /><br /><strong>Ed Carpenter Racing – Engine TBA</strong><br />Driver – Ed Carpenter<br /><br /><strong>Michael Shank Racing – Lotus Engine</strong><br />Driver – TBA (prefer a veteran)<br /><br /><strong>Dragon Racing – Engine TBA</strong><br />Driver – TBA<br /><br /><strong>Conquest Racing – Engine TBA</strong><br />Driver – TBA<br /><br /><strong>Drivers in the mix for FT rides in 2012 </strong>– 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,<br /><br /><strong>Possible Indy 500 one off drivers<br /> (Note all drivers listed in the mix for FT would count as Indy 500 1 offs)</strong> John Andretti, Davey Hamilton, Jean Alesi, Danica Patrick, Kasey Kahne, Buddy Rice,IndyCar Garagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11694309116840764941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8161332960208899780.post-55859504326191877182011-12-08T10:48:00.001-05:002011-12-08T10:56:55.828-05:00Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing future is bright<div>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.</div><div><br />
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.</div><div><br />
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.</div><div><br />
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.</div><div><br />
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.<br />
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.</div><div><br />
Continue to follow <a href="http://www.IndyCarGarage.com">www.IndyCarGarage.com</a> for updates on Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing and complete coverage of the IZOD IndyCar Series.</div>IndyCar Garagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11694309116840764941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8161332960208899780.post-22136663748310709302011-12-06T11:29:00.003-05:002011-12-06T11:46:02.940-05:00Sarah Fisher Racing Press Conference Tomorrow<div>Sarah Fisher Racing will have a press conference tomorrow at 2 p.m. at the Indianapolis<br />
Motor Speedway on their 2012 plans. It's widely rumored that 2011 Indy Lights Champion<br />
Josef Newgarden will use his partial sponsorship from winning the Lights Championship and become the full-time driver for SFR in 2012.<br />
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SFR also could be announcing their engine partner tomorrow as well. They have been rumored for Honda for awhile.<br />
<br />
<br />
Newgarden tweeted late Tuesday night that he was headed to Indy the following day,<br />
<br />
<em><strong>"Only one thing I like more than an empty airport, and that's an empty plane! Flying out to Dallas. Back in Indy tomorrow."<br />
</strong></em><br />
<br />
Stay tuned for more developments on SFR announcements and the location of their new race shop.<br />
<br />
The announcment will be streamed live on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway network, through <a href="http://www.IndianapolisMotorSpeedway.com">www.IndianapolisMotorSpeedway.com</a></div><div> </div>IndyCar Garagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11694309116840764941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8161332960208899780.post-23193017928057720362011-08-14T19:17:00.003-04:002011-08-14T19:27:50.119-04:00Hunter-Reay wins at Loudon and Power flashes the double bird!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCMUKnh8T1b_d-7r-ptf-Wze419aQkf7wItFIygyRr7rpDo-jdCO-9WJdVq7s6rEYhcyPmAcJzTX27gkocN5MDmOcL-SZ4ov2CGLAmTXDWUB8Y7jpBHXQv87Q0HbBPA0X8arG_rT17JEN2/s1600/Power+NH.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 299px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5640856430963202722" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCMUKnh8T1b_d-7r-ptf-Wze419aQkf7wItFIygyRr7rpDo-jdCO-9WJdVq7s6rEYhcyPmAcJzTX27gkocN5MDmOcL-SZ4ov2CGLAmTXDWUB8Y7jpBHXQv87Q0HbBPA0X8arG_rT17JEN2/s400/Power+NH.jpg" /></a>
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<br /><div><strong></strong></div>
<br />
<br /><div><strong>Hunter-Reay wins at Loudon and Power flashes the double bird!
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<br />INDYCAR returned to their small bull-ring ovals at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and it was anything but dual.
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<br />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.
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<br />Dario continued to dominate the race until light rain brought out the caution.
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<br />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.
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<br />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.
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<br />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.
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<br />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.
<br />
<br />What happened in between the red flag and the checkered flag is what will keep INDYCAR in the news for a few days.
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<br />Among the highlights of ABC’s coverage was Michael Andretti’s rant directly after the restart with five to go, with Michael being quoting
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<br /><strong><em>“This is the worst officiating I’ve ever seen, sorry Brian, but this was bad”
<br /></em></strong>
<br /><strong><em>“You just don’t do that , it was wetter than when they threw the yellow earlier”
<br /></em></strong>
<br /><strong><em>“Normally Brian does a great job, but this one, he really missed it”
<br /></em></strong>
<br />Among the Will Power quotes after he flipped the double bird to race control while walking next to Penske President Tim Cindric (see picture)
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<br /><strong><em>“I was begging him, we were begging him, please don’t go green”
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<br />(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.”
<br /></em></strong>
<br /><strong><em>“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.”
<br /></em></strong>
<br /><strong><em>(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.”
<br /></em></strong>
<br />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” .
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<br />A very exciting race for INDYCAR and hopefully for T.V. ratings as well. </div>
<br />IndyCar Garagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11694309116840764941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8161332960208899780.post-76339490403078434302011-08-05T16:14:00.005-04:002011-08-05T17:50:20.755-04:00Zach Veach heads into Mid-Ohio with momentum and fans<strong>Zach Veach heads into Mid-Ohio with momentum and fans</strong><br /><iframe height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/l7hBUwY_QoA" frameborder="0" width="425" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br /><br />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 <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/indycargarage-weekly-/2011/01/26/indycar-garage-weekly--january-25th">IndyCar Garage Weekly </a>and was featured as part of <a href="http://www.indycargarage.com/forum/topics/andretti-autosport-mazda-road">Andretti Autosport’s Road to Indy week </a>on <a href="http://www.indycargarage.com/">www.IndyCarGarage.com</a><br /><br />“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.”<br /><br />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.<br /><br />“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. “<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />“I’ve always felt more in tune on the ovals, it’s all about being smooth.”<br /><br />“The USF2000 cars have little downforce so you have to almost throw the car around and get in through each turn (on road courses).”<br /><br />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.<br /><br />To follow Veach’s progress at the Mid-Ohio in Lexington, OH, live timing and scoring is available on <a href="http://www.usf2000timing.com/">www.usf2000timing.com</a> or for more information, please visit <a href="http://www.zachveach.com/">www.ZachVeach.com</a> or <a href="http://www.andrettiautosport.com/">www.AndrettiAutosport.com</a>.IndyCar Garagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11694309116840764941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8161332960208899780.post-57964433804616372652011-07-25T21:37:00.004-04:002011-07-26T05:50:28.731-04:00NASCAR invades IMS... but with fewer fans..<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3vjs63L_WFBNOikET3G17a8O-eZM7v95FDgCyG-EqfgbKBqPw6q5KD33I5tGGBQ2r7nqq-X5ZbYfPpwI_NfpNyTsqTc99asjMQGEkSYYrnaLqKsORmv565gAmIa-zHE_7BigJA8CnNEXE/s1600/brickyard400_2011.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 132px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3vjs63L_WFBNOikET3G17a8O-eZM7v95FDgCyG-EqfgbKBqPw6q5KD33I5tGGBQ2r7nqq-X5ZbYfPpwI_NfpNyTsqTc99asjMQGEkSYYrnaLqKsORmv565gAmIa-zHE_7BigJA8CnNEXE/s320/brickyard400_2011.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5633469478634770610" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">NASCAR invades IMS…..but with fewer fans…</span><br /><br />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.<br /><br />Then came 2008….<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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:<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2008 – 270,000 (5.1)</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2009 – 180,000 (4.8)</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2010 – 140,000 (4.2)</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2011 – expected 100,000 (TBA)</span><br /><br />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:<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2008 – 220,000 (4.5)</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2009 – 230,000 (4.0)</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2010 – 230,000 (3.6)</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2011 – 300,000 (4.0)</span><br /><br />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.<br /><br />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?<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkV1I-9j98uJaFsmxeVjAu7Pzq1aecRBlNeMpZ3oo4JpReGjBp2hzMfJ4rNQCtXEHFJqVgJuc5QtZLtsDTju-N6xqVzxnkkH_1ZGPfQC2DGkozPuCbd_D3IyNtItPThbN7dkDBO07ZkArc/s1600/2012_IMS_Helton_large.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkV1I-9j98uJaFsmxeVjAu7Pzq1aecRBlNeMpZ3oo4JpReGjBp2hzMfJ4rNQCtXEHFJqVgJuc5QtZLtsDTju-N6xqVzxnkkH_1ZGPfQC2DGkozPuCbd_D3IyNtItPThbN7dkDBO07ZkArc/s320/2012_IMS_Helton_large.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5633469477453758738" border="0" /></a><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.IndyCar Garagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11694309116840764941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8161332960208899780.post-74907627811675354792011-07-25T10:39:00.000-04:002011-07-25T10:40:45.568-04:00Will Power cuts into Dario's Championship lead<span style="font-weight: bold;">Will Power cuts into Dario’s championship lead</span><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Among the other highlights of the Edmonton Race:</span><br /><br />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.<br /><br />Danica Patrick finished 9th , her second best finish on a road/street course this season<br /><br />Ryan Hunter-Reay appeared to have a car to win, but unsuccessfully passed Takuma Sato and received a drive-through pentaly.<br /><br />Attendance seemed strong, but according to Curt Cavin, the grandstands only held around 15,000.<br /><br />Sebastien Bourdais finished 6th for Dale Coyne Racing, the team’s best finish of the season.<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/q-DxCzBZNpo" allowfullscreen="" width="560" frameborder="0" height="349"></iframe>IndyCar Garagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11694309116840764941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8161332960208899780.post-90937240548513159562011-07-22T12:53:00.003-04:002011-07-22T13:03:12.156-04:00Edmonton Race Preview & Predictions<span style="font-weight: bold;">Edmonton Race Preview and Predictions </span><br /><br />INDYCAR makes their second trip to Canada this weekend for airport/street race in Edmonton. The IZOD IndyCar Series has lots of drama heading into this weekend’s race and IndyCar Garage breaks down the storylines to watch and predicts who could be in victory lane on Sunday afternoon.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />1.Dario vs Power part II</span><br /><br />Dario Franchitti captured his fourth victory of the 2011 season at Toronto and increased his championship lead over Will Power to 55 points, but not without plenty of drama. Franchitti spun Power out in Toronto on lap 57, and Power eventually recorded another DNF a short time later when Alex Tagliani made contact with Power’s Verizon car. Power was visually and emotionally upset after the race and his displeasure with Franchitti has hardly faded away. Power has been a master in qualifying this year on road/street courses, capturing every pole on the non-ovals. Can Power capture his 6th pole of the season? Can Power cut into Dario’s championship lead? Keep an eye on the #12 Verizon IndyCar and the #10 Target IndyCar.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2. Edmonton Race layout changes<br /></span><br />Edmonton has been modified to a 2.24 mile 13 turn circuit, which will feature three major passing zones and two long straights. (See virtual lap below). The new layout should benefit all drivers as none of the current IZOD IndyCar drivers have driven on this layout, nor do their teams have setup packages for it. Look for lots of passing and contact with double file restarts.<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4xF8MjfOs18" allowfullscreen="" width="560" frameborder="0" height="349"></iframe><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />3. Helio’s one year anniversary</span><br /><br />A year ago at Edmonton (under the old layout), Helio Castroneves made a late race block on Will Power that allowed Scott Dixon to pass Power. Helio was penalized by race control for blocking and refused to serve his drive-through penalty. Dixon won the race by not even leading a lap. What happened after Helio got out of his car was seen across the nation for several days. Helio went on a rampage that included grabbing INDYCAR’s Charles Burns, who is the head of INDYCAR security. Helio eventually calmed down after Tim Cindric stepped in. Helio was fined 50k by INDYCAR. Helio’s 2011 has been the worst season in his INDYCAR career, no wins, four top 10’s and just one top five. Helio is arguably the second most popular driver in the IZOD IndyCar Series and masterful driver at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but those factors are hardly overshadowing his struggles in 2011. Helio would love nothing more than to capture his first win of 2011 at the site of his most embarrassing moment of 2010.<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1e-J6LWropo" allowfullscreen="" width="560" frameborder="0" height="349"></iframe><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">4. Rumors around INDYCAR</span><br /><br />Several rumors are circulating around the INDYCAR paddock, good and bad. First, Danica Patrick appears to be headed to full-time NASCAR in 2012. Robin Miller of SpeedTV reported last week in his weekly mailbag that Patrick will be full-time Nationwide, part-time Sprint Cup, and one-off Indy 500 participate next season. Miller’s mailbag response was followed up the last few days with ESPN.com NASCAR reporter David Newtown responding to a question in his chat about Danica. The question and answer is below:<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Q - Have you heard anything more about Danica's decision? If she comes to NASCAR will she be with JR Motorsports?<br />A - Still working through details, but she'll be in NASCAR next year, JR Motorsports fulltime in Cup and seven Cup races likely . . . perhaps Stewart-Haas.</span><br />Other news and rumblings around the INDYCAR paddock circle around the Las Vegas season ending race. The five million challenge for any non-INDYCAR driver to participate against INDYCAR’s regulars is starting to come into focus. Travis Pastrana, who is a former X-Game star and current part-time Nationwide driver, has publicly said he wants to try IndyCar racing, and INDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard has stated he is optimistic that Pastrana could be at the season finale. Sports Car driver Joey Hand, one time INDYCAR winner Airton Dare, NASCAR Cup driver Kasey Kahne, and former INDYCAR Alex Zandari are also among the many names that have been rumored as possibly participates.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />5. Predications for Sunday’s race on VERSUS at 2 p.m. EST. </span><br /><br />Firestone Fast Six: Will Power, Scott Dixon, Oriol Servia, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dario Franchitti, Helio Castroneves<br /><br />Indy Lights Winner: Josef Newgarden<br /><br />IZOD IndyCar Series top three finishers:<br />1. Oriol Servia<br />2. Will Power<br />3. Helio CastronevesIndyCar Garagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11694309116840764941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8161332960208899780.post-816678319602190542011-07-19T11:42:00.004-04:002011-07-19T11:43:12.033-04:00Dallara Building update with Stefano de PontiTyler Carmichael of www.IndyCarGarage.com talked with Stefano de Ponti about the new Dallara building that will build the next generation of INDYCAR's. Watch below: <br /><br /><iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5Rn6H5Qh_8Y" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>IndyCar Garagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11694309116840764941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8161332960208899780.post-88941385070974379582011-07-08T12:58:00.001-04:002011-07-08T12:59:36.768-04:00A virtual lap of Toronto<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XyB_kyzWHaw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>IndyCar Garagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11694309116840764941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8161332960208899780.post-11081310924422415002011-07-08T10:57:00.002-04:002011-07-08T11:03:00.023-04:00Toronto Preview & Predications<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-HoKKObDkTK0yr0qd6VEAH04_IReO2YuHrWefM_OKZvfeY8JbK3A9lrtDwyE84fZSxu92dnGZ_FHtAItqKUJEKeIJHwXa1yGgfBi7IHH4ssHrLs3LUAKW2Usn1hcS80UbjWraOVv6OXLX/s1600/Iowa_IndyCar_Quals_Power.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 226px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 332px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5626996202601835778" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-HoKKObDkTK0yr0qd6VEAH04_IReO2YuHrWefM_OKZvfeY8JbK3A9lrtDwyE84fZSxu92dnGZ_FHtAItqKUJEKeIJHwXa1yGgfBi7IHH4ssHrLs3LUAKW2Usn1hcS80UbjWraOVv6OXLX/s400/Iowa_IndyCar_Quals_Power.jpg" /></a> (Can Will Power repeat as race winner?)<br /><br /><div><strong>Toronto Preview and Predications<br /></strong><br />INDYCAR travels north to Canada for the first of two races in July, both being held in the homeland of Alex Tagliani, James Hinchcliffe, and Paul Tracy. Toronto is the 9th round of the championship and signals the halfway point of schedule. IndyCar Garage breaks down the story lines to watch heading into the weekend.<br /><br /><strong>1. Back to the right turns </strong><br />The Honda Indy Toronto kicks off a stretch of three straight road/street courses and six of the next seven races will be non-ovals. Team Penske driver Will Power couldn’t be happier as his strength and background is non-oval racing. Power currently sits second in the point’s championship and trails leader Dario Franchitti by 20 points. This next stretch of races will have some drivers screaming that they hate road/street courses and others like Power smiling from ear to ear.<br /><br /><strong>2. Paul Tracy and Sebastien Bourdais return<br /></strong>Two long-time rivals will be back on a track that they both have taken the checkered flag at. Paul Tracy and Sebastien Bourdais will return to the IZOD IndyCar Series with Tracy driving for Dragon Racing, and Bourdais back with Dale Coyne Racing. Both drivers are not behind the wheel of power-house teams, but both bring a fierce desire to win and be successful. Bourdais and Tracy are tied for 7th all-time in the INDYCAR record book with 31 wins a piece. Tracy won at Toronto in 1993 and 2003, and if he could win this weekend it would be his third win at a track in as many decades. Bourdais who captured four straight Champ-Car championships, won in 2004 the year of his first championship. Keep an eye on both drivers at they continue their storied INDYCAR careers.<br /><br /><strong>3. A Sunday afternoon time slot that is prime for a good T.V. Rating </strong><br />Everyone who follows INDYCAR knows that T.V. ratings are struggling, especially on VERSUS. Yes, in due to credit, attendances is up this year and so are A.B.C. ratings, but VERSUS ratings have been low since they started broadcasting INDYCAR races in 2009. Where am I going with this? INDYCAR’s race on Sunday at 2 p.m. will be up broadcast against? Let’s start with NASCAR, Nationwide running on Friday and Sprint Cup Saturday night. How about F1? Their race in Silverstone will be over at 2 EST on Sunday. The best outcome INDYCAR could hope for on Sunday is that somehow VERSUS can pull over a 1.0 T.V. rating for the Toronto race. How did the 2010 race far? It was on ABC and it pulled a .9, which is about what Milwaukee pulled this year as its replacement.<br /><br /><strong>4. Dario eyes history</strong><br />Dario Franchitti could make history this weekend if he takes the checkered flag after 85 laps. Dario, who currently holds a 20 point in the championship over Will Power, is tied for 9th on the all-time career win list with former Penske driver Rick Mears. Dario, with 29 wins could move into sole possession of 9th with his 30th INDYCAR win this weekend. Dario, who turned 38 in May, accent up the record books should be worth tracking as Al Unser Jr (34), Bobby Unser (35) and AL Unser (39) could be passed if Dario races into his 40’s.<br />Dario also could be only the second driver in the history of the Toronto race to win in three different decades, as only Michael Andretti, who the race seven times, was the first to accomplish the feat. Dario previously won at Toronto in 1999 and 2009.<br /><br /><strong>5. Canadian flavor<br /></strong>Canadian race fans, traditionally are very passionate and dedicated about racing. Toronto is the first of two races in Canada, with Edmonton two weeks later. Paul Tracy, Alex Tagliani, and James Hinchcliffe are all natives of Canada and should have rock-star type following this weekend. As James Hinchcliffe says “ I’ve been going to this race since I was 18 months old, I love this track, and I love that it’s on the schedule.”<br /><br /><strong>6. Randy Bernard Quotes<br /></strong>Randy Bernard spoke to the Canadian media last week and was quoted on several topics most notably that Chicago and California would be on the schedule next year. We know now that California will be back on the schedule in the fall of 2012, Chicago is expected to follow, possibly the weekend after the Indy 500. Bernard also mentioned that a second Brazil race and a race in China are in the works as well. China has been rumored for awhile, and while some fans are unclear or unhappy on the series going global. China reportedly is offering huge sums of money that would help INDYCAR’s bottom line. Rumors also have China wanting to build a track that is a replica to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with the track being able to hold 400,000 to 500,000 people.<br /><br /><strong>7. Predications for the weekend<br /><br />Indy Lights winner</strong> – Josef Newgarden<br /><br /><strong>IZOD IndyCar Firestone Fast Six</strong> – Will Power , Dario Franchitti, Justin Wilson , Tony Kanaan, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Scott Dixon<br /><br /><strong>IZOD IndyCar Series top three finishers<br /></strong>1st – Justin Wilson<br />2nd – Scott Dixon<br />3rd – Will Power </div>IndyCar Garagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11694309116840764941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8161332960208899780.post-20051296860972536612011-07-07T10:31:00.001-04:002011-07-07T10:34:53.508-04:00Former Toronto Indy winners<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbFnPm3rJmgnb7p4e_P5UKTtOi4XdD0WftpKamH4VyQhEcYf0zVHteUdyHKQbPZSzpwV3asyVsuFuj5bNc-ARt3V0uXaQdTMNllkodx41gowP8xBlecMgZf82SKP473TGM2pCZDEfU2j7i/s1600/honda_indy_header_2011_v3m.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 86px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbFnPm3rJmgnb7p4e_P5UKTtOi4XdD0WftpKamH4VyQhEcYf0zVHteUdyHKQbPZSzpwV3asyVsuFuj5bNc-ARt3V0uXaQdTMNllkodx41gowP8xBlecMgZf82SKP473TGM2pCZDEfU2j7i/s400/honda_indy_header_2011_v3m.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5626618550388534898" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVUqIPAvtA2T3Hjn0y7dj2jvGgdEHwUdg1QkW-BXmrDk2JlFiOtu1TDrWTSPb6EmlD-_xaUcOnMxBpYc72UBvfhV_ONCVAQLnwAyHzV2wIsHEE3sXdqxYhnQKPIoUGVnF8QkoL6IqwDLUf/s1600/2011hiteventprogrammap.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 246px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVUqIPAvtA2T3Hjn0y7dj2jvGgdEHwUdg1QkW-BXmrDk2JlFiOtu1TDrWTSPb6EmlD-_xaUcOnMxBpYc72UBvfhV_ONCVAQLnwAyHzV2wIsHEE3sXdqxYhnQKPIoUGVnF8QkoL6IqwDLUf/s400/2011hiteventprogrammap.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5626618541728838578" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The IZOD IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights travel make their first of two trips into Canada in July this weekend for the Honda Toronto Indy. IndyCar Garage will have coverage throughout the weekend. Today we look at former winners of Toronto racing, dating all the way back to Bobby Unser in 1967.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Year - Winning Driver – Sanctioning body –<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">*denotes still active and will race this weekend</span><br /><br />1967 – Bobby Unser - USAC<br />1968 – Dan Gurney - USAC<br />1977 – A.J. Foyt - USAC<br />1978 – Danny Ongais - USAC<br />1986 – Bobby Rahal - CART<br />1987 – Emerson Fittipaldi – CART<br />1988 – Al Unser Jr – CART<br />1989 – Michael Andretti – CART<br />1990 – Al Unser Jr – CART<br />1991 – Michael Andretti – CART<br />1992 – Michael Andretti – CART<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">1993 – Paul Tracy – CART *</span><br />1994 – Michael Andretti – CART<br />1995 – Michael Andretti – CART<br />1996 – Adrian Fernandez – CART<br />1997 – Mark Blundell – CART<br />1998 – Alex Zanardi – CART<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">1999 – Dario Franchitti *</span><br />2000 – Michael Andretti – CART<br />2001 – Michael Andretti – CART<br />2002 – Cristiano da Matta – CART<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2003 – Paul Tracy – CART *</span><br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">2004 – Sebastien Bourdais – Champ Car *</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />2005 – Justin Wilson – Champ Car *</span><br />2006 – A.J. Allmendinger – Champ Car<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2007 – Will Power – Champ Car *</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />2009 – Dario Franchitti – INDYCAR *</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />2010 – Will Power – INDYCAR *</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Notes:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Michael Andretti holds the record for most wins with seven.<br /> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Five former winners will participate in this weekend’s race. </span>IndyCar Garagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11694309116840764941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8161332960208899780.post-3870438448734334012011-06-30T08:37:00.002-04:002011-06-30T08:44:33.707-04:00Randy Bernard on the Vegas season finaleTyler Carmichael of <a href="http://www.indycargarage.com/">www.IndyCarGarage.com</a> talked with INDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard during the Texas Motor Speedway twin 275's about the 2011 season ending race at Las Vegas.<br /><br /><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyiiSODJB3aqioZVn7vOkEGYbhOQCr_elgECEhqs4iPXA6-7ZTpHLjKQxEDEuBRgpDdur1Deeyd3sWtT_F37g' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe>IndyCar Garagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11694309116840764941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8161332960208899780.post-67226291298578948102011-06-29T11:49:00.002-04:002011-06-29T11:53:30.619-04:00Dallara building update part 2In the second part of our trip down main street in Speedway, Indiana, Tyler Carmichael of <a href="http://www.indycargarage.com/">www.IndyCarGarage.com</a> gives you more views of the developing Dallara building. Watch below:<br /><br /><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwN8slkd1fYQ8FQ7y7-3f8ACxrg4E_hz54qZ8Ekwby4oV8uc6gN0CK-nmuqsPq70PFE5_muSmTZsbAQwNGtHw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe>IndyCar Garagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11694309116840764941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8161332960208899780.post-64120324316178218382011-06-29T11:43:00.002-04:002011-06-29T11:49:20.452-04:00Dallara building update part 1In a two part feature, Tyler Carmichael of <a href="http://www.indycargarage.com/">www.IndyCarGarage.com</a> gives fans an update on the construction of the Dallara building that will build the next generation of IndyCar's.<br /><br />Watch below:<br /><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwX7jzbrQaQpcPITFcpu4bU5XGO8shQKKJIkTOhEaze9vq7VchgIAdhbd5yi4IwjoNUikffaWNedCGZYKgc2A' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe>IndyCar Garagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11694309116840764941noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8161332960208899780.post-70026074158525387832011-06-25T23:54:00.000-04:002011-06-25T23:55:55.228-04:00Marco Andretti wins the Iowa Corn 250<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Marco Andretti wins the Iowa Corn 250</span><br /><br />Marco Andretti came from 17th position to capture his second career win at the Iowa Corn 250 at Iowa Motor Speedway. Andretti had late race duel with former teammate Tony Kanaan, but managed to hold for the win. Full results below:<br /><br />Check <a href="www.indycargarage.com">www.IndyCarGarage.com</a> tomorrow for a full race recap<br /><br />1 – Marco Andretti<br />2 – Tony Kaanan<br />3 – Scott Dixon<br />4 – J.R. Hildebrand<br />5 – Dario Franchitti<br />6 – Ryan Briscoe<br />7 – Helio Castroneves<br />8 – Ryan Hunter-Reay<br />9 – James Hinchcliffe<br />10 – Danica Patrick<br />11 – Ed Carpenter<br />12 – Justin Wilson<br />13 – Alex Lloyd<br />14 – Oriol Servia<br />15 – Graham Rahal<br />16 – Alex Tagliani<br />17 – E.J. Viso<br />18 – Vitor Meira<br />19 – Takuma Sato<br />20 – Sebastian Saavedra<br />21 – Will Power<br />22 – Charlie Kimbal<br />23 – Ana Beatriz<br />24 – Mike Conway<br />25 – James JakesIndyCar Garagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11694309116840764941noreply@blogger.com0