96th running of the Indy 500

96^th Running of the Indy 500       

The 96^th 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.  IndyCar Garage breaks down what to watch going into Sunday’s race.

              1.       Can Honda keep with up Chevy?

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^th and 16^th 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.

 2.       Will we see a new 1^st time winner this yr?

The last time the Indy 500 had a first time winner, was in 2008 when Scott Dixon won. 2009 brought us Helio’s 3^rd, 2010 was Dario’s 2^nd and 2011 was Dan Wheldon’s 2^nd. 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  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.

 3.       The debut of the DW12 on super speed way

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  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.

 4.       Will the weather impact the racing conditions on Sunday?

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  Sunday, expect wrecks in the corners and the type of crashes that Bryan Clauson, Ed Carpenter, and Charlie Kimball experienced over qualification weekend.  

 5.       Who is the favorite?

When you start to think of who can win the 96^th 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.

            6.       Indy 500 Predictions

 2012 Indy 500 Champion : Ryan Hunter-Reay

2^nd place: Will Power

3^rd place: Marco Andretti

4^th place: Josef Newgarden

5^th place: Helio Castroneves 

ROY: Josef New Garden

2012 Indy 500 Pace Car - pic III

2012 Indy 500 Pace car - pic II

2012 Indy 500 Pace Car

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