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.