• Home
• Blog
• Podcast
• Forum
• Speed Shop
• Archives
• About Us

Subscribe

• Channels:
• Formula 1
• IRL
• NASCAR
• Motorcycles
• NHRA

Indy Car Kansas Practice

The Indy Car Series takes on the first oval of 2009 at Kansas.  Watch the live streaming video at IndyCar.com or click here: http://indycar.neulion.com/indy/console.jsp

Kansas features the return of two more female drivers.  Milka Duno and Sarah Fisher join the action this week.

Also look for a couple of new paint jobs for two series regulars.  Last week’s winner, Dario Franchitti, in a blue Nicorette car.  Marco Andretti is reported to be a black #26 car this week as well.

Indy Car Kansas Preview

The Indy Car Series shifts gears this week, leaving the narrow street course of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach to tackle the first oval of the year at the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 at Kansas Speedway.  The event outside of Kansas City is a 1.5 mile tri-oval that lends itself to side-by-side racing which will be quite a contrast from the opening races at St. Pete and Long Beach.

Sarah Fisher Racing will be joining the Indy Car action this week with Fisher at the wheel.  Fisher racing is a part time Indy Car team that will run at Kansas and the Indianapolis 500, with hopes of running a couple more oval events later in the season.   Dollar General has stepped up for Fisher this year, which will give her a lot of confidence going into Indy that she can put together a good effort.

Read more

Indy Car’s wild weekend at Long Beach

The Indy Car series made it’s first visit to the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach this weekend, and put on a great show in what turned out to be a wild weekend both on and off the track.

Dario Franchitti of Target/Chip Ganassi Racing posted a fantastic run on Sunday afternoon to outrun Will Power and Tony Kanaan and drive to his first victory at Long Beach.

In the post-race press conference, Franchitti said, “Yeah, the Target cars do have a great history here. Jimmy (Vasser) won in ‘96, and ‘97, and (Juan Pablo) Montoya in ‘99. I finished second to (Alex) Zanardi in ‘98, and Montoya in ‘99.

Read more

Indy Car’s freaky friday

Wow, what a day!  The Indy Cars invaded Long Beach for the first time, Paul Tracy inked a deal to run in the Indy 500, and Helio Castroneves flew to Long Beach today to race in a third Penske car after being acquitted in his much ballyhooed court case.   Friday was a little on the freaky side today, but it was good.

The day got started with a 90 minute morning practice session that kind of got started slowly.   A number of drivers had never driven on the Long Beach circuit, and seemed to be tippy toeing around to get a feel for it.  The Newman/Haas/Lanigan team, to little surprise, posted some quick numbers early in the session.  But as the session continued, the Target and Penske guys started posting some quick times, too.  Dario finished quickest in the session, followed by Ryan Briscoe, and Mario Moraes.

But the biggest news of the first session today had nothing to do with the on-track action.  With about 30 minutes to go in the session, the news broke that the Miami jury that sat in on the Helio Castroneves case had come back with an acquittal on six of seven charges, and that the seventh charge was deadlocked in a hung jury.  Castroneves was freed, and Long Beach was abuzz.

Read more

Long Beach Preview: Indy Car’s return to the beach party!

Long Beach, California has become famous for, amongst other things, hosting the biggest beach party in the world for 34 years straight, The Long Beach Grand Prix. This storied race is famous for fast cars, and an incredible atmosphere that draws over 100,000 fans every year.

The Long Beach Grand Prix debuted in 1975 as a Formula 5000 race, and became a stop on the Formula 1 schedule for eight years, starting in 1976. However, Long Beach gained its popularity in the 80’s and 90’s as an Indy Car race where the likes of Mario Andretti, Al Unser Jr., Michael Andretti, Paul Tracy and Alex Zanardi all competed and won. The Grand Prix became one of the biggest events on the schedule, and has maintained its status as the crown-jewel of street races in the states. The race became part of the history of the open-wheel split in recent years, but that’s a saga that has come to a close.

Read more

Verdict watch continues

The Jury is out in the case of The USA vs. Helio, and this sleepy band of his peers resumed their deliberations today.

From the AP:

MIAMI (AP) — A federal jury in Miami has resumed deliberations in the tax evasion trial of Indy race car driver Helio Castroneves and two others.

The 12-person jury went back to work Monday morning. Deliberations began Friday following a six-week trial for Castroneves, his sister-business manager Katiucia and his lawyer Alan Miller of Michigan.

The racing world begins the watch for a verdict. I personally wish Helio the best, and hope the verdict is favorable for him and his family. Verdict watch continues. Will Helio dance out of the courtroom? What do you think?

—

UPDATE - NOON PT
The AP is reporting that the jury has requested transcripts in the case. Curt Anderson of the AP reports:

MIAMI (AP) — Jurors deliberating the fate of Brazilian race car driver Helio Castroneves and two others charged with evading U.S. taxes asked Monday for transcripts of testimony given by two tax lawyers.

The request, which was granted by U.S. District Judge Donald Graham, followed a question Friday from jurors about a key aspect of tax law. The 12-person jury began deliberations Friday after six weeks of testimony.

The rest of the story can be found here.

Indy Car St. Pete Grand Prix Results

*SPOILER ALERT*

The Indy Car Series started our their 2009 season with a race riddled with full-course yellows, and some surprising contenders at the front.

Read more

Graham Rahal takes St. Petersburg Pole

Graham Rahal captured the pole position for the Hond Grand Prix of St. Petersburg today, posting the fastest lap of 1:02.4110 at 103.828 mph. Rahal posted the P1 time on the track where he got his dramatic first win in Indy Car last year.

Rahal held off former teaamate, Justin Wilson, who will start in Dale Coyne’s car on the outside of row 1. Wilson’s performance is amazing considering the depth of the field, and the relative lack of funding and testing that the Coyne camp typically has.

Read more

Indy Car Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Preview - Part 2

Indy Car returns to the the streets of St. Pete this weekend for the fifth Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Today we offer part 2 of our preview of this weekend’s opener.

Read more

Graham Rahal VERSUS Teleconference 3/26/09

Graham Rahal recently sat in with the VERSUS network for a live teleconference with bloggers and writers all across the web. In this exclusive interview, Graham talked about a new confidence that he is carrying into 2009, how the NHL engineers have made performance gains in the Dallara chassis, and his good showing at the recent Barber test.

VERSUS has made audio of this teleconference available using the links below.

To listen to Part 1 - Click Here
–
To listen to Part 2 - Click Here