Two four-time champions with thirty-one career wins will start on row one Saturday. Dario Franchitti took pole position with Sébastien Bourdais starting second. Franchitti put down a lap of 59.6756 seconds to beat out Bourdais 59.7701.
On row two will be Will Power and Tony Kanaan. Power has not won since São Paulo last year. James Jakes and Pocono winner Scott Dixon will start on row three. Ryan Hunter-Reay just missed out on the Firestone Fast Six and will start seventh. He won at Toronto from sixth position last year. Next to him will be the man he trails in the championship standings, Helio Castroneves. 2005 Toronto winner Justin Wilson and Ryan Briscoe round out the top ten with Marco Andretti and Takuma Sato rounding out the Fast Twelve.
Simon Pagenaud and hometown favorite James Hinchcliffe just missed out on the Fast Twelve and make up row seven. EJ Viso starts fifteenth next to Charlie Kimball who scored his first career podium at Toronto last year. Canadian Alex Tagliani will start seventeenth ahead of Graham Rahal. Josef Newgarden and Mike Conway make up row ten. Rookie Tristan Vautier and Simona de Silvestro make up row eleven with Ed Carpenter and Sebastián Saavedra rounding out the field.
Qualifying for race two will take place tomorrow morning at 10:35 a.m. ET. NBCSN's coverage of race one from Toronto will begin at 3:00 p.m. ET with green flag around 3:40 p.m.
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Friday, July 12, 2013
Hunter-Reay Leads IndyCar First Practice From Toronto
Ryan Hunter-Reay led the first practice at Toronto. The defending Honda Indy Toronto winner Ryan Hunter-Reay was fastest with a lap of 1:00.6082 seconds. Josef Newgarden was second, 0.0769 second back. Ryan Briscoe was third with Tristan Vautier fourth. Marco Andretti jumped to fifth late ahead of Will Power and Tony Kanaan.
Honda took the next two positions with James Jakes eighth and Dario Franchitti ninth. 2004 Toronto winner Sébastien Bourdias was tenth. Hometown favorite James Hinchcliffe was eleventh ahead of Pocono winner Scott Dixon and 2005 Toronto winner Justin Wilson. Canadian Alex Tagliani was fourteenth with Charlie Kimball fifteenth.
Points leader Helio Castroneves was sixteenth ahead of Graham Rahal and EJ Viso. Sebastián Saavedra and Takuma Sato rounded out the top twenty. Simona de Silvestro was twenty-first ahead the Belle Isle winners Simon Pagenaud and Mike Conway. Ed Carpenter rounded out the field.
A half second covered the top fifteen times with three quarters of a second covering to eighteenth.
The teams had to perform one standing start during the practice. According to MoreFrontWing, the Hondas were getting a better jump during the standing start practices than the Chevrolets.
There were two incidents during the session. Will Power brought out a red flag after getting into the tires in turn three while Dario Franchitti brought out a red flag with fifteen minutes remaining after making slight contact with the wall in turn five.
In breaking news, Brian Barnhart will be race director this weekend at Toronto. According to the Associated Press' Jenna Fryer, Beaux Barfield will not be in Toronto.
Firestone Fast Six qualifying to set the grid for Saturday's race will take place at 2:15 p.m. ET with it airing on NBCSN at 5:30 p.m. ET.
Honda took the next two positions with James Jakes eighth and Dario Franchitti ninth. 2004 Toronto winner Sébastien Bourdias was tenth. Hometown favorite James Hinchcliffe was eleventh ahead of Pocono winner Scott Dixon and 2005 Toronto winner Justin Wilson. Canadian Alex Tagliani was fourteenth with Charlie Kimball fifteenth.
Points leader Helio Castroneves was sixteenth ahead of Graham Rahal and EJ Viso. Sebastián Saavedra and Takuma Sato rounded out the top twenty. Simona de Silvestro was twenty-first ahead the Belle Isle winners Simon Pagenaud and Mike Conway. Ed Carpenter rounded out the field.
A half second covered the top fifteen times with three quarters of a second covering to eighteenth.
The teams had to perform one standing start during the practice. According to MoreFrontWing, the Hondas were getting a better jump during the standing start practices than the Chevrolets.
There were two incidents during the session. Will Power brought out a red flag after getting into the tires in turn three while Dario Franchitti brought out a red flag with fifteen minutes remaining after making slight contact with the wall in turn five.
In breaking news, Brian Barnhart will be race director this weekend at Toronto. According to the Associated Press' Jenna Fryer, Beaux Barfield will not be in Toronto.
Firestone Fast Six qualifying to set the grid for Saturday's race will take place at 2:15 p.m. ET with it airing on NBCSN at 5:30 p.m. ET.
Road to Indy Practice at Toronto
All three lower levels of the Mazda Road to Indy will be racing on the streets of Toronto this weekend for the first time since St. Petersburg in March.
Canada's own Garett Grist was fastest in the first U.S. F2000 practice ahead of the Frenchman Florian Latorre. American and most recent winner in the U.S. F2000 series Neil Alberico was third. Brazil's Danilo Estrela was fourth with another Canadian Stefan Rzadzinski fifth fastest. U.S. F2000 points leader, Canadian Scott Hargrove was eleventh in the first session.
In Pro Mazda, Matthew Brabham continued his dominance being over sixth-tenths of a second faster than second place Juan Piedrahita in first practice. Spencer Pigot was third fastest with Brabham's Andretti Autosport teammate Shelby Blackstock in fourth. Diego Ferreira was fifth with Scott Anderson sixth. The only Canadian in the Pro Mazda field, Zach Meyer was eighth fastest.
Jack Hawksworth was fastest in Indy Lights practice 0.3501 seconds ahead of the Andretti driver Zach Veach and Carlos Muñoz was 0.5134 seconds back. Peter Dempsey was fourth fastest ahead of Gabby Chaves. Second place in the Firestone Indy Lights standings Sage Karam was sixth, 0.8782 seconds back. Juan Pablo Garcia, Jorge Goncalvez and Canadian Matthew Di Leo rounded out the field.
U.S. F2000 second practice will take place at 12:10 p.m. ET followed by Pro Mazda second practice at 12:45 p.m. U.S. F2000 qualifying will take place at 3:40 p.m. with Pro Mazda qualifying at 4:15 p.m. Firestone Indy Lights second practice will round out the day at 5:00 p.m. with Indy Lights qualifying beginning Saturday's on-track activities at 7:45 a.m.
Canada's own Garett Grist was fastest in the first U.S. F2000 practice ahead of the Frenchman Florian Latorre. American and most recent winner in the U.S. F2000 series Neil Alberico was third. Brazil's Danilo Estrela was fourth with another Canadian Stefan Rzadzinski fifth fastest. U.S. F2000 points leader, Canadian Scott Hargrove was eleventh in the first session.
In Pro Mazda, Matthew Brabham continued his dominance being over sixth-tenths of a second faster than second place Juan Piedrahita in first practice. Spencer Pigot was third fastest with Brabham's Andretti Autosport teammate Shelby Blackstock in fourth. Diego Ferreira was fifth with Scott Anderson sixth. The only Canadian in the Pro Mazda field, Zach Meyer was eighth fastest.
Jack Hawksworth was fastest in Indy Lights practice 0.3501 seconds ahead of the Andretti driver Zach Veach and Carlos Muñoz was 0.5134 seconds back. Peter Dempsey was fourth fastest ahead of Gabby Chaves. Second place in the Firestone Indy Lights standings Sage Karam was sixth, 0.8782 seconds back. Juan Pablo Garcia, Jorge Goncalvez and Canadian Matthew Di Leo rounded out the field.
U.S. F2000 second practice will take place at 12:10 p.m. ET followed by Pro Mazda second practice at 12:45 p.m. U.S. F2000 qualifying will take place at 3:40 p.m. with Pro Mazda qualifying at 4:15 p.m. Firestone Indy Lights second practice will round out the day at 5:00 p.m. with Indy Lights qualifying beginning Saturday's on-track activities at 7:45 a.m.
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Track Walk: Toronto 2013
Scott Dixon and Ganassi Racing head North of the Border with a win finally in their name in what has been an uncharacteristic season for IndyCar. Dixon led the first 1-2-3 finish for Ganassi Racing ever with Charlie Kimball and Dario Franchitti in tow. This is the second of three doubleheaders for the Izod IndyCar Series as the Izod IndyCar Series will run two, eighty-five lap races at Exhibition Place.
Standing Starts
For the first time since Long Beach 2013 a standing start will be used in an American open-wheel race. For Saturday's 85 lap race a standing start will be used with strict guidelines. The drivers will get one formation lap. Once the drivers are stopped on the grid the starting sequence will begin with two rows of red lights illuminating. There will be six steps in the illuminating sequence. Once all the lights have turned red there will be a .5 to 3 second delay before all the lights turn green, signaling the beginning of the race.
Should a driver commit a false start, they will be penalized. Should a driver cause an aborted start, they will be moved to the end of the field. Should a standing start be aborted, the race will begin with a rolling start.
Driver Records at Toronto
The streets of Toronto have not be kind to some and with two races this year, it could be a long weekend for some drivers.
Despite winning an Indy Lights races at Toronto in 1997, Helio Castroneves résumé at Exhibition Place is less than impressive. Only two top tens in eight races with six finishes of fifteen or worse.
James Hinchcliffe has had minimal success in his hometown of Toronto. He's finished fourteenth and twenty-second in his two IndyCar starts with two top tens, including one podium balancing with two retirements in his four starts between Atlantics and Indy Lights at Exhibition Place.
Tony Kanaan, just like Castroneves, has only two top tens in eight starts at Toronto with six retirements.
While seeing better success in recent years, Dario Franchitti has had his problems in Toronto. Five of his ten starts have ended early but he has three wins and a second at the track along with four poles.
If you are hoping this is the race Graham Rahal breaks through and picks up a win, you will be disappointed to find out in five starts at Toronto, Rahal has one top five and three retirements.
Fun Facts
No name has won more at Toronto than Andretti. Michael Andretti has seven wins at Toronto with Dario Franchitti's three wins being the next most. Michael Andretti is the only driver to have won back-to-back at Toronto and he did that on three separate occasion, the last being in 2000 and 2001.
A Canadian has not won at Toronto since Paul Tracy did on July 13, 2003. This year race one of the doubleheader will be on July 13, 2013. It is the first American open-wheel race on July 13th since Tracy's win. Tracy is the only Canadian to ever win an American open-wheel race in Canada. Along with his two wins in Toronto, he won three times on the streets of Vancouver. Tracy's other Toronto win came in 1993. Another fact about Tracy's win in 1993 is that he had won his first career race earlier that season at Long Beach and it was his third career victory.
Five times has the pole sitter won in Toronto, the most recent being Dario Franchitti in 2009. Seven times the winner has come from second position and third position, the most recent from second being Will Power in 2010 and most recent from third being Dario Franchitti in 2011. On three occasions the winner at Toronto has started sixth. Ryan Hunter-Reay started sixth last year in a winning effort. The farthest back on the grid a winner has come from was Michael Andretti from thirteenth in 2001.
There will be $100,000 on the line in the Sonax Perfect Finish Award. Should a driver win both races this weekend they will pick up $100,000. If no one sweeps this weekend, the $100,000 will roll over to the doubleheader at Houston where sweeping will be worth $150,000.
The Revolving Doors of Panther Racing and the #18
Ryan Briscoe will be driving the #4 National Guard Chevrolet for Panther Racing for the second consecutive race. He has made four starts with the team with his best finish being thirteenth. Mike Conway will be back behind the wheel of the #18 Dale Coyne Honda this weekend. At Belle Isle, Conway won race one and finished third in race two. Conway will also drive for the team at Houston while Pippa Mann will run the season finale at Fontana. This leaves Mid-Ohio, Sonoma and Baltimore as the only races where the driver of the #18 Honda has yet to be announced.
Road to Indy Jamboree at Toronto
Canadian Matthew Di Leo will be making his second start of the season in Firestone Indy Lights. He finished fifth at Long Beach. Carlos Muñoz retook the points lead after leading flag-to-flag at Pocono. He leads Sage Karam by four points. Both the Pro Mazda Series and U.S. F2000 Series will return to the track at Toronto. Canadian Scott Hargrove leads the U.S. F2000 standings by fifty-three points over American Wyatt Gooden. Hargrove has won three of five races in 2013 with Neil Alberico having won the other two races. Alberico has however had the bad fortune to finish twentieth or worse in the three races Hargrove has won. Matthew Brabham has won five consecutive races in Pro Mazda. He has a forty-nine point lead over Diego Ferreria. Americans Shelby Blackstock, Spencer Pigot and Scott Anderson are third, fourth and fifth in the standings.
Track Schedule
IndyCar Firestone Fast Six qualifying will take place Friday at 2:15 p.m. ET. That will set the grid for race one. Race one for Pro Mazda and U.S. F2000 will be Saturday morning at 8:40 a.m. and 9:40 a.m. ET respectively. IndyCar qualifying for Sunday's race will take place at 10:35 a.m. ET with two, twelve minute sessions. The driver with the fastest time will be on pole position with the remaining drivers in the pole sitters group setting the odd-positions on the grid. The other group will set the even-positions on the grid. The Firestone Indy Lights race will begin at 11:30 a.m. ET on Saturday. Coverage of race one of the IndyCar doubleheader will begin at 3:00 p.m. ET on NBCSN. Green flag will be around 3:40 p.m. ET.
On Sunday, race two of the Pro Mazda weekend will begin at 9:55 a.m. ET with the IndyCar warm-up at 10:50 a.m. ET and race two for U.S. F2000 at 11:35 a.m. ET. NBCSN's coverage for Sunday's race two begins at 3:00 p.m. ET with green flag around 3:40 p.m. ET.
Prediction
Back to the streets for IndyCar. Last time out Mike Conway was on fire and I think he will continue to be at the front. Ryan Hunter-Reay has a pleasant track record at Toronto and has had good runs at all the road and street races this year with mechanical failures (St. Petersburg) or driver error (Long Beach and Belle Isle race two) leading to poor finishes. Marco Andretti is having a career year, especially on road and street course. He has finished in the top ten in all but one race road/street race (Belle Isle race one) and Toronto is one of the few road and street circuits where Andretti has had good results with three top tens in his four appearances to Exhibition Place.
Everything appears to be lining up for James Hinchcliffe, as if fate has put him in a position to pick up a massive win at home. With race one being ten years to the day the last time a Canadian won a Toronto, a Canadian has won every ten years at Toronto, Hinchcliffe picking up his first career win this season and the poor finishes that have plagued him, it seems Hinchcliffe can pick himself up after a turn one, lap one accident and find a way to the front.
I am going to take Conway and Hunter-Reay this weekend. If I had to pick one guy to sweep it would be Conway. Ganassi will keep up their string of good results. Kimball will get at least one top ten this weekend with Dixon and Franchitti up at the front as well. I expect Simon Pagenaud and Justin Wilson to be up front. I think Marco Andretti will have a good weekend. Sleeper: Simona de Silvestro.
Standing Starts
For the first time since Long Beach 2013 a standing start will be used in an American open-wheel race. For Saturday's 85 lap race a standing start will be used with strict guidelines. The drivers will get one formation lap. Once the drivers are stopped on the grid the starting sequence will begin with two rows of red lights illuminating. There will be six steps in the illuminating sequence. Once all the lights have turned red there will be a .5 to 3 second delay before all the lights turn green, signaling the beginning of the race.
Should a driver commit a false start, they will be penalized. Should a driver cause an aborted start, they will be moved to the end of the field. Should a standing start be aborted, the race will begin with a rolling start.
Driver Records at Toronto
The streets of Toronto have not be kind to some and with two races this year, it could be a long weekend for some drivers.
Despite winning an Indy Lights races at Toronto in 1997, Helio Castroneves résumé at Exhibition Place is less than impressive. Only two top tens in eight races with six finishes of fifteen or worse.
James Hinchcliffe has had minimal success in his hometown of Toronto. He's finished fourteenth and twenty-second in his two IndyCar starts with two top tens, including one podium balancing with two retirements in his four starts between Atlantics and Indy Lights at Exhibition Place.
Tony Kanaan, just like Castroneves, has only two top tens in eight starts at Toronto with six retirements.
While seeing better success in recent years, Dario Franchitti has had his problems in Toronto. Five of his ten starts have ended early but he has three wins and a second at the track along with four poles.
If you are hoping this is the race Graham Rahal breaks through and picks up a win, you will be disappointed to find out in five starts at Toronto, Rahal has one top five and three retirements.
Fun Facts
No name has won more at Toronto than Andretti. Michael Andretti has seven wins at Toronto with Dario Franchitti's three wins being the next most. Michael Andretti is the only driver to have won back-to-back at Toronto and he did that on three separate occasion, the last being in 2000 and 2001.
A Canadian has not won at Toronto since Paul Tracy did on July 13, 2003. This year race one of the doubleheader will be on July 13, 2013. It is the first American open-wheel race on July 13th since Tracy's win. Tracy is the only Canadian to ever win an American open-wheel race in Canada. Along with his two wins in Toronto, he won three times on the streets of Vancouver. Tracy's other Toronto win came in 1993. Another fact about Tracy's win in 1993 is that he had won his first career race earlier that season at Long Beach and it was his third career victory.
Five times has the pole sitter won in Toronto, the most recent being Dario Franchitti in 2009. Seven times the winner has come from second position and third position, the most recent from second being Will Power in 2010 and most recent from third being Dario Franchitti in 2011. On three occasions the winner at Toronto has started sixth. Ryan Hunter-Reay started sixth last year in a winning effort. The farthest back on the grid a winner has come from was Michael Andretti from thirteenth in 2001.
There will be $100,000 on the line in the Sonax Perfect Finish Award. Should a driver win both races this weekend they will pick up $100,000. If no one sweeps this weekend, the $100,000 will roll over to the doubleheader at Houston where sweeping will be worth $150,000.
The Revolving Doors of Panther Racing and the #18
Ryan Briscoe will be driving the #4 National Guard Chevrolet for Panther Racing for the second consecutive race. He has made four starts with the team with his best finish being thirteenth. Mike Conway will be back behind the wheel of the #18 Dale Coyne Honda this weekend. At Belle Isle, Conway won race one and finished third in race two. Conway will also drive for the team at Houston while Pippa Mann will run the season finale at Fontana. This leaves Mid-Ohio, Sonoma and Baltimore as the only races where the driver of the #18 Honda has yet to be announced.
Road to Indy Jamboree at Toronto
Canadian Matthew Di Leo will be making his second start of the season in Firestone Indy Lights. He finished fifth at Long Beach. Carlos Muñoz retook the points lead after leading flag-to-flag at Pocono. He leads Sage Karam by four points. Both the Pro Mazda Series and U.S. F2000 Series will return to the track at Toronto. Canadian Scott Hargrove leads the U.S. F2000 standings by fifty-three points over American Wyatt Gooden. Hargrove has won three of five races in 2013 with Neil Alberico having won the other two races. Alberico has however had the bad fortune to finish twentieth or worse in the three races Hargrove has won. Matthew Brabham has won five consecutive races in Pro Mazda. He has a forty-nine point lead over Diego Ferreria. Americans Shelby Blackstock, Spencer Pigot and Scott Anderson are third, fourth and fifth in the standings.
Track Schedule
IndyCar Firestone Fast Six qualifying will take place Friday at 2:15 p.m. ET. That will set the grid for race one. Race one for Pro Mazda and U.S. F2000 will be Saturday morning at 8:40 a.m. and 9:40 a.m. ET respectively. IndyCar qualifying for Sunday's race will take place at 10:35 a.m. ET with two, twelve minute sessions. The driver with the fastest time will be on pole position with the remaining drivers in the pole sitters group setting the odd-positions on the grid. The other group will set the even-positions on the grid. The Firestone Indy Lights race will begin at 11:30 a.m. ET on Saturday. Coverage of race one of the IndyCar doubleheader will begin at 3:00 p.m. ET on NBCSN. Green flag will be around 3:40 p.m. ET.
On Sunday, race two of the Pro Mazda weekend will begin at 9:55 a.m. ET with the IndyCar warm-up at 10:50 a.m. ET and race two for U.S. F2000 at 11:35 a.m. ET. NBCSN's coverage for Sunday's race two begins at 3:00 p.m. ET with green flag around 3:40 p.m. ET.
Prediction
Back to the streets for IndyCar. Last time out Mike Conway was on fire and I think he will continue to be at the front. Ryan Hunter-Reay has a pleasant track record at Toronto and has had good runs at all the road and street races this year with mechanical failures (St. Petersburg) or driver error (Long Beach and Belle Isle race two) leading to poor finishes. Marco Andretti is having a career year, especially on road and street course. He has finished in the top ten in all but one race road/street race (Belle Isle race one) and Toronto is one of the few road and street circuits where Andretti has had good results with three top tens in his four appearances to Exhibition Place.
Everything appears to be lining up for James Hinchcliffe, as if fate has put him in a position to pick up a massive win at home. With race one being ten years to the day the last time a Canadian won a Toronto, a Canadian has won every ten years at Toronto, Hinchcliffe picking up his first career win this season and the poor finishes that have plagued him, it seems Hinchcliffe can pick himself up after a turn one, lap one accident and find a way to the front.
I am going to take Conway and Hunter-Reay this weekend. If I had to pick one guy to sweep it would be Conway. Ganassi will keep up their string of good results. Kimball will get at least one top ten this weekend with Dixon and Franchitti up at the front as well. I expect Simon Pagenaud and Justin Wilson to be up front. I think Marco Andretti will have a good weekend. Sleeper: Simona de Silvestro.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Racing's Summer Catch-Up
With the summer in it's dog days, every racing series is well into their 2013 season and before you know it, the leaves will change color and it will be coming to the end to another racing season. Now would be a perfect time to get everyone caught up on the different racing season going on both domestic and abroad.
NASCAR
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is heading to Loudon, New Hampshire after their traditional July 4th weekend night race at Daytona International Speedway. Jimmie Johnson has four wins and leads the points after winning last Saturday night. Johnson became the first driver to sweep Daytona races since Bobby Allison did it back in 1982. Johnson's fourth win came a week after Matt Kenseth picked up his fourth win of 2013 at Kentucky. In his first season with Joe Gibbs Racing, Kenseth is sixth in the standings ahead of teammate Kyle Busch by seven points.
With eight races until the Chase, ten different drivers have won a race in 2013, seven of which are in the top ten (Johnson, Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick, Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Greg Biffle and Tony Stewart). Clint Bowyer is second in points but has yet to pick up a win in 2013. The Kansan driver has finished in the top five the last three races. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is fifth in points with ten top tens in 2013 and a pole position. Furniture Row Racing and Kurt Busch are an unexpected ninth in points. Busch has three consecutive top ten finishes and won the pole at Darlington in May. The three race winners outside the top ten are Martin Truex, Jr., Kasey Kahne and David Ragan. Truex and Kahne are eleventh and twelfth in points and are currently the two wild cards for the Chase. Ragan sits twenty-eighth in points despite winning at Talladega in May. Since his win, Ragan's best finish is twenty-second.
Notable drivers who have yet to win in 2013 are the defending champion Brad Keselowski, Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin. Hamlin sits twenty-sixth in points after missing four races with a back injury. Hamlin is one hundred and twenty-two points back of twentieth, the farthest back a driver can be and win a wild card for the Chase. Hamlin will also need at least two race wins to qualify for a wild card spot.
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. is eighteenth in points and leads the Rookie of the Year standings. He is one hundred and twenty-three points ahead of Danica Patrick.
In the Nationwide Series, Regan Smith has won two races and leads Sam Hornish, Jr. by six points. Hornish has one win in 2013. Elliott Sadler is third in points, fourteen back with Justin Allgaier and Austin Dillon rounding out the top five. Kyle Larson is sixth in points and leads the Rookie of the Year standings, ahead of Alex Bowman by seventy-six points. Trevor Bayne is tenth in points and is the only other Nationwide Series championship eligible driver to win a race in 2013. Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, AJ Allmendinger and Matt Kenseth have won Nationwide races as well. The Nationwide Series races at Loudon Saturday afternoon.
The Camping World Truck Series heads to Iowa Speedway with fourteen year veteran Matt Crafton as the points leader, twenty-two points ahead of rookie Jeb Burton, son of 2002 Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton. Both Crafton and Burton have a win in 2013. Ty Dillon is third and has one win with defending Truck Series champion James Buescher fourth in points, winless with only one top five so far. Johhny Sauter is fifth with two wins. Ryan Blaney, son of Dave Blaney leads the Rookie of the Year standings, thirty-six points ahead of Darrell Wallace, Jr. Kyle Busch has two wins this year with Kyle Larson also having one win. The Truck Series heads to Eldora Speedway in a fortnight for the first NASCAR national touring series race on dirt since 1970.
Formula One
After winning his first German Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel leads the World Driver's Championship by thirty-four points over Fernando Alonso. Kimi Räikkönen is third, forty-one markers back.
Red Bull Racing has four wins in 2013 and leads the Constructors' Championship by sixty-seven points over Mercedes. Sebastian Vettel has four wins and six total podiums with Mark Webber having scored three podiums. This will be Webber's final season at Red Bull Racing as he has already announced he will be going to drive for Porsche and their new LMP1 entry. Nico Rosberg is responsible for Mercedes' two wins in 2013 but Rosberg is fifteen points back of World Champion teammate Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes team were found guilty of taken part in an illegal tire test after the Spanish Grand Prix and are banned from the young drivers' test later this year at Silverstone. Ferrari is three points back of Mercedes having scored two wins. Alonso has two wins and five total podiums with Felipe Massa's lone podium coming at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Lotus is fourth with Räikkönen's win at Australia the teams only win of 2013. Räikkönen has four second place finishes since his win in Melbourne. Romain Grosjean has two podiums in his last six races but four finishes outside the points in the last six races. Force India is fifth with Paul di Resta eighth in the Drivers' standings with seven finishes in the points out of nine races. The Scotsman is thirteen points ahead of his Force India teamamte Adrian Sutil. Sixth in the Constructor's Championship is McLaren-Mercedes who have yet to score a podium in 2013. Jenson Button is tenth in points with Sergio Pérez twelfth. Scuderia Toro Rosso is seventh with driver Jean-Éric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo having scored thirteen and eleven points respectively. Sauber is seventh with Nico Hülkenberg having scored seven points.
Estebán Gutiérrez has yet to score any points in his rookie season. Williams F1, Marussia F1 and Caterham F1 have all failed to scored points in 2013 as well. Formula One has the next three weeks off before heading to Budapest for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Moto GP
Moto GP heads to Germany this weekend with Dani Pedrosa leading his fellow Spaniard and twice Moto GP champion Jorge Lorenzo by nine points. Fellow Spaniard, rookie Marc Márquez is third in points, twenty-three back of his factory Honda teammate Pedrosa. Tech 3 Yamaha rider Cal Crutchlow is fourth in points, two ahead of factory Yamaha rider and most recent winner Valention Rossi. Rossi's win at Assen was his first since Malaysia in 2010. Andrea Dovizioso is the top Ducati rider in sixth, twenty points back of Rossi. He is ahead of LCR Honda's Stefan Brandl and American teammate Nicky Hayden. Spaniard Álvaro Bautistia and Alex Espargaró round out the top ten. Espargaró is the top Claiming Rules Team rider. Americans Colin Edwards and Ben Spies are seventeenth and eighteenth in points respectively. Edwards has scored ten points riding for the CRT team Forward Racing. Spies has nine points but has missed the last five rounds due to injury. After Germany, the Moto GP teams head to Laguna Seca for the United States Grand Prix on July 21.
Sports Cars
Muscle Mile Pickett Racing picked up it's third consecutive win in the American Le Mans Series last Saturday at Lime Rock Park. Drivers Lucas Luhr and Klaus Graf leads by twenty-four points over the Rebellion Racing drivers Nick Heidfeld and Neel Jani. Rebellion Racing withdrew from the championship to focus on their new LMP1 entry for 2014. Marino Franchitti leads the LMP2 driver standings with seventy-two points, three more than his Level 5 Motorsports owner Scott Tucker and Extreme Speed Motorsports Guy Cosmo and Scott Sharp. Fifth in points is Ryan Briscoe seven back of teammate Franchitti. Franchitti has won three of four races this year in LMP2.
Dirk Müller leads the GT points standings, sixteen points ahead of the Corvette teammates Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen and fellow BMW driver John Edwards. Four different teams have won the four races in GT. The #4 Corvette won at Sebring with the #3 winning at Laguna Seca. The #55 and #56 BMW won Long Beach and Lime Rock Park respectively. Henrique Cisneros leads GTC by one point over Spencer Pumpelly and Nelson Canache, Jr. Mike Guasch and Colin Braun leads PC by eleven points over Bruno Junqueira. The American Le Mans Series heads to Mosport July 21st.
The Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype points lead is shared by the Wayne Taylor Racing drivers Max Angelelli and Jordan Taylor and Starworks Motorsport's Ryan Dalziel and Alex Popow. Christian Fittipaldi is third in points, four back of Wayne Taylor and Starworks. Fittipaldi and João Barbosa have won the last two races at Mid-Ohio and Watkins Glen. Gainsco/Bob Stallings Racing's pair of Jon Fogerty and Alex Gurney are one point back of Fittipaldi with Barbosa in fifth. 24 Hours of Daytona winners Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas are sixth in points. Chip Ganassi Racing also won at Road Atlanta. Wayne Taylor Racing has two wins while Gainsco/Bob Stallings Racing has one win. Starworks has yet to win in 2013 as the series heads to Indianapolis, sight of Starworks first win.
Magnus Racing John Potter and Andy Lally lead the GT standings with one hundred and ninety-nine points, six ahead of Stevenson Motorsports' Robin Liddell and John Edwards. Magnus Racing has yet to win in 2013 as Stevenson Motorsports has won four of seven rounds.
Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters heads to the famed Norisring this weekend after having a month off. There have been four races and four different winners with Audi driver Mike Rockenfeller and defending champion, BMW's Bruno Spengler tied for the points lead with fifty-nine points. Rockenfeller holds the tiebreaker over Spengler. Each driver has a win and a second place finish. Neither has a third place finish with Rockenfeller owning the tiebreaker with one fourth place finish to Spengler's none. Mercedes' Gary Paffett is third in points after his win at Lausitz a month ago.
Christian Vietoris is fourth in podiums with two podiums ahead of Hockenheim winner Augusto Farfus in fifth. Marco Wittmann is the top rookie in sixth. He finished second at Red Bull Ring in Austria. Canadian Robert Wickens is seventh in points with one podium. Dirk Werner eighth also with one podium with two-time DTM champion Mattias Ekström and American Joey Hand rounding out the top ten. Former Formula One driver Timo Glock is eleventh in points with one points paying finish, a third in Austria. Two-time DTM champion Timo Scheider is thirteenth with ten points. He has not scored a podium since Lausitz 2011 and has not won since Adria 2010. In fifteen starts at the Norisring, Scheider has only five points finish with his best finish on the street circuit being a third in 2008. 2011 DTM champion Martin Tomczyk has yet to score a point in 2013. The Bavarian has finished third and second in the last two races at the Norisring.
A German has not won at the Norisring since Uwe Alzen in 2011. Audi's Jamie Green has won four of the last five races at Norisring however they all came when he was a Mercedes driver. Green, Spengler and Paffett combined have won the last nine races at Norisring and Mercedes has won the last ten races at Norisring. Audi's last win on the streets of Nuremberg was by Laurent Aïello in 2002. BMW's last win in Nuremberg was by Joachim Winkelhock in 1997.
World Rally Championship
Sébastien Ogier leads the World Rally Championship by sixty-four points over Volkswagen teammate Jari-Matti Latvala. Ogier has won four of seven rallies this season and has been finished second in two of the three other rallies (he finished tenth in Greece). Latvala won the Acropolis Rally with semi-retired Sébastien Loeb winning the Monte Carlo Rally and Rally Argentina. Loeb finished second in Rally Sweden and is fourth in points twenty-two points back of Latvala. Loeb will compete in his final career rally October 4-6, Rallye de France Alsace. Third in points is Belgium's own Thierry Neuville. The Ford driver is twenty points behind Latvala for second and has scored three podiums in 2013.
Citroën's Mikko Hirvonen is fifth in points, seven back of Loeb with two podium finishes. His teammate, Dani Sordo is sixth, two points back with two podiums as well. Norwegian Mads Østberg is the only other driver with a podium in 2013 (a third in Sweden). He is seventh in points. The next rally is August 2-4, Rally Finland.
NHRA
In Top Fuel, Shawn Langdon took the points lead by one point last weekend at Norwalk, Ohio from Tony Schumacher. Langdon and Schumacher have each won three races this year. Antron Brown and Spencer Massey each have two wins in 2013. Steve Torrence and Bob Vandergriff each have a win and sit tied for ninth in the standings. Brandon Bernstein is just outside the top ten and the cutoff for the Countdown to One. He is one hundred and twenty-seven points back of Torrence and Vandergriff.
Matt Hagen leads Funny Car with three wins. Johnny Gray is second in points after picking up his fourth win at Norwalk. Courtney Force and Cruz Pedregon each have two wins in 2013 with Ron Capps and John Force each having a win in 2013. Bob Tasca III is tenth in points, three ahead of 2009 Funny Car champion Robert Hight.
Mike Edwards leads Pro Stock over Allen Johnson and Jeg Coughlin. Edwards picked up his fourth win at Norwalk last week. Johnson has three wins in 2013, Coughlin has two. Other winners in 2013 include Vincent Nobile, Erica Enders-Stevens, Jason Line and Rodger Brogdon.
Hector Arana, Jr. has won three of seven races in Pro Stock Motorcycle. He leads Michael Ray, Jr. by forty-eight points int he championship. Ray has two wins in 2013. Louis Tonglet is tenth in points, twenty-nine ahead of Shawn Gann.
The next round for the NHRA will be the Mile-High Nationals, July 19-21.
USAC
Jerry Coons, Jr. leads Bobby East by fifteen points in the Silver Crown Championship standings. East won the most recent race at Pikes Peak International Raceway on June 29th. The next Silver Crown race will be at Indianapolis Raceway Park July 27th.
Dave Darland leads Bryan Clauson in the National Sprint Car standings by thirty-five points. Darland has two wins at Bloomington and Port Royal. Clauson won the season opening race at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Florida and has yet to win since. Indiana Sprint Week begins July 12th at Gas City.
Rookie Christopher Bell leads the National Midget Dirt standings by twenty-six points over Clauson. Both Bell and Clauson have two wins in 2013 with Clauson winning the most recent race at Belle-Clair Speedway in Belleville, Illinois. Next race for the National Midget Dirt Championship is July 30th at Solomon Valley Raceway in Beloit, Kansas.
Darren Hagen leads the National Midget Pavement standings by two points over Caleb Armstrong and Bobby Santos III. Hagen has one win, it being the Night Before the 500. Santos won at New Smyrna Speedway back in February. Next race for the National Midget Pavement Championship will be July 27th at Indianapolis Raceway Park.
The biggest news this season was the retirement of Levi Jones. The seven-time USAC national champion retired June 28th from racing to work for his family's business. The thirty-one year old Jones won five sprint championships and back-to-back Silver Crown titles in 2010 and 2011. He won all but one of those those titles driving for Tony Stewart Racing.
NASCAR
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is heading to Loudon, New Hampshire after their traditional July 4th weekend night race at Daytona International Speedway. Jimmie Johnson has four wins and leads the points after winning last Saturday night. Johnson became the first driver to sweep Daytona races since Bobby Allison did it back in 1982. Johnson's fourth win came a week after Matt Kenseth picked up his fourth win of 2013 at Kentucky. In his first season with Joe Gibbs Racing, Kenseth is sixth in the standings ahead of teammate Kyle Busch by seven points.
With eight races until the Chase, ten different drivers have won a race in 2013, seven of which are in the top ten (Johnson, Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick, Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Greg Biffle and Tony Stewart). Clint Bowyer is second in points but has yet to pick up a win in 2013. The Kansan driver has finished in the top five the last three races. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is fifth in points with ten top tens in 2013 and a pole position. Furniture Row Racing and Kurt Busch are an unexpected ninth in points. Busch has three consecutive top ten finishes and won the pole at Darlington in May. The three race winners outside the top ten are Martin Truex, Jr., Kasey Kahne and David Ragan. Truex and Kahne are eleventh and twelfth in points and are currently the two wild cards for the Chase. Ragan sits twenty-eighth in points despite winning at Talladega in May. Since his win, Ragan's best finish is twenty-second.
Notable drivers who have yet to win in 2013 are the defending champion Brad Keselowski, Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin. Hamlin sits twenty-sixth in points after missing four races with a back injury. Hamlin is one hundred and twenty-two points back of twentieth, the farthest back a driver can be and win a wild card for the Chase. Hamlin will also need at least two race wins to qualify for a wild card spot.
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. is eighteenth in points and leads the Rookie of the Year standings. He is one hundred and twenty-three points ahead of Danica Patrick.
In the Nationwide Series, Regan Smith has won two races and leads Sam Hornish, Jr. by six points. Hornish has one win in 2013. Elliott Sadler is third in points, fourteen back with Justin Allgaier and Austin Dillon rounding out the top five. Kyle Larson is sixth in points and leads the Rookie of the Year standings, ahead of Alex Bowman by seventy-six points. Trevor Bayne is tenth in points and is the only other Nationwide Series championship eligible driver to win a race in 2013. Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, AJ Allmendinger and Matt Kenseth have won Nationwide races as well. The Nationwide Series races at Loudon Saturday afternoon.
The Camping World Truck Series heads to Iowa Speedway with fourteen year veteran Matt Crafton as the points leader, twenty-two points ahead of rookie Jeb Burton, son of 2002 Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton. Both Crafton and Burton have a win in 2013. Ty Dillon is third and has one win with defending Truck Series champion James Buescher fourth in points, winless with only one top five so far. Johhny Sauter is fifth with two wins. Ryan Blaney, son of Dave Blaney leads the Rookie of the Year standings, thirty-six points ahead of Darrell Wallace, Jr. Kyle Busch has two wins this year with Kyle Larson also having one win. The Truck Series heads to Eldora Speedway in a fortnight for the first NASCAR national touring series race on dirt since 1970.
Formula One
After winning his first German Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel leads the World Driver's Championship by thirty-four points over Fernando Alonso. Kimi Räikkönen is third, forty-one markers back.
Red Bull Racing has four wins in 2013 and leads the Constructors' Championship by sixty-seven points over Mercedes. Sebastian Vettel has four wins and six total podiums with Mark Webber having scored three podiums. This will be Webber's final season at Red Bull Racing as he has already announced he will be going to drive for Porsche and their new LMP1 entry. Nico Rosberg is responsible for Mercedes' two wins in 2013 but Rosberg is fifteen points back of World Champion teammate Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes team were found guilty of taken part in an illegal tire test after the Spanish Grand Prix and are banned from the young drivers' test later this year at Silverstone. Ferrari is three points back of Mercedes having scored two wins. Alonso has two wins and five total podiums with Felipe Massa's lone podium coming at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Lotus is fourth with Räikkönen's win at Australia the teams only win of 2013. Räikkönen has four second place finishes since his win in Melbourne. Romain Grosjean has two podiums in his last six races but four finishes outside the points in the last six races. Force India is fifth with Paul di Resta eighth in the Drivers' standings with seven finishes in the points out of nine races. The Scotsman is thirteen points ahead of his Force India teamamte Adrian Sutil. Sixth in the Constructor's Championship is McLaren-Mercedes who have yet to score a podium in 2013. Jenson Button is tenth in points with Sergio Pérez twelfth. Scuderia Toro Rosso is seventh with driver Jean-Éric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo having scored thirteen and eleven points respectively. Sauber is seventh with Nico Hülkenberg having scored seven points.
Estebán Gutiérrez has yet to score any points in his rookie season. Williams F1, Marussia F1 and Caterham F1 have all failed to scored points in 2013 as well. Formula One has the next three weeks off before heading to Budapest for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Moto GP
Moto GP heads to Germany this weekend with Dani Pedrosa leading his fellow Spaniard and twice Moto GP champion Jorge Lorenzo by nine points. Fellow Spaniard, rookie Marc Márquez is third in points, twenty-three back of his factory Honda teammate Pedrosa. Tech 3 Yamaha rider Cal Crutchlow is fourth in points, two ahead of factory Yamaha rider and most recent winner Valention Rossi. Rossi's win at Assen was his first since Malaysia in 2010. Andrea Dovizioso is the top Ducati rider in sixth, twenty points back of Rossi. He is ahead of LCR Honda's Stefan Brandl and American teammate Nicky Hayden. Spaniard Álvaro Bautistia and Alex Espargaró round out the top ten. Espargaró is the top Claiming Rules Team rider. Americans Colin Edwards and Ben Spies are seventeenth and eighteenth in points respectively. Edwards has scored ten points riding for the CRT team Forward Racing. Spies has nine points but has missed the last five rounds due to injury. After Germany, the Moto GP teams head to Laguna Seca for the United States Grand Prix on July 21.
Sports Cars
Muscle Mile Pickett Racing picked up it's third consecutive win in the American Le Mans Series last Saturday at Lime Rock Park. Drivers Lucas Luhr and Klaus Graf leads by twenty-four points over the Rebellion Racing drivers Nick Heidfeld and Neel Jani. Rebellion Racing withdrew from the championship to focus on their new LMP1 entry for 2014. Marino Franchitti leads the LMP2 driver standings with seventy-two points, three more than his Level 5 Motorsports owner Scott Tucker and Extreme Speed Motorsports Guy Cosmo and Scott Sharp. Fifth in points is Ryan Briscoe seven back of teammate Franchitti. Franchitti has won three of four races this year in LMP2.
Dirk Müller leads the GT points standings, sixteen points ahead of the Corvette teammates Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen and fellow BMW driver John Edwards. Four different teams have won the four races in GT. The #4 Corvette won at Sebring with the #3 winning at Laguna Seca. The #55 and #56 BMW won Long Beach and Lime Rock Park respectively. Henrique Cisneros leads GTC by one point over Spencer Pumpelly and Nelson Canache, Jr. Mike Guasch and Colin Braun leads PC by eleven points over Bruno Junqueira. The American Le Mans Series heads to Mosport July 21st.
The Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype points lead is shared by the Wayne Taylor Racing drivers Max Angelelli and Jordan Taylor and Starworks Motorsport's Ryan Dalziel and Alex Popow. Christian Fittipaldi is third in points, four back of Wayne Taylor and Starworks. Fittipaldi and João Barbosa have won the last two races at Mid-Ohio and Watkins Glen. Gainsco/Bob Stallings Racing's pair of Jon Fogerty and Alex Gurney are one point back of Fittipaldi with Barbosa in fifth. 24 Hours of Daytona winners Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas are sixth in points. Chip Ganassi Racing also won at Road Atlanta. Wayne Taylor Racing has two wins while Gainsco/Bob Stallings Racing has one win. Starworks has yet to win in 2013 as the series heads to Indianapolis, sight of Starworks first win.
Magnus Racing John Potter and Andy Lally lead the GT standings with one hundred and ninety-nine points, six ahead of Stevenson Motorsports' Robin Liddell and John Edwards. Magnus Racing has yet to win in 2013 as Stevenson Motorsports has won four of seven rounds.
Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters heads to the famed Norisring this weekend after having a month off. There have been four races and four different winners with Audi driver Mike Rockenfeller and defending champion, BMW's Bruno Spengler tied for the points lead with fifty-nine points. Rockenfeller holds the tiebreaker over Spengler. Each driver has a win and a second place finish. Neither has a third place finish with Rockenfeller owning the tiebreaker with one fourth place finish to Spengler's none. Mercedes' Gary Paffett is third in points after his win at Lausitz a month ago.
Christian Vietoris is fourth in podiums with two podiums ahead of Hockenheim winner Augusto Farfus in fifth. Marco Wittmann is the top rookie in sixth. He finished second at Red Bull Ring in Austria. Canadian Robert Wickens is seventh in points with one podium. Dirk Werner eighth also with one podium with two-time DTM champion Mattias Ekström and American Joey Hand rounding out the top ten. Former Formula One driver Timo Glock is eleventh in points with one points paying finish, a third in Austria. Two-time DTM champion Timo Scheider is thirteenth with ten points. He has not scored a podium since Lausitz 2011 and has not won since Adria 2010. In fifteen starts at the Norisring, Scheider has only five points finish with his best finish on the street circuit being a third in 2008. 2011 DTM champion Martin Tomczyk has yet to score a point in 2013. The Bavarian has finished third and second in the last two races at the Norisring.
A German has not won at the Norisring since Uwe Alzen in 2011. Audi's Jamie Green has won four of the last five races at Norisring however they all came when he was a Mercedes driver. Green, Spengler and Paffett combined have won the last nine races at Norisring and Mercedes has won the last ten races at Norisring. Audi's last win on the streets of Nuremberg was by Laurent Aïello in 2002. BMW's last win in Nuremberg was by Joachim Winkelhock in 1997.
World Rally Championship
Sébastien Ogier leads the World Rally Championship by sixty-four points over Volkswagen teammate Jari-Matti Latvala. Ogier has won four of seven rallies this season and has been finished second in two of the three other rallies (he finished tenth in Greece). Latvala won the Acropolis Rally with semi-retired Sébastien Loeb winning the Monte Carlo Rally and Rally Argentina. Loeb finished second in Rally Sweden and is fourth in points twenty-two points back of Latvala. Loeb will compete in his final career rally October 4-6, Rallye de France Alsace. Third in points is Belgium's own Thierry Neuville. The Ford driver is twenty points behind Latvala for second and has scored three podiums in 2013.
Citroën's Mikko Hirvonen is fifth in points, seven back of Loeb with two podium finishes. His teammate, Dani Sordo is sixth, two points back with two podiums as well. Norwegian Mads Østberg is the only other driver with a podium in 2013 (a third in Sweden). He is seventh in points. The next rally is August 2-4, Rally Finland.
NHRA
In Top Fuel, Shawn Langdon took the points lead by one point last weekend at Norwalk, Ohio from Tony Schumacher. Langdon and Schumacher have each won three races this year. Antron Brown and Spencer Massey each have two wins in 2013. Steve Torrence and Bob Vandergriff each have a win and sit tied for ninth in the standings. Brandon Bernstein is just outside the top ten and the cutoff for the Countdown to One. He is one hundred and twenty-seven points back of Torrence and Vandergriff.
Matt Hagen leads Funny Car with three wins. Johnny Gray is second in points after picking up his fourth win at Norwalk. Courtney Force and Cruz Pedregon each have two wins in 2013 with Ron Capps and John Force each having a win in 2013. Bob Tasca III is tenth in points, three ahead of 2009 Funny Car champion Robert Hight.
Mike Edwards leads Pro Stock over Allen Johnson and Jeg Coughlin. Edwards picked up his fourth win at Norwalk last week. Johnson has three wins in 2013, Coughlin has two. Other winners in 2013 include Vincent Nobile, Erica Enders-Stevens, Jason Line and Rodger Brogdon.
Hector Arana, Jr. has won three of seven races in Pro Stock Motorcycle. He leads Michael Ray, Jr. by forty-eight points int he championship. Ray has two wins in 2013. Louis Tonglet is tenth in points, twenty-nine ahead of Shawn Gann.
The next round for the NHRA will be the Mile-High Nationals, July 19-21.
USAC
Jerry Coons, Jr. leads Bobby East by fifteen points in the Silver Crown Championship standings. East won the most recent race at Pikes Peak International Raceway on June 29th. The next Silver Crown race will be at Indianapolis Raceway Park July 27th.
Dave Darland leads Bryan Clauson in the National Sprint Car standings by thirty-five points. Darland has two wins at Bloomington and Port Royal. Clauson won the season opening race at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Florida and has yet to win since. Indiana Sprint Week begins July 12th at Gas City.
Rookie Christopher Bell leads the National Midget Dirt standings by twenty-six points over Clauson. Both Bell and Clauson have two wins in 2013 with Clauson winning the most recent race at Belle-Clair Speedway in Belleville, Illinois. Next race for the National Midget Dirt Championship is July 30th at Solomon Valley Raceway in Beloit, Kansas.
Darren Hagen leads the National Midget Pavement standings by two points over Caleb Armstrong and Bobby Santos III. Hagen has one win, it being the Night Before the 500. Santos won at New Smyrna Speedway back in February. Next race for the National Midget Pavement Championship will be July 27th at Indianapolis Raceway Park.
The biggest news this season was the retirement of Levi Jones. The seven-time USAC national champion retired June 28th from racing to work for his family's business. The thirty-one year old Jones won five sprint championships and back-to-back Silver Crown titles in 2010 and 2011. He won all but one of those those titles driving for Tony Stewart Racing.
Monday, July 8, 2013
Ovals: Sadly, It's Going to Be a While
One hundred and four days: The amount of time between the penultimate oval to the final oval in the 2013 IndyCar season.
After seeing five ovals in forty-five days, it will be almost three and a half months before IndyCar heads to another oval, the season finale at Fontana. And if the schedule remains the same as it has been since 2011, it will be two hundred and eighteen days between the last of oval of 2013 and the first oval of 2014, the Indianapolis 500.
Since reunification, ovals have struggled and it's not because the grid absorbed teams from the road and street course heavy ChampCar. It's a mix of hard economic times, IndyCar playing hard ball with International Speedway Corporation tracks and then deciding to play hard ball with Speedway Motorsports tracks. It was bad scheduling moving races all over the schedule from dates that drew healthy crowds to dates during times of the years that conflicted with other events.
Let's go down the list:
Sadly we lost Michigan after 2007 after back-to-back years of bad weather and five seasons of lackluster IRL races which made many yearn for the years of great CART races.
Nashville was dropped after 2008 because of a mix of Firestone pulling the plug as title sponsor of the race, Toronto taking over it's traditional date in mid-July and probably the bigger underlying problem that the track owner, Dover Motorsports, were not making money and Nashville was a causality of the recession as were other Dover Motorsports owned tracks Memphis and Gateway. While Memphis and Gateway have found new owners, both ovals have little to no action with primary use being the tracks drag strips, and Nashville sits abandoned as mother nature reclaims it.
Richmond was dropped after 2009 after SunTrust's contract as title sponsor ended and after the IndyCar aero package had produced a string of bad oval races in 2009. Remember all those changes that were made in time for Kentucky that year? Push-to-pass was reintroduced to IndyCar and for the first time ever on ovals. That's how bad things had gotten in 2009. Either way it didn't matter, Richmond was gone for 2010.
Chicagoland had gone from the season finale the week after Labor Day to the final weekend in August after Motegi was moved to mid-September not to go head-to-head with Long Beach and Homestead became the season finale in late October. While becoming a Saturday night race the start time was too late and night time weather was too cold. What also didn't help the IndyCar date at Chicagoland was the track wanting to move their NASCAR race to mid-September.
Homestead didn't survive moving from the opening round to the final round of the IndyCar season. After moving to extend the IndyCar season into October, Homestead lasted two years as the final round of the championship with low attendance each year.
Motegi was a great event funded by Honda but the Japanese manufacture decided not to fund an IndyCar race for 2012, making 2011 the final running. The horrific earthquake in March 2011 forced the final race at Motegi to be moved from the oval to the road course. The timing never worked out for Motegi. When reunification occurred, Motegi had to make room for Long Beach in mid-April. The move to mid-September was tough because it created a lull at the end of the IndyCar season. Late Saturday night, early Sunday morning race in the United States didn't help the event at all, despite producing some fairly good races.
2011 was a terrible year for ovals. New Hampshire was a one and done shot for IndyCar and a late start time, ill-timed rain shower, poor judgement decision to restart the race after the ill-timed rain shower killed the event despite a reasonable race for IndyCar's first time at the track in thirteen years. Scheduling was also difficult. It was scheduled at the only possible date during the summer. The NASCAR races in mid-July and late-September made it difficult for the event to be slotted into the schedule. Not to mention, the IndyCar race was the same day as NASCAR at Watkins Glen. If only the DW12 had been given a chance to race at New Hampshire, things might have been different.
Kentucky was once a great race for IndyCar. Great crowd, great races and a great date in early-August. The race was pushed to Labor Day weekend. Great move, right? No. It went head-to-head with the largest college football game in the state of Kentucky, Louisville vs. Kentucky. It was then moved to a Sunday in October, the heart of the NFL season and drawing the smallest crowd in the history of Kentucky Speedway by far driving a knife into was once was a great event.
Then there was Las Vegas. One and done after the fatal accident took the life of Dan Wheldon and a tense relationship between the track and IndyCar afterward. The tender relationship with Las Vegas and SMI was probably the final nail in the coffin of any shot of New Hampshire returning for 2012 and strained any chances of another SMI track being added to the schedule.
2013 features six ovals. Indianapolis will always be there. The relationship with SMI and Texas has been improving. Milwaukee is on the fence but has had two really good years after the race was left off the schedule and promoted poorly for back-to-back years. Iowa had a bad 2013 but let's hope the series and track can work on improving for 2014. Pocono had a good crowd and after seeing what the Igdalsky brother's have done to the track in the last few years, they will probably do all they can to make sure 2014 is even better. Fontana had a great crowd in 2012 considering what the crowds looked like during the IRL days. If the racing stays consistent to 2012 and being the season finale helps, maybe the race will have a long term future. The current crop of IndyCar ovals are a great showing of diverse ovals that produce their own unique form of racing, adding to the series already great diversity with road and street courses.
However, it disappointing that's it for ovals. Milwaukee and Iowa produced great racing and there are a few other short ovals that could produce the same great racing for IndyCar as those two do. Deep down, an oval race a month for IndyCar from March to October would be great with the current month of June staying the same (except add a week off between Milwaukee and Iowa to give the teams a break). In theory, March, April, August and September would all gain oval races and increase the total to ten oval races for IndyCar. In reality for these hypothetical races to work they have to make money for the promoters. If they can do that, IndyCar is in business, the fans get a few more ovals and the schedule grows as a whole. Until then, one hundred and four days until the next oval but there are seven interesting road and street course races to fill the void with two this weekend from North of the Border.
After seeing five ovals in forty-five days, it will be almost three and a half months before IndyCar heads to another oval, the season finale at Fontana. And if the schedule remains the same as it has been since 2011, it will be two hundred and eighteen days between the last of oval of 2013 and the first oval of 2014, the Indianapolis 500.
Since reunification, ovals have struggled and it's not because the grid absorbed teams from the road and street course heavy ChampCar. It's a mix of hard economic times, IndyCar playing hard ball with International Speedway Corporation tracks and then deciding to play hard ball with Speedway Motorsports tracks. It was bad scheduling moving races all over the schedule from dates that drew healthy crowds to dates during times of the years that conflicted with other events.
Let's go down the list:
Sadly we lost Michigan after 2007 after back-to-back years of bad weather and five seasons of lackluster IRL races which made many yearn for the years of great CART races.
Nashville was dropped after 2008 because of a mix of Firestone pulling the plug as title sponsor of the race, Toronto taking over it's traditional date in mid-July and probably the bigger underlying problem that the track owner, Dover Motorsports, were not making money and Nashville was a causality of the recession as were other Dover Motorsports owned tracks Memphis and Gateway. While Memphis and Gateway have found new owners, both ovals have little to no action with primary use being the tracks drag strips, and Nashville sits abandoned as mother nature reclaims it.
Richmond was dropped after 2009 after SunTrust's contract as title sponsor ended and after the IndyCar aero package had produced a string of bad oval races in 2009. Remember all those changes that were made in time for Kentucky that year? Push-to-pass was reintroduced to IndyCar and for the first time ever on ovals. That's how bad things had gotten in 2009. Either way it didn't matter, Richmond was gone for 2010.
Chicagoland had gone from the season finale the week after Labor Day to the final weekend in August after Motegi was moved to mid-September not to go head-to-head with Long Beach and Homestead became the season finale in late October. While becoming a Saturday night race the start time was too late and night time weather was too cold. What also didn't help the IndyCar date at Chicagoland was the track wanting to move their NASCAR race to mid-September.
Homestead didn't survive moving from the opening round to the final round of the IndyCar season. After moving to extend the IndyCar season into October, Homestead lasted two years as the final round of the championship with low attendance each year.
Motegi was a great event funded by Honda but the Japanese manufacture decided not to fund an IndyCar race for 2012, making 2011 the final running. The horrific earthquake in March 2011 forced the final race at Motegi to be moved from the oval to the road course. The timing never worked out for Motegi. When reunification occurred, Motegi had to make room for Long Beach in mid-April. The move to mid-September was tough because it created a lull at the end of the IndyCar season. Late Saturday night, early Sunday morning race in the United States didn't help the event at all, despite producing some fairly good races.
2011 was a terrible year for ovals. New Hampshire was a one and done shot for IndyCar and a late start time, ill-timed rain shower, poor judgement decision to restart the race after the ill-timed rain shower killed the event despite a reasonable race for IndyCar's first time at the track in thirteen years. Scheduling was also difficult. It was scheduled at the only possible date during the summer. The NASCAR races in mid-July and late-September made it difficult for the event to be slotted into the schedule. Not to mention, the IndyCar race was the same day as NASCAR at Watkins Glen. If only the DW12 had been given a chance to race at New Hampshire, things might have been different.
Kentucky was once a great race for IndyCar. Great crowd, great races and a great date in early-August. The race was pushed to Labor Day weekend. Great move, right? No. It went head-to-head with the largest college football game in the state of Kentucky, Louisville vs. Kentucky. It was then moved to a Sunday in October, the heart of the NFL season and drawing the smallest crowd in the history of Kentucky Speedway by far driving a knife into was once was a great event.
Then there was Las Vegas. One and done after the fatal accident took the life of Dan Wheldon and a tense relationship between the track and IndyCar afterward. The tender relationship with Las Vegas and SMI was probably the final nail in the coffin of any shot of New Hampshire returning for 2012 and strained any chances of another SMI track being added to the schedule.
2013 features six ovals. Indianapolis will always be there. The relationship with SMI and Texas has been improving. Milwaukee is on the fence but has had two really good years after the race was left off the schedule and promoted poorly for back-to-back years. Iowa had a bad 2013 but let's hope the series and track can work on improving for 2014. Pocono had a good crowd and after seeing what the Igdalsky brother's have done to the track in the last few years, they will probably do all they can to make sure 2014 is even better. Fontana had a great crowd in 2012 considering what the crowds looked like during the IRL days. If the racing stays consistent to 2012 and being the season finale helps, maybe the race will have a long term future. The current crop of IndyCar ovals are a great showing of diverse ovals that produce their own unique form of racing, adding to the series already great diversity with road and street courses.
However, it disappointing that's it for ovals. Milwaukee and Iowa produced great racing and there are a few other short ovals that could produce the same great racing for IndyCar as those two do. Deep down, an oval race a month for IndyCar from March to October would be great with the current month of June staying the same (except add a week off between Milwaukee and Iowa to give the teams a break). In theory, March, April, August and September would all gain oval races and increase the total to ten oval races for IndyCar. In reality for these hypothetical races to work they have to make money for the promoters. If they can do that, IndyCar is in business, the fans get a few more ovals and the schedule grows as a whole. Until then, one hundred and four days until the next oval but there are seven interesting road and street course races to fill the void with two this weekend from North of the Border.
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Pocono 2013: First Impressions
After attending the first Pocono Indy 400 in twenty-four years, a lot to comment on.
1. What a great day for Pittsburgh's own, Chip Ganassi. 1-2-3 with Scott Dixon, Charlie Kimball and Dario Franchitti. This was the turn around these three and Honda have been waiting for. Dixon is still in the championship picture.
2. One has to wonder what Marco Andretti has to do to catch a break and close out a race. Dominated all weekend and came up with zilch. Could have made up a lot of ground in the championship instead he's still up stream and as the series heads to seven consecutive road and street courses it does not get any easier for Andretti to stay in the championship picture. He's had a really good season but easily had the best car at Texas, Milwaukee and today Pocono and could be in a much better position.
3. Didn't realize Tony Kanaan had front wing damage but it was a terrible break for the Brazilian as it looked as he was in a great position to keep his Triple Crown hopes alive and pick up that $250,000 prize for winning two of three legs. Now Kanaan and Dixon will go head-to-head for the consolation prize with at least twenty-two drivers trying to play spoiler.
4. If there is one thing Ryan Hunter-Reay should feel positive about is he is only twenty-three points back of Helio Castroneves after Takuma Sato slide in the back of him entering the pit lane and the series heads to Toronto where Hunter-Reay is the defending race winner. Should Hunter-Reay double up at Toronto and Castroneves finish second in both race while leading no laps, Hunter-Reay would be one point back of Castroneves. It's still anyone's ballgame.
5. After a really good race, the traffic heading back east to New Jersey sucked. It wasn't leaving the track that was the problem, it was Interstate 80 and all the holiday traffic with thousands heading back to New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Vermont. It was inevitable and no ones fault. It was just a pain when it took you twice as long to get home. The race flew by taking only two hours and four minutes to complete meaning fans were getting on to the major highways when all other vacationers were heading home as well. Had this race been slowed for more cautions or had been 500 miles (which I suggested back when the schedule was released) it wouldn't had been any better. As I sat in the car after going ten miles in one hour I thought maybe it would have been better if the race had been on Saturday and not Sunday with less people heading home. But with this being a major holiday weekend, it may have been inevitable regardless of what day the race was held. The race began a little after noon, Pocono Raceway's staff did a great job getting everyone in and out of the track in a timely fashion and none of the traffic problems were the track's fault.
Hopefully I can see how a fan could decide not to go back to Pocono in 2014 after the terrible traffic. It is one of those things out of the track's control that deters people from returning despite the time they had at the race itself. I am not sure if there is anything the track could do but if they are thinking about extending the race to 500 miles in 2014 they should be mindful of the holiday traffic and what race fans could face afterward.
6. I hate when people comment that the stands look empty and are pessimistic. Today the stands had a good crowd and personally, if 600,000 people were there or 60 people were there, I am glad I went and that doesn't change the racing I saw on track.
7. A few tips if you have plans to go to Pocono in 2014 even after reading impression #4: Do not but Victory Lane Club or $100 Club tickets. Worthless. You might get more shade than if you were in the grandstands but do not see nearly as much of the race track. Parking at Pocono Raceway is free. A big change from most sporting events which are charging at least $20. Hydrate. The weather wasn't bad today but bring sunscreen and a hat. Today was in the mid 80s with humidity only around 50-60%. Today had a great amount of cloud cover and a nice breeze cooling you down. Now today's weather is not a guarantee to comeback in 2014 and I have experienced worse at Pocono but today wasn't brutally hot and enjoyable.
8. I brought a buddy of mind to his first auto race of any kind today and he enjoyed it and noted how there were a good amount of good looking woman walking around the paddock. It's not related to racing at all but in case you like cars and good looking woman, IndyCar is for you.
9. Back to racing: Honda had a great weekend after it looked like they were going to be spanked again at an oval. Great to see Josef Newgarden get a top five. Justin Wilson didn't look good at all the first two stints but turned it around and finished seventh.
10. It may have been an eleventh place finish but it was the best career oval finish for Simona de Silvestro who needed a good oval finish after struggling the past few seasons. She still needs a little work but today was a step in the right direction.
11. Shout out to Ed Carpenter who finished ninth and his sponsor Fuzzy Ultra Premium Vodka for giving away tickets to the race, two of which went to my parents.
12. Glad to see Pippa Mann get a full race in after retiring after two laps at Texas.
13. I've said it once and I'll say it again, Graham Rahal needs a senior teammate to work with. He was off the pace all day and needs a Oriol Serviá to work with. Granted James Jakes is doing fine but Rahal and his team are lost and needs a savior.
14. Another tough day for James Hinchcliffe as he heads home to Canada, however he has not had much luck at all in his home nation. His best finish in four starts in Canada is a twelfth at Edmonton last year and in six combined starts at Toronto (2 IndyCar, 2 Lights, 2 Atlantics), Hinchcliffe only has two top tens, with his last coming in 2009 in Indy Light and three retirements.
15. I look forward to returning to Pocono in 2014 and cannot wait for the doubleheader next weekend at Toronto.
1. What a great day for Pittsburgh's own, Chip Ganassi. 1-2-3 with Scott Dixon, Charlie Kimball and Dario Franchitti. This was the turn around these three and Honda have been waiting for. Dixon is still in the championship picture.
2. One has to wonder what Marco Andretti has to do to catch a break and close out a race. Dominated all weekend and came up with zilch. Could have made up a lot of ground in the championship instead he's still up stream and as the series heads to seven consecutive road and street courses it does not get any easier for Andretti to stay in the championship picture. He's had a really good season but easily had the best car at Texas, Milwaukee and today Pocono and could be in a much better position.
3. Didn't realize Tony Kanaan had front wing damage but it was a terrible break for the Brazilian as it looked as he was in a great position to keep his Triple Crown hopes alive and pick up that $250,000 prize for winning two of three legs. Now Kanaan and Dixon will go head-to-head for the consolation prize with at least twenty-two drivers trying to play spoiler.
4. If there is one thing Ryan Hunter-Reay should feel positive about is he is only twenty-three points back of Helio Castroneves after Takuma Sato slide in the back of him entering the pit lane and the series heads to Toronto where Hunter-Reay is the defending race winner. Should Hunter-Reay double up at Toronto and Castroneves finish second in both race while leading no laps, Hunter-Reay would be one point back of Castroneves. It's still anyone's ballgame.
5. After a really good race, the traffic heading back east to New Jersey sucked. It wasn't leaving the track that was the problem, it was Interstate 80 and all the holiday traffic with thousands heading back to New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Vermont. It was inevitable and no ones fault. It was just a pain when it took you twice as long to get home. The race flew by taking only two hours and four minutes to complete meaning fans were getting on to the major highways when all other vacationers were heading home as well. Had this race been slowed for more cautions or had been 500 miles (which I suggested back when the schedule was released) it wouldn't had been any better. As I sat in the car after going ten miles in one hour I thought maybe it would have been better if the race had been on Saturday and not Sunday with less people heading home. But with this being a major holiday weekend, it may have been inevitable regardless of what day the race was held. The race began a little after noon, Pocono Raceway's staff did a great job getting everyone in and out of the track in a timely fashion and none of the traffic problems were the track's fault.
Hopefully I can see how a fan could decide not to go back to Pocono in 2014 after the terrible traffic. It is one of those things out of the track's control that deters people from returning despite the time they had at the race itself. I am not sure if there is anything the track could do but if they are thinking about extending the race to 500 miles in 2014 they should be mindful of the holiday traffic and what race fans could face afterward.
6. I hate when people comment that the stands look empty and are pessimistic. Today the stands had a good crowd and personally, if 600,000 people were there or 60 people were there, I am glad I went and that doesn't change the racing I saw on track.
7. A few tips if you have plans to go to Pocono in 2014 even after reading impression #4: Do not but Victory Lane Club or $100 Club tickets. Worthless. You might get more shade than if you were in the grandstands but do not see nearly as much of the race track. Parking at Pocono Raceway is free. A big change from most sporting events which are charging at least $20. Hydrate. The weather wasn't bad today but bring sunscreen and a hat. Today was in the mid 80s with humidity only around 50-60%. Today had a great amount of cloud cover and a nice breeze cooling you down. Now today's weather is not a guarantee to comeback in 2014 and I have experienced worse at Pocono but today wasn't brutally hot and enjoyable.
8. I brought a buddy of mind to his first auto race of any kind today and he enjoyed it and noted how there were a good amount of good looking woman walking around the paddock. It's not related to racing at all but in case you like cars and good looking woman, IndyCar is for you.
9. Back to racing: Honda had a great weekend after it looked like they were going to be spanked again at an oval. Great to see Josef Newgarden get a top five. Justin Wilson didn't look good at all the first two stints but turned it around and finished seventh.
10. It may have been an eleventh place finish but it was the best career oval finish for Simona de Silvestro who needed a good oval finish after struggling the past few seasons. She still needs a little work but today was a step in the right direction.
11. Shout out to Ed Carpenter who finished ninth and his sponsor Fuzzy Ultra Premium Vodka for giving away tickets to the race, two of which went to my parents.
12. Glad to see Pippa Mann get a full race in after retiring after two laps at Texas.
13. I've said it once and I'll say it again, Graham Rahal needs a senior teammate to work with. He was off the pace all day and needs a Oriol Serviá to work with. Granted James Jakes is doing fine but Rahal and his team are lost and needs a savior.
14. Another tough day for James Hinchcliffe as he heads home to Canada, however he has not had much luck at all in his home nation. His best finish in four starts in Canada is a twelfth at Edmonton last year and in six combined starts at Toronto (2 IndyCar, 2 Lights, 2 Atlantics), Hinchcliffe only has two top tens, with his last coming in 2009 in Indy Light and three retirements.
15. I look forward to returning to Pocono in 2014 and cannot wait for the doubleheader next weekend at Toronto.
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