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[Rad-oh-yeah?]

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

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Injured Bourdais happy to not be part of "bullshit" Texas race

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By: David Malsher, US Editor
1 hour ago


Sebastien Bourdais, currently recuperating from a broken pelvis after his 118G shunt in qualifying for the Indy 500, says he is frustrated by not enough people admitting that the racing at Texas Motor Speedway was too risky. David Malsher reports.

Several accidents and incidents decimated the field in last Saturday night’s RainGuard Water Sealer 600, largely as a result of there being very little separation between the cars on track, to where just six healthy cars finished the race on the lead lap.

Asked by Motorsport.com if he was sorry not to be in his #18 Dale Coyne Racing-Honda when substitute Tristan Vautier proved the entry was a genuine threat for victory at Texas Motor Speedway, Bourdais replied: “No. It was wrong, it was bullshit, and I think we should know better than that.

“Back in the days, particularly when Dan [Wheldon] died, we told ourselves that we would never do that style of racing again. And actually, as far as I’m concerned, Texas last weekend is not even the first time we’ve done it since then. We’ve done it at Fontana in 2015 and in a couple of other places.

“I keep hearing and reading comments that I feel in disbelief about; people saying, ‘This was awesome! This was such a great show!’ and I’m like, ‘Man, oh man, people are suffering short-memory syndrome, big time.’

“If we haven’t proved to ourselves that we can’t do stock car-style racing with open-wheel cars without putting drivers’ lives at risk to a massive amount, then clearly we haven’t learned anything and we’re just delusional. I’d just like people to tell it straight – ‘This was a big mistake, we’re just really glad that we made it through, and let’s never make this mistake again.’ But that’s not what I’m reading. I’m reading, ‘How great was that?!’

“It’s not all about the show. It’s about making sure that we can race, and race hard but don’t put the drivers and teams and series in a spot where we shouldn’t be. It’s all fun and games until somebody dies. And then what?

“As soon as that green flag dropped, I was holding my phone and shaking, praying that nobody would get hurt. That is not how these races should be.”

Acknowledging and identifying the problem

Bourdais, who is sixth in Indy car racing's all-time winner list with 36 victories, said: “I’ll give everyone the benefit of the doubt, all those ones who said ‘I didn’t think it would be that bad’, and so on. I get it, we all mistakes. But if no one after the race is honest with themselves about the way it was – that mistakes were made and that we were lucky to avoid getting someone hurt – then that means that we’re going to go and do the same thing again. And if someone then gets hurt, then shame on us.”

Bourdais said he wasn’t bothered how he would be perceived by some for speaking out louder than his rivals, even if many agreed with him.

“Oh yeah, I know I’ll be seen as the dick for saying all this,” he admitted, “but I’ll deal with that. That’s fine.

“If we have not yet learned our lessons from these types of races, then what is it going to take? How many times are we going to need to do that? How many millions of dollars do we need to throw away to finally understand that this type of racing is something we can’t do? I don’t know. I’m almost speechless when I read the comments – good or bad – that some of the drivers make which just miss the point.”

Bourdais insisted that his views were not a criticism of Texas Motor Speedway.

“No, absolutely not,” he said. “It’s got nothing to do with that track, and it’s not any track owners’ responsibility to define our racing for us. It’s down to us to bring the right package. And what happened on Saturday has got nothing to do with anything other than the aerokits have put us in a spot where we cannot run the appropriate amount of downforce to create separation.

“We need to run that little amount of downforce that we aren’t flat [on the throttle] all the way around, so we aren’t two-wide, six-deep for a whole lap, lap after lap. What I worry about is that I don’t see anyone acknowledging we’ve done wrong, so we can’t identify what we’ve done wrong and so we don’t identify how to fix it. If you’re in denial that there’s a problem then you’re not going to identify what the problem is, so then how do you find the solution? You don’t.”

2018 car should be “the big fix”

Bourdais said he was highly encouraged by the arrival of the new aero package for 2018 – both in terms of its intention and also the fact that it would allow the series more chance to adapt the cars without manufacturer politics becoming involved.

“Yes, 2018 is the big chance to correct this; of course it is the big fix,” he said. “Unfortunately the technical windows were left too open in the creation of the aerokits that it created so much more downforce than the series anticipated and it’s only going to get fixed when they go away. Thankfully it’s next year.

“So at Texas, the big problem is that it did not matter what you did with the wings. There was so much downforce created by the rear bumper and all the stuff that you could throw on it, there was no fixing it. The only thing IndyCar could have said or done was say, ‘Screw whichever manufacturer thinks they are going to lose out, we’re not going to let you run anything on the bumper and take it out of the equation, and you can run -4 or -6 on the rear wing and be done. The problem we’ve had for these past three years is that it’s very difficult to have a set rule when you have two different sets of aerokits. No one is prepared to give up any advantage or put themselves at a perceived disadvantage.”

Asked how he believes IndyCar should move forward with its oval aero package for the 2018 car, Bourdais said: “Well, we need to say, OK, we made a mistake by underestimating what the race was going to be like, – and that’s ok, everybody makes mistakes – but next year when we go back with a common aerokit, let’s decide on a downforce level like we had in 2014 before the manufacturer aerokits. And maybe the racing doesn’t have cars going side by side for lap after lap, but we’re not putting everybody’s life at risk, by having everyone on top of each other.

“Well that will be completely fixable when we have a common aerokit. They can say, ‘This is the rear wing you’re going to run’, you can’t run more than 1600lbs of downforce and that’s not going to be pack racing. It’s not difficult to make those changes if everyone has the same kit.”

Lack of driver consensus

On the subject of whether the IndyCar Series listens to its drivers too much or not enough, Bourdais admitted: “Well, that’s why I don’t want to be too harsh on the series for making a mistake, because I feel that we as drivers don’t ever come to a consensus.

“We make recommendations, but half the field is pulling one way, half the field is pulling the other way, so it’s very difficult for the series to get a clear picture, and that’s why no matter how loud some of us can try to warn the series, the other half will say ‘Hey this isn’t gonna be a problem.’ Who is the series to believe or trust in that situation? That’s why they can only go from past experiences a lot of the time.

“There are always going to be drivers who want more downforce because it’s easier and it makes up for a lot, whether it’s a driver or car deficit.

“But anyway I hope the series won’t have to listen to the drivers and just extract the right conclusions from what happened at Texas. If they don’t that would not only be extremely frustrating but also plain, straight stupid. But I do believe they will.

“Texas will fix itself. It’s going to age, and then the groove is going to get wider and that will give drivers more options. What we saw in the race was drivers with too much downforce running two-wide, six-deep or three wide and everyone is bunched up, and then any time someone runs out of room or makes mistakes, he’s going to take a bunch of cars out. And that was waiting to happen the whole time because if you put drivers in desperate positions for long enough, they’re all going to lose their minds, they’re all going to try to make stuff happen that is not really feasible and it’s going to cost someone dearly.

“Thankfully no one paid the ultimate price, but let’s not keep dodging bullets for too long because at some point something bad will happen.”

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

It has been an expensive and exhausting four-week span for Dale Coyne Racing, but those obstacles have not prevented the team from readying two cars for Wednesday's IndyCar test at Road America.

Both of DCR's drivers, Tristan Vautier in the No. 18 Honda and Ed Jones in the No. 19 entry, were taken out in the pileup triggered by Tony Kanaan Saturday night in Texas, and with a need to get Jones and the returning Esteban Gutierrez some Road America mileage in an IndyCar prior to the June 25 race, the Illinois-based crew haven't stopped working to make it happen.

Led by chief mechanic Todd Phillips on the No. 18 and Roy Wilkerson on the No. 19, the DCR transporters are expected to leave later today for the circuit located in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

"The mechanics here work really hard and I felt really bad for them; it seems like every week there's more work to do than expected," DCR engineer Craig Hampson told RACER. "It gets old and tiresome to constantly take wreckage apart ... they deserve a break. But everyone here is a racer, none more so than and Dale and Gail Coyne are racers, and if they looked at it as a rational business, it wouldn't make sense, but thankfully they don't."

DCR lost two Dallara DW12 tubs this season in a pair of crashes by Sebastien Bourdais, incurred more damage when his replacement James Davison crashed in the Indy 500, and the Texas Tango broke two more cars.

"The Ed Jones car was not a disaster, I'm happy to say," Hampson continued. "That was a matter of replacing bodywork and suspension. Roy's making good progress. But there's significantly more to do on the car Tristan drove. The gearbox is beyond repair. We're working to get another from Xtrac. The tub is damaged but repairable. We're stripping that to get it off to Indy for repair, but there's no timetable for its return, so we'll be using the tub from Davison's crash to test."

Frustrations are running high and sleep is at an all-time low at DCR.

"There isn't much we can say that's been good recently, but the thing we can be gratified about is we were running up front at Texas," Hampson said. "Neither guy did anything wrong and both were quick. And our crew are the best you'll find, and they keep going until we're done."

Hampson hopes the extra effort is rewarded tomorrow, but that will take some sunshine to become a reality.

"We need to get the cars in the trucks by late afternoon to make it to Elkhart tonight and get everything set up," he said. The track goes green at 8:30 a.m., and we're doing all this staring at the forecast that's 50/50 rain ..."

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

IndyCar, Lights test at the Glen, Road America
Thursday, 15 June 2017
By Robin Miller / Image by Phillip Abbott/LAT


Charlie Kimball got a couple of races under this belt during a two-day tire test at Watkins Glen, while four Indy Lights drivers got their first taste of an Indy car at Road America on Wednesday.

Kimball, in his Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, spent six hours testing for Firestone at The Glen on Tuesday and Wednesday while Will Power represented Chevrolet.

"We figured I ran the equivalent of two races and I'm pretty sore today but I never get tired of being in the car – especially at The Glen," said Kimball, fresh off the first pole of his career at Texas.
 
"I can report the New York winter hasn't changed the grip because it's still a video game out there and it's still very physical."

Defending Verizon IndyCar Series champion Simon Pagenaud and Ganassi's Max Chilton also tested at the legendary road course in upstate New York but everyone got a late start because of rain on Tuesday.

And a tornado warning ended the test early at Road America as Ryan Hunter-Reay, Marco Andretti, Alex Rossi, Ed Jones and James Hinchcliffe shared the scenic, four-mile circuit and their cars with Lights drivers Nico Jamin, Dalton Kellet, Matheus Leist and Zachary Claman DeMelo.

"Dalton ran 52 laps in my car and did a good job but I only got in 13 laps before a tornado warning shut things down," said Hunter-Reay, whose season has been plagued by mechanical problems and bad breaks in his Andretti Autosport DHL Honda. "All the Lights guys did a nice job and it's always good to be back at Road America."

No times were available from Elkhart Lake but Hinchcliffe never made a lap after the engine expired in his Schmidt Peterson Motorsport Honda.

The Kohler Grand Prix at Road America runs June 23-25 while IndyCar visits The Glen on Labor Day weekend.

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

Will IndyCar carry a new tune in Nashville for 2019?
Friday, 16 June 2017
By Robin Miller / Images by F. Peirce Williams/LAT & Walt Kuhn/LAT


ABOVE: 2003 Nashville IndyCar winner Gil de Ferran's unique trophy.

Indy cars going back to Nashville in 2019? It's a possibility but it won't be at the same place the series ran for eight years.

After months of speculation, an idea was officially pitched to the Metro Sports Authority on Thursday to have a five-day event highlighted by a race around Nissan Stadium – home of the NFL's Tennessee Titans.

"Today, the Sports Authority authorized the organizing group behind the Grand Prix of Nashville to move forward with studying the feasibility of bringing this event to our city," Mayor Megan Barry said in a statement. "This could be an exciting opportunity so long as it can be done in a way that fits the community and minimizes any negative impact on residents, workers, and visitors in the area."

And the proposed Grand Prix of Nashville would either be an IndyCar or IMSA race, according to co-promoters Joe Mattioli and Matt Crews.

"We are keeping our options open and having ongoing discussions," said Mattioli, the former president of Pocono Raceway, told The Tennessean. "Both sanctioning bodies have strong interest about being in Nashville, but we're being very diligent about making that decision.

"Both have indicated their excitement about the market. Really, I think it's a toss-up right now."



Nashville SuperSpeedway, a 1.3-mile oval 30 miles southeast of downtown, hosted IndyCar from 2001-'08 (pictured in 2003) and drew decent crowds but never had very good racing on the concrete surface.

Tony Cotman, who works for IndyCar as track consultant and has laid out several circuits during the past few years, originally was instructed to design a track in downtown Nashville before it was decided to go around the stadium.

IndyCar has run races in the past around football stadiums at The Meadowlands in New Jersey and Reliant Stadium in Houston and the Nashville circuit would be 1.7 miles long.

The group, known as GPNTN LLC, hopes for a five-day show beginning on a Wednesday and leading up to Sunday's race that would include a downtown street festival, riverfront concert, a celebrity race, a drone race, autograph sessions with drivers, a gala for charities, and other festivities.

"Our goal at the Grand Prix of Nashville is to build on past successes like this past weekend," said Crews, executive vice president of the Grand Prix of Nashville and former CEO of Baker/Curb Racing, pointing to the massive crowd that descended downtown for the NHL's Stanley Cup Final and CMA Music Festival. "Nashville throws a great party, like this recently Stanley Cup has shown us, and like the NHL All-Star Game last year."

The next step is for GPNTN LLC to raise $2.5 million in initial private funding with no financial obligations from the city. Nashville is also the headquarters of Bridgestone/Firestone, the tire manufacturer for IndyCar.

IndyCar's last new venue, at Baltimore from 2011-'13, was well attended but lost millions of dollars and the proposed 2016 street race in Boston disintegrated in financial and political strife before being shelved five months before it was to be held.

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

McLaren IndyCar return a few years off - Brown
Monday, 19 June 2017
By Chris Medland / Images by Scott LePage/LAT & Steven Tee/LAT


McLaren executive director Zak Brown expects it to be a number of years before his team will be ready to make a full-time return to the IndyCar series.

Brown helped put together a deal for Fernando Alonso to race in this year's Indy 500 in a McLaren-Andretti entry, with the Spaniard qualifying in fifth place and leading a number of laps before retiring in the late stages with an engine failure. Although he was disappointed with the final result, Brown sees the 500 as a race McLaren will return to and is also interested in a full-time IndyCar entry – but believes the latter will need more planning time.



"We had a great experience, it's left a very good taste in our mouth," said Brown (pictured watching Alonso's progress at Indy). "I'd like to see McLaren back at the Indy 500 on a regular basis. We haven't made a decision yet; we will in the next couple of months. We're very head down and the team has been – I've been – a little distracted but now we're thinking the Indy is behind us. I think it's more likely than not that we will be back at the 500.

"As for doing a full season of IndyCar, with everything we've got going on and to get it right, we'd need to make a decision now – and we're not talking about it now, let alone making those decisions.

"I think further down the road it's a great series. I think McLaren racing in North America is a nice complement to Formula 1 because Formula 1 has limited reach there. But not yet – I think it's a few years away."

While Brown wants to see McLaren racing in IndyCar again, he ruled out any future move to bring an IndyCar driver to F1, having been asked if someone like Scott Dixon could be considered as a replacement for Alonso in the coming years.

"I don't think so. Scott Dixon I think is as good of a racecar driver as anyone out there but I think you've got to know the circuits, you've got to know the cars, you've got to know the teams. So someone like Scott, who is as fast as ever but towards the tail end of his career, I don't think there's a driver over there that wouldn't have too big of a learning curve to be as competitive as we would need them to be as quickly as they need to be.

"But I think those drivers are outstanding. I think it's more a case of where they've come from and the type of racing they've done and the cars they've been in, as opposed to that being a view on their talent and whether they're good enough, because I think they are. Or at least the front of the field are."

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

MILLER: Mid-season IndyCar report cards
Monday, 19 June 2017
By Robin Miller / Images by Geoffrey Miller/LAT, Russ LaBounty/LAT, Phil Abbott/LAT &


The 35th annual mid-season report card is easier than usual because nobody really deserves an A or an F because and it's been a free-for-all with seven different winners in nine starts, seven of the eight full-time teams have at least one podium and the top 10 is separated by 104 points with eight races remaining.

Honda's resurgence coupled with its explosiveness are the big stories, along with parity and the fact Scott Dixon is leading the Verizon IndyCar series but has yet to score a victory.

Of course, as usual, grades are based upon performance, budget, hospitality food and whether or not the driver subscribes to RACER.


GRADE B+

DALE COYNE RACING: Reunited with engineer Craig Hampson, Sebastien Bourdais won the season opener and would certainly have been a factor in the championship before his violent accident at Indy. And Tristan Vautier and James Davison filled in nicely on ovals while Seb heals and F1 refugee Esteban Gutierrez looked pretty promising in his debut with No. 18.



But one of the most impressive drives of the year has come from rookie Ed Jones (pictured, No. 19). He went from last-to-third at the Indy 500, ran sixth at Long Beach, never put a scratch on his car before brushing the wall at Detroit and was headed for another good finish at Texas before getting crashed. He and engineer Mike Cannon have clicked from Day 1 and despite all the carnage this team has endured, Coyne's operation has gone from a Little Guys to Tough Guys.


RAHAL/LETTERMAN/LANIGAN: If not for a flat tire at Indianapolis after charging from 18th to third, the resurging Rahal would likely be in the top three in points (since Indy paid double) instead of sixth. But a sixth at the IMS GP, an impressive double-header sweep in Motown and a fourth at Texas has this one-man band marching toward the front again. The Detroit dominance restored the whole team's confidence and Graham has proven to be a tough out just about everywhere.


TEAM PENSKE: Will Power has led 367 laps (236 more than anyone else), captured three pole positions, won twice and is lurking in fifth spot (only 40 points out of the top spot) after a terrible start (19-14-13) to the season. He's back and he ain't goin away. Josef Newgarden scored his intial win for The Captain, Simon Pagenaud won his first short oval at Phoenix and Helio Castroneves has probably driven the best of the four but has only one podium to show for it because of bad luck and poor strategy. Pagenaud is only 13 points behind Dixon in his quest for back-to-back titles and the team has been out in front for 638 of the 1,208 laps contested.


GRADE B

ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT: I know, I know – this team has only won twice in the past two years but Victory Lane at Indianapolis is an automatic upgrade and Takuma Sato drove the race of his life to score a very popular win. Other than his misstep at Texas while running third, the 40-year-old veteran has been driving better than ever and sits No. 3 in the standings. But Alexander Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay need a 24-hour snakebite IV, because they've run so much better than the results show. They both had a great shot at winning Long Beach before being KO'd and they both were as fast as anyone at Indianapolis (Hunter-Reay led 28 laps, Rossi 23) before the former blew up and the latter had a disastrous pit stop. Hunter-Reay got collected in the big one at Texas while Rossi started third and was eliminated in a three-wide game of pinball. But they're both going to win a race before 2017 is over.
Marco Andretti opened 2017 with a refreshed attitude thanks to Bryan Herta calling his races and he was quick right out of the box. But he couldn't repeat his practice speed in qualifying and hasn't been a factor anywhere.



SCHMIDT/PETERSON: A win at Long Beach, third at Detroit and good run at St. Pete should have James Hinchcliffe in the title fight but a couple crashes (neither his fault) and a blown engine have dropped The Mayor to 10th. Teammate Mikhail Aleshin hasn't flashed the form he showed in 2016 but he's still stalking that first win and hasn't forgotten where the throttle pedal is located.


HONDA: After losing 24 of 32 races since 2015, Honda Performance Development went to the bank – signing Chip Ganassi and Sebastien Bourdais – and back to the drawing board to find some horsepower. After winning a second consecutive Indy 500, Honda owns a 5-4 lead over Chevy at the halfway point and has a fighting chance to win its first title since 2013. But all its engine failures remain a concern.


GRADE B-

CHEVROLET: Just as we were about to start throwing dirt on the Bow Tie on ovals, it bounces back strong at Texas and you know with Team Penske that GM is going to keep improving these final four months.


GRADE C+



CHIP GANASSI RACING: It's certainly a fair argument that Dixon (pictured) doesn't deserve any part of this grade because he's atop the points and he's had two potential victories (Indy and Texas) taken away by other people's mistakes and another (St. Pete) by an unlucky caution flag. But Ganassi is held to a higher standard and, regardless of the circumstances, zero wins in 2017 doesn't cut it. Tony Kanaan (fifth at Indy and second at Texas), Max Chilton (led a race-high 50 laps at Indianapolis) and Charlie Kimball (pole at Texas and 28 laps led) have all had their good moments but consistency seems to be their big problem. Right now the championship is a dogfight but what happens when Dixon (four podiums) starts winning? You know he's going to either win Mid-Ohio or Watkins Glen (or both) and it's only a matter of time before he gets on a roll.


GRADE C

ED CARPENTER RACING: Strong on the ovals and struggling on the road/street circuits would be the best way to describe J.R. Hildebrand's return to a full-time seat. But that's not surprising. His third at Phoenix is the team's lone podium but he was competitive again at Texas before being crashed. Spencer Pigot's results don't do justice to how well he's performed. He stormed from 18th into the top five at St. Pete before being KO'd by a brake fire, charged from 18th to finish eighth at Long Beach and had just fought his way from 17th to fifth at Barber before spinning out. He's probably passed more cars than anyone this season so when he figures out qualifying, look out.

Ed Carpenter damn near won his third pole at Indy and was fairly stout in the race before a backmarker ruined his day. And he charged to the front at Texas only to get caught up in an accident. But they've got to qualify better in road/street races to have a fighting chance.


GRADE D

A.J. FOYT RACING: Changing engines, drivers, personnel and locations figured to be a Texas-size headache and it's been all that. Conor Daly has followed his M.O. and raced much better than he qualifies (headed for a top five at Detroit and Texas before a mechanical and trying to avoid a crash) and he just needs more miles and a little good fortunate. Carlos Munoz and engineer Will Phillips haven't clicked in qualifying and other than a seventh at Long Beach it's been pretty frustrating. So there are eight races remaining to improve this grade, this season and A.J.'s mood.


HONORABLE MENTION:

HARDING RACING: Gabby Chaves and Mike Harding's little team deserve high marks for their fast start in the Verizon IndyCar series. Chaves has been quick, clean and smart – scoring an eighth at Indy and a very racy fifth at Texas – despite no pre-season testing. Engineer Matt Curry and the 2014 Indy Lights' champ have developed a nice chemistry so hopefully they'll be around for the full schedule in 2018.


ALONSO GETS AN A

FERNANDO ALONSO: Never saw an oval before May 3 and never put a wheel wrong all month. He qualified fifth, led 27 laps and looked like a 10-year veteran in traffic on race day. He was as delightful off the track as he was formidable on it and he gets the only A for absolutely acing his first Indy 500.

Ovog vikenda se vozi Elkart Lejk, postavicu najavu kad uzmognem vremena!

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

Nikako da se skontam s vremenom, a ovog nam vikenda sleduje jedan od dragulja globalne trkacke sezone, Indikar trka na Elkart Lejku / Roud Americi, jednoj od bez sumnje najatraktivnijih trkackih staza na svetu!
 

 

Road America starts wild run to IndyCar finale
Wednesday, 21 June 2017
By Marshall Pruett / Image by Phillip Abbott/LAT


Nine Verizon IndyCar Series races are in the books, and starting this weekend at Road America, eight will remain as drivers sprint to the season finale in Sonoma on Sept. 17.

Half of the eight races are on permanent road courses; three are on incredibly dissimilar ovals, and Toronto's street course completes IndyCar's diverse set of challenges. Thanks to the unique mix facing IndyCar's finest, the next champion will be crowned after running a mental gauntlet that is only found in the 101-year-old open-wheel series.

Title contenders must master Road America's four miles and 14 turns, then switch to a completely different mindset to handle Iowa's endless 0.875-mile oval, head to Canada for 11 gripless turns, return to a natural terrain road course at Mid-Ohio, embrace Pocono's superspeedway, hit an intermediate oval at the 1.25-mile Gateway circuit, and then close the year with massive, punishing grip and speeds at Watkins Glen before trekking across the country to lower the curtain at Sonoma's polished, slippery road course.

"That challenge is exactly what makes the series so unique and so much fun for us," Schmidt Peterson Motorsports' James Hinchcliffe told RACER. "Being good at all those types of tracks is immensely difficult. If you're the type of driver who revels in that challenge, then IndyCar is the place to be."

Navigating the range of tracks will require championship contenders like Hinchcliffe to reach Sonoma with the best average performances – an aggregate of success from each driving discipline – if they want to have a shot at the title. Despite the wide array of circuits left to visit in the coming months, the methodology at play for a contender like Hinchcliffe is remarkably normal.

"From a driver's perspective, it doesn't change your approach; you go into every weekend wanting to win and know the things you have to work on will change from place to place" he said. "Your work ethic stays the same, and none of the tracks give you a ton of track time to figure things out.

"As a team, you have to prioritize what we do well versus what we can do better and focus on how we roll out of the trailer. Being as consistent as much as you possibly can be, with a few wins thrown in, would be the perfect formula."

Holding 10th in the standings with 232 points, Hinchcliffe and the No. 5 SPM Honda program have plenty of time to chase down championship leader Scott Dixon (326 points), and could easily crack the top five with strong finishes in the next few races. With two big variables to consider – questionable engine reliability, and the reasonable expectation for a couple of drivers to fade in the final eight races – the popular Canadian could emerge as a threat once we get closer to Sonoma.

That is, of course, unless Hinchcliffe continues to be hit with motor detonations and falls outside the top 10...

"I look at these races one at a time," he said. "I don't like looking at the standings and trying to make predictions. Whether a guy has a good record at a track or not, or if they've had a good first half of the season or not; things change so quickly in this series that you can't go into things with a preconceived notion of how they'll end up."

Hinchcliffe's approach going forward will be to maintain an incredibly narrow focus at each round.

"Take Texas," he continued. "Halfway through, it looked like it was going to be a good points day for us, but that's not how it ended up, so I don't think about what's going to happen at Iowa because we haven't gotten through Road America yet. I'm not thinking about how I might be in Toronto because I haven't gotten through Iowa; there are too many variables that are outside your control."

Sunday's 55-lap Kohler Grand Prix (12:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN) will provide another spin at the wheel of championship celebration and misery for Hinchcliffe and his title rivals. Lacking a crystal ball to predict how he'll fare, there's only one thing he's willing to proclaim ahead of the event.

"We felt the love last year and expect to feel it again," he said. "We were so happy when it came back onto the calendar last year. It became my favorite track when I was in the junior formulas, and it wasn't just because of the track; it was also because of the people and the atmosphere."

 

Satnica vikenda: http://digbza2f4g9qo...20170615T104023

 

(dodati 7 sati za vremena po srednjeevropskom; start trke je u nedelju 25. juna u 19:15 po srednjeevropskom vremenu.)

 

Zvanicni program: http://digbza2f4g9qo...20170621T110918

 

Startna lista: http://digbza2f4g9qo...20170620T172646

 

(jos uvek se ceka potvrda ko ce voziti umesto povredjenog Bordea u DCR bolidu #18, ocekuje se povratak Estebana Gutjereza)

 

Raspored boksova: http://digbza2f4g9qo...20170615T104022

 

Statistika dosadasnjih nastupa vozaca na Elkart Lejku: http://digbza2f4g9qo...20170615T104021

Edited by Rad-oh-yeah?, 22 June 2017 - 02:22.

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

Young fan surprised by Scott Dixon after writing letter of concern about Indy 500 crash
Posted 3:47 PM, June 21, 2017, by FOX59 Web, Updated at 04:14PM, June 21, 2017


INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – A young girl got the chance to meet her favorite IndyCar racer Wednesday after writing a letter of concern.
 
The second grade fan, Lucy, recently wrote to the racing organization to thank them for keeping Scott Dixon safe during his Indy 500 crash this year.
 


The crash caused Dixon’s vehicle to hit the inside wall and flip several time before landing back on the track. Luckily, he was able to walk away with minor injuries.

“I’ve loved Scott Dixon since I was really little and when I saw the crash I got so scared and started crying,” Lucy wrote in a letter obtained by announcer Jake Query. “Thank you so much for keeping him safe!!!”

Dixon saw the letter and tweeted that he hopes to meet Lucy one day.

The racer was able to do just that. He teamed up with IndyCar to meet up with the passionate fan.

 

 

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

- Esteban Gutjerez potvrdjen u DCR bolidu #18 kao zamena za Bordea za ostatak sezone.

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

- Robert Vikens, kanadski DTM vozac, menjace Mihaila Aljosina u SPM bolidu #7 na slobodnim treninzima u petak za trku na Elkart Lejku. Aljosinu su se zakomplikovale stvari sa vizom na povratku iz Francuske gde je ucestvovao na 24h Lemana.

 

 

Since competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with SMP Racing last weekend, Mikhail Aleshin, driver of the No. 7 Lucas Oil Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda in the Verizon IndyCar Series, has been unable to leave France due to immigration issues preventing him from returning to the United States. The executive team at Schmidt Peterson Motorsports has been working diligently on Aleshin’s return to America to compete in this weekend’s KOHLER Grand Prix. However, at this time, the Russian driver will not arrive to Road America in time for any on-track sessions scheduled for Friday, June 23.

 

The team have elected for Canadian Robert Wickens to pilot the No. 7 car until the immigration issue is resolved.

 

No further comments about Aleshin’s immigration status will be given at this time. The team will send further communication when an update is available.

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

Jedan lep jubilej:
 

Hull celebrates 25 years with Chip Ganassi Racing
Friday, 23 June 2017
By Marshall Pruett / Images by Abbott/Boyd/Ehrhardt/LePage/Levitt/Miller/Streck/LAT, IMS Photo


Chip Ganassi Racing managing director Mike Hull started his journey with the team exactly 25 years ago today, June 23, 1992, and what an amazing run it has been.

CART IndyCar championships, Indy Racing League titles, IndyCar Series championships, Indy 500 wins, Grand-Am Rolex Series titles, Rolex 24 at Daytona wins, 12 Hours of Sebring wins, and even a victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans have been captured during Hull's tenure with the Indianapolis-based team.

The 25-year mark, a rarity for anyone with a single racing team, is a point of pride for Hull, and in typical fashion for the California native, there's a good story on how it almost never happened.

"I went to work with Jim Hayhoe to run Jimmy Vasser through the Indy 500 in 1992," he told RACER. "I was kind of upset with IndyCar racing because of the way that I got let go at Patrick Racing, and I just wasn't really sure if I wanted to continue with IndyCar racing. We were in the garage next to Chip's team at the Speedway and Tom Anderson, who was running Chip Ganassi Racing, talked to me a bit about talking to Chip about coming to work there. They were wanting to move into a direction of running two cars full-time, and they had a deal at the time to run Robby Gordon in eight races during the season."


Portland, 2001

Anderson, an immensely respected figure in the paddock, looked after CGR on his own. Founded in 1990 with Eddie Cheever as its lone driver, engine partner Ford was interested in funding a second car for Gordon alongside Eddie Cheever after the 1992 Indy 500.

"They were trying to put together a second program that would roll into a full-time program in 1993, but I told Tom I wasn't sure that I really wanted to do it, although I appreciated the offer," he said. "I'd known Tom for a long time prior to that anyway. I couldn't say we were really good friends, but we certainly understood each other well. Our careers were somewhat similar, being from California and going through the open-wheel system."

Ready to take a break from IndyCar, Hull almost missed out on the CGR opportunity, but Anderson maintained his pursuit.

"I think it was the day after the Speedway was over, I was in the garage trying to get everything organized to pack – Jimmy crashed in the race pretty heavily and broke his leg, so he wasn't going to race for a while, and things were going nowhere," he said. "I had my car there, I was loading all my stuff up to go home. Tom came over there in the morning and said, 'Would you come over to the building and talk to Chip?' I again said, 'No. I'm not sure that I really want to do it.' He said, 'Well, I'd really appreciate it if you'd come and talk to Chip because it will get him off my back.'"

Twenty-five years on, the favor to Anderson has turned into one of the sport's great relationships between a team owner and an employee.

"I went over there and sat down with the two of them," Hull said of the chief mechanic opening. "It was a great meeting. Chip, he's the same today as he was then. He always is looking forward. He's always trying to figure out where he needs to go next. He had a plan. I had a lot of time for that, but Tom was there. I said to Chip, and Tom was sitting there, 'I'm not going to take this job to displace Tom.' I said to Chip at the time, 'If that ever comes to pass, I'll walk out the door at the same time as Tom.'

"Chip said, 'I want somebody to come and work for me that can organize and that can put together a competition organizational plan of people to be supported by the shop to run two cars full-time. That's the job I'd like you to do. Tom will run the business. He'll do all the things he has to do to manage Chip Ganassi Racing. What I want you to do is look on the competition aspect and organize the people in all the rest of that.' I said, 'OK. We'll do it.'"

ABOVE: Chip Ganassi and Mike Hull with Scott Dixon's winning crew at Indy in 2008.

 

Known for his uncompromising ways, Ganassi had a reputation in his early team ownership days for ruling with an iron fist. It's possible that with age, and time, the Pennsylvanian's fist has softened, but not by much. Countered by Hull's comparatively mellow ways, the two men have found a happy medium while working from different ends of the personality spectrum.

"In those days, and I think I'm being dramatic by saying this, but Chip was very volcanic," he added. "There were ashes everywhere. Tom was so good managing that side of what was going on. He was so good at being patient and taking it, but yet doing a really good job with everything that had to happen to make the team better. I had a great degree of appreciation for Tom and still do."

Hull worked as Michael Andretti's chief mechanic in 1994, then rose to become team manager when CGR went to two full-time cars for Vasser and Bryan Herta in 1995. When Anderson left to run Adrian Fernandez's new IndyCar team at the end of 2000, Hull was promoted to his current role as managing director. Without Anderson as a buffer, Ganassi and Hull established a closer bond – one that continues to serve them today.

"I think that we have a lot of confidence in each other, and we're very aligned on what is the most important thing for Chip Ganassi Racing," he said. "The fact that Chip is still hands on, he's still interested in what we do on a daily basis. The fact that he comes right to the point ... You know what? That's the best person in the world you can work for.

"Because you know what that person would like to achieve, and what it does is it drives you to do that, to get that done for that person, right? That has never changed with Chip. I think at the beginning with him, with Tom in 1990 when they separated from Patrick Racing, emotionally and financially, it was a big step what Chip did there, and he had to find sponsorship. He had to find money because he wanted to hire the best drivers. He wanted to have the best people. That's never changed."



The size of CGR has grown exponentially since Hull arrived 25 years ago, but he says the key ingredients – the one thing that has separated the team from most of its open-wheel and sports car rivals – remains the same.

"We've achieved a lot of success because everybody was treated the same," he said. "It was very much a people business, and that included the drivers, when I got here. The drivers were part of that people profile, and it's always been about the people. From the very first day I walked in the door, Chip has always emphasized how important the people are to the end result, to the product.

"I think that's what's in common from the very first day that I walked in the door, but the reality is with people, what you have to do is you have to engage all of them and that's the hard part, right? Chip provided the resource. We provided the people. Then, getting the people to prioritize their daily action is the key to long-term success.

"The fact that Chip has provided us different programs shows that we're not a one-dimensional race team. We've been able to promote people from within, and they have upward mobility based on their skillset with the new programs we have. We have, as an example, a Ford GT program. That's 30 people on the payroll, full-time. Many of them are ex-IndyCar guys and some are not, but many are from inside the organization that moved to a parallel program. That's a big part of who we've become."

With all he's achieved, Hull has been given numerous opportunities to go out on top – to retire after a major championship or meaningful win. So, why is he still here, ready to climb onto the timing stand and call race strategy for Scott Dixon this weekend, and then head off to Watkins Glen next weekend to oversee the Ford Chip Ganassi Racing IMSA team?

"Because you know what happens with me? Just about every time I think, 'Maybe I should fly fish and go play golf a little more, start taking it easy,' Chip finds a new program, and I love that," he said with a laugh. "When we rolled over in the Grand-Am Series in 2004, we were a bunch of open-wheeled guys that had never gone sports car racing. What happened there is we're looking at the whole thing thinking, 'Man, can we do this? Are we OK with this? Should we hire a bunch of ringers to help us?' We vacillated a little bit there.

"Then, we realized that we're wasting people and built it up ourselves and went on to have a lot of success there. The same was true with the Ford GT program the way it is now. It's the fact that when given the opportunity with this group of people we've worked with, we could achieve whatever we set our mind to achieve together. That's what I like about it. That's why I haven't stopped racing. The fun part is not to win a race. The fun part is to win every day with what you're doing and getting people to win together every day, so that by the time you get to the racetrack, it's easy to them."

Although the 25-year mark is far from a finish line for Hull, he couldn't help but take stock of how far he's come and who's made the long ride possible. If we're lucky, more celebrations will be held in the years to come.

"When you start out as a young guy and you get to working on racecars and around racing, you don't just want to be in the race. You want to be in the part of the race that lets you win. I'd have to say that I've been lucky enough to be in that race for quite a long time, and it is all due to Chip."

 

Edited by Rad-oh-yeah?, 24 June 2017 - 02:46.

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

A evo i pogled u buducnost:
 

IndyCar preparing for first 2018 bodywork tests
Thursday, 22 June 2017
By Marshall Pruett


IndyCar is closing in on the names of the drivers and teams that will lead the testing and development of the new-for-2018 universal bodywork. With the team and driver revelations expected to follow next week, RACER spoke with IndyCar competition president Jay Frye to gain an understanding of the testing process itself.

The series previously announced the sleek 2018 bodywork testing will commence at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 25-26, then move to Mid-Ohio Aug. 1, Iowa on Aug. 10 and the Sebring short course on Sept. 26. According to Frye, IndyCar's approach to testing will not venture into seeking ultimate speed – that quest will fall on teams once the universal bodywork is finalized, put into production, and distributed for private testing.

"This is as much of a check-the-box process as much as it is a testing plan," he told RACER. "When we start off at Indy, we'll have certain speed targets we want to hit right away, and as we hit them, we'll tick the box. We'll want to do a few full-tank runs, see how that goes, and look to tick that box. And then we're really not doing any additional performance testing; it's a sign-off test."

The last time IndyCar needed to do baseline testing, it had the late Dan Wheldon as its driver, the part-time Bryan Herta Autosport team to run the tests and direct assistance from its engine manufacturers back in 2011. With the bodywork-only testing set to kick off in late July, the series has taken a different route by asking teams – most likely one representative each from Chevy and Honda – to supply a car to be outfitted with the Dallara-built 2018 bodywork and wings.



Although each team and driver will be integral in helping IndyCar to gather information in superspeedway, short oval and road course trim, the series will be controlling every aspect of what takes place in a similar capacity to the 2011 tests led by BHA.

"We'll be in charge of the test, the teams will be run out of Dallara," Frye said. "It's going to be the teams providing a chassis, which is a huge commitment by them, and they will be impounded at Dallara with their own area, their own room, and segregated. A Dallara representative will be there every time one of the cars are worked on so we're in the loop on what's happening."

Frye also credited the teams for jumping in to make the four pre-production tests possible.

"There's not a lot in this for the teams because the data is for us, not for them, so this really is a great service they're providing for IndyCar," he added. "We'll have all the data, and at some point – after it's all been gone through, we'll distribute the data to the manufacturers and the manufacturers will distribute it to their teams. That's the general plan. We're still fine-tuning the process, but that's how we anticipate it going."

 

New electronics coming with 2018 bodywork
Thursday, 22 June 2017
By Marshall Pruett / Image by Michael Levitt/LAT


IndyCar teams will have more than new bodywork to install leading into the 2018 season. With a chance to refresh the visual quality of its cars, the series is also planning to take a step forward with new engine controllers and other associated electronics to power the fleet of Dallara DW12s.
 
IndyCar mandated the use of McLaren Applied Technologies' TAG-400i ECU for every manufacturer to use when the 2.2-liter twin-turbo V6 formula was introduced in 2012, and it's believed a new TAG-600 model is among the ECUs under consideration for 2018. In addition to McLaren, Bosch and Cosworth could also be in the running to earn the ECU supply contract.

To complement the planned ECU update, a new dash is also being considered, which would require a significant upgrade to the DW12's onboard data acquisition system. If the existing Cosworth dash is retired, a major vendor like those named above would be needed to outfit each car.

With contracts under current negotiation, the final cost per upgrade isn't known, but an estimate of $40,000 per chassis has been mentioned within the IndyCar paddock.

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

Aljosin ipak stize na Elkart Lejk!
 

Mikhail Aleshin‏ @mikhailaleshin

New visa stamp too long, but I'm heading back to US now to be behind the steering wheel of my #7 at #roadammerica!

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

Pocinje FP1, strim ovde:

 

 

Tajming: http://racecontrol.indycar.com/