Tickets for the TourHendricksCounty.com Night Before the 500 featuring the USAC Midget Series, the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, and the Cooper Tires Presents the USF2000 National Championship are currently on sale. The race will take place on May 26th and fans of open wheel racing will be treated to some of the best up and coming open wheel talent from across the globe with three separate races. Last year a full house was on hand to watch the future stars of racing take to the track as Darren Hagen won the Midget feature, Connor De Phillippi taking home the checkers in the Star Mazda feature and Petri Suvanto was the winner in the USF200 race.
The USAC feature was the crown jewel race of the night and winning at Lucas Oil Raceway was a goal for Hagen when he first started in USAC. “I’ve been thinking about winning this race since the first time I came here in 2004,” Hagen said. “This is a wonderful facility and is one of three places I wanted to win growing up as a kid. Here, Irwindale Speedway and Winchester Speedway and to win at two of the three, I won at Winchester back to back in a Sprint Car is unreal and dreams are coming true.”
Tickets are $25 for reserved seating, $20 for general admission and children 12 and under are free with paid adults. Tickets can be purchased by visiting www.LucasOilRaceway.com. One of five drag racing facilities owned and operated by the National Hot Rod Association, Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis was built in 1960 and has presented organized racing events since 1961. From March through October, the facility hosts more than 120 dates of racing on three tracks, a quarter-mile drag strip, a .686-mile paved oval and a 2.5-mile road course. Home to drag racing’s biggest event, the NHRA Mac Tools U.S. Nationals over Labor Day weekend, the drag strip runs more than 50 days of point-to-point action, from national events to street legal community programs. The oval track draws racing’s biggest events including USAC, ARCA and CRA races. The road course provides a home for several racing sanctions, while providing an ideal resource for driving schools, corporate outings and open-road tests for professional drivers.
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Didja know that the first rear engined car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was driven by Lee Oldfield (DNQ/1937)? Lee was not related to two-time starter Barney Oldfield who set several speed records in his day and stated that, “Firestone Tires are my only life insurance policy.” The first rear engine car to qualify at Indy was piloted in 1938 by George Bailey, who started 29th and finished 12th. The next year, there were three rear engined cars.
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Memorable Quote: “None of us felt we were going to die in a race car, but we knew it was a possibility. It was tough when Vuky was killed; it hurt really bad. But that’s what happened in those days.” Johnny Boyd in 1955.
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Former IndyCar driver Merle Bettenhausen calls with the news that this Saturday’s parade at New Haven, IN might be cancelled (postponed?) due to low temps and a chance of rain. He was concerned that, all who might be planning to make a lengthy trip to the parade (which was to feature him as Grand Marshall) should be notified just in case. Thanks for the call, Merle and for being so thoughtful.
The son of 14-time Indianapolis 500 starter Tony Bettenhausen (2nd/1955), said that, in the event everything WAS cancelled, he had Pacer tickets available as a backup plan. (This guy really plans ahead !!)
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The remaining articles were penned by the Indianapolis Star’s racing reporter, Curt Cavin:
If there’s an opportunity to make a bold passing attempt in Sunday’s Izod IndyCar Series race at Sao Paulo, Brazil, rookie Josef Newgarden vows to do just as he did two weeks ago in Long Beach, Calif. Newgarden said he would make that move again and accept the consequences.
In Long Beach, last year’s Firestone Indy Lights champion surged ahead of four-time series champion Dario Franchitti heading into Turn 1. Franchitti bumped Newgarden’s left rear wheel, which knocked him into the tire barrier and ended his race. Franchitti was not penalized for avoidable contact.
“If I was going to do it over again, I’d do the exact same thing,” Newgarden said. “I was happy with the move I made. I think it was executed fine; it just didn’t work out. Obviously, it’s a new series for me and you’re working with new people, new drivers. That’s what I’ve got to learn. I’ve got to learn how drivers operate. That day I learned the hard way how one of them did.”
That’s as close as Newgarden, 21, has come to criticizing Franchitti, and he’s not interested in picking a fight. Newgarden said he was asked to write a blog about it, which he did. He only answers questions about it because he feels an obligation to represent his team, Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing. “It’s one of those things that’s over with,” he said. “But no, not at all would I have done anything differently.”
Newgarden figures to have a fast car in Sao Paulo, a street circuit similar to Long Beach given its bumpiness and long straightaway. Newgarden qualified seventh overall — second among the Honda cars — but started on the front row with Franchitti after a penalty moved all Chevrolet drivers back 10 positions.
Team Penske will try to win its fourth consecutive pole of the season — Helio Castroneves, Will Power and Ryan Briscoe have each won one — and Power goes for his third straight win both this season and in Sao Paulo. Practice and qualifying are Saturday; the race is Sunday.
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Alex Tagliani won’t be racing in this weekend’s Izod IndyCar Series event in Sao Paulo, Brazil, but he’s had an uplifting week. When Bryan Herta Autosport was confirmed to leave the struggling Lotus engine program, Tagliani suddenly got an adrenaline rush for next month’s Indianapolis 500. “The good news is, I’m going to have a shot at the pole again,” he said.
Tagliani led the surprising feel-good story of last May as Indianapolis-based Sam Schmidt Motorsports upstaged Team Penske and Ganassi Racing in qualifying and the race. The partnership that included Bryan Herta‘s team earned three of the top six starting spots and won the race with Dan Wheldon driving for Herta, who has said it couldn’t have won without Schmidt’s organization — and the late Wheldon.
Herta Autosport is expected to become a Honda team before the 500, which opens for full practice May 12. Honda’s single-unit turbocharger is expected to be well-suited for the fast corners at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Tagliani’s concern now is getting the engine choice to his Montreal-based helmet designer, LS Designs. Right now, the question is what logo to put on it. Each engine manufacturer has different guidelines regarding placement. “He’s freaking out,” Tagliani said of Luc Sauriol. “We normally do 10 in a year, but the first four (Lotus-logo) helmets are back on the shelf.”
Oriol Servia has a similar problem as Dreyer & Reinbold Racing moves from Lotus to another engine manufacturer after this weekend’s race. Team co-owner Robbie Buhl said the new partner could be finalized as soon as today. D&R is expected to land with Chevrolet.
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A three-person committee Thursday upheld IndyCar’s ruling to permit a modification to Honda’s turbocharger. The modification was to be made for the April 15 race in Long Beach, Calif., but Chevrolet protested, necessitating a delay in installation until the hearing, held at a Downtown Indianapolis law firm. Honda will be allowed to change compressor covers on all of its engines for this weekend’s event. The ruling was announced earlier than anticipated to give teams time to make the modification.
IndyCar allowed the change because it felt an agreement had been reached in early engine meetings in 2010. Honda and Chevrolet were allowed to select one person to serve on the hearing committee. General Motors picked Hans Peter Kollmeier, a former Mercedes Benz engineer. Honda picked Indianapolis attorney Jim Voyles.
Since the manufacturers could not agree on the third member, IndyCar picked Jack Snyder, a longtime member of the IMS board of directors.
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Roger Penske said IndyCar owes a debt of gratitude to Fred Rhue, the former PPG Industries executive who died last week in a Cleveland suburb. At Rhue’s urging, PPG became the sport’s first significant title sponsor in 1980.
“That gave us such credibility,” said Penske, who led CART at the time. “You think about it, we haven’t had many sponsors over the years that have given us that kind of credibility.”
Rhue’s daughter, Becky, later married Scott Brayton, the two-time Indy pole winner who died in an IMS crash in 1996. She is now married to Robbie Buhl.
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Final plans are being made to showcase Dan Wheldon’s 2011 Indy-winning car at the IMS Hall of Fame Museum during 500 weekend. .
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Tony Kanaan‘s car was found to have too large of a fuel cell during the April 15 race at Long Beach, Calif., but the amount of the fine was not disclosed.
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With two IndyCar wins, series points leader Will Power was voted No. 1 in first-quarter voting by motor sports journalists for Driver of the Year. Second was NHRA’s Robert Hight. Nascar leader Greg Biffle was third.