Roll-Out Of The Historic Formula Exhibition Practice One At The 50th ACURA Grand Prix Of Long Beach

Formula One Historic No. 14 1979 Tyrrell 009 driven by Cal Meeker of Oceanside, California rounding Turn 11 hairpin on the famed 50th ACURA Grand Prix Of Long Beach temporary street circuit. Image Credit: Brandon O'Brien - Motorsports Journal (2052)

Roll-Out Of The Historic Formula Exhibition Practice One At The 50th ACURA Grand Prix Of Long Beach

An exclusive display captivates attendees at the 50th ACURA Grand Prix of Long Beach, showcasing historic race cars from three iconic racing eras - Formula 5000, Formula 1, and IndyCar. These machines represent the evolution of open-wheel racing at North America’s premier street race. Later, during the Historic Formula Exhibition on race weekend, the cars hit the track, offering fans a thrilling glimpse into motorsports history. For the first time, all three types race together, driven with intensity and a touch of grit.

VIDEO - Pump Up The Volume!!! >>> Formula One Historic No. 8 1980 McLaren M30 driven by Sean Allen of Manhattan Beach, California rounding Turn 11 hairpin on the famed 50th ACURA Grand Prix Of Long Beach temporary street circuit. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks - Motorsports Journal

Adding to the historic weekend, the video highlights the Roll-Out of the Historic Formula Exhibition Practice One, a standout moment of the 50th Acura Grand Prix Of Long Beach. Attendees were enthralled by a remarkable display of vintage race cars from three iconic open-wheel eras - Formula 5000, Formula 1, and IndyCar - representing the evolution of the sport at North America’s premier street race. Open-wheel racing, born in the early 1900s with milestones like the 1911 Indianapolis 500, progressed through innovations such as the 1960s rear-engine designs and navigated organizational shifts like the CART-IRL divide, leading to IndyCar’s modern era.

Formula 5000 Historic No. 48 1975 Eagle 755 driven by EthanShippert of Corona, California rounding Turn 11 hairpin on the famed 50th ACURA Grand Prix Of Long Beach temporary street circuit. This Tom Malloy owned F5000 has the distinction of being the first ever racecar to enter the track od the first Long Beach Grand Prix - pretty special. Image Credit: Brandon O'Brien - Motorsports Journal (2025)

During the practice session, these legendary machines roared to life, their exposed wheels and open cockpits evoking motorsport’s storied past.

CART IndyCar Historic No. 48T 1969 Eagle (with knock-offs) driven by Butch Leitzinger of Poughkeepsie, New York rounding Turn 11 hairpin on the famed 50th ACURA Grand Prix Of Long Beach temporary street circuit. Image Credit: Brandon O'Brien - Motorsports Journal (2025)

The true spectacle unfolded in the Historic Formula Exhibition, where, for the first time, Formula 5000’s raw, thunderous power, Formula 1’s sleek, precision-engineered elegance, and IndyCar’s bold, American-bred grit raced side-by-side on the Long Beach circuit. Driven with unrelenting intensity, the cars wove through the streets, offering fans a breathtaking tribute to open-wheel racing’s diverse and dynamic legacy.

... notes from The EDJE







TAGS: HMSA, Formula One, F5000, IndyCar, ChampCar, CART, The EDJE

Saint Petersburg - Let The New Era 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series Begin!

Official event name: Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg - Location: Albert Whitted Airport - St. Petersburg, Florida, United States - Course: Temporary airport & street circuit 1.806 mi / 2.906 km - Distance: 105 laps, 189.630 mi / 305.130 km - Twitter HASHTAG: #gpstpete - Caption and Image Credit: Wikipedia

Saint Petersburg - Let The New Era 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series Begin!

Let the new era of unified American Open-Wheel Racing (#aowr) begin with the temporary street course Honda Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg. This year, 2012, will go down as the first year that American open-wheel racing is truly unified since there are no excuses that were first raised when the merger happened suddenly at the beginning of the 2008 season. Everyone will be competing on new Dallara DW12 equipment, with a choice of three new turbo-charged 2.2 liter engines, on tracks that are the most favored by fans of both series.

The season will favor street/road courses as opposed to NASCAR styled ovals and the oval tracks featured in this truly unified season are, for the most part, ones made famous through the sport of open-wheel automobile racing.

Five oval venues out of sixteen races are on the schedule and appear as follows:

The first oval race on the schedule is the grand-daddy of them all, The greatest specticle on all of autosport, the Indianapolis 500 - May 27, 11:00AM ET - ABC Sports.

Next will be the high-banked, super high-speed Firestone 500 at the Texas Speedway. This track holds a string of closest finishes in open-wheel racing. Broadcast set for the night of June 9, 8:00PM ET - NBC Sports.

Third comes the Milwaukee IndyFest, West Allis, WI - run on the famed flat four-cornered bull-ring of a track near the Wisconsin fairgrounds. This race venue was saved by the Andretti family primarily because of the history this track holds as a contrast to all other oval tracks ever run. This track was originally a flat dirt track that transformed itself into a concrete ring that challenges drivers with close quarters and the challenge of virtually no banking. Broadcast set for June 16, 1:00pm ET - ABC Sports.

The Iowa Corn 250, Newton, IA - represents a hold over from the Indianapolis Racing League days and gives a nod to the corn based Ethanol fuel that powers these 2.2 liter turbo-charged Chevrolet, Honda, and Lotus engines of this modern era season. In order to spice things up, this race will be run at night under the lights as they do in Texas. Broadcast set for June 23, 8:00PM ET - NBC Sports.

The last oval race of the season happens to be the final race of this 16 race benchmark of the modern era in American Open-Wheel Racing. This track holds the speed records for racing of any kind on a closed course for both qualifying and at race lap speeds. Yes, the venue is the Auto Club Speedway (formally, California Speedway) at Fontana, California.

On October 28, 2000, during CART qualifying, Gil de Ferran set the track record for fastest lap at 241.426 mph (388.537 km/h), breaking the record (240.942 mph) set by former F1 driver, Maurício Gugelmin (PacWest Racing) who went even faster -- 242.333 mph, to be precise -- in practice. Mark Blundell, also a former F1 driver (PacWest Racing - Gugelmin's teammate), was originally credited with the fastest "at race lap" speed record with a lap at 237.000+ (lap time unknown). Wikipedia shows that Greg Moore actually set fastest lap during the race on lap 80 with a time of 30.900 sec. over the 2.029 mile D-shaped oval (awaiting email clarification from Auto Club Speedway). All of these times are suspect as official by the FIA due the measurement of the track at being slightly longer than exactly 2.0 miles, but the recorded speeds recorded are factual.

What is not in dispute, however, is that the 2003 IndyCar race held at Fontana (the Auto Club Speedway) was the fastest closed-circuit race ever in motorsport history, with an average speed of 207.151 mph(333.306 km/h) over 400 miles (640 km) by Sam Hornish Jr. The 2012 race broadcast is set for a dusky night-time ending, September 15, 8PM ET - NBC Sports.

KV Racing Technology's driver Rubens Barrichello gives the new DW12 Chevrolet powered Dallara a spin at Sebring after signing a one-year agreement to run a full year in the IZOD IndyCar Series. Here Rubens is being followed on the track by fellow ex-pat F1 driver, Takuma Sato, driving the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda. Image Credit: LAT via IZOD IndyCar Series

This weekend features a temporary street course e set up in the Florida city of Saint Petersburg first run under ChampCar (CCWS) sanctioning in 2003. After a one year break in order to regroup, the event was resumed with the sanctioning of the Indy Racing League (IRL) from 2005 to the 2007 and continued uninterrupted after the merger of CCWS and IRL as today's IndyCar beginning in 2008 through to today.

Past winners of the Honda Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg event are as follows: Paul Tracy (2003), Dan Wheldon (2005), Helio Castroneves (2006 and 2007), Graham Rahal (2008), Ryan Briscoe (2009), Will Power (2010) and Dario Franchitti (2011), Team Penske is the most successful with 4 wins ... track speed record is held by Sebastien Bourdais (McDonalds/Newman-Haas), set competing in ChampCar (2003) when he qualified for the pole, besting Paul Tracy (Players/Forsythe) with the time of 1:00.928 as his Lola-Cosworth turned an average of 106.472 mph.

A field of 26 drivers -- listed below -- are expected to take to the track for the race set to start Sunday, March 25, 12:30PM ET broadcasted to national network TV audience by ABC Sports.

Car# | Driver (R - Rookie) | Hometown | Sponsor Car Name | Engine (Chevrolet/Honda/Lotus) | Team Entrant
2 Ryan Briscoe Sydney, Australia IZOD Team Penske Chevrolet Team Penske

3 Helio Castroneves Sao Paulo, Brazil Shell V-Power/Pennzoil Ultra Chevrolet Team Penske

4 JR Hildebrand Sausalito, Calif. National Guard Panther Racing Chevrolet Panther Racing

5 E.J. Viso Caracas, Venezuela Citgo – PDVSA KV Racing Technology Chevrolet KV Racing Technology

6 Katherine Legge (R) Guildford, England TrueCar Lotus-Dragon Racing Lotus Lotus-Dragon Racing

7 Sebastien Bourdais Le Mans, France Lotus-Dragon Racing Lotus Lotus-Dragon Racing

8 Rubens Barrichello (R) Sao Paulo, Brazil BMC/Embrase KV Racing Technology Chevrolet KV Racing Technology

9 Scott Dixon Auckland, New Zealand Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda Target Chip Ganassi Racing

10 Dario Franchitti Edinburgh, Scotland Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda Target Chip Ganassi Racing

11 Tony Kanaan Salvador, Brazil GEICO/Mouser Electronics KVRT Chevrolet KV Racing Technology

12 Will Power Toowoomba, Australia Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet Team Penske

14 Mike Conway Bromley, England ABC Supply Co./A.J. Foyt Racing Honda A.J. Foyt Enterprises

15 Takuma Sato Tokyo Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan

18 Justin Wilson Sheffield, England Sonny’s BBQ Honda Dale Coyne Racing

19 James Jakes Leeds, England Boy Scouts of America Honda Dale Coyne Racing

20 Ed Carpenter Indianapolis Fuzzy’s Vodka / Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet Ed Carpenter Racing

22 Oriol Servia Pals, Spain Lotus-DRR Lotus Lotus-Dreyer & Reinbold Racing

26 Marco Andretti Nazareth, Pa. Team RC Cola Chevrolet Andretti Autosport

27 James Hinchcliffe Toronto Team GoDaddy.com Chevrolet Andretti Autosport

28 Ryan Hunter-Reay Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Team DHL/Sun Drop Citrus Soda Chevrolet Andretti Autosport

38 Graham Rahal New Albany, Ohio Service Central Honda Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing

67 Josef Newgarden (R) Hendersonville, Tenn. Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing

77 Simon Pagenaud (R) Poitiers, France Kingdom/Schmidt-Hamilton HP Motorsports Honda Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsports

78 Simona de Silvestro Thun, Switzerland Nuclear Clean Air Energy Lotus HVM Racing Lotus Lotus-HVM Racing

83 Charlie Kimball Camarillo, Calif. Levemir and NovoLog FlexPen Honda Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing

98 Alex Tagliani Lachenaie, Canada Team Barracuda-BHA Lotus Bryan Herta Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian

----

First Practice Laps At #GPSTPETE

Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon set first ever mark in an event for the new DW12 formula as he was fastest in the first official practice session of 2012, leading Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe by 0.4784 seconds.

Briscoe's teammate, Will Power, ran third, posting a lap of 1:03.57 around the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street course.

Dario Franchitti served as a bookend for the Penske duo, placing fourth with a lap of 1:03.60 seconds.

Schmidt Hamilton Racing's Simon Pagenaud rounded out the top 5, turning a 1:03.64-second lap in hot, humid conditions.

Honda engined-cars placed 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th and 9th, with Chevrolet runners occupying the rest of the top 10 slots.

The fastest Lotus-engined car was Oriol Servia's DRR entry in 19th with a lap of 1:04.29.

The session was mostly trouble-free, barring Charlie Kimball's nose-first crash at Turn 10 with less than five minutes remaining in the session.

With so little rubber down, times are expected to drop throughout the weekend.

Practice 1 for the Honda Grand Prix of St Petersburg at the St Petersburg Street Circuit

Rank | Driver | Diff. | Best Lap
1 Scott Dixon 0 1:03.0406
2 Ryan Briscoe 0.4784 1:03.5190
3 Will Power 0.5341 1:03.5747
4 Dario Franchitti 0.5607 1:03.6013
5 Simon Pagenaud 0.6011 1:03.6417
6 Justin Wilson 0.6298 1:03.6704
7 Marco Andretti 0.7522 1:03.7928
8 Mike Conway 0.7927 1:03.8333
9 Graham Rahal 0.8116 1:03.8522
10 Helio Castroneves 0.8322 1:03.8728
11 Josef Newgarden 0.8366 1:03.8772
12 EJ Viso 0.8736 1:03.9142
13 James Jakes 0.9228 1:03.9634
14 JR Hildebrand 1.0508 1:04.0914
15 Takuma Sato 1.0666 1:04.1072
16 James Hinchcliffe 1.0673 1:04.1079
17 Ryan Hunter-Reay 1.0833 1:04.1239
18 Tony Kanaan 1.0998 1:04.1404
19 Oriol Servia 1.2540 1:04.2946
20 Alex Tagliani 1.3455 1:04.3861
21 Sebastien Bourdais 1.4468 1:04.4874
22 Charlie Kimball 1.6226 1:04.6632
23 Simona de Silvestro 1.8741 1:04.9147
24 Rubens Barrichello 2.6275 1:05.6681
25 Ed Carpenter 2.9904 1:06.0310
26 Katherine Legge 4.2925 1:07.3331
[Reference Here]

UPDATE: Power Tops Second St. Pete Practice

Team Penske’s Will Power nearly matched his pole speed from last year in only the second practice session of the weekend, leading Briscoe and Franchitti.

Practice 2 for the Honda Grand Prix of St Petersburg at the St Petersburg Street Circuit:

Rank | Driver | Diff. | Best Lap

1 Will Power 0 1:02.0077 1:06.1375
2 Ryan Briscoe 0.0854 1:02.0931
3 Dario Franchitti 0.2155 1:02.2232
4 Graham Rahal 0.2847 1:02.2924
5 Scott Dixon 0.3040 1:02.3117
6 Helio Castroneves 0.3113 1:02.3190
7 James Hinchcliffe 0.4555 1:02.4632
8 Tony Kanaan 0.4737 1:02.4814
9 Ryan Hunter-Reay 0.5224 1:02.5301
10 Mike Conway 0.5260 1:02.5337
11 Marco Andretti 0.5547 1:02.5624
12 Simon Pagenaud 0.5920 1:02.5997
13 JR Hildebrand 0.7606 1:02.7683
14 Josef Newgarden 0.7761 1:02.7838
15 Justin Wilson 0.8838 1:02.8915
16 Simona de Silvestro 0.9059 1:02.9136
17 James Jakes 0.9075 1:02.9152
18 Takuma Sato 0.9517 1:02.9594
19 Sebastien Bourdais 0.9701 1:02.9778
20 EJ Viso 0.9780 1:02.9857
21 Charlie Kimball 1.0827 1:03.0904
22 Alex Tagliani 1.1735 1:03.1812
23 Rubens Barrichello 1.3213 1:03.3290
24 Oriol Servia 1.3458 1:03.3535
25 Ed Carpenter 2.5954 1:04.6031
26 Katherine Legge 2.7515 1:04.7592
[Reference Here]

UPDATE - Qualifications Highlights:

Will Power breaks his own track record by 0.2305 (old mark = 1:01.6026). Teammate Ryan Briscoe nails down P2 by breaking Will Power's old mark as well.

The top five positions on the grid are held by Chevrolet powered DW12's with seven of the top ten grid positions being filled by the new era engine supplier over longtime supplier and race sponsor, Honda.

A less than competitive showing by the cars powered by the Lotus/Judd effort with the highest placing driver of the "Lotus Legion" (highlighted in BOLD below), being one of the most consistent performing drivers of the series, Oriol Servia.

Probably the biggest surprise of this first qualification session of the new formula 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series season is that even though cars fielded by Target Chip Ganassi Racing did very well in practice, the highest placing car from the Ganassi stable was Scott Dixon in P7 - none made it into the Firestone Fast Six qualifications round.

Team Penske had 3 cars, Andretti Autosport had 3 cars - 2 in the Firestone Fast Six round, Ganassi had only 2 cars, Kingdom/Schmidt-Hamilton had it's one car effort place P6 in the Firestone Fast Six, and KV Racing Technology with only one car rounding out the top ten positions on the grid.

Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap
1. Will Power Penske DW12-Chevrolet 1:01.3721s
2. Ryan Briscoe Penske DW12-Chevrolet 1:01.5357s + 0.1636s
3. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti DW12-Chevrolet 1:01.9321s + 0.5600s
4. James Hinchcliffe Andretti DW12-Chevrolet 1:01.9701s + 0.5980s
5. Helio Castroneves Penske DW12-Chevrolet 1:01.9987s + 0.6266s
6. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt-Hamilton DW12-Honda 1:02.1095s + 0.7374s

7. Scott Dixon Ganassi DW12-Honda 1:01.7636s Top 12
8. Marco Andretti Andretti DW12-Chevrolet 1:01.7895s Top 12
9. Tony Kanaan KV DW12-Chevrolet 1:01.8699s Top 12
10. Dario Franchitti Ganassi DW12-Honda 1:01.9570s Top 12
11. Graham Rahal Ganassi DW12-Honda 1:02.0233s Top 12
12. Mike Conway Foyt DW12-Honda 1:02.5084s Top 12

13. EJ Viso KV DW12-Chevrolet 1:02.5146s Group 1
14. Rubens Barrichello KV DW12-Chevrolet 1:02.2009s Group 2
15. Takuma Sato Rahal DW12-Honda 1:02.6015s Group 1
16. Justin Wilson Dale Coyne DW12-Honda 1:02.2538s Group 2
17. Alex Tagliani Herta DW12-Lotus 1:02.6506s Group 1
18. JR Hildebrand Panther DW12-Chevrolet 1:02.4426s Group 2
19. Josef Newgarden Fisher Hartman DW12-Honda 1:02.7155s Group 1
20. James Jakes Dale Coyne DW12-Honda 1:02.5271s Group 2
21. Simona de Silvestro HVM DW12-Lotus 1:02.8218s Group 1
22. Charlie Kimball Ganassi DW12-Honda 1:03.0437s Group 2
23. Oriol Servia Dreyer & Reinbold DW12-Lotus 1:02.8771s Group 1
24. Ed Carpenter Carpenter DW12-Chevrolet 1:03.3591s Group 2
25. Katherine Legge Dragon DW12-Lotus 1:03.6048s Group 1
26. Sebastien Bourdais Dragon DW12-Lotus 1:05.6858s Group 2

A short memorial for the late Dan Wheldon, who made St Petersburg his home, preceded Sunday’s race.

Penske Racing's Helio Castroneves ends year long winless drought on the streets of St. Petersburg. Helio celebrates win by climbing a fence and honoring the memory of Dan Wheldon along the newly christened Dan Wheldon Way at turn #10 at the track. Image Credit: Honda Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg

This excerpted and edited from the Tampa Bay Times –

How the 2012 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg unfolded
By Joey Knight, Times Staff Writer – Monday, March 26, 2012

On Lap 73, Castroneves gets far outside, breaks as deeply as he can and passes Dixon on Turn 1 for second. “It was awesome because the car (stuck), and I was like, ‘Yesss!’ ” said Castroneves, who soon after passes Hildebrand.

By Lap 80, Castroneves’ lead on Dixon grows to more than five seconds. Hunter-Reay, in third, falls seven seconds behind Castroneves as his crew implores him to conserve fuel. E.J. Viso, on the brink of dehydration following an overnight bout of food poisoning, is fifth — seven places ahead of his starting spot — 93 laps into the race before a final pit stop ultimately drops him to eighth. His lead edging closer to insurmountable, Castroneves drives conservatively on the last dozen or so laps and wins by 5.5292 seconds.
[Reference Here]

How the field of 26 DW12′s finished in their first race:

Pos | Driver | Team/Car | Time/Gap
1. Helio Castroneves Penske DW12-Chevrolet 1h59m50.9863s
2. Scott Dixon Ganassi DW12-Honda + 5.5292s
3. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti DW12-Chevrolet + 7.5824s
4. James Hinchcliffe Andretti DW12-Chevrolet + 10.6526s
5. Ryan Briscoe Penske DW12-Chevrolet + 11.7854s
6. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt-Hamilton DW12-Honda + 31.2623s
7. Will Power Penske DW12-Chevrolet + 34.6582s
8. EJ Viso KV DW12-Chevrolet + 35.5943s
9. Charlie Kimball Ganassi DW12-Honda + 43.1425s
10. Justin Wilson Dale Coyne DW12-Honda + 44.3141s
11. Josef Newgarden Fisher Hartman DW12-Honda + 44.8275s
12. Graham Rahal Ganassi DW12-Honda + 45.1080s
13. Dario Franchitti Ganassi DW12-Honda + 45.8468s
14. Marco Andretti Andretti DW12-Chevrolet + 1 lap
15. Alex Tagliani Herta DW12-Lotus + 1 lap
16. Oriol Servia Dreyer & Reinbold DW12-Lotus + 1 lap
17. Rubens Barrichello KV DW12-Chevrolet + 2 laps
18. Ed Carpenter Carpenter DW12-Chevrolet + 2 laps

Did not finish:

JR Hildebrand Panther DW12-Chevrolet 96 laps
Mike Conway Foyt DW12-Honda 75 laps
Sebastien Bourdais Dragon DW12-Lotus 73 laps
Takuma Sato Rahal DW12-Honda 73 laps
Katherine Legge Dragon DW12-Lotus 59 laps
Simona de Silvestro HVM DW12-Lotus 22 laps
Tony Kanaan KV DW12-Chevrolet 21 laps
James Jakes Dale Coyne DW12-Honda 19 laps

Most of the problems of cars not finishing had to do with electrical gremlins on a car most engineers are still trying to figure out.

So, the new era 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series (#indycar) has begun at the Honda Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg (#gpstpete) — Twitter #hashtags included!

... notes from The EDJE



** Article first published as Saint Petersburg - Let The New Era 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series Begin! on Technorati **

CCWS Transition Players Have Effect On Texas Qualifying

IndyCar Series 2010 points leader, Will Power - Penske Racing/Verizon, struggles to maintain the points lead through the "Ovals" section of the first half of the ICS championship season. Image Credit: Andy Sallee (2010)

CCWS Transition Players Have Effect On Texas Qualifying

We have hardly caught our collective breaths from the interesting, mistake prone, and Yellow Flag shaped 94th running of the Indianapolis 500 and we are already getting notices about the qualifications being held for the Firestone 550 race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Target Chip Ganassi's Dario Franchitti, the winner of last weeks classic, got aced out by the short oval expert from Penske Racing, Ryan Briscoe who has five P1 finishes on 1.5 mile ovals. What becomes surprising about how the rest of the top five positions in the qualifying field are two notable performances ... notable in that they show the increased participation from drivers and teams that are in the IRL because of the merger with the ChampCar World Series two seasons ago.

The driver stand out is, of course, Will Power who is driving for the top notch IRL Penske Racing team and leads in the points, by eleven points over Dario Franchitti, for the 2010 IndyCar Series season so far. Lining up in P3 shows that he likes the banks of Texas Motor Speedway. If Power can stay ahead of Dario, Dario's teammate Scott Dixon (who qualified at P4 and is -24 points), and Will's teammate Helio Castroneves (starts the race at P5 and is sitting at -28 in the ICS championship) he may just come away from the Firestone 550 with only one more oval to go in Iowa, before getting back to the road and street courses that are his strong suit, with the points lead.

The CCWS transition team surprise standout is the entry driven by Alex Lloyd who was able to place his Dale Coyne Racing Dallara on the grid at P6! Dale Coyne continues to advance within the structure provided by the IZOD IndyCar Series. Last year with Justin Wilson driving (who now races for Dreyer % Reinbold Racing), Dale Coyne Racing won its first race in American open-wheel racing after competing in ChampCar/Cart and the IRL since 1986 ... that's 558 tries – after more than 25 years of trying – in top tier open-wheel racing. Alex Lloyd, by placing a Dale Coyne car on the grid at P6 on an oval racing track, has been able to move the team's success forward here in 2010.

Newman/Haas Racing was able to field a Dallara good enough to get Hideki Mutoh in the grid at P7 leaving Mario Moreas of KV Racing Technologies as the last CCWS Team or driver (in this case both) to break into the top 10 on the banked short oval track at Texas that had a very tight and competitive field - the top five qualifiers were separated by only 0.3912 of a second and the top 10 by 0.6777 of a second.

Alex Lloyd in the Boy Scouts of America/Dale Coyne Racing Dallara during Day 4 practice day at IMS. Image Credit: Andy Sallee (2010)

This excerpted and edited from Catchfence -

Briscoe Scores Pole for Firestone 550k at Texas
Press Release - IZOD IndyCar

Two of Ryan Briscoe’s five IZOD IndyCar Series victories have been secured on 1.5-mile ovals.

He’ll start from the pole in seeking a third. Briscoe, driving the No. 6 Team Penske car, recorded a four-lap average speed of 215.273 mph (1 minute, 37.3275 seconds) to earn the PEAK Performance Pole Award for the Firestone 550K at Texas Motor Speedway.

Dario Franchitti, seeking to be the third consecutive Indianapolis 500 champion to win at Texas in the same year, was 0.0057 of a second off Briscoe’s pace. He’ll start on the outside of the front row for the 228-lap race under the lights after an average of 215.261 mph.
----
Briscoe earned the 10th pole start of his career (second of the season), and has converted one into victory (2009 Chicagoland Speedway).
Reference Here>>

How they Qualified For The 2010 Firestone 550 At Texas Motor Speedway - Race #7 of 17
(** denotes a driver or team with CCWS transition affiliation)

Pos - Driver - Team - Speed
1. Ryan Briscoe - Penske 215.273mph
2. Dario Franchitti - Ganassi 215.261mph
3. Will Power** - Penske 215.158mph
4. Scott Dixon - Ganassi 215.152mph
5. Helio Castroneves - Penske 214.411mph
6. Alex Lloyd -Dale Coyne** 214.408mph
7. Hideki Mutoh - Newman/Haas** 214.380mph
8. Danica Patrick - Andretti 214.098mph
9. Mario Moraes** - KV** 213.800mph
10. Marco Andretti - Andretti 213.785mph
11. Takuma Sato - KV** 213.692mph
12. Justin Wilson** - Dreyer & Reinbold 213.602mph
13. Tony Kanaan - Andretti 213.346mph
14. EJ Viso** - KV** 213.336mph
15. Dan Wheldon - Panther 213.316mph
16. Sarah Fisher - Sarah Fisher 213.256mph
17. Milka Duno - Dale Coyne** 213.222mph
18. Tomas Scheckter - Dreyer & Reinbold 212.904mph
19. Vitor Meira - Foyt 212.805mph
20. Alex Tagliani** - Fazzt 212.526mph
21. Jay Howard - Sarah Fisher 212.448mph
22. Bertrand Baguette - Conquest** 212.349mph
23. Raphael Matos** - De Ferran Dragon 212.327mph
24. Ryan Hunter-Reay - Andretti 212.298mph
25. Mario Romancini - Conquest** 212.101mph
26. Simona de Silvestro** - HVM** 211.289mph
(ht: autosport.com)

This very fast banked bull-ring of a venue will have these open-wheel Dallara's running side-by-side at over 200 miles per hour throughout the whole race and will probably end with a less than a second seperation ... Photo Finish!

The Firestone 550 is set to be broadcast live at IndyCar Series on VERSUS - Watch the Texas Motor Speedway Race. Saturday June 5 - 8:00PM est - Versus.com

... notes from The EDJE

2009 IndyCar Series Schedule - Highlighted & Announced

The IndyCar Series in DIRECTV HD today announced its 2009 schedule featuring 18 races, including two new destinations, bookend dates for the state of Florida marking changes to the season-opening and closing venues, and expanding the season-long championship by a month.

In its continuing effort to offer competitors one of the most diverse challenges in all of motorsports, the 2009 schedule features 10 oval races, three permanent road courses and five temporary circuits and includes all but one venue that hosted the IndyCar Series in 2008.

Highlighting the 2009 IndyCar Series schedule:

The season opener will be run through the streets of St. Petersburg , Fla. , on April 5.

The season-finale moves to Homestead-Miami Speedway and will be run on Oct. 11 with the speedway and series developing a championship weekend celebration, extending the IndyCar Series season a month longer than the previous two seasons.

The Grand Prix of Long Beach will be run on April 19, marking the IndyCar Series’ debut at the 35-year-old event that has hosted F1, CART and Champ Car races as its premier event.

The IndyCar Series will debut in Toronto on July 12. The Indy Toronto, which dates to 1986, will be the first of back-to-back temporary course events in Canada with Edmonton scheduled for July 26.

The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course will shift from July to Aug. 9, allowing the series to break up what was six consecutive weeks of racing in 2008. With this date change, the Kentucky Speedway event will move one week earlier to Aug. 1.

The Raceway at Belle Isle Park and Chicagoland Speedway are exchanging weekends, with Chicagoland running on Saturday evening Aug. 29 and the temporary street event in Detroit running Sept. 6.

The Indy Japan 300 at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan is shifting to Sept. 19 after running in April since 2003.

The IndyCar Series will be a part of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Centennial Celebration with the 93rd running of the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race scheduled for May 24.

The IndyCar Series will return to Kansas Speedway, The Milwaukee Mile, Texas Motor Speedway, Iowa Speedway , Richmond International Raceway, Watkins Glen International and Infineon Raceway at approximately the same time on the calendar as 2008.

“We are thrilled with the schedule we have developed for 2009,” said Terry Angstadt, the president of the commercial division for the Indy Racing League, the sanctioning body for the IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights. “When unification was announced earlier this year, we talked about the opportunity of developing future schedules on a blank piece of paper, and with today’s announcement we have a solid foundation for developing a consistent, long-term schedule for the IndyCar Series.”

Next season’s schedule will feature four Saturday prime-time events, and unlike the previous two seasons the 2009 schedule affords a couple more in-season off-weekends for drivers and teams.

“Looking ahead to 2009, and with one season of unification under our belts, we know that the IndyCar Series continues to offer the most diverse schedule in all of motorsports,” said Brian Barnhart, president of the competition and operations division for the Indy Racing League.

“As our schedule has evolved in the past few years, the race for the IndyCar Series championship has become one that demands the ability of both drivers and teams to master a variety of venues and the challenges each one brings with the end result being a true champion.

We are also pleased to respond to our teams and offer a couple of more off-weekends during the core of the season.” , concluded Barnhart.

The complete 2009 IndyCar Series schedule:

Date – Location - Venue Length & Type

Sunday, April 5 - Streets of St. Petersburg - 1.8-mile street course

Sunday, April 19 - Streets of Long Beach -1.968-mile street course

Sunday, April 26 - Kansas Speedway - 1.5-mile oval

Sunday, May 24 - Indianapolis Motor Speedway - 2.5-mile oval

Sunday, May 31 - The Milwaukee Mile - 1.0-mile oval

Saturday, June 6* - Texas Motor Speedway - 1.5-mile oval

Sunday, June 21 - Iowa Speedway - .875-mile oval

Saturday, June 27* - Richmond International Raceway - .75-mile oval

Sunday, July 5 - Watkins Glen International - 3.4-mile road course

Sunday, July 12 - Streets of Toronto - 1.721-mile street course

Sunday, July 26 - Edmonton City Centre Airport - 1.973-mile airport course

Saturday, August 1* - Kentucky Speedway - 1.5-mile oval

Sunday, August 9 - Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course - 2.258-mile road course

Sunday, August 23 - Infineon Raceway - 2.245-mile road course

Saturday, August 29* - Chicagoland Speedway - 1.5-mile oval

Sunday, September 6 - The Raceway at Belle Isle Park - 2.906-mile street course

Saturday, September 19 - Twin Ring Motegi - 1.5-mile oval

Sunday, October 11 - Homestead-Miami Speedway - 1.5-mile oval

(*) Denotes Night race

Schedule Subject to Change
(ht: Pacific Coast Motorsports)

... notes from The EDJE

Open-Wheel Talent At Daytona 500 In A Big Way

Dario Franchitti's "Car-Of-The-Future" / Dodge Journey Charger - The latest big name open-wheel champion to jump into the waters of NASCAR. Image Credit: Freewheeling Daredevil at Daytona during Speedweeks 2008

Open-Wheel Talent At Daytona 500 In A Big Way

That's right, open-wheel racing talent will be represented at the 50th running of the NASCAR stock car season kickoff Daytona 500 in a big way.

Champions League is what we'll choose to call them here at The EDJE. It’s a league within a league and frankly, these drivers, and their skill coming to the most prolific and commercial of world autosport racing series, NASCAR, is long overdue.

The chasm that had existed in the culture between open-wheel and “stock” car racing series was a little like Television actors not respecting Feature movie actors or either not respecting Broadway actors and visa-versa.

Get over yourselves and do what you all do best – RACE!

Sign of the Times – This 50th anniversary Daytona 500 logo will be seen early and often in the countdown the 2008 running of the “Great American Race.” Image Credit: www7.justmarketing.com

Why is it that only two open-wheel racing team owners are fielding teams at NASCAR, and conversely, NO stock car team owners field teams at Champ Car World Series or Indianapolis Racing League?

Those drivers with recognizable names with ample open-wheel racing experience are as follows (past open-wheel champions in BOLD):

Did Not Qualify - AJ Allmendinger (2004 CCWS Rookie of the Year), Patrick Carpentier (1997-2004 CART, 2005 IRL), Jacques Villeneuve (1995 CART Championship, 1995 Indy 500 winner, 1997 F1 Championship)

Quailfied Car #/Position: Tony Stewart #20/6 (1997 IRL Champion), Casey Mears #5/9 ( 5 CART starts, with one top-5 finish, 3 IRL starts, no top-5 finishes/nephew of four time Indianapolis 500 winner Rick Mears ), Juan Pablo Montoya #42/15 (1999 CART Champion, 2000 Indy 500 Winner,F1), Sam Hornish Jr #77/19 (2001, 2002, 2006 IRL Champion), John Andritti #43/22 (1988 CART Rookie Of The Year [61 top-10s in 74 career races in CART], IRL), Robbie Gordon #7/26 (1992-1999 CART [106 starts], Indy 500 [10 starts] ), Dario Franchitti #40/40 (1997-2002 CART, 2003-2007 IRL, 2007 IRL Champion, 2007 Indy 500 winner)

Starting lineup for the 2008 running of the 50th Daytona 500. Video Credit: nadeau1064

This excerpted from ABC News -

An open-wheel invasion of NASCAR is in full swing for 2008.
By TERRY BLOUNT - Feb. 7, 2008

Since NASCAR's early days, stars of open-wheel racing have occasionally stopped by to visit.

Things have changed. Now they're coming to stay.

The 2008 Daytona 500 will have at least three Indy 500 winners on the starting grid -- Juan Pablo Montoya, Sam Hornish Jr. and Dario Franchitti. Jacques Villeneuve will make it a historic foursome if he qualifies.

Having Indy 500 winners at Daytona is nothing new. Even 45 years ago, four men who would win Indy competed in the Daytona 500 -- A.J. Foyt, Johnny Rutherford, Troy Ruttman and Parnelli Jones. But two of them -- Jones and Rutherford -- hadn't accomplished the feat at the time.

The 1981 race was the last time two men with Indy 500 wins on their résumés -- Rutherford and Foyt -- competed in the Daytona 500.

In the past, the big names of Indy were just passing through, racing in NASCAR's biggest show as a little sidelight before heading back to the open cockpit.

And for the most part, they were Americans who sounded the same (well, sort of) and didn't have hard-to-pronounce names. They just happened to spend most of their racing careers in a different discipline.

They could make more money and gain more fame by concentrating on Indy cars. Frankly, the idea of racing full time in NASCAR was laughable.

2008 Daytona 500 Pace Car - Image Credit: z06vette.com

Who's laughing now? Indy-car racing did everything possible to destroy itself over the past decade with two competing leagues and constant feuding.

The open-wheelers are here now because it's the place to be. The men who won the past two Indy 500s -- Hornish and Franchitti -- will race full time in Sprint Cup. Neither will race in the 2008 Indy 500.

Montoya coming to Sprint Cup last year was just the beginning.
----
Villeneuve and Patrick Carpentier are Canadians who plan to race full time in Cup this season.

Cup will have four foreign-born drivers competing for the first time. Montoya is Colombian and Franchitti is a Scotsman.

They are bringing attention to the sport from people and places that never cared in the past. But there's also an element of NASCAR's old guard that doesn't like it.
----
NASCAR officials have embraced a "return-to-its-roots" theme for the 2008 season to try to regain the trust of the old-school fans. Obviously, the open-wheel invasion doesn't help sell that concept.

Most of the veteran drivers don't care. The open-wheelers are just other guys they have to beat.

"To me, it makes no difference," said Ryan Newman, Hornish's teammate at Penske Racing. "I was an open-wheel driver [sprint cars] when I came in. I just wasn't an IndyCar driver.

"The bottom line is they're drivers, they're competitors. I don't care whether they're male or female, open-wheel drivers or late-model drivers from the local short track. They will learn if they deserve to be here. In the car owners' and sponsors' eyes, they feel that they are."
----
This is an uphill climb on an icy slope. It's unlikely any of them will enjoy the type of success Montoya had last year when he finished 20th in the standings. Montoya won the road race at Sonoma and had six top-10s.

For now, Montoya is in a league of his own among the open-wheel newbies.
----
Talent isn't always enough. Carpentier and Villeneuve don't have guaranteed spots in the field, racing in cars that never have come close to winning.

Hornish, a three-time IndyCar Series champion, does have a guaranteed spot. He swapped points with teammate Kurt Busch. But Hornish is part of a new third car at Penske with a new crew, an almost certain recipe for struggle.

Franchitti is going to an organization (Ganassi Racing) that hasn't won an oval-track race in five seasons.
----
"It was a tough decision to make," Hornish said. "But I got to a point in my career where I decided this was the next challenge.
----
Money tops the list. NASCAR is their best option for cashing in while they can. Villeneuve and Carpentier are 36. Franchitti is 34. Time is running out.

Another reason is safety. NASCAR has become a much safer form of racing compared to open-wheel cars. Franchitti was lucky to escape unhurt from two terrifying airborne crashes last year en route to the IndyCar Series championship.
----
"I know it's going to be hard," Franchitti said. "But every year since I started racing, I've always asked myself one question at the end of the season: 'Do I still want to do this?' Being in NASCAR is what I really want to do."
Reference Here>>

UPDATE - Post Race Results For "The Champions League" (the league within a league) -

50th Daytona 500 Finish – Video Credit: Mikey2448

The race was won by Ryan Newman, Sam Hornish's teammate on the Roger Penske Racing team. So the race was won by an open-wheel racing series team owner.

Order of finish for those who have open-wheel racing experience:

Tony Stewart - 3, Robby Gordon - 8, Sam Hornish Jr. - 15, Juan Pablo Montoya - 32, Dario Franchitti - 33, Casey Mears - 35, John Andretti - 40
Reference Here>>

... notes from The EDJE

CCWS - New Year, New Chassis, New Venues, New Logo

Champ Car World Series Logo - Copyright © 2007 Champ Car World Series, LLC.

CCWS - New Year, New Chassis, New Venues, New Logo

(revisited, originally published at MAXINE January 24, 2007)

Well, here we go!

The first offical time trials of the 2007 season are underway and the Champ Car World Series, North America's premiere open-wheel racing series is off to a blazing start.

Sporting a new chassis, a new logo, and having added six new venues (two of the venues in Europe) to a 17 race season, the Champ Car World Series (remnants of the old CART) looks to be set for one of the most exciting years yet.

Excerpts from two stories found at CCWS -

CHAMP CAR WORLD SERIES UNVEILS NEW LOGO FOR 2007 SEASON

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

The Champ Car World Series enters a new era in 2007 with six new venues, a number of new drivers and the brand-new Panoz DP01 chassis.To go along with the new-look series, Champ Car today unveiled its new logo that will be featured prominently on the cars, the driver and official uniforms as well as the new-look television package.

The logo is a sleeker, racier design than that of the past, and features the new DP01 on the right side of the layout. The traditional Champ Car colors of orange, silver and black are featured, and the style of the logo includes a chicane-like quality that stylizes the road and street courses that make up the 2007 Champ Car schedule.

----
“This new logo portrays many of the things that makes Champ Car special and unique and does it in an effective and stylish manner,” said Champ Car President Steve Johnson. “Having the DP01 in the logo is also a key for us, as it displays what Champ Car racing is all about.”The logo will begin to be displayed on the cars as early as tomorrow in the first of the year’s three open test session, which is taking place at Sebring International Raceway.

Further tests will take place at MSR Houston in February and at Laguna Seca in March as teams prepare for the 2007 season opener, April 6-8 in Las Vegas.
Read All>>

CHAMP CAR WORLD SERIES ANNOUNCES THE ADDITION OF TWO EUROPEAN EVENTS TO THE 2007 CALENDAR

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

The Champ Car World Series today announced that it will return to Europe for the first time since 2003 with inaugural races in Holland and Belgium.

Events added to the Champ Car World Series calendar will take place September 2 at the TT Circuit in Assen, Holland and September 9 at the Zolder circuit in Belgium. It will be the first time that Champ Car has raced in either of the two European nations.

"2007 continues to shape up as one of the most exciting in recent memory for Champ Car and today's announcement raises the anticipation level even higher," said Champ Car President Steve Johnson. "We considered a number of options for our return to Europe and these two events will prove to be very successful for our teams, fans and sponsor partners.

"The Assen circuit, long fabled for hosting exciting Grand Prix motorcycle events, underwent major modifications for the 2006 season, resulting in a 4.5-kilometer track that will provide a stern challenge for the Champ Cars.

Zolder is a 3.977-kilometer circuit which also underwent safety renovations for the 2006 season, after hosting Formula 1 events in the 1970s and 80s. The track will carry the process a step farther for the 2007 Champ Car visit, making further improvement to ensure a safe and challenging event.

"We are excited to bring the American equivalent of Formula 1 racing to Europe," said event promoter Bart Rietbergen. "Champ Car provides close racing that is easy for European fans to understand, and they will be very impressed with the access that they will have in the Champ Car paddock.

"The addition of the two European events brings the number of races on the 2007 Champ Car schedule to 17, marking the most races on a Champ Car calendar since 2003. The last time that the series went to Europe served as the coming-out party for three-time Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais, who took his first series victories by sweeping races in Brands Hatch and EuroSpeedway Lausitz.
Read All>>

… notes from The EDJE.

UPDATE: Actual European Event Dates -

Heusden-Zolder, Belgium - August 24 - 26, 2007

Assen, Holland - August 31 - September 2, 2007

CCWS Website Here>>

(ht: MAXINE)