INDYCAR HARVEST GP 2-Race Weekend Brings A Cooler Challenge For Pagenaud, Power, & Herta

Will Power is looking forward to racing in the INDYCAR Harvest GP, a track he has won on three times before, matched only by his teammate Simon Pagenaud. Power said he believes his success at the IMS GP track boils down to his qualifying, an area of mastery. Power has 60 INDYCAR poles, just seven shy of tying Mario Andretti’s record of 67. Each of Power’s wins on the IMS road course have come from the pole. "For me, generally if I qualify on pole at that track, we have a great shot of winning, and that’s been the case for me every time except this last one," Power said. "I can’t really put my finger on why that is the case, but some tracks favor you a little, maybe it’s the way the strategy works out, maybe it’s the fact you can use your raw pace." Image above, Will Power - salvages 2020 season with a win at Mid-Ohio's Honda Indy 200 Race 1 - Sept. 12, 2020. Image Credit: Matt Fraver via NICS (2020)

INDYCAR HARVEST GP 2-Race Weekend Brings A Cooler Challenge For Pagenaud, Power, & Herta

To some, open-wheel racing in October during NFL Football season is a crime against Humanity ... especially with the previous owner of the INDYCAR SERIES. It is tough to compete when the series owners are more concerned about their skybox seats and relationships with team owners than watching cars buzz around a track with temperatures dropping down into the 50's and lower. This just isn't the meaning of Fall.

Bring in a disruptive pandemic health event, a change of ownership and a reactive salvation from a planned 17 race season, to a possible 9 or 10 race season, then rebuild it back to a 14 race season through a series of 2-Race weekends at supporting and series owned tracks, then, voila, October 1-3, 2020 plays host to the aptly nicknamed INDYCAR "Pumpkin Spice" Grand Prix on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

NTT IndyCar Series News Conference - Tuesday, September 29, 2020 - Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Currently P4 In Championship - Colton Herta, Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Racing

Currently P5 In Championship - Will Power, Team Penske

Currently P8 In Championship - Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske

THE MODERATOR: Good morning. Welcome to today's NTT INDYCAR Series video news conference featuring three drivers who will race this weekend in the INDYCAR Harvest GP at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

We're pleased to be joined by Simon Pagenaud and Will Power from Team Penske, and Colton Herta from Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Racing.

Colton, you're the most recent winner in the NTT INDYCAR Series, winning the front pole at Mid-Ohio. Indianapolis has been a place where you've had success in the junior formula and finished fourth in July. What are your expectations heading into a doubleheader this weekend?

COLTON HERTA: Definitely keep the momentum from Mid-Ohio and try to win. If you want to try to get Newgarden, second in the championship, we're going to have to have two good races. He's a little bit ahead, so we might need a little bit of help from him. If we can win both races, that will definitely help our chances.

THE MODERATOR: Will, you started on the pole there, won at IMS three times. What is it about the IMS road course that seems to suit your style pretty well?

WILL POWER: It's a pretty straightforward track. But every corner sequence, it's quite technical. There's a lot of compromise in there. I kind of like that stuff.

Yeah, I mean, it's just another track that I enjoy. All pretty good for me. Yeah, I can't put my finger on why I've won there three times. I think being fast is one of them.

THE MODERATOR: How important is it to try to end the season on a strong point, try to maybe grab top three in the championship?

WILL POWER: Yeah, that's obviously the goal, try to finish in the top three. More just looking at race wins honestly. The whole championship thing, I mean, I'm only interested in contending for a championship win. Other places don't really mean anything to me.

Trying to get wins, that's all I'm aiming for. I mean, do my absolute best honestly, not even aim for wins. Just get the most out of myself every weekend.

Three time IMS GP event winner Simon Pagenaud on racing the IMS road course the first time - “I grew up at a racetrack that’s quite similar in terms of driving technique, that racetrack was only 20 minutes from my home, and that’s where I learned to drive a car,” Pagenaud said. “I was very well suited to (IMS) because it suited my driving style and therefore it was working together very well. I felt at home right away. I didn’t have to search too far on my driving side to produce lap time. Those are the fun times in racing.”  Image Credit: Chris Owen via NICS (2020)

THE MODERATOR: Simon, you also are a three-time winner at the IMS road course. 20th to third in July. It's a completely different race in October than July with temperatures being probably 40 degrees cooler ambient. What do you expect from the weekend?

SIMON PAGENAUD: Well, of course it's an interesting dynamic. Hasn't been the greatest season. We've had a streak of bad races, starting in Indianapolis Speedway, unfortunately. So the season didn't develop as we wanted.

Certainly right now we're honing in on what the car needs in terms of setup. That's super exciting. We've got three races to go. For us, it's about winning, quite frankly winning races, nothing else.

The other goal is to understand the car the best we can for next year, come out of the gate next year to win the first race and go on and try to fight for the championship.

Different dynamic than last year for sure. We were in the championship. This year it's going to be about, like Will said, doing the best, just extracting the best out of yourself and the car. Also really understanding, that's what I'm aiming for.

THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions for any of the drivers.

Q. When the whole thing starts off with one driver taking the first three races, a truncated season of 14 races, kind of sets the bar in a weird way. Everybody is struggling. There's been some really great driving. I would like to hear what your experiences have been driving with the new rookies that are out there.

SIMON PAGENAUD: Yeah, you're absolutely right. There's been a lot of great driving. Colton was winning in Mid-Ohio. Pato has been tremendous in a lot of races. The young guys coming up, it's interesting to see them, how they handle their cars.

Like you said, there's been difficulties for everybody. Some, like Scott Dixon, managed to get the best out of tough situations. Wish we could have done the same, but we didn't. Try to focus and go forward.

Definitely new race format, new qualifying format. Very different season. No testing, which I personally love going testing for improvement. I'm missing that. I hope we can go testing very soon.

WILL POWER: Yeah, the rookies again this year have been very impressive. Alex Palou, Pato who is not a rookie but pretty much is. They're all quick. Rinus VeeKay. I know I'm missing one there, I feel bad. There's one other guy who is really fast.

Yeah, they've been very impressive with the limited running we have. The field just seems to get tougher every year. Get these young guys in, barely 20, and already right on the pace. Have 20 years of racing ahead of them.

It's good. I love racing against the young guys. I even go back and I'll race karts against the 15, 16-year-old guys just to embarrass myself amongst some aggressive, fast kids.

Yeah, it's good to see.

Q. Colton, you were one of the young guns coming up. Now you're established in the field. How has it been going side-by-side with the rookies?

COLTON HERTA: No, it's been nice. I think for a lot of my career, I grew up racing against a lot of these guys anyway through karting. This isn't really new for me with this rookie class.

Yeah, I think like the guys have said, it just seems like the series is getting tougher and tougher. Another really good crop of rookies. Definitely makes you work harder. You know there's a lot of guys coming in that are really fast and can take your seat. Yeah, definitely makes you work really hard.

I think it is impressive. Especially with the limited running time that we have, just one practice for a lot of the weekends, it is impressive to see they've gotten right on the pace. Who knows, maybe they will be even better next year when we have a lot more running time.

Q. I know with the two races on the IMS road course this weekend, we have a couple different race distances. You don't want to necessarily give too much away. Just with those two distances, how do you feel that could have a chance to shake things up as far as strategy?

COLTON HERTA: I don't even know the distances, so it's probably someone else's question.

WILL POWER: I think it's going to be pretty straightforward honestly. I think the longer race will be a three-stop and the shorter will be a two-stop. Yeah, kind of mixes things up.

Yeah, I guess it's good because everyone learns on the first day what the best strategy is. So having two different race lengths keeps everyone guessing. Might make the racing a little better.

SIMON PAGENAUD: I join Will on that. It's a really great point. In Iowa, for example, on our team we had a strategy starting from the back. Even before the yellow came out, we were already back to the front.

On the second day, actually use that strategy, so we can come back as quickly to the front. We ended up being more in traffic. I thought that was super interesting to see. Obviously everybody is paying attention to strategies. But that could be changing the format for the second race, probably (indiscernible). I think it's good for racing.

Any time something unexpected happens, makes the racing more exciting in some ways. Yeah, I would agree with Will 100%.

Q. Cooler temperatures than in July. A lot of times when the road course race is held in May, it's fairly cool. What type of race do you think we'll see with the cooler temperatures, hopefully drier conditions?

WILL POWER: Yeah, I think the track will be a lot faster. There will be less deg, more horsepower basically. It's really difficult to actually say what effect it will have on racing. Maybe the racing will be similar, honestly. I think the cars will just be a little easier to drive, more downforce in the cool temps.

SIMON PAGENAUD: Yeah, definitely be less physical, as well. The heat personally was excruciating in the first Indy Grand Prix. The Harvest one should be a lot easier physically speaking. Should allow the driver to be 100% as well, all of us. I expect that to be a bit different.

Now, I don't know about the race, if it's going to change anything, like Will said. Might make the out lap more exciting because tires are colder. Something to watch there, yeah. Less degradation on the tires, for sure, faster cars, faster pace.

COLTON HERTA: I'm not really sure what it will do for the racing. I think there's a possibility that guys will try different downforce options if it's that much cooler. This is a place you can sometimes get away with trimming if it's a little bit cooler because how long the straights are, no major high-speed corners. It might be interesting in the race to see what people go for with downforce options that might open up the passing a little bit.

Q. Back in December, Chip Simmons predicted at this time a year ago to now, meaning now, everybody will be talking about how great the racing is and not about the Aeroscreen. Do you think we're at that point yet?

WILL POWER: Yeah, it's honestly been a difficult year because people haven't had much track time. You are kind of running on the go.

Yeah, I believe everyone's become pretty immune to the Aeroscreen. I think it looks really good from the side angle. Obviously the front angle it's a little bit wide. I think, yeah, it's going to be the normal look in INDYCAR. I think if we see one without a screen, it's going to look kind of strange.

SIMON PAGENAUD: I mean, it's just a different format this year. Again, like I just said, are we completely used to it in terms of setups? No, personally on our car I think we still have a long way to go on setup to be very happy with how the car handle. So we're not there yet.

Some of that is due to lack of time. Even less practices at the racetrack doesn't allow you to make much changes. You just show up. If you unload quick, then you stay there all weekend. If you are not too quick, you can't make big changes because you don't want to get lost. That's really what happened this year for everybody, I imagine.

But in terms of driving comforts, like we talked about, INDYCAR has improved the cooling. We've also been lucky with not really hot races yet. In terms of safety, we've seen it. It's been amazing. Thanks to INDYCAR for protecting the drivers and making sure that we are still the pioneer in safety going forward.

COLTON HERTA: Yeah, I'd agree with Will and Simon. I think it's hard to say relatively what the racing has been like this year because of how little practice, I think very few guys get it right on a weekend. Maybe that tops three or four guys that kind of break away from the pack, got it right on that weekend.

It's hard to say relative to any year if the racing is better or not. I think we have had good races at some places and others haven't been so great. I think that's an aftereffect of what we're allowed to do in a COVID situation practice-wise, trying to get as much track time as we can.

I don't necessarily think that's an effect of the Aeroscreen, though.

Q. Is this one of the more challenging championships you have ever been a part of with all the uncertainty you've had this season?

WILL POWER: Yeah, I think what was challenging about it was not knowing exactly what races were coming, when they would be to prepare for them, the lack of testing.

But I actually don't mind the short weekends. We only have an hour to get it right. I feel like I can get on top of it pretty quickly. I've kind of enjoyed the short weekends, kind of wonder if INDYCAR will look at that and think, Well, maybe we don't need these three-day weekends, get it done in two anyway, have a lot less practice, just get on with the weekend next year with a normal schedule.

SIMON PAGENAUD: Yeah, I found it just, like Will said, challenging in the ways you didn't know really, like Mid-Ohio, what was going to happen when it got canceled.

For any athletes, I think you prepare yourself mentally, even though it's just subconscious sometimes. You prepare physically and mentally for an event. When the event gets canceled, it's on to the next one. All of a sudden you have to reshuffle your ideas.

There's a whole preparation with the race team also, communication with your engineer on preparation going into the weekend, what is going to be the practice like, what is the race going to be like, what you need.

All that has been really kind of shaky this year. 'Adjustments' has been the king word of the year, I would say. Challenging for sure. Different, absolutely. Yeah, just have to deal with it, I guess.

COLTON HERTA: It's definitely been really challenging. I think, like they alluded to, you always kind of physically and mentally are preparing yourself, whether that be in the gym or on the sim, doing prep work with your engineers. So it's tough when you kind of have these (indiscernible) and go weekends where you don't really know if they're going to happen, you don't know the next race on the schedule.

But I also do like the weekends being a little bit shorter. Like Will, I think it's a good thing. I think if you're a professional racing driver, you have to be able to get on top of it. An hour session should be plenty of time to get up to speed in a race car.

Yeah, I do like that. I particularly like it more for the short ovals. Maybe there's a chance we can do more doubleheaders, one-day or two-day events on the shorter ovals.

Me personally, I really like the full weekends on the road courses.

Q. Obviously the top two goals for a season would be Indy 500 and championship. This year at this point it's kind of chasing down second now. Do you embrace swinging for the fences this weekend? How do you balance that and trying to stay in the top five of a championship?

COLTON HERTA: I mean, I think if you're not going for the championship, you're kind of mindset is to win races. That's really the mindset. Obviously don't overextend it and throw a good result away. I have a little bit to lose.

Obviously we need to do well. If we really do want to get second place in the championship, we need to win another race. I think we do need a little bit of help from Josef on this weekend.

But, yeah, like I said, if you're not really in the championship, I think the goal for everyone should be to win races. That's what we're going to try and do. Try to get on pole, just like Mid-Ohio, then be able to lead the whole thing.

WILL POWER: I mean, I do the same thing every weekend, doesn't matter the situation. Unless you're truly points racing, all you have to do is cover the guy you're racing the points with. You're just trying to execute the perfect weekend. Everyone understands the goal. The whole field are going there with one goal in mind. They're just focusing, trying to get the most out of it.

There's no real benefit for going for a big move or something that's 50/50. It just never works out.

SIMON PAGENAUD: Yeah, I mean, for me it's a bit of a different approach I guess. Obviously if we manage to get the car where we wanted it to be, go for the win, execute, like Will said. Obviously if we execute as a team, we should be in contention to win the race. One goes after the other.

But to me and to my engineer and my 22 team, the goal is thinking about championship next year already. Considering the lack of testing, really want to understand what we need for next year. We'll take some risk on setup choices and hope that it works. If it doesn't, then we revert back and try to do the best we can. That's really our goal at this point, think about 2021 as well.

Q. Colton, obviously this weekend you have Hinch back in the car, also for St. Pete. How beneficial is that for you given he's got the experience of being with you guys this season, given that it's a truncated schedule, but also coming off the back of the momentum from the last race in Mid-Ohio?

COLTON HERTA: Yeah, I really like working with Hinch. I think a lot of guys know he's a great driver, deserves to be in INDYCAR. It's nice that he's back.

I think as far as setup-wise, I think he's really good at setting up a car. His feedback was really important in Indy. I think you can sometimes get it where, like, maybe a teammate likes to set their car up a different way. You try their setup changes and it doesn't work out for you. I found the very opposite for me and Hinch. I think it was very compatible.

He really did do an amazing job with the car in setting itself up in May. I could use a lot of his ideas and things from his car that kind of transferred right over to my car. I felt the same exact balance.

Q. Similar driving style?

COLTON HERTA: Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Q. With the momentum going forward from Mid-Ohio, anything you can take from that into this weekend?

COLTON HERTA: I think just a bit of relief that we got the win in this year. I think it's important for me to win at least once a year. I think for a lot of guys, they feel the same way. It was nice to get that win done, kind of take it off my shoulders, kind of push forward.

Q. Will and Simon, I spoke to Josef yesterday about Helio coming back in. What are your thoughts on that? Are you going to have any advice for him? Josef said he's probably going to be a bit rusty.

WILL POWER: I think it's great that he's able to run in INDYCAR again. It will be really interesting to see how he goes because he's been in a sports car, which is quite a different animal to drive. He has a lot of experience, very quick driver.

I hope he does really well. I hope he does real well.

SIMON PAGENAUD: I don't think Helio ever gets rusty quite frankly. He's fast as hell. I've seen him obviously as my teammate in sports cars. He's been putting the car on the poles more often than ever.

Q. He won at the weekend, as well.

SIMON PAGENAUD: He won three races in a row. He's super excited to be back in INDYCAR. That is what he loves. It's different for us. He's not going to be our teammate. We love having him with us because he brings that energy.

Yeah, I wish him good luck. Hope he doesn't do too well. Yeah, he's going to be just fine. Obviously McLaren Schmidt team is really good. Should be in really good shape this weekend.

Q. The championship for you guys is difficult. As you alluded to, you're kind of focusing on 2021.

SIMON PAGENAUD: Yeah, I think like I said we're going to do some aggressive setup change that we think should go in the right direction. Obviously it's not just like throw a dart and try it. It's something that we think might be interesting for the future. We'll try it. We'll see. If it's in the right direction, we stick with it. If not, we revert back. Like Will said, basically extract the best out of the weekend.

Like Colton said, there's a few things I'm looking for in the car that we haven't really been there yet. It's not far. Should be an exciting weekend for those reasons.

Q. Will, is it the same for you, almost like a test session?

WILL POWER: Yeah, not really. I mean, I'm approaching it like a normal weekend, like I would any weekend. Try to get the car in the window, I guess preempt as much as we can on setup to what direction we think it will go with the cool weather, kind of evolve what we had earlier in the year at that track.

Just the normal progression of trying to get the car in a window. I think it was obvious to us that we needed to improve the car a little bit from what we had back in May, I can't remember exactly when it was, but earlier in the year.

Q. A lot of running at the IMS this season. Next season you might be doing something similar. Are there any changes you'd like to see for the Indy GP weekend in terms of track layout?

COLTON HERTA: I think I would love to maybe see -- I think you could do it each day, do a different track each day where you can have the turn one like the Formula 1 cars used to use, I think that might make overtaking a little bit better. The other day you can do the normal track. You can practice on the normal track, run it Sunday, shouldn't be a huge adjustment to run the track Sunday. It should be easy flat out for these cars, so...

WILL POWER: Actually, I agree. I actually was going to suggest it to Roger. You change the track from one day to the next, do exactly what Colton said, which is open up turn one of the oval. I think that would create actually a lot more passing.

I don't know with Firestone, we have to change the tire, like they had issues in Formula 1 for the long-loaded banked corner. But, yeah, I think that would be quite interesting.

SIMON PAGENAUD: I don't care (laughter). I really don't care. You ask that question, I was like, Well, okay, whatever they decide quite frankly. I have zero opinion on it. I drive whatever they give me. Love just being at the Speedway. Whatever the track is, it's going to be fine.

Q. What do you think about doing more off-season iRacing? Would you like to see INDYCAR put something together like they had done back in March, April, May?

WILL POWER: Definitely not.

COLTON HERTA: Yeah. I was going to say the same thing.

WILL POWER: Drives me crazy. I don't miss that at all. I guess it was fun, it was good for the series to be able to do it virtually. But, man, it consumes so much time. It becomes very frustrating.

I think iRacing is great. I think they've created an awesome product. Man, if they have the series in the off-season, I won't be doing it. Consumes way too much time.

SIMON PAGENAUD: I enjoyed it. I thought it was fun. Brought competition home, which was cool personally. I liked actually spending the hours, something I enjoy. I thought that was cool.

Obviously iRacing is a great product. Also raced the 24 Hours? Colton, did you do the 24 Hours?

COLTON HERTA: No, no way.

WILL POWER: 24 Hours, man, you're crazy. I could not sit there doing that.

SIMON PAGENAUD: It was fun. It was fun.

I hope that INDYCAR is going to work on having the official game though someday. It's great to see the F1 game come out every year, the new car, livery, sponsors, all the drivers. It's a great reach, right, for the youth and also anybody that is interested in racing. It's just great to have a video game, just like NBA players or NHL. It would be amazing.

I don't know. I don't know what the future hold. I really hope that INDYCAR is going to have its official game someday.

THE MODERATOR: That is all the time we have today with our three drivers. We thank them for their time, wish them the best of luck this weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

[ht: FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports]

This two race test weekend event (starting Thursday Oct. 1, 2020 with Practice and Qualifying) may actually live up to its nickname of the INDYCAR Pumpkin Spice Grand Prix. The inside prediction of the series points championship for this Wuhan Virus health event truncated 14 race season may be decided in the favor of points leader Scott Dixon (by 72 points over Team Penske's Josef Newgarden) gaining his historic Sixth (6th) NTT INDYCAR SERIES Championship leaving only one driver to have secured more championships - AJ Foyt at Seven (7).

INDYCAR HARVEST GP SCHEDULE:

Thursday, Oct. 1

2:25 p.m.: Practice (INDYCAR Pass on NBC Sports Gold)

6:20 p.m.: Race 1 qualifying (INDYCAR Pass on NBC Sports Gold)

Friday, Oct. 2

3:30 p.m.: Race 1 (USA Network)

Saturday, Oct. 3

10:20 a.m.: Race 2 qualifying (INDYCAR Pass on NBC Sports Gold)

2:30 p.m.: Race 2 (NBC)

All action carried on the Pennzoil INDYCAR Radio Network 

... notes from The EDJE

TAGS: NTT INDYCAR SERIES, INDYCAR Harvest GP Presented by GM R, Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, Team Penske, Colton Herta, Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport, Chevrolet, Honda, Firestone, Pumpkin Spice, The EDJE

Two Race Weekend & 72 Points Separate Leader Dixon From Chaser Newgarden

Team Penske's two-time series champion has a very tall order to fill if he were to capture the a third (3) title in this age of COVID-19 modified 2020 season with only three races left and no "double-points" awarded for the final race of the season. It seems that Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon has a better than even money chance at posting a major historic mark with his sixth (6) championship title. Image Credit: Chris Owens - via NICS (2020)

Two Race Weekend & 72 Points Separate Leader Dixon From Chaser Newgarden 

This next weekend has the Wuhan Virus truncated fourteen race season - down from seventeen races and no West coast swing - running Races 12 & 13 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway permanent road course for the INDYCAR Harvest GP Presented by GM R. 

Scott Dixon, after winning the first three races of the season, looked to be walking away with this year's title and a possible modern record sixth NTT INDYCAR SERIES Championship to his excellent record. But as we know, nothing is ever that easy, even with only three races left and no double-points finale. 

For Josef Newgarden's part, he has remained steady in an emboldened field with several strong second year and new guard drivers as well as the strongest crop of Rookies to come along since the merger of the North American open wheel championship in 2008. This chopped up season has turned out to be the most competitive in all of the highest levels of professional motorsports. Needless to say, points are not easy to come by. If Josef Newgarden expects to win his third NTT INDYCAR SERIES Championship, he will need to win out while Scott Dixon needs to finish low or DNF in each of the three races and no double-points, as in previous years, to count on.

It was just just 5 years ago in 2015, that the roles of a Chip Ganassi Racing driver (Dixon) and a Team Penske driver (Montoya) were reversed where Scott Dixon needed to gain points in the last three races in order to have a chance at securing his 4th series championship. The last race of the season was held at Sonoma Raceway, Sears Point in Northern California and was a double-points paying race. 

At roughly the same situation in 2015, with four races left (counting Sonoma Raceway double-points as two races), Scott Dixon was 48 points down to Juan Pablo Montoya coming out of Mid Ohio, with Pocono and Sonoma venues left in the season.

Scott Dixon won the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma and earned enough points to tie Juan Pablo Montoya, who had won the Indianapolis 500 for a second time, lost the championship to a tie-breaker in the rules. Scott Dixon had won three races on the schedule whereas JP Montoya just two.

Scott Dixon, driver of the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, can clinch the season championship at IMS by finishing the two races as he has the first 11 of 2020 – somewhere in the top five -- and it likely won’t even take that much. Dixon’s lead over Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden is a comfortable 72 points, the largest for a series leader this late in the season since Dixon led the 2008 pursuit by 78 points. Dixon only needs to score 90 points in the final three races – below his season average finish of 4.5 – to win the championship, and that assumes Newgarden scores the maximum number of points the rest of the way. Image Credit: Matt Fraver - via NICS (2020)

Last Points:

Winning the season’s final three races, as Newgarden likely needs to do, is a significant ask – it has been 65 years (Jimmy Bryan in 1955) since an Indy car driver accomplished that. 

Newgarden won’t even be mathematically eligible for the title if he is not within 54 points of Dixon heading to St. Pete. Remember, double points won’t be available in the finale as they have been each year since 2014.

If Dixon competes in the remaining events, as expected, only three other drivers will have the ability to win the championship, and third-place Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren SP and fourth-place Colton Herta of Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport would need to win out.

The closest comparable recent comeback to what Newgarden would need occurred in 2013 when Dixon overcame 49 points in the final three races.

[ht: Curt Cavin - IMS]

NTT IndyCar Series News Conference - Monday, September 28, 2020 - Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Points Leader - Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing

Points Chaser (-72 points) - Josef Newgarden, Team Penske

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to today's NTT INDYCAR Series video conference. Today we are joined by both Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden. Scott drives the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing, and Josef Newgarden drives the No. 1 Hitachi Chevrolet for Team Penske.

We're headed across the street from where I am now to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the INDYCAR Harvest GP Presented by GM R. Scott goes into the weekend with a 72-point lead over Josef in the NTT INDYCAR Series championship standings.

Scott, you have the potential to clinch [your sixth championship title] this weekend. What is your mindset going into the weekend?

SCOTT DIXON: I think, I don't know, for us, we just have to treat it like any other race weekend and try to get maximum points. The obvious goal is to go out there and try to win, but unfortunately there's 23, 24 others that have the same goal. Try to do better than we did at the last doubleheader at Mid-Ohio where I definitely made a very large mistake, that gave away some pretty easy points there.

Looking forward to it. I think it's going to be fantastic to have up to 10,000 fans on each day. It's definitely been a different dynamic I think for a lot of us this season, especially the Indianapolis 500 that ran without fans. We welcome the fans greatly. Hopefully the weather cooperates and we can have a fantastic weekend.

For us personally, hope we have a smooth weekend, one we can fight for a win.

THE MODERATOR: Josef, in Mid-Ohio Scott finished 10th both races, but you finished second and eighth. Going into the weekend, how do you feel your momentum is going to gain some points?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I think I feel similar to how we felt all year. We sort of just approach it where we try and do the best job possible every weekend, control what we can control, try and score the most points, just like Scott.

It's been kind of an up-and-down year. Some weekends seem to go kind of according to plan, how you think, a lot of other weekends have just gone away from us.

I feel optimistic. I always feel optimistic going into a weekend. We'll see what we got. I think we had some pretty good pace there earlier in the year. Certainly some things we can work on and be a little bit better at. I think we have a good base to kind of draw from, so I feel optimistic we'll have some speed.

I know the boys are excited to get back out there. They've done a really great job all year. So proud of the effort on the 2 car specifically. I think at Team Penske we've had some good efforts this year.

Optimistic. Excited to see fans back at a weekend. Everybody has been eager to get to a racetrack, at Indianapolis. Fun to see people around, socially distanced. Hopefully the weather is good. I haven't even looked. Hopefully we have a good forecast for everybody that's going to come out.

THE MODERATOR: It's currently raining in Indianapolis, but it is expected to be perfect fall pumpkin spice weather with some mild temperatures and no rain in the forecast. We've been jokingly calling it the Pumpkin Spice Grand Prix around here.

We'll open it up for questions.

Q. Josef, coming into this season, I mean, how it all got kicked off, now there's only three races left to go. Did you think that coming into such a weird season you'd be second in the championship with three races left to go, battling Scott for a chance at winning?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Honestly every year before it starts back up again, I always wonder if we're going to have kind of the grit and performance that's needed to run for a championship. It's so difficult to be in the fight nowadays in INDYCAR. I mean, you have to be on it every weekend. The team has to be perfect. You have to do a great job as the driver. Everybody has to do a great job every single weekend. You have to have good consistency, you have to have performance at the right points.

I always sort of wonder before we start back up are we going to have what it takes to be in the fight again. I think we all know how difficult it is to be in that fight. You always go into the season with that question mark, but with high anticipation, certainly a lot of enthusiasm. I felt enthusiastic we could be good, but you never know where you're going to be.

This year has been a lot stranger as far as trying to predict where everyone is at and what we're doing. Everything has been so much in the air as far as the schedule, when we're racing. It's been moving around a lot. So I think it's even been more difficult to predict what is going to take place.

We have been relatively solid, pretty pleased with our performance. I think we've been a little bit better than last year in some respects. It's been good. We got to try to close out as strong as possible for this season.

Q. You're going to be coming to this track quite often this season. Have you spoken about doing it differently? Have you spoken about setting up the Formula 1 style racetrack here at Indy?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Talking just the course layout?

Q. Yes.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I haven't heard of any discussion of changing the current course. I think it's raced pretty well for the most part. There's definitely some options that we could look at.

No, I mean, we haven't talked about changing anything. I think kind of the calendar has been the most interesting topic. It was really great to be here with NASCAR earlier in the year. Unfortunately with the pandemic we couldn't really take advantage of what a great weekend that could have been. I think if the fans are present and you're able to walk amongst the paddocks, the INDYCAR guys can check out a practice for NASCAR, vice versa, ideally that's what we would like to be doing.

For the future I hope we have a weekend like that again, where we're teamed up with NASCAR. Hopefully we can maximize it so everybody can enjoy it.

Q. Scott, obviously having won here earlier in the year, does that give you added momentum or does it add any kind of benefit to you heading into this weekend? Given that the temperatures are going to be different to what we had earlier in the season, is that going to affect how the car operates and handles on track?

SCOTT DIXON: I don't think you can really rely on past races, even if it's at the same track. I think obvious situation there is that the track conditions are going to be a lot different. I think 90 degrees to maybe in the 50s somebody said to me yesterday. We'll see.

I think it's going to be similar to when we typically race in April. Obviously this year's schedule has been a little bit crazy. Yeah, I think things will change. Race distances have changed. We have two different race distances. Fuel mileage will favor one group slightly more than the other. I think our team is confident in the cooler conditions, we seem to fare a little bit better, especially for qualifying speeds. Hopefully that plays true.

Again, you just can't rely on any of that stuff. It's a new weekend, one we're going to have to approach flat out and make sure we get the best out of it.

Q. Josef, how excited are you to see Helio back on the grid?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It's good to see Helio. He's hustling. What is he, 45, and he's hustling to get a race seat, back on the grid. I love it. He doesn't want to slow down. It's fun to see. He has a huge passion for this sport. I think everybody can recognize that.

Yeah, I'm excited to see him on the grid. We'll see how he does. I think he's going to be a little rusty in the INDYCAR personally. I'll tell him that when I see him. It's tough, even being in it full-time, it's difficult to keep up with the speed of the pack. I think he'll have his work cut out for him. He's a good shoe. He'll be fine. He'll add a good dynamic to the grid.

Yeah, good to see him back. We'll see what he can do.

Q. Looking ahead to this weekend, obviously you're coming off a bit of momentum from Mid-Ohio. What can you take from that into this weekend to come out with the maximum result possible?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: They're totally different. Certainly different approaches. They race definitely as well with the track layout. I don't know that we can draw a lot from that weekend. Race one was a lot better for us. Race two, we didn't really make the most of the day.

So I think if you're going to look at that, I think we need to be better across both days in both races. If we can score a couple podiums both days, that's more where we want to be compared to what we were doing in Mid-Ohio.

Q. Scott, don't mean to get too philosophical here. When you showed up in Victory Lane at Nazareth way back when, kind of this shy, bashful kid from New Zealand, you just wanted to have a chance to get out here and race against the big guys. Here you are on the cusp of history. Pretty impressive numbers not only with victories but championships. I know you're not a reflective guy, but you can't help look back and think this has gone pretty well.

SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, a lot of credit to the team. It's been definitely an interesting journey with many ups and downs as each race weekend can be or each season can be.

Just very proud of the group that I've been able to work with. Next year will be my 20th year with the team. We've achieved a lot together. They achieved an amazing amount of stats with their whole group of drivers they have had throughout the years.

For me, I think I was definitely lucky in some situations where I caught contracts at the right time, was able to hang on to the situation, especially in the early to mid 2000s.

Yeah, for me it's the love of the sport. I feel very lucky and privileged to do what I do. I really enjoy the people that I work with. They as a whole really drive me, their will to win. I think the whole kind of mindset when you walk into the Ganassi race shop throughout the years has never changed. At no point do you not go to a race weekend without thinking about not winning. That definitely I think helps a lot.

It's been a great ride so far. I definitely want to keep winning, I want to keep racing. Again, just feel super lucky to work with a great group of people I get to work with.

Q. Not to put you on the spot because he's also on the conference, of any driver in the series at the moment that reminds you of yourself, would it be Josef Newgarden? Two titles, not 30 yet, yet here he is in a position to challenge for another one.

SCOTT DIXON: I think everybody is unique in their own way. There's different portions that every drive maybe does a little bit different or a little bit better or a little bit worse. There's no doubt that Josef is a fantastic driver, very accomplished. What he's achieved so far is huge. I suspect there's going to be many, many more race wins, many more championships.

He's a good person. He's a good friend. We get to enjoy racing against each other for many years so far and hopefully for a few more into the future.

I think everybody is very unique in the way they go about championships, the places they maybe struggle at a little bit more, the ones they're very confident and strong at.

Yeah, I wouldn't label Josef similar to me. In some ways maybe he is, but he's his own person and one that has some amazing stats already.

Q. You were in Indy Lights. If you look at it, the top four guys in the championship right now have graduated from Indy Lights, have all had pretty good Indy Lights careers. What does that say for the Road to Indy series? Indy Lights this year had to take a pause. Roger is wanting to bring them back. How impressive is it the top four guys, including those two youngsters in third and fourth, all came up through Indy Lights?

SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, it's great to see. I think over the last five or more years, it's been an interesting road with just kind of like the sheer size of the field. But it's still producing amazing talent. Even if you look at the rookies this year with VeeKay and Palou, they're extremely fast, producing amazing results in situations that have been tough, starting from the back. They've been very resilient.

The Road to Indy definitely produces fantastic drivers throughout. As you said, I think with the talent that's been coming in recently has been a standout, even some of the guys that have come from Europe. Great to see them. I know this year has been a little bit different, but I hope it continues and has great strength in the coming years.

Q. Scott, talk about Josef from earlier in the year. Obviously the caution in the Grand Prix race affected him quite badly. He looked pretty quick. Do you read much into that coming into this weekend, worry about his position, or is it all focusing on yourself?

SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, just focus on our own program. I think we or I definitely made a mistake in qualifying. I think in Q2, had I just used my first portion of lap two I think would have had us quickest in that group and we moved on. It's little mistakes as Josef alluded to. With the competition right now in the INDYCAR Series, if you give up a little bit, it's going to alter your day greatly.

A lot of the time these races become pretty much track position. If you can use the strategy, obviously I think race one is going to be interesting, some people tried to split that earlier race of 80 laps into a two-stopper, a lot of others went for a three-stopper.

It is what it is. Sometimes you catch it on the right side and sometimes you don't. I think all of us have been in those situations before. I think we had extremely good pace. I think the race was won by almost 20 seconds. It puts a massive emphasis on making sure you get the right lap and the correct lap together throughout the whole week. I just didn't do it.

We'll keep our head down and focus on our program. Hopefully we can qualify well and strategy doesn't become too lopsided in splitting the field.

Q. Josef, obviously didn't go to plan there earlier in the year. Does your approach change how willing you are to risk things to try to pull points back? Do you have to put your faith that you got the right strategy from the start? Can't judge when the cautions are going to come.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: No, for us, we're going to race how we always race. A lot of these things are sometimes unpredictable. For sure in certain situations you can hang yourself out by trying to stay out too long, creating a little bit too much risk for yourself.

But I think for the most part we've (indiscernible) in taking it in any sort of a risky way. Most of these races wrong time, wrong place with the yellows for this year - a lot of the time. You can't control that.

I've had years where it just seems like we catch the yellow at the right point all the time. This year's been the opposite of that. It's hard to complain about it. It's INDYCAR racing. Sometimes it falls your way, sometimes it doesn't.

What I'm hoping is that these last three races we just have the good end of the luck to finish the season. But we're going to focus on probably racing the same we raced back in July. We'll try for a fast strategy. Like Scott said, you have to have a really good qualifying lap. Pretty critical around this track. If strategy doesn't come into play, qualifying up front is really, really important. Putting a good lap together, racing a similar race like we did in July, hoping there's not odd cautions in there, I think we should be all right.

Q. Between you, you have seven championships. One of you could win the championship this time next month. Would this be one of the more rewarding championships you've had with a pandemic, Aeroscreen, limited practice, doubleheaders? Where would this rank as far as the Championships you have had?

SCOTT DIXON: I think it would probably be the strangest just I think how the season's gone, the schedule change, the ups and downs. Honestly, I'm so thankful that the NTT INDYCAR Series and everybody involved were able to get the ball rolling. A huge thanks to NASCAR for paving the way, letting us kind of use their handbook a little bit with the COVID situation, get back to it.

No, I don't know. All of them are very unique. They're all very different, at least from my memory. But I think each one becomes that much more meaningful. This one for me would definitely mean the most.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I would agree with Scott. It would be the strangest. I don't know how you're going to forget this year. It's always going to be kind of marked in the book as an odd year, not just from a racing standpoint, but from everything else.

I think because the year has been so strange even personally for everybody, it's going to mark this racing year as certainly a highlight. Every year is different, so individualized. Scott's season is going to be different than ours, everyone else in the championship. Everyone has a different story to tell with how their year has unfolded.

For us it would be a very gratifying championship if we were able to somehow get everything conjured together at the end. It's been a tough year on our car specifically with the yellows, certainly some of the races have fallen.

But you got to take the good with the bad, the bad with the good. They're all so different, sometimes things fall for you, sometimes they don't.

Yeah, probably a little more gratifying for our car.

Q. Qualifying has been so important this year with how tight the field is. Josef, you still have a couple teammates involved with an outside shot of winning. Scott, both of yours are on the outside looking in. Do you weigh on your teammates a little bit for setup help for practice on Thursday?

SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, it depends. At least from our program, Felix and I have started to work out, if the 9 does this, the 10 will probably do that. You start to get a bit of a program together. With Marcus, it's still a little bit unknown, especially because of how the season has been. We really haven't had that much testing. Even race weekends, just such a limited amount of running that most of the cars start the same, then you don't veer off too much.

I think we work really well as a team. I think we've got a better understanding of what directions we need to be. Again, this is a little more unique, too, because we've already raced here this season. I think a lot of the time the biggest change for us is going to be ambient conditions but also tires. Each year the tires change a lot. At least for us, that's what you chase the most. Then obviously with the Aeroscreen, that's been one of the biggest changes, but we've already run it here.

Yeah, still limited practice. I think it's more about making sure you get on with your own program as quick as possible, then understand what you need to do for qualifying, make sure you get those laps together as best as possible.

Q. Josef, is there anything Will and Simon, anything they can help with Thursday for you, too?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Honestly, it doesn't change. We lean on each other every weekend. This weekend will be no different. Whether we're in the championship fight or we're not, we lean on each other the exact same way. It would be the same if we were all in the championship fight here. If we're all pretty close and fighting for it, we'd be leaning on each other just like all year.

Like Scott said, you kind of get into a rhythm with your team, sort of understand what everyone's strengths and weaknesses, specific likes and dislikes are. You kind of can build a notebook with everybody so we all understand, yeah, like Scott alluded to, one person does this, it kind of means this for the other person. We have a lot we can lean on. We'll be doing that just like we've been doing all season.

Q. Josef, I know you said you plan to tackle these next few races just like others by having the championship on the line. How do you get yourself into the mindset, I don't know if it's something learned or innate in you to try your best to pursue the last couple races, just like you would the first couple of the year? Some people might see a lot of pressure with a championship on the line, a lot to be done.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I think this year is probably the least pressure-packed for us. We're certainly in the chase position. We're not being chased. We don't really have much to lose. We could slip backwards in the championship from our second-place position. If you're not winning the championship, I don't know how much you weight that. You really don't. From our side, we don't weight it that much. The championship is really all that matters.

There's not a lot of pressure to take risk. But like I was saying before, we don't ever really stray away from our normal plan. We're always trying to maximize points. If that means taking a little bit of risk at one point in the race to maximize the points, we'll do that. Maybe it's dialing back the risk to maximize the points.

We really don't approach weekends differently. It's always the same goal. I think that part doesn't change. If you are going to say is it easier or harder, I'd say it's a little bit easier to go out there and try to make the most of the weekend. We don't have a lot to protect at this point.

Q. Scott, going into this weekend being a little bit tentative, trying to protect a lead or going and trying to seal up your championship, how important for you would it be to be able to put together the results to lock things down, kind of go into St. Pete without any sort of pressure might be there?

SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, that's the ultimate goal, right, is to leave this weekend without having to worry about the championship. The reality is that it's still going to be very tough. We're very similar to what Josef spoke of. We don't really change our approach each weekend. I think when you come down to the nitty-gritty of the championship, you are aware of the points and the outcomes a little bit more than you would be, say, at the start or middle part of the season.

We'll focus on doing what we always try to do, and that's win the race. I think if we can win race one or race two, that makes things a lot easier. If we can win the both of them, that seals the deal. We'll go in there with that mindset, see what we come out with.

You have to work hard. Very tough, up and down through different portions. For me, there would be no better way to close it out and show the thanks for the effort that everybody on our side has put out.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you to Scott and Josef for joining us today.

[ht: FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports]

INDYCAR HARVEST GP SCHEDULE: 

Thursday, Oct. 1

2:25 p.m.: Practice (INDYCAR Pass on NBC Sports Gold)

6:20 p.m.: Race 1 qualifying (INDYCAR Pass on NBC Sports Gold)

Friday, Oct. 2

3:30 p.m.: Race 1 (USA Network)

Saturday, Oct. 3

10:20 a.m.: Race 2 qualifying (INDYCAR Pass on NBC Sports Gold)

2:30 p.m.: Race 2 (NBC)

All action carried on the Pennzoil INDYCAR Radio Network  

This weekend has a better than even chance at delivering a historic sixth NTT INDYCAR SERIES Championship to Scott Dixon leaving only AJ Foyt to catch and tie on the all-time annual championships list with seven championships.

... notes from The EDJE

TAGS: NTT INDYCAR SERIES, INDYCAR Harvest GP Presented by GM R, Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, No. 9 PNC Bank Honda, Josef Newgarden, Team Penske, No. 1 Hitachi Chevrolet, The EDJE

Chinese automaker Geely Auto Group unveiled its premium electric vehicle, the Zero Concept from Lynk & Co, in September 2020 at the Beijing Auto Show. The Zero Concept EV will feature Lynk & Co’s CoPilot solution powered by Mobileye SuperVision surround-view advanced driver-assistance system with over-the-air update capabilities. Image Credit: Geely Auto Group

Mobileye, Geely to Offer Most Robust Driver-Assistance Features
New Lynk & Co Electric Vehicle to Feature Mobileye SuperVision for Scalable ADAS

Geely Auto Group, the largest privately held auto manufacturer in China, unveiled the highly anticipated premium electric vehicle (EV), Zero Concept, from Lynk & Co – a brand under Geely Auto Group – at a Lynk & Co brand event held in conjunction with the Beijing Auto Show. The new Zero Concept EV will feature Lynk & Co’s CoPilot solution powered by Mobileye SuperVision™ surround-view advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) with over-the-air (OTA) update capabilities. Utilizing Mobileye’s production-ready SuperVision system based on Mobileye’s leading EyeQ5® system-on-chip (SoC) alongside Geely’s accelerated production capabilities will enable Geely Auto Group to deliver a new suite of advanced driver-assist features to consumers beginning in fall 2021.

“We created the Lynk & Co brand in 2016 with the goal of providing a new, premium experience for global consumers; to date, we have delivered over 300,000 Lynk & Co units to customers. In the next phase of our growth, we will collaborate with Mobileye to deliver an entirely new driving experience that is truly unmatched,” said An Conghui, Geely Auto Group chief executive officer. “Lynk & Co CoPilot powered by Mobileye’s SuperVision system will bring the most advanced vision-based driving-assistance technology to the production version of the Lynk & Co Zero Concept, making it soon to be one of the world’s leading premium vehicles with the most robust driver-assist features.”

Geely Auto Group is a leading automobile manufacturer based in Hangzhou, China, and was founded in 1997 as a subsidiary unit of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (ZGH). The group manages several leading brands including Geely Auto, Lynk & Co, Volvo Car Group, Proton Cars, Lotus, and Geometry. Image Credit: Geely Auto Group

“Our collaboration with Geely is a game changer for the global automotive industry as it brings our industry-leading surround-vision technology to market in one of the most advanced driver-assistance systems," said Amnon Shashua, senior vice president at Intel and president and chief executive officer of Mobileye, an Intel company. "We are thrilled to help Geely offer Lynk & Co drivers an exciting and advanced package of high-level driver aids and safety features, including point-to-point highway pilot and traffic-jam assist, all powered by Mobileye's SuperVision surround-view driver-assistance system and kept current with OTA updates."

The collaboration between Geely and Mobileye comes amid a growing demand for electric vehicles in China and beyond, as well as increased interest in safer, cleaner transportation solutions. The future production-ready Zero Concept EV featuring Mobileye SuperVision ADAS technology will present a new, groundbreaking option for consumers as China’s EV market rapidly expands.

Lynk & Co CoPilot, powered by Mobileye’s SuperVision system, is a first-of-its-kind ADAS-to-AV scalable system, supported by the unprecedented use of surround-view cameras and other driving policy and navigation technologies powered by two EyeQ5 SoCs, Mobileye’s most advanced SoC. The solution brings cutting-edge safety technology to assist human drivers in a multitude of different driving scenarios.

In addition to enabling high-level driver assistance in the Zero Concept EV over several years, Geely and Mobileye announced a high-volume ADAS agreement to equip a variety of Geely Auto Group makes and models with Mobileye vision-sensing technology. The long-term agreement will see multiple Geely Auto Group brands and vehicles outfitted with Mobileye-powered ADAS features such as automatic emergency braking and lane-keeping assist.
[ht: PressPass@BusinessWire]

... notes from The EDJE

TAGS: Zero Concept EV, Lynk & Co, Mobileye, Geely, Robust Driver-Assistance, CoPilot, SuperVision system, Scalable ADAS, Electric Vehicle, The EDJE

Virtual Petersen Car Week Makes Up For A COVID Cancel Of Pebble Beach

Hot Rod Class - 1959 Imperial Speedster. Image Credit: Petersen Car Week (2020)

Virtual Petersen Car Week Makes Up For A COVID Cancel Of Pebble Beach

The Petersen Automotive Museum didn’t want to see the global enthusiasm for Monterey Car Week go away this year like so many other car shows so it’s bottling the essence of the week into 5 days of amazing automotive content. This digital effort includes 12 videos and leaves no one without having something of a summertime car culture experience that will assist in replacing the void created by this China Virus colored and shaped world.

Over 40 of the largest automotive companies have come together to make this happen and the schedule includes live vehicle debuts, online auctions, exclusive interviews, virtual car shows, and even a celebrity judged Concours!

This 12 video presentation collection begins with the virtual INAUGURAL PETERSEN CAR WEEK CONCOURS that is quite extensive, featuring 100+ entries, and lasts for over three hours. Once this presentation is over, or if one wished to see any of the 11 other presentation videos, simply look to the drop down in the upper left-hand corner and explore the options.

Our fully judged digital Concours features more than 100 eclectic, rare, and beautiful vehicles.

At the end of the show, we will announce the 29 winners for all of the classes. All Best in Class Awards are presented by Collier Automedia.

►Subscribe here: https://bit.ly/3gkHf6f
►Sign-up for Car Week 2021 here: https://www.petersencarweek.com

We want to thank our judges for taking the time to judge all of these fine motor vehicles. To see our judges, visit Petersencarweek.com

A big thank you to First Republic Bank for helping make this day possible https://www.firstrepublic.com/

AMERICAN CLASSIC
1942 Chrysler
1936 Chrysler Airflow
1933 Packard Super Eight

EUROPEAN CLASSIC

1942 Alfa-Romeo 6C 2500 SS Spider
1949 Alfa-Romeo 6C 2500 SS by Pinin Farina
1936 MG SA
1937 MG SA
1937 Horch 853 Sport Cabriolet
1936 Delahaye 135 by Figoni et Falaschi

POSTWAR PRESERVATION
1950 Simca 8 Sport
1955 Kaiser Manhattan
1951 Volkswagen

POSTWAR SPORTS
1947 Triumph 1800 Roadster
1954 Triumph TR-4
1954 Devin-Panhard
1967 Fiat Cabriolet
1953 Porsche 356
1980 Puma GTC
1967 Jaguar E-Type
1961 Carrera Abarth
1967 Shelby Cobra 427
1969 Ford GT40 MkI 50th Anniv.
1965 Shelby 427 50th Anniv.
1967 Porsche 911S Soft Window Targa
1965 Shelby Daytona “Secret Weapon”
2017 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport
1955 Jaguar XK140 FHC
1954 Jaguar XK120 FHC
1961 Aston Martin DB4 Zagato
1968 Porsche Zelectric
1968 Porsche 912
1961 Lancia Flaminia Sport Zagato

FERRARI GRAND TOURING
1971 Dino “Ferrari” 246GT
1985 Ferrari Testarossa
1982 Ferrari 308GTSi
1994 Ferrari 512TR
2003 Ferrari 575M
1955 Ferrari 750 Monza
1962 Ferrari 400 Superamerica

HOT ROD
1937 Ford/Hudson Pickup
1959 Buick Le Sabre custom concept
1959 Imperial Speedster
1939 Ford Deluxe Coupe
1932 Ford 5 Window
1932 Ford Sedan
1932 Ford Fordor
1936 Hupmobile
1936 Packard “Mulholland Speedster”
1931 Ford Roadster
1932 Ford by Brizio
1932 Ford Vicky
1929 Ford Tudor

POSTWAR TOURING
1957 Messerschmitt
1966 Shelby GT350
1958 Edsel Citation
1957 BMW Isetta
1964 Lincoln Continental convertible
1951 Packard 300
1973 Nissan Skyline
1952/53 Bentley
1951 Tatra
1952 Muntz Jet

COMPETITION
1964 Mercury Comet
1959 Ol’ Yeller Mark II
1993 Peugeot Red Bull Esports
1931 Ford Martin Racing Special
1955 Porsche 550 Spyder
1933 Duesenberg Indy Car

SPECIAL SIGNIFICANCE
1910 Thomas Flyer
1931 Ford Model A
1965 Land Rover
, The EDJE 1969 Jeep Wagoneer
1956 Porsche 356 “Off-Road”
1965 Mercedes-Benz 190D
1935 Frazer Nash BMW
1938 Peugeot Darl’Mat
1948 Ford F-1 Pickup
1971 Dodge Charger
1964 Mercury Marauder
1966 Porsche 906 Replica

... notes from The EDJE

 

 

TAGS: Petersen Automotive Museum, Petersen Car Week Concours, 12 Videos, First Republic Bank, Best in Class Awards, Collier Automedia, 29 winners, The EDJE

A 2020 INDYCAR Two-Fer In The Iowa Fields Of Corn: ZOOM Interview With Miles, Montri & Rahal

Pato O'Ward leading a pack of cars during the REV Group Grand Prix Race 2 at Road America Sunday, July 12, 2020. Image Credit: Joe Skibinski via NTT INDYCAR (2020)

A 2020 INDYCAR Two-Fer In The Iowa Fields Of Corn: ZOOM Interview With Miles, Montri & Rahal

After a very strong and exciting opening four races in the COVID-19 era augmented NTT INDYCAR SERIES - Super Speedway at Texas Motor Speedway, Road Course Track At Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Two-Race Weekend On The Dedicated Road Course Of Road America - we will be treated to the second weekend in a row where fans will be allowed to attend with all of the Wuhan Virus protocols will be observed and two races will be run in two consecutive days so as to make up for events being cancelled at the beginning season health event shut down of the country.

It's hard to imagine that we are racing and how hard it was to get here. Welcome to the tight oval bullring known as the Iowa Speedway.

In order to get a gauge on how the series and team owners are beginning to settle into this strange new professional competitive 2020 season, INDYCAR held a ZOOM news conference and this is how the introductions then questions and answers went.

NTT INDYCAR SERIES News Conference - Thursday, July 16, 2020 - Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Mark Miles - President and CEO of Penske Entertainment

Michael Montri - President of the Iowa INDYCAR 250s

Bobby Rahal - Rahal Lanigan Letterman Racing

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the NTT INDYCAR Series video conference. I'm Kate Davis.

Today we were joined by Mark Miles, president and CEO of Penske Entertainment; Michael Montri, president of the INDYCAR 250s; and Bobby Rahal, co-owner of Rahal Lanigan Letterman Racing.

Gentlemen, thank you for joining us.

Mark, let's begin with you. Could you give us your thoughts about how weekend's first event back with fans at Road America went from the series' perspective and looking ahead to Iowa.

MARK MILES: Sure. Thanks, everybody, for joining us.

We're looking forward to getting over there tomorrow ourselves. Hopefully a great doubleheader weekend at the Iowa INDYCAR 250s.

Last week from my perspective was a treat. It's such a great place. The fans are so knowledgeable and so enthusiastic. Racing is part of their life. The Elkhart Lake community really tuned out for the event.

I think it went really well off the track. We just keep doing more and getting better at these COVID precautions or procedures.

As you probably know, everybody that came inside the track, whether they were fans in mobile homes or vehicles, or people in the paddock, our competitors and our participants we generally think of them now, everybody was screened with questions and with the contact-less I call it a gun, but I'm sure that's not the medically correct term. Everybody knows what it means. It went really well.

We had no resistance that I'm aware of from the fans as they entered. The paddock now has really got it down. This may have been the first race back with fans, but obviously in Texas and Indianapolis prior, we'd gone through this before. It's a very thorough process. I can elaborate if people want.

Before the paddock folks leave home till their arrival, and again on arrival each day, then follow-up after a race, we're in touch with all the competitors, all the folks in the paddock, to see if anybody has developed any symptoms that could be concerning.

Then there we separated the paddock from the public. We don't love to do. We'd rather have the fans in a more normal setting, be able to really get their fill of up-close access to the teams and the drivers and the cars. Under these circumstances, that doesn't make sense. But that went well.

I thought the fans were very understanding and onboard really with the procedures that we felt were necessary there.

So love the fact that they were there. We thought the turnout was great. Obviously with the acreage there, 640 acres, a perfect place to reintroduce racing with fans. I thought it came off very well.

We loved the racing. What happened on track was outstanding. Seems like Chip is trying to run away with the year. Scott is a central actor in that plot. But the young guys stepped up, add a whole other long anticipated dimension to the stories on track, which is exciting for us. NBC was pleased.

I just think we give it a solid A for the weekend.

Looking forward, understand it's going to be hot. It's Iowa. Probably will be hot and humid. That's better than cold and wet, right? We're looking forward to that.

The team there has done a great job. They've worked very closely with the regulators and all the right precautions will be in place. As I say, each week we're sort of more rehearsed, more practiced. I think we expect to execute more flawlessly every time we get on track. We're looking forward to being there and having a couple really cool evenings of INDYCAR racing.

THE MODERATOR: Michael, you've been on the ground all week there in Iowa. Tell us how it's going and what fans can expect there.

MICHAEL MONTRI: Yeah, it's going well. It's been an interesting and fun week so far gearing up for Iowa's first race of the season here. We're going through a lot of the similar protocols and procedures that Mark referenced in Road America. I had the opportunity to be up in Road America, help them a little bit from the INDYCAR side with their planning there. I thought it really went well up there, like Mark said.

We're looking for similar results here as far as the screening process for when anybody sets foot on property here at Iowa Speedway. Workers, guests, partners, officials, everybody will get screened. Everyone will get a mask and hand sanitizer. They'll go through the process just like everybody else. In the grandstands, they'll be safely spaced.

We're looking for a fun weekend. We should have somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 fans when it comes down to it, when you take the social distancing in to respect and the manifest for tickets.

As far as on track, looking forward to seeing some of those young guns go at it on the 7/8th mile oval here at Iowa. Should be some exciting races. Two night races in a row. Doubleheader. It will be interesting to see what some of the teams do from one night to another.

I know on Bobby's team, Graham is switching livery from one night to another, so his team is going to pull an all-nighter getting it done. Should be an exciting weekend.

THE MODERATOR: Bobby, if you could talk about what it's been like this month of July with three race events and two doubleheaders, what it's been like from the team owner's perspective as we head into another doubleheader weekend at Iowa Speedway.

BOBBY RAHAL: Let's face it, we were very pleased to get to Indy and the race. Had a good race there with Graham, and Takuma had a decent race. Of course, Elkhart is my favorite track. I've been going there since I was a kid, little kid. So pleased to see.

The weather was spectacular. The races were great. The fans were great. I was with George Bruggenthies who ran Elkhart for many years, is still involved in kind of a consulting way. He was very happy. Couldn't have been better I don't think.

Now we come to Iowa. Looks like the weather's going to be good. Cross our fingers. Usually there's rain at some point over this weekend, but it doesn't look like it this time around. Two races around here is going to be tough.

All in all, I think it's been great the way everybody has been able to work together. Mark and his staff, Roger's staff, of course Jay. Everything has been pretty smooth. Getting in and out of the tracks has been pretty easy, frankly. Everybody has been very well-prepared so that every morning when you come in, the testing, it's pretty seamless.

Obviously for me, we're hoping this is going to be a good, strong race for RLL. As I say, I think more than anything, I think everybody feels this way, it's just good to be racing again.

THE MODERATOR: We're going to open it up now to media questions.

Q. Michael, when you said four to five thousand fans this weekend, do you mean for each race, not a cumulative number over both races?

MICHAEL MONTRI: Yeah, that's correct. That's correct. Per day.

Q. Mark, I know with this race being a race with grandstands, having fans in the grandstands, how on a little bit smaller scale will you maybe use this weekend to try and test out how to have fans at a venue on a much bigger scale for the Indy 500?

MARK MILES: It helps, of course. The more experience we have, the better we get. Although I really do think we started strong even in many of these procedures with the paddock back in Texas.

There's so many ways to think about it. But first we got to take care of the competitors, the paddock, the crews, the media, the broadcast talent and production guys, everybody that's a part of making INDYCAR go.

I think they're all doing great. I think they have the right attitude. You might have thought it would wane over time, but constantly there's conversations, discussions about how important it is that we follow these procedures, that we wear masks, which is right here, I'm the only one in the room, otherwise it would be on. We show up week after week before, during Indianapolis, and for the rest of the year with everybody able to get on track. That's important.

In terms of the fans and more kind of a grandstand environment, while there is camping, we'll learn from that, too. But the scale is different. What I think Michael is doing is working hand in glove with the officials in Iowa and the area there. Their standards are for them. What happens in Indianapolis, Indiana, is still being dialed in, but will probably be somewhat different.

But the basics are the same: we want to test everybody when they come in, meaning screen for temperature and any other symptoms; we want to make sure everybody has PPE, masks, hand sanitizer and the like; we want to make sure everybody is standing apart in lines, everything from merch sales to food concessions is done differently so it's as safe as it can possibly be. On and on and on.

The things you check off are very, very similar. There may be a little bit more in Indianapolis. I'm sure we'll be talking about that in more detail before long. But it's all learning. It's a journey.

You know what I think is happening is society is trying to define a new normal. There is probably a point in time when we thought in Indiana stage five is normal, we're back completely. Now I think nobody has a clue when stage five happens.

What we're trying to do is figure out what a new normal looks like so that we can continue to operate, continue to do that in the most responsible, safest way, and take care of our fans and communities. That's what we're all about. I think Michael and the team are doing that in Iowa. You can be sure we're all over it for Indianapolis.

Q. It's been a week and a half since you got your 500 fan survey back. What were some of the biggest takeaways you took from those responses?

MARK MILES: I'm not going to get into the detail. We didn't actually survey fans. We wrote to our ticket customers and asked them if they wanted to keep tickets and how many. We got very specific results. We now have a better handle on how many of the people who had already bought tickets wanted to keep and use those tickets, who wanted credit, and the like.

We'll be going through the details of that before long. But it was a really helpful process that informs a lot of the specifics we'll get into soon.

Q. Mark, as we go through each week with spectators, as numbers come in on how things are in terms of whether anybody got sick, anybody didn't, if the numbers are positive, can we increase the access a little bit more, add a few more fans maybe down the road?

MARK MILES: First of all, we, like other sports, have to operate locally even if the series is national and international. What drives how we approach things is in Iowa the governor, Michael, the mayor of Newton, the local officials, they've met with them, they've talked with them, worked out a protocol that makes sense according to the situation on the ground there, which would be different in Ohio and different in Indianapolis, wherever we race.

It's not like it just builds on itself as a whole. It's really the parts, where we race, the local conditions there that determine the procedures.

Q. Bobby, generally this race would be real big for you marketing-wise. You'd be entertaining clients from the north side of Chicago, Michael Lanigan from the south side. You have to scale that back because you can't really have as much hospitality, some of the things you sell for sponsorships. How different is that from a team owner's perspective?

BOBBY RAHAL: We've done a lot of Zoom calls with our sponsors, clients. We've tried to frankly enhance the value above and beyond what was promised. Obviously in our case, knock on wood, all of our sponsors have been super understanding, patient, willing to change races. As Long Beach gets canceled, they went to Elkhart last week, that wasn't on the original calendar for them, yet they were willing to do that. We've been very fortunate.

Of course, many of the sponsors that we have are under no travel or nominal travel policies, as are their customers. Even though a lot of our sponsors are B to B, where they do a lot of the entertaining of their clients, it hasn't created too much of a problem yet.

Certainly we had people at Elkhart because we could, and it was beneficial for sure. Obviously Indy, at least the plan seems to be we'll be able to have some of our tickets for hospitality and what have you. Indy, whether it's in May or August, it's still the big race, right?

As I say, in the end we've worked hard to provide more value for our sponsors. They've been understanding. We're all in this together, is kind of everybody's attitude. As I said earlier, everybody is happy to be racing.

Of course, the competitiveness of the team has been pretty strong this year even though the results... Had a good race going at Elkhart with Graham in the first race, looking good, had a problem. At least we're running up front.

I think all of that combined I'd say has softened the blow. So far, knock on wood, everybody has been great. As we continue to race more, that issue becomes less and less of one.

Q. Mark, how did the Iowa qualifying procedure kind of come into play? Bobby, what do you think about it? How is the team preparing for it?

BOBBY RAHAL: Well, I mean, yeah, this was kind of brought up a couple weeks ago, I believe. The whole deal is to try to in these compressed weekends give the teams time in between these events, whether it's practice, qualifying or the race. I think it's a good idea.

We need that extra time. We've been lucky, frankly, maybe the whole field has been pretty lucky, that nobody has lost out. Look at Elkhart, Sunday morning practice and -- Sunday morning qualifying, Sunday morning race, there wasn't much time between those two.

If this opens things up a bit to give everybody the time if you need it, you've got it, that's great. In the end, especially at a track like Iowa, I'm not saying you can start anywhere and win, but if you've got a really good-handling car on a hot racetrack, you can come from behind. Qualifying is probably not as critical as you would see at Elkhart or a road course.

It's the same for everybody, so we'll just do the best we can.

MARK MILES: I would just say Bobby's answer really answers the question from my perspective, too. We obviously needed to economize on time, give space, time to the teams as we could. From our perspective, I'd say thank you to Bobby. What he said is representative of what I think generally teams are saying, that they understand. Everybody is being cooperative, kind of pulling from the same oar.

Q. Mark, how impressed have you been with the rookie field so far this season? Particularly going into the weekend with the doubleheader in Iowa, what are you expecting from the rookie field?

MARK MILES: Yeah, if I had a crystal ball, I'd just quit and go use my meager capital in another way, I suppose (smiling).

Look, I think there are great expectations for these rookies generally. I thought last weekend we saw that they can live up to that. It was really exciting. Some great passing, great racing. They could run in the front. That's really exciting. It's a whole 'nother plot line I think for INDYCAR racing that fans are appreciating.

At Iowa, I don't know. We'll see. I don't see anybody who's laying back and taking it easy. I think it's going to be great racing all up and down the grid. Bobby already kind of said of course it matters where you start but it kind of doesn't. They'll have every opportunity to be in the hunt.

I sure couldn't predict what the results will be.

Q. Bobby, with the condensed schedule this weekend, do you kind of change your approach to the weekend or is it business as usual?

BOBBY RAHAL: Yeah, I don't think so. I think it's business as usual. Obviously we've got to unload well out of the trailer because you have so little time. But I think we don't look at this in any different way than we would normally. Yes, you have less track time, more races, what have you. We've had reasonable setups here over the last several years. I think hopefully we'll do the same.

As I said, it's all about having a well-balanced car over the course of a long run, with the heat and everything else. I think we just have to make sure we have no issues because it's tough to recover from those issues in between the sessions.

Q. Michael, Roger Penske has expressed some interest in doubleheaders moving forward into 2021. I wonder what it would take for Iowa Speedway to be one of those? Along those lines, is there a sponsor on the horizon that could replace Iowa Corn?

MICHAEL MONTRI: A couple things. My day job is president of the Detroit Grand Prix. We're used to doubleheaders in Detroit. Certainly in Iowa for this weekend looking forward to the doubleheader.

Look, the schedule for next year obviously is a long way away. I think one thing about the community here, they're very, very excited to be having INDYCAR coming 14 years in a row now. A great racing community. Very supportive. I don't see any reason why certainly from a track standpoint that wouldn't work.

NASCAR is the owner of the facility here. Their team in the past has been in charge of getting sponsors, title sponsors. I'm representing INDYCAR here as the promoter. We were a little late to the game this year. Certainly if we have a similar arrangement next year, that will be the first priority.

Q. Bobby, from your perspective, would you like to see more doubleheaders next year in terms of how much of a workload it puts on your dedicated crew?

BOBBY RAHAL: I mean, I don't mind. If there was anything I would prefer to see is more time associated in terms of practice. I know the idea is to not run as much, minimize costs perhaps. Of course, I think because everything is so compressed, if you have a problem, if you got a crash in qualifying on Sunday at Elkhart Lake, you probably weren't going to make the race, even if it was repairable, because you just wouldn't have the time.

There's maybe ways you can solve that. For example, you're not allowed to have the spare car out of the trailer. You're not allowed to have the spare car with an engine in it. That could certainly offset those issues. But that obviously takes the engine manufacturer's approval for that. Obviously INDYCAR's as well.

I don't mind the two race per weekend. I only thing I would say is the teams face in a situation like that, for example, this weekend we have One Cure, which is our charitable organization with Colorado State University, the oncology program there at the veterinary hospital.

On Sunday we're introducing for the first time, to my knowledge the first time, our sponsor here, our client here is Hy-Vee, which is a large grocery store chain in 12 states here in the Midwest part of the country. That's exciting. There's a big Hy-Vee store in downtown Newton. That's exciting for us to welcome Hy-Vee to us and INDYCAR racing.

It is the One Cure car on Friday, then everybody has to work like heck to turn the livery around so it can be the Hy-Vee car on Saturday. That's a challenge for teams given the way the rules are right now. But if those rules were changed to allow that kind of thing, then it's no big deal. We'll see.

But I don't mind the concept of double races. Certainly Elkhart Lake is a track that can easily handle that. Mid-Ohio probably. I'm not sure of some of the others. I don't know if you'd want two races on a street race weekend, for example.

I mean, it does save costs, there's no question of that. Again, you have to drive value for our sponsors and opportunities for our sponsors. Somehow that would have to be all I think worked out.

MARK MILES: Let me elaborate a little bit from our perspective.

Bobby just said it's clear that it's efficient, efficient for a promoter who has a lot of costs already for just the one event. If you can do two and bring in more fans, that can make some economic sense. It's efficient for the team, even if it does create other strains for teams, along the lines that Bobby mentioned. It's efficient from a television point of view in terms of especially the production costs, again, kind of the operating and overhead for TV.

I think it's a mistake to think our objective is to see how many doubleheaders we can do. It's been a terrific way this year to fill in where we lost some races due to COVID, really didn't have an opportunity to reschedule them. But we have a lot of really great venues, a lot of great promoters. Accordingly I think we believe being in more markets where the races work is important to us.

I just don't want the idea that we're trying to see how many we can do to get misconstrued.

Q. Mark, on the logistics of a weekend like this, for the crews, are you going to have to limit when they can be in the garages? I could easily see Bobby's team might need a little more time Friday night. Are there constraints on that? How are you going to help the teams out? Say somebody crashes Friday night, they're going to need more than a couple hours to put that back together.

MARK MILES: To be honest, I'm going to see if Michael can help me with that. I know about move in, move out. As to any limitations on the hours in the garages, I frankly am not sure.

MICHAEL MONTRI: I can answer that. Obviously it's up to the INDYCAR officials, what they allow and when. I know under extenuating circumstances they have allowed a certain amount of time extra in the past. I know that is probably the case for Bobby's team like he talked about between Friday and Saturday night switching the livery around.

INDYCAR I think all the officials are really good working with all the teams. Obviously we want to make sure that every car available gets in the show, certainly every sponsor that can be represented gets to be represented.

Again, up to INDYCAR officials ultimately. I think they've been very good working with the teams on that front. Bobby might be able to comment on that a little bit more, as well.

BOBBY RAHAL: For sure, they have. They understand it. They get it. As I said in the beginning, the level of cooperation between the teams, the tracks, the series has been very, very good. Everybody has really been I think in lockstep as far as whatever it takes.

We have owners meetings. Everybody is in agreement. You got to do what you got to do. There's a lot of harmony I guess I would say or consistency in how everybody is approaching this thing. So everybody has been very flexible. If you need it, you got it. It's been good.

Q. Michael, what's the feeling on the ground there about the race weekend? Have you been out in the local community, I'm guessing not a lot? What is the local feeling there?

MICHAEL MONTRI: Yeah, I can tell you that when we first met with some of the local officials here on both the state and local level, the excitement for the race is palpable. They're very excited to get going again here in Iowa with the race this weekend. A lot of support from the community.

We've had a number of calls and meetings with local officials, the governor, Department of Public Health, everyone you can think of what you would want to touch in a situation like this. They've all been very, very supportive.

I think everybody remembers last year when all the fans in the stands stayed through the 2 a.m. checkered flag last year. Very passionate fans here. I know they're all excited to get going, and we're excited to be able to bring them INDYCAR this weekend.

Q. Mark, is there any new movement on an engine manufacturer coming into INDYCAR? If there is, would you be able to tell us who that may be?

MARK MILES: If there were, no (laughter). Look, my answer really hasn't changed. We continue to work on it. I think we're optimistic even under the kind of pandemic circumstances. It's proven hazardous to try to predict the course of those conversations.

We've said before, not to put any pressure on him, but if we had one person you'd like to take the reins to try to get that done, it would be Roger Penske and his team. I think we have reason to be optimistic, but I can't elaborate.

Q. Been hearing and reading a lot about Ferrari coming maybe potentially into INDYCAR. Is that something that you would like to see?

MARK MILES: Well, I think Ferrari is better than a great brand, right? It's a world class brand. It's about performance and racing. It is a global superstar as an organization. So yes, that would be terrific. I think race fans would love it.

But again, I don't mean to get over our skis on any particular possibility.

Q. [start 34:38 - Edmund Jenks - Motorsports Journal] The question concerns the phrase that we've all come to know as new normal, coming full circle from the beginning of the call. Bobby, the new normal actually is different for every template of experience that people have to deal with. This season in INDYCAR we have the Aeroscreen. I wanted to better understand the new normal as it relates to the Aeroscreen and having to adjust for it and what has that meant in the superspeedway, the road course and now looking into a small bullring type of racetrack.

BOBBY RAHAL: Well, I mean, all I can say is I think the Aeroscreen and the development of that, the work that Jay Frye and his guys did, the people that developed the screen, I don't think they could have done it any better.

Vision. I've talked to not just Graham but some other drivers. Night vision is very good. In fact, Spencer Pigot at Elkhart said you wouldn't even know it's there in terms of vision, the quality of your vision. You just kind of don't see it.

Obviously there's been some heating issues. It's kind of a little unfair to the screen, because every race we've had this year so far, other than Elkhart, was very, very hot. What was it, mid 90s at Indy. Texas it was 90s. It's been very hot.

I know they've improved the venting. Probably looking at other ways. Every driver I've spoken to, when you're on the track going, it's not a big deal. The big deal is when you get under yellow or when you get in the pits, you get all the heat.

I would say, I mean, this is a major component now. The performance obviously hasn't hurt the cars because the racing is just as good, the speeds are right there. It's a heck of a lot safer.

I can tell you when I saw Graham go off at Elkhart, I was really glad he had that screen on because it was looking like it could get pretty ugly for a while.

I think we got to be very pleased with it so far, and it's just going to get better.

Q. I've noticed RLL hasn't had too much of a problem doing setups on it. Your pace seems really strong.

BOBBY RAHAL: Well, yeah, so far so good, knock on wood. Like I say, I think there's concern, for sure, initially. But I think the development of it was very, very good. All the people that contributed to the development did a great job.

Q. Michael, could you elaborate, what is the appetite for racing right now in the state of Iowa?

MICHAEL MONTRI: I mean, again, from our initial meetings with everyone locally here, certainly in the city of Newton and at state level, they're all very excited. When you think about it, it's college football here in Iowa. I'm not sure that they're sure whether that's going to happen here. We might be the biggest professional sporting event they have here this year. We're looking forward to having it.

Grandstands again, because of the social distancing aspect, we're at a reduced number. Saturday the grandstand seats are completely sold out. Friday we have just a few tickets left. We've opened up some general admission seating on what we call the hill, so there will be some socially distanced general admission seating on the hill which is selling well. Then we have a couple public suites available where folks can buy individual seats.

Ticket sales for what we're allowed to do here under the current circumstances have been very good.

THE MODERATOR: I'd like to thank Mark, Michael and Bobby for their time today. We really appreciate it. Thank you to the media that has joined us.
[ht: FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports]

... notes from The EDJE





TAGS: Penske Entertainment, Iowa INDYCAR 250, Rahal Lanigan Letterman Racing, NTT INDYCAR SERIES, Two-Race Weekend, Mark Miles, Michael Montri, New Normal, Fans, The EDJE

IMS Triple-Header & IMSA Daytona Has Team Penske's Attention July 4th Weekend

Tee shirt graphic from the first ever triple header race weekend held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The weekend features races by three racing series and two different sanctioning bodies - NTT INDYCAR & NASCAR. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks via IMS Store screengrab (2020)

IMS Triple-Header & IMSA Daytona Has Team Penske's Attention July 4th Weekend

After an extended interruption off-season, Motorsports and Motor Culture gets a boost over the 2020 July 4th Independence Day celebration weekend - sans fans, in the stands.

ZOOM presentation where the flow is regulated - Edmund Jenks asks a question of all drivers - Dane Cameron, Juan Pablo Montoya, Helio Castroneves, & Ricky Taylor - at 14:20 on the timeline.

ZOOM tile presentation - Will Power, Brad Keslowski, & Austin Cindric

WHAT:

Team Penske Zoom Media Conference Block – NASCAR, INDYCAR & IMSA Drivers

WHY:

The Fourth of July weekend promises to be a historic time in American motorsports with competition at two of the country’s most-iconic venues, Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) and Daytona International Speedway. Team Penske is the only team with entries in each of the four series competing during the weekend, including the much-anticipated NASCAR/INDYCAR tripleheader at IMS.

WHO:

Brad Keselowski – driver of the No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang - Winner of the 2018 Brickyard 400 / 2012 IMS NASCAR Xfinity Series Winner

Will Power – driver of the No. 12 Verizon Dallara/Chevrolet - Three-time GMR Grand Prix winner / 2018 Indianapolis 500 Winner

Austin Cindric – driver of the No. 22 Menards / Richmond Ford Mustang - Two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series road course winner

Dane Cameron – driver of the No. 6 Acura Team Penske ARX-05 DPi - Three-time IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Champion

Juan Pablo Montoya – driver of the No. 6 Acura Team Penske ARX-05 DPi - Current IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Champion / Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner

Helio Castroneves – driver of the No. 7 Acura Team Penske ARX-05 DPi - Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner

Ricky Taylor – driver of the No. 7 Acura Team Penske ARX-05 DPi - 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Champion / 2017 Rolex 24 and 12 Hours of Sebring winner

... notes from The EDJE




TAGS: Pennzoil 150 At The Brickyard, GMR Grand Prix, Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 499, IMSA Weathertech 240, Daytona, IMS, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Penske Racing, Team Penske, The EDJE

Fare Ye Well, Dicken Wear

A likely pair. Tom Stahler and Dicken Wear on one of many a lively meal. Image Credit: Tom Stahler

Fare Ye Well, Dicken Wear
A tearful goodbye to a close friend 
By: Tom Stahler, Managing Editor of the ClassicCars.com Journal - Republished with permission - published originally on July 1, 2020

When I would introduce Dicken Wear to people, I would say, “You know ‘the most interesting man in the world’ (from the Dos Equis commercials)? He’s got nothing on this man. Meet Dicken.”

Dicken may have been one of the most influential characters in motorsports and the automobile business that you never heard of. Some of racing’s biggest stars in the last 30 years were part of his karting programs; his grandfather, J.S. Inskip was the American coachbuilder for Rolls Royce – and one of the founders of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA); he took a group of Pixar animators on a trip on old Route 66 to inspire the backdrop for the Disney movie Cars.

Dicken - In Monterey, (from left) Dicken Wear, Johnny O’Connell, Tom Stahler. Image Credit: Tom Stahler

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Anywhere you went with him, the insiders knew him and respected him. Dicken passed away on Father’s Day morning after an 18-month battle with prostate cancer. Many of us will miss him greatly. For those of you who didn’t know him, you probably would be attracted to his magnetic humor and outgoing nature.

His entire life was spent in the automotive and motorsports industry. For many years, he worked for his grandfather’s dealership which was the importer/distributor of many English makes — MG, Rolls-Royce, Aston-Martin, Austin-Healy, Iso-Rivolta and Iso-Griffith — in just about every position imaginable. When the family sold the dealership in 1977, he took over the family’s Motorsports Division and Racing Team: “The Original Competition Engineering Since 1954”

A night out during the Long Beach Grand Prix (LtoR) James Groth, an unknown gal, Dicken Wear, Tom Stahler. Image Credit: Tom Stahler

He has been a race team manager, race driver and mentor to many “stars to be” in karting. He was also a journalist. He founded the Motorsports Report, which will now continue under the leadership of veteran IndyCar and car culture editor, Edmund Jenks.

With Craig Breedlove, Mr. World Land Speed Record. Image Credit: Tom Stahler

So many great times. So many great stories. So many late-night drives. So many on-track experiences.

Once the last engine was switched off at Laguna Seca at the end of Monterey Car week, the tradition became to make the 20-mile trip north to Watsonville to the Fish House. Come for the fish, stay for the bananas foster (video above - Dicken Wear, Tom Stahler, Charlie Vogelheim, Edmund Jenks ... from a "head's up" message by Josh Farmer).

Tom Stahler, Dicken Wear, John Kraman. Image Credit: Tom Stahler

What I will remember most is a guy who always had time to talk, help and just be a friend.

I’m missing you already, Dicken.

... notes from The EDJE




TAGS: ClassicCars.com Journal, Dicken Wear, JS Inskip, The Motorsports Report, The Original Competition-Engineering, The EDJE