IndyCar Star Paul Tracy Gets An Indy500 Borg Warner Trophy

Who says one can never litigate the past - once a champion, always a champion. Bravo to Mama Kaye and Paul Tracy.

... notes from The EDJE




TAGS: Paul Tracy, Mama Kaye, Borg Warner, Trophy, Indianapolis 500, The EDJE

Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion Pays Tribute To Pete Lovely

The Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion poster art by Bill Patterson features the inaugural win on November 10, 1957 by Pete Lovely in his Ferrari 500 Testa Rossa. Lining up on the starting grid in third position behind Carroll Shelby in a Maserati 300S and John von Neumann in a Ferrari 625 TRC, Lovely’s rather underpowered 500 TR wasn’t expected to give a the more powerful cars a run. But Lovely drove a masterful race and passed von Neumann in Turn 9 on the last lap to edge out victory and take the checkered flag from the polka dotted shirt flagger. Image Credit: MRLS (2017)

Join motor culture icon Christine Reed in her personal homage to this great car and driver.

... notes from The EDJE



TAGS: Christine Reed, Pete Lovely, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, 1957, Ferrari, on display, Bill Patterson, The EDJE

American Trucks - Best In The World

1948 Chevrolet Truck - This 1948 Chevy is a pristine example of America's best-selling truck from 1948 to 1955. Image Credit: Brian Woodcock via Country Living (2015) 

 American Trucks - Best In The World

Independent Journal Review posted a video on the 7 Reasons Why American Trucks Are The Best ... &, we, at Truck Tech Talk, would have to agree!
 

... notes from The EDJE



TAGS: American Trucks, Independent Journal Review, 7 Reasons, Best In The World, The EDJE

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Celebrates 60 Years With Patterson Art Poster

The Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion poster art by Bill Patterson features the inaugural win on November 10, 1957 by Pete Lovely in his Ferrari 500 Testa Rossa. Lining up on the starting grid in third position behind Carroll Shelby in a Maserati 300S and John von Neumann in a Ferrari 625 TRC, Lovely’s rather under-powered 500 TR wasn’t expected to give a the more powerful cars a run. But Lovely drove a masterful race and passed von Neumann in Turn 9 on the last lap to edge out victory and take the checkered flag from the polka dotted shirt flagman. Image Credit: MRLS (2017)

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Celebrates 60 Years With Patterson Art Poster

Bill Patterson has been a fixture around the paddocks of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca ... especially during Monterey Car Week when the "historics" show up to show off in front of a knowledgeable and admiring crowd lined around the track in mid-August of almost every year since 1957.

Action sports artist extraordinaire - Bill Patterson. Image Credit: Bill Patterson Art

The folks who manage the activities of this venerable racing environment have known of the talent that displays itself through the eye, mind, and hands of the owner of Bill Patterson Art for many years and have had him commissioned before.

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca CEO/general manager Gill Campbell (on right) and the race track’s official artist, Bill Patterson, were on hand for the reveal which took place in front a crowd of race enthusiasts and motorsports journalists at the Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach. This painting became the poster for the 2012 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. Image Credit: MRLS (2012)

The official 2017 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion poster with original artwork from Bill Patterson Art is available now.

The design harkens back to the first event held at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in 1957 by including the 1956 Ferrari Testa Rossa driven by Pete Lovely.

Purchase a 24" x 36" poster from our online store - NOW: http://bit.ly/2gLm9DO

... notes from The EDJE



TAGS: Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Bill Paterson, 60 Years, 2017, Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, Historics, Monterey Car Week, 1956 Ferrari Testa Rossa, Pete Lovely, The EDJE

Modern Muscle Motor Oils Launched By Missouri Based Champion Brands

Champion Brands, LLC - globally recognized industry leader in specialty lubricants for over 60 years. Image Credit: Champion Brands, LLC (2017)

Modern Muscle Motor Oils Launched By Missouri Based Champion Brands

Champion Brands, LLC , a major player in development and manufacturing of racing and performance products, announced this week the unveiling of a new line of motor oils specifically formulated to maximize the demands of today’s high performance street vehicles.

Champion Modern Muscle® Motor Oils (CMM) are licensed by the American Petroleum Institute (API) with viscosity grades of 5W-30, 0W-40 and 5W-50. These motor oils will fit most types of modern vehicles, including high-performance turbo-charged engines, supercharged gasoline engines, and multi-valve fuel injected engines found in today’s street performance automotives and trucks plus OEM “Crate Motors” that recommend an API/SN Licensed Motor Oil or that need to meet or exceed DEXOS 1:2010 (ver.1) and DEXOS 1:2015 (ver.2).

Modern Muscle Motor Oil product line launched. Image Credit: Champion Brands, LLC (2017)

Debuting this fall, CMM Motor Oils will provide outstanding levels of fuel economy performance, cleaning power and engine protection, even during extended oil change intervals. These high-performance oils are proven to significantly reduce wear and viscosity breakdown due to advancements in additive engineering.

CMM Motor Oils utilize Champion’s “Blue E.T.®” (Enhanced Technology) racing additive, and Champion’s TVS® (Thermal Viscosity Stabilizer) performance additive. These proprietary technologies deliver unmatched film strength at high temperature, better piston ring seal for maximum compression, and increase horsepower and torque in most engines.

Image Credit: Champion Brands, LLC

These premium mixtures of synthetic base fluids and additives provide maximum durability and protection from wear and viscosity breakdown by including special lubricity modifiers, and premium anti-wear additives This unique robust formulation enables CMM Motor Oils to outperform all leading high performance synthetic oils.

Champion Brands, LLC, is a globally recognized industry leader in specialty lubricants for over 60 years. Champion also produces and blends over 350 products including fuel, oil, engine additives, and lubricants for the racing, automotive, heavy truck, agricultural, industrial, and specialty markets. For more information call Champion at 660-890-6231. Champion Brands, LLC; 1001 Golden Drive, Clinton, MO, or go to http://www.championbrands.com

... notes from The EDJE



TAGS: Champion Brands, Modern Muscle Motor Oil, American Petroleum Institute, Blue E.T.®, TVS®, Enhanced Technology, Thermal Viscosity Stabilizer, performance additive, The EDJE

The British Invade & Succeed At Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca WSBK Podiums

Image Credit: Ken Manfred (2017)

The British Invade & Succeed At Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca World Super Bike Podiums

On July 10 2017, it wasn’t the 60’s British Invasion to America for music culture.

It was the 2017 World Super Bike's invasion on the Monterey Peninsula at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for a outstanding display of motorsports culture.

For Race 1 on Saturday and Race 2 on Sunday, three red, white, and blue Union Jack's flew above the podium in Victory Circle to honor each of the three British riders.

Image Credit: Ken Manfred (2017)

This excerpted and edited from Crash.net -

Davies back on track, back on top at Laguna (Race 1)
WSBK - Ollie Barstow - 7 Jul 2017

Chaz Davies put any lingering doubts about his fitness firmly to bed by setting a fierce in first free practice for the eighth World Superbike Championship round at Laguna Seca.

Image Credit: Ken Manfred (2017)

The Welshman was on track for the first time since his dramatic fall and subsequent collision with Jonathan Rea on the final lap of the opening WorldSBK race at Misano three weeks ago, Davies sustaining a fracture of the transverse process of L3 (3rd lumbar vertebrae) plus a left thumb contusion.

However, having been passed fit to compete ahead of the weekend Davies showed no ill-effects of his injury by leading the hour-long FP1 session around the Californian venue almost from start-to-finish, his eventual 1m 23.425secs benchmark six tenths of a second up on the opposition.

Eugene Laverty made a strong late improvement on his Milwaukee Aprilia RSV4 to split the two Aruba.it Ducatis of Davies and Marco Melandri in second position, with championship leader Jonathan Rea following up in fourth position.

Image Credit: Ken Manfred (2017)

Leon Camier competed the top five on his sole MV Agusta, ahead of Tom Sykes, Althea BMW's Jordi Torres and leading Yamaha rider Alex Lowes.

Stefan Bradl headed up Honda's challenge in ninth position, with new team-mate Jake Gagne - riding a second Honda for the first time since Nicky Hayden's passing in May - beginning his Laguna weekend with a solid 16th quickest out of 21 riders.

Elsewhere, former WSBK rider and current BSB racer Jakub Smrz - making his return to the series with Guandalini Yamaha - was last, two seconds off the next slowest rider.
[Reference Here]

Race One - first place went to Chaz Davies,   Second Place  Jonathan Rey , third place Tom Sykes. Image Credit: Ken Manfred (2017)

Image Credit: Ken Manfred (2017)

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RACE 2

Image Credit: Ken Manfred (2017)

This excerpted and edited from Crash.net -

Rea dominates at Laguna to strengthen grip on WSBK title (Race 2)
WSBK - Ollie Barstow - 9 Jul 2017

A storming opening lap by Jonathan Rea spurs him on to his ninth WorldSBK win of 2017 as he takes a sizable advantage into the summer break.

Image Credit: Ken Manfred (2017)

Jonathan Rea will take a sizable 59 point lead into the summer break as victory in the second World Superbike Championship race of the weekend at Laguna Seca saw him move ever closer to a third consecutive title.

Having been forced to settle for second behind Chaz Davies in race one, Rea turned in a superlative performance on the Kawasaki ZX-10R by following team-mate Tom Sykes as they both hustled their way to the front of the field from their reverse grid positions by the end of the opening lap.

Image Credit: Ken Manfred (2017)

Image Credit: Ken Manfred (2017)

From here Rea wasted no time in dispatching of Sykes for the lead on the lap two and he wasn't troubled again thereafter, the eventual 2.8secs margin as he backed off across the line to his team-mate betraying an otherwise dominant performance by the Ulsterman.

Indeed, race one winner Davies might have had the pace to go with Rea but his route through the pack from his grid position would prove more troublesome, the Welshman taking until lap seven to clear Xavi Fores for third position.

Though he would go in pursuit of Sykes and close the margin, the former champion had the measure of his countryman to seal Kawasaki's fifth 1-2 of the year and consolidate his second place in the standings.

Image Credit: Ken Manfred (2017)

Image Credit: Ken Manfred (2017)

Marco Melandri had a mistake early on for spoiling his chances of victory, the Italian fighting back to fourth place but finishing 17secs down on the lead.

After his bright start, Fores brought the privateer Barni Ducati home in fifth place, ahead of Eugene Laverty, who secured his third top six finish in four races in sixth position, ahead of fellow RSV4 riders Leandro Mercado and Lorenzo Savadori.

Alex Lowes won out in a tense battle with Yamaha team-mate Michael van der Mark to secure ninth and tenth respectively, while Stefan Bradl ended his weekend with another disappointing finish in 11th for Honda.

Still, it was a double points' finish for the Red Bull backed team as Jake Gagne notched up a digit in 15th place, behind Roman Ramos, Alex de Angelis and Randy Krummenacher.

Elsewhere there was disappointment for Althea BMW after Jordi Torres dropped his S1000RR whilst running sixth, his error coming just a lap on from a crash for his team-mate Raffaele de Rosa. Leon Camier was also a casualty, stopping with technical issues.
[Reference Here]

Race 2 - On Sunday First place went to  Jonathan Rea Second Place Tom Sykes Third Place Chaz Davies. Image Credit: Ken Manfred (2017)

Image Credit: Ken Manfred (2017)

Image Credit: Ken Manfred (2017)

Image Credit: Ken Manfred (2017)

Image Credit: Ken Manfred (2017)

Image Credit: Ken Manfred (2017)

The British came, the British raced, the British conquered - the British invasion of the Monterey Peninsula in California complete, the British left with all trophies in hand.

... notes from The EDJE

TAKU Outwits, Outlasts, Outplays To Win INDY500

Former F1 driver & Andretti Autosport pilot Takuma Sato wins the 101st Indianapolis 500 - as in the TV show Survivor, for Honda it was Outwit, Outlast, Outplay! #whatablast #INDY500 #INDYCAR #INDYRIVALS

A post shared by Edmund Jenks (@the_edje) on May 28, 2017 at 1:09pm PDT

TAKU Outwits, Outlasts, Outplays To Win INDY500 - His Second Verizon IndyCar Race

Andretti Autosport may actually be doing more for the Andretti name in racing than any single family-named driver can do. Talk about a legacy!

After winning the 100th Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil, Andretti Autosport follows up this performance with Honda and former F1 driver Takuma Sato.

From L to R - JR Hildebrand, Fernando Alonso, and Takuma Sato in driver introductions for the 101st Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil in front of instantly recognizable The Panasonic Pagoda. Takuma Sato, who was also sponsored by Panasonic, won one other race in addition to this great event that is starting its second millennia of history ... as stated by writer, photographer, and custom guitar creator Timo Hulett - the other race has often been described as "the INDY500 of street courses" and that race is the Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach. If one is going to win just two races in an IndyCar career, why not make them the two most famed race events in American motor culture! Image Credit: Joe Skibinski via IndyCar (2017)

This excerpted and edited from Andretti Autosport -

TAKUMA SATO FINDS VICTORY IN INDIANAPOLIS
Tokyo-native Captures Second Career IndyCar Win at Indianapolis 500

Japanese driver Takuma Sato scored his second career Verizon IndyCar Series victory today when he saw the double checkers wave through the Indiana sky. 

Marking his 123nd career IndyCar start, the 40-year-old began today’s Indianapolis 500 from the 4th position and battled through 200 laps before driving his No. 26 Ruoff Home Mortgage Honda to victory lane. Today’s win is Sato’s first with Andretti Autosport after joining the team for the 2017 season. Sato earned his first victory on the Streets of Long Beach, Calif., in 2013

This [win] is the 56th Verizon IndyCar Series victory for Andretti Autosport. Since 2003, Andretti Autosport has scored four series titles (‘04/Kanaan, ‘05/Wheldon, ‘07/Franchitti and ‘12/Hunter-Reay) and five Indianapolis 500 wins (‘05/Wheldon, ‘07/Franchitti, ‘14/Hunter-Reay, ‘16/Rossi, and '17/Sato). 
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It wasn't cool enough to have a California born and raised American rookie with European F1 racing experience win the "Greatest Spectacle In Racing" virtually his first time in the cockpit of an IndyCar Dallara ... let's follow this up with fielding enough cars to own the field.
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Andretti Autosport has four full-time entries in the Verizon IndyCar Series, with Soto, [last year's winner] Alexander Rossi  (No. 98 NAPA AUTO PARTS / Curb  Honda), [third-generation Andretti] Marco Andretti (No. 27 United Fiber & Data Honda) and [2012 winner] Ryan Hunter-Reay (No. 28 DHL Honda) and two  Indy 500-only drivers, [2-time F1 Champion] Fernando Alonso (No. 29 McLaren Honda Andretti) and [former member of McLaren-Honda's young driver program] Jack Harvey (No. 50 Michael Shank Racing with Andretti Autosport Honda).
[ht: Andretti Autosport]

Andretti Autosport's Suvivor program with four of the six cars fielded pictured here at IMS. Eventual winner Takuma Sato, followed closely by  eventual P8 finisher Marco Andretti. In the background are the two early strong running cars of two-time F1 Champion and INDY rookie Fernando Alonso and IndyCar Champion and past INDY500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay - both cars expired with blown engines. Before Fernando Alonso's Honda engine blew up, he held the fastest average lap times of all drivers on the track. Image Credit: Mike Harding via IndyCar (2017)

Let's be clear, "The Greatest Spectacle In Racing" is the motorsports equivalent to the American television's reality series Survivor. This long-running and popular television episode contest pits people with all different backgrounds and experience out in a remote location and have them fend for themselves for food and compete for immunity in made-up games of skill and endurance.

Outwit, Outlast, Outplay!

This last season of Survivor that just finished was titled "Game Changers," and with the fact that Andretti Autosport has won the INDY500 three out of the last four years, one may say that this Verizon IndyCar Series team, when it comes to the Indianapolis 500, are the game changers.

Andretti Autosport has found a way to stack the deck, or flood the zone ... as it were, in its focus to create interest and plan to win the Indianapolis 500. As 54 year-old team-owner, and second-generation Andretti family race car driver, Michael Andretti said in a recent pre-race interview with Paul Reinhard, we are going to field "six really good bullets in the gun" for the Memorial Day Classic.

Game Changer Survivor Michael Andretti shares the common winning moment in victory lane at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with his surviving winning driver Takuma Sato. Image Credit: Chris Owens via IndyCar (2017)

This excerpted and edited from Associated Press via Orange County Register -

Michael Andretti hoping his Indy 500 six-pack leads to victory lane
AP - OC Register - May 24, 2017

Michael Andretti’s busiest month could turn into his best Indianapolis show.

He has four cars in the front three rows of Sunday’s Indianapolis 500.

Two of those drivers – the defending race champion, Alexander Rossi, and this year’s highest-profile rookie, Fernando Alonso – avoided getting sidetracked by sideshows.

Andretti’s son, Marco, thrived despite taking on extra coaching duties this May. Ryan Hunter-Reay, the 2014 Indy 500 champion, posted the fastest qualifying average outside the nine-car pole shootout, and Japan’s Takuma Sato proved he could be a contender. On Monday, rookie Jack Harvey moved up the speed chart, too.

If these guys produce all the right numbers this weekend, Andretti Autosport will have the best six-pack of racers in 500 history.

“It’s been good because of the data we’ve been able to share and pass on, not only for someone like Marco or Ryan, but it’s been good for all the guys,” Michael Andretti said.

The six Andretti cars in the 33-car starting grid are the most by one team since Andy Evans started seven in 1996 with Team Scandia. 
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“People are a huge problem because everyone in Indianapolis has a job right now,” said Michael Shank, co-owner of Harvey’s No. 50 car. “I have 22 to 25 guys in my shop, so it was only natural we could do it.”
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Andretti, with an assist from Shank and Bryan Herta, the co-owner of Alexander Rossi’s No. 98 car, didn’t have to be too patient: From the moment the cars rolled onto the 2.5-mile oval, they were already fast.

Marco Andretti finished the first day atop the speed chart. He’ll start eighth Sunday, the middle of Row 3.

Hunter-Reay produced top-five laps in practice each of the first four days he turned laps and qualified 10th, the inside of Row 4.

Rossi and Sato, both former Formula One drivers, helped the two-time F1 champ make a quick transition from the familiar high-tech, road-course cars to the even faster cars on unfamiliar ovals. Rossi is starting from the third spot on the front row. Sato and Alonso qualified in the second row and will start fourth and fifth.

“From all the comments that arrived to me, the comments from them are very, very useful because they know how one car behaves and how the other car behaves and what they needed when they came here,” said Alonso, the Spaniard whose 500 debut has attracted wide attention. “I probably experienced more or less the same journey as them.”
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For now, though, Andretti and his six drivers are focused on one goal: Topping Sunday afternoon with a drive through victory lane.

“It is a big challenge for our team,” Andretti said. “There’s a lot, a lot of hours that go into organizing something like this and making it all happen and we’ve got to get it right.”
[Reference Here]

The finishing order of the 101st Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil as shown on the iconic front straight information and scoring pylon. The championship points race heated up a bit with this double-points paying event as Helio Castroneves took over the season points lead by finishing in P2, Takuma Sato moved into third  by winning, and Ed Jones who as a rookie at the INDY500 moved to ninth in Verizon IndyCar Series 2017 season championship points. Image Credit: Shawn Gritzmacher via IndyCar (2017)

As we all witnessed in the 101st running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil, Andretti Autosport had all of the right moves, even when two of his pack-leading six Honda cars expired with engine issues, Michael Andretti's team Outwited, Outlasted, Outplayed all 33 cars entered in the field when TAKU crossed the "yard of bricks" finish line first ahead of Penske Racing's 3-time INDY500 winner Helio Castroneves by .2011 seconds to win this annual endurance game of motorsports Survivor!

101st Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil: SURVIVOR BOX SCORE

... notes from The EDJE



TAGS: Takuma Sato, 101st Indianapolis 500, Outwit, Outlast, Outplay, Michael Andretti, Andretti Autosport, endurance, entries, experience, honda, racing, Alonso, Rossi, Verizon IndyCar Series, Survivor, winner, The EDJE