Tag: Indianapolis Motor Speedway

O’Ward Nips Power for Pole in Frantic, Tight Qualifying

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Photo: Pato O’Ward by Matt Fraver, Indycar

So close. Will Power was so close to earning his first pole position of 2021, but Pato O’Ward nipped him at the line by 0.0067 of a second. O’Ward’s third pole of the year came at an opportune time for the driver third in the standings. Points leader Alex Palou qualified sixth and other title contenders Scott Dixon rolls off 26th and Josef Newgarden starts 20th. Dixon was penalized for spinning and affecting other drivers’ laps, and Newgarden has a six place penalty for an engine change to serve.

All three rounds of the shortened qualifying format produced drama as several drivers traded the top spot. But the star of the day was Christian Lundgaard, the Danish F2 driver in the RLL Hy Vee number 45 this weekend. Lundgaard impressed in the practice session, and he dazzled in qualifying, making it to the final round and leading the fast Twelve for a bit. He will start fourth. No matter how his race turns out, his weekend is already a success.

Christian Lundgaard. Photo by Chris Jones, Indycar

Notes

Colton Herta’s string of front row starts ends at four. He qualified fifth.

Romain Grosjean missed his second consecutive pole on the IMS Road course by just 27 thousandths of a second. He starts third.

.Ed Carpenter Racing had its best road course qualifying in a while. Conor Daly starts eighth and Rinus VeeKay ninth.

Newgarden and Dixon start in a part of the grid where there is usually trouble in the first turn. If they get through that, it will be interesting to see how far they advance wht strategy they use.

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Palou Leads Practice; Herta Struggles

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Points leader Alex Palou had the fastest lap in the only practice before qualifying begins tonight at 7 pm for the Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix. Palou’s lap of 1:10.883 was 0.023 seconds faster than Rinus VeeKay, winner of May’s GMR Grand prix on the IMS road course. VeeKay also won the pole for race 1 of last fall’s Harvest Grand Prix.

Pato O’Ward, Jack Harvey, and Josef Newgarden rounded out the top five. Newgarden will have a ix place grid penalty for the race due to an unapproved engine change following the Music City Grand Prix.

The big surprise of the session was Christian Lundgaard, driving for Rahal Letterman Laniqan Racing. The Danish F2 driver was seventh in his first Indycar session, jus 0.030 seconds behind Will Power.

The practice round also saw Colton Herta, who has started on the front row for the last four races, struggle. He had a lockup, overshot turn one, aned had his car stall leaving the pits. Herta was 26th on the time chart, only completing 16 laps.

Qualifying this evening is the same format used in Detroit. The normal first round is followed bay a round of 12 to determine the pole. NBCSN will broadcast qualifying live

The top 12:

I’ll be back later tonight with a qualifying wrapup. Going out to buy spikes for my cooler. I want to look fashionable tomorrow.

Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix Preview

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We got a taste of this last July, and today is the first Indycar/NASCAR doubleheader with fans in attendance. It is probably a good thing for both series to have a showcase weekend together, and it might create some crossover fans. I would like to see a double header on an oval as well. I just hope the two series don’t go the route of the National Hockey league with their outdoor games. The new year’s day game is great but it loses its luster when you add several outdoor events during the season. don’t

Indycars have raced on the IMS road course 10 previous times, including three times last year, and this May. The early years were owned by Team Penske and drivers Simon Pagenaud and Will Power, who each have won the GMR Grand Prix three times. Power also won the Harvest Grand Prix race 2 last fall. Pagenaud’s first win was with Schmidt-Peterson Motorsports.

The entry list has expanded to 28, the biggest field for a race other than the Indianapolis 500 since 2011 at Kentucky. In addition to the regular grid, Cody ware is on the Coyne Ware car 52, Christian Lundgaard takes over the 45 for Rahal Letterman Lanigan, Helio Castroneves returns to the scene of his may triumph in the 06 for Meyer Shank, and R C Enerson will at last put Top Gun Racing’s number 75 on the grid.

Indycar teams get an hour practice mid afternoon before qualifying begins at 7 pm today. Yes the times are strange, but NASCAR seems to have dictated the schedule. Indycar does race Saturday at the decent hour of 1 pm.

It should be a prettier race than last weekend’s marathon Music City Grand Prix. IMS road course races have run the gamut from snoozers to pretty good races. Last year’s Harvest Classic Race 1 was arguably Indycar’s best race on the IMS road course. Some things to look for:

Ganassi Drivers Battle for the Title

Alex Palou leads teammate Scott Dixon by 42 points after last Sunday. While it is significant that Dixon cut into his margin behind Palou, Palou entered the Nashville race 36 points ahead of second place Pato O’Ward. He actually increased his lead over second place. I think he will lose a few more points of his lead this weekend, making for a tense to the wire run over the last four races.

Pato O’Ward still has a shot, but it seems like he has a mediocre race each time he draws close to Palou. I think he will have a better result this week.

In the GMR Grand Prix in May, Palou finished third, Dixon 9th, and O’Ward 15th.

Will Power Return to Form?

Will Power has won on the IMS road course four times and has also won the pole four times. If he is going to get a pole or a win this year, this weekend is probably his best chance. Power also needs to bounce back from a dreadful weekend in Nashville. To help him, I will not predict his success this weekend.

Another First Time Winner?

The odds are good that the NTT Indycar Series will have another first time winner both for the season and for the winner’s career. In may Romain Grosjean won the pole and finished second to Rinus VeeKay. I look for them both to be strong again. VeeKay also won the pole for the Harvest Grand Prix Race 1 last autumn.

Jack Harvey has shown well on the road course, with two second row starts and a podium.

He will qualify well, and I hope he has better luck in the race than in May, where a bad pit stop dropped to near the bottom of the field.

Notes

The average age of the three two time 2021 winners is 25.3.

I can’t recall getting this far into the season with no driver having three wins.

I’m hearing talks about bringing Iowa back for 2022. Yes, Please.

It is very appropriate that Indycar and NASCAR race at IMS the weekend following Bob Jenkin’s death. He announced for both series and loved them both.

Parnelli Jones celebrated his 88th birthday yesterday.

I will cover the Indycar practice remotely today, although I will try to get to the track for qualifications. I will be onsite Saturday.

Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix Fast Facts

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Race weekend: Friday, Aug. 13 – Saturday, Aug. 14
Track: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course (clockwise)
Race distance: 85 laps / 207.3 miles

Push-to-pass parameters: 200 seconds of total time, with a maximum time of 20 seconds per activation.
Firestone tire allotment: Five sets primary, four sets alternate (Note: A sixth set of primary tires is available to any car fielding a rookie driver.)

Twitter: @IMS @INDYCAR, #TheBrickyard #INDYCAR
Event website: http://www.ims.com
INDYCAR website: http://www.IndyCar.com
2020 race winners (Harvest Grand Prix doubleheader): Josef Newgarden (No. 1 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet) and Will Power (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet)
2020 NTT P1 Award winners (Harvest Grand Prix doubleheader): Rinus VeeKay (No. 21 SONAX Chevrolet), 1:09.6903, 125.992 mph; Will Power (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet), 1:08.9767, 127.295 mph.
Qualifying lap record: Will Power, 1:07.7044, 129.687 mph, May 12, 2017 (Set in Round 3 of knockout qualifying)
NBCSN telecasts: Qualifying, 7 p.m. ET Friday, NBCSN (live) and Peacock Premium; Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix, 12:30 p.m. ET Saturday, NBCSN (live). Leigh Diffey is the play-by-play announcer for NBC’s coverage of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, alongside analysts Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy. Kevin Lee and Marty Snider will be the pit reporters.
Peacock Premium Live Streaming: All NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice sessions and
qualifying will stream live on Peacock Premium, NBC’s direct-to-consumer livestreaming product.
INDYCAR Radio Network broadcasts: Mark Jaynes is the chief announcer alongside analyst Davey Hamilton. Chris Denari, Jake Query, Nick Yeoman and Michael Young are the turn announcers. Brad Gillie, Brett McMillan and Ryan Myrehn will report from the pits. The Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix will air live on network affiliates, SiriusXM 138 and
Sirius XM 205, indycar.com and the INDYCAR Mobile app powered by NTT DATA. All NTT INDYCAR SERIES practices and qualifying are available on SiriusXM 205, indycar.com and the INDYCAR Mobile app.


At-track schedule (all times local):


Friday, Aug. 13 (All times are local)
3-4 p.m.: NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice, Peacock Premium
7-7:50 p.m.: Qualifying for the NTT P1 Award (two rounds knockout qualifications/10 minutes
each), NBCSN and Peacock Premium (Live)


Saturday, Aug. 14
8:45-9:15 a.m.: NTT INDYCAR SERIES warmup, Peacock Premium
12:30 p.m.: NBCSN on air
12:55 p.m.: “Drivers, start your engines”
1 p.m.: Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix (85 laps/207.3 miles), NBCSN (Live)
Championship facts:
Alex Palou leads the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship with five races to go for the first time in his INDYCAR SERIES career. Palou has led the point standings after seven of the 11 races this season.
Since the first INDYCAR SERIES race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road
course in 2014, the winning driver has won the INDYCAR SERIES championship
twice: Simon Pagenaud in 2016 and Scott Dixon (2020-Race 1).
Key championship point statistic: Since 2008, the championship leader with five races to go has gone on to win the championship seven times. Those drivers were: Scott Dixon (2008, 2018 and 2020), Dario Franchitti (2011), Ryan Hunter-Reay (2012), Simon Pagenaud (2016)and Josef Newgarden (2019).
Point differential: The 42 points that separate Alex Palou and Scott Dixon is the seventh closest point margin since 2008. Entering this season, the average lead with five races to go since 2008 was 43.9 points.

Race Notes:
There have been eight different winners in 11 NTT INDYCAR SERIES races this
season. Alex Palou (Barber Motorsports Park, Road America), Colton Herta (Streets
of St. Petersburg), Scott Dixon (Texas Motor Speedway-1), Pato O’Ward (Texas
Motor Speedway-2, Raceway at Belle Isle Park-2), Rinus VeeKay (Indianapolis Motor
Speedway Road Course-1), Helio Castroneves (Indianapolis 500), Marcus Ericsson
(Raceway at Belle Isle Park-1, Streets of Nashville) and Josef Newgarden (Mid-Ohio
Sports Car Course) have all won in 2021. The modern record (1946-present) for most
different winners in a season is 11 in 2000, 2001 and 2014.
There have been eight different winners in the last 10 NTT INDYCAR SERIES races
(Alex Palou, Colton Herta, Scott Dixon, Pato O’Ward, Rinus VeeKay, Helio
Castroneves, Marcus Ericsson and Josef Newgarden) The only repeat winners in
that stretch are O’Ward (Texas-2 and Raceway at Belle Isle Park-2) and Ericsson
(Raceway at Belle Isle Park-1 and Streets of Nashville)
The Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix will be the 11th INDYCAR SERIES event
conducted on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course. Scott Dixon, Josef
Newgarden, Simon Pagenaud, Will Power and Rinus VeeKay are the only drivers to
win on the IMS road course. Pagenaud won the GMR Grand Prix in 2014, 2016 and
2019, Power won the GMR Grand Prix in 2015, 2017 and 2018 and the second race of
the Harvest Grand Prix doubleheader in 2020. Dixon won the 2020 GMR Grand Prix,
Newgarden won the first race of the 2020 Harvest GP doubleheader and VeeKay won the GMR Grand Prix in May.
The 28 cars entered in the Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix is the largest field of cars entered in a non-Indianapolis 500 INDYCAR SERIES race since 29 cars
started at Kentucky Speedway in 2011.
Romain Grosjean, Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, Felix Rosenqvist and Sebastian
Saavedra have won the pole position in the GMR Grand Prix. Saavedra claimed thepole in 2014, Power in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2020, Pagenaud in 2016, Rosenqvist in2019 and Grosjean in May of this year. Power and Rinus VeeKay won the NTT P1 Award in the Harvest Grand Prix doubleheader last October.
Four NTT P1 Award winners have won the GMR Grand Prix from the pole: Will Power in 2015, 2017 and 2018 and Simon Pagenaud in 2016. Power also won the second Harvest GP race from pole in 2020.
Eight drivers have competed in every INDYCAR SERIES race on the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway road course – Scott Dixon, James Hinchcliffe, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Josef Newgarden, Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, Graham Rahal and Takuma Sato. All are entered this weekend.
Scott Dixon has finished first or second in four of his last seven starts on the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
Six rookies — RC Enerson, Romain Grosjean, Jimmie Johnson, Christian
Lundgaard, Scott McLaughlin and Cody Ware — are entered this weekend. Enerson will be making his first start of 2021, while Lundgaard will be making his INDYCAR SERIES debut. Ware will be attempting to compete in both the NTT INDYCAR SERIES race on Saturday and NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday.
Twenty-five of the 28 drivers entered in the event have competed in INDYCAR SERIES races on the IMS road course. Fifteen entered drivers have led laps in INDYCAR SERIES races: Will Power 285, Scott Dixon 69, Simon Pagenaud 68, Josef Newgarden 59, Rinus VeeKay 48, Romain Grosjean 44, Graham Rahal 41, Colton Herta 29, Ryan Hunter-Reay 22, Felix Rosenqvist 16, James Hinchcliffe 4,
Alexander Rossi 2, Marcus Ericsson 1, Jack Harvey 1 and Alex Palou 1.

Entry List- 28 cars Set for Big Machine Spiked Coolers GP

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Last weekend/s Music City Grand Prix boasted the largest non Indianapolis 500 grid since 2013. This weekend’s Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix is even bigger with 28 cars entered. Cod Ware is again in the 52 for Dale Coyne with Rick Ware Racing , and Helio Castroneves is back in the 06 for Meyer Shank Racing, RLL runs the 45 again, but F2 driver Christian Lundgaard replaces Santino Ferrucci. Top Gun Racing with R C Enerson looks to finally make their Indycar debut Saturday.

Broadcast Times and Sources for Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix

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Twilight qualifying highlights the Indycar weekend schedule. This week qualifying is live on NBCSN.

FRIDAY, AUG 13 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM ET Practice 1

  FRIDAY, AUG 13 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM ET Qualifications

   SATURDAY, AUG 14 8:45 AM – 9:15 AM ET Warmup

  SATURDAY, AUG 14 12:30 PM – 3:30 PM ET Race

Bob Jenkins, One of IMS Radio Network’s All Time Greats

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Top: IMS Photo

I just got home from Nashville and see this news. It is a sad day. I met Bob only a couple of times. hew a real gentlemen in addition to being a racing broadcast legend. rest in peace, Bob.

The official story from IMS:

LEGENDARY MOTORSPORTS BROADCASTER JENKINS DIES AT 73

August 09, 2021 | By Curt Cavin

Veteran radio and television broadcaster Bob Jenkins, a former “Voice of the 500” inducted into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame in 2019, died Aug. 9 at age 73 after a valiant fight with cancer.

The voice of the Liberty, Indiana, native was heard globally over five decades on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network, serving several positions, including chief announcer from 1990 through 1998. Jenkins was one of only four people to serve as television play-by-play announcer in ABC’s 54-year history of broadcasting the Indianapolis 500.

With an easygoing, friendly style that mirrored his personality, the beloved and respected Jenkins anchored NTT INDYCAR SERIES races on television and was a frequent contributor to the public address system at IMS. Jenkins also was a frequent master of ceremonies at “500”-related functions, including the Indianapolis 500 Victory Celebration.

In one form or another, Jenkins was connected to IMS for more than 40 years, and his most familiar call was the thrilling finish of the 1992 race between Al Unser Jr. and Scott Goodyear.

“The checkered flag is out, Goodyear makes a move, Little Al wins by just a few tenths of a second, perhaps the closest finish in the history of the Indianapolis 500,” Jenkins said on radio, his baritone voice climbing a few octaves.

The victory margin of .043 of a second remains the closest finish in the race’s 105-year history.

Jenkins attended his first “500” in 1960 and said he had only missed two races since – in 1961 when he couldn’t get anyone to take him, and in 1965 when he was on a trip as a high school senior. He came to the track last May while fighting his illness to receive the Robin Miller Award, where he made a brief, poignant acceptance speech and was warmly received by a large group of friends and admirers from the racing community and media.

Indiana University graduate Jenkins turned his love of music into a job in radio, first as a news reporter at stations in Fort Wayne and Valparaiso and then at WIRE in Indianapolis as the co-anchor of a nationally syndicated farm news show “AgDay.”

Jenkins, who had attended Indiana dirt-track races with his father, landed his first position in motorsports in 1979 as the backstretch announcer on the IMS Radio Network. His friend Paul Page, a member of that broadcast team and an employee at rival WIBC, helped him land the job. Later, Page helped Jenkins start the USAC Radio Network.

Jenkins was one of the first on-air employees of ESPN when it launched in 1979. For more than 20 years, he was the lead voice of NASCAR races for ESPN and occasionally ABC, including the first seven Brickyard 400s at IMS. His pairing with former stock car drivers Ned Jarrett and Benny Parsons became one of the popular trios in motorsports broadcasting history.

If there was a form of motorsports on U.S. television, Jenkins likely was involved with it at some point in his career.

Along with his NASCAR and IMS work, Jenkins anchored for the Indianapolis-based company that produced ESPN’s popular “Thunder” series broadcasts of USAC Sprint Car and Midget series races, and he was the host of “SpeedWeek” on ESPN.

Jenkins’ voice was used in several motorsports video games and films, including NASCAR-centric “Days of Thunder” and “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.”

INDYCAR, IMS Partner with Imagen To Debut New Digital Content Site

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From Indycar and IMS:

SiteCloud-Based Platform Streamlines Access to Rich Archive
INDIANAPOLIS (Monday, Aug. 2, 2021) – Penske Entertainment Corp. has launched a new digital asset site in partnership with intuitive rich media management platform Imagen, providing modern, comprehensive access to the vast archive of digital content of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The new site can be accessed at content.indycar.com or content.ims.com. The site uses the Imagen Pro platform for media, race teams, race promoters, domestic and international broadcast partners and corporate partners to download video, audio, images, news content, publications and much more.
“Digital assets are essential to help tell the stories that continue the growth of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and Indianapolis Motor Speedway,” said Allison Melangton, Penske Entertainment Corp. senior vice president. “The cloud-based Imagen Pro platform makes it easy for media, race teams and partners to find and access this content quickly and efficiently from any connected device while also providing us with many tools to build and manage our library and track its usage.”
Users can begin to register for the new site immediately at content.indycar.com or content.ims.com, with content from the 2021 INDYCAR and IMS racing season available. The previous INDYCAR and IMS media sites also will remain functional through the end of this year during the transition to the new platform.
The tools built into the Imagen Pro platform offer detailed information on each piece of content, with additional related content available just a click or tap away. The Imagen Pro platform also will allow Penske Entertainment to provide much more video content and clips, a mainstay of social media and other popular digital platforms.
Imagen Pro also provides Penske Entertainment Corp. with full control over storing, managing and tracking the INDYCAR and IMS media libraries, with automated processes for ingest, tagging and distribution.
“I’m delighted to be working with INDYCAR and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as their need for a flexible and agile solution that scales with the growth of their business made Imagen the perfect fit,” said Nick Ashwin, Imagen vice president of sales. “I look forward to continuing our efforts to streamline their content lifecycle and ultimately maximize the value of their content.
”Imagen is an intuitive and highly customizable rich media management platform that enables sports organizations, media companies and enterprise sectors to intelligently manage their video and creative content. Imagen is used by globally to manage, gain insight into and distribute organizations’ expanding video and media libraries – enabling fast, easy and secure access to content.
With offices in the United Kingdom and New York, Imagen’s customers include the English Premier League, Penske Entertainment Corp., St. Louis Zoo, America’s Cup, Major League Baseball, Women’s Tennis Association, BP, Reuters, BBC, Team Rubicon, the UK’s Ministry of Defence, IMG and many more.For more information visit, imagen.io/products/platform/.MEDIA CONTACTSAlex Damron
Vice President, Corporate Communications,
Penske Entertainment Corp.
+1-317-492-6734, adamron@brickyard.com
 Dave Furst
Vice President, Communications
INDYCAR
+1-317-492-6244, dfurst@indycar.com
 
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Top Gun to Debut at IMS Road Course

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Photo from Top Gun Racing’s twitter account

From Top Gun Racing’s Twitter account:

Top Gun Racing will compete in the Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix on the 2.439-mile road course at @IMS on August 14th #INDYCAR / #BigMachineGP

The team has scheduled a test for later this month to prepare for the August 14 Indycar road course race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. R C Enerson is presumed to be the driver.

Top Gun entered the 105th running of the Indianapolis 500his past May but failed to qualify. he Big machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix will be the team’s first race in the NTT Indycar Series.

Top Gun is seeking sponsorships. the information is below: