Tag: NTT Indycar Series

Kimball in Third Foyt Car at Long Beach

thepitwindow

Indycar photo

The third Foyt entry for Long Beach ensures at least 27 cars for the season finale. The announcement from Indycar:

Charlie Kimball will return to the cockpit of the No. 11 Tresiba Chevrolet for AJ Foyt Racing on Sept. 24-26 at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, the season finale of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.“I cannot wait to get back behind the wheel of an AJ Foyt Indy car mostly because I love racing,” Kimball said. “I am also excited to race on behalf of my longtime sponsor Novo Nordisk one more time this season at one of my favorite races. Working with the team at AJ Foyt Racing, both in and out of the cockpit, has been very rewarding, and I look forward to continuing that work in Long Beach.”Kimball last competed for AJ Foyt Racing in the GMR Grand Prix on May 15 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, finishing 22nd. An attempt to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 was unsuccessful. In 2020, Kimball drove full time for the team, scoring a season-best finish of eighth in October at St. Petersburg, Florida.“We are very happy to have Charlie and Novo Nordisk back for the season finale,” said Larry Foyt, team president. “Long Beach is such a great race for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, and I’m glad we could put this event together for Charlie and Novo Nordisk because they have been great partners of our team. They have touched many lives and inspired many race fans through the motorsports platform, and I’m honored that our team was able to be a small part of that.”Kimball will join full-time drivers Sebastien Bourdais and Dalton Kellett in the Foyt lineup at Long Beach.Being able to wrap up the season in Long Beach holds special significance for Kimball, who grew up 75 miles from the Southern California city in Camarillo, California. He last raced on the picturesque street circuit in 2018 for Carlin Racing, finishing 10th.“Long Beach is my favorite event outside of the Indy 500,” Kimball said. “I spent my childhood coming to this race and dreaming about being on the other side of the fence. The chance to compete at this track, so close to my hometown, three and a half years since my last time behind the wheel there has been one of my biggest personal motivators.”Kimball has stayed busy this season as the color commentator for the Indy Lights telecasts.Live coverage of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach starts at 3 p.m. (ET) Sunday, Sept. 26 on NBCSN and the INDYCAR Radio Network.

The Indycar Schedule for 2022; How Does 2021 End?; Notes

thepitwindow1 Comment

Marti Update: Marti is home from rehab and tonight we begin two days of tests, an MRI and a bone scan to see if we can find the root cause of the problem. We will knoiw the results Friday afternoon and go from there.

The 2022 Indycar schedule is beginning to take shape, with the possibility of 18 races and five ovals on the calendar.

Eleven race dates are set, and the rest will most likely fall into their traditional weekend slots.

Dates we know:

March 13- St. Pete

April 10- Long Beach- not confirmed by Indycar, but is on the IMSA calendar

May 14- GMR Grand prix

May 29- 106th running of the Indianapolis 500

June 4/5 Detroit- Like Long Beach, assumed via IMSA calendar

July 23/24-Iowa

August 7- Nashville

August 20- Gateway

Barber will possibly end up on April 24 and Texas, which will be just a single race, on April 30.

Road America should keep the same weekend as this year, June 19, and Mid Ohio could stay on the Independence day weekend, July 3.

Will Toronto come back? Traditionally, the race in Canada is in mid July, which would slot on the 17th.

The final two races will be a September swing in Portland on the 11th and Laguna Seca the following week. I thought this was the last year of the contract with Portland, unless the deal was extended due to the 2020 cancellation.

Ending 2021- Will California Go on?

COVID developments on the west coast have me concerned about the season finbsihing according to the schedule. Portlad has institiuted a mask requirement for their race, and long Beach requires proof of vaccination or a negative test for admission, but are these measures enough to prevent a cancellation?

In a Racer magazine article, Jay Frye implied that Indycar has no contingency plans in the event of a cancellation of any of the final three races. That concerns me. I think there should be something in place ahead of time. Will we be crowening the champion at IMS after harvest GP 2.0?

Notes

I hope Formula 1 takes a long look at what happened at Spa yesterday and does some serious revision of their rules regarding what makes a race official. Two plus laps doesn’t do it as far as I am concerned. I don’t necessarily have a problem with awarding half points at a certain stoppage point, but it should be at least one fourth the scheduled distance.

My hat’s off to the fans who sat through the daylong downpour only to have the FIA thumb their noses at them. I hope refunds are issued.

Portland Weekend Schedule

thepitwindow

The schedule for the Portland Grand Prix came out a couple days ago. It will be another two day show for Indycar with one 75 minute practice before qualifying and a 30 minute practice after qualifying. Friday is dedicated to Indy Lights and ARCA Menard’s Series West.

I hope the series goes back to three day programs next year. Although Iu am not going to Portland this year, if I travel that far, I’d prefer to see Indycars on track all three days of the event.

Portland International Raceway recently issued a masking requirement for fans which applies both indoors and outdoors.

Times listed are Pacific Time and is scheduled for broadcast on NBC.

Next week I will discuss what we know about the 2022 schedule.

Remembering Robin Miller

thepitwindow

IMS Photo

Late to the party, and less eloquent than much of what I have read today, but please indulge me my thoughts regarding Robin Miller, Indycar’s voice in print and broadcasting. I find it ironic that during one of the best Indycar seasons in years we have lost two great voices of the sport within less than 20 days.

I knew Robin Miller for years before I met him. I may have read every story he put in the Indianapolis Star when it was a real newspaper. he covered racing, high school sports, and the pacers included. I liked his frank, forthright style. Euphemisms were for the other writers to use.

I’m not sure where Indycar would be today without Robin Miller. He helped drivers get rides in the series, he has pushed for races to get on the schedule, most recently Gateway, and his tireless touting of the series and the Indianapolis 500 have contibuted to the staus the series enjoys now.

We have lost a fierce Indycar advocate, a man who would help a struggling driver or team owner whenever and however he could, and someone who made the paddock and the media center come alive. I remember the first race for which I had media credentials at St. Pete how Miller’s charisma gave an energy to the compact crowded room. When Miller left, the stillness in the room was palpable.

I first actually met him in the IMS media center that year. I happened to be wearing one of the shirts I had purchased from one of his numerous fund raisers. We rode the elevator up to the fourth floor together.

“Nice shirt,” he said. I thanked him and introduced myself. After that he always greeted me with a smile. I felt comfortable going to him with questions which he always took time to answer. he didn’t seem to care what out let you wrote for, if you were in the media center, you were a comrade.

My best memories of Miller come from Portland. In 2018, the year the venue returned to the series, his fist comments upon entering the media center were about how little money had been spent on the place in 11 years.

The next year, I sat near him in the Portland media center as he took a call from A. J. Foyt. It was a cordial conversation about when Robin would release a story. He wouldn’t share the news with me at the time, but when it broke, I asked for a clarification and he calmly explained it to me.

Please don’t ask who will replace Robin Miller at Racer magazine. The answer is no one. Someone might take over the mailbag (I hope not), and someone might step into his reporting role. But replace? No way.

Bommarito 500 – The Race of Many Faces

thepitwindow2 Comments

Photo: Josef Newgarden may not have had the fastest car, but he had the best looking one. Photo by Chris Owens, indycar

The Bommarito Autuomotive Group 500 last night was many things. It was messy, it was great racing, it was processional, and it was dramatic. When six cars are knocked out of the race in the first 65 laps, you have to wonder if anyone will be left by the end. The race then settled down and Colton Herta, who had the fastest car took control on lap 139. behind him was a great battle for second and Takuma Sato and Romain Grosjean kept the crowd’s attention. Sato with a couple of close calls as he battled Ryan Hunter-Reay- they have tangled several times in the past- and Grosjean, in his first ever oval race, wowing the crowd with good passes and some anxious moves toward the outer wall. In the end, after Pato O’Ward’s best chance at catching winner Josef Newgarden’s car failed, it was a procession to the end.

Finally a clean first lap at Gateway, but the relief was short lived. Indycar Photo by James Black

The race changed after Herta’s third pit stop when the drive shaft broke on his out lap. That left Rossi as the only other driver to contend with Newgarden, although his car was not good after his last stop. Rossi crashed on lap 200, and O’Ward had one last chance to catch the leader on the final restart.

Saturday’s race was the second of the last three with six or more cars eliminated by contact. Two of the four title contenders, including Alex Palou, the points leader, were involved last night. It didn’t help either of them that the other two contenders finished 1-2. Just 43 points separate the top four in the standings with three races to go. The next race, Portland, has the always risky first turn, which has resulted in lots of car damage in the last two starts.

Notes

Josef Newgarden has won three of the six Indycar races since the series returned in 2017.

Foyt’s Best Track? World Wide Technology Raceway has produced great results for A. J. Foyt Racing the last five years. Last night Sebastien Bourdais finished fifth and led 18 laps. Dalton Kellett finished 12th. In 2019 tony Kanaan stood on the podium in 3rd, and in 2017, Conor Daly ended the race in fifth. Larry Foyt told in 2017 that the team found something about this track and whatever they learned still seems to work.

Changes at the Top- yesterday was a day of changing leadership. Not only did Pato O’Ward retake the lead in the Indycar standings, David Malukas is the new leader in Indy lights after sweeping the two races this weekend. Whether they can stay on top is going to be exciting to watch.

Lots of Beer, Little Food– It seems the beer vendors decidedly outnumbered the food vendors Saturday by at least two to one. i saw mostly barbecue and the standard track fare of burgers and little else. But if you wanted a beer or other adult beverage, a booth was always in arm’s reach. It seems to me that there were more food vendors in previous years. The event is supposed to be growing, and Indycar will be back for five more years. It’s an area th track needs to give attention to.

Scott Mclaughlin increased his lead over Romain Grosjean for Rookie of the Year to 23 points with his fourth place finish last night. I still think Grosjean will be ahead going into the season finale at Long Beach.

Thanks for following along on this hectic weekend. I am going to take a break for a couple of days unless something major happens, like F1 replacing the Japanese Grand Prix with an oval race at IMS.

Race Day

thepitwindow

It’s also practice and qualifications day for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 as Indycar has a one day show at World Wide Technology Raceway. Right now 8ts cloudy and there have been sprinkles in the area. It looks like qualifications might be impacted by the best chances for rain this afternoon but the weather should be fine for the race.

Today’s schedule:

In last evening’s Indy Lights race, David Malukas won to cut Kyle Kirkwood’s lead to just 2 points. Race 2 is today.

II’ll be heading out to the track for practice in a bit. I’m looking forward to a fun day.

Bommarito Automotive Group 500 Preview

thepitwindow

Marti Update: Marti is in a rehab facility in Indianapolis and is beginning to make slow, steady progress. the last two days have been encouraging as she has taken her first steps in 63 days. We still need to do a couple of tests. She is in a much better place today thanks to the awesome peop[e at Vanderbilt University hospital.

The final quarter of the season begins tomorrow night at World Wide Technology Raceway, more familiar as Gateway. The final four races of 2021 will take place west of the Mississippi River. I’m sure that has happened before, but I’m not sure which years.

Indycar began racing at the track just east of St. Louis in 1997, when CART staged the first three races the day before the Indianapolis 500 through 1999. The IRL raced at gateway from 2001through 2003. Indycar returned in 2017 in the current format. The event has been quite successful. Today the series and the promoters will sign a three year extension with an option for two more years.

24 cars have entered for tomorrow’s race, a one day show with practice, qualifying , and the race all on Saturday. The schedule for Saturday:

The main question is how will Alex Palou rebound from the points hit he took at IMS last weekend. Heren is what to watch for:

Palou Starts With Another Penalty

The engine problem which caused Palou’s first DNF of the season last Saturday was terminal, and the engine change resulted in the 10 car’s third grid penalty of the year. The oval penalty is nine spots. The 260 scheduled laps should give Palou time to move up.

I find it odd that Palou is the only Honda car that has needed to make unapproved changes. I hope this his last one of the season. This is not something that should decide the champion.

Romain Grosjean will make his first oval start Saturday.

Grosjean a True Rookie

Romain Grosjean has been impressive in how quickly he has adapted to Indycar and the tracks. His Formula 1 experience makes his rookie status on road courses a little suspect. This weekend Grosjean is a real rookie as he tackles his first oval.

His oval run may be in preparation for the Frenchman to enter the Indianapolis 500 in 2022.

Grosjean is just seven points behind Scott McLaughlin in the Rookie of the Year standings despite the former Formula 1 driver missing three races. I think Grosjean will pass him before the season ends.

Will the Penske Rebound Continue?

What seems like a below average year for the team is really not that bad. The team has two wins and four poles. Most teams would take that. Josef Newgarden and Will Power have won two of the last three races. Power is still without a pole in 2021. I think he will win one, but not this week.

The Title Chase

Palou’s nine grid spot penalty may give his three closest pursuers, Pato O’Ward, Scott Dixon, and Josef Newgarden, an opportunity to tighten the the championship even more. The trio didn’t take as much advantage of the leader’s misfortune last week as they could have.

Both Newgarden and Dixon won at Gateway last year. O’Ward has not shown the consistency needed to win a title, yet the title chase has come to him. Palou’s job is simple. Gain as many spots as possible and stay in contact with the other contenders.

It will be an interesting day tomorrow. Indycar will have its 10th winner of the season in Alexander Rossi. Rossi was very happy with the team’s Gateway test and is confident coming into the race.

Iowa Returns with a Double Header Weekend

thepitwindow

Iowa Speedway is back. The 7/8 mile oval in Newton, Iowa, sorely missed this year, will return for two race in 2022, on July 23 and 24.

The official announcement:

  • NTT INDYCAR SERIES Returns to Iowa Speedway for 2022 Doubleheader
    Hy-Vee To Sponsor NTT INDYCAR SERIES Races on July 23-24, 2022, in Newton, IowaWEST DES MOINES, Iowa (Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021) – The NTT INDYCAR SERIES and Hy-Vee, a grocery chain based in the Midwest, have announced a new multiyear agreement, which returns the excitement of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES to the Iowa Speedway. Hy-Vee will provide broad support for next year’s doubleheader event set for July 23-24, 2022, through a wide-ranging partnership that will bring INDYCAR racing back to the 0.875 mile oval after a one- year hiatus.
Indycar image
  • The NTT INDYCAR SERIES was among the first to race on the D-shaped layout when it made its debut in Newton, Iowa, in 2007. Quickly known as a favorite of fans and drivers alike, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES has held 15 races at the track known as “The Fastest Short Track on the Planet” since it opened in 2006.Drivers will now have another chance to race at Iowa Speedway as Hy-Vee and the NTT INDYCAR SERIES announced that the Hy-VeeDeals.com 250 will take place Saturday, July 23, and the Hy-Vee Salute to Farmers 300 will occur Sunday, July 24.
  • “We’re extremely pleased to return Iowa Speedway to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES calendar,” said Roger Penske, founder and chair of the Penske Corporation and owner of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. “Over the years, Iowa has proven to be a fitting showcase for North America’s premier open-wheel series. A key oval and a hallmark on our schedule, we deeply missed seeing our fans in Iowa this year and look forward to what’s ahead.
  • ”Plans for the 2022 NTT INDYCAR SERIES event include several additional entertainment activities, making for a festival-like atmosphere throughout the weekend.“With our strong connection to local communities and involvement in the state, we plan to host an event that will receive national attention and make Newton an annual destination for racing fans,” said Randy Edeker, chairman, CEO and president of Hy-Vee. “The weekend will be filled with multiple attractions and events that celebrate everything that is great about Iowa and NTT INDYCAR SERIES racing.”
  • West Des Moines, Iowa-based Hy-Vee was first involved in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES when the supermarket chain was the primary sponsor for Rahal Letterman Lanigan (RLL) Racing’s No. 15 car in Race 2 of the 2020 Iowa Speedway doubleheader. Driven by Graham Rahal, the Hy-Vee Honda finished third. It later sponsored the team’s No. 45 car driven by Spencer Pigot in the 2020 Indianapolis 500. In 2021, Hy-Vee provided primary sponsorship of RLL’s No. 45 car, driven by 2019 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year Santino Ferrucci, for the Indianapolis 500 and other selected events, and was the primary sponsor of Rahal’s entry at Road America as well as this Saturday’s race in Madison, Illinois.
  • “The state of Iowa made a commitment to the sport of racing when the Iowa Speedway was built, and today’s exciting announcement of Hy-Vee’s partnership with the NTT INDYCAR SERIES reaffirms that,” said Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds. “Iowa is well suited to be an INDYCAR destination for racing fans nationwide, and I encourage Iowa businesses and organizations to support the success of this event in whatever way they can.”
  • “The state is rich with racing history and has a strong appreciation for INDYCAR and its terrific drivers and teams,” Penske said. “The fantastic addition of Hy-Vee and their commitment to our sport underscores the added value. Thanks to Hy-Vee and the State of Iowa for welcoming the return of INDYCAR racing to Iowa Speedway.”
  • Two-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Josef Newgarden is a three-time winner at Iowa Speedway and the most recent to celebrate in victory lane. Other champions at the track include four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves along with “500” and NTT INDYCAR SERIES champions Simon Pagenaud, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti.The entire 2022 NTT INDYCAR SERIES schedule will be announced at a later date. For more details about this event and to sign up for ticketing information, visit www.INDYCARatIowa.com.Source: Series PR

Notes

Is having oval double headers at fewer venues the only way to get more ovals on the schedule? This may be the wave of the future. I assume the Texas double header will return. If so, the 2022 schedule would have six oval races, although I would prefer to see six different venus. I guess there aren’t that many that are interested.

I hope the Saturday race is a night race, and that the Sunday race is early enough for those from Indianapolis who want to get back for work Monday.

I understand Indycar is renting the track and doing the promotion. Thios could also become a trend for ovals, but Indycar shouldn’t be in the promotion business.

I am happy to hear that there is a multi year agreement.

I will have more details later.