Tag: NTT Indycar Series

Hulman & Company Sells Clabber Girl

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Some interesting news this morning – Hulman & Company has sold Clabber Girl Baking Powder to B&G Foods. Clabber Girl has been part of Hulman & Company for more than a century. Mark Miles, Hulman CEO, said the sale was “to fully focus on the continued growth and direction of Indycar, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and IMS Productions.”

Here is the news release. I will have some thoughts in my 3 pm update.

Hulman & Company Sells Clabber Girl Corporation to B&G Foods, Inc.

TERRE HAUTE, Ind., May 15, 2019 – Hulman & Company announced today the sale of Clabber Girl Corporation to B&G Foods, Inc. (NYSE: BGS), a leading manufacturer, seller and distributor of shelf-stable and frozen foods across North America.

“Our core focus is the pursuit of world-class motorsports competition and entertainment,” Hulman & Company President & CEO Mark Miles said. “This decision positions us to fully focus on the continued direction and growth of INDYCAR, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IMS Productions. It also provides Clabber Girl with a well-prepared owner ready to use its vast expertise and considerable resources to accelerate the growth of the newest member of its impressive portfolio.”

“The Hulman-George family takes great pride in the Clabber Girl brand’s success, history and critical role in the development and rich cultural fabric of Terre Haute,” Hulman & Company Chairman of the Board Anton Hulman “Tony” George said. “Clabber Girl will always be a cherished and celebrated part of our legacy, and we’re excited we’ve found a strong steward for its very bright future.”

Like Clabber Girl, B&G Foods has spent more than a century in the food business. The company maintains more than 50 brands and 2,500 employees across North America. This includes Ortega, Green Giant, Cream of Wheat, Mrs. Dash, Back to Nature and many others.

“We are excited to join the B&G Foods family as we add our iconic Clabber Girl brand to its impressive portfolio of brands consumers both recognize and trust,” Clabber Girl President and COO Gary Morris said. “Clabber Girl will benefit from the knowledge and reach B&G Foods will provide as a seasoned food manufacturer and distributor. Together, we will continue to grow this historic business.”

Guggenheim Securities, LLC acted as Hulman & Company’s financial advisor for this transaction.

 

Source: Hulman & Company PR

 

 

500 Practice Day Two

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The second day of practice for the Indianapolis 500 gets a bit of an early start today. Pato O’Ward will have the track to him self from 10:20 -11:00 to complete his rookie test. the 31 car had mechanical issues yesterday which prevented him from getting all three phases done.

At 11 the track opens until 6 for all cars to practice. The current weather forecast calls for a 20% chance rain early. The predicted high is 67 degrees.  Conditions should be good for some more high speeds.

We should get a better idea of which cars and teams are strongest today. yesterday was mainly just feeling out the track, the new Firestone compound, and the aero tweaks that Indycar has allowed for the race this year.

Today’s practice will be on NBC Gold with continuous coverage from 11-6.

As of now, Bump Tales will be posted tomorrow morning. The schedule may change, however. I will let you know tonight.

Unless something major happens, i will have a 3 o’clock update and an end of day wrap up. Thanks to everyone who followed along yesterday.

if you’re going to the track, be safe and have a great time.

Day One Final Thoughts

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It was a very busy day with speeds higher than expected. The conditions were nearly perfect for running.

The three drivers who spoke to the media after practice, Will Power, Kyle Kaiser,  and Colton Herta, agreed that know one knows what anyone has yet. Will Power admitted the top speeds were all with a huge tow.  He was 30th on the no-tow chart.

Kaiser was asked about the team’s sponsor situation. He replied, “I don’t care what color the car is, my job is to drive it. I will do my job and the financial situation will take care of itself.” He was happy with what the team did on track today.

Herta said his incident happened because, “I bit off a bit more than I could chew.”

Power acknowledged repeating his victory last year would be very tough. “There are no bad teams and no bad drivers anymore. The team standards are higher now,” he said.

One nice touch at the track this year is dedicated garage space for the Indy Lights Teams. The former F1 garages on the south end of tower terrace have team signage above the doors. They have been used for staging the Lights cars for their practice/qualification day and the Freedom 100.  I think it’s great to make the Indy lights teams feel as if they are an important part of the entire 500.

James Hinchcliffe got a lot of track time today driving all four of the cars Arrow Schmidt Peterson is involved with this month. I wonder if he gets to pick the one he likes best?

Here are a couple more pics from today.  See you all tomorrow.

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Power Quickest on Day 1

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Team Penske’s Will Power had the fastest lap of the first day of practice for the Indianapolis 500 today. His speed of 229.745 was just slightly quicker than teammate Simon Pagenaud’s best lap of 229,703. Power said that the speeds were the result of a huge tow and no one really knows their true speed yet.

Nine drivers were in the 228 or above range in near perfect running conditions.

The only incident of the day was Colton Herta spinning as he exited pit lane. Herta said he accelerated too quickly on cold tires. The only damage was a punctured tire.

Zach Veach exited the pits and immediately went to the high side of the track causing Josef Newgarden to check up quickly. There was no contact.

Pato O’Ward did not complete his rookie test and will have an opportunity tomorrow at 10:20. The track will open for the second practice day at 11:00.

I will have a complete day’s roundup later.

Practice Update

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Will Power has today’s fastest time of 229.745 and teammate Simon Pagenaud is second at 229.703. Seven cars have speeds over 228 mph. Power and Pagenaud qualified in the first row in 2018.

Some quick thoughts:

The video boards show the car’s best speed of the day rather than the last lap they turned. I would much prefer to see the current laps and have the best lap just on the pylon.

There are some very nice looking cars here. Felix Rosenqvist has a great design. Marco’s car in the Mario tribute colors really pops.

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And of course, Fernando

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Back later with a final wrapup of the day.

Carpenter Leads Veterans’ Session; Rookies and Returnees Set to Complete Tests

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Ed Carpenter had the fastest time in the first two hour veterans’ session as practice began for the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500.  His Preferred Freezer Services Dallara turned a lap at 228.653. Helio Castroneves had the next fastest time at 228.441. Castroneves turned his lap early in the session. Colton Herta was third at 228.284.Sebastien Bourdais (228.242) and Spencer Pigot (227.661) round out the top five.

Ed Jones was eighth quickest, putting all three Ed Carpenter Racing cars in the top eight.

James Hinchcliffe drove each of the four cars in the Arrow Schmidt Peterson stable.

 

Rookies and drivers needing refresher tests will have exclusive use of the track for the next two hours. Back with more after the next session.

 

 

Track Action and Temperatures Warm Up

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Good morning from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Practice begins at 11 this morning for the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.

Today’s schedule:

11-1  Veterans practice

1-3 Rookies and refresher tests/practice

3-6  Free practice

You can follow all the action on NBC Gold today. If you haven’t purchased Gold, it is only $40 this month.

I will have updates after each session. I hope to get photos of all the cars over the next two days.

Enjoy the day.

The Best First Time-The Rookie of the Year Award

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Photo- The original Stark and Wetzel rookie of the Year Award,  presented from 1952-1979.

Like any new members of a fraternity, rookies at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway have  to go through an initiation. At the Speedway, it’s the rookie test.  For the 500 a rookie is anyone who has not driven in a race at IMS previously. It didn’t matter if the driver was a world champion, stock car veteran, sprint  or midget champion, they were rookies the first time they got in a car at IMS.

The Rookie test used to consist of four ten lap phases with speed gradually increasing at each interval. Currently the test is three phases. Not everyone passed, and they were told to get more experience and try the next year.

In 1952, Stark and Wetzel, a meat packing company in Indianapolis, began sponsoring the Rookie of the Year Award to the rookie who had the best overall month. Much of the time the highest finishing rookie received the award, but sometimes the fastest rookie qualifier got the honor. The trophy came with a cash prize. Art Cross was  the first winner of the trophy pictured above. He started 20th and finished fifth.

Stark and Wetzel sponsored the award through 1979. From 1980-1988, American Fletcher National Bank gave the prize. Bank One, which absorbed AFNB, was presenting sponsor from 1989-2004. From 2005-2013, JP Morgan Chase had its name on the trophy, and from 2014 through last year Sunoco gave the award.  For this year Speedway LLC has its name on the trophy.

Winning Rookie of the Year award did not necessarily indicate a great future in racing or the 500. Parnelli Jones, co- Rookie of the Year in 1961, was the first award recipient to win the race. Only nine Rookies of the Year have won the 500 after receiving the award. Three rookies who won the race, Juan Pablo Montoya, Helio Castroneves, and Alexander Rossi, took home the ROY trophy as well as the Borg Warner Trophy.

Graham Hill won in his rookie race in 1966, but the Rookie of the Year award went instead to Jackie Stewart.

In recent years the award has seemed to devolve into a popularity contest where media interaction counts more than on track performance. Kurt Busch and Fernando Alonso come to mind as two I felt weren’t the best performing rookies or perhaps should have shared the award with another driver. But I’m still waiting to receive voting privileges.

This year’s winner? It’s too early to make predictions, but there are some heavy contenders. Colton Herta, Pato O’Ward, and Felix Rosenqvist come to mind. This year it may be decided by qualifying and race performance.

Servia to Drive Car 77 for Arrow Schmidt Peterson; Juncos Sponsor Isuues

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Oriol Servia, a  nine  time Indianapolis starter, will drive car 77 as the thirds entry for the Arrow Schmidt Peterson team. The car was on display late this afternoon outside the ASPM garages at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Servia is the 36th and likely final driver to be named to attempt to qualify for the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500.

Arrow Schmidt Peterson partners with Team StrangeRacing, LLC with primary sponsor MotoGator, a line of high performance automotive products and lubricants. Their signature product is loose it Up, a super lubricant.

John Stange, Jr., team co-owner, said,

“I am so pleased to announce this great partnership with Arrow SPM today as Team Stange Racing makes its entry into IndyCar racing,” stated John Stange, Jr., Co-Owner, Team Stange Racing, LLC. “We are so blessed to partner with a company like MotoGator who is committed to building a winning IndyCar program with TSR. Once we developed our plan, we knew that we wanted to launch at the world’s greatest race with so much history and it being so special to me personally. The second thing to do was to partner with a quality team that we could align and grow with as we build our team to compete in the NTT IndyCar Series eventually full time in 2021/22”.

Servia has  a best finish of third in 2012 and a best starting spot of 3rd in 2011. This his second 500 driving for Schmidt.

he was in position to win the race last year, but needed a late caution which never came and had to pit in the last five laps for fuel.

This afternoon Servia said, “This will be the best car I’ve ever had.”

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Oriol Servia talks to the media at the unveiling of his car for the Indianapolis 500.

Moto Gator is a do it yourself automotive supply company. their signature product is Losse it Up, a “super lubricant.”  their website is sk

Juncos Loses Sponsors

News today that Juncos Racing has had its second sponsor fall through in a week. The team is still building the car and still plans to run this week.  They hope to make it to the weekend for qualifying.

Ricardo Juncos said he wants the team to continue preparations and he will worry about the funding. Kyle Kaiser is slated to drive the car.

They will probably have to limit track time and hope rain doesn’t take away too much track time.

We will follow this story this week.

First Day of Practice Tomorrow

Tomorrow at 11 am cars take to the track for the first two hour practice session. From 1-3 the track is reserved for rookie and refresher tests. Several drivers did not complete their refreshers laps at the open test. Rookie Ben Hanley and Pato O’Ward will begin their rookie tests.

From 3-6 is open practice.

Watch for an update after each session. I will start the day with a history of the Rookie of the Year Award.