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Featured Other Series

  • COLLECTORCARS: Rebuilding My Totally-Not-Collectible Mustang, Part 4

    COLLECTORCARS: Rebuilding My Totally-Not-Collectible Mustang, Part 4

    StephenCox Blog is Presented by SopwithMotorsports Television Productions

    The steering system on a base model 1980 Ford Mustang is not exactlytrack ready. Light and numb, it offers little road feel and an overlywide lock-to-lock ratio. Increasing the size and width of theoriginal 13-inch tires actually makes the steering worse, not better.Honestly, driving this combination just isn’t much fun.

    The installation of a 400 horsepower Windsor small block, 15-inch AnsonSlot wheels and a new Dynomax Super Turbo dual exhaust tempts the driver to push the car beyond the reasonable safety limits of its original equipment. So the next step in making my Mustang street able and fun was to improve the steering.

    After a bit of research we decided to pull the original steering rack, inner and outer tie rods, pump lines and most everything else associated with the steering system and replace it with a 15:1 quick ratio kit from a 1983 Mustang GT. We chose this option because the parts are available, affordable and bolt right in with virtually no adjustments. The work was just finished this week and the results are mixed.

    After being tested on a winding road at 45-60 mph, the feel of the steering has definitely improved. A power steering system will never truly allow a driver to feel the road like a manual steering rack, but the new 1983 GT unit is clearly better than the stock 1980 systemoriginally intended for a base model four cylinder car.

    Particularly noticeable is the steering performance in the center of a corner. The initial turn-in is virtually indistinguishable from the original unit, but once you’re in the center of a corner the system comes alive. The rotation of the front wheels is transmitted to the driver’s hands by feel. The 15:1 rack responds quicker to driver input with greater precision.

    At the same time, it leaves no doubt in the driver’s mind that you are still driving a 1980’s automobile. The steering is still lighter than I prefer. Modern cars have a heavier fluidity to the steering wheel that provides constant resistance and gives the driver confidence. This is severely lacking from the 1983 Mustang GT steering rack, which is best described as a vastly improved version of the feedback offered from a domestic 1970’s automobile.

    For 1983, this was a quantum leap forward. But this is 2018. And I am a racing driver which probably makes me more finicky than the average motorist. Automotive purists will sometimes claim that to make a car better than the manufacturer intended is to betray its original era and the fundamental purpose of restoring the car in the first place.

    I see their point and in most cases I don’t disagree. But I remain a fan of “rest mods,” those cars that are both restored and modified as the owner prefers.

    My 1980 base model is among the least collectible Mustang ever built. Thankfully, mine is a coupe (the far more desirable Fox body “notchback”) rather than a hatchback, but that’s about the only factor in its favor.

    Since the car has little value in its original configuration, I might as well make it into what I want it to be. We will likely try another more modern steering rack in the near future that offers more feedback and a heavier feel, but in the meantime, we have achieved some success. The car is far more drivable and responsive. Clearly, the 1983 GT gave a better road feel and more precision to its driver than the base four-cylinder Mustangs built just three years before.

    While we ponder our future steering rack options, we also begin preparations for the next stage of the restoration – sub-frameconnectors and a road and track suspension package to make the littlepony handle like a Mustang really should. Stay tuned!

    Stephen Cox

    Sopwith Motorsports Television Productions

    Driver, FIA EPCS sports car championship & Super Cup Stock Car Series

    Co-host, Mecum Auctions on NBCSN

  • SHORT TRACK: An Homage to a Forgotten Series

    SHORT TRACK: An Homage to a Forgotten Series

    The Stephen Cox Blog is presented by Sopwith Motorsports Television Productions

    Hard to believe it’s been nearly 20 years since the Championship Auto Racing Series (CARS) ran exciting, wheel to wheel stock car races on short tracks around Indiana. This series was distinct from and should not be confused with today’s southeastern CARS series that descended from the old Hooters ProCup series.

    The original CARS series was Indiana-based, founded by former ARCA driver Morris Coffman. The concept was built around a spec stock car chassis powered by 305 cubic inch Chevrolet small block engines with two-barrel carburetors that produced about 335 horsepower. The hard compound tires were grooved to limit grip. A completed car, ready to race, was available for about twenty thousand dollars while kits could be purchased for half that price and assembled by the race teams.

    The result was a fun, affordable mid-level touring series that frequented premier Midwestern short tracks including Indianapolis Raceway Park (now Lucas Oil Raceway), Winchester Speedway and Illiana Speedway.

    The crowds were good. The race cars were fun to drive. They had enough power to slide through the turns but not so much grip that engine prices soared into the stratosphere. For a while – a very short while – CARS provided an excellent platform to learn the craft of stock car racing.

    I competed in the series from early 1999 until August 2000. My record was marginal, winning two of the series’ smaller events, sitting on the pole at Winchester and finishing sixth in the season points championship. But the competition sharpened my driving skills and introduced me to some great people who remain friends nearly two decades later.

    Jeff Cannon (33) battles Stephen Cox (21) at Winchester Speedway, 1999

    On September 19, 1999, we put on a pretty good show for Winchester Speedway’s race fans on a bright and cool Sunday afternoon. The top five cars broke away from the field and ran nose-to-tail and sometimes side by side on Winchester’s extreme, 32-degree banking for most of the 20-lap feature. My father and spotter, Nelson, coached me up to fourth place late in the event. The whirlwind speeds of Winchester’s high groove took your breath away, especially when running in a two or three-wide pack of five cars, all vying for a win before a huge crowd at a historic track. I finished fourth in one of the best short track races of the year.

    Series front runners included many outstanding drivers who had already proven themselves winners at other levels of racing. Mark Fesmire could do no wrong in the 1999 season and left us all in the dust on his way to the first CARS championship title. Indiana short track legend Eddie Van Meter won in front of 25,000 fans at Indianapolis in May 2000. Jeff Cannon was so fast he couldn’t keep tires under his car. Bob Dumke, Tim Green, Wes Bullock, Tim Wallen and other fine drivers competed in my era with many more joining after I departed for the Hooters Pro Cup Series in late 2000.

    Jerome Branscum, who won the 2003 CARS championship title and later purchased the series, said, “It was a series that we could get into for ten grand and get a nice looking car and we could go racing. I was 44 years old and had never driven a race car before. It was a real thrill for me. It was the excitement of getting to go racing every week, and on a budget.”

    Going through multiple ownership changes, the series was active as late as 2012 although it struggled to draw entries. It eventually faded away, forgotten by all but a handful of former competitors.

    The Championship Auto Racing Series existed in the era immediately preceding the Internet, so not a trace of its history can be found online. It existed in the earliest era of digital photography, so traditional 35mm photos are scarce and the few available digital pictures are of poor quality. As far as I can tell all records of its races and indeed, the very existence of the series, have been lost.

    “I would like it to be remembered like it was in the early years,” Branscum recalled, “when you could go racing and it wouldn’t cost you a fortune. You could meet friendly people, race hard and have fun.”

    Stephen Cox
    Driver, Super Cup Stock Car Series and FIA EGT sportscar championship
    Co-host, Mecum Auctions on NBCSN
    CEO, Sopwith Motorsports Television Productions

  • Verstappen wins in Austria

    Verstappen wins in Austria

    Max Verstappen put his car in parc-ferme, climbed out of the car and hopped over the barrier to celebrate with his Red Bull Racing team, at the team’s home track. While not a flashy, dominant victory, he conserved his tires to mitigate Kimi Raikkonen cutting his seven-second lead to a second and a half.

    “It was amazing, very hard to manage the tyres, lot of blistering, but we manged to hand on. It was amazing to win at the Red Bull Ring with so many Dutch fans here.

    “I needed to catch up with the points, today was a very good day for me and I hope we can continue like this.”

    Raikkonen briefly succeeded in splitting the Mercedes duo going into Turn 1 on the initial start, but ran wide rounding the turn and fell back to fourth. Waved yellows from retirements by Brendon Hartley and Daniel Ricciardo in the span of three laps allowed him to significantly reel in Verstappen, but he only cut it down to a second and a half in the remaining laps and finished second.

    “I had to back off at turn one because the cars were squeezed together,” Raikkonen said. “After that, the car came good, but we just ran out of laps, and we took it easily too long. We had the right car, today, some points were a little bit difficult, but it was a good day for the team.”

    Sebastian Vettel rounded out the podium and took over the championship lead, after Hamilton’s retirement in the closing laps.

    “I told Max (Verstappen) he had a very good race, very consistent, no mistakes.

    “Obviously it would’ve been nice to start further up, I was left with no place to go at turn one and lost the momentum.

    “It was damage limitation but the pace was very good and the tyre management was very good,” Vettel said. “A positive day but it could’ve been better.”

    Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen rounded out the Top-five.

    Estaben Ocon, Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso, Charles Leclerc and Marcus Ericsson rounded out the Top-10.

    RACE SUMMARY

    Pole sitter Valtteri Bottas suffered an engine failure on the 14th lap of the race and put the circuit under virtual safety car conditions the following lap. Most of the field took advantage of it to pit onto soft tires and run the remainder of the event without a second stop. Race leader Lewis Hamilton wasn’t one of them. He pitted from the lead on Lap 26, handing it to Max Verstappen.

    While second through fourth ran within two seconds of each other, Verstappen was cruising to victory, unchallenged. But after multiple laps under waved yellows conditions, due to engine failures by Daniel Ricciardo and Brendon Hartley in the waning laps, Raikkonen ate into his seven-second lead. He ran out of time, however, and Verstappen drove his way to victory.

    TIDBITS

    Nico Hulkenberg retired from the race with an engine failure early in the race.

    Vettel leaves Austria with a one-point lead in the drivers championship, over Hamilton.

  • INDYCAR: So Now They Want Short Track Fans Again?

    INDYCAR: So Now They Want Short Track Fans Again?

    Stephen Cox Blog Presented by McGunegill Engine Performance

    The Indianapolis Motor Speedway has announced a new event designed to draw short track fans back to the mecca of motorsports. A quarter-mile dirt track will be constructed inside Turn 3 for a USAC midget race, which will be held in the first week of September in an effort to pump up sagging attendance at the Brickyard 400 stock car race.

    Speedway president J. Douglas Boles told the Indianapolis Star, “The short track community in a lot of ways is the heart and soul of racing, so… we thought, ‘Is there a way we could connect with that short-track guy or gal who spends their weekend at the local track on Saturday?’ And we thought this was a good way to experiment with connecting with that fan base.”

    I have an idea that might help. It’s not original, but it’s effective. Let’s start with the track’s biggest event – the Indianapolis 500 – and see if the results don’t trickle down to the Brickyard 400 and every other event held at the Speedway.

    If the Indianapolis Motor Speedway wants short track fans to return to the grandstands, why not allow short track drivers to participate in their premier event, the Indy 500? That concept worked quite well for over half a century. But in recent years the Speedway has promoted a new “ladder” concept and a top tier spec racing formula that has all but barred short track drivers from participating in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

    In late 2016 I asked Boles if he wanted short track drivers returning to the Speedway. He responded, “First and foremost in my mind is just really safety. I’d love to see 50 or 60 or 70 cars entering and guys just being able to decide that they have a driver who’s running at Putnamville and we’re going to give him a shot to run at the Speedway. I just don’t think it’s practical anymore.”

    The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is now paying the price for that attitude. Yes, the short track community is the heart and soul of racing, and no, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has not the slightest connection to that fan base. At least they openly admit it now.

    The cure is simple. Open up the Indy 500 formula and end the spec car era. Encourage short track drivers to make the Indy 500 their career aspiration.

    Then you won’t have to beg short track fans to return to the grandstands in May or September. You won’t have to construct special dirt tracks and hold 

    special midget races to con short track fans into buying weekend tickets to major events that otherwise hold little interest for them.

    If short track drivers race at Indianapolis, their fans will follow. No gimmicks required.

    Is there anyone in the halls of power at IMS with the will to make that happen? I’m not holding my breath, but there’s always hope. For the first time, the Speedway’s president is openly admitting that they’ve managed to utterly destroy their once inseparable bond with the short track community. At least they see the disaster that’s resulted from twenty-five years of bad decisions that alienated short track drivers and, inevitably, their fans.

    That’s worth something. Perhaps it will eventually spawn the best news we’ve heard from Indianapolis in a long time.


    Stephen Cox

    FIA EPCS sportscar championship & Super Cup Stock Car Series

    Sopwith Motorsports Television Productions

    Co-host, Mecum Auctions on NBCSN

  • Will Rodgers to Lead the Field in the Carneros 200 Pro Series West Race

    Will Rodgers to Lead the Field in the Carneros 200 Pro Series West Race

    Will Rodgers ran a 79.081 time to snag the pole for this afternoon’s NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race for the Carneros 200 at Sonoma Raceway. The race is set to start later today at 4:30 p.m. EDT.

    After setting a blistering pace in qualifying by almost a full second faster than the rest of the field, Rodgers will claim his second consecutive pole at the 1.99 mile road course and second career pole in the Pro West division. Last year, he earned the pole and a runner-up finish to teammate and NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series champion, Kevin Harvick.

    Bill Kann, driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet, ran in the second group after running 17th in practice, but had catastrophic engine issues, putting out the yellow flag for their qualifying session.

    Rodgers, along with all five NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series drivers, started in the third and final group of qualifying. All three qualifying groups were set by practice times. Rodgers and William Byron were the only two drivers to run an average of over 90 mph around the circuit.

    The five Cup Series drivers will start as follows:

    • Erik Jones starts P13.
    • Alex Bowman starts P7.
    • William Byron starts P2.
    • Aric Almirola starts P5.
    • Daniel Suarez starts P6.

    Hailie Deegan, who struggled to find a quick lap in qualifying, put down a fast lap and will start in the third position for the race as the fastest rookie in the No. 19 Mobil 1 / NAPA Power Premium Plus Toyota. She was also the fastest in the second group of qualifying and currently sits seventh in the points standings.

    All three of the NASCAR Next drivers in this afternoon’s field will start in the top-10: Will Rodgers on pole, Hailie Deegan in third and Derek Kraus in the eighth spot. Derek Kraus, driver of the No. 16 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota, was last year’s rookie of the year and has earned two career victories in the West series.

    The rest of the top-10 starting results are Ryan Partridge in fourth, Derek Thorn in ninth and Kody Vanderwal in tenth.

  • Stephen Cox Wins Hard Charger, Places 2nd at Kingsport

    Stephen Cox Wins Hard Charger, Places 2nd at Kingsport

    C7R Motorsports driver Stephen Cox didn’t have the car he wanted in qualifying for Friday night’s twin 50-lap Super Cup Stock Car Series events at Kingsport Speedway, but he was fast when it counted.

    Starting in ninth position at eastern Tennessee’s “Concrete Jungle,” Cox’s STA-BIL Brand Fuel Stabilizer #21 won Super Cup’s Hard Charger Award by improving eight positions for a runner-up finish to Ben Ebeling, who won by two car lengths.

    “The last caution came out with four laps to go,” Cox recalled. “I tried everything. I tried to push him down to the bottom of the track but he wouldn’t let me. I tried to sucker him into a bad re-start, but he didn’t go for it. Ben’s a veteran, he’s always super fast and he’s hard to fool. I gave it everything I had but in the end he was just a little faster than us.”

    The second of the night’s twin main events came down to the same two drivers facing a green-white-checkered finish after a late caution flag. Cox again started on the outside and raced Ebeling wheel to wheel through Turn 2 before his STA-BIL Brand Fuel Stabilizer #21 got loose and he was forced to settle for second place, less than one second behind the winner.

    Cox was still pleased despite coming up a few car lengths short of victory for the second time in the same night. His team vaulted itself into contention for the Super Cup South Division championship title, and the Hard Charger Award topped off a successful weekend.

    The races will be televised on MavTV on Thursday, July 12 and July 26, at 12:30 pm and 3:30 pm Eastern.

    Stephen Cox take a break from his oval schedule to go road racing on July 14th at NASA’s “Fire on the Prairie” 6-hour endurance race at Heartland Park Topeka before returning to Super Cup Stock Car competition at Pennsylvania’s UMI Motorsports Park on July 21st.

  • Stephen Cox Opens Super Cup South Title Chase This Weekend

    Stephen Cox Opens Super Cup South Title Chase This Weekend

    Indianapolis racing driver Stephen Cox will return for another run at a Super Cup divisional championship this year behind the wheel of the STA-BIL Brand Fuel Stabilizer #21 at this weekend’s Operation: Johnson Kitty Friday Night Thunder at Tennessee’s Kingsport Speedway.

    The Super Cup series will headline the night’s activities with dual 50-lap main events, each featuring at least three drivers with multiple starts in the Daytona 500 (Bob Schacht, Brad Teague, Mike Potter).

    “These guys are so hard to beat. Everybody’s fast now,” Cox said. “The series has grown so much over the past two years that in order to win races, you have to beat ARCA drivers, road course champions and NASCAR guys. Everybody in Super Cup is here because they won a bunch of other stuff at other levels. The whole field is faster every year because this is the most affordable way to be in a big horsepower touring series on national television.”

    The Super Cup Stock Car Series has firmly established itself as the replacement for the Hooters Pro Cup Series at short tracks across the southeast, touring seven tracks in five states with popular short track stars as well as former Pro Cup and NASCAR drivers.

    Stephen Cox, last year’s Super Cup winner at Ohio’s Midvale Speedway, will make his first start in the series this weekend at Kingsport. Unable to chase the national Super Cup title due to television commitments, Cox will instead vie for the Super Cup Southern Division championship in eight events.

    In between Super Cup events and motorsports television hosting on MavTV and NBCSN, Cox will run several road races in the USA throughout the summer. The 2004 GT Challenge Series champion will then travel to Europe this fall to compete in the FIA’s EPCS sportscar championship.

    Super Cup qualifying begins at 6:45 pm on Friday night, June 15 2018 at Kingsport Speedway, with the first green flag falling at 8:00 o’clock.

    Sponsored by STA-BIL Brand Fuel Stabilizer, the twin Super Cup main events will air nationally on MavTV on Thursday, July 5 at 12:30 pm Eastern and Thursday, July 19 at the same time.

  • Power wins the Indy 500

    Power wins the Indy 500

    INDIANAPOLIS — Two weeks ago in the Indy Grand Prix, Will Power was relieved to break his run of lackluster finishes to win for the third time at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. All week leading up to the 102nd Indianapolis 500, he was calm, collected and stoic, going into a race he’d failed to win for so many years. In victory lane, tears poured out of the “ultimate road driver” who once said he hated ovals and he was overcome with elation, because he’d finally won the ultimate road race in open-wheel racing, Indianapolis 500.

    “Overwhelming. Amazing,” Power said. “It’s funny, you forget where you are, you’re so immersed in the race. You don’t even realize. On the white flag lap I started screaming because I just knew I was going to win it. Unbelievable. Never been so excited.

    “I knew you drink milk here. Believe me. I’ve seen a few of my competitors do it. Yeah, no, I just hesitated a bit because I’m not supposed to eat dairy, but I didn’t care. I just drank it.

    It’s his 29th career victory in 124 starts in the Verizon IndyCar Series. It’s also his fourth career victory at Indianapolis, putting him into a tie with AJ Foyt, Jimmie Johnson, Rick Mears and Al Unser for second-most wins at the Brickyard.

    “…that last restart I was very determined,” Power added. “I knew that I had to get, like, a run on these guys, at least get one of them in the first turn, which I didn’t. I got Oriol I think a lap later or something. I didn’t want Carpenter to have a shot at me. He was very quick. If he had gotten by, I think it would have been game over potentially.

    Very aggressive on the restarts. In clean air, I was very aggressive on the restarts. I started in a different spot every time to get a jump on Ed. I knew if we were fighting into one, it just creates a problem. Very good restarts when you look at it. Never got challenged.”

    It’s the 17th Indianapolis 500 victory for team owner Roger Penske.

    “All I can say is when I came here 1951, I guess something bit me,” Penske said. “I can never get rid of it for so many years.

    “We started competing here, as you know, in ’69. The success we’ve had has really been all about the team members, the people we’ve had, the great drivers, sponsors, and obviously Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

    “As I said many times in the last couple days, to be able to race on Memorial Day in the biggest sporting event in the world, have America the way it is, that’s what I’m going to take away from this race. To see what we have, to see what Will has been able, 10 years with his engineer Dave Faustino. He’s won many road races, all sorts of poles. He won this race today because he was the best, there’s no question about the speed at the end, his out laps, the pit crew I take my hat off to, Jon, and Tim Cindric, because we had four great cars. That’s what you have to have here. You have to have four bullets, three bullets, whatever it takes.

    “I’m just so thrilled. 17 wins. Now I have to worry about 18. I’m not going to look back, I’ll look forward. We have to be back next year.”

    Ed Carpenter came home second.

    “Yeah, you know, I’ll feel pretty good about this in a couple days, I think,” Carpenter said. “The team really did a great job all month long, all day long really. Pit stops were really good. It was almost like being out front early probably hurt us a little bit just because guys started saving fuel a little earlier. We got behind on the fuel save. Whatever segment Will got by us, went a couple laps further, my out lap we had traffic. One of those exchanges.

    “Track position was everything we thought it was going to be coming into the day. You heard the drivers talk all week. Just couldn’t quite get it back from him. We were saving fuel through the middle part of the race when everyone was essentially trying to cut out a stop. That was a little odd.

    “You never know how these races are going to unfold. I thought for the most part the team executed well. I thought there’s only a couple little things that I can reflect on in the short-term right now that maybe could have made a difference.

    “All in all, I thought Will won the race and we ended up second, and we’ll be happy with that. Come back stronger next year.”

    Scott Dixon rounded out the podium.

    “Yeah, as soon as we pitted, right before the end of that caution, we tried to obviously take on as much fuel as possible, be the first in that scenario,” Dixon said. “We knew there was probably three or four others that were trying. Oriol looked like he was, a couple of others.

    “But, yeah, we really struggled on restarts today. The first and second gear just seemed to be way out of sync to the pace of what everybody was restarting. First to be on a limiter, second I was like a sitting duck, wouldn’t accelerate, gear was way too long.

    “Yeah, I don’t know, we lost a lot of positions in that scenario. But the Penske car felt pretty good. It was consistent. It was good in traffic. It was very difficult to pull off passes today. Yeah, so for me, to be honest, huge credit to the team. They did a superb job of trying to pull off that strategy. Obviously we have got very lucky with that caution with T.K., which was enough to give us a bit of a window to get to the end.

    “Yeah, definitely a crazy day out there.”

    Alexander Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay rounded out the Top-five.

    Simon Pagenaud, Carlos Munoz, Josef Newgarden, Robert Wickens and Graham Rahal rounded out the Top-10.

    RACE SUMMARY

    Ed Carpenter led the field to green at 12:23 p.m. Compared to previous years with the DW12 package, passing was exceptionally difficult with the new universal aero package. Just as Carpenter caught the tail-end of the field, he pitted from the lead on Lap 31. Josef Newgarden, who inherited the lead, stopped the following lap. After two laps out front, Spencer Pigot pitted on Lap 34, and the lead cycled back to Carpenter.

    Caution flew for the first time on Lap 47 when Takumo Sato ran over the left-rear wheel of James Davison, who was off the pace.

    Zach Claman de Melo assumed the lead under the caution, but Carpenter pulled a slingshot move under him going into Turn 1 on the Lap 57 restart to retake the lead.

    Caution flew for the second time on Lap 58 for Ed Jones spinning and hitting the wall in Turn 2.

    Back to green on Lap 64, Tony Kanaan passed Carpenter going into Turn 1. Carpenter responded the following lap with a slingshot pass going into Turn 1.

    Following Danica Patrick’s retirement from the race, following a wreck similar to Jones’s, Kanaan took back the lead from Carpenter on the ensuing restart. However, Kanaan pitted with a flat tire. After a cycle of green flag stops, Will Power cycled to the lead.

    He pitted from the lead on Lap 129, followed by Ryan Hunter-Reay the next lap. Sebastian Bourdais pitted on Lap 133, and Newgarden followed suite on Lap 135. Race leader Graham Rahal ducked onto pit road to make his stop when Bourdais spun out and wrecked in Turn 4.

    Carlos Munoz pitted under the caution, and the lead cycled back to Power.

    Back to green with 55 laps to go, Helio Castroneves spun out, hit the outside wall, drifted down the track and slammed the inside wall near the entrance to pit road. The crowd gave him a standing ovation as he made his way on foot down pit road, on his way to the infield care center.

    Back to green with 39 to go, following Sake Karem’s wreck in Turn 4, Alexander Rossi — who started the race in 32nd — worked his way into third. Power pitted from the lead with 29 to go, as did Carpenter, Simon Pagenaud and others.

    In the closing laps, Oriol Servia, Stefan Wilson and Jack Harvey gambled and stretched the fuel. Even when Kanaan brought out the caution with 12 to go, they stuck to their plan and stayed out during the caution.

    Servia spun the tires on the restart with seven to go and the lead was usurped by Wilson, going into Turn 1. He ran out of fuel with five to go, however, and lost the lead to Power, who drove on to score the victory.

    NUTS & BOLTS

    The race lasted two hours, 59 minutes and 42 seconds, at an average speed of 166.935 mph. There were 30 lead changes among 15 different drivers, and seven cautions for 41 laps.

    Power leaves Indianapolis with a two-point lead over Rossi.

  • Cox will return to C7R Motorsports and the Super Cup Stock Car Series in 2018

    Cox will return to C7R Motorsports and the Super Cup Stock Car Series in 2018

    Indianapolis racing driver Stephen Cox will return to C7R Motorsports and the Super Cup Stock Car Series for a third consecutive year in 2018.

    Cox, track record holder and 2017 race winner at Ohio’s Midvale Speedway, will participate in eight SCSCS events. He will vie for the Southern Division crown with support from STA-BIL Fuel Stabilizer.

    “I’m really thankful to return to C7R, and I’m grateful that my friends at STA-BIL Fuel Stabilizer are back on board as well,” Cox said. “That kind of continuity is what makes good things happen for a race team. Our car was brand new last season and we had to sort through all the usual new car issues, but we were fast everywhere we went. And this year, we’ll be reliable as well.”

    Stephen Cox is scheduled to compete in two races over each of the following race weekends:
    • Kingsport Speedway (TN), 6/15
    • UMI Motorsports Park (PA), 7/21
    • Ona Speedway (WV), 8/11
    • Jennerstown Speedway (PA), 9/15

    This will be Cox’s first time to race at Kingsport and UMI Motorsports Park, but he has considerable experience at the other tracks. In 2012, Cox posted a third place finish at Ona and he led briefly at Jennerstown last year before retiring with a blown engine.

    In addition to his Super Cup oval schedule, Stephen Cox is also slated to compete in road racing events with the FIA’s EPCS sportscar series in Europe, as well as stateside competition with NASA and the World Racing League.

  • Latest Indy 500 Heartbreak Solidifies Race’s Legacy

    Latest Indy 500 Heartbreak Solidifies Race’s Legacy

    On Saturday’s Bump Day at Indy, the sport was left shocked when Schmidt-Peterson Motorsports driver James Hinchcliffe was knocked out of the Indy 500 field. Hinchcliffe, who currently sits fifth in the Verizon IndyCar Series points standings, took his DNQ in a humble manner, never shifting the blame to anyone else, saying that Indianapolis was a “cruel mistress.”

    That last part is quite true. Hinchcliffe isn’t the first fan favorite to miss the show. Ryan Hunter-Reay failed to qualify in 2011, although he did take over Bruno Junqueira’s spot in the field. In 1995, Team Penske drivers Al Unser Jr. and Emerson Fittipaldi missed the field a year after Unser won and Fittipaldi led 145 laps before a late-race crash knocked him out of contention. The list goes on and on, further showing that no one driver or team is larger than the legacy of the Indianapolis 500.

    One of the biggest names in American motorsports, Mario Andretti, attempted the Indy 500 29 times, yet finished all 500 miles just five times including his only win in the event in 1969. His run of luck in the event was so troubled that it was dubbed the “Andretti Curse,” as it extended to other Andretti family members including his sons Michael and Jeff, neither of which ever won the 500, and although Marco Andretti is still a competitor at Indy, his 2006 loss as a rookie is seen as the epitome of the curse, as he was leading coming to the checkered flag before being passed in the last 400 feet by Penske driver Sam Hornish Jr.

    Smokey Yunick, believed by many to be the greatest engineering mind in racing, made several attempts to win Indy as a crew chief and team owner, which he did in 1960 with Jim Rathmann. He came close again in 1969, with driver Joe Leonard posing a major threat to race leader Andretti, but on lap 150 his radiator was punctured by a hose clamp – a hose clamp! – and he finished sixth in the final rundown. Yunick went on to mount the hose clamp on a wall in the office of his shop in Daytona Beach, Florida. Leonard himself had a heartbreak all his own the year before when his turbine stopped running while he was leading with 10 laps to go.

    The 1960 event came down to a battle between Rodger Ward and Rathmann, and although Ward led with five laps to go, he slowed to keep second place once the chord began showing on the right front. The next year Eddie Sachs made a pit stop with three laps remaining when a cord began showing through a tire. 1966 saw Jackie Stewart stopping with 10 laps to go when he began losing oil pressure. In 1967 Parnelli Jones stopped after a gearbox bearing failed with three laps to go after he led over 400 miles. Then, in 1987, perennially snake-bitten Colombian Roberto Guerrero added one of many 500 heartbreaks to his list when his engine stalled on a pit stop on lap 182. Guerrero had taken the lead shortly before when Mario Andretti’s engine had failed after leading 170 of the race’s first 177 laps.

    It was Yunick who claimed that the spirit of the Indy 500 was a bull that sat in the first turn. Purely metaphorical, of course, but taking into consideration how difficult it is to win the 500, is it a wonder that only a select number of drivers have won the race more than once? Dario Franchitti is a three-time winner, while Helio Castroneves is also a three-time winner of the event. Only three drivers have won the race four times, with Rick Mears, Al Unser, and A.J. Foyt all managing to tame the bull more than anyone else.

    Sometimes, though, the Indy 500 is like Stephen King’s Dark Tower. It’s the nexus of size and time in the racing world, and the road to success is fraught with peril. This isn’t the lowest point for Hinchcliffe at Indy. In 2015 he almost lost his life in a spectacular practice crash that kept him out of the car for the rest of the season. He did eke out a small measure of revenge in 2016 when he returned to win the pole for the 500, only to finish seventh after leading 27 laps.

    Ralph DePalma led 196 laps in the 500 in 1912, but with a lap and a half to go a connecting rod broke, ending his dominating run. In 1955, Bill Vukovich was well on the way to his third consecutive win in the 500 but lost his life when lapped cars in front of him tangled and he was collected in the crash. In 2011, JR Hildebrand was set to be the first rookie to win the 500 since Castroneves in 2001, but going high around Charlie Kimball on the last corner of the last lap Hildebrand collided with the wall, leading to Dan Wheldon scoring his second and final 500 win.

    All of this goes to show that it’s not an easy road to Indy success. But when that success is reached, it’s the highlight of a career. Andretti’s ’69 500 win was his only win in the event, but had he not won the race at all, his career would forever be deemed incomplete. Meanwhile, Buddy Rice’s lone 500 win kept his career from being mired in semi-obscurity before he followed it up with a 24 Hours of Daytona win in 2009. Buddy Lazier was a relative unknown before his 1996 win in the event which led to a full-time ride, seven more IndyCar wins, and the 2000 series championship. Sam Hanks won the event in 1957. Hanks had raced before and after World War II and had even served in the military. Hanks had made at least 8 FIA starts and retired following his 500 win. 1955 500 winner Bob Sweikert made five FIA starts and finished sixth a year after winning the 500 before losing his life shortly after in a Sprint Car crash.

    Indy is the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. No legacy can surmount Indy, no matter how big the name. Now, given the current state of the sport, it’s possible that Hinchcliffe and SPM could buy out another entry in order to keep him in the race. But that goes against what makes Indy such a tough race. It’s an indiscriminate animal, indifferent to both driver and team. Only the best make the field, and only the best combination of luck and talent will allow a driver to drink the milk in Victory Lane.

    Thank you to Christopher DeHarde (@CDeHarde on Twitter) for research assistance.