Category: Featured Other Series

For Travis Fisher, hard work has paid off in his 10 years at the local short track racing level. He began to see the fruits to his labor in 2007, when he scored his first track championship at Mountain Speedway (now Evergreen Raceway Park) located in Pennsylvania racing the 4-Cylinder division, the same track in which his father Larry holds the all-time record in wins since 1988 in the Late Model division.

Travis has since worked his way into the Late Model ranks, claiming a championship at his new local track in New York in 2010. Travis said now that his first Late Model Championship is out of the way, he can focus on winning races even if it means tearing up a car, instead of just keeping out of trouble to stay near the top of the points.

Following last weekend’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, there’s no doubt that Josef Newgarden and car owner Sarah Fisher were feeling some frustration.

Newgarden finished pit stops as the leader, coming out directly in front of Ryan Hunter-Reay on cold tires. Hunter-Reay went for the pass and contact happened, resulting in both of their days ending.

As everybody continues to reflect back to the event, the one question remains – what if? Perhaps Newgarden would’ve won, or perhaps at least finished on the podium. Either finish would’ve marked a highlight for the Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing team, just as the win for Ed Carpenter Racing was a highlight.

The strength of Newgarden, Takuma Sato’s success and the success of Mike Conway with the win show that single-car organizations can compete with the multi-car organizations like Team Penske, Chip Ganassi Racing and Andretti Autosport. While seeing Newgarden contending for the win may have been a surprise with that said, it shouldn’t be.

Newgarden has been getting stronger as he continues to put more laps under his belt at Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing. The young driver even put himself in position to win a couple times last year, including a second place finisher at Baltimore. Added together with a couple other top-fives, Newgarden is starting to come to his own as a driver.

Consistently at the front will be a question based on the past, however perhaps the bugs are worked out and he can be a top 10, top five contender each week. However, even being at the front for some of the races puts Newgarden in position and sometimes that’s all that matters with what can happen.

As Newgarden continues to get stronger with each lap behind the wheel, don’t be surprised if the young driver finds victory lane this year. Any of the street courses could lead Newgarden to victory with how he tackles them, and perhaps strategy could fall right in his lap and lead him to victory.

Tagliani Autosport announced earlier this week Monday that Stefan Rzadzinski will drive the No. 18 Team EpiPen/Dicom Express entry in the 2014 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series (NCATS) season opener on May 18th at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.

Alex Tagliani was originally scheduled to run the full NCATS schedule in 2014, however, he will miss the season opener as it falls on the same day as Indianapolis 500 qualifying. Tagliani is attempting to qualify for the 98th running of the “Greatest Spectacle of Racing” with Sarah Fisher-Hartman Racing.

Tagliani says he and business partner Colin Livingston, President of CanTorque Incorporated of Edmonton Alberta, chose Edmonton, Alberta native Rzadzinski due to his talent, as well as his ability to represent the sponsors.

“We are so fortunate to have amazing partners in EpiPen/Pfizer and Dicom, so it was important for Colin and I to go with a young driver who not only has talent like Stefan has in abundance, but a driver who’s also well spoken and intelligent to represent our partners in the best way possible,” Tagliani commented. “Being from Edmonton, he also gives Tagliani Autosport and the team very valuable Western Canada exposure and visibility. We’re very excited to bring Stefan on board.”

21-year-old Rzadzinski started racing at the age of eight, and has been progressing up through the open-wheel ranks. He was a major prize-winner in the Skip Barber Shootout, a finalist for the Team Canada Scholarship for young drivers, a “Road to Indy” podium finisher, a two-time Ontario F-1600 Championship Runner-Up, Canadian Automobile Sports Club’s Ontario Region Rookie of the Year, and the Western Canadian Motorsports Association Driver of the Year.

“I’m very excited to kick off my relationship with Tagliani Autosport this season,” Rzadzinski commented. “It means a great deal to be trusted to drive Alex Tagliani’s Team EpiPen/Dicom Express No. 18 for the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series season opener on May 18th. Canadian Tire Motorsports Park is a track I’m familiar with from my Formula 1600 days, so I’ll be looking to take that knowledge and apply it to the bigger and more powerful NASCAR Canadian Tire Series car. After what feels like the longest off-season in history, I can’t wait to get back on track.”

Rzadzinski will be running the race as a teammate to three-time Canadian Tire Series Champion Scott Steckly as Steckly’s 22 Racing team is preparing Tagliani’s car for the 2014 season.

When everything shook itself out with the wreck in turn four, Carlos Munoz had put himself in position to score a solid finish. Munoz drove hard the final 10 laps, crossing the finish line in third spot. For the young rookie, it marks his second IndyCar podium finish in five career starts and first of the season.

“It went pretty well.  It’s not the way I’d like to earn my third place with so many accidents, but this is racing,” Munoz commented post-race. “Anything can happen, especially on this track, especially in INDYCAR, anything can happen.  But I’m really happy.  It was a really nice race.”

Munoz qualified 11th in Saturday’s qualifying session, though was able to get a good launch on the standing start and gain some positions.

” We were thinking to go on blacks or reds, my new blacks I thought was going to be too much wheel spin so I decided to go on reds because of that,” Munoz commented. “It was a great start.  I like it.  I raced in Europe for a long time, so I’m used to it.  I thought it was great.”

Running just inside the top 10, Munoz admitted to struggling the first part of the race in getting the rear-end of the car to grip the track.

“After that my guys, my crew guys did an awesome job on the pit stops and everything,” Munoz said. “I just pushed pretty hard on the last two laps to try to overtake Will, but it was really difficult.  Even though I had some push to pass.  But I’m happy, second podium in INDYCAR, and first podium this year.  So I’m going to keep pushing.”

Munoz has been successful at Long Beach in the past, picking up the win last year in the Firestone Indy Lights division. Munoz says that experience helped him as he knew the lines that he had to take since they’re the same for both. The challenge was learning how to drive it as the cars and tires are completely different.

“Indy Lights just spring race to push the whole race.  This one you have to think a little bit more of the tires and everything,” Munoz commented. “I knew my first time and my team said, ‘You have to be brave and to try to maintain the position,’ and that’s what I did.  After that, I passed really good at the end of the laps.  I love this track here.  From the inside and outside and the fans here also.”

After finding himself out of the championship picture last year, Will Power has made it clear that he’s the early favourite for the 2014 Verizon IndyCar Championship as he currently leads the points after winning St. Petersburg and finishing second at Long Beach.

Power’s weekend at Long Beach didn’t start off as he would’ve hoped as he qualified 14th, marking only the second time in his career that he has qualified outside of the top 12.

“I was definitely thinking after qualifying we might have been in a bit of trouble, but we know this track well and IndyCar racing well,” Power commented. “There is always a lot of action, so definitely a good day.”

The first stint didn’t see Power make up much ground, however after the first stop, he was on the move. Power made his way up the field, moving into fourth behind Ryan Hunter-Reay, James Hinchcliffe and Josef Newgarden before the final round of pit stops. Power made his stop first, followed by the Andretti Autosport teammates Hunter-Reay and Hinchcliffe. Newgarden was the last to pit, coming out right infront of Hunter-Reay on cold tires. Hunter-Reay made a move to pass Newgarden when the pair would make contact, resulting in both wrecking. Hinchcliffe got caught up in the wreck, while Power was able to sneak by.

“Those two came out of the pits in front of me on cold, black tires, I was on reds,” Power commented. “Then all of a sudden I saw (Josef) Newgarden come out and I’m thinking this is going to be really interesting because all these guys know that that is for the win.  It became even more interesting in Turn 4 when they all got together. I saw Hunter‑Reay go inside, and me going, ‘Oh, this will be interesting if he turns and there they go together.’  Then (James Hinchcliffe) piles into him, and I got through. You don’t get those gifts often in racing, so I’ll take it.”

Power would restart in second spot behind Scott Dixon with Mike Conway in third. Conway would pass Power on the restart using the ‘push to pass’.

“Mike (Conway) was very strong,” Power said. “I kind of regret not using the push to pass on the restart where he got me.  I knew he had one and I had one, and I thought I’m going to try to save it and he used it on that restart.”

Power wouldn’t be able to pass Conway from that point on, while Dixon had to give up the lead with two laps to go due to needing fuel. As a result, Conway cruised to victory while Power finished second.

“I did everything I could when I saw (Dixon) Dixon pull in with only two to go,” Power commented. “I was like ‘Oh, man, that restart got me.’  But like I said, it was 14th, and we’re going to be happy with a Top 5.  So second is OK. Once Dixon peeled off, Mike was very quick anyway.  If I had one push to pass, I’m pretty sure I would have had a good shot.  It would have been interesting, maybe he would have ended up winning because Mike and I would have crashed into Turn 1 or something. It was a good day.  Definitely a good day.”

Power now has a considerable point lead only two races into the season, but that’s not something that he’s thinking about.

“Good for the championship, not that I want to think about that crap anymore,” he commented. “I just want to race.  I’m just going to race to win every time.”

The next race for the series is Barber Motorsports Park, a track where Power has been very successful in the past.

“I mean, to me I’ve got to qualify a bit better for sure,” Power noted. “Definitely aiming to be pole because that track is very difficult to pass.  Everyone’s tested there.  Everyone’s run a lot of miles there, so there are a lot of good guys with good cars, so it’s definitely going to make it an interesting weekend.”