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Other series racing

  • Juan Pablo Montoya Sheds Light on Open Wheel Atmosphere While Praising NASCAR

    Juan Pablo Montoya Sheds Light on Open Wheel Atmosphere While Praising NASCAR

    [media-credit name=”Barry Albert” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]With the official announcement that Kimi Raikkonen is coming to NASCAR quite a stir has started around the garage and grandstands. With the common consensus being it will be ‘cool’ to see Raikkonen compete in a Kyle Busch Motorsports truck at Charlotte, the most recent open wheel defect took it a step further in providing some insight into two different racing worlds.

    It was late 2006 when Juan Pablo Montoya left Formula 1 for NASCAR and joined Chip Ganassi Racing to drive the No. 42 Target machine. Montoya quickly grabbed headlines but struggled early and often even though he won at Sonoma in the summer of 2007. Since then however, Montoya has become a full-fledged stock car driver, wheeling and wrestling around tracks like Daytona and Martinsville to become a contender on a weekly basis.

    Montoya openly admits he’s glad he moved to NASCAR when he did and wouldn’t trade it for anything. He’s quite happy with where he is and what he’s doing, even though still searching for his first win on an oval in a series that he calls underrated but very well broadcast.

    “The series is a lot higher than people think it is,” said Montoya Friday at Martinsville. “I think people here are underrated at our level against worldwide. I think maybe if you would get the numbers of how many people internationally are watching these races not only in America but in Europe and Asia, I think you would shock yourself. I think they are pretty amazing.”

    Saying that NASCAR drivers are underrated one of those sad but true statements. Many in the open wheel world, be it Formula 1 or IndyCar, are considered the best drivers in the world. Over the last few years though, they’ve all come to NASCAR: Stewart, Allmendinger, Montoya, Franchitti (who went back to IndyCar after not finding success in NASCAR) and now Raikkonen.

    And while open wheel drivers are considered some of the best, the argument can be made they aren’t very diverse. In NASCAR traveling to a road course is considered a unique and rare occasion, it only happens twice a year in the Sprint Cup Series. In open wheel a road course is their bread and butter and has carried over into why Montoya is a threat at Sonoma and Watkins Glen.

    Just some of the many differences between two racing worlds, not many can make the switch and be successful. Montoya for one has gone straight from Formula 1 to the highest level in NASCAR with very little experience in between.

    Montoya has nothing but praise for the new home and sport he has found. While NASCAR looks like a stereotype to others, to truly understand it one must experience it. As Montoya describes, NASCAR is exciting and the atmosphere is different than that of Formula 1.

    “People in Formula One are very selfish,” he said. “They think there is nothing better out there. You look from technology wise, there’s not. But the actual racing, this  is exciting. It’s exciting to watch, it’s exciting to be here. When you hear about ovals and sometimes you watch them, the first time you watch it by yourself, oh yeah it’s a circle. But if you come and actually see how fast we’re going in real life, they go oh yeah that’s a lot faster than people think it is.”

    Montoya is proof there is life outside of Formula 1. Every sport and every athlete though believes what they have is the best. Seems preposterous to leave Formula 1 for NASCAR or vice versa. NASCAR will be considered the little engine that could compared to other sports yet as time goes on more attention is forthcoming.

    “People are watching,” said Montoya. “Over the last few years when I came over people started paying attention to how I ran and I think a lot of people got hooked on it. I still receive emails from people from Formula One, good luck in the race, great qualifying. It’s like oh, you’re paying attention. That is surprising.”

    Montoya believes that Raikkonen will fit in with the other drivers in NASCAR. With his departure from one world and introduction into another will draw attention as it did for Montoya and most recently Danica Patrick. Those who may have never watched NASCAR before tune in just to see how they are doing.

    Raikkonen will experience that along with a different atmosphere in the garage area and the country.  The fan fair is also going to be different. But there’s no difference in NASCAR capitalizing on another driver defecting from open wheel.

    NASCAR is no longer about the good ‘ol southern boys slinging mud each Saturday night. Their driver diversity is growing as is its international appeal and it doesn’t hurt when a man with Montoya’s background and credentials say it’s the place that he wants to be.

  • Kory Rabenold Focuses On Pocono Return

    SLATINGTON, Pennsylvania (March 29, 2011) – – ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards driver Kory Rabenold may not competing full-time in the series in 2011 but the Slatington, Pennsylvania is eagerly preparing for the Pocono ARCA 200 on Saturday, June 11th.

    While his Kory Rabenold Racing (KRR) is still attacking partners for the event, his family-owned team is set to utilize the first of two Pocono ARCA races this season just to prove how serious he is about putting his career back on track.

    “We recently decided we were going to Pocono in June,” Rabenold said. “Our goal is to go there with our team and prove that despite being outside the circle in Motorsports that we still have the drive and ability to get the job done.”

    One particular that will make the seventh of 19 ARCA Racing Series so special is that the KRR consists of a volunteer-crew.

    “We’re a really small team with a big dream,” Rabenold offered. “There are a lot of people though that believe in me and want to see that dream come true. My personal goal is to come out of Pocono with a good consistent finish. It will give our team some satisfaction knowing that their hard work equaled good results on the track.”

    He continued, “I work everyday at my dad’s body shop. We then come home at night and work on the car for a couple hours before doing it all over the next day. I couldn’t do it without the support and belief of him. One day, I hope I’ll be able to make it up to him.”

    Rabenold also stretched out the team’s initial intent for 2011. “Well, our main objective is to put our KRR team back on the map. We have some cars, we have some equipment, we’re just getting everything ready, just in case (a major sponsor comes along). We’re also not ruling out the possibility of doing double duty by running both the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and ARCA races in one day. Of course, if we can find some dollars to do it. The good thing is we’re talking to some people and at least their listening.”

    To learn more about Kory Rabenold and his KRR team, please logon to RabenoldRacing.com.

  • Robb Brent Focusing On Bigger Picture In 2011

    SHELBY TOWNSHIP, Michigan (March 29, 2011) – – Robb Brent, the most recent ARCA winner at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway has different goals in 2011 than he had last year. After competing in the full ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards season in 2010 driving for Allgaier Motorsports, sponsorship woes have sidelined Brent thus far this year. However, Brent, the Shelby Township, Michigan native is vowing to return to racing in some way, shape or form in 2011.

    Currently, Brent spends his days working for his father’s Bob Brent Orchard Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram dealership in the Great Lakes state but between those duties, Brent himself is pounding the pavement while trying to stay realistic about returning to the series this year.

    “It’s not easy not being in a race car,” Brent admitted. “I love racing. Unfortunately, the sponsorship we’ve had over the last couple of seasons could not continue this year, so we’ve had to regroup. I have some things in the works. It’s just really time consuming and sometimes can be extremely frustrating.

    I won’t give up though. I want to race and I’m talking to some different teams about some of the ARCA races this season in case sponsorship does come through. Of course, I would like to race at Pocono, the road course at New Jersey and most definitely at my home track at Michigan. Right now, one race, three races or 10 races, I’ll be thankful for whatever I can get.”

    Despite not competing on the racetrack, the recent Northwood University graduate is keeping his local charity work in-check which includes activities through the Macomb Charitable Foundation.

    “I’m thankful that I developed a great relationship with the Macomb Charitable Foundation,” Brent explained. “Even though, I’m not on the track, it doesn’t mean I can walk away from the people that have supported my racing career.”

    Brent also expressed about a new chapter in his racing career that he feels is gaining momentum. “I’m trying to help some of the ARCA Racing Series drivers become more familiar with New Jersey Motorsports Park. I love racing there. In fact, we almost won there last year if not for a mechanical gremlin. I’m chatting with some fellow colleagues about some private test sessions and just going up to the track and working with them on their set-up, their finesse around the track, things like that. Anything like that to keep my name out there is crucial in times like this.”

    For more on Robb Brent, sponsorship opportunities and official team merchandise, please visit Robbbrentracing.com .

  • Simona de Silvestro Gets Best Career Finish of Fourth at St. Petersburg

    Simona de Silvestro Gets Best Career Finish of Fourth at St. Petersburg

    At the end of the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Simona de Silvestro finished fourth behind Dario Franchitti, Will Power and Tony Kanaan.

    In the final laps, she tried to make the move on Kanaan for third, though could not complete the pass.

    [media-credit name=”cg photography” align=”alignright” width=”255″][/media-credit]”We kind of battled like the last 15 laps to get in,” she said. “You know, it was kind of a high risk to try to pass him because it was so dirty on the inside of [turn] one. I had one shot that I think I could have made it, but I almost overshot it. So I think I’m really happy with fourth because we started 17th.   And, with how we started the weekend, it wasn’t how I would thought we would end the race here. You know, I’m just really happy with my new engineer. We started working together on Friday, and to be running fourth today is something pretty special.”

    Silvestro started the race with a new engineer after her previous engineer left the team, so there was extra grastification in getting a top five finish. 

    “It’s huge. Like I said, I never thought on Friday that we would be running so well during the race,” she said. “We were keeping up with the leaders, and my new engineer….. communication in the beginning was pretty tough because I never worked with him. But this morning it seemed like it really clicked and we really tried to figure it out. It was a tough moment for the team last weekend. We were scrambling to try to find a new engineer, and I think we made the right choice. Brent Harvey is pretty awesome. When he talks to me on the radio, he’s really calming me down, so I think we’ll make a good team.”

    Part of getting that communication with Brett Harvey involved having to make some final changes to the car following the morning warm-up.

    “We struggled with the new tires with our car,” she said. “We couldn’t quite figure it out, and then this morning we pretty much changed a couple of things on the car and suddenly it was there. I finally had the feel for the car.

    “And I think it was mostly the communication between my engineer and me that started to click this morning. Before, he was trying to understand me, I was trying to understand him. And for me, it always has been a big part of it – for my engineer and I to have really great communication. And, this morning, I thought, “okay, that’s what we are going to do,” and it just kind of went in the right direction.”

    If given a couple more laps, Silvestro says she may have been able to get by Kanaan.

    “I definitely had a couple of boosts left,” she said. “Maybe I should have used one a little bit earlier, but I got close to TK a couple of times because he was making a couple of mistakes. But, like I said, it was really risky to try to make the move. I was running fourth and I never really quite got the shot that I was next to him. I didn’t take any crazy chances to ruin our race because the [race to the] championship is really long.”

    Right off the bat, she had to work hard for her position as with starting back in the pack in 17th, she had to avoid the first lap wreck that involved Marco Andretti, Helio Castroneves, Mike Conway, Ryan Briscoe and Scott Dixon.

    “I started way back, so I couldn’t see anything really because there was so much dust,” she continued. “But, I kind of made it through. And, I think I saw Marco – I saw a car kind of going up in the air.  I tried to find a hole and I did. I came out in ninth position, so I think I made the right move. Maybe I was a little bit lucky, also, through turn one at the start of the race.”

    IndyCar put forth a new rule this year to start each race with double-file restarts, which made the race interesting for Silvestro near the end.

    “I got the inside and pretty much everybody kind of came down on me and I had nowhere to go,” she said. “I kind of made a little bit of contact with Will because I was pretty much on the rumble strip.  But I thought the double‑file restarts were pretty fun because it actually gave us a chance to actually make positions.   Last year, we would start single file every time, it would be hard. You would be just following the leader. I think it [the restarts] made it exciting and I really enjoyed it.”

    With this being her best career finish, she includes this race in her career highlights, along with making the Indy 500 last year.

    “Today is definitely going to go right up there, because I think it was one of the best races I’ve done,” she said. “I didn’t really make many mistakes and I really liked that. Being a female driver, I really get along with Danica, but it’s not like we compare notes or anything. I think she’s doing a great job.   At the end I think we are just here to try to beat every other driver.”

     This also marks a big moment for the entire team as they are considered one of the smaller IndyCar teams.

    “I think even last year when I was racing there, we struggled towards the end to get the sponsorship together,” she said. “But he worked hard and he has a great group of people on the team. They are like a big family. It’s a pretty small team but we really get along really well. And my manager, Imran Safiulla, put the whole Nuclear Clean Energy deal together. Those folks are going to be with me for the next couple of years.

    “I’m really lucky; not many drivers have this opportunity. And, with an industry like this supporting and choosing you as a spokesperson, it’s something pretty special.”

  • Dario Dominates St. Pete

    Dario Dominates St. Pete

    [media-credit name=”Cg Photography” align=”alignright” width=”270″][/media-credit]Two time Indy Car series champion, Dario Franchitti got his 2011 season off to a good start with a dominating win on the downtown streets of Saint Petersburg Florida at the 7th annual Honda grand Prix. Dario had been quick all week end, posting the fastest practice speed on Friday, and qualified second for Sundays’ race. The Target Ganassi team was very optimistic about their chances with both cars starting at the front of the grid, Scott Dixon would grid just on spot behind Dario in third position. Race day would get off to a somewhat ominous start, during the morning warm up, Sebastien Bourdais, driving his backup car, after an incident during qualifying Saturday left his primary car to badly damaged to continue, clipped the inside wall in turn eleven, damaging the right side suspension, and Sebastien was along for the ride at that point. The car slammed the retaining wall in turn twelve, and came to rest against the wall just short of the entrance to turn thirteen, A small fire was evident at the back of the car but fire, and rescue crews quickly extinguished the flames, and Sebastien exited the car unharmed. This crash would force Bourdais to withdraw his entry.

    As the cars were being formed up on pit road, and ABC was in the midst of their pre race show, the six vintage world war two aircraft were taking off from the only open runway at Albert Whited Airport in preparation for the fly over at the conclusion of the national anthem. As the old war birds came into formation, one of the aircraft would experience a complete engine failure, and be forced to execute an emergency landing. Unfortunately the aircraft would not make it back to the airport, and end up in the waters of Tampa Bay. Saint Petersburg fire, and rescue boat that was anchored at the Accura Yacht Club was quickly on the scene, and was able to safely remove the two man crew from the aircraft. Both men were unhurt.

    The initial start of the race saw the field storm into turn one four wide, this would result in a multi car incident that would leave Marco Andretti upside down, the cars of Helio Castroneves, Mike Conway, Ryan Briscoe, and Scott Dixon heavily damaged. Andretti was done for the day. Mike Conway was also unable to continue. Ryan Briscoe drove back to his pit, but the crew was not able to get him back out and retired the car for the day.Castroneves would spend fifteen laps making repairs and was able to get back on track, the Target Ganassi crew made repairs to Dixons’ car and was able to keep Scott in the race. The race would see several more cautions early on, but settled down around lap forty. Franchitti would remain out front through these caution periods, and was never seriously challenged for the top spot.

    As the race wound down Franchitti would stretch his lead to over six seconds over second place Will Power. Power, the defending race winner from last years’ race didn’t have anything for Franchitti, and settled for a very fine second place finish. Crowd favorite Tony Kanaan brought his Lotus home in third place, “Six days ago I didn’t have a job, now things seem to be working out” Kanaan said in post race ceremonies. Simona De Silvestro would finish a career best fourthTakuma Sato would round out the top five. This would give the KV Racing Technology team two cars in the top five.

    As the dust settled, and the confetti flew, the seventh edition of the Honda Grand Prix of Saint Petersburg gave the race fans everything they had come to see, and left race organizers and city officials with very big smiles on their faces. Plans are already underway for the eight annual edition in 2011.

  • Hildebrand Moves Up 13 Spots, Finishes 11th in Honda Grand Prix of St. Pete

  • Will Power ready to defend his title in Saint Pete

    Will Power ready to defend his title in Saint Pete

    Will Power served notice to the rest of the field for the Honda Grand Prix of Saint Petersburg, that he was ready and able to defend his title. Power cruised to Victory at this event last year and intends to repeat this feat this year. Power was fastest during the third and final practice session for the IZOD Indy Cars Saturday morning, Mike Conway, making his return to Indy Car was second quickest with Castroneves, Briscoe and the 02 of Oriol Servia rounding out the top five.

    [media-credit name=”Cg Photography” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]The morning session was not without incident, shortly after the track went green Simona De Silvestro looped her car in turn eight of this beautiful 14 turn street course to bring the session under yellow, after a couple caution laps the green was displayed again and again turn eight would claim another victim, this time it was Danica Patrick. Both Simona and Danica were able to continue with no damage other than flat spotted tires. The third caution of the session came out for the off course excursion of Dario Franchitti, Dario ran into the turn 11 and 12 complex got into the grass and ended up near the tire wall between turns 13 and 14. Dario kept the car off the wall but did enough suspension damage to end his morning session, interestingly enough, Dario would still post the eighth fastest time of this morning session. The final incident was for team Lotus Driver E.J. Visio, E.J. would get into the safety barriers in turn 12 and do significant damage to the car, Visio was able to walk away from the mishap with no injuries.

    As qualifying rolled around, the teams were forced to deal with the new tire rule for this season, which allows for just one set of the soft compound Firestones. These tires are known to be faster, but also wear more than the harder compound tires that most teams had been using for practice, this would leave the teams thinking they would have only five laps to post their fastest times,  one out lap, one in lap and three hot laps to get the job done.

    Qualifying was marred by a grinding crash in turn three, Sebastian Bourdais making his return to Indy Car made contact with rookie Sebastien Saavedra sending him head on into the outside retaining wall. Saavedra was unhurt but the car was destroyed forcing the Conquest Racing Team to bring out the backup car in order to start the race tomorrow at noon. Saavedra said after the incident, “This is a blow to our team we operate on limited funds, we have a backup car available but losing a car is difficult”.

    When all was said and done, Will Power would again be the fastest man in town with a fast lap just over one minute and one second around this 1.8 mile circuit. Dario Franchitti will start alongside Power on the front row Scott Dixon posted the third fastest time and will start on the inside of row two, Mike Conway will round out the second row, and Ryan Briscoe, and Justin Wilson will start fifth, and sixth respectively.

    Will Power be able to repeat or will Franchitti or Dixon take charge? Maybe Conway can complete his return with a season opening victory, and of course Briscoe, Wilson, and another 18 teams may have something to say about the outcome also. The 7Th annual Honda Grand Prix goes green Sunday afternoon at 12:30PM.

  • Hildebrand, Panther Set to Kick-Off IZOD IndyCar Series Season in St. Pete

  • Dario fastest on Danica’s birthday at Saint Petersburg

    Dario fastest on Danica’s birthday at Saint Petersburg

    [media-credit name=”Photos by Cg Photography” align=”alignright” width=”187″][/media-credit]Picture perfect weather greeted large crowds as the Izod Indy car Series open the 2011 season on the downtown waterfront streets of Saint Petersburg Florida for the 7th annual Honda Grand Prix of Saint Petersburg.

    The 14 turn, 1.8 mile temporary street course would provide plenty of challenges and fast times for the 25 teams entered. The schedule for Friday would be a morning and afternoon practice session.  The morning practice saw all 25 teams on track searching for the combination of speed and handling that would put them at the top of the pack in this season opening event.

    Several teams were quick in the morning including defending race champion Will Power.  His Penske team mates, Heillo Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe also turned in very respectable practice laps.

    Target Ganassi Racing with Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti looked to be ready to take the top spot and the three car team of Andretti Autosport was showing some strength also.

    Mike Conway looked comfortable in his return to Indy Car after suffering severe injuries on the last lap of last season’s Indy 500, Marco Andretti was consistent and birthday girl  Danica Patrick was also running in the top ten, (Danica celebrated her birthday today and although you should never ask a lady her age, Danica smiled a little grin, and said “29”).

    [media-credit name=”Photos by Cg Photography” align=”alignright” width=”187″][/media-credit]Ryan Hunter-Reay would top the morning practice session with a lap just under one minute and four seconds . This morning session ran without incident and although a few teams were scratching their heads trying to figure out this tricky street course, all indications are this will be one of the most competitive fields in the 7 year history of this event.

    The afternoon session saw a number of drivers taking their turns at the top of the speed charts; Marco Andretti was quick, along with Will Power. Tony Kanaan looked good in his new ride. Ryan Brisco, Justin Wilson, Alex Tagliani all showed signs of being very fast. Danica remained in the top ten, but at the end of the day it was Dario Franchitti that would be the quickest. “This is good for our team, and we hope to be able to carry this into our qualifying tomorrow” Dario said.

    The afternoon session saw the car of E.J. Visio get off course, and damage both ends of the race car, the team thinks they can repair the car, and should not need to use a back up. Minor spins by Sebastien Bourdais, and Oriol Servia also slowed the action.

    Activities continue Saturday with a final practice session in the morning followed by qualifying and the Firestone fast six to determine Sundays pole position.

  • Hildebrand Finishes 21st on St. Pete Practice Day Speed Chart

    National Guard Panther Racing Team Prepares to Open IZOD IndyCar Series Season

    ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – (March 25, 2011) – The IZOD IndyCar Series season officially kicked off Friday on the Streets of St. Petersburg as the 2011 field took to the exciting 14-turn, 1.8-mile course on a sunny afternoon. National Guard Panther Racing driver JR Hildebrand made his debut in the No. 4 car, and posted a quick lap speed of 99.614 mph, 1:05.0510 seconds which was good enough for 22nd position on the final speed chart for the day.

    Hildebrand completed a total of 53 laps during the day’s two practice sessions, which was tops amongst the 25 drivers who registered laps on the day. The Californian was third amongst the five rookies in the field. During his Firestone Indy Lights career, Hildebrand made four starts in St. Pete, collecting a pole position(2009, Race 1) and three Top Five finishes in addition to leading a total of 22 laps.

    There will be another practice session tomorrow and the three-round knockout qualification will be held tomorrow afternoon to determine the starting field for Sunday’s race.

    The IZOD IndyCar Series season opener will be held Sunday, March 27 on the Streets of St. Petersburg, with live coverage provided by ABC starting at 12:30 p.m. (ET) and additional coverage provided by the IMS Radio Network, XM Channel 145 and Sirius Channel 121.

    JR Hildebrand, No. 4 National Guard Dallara Honda:

    “We got caught up in traffic when we were at our best there at the end, and for sure there is a lot more in the National Guard car. But more than anything by the end of the second session we got a little bit more of a handle on where we really need to go. We made some good changes in between the first and second session and where the fast guys picked up a half a second we picked up a full second. There’s more to go and we’ve figured out where that is, and the direction we want to go should help in getting more out of our new tires and in a variety of areas. It’s certainly a competitive field but I have no doubts that once we’re firing on all cylinders we’ll be up with the quick guys.”

    http://www.JRHildebrandRacing.com www.JRHildebrandRacing.com – www.pantherracing.com – www.NationalGuard.com