Weekly View » Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Brickyard Vintage Racing Invitational June 11-14

Weekly View — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 05:10:09 +0000

INDIANAPOLIS — For the second consecutive year, the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association will visit the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard Vintage Racing Invitational, one of the nation’s largest vintage racing festivals featuring four days of action with cars of all types. Vintage Indy cars, Formula One cars, stock cars and more will run on the famed 2.5-mile oval and the 2.439-mile IMS road course from June 11-14.
More than 500 cars spanning 11 groups will race virtually non-stop. Gates open at 8 a.m. each day.Thirty-three former Indianapolis 500 drivers, including two-time champion Al Unser Jr., will practice on Friday and race on Saturday in the Pro-Am event. Before the Pro-Am on Saturday, a fan walk is available on the pit lane — an excellent opportunity to meet drivers up-close and obtain photos and autographs.
For the first time ever, five members of the Unser family will drive on the IMS oval at the same time. Al, Bobby, Al Jr., Robby and Johnny Unser will drive on Sunday in vintage Indy cars.
“Motostalgia,” a high-end car auction, will be held at 3 p.m. on Friday. Among the cars up for bidding is the Lotus turbine that Graham Hill drove in the 1968 Indianapolis 500.
At 3 p.m. on Friday and Saturday (weather permitting), a hot air balloon will be tethered in the infield and fans can ride it 75 feet in the air for a unique perspective on all the action. Rides are $10 per person, with children 12 and under free with an adult. Also, between 6:30-8 a.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (weather permitting), six balloons will launch outside IMS to commemorate the 1909 balloon races that were the first events of any kind at the facility.
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Jim Clark’s Indianapolis 500 victory, several of the cars he drove in his “500” appearances will be displayed.
Blood, Sweat & Tears will play Saturday evening in Pagoda Plaza. The show is free to all ticket holders.
Tickets are available at IMS.com and on-site; children 12 and under are free when accompanied by an adult.

Motor Speedway Racing Weekend a Success

Steve Nicewanger — Thu, 01 Aug 2013 05:08:36 +0000

Last Friday’s full day of Grand-Am series racing was a big success for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with the brand new BMW 4.5 liter 8 cylinder engine making a splashy debut in the Rolex Series three hour race. Max Popow and Ryan Dalziel drove their Daytona Prototype No. 2 Starworks Motorsport Riley/BRM to a three and half second victory over Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas in the Chip Ganassi entered No 01 Telcel/TELMEX Riley/BMW in the DP Class. Pruett and Rojas gained enough points with their second place finish to win the North American Endurance Championship with added a $100,000 to their winnings. Jeff Segal and Max Pappas won the Grand Touring Class in their No 61 R, Ferri/AIM Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia. In the GX Class, Tom Long and Sylvain Tremblay piloted the No. 70 MAZDASPEED/SpeedSource Mazda 6 to a win.
In the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, the No. 43 TrimTex/BCKSTGR BMW M3 entered by Fall-Line Motorsports car owner and co-driver Mark Boden along with driver Bryan Sellers took the win under caution with just six minutes left in the race. Terry Borcheller and Mike LaMarra drove the No. 23 Burton Racing BMW 128i in the ST division race. This win put Borcheller and LaMarra back in the lead in the race for the Street Turner championship. Burton Racing is located in Brownsburg, Indiana and Terry Borcheller hopes to compete in the Indianapolis 500 one day. All in all it was a day loaded with great racing and lots of fun for the fans and the racing teams. Let us hope that this is an event that continues to grow and become an important part of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s racing calendar.
As to the Brickyard 400 last Sunday, the good news was that South Bend Indiana’s Ryan Newman took home the checkered flag to gain his first Brickyard victory. The Purdue grad piloted his No.39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet from the pole position to victory lane with an average speed of 158:585 finishing the race in 2 hours, 32 minutes and 22 seconds which is a record for the Brickyard 400. It’s always great to see a Hoosier-born driver on the victory podium in any race at IMS but this was especially sweet because his father, wife and two daughters, along with other family members were there to share the joy of Newman’s 17th Championship Cup victory. It was also somewhat bittersweet for Ryan because last week he was informed by his boss Tony Stewart that his contract to drive for the team wouldn’t be renewed for the 2014 racing season. He is being replaced by driver Kevin Harvick. Ryan Newman will not be unemployed for long, so don’t worry about him not being around for next year’s Brickyard 400 event to defend his title. He’ll get a good ride soon enough.
As I said before, it was a great weekend for racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway!
snicewanger@yahoo.com

Brickyard Grand Prix at IMS

Steve Nicewanger — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 05:08:01 +0000

Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan is hoping for his second victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for 2013. Kanaan along with teammate Joey Hand will be driving a BMW-Riley Daytona Prototype class car for Chip Ganassi Racing. It is, in fact, the team’s number two car. Former Indy car driver Scott Pruitt and Memo Rojas will be in the number one BMW-Riley for Ganassi. 2012 Indy 500 Rookie of the Year Rubens Barrichello is entered in a Dallera-Ford DP car for Doran Racing. Barrichello won the 2002 United States Formula One Grand Prix at IMS so he knows the circuit. This is a sort of last minute deal for the Brazilian driver. He was unable to secure a ride for the 500 last May due to lack of a sponsor. He has been running in the Brazilian Stock Car Series this year. Rolex, which promotes the Grand Am series, would like to see Barrichello become a regular competitor in the series. Indy 500 drivers A.J. Allmending, Max Papis and former Indy 500 winners Scott Dixon and Juan Pablo Montoya will be competing in DP class cars. Alex Gurney, who is the son of my hero Dan Gurney, will be a co-driver in a Chevrolet-Riley DP car. Indy 500 driver and defending Brickyard Grand Prix champion Sebastien Bourdais is entered in Ford-Riley DP.
Actor Patrick Dempsey has his own Grand Am racing team and was entered in last year’s race. He isn’t entered in the 2013 event, however.
The Indianapolis Brickyard Grand Prix is really two endurance races. The Rolex series race is a 3 hour endurance race and is the eighth race in a twelve race schedule in the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series and is for Daytona Prototype and Grand Touring Class race cars. The event is part of the North American Endurance Championship and is actually sanctioned by NASCAR. The second race is the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge which is a two and half hour endurance race for modified sports cars. The races will be run for the Motor Speedway’s road course circuit which uses the first and second turns and most of the main straightaway but cuts through the middle of the track and emerges at the exit of the second turn. The track length is 2.534 miles and there are thirteen turns in a lap The cars drive the track clockwise rather then the usual counterclockwise. That means the cars will drive northward on the main stretch and generally drive in an east to south direction. Over 100 cars competed in last year’s events. Sebastien Bourdais and his teammate Alex Popow drove their Ford-Riley DP through a thunderstorm and completed 91 laps in three hours to win the inaugural event The winner of GT class was Andy Lally and co-driver/car owner John Potter who drove a Porsche GT3 Cup car.
The whole package is part of the Brickyard 400 NASCAR race on the weekend. Everybody will arrive on Wednesday the 24th. However, none of the teams will be able to unload their cars and equipment until Thursday the 25th. There will be both Brickyard 400 and Brickyard Grand Prix events throughout the five days from the 24th to the 28th. On Thursday the 25th the practice and qualifying sessions for both the Rolex and Continental Tire races will be held in four segments for the different classes of cars. On Friday the 26th the track will belong exclusively to the sports cars. The garage Area will open at 6:30 a.m. At 8:30 a practice session will commence. There will be an autograph and fan walk starting at 11:35. The pre-race ceremony for the Continental Tire Challenge Race will begin at 1:50 p.m. and the green flag for the CTSCC will drop at 2 p.m. The winning cars will take the checkered flag at 4:30 p.m.
The Rolex Series pre-race festivities will start at 5:10 p.m. and the green flag will be waved for the start of the race at 5:30 and the checkered flag will be waved at 8:30 p.m. There are no set amount of laps that must be completed in these two races. Whoever is ahead at the end of the 3 hours in their class is the winner of the race, or 2.5 hours in the case of the CTSCC event.
I really haven’t said anything about the Brickyard 400 simply because its pretty well covered. I just have not heard nearly as much about the Grand Am race, however. A rumor that I have heard is that one of the reasons that the Speedway is adding lighting to the course is that there are plans to extend the Rolex race into the evening hours, thus making it a five or six hour endurance event lasting until 11:30 or midnight. That would really be something now, wouldn’t it boys and girls! Until then good Luck and Good Racing!
snicewanger@yahoo.com