2018 Performance Racing Industry – Friday Notes

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer

The second day of the 2018 Performance Racing Industry trade show at the Indiana Convention Center and it was packed full of happenings.

In the morning, 1992 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year Lyn St. James hosted a panel entitled Opportunities for Women in Motorsport with panelists Dr. Karen Silvaggio (Thunder Valley Racing President), sports car racer Shea Holbrook, NBC Sports IndyCar pit reporter Katie Hargitt and chief Firestone Racing engineer Cara Adams.

Abel Motorsports announced their intention to race two cars in the Pro Mazda Championship presented by Cooper Tires in 2019. One car will be driven by Jacob Abel while the other car has yet to be finalized, although 2018 USF2000 champion Kyle Kirkwood did test for the team at Homestead.

IndyCar drivers Zach Veach and Jack Harvey were spending some time at the Bell Helmets USA booth answering questions posed by Road to Indy TV host Tony LaPorta. Veach is rumored to be racing in the World Karting Association Daytona Kartweek from December 28th-30th with Gabby Chaves. Both raced at Daytona last year with Veach winning the first day’s final event while Chaves won the second day’s final event.

F4 U.S. and F3 Americas unveiled their 2019 schedules and announced Scott Goodyear as the new race director for both championships, replacing Chip Robinson. Probably the biggest surprises on the schedules unveiled are that F3 Americas will not race in Austin on the Formula One weekend but will race at Barber Motorsports Park with the IndyCar Series from April 5-7. They take the spot left by the Road to Indy.