All posts by Christopher DeHarde

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer While many people in motorsports long for the days of A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti racing anything and everything that a driver could get their hands on, one driver that might have slipped under their collective radar announced his retirement from racing after the 2018 Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona. Scott Pruett drove in Trans Am. He drove in the GTO class during IMSA’s Camel GTP era. He drove Indy cars, he drove NASCAR, even got himself a class win at Le Mans in 2001. ButRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer After a successful 2017 Prototype Challenge campaign in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship, Pato O’Ward has returned to his roots and signed with Andretti Autosport to contest the 2018 Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires alongside returning teammates Colton Herta, Dalton Kellett and Ryan Norman. The Mexican racer began his open wheel journey in the U.S. in the Pro Mazda Championship presented by Cooper Tires in 2015 and after winning five of the first six Pro Mazda races in 2016, O’WardRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer Motorsports Tribune reviews the season of the top 10 drivers from the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series championship. Our list concludes with champion Josef Newgarden. Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet 2017: 1st in the championship, 642 points Wins: 4, Top 5: 10, Top 10: 13, Poles: 1, Laps Led: 390 Best Finish: 1st (Barber, Toronto, Mid-Ohio, Gateway) Why did Roger Penske hire Josef Newgarden? Potential. Potential that Newgarden showed by his supreme race craft at the third race of the 2017Read More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer Motorsports Tribune reviews the season of the top 10 drivers from the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series championship. Our list continues with the fifth-place championship finisher, Will Power. Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet 2017: 5th in the championship Wins: 3, Top 5: 9, Top 10: 10, Poles: 6, Laps Led: 443 Best Finish: 1st – Three times (Indy GP, Texas, Pocono) With the most poles in the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season and most laps led by one over TeamRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer Motorsports Tribune reviews the season of the top 10 drivers from the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series championship. Our list continues with the sixth-place championship finisher, Graham Rahal. Graham Rahal, No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 2017: 6th in the championship Wins: 2, Top 5: 6, Top 10: 12, Poles: 1, Laps Led: 110 Best Finish: 1st – Two times (Detroit Race 1, Detroit Race 2) 2017 was a year of two halves for Graham Rahal and the dividing line was JuneRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer Motorsports Tribune reviews the season of the top 10 drivers from the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series championship. Our list continues with the ninth-place championship finisher, Ryan Hunter-Reay. Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 28 Andretti Autosport Honda 2017: 9th in the championship Wins: 0, Top 5: 4, Top 10: 8, Poles: 0, Laps Led: 72 Best Finish: 3rd – Three times (Indy GP, Iowa, Watkins Glen) The very first thing Hunter-Reay mentioned at INDYCAR Media Day in January was that he felt that 2016 wasRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer Motorsports Tribune reviews the season of the top 10 drivers from the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series championship. Our list begins with the man that finished in the 10 spot, Tony Kanaan. Tony Kanaan, No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 2017: 10th in championship Wins: 0, Top 5: 3, Top 10: 7, Poles: 0, Laps Led: 22 Best Finish: 2nd (Texas) The 2017 season was much like his previous three seasons – A runner-up finish in the summer, a few top fives pepperedRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer After winning the 2017 Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires, Kyle Kaiser and Juncos Racing announced a four race partnership for the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season that could include more races if more of a budget were found. This was possible thanks to a scholarship presented to the Indy Lights champion valued at $1 million and other Indy Lights champions have used that to make their IndyCar debuts. But what advice would past champions give to Kaiser about moving up toRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer After a thrilling championship, Victor Franzoni won the 2017 Pro Mazda Championship presented by Cooper Tires driving for Juncos Racing. Franzoni will be moving up to Indy Lights in 2018 in a yet-to-be-announced drive for Juncos Racing. This move up the Mazda Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires was possible thanks to a scholarship presented to the Pro Mazda series champion valued at just over $790,000. But what advice would past Pro Mazda champions give to Franzoni about moving up toRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer After months of speculation, Trevor Carlin and his organization have announced that they will join the Verizon IndyCar Series in 2018. The two car effort will be powered by Chevrolet and have former Chip Ganassi Racing drivers Max Chilton and Charlie Kimball driving. Both have driven for Carlin in junior formulae and their cars will be respectively branded by Gallagher and Novo Nordisk. Chilton drove for Carlin in Formula 3, Formula 2 and Indy Lights, winning in all three championships. Kimball droveRead More