All posts by Christopher DeHarde

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — Being thrown in on the deep end in the Verizon IndyCar Series isn’t a good thing, and being announced as a driver for Ed Carpenter Racing only days before making your debut at one of the more challenging natural terrain road courses in the country certainly doesn’t help matters. However, Zach Veach had exactly that scenario play out for him at Sunday’s Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama as he wheeled his No. 21 Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka ChevroletRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer Colton Herta captured his second Indy Lights win of the season and with it, the milestone 400th race dating back to 1986, on Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park. After a start which saw an opening lap collision between Pato O’Ward and Zachary Claman De Melo that led to both drivers retiring from the race, Herta caught Kaiser napping on the restart and drove away to extend his points lead. Behind Herta and Kaiser, Belardi Auto Racing driver Santiago Urrutia saw his badRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer BIRMINGHAM, Alabama- After a chaotic start to the second race for the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship powered by Mazda at Barber Motorsports Park, Oliver Askew was able to sweep the doubleheader weekend in USF2000 after surviving constant pressure from Kaylen Frederick. The Cape Motorsports entry led from pole but the first half of the race was run under the safety car after three separate incidents knocked four cars out of the race and another car out of contention. On the restart, FrederickRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — After a hectic start to the first race of the weekend for the Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires at Barber Motorsports Park, Nico Jamin picked up his first Indy Lights win for Andretti Autosport. In an aborted start, Colton Herta, Santi Urrutia and Pato O’Ward all suffered damage that severely hampered their race performances as they started second, fourth and sixth. When the green flag came out, Jamin started second behind polesitter Kyle Kaiser. Jamin was able toRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer A new sponsor will adorn Juan Pablo Montoya’s entry in the 101st Indianapolis 500 as Team Penske announced that Fitzgerald Glider Kits will be featured prominently on the No. 22 Chevrolet piloted by the two time Indianapolis 500 winner. Fitzgerald is making its debut at Barber Motorsports Park with Josef Newgarden’s No. 2 Chevrolet and will also be on Montoya’s entry at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis on May 13th. “Team Penske is proud to work with Fitzgerald and to have theRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Oliver Askew continued his charge for the 2017 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship powered by Mazda crown by capturing his second win of the season at Barber Motorsports Park in the first race of the doubleheader weekend. Askew led from the start in his No. 3 Soul Red Mazda for Cape Motorsports but was never able to relax. Team Pelfrey’s Kaylen Frederick had his No. 81 Mazda in Askew’s mirrors the entire race but the 14-year-old wasn’t able to overtake.Read More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer LEEDS, Alabama – In all four points paying races that Spencer Pigot has contested at Barber Motorsports Park in the Mazda Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires, the 2014 Pro Mazda and 2015 Indy Lights champion is undefeated. After sweeping the Pro Mazda and Indy Lights races, the 23-year-old has every reason to feel confident heading into the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, the third Verizon IndyCar Series race of the 2017 season, but the Floridian doesn’t feel any addedRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer Over the last two seasons, Josef Newgarden has had his coming out party for the Verizon IndyCar Series at Barber Motorsports Park. The Tennessee native earned his first win in dominating fashion for CFH Racing in 2015, leading 46 of 90 laps and executing a daring pass on Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves to take the lead. But for Newgarden, this is more than just the track where he scored his first win. This is the track closest to his hometown of Hendersonville,Read More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer During the recent Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, Ed Carpenter Racing’s JR Hildebrand suffered a broken bone in his left hand that required surgery. While still in recovery, the Speedway, Indiana team has called for the services of Zach Veach to fill in Hildebrand’s No. 21 Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka Chevrolet for the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park while Hildebrand recovers. While this is Veach’s first IndyCar race, it is not his first experience in anRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer With rumors of a third potential engine supplier possibly in the works for the Verizon IndyCar Series, let’s take a look at a few companies that could provide a nice boost to rival the current regime of Chevrolet and Honda. 1. Mercedes Mercedes has a long motorsports heritage dating back to the early 20th century. Granted, they stepped away from the sport for nearly 40 years but they came onto the Indy car scene with a splash in 1994 by badging the PenskeRead More