All posts by Frank Santoroski

By Frank Santoroski, Contributing Writer The stars and cars of the Verizon Indycar Series recently completed a two day test at Phoenix International Raceway where the Series will return for the first time in more than a decade. It was our first opportunity to see the Chevrolet and Honda 2016 configurations head-to-head on the same track. It also offered us the first glimpse of some of the rookies in the 2016 field. Allow me to share some observations. 1) The Speeds are Incredible Eighteen of the twenty-one drivers involved in theRead More

By Frank Santoroski, Contributing Writer If there is anything that has been a constant in my 40-plus years of enjoying motorsports, it is Mario Andretti. When I first started paying attention to racing as a boy, Mario Andretti was there.  He was driving a beautiful black and gold Lotus in Formula One, and he was winning races.  A year later, he took the Championship. When I first started paying attention the the newly-formed CART Series, Mario Andretti was there. I was thrilled when he was named the winner of the 1981Read More

By Frank Santoroski, Contributing Writer As the teams and drivers prepare for a new season, one of the most exciting aspects of the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series is going to be the impressive class of Rookies for the new season. Looking down the list of entries there are no Francesco Dracones or Milka Dunos out there, but a field packed with talent from top to bottom. In that field, there will be three young drivers competing for the Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors. Having been raised in suburban Indianapolis, 24-yearRead More

January 18, 1950 – May 8, 1982 Six time winner in Formula One Second in 1979 World Championship The year was 1979. I was twelve years old. The place was Watkins Glen International and the event was the Formula One Grand Prix of the United States. It was Friday afternoon and it was raining like crazy. My Uncle and I were wearing those one-dollar ponchos that fold up in your pocket. They didn’t help much; we were getting drenched. We were standing in a grassy section where we could get aRead More

By Frank Santoroski, Contributing Writer While some may have been taken by surprise with the recent news that Andretti AutoSport will be absorbing Bryan Herta AutoSport into their organization, keener observers may have seen the writing on the wall. Indeed, Bryan Herta’s team was the smallest and most under-funded team on the 2015 grid, but their efforts showed tremendous potential with Rookie driver Gabby Chaves. Although it was a struggle at times for the team to keep afloat, they did manage to enter all 16 events on the 2015 schedule makingRead More

By Frank Santoroski, Contributing Writer In the midst of the excitement that is the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500, the fact that 2016 also marks the 20th anniversary of the open-wheel split is not lost on me. Speaking as someone who lived through the formation of CART, the glory days in the 1980s and 1990s, and the slow painful death of the series, I have a vested interest in what happens next. Will the Media attention around the 100th running be enough to bring growth in viewership? Will the growthRead More

August 9, 1944 – August 1, 1980 Formula Two Champion – 1974 Monaco Grand Prix winner – 1978 Nearly every race fan has a favorite driver. But, with the nature of auto racing having multiple competitors and multiple series, a lot of us have several second-tier or third-tier drivers that we root for just as much as our favorite. For me, as a young person in the 1970s, my “second-favorite” race car driver was a guy named Patrick Depailler. There was a driver named Mario that occupied the number oneRead More

By Frank Santoroski, Contributing Writer With a little less than two months remaining in the Verizon IndyCar Series’ agonizingly long off-season, teams are preparing in earnest for the 2016 season. When the green flag waves at St. Pete on March 13, expect a field that looks remarkably similar to 2015. There was no major driver movement within the top teams and we should see some familiar faces in victory lane along the way. Some of the changes that we will see include the return of Mikail Aleshin to the Schmidt-PerersonRead More

New Zealand’s Scott Dixon make headlines this past weekend by taking home a fourth Verizon IndyCar Series Championship in spectacular come-from-behind fashion. In the wake of this, there is a lot of talk as to Dixon’s legacy as one of the best ever in the sport. I can’t disagree with any of that talk, as I firmly believe that Dixon will indeed be remembered as one of the greats. The problem with that speculation, is that Dixon has a number of good years left, with no signs of slowing downRead More

As the NFL is gearing up for the season, and NASCAR is ready for its Chase for the Championship, the Verizon Indycar Season is winding down, as planned, before Labor Day. The final race on the schedule, The Go Pro Grand Prix of Sonoma, will take place this weekend, with a season champion being crowned on Sunday afternoon. With any luck, we will have a longer season in 2016 and beyond, but, I’ll write about that on another day. It will undoubtedly be a subdued celebration on Sunday as theRead More