Honda Tag

By Frank Santoroski, Staff Writer While it has been speculated for some time, Dale Coyne and Pippa Mann have made it official. The Coyne team will enter Pippa Mann in a Honda-powered car for the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Oil. The timing of the announcement coincides with the kickoff of the 2016 Pink #GetInvolved campaign, raising funds for Susan G. Komen. Mann will once again be behind the wheel of the familiar pink number 63 IndyCar as she sets the goal of raising $100,000 toRead More

By Frank Santoroski, Staff Writer With the uncertainly surrounding the domed skid issue for Indianapolis, team-owner Sam Schmidt stated publicly that getting a veteran driver in his car may be the best course of action. Although names like Brian Vickers and Gabby Chaves were rumored, Schmidt ultimately went with experience, confirming 41 year-old Oriol Servia for his third car at the historic 100th running of the Indianapolis 500. Servia has 198 starts between CART, ChampCar and the IndyCar Series, including seven previous Indianapolis starts. The effort with Schmidt-Peterson will beRead More

By Frank Santoroski, Staff Writer This coming weekend the Verizon IndyCar Series will return to the Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL, as they continue their 2016 season. The race weekend is slated for April 22-24, 2016. About the Race The Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama is round four of sixteen for the Verizon IndyCar Series in 2016. The event is held on a permanent road course, the first of five such races on the calendar. The defending race winner is Ed Carpenter Racing’s Josef Newgarden. The young driverRead More

By Frank Santoroski, Staff Writer For the 42nd consecutive year, the streets of Long Beach have come alive with the sounds of high-powered race cars screaming through the city streets, as the drivers of the Verizon IndyCar Series held their first practice for Sunday’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. At the end of the session, we saw a familiar sight: Penske-Chevrolet cars taking the top two spots. Juan Pablo Montoya, who took his first career CART race win at Long Beach some seventeen years ago, led the session withRead More

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor Marco Andretti set the top time in today’s Manufacturer aerokit test from Indianapolis Motor Speedway in windy, somewhat rainy conditions. Andretti led a field of 15 drivers, who logged a combined 501 laps on the 2.5 mile superspeedway. His 223.427 mph lap just edged his Andretti Autosport team mate Ryan Hunter-Reay, which will give Honda some reason to smile, as their full superspeedway kit may finally give them an edge on their Chevy powered rivals. The full results can be found here. The purpose of the twoRead More

By Frank Santoroski, Staff Writer The Verizon IndyCar Series ran their second event on the schedule, and the first oval event of the year last night. Target Chip Ganassi driver, Scott Dixon, won the race in a dominating fashion leading the final 155 laps at Phoenix International Raceway. Allow me to share some observations of what we witnessed on Saturday Night. 1 ) The Aero Package isn’t quite right    As a few drivers and team owners predicted, the racing became largely processional with the cars becoming strung out. DriversRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Heading into Saturday night’s Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix, Mikhail Aleshin appeared to have a top 10 within reach, until mistimed strategy and a spin coming to pit road ended the Russian’s chances and left him with an ill-fated result of 17th. Aleshin, 28, was out to prove early on that his No. 7 SMP Racing Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda could keep up with the daunting pace Chevrolet teams set in qualifying at the Desert Mile. The Russian started 13th and was one ofRead More

By Frank Santoroski, Staff Writer AVONDALE, AZ. April 2, 2016 – Heading into tonight’s Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix, Honda teams are left scratching their heads as Chevrolet-powered cars swept the first ten grid positions led by Penske Racing’s Helio Castroneves. After completing a two-day test in February, all the Verizon IndyCar Series teams reported that track conditions were remarkably different upon returning to the 1.022 mile oval.  The track had hosted the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in the interim and, despite a power-washing of the surface, quiteRead More

By Frank Santoroski, Staff Writer Andretti Autosport put the rumors to rest when they confirmed that Townsend Bell will be joining the team’s effort at the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil. Bell will be driving the No. 29 car in a fifth entry with the team that has three Indianapolis 500 wins to their credit. The Andretti team utilizes the Honda powerplant and aero package.  Sponsorship has not been announced, although the Robert Graham fashion company, a sponsor of Bell’s in the past, willRead More

By Frank Santoroski, Staff Writer The Verizon IndyCar Series will make its return this weekend to the Valley of the Sun for the Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix. About the Race The race will be the second race of the sixteen-race schedule for the Verizon IndyCar Series. It will be the first oval track event of the season, in a schedule that compromises five oval races. IndyCars will be returning to the iconic track for the first time since 2005. Staged as a a Saturday Night event, theRead More