Indianapolis 500 Tag

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana – A far cry from Wednesday’s Chevrolet domination, Honda found themselves at the top of the speed charts during Thursday practice for the 101st Indianapolis 500 with an unfamiliar face at the top. Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’s Jay Howard turned a lap of 226.744 mph, the fastest of the month on his ninth lap of the day around the 2.5 mile oval. However, Thursday was not without its problems. Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden became the first major victim of wallRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana- Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden was third fastest in practice for the 101st Indianapolis 500 and had just been called into the pits when his car got loose and became the week’s first victim of heavy wall contact, hitting between Turn 1 and Turn 2 during practice. His No. 2 hum by Verizon Chevrolet hit the wall a second time in Turn 2 before coming to a stop. The Tennessee native was checked and released from the medical center and clearedRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana- High gusts of wind severely limited practice for the 101st Running of the Indianapolis 500 as only 21 cars turned laps during Wednesday’s practice session. Ed Carpenter Racing was the quickest team of the day with Ed Carpenter leading with a fastest lap of 222.894 mph in his No. 20 Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka Chevrolet. JR Hildebrand’s No. 21 Preferred Freezer Service Chevrolet was third fastest at 220.553 mph. Scott Dixon’s Chip Ganassi Racing Honda split the duo with a lapRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana- Jack Harvey’s first go in the Verizon IndyCar Series has gone about like his journey to get there. Tough.  The two-time runner up of the Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires in 2014 and 2015, Harvey’s $75,000 check he received at the Mazda Road to Indy banquet in September 2015 was nowhere near enough to secure him an IndyCar ride. How was the journey from September 2015 to this year, finally getting a ride in the Indianapolis 500? “Terrible. It’s anRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer INDIANAPOLIS — In recent years, many stars of the Mazda Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires have had some difficult luck breaking into a full time ride in the Verizon IndyCar Series so many drivers are accepting one-off drives, including Zach Veach. Veach was given the task of driving the No. 21 Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka Chevrolet for Ed Carpenter Racing at Barber Motorsports Park after regular driver JR Hildebrand was on the mend from a broken hand. Veach now isRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer The second day of practice for the 101st Indianapolis 500 started at noon and lasted until 6:00 P.M. with no hard incidents of wall contact. The day’s fastest lap went to Will Power with a speed of 224.656 mph ahead of teammate Helio Castroneves’s 224.287 mph lap. The day started off with 15 minutes reserved for Zach Veach and Jack Harvey to complete their rookie orientation practices. Veach completed his orientation at 1:07 P.M. while Harvey had other problems that delayed himRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer The opening day of practice for the 2017 Indianapolis 500 officially began after a two hour rookie orientation/veteran refresher period and Marco Andretti led the speed chart with a lap of 226.338 mph. Scott Dixon was second with a lap of 225.296 mph. Both are driving Honda-powered cars. The first Chevrolet was Ed Carpenter at 224.969 mph. However, before the session for all drivers, some rookie orientations had to be completed, and one was. In order to be declared ready for competitionRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Sebastian Saavedra is set to make his sixth start in the Indianapolis 500 after being confirmed for the second car at Juncos Racing. The announcement came just 24 hours after Spencer Pigot was revealed for the first car, giving team owner Ricardo Juncos two drivers with prior experience at the 2.5-mile oval. Saavedra will pilot the No. 17 AFS/Juncos Racing Chevrolet, with AFS owner Gary Peterson a partner in the effort. A best career finish at Indianapolis of 15th in 2014 with KV Racing (Ironically, whomRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer Juncos Racing has announced that Spencer Pigot will pilot the No. 11 Chevrolet-powered entry in the 101st running of the Indianapolis 500. The Mazda Road to Indy stalwart team have decided to step up to running in the Indianapolis 500 this year ahead of a planned full time run in the Verizon IndyCar Series in 2018. Pigot has run for Juncos Racing for several seasons. He won the 2014 Pro Mazda title and was crowned Indy Lights champion in 2015 for Ricardo Juncos’sRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer Fernando Alonso completed his rookie test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in preparation for the 101st running of the Indianapolis 500.  The Spaniard ran 110 laps with a fastest lap of 222.548 mph (40.4408 seconds). To get to that speed, however, the two-time Formula One World Champion had to pass his rookie orientation at Indianapolis by running 10 laps between 205-210 mph, 15 laps between 210-215 mph and then 15 laps over 215 mph. The minimum number of laps to complete is 40Read More