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  • Oct 27 2008

    Aussies rule in Surfers Paradise

    Will Power, Scott Dixon and Ryan Briscoe dominated last weekend’s eighteenth edition of the Surfers Paradise Indy car street race on Queensland’s Gold Coast, qualifying one-two-three. Penske driver Briscoe became the first Australian to win the race after Power inexplicably brushed the wall and crashed while leading comfortably.

    Power has been…

  • Sep 9 2008

    America’s sad decline in international motor sport

    Both of last weekend’s Indycar and NASCAR races featured fierce, side-by-side duels to the flag, with Hélio Castroneves shading new IRL champion Scott Dixon at the Chicagoland Speedway and defending NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson beating Tony Stewart in a similar battle on the tighter, slower Richmond Raceway in Virginia.

    In the…

  • Sep 3 2008

    Franchitti to replace Wheldon in Ganassi’s ‘09 IndyCar team

    Chip Ganassi (above with Franchitti) announced on Tuesday that Dario Franchitti will replace Dan Wheldon in his Indycar team next year. Ganassi had decided to drop Wheldon (below) after a disappointing year and move Franchitti from his NASCAR team to his IRL squad. Wheldon sealed his fate by qualifying in…

  • Sep 3 2008

    Justin Wilson’s first IRL win

    This has been a very tough year for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing. After winning four consecutive Champ Car titles with Sébastien Bourdais, America’s second most successful open-wheel team has struggled this season, like all the former Champ Car teams, in making the eleventh-hour switch to the IRL. Minimal testing, a serious shortage…

  • Jul 4 2008

    The delights of Watkins Glen

    I’m off to Watkins Glen this weekend for an IndyCar race and because I haven’t been there in sixteen years I’m very much looking forward to it. Back in the seventies and early eighties I used to go to the Glen two or three times every year to cover Can-Am,…

  • Jun 20 2008

    Defining the Indy car of 2011

    Retired Ford Racing and Jaguar executive Neil Ressler (above) convenes an industry round table next week to discuss the motor manufacturers’ interest in the IRL’s new IndyCar formula for 2011. Over the next few months, as Ressler reports back to the IRL on the findings from his meeting with the…

  • May 30 2008

    Bobby Rahal’s Indycar formula for the future

    In Indianapolis last week Tony George (above) and the IRL announced they are convening an industry roundtable to determine the new IndyCar formula for 2011. The roundtable will be headed by retired Ford racing executive Neil Ressler and will kick-off on June 24 with discussions with engine manufacturers, car builders…

  • May 23 2008

    Sage words from Rick Mears

    The 92nd running of the Indy 500 takes place on Sunday with Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon favoured to score Chip Ganassi’s first win at the ‘Brickyard’ since Juan Montoya turned the trick in 2000. Dixon and Wheldon will start from the pole and the middle of the front row…

  • May 16 2008

    For the stragglers, Indy qualifying continues

    This weekend should be quite a thrash at Indianapolis as everyone who failed last weekend to make the field for this year’s 92nd Indy 500 tries to take one of the remaining twenty-two places in the starting line-up. Chip Ganassi’s drivers and team put on a great show last Saturday…

  • May 9 2008

    Indy qualifying starts amid sadness

    The opening weekend of qualifying for this year’s 92nd Indianapolis 500 takes place this weekend. Favourites for the pole must be Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon who have been the men to beat on oval tracks so far this year in Chip Ganassi’s pair of Dallara-Hondas. Other pole contenders include…