IRL IndyCar Series News
IndyCar Series News
AAA Hoosier Insurance will continue to be a personal sponsor of Fisher and will remain an associate sponsor on Fisher's No. 67 car for the 2010 and 2011 Indianapolis 500. Fisher will continue to serve as the official spokesperson for AAA Hoosier Insurance.
An interview with Jeff Belskus, Brian Barnhart,
Ryan Hunter-Reay and Mike Kelly
IZOD IndyCar Series Announcement
Bridgestone Corp. plans to stop supplying tires for Formula One after its contract expires following the 2010 season.
Its sister company, Firestone, will continue to be the exclusive tire supplier to the IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights.
Target Chip Ganassi Racing owner Chip Ganassi and longtime team managing director Mike Hull talk about Dario Franchitti's second IndyCar Series championship in three years (the first with the team) that he clinched with a victory in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the championship battle and they provide a season overview
After a grueling 17-race IndyCar Series schedule, capped by winning the driver championship for the second time in three years, and a wee bit of sports car racing thrown in early and late in the year, what's next for Dario Franchitti?
A.J. Foyt and Ray Evernham were inducted into the North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame in Mooresville during ceremonies Oct. 14.
Some quickee facts and stats at the conclusion of the 14th IndyCar Series season:
In the first ever IRL race on an oval without a lap of caution, pole-sitter Franchitti parlayed good strategy with good fortune to capture the Firestone 300 and his second IndyCar crown.
The savvy 36-year-old veteran from Scotland took the lead with six laps left and cruised to his fifth victory of ’09 to beat teammate Dixon by 11 points and Briscoe by 12.
Dario Franchitti basked in Victory Lane, getting showered by an enormous amount of red, white and blue confetti.
Yellow, nowhere to be found.
How appropriate, because on a day when no caution flags came out, Franchitti reigned supreme over the IndyCar series again.
Danica Patrick offered her strongest hint yet that she's returning to the IndyCar series in 2010.
Patrick's future has been the subject of incessant speculation for months, and she won't confirm reports that she's agreed to a three-year extension with Andretti Green Racing through 2012.
Dario Franchitti’s path to another IndyCar series championship might have started when he broke his left ankle in a Nationwide Series crash last year at Talladega.
Or when his NASCAR team was shut down.
Or during an unplanned business dinner in Detroit.
Sarah Fisher Racing will expand its number of races for the owner/driver and its IndyCar Series program with the addition of Jay Howard for the 2010 season.
Fisher will compete in seven oval races and the early-season St. Petersburg and Barber Motorsports Park street/road course events. Howard, the 2006 Firestone Indy Lights champion, will start his season in the Indianapolis 500 and add Texas Motor Speedway, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Chicagoland Speedway.
The IndyCar Series championship contenders will begin their shootout within close proximity in the Firestone Indy 300. Can't get closer than 1-2-3.
Dario Franchitti earned his fifth PEAK Performance Pole Award of the season - the third on an oval - with a four-lap average speed of 212.696 mph (1 minute, 40.5378 seconds cumulative) on the 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway, and with it the crucial bonus point.
Dario Franchitti wins Firestone Indy 300 race and becomes 2009 IRL IndyCar Series Championship
The scenario was reminiscent of 2007, when Franchitti and Dixon battled to the conclusion of the season finale with the title in the balance. Dixon's car was starved for fuel on the final lap, enabling Franchitti to charge ahead, win the race and the championship with Andretti Green Racing. Dixon, like Briscoe, pitted on Lap 144 and had to come in for a splash (192 for Dixon; 194 for Briscoe) or risk running dry.
From the moment Patrick joined the Indy Racing League, just about all the cameras have been focused on her.
It'll be that way again this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway when Patrick lines up in the season-ending Firestone Indy 300, where two stories will likely take center stage: The super-tight championship battle between Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti and Ryan Briscoe, and Patrick's plans for 2010 and beyond.
The IndyCar championship comes down to Saturday’s finale at Homestead-Miami and that’s probably fitting since the series’ calling card has always been the 1.5-mile ovals.
It’s a three driver, two team battle royale for the title and, while we know either a Target/Ganassi or Team Penske driver will likely be standing in victory lane, we don’t know which one.
Most of the promotion has centered on the close chase for the championship, and the new scoring tower at Homestead-Miami Speedway will give spectators a real-time view of the title battle during the race.
Scott Dixon has amassed 570 points, with Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Dario Franchitti only five behind and Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe eight points back. The title contenders on Oct. 8 posed with the IndyCar Series Cup and the Miami Dolphins Super Bowl trophies at the team's practice facility in Davie.
The genesis of Ryan Briscoe's IndyCar Series championship drive can be traced to June 2008 at The Milwaukee Mile, where he celebrated in Victory Circle for the first time. More importantly, the win provided the source of renewed self-confidence, which any race car driver will tell you is crucial to success.
Sarah Fisher will wear a helmet with a paint scheme to match her pink firesuit compliments of Dean Ackerman.
He was the winner of an online design contest in conjunction with Sarah Fisher Racing's support of Susan G. Komen for the Cure this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Fisher has changed all of her branding to pink for the season finale to raise money and awareness for breast cancer research.
It's too close to call.
An informal and anonymous poll of IndyCar Series drivers didn't deliver a clear-cut champion, which mirrors the title battle to be waged between Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti and Ryan Briscoe at Homestead-Miami Speedway this weekend.
For whatever reason, whether it's the higher-than-usual amount of interaction with sponsors and well-wishers, a never-ending stream of calls from people looking for tickets or appearances, maybe even some combination thereof, South Florida drivers routinely fall short when trying to win at their home track.
Scott Dixon received a hug from wife Emma and a pat on the back from engineer Eric Bretzman - a little consolation after finishing 15thin the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach in mid-April.
It wasn't so much the drop of nine spots from the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car's starting position that befuddled Dixon, but the uncharacteristic finish outside the top 10 for the second race in a row to begin defense of his IndyCar Series title.
If Danica Patrick knows specifically what her future after this season holds, she’s not saying.
Patrick refused Wednesday to confirm widespread reports that she’s agreed to a three-year extension of her IndyCar contract with Andretti Green Racing.
Mario Moraes carries a load of momentum into the Indy Japan 300 on Sept. 19 at Twin Ring Motegi.
Moraes, who arrived in Japan last weekend to adjust to the 13-hour (from Eastern Daylight Time) time difference and experience the culture, is among nine IndyCar Series drivers who will compete on the 1.5-mile oval for the first time. At Chicagoland Speedway on Aug. 29, Moraes recorded an IndyCar Series-high third-place finish in the No. 5 Azul Tequila/Votorantim/KV Racing Technology car. He finished fourth on the Infineon Raceway road course a week earlier.