Full Throttle

LEXINGTON, Ohio - Australia’s Ryan Briscoe won the Indy 200 IndyCar Series race today, by defeating pole sitter and Team Penske teammate Helio Castroneves.

Former Champ Car title-winner Paul Tracy - out of work since the series’ IndyCar merger earlier this year - will be back at Edmonton, he has confirmed - only not with Vision Racing, as had been surmised.

Scott Dixon grabbed the lead on lap 149 and had enough fuel to stay there until rain ended the Firestone Indy 200 yesterday with 29 laps left, giving him his third consecutive victory at Nashville Superspeedway.
Miscommunication kept Dixon from pitting along with leader Tony Kanaan, helping him grab the lead.
“When they called me to pit, [...]

Scott Dixon showed no sign of relinquishing his grip on the Camping World Grand Prix at The Glen, the winner of all three previous IndyCar Series events at Watkins Glen International topping the timesheets as 26 drivers participated in two-and-a-half hours of practice on Friday.

Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage is reported to be trying to entice IndyCar officials with a five-race package he believes will open up the series to regions as yet not encompassed.
According to ESPN, Gossage - who still laments the loss of a second round at TMS - is negotiating a five-race deal for Speedway [...]

Honda has confirmed that Danica Patrick will get a test in one of its Formula One cars later this year, fuelling speculation that the American is also to be given a race chance in the top flight in the not-too-distant future.
Patrick currently sits sixth in the IndyCar Series point standings following her breakthrough victory at [...]

Australian takes first IndyCar Series race win, and the 300th for Penske racing, to deny Indy 500 winner repeat.
Ryan Briscoe and a multi-cat accident three laps from home denied Scott Dixon the chance to join the elite list of drivers to add victory at the Milwaukee Mile to the one he took at Indianapolis last [...]

Had your fill of auto racing yet?
For myself, there’s never enough but I’m kinda weird that way.
In wrapping up the weekend lets us start with the scowling Danica pictured left. The scowl is the result of her wanting to kick some Aussie ass after Sydney native Ryan Briscoe took her out of the race in [...]

Kiwi Scott Dixon is the first New Zealander to win the Indy 500 in his sixth attempt for Chip Gannasi Racing.
Only two other New Zealanders have ever raced the Indy 500 - Denny Hulme (1967, 1968, 1969, and 1971) and Graham McRae (1973).
Brazilian Vitor Meira was second with American Marco Andretti third.
“I can’t believe it,” [...]

Who needs Danica when you can have this?
Kristi can wave my, ahem… flag anytime.
1992 Olympic gold medalist, popular professional figure skater and recent “Dancing with the Stars” winner Kristi Yamaguchi will wave the green flag to start the 92nd running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 25.
As the first female honorary starter in Indianapolis [...]

Well, its come to this, a reality show winner is considering walking the walk (crab-walk or otherwise) and talking the talk by possibly shifting allegiances from IndyCar to NASCAR.
Two-time Indy 500 winner, Dancing with the Stars winner and Team Penske driver Helio Castroneves is open to the possibilities of Tin-Top racing.
“I won’t deny that I’m [...]

As part of the media Tusnami following Danica Partick’s Twin Ring Motegi IndyCar win was speculation Patrick might be in line for an F1 test in the future.
That was fueled by a reporter who asked if she had any thoughts of joining the F1 Circus in the future.
Word of the exchange filtered down to Honda’s [...]

Thanks to a tip from Tomaso comes a story of Sarah Fisher’s efforts to field her own team at Indy this month.
Tomaso points to an Indy Star article by Bob Kravitz who thinks Fisher may need to contact a collection agency to get what has been promised to the fledgling team.
One company, Gravity Entertainment is [...]

… Danica’s eyes are cast in a future direction:
Danica us hoping to test her skills in Formula One, admitting that she would relish a “proper” test with one of the teams.
“Every driver would love to drive a Formula One car at some point in their life, so yeah,” she told Autosport.
“I don’t think there’s anything [...]

I’m sure this will come over the objections of the NASCAR media who have slobbered all over themselves at the thought of a Tin-Top version of Danica-mania but, it ain’t happening!
Danica told the Daily Star: “First I want to contend for the IndyCar championship and then we’ll see what opportunities arise.”
“During my three years in [...]

Danica Patrick used a fuel gamble to take a historic victory in the delayed Twin-Ring Motegi round of the IndyCar Series.
The Andretti Green Racing driver took the lead with just two laps to go as the rest of the front-runners had to pit for fuel and became the first woman to win a major American [...]

Heavy rain (”Ooame”) forced the cancellation of Friday’s qualifying and the track was still wet on Saturday.
Organizers tried to get the track ready but “weepers” (I think I’ve heard that term somewhere before - ed) caused by more than 2 inches of rain the previous 30 hours forced Saturday’s race to be called off after [...]

A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck northern Japan early Thursday morning (Wednesday evening est) and it was felt near Twin Ring Motegi.
Several drivers said they slept through the quake, but it did awake several drivers and Indy Racing League officials, including Danica Patrick and IRL founder and CEO Tony George.
Darren Manning driver of the #14 A.J. [...]

With the new “unified” series the question of how far open wheel racing in America has fallen should be moot. Questions now should be directed at how long if ever open wheel can regain what has been lost over the last 12 years.
Look across The Pond to the U.K. and it seems as if whether [...]

Two-time champion Helio Castroneves of Brazil and 2005 winner Dan Wheldon of England were among 32 drivers named Friday to 39 initial entries for the 92nd Indianapolis 500.
Hopefuls for the 33-car field in the May 25 race include three women, a total of 22 racers from outside of the United States and 12 newcomers thanks [...]