Race Incident » Indy Car

They forgot to ask Danica

admin — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 23:13:40 +0000

The rumoured (yeah, I won’t really believe it until I see a car on the grid) new Formula 1 team for U.S.A., USF1, were reportedly showing an interest in Danica Patrick and talked about snatching her from the IndyCar series. It would mean instant publicity for the team to have americas most famous open wheel driver in the line-up but they did seem to forget a pretty important thing if they want her to drive for them: ask her if she wants to do it.

According to the Globe and Mail newspaper she hasn’t heard from them.

“I’m very flattered,” she said. “I think any time you’re linked with F1 it’s a flattering thing. We’ll see though, maybe they’ll call.”

The question though is if Danica would add anything other than PR to the team. Her road course races in the Indy Car series haven’t been that impressive and as we all know the ovals are pretty limited in Formula 1. And the level of competition would be slightly higher on the grid at her first F1 race than they will be at the first road course in Indy Car this season.

Danica Patrick and Casey Mears to run the Daytona 24 Hours

admin — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 16:09:25 +0000

Indy Car driver Danica Patrick and NASCAR driver Casey Mears will be racing in the Grand-Am Rolex Dayton 24 Hours for Childress-Howard Motorsport at the end of January. The two drivers will join Andy Wallace and Rob Finlay in the Pontiac Crawford.

Danica Patrick raced for the team in the 2006 event (but then under the Howard-Boss banner).

Team manager Richard Childress comments:
“We think we’ve got a real good package, running with Richard Howard and Max Crawford, We’ve got a great driver lineup. Danica will do a real good job here. She’s a great road racer, and we’re excited to have her in the car. Casey’s really excited. He won this race three years ago with Chip Ganassi, and he called me and said, ‘If you’ve got a seat, put me in.’”

No Indy Car or ALMS in Detroit

admin — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:47:27 +0000

Indianapolis Star are reporting that the Indy Car Grand Prix at Belle Isle in Detroit will be dropped from the schedule. Owner of the Detroit Grand Prix, Roger Penske, stated that he couldn’t in good business sense continue with the event with so many of his area businesses struggling.

This means that the ALMS and IndyCar double header that was scheduled for September 5 and 6 will be off.

Pantano’s not too happy about his F1 chances

admin — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 10:10:34 +0000

This year’s GP2 champion, 29 year old Giorgio Pantano is upset by the lack of attention he’s getting from the Formula 1 teams.

“I challenge anyone to produce a resume as mine”, he told Autosprint.

So what does Pantano have in his resume, you might ask? How about this:

1993 – Winner of the European Kart Cup, Italian Championship and the Rainbow Trophy (unofficial World Championship for Cadets) in karting

1994 – Italian champion and winners of the Five Continents Cup in karting

1995 – European Formula A champion in karting

1996 – European Formula A champion and second in the World Cup in karting

1997 – Third in Formula Super A World Championship

1998 – Second in the Formula Super A World Cup

1999 – Third in the Formula Super A World Cup

2000 – German Formula 3 Champion

2002 – Second in the Formula 3000 championship

2003 – Third in the Formula 3000 championship

2004 – 14 races for Jordan in Formula 1

2007 – GP2 champion

Pantano argues that Sebastien Buemi and Bruno Senna is now competing for Formula 1 seats without having accomplished nothing much. While he has a point, they are also much younger than Pantano and might have a very bright future ahead of him. Getting a second chance in Formula 1 at 30 might be hard when the F1 teams are looking at 20 year olds.

If Pantano doesn’t make it to Formula 1 in 2009 he will be the first GP2 champion who won’t be on the grid the year after they won the championship. The previous champions are so far Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton and Timo Glock — all in F1.

I think it’s time for Pantano to look west. In 2005 he did two road courses races in the IRL for Chip Ganassi. In his second race he qualified second and finished in fourth. The Ganassi team should be aware of his potential.