Tough go for Newgarden
By Al Stilley
Senior staff writer
There have been better days and there will be better races ahead for Carpenter Fisher Hartman Racing (CFHR) driver Josef Newgarden than his experience Saturday in the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
Newgarden started the race on the inside of row six that put him in the middle of a Turn 1 six-car melee. Two cars got together in front of him and he was gathered into the accordion.
The No. 67 Century 21 Chevrolet was hit from behind, but the car stalled so Newgarden had to wait for a restart. He went to pit lane where the crew replaced the rear wing.
Newgarden returned to the fray but wound up 20th, one lap down, as Will Power won the second annual Verizon IndyCar Series road course race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“I just felt a big hit from behind and got turned around,” said Newgarden who dropped from fifth to only seventh in Verizon IndyCar Series points. “Then we were just trying to stay on the lead lap after that. We were sitting top-five in the championship and we have to get everything we can.”
Newgarden and CFHR co-owned by Sarah Fisher will have that opportunity again in his fourth Indianapolis 500 on May 24 against a talented field that includes six “500” champions, including reigning champion Ryan Hunter-Ray.
On the first official day of oval practice May 11 for the “500,” Newgarden was an impressive No. 10 on the speed chart with a lap of 224.193 miles per hour. Sage Karam, who finished among the top 10, last year for co-team owner Dennis Reinbold, topped the chart at 225.802 in a Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.
Townsend Bell, driving for Dreyer & Reinbold/Kingdom Racing, was 14th at 223.582mph.
Reinbold and Bell unveiled the No. 24 Robert Graham Special Chevrolet in a special ceremony May 8 that re-emphasized Reinbold’s racing roots. The car was staged with the 1938 AAA Eastern Championship sprint car built by Reinbold’s grandfather, “Pop” Dreyer.
Bryan Clauson, driving for KVSH/Jonathan Byrd’s Racing was 26th at 219.151mph during the May 11 session. Two-time “500” winner Al Unser Jr. is Bell’s spotter. Clauson’s driving coach is two-time “500” winner Arie Luyendyk.
Clauson’s effort marks the first time since 2005 that Jonathan Byrd’s Racing has had an entry in the “500.” Family patriarch Jonathan Byrd died Aug. 20, 2009 after suffering long-term effects from a stroke. He and wife Ginny founded Jonathan Byrd’s Cafeteria and Banquet Center in Greenwood.
Ginny and sons Jonathan II and David Byrd are the principles of Jonathan Byrd’s Racing.
Clauson is the 11th driver and 18th entrant to carry the Jonathan Byrd racing name.
Teams continued to work on the new Chevrolet and Honda aerodynamic packages May 12 as lap speeds picked up.
Three-time “500” winner Helio Castroneves topped 34 race cars on the track Tuesday with a fast lap of 227.514 mph. Dreyer & Reinbold-Kingdom Racing’s Bell was No. 5 on the speed chart with a hot lap of 226.519 mph.
“I feel like we are in a window where we have a feel for what we might want on race day,” Bell said. “We are still learning. These are still early days and we are trying to understand all of the aero data.”
Practice continues through Friday (noon-6 p.m.) with two days of qualifying Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5:50 p.m., qualifiers 1-9 advance to Fast 9, and Sunday, 12:45 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. for round two qualifying, 2 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. for Fast 9 qualifying, to determine the 33-car lineup for the 99th running of the “500.”
The schedule leading up to Race Day: May 18, 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., Verizon IndyCar Series practice; 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., Indy Lights test session. May 21, 9 a.m. to 12 noon, Indy Lights practice; 1:15 p.m. to 2:15 p.m., Indy Lights qualifying. May 22, 11 a.m., final IndyCar practice; 12:30 p.m., Indy Lights Freedom 100; 2 p.m., Tag Heuer Pit Stop Challenge; 3:30 p.m., concerts in Turn 4 begin. May 23, 10:30 a.m., public drivers meeting; 1 p.m. Legends Day concert; 3 p.m., concerts begin at Turn 4 infield stage.
Race Day schedule: May 24, 6 a.m., gates open; 7 a.m., Indy 500 Snake Pit presented by Miller Lite opens; 11:37 a.m., driver introductions; 11:59 a.m., National Anthem; 12:15 p.m., 99th running of the Indianapolis 500.
Eli Gold’s golden voice
Driving back Saturday night from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, I turned on the radio in the van and the golden voice of Eli Gold informed listeners that the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway would restart in about an hour.
Even race sponsor SpongeBob SquarePants (yes, your read that correctly) would have been asleep when NASCAR’s Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway ended on Mother’s Day. (Jimmie Johnson won the race, his third of the season, which makes everything normal in NASCARland.)
No, I did not stay up to watch it; but Eli’s voice was ringing in my ears for good reason.
Gold’s voice is God-given for radio and TV broadcasts; just as Tom Carnegie’s voice was the gold-standard at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Gold was an occasional mentor during my early years of writing locally and for Stock Car Racing magazine. He was always cordial and polite, but most of all a great story-teller especially of NASCAR drivers of decades gone by.
He has been the voice of almost every sport: NASCAR, NFL, University of Alabama football, Arena Football League, and ice hockey. We always chatted at NASCAR events at Lucas Oil Raceway (previously Indianapolis Raceway Park).
Gold has the longest running NASCAR national weekly radio show, “NASCAR Live” on MRN, which airs each Wednesday at 6 p.m., now in its 34th year.
He was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.
“The athletes are the Hall of Fame worthy guys,” Gold said. “I’m just the conduit between them and the fans. I get to go to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and sit at start/finish, or Daytona, or go to the greatest ball games and sit at the 50-yard line and do what I love to do and that’s describing live sporting events.”
Gold has called games of the Birmingham (Ala.) minor league hockey team that came to Indianapolis to play the Racers (yes, it was that long ago). The Birmingham team had a hockey player, Frank Beaton, who also raced late model stock cars at a NASCAR track in Birmingham.
He arranged for me to meet Beaton for dinner on the night before a Birmingham-Indy match-up on ice at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum. Beaton brought an awesome color photo that depicted him skating toward the camera, stopping and spraying ice with his stock car in the background.
I had planned on taking my son, Greg, to the ice hockey game and Beaton said to bring him into the locker room after the game.
We walked in; there may not be a locker room that matched the odor of sweat and blood. I introduced Greg to a somewhat bloodied and tired ice hockey player. I’ve forgotten who won the game but it didn’t matter.
We chatted but before we left he autographed his ice hockey stick and gave it to a smiling son. We then left the locker room; my son with the ice hockey stick and me with a racing story.
‘Mother of All Sprint Car Weekends’
The two-night combination of World of Outlaws winged sprints and USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Cars lived up to its title (“Mother of All Sprint Car Weekends” on May 8-9 before Mother’s Day.
Danny Schatz, whose car is owned by Tony Stewart-Curb-Agajanian Racing, had not won at Eldora Speedway in six years but pulled off double wins on the dirt track that Stewart owns.
Rain threatened the night’s event and it took lengthy track preparation for the races to happen. Schatz’ eight wins are tops in the series.
"To not have the wins at Eldora, we love to win at Eldora - to get two here this weekend is awesome," Schatz said. "The track was so good. It could carry so much speed … I don’t remember the last time you could run around that quick at Eldora in the whole feature."
Schatz, the series points leader, acknowledged the track workers in his post-race comments.
Pittsboro’s Joey Saldana, driving a winged sprint car owned by Kasey Kahne, was fourth May 9.
In USAC features at Eldora, Justin Grant pulled off a last-lap win in a duel against C.J. Leary with New Castle’s Tracy Hines third on May 9 with a six second margin over fourth place, with Hoosiers Dave Darland sixth and Jon Stanbrough seventh.
Justin Grant captured the opening night 30-lap feature with Stanbrough third, Hines fifth and Darland seventh.
USAC sprint car competitors are in action May 15 at 7:30 p.m. at Gas City I-69 (Ind.) Speedway.
Indianapolis Speedrome
Exotic high-powered Figure-8 racing resumes May 16 with the inaugural spring autograph night at the Indianapolis Speedrome.
Drivers will be on the track available for autographs at 6 p.m. with racing at 7 p.m. A 50-lap Figure-8 for World Figure-8 cars is the main event with Stocks, Roadrunners, Hornets and Indy Super Karts in action.
The 39th annual One-Hour Figure-8 championship will be the showcase event for the Night Before the 500 presented by Advance Auto Sales, May 24.
Out-of-town visitors in Indy for the Indianapolis 500 will now be able to see the event that was contested on Labor Day weekend to determine the Speedrome’s Figure-8 season champion.
Senior staff writer
There have been better days and there will be better races ahead for Carpenter Fisher Hartman Racing (CFHR) driver Josef Newgarden than his experience Saturday in the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
Newgarden started the race on the inside of row six that put him in the middle of a Turn 1 six-car melee. Two cars got together in front of him and he was gathered into the accordion.
The No. 67 Century 21 Chevrolet was hit from behind, but the car stalled so Newgarden had to wait for a restart. He went to pit lane where the crew replaced the rear wing.
Newgarden returned to the fray but wound up 20th, one lap down, as Will Power won the second annual Verizon IndyCar Series road course race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“I just felt a big hit from behind and got turned around,” said Newgarden who dropped from fifth to only seventh in Verizon IndyCar Series points. “Then we were just trying to stay on the lead lap after that. We were sitting top-five in the championship and we have to get everything we can.”
Newgarden and CFHR co-owned by Sarah Fisher will have that opportunity again in his fourth Indianapolis 500 on May 24 against a talented field that includes six “500” champions, including reigning champion Ryan Hunter-Ray.
On the first official day of oval practice May 11 for the “500,” Newgarden was an impressive No. 10 on the speed chart with a lap of 224.193 miles per hour. Sage Karam, who finished among the top 10, last year for co-team owner Dennis Reinbold, topped the chart at 225.802 in a Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.
Townsend Bell, driving for Dreyer & Reinbold/Kingdom Racing, was 14th at 223.582mph.
Reinbold and Bell unveiled the No. 24 Robert Graham Special Chevrolet in a special ceremony May 8 that re-emphasized Reinbold’s racing roots. The car was staged with the 1938 AAA Eastern Championship sprint car built by Reinbold’s grandfather, “Pop” Dreyer.
Bryan Clauson, driving for KVSH/Jonathan Byrd’s Racing was 26th at 219.151mph during the May 11 session. Two-time “500” winner Al Unser Jr. is Bell’s spotter. Clauson’s driving coach is two-time “500” winner Arie Luyendyk.
Clauson’s effort marks the first time since 2005 that Jonathan Byrd’s Racing has had an entry in the “500.” Family patriarch Jonathan Byrd died Aug. 20, 2009 after suffering long-term effects from a stroke. He and wife Ginny founded Jonathan Byrd’s Cafeteria and Banquet Center in Greenwood.
Ginny and sons Jonathan II and David Byrd are the principles of Jonathan Byrd’s Racing.
Clauson is the 11th driver and 18th entrant to carry the Jonathan Byrd racing name.
Teams continued to work on the new Chevrolet and Honda aerodynamic packages May 12 as lap speeds picked up.
Three-time “500” winner Helio Castroneves topped 34 race cars on the track Tuesday with a fast lap of 227.514 mph. Dreyer & Reinbold-Kingdom Racing’s Bell was No. 5 on the speed chart with a hot lap of 226.519 mph.
“I feel like we are in a window where we have a feel for what we might want on race day,” Bell said. “We are still learning. These are still early days and we are trying to understand all of the aero data.”
Practice continues through Friday (noon-6 p.m.) with two days of qualifying Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5:50 p.m., qualifiers 1-9 advance to Fast 9, and Sunday, 12:45 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. for round two qualifying, 2 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. for Fast 9 qualifying, to determine the 33-car lineup for the 99th running of the “500.”
The schedule leading up to Race Day: May 18, 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., Verizon IndyCar Series practice; 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., Indy Lights test session. May 21, 9 a.m. to 12 noon, Indy Lights practice; 1:15 p.m. to 2:15 p.m., Indy Lights qualifying. May 22, 11 a.m., final IndyCar practice; 12:30 p.m., Indy Lights Freedom 100; 2 p.m., Tag Heuer Pit Stop Challenge; 3:30 p.m., concerts in Turn 4 begin. May 23, 10:30 a.m., public drivers meeting; 1 p.m. Legends Day concert; 3 p.m., concerts begin at Turn 4 infield stage.
Race Day schedule: May 24, 6 a.m., gates open; 7 a.m., Indy 500 Snake Pit presented by Miller Lite opens; 11:37 a.m., driver introductions; 11:59 a.m., National Anthem; 12:15 p.m., 99th running of the Indianapolis 500.
Eli Gold’s golden voice
Driving back Saturday night from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, I turned on the radio in the van and the golden voice of Eli Gold informed listeners that the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway would restart in about an hour.
Even race sponsor SpongeBob SquarePants (yes, your read that correctly) would have been asleep when NASCAR’s Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway ended on Mother’s Day. (Jimmie Johnson won the race, his third of the season, which makes everything normal in NASCARland.)
No, I did not stay up to watch it; but Eli’s voice was ringing in my ears for good reason.
Gold’s voice is God-given for radio and TV broadcasts; just as Tom Carnegie’s voice was the gold-standard at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Gold was an occasional mentor during my early years of writing locally and for Stock Car Racing magazine. He was always cordial and polite, but most of all a great story-teller especially of NASCAR drivers of decades gone by.
He has been the voice of almost every sport: NASCAR, NFL, University of Alabama football, Arena Football League, and ice hockey. We always chatted at NASCAR events at Lucas Oil Raceway (previously Indianapolis Raceway Park).
Gold has the longest running NASCAR national weekly radio show, “NASCAR Live” on MRN, which airs each Wednesday at 6 p.m., now in its 34th year.
He was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.
“The athletes are the Hall of Fame worthy guys,” Gold said. “I’m just the conduit between them and the fans. I get to go to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and sit at start/finish, or Daytona, or go to the greatest ball games and sit at the 50-yard line and do what I love to do and that’s describing live sporting events.”
Gold has called games of the Birmingham (Ala.) minor league hockey team that came to Indianapolis to play the Racers (yes, it was that long ago). The Birmingham team had a hockey player, Frank Beaton, who also raced late model stock cars at a NASCAR track in Birmingham.
He arranged for me to meet Beaton for dinner on the night before a Birmingham-Indy match-up on ice at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum. Beaton brought an awesome color photo that depicted him skating toward the camera, stopping and spraying ice with his stock car in the background.
I had planned on taking my son, Greg, to the ice hockey game and Beaton said to bring him into the locker room after the game.
We walked in; there may not be a locker room that matched the odor of sweat and blood. I introduced Greg to a somewhat bloodied and tired ice hockey player. I’ve forgotten who won the game but it didn’t matter.
We chatted but before we left he autographed his ice hockey stick and gave it to a smiling son. We then left the locker room; my son with the ice hockey stick and me with a racing story.
‘Mother of All Sprint Car Weekends’
The two-night combination of World of Outlaws winged sprints and USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Cars lived up to its title (“Mother of All Sprint Car Weekends” on May 8-9 before Mother’s Day.
Danny Schatz, whose car is owned by Tony Stewart-Curb-Agajanian Racing, had not won at Eldora Speedway in six years but pulled off double wins on the dirt track that Stewart owns.
Rain threatened the night’s event and it took lengthy track preparation for the races to happen. Schatz’ eight wins are tops in the series.
"To not have the wins at Eldora, we love to win at Eldora - to get two here this weekend is awesome," Schatz said. "The track was so good. It could carry so much speed … I don’t remember the last time you could run around that quick at Eldora in the whole feature."
Schatz, the series points leader, acknowledged the track workers in his post-race comments.
Pittsboro’s Joey Saldana, driving a winged sprint car owned by Kasey Kahne, was fourth May 9.
In USAC features at Eldora, Justin Grant pulled off a last-lap win in a duel against C.J. Leary with New Castle’s Tracy Hines third on May 9 with a six second margin over fourth place, with Hoosiers Dave Darland sixth and Jon Stanbrough seventh.
Justin Grant captured the opening night 30-lap feature with Stanbrough third, Hines fifth and Darland seventh.
USAC sprint car competitors are in action May 15 at 7:30 p.m. at Gas City I-69 (Ind.) Speedway.
Indianapolis Speedrome
Exotic high-powered Figure-8 racing resumes May 16 with the inaugural spring autograph night at the Indianapolis Speedrome.
Drivers will be on the track available for autographs at 6 p.m. with racing at 7 p.m. A 50-lap Figure-8 for World Figure-8 cars is the main event with Stocks, Roadrunners, Hornets and Indy Super Karts in action.
The 39th annual One-Hour Figure-8 championship will be the showcase event for the Night Before the 500 presented by Advance Auto Sales, May 24.
Out-of-town visitors in Indy for the Indianapolis 500 will now be able to see the event that was contested on Labor Day weekend to determine the Speedrome’s Figure-8 season champion.