| December 2013 |
Latest news is at the bottom
| RACE NEWS & VIEWS |
TK's Face Added To Indy 500 Trophy
Dec. 2 - Tony Kanaan earned his first Indianapolis 500
victory on May 26, 2013.
His likeness has finally been added to the Borg Warner
Trophy. During the unveiling ceremony at the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum,
Kanaan said, "Growing up seeing all the big names
winning, and then lately having my two best friends Dan
and Dario winning and putting my face right beside
them is an honor. To have the three of us in a row is
like somebody had a script a long time ago, and they
said that this is what's going to happen."
"I've always said in every single interview that the track,
this track, picks the winner. I was always nice to the
track, and I could never understand why she wouldn't
pick me. I always obeyed the rules and tried to be nice."
Dec. 2 - Tony Kanaan earned his first Indianapolis 500
victory on May 26, 2013.
His likeness has finally been added to the Borg Warner
Trophy. During the unveiling ceremony at the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum,
Kanaan said, "Growing up seeing all the big names
winning, and then lately having my two best friends Dan
and Dario winning and putting my face right beside
them is an honor. To have the three of us in a row is
like somebody had a script a long time ago, and they
said that this is what's going to happen."
"I've always said in every single interview that the track,
this track, picks the winner. I was always nice to the
track, and I could never understand why she wouldn't
pick me. I always obeyed the rules and tried to be nice."
| Tony Kanaan Won the 2013 Indy 500 and IndyCar's Most Popular Driver Award |
One of the most popular drivers ever at IMS, the
hard-charging Kanaan posted an Indy 500 winning
speed of 187.431 mph that bettered the previous
record of 185.981 set by Arie Luyendyk in 1990.
Kanaan ended the 2013 racing season not knowing
which team he would drive for during the 2014 IndyCar
Series season. In early October, he signed with Target
Chip Ganassi Racing, which has won five of the last six
IndyCar titles.
Newly retired three-time Indianapolis 500
winner Dario Franchitti recently expressed his desire
to stay with Ganassi Racing in some capacity, and
Kanaan hopes his good friend and former rival on the
track will soon be his driving coach.
"Roger has Rick Mears, and it would be something like
that for us," Kanaan said. "For me especially, because
it's a new team and I'm still getting used to the people,
and to have Dario there when he just drove the same
car, and it's not like he retired 10 years ago. I'm really
looking forward to that."
hard-charging Kanaan posted an Indy 500 winning
speed of 187.431 mph that bettered the previous
record of 185.981 set by Arie Luyendyk in 1990.
Kanaan ended the 2013 racing season not knowing
which team he would drive for during the 2014 IndyCar
Series season. In early October, he signed with Target
Chip Ganassi Racing, which has won five of the last six
IndyCar titles.
Newly retired three-time Indianapolis 500
winner Dario Franchitti recently expressed his desire
to stay with Ganassi Racing in some capacity, and
Kanaan hopes his good friend and former rival on the
track will soon be his driving coach.
"Roger has Rick Mears, and it would be something like
that for us," Kanaan said. "For me especially, because
it's a new team and I'm still getting used to the people,
and to have Dario there when he just drove the same
car, and it's not like he retired 10 years ago. I'm really
looking forward to that."
Paul Page Is Back In Charge
Dec 4 - Veteran motorsports broadcaster Paul Page
will return in 2014 as chief announcer of the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway Radio Network, a role he also held
from 1977-87.
Page will serve as the lead voice on IMS Radio Network
broadcasts of the Indianapolis 500 and all other IndyCar
Series races on radio.
Page began his first tenure with the IMS Radio Network
as a pit reporter from 1974-76 before becoming the
chief announcer in 1977 after the death of the legendary
Sid Collins.
Indiana native Page moved to television to become the
lead announcer of NBC and ABC-ESPN's coverage of
CART and the IndyCar Series from 1979-2004 along
with Bobby Unser and Sam Posey.
Page then became the lead announcer for NHRA Drag
Racing coverage on ESPN2 from 2006-12 while also
serving as a color commentator for the IMS Radio
Network from 2009-13.
Dec 4 - Veteran motorsports broadcaster Paul Page
will return in 2014 as chief announcer of the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway Radio Network, a role he also held
from 1977-87.
Page will serve as the lead voice on IMS Radio Network
broadcasts of the Indianapolis 500 and all other IndyCar
Series races on radio.
Page began his first tenure with the IMS Radio Network
as a pit reporter from 1974-76 before becoming the
chief announcer in 1977 after the death of the legendary
Sid Collins.
Indiana native Page moved to television to become the
lead announcer of NBC and ABC-ESPN's coverage of
CART and the IndyCar Series from 1979-2004 along
with Bobby Unser and Sam Posey.
Page then became the lead announcer for NHRA Drag
Racing coverage on ESPN2 from 2006-12 while also
serving as a color commentator for the IMS Radio
Network from 2009-13.
Mike Conway Get IndyCar Ride
Dec 10 - British driver Mike Conway was severely
injured at the end of the 2010 Indy 500 and he had to
sit out the rest of the year. He was driving for Dreyer
& Reinbold Racing.
He came back in 2011 racing for Andretti and after
crashing out of the first two races he surprised all by
winning at Long Beach.
He switched to the AJ Foyt team in 2012, where he
finished 3rd in Toronto. He had another bad crash at
Indianapolis. By the end of the season, Conway
decided that oval racing was not for him and opted out
of the Fontana race.
Last year he got to drive in the three dual IndyCar races
for Dale Coyne Racing. At Detroit, he surprised all by
winning the first race handily. He then grabbed pole for
the second race and finished third. In Toronto, he
finished 7th in both races. In Houston, he crashed in
the first race and finished 9th in the second.
He has now been hired to drive all of the IndyCar road
and street courses for Ed Carpenter's one-car team.
Carpenter will race on the ovals and let Conway do
the rest.
Conway is scheduled to run a two-day test at Sebring
next week along with several other IndyCar Series
drivers and teams on the track’s short course layout.
“It feels good to run the IndyCar before the holidays,”
said Conway, who’ll also drive selected sports car
races in 2014. “I’ve never been able to test an IndyCar
before the first of the year. So this opportunity next
week at Sebring really has me excited. It will be my first
chance to drive the Chevrolet engine also. I’m looking
forward to that aspect of the test too.”
In addition to his victory at Belle Isle in 2013, Conway
was outstanding in the World Endurance Championship
this year by co-driving to four race wins in the
G-Drive/Delta-ADR LMP2 sports car.
Dec 10 - British driver Mike Conway was severely
injured at the end of the 2010 Indy 500 and he had to
sit out the rest of the year. He was driving for Dreyer
& Reinbold Racing.
He came back in 2011 racing for Andretti and after
crashing out of the first two races he surprised all by
winning at Long Beach.
He switched to the AJ Foyt team in 2012, where he
finished 3rd in Toronto. He had another bad crash at
Indianapolis. By the end of the season, Conway
decided that oval racing was not for him and opted out
of the Fontana race.
Last year he got to drive in the three dual IndyCar races
for Dale Coyne Racing. At Detroit, he surprised all by
winning the first race handily. He then grabbed pole for
the second race and finished third. In Toronto, he
finished 7th in both races. In Houston, he crashed in
the first race and finished 9th in the second.
He has now been hired to drive all of the IndyCar road
and street courses for Ed Carpenter's one-car team.
Carpenter will race on the ovals and let Conway do
the rest.
Conway is scheduled to run a two-day test at Sebring
next week along with several other IndyCar Series
drivers and teams on the track’s short course layout.
“It feels good to run the IndyCar before the holidays,”
said Conway, who’ll also drive selected sports car
races in 2014. “I’ve never been able to test an IndyCar
before the first of the year. So this opportunity next
week at Sebring really has me excited. It will be my first
chance to drive the Chevrolet engine also. I’m looking
forward to that aspect of the test too.”
In addition to his victory at Belle Isle in 2013, Conway
was outstanding in the World Endurance Championship
this year by co-driving to four race wins in the
G-Drive/Delta-ADR LMP2 sports car.
Mike Conway will be driving the Fuzzy's Vodka car
in 2014 at all non-oval races.
in 2014 at all non-oval races.
Michael Schumacher Injured Snow Skiing
Dec 31 - Seven-time F1 World Champion Michael
Schumacher was skiing in the Swiss Alps with his
14-year old son Mick Sunday when he fell and hit his
head on a rock. He was wearing a helmet which
saved his life.
Schumacher was conscious when first responders
arrived, although agitated and in shock.
He was taken to a hospital in Grenoble France. His
doctor said he was not in a ''normal state of
consciousness.'' He did not respond to questions, and
his limbs appeared to move involuntarily, the doctor
said.
Dec 31 - Seven-time F1 World Champion Michael
Schumacher was skiing in the Swiss Alps with his
14-year old son Mick Sunday when he fell and hit his
head on a rock. He was wearing a helmet which
saved his life.
Schumacher was conscious when first responders
arrived, although agitated and in shock.
He was taken to a hospital in Grenoble France. His
doctor said he was not in a ''normal state of
consciousness.'' He did not respond to questions, and
his limbs appeared to move involuntarily, the doctor
said.
He was placed in a medically induced coma to relieve
pressure on his brain, which suffered bruising and
bleeding.
By Tuesday the doctors said he was slightly better after
an overnight operation, but that he remained fragile.
He suffered severe lesions and contusions. The
operation removed a large hematoma from his brain.
Schumacher, who turns 45 on Friday, retired from the
track for the second time only last year, after a
three-season comeback.
pressure on his brain, which suffered bruising and
bleeding.
By Tuesday the doctors said he was slightly better after
an overnight operation, but that he remained fragile.
He suffered severe lesions and contusions. The
operation removed a large hematoma from his brain.
Schumacher, who turns 45 on Friday, retired from the
track for the second time only last year, after a
three-season comeback.
Andy Granatelli Passing
Dec 31 - He was, without doubt, one of the most
dominant and iconic personalities in the history of the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
An innovator, tireless promoter and public relations
genius, the flamboyant, larger-than-life Andy Granatelli
succumbed to congestive heart failure Sunday, Dec. 29
in a Santa Barbara, Calif., hospital. He was 90.
Granatelli's lifelong passion for motor racing was
unquestioned. A car entrant in the "500" over a span
of almost 30 years from 1946 until 1974---typically
with multiple entries---there is no question that the
combination of his very choice of equipment and his
flair for publicity introduced the sport to thousands
upon thousands of individuals who might not
otherwise have paid any attention.
While twice the winning "500" entrant during his tenure
as president of the STP Corporation (with Mario
Andretti in 1969, and in collaboration with the
Patrick Racing Team and Gordon Johncock in
1973), Granatelli is most likely best remembered for
fielding the only gas turbine-powered cars ever to
qualify for the "500," and to an only slightly lesser
degree for extending by several years the tenure of
the ear-splitting and exceedingly crowd-pleasing V8
Novi racing cars.
And those STP decals! They were everywhere,
distributed by the millions, even to the point of having
been included in a hardly inexpensive advertisement in
Hot Rod Magazine in which there was a small pocket
containing a decal. The philosophy? One would
instinctively peel off the back and stick it on something.
The images come flooding forth: Andy passionately
kissing a mildly protesting Andretti on the cheek in
Victory Lane in 1969; Andy strutting down the IMS pit
lane in the mid-1960s in an outlandish white suit
emblazoned with dozens of STP logos; Andy walking
toward the TV camera, pitching STP while dressed
in a light-colored rain coat; and Andy looking north to
Turn 4 and rubbing his hands in anguish as Parnelli
Jones glides silently into view after a transmission
failure with the turbine while leading within three laps
of the finish in 1967
Granatelli is survived by his wife, Dolly, brother Vince,
sons, Vince and Anthony, and three grandchildren.
Dec 31 - He was, without doubt, one of the most
dominant and iconic personalities in the history of the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
An innovator, tireless promoter and public relations
genius, the flamboyant, larger-than-life Andy Granatelli
succumbed to congestive heart failure Sunday, Dec. 29
in a Santa Barbara, Calif., hospital. He was 90.
Granatelli's lifelong passion for motor racing was
unquestioned. A car entrant in the "500" over a span
of almost 30 years from 1946 until 1974---typically
with multiple entries---there is no question that the
combination of his very choice of equipment and his
flair for publicity introduced the sport to thousands
upon thousands of individuals who might not
otherwise have paid any attention.
While twice the winning "500" entrant during his tenure
as president of the STP Corporation (with Mario
Andretti in 1969, and in collaboration with the
Patrick Racing Team and Gordon Johncock in
1973), Granatelli is most likely best remembered for
fielding the only gas turbine-powered cars ever to
qualify for the "500," and to an only slightly lesser
degree for extending by several years the tenure of
the ear-splitting and exceedingly crowd-pleasing V8
Novi racing cars.
And those STP decals! They were everywhere,
distributed by the millions, even to the point of having
been included in a hardly inexpensive advertisement in
Hot Rod Magazine in which there was a small pocket
containing a decal. The philosophy? One would
instinctively peel off the back and stick it on something.
The images come flooding forth: Andy passionately
kissing a mildly protesting Andretti on the cheek in
Victory Lane in 1969; Andy strutting down the IMS pit
lane in the mid-1960s in an outlandish white suit
emblazoned with dozens of STP logos; Andy walking
toward the TV camera, pitching STP while dressed
in a light-colored rain coat; and Andy looking north to
Turn 4 and rubbing his hands in anguish as Parnelli
Jones glides silently into view after a transmission
failure with the turbine while leading within three laps
of the finish in 1967
Granatelli is survived by his wife, Dolly, brother Vince,
sons, Vince and Anthony, and three grandchildren.
| 1968 Turbine Cars - Indy 500 Andy Granatelli and Colin Chapman |
| Andy Granatelli and Mario Andretti - 1969 |
| The STP Pajamas - 1964 Indy 500 Bobby Unser drove for Andy Granatellie |
