IndyCar

WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca repaved for 2023

WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca — one of California’s fastest race tracks — is going to get faster in 2023.  A planned resurfacing and resulting smoother surface should allow the diverse array of competitors on next year’s schedule to blaze through the 11-turn track at greater speeds. WeatherTech’s 2023 Major Events Season boasts an eclectic mix of IndyCar, IMSA, MotoAmerica superbikes, muscle cars, historic cars and motorcycles competing in traditional and untraditional race formats. All events will be held on the track’s first repaving since 2007. Spectators also receive an upgrade in the form of a rebuilt Start/Finish bridge which will improve pedestrian flow from the parking lot to the race paddock area. The upgrades follow a solid 2022 season that

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#198, Colton Herta, IndyCar racing champion

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:31 — 43.3MB)Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | More Colton Herta is 21 years old and he’s been behind one steering or another since he was age six. Go-karts to Indy cars and several racing classes between, Herta is now competing at his best as the NTT IndyCar Series concludes this week in Long Beach, California. Herta (Andretti-Autosport), the youngest driver to win an IndyCar race, successfully defended the Grand Prix of Monterey title he won two years ago on Sept. 19. He completed the 212.61-mile race at WeatherTech Laguna Seca Raceway in 2 hours, 2 minutes and 32 seconds and at an average speed of 104.114 miles per hour. Herta’s season

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#177, Author details Indy car racing and its money-grab

A long-time battle between racing organizations could have destroyed Indy Car Racing. It’s unlikely anyone has as much intimate knowledge of the chaos, anger, resentment and money-grab than John Oreovicz. With the Indianapolis 500 on the not-too-distant horizon, Oreovicz, author of the new book Indy Split, is our guest on this episode of The Weekly Driver Podcast. Co-host Bruce Aldrich and I discuss with Oreovicz the money battle between the competing organizations and the men who sought to control the sport. A long-time motorsports reporter, Oreovicz began attending the Indianapolis 500 as a teenager in the late ‘70s. It allowed him to witness the sport’s growth as an avid fan before documenting its decline as a journalist. “My growing interest

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IndyCar racing revving for 2019 return to Laguna Seca Raceway

After a 15-year absence, IndyCar racing will return to the Monterey Peninsula in 2019 with the series finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Salinas. A three-year agreement was approved July 16 by the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, which oversees the operation of the facility. Next year’s race will be held Sept. 22 and succeed the current season-ending event in Sonoma Raceway. It will end a 14-year run. Dates for the remainder of the 2019 IndyCar season were not announced. Laguna Seca hosted CART Indy cars from 1983 through 2004. The famed track opened in 1957, but Indy cars didn’t race on the course until 1983 when Teo Fabi was victorious. Bobby Rahal won at Laguna Seca the next

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Dario Franchitti retires after doctors’ crash concerns

Dario Franchitti, the three-time Indianapolis 500 winner and four-time IndyCar titlist, retired November 14 upon his doctors’ recommendations in the aftermath of his crash about five weeks ago in Houston,Texas. Franchitti, 40, fractured his spine, broke his right ankle and suffered a concussion in the Oct. 6 IndyCar race. Franchitti’s car made contact with Takuma Sato’s vehicle on the last lap and sailed into a fence. Debris from the accident injured 13 fans in the grandstands and one IndyCar official. “One month removed from the crash and based upon the expert advice of the doctors who have treated and assessed my head and spinal injuries post-accident, it is their best medical opinion that I must stop racing,” Franchitti said, according

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Danica Patrick hits life’s obstacle course, divorce after 7 years of marriage

Danica Patrick, whose good looks and competitive, spirited personality brought new interest to IndyCar and NASCAR racing, has announced she’s getting a divorce from physical therapist husband Paul Hospenthal after seven years of marriage. Patrick announced the split on her Facebook page. “I am sad to inform my fans that after seven years, Paul and I have decided amicably end our marriage,” she said. “This isn’t easy for either of us, but mutually it has come to this. He has been an important person and friend in my life and that’s how we will remain moving forward.” Hospenthal and Patrick met while the latter was being treated by the former for a non-racing injury. The two were married in 2005.

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