| *Paul Tracy to attempt last season in IRL: Paul Tracy is working on a deal to run IndyCar this season, but said that 2012 will be his final year in the open-wheel series. "It would be my final year in IndyCar racing, and after that I'd like to try to do more sports car racing," Tracy said after his first stint in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. "I've raced Indy cars now, this season will be my 22nd year, so it will be my last year." Tracy is working on a deal with Michael Shank Racing and is close to securing a sponsor. If he can't finalize a deal with MSR he will turn to sports car racing immediately. I still want to compete and drive. I still have the passion to drive. But at the level that it takes to run in IndyCar, at my age, 43, I think I could be more competitive and be able to compete and be in good equipment in sports cars," he said. "It's very, very difficult to get in top notch, top level IndyCar equipment because it's so expensive and Penske and Ganassi really have a handle on that." Tracy has raced sporadically in IndyCar since 2002. He spent 17 years in CART.(1-31-12) *Indycar reveals analysis of Dan Wheldon fatality: Dan Wheldon was killed when his head hit a post in the fencing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Contact that created a "non- survivable injury" to the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner. The cause of death was revealed Thursday when IndyCar presented its findings of the Oct. 16 accident. The crash included 15 cars, including Wheldon's, which came from behind the initial contact, launched over spinning cars and sailed about 325 feet into the catch-fence. Although the contact with the post killed Wheldon, the investigation determined several factors contributed to what became a "perfect storm." "The accident was significant due to the number of race cars damaged, but more importantly due to the non-survivable injuries to Dan Wheldon," the report said. "While several factors coincided to produce a 'perfect storm,' none of them can be singled out as the sole cause of the accident." The race had a season-high 34 cars, but IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard said the field could have had as many as 37 drivers based on the size of the track and pit lane. The season finale was held on Vegas' high-banked, 1.5-mile oval with multiple racing grooves, which IndyCar president Brian Barnhart said created "nearly unlimited movement on the track surface under race conditions." That, not the construction of the fencing, played a larger role in Wheldon's death.(AP) *Indycar will not be race at Las Vegas in 2012: INDYCAR announced today that the IZOD IndyCar Series will not race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2012. The series was scheduled to close its 2012 season at the speedway on Oct. 14, but INDYCAR and speedway officials said considerable testing with the new car is needed prior to returning to the facility. "We feel we need to give our technical team ample time to conduct thorough testing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, once we complete our ongoing investigation into the 15-car accident during the Oct. 16 race at the track," INDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard said. The 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series season opens March 25 with the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. The complete schedule will be announced in the coming weeks. (12/8) *Sarah Fisher has new partner and driver: Kansas businessman Wink Hartman was one of the first sponsors of Sarah Fisher’s race team in 2008, and over the last few years their relationship has grown with Hartman becoming a silent partner in the team earlier this year. Fisher officially welcomed Hartman as a full partner on Dec. 7, and the pair has hired 2011 Firestone Indy Lights champion Josef Newgarden to drive the No. 67 entry for the newly named Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing in 2012. Newgarden, a 20-year-old native of Hendersonville, Tenn., won the Firestone Indy Lights title in 2011, earning five wins and 10 podium finishes. (12/7) * Newman/Haas racing will not run in 2012: LINCOLNSHIRE , Ill. (December 1, 2011) --- Newman/Haas Racing announced today that it will not enter cars in the 2012 IndyCar Series. “The economic climate no longer enables Newman/Haas Racing to participate in open wheel racing at this time,” said Carl Haas, owner and co-founder of Newman/Haas Racing. About Newman/Haas Racing… Newman/Haas Racing (NHR) was formed by actor/race car driver Paul Newman and racing entrepreneur Carl Haas and is one of the most successful open wheel racing teams today. The team participated in 29 consecutive seasons of competition from 1983-2011 and earned a total of eight championships, 107 race wins and 109 pole positions with drivers such as Mario and Michael Andretti, Nigel Mansell, Paul Tracy, Christian Fittipaldi, Cristiano da Matta, Sebastien Bourdais, Bruno Junqueira, Oriol Servia, Graham Rahal, Justin Wilson, James Hinchcliffe and more. The team finished fourth in the 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series with Oriol Servia and earned the Sunoco Rookie of the Year award with James Hinchcliffe. The IndyCar Series has removed Brian Barnhart as head of race control after a controversial season in which drivers publicly questioned his decisions. IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard said Wednesday that Barnhart will remain president of operations. Bernard’s currently searching for a new race director. Bernard also says Terry Angstadt has resigned as president of IndyCar’s commercial division. He will be replaced by Marc Koretzky, who has been with the open-wheel series since May as director of corporate business development. Barnhart struggled this season to maintain the respect of the drivers after a handful of arbitrary decisions. He returned to racing at New Hampshire when drivers said it was raining too hard to resume the event—and they were proven right with a wreck on the restart.(11-30 yahoosports) *Carpenter forms own team: Ed Carpenter plans to compete in the full IZOD IndyCar series in 2012, driving for Ed Carpenter Racing. The team is owned and operated by Carpenter and his stepfather, Tony George, who started Vision Racing in 2005. Carpenter, who has 113 IZOD IndyCar Series starts, drove for Vision Racing for five seasons. Additional details are expected to be announced at a news conference Nov. 4 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.(11/3) *Rahal’s small gesture is big gain for Wheldon fund: It started with a small gesture by Graham Rahal, who wanted to raise money for Dan Wheldon’s family by auctioning off his helmet from the IndyCar season finale. He announced his intentions on Twitter and the response from the motorsports community was immediate and overwhelming. It didn’t take Rahal long to realize he alone couldn’t handle the outpouring of support for Wheldon, the two- time Indianapolis 500 winner killed in the Oct. 16 race at Las Vegas. More than $200,000 had been raised by Wednesday, the ninth day of the auction, with many big ticket items yet to be posted. One hundred percent of the proceeds will go to a trust fund established by IndyCar for Wheldon’s wife and two young sons. “I thought we would have a lot of support and a pretty good turnout of people saying ’We’ll give this’ or ’We’ll give that,’ but for it to get as large as it has — nobody ever expected this,” Rahal said Wednesday. “It’s been pretty cool. I think it shows how tightknit the sports community is overall, it isn’t just racing.” Rahal didn’t have any idea what it would become when he decided to auction off his helmet, which had a special design to celebrate the Las Vegas finale. Pledges of memorabilia from other IndyCar drivers came within minutes of him posting his plan on Twitter, and within a day, it had transcended far beyond their small community. “It really went crazy, and I think right away we realized this was getting to a size that was more than my girlfriend and I could run out of the house,” said Rahal, a driver for Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing. “We had everybody sending items to the house and it was like, ’Holy smokes, what are we going to do now?’ “ NASCAR drivers began donating items within a day, and before the week was over, Rahal had a pledge for a Tour de France jersey from Lance Armstrong, a surfboard from Kelly Slater and interest from celebrities and athletes around the world. It turned into a fast lesson on what can be accomplished through social media. After enlisting help with the auction — GoDaddy.com got Rahal with eBay, which waived all fees, and Auction Cause, a Los Angeles-based auction management agency — Rahal, girlfriend Laken Kurtz and Beccy Gordon, the wife of IndyCar driver Ryan Hunter-Reay, had a conference call to figure out how to publicize the auction. They decided to stick with Twitter, which was already working so well. Gordon established a Twitter account — (at) DWheldonAuction — and it quickly became the fastest-growing charity handle to date on Twitter. With over 4,000 followers within 20 minutes of launching, the account now has almost 13,000 followers who are alerted each evening to the newest items added to the auction. “It’s the little auction that could,” Gordon said. “It started with Graham saying on Twitter he was going to auction off his helmet. He probably would have gotten a sponsor to buy it for $5,000 and donate it to the Wheldon family. Now we’re overwhelmed. It’s proof that people are spending extra money to help a good cause.” Rahal said he initially thought he might be able to raise about $150,000. Now, he doesn’t dare guess at what the final total will be. Bidding on five-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson’s race-worn helmet has reached $20,000, and Rahal’s father, Bobby, donated the last helmet he had in his personal collection and bidding is over $10,000. Still to come are firesuits from NASCAR driver Kyle Busch, a ton of memorabilia from Formula One drivers, and the Rahal helmet that started the whole thing. Gordon said pledges for items are still coming in, but the trio has started discussions on bringing it to a close. “There has to be an end point somewhere,” Gordon said. “People are still calling us with donations, and it could keep going forever if we wanted to. But we should probably need to figure out when it’s going to end.” Rahal, who said he checks the site repeatedly throughout the day to see how much money has been raised, marvels at the items being auctioned and the scope of the bidding. “We got this racing suit from (F1 champion) Fernando Alonso, and in two days it was at like $10,000. That’s absurd,” Rahal said. “But I think Dan touched people on more than a local and national level. He touched people all over the world, and we have items that can reach those people who loved Dan.(11/3 Daily Journal) *Funeral service announced: Funeral services for IZOD IndyCar Series driver Dan Wheldon will be held at 10 a.m. (ET), Saturday, Oct. 22, at First Presbyterian Church of St. Petersburg, 701 Beach Drive N.E. in St. Petersburg, Fla. Wheldon's wife, Susie, released the following statement on behalf of the family, inviting members of community to attend the service: "Although the last few days have been unbearable for our family, the overwhelming love and support we have received are rays of sunshine during these dark days. The outpouring of sympathy and condolences has been so comforting, and I want to thank everyone for their kind notes, letters, gifts and flowers. "Dan touched the lives of many people, and I would like to invite those citizens in our community who knew and loved my husband to attend his funeral service at the First Presbyterian Church of St. Petersburg on Saturday, October 22, at 10 a.m. "Though we won't be able to fit everyone inside, I know that Dan would have wanted the community to share in the celebration of his life and to grieve his passing. Thank you again. I am forever grateful for your kindness." The Dan Wheldon Family Trust Fund has been established for the financial security of Wheldon's family. The public can make contributions to the Dan Wheldon Family Trust Fund at the following address: Fifth Third Private Bank Attn: Dan Wheldon Family Trust 251 North Illinois St. Suite 1000 Indianapolis, IN 46204 All of Fifth Third Bank's Indianapolis branches also are accepting contributions in person, which will be routed to the account. In lieu of flowers, friends and fans also can choose to make a donation to the Dan Wheldon Family Trust Fund or the Alzheimer's Association, a cause close to his heart. For more details, visit www.alz.org or www.danwheldonmemorial.com, a memorial site, which includes a Facebook link to leave condolences and remembrances and a career photo retrospective. Those wishing to send their sympathy and condolences to the Wheldon family, can address letters to: The Wheldons 9600 Koger Blvd N, Ste. 105 St Petersburg, FL 33702 INDYCAR will hold a public memorial service to celebrate the life of Wheldon at 4 p.m. (ET) Sunday, Oct. 23, at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Doors open to the public at 2:30 p.m. The Virginia Street parking garage will be open free of charge to augment on-street parking. |
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| Dario Franchitti 2011 Champion |
| 1. Dario Franchitti 2. Will Power 3. Scott Dixon 4. Oriol Servia 5. Tony Kanaan 6. Ryan Briscoe 7. Ryan Hunter-Reay 8. Marco Andretti 9. Graham Rahal 10. Danica Patrick |
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