Tag: Sausalito

This past weekend was busy one for all of the NASCAR series. The K&N Pro Series East & West held a combined race at the Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa. The Nationwide series raced on Sunday in Iowa as well. The Truck Series raced Friday night in Charlotte and the Sprint Cup All Star race was Saturday night. The IZOD IndyCar Series was busy with time trials, preparing for the Indy 500 this coming weekend . The NHRA was in Topeka, Kansas but none of the NorCal racers made the trip. The USAC Sprint Car Series was in Bloomington, Indiana. The USAC National Midgets raced in Haubstadt, Indiana. The World of Outlaws were at Attica Raceway Park in Ohio on Friday night.

Our “NorCal Driver of the Week” is J.R. Hildebrand from Sausalito, California. J.R. is the leading rookie in the IZOD IndyCar Series and was attempting to qualify for his first Indianapolis 500. It is the 100th Anniversary of the race and several past winners as well as drivers who don’t compete in IndyCar on a weekly basis were trying to get in this very special race. J.R. and his teammate, past winner Buddy Rice, had been fast in practice but the weather had been unpredictable and track conditions were constantly changing. Saturday the 21st was Pole Day and J.R. went out 11th, and at the time was 3rd fastest at 225.579 mph. As the day worn on, his time held up and he will start the race in the 12th spot, 4th row on the outside. The difference between 12th and the final 33rd spot was 1.70 mph. The speeds are the average of 4 laps, one little mistake could have cost him the opportunity to race. What an amazingly clutch performance! Congratulations to J.R. Hildebrand! Read more

NASCAR K&N Pro Series East & West

Cody Hodgson from Escalon was the highest finishing NorCal driver with a 12th place finish.

Matt DiBenedetto from Grass Valley won the pole award and led 24 of the first 25 laps. He had just retaken the lead from eventual winner Brett Moffitt on Lap 85, when he cut a tire to bring out the caution. He wound up 20th overall, his first finish outside the top 10 this year.

Eric Holmes from Escalon, started in the 22nd spot and finished in the 14th position.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series

Matt Crafton, the points leader started 14th and struggled to a 26th place finish which dropped him 2 spots to 3rd in the 2011 points standings.

Justin Marks of Rocklin, last week’s pole winner, started 25th and finished strong in the 9th spot. This was Justin’s 2nd top ten of the year and it moved him up 5 spots in the points standings to 15th place.

Brad Sweet from Grass Valley qualified in the 4th position and came home with a top ten in 10th place. Brad moved up 2 positions and is now 21st in the points.

T.J. Bell from Sparks, NV was involved in a wreck on lap 70 and finished in 31st place.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

A.J. Allmendinger of Los Gatos started 2nd and finished 4th in the Sprint Showdown, only the top 2 finishers transferred to the All Star race.

Mike Skinner from Susanville qualified 12th and finished in the 15th position in the Showdown.

T.J. Bell from Sparks started 21st and finished in the 18th spot. He got some good experience but did not make the All Star race.

Jeff Gordon from Vallejo, the only NorCal driver in the All Star race started 12th and finished in 15th.

USAC National Midget Sprint Car Series

Bryan Clauson originally from Carmichael, finished in 6th in the 100 lap feature event. Bryan is the leader in the points standings.

Kyle Larson of Elk Grove finished the race in 12th place.

Kody Swanson from Kingsburg suffered a terrible crash on lap 81 and had to be life-flighted to the hospital in Evansville. Kody was credited with a 22nd place finish. Read More

Tanner Swanson, Kody’s brother also flipped later in the race on lap 90 and finished in the 19th position.

USAC Sprint Car Series

Kyle Larson from Elk Grove was 2nd in his heat race and finished third in the Feature race.

Damion Gardner from Concord finished 3rd in his heat and then in 8th place in the 30 lap feature. He is now 2nd in the points standings.

Bryan Clauson from Carmichael struggled to an 18th place but remains 4th in the series points standings.

Keith Bloom Jr. from Anderson finished in the 9th spot.

World of Outlaws

Jason Meyers of Clovis finished 2nd in his 10 lap heat and then 5th in the 40 lap A-Main. He moved up a spot to 4th in the series points standings.

Paul McMahan from Elk Grove, recorded his 4th fast time of the year to lead the series. He won the B-Main and finished 10th in the A-Main. Paul also moved up a spot to 7th in the standings for this season.

For those of you following the progress of Northern California native, J.R. Hildebrand in his rookie year in the IZOD IndyCar Series, it has been an exciting week. J.R. has been impressive in each new challenge and it continued this week in Indianapolis. The leader in the Rookie of the Year standings all year, showed that he is not your average rookie, completing the rookie orientation in a little over an hour and was the fastest on the track. Another NorCal rookie is former NASCAR Sprint Cup and Formula One driver Scott Speed from Manteca, CA. The following is a press release from Panther Racing.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – (May 12, 2011) – It took National Guard Panther Racing driver JR Hildebrand just over an hour to complete the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s four-phase Rookie Orientation Program on Thursday afternoon, and by the end of the day the 23-year-old Californian was the fastest of the seven rookies who participated. Hildebrand was joined on Thursday by fellow IZOD IndyCar Series rookies Scott Speed, James Hinchcliffe, James Jakes, Ho-Pin Tung, Charlie Kimball and former Panther Firestone Indy Lights driver Pippa Mann.

“This is pretty cool being at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and part of the big show for the first time,” Hildebrand said. “This is why we’re all here – everybody wants to compete in the Indianapolis 500, and it’s a big deal when you get to be a part of this event. We were actually able to complete all four phases (of ROP) in just three runs so we’re happy to get that out of the way. You can definitely feel how much quicker it is compared to the Firestone Indy Lights car, 20-30 mph quicker, and that makes a big difference all the way around the track.”

Hildebrand posted a quick lap of 221.533 mph, 40.6260 seconds and he turned a total of 68 laps on the day. Hildebrand’s teammate Buddy Rice, driver of Panther’s No. 44 entry, was on hand for the majority of the day and was quick to assist Hildebrand with nuances of the Speedway’s tricky 2.5-mile oval. Rice and Hildebrand had come to the track on Wednesday afternoon and did some laps in a road car together in preparation of Hildebrand taking his first laps today.

“It’s such a big help having Buddy Rice around as well,” JR continued. “He and I have gotten along really well and we came out here yesterday just shooting the bull about what’s going on on the racetrack and he shared some little things he’s picked up over the years, I know he’s going to be a great teammate and a great addition all around to the team. The two of us together can definitely propel things forward for the entire team throughout the month.”

ROP consists of four phases a driver much complete to participate in practice for the Indianapolis 500. The driver must complete: five laps between 200-205 mph; 10 laps between 205-210 mph; 10 laps between 210-215 mph and 10 laps above 215 mph.

Hildebrand is the current leader in the IZOD IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year point standings. He made two starts at Indianapolis during his Indy Lights career, finishing runner-up in 2009, the year he won the series championship, and led the race on two occasions for a total of 23 laps.

“In terms of the feel of the car; I’ve always said the Indy Lights car is a great proving ground for the IndyCar – the feel is very similar and they’re both on Firestone tires and both on Dallara chassis,” Hildebrand continued. “We were flat chat all the way around during our last run when getting through the last phase of ROP so it’s very special to be here and able to take this all in, especially on a day like today when there’s not a lot of people out here.”

He becomes the third Panther rookie to attempt to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, joining Tomas Enge (2005) and Mark Taylor (2004). Enge started in the 10th position and was running inside the Top Ten when he was taking out by Danica Patrick, who spun during a Lap 154 restart during her rookie season. Taylor started 14th and finished 30th after contact with fellow rookie Ed Carpenter early in the race.

Open Day at Indianapolis is Saturday when the track will be open for all drivers and teams hoping to make the 33-car field for the 100th Anniversary of the Indianapolis 500. Pole Day qualifications will take place the following Saturday with Bump Day commencing a week from Sunday to solidify the ‘500’ lineup.

The 95th Running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race will be broadcast live on ABC on Sunday, May 29th at 12:00 pm (ET) with additional coverage provided by the IMS Radio Network, XM Channel 145 and Sirius Channel 121.

www.JRHildebrandRacing.com – www.pantherracing.com – www.NationalGuard.com

SAO PAULO, Brazil – (April 30, 2011) – Panther Racing and IZOD IndyCar Series rookie driver J.R. Hildebrand qualified in the 22nd position Saturday afternoon on the Streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil for tomorrow’s Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300 presented by Nestle. Hildebrand had finished in seventh position it the practice session preceding qualifications but the team was unable to advance into the second round of knockout qualifications and will start in the 11th Row alongside local favorite Tony Kanaan.

Hildebrand posted a best speed of 108.888 mph, 1:23.8443 seconds, which was actually faster than Kanaan’s speed of 108.401 mph but the rookie starts behind TK because the drivers were in separate groups during the first round of qualifications.

In 2010, with former driver Dan Wheldon, Panther started in the 18th position but was unable to overcome its starting position, and a broken front wing during the race, to finish in fifth position in the inaugural IZOD IndyCar Series event on the 11-turn, 2.6-mile temporary street circuit. Hildebrand has shown the same ability to move to the front of the field; in St. Pete he climbed from 24th-to -11th, advanced from 15th-to-13th at Barber after initially falling a lap down and back to 25th, and moved up from 27th-to-17th in the Grand Prix of Long Beach.

He has completed all of the possible 275 laps of IndyCar competition this season, one of only seven drivers (Kannan, Franchitti, Power, Meira, Tagliani and Servia) to do so through the first three races of the season – and the only rookie. Hildebrand is the current leader of the IZOD IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year point standings. Sunday will mark his sixth career IndyCar Series start, as the 23-year-old Californian made two starts with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing in 2010 in addition to his three races this season with Panther.

Team Penske driver Will Power captured his fourth consecutive pole position and will be joined on the front row by Andretti Autosport driver Ryan Hunter-Reay.

The Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300 presented by Nestle will be broadcast live on VERSUS on Sunday, May 1st at 12:00 pm (EST) with additional coverage provided by the IMS Radio Network, XM Channel 145 and Sirius Channel 121.

JR Hildebrand, No. 4 National Guard Dallara Honda, had this to say:

“We definitely know that the National Guard car is really good, and we were able to make good of it in the second practice but then we were going so much quicker from second practice to qualifications that it put me in a little bit of a bind with the gearing in the car because I was going so much faster through the corners that I was having to reconfigure the gears that I was running this morning. I’m disappointed; we were in a tough group but I feel like I could have gotten a couple more tenths out of the car and, even being in the group that we were in, I felt like after the second practice that we’d have a shot to advance to the Top 12. Like I said, the car is going to be really good tomorrow and I’m bummed about starting in the back, but it does leave us some options as far as strategy in the race.”

– Panther Racing, Press Release