News for the Week of March 13, 2017 – March 19, 2017

ABC’s St. Pete telecast gets 0.80 TV rating – ABC’s television broadcast of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg drew a 0.80 TV rating. – ShowBuzzDaily – (3/17/2017)

Miller’s Mailbag 3/15/17 – RACER’s Robin Miller’s weekly fan Q&A is a great read as always. – RACER – (3/15/2017)

Robin Miller: “Why Colton Herta’s special” – RACER’s Robin Miller has a nice piece on impressive Indy Lights rookie Colton Herta’s excellent showing in his first weekend in the series. Check it out at the link. – RACER – (3/14/2017)

Trackside podcast 3/13/17 – 1070 The Fan’s Trackside with Curt Cavin and Kevin Lee radio show from 3/13/17 is a great listen as always. Guests on the show include St. Pete race winner Sebastien Bourdais and Brian Pucket of Fastimes Indoor Karting. – 1070 The Fan – (3/14/2017)

INDYCAR.com editorial suggests “time to eliminate race-changing cautions” – An interesting commentary piece has been posted to INDYCAR.com by Jeff Pappone. The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg was dramatically changed by the timing of a caution in the middle of green flag pit stops and was a topic of discussion after the race. This piece suggests the use of what basically amounts to the Virtual Safety Car feature used in Formula 1. While it may be nothing, it is very interesting that this would be posted on the series’ website. – INDYCAR – (3/14/2017)

Bourdais goes worst to first in dominant win at St. Pete – Dale Coyne Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais started last after a crash in qualifying but used savvy strategy and a dominant drive to win the first race of the Verizon IndyCar Series season at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. The rest of the Top 5 was Pagenaud, Dixon, Hunter-Reay, and Sato. Relive the race with our live blog here. Full results here. – INDYCAR – (3/12/2017)

Herta dominates Lights Race 2 with win at St. Pete – Andretti Steinbrenner Racing rookie Colton Herta led every lap and won Indy Lights Race 2 at St. Pete. The rest of the Top 5 was Urrutia, O’Ward, Kaiser, and Telitz. Relive the race with our live blog here. Full results here. – Indy Lights – (3/12/2017)

Telitz dominates Indy Lights debut with Race 1 win at St. Pete – Belardi Auto Racing rookie Aaron Telitz led all 35 laps and won Race 1 of the Indy Lights season at St. Pete by over 11 seconds. The rest of the Top 5 was Herta, Alberico, Blackstock, and O’Ward. Last year’s championship runner up Santi Urrutia had to pit early after contact on Lap 1 and finished P13. Full Race 1 results here. – Indy Lights – (3/11/2017)

Team Penske announces Montoya will run BOTH IMS races – Team Penske owner Roger Penske announced that Juan Pablo Montoya will drive a fifth entry for the team in the IndyCar Grand Prix on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in addition to the previously announced effort for the 101st Running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race. – INDYCAR – (3/11/2017)

Fuzzy’s Vodka unveils special 101st Indy 500 bottle – Fuzzy’s Vodka has unveiled a new commemorative bottle for the 101st Running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race. Check it out at the link. – Fuzzy’s Vodka – (3/11/2017)

INDYCAR announces Chevrolet and Honda extensions – “INDYCAR continues building momentum and solidifying its future by today announcing that manufacturers Chevrolet and Honda have signed multiyear contract extensions to supply engines for the Verizon IndyCar Series. The announcement follows those earlier this year that chassis maker Dallara and tire supplier Firestone have also signed multiyear extensions, meaning all four major manufacturers have committed to the sport.” “This is a unique moment in the recent history of the Verizon IndyCar Series,” said Jay Frye, INDYCAR president of competition and operations. “To have all of our major manufacturers locked in with us for the foreseeable future points to the fact that they all have bought into the vision for the Verizon IndyCar Series. It’s another sign of the positive momentum we continue to build as we grow this sport into the next decade.” Full story at the link. – INDYCAR – (3/10/2017)

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