Author: John Sturbin

John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Same racetrack, different race car. While the NTT IndyCar Series hasn’t competed at The Milwaukee Mile since 2015, a recent trend on ovals continued during Friday’s opening practice for the Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250s. Two-time series champion Josef Newgarden turned the top hot lap of 23.0156-seconds/158.762 mph around the 1.015-mile oval in West Allis, Wis. Team Penske has won all four previous oval races this season and Newgarden _ the two-time/reigning Indianapolis 500 champion _ has prevailed in 10 of the series’ last 15 circle-track events. “It feels similar. It’s different compared to 2015…

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio A.J. Foyt Racing’s relentless pursuit of NTT IndyCar Series relevance reached the sharp end of the grid Saturday at Portland International Raceway, where Santino Ferrucci said goodbye to a guy named “tail-end Charlie.” Ferrucci delivered the team founded by Houston native A.J. Foyt Jr. its first series pole since 2014 during Firestone Fast Six qualifying for Sunday’s BITNILE.COM Grand Prix of Portland in Oregon. Ferrucci earned his first career series pole in his inaugural Fast Six appearance via a hot lap of 58.2046-seconds/121.475 mph in the No. 14 Phoenix Investors Chevrolet owned by…

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Bill York, the first “tradition” encountered by any rookie reporter covering the Indianapolis 500, died on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024 near Nashville, Tenn. Mr. York was 91. York worked in and managed the Media Center at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for more than 50 years. He was holding court in his small, glassed-in office in May 1980 when this reporter, representing the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, walked into the former gray, cinderblock building that housed the press corps. Stationed at the front of the room, York oversaw four long rows of crowded working space where…

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Alex Palou is leaning on recent personal history in the bid for his third NTT IndyCar Series championship. Palou, of Chip Ganassi Racing, leads the standings by 59 points with four races remaining _ including Sunday’s BITNILE.COM Grand Prix of Portland in Oregon. The 27-year-old Spaniard also paced the championship with four races to go in 2021 and 2023, when he won the title. Palou, who has led the standings after eight of 13 rounds this season, took the point lead at the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey in Northern California in June.…

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden admitted his half-spin-and-win during Saturday night’s INDYCAR Bommarito Automotive Group 500 was “a little clumsy.” That was among the more polite-and-printable terms being uttered by his NTT IndyCar Series peers after a late-race crash during a restart paced by Newgarden proved pivotal to the outcome at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill. Newgarden and teammate Scott McLaughlin were running 1-2 in front of Colton Herta of Andretti Global and Penske’s Will Power coming to a restart with nine laps remaining in the scheduled 260-lapper. When Newgarden accelerated under…

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Scott McLaughlin’s transformation from world-class road-racer to INDYCAR ovalmeister continued Friday at World Wide Technology Raceway. Team Penske’s McLaughlin earned his fourth NTT P1 award of 2024, ninth of his career and second consecutive on WWTR’s egg-shaped, 1.25-mile bull ring in Madison, Ill., during qualifying for tonight’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline. A three-time Australian V8 Supercars champion, McLaughlin’s two-lap average of 179.972 mph was almost nostalgic. “I think I like oval qualifying because it replicates a little bit _ might sound weird _ but it does replicate Supercars…

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio A.J. Foyt Racing has jumped into open-wheel racing’s Silly Season by signing star-crossed David Malukas to a multi-year contract beginning with the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series season. Malukas, 22, will drive one of Foyt Racing’s Chevrolet-powered Dallaras alongside a teammate yet to be confirmed. The team news release announcing Malukas’ hire did not indicate the 2025 status of its current drivers, Dallas resident Santino Ferrucci and Sting Ray Robb. Ferrucci is 10th in the driver standings in Foyt’s No. 14 Chevrolet, while Robb is 21st in the No. 41 Chevy heading into Saturday…

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio PHOENIX, Ariz. _ One month after riding-out a catastrophic engine explosion in his nitromethane-burning Funny Car, drag racing champion John Force has been discharged from Barrow Neurological Institute. Force, 75 and NHRA’s highest-profile personality, has been undergoing rehab for a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). According to family members, the 16-time world champion will continue to work with therapists specializing in such injuries on an outpatient basis in his native California. Force is a resident of Yorba Linda, Calif. “He finally gets to sleep in his own bed,” daughter Ashley Force Hood said Tuesday in…

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio Colton Herta lowered the broom on his NTT IndyCar Series peers Sunday in Toronto, where his victory in the crash-marred Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto at Exhibition Place completed an historic INDYCAR weekend sweep. Herta recorded the fastest laps during both free practice sessions, qualified on-pole Saturday to win the NTT P1 Award then paced Sunday’s warmup session en route to his eighth career series victory. It is believed to be the first such sweep in INDYCAR history. Herta ended a self-described “brutal” 40-race winless streak with his first win in 799 days,…

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio INDYCAR ace Colton Herta says knockout qualifying on a street-course is the ultimate test of a driver’s skill-set. “I already love, like, street-courses the most out of all the tracks I think that we do,” Herta said Saturday afternoon in Toronto after bagging his latest NTT IndyCar Series pole award. “I think it’s the toughest single lap that you’ll put together all year, is on a street-course.” That said, all Herta needs to do now is complete the weekend sweep of the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto. Herta has been the fastest driver…