APRIL 20, 2022

(Photo by Chris Jones/Penske Entertainment)
The good times keep rolling for two-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Josef Newgarden. He not only leads the series points this year after winning two of the first three races, but he led the rain-delayed second day of the Indianapolis 500 Open Test on Thursday with a top lap of 229.519 mph in the No. 2 Team Penske Shell Chevrolet. That lap was nearly 2.5 mph faster than the top Wednesday speed of 227.187 by six-time series champion Scott Dixon. Newgarden is seeking his first Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge victory and a record-extending 19th “500” win for Team Penske. “I can't deny things feel really good on the 2 car,” Newgarden said. “They’re just progressing. It's not like two steps forward, two steps back, or vice versa. I feel like it's going forward every single time, and we're just getting better. We've been on a good trajectory at the moment. I don't want to see it flatten too much; I want to see it go the other way. I feel confident with what we've got, feel good at showing up anywhere. Being at Team Penske makes that easier. I always feel confident in our group.” Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato was second fastest at 229.427 in the No. 51 Nurtec ODT Honda, followed by 2013 Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan at 228.767 in the No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing The American Legion Honda. 2008 “500” winner Scott Dixon ended up fourth at 228.689 in the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing PNC Bank Honda. Scott McLaughlin, winner of the season-opening race at St. Petersburg, rounded out the top five in the No. 3 Team Penske Pennzoil Chevrolet. Among the handful of drivers who turned clean laps without a tow, Rinus VeeKay was fastest at 221.314 in the No. 21 SONAX Chevrolet. McLaughlin was the second-fastest no-tow driver at 221.221, followed by Conor Daly at 220.793 in the No. 20 BitNile Chevrolet. Up next for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES is the fourth race of the season, the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama presented by AmFirst on April 29-May 1 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama. (Thank you to INDYCAR Media)

(Photo by James Black/Penske Entertainment)

Six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Scott Dixon (No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing PNC Bank Honda) led the first day of the Indianapolis 500 Open Test on Wednesday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as drivers and teams began preparation for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” Dixon’s best lap was 227.187 mph aided by an aerodynamic tow on the 2.5-mile oval. The session started 90 minutes late due to morning rain. Testing ended approximately 30 minutes early as a precaution so INDYCAR and IMS officials could inspect the acceleration lane inside Turns 1 and 2 after three drivers spun while exiting that lane during the day, with two of the incidents happening in the last 20 minutes of running. Cool air temperatures ranging from the mid-50s to low 60s kept speeds high and drivers on their toes as most ran in aerodynamic packs. There were three sessions, with the opening two hours for veteran drivers, followed by a two-hour session for rookies and veteran refresher tests and then an open track for all competitors. “I think the conditions are always pretty ideal when you run this time of year,” Dixon said. “The car feels really good. A lot of it depends on track placement and how much confidence you have in the car, how big a tow you can get. I guess we lucked out on that today.  We still have a bit of a test. We didn't get through too much of it because the session was kind of fragmented, then obviously finishing early. Still a lot of work to do I think for tomorrow. Maybe we'll get a bit of a time extension tomorrow depending on conditions. All in all, I think all the drivers were really confident with how the day went and how the cars felt. But I think that's maybe across the board because of conditions.” Conor Daly (No. 20 BitNile Chevrolet) was second quick at 226.985. Callum Ilott was the fastest of the seven Indianapolis 500 rookies, third overall at 226.308 in the No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet. Santino Ferrucci (No. 23 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevrolet) was fourth at 226.182, while Marcus Ericsson (No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing Huski Chocolate Honda) rounded out the top five at 225.341. The second day of testing will take place from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. (ET) Thursday for all drivers. Track action can be viewed live in the U.S. on Peacock Premium, NBC’s live streaming service. International fans can view the test on IndyCar Live! (Thank you to iNDYCAR Media)

(Arrow McLaren SP)
Arrow McLaren SP and Vuse will again partner with global sportswear brand UNDEFEATED to collaborate on design and inspiration across the team for this year’s 106th Running of the Indianapolis 500. The unique partnership will see UNDEFEATED design all three Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolets, driver fire suits and the team garage for this year’s ‘Greatest Spectacle in Racing.’ This year, James Bond, founder of UNDEFEATED, will lead the design of all three racing machines that will compete in this year’s Indianapolis 500. Bond and his team deviated from last year’s tiger camo by bringing an asymmetrical design across all three cars. The color schemes include UNDEFEATED’s signature olive green, along with the colors that Arrow McLaren SP has come to be known for: fluro papaya, blue and black. Each livery has a slightly different design with a similar color palette, forming a unified look across Pato O'Ward's No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet, Juan Pablo Montoya's No. 6 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet and the No. 7 Vuse Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet of Felix Rosenqvist. All three cars and drivers will take to track at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the Indianapolis 500 Open Test on April 20 and 21. Follow along with the test live on Peacock and across Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube at @ArrowMcLarenSP.

(Logan Riely/Getty Images)
Kyle Busch (No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) got a huge stroke of luck on Sunday night to win the NASCAR Food City Dirt Race from a distant third place after second-place running Chase Briscoe (No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford) slid up the high-banked dirt track into the leader Tyler Reddick (No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet) in the final corner, turning both cars sideways. Reddick righted his Camaro and steered toward the finish line, but Busch’s momentum off Turn 4 carried his Toyota past the flag stand 0.330 seconds ahead of Reddick, who was denied his first NASCAR Cup Series victory. It was the 60th career Cup victory for Busch, ninth-most all-time and most among active drivers. With his first win of the season, Busch matched Richard Petty’s series record streak of 18 years with at least one trip to Victory Lane. An eight-time winner on Bristol’s traditional concrete surface — again, most among active drivers — Busch won the second NASCAR Cup Series dirt race since 1970 and the first featuring the new Next Gen race car. “Yeah, we got one,” Busch said with a wry smile. “Doesn’t matter how you get ‘em. It’s all about getting ‘em. Can’t say enough. I mean, man, I feel like Dale Earnhardt Sr. right now (as the crowd booed his unexpected victory). This is awesome. I didn’t do anything.” Watch the video highlights here. (Thank you to Reid Spencer/NASCAR Wire Service)

(Photo by AE Special Contributor Whit Bazemore https://www.instagram.com/whitbazemore/)
Enea Bastianini (No. 23 Gresini Racing MotoGP™ Ducati, above) is now a two-time MotoGP™ race winner in 2022 as "The Beast" delivered a Red Bull Grand Prix of The Americas masterclass to retake the World Championship lead heading to Europe. Bastianini led home Alex Rins (No. 42 Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Jack Miller (No. 43 Ducati Lenovo Team) as the Suzuki and Ducati duo scrapped it out on the last lap for P2 and P3; Rins’ success brings up a magical 500 podiums for the Hamamatsu factory in the 500th GP for Dorna, IRTA, FIM and MSMA. As we wait for Whit's full report from the MotoGP round at the Circuit of The Americas, we have a few of his photos to share, and you can watch the Circuit of The Americas race highlights, courtesy of Motorsports on NBC here. 

MotoGP Animals. 

By Whit Bazemore

Austin. Headlining the pre-race news as the MotoGP world arrived in Austin, TX for the Red Bull US GP was that six-time MotoGP Champ Marc Marquez, who announced his diplopia (double vision) had healed, and was coming to America. Marquez has owned all the U.S. rounds of MotoGP since he joined the premier class in 2013 - winning all but one, in 2019, which he was leading when a mechanical issue caused him to crash out.

The past two years have not been kind to Marquez, not only widely regarded as the best motorcycle racer currently competing - across all disciplines - but one of the best ever. A broken arm, then a compromised healing process, complicated even more by infection and a muddled surgery, saw him miss most of 2020. Then, he competed during the bulk of 2021 not yet fully fit (but still able to win the 2021 U.S. GP held in October!), before a training accident resulted in his second career bout with the double vision issue. To make matters worse, he had missed the previous weekend’s Argentinian GP as a result of the huge high side crash two weeks prior to that race, in Indonesia. Marquez’s violent Indonesian crash, along with the return of the eye injury (it seems to occur with Marc after any sort of concussion), had the MotoGP paddock wondering about Marquez’s future. 

A big part of the question would now be answered in America - much sooner than most expected.

In practice, Marquez (No. 93 Repsol Honda Team) was fast, if not the absolute fastest, as was once the norm at a U.S GP. In qualifying, however, he could only muster an 8th quickest time, putting him on the third row. He’d have his work cut out for him if he intended to win, especially considering that the top five spots were all taken by the ultra-fast and now well-working Ducatis, ridden of course, by five very fast and hungry riders. Notably, Marquez had mentioned in a media debrief that he “was scared” and “was here to get his confidence back.” He was  taking it easy, and was only focusing on his riding, not necessarily on finding a good set up. Marquez’s definition of scared is not the same as a normal person’s. This man is fearless, and probably still 99.9% fearless even when scared. 

At the start of Sunday’s Grand Prix, the Ducatis were away, and quickly settled in with factory man Jack Miller (No. 43 Ducati Lenovo Team) leading the two young Ducati superstars, Jorge Martin (No. 89 Pramac Racing Ducati) and Enea Bastianini (No. 23 Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati). But when the lights had gone out, Marquez’s Honda had barely moved. Some sort of electronic glitch (not the pit speed limiter that some had speculated) had cut the power to almost nothing for the first ten seconds or so, which of course meant that Marquez went into turn one not only dead last, but far off the back of the pack. His bid for an eighth win at the Circuit of the Americas was certainly over. 

The Ducatis at the front were in a fierce fight. Martin passed Miller, while Bastianini eventually passed both of them, then Miller passed Martin back, then Alex Rins (No. 42 Team Suzuki Ecstar) passed Martin, then Miller as well - you get the idea: it was fantastic MotoGP action for a win everyone wanted, and needed. The order at the line: Bastianini winning for the second time this year for an incredible result, Rins second, and Miller hanging on for third. It was epic racing. 

What about Marquez? Well, for being so called “scared,” he rode one of the best races of his career. He cut through the field as only he can, seemingly erasing all fear on the first lap, to “fight hard, and get as many points as possible. The most important thing was to finish the race, but we took a risk and I pushed.” He pushed until “5 or 6 laps left, and then my body stopped. I decided sixth was good enough.” After the 20 laps, the normally strongest man in MotoGP was “destroyed.” Dead last to sixth, with a pace to match the leaders (recording the second fastest race lap), and then basically going into survival mode, shows who and what Marquez is. Pure animal. 

Race winner and Championship leader Enea Bastianini is nicknamed “The Beast” and he is one, but Marc Marquez is a bigger animal. Probably more of a pure animal than anyone else in racing today. There is really no other way to describe him. 

The 2022 RED BULL U.S. GP will be remembered for two things. One, Enea Bastianini proved beyond any doubt that he has the speed, brains and maturity to win a MotoGP world championship, and that he very well might do it this year, and two, Marc Marquez has shown the world what he is made of, but also, the type of person it takes to dominate a brutal sport like he has done almost every year since 2013. 

(Photo by AE Special Contributor Whit Bazemore https://www.instagram.com/whitbazemore/)
Francesco Bagnaia (No. 63 Ducati Lenovo Team) at Circuit of The Americas on Sunday.

(Photo by AE Special Contributor Whit Bazemore https://www.instagram.com/whitbazemore/)
Jorge Martin (No. 89 Pramac Racing Ducati) finished eighth on Sunday in Austin.

(Photo by AE Special Contributor Whit Bazemore https://www.instagram.com/whitbazemore/)
Marc Marquez (No. 93 Repsol Honda Team) was absolutely sensational on Sunday. After falling to dead last at the start, Marquez charged back through the field to finish a remarkable sixth.

(Photo by AE Special Contributor Whit Bazemore https://www.instagram.com/whitbazemore/)
Marc Marquez (No. 93 Repsol Honda Team) delivered one of the rides of his career on Sunday in Austin.

(Photo by AE Special Contributor Whit Bazemore https://www.instagram.com/whitbazemore/)
The MotoGP race action was typically intense, and the enthusiasts at Circuit of The Americas witnessed a great show on Sunday.

Editor-in-Chief's Note: Special AE contributor Whit Bazemore, the Renaissance Man and superb photographer is going to be giving us updates and his insider's perspective on the MotoGP season. MotoGP has become my personal favorite form of motorsport, and to have someone with Whit's talent share his visual art and deep knowledge of MotoGP is truly special for us, and we really appreciate it. By the way, you may recognize Whit's last name - Bazemore began making a living from drag racing when he was sixteen years old, and he is a two-time U.S. Nationals winner and still the fifth-fastest Funny Car driver ever at 333.25 MPH.-PMD

(Photo by Albert Wong)
Four-time Indy 500 winner Rick Mears was honored by the Road Racing Drivers Club in front of a capacity crowd at the April 7 RRDC Evening with Rick Mears Presented by Firestone. The audience included auto racing dignitaries, corporate executives and champion race-car drivers, and was held prior to the running of the 47th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach at the Hilton Hotel. In attendance were representatives from the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship and other vintage, amateur and semi-professional series. It was the RRDC's 12th annual banquet honoring auto racing's most influential leaders, and the organization is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. The event was originally scheduled for 2020, but it had been postponed for two years due to the pandemic.

Previous honorees include Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones, Roger Penske, Jim Hall, Brian Redman, Mario Andretti, Bobby Unser, George Follmer, Emerson Fittipaldi, Johnny Rutherford and David Hobbs. Andretti, Penske and Hall were in the audience to help recognize the newest member of this elite group. On behalf of Firestone Racing, which has been the presenting sponsor of the RRDC "Evenings" for 11 years, Lisa Boggs, Director, Bridgestone Americas Motorsports, said, “I guess the third time is really the charm. Rick is legendary. One of the best to ever pilot an Indy Car. But it’s really his grace and kindness to the fans and to everybody in the sport that sets him apart. That's what a legend really is."

RRDC President Bobby Rahal recognized event sponsors Firestone, INDYCAR, Lexus Racing, Arrow McLaren SP, Doug Mockett & Company, Jimmy Vasser's V12 Vineyards, Jeff O'Neill's Robert Hall Winery, and Chris Locke's Checkered Past Productions. A short video written and voiced by Sam Posey, chronicled Mears' career and personality. "Outside the cockpit the quiet Californian drew little attention to himself and then in victory he was subdued – as if for him it was nothing exceptional. And It wasn’t," Posey narrated. "Roger Penske’s confidence in Rick was a testament to the kind of driver he was. All go and no show. After their first season together, Rick never drove for anyone else."

"We tried to have this event two years ago, then one year ago," said Rahal. "And now we're here and I want to thank you all for staying the course, not just to come together tonight to honor Rick but also to have a great time amongst friends in the industry that we love so much and care so much about. "I'm really pleased and appreciative that Rick didn’t get bored over the last three years and decided not to come. So, thanks, Rick." Rahal continued, "There's no question that Rick, aside from being a four-time Indy 500 champion, was clearly one of the greatest drivers in INDYCAR history. I am privileged to have counted Rick as one of my fellow competitors at the time and I’m really pleased that he’s here tonight to talk racing with all of us."

Rahal then interviewed Mears on his dynamic career in the style of "Late Night with David Letterman," covering the gamut of Mears' racing history, including the challenges of switching from ovals to road courses, his recovery from his 1984 and 1992 crashes, his longtime and continuing association with Roger Penske, his life-changing decision to finally retire from racing, and 'life lesson's learned' from Bobby Unser. Roger Penske, for whom Mears drove from 1978-1992 and with whom he continues to this day as a member of Team Penske, joined Mears and Rahal on stage, talking about their successes, failures and enduring respect for each other.

On receiving this recognition, Mears said, "I’m just honored, honored, honored. This is a great event for a great cause. Just to have all your friends, race friends and peers come together like this is just a great opportunity for me. I don’t know how to explain it; it's just a great feeling." As for the RRDC's third attempt to honor him, "The third time’s the charm," he said. "I’m glad everybody was persistent and came back. It’s a real racer’s deal all the way through." A champagne toast ended the "RRDC Evening with Rick Mears," with Bobby Rahal, Roger Penske and Rick Mears on stage (above).

The dinner's proceeds help support the RRDC's young driver initiatives, including its groundbreaking SAFEisFAST.com program, and the Team USA Scholarship, which the RRDC has backed since 1997. (Thank you to Judy Stropus)