INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana — I hope all you dads out there had a great Father's Day yesterday! My Dad just stopped by my house here in Indy on his way back from Mid-Ohio to Illinois. Next weekend my brother and I will celebrate Father's day with our step-dad when he and our Mom come over for the Fourth of July weekend.
The USAC Mopar Midget National Championship, Firestone Indy Lights and IndyCar Series visited the 7/8-mile tri-oval of Iowa Speedway in Newton, Ia., for their respective events over the weekend.
The weekend kicked off with the midgets taking to the track for their 30-lap feature event on Friday night. A spotter for the Luczo Dragon Racing IndyCar and Firestone Indy Lights teams, Ringers' racer Cole Carter competed in the feature on Friday night, before performing his spotting duties the rest of the weekend. Carter scored a top-10 finish in sixth place.
Andretti Green Racing's No. 26 ARPRO entry started on the pole for the Miller Lite 100 on Saturday night. Having to deal with understeer from the car and having a drive-thru penalty, the team had to rally back to score a sixth-place finish. The team car of the No. 27 Automatic Fire Sprinklers Inc. started in the third position, but had a part malfunction in the beginning of the race. Repairs forced the team to the pits, resulting in a loss of laps and a 15th-place finish.
One of the four Andretti Green Racing IndyCar teams led his teammates to the checkered flag and a podium finish at the Iowa Corn Indy 250 on Sunday. The No. 27 Formula Dream team scored their first podium finish of the season with a third place. AGR No. 26 Team Venom Energy wrecked in practice on Saturday and the team had to rebuild the car that night to compete in the race on Sunday; the No. 26 finished 12th. For the third straight year, the No. 11 Team 7-Eleven was caught up in a wreck in the third turn of the track, resulting in a 14th-place finish.
The AGR teams and IndyCar Series heads to Richmond International Raceway for the SunTrust Indy Challenge on June 27, while the Firestone Indy Lights have a weekend off and return to action at Watkins Glen International the weekend of July 4th.
The NASCAR Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series competed at different tracks this weekend, with the Nationwide Series at The Milwaukee Mile and the Sprint Cup Series at the road course of Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. Ringers' supporter Brendan Gaughan started in the third-place position in the NorthernTool.com 250 in Milwaukee on Saturday night, but finished in 13th; rookie of the year contender and Penske Racing driver Justin Allgaier finished 17th in his No. 12 Verizon Wireless Dodge.
Penske Racing's Sprint Cup trio of Kurt Busch, Sam Hornish Jr., and David Stremme all competed in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 on Sunday and finished 15th, 38th and 39th, respectively.
Both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series head to New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon for their race events this weekend.
Ringers' supporting team of Carr Racing Motorsports raced a couple times this weekend in Mississippi go-kart action. Driver Dennis Carr finished third at the Maxxis Mississippi Dirt Track, then bolted to Rebel Raceway to win in the 4-cycle class and finish fifth in the 2-cycle class.
In TORC Series action at Crandon Raceway in Wisconsin on Sunday, Ringers' team driver Scott Taylor picked up the win in Round 6 of the series schedule.
That's the minute for this week! This weekend I head to Norwalk, Oh., for the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series race at the Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park. Gotta get my pound of ice cream for a buck!
