Car FYI

Winner of the 2025 Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto Pato O'Ward celebrates (Photo Credit: Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment) IndyCar’s only visit outside of the states, the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto has been a classic attraction where some of the greatest open wheel racers tested their talents on a tricky, tight temporary street course nestled within Exhibition Place. The 2025 edition of the event headlined by the NTT IndyCar Series drew a consistently large crowd of Canadian race fans throughout the weekend who were rewarded with plenty of off-track and on-track excitement.  By virtue of a magnificent defence of pole position for a third consecutive year, Colton Herta and his Gainbridge #26 Andretti Global team earned the honours of leading the field to the green flag for Sunday’s main event. Whether or not he would be able to defend his 2024 victory would depend on the outcome of 90 laps on the 11-turn, 2.874-kilometer (1.786-miles) race track. Following time trials, ...

  Photo Credit: Chris Owens/IndyCar For all race drivers, there is a desire to conquer the clock. Although it may seem to be an accomplishable goal to spare some movement on a stopwatch, certain elements in time no one can stop. For this reason, many of us want to achieve goals so early in our life. For NTT IndyCar Series driver Colton Herta, his entrance into full time competition in the tour resulted in him becoming the youngest-ever race driver as he took the checkered flag at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Six years removed from a first taste of victory, the driver of the Honda-powered #26 Andretti Global Dallara is a steady veteran behind the wheel while only 24 years of age. At the age of 18, the IndyCar career of Colton Herta started in the 2018 season finale at Sonoma Raceway. Although he finished 20th in the Harding Racing #88 car, many saw potential on the driver who finished runner-up in the Indy Lights championship to Pato O’Ward. The young American racer en...

Photo Credit: Chris Owens/IMS The 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 was destined to provide a Memorial Day weekend worth remembering in the United States. Not even a long anticipated rain shower was enough to bring silence the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday. Showers did press the green flag back from its usual early afternoon start close to 4:45 pm eastern time but the sounds of Chevrolet and Honda engines propelling Dallara race cars did fill the air.  Among the 33 competitors starting the 2024 Indianapolis 500 was NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson driving for Arrow McLaren. Larson had planned to compete for 1,100 miles during Sunday as he would have run 500 miles at Indianapolis before boarding a private jet to Charlotte, North Carolina to drive his familiar #5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro in the Coca-Cola 600. The temptation to run the prestigious event on the yard of bricks was just too much for Larson causing him to remain at the track.  ...

Photo Credit: Chris Nagy/Car FYI Canada There’s a popular saying in motorsports that money buys speed. However, auto racing competition isn’t always the best source to generate money. Without sponsorships and/or other wealthy parties, the glory to capture victory is an expensive endeavour. Excluding the prestigious Indianapolis 500 where a sizable race purse can make a massive financial impact (for example 2023 race winner Josef Newgarden and his Team Penske organization took $3,666,000 US), the season-long point standings are a barometer for success. This weekend, the NTT IndyCar Series arrives at Thermal Club in Palm Springs, California for a non-points competition with where a driver and team can win a $500,000 American dollars on Sunday for 30 laps of racing.  The 2024 Thermal Club $1 Million Challenge event takes place on March 24th with two 10-lap heat races and a final 20-lap battle between 12 All-Star contenders. The first time in recent history that such a high-paying, no...

Photo Credit: Walt Kuhn/IndyCar untitled Six days after an unforgettable first street course race won by Marcus Ericsson, NTT IndyCar Series drivers and teams return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time since May’s 500-mile race. A race held in conjunction with the NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series race weekend on the 2.439-mile road course connected to the famous oval track, IndyCar presented the most familiar sight having competed on the exact circuit 10 times before the 85-lap Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix. Containing the healthy field of 28 open wheel cars that included 2021 Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves and RC Enerson driving for the #75 Top Gun Racing team, the Indianapolis road race also featured the debut of Danish driver Christian Lundgaard competing in the third car for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Pato O’Ward driving the #5 Arrow McLaren SP car took the pole position on Friday with a 1-minute, 10.7147-se...

Photo Credit: Chris Owens/IndyCar untitled The 33-car starting grid for the 2021 Indianapolis 500 is now set ahead of the May 30 th event with drivers representing 17 countries. Perhaps the most coveted single pole position in auto racing, the prime starting spot for the Indianapolis 500 is something a driver has a week to bask in the honour. For what will be the 105 th running of the greatest spectacle in racing, New Zealander superstar Scott Dixon claimed the prestigious pole at the 2.5-mile speedway. His fourth time taking the first place spot, Scott Dixon and his #9 PNC Bank-sponsored Chip Ganassi Racing car succeeded in topping competitors in the contentious Fast Nine Qualifying session. In his four-lap/ten-mile time trial run, Dixon sailed around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with an average lap speed of 21.685 miles per hour or total time of 2 minutes and 35.3837 seconds. Dixon’s 19 th showing in the Indianapolis 500 has the 40-year-old, six-time Ind...

Photo Credit: Chris Owens/IndyCar 2021 NTT IndyCar Series Drivers and Teams 2 Josef Newgarden United States Team Penske Chevrolet A two-time IndyCar champion, 30-year-old Tennessee driver Josef Newgarden enters his fifth season with Team Penske after a strong 2020 run. Newgarden is once-again considered a contender once more for the year's title. Winning a total of 18 IndyCar events since starting his career in the series in 2012, the pilot of the #2 Team Penske race car has keen sights on capturing this year's Indianapolis 500. 3 Scott McLaughlin New Zealand Team Penske Chevrolet After securing three consecutive driver titles in the Supercars Championship in a Ford Mustang co-owned by Roger Penske, Scott McLaughlin has been promoted to run his full first season in the NTT IndyCar Series competition with the prestigious group. Though he sp...

Photo Credit: Chris Nagy The 2020 NTT IndyCar Series promises to be a richly contended auto racing organization consisting of 17 rounds. A season set to start later this month, the top open wheel competition in North America has the opportunity to deliver some exciting, new possibilities for what viewers may see on track. Although many IndyCar fans will likely prepare to attend at least one race for 2020, television remains the most obtainable way to catch the racing action between drivers including defending series champion Josef Newgarden, Scott Dixon, Will Power as well as Canadians James Hinchcliffe and series newcomer Dalton Kellett. For 2020, the racing tour’s loyal fans in Canada are being granted the chance to follow the NTT IndyCar Series with greater access compared to a much-loathed 2019 TV package. On February 28th, the IndyCar Series announced they have re-entered an agreement with Sportsnet to be the exclusive Canadian broadcaster for the 2020 season. T...