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Luczo Dragon will roll out it’s new livery on the #2 car driven by Raphael Matos at Milwaukee this weekend.  The car will also sport this paint scheme at Iowa, Richmond, Watkins Glen, Toronto, Edmonton, Ohio and Infineon.  This is definitely a more elaborate Marine livery than they had on the car on the Streets of St. Petersburg.  This time the Marines scheme will include the Marines colors as well as the Eagle, Anchor, and Globe emblem. 

Raphael Matos finished in third place last season in the Firestone Indy Lights and went on to win the Firestone Indy Lights championship.  Matos and Luczo dragon go into the race this Sunday optimistic.

Milwaukee is a track I really like. I was very fast there last year and finished third in Indy Lights. I think it will be a good place for us. It is a track where the driver can make a little more of a difference because it is more technical and challenging than the high banking, flat out ovals.”

Although Matos has had 3 DNF’s in his past 4 starts, he is still 2nd in the IndyCar rookie points standings only and is only 9 points behind Robert Doornbos. He ran strong in all the races before he had his on track incidents.  He is looking to turn his seaosn around at Milwakee. 

The Milwakee Mile can be watched this Sunday at 3:30 p.m. on ABC.

photo: Ron McQueeney

Sure, everyone knows who Danica Patrick is. We also know that she drives for Andretti Green Racing which is considered one of the big three, team wise in the IndyCar Series. Andretti Green Racing is also the only team in the IndyCar Series that fields 4 cars full time. In 2007 they even fielded a 5^th car for Michael Andretti in the Indianapolis 500. Most of us already know this.

Most of us also know that Andretti Green Racing has a reputation that speaks for itself. With 34 wins and 22 poles in the team’s history I would think that Andretti Green Racing has a handle on things. In the 2008 season alone they led 749 laps. All of the drivers also finished the end of the season in the top ten in points.

Danica Patrick is one of the drivers that make Andretti Green Racing the team that it is. She is without a doubt one of the most recognized female sports figures in the world. What many people don’t realize is that the driver is not the only one responsible for the team’s success. Behind every successful driver we have a strong crew and the crew of the #7 Motorola sponsored car is no exception to this.

When we as fans arrive on race weekend we see and recognize the work put in by the drivers, team owners, and even the engineers. What we do not realize is the work put in by the Chief mechanics and the mechanics that work for them. Their race weekend starts before everyone else’s race weekend begins. (more…)

…jurors acquitted him on all charges except for a single charge of conspiracy. The judge declared a mistrial on the count of conspiracy after jurors were unable to return a verdict… CBS4

Helio Castroneves has been acquitted after five days of deliberations.  Helio’s sister, Katiucia was also acquitted on all charges except the conspiracy charge.  His lawyer, Alan Miller, was acquitted on all charges since he had not been charged with conspiracy.  The government has not declared if it would re-file a new trial for the count of conspiracy.

“I love this country, and I love racing. I’m glad I’ll be able to do it,” he said.

“Instead of going to Disneyland, I want to go to Long Beach and race,” he said after thanking his racing sponsors for continuing to support him.

“Let’s go race,”

According to  16th and Georgetown , Curt Cavin has reported that Team Penske would have the #12 car ready for Will Power to ride in if Helio was cleared today.

photo: Steve Snoddy

Paul Tracy might have landed  a part time ride this year for the 93rd running of the Indianapolis 500 with KV Racing technology.  This team which is owned by ex Champ Car owner Kevin Kalkhoven and Jimmy Vasser could field Tracy in a few other races as well.  I would think that they would be the Edmonton and Toronto races.

The last time that Paul Tracy ran in Indy was at the 86th running of the Indy 500 in 2002 where he finished second behind Helio Castroneves after a  controversial call was made stating that Paul Tracy made the pass after the yellow flag had flew in turn 3 of lap 199.

Paul Tracy showed that he still has what it takes last year when he ran at the Rexall Edmonton Indy for Vision Racing with Subway sponsoring him.  He just missed the podium finishing in P4.  This was Vision Racing’s best finish up until this years Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg where Ryan Hunter-Reay finished in P2.

 
Vision racing says it’s a done deal even though the paperwork has not yet been signed to have Ryan Hunter-Reay drive a second Vision car for the 2009 season.   Ryan took The Indy 500 rookie of the year honors last season as well as winning the race at Watkins Glen.  He spent the past few months talking to teams such as Vision Racing, KV Racing Technologies, HVM, and Dale Coyne Racing for a potential ride.  HVM seemed like the team that he would run with after his private test at Sebring with them.  

Vision Racing is now fielding two American drivers in 2009 with Ryan Hunter-Reay and Ed Carpenter.  

If Ryan remained without a ride for this season, he along with the IndyCar Series would be placed in a bad situation. IZOD had already filmed their commercials for the 2009 season and had already made billboard and magazine advertisment featuring Ryan Hunter-Reay.  Their investment and marketing plans for this year would have been lost. Ryan not finding a ride could have pushed away potential sponsors that were looking into getting involved with the IndyCar Series. Mike Kelly, executive vice president of marketing for Philips-Van Heusen Corporation stated:

It was very important to get him a full-time ride.  I can’t underscore that enough.  Personally, I like Ryan a lot.  He is a winner and he is good for the sport and the brand.  From a business point of view we made him the center of our 2009 campaign.  We wanted to bring the drivers to the forefront and celebrate the drivers and what they represent.  He represented all the right stuff and we connected the brand to him and he is our representative in the campaign, the commercial, print and other areas.

The addition of Ryan Hunter-Reay to Vision Racing brings the car count for the opening race on the Streets of St. Petersburg up to 20 cars.

You can watch the season opener on the streets of St Petersburg Sunday April 5th on Versus Network starting at 2 p.m. ET.

Update:

Ryan Hunter-Reay’s St Petersburg car,