IndyCar News

Toyota Atlantic Series hotshoe Michael Valiante may be on the radar screens of several CART team but the young Canadian has also been keeping his foot in at the other end of the racing ladder recently, both on and off the track.

Team Motorola (Green) and driver Michael Andretti may be moving on from the CART Championship but the telecommunications giant will remain as an integral part of the series after reaffirming their position as suppliers of CART's 'Official Two Way Radio.'

"This is a big day for Johnson Controls. I get to, on behalf of the other 90,000 employees that we have, announce that we're going to sponsor Paul Gentilozzi and the Rocketsports Racing Team for the 2003 CART series." - Jeff Tellman - Johnson Controls Motorsports Manager

Falcon Cars unveiled its Falcon Indy 01-A 2003 Indy Racing League contender on Friday in front of a large crowd of IRL team owners and officials, technical partners and media at the Falcon (MK Racing) facility in North Carolina.

Although the Player's-backed squad has finalised a two-car line-up involving Patrick Carpentier and Paul Tracy for 2003, F1 refugee Alex Yoong reveals that he has received an alternative offer from Forsythe Racing for next season's CART series.

Following the announcement that Dale Coyne Racing would return to CART in 2003, the CART weekly teleconference featured both Coyne and new signing Joel Camathias. Here they talk...

Indy Racing League driver Buddy Rice turned a top speed of 223.3 mph with Red Bull Cheever Racing on Nov. 20 in his first test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Michael Andretti's 18-year CART career came to a premature end in Mexico City when he made hard contact with the wall in Turn 13 on lap 51 of the Gran Premio Telmex Gigante.

Team Rahal used the season-ending Mexico City GP to announce an multi-year extension to its sponsorship agreement with the Gigante Group, one of the leading self-service retail chains in Mexico, and sponsor Michel Jourdain Jr's Lola-Ford.

Team KOOL Green's final CART race ended in disappointment as Dario Franchitti lost out on a potential victory and the runner-up spot in the points chase and Paul Tracy spun at the very first turn then later retired with mechanical problems.

Christian Fittipaldi qualified second at Mexico for his final CART race in a session in which the red flag was thrown on no less than four occasions.

"Unfortunately for us it was pretty cold there when I got to drive the two-seater, so Brian [Barnhart] was always chirping in my ear, 'Hey, keep it slowed down, keep it slowed down.' But we went an average of about 153mph to 155mph with each of the passengers, and then they told me we went 166mph

Despite losing their 2002 CART FedEx Series date following the collapse of the EuroSpeedway in Lausitz, German CART fans are eagerly anticipating Andre Lotterer's debut on Sunday in a race they can watch in its entirety on German TV.

Craig Perkins, the engineer for top Indy Racing League rookie Laurent Redon in 2002, was killed in an automobile accident earlier this week near his home in Austin, Texas.

Indy Racing League driver Richie Hearn returned to the cockpit for the first time since being injured at Kentucky Speedway, when he turned laps with Sam Schmidt Motorsport at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this week.

Mo Nunn Racing will double its efforts for the 2003 Indy Racing League season by expanding to a two-car team and partnering with Toyota, team owner Morris Nunn said last night.

Honda Performance Development, its technical partner Ilmor Engineering and Andretti Green Racing successfully completed the first on-track test of the new Honda Racing HI3R Indy V-8 engine on Friday at Miami-Homestead Speedway.

Jaguar Formula One test driver Andre Lotterer will get his first taste of Champcar action when he lines up for a one-off drive with Dale Coyne Racing at the season-closing race in Mexico City next weekend.

Jack Rodgers, one of the original investors behind Bettenhausen Motorsports and later minority team owner of Herdez Competition, has passed away at the age of 67.

Ron Green, who has served as director of media relations for the Indy Racing League since 1999, will become the director of public relations for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway effective Dec. 1.

Four finalists have been revealed ahead of this year's Greg Moore Legacy Award presentation, with representatives from the three main CART-supported series vying for the prestigious recognition.

Nearly all great racecar drivers from every era of open-wheel racing have started their racing careers by competing in some form of karting, and CART has now taken further steps to ensure that those that start in karts have an opportunity to grow into the Champcar drivers of the future.

Jimmy Vasser's victorious - and record-breaking - domination of the California 500, in which he led 148 of the 250 laps en route to a tenth career win, capped a highly successful weekend for both the native Californian and his #8 Shell Team Rahal crew.

Ford claimed their third victory at the two-mile California Speedway in the last four years on Sunday, as Team Rahal's Jimmy Vasser became the first double Fontana winner in The 500 Presented by Toyota.