From IndyCar
Today’s IZOD IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights headlines:
1. Panther signs Hildebrand to multi-year IZOD IndyCar Series deal
2. Ganassi wins NSSN Champion of Champions Award
3. Castroneves wins fifth Golden Helmet Award in Brazil
4. Franchitti, Power nominated for SPEED Performer of the Year
5. Pigot joins Andretti Autosport’s USF2000 program
1. Panther signs Hildebrand to multi-year IZOD IndyCar Series deal: Two-time IZOD IndyCar Series champion Panther Racing announced it has signed California native JR Hildebrand to a multi-year contract. He’ll drive the No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing entry for the 2011 IndyCar Series season.
Hildebrand, 22, of Sausalito, Calif., won the Firestone Indy Lights championship in 2009 (four victories, six poles, 11 top-five and 12 top-10 finishes). This past season, Hildebrand made his IZOD IndyCar Series debut with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and also started at Infineon Raceway, where he ran as high as fourth position and posted the fastest lap of the race.
“I couldn’t be more excited to be at Panther Racing and a part of the National Guard,” Hildebrand said. “This is my first full-time IndyCar ride and the Panther No. 4 car is one of the best seats in the IZOD IndyCar Series, so to be able to start my career with a team with this kind of pedigree is just huge. I already feel with the small amount of experiences I’ve had here, and just being around the shop that it’s going to be a great fit for all of us. I’m more than honored to be in a position to represent the National Guard, and I’ve already got a small taste of all the programs I’ll be a part of through this sponsorship. I just couldn’t be more excited to get more involved in everything that goes along with this partnership. I’m certainly excited about this opportunity and I’m definitely looking forward to every piece of this program moving forward.”
Panther Racing CEO and Managing Partner John Barnes had Hildebrand on his short list of candidates throughout the off-season, but after a two-day test last week at Phoenix International Raceway there was no doubt he had found his driver. Hildebrand becomes the sixth driver in the No. 4 entry, joining Scott Goodyear (1998-2000), Sam Hornish Jr. (2001-2003), Tomas Scheckter (2004-2005), Vitor Meira (2006-2008) and Dan Wheldon (2009-2010).
“JR is an extremely impressive young man, and he’s going to be a great fit for the National Guard and Panther Racing,” Barnes said. “We took a very calculated and methodical approach to making this decision because anybody who represents the 350,000 soldiers in the National Guard has a tremendous responsibility both inside and outside the racecar. We feel like JR is going to be a tremendous asset to the IZOD IndyCar Series, and what really set him apart is his ambition and his intelligence – this is a kid who was a National Merit Scholar, and accepted to M.I.T. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). We tested him at Phoenix last week and brought along my friend Al Unser Jr. to help us with the evaluation, and all of us knew by lunchtime of the first day that we’d found the next driver of the No. 4 car. We know we all have a lot of hard work ahead of us, but our expectations are very high for the 2011 season.”
Unser, the two-time Indianapolis 500 champion, was immediately impressed with Hildebrand during the two-day test.
“He’s extremely talented,” Unser said. “He’s got a great team at Panther Racing, and he’s going to come across a lot of different challenges, and he’s very calm, very collected and mature. What I like about him is that he’s come out of Firestone Indy Lights, and he’s shown that series has been very good for him and all of that is very positive as he moves into the next phase of his career.”
This season will mark the fourth year the National Guard has been primary sponsor of the No. 4 car.
“The National Guard is very pleased to welcome JR Hildebrand to our team,” said Lt. Col. Bill Dones, Chief of the National Guard Advertising Branch. “For such a young guy, he’s had many impressive achievements during his career. That said, we think his best races are ahead of him. JR’s youth, along with his accomplishments, make him a driver whom the men and women of the National Guard will be proud to have representing them in the National Guard No. 4 car. We look forward to our partnership and to joining him on Victory Lane in the 2011 season.”
Wheldon, the 2005 IZOD IndyCar Series and Indianapolis 500 champion, finished ninth in the championship standings this year with a high finish of second in the Indianapolis 500 and at Chicagoland Speedway.
2. Ganassi wins NSSN Champion of Champions Award: For the first time in the eight-year history of the Economaki Champion of Champions presented by National Speed Sport News, a non-driver has won the award.
Chip Ganassi, whose teams won the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500, Brickyard 400 and the Grand Am Rolex Series and IZOD IndyCar Series championships, was selected by the staff of National Speed Sport News as the winner of the award, which is named for longtime National Speed Sport News Editor Chris Economaki. The Economaki Champion of Champions is annually given to the North American racing champion judged to have had the best season on and off the racetrack.
Ganassi is recognized on the cover of the Dec. 15 issue of National Speed Sport News.
“I remember the first time I made one of the covers was in 1982 when I was the fastest rookie at the Indianapolis 500,” Ganassi said. “I made the back cover and I’ll never forget that. You literally wait for that thing to come out and then you look at it and say, ‘Hey, there I am.’ ”
Other finalists for the award were Scott Bloomquist (Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series), Bryan Clauson (USAC), Larry Dixon (NHRA), John Force (NHRA), Dario Franchitti (INDYCAR) Jimmie Johnson (NASCAR), Levi Jones (USAC), Jason Meyers (WoO), Scott Pruett/Memo Rojas (Grand Am) and Tim Shaffer (All Stars).
3. Castroneves wins fifth Golden Helmet Award in Brazil: Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves won his fifth Capacete de Ouro, one of the highest honors given to Brazilian racing drivers by the magazine Racing.
Castroneves, who has won the honor three consecutive years, earned the award in the TOP category, which is given to the top driver racing in North America. Tony Kanaan was awarded the silver helmet while Vitor Meira received the bronze helmet.
Created in 1997 for Racing, the primary auto racing magazine in Brazil, the Capacete de Ouro (Golden Helmet) is selected by a vote of the Brazilian journalists. The award ceremony took place Dec. 13 in São Paulo and Castroneves was represented by his father.
4. Franchitti, Power nominated for SPEED Performer of the Year: Three-time IZOD IndyCar Series champion Dario Franchitti and series runner-up Will Power are among the 18 drivers nominated for the SPEED Performer of the Year.
The two IZOD IndyCar Series standouts, along with USAC National Drivers Champion Bryan Clauson — who earned a scholarship to compete in Firestone Indy Lights in 2011 — will vie for the Mario Andretti Trophy. The award celebrates the wide variety of cars Andretti piloted to victory in his decorated career, and this year that same range of talent is on display as SPEED reveals its list of finalists for the honor – 18 racers from 10 different disciplines.
5. Pigot joins Andretti Autosport’s USF2000 program: Andretti Autosport announced it has signed Spencer Pigot to drive its second entry in the 2011 Cooper Tires presents the USF2000 National Championship powered by Mazda.
Pigot, a 17-year-old born in Pasadena, Calif., and currently residing in Windermere, Fla., captured the 2010 BFGoodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda title with three wins, five poles and 11 podium finishes. He will drive the No. 8 car for the team, which captured the 2010 series championship with Sage Karam.
“We’re really excited to have Spencer join us. It’s always great to have a champion from another formula come in to our family, so he’s definitely a proven winner,” said Michael Andretti, chairman, president and chief executive officer for Andretti Autosport. “Now our goal is to get him another championship. Hopefully he’ll be able to get through the ladder system, and hopefully he’ll be doing that with us here at Andretti Autosport.”
Pigot won his first karting championship title at age 10 and took his first national title just one year later. His success continued with several prestigious series and race wins, eventually leading to an entry into the Skip Barber National series as a MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development Driver. Pigot was also named a Team USA Scholarship winner in 2010 and recently competed in the Formula Ford Festival, qualifying on pole for his heat, finishing fourth in the final, and setting fastest race lap.
“The opportunity to drive for Michael Andretti is something I didn’t think could happen until much later in my career,” Pigot said. “It’s an honor to be associated with Andretti Autosport, and I’m really looking forward to driving for the team next year in the USF2000 series.
“My main goal is to become an IZOD IndyCar driver, so there is no better place for me than with this team. With all of the knowledge and experience of Andretti Autosport, I’m very excited to be a part of the family. I learned a lot last year in the Skip Barber National Championship that prepared me very well for the upcoming season. I have to thank everyone at MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development, Skip Barber and Andretti Autosport for giving me the opportunity to move up to the first step in the Mazda Road to Indy program.”