IndyCar
Pitt’s Colin Kaminsky juggling Graduating and Racing
ST. PETERSBURG, FL (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – The final semester for any college student is one of the most hectic times of their lives. Immense discipline and time management is needed to balance classes, studying, group projects, playing hockey and fast approaching finals. Imagine adding a full-time racing career on top of all of that.
The University of Pittsburgh’s Colin Kaminsky is finishing up his undergraduate studies this week while competing for Pabst Racing in the Indy Pro 2000 Series presented by Cooper Tires, a development series that is part of The ‘Road To Indy’ ladder system.
Most students spend the weekend before finals studying their curriculum. Kaminsky is not only doing that, he’s studying data sheets and working with his engineers trying to figure out how to extract maximum performance out of his race car.
Kaminsky started his 2021 season off with a seventh place in the season opener at Barber Motorsports Park. This past weekend at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on Saturday Kaminsky finished ninth in the first race.
“I was probably a little too tentative probably on the opening lap trying not crash with a couple of ballsy kids, but we finished where we started and kept the nose clean,” said Kaminsky, who returned on Sunday to post a Top 5.
“I think we had a car to get to the podium,” explained Kaminsky. “I think we were the fastest car out of the top three or four. We just got stuck behind a couple guys and almost got into fourth. Fifth at the end of the day I’m pretty happy with.”
To give you an idea on how Kaminsky is balancing the demands of finishing school along with his racing, following Saturday’s race Kaminsky was hitting the books. Sunday morning it was race two followed by starting the trip home with a stop at a hotel so he could have WiFi to attend a virtual class Monday morning. Monday afternoon it was back on the road to finish the trip home, just in time to get ready for a final on Wednesday.
Kaminsky is looking forward to graduating so he can devote all of his time to advancing his racing career.
“The University of Pittsburgh has been a great home for the last couple of years,” said Kaminsky. “Now to put those hours that you have to spend outside the classroom and spend those hours getting to know people and putting together the best proposals.”
Those proposals is where Kaminsky will be putting his marketing degree to good use as he searches for additional sponsorship to move up the ‘Road To Indy’ ladder.
“Short term I want to find the backing to either move up to Indy Lights or continue in Indy Pro 2000,” said Kaminsky, who was a goaltender for the Pitt Hockey team. “Ultimately the goal is the Indy 500.” 
To get to the Indianapolis 500 requires success on-track and off-track, especially in that search for funding.
“It’s tough,” explained Kaminsky about the search. “We’ve been a little successful in the past but nothing too substantial. You just have to chip away at it. The worst thing they (business owners) can say is ‘no’ and at the end of the day you’re in the same boat where you started.”
To help the search for sponsorship and to build his brand along with increasing his profile, Kaminsky launched his own website, www.ckaminsky.com. In addition to his website Kaminsky, as he mentioned earlier, is putting together packages for potential partners.
“It’s a brochure, essentially, of who you are, what you do, what you can offer and what you need,” said Kaminsky, who currently sits sixth in the Championship standing following St. Petersburg.
Kaminsky is thankful for the support of Slick Locks Corporation. Slick Locks is a drill-free line of puck locks, Spinner 360’s™, Weather Shield™ covers and blade brackets for all hinged and sliding door vehicles in all makes and models available. Slick Locks cutting edge bracket designs have made them the number one choice of large fleet managers worldwide.
“They’ve been my biggest backer since we started,” said Kaminsky. “(They) Got me into racing and kept me here. They’ve been my biggest supporter.”
Pitt graduates who are business owners have a golden opportunity to support a fellow Panther who has a unique platform for companies to grow their brand. Kaminsky is encouraging Pitt alumni to reach out to him to learn how to use racing to help their business and entertain clients.
“If you ever get out to a race track you are going to be hooked,” explained Kaminsky. “I think it’s an exhilarating experience to be a part of, surely it’s nothing like what maybe Pitt graduates have seen before.”
Kaminsky also thinks that the University of Pittsburgh, in general, could take advantage of the platform that racing provides both from a marketing and educational standpoint, especially since the garage area is full of engineers.
“We could go to Mid-Ohio (Sports Car Complex), that’s the closest one,” said Kaminsky of the track located in Lexington, Ohio, just 167-miles from the Cathedral of Learning. “We could get Pitt alums, the board (of trustees), we could get everybody there. We could throw a nice big ‘PITT’ sticker and an ‘H2P’ on the car, get a Blue and Gold (drivers) suit, that would be very cool”.
Spoken like someone who is already figuring out how to put his education to work for him post-graduation.
The next three races for the Indy Pro 2000 Series presented by Cooper Tires is May 13-15 on the road course at The Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
LEXINGTON, OH (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Alex Palou won his third straight NTT INDYCAR SERIES race taking the victory in the Honda Indy 200 at the Mid-Ohio Sport Car Complex. Palou beat teammate Scott Dixon by ?.????-seconds to pick up his fourth win in five races.
“We knew that we had the pace, but we needed clean air,” said Palou, who started fourth. “That’s why we went for the primaries at the beginning, which we thought it was probably a bit risky, but if we were able to cross the first lap on position, we were going to be good for our strategy.”
The strategy involved staying out longer on the Primary Firestone Tires and leapfrogging front row starters Colton Herta and Graham Rahal when it came time for Palou and the No. 10 American Legion ‘Be The One’ Honda to come to the pits for their first service.
“We saved a little bit of fuel,” explained Palou. “Waited until the 27 struggled a little bit on tires. We were able to pass and then just run a bit longer than Colton and Rahal to get the lead.”
Palou led 48-of-80-laps en route to Chip Ganassi Racing’s record-tying 12th win at Mid-Ohio, tying Team Penske.
Dixon started sixth in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda and his second place finish was his best of the 2023 season, which moved him up to second place in the Championship standings.
“It was definitely a good day,” said Dixon, who trails Palou by 110-points in the title fight. “The pace of the PNC Bank No. 9 was really good. Fuel mileage was super easy, so Honda definitely stepped it up here this weekend. But huge credit to the 10 car and obviously Alex. He is on a hell of a run.”
Team Penske’s Will Power finished third in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet.
“Solid day. No mistakes,” said Power. “Yeah, not much more we could have got out of the day. That was kind of what we had. Obviously Palou is very quick.”
Power, the defending Series Champion, and Dixon, a six-time Series Champion, marveled at how Palou and his team has been able to outpace everyone in the most-competitive open wheel series in the world.
“He is so on point in every respect, in every respect,” said Power of Palou. “He is not missing a thing, which is very difficult in this series to be extremely fast, which there are a lot of guys that are, but then being able to do all the disciplines as well plus the intricacies of fuel save, tire conservation, in-and-out laps, the qualifying. It’s bloody hard to have that all nailed, and he is doing it.”
“It’s not just Alex, but Julian (Robertson), the whole 10 car group are just doing a phenomenal job. Even with Barry (Wanser) as well,” said Dixon. “It’s never a single person. The effort is big I think on all the cars in Chip Ganassi right now, but they’re firing on all cylinders.”
Next up for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES is the Honda Indy Toronto on Sunday, July 16, where Chip Ganassi Racing will look to go back-to-back following Dixon’s win in 2022.
LEXINGTON, OH (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta is on the pole position for Sunday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES Honda Indy 200 presented by The 2023 Accord Hybrid.
Herta’s fast lap of 1 minute, 6.3096 seconds around the 13-turn, 2.258-mile permanent road course in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda was just .0432 seconds quicker than Graham Rahal turned in the No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Honda.
The pole position is the second straight for Herta, who won the pole in the series last race at Road America and 11th of his career.
“Really happy to get two in a row,” said Herta, who credited using the Primary Firestone Tire and not the Alternate tire choice as the difference maker. “After practice 1 it didn’t seem like a big enough jump, and it got a little bit bigger in qualifying than it was in practice, but we were in a position where we weren’t happy with our first set of tires that we ran on reds so we didn’t want to run on them and we didn’t want to run on our second, so we only had one choice, and it kind of made the choice for us, and I think it was the right one.”
Rahal, who was born an hour south of the track, was obviously disappointed to miss out on the pole position.
“I’m not going to lie — it was a good lap, and I knew it was solid,” said Rahal said. “I was bummed to not get a pole. But man, I was just walking up the stairs wondering where four/hundredths is. But at the same time that’s INDYCAR racing today. I think the top four of us were only separated by less than a tenth. It’s unbelievable.”
The Firestone Fast 6 were all powered by Honda Performance Development engines, the first time one manufacturer has swept the final qualifying group since 2016 when Chevrolet did at Watkins Glen International. It was Honda’s first such sweep since the format was implemented more than a decade ago.
“I just think they’re (Honda) doing a really good job right now of pushing the envelope again, you know, more.”
Herta’s teammate Kyle Kirkwood qualified third in the No. 27 AutoNation Honda with a fast lap of 1-minute, 6.3693 seconds.
INDYCAR Championship Points Leader Alex Palou, who has won three of the last four races, will start fourth in the No. 10 American Legion Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
“I’m really happy, I would say this is my best qualifying here at Mid-Ohio,” said Palou. “Last couple of years I wasn’t able to make it to the Fast 6. Only a tenth off, really close, we tried hard, but just missed a little bit on my best lap. Happy to be starting P4 and with 80 laps to go, it’ll be an exciting race tomorrow.”
Rahal’s teammate Christian Lundgaard will start fifth in the No. 45 Hyvee Honda.
Palou’s teammate, Six-time Series Champion Scott Dixon will line up sixth in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
“The first sector went really well, but second one was kinda tight,” said Dixon. “I think the car had better speed. Honestly, I think we just went with the wrong tire strategy at the end there, using maybe the wrong set of reds. It looked like the blacks should have been the way we went, because we ran a lot quicker in Q1 on a new set of blacks. I think that would have got us maybe fighting for the front there. Starting sixth, the car’s got good pace.”
Meyer Shank Racing’s Simon Pagenaud was held out of qualifying as a precaution following a scary accident in Turn 4 during Saturday morning’s practice that saw the No. 60 AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda suffer brake failure and barrel-roll through the gravel trap multiple times before coming to a stop against a tire barrier.
A wild ride for @simonpagenaud.
Another angle of Simon's scary incident from Practice 2 at @Mid_Ohio.#INDYCAR // #Honda200 pic.twitter.com/gtW6WFLrtp
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) July 1, 2023
The 2016 INDYCAR Series Champion was evaluated and released by the INDYCAR Medical team, although per protocol he was not cleared to return to action Saturday. He will be evaluated Sunday morning. The team has asked series veteran Conor Daly to be on standby in the event Pagenaud can’t drive in the race.
The next on-track activity will be Sunday’s morning warm-up from 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Pre-race activities start at 1:00 p.m. with the green flag dropping at 1:30 p.m. The race will be televised on USA Network and Peacock and can be heard on the INDYCAR Radio Network and SiriusXM Satellite Radio.
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Marcus Ericsson was in position to win his second straight Indianapolis 500 but a late-race caution and red flag spoiled that opportunity.
Ericsson and the No. 8 Huski Ice Spritz Honda took the lead of the race on a Lap 196 restart when a caution flag came out immediately after due to an crash in the back of the field. Ericsson and the rest of the field circled the Speedway behind the Corvette pace for a complete lap. That’s when NTT INDYCAR SERIES officials decided to Red Flag the race for the third time.
Race Control restarted the race with two laps left and told drivers it would be one-to-go and the green flag when they came off Turn 4. Ericsson was able to get the jump on the green and led the field through Turn One and off Turn Two.
Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden got a tremendous run down the backstrech and passed Ericsson going into Turn Three. Ericsson couldn’t catch Newgarden coming to the yard of bricks, the fourth-narrowest margin of victory in the history of the race.
“I don’t think it’s a fair way to end the race,” said Ericsson. “I don’t think it’s a right way to end the race. I think it wasn’t enough laps to go to do what we did. I don’t think it’s safe to go out of the pits on cold tires for a restart when half the field is sort of still trying to get out on track when we go green.”
Ericsson questioned why Race Control decided to let the field circle the 2.5-mile oval for a complete lap and bringing the race cars through the accident scene instead of down pit road.
“They (INDYCAR) should have called it earlier,” explained Ericsson. “If they wanted red they should have called red earlier. I think when they kept it going, then I think they should have called it. But I’m sure Josef (Newgarden) doesn’t agree with that and thinks that way, but that’s just the way I thought. I thought it was too tight to do the last red.”
Pole Sitter Alex Palou appeared to be one of the cars to beat early, leading 36-laps in the No. 10 American Legion Honda. Palou was on pit road during a caution flag when Rinus Veekay lost it coming out of his pits, pinching Palou into the inside wall exiting his pits.
The Ricky Davis led crew sprinted down to the car and rolled Palou back into the pit box, changed the front wing and sent the 2021 Champion back into the fight.
The No. 10 American Legion crew changes the nose cone after the car was struck on pit road. (Photo: Penske Entertainment – Chris Jones)
“There’s nothing that we could have done differently there on pit lane,” said Palou. “Starting from 30th again and we had to start the race from scratch. But, we went from 30th to fourth and still could have done a bit more. It was a tough day.”
Palou wasn’t the only Chip Ganassi Racing driver to rally on this day.
Scott Dixon started the race from the sixth position and was quickly into the Top 5 after the start of the race. Midway through the first run the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda developed a bad vibration that sent Dixon to pit road way earlier than planned.
“It was kind of a frustrating day,” said Dixon, the Six-time Series Champion. “We had that first set of tires that just went out of balance so badly. The car got massively loose, and we adjusted for that, but it also made the car a bit weird with a clutch alarm that we had to figure out. We worked on the balance to regroup after that, but it was just a very tough day.”
Scott Dixon lights-up the rear tires on the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda following a pit stop in the 107th Indianapolis 500. (Photo: Penske Entertainment – Chris Jones)
Dixon went to work following that pit stop and spent the rest of the day trying to get back the lost track position eventually finishing sixth.
Takuma Sato and the No. 11 Deloitte Honda home in seventh spot and said he was fighting track position all day.
“It was a tough race,” said Sato. “We had to fight back in the middle stages there where we couldn’t get up into the front group. We fought hard and I’m really proud of the entire No. 11 team.”
Palou leaves Indy INDYCAR Series Championship standing with 219 points. Ericsson sits second with 199 points and Dixon is lurking back in fifth with 162 points.
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES returns to Downtown Detroit next weekend with the Chevrolet Grand Prix of Detroit on June 4, 2023 at 3:00 p.m.
Flick Dominates Sprint Finale at Tri-City and Clinches Championship; Reitz, Whitling, Potosky, and Urey also Score
Rudolph wins Mod Tour Race and Clinches BRP Championship; Whitling Tops Pro Stocks, Urey takes Mini Stocks
Zeigler Apologetic After Labor Day 55 Win, Altobelli Annihilates Modified Field
Farnham and Vigneri Haul Tri-City Loot Across the Border; Mollick, Scott, Seippel, and Morrison Also Score
Blair Cress, Jr. Buys Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway
Zeigler Apologetic After Labor Day 55 Win, Altobelli Annihilates Modified Field
Flick Dominates Sprint Finale at Tri-City and Clinches Championship; Reitz, Whitling, Potosky, and Urey also Score