Junior Open Wheel Talent

Make sure to check out HDNet, starting at 12:30 p.m. EST today and tomorrow, for coverage of the USF2000 National Championship and Star Mazda Championship at Autobahn.

If you don’t have HDNet at home, click here to check and see if any of your local establishments carry the channel.

Good morning folks.  I will be departing for Newton, Ia. shortly to cover the USF2000, Star Mazda and Indy Lights’ races.  Today’s forecast for Iowa Speedway doesn’t look overly promising but I expect the cars will get a fair amount of track time between rain showers.  Saturday’s forecast looks much better, at least until about 6 p.m., when there will be about a 30% chance of rain.  I know the area surrounding Iowa Speedway has been hit pretty hard by rain over the last few days, so hopefully track officials will be able to manage the weepers.  Remember last year?

I will try to post updates and pictures throughout the weekend, so make sure to check back frequently. I haven’t decided if I will do an actual live blog during tomorrow’s races or simply just publish a race report after the event.  Stay tuned.

See you at the track.

For those who missed it, here are the race previews I wrote this week:

• USF2000 National Championship
• Star Mazda Championship
• Firestone Indy Lights

Last Saturday was the two-year anniversary of my blogging efforts at Junior Open Wheel Talent.  I don’t have quite as much to say as I did last year for the one-year-anniversary, but I certainly have a few things I’d like to get out there.

Thank You

First of all, you are all deserving of a big thank you for making Junior Open Wheel Talent a frequent stop.  The traffic has continued to grow now for two-years without a plateau – which is a pretty rewarding statistic.  Without your devotion that sort of growth wouldn’t have been possible, so thank you!

Comments

The comment section of the site has been getting better.  It’s nice to have input from everyone and I truly enjoy the feeling of community that comes with a strong group of participants.  For the most part all the comments have been very well thought out and constructive, I hope to see that trend continue.  For those of you who have never left a comment, feel free to do so anytime.  If you don’t want to use your real name, you can use a screen name.  I only ask that you try to use the same name on repeat visits.  If you post a comment and it doesn’t show up for a while, don’t fret, it’s most likely just awaiting moderation from me.  Lately, all the comments have been going to the spam folder which delays the process but I’m working on a fix for that.

Advertising

I’m sure by now most of you have noticed that I’ve introduced a few ad locations with the new URL.  All the advertisers that I’ve brought on board are content related.  If you notice a strange ad that looks out of place, it’s likely an ad by google.  My hope is that I will be able to build a solid group of supporters and advertisers around the blog and eliminate all off-topic advertisements.

I’ve also continued using the Donate Icon via Paypal.  Thank you to everyone who has donated, it means a lot.  I plan to use all contributions as a travel fund to provide more live coverage this season.

JOWT Philosophy

This section hasn’t changed much, if any, over the past year or two-years.  I’m still looking for new and exciting ways to bring you original content from the karting and open-wheel world.  You can expect pretty much the same type of content over the next year.  You won’t find traditional press releases here, everything you read is written by me.  I will be working to keep you up-to-date with the day to day karting & junior formula news, signings and original analysis of anything that might be going on behind the scenes.  If you have a story tip for me, don’t hesitate to send me a email: junioropenwheeltalent@gmail DOT com.

Social Media

If you wish to follow JOWT through other social media programs, here are a few links for you…

• Facebook Fan Page
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• MySpace
• RSS
  
• Or simply have the content sent directly to your email.

Thank You!

I’m sure I’m forgetting a thing or two here but the main purpose of this post is to thank you [THE READER] for your support.  If you enjoy the content, make sure to share the link with your friends. Thanks!

-Ryan

Being that I’m an avid golfer and motorsport fan, I’d be remiss if I didn’t publish something on this…

Alliance Motorsports’ co-owner Chris Williams is playing in the 2009 Mid-Amateur Golf Championship at the Kiawah Island Club in South Carolina.  He teed off on hole-10 today, of the Cassique course, at 1:20 PM.  The club’s Cassique course was designed by Tom Watson and opened in 2000.

Continue reading this post after the jump… [More]

Thanks to everyone who voted in the poll regarding today’s Star Mazda and Atlantic Championship ‘Live Blog’. It seems there is a fair amount of interest, so I’ve decided to go ahead and post one. Make sure to tune-in at 1:00 P.M (Central) today. For those of you that haven’t participated in a ‘Live Blog’ on Junior Open Wheel Talent previously; it’s a nice way to get everyone involved and easily could be termed a ‘Live Discussion’ as readers can chime in and add their “two cents”.

Thanks again for voting and I look forward to your participation in today’s Junior Open Wheel Talent ‘Live Blog’ of the Star Mazda and Atlantic Championship races.

As a side note, I was out of town all day yesterday… so my race recap/report will be delayed until Monday. Thanks for your patience.

If you missed the epic Wimbledon battle earlier today between Roger Federer and Andy Roddick— you weren’t the only one— as British #1; Andy Murray, spent the day driving a go-kart after losing to Roddick in the Wimbledon semi-final on Friday.

Perhaps we will see Murray in some open wheel cars down the road?

Well folks, tomorrow is the one year anniversary of my blogging efforts at Junior Open Wheel Talent. I started writing a year ago as a way to help promote drivers and teams in the junior formula ranks–since that time I have developed a decent following. For those of you who frequent the site, I am truly grateful. You are the ones who help motivate me to spend nearly every waking hour on the Internet and phone trying to come up with junior formula news. There are a couple things I would like to touch on as a reminder to loyal readers as well as to those who are new visitors to Junior Open Wheel Talent Blog.

This is a Blog, Not a Website-
In other words, the stories you read here are written by me. I do not post press releases written by teams, drivers or series. I will occasionally throw in an opinion or two as expected, and as a reader, it’s up to you how serious you want to take it.

Nobody is perfect-
And I certainly don’t claim to be. I write all the stories you read here and edit them too. I am human and I do make mistakes. If I catch something after the fact, I will try to go in and make the necessary changes. If you catch something, please let me know, I won’t be offended. I take pride in what I do and if I’m not offering you something worth reading then I shouldn’t be writing it.

Comments-
This is the one area that I really hope to see improve. There are several of you that do leave a comment now and then, and I do appreciate it. I want Junior Open Wheel Talent to be a user friendly site that promotes healthy discussion on things related to the stories here. At this time, I do allow anonymous comments in an effort to promote more interaction. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate knowing who you are but that doesn’t mean I won’t accept anonymous comments. Occasionally, I will receive a comment that corrects misinformation, typos, etc.–I haven’t always published those comments but I do make sure that the necessary corrections are made as soon as possible. I appreciate all of your input and I really hope to see the comment sections grow over the next year.

JOWT Philosophy-
I am constantly trying to find new ways to improve my coverage. If you have suggestions–feel free to email me at junioropenwheeltalent@gmail dot com. As stated above, this is a blog and I tend to shy away from strictly posting results. There are numerous other sites out there that offer that information on a more frequent basis–simply because they have more resources (including live-timing) to do so. Instead, I am focusing on keeping track of the junior formula silly season (ex. Who’s Testing With Who, Signings…etc). I will also try to offer original analysis on all things pertaining to junior formula racing. In case you haven’t noticed, my race reports and previews have been slim lately as I am trying to focus on keeping things simple. This allows me to promote drivers that other press releases might miss. Sometimes the guy that went from 30th to 8th–deserves as much press as the guy that went flag to flag. Just another way to try and find my niche. Once again, thank you to all the loyal readers.

Donations-
Last month, I decided to add a donation link or tip-jar to the blog via PayPal. Maintaining my current level of coverage requires a significant amount of time and effort. Fortunately for me, it’s something I truly enjoy doing. In fact, those around me, on a daily basis, may call it an obsession. The donation icon is there for readers who wish to add a contribution. All I ask for is your readership. For those that have donated, I am thoroughly grateful. Every donation is appreciated no matter how small. My hope is to use this money as a travel fund to provide more live-blogs down the road.

Anonymity-
I have had several readers request my true identity. For now, I prefer to keep my full name private. I hope you will respect this request. I know that some of you—which I won’t name—refuse to correspond with me until I relinquish my full identity. I assure you this time will come, and I know some of you have already figured it out. All I ask is that you respect my privacy and my request to remain anonymous. For those of you who are upset by my decision–I do apologize. I’m sure my name will be leaked sooner rather than later. Be patient.

Live Blogging-
I have done a few live blogs over the last year and I hope to do even more in 2009. Thank you to everyone that tuned in during those race weekends.
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Once again–Thank you to everyone who frequents this site and the teams who have provided information. If you enjoy what you read, make sure to send the link to your friends. Thanks for reading!

-JOWT

In sad news, Christian Stover passed away last Wednesday evening (April 1st, 2009) in a tragic ATV accident. Christian and his family were very close to many in the karting ranks. Our condolences go out to his family and friends.

You can read more about his racing career here. Feel free to leave comments or stories about Christian below.
(photo: www.stoverracing.com)

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Being that I’m a huge NCAA College hockey fan, …away from racing, I figured this news story was worth a short post. For anyone living in or around Columbus, Ohio, …you might want to check out a pretty solid game between the #15 Ohio State Buckeyes and the #2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the two teams face off at 2:05 PM Sunday.

Auto Racing will be celebrated at the Value City Arena for the second consecutive year. Racecar driver Gabi DiCarlo will be on hand. Gabi was a long-time kart racer and drove in the Star Mazda series a few years ago. She spent last season in the ARCA Re/Max series; making the unfortunate move to the stock car world.

Several other promotions will take place before the game, including race car displays in the concourse. Maybe next year they can do this for a WCHA game.