Reigning Indy 500 Champ Drives Lights Car of Belardi Auto Racing

INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 7) -- Dan Wheldon hopped into the Firestone Indy Lights car of Belardi Auto Racing’s Anders Krohn at Indianapolis Motor Speedway yesterday.
No, you are not mistaken, it is not May.  Wheldon was invited to test drive the three cars of the Mazda Road to Indy
ladder system during a media day at the famed speedway.  The two-time Indy 500 winner was like a kid in a candy store; eyes gleaming at the chance to take the cars for a joyride around the former Formula 1 road course.

The Mazda Road to Indy is a three-rung ladder system that is made up of the Cooper Tires USF2000 National Championship powered by Mazda, the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, and the Firestone Indy Lights.  The cars go up in power, size and weight as you move up the program, which ends in the IZOD IndyCar Series. 

The now “unemployed” IndyCar driver, Wheldon had a similar way of coming up through the series.  First starting in F2000, he moved on to Indy Lights, then to the IndyCars, and is now the test driver of the brand new 2012 IndyCar…and enjoying every moment of it.

What Dan really enjoyed was the Indy Lights car of Belardi Auto Racing.  The reigning champ took the #9 machine, currently being driven by Anders Krohn, for six to seven laps around the road course.  He noted that the car was really well balanced and felt similar to the 2012 IndyCar. 

Of the three cars driven yesterday, he had the fastest time in the Lights car with a lap time of 1:25:38. 

Throughout the day Wheldon mentioned that the transition to each car going up felt right, and that it wouldn’t make sense to jump from an F2000 straight to an IndyCar. He reiterated the fact that the Mazda Road to Indy program really works and hopes it stays in place for years to come.
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Belardi Auto Racing can be found on Facebook (search “Belardi Auto Racing”), while driver Anders Krohn can be found on Twitter (@anderskrohn).

Belardi Auto Racing To Test at Kentucky Speedway with Sprint Car Driver

BROWNSBURG, Indiana (Sept 12, 2011) - Sprint car driver Jacob Wilson will join Belardi Auto Racing for a one day test at Kentucky Speedway.

“We’re very excited to have the opportunity to bring Jacob on board for the test at Kentucky,” team owner Brian Belardi said.  “Although he’s never been in a Lights car, the talent he’s showcased on dirt tracks and in sprint cars shows us how successful he could be in the Mazda Road to Indy.  We would love to bring more of the sprint car and midget drivers to the program, because I think it’s important to integrate those different types of talent into the development program we have feeding into the IZOD IndyCar series.”

Hailing from nearby Crawfordsville, Wilson currently races in the USAC Silver Crown, National Pavement Sprint Car and Must See Racing Xtreme Sprint series.  The 21 year-old will take his first run in a Firestone Indy Lights machine with Belardi Auto Racing at a test on September 22nd in Sparta, KY. 

Despite having no seat time in a Lights car, Wilson is no rookie to the world of racing.  He has been racing go-karts since the age of 6, and won six of his eight national titles in just one year.  Wilson also boasts over 35 national race wins and is the winner of the Joe James/Pat O’Connor Memorial event.

“Growing up as a kid in Indiana it was all about racing for me,” said Wilson.  “My excitement for the opportunity to test a Firestone Indy Lights car with Belardi Auto Racing is indescribable.  I have to say thank you to Brian Belardi and John Brunner for the opportunity and all of the people involved for their support.”

Belardi Auto Racing will return to Kentucky Speedway the week following the test for the Kentucky 100, the penultimate race of the 2011 season.
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Stay updated with Belardi Auto Racing by liking them on Facebook (“Belardi Auto Racing”), or check out Wilson on Twitter @JacobWilson07.

Belardi Racing's Baltimore Summary.

Belardi Auto Racing Endures Bumpy Ride in Baltimore Releases


BALTIMORE -- Belardi Auto Racing’s weekend in Baltimore proved to be quite bumpy, much like the temporary street course that they ran on.

After qualifying in a season high of 3rd position, Belardi Auto Racing’s Anders Krohn was bumped to P5 because of a ruling by race officials four hours after qualifying had ended.  Officials ruled that polesitter Gustavo Yacaman had run his fastest lap during a yellow, and the time was disallowed.  Yacaman and other drivers, including Krohn, were then rearranged on the starting grid.

Krohn’s teammate, Jorge Goncalvez, officially started the race in P9 and was running in the 8th spot until he caused a full course yellow on Lap 9 of 35.  Goncalvez stalled on the 2.04 mile street course, and was moved to the back of the field.

After getting the No. 4 machine restarted, Goncalvez’s day was done on Lap 12.  The Venezuelan’s car stalled once more because of a gearbox issue, and unfortunately his day ended in P16. 

Meanwhile, having maneuvered his way to P3, Krohn inherited the lead and became the third leader of the race after Conor Daly broke a wing on Lap 25 and Esteban Gurrieri crashed on Lap 28, bringing out another full course caution.  The Norwegian continued to lead the race through the restart until he locked up the brakes going into the tight Turn 1 and slid into the runoff area.

Smart moves by the driver of the No. 9 Liberty Engineering machine allowed for Belardi Auto Racing to get a top-10 finish when Krohn ended the 12-turn, 35 lap race in P6.

With lots of ups and downs in Baltimore, the Belardi Auto Racing team is ready to move on and focus on their next race at Kentucky Speedway on October 2nd.  Going into the penultimate race, El Pollito and The Viking are 5th and 6th in points, respectively. 

Keep up to date with the team on Twitter: @JGoncalvez, @anderskrohn, and on Facebook: “Belardi Auto Racing.”
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USF2000 Finale Brings Accolades for Belardi Auto Racing

BALTIMORE -- It was a challenging but rewarding weekend for Belardi Auto Racing’s USF2000 team to say the least.

With practice delayed five hours on Friday morning, and only turning five laps at the brand new street course, Belardi’s drivers Wayne Boyd and Luigi Biangardi knew this would be a tough but exciting way to end their season in the Cooper Tires USF2000 series.

During the first of two races over the weekend, a Lap 1 accident saw several cars get collected, bringing Boyd to P1.  Fighting off competitor Petri Suvanto throughout the race, Boyd clinched his second win of the season and moved to third in Championship points. 

Saturday’s happiness didn’t end with Wayne’s win. Teammate Biangardi had an impressive run improving to 4th place after starting in P9 -- his best finish this year.  The PFC Award was also awarded to team owner Brian Belardi for being the winning car owner.

Looking to further improve their weekend, Biangardi and Boyd started Sunday’s race in 4th and 5th respectively.  Following a restart, Boyd regrettably fell out of the race after his No. 4 TheAppBuilder.com machine began to have electrical problems.  His day ended in P15.

The attention was then on Biangardi, who at 15-years-old, is the youngest driver in the series.  In a battle for third during the last lap, the driver of the No. 9 INECT-IT.com/Gulfstream Properties machine collided with Matthew DiLeo in Turn 12.  The Chicago native unfortunately finished in 12th.  At the end of the day, however, a random finisher award, The Staubli Award, was awarded to Luigi, bringing the weekend to a bittersweet finish.

Belardi Auto Racing finishes its impressive USF2000 series season in 3rd place of the Championship run.  Wayne Boyd also finishes 3rd in the drivers’ standings with Luigi Biangardi in 10th after only competing in six of the twelve rounds of competition. 

Although the year is done for these two impressive drivers, Belardi Auto Racing continues their season with the Firestone Indy Lights series who will compete in two more races this year.  Check their Facebook page (“Belardi Auto Racing”) for updates.

The Great Brian Barnhart(TGBB)

All of the fans, and including the drivers agree that TGBB needs to be dealt with. He has shown many reasons why he can't run a major racing series like IndyCar, ever since he first started working for the IRL in 2005 as the president of the series. This last race was what sold it for me though, when TGBB restarted the race at Loudon when the drivers were pleading with Race Control not to restart the race. Although IndyCar can run on a road course with some water on the track, it doesn't mean that they can on ovals! It should be common sense to Brian Barnhart that they can't.

By saying that, the IndyCar Series should never be making these mistakes if they want to attract new sponsors and fans to the series. This call from TGBB was just plain ignorance. This makes the whole IndyCar Series look like they have no idea what they are doing, which in some ways some fans are starting to agree with that.

I'm also very disappointed with a lot of the call making that TGBB has made this season. There has been several incidents where drivers like Helio Castroneves or Alex Tagliani were never penalized for blocking other people and sending them out of the race. Even if IndyCar penalizes the drivers it's usually too late to make a difference at all, for instance Mike Conway, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Alex Tagliani are all on probation through Dec. 31st. I feel that Mike Conway and Ryan Hunter-Reay did not do enough rule breaking to sustain such a penalty like probation. For Alex Tagliani, they should have penalized him much earlier this season for incidents. Drivers I would like to see penalized like Dario Franchitti or Helio Castroneves, will never be penalized due to the fact that Race Control does not seem to pay attention to these two drivers's actions on the track. Let's just guess that is because they are the "face" of the series, so they can receive special treatment, that I don't agree with.

Also if they want to attract high profile drivers to the IndyCar Series, how are they going to do that when the current drivers can't even trust TGBB's call making now. The drivers who race in the IndyCar Series have to trust TGBB's decision making skills to make sure they are safe in every aspect of racing, and I just don't think any if them can trust him. So if the current drivers are aggravated with the series, how are other drivers going to want to race in the IndyCar Series?

One more thing to note:If they are worried about Will Power flipping off the officials on live TV, well they shouldn't, because TGBB is really the worst person they could have promoting the series right now.