Indy Grand Prix of Alabama explained

Race Title:Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix
Series Long:IndyCar Series
Series Short:ICS
Venue:Barber Motorsports Park
Location:Birmingham, Alabama
Sponsor:Honda
First Race:2010
Distance:2.38 miles (3.83 km)
Laps:90
Most Wins Driver:Josef Newgarden (3)
Most Wins Team:Team Penske (7)
Most Wins Manufacturer:Chassis: Dallara (13)
Engine: Chevrolet (8)

The Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix is an IndyCar Series race held at Barber Motorsports Park, a 17-turn 2.38miles road course, in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. Officially announced on July 27, 2009, the inaugural event was on the weekend of April 9–11, 2010.[1] [2] The event is under the management of the local group Zoom Motorsports. The venue is designed to allow for nearly 100,000 spectators and will have an estimated economic impact on Greater Birmingham of $30 million.[1]

History

Having an IRL race at Barber became a possibility in 2007 when the league had testing session at the facility on October 12, 2007.[3] The test would also serve in evaluating the track as a potential site for a race beginning in the 2009 season. By July 2008, IRL revealed its 2009 schedule with new races being held at Long Beach and Toronto, but not at Barber.[4] However local officials indicated that Barber was under strong consideration for a 2010 date.[4]

Due to the success of the testing session in 2007, Barber was selected for a full-field, three-day testing session in March 2009.[5] Officials remained confident that the track would gain a race in the future due to the desire of the IRL to expand into the South, as well as the location of the Honda Manufacturing of Alabama plant in nearby Lincoln, Honda being an official engine supplier of IRL.[5]

The opportunity to pursue the event came after the Detroit Indy Grand Prix was discontinued.[1] [6] Initially, Zoom Motorsports looked to have the Detroit race moved to Alabama for the 2009 season; however, the league decided in February 2009 to not replace the event on its schedule.[7] With an open date available for 2010, Birmingham made its pitch to IRL officials and was selected to hold the event over Cleveland (Burke Lakefront Airport), Houston, Baltimore, Nashville, Charlotte and Portland.[1] IRL cited both strong support from both local and state government in addition to the large crowd that attended an IRL training session in March 2009 as factors in Birmingham being selected for the race.[1]

Past winners

SeasonDateDriverTeamChassisEngineTiresRace DistanceRace TimeAverage Speed
(mph)		ReportRef
LapsMiles (km)
2010April 11 Hélio CastronevesTeam PenskeDallaraHondaFirestone90214.2 (344.721)1:56:41106.436Report[8]
2011April 10 Will PowerTeam PenskeDallaraHondaFirestone90214.2 (344.721)2:14:4392.194Report[9]
2012April 1 Will PowerTeam PenskeDallaraChevroletFirestone90214.2 (344.721)2:01:40102.081Report[10]
2013April 7 Ryan Hunter-ReayAndretti AutosportDallaraChevroletFirestone90214.2 (344.721)1:52:05110.818Report[11]
2014April 27 Ryan Hunter-ReayAndretti AutosportDallaraHondaFirestone69*164.22 (264.286)1:40:4394.537Report[12]
2015April 26 Josef NewgardenCFH RacingDallaraChevroletFirestone90214.2 (344.721)1:55:53107.176Report[13]
2016April 24 Simon PagenaudTeam PenskeDallaraChevroletFirestone90214.2 (344.721)1:48:42114.254Report[14]
2017April 23 Josef NewgardenTeam PenskeDallaraChevroletFirestone90214.2 (344.721)1:54:09108.809Report[15]
2018April 22/23 Josef NewgardenTeam PenskeDallaraChevroletFirestone82*195.16 (314.06)2:01:1493.335Report[16]
2019April 7 Takuma SatoRahal Letterman Lanigan RacingDallaraHondaFirestone90214.2 (344.721)1:55:46107.272Report[17]
2020April 5Canceled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic[18]
2021April 18 Alex PalouChip Ganassi RacingDallaraHondaFirestone90214.2 (344.721)1:52:53110.025Report[19]
2022May 1 Pato O'WardArrow McLaren SPDallaraChevroletFirestone90214.2 (344.721)1:48:39114.304Report[20]
2023April 30 Scott McLaughlinTeam PenskeDallaraChevroletFirestone90214.2 (344.721)1:47:58115.019Report[21]
2024April 28 Scott McLaughlinTeam PenskeDallaraChevroletFirestone90214.2 (344.721)1:56:45110.081Report[22]

Notes

Indy Lights/Indy NXT winners

SeasonDateWinning DriverWinning Team
2010April 11 Jean-Karl VernaySam Schmidt Motorsports
2011April 10 Víctor GarcíaTeam Moore Racing
2012April 1 Sebastián SaavedraConquest Racing
2013April 7 Carlos MuñozAndretti Autosport
2014April 26 Zach VeachAndretti Autosport
April 27 Gabby ChavesBelardi Auto Racing
2015April 25 Spencer PigotJuncos Racing
April 26 Spencer PigotJuncos Racing
2016April 25 Ed JonesCarlin
April 26 Santiago UrrutiaSchmidt Peterson Motorsports
2017April 22 Nico JaminAndretti Autosport
April 23 Colton HertaAndretti Steinbrenner Racing
2018April 21 Patricio O'WardAndretti Autosport
April 22 Patricio O'WardAndretti Autosport
2019Not Held
2020April 4Canceled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
April 5Canceled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
2021April 17 Linus LundqvistGlobal Racing Group with HMD Motorsports
April 18 David MalukasHMD Motorsports
2022May 1 Linus LundqvistHMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing
Indy NXT
2023April 30 Christian RasmussenHMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing
2024April 28 Jacob AbelAbel Motorsports

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Tomberlin . Michael . Indy Car race coming to Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds, Alabama . The Birmingham News . July 26, 2009.
  2. News: Tomberlin . Michael . It's official: 3 Indy car races coming to Barber Motorsports Park . The Birmingham News . July 27, 2009.
  3. News: Bolton . Mike . Star drivers to test at Barber Course is potential 2009 series event . The Birmingham News . October 2, 2007.
  4. News: Demmons . Doug . Barber misses cut for 2009 Indy race . The Birmingham News . July 31, 2008.
  5. News: Bolton . Mike . IndyCar Series drivers to conduct test session at Barber: Preseason testing bodes well for possible race at Barber in 2010 . The Birmingham News . December 7, 2008.
  6. News: INDYCAR: Detroit Canceled for 2009, Vision Racing Trims Staff . speedtv.com . 2008-12-18 . 2009-07-26 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20081219104659/http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/indycar-detroit-cancelled-for-2009-vision-racing-trims-staff/ . 2008-12-19 .
  7. News: Demmons . Doug . Barber Motorsports Park won't get '09 IRL race . The Birmingham News . February 6, 2009.
  8. Web site: 2010 Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 27, 2023.
  9. Web site: 2011 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 27, 2023.
  10. Web site: 2012 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 27, 2023.
  11. Web site: 2013 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 27, 2023.
  12. Web site: 2014 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 27, 2023.
  13. Web site: 2015 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 27, 2023.
  14. Web site: 2016 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 27, 2023.
  15. Web site: 2017 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 27, 2023.
  16. Web site: 2018 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 27, 2023.
  17. Web site: 2019 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 27, 2023.
  18. News: Patchen. Tyler. Indy Grand Prix of Alabama canceled due to COVID-19. Birmingham Business Journal. March 13, 2020. November 27, 2023. subscription.
  19. Web site: 2021 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 27, 2023.
  20. Web site: 2022 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 27, 2023.
  21. Web site: 2023 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 27, 2023.
  22. Web site: 2024 Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. May 2, 2024.
  23. Web site: Koelle. Christian. Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama Postponed. Frontstretch. April 22, 2018. November 27, 2023.
  24. Web site: Robinson. Mark. Heavy rain suspends Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. IndyCar Series. April 22, 2018. November 27, 2023.
  25. Web site: IndyCar shifts Barber opener back a week to air on NBC. Racer. January 22, 2021. November 27, 2023.
  26. News: Brown. Nathan. IndyCar to move Barber season-opener back one week to April 18. The Indianapolis Star. January 21, 2021. November 27, 2023.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Indy Grand Prix of Alabama".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.