Kimball, Franchitti join Ganassi podium sweep - MotorSportsTalk

One week from returning to Toronto, where he scored a career-best runner-up finish last season, Charlie Kimball has matched that result today with a second-place effort at Pocono Raceway.

After the final pit stops of the afternoon were completed, Kimball, who started 12th, found himself in the lead with 29 laps remaining. He would lose the lead to Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon one lap later, and chased the former Indianapolis 500 winner to the checkered flag, losing out by less than half a second.

Still, the third-year American driver was pleased following his second Top-5 run of the season. He also surely impressed the group of families from sponsor Novo Nordisk’s North American headquarters, which made the two-hour trip north from New Jersey to cheer him on.

“Both Thursday at the [Open Test] and then yesterday, we really focused on our race car,” said Kimball. “The team [and] the whole Chip Ganassi Racing crew, as evidence by [the 1-2-3 finish], was focusing on race day, knowing that’s when it mattered. So throughout today, the guys made it better on each pit stop and the car just got quicker and quicker. A lot of credit to Honda – they gave us the fuel mileage and speed to get it done. All I had to do was pedal the car around.”

“It was a lot of fun. When you get a good car like that and running up front, it’s always fun.”

Right behind Kimball and completing the all-Ganassi podium was Dario Franchitti, who has struggled at times this year but netted a third-place finish after starting 20th due to an engine penalty.

“We went for a very aggressive setup, very low downforce,” said Franchitti, who earned his best result since running fifth in Race 2 of last month’s doubleheader in Detroit.

“When I get some kind of gap, I could run some fast laps. The Honda today – it’s so good on fuel mileage, and that really, really helped us. I could catch back up Charlie in spots, but I couldn’t do anything with him because of the aggressive setup we ran.”

Franchitti credited his charge from the back of the field to a variety of reasons.

“A lot of it is timing and momentum – you’re trying to keep the momentum up, but the car’s sliding and your brain’s telling you to lift,” Franchitti said. “Then you gotta keep your foot down.

“Some momentum passes and definitely some strategy with the Honda fuel mileage, some great pit stops from my guys, and just some hard racing too. I definitely made some moves out there.”

Vicki Golden has earned a career worthy of a thousand stories and 805 Beer tells at least one of them, as “Inverted Perspective” premiered March 30 on the company’s website and YouTube channel.

Golden did more to break the glass ceiling in SuperMotocross than she ever thought possible. She knows this because riders have never felt the need to explain any of her accomplishments with the disclaimer, “for a girl”.

At this point in Golden’s career, she’s been the first woman to finish top 10 in AMA Arenacross Lites, the first woman to qualify in the Fast 40 in Monster Energy AMA Supercross and the first woman to compete in freestyle Moto X competition, earning a bronze medal by doing so.

Her love for moto came from childhood while she watched her dad and brother ride. By seven she was on her bike and making waves throughout Southern California.

Golden, 30, is still madly in love with the sport and has no plans on moving away but her career is already one to talk about. 805 Beer’s film series wanted to do exactly that.

“I’m taken aback by it all,” Golden told NBC Sports about the documentary. “It’s just crazy to see your story, it’s one thing to live your life and battle everything that comes about but it’s another to just sit there and talk about it.”

805 approached Golden about the feature by asking, “Do you even realize that what you do, and your story is special?”

Golden took the question as a blank canvas to map out the highs and lows of her career and life.

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The title “Inverted Perspective” came from a brainstorming session with Dominick Russo and it highlights Golden’s outlook on the sport of SuperMotocross and her life in general.

“My whole life, my whole career was thinking differently and looking at things that shouldn’t be done and aren’t there, while being able to make a place for myself, where no one thought there should be a place,” Golden said. “It’s inspiring someone to think in different ways. It sums up my life.”

*Vicki Golden is not “fast for a girl”; she’s just fast. – 805 Beer*

While Golden is no stranger to the spotlight, this was the first time she’s been fully involved with the storytelling and creation of a feature about herself.

“It’s not like a full new experience,” Golden said. “Obviously, you get your standard questions about your upbringing and accomplishments, but I’ve never really put into perspective things that happened in my past with my dad and putting that to light. Also, certain other things that maybe got overlooked in previous interviews or films. I wanted to touch on these and Dom wanted to create a story. It’s just cool to see it come to light, it’s a nearly impossible thing to tell somebody’s life story in 40 minutes.”

Golden’s father was left paralyzed after an ATV accident, robbing him the opportunity to ride again. This happened a few months before the father-daughter duo was set to compete in the Loretta Lynn’s Amateur Nationals when Vicki was 12. While she might have been unable to grasp the severity at the time, it’s something she carries with her. Golden continues to ride in his honor.

Years later, an accident in 2018 nearly sidelined the then 25-year-old Vicki when a freestyle accident almost resulted in the amputation of her lower leg.

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Golden 805 Beer — *Vicki Golden has ridden a variety of disciplines in SuperMotocross, which gives her a unique perspective. – 805 Beer*

“Inverted Perspective” highlights her father’s diligence in helping Vicki continue with her career and the kindness and strength he carried while fighting his own battle.

“My dad was the entire reason that I started riding in the first place,” Golden said. “So, to honor his memory and to honor what we went through and how hard he pushed to keep our dream alive and keep everything going – in that sense then, it was really special to be able to honor him and talk about him.”

The 40-minute feature was filmed entirely in black and white, a stark contrast from the oversaturated world of motocross where the brighter the suit the easier it is for fans to find their rider and follow him in the race. By filming in monochrome Russo and Golden had the chance to focus on the race and track from a different perspective.

“It was cool to be able to film it differently,” Golden said. “It created a challenge in the sense of what was going to be more visually impactful for the film.

“I couldn’t be here without the companies that back me but at the same time, it’s not like the logos or colors disappeared, it’s just different lights shed on different spots. It’s just a cool way to do it and to take color away and still be impactful. When you think of black and white, you think of old school, the OG way of doing things.”

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