Chaos central: On-boards from Mid-Ohio USF2000 start crash - MotorSportsTalk

Race 3 of the USF2000 National Championship weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course started off with a humdinger of an accident. There were 11 cars in the 28-car field that got caught up in it.

Here’s a handful of on-board videos describing the chaos. We’ll start with Matt McMurry, son of sometimes American Le Mans Series racer Chris, who drives the No. 14 Belardi Auto Racing entry. McMurry’s on-board is mounted on the right side of his rollhoop, just to the right of his cockpit. McMurry’s video does a great job of breaking down the play-by-play of the accident. The link is below.

Next up is Edmonton native Stefan Rzadzinski, who has experience in all three levels of the Mazda Road to Indy ladder and drives the No. 93 car for JDC Motorsports. “Rzad,” as he’s known, said on Twitter that his way of carving through the mess was his “channeling his inner Pavel Datsyuk.” Or, as he calls it, “Racing Dangles.” Anyway, the first part of his video is an on-board, and teammate Arthur Oliviera in the No. 12 JDC car, several rows behind, has a front row seat to Rzadzinski’s avoidance maneuver.

Someone who made it through the mess but not without seeing some things you rarely do in a race car was Brandon Newey, son of Bryan Herta Autosport team co-owner Steve Newey. The younger Newey, in the No. 98 Afterburner Autosport entry, has another car, Dalton Kellett, actually facing him head-on (main picture).

Last but not least was poor Tim Paul, in the No. 6 ArmsUp Motorsports/SMR entry… who as far as we know at this point is the main on-board that didn’t make it through the accident.

There may be more to come but this is a good sampling of the views these young drivers had to see for their race this past weekend.

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Ryan Hunter-Reay was named to replace Conor Daly in Ed Carpenter Racing’s No. 20 Dallara-Chevrolet, starting in the NTT IndyCar Series event next week at Road America.

Hunter-Reay is the 2012 series champion and 2014 Indianapolis 500 winner. He finished 11th for Dreyer & Reinbold last month in the 107th Indy 500, his first start since the 2021 season finale. He drove full time for Andretti Autosport from 2010-21.

“We need to improve our competitiveness and I wanted to add a fresh perspective from a driver like Ryan who has a massive amount of experience and success as well as a reputation as a team leader. I am excited to welcome Ryan to the team,” team owner Ed Carpenter said in a team release. “We have worked together in the past as teammates and he tested for ECR at Barber Motorsports Park in October 2021, where he made an immediate impact as we were able to qualify one of our cars on the pole following that test. I am confident that his experience and technical abilities will be an asset to ECR as we move forward toward our goals as a team.”

Hunter-Reay has 18 IndyCar victories, most recently in 2018. He also is a winner in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, having been a part of winning entries in the 2020 Twelve Hours of Sebring and 2018 Petit Le Mans. Last year, he was an endurance driver for Cadillac Racing while being on standby for Chip Ganassi Racing.

He replaces Daly, whose departure was announced a day earlier in what the driver and team said was a mutual decision.

“I was surprised when I got the call from Ed,” Hunter-Reay said in a team release. “He described how frustrated he was that his team has not been able to realize its potential despite their efforts, investments, as well as technical and personnel changes over the past few years and asked for my help. Ed and I are very close friends and have been for a long time. I’ve worked with the team in the past and they are a very talented group with high expectations and a committed partner in BITNILE.COM.

“This will certainly be a challenge for me as well. It’s a tough situation jumping in a car in the middle of the season without any testing in what I believe to be the most competitive series in the world. Certainly, part of my motivation in saying ‘yes’ to Ed is the great challenge ahead. The last time I turned right driving an NTT IndyCar Series car was in October of 2021 with this team at Barber. However, I remain very confident in both my driving and technical abilities and believe by working with the talented people at ECR and Team Chevy, while representing BITNILE.COM, we will make progress. I am going to do everything I can do to help the team achieve its long-term objectives.”

Said Milton “Todd” Ault, the chairman of sponsor BitNile.com: “It is great for BitNile.com to be aligned with an Indy 500 Winner and an NTT IndyCar Series champion. I have followed Ryan’s career for years and I am confident he will challenge the entire ECR team to perform at higher levels. I wish everyone luck at Road America.”