Pocono Raceway president thanks fans for dedication through the rain

By Aug 23, 2016, 1:39 PM EDT
Photo: IndyCar
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A class move here from Pocono Raceway president Brandon Igdalsky, who released a letter to all fans and ticket buyers for their dedication to coming to the track despite three rainouts in as many major events.

Both NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races were delayed until Monday and the second one produced a fog-shortened finish, with Chris Buescher scoring a surprise first career victory for Front Row Motorsports.

Then the Verizon IndyCar Series came this weekend and completed the rare “dripple” as it was coined by USA Today Sports’ Brant James, as heavy rains swept through right about an hour before the scheduled green flag time on Sunday. IndyCar got all 500 miles in on Monday.

Igdalsky, who along with his staff kept his spirits high all weekend and even poked fun at himself by changing his name on Twitter to “The Rain King,” released this letter to fans on Monday:

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Pocono Raceway Fans,

Thank you, thank you, thank you. As you know, we like things in threes here at ‘The Tricky Triangle’ but three postponements isn’t what we had in mind.

We know this has been a challenging race season and I just wanted to thank you all for your support. Mother Nature wasn’t kind to us this year and despite our best efforts, we weren’t able to run any races on Sunday. We are very grateful for all who came back to see tremendous action on Mondays.

We made some changes this year to Pocono Raceway. Some were obvious, the Pocono Raceway Bark Park, additional SAFER Barrier, more catchfence, improvements in parking and traffic and some not that were made behind the scenes. We hope these made your race experience better.

Thank you also to those who have reached out and offered suggestions. We altered some of our communication plans so fans in the stands were better informed and added additional signage in our RV and Camping areas.

We are always looking to improve and do more for our fans. Our planning for 2017 begins today.

We already know our NASCAR weekends for next year (June 9-11 and July 28-30) and will learn our Verizon IndyCar Series date soon. Keep an eye our website and social media channels for more details.

Thank you again for all of your support. We hope to see you again very soon.

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IndyCar is back for two more years at Pocono through 2018 with dates yet to be announced; NASCAR maintains its two-event per year run at “The Tricky Triangle,” as well.

Ford Mustang GT3 test has Austin Cindric dreaming of Daytona: ‘I want to drive that car’

By Mar 22, 2023, 2:30 PM EDT
Cindric Ford GT3 test
Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
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Austin Cindric wasn’t the “mystery” test driver behind the wheel of the new Ford Mustang GT3 at Sebring International Raceway, but the Team Penske driver desperately wanted to be.

Ford CEO Jim Farley, an amateur sports car driver himself, made the big reveal via a Tuesday tweet that provided the first video evidence of the GT3 Mustang on track.

“I’ve watched the video in question about a million times,” Cindric said Wednesday during a Ford Performance Zoom news conference to promote NASCAR’s first road course weekend of the season at Circuit of the Americas. “Definitely exciting times for sure. I want to drive that car. It suits my experience level and also the relationships that I have.”

Ford will enter the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next season with its GT3 Mustang, entering a two-car factory effort (that will be managed by Multimatic) in GTD Pro and making customer cars available in the GT Daytona category.

That increases the likelihood of seeing more NASCAR drivers crossing over to IMSA. Cindric has been the only full-time Cup driver in the Rolex 24 at Daytona the past two years, but Ford Performance global director Mark Rushbrook has said the GT3 Mustang will provide more opportunities.

Ford has used its GT4 Mustang as a NASCAR driver development tool in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge with Harrison Burton and Zane Smith combining to win the season opener at Daytona International Speedway in January.

“We’re excited about the Next Gen car and the new architecture there and the similarities between that car and GT3 and even GT4 cars,” Rushbrook said at the announcement of the Ford GT3 program in January 2022 at Daytona. “We think it’s a great opportunity and to do be able to do that in a 24-hour race and get NASCAR drivers even more time is something we need to consider taking advantage of that opportunity.”

Given his sports car background, Cindric probably still would be in the Rolex 24 regardless. He has eight IMSA starts since the 2017 season opener at Daytona, racing a Lexus RCF GT3 and Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the GT category. The 2022 Daytona 500 winner made his second LMP2 start this year with Rick Ware Racing.

But Cindric’s preference naturally would be in a Ford, particularly with sports car racing enjoying convergence and crossovers in both GT and prototype racing.

“It’s an exciting time in GT racing, just as it is now for prototype racing with a lot of new regulations and manufacturers building new GT3 cars,” he said. “And also the opportunity with WEC (the World Endurance Championship) and Le Mans and how that all lines up for that category of car. It’s definitely an exciting time. I want to be as much of a part of that as possible.”

Though those odds seemingly will increase with multiple Ford entries in the Rolex 24 field next year, Cindric said NASCAR drivers still have to put in the networking to land rides as he has in recent years.

“Now how (the GT3 Mustang) relates to specifically NASCAR drivers and how often they want to be in the Rolex, could it be an influence? Absolutely, as far as the tie-in with the manufacturer,” Cindric said. “But the challenge and the drive and the logistics of getting an opportunity for a race like the Rolex 24 will be just as challenging as it always is to find your one-off ride for the race. At least from my experience, that’s what I still anticipate.”

It turned out the “mystery” test driver wasn’t from NASCAR (Farley revealed the driver to be 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Joey Hand after a fan asked whether it was Joey Logano).

But Cindric believes there could be more Cup drivers — and perhaps himself — behind the wheel of Mustang GT3s in the future.

“There’s definitely more of a pathway than I think there would be before as far as Ford drivers are concerned,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll get the opportunity to drive that thing. It’s obviously a great looking car. That’s the first box you’ve got to check. And it’s cool (to have) a guy like Jim Farley, no doubt he’s a racer just as much as he is steering the ship for Ford. It’s cool to see he’s just as excited as the rest of us about it.”