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| December 09, 2011 News |
| Karts to Invade Conseco Fieldhouse for Inaugural Indy Karting Classic |
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Gaining speed and building momentum since mid-Summer, the inaugural Indy Karting Classic will take place this Sunday in Indianapolis, Indiana. Running inside the Conseco Fieldhouse, home of the National Basketball Associations (NBA) Indiana Pacers, in the motorsports capital of the world, the first ever event looks to be a successful one. Utilizing the names and likes of IZOD IndyCar Series and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers and run during the week of the International Motorsports Industry Show (IMIS), event officials are looking to promote karting throughout the Midwest and North America by bringing karting to the people.
With karting exhibits all but non existent at the IMIS show in recent years, the announcement of the Indy Karting Classic has seen industry attendance in the grassroots of motorsports increase by over 1000%. With help from IndyCar and NASCAR officials, the national entities have worked with the IMIS program to promote the event and ultimately pre-sell nearly 2000 tickets through Ticket Master.
“We have had more success than anticipated,” expressed co race promoter Shannon Parks who is working with Bill McLaughlin and IMIS officials to get the event up and running. “We have had media members from Speed TV, local news channels and publications in Indianapolis, Motorsports.com, eKartingNews and several others contact us for credentials and confirmed their attendance. We have setup live as well as taped interviews on news channels to air throughout the day as well as have multiple high ranking officials from IndyCar and NASCAR coming to witness the event.”
In a wheel-to-wheel battle that will dub Team IndyCar versus Team NASCAR, eleven drivers will battle tooth and nail for ultimate supremacy. With trash talk on social media sites already started, the battle royale will determine an ultimate winner and champion….for at least one year, until the second edition of the event is run.
With the event open to the public and ticket sales through Ticketmaster, motorsports fans, enthusiasts, sponsors and friends can come and experience the inaugural Indy Karting Classic. With names such as Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing driver and 2011 Firestone IndyLights Champion Josef Newgarden and 2011 race winner Ed Carpenter added to the driver line-up, as well as 2011 Indy 500 Pole Sitter Alex Tagliani, Tomas Scheckter, Jay Howard and 2011 race winner Ryan Hunter-Reay for Team IndyCar. Indiana’s own and 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion Tony Stewart, 2011 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Champion Austin Dillon, ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards 2011 champion Ty Dillon, Richard Petty Motorsports driver AJ Allmendinger as well as veteran John Andretti for Team NASCAR, the event is sure to be one for the ages.
Prior to the Pro drivers taking to the track inside the Conseco Fieldhouse, five of the sports more popular classes will compete in a full event. Utilizing World Karting Association structure, competitors will battle in the following classes: TaG, Yamaha SuperCan, Yamaha Junior, Yamaha Sportsman and Kid Kart. TaG will see 20 drivers compete with some headline names taking part. Allmendinger, not afraid of any challenge, will also race against some of karting’s best as he typically does during his off-weekends. Midwest stars Jamie Sieracki, Bill McLaughlin Jr. Colton Aldridge will challenge for the victory as will Texan Austin Self, making his Senior debut after a solid Junior career. The Yamaha SuperCan class is also a Senior category with a number of Indiana’s top Yamaha drivers taking part; Bobby Cummings, Steve Schiewer Blake Diester, Jackson Mears and Wisconsin’s Cale Wyse. Also taking part is Eddie Cheever III, son of motorsports star Eddie Cheever. The second generation driver comes into the Indy Karting Classic with a vast experience in international karting in Europe.
The Yamaha Junior division will host some of the sports current rising stars, including Michael Goodyear - son of IndyCar’s Scott Goodyear. One of the most competitive categories in the Junior ranks is the Yamaha Sportsman class. Drivers 8-12 years old make karting look easy every time they take the track with a photo finish sure to be in the future Sunday afternoon. Wrapping up the categories for the event is Kid Karts. Twenty ‘young guns’ - ages 5-7 years old - are the future of motorsports and will have a chance to race in front of their racing heroes Sunday.
With practice getting underway at 8:00am on Sunday morning, front doors of the Conseco Fieldhouse will open at 10am for motorsports fans and enthusiasts alike. With qualifying, heat races and last chance qualifiers taking place from 11am – 3pm, the main event placing NASCAR and IndyCar drivers head to head will take place at 4pm. If you have yet to purchase tickets, they will be available on site for $20.00 at the main entrance. More information can be found at http://www.indykartingclassic.com
eKartingNews.com will be trackside Sunday with full updates throughout the event to be published in the Official Event Thread and on Facebook and Twitter.
Provisional Entry Lists
TaG
AJ Allmendinger
Mike Richey
Kevin Martz
Jamie Sieracki
Cody Elliott
Bill McLaughlin Jr.
Ron Peterson
Colton Aldridge
Cole Fink
Andy Schlosser
Kyle Sneed
John Keefe
Brad Armstrong
Austin Self
Thomas Page
Chase Barber
Trey Shannon
Chris Koster
Dan Clarke
Nathan O'Rourke
Yamaha SuperCan
Eddie Cheever
Cale Wyse
Blake Diester
Morgan Fisher
Eric Sove
Alex Willimason
Jeremy McHone
Gary McHone
Weston Moon
Alec Coates
Bobby Cummings
Steve Schiewer
Brian Krunnel
Jackson Mears
Sabas Ortez
Alex Wither
Yamaha Junior
Jon Giddens
Collin Campbell
Olivia Horn
Bryan Heiple
Chase Jones
Andrew Burton
Sam Cate
Chandler Horton
Camden Speth
Bill Williamson Jr.
Jared Thomas
Michael Goodyear
Cooper Kuethe
Trent Walko
Oliver Scigliano
Yamaha Sportsman
Camden Donaldson
Abby McLaughlin
Jack Miller
Carson Steele
Ben Varner
Jack Dorsey
Grant Griesbach
Gage Rodgers
Nic Sheppard
Kaden Harter
Kaleb Allison
Zach Presier
Tommy Burke
Nraden Eves
Gabriel Gilbert
Michael Paterno
Kid Kart
Aden Gray
Talan Drake
Sammy Hinds
Makala Marks
Ayden Gough
Mason Maine
Donald Whorton II
Tyler Hatcher
Jacob Putman
Austin Kendig
Cameron Christ
Tate Steinmann
Madison Bland
Cristian Perocarpi
Andrew Castelucci
Stevye Eppard
Harrison Hall
JJ Conway
Blake Swanson
Carter Mears |
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