Who is James Davison?

Racing is awesome in its own right, but when you know the players, it's twice as nice.

It was announced, this week, that James Davison will make his IZOD IndyCar Series debut in next weekend's Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, driving the No. 18 for Dale Coyne Racing.

So, who is he? Let's check his vitals:

Nationality: Australian (Melbourne)

Age: 26

Curriculum Vitae

2004 — Victorian State Formula Ford Championship (Australia) 

• 1 win, 1 pole 

2005 — Formula BMW USA Junior Series 

• 1 win (US Grand Prix, Indianapolis), 4 podiums

2007 — Star Mazda Series (Velocity Motorsports) 

• 2nd in championship
• 3 wins, 3 poles

2008 — Indy Lights Series (Sam Schmidt Motorsports)

• 1 win (Mid-Ohio), 1 pole 
• Sunoco Most Improved Driver

2009 — Indy Lights Series (Vision Racing)

• 2nd in championship
• 1 win (Mid-Ohio), 3 poles, 4 podiums 

2010

• Driver coach for Milka Duno in the IndyCar Series
• Grand-Am Rolex Series debut, 6 hours of Watkins Glen (Starworks Motorsport) 

2011

• Grand-Am Rolex Series race, Laguna Seca (Michael Shank Racing) 
• Maiden IndyCar test with Andretti Autosport

2012

• Porsche Carrera Cup debut, Australian Grand Prix

2013

• Bathurst 12 hour Sportscar race, Class B Porsche GT3
• IndyCar test with Dale Coyne Racing (Mid-Ohio)

If you actually read that, you'll see Davison has won twice at Mid-Ohio in Indy Lights, as well as tested there in an Indycar.

Good luck to James and DCR, next week. 

Get your Mid-Ohio tickets HERE.

—Chris

Catch a Rising Star

The hot shoes at the Indy 500 have to come from somewhere, and what's cooler than being able to say, "I knew them when?"

Here's the skinny: Saturday, the night before the '500', there's a race called "The Night Before The '500'" (somebody was ON IT).

Held at Lucas Oil Raceway, it's a jam-packed night of racing featuring the USAC Midget Series and two—count them—two rungs of the IZOD IndyCar Series' Mazda Road to Indy ladder system: USF2000 and Star Mazda.

Just some of the names expected to participate: Blackstock (Reba's son), Brabham, McIntosh (Shannon), Pigot, Veach, De Phillippi, Freiberg, Karam, and more.

If you're in Naptown for the 5-hundy, anyway, no reason why you can't swing by LOR and get to know the future stars of IndyCar—while they'll still give you the time of day. I KID.

Ticket information here. Schedule here.

See you there!

—Chris

A Backstage Conversation from the “State of IndyCar” Address

FILS Dude #1: [casually] “So, you called Conor’s rep, right?”

FILS Dude #2: “Uh... no, I thought you called him?”

FILS Dude #1: [agitated] “No. I didn’t call him. I’m on confetti, remember?”

FILS Dude #2: [confused] “I thought I was on confetti.”

FILS Dude #1: [angry] “No. DUDE. You are NOT on confetti. And if you didn’t call his rep and I didn’t call him that means they have no fu**ing clue about what is... [stops abruptly]

LOOK. Forget it. He’s about to make the announcement, and we’re completely fu**ed. Get back! I’m doing the confetti.”

[Moments later (in a biblical downpour of diced paper) Roger Bailey, Executive Director of the Firestone Indy Lights Series, announces that 2010 Star Mazda Champ, Conor Daly, will be stepping up to FIL, sharing driving duties for next season with USAC scholarship winner, Bryan Clauson—participating in the road/street races that Clauson does not take part in.]

[Daly’s thought bubble] “WTF?!?”

**************************************************************************************************

Okay. So the conversation may be something I conjured up, but the announcement of Daly’s ride, and the fact that he didn’t know a thing about it, was NOT [insert favorite farcically-induced acronym here; ROFLMAO]. Here’s the proof:

Now, you might think this would be stellar news for Conor but, ruh-roh, PROBLEM. It’s no secret that Daly has his eyes set on Formula One, which means the next logical step for him is Europe’s GP3 Series.

Did Conor already have a GP3 deal done when the announcement came? Was he set to do some FILS races with a team other than the one associated with Clauson’s scholarship? Who knows... since the above tweet, Conor’s been pretty quiet on the subject, so we’ll have to see how this one plays out.

Regardless, this is one wickedly funny episode in the life of a race car driver.

Stay tuned...

—JM

‘Road to Indy,’ Clean and Green

Underachiever, Daly,
only won half of his races

The IZOD IndyCar Series’ ladder system, designed to help junior open-wheel talent successfully ascend through the lower formula to Indycars, will be on full display this week.

Thanks to multi-series competitors, Andersen Racing, the respective USF2000 and Star Mazda champs will have the chance to test the waters at the next level by lapping around legendary Sebring Raceway in Florida.

Sage Karam (USF2000) who, by the way, POUNDED his competitors by winning a mere 75% of the races run this season, will be testing a Star Mazda ride, while Conor Daly—fresh from a multi-week GP3 test across The Pond—will trade in his regular Star Mazda drive for Andersen’s Firestone Indy Lights car.

Props to Andersen, the respective series, and sponsors involved for making it happen. Cool to see champs rewarded for their accomplishments and get the opportunity to try and take it to the next level.

BONUS. Both of these young soldiers just happened to grow up saluting Old Glory, “so we’ve got that going for us... which is nice.”

Make the best of it, boys.

—JM