Good morning from a partly cloudy Road America. After two days of brilliant sunshine each morning, it is currently partly cloudy with a forecast of complete overcast later in the day. The forecast also calls for cooler temperatures, with a high of 65° and breezy. I dressed accordingly and wore a sweatshirt. I am re-thinking that decision as it is already 70°. It felt rather warm getting out of the car. I’m still betting it cools off before the race. Anything will be better than last year’s race, with its uncharacteristic high temps. This weekend has been much more representative of the weather here.
It’s Race Day at Road America!
Posted in IndyCar on June 21, 2026 by OilpressurePalou Wins the Pole…Again
Posted in IndyCar on June 20, 2026 by Oilpressure
While IndyCar qualifying featured some interesting twists and storylines, in the end it was Alex Palou on the pole for tomorrow’s XPEL Grand Prix at Road America. If that sounds familiar, this was Palou’s fifth straight pole, and the sixth out of ten poles. In case you’re wondering, Palou still has a way to go in order to surpass Bobby Unser’s record of eight consecutive poles set between 1971 and 1972. Still it’s an impressive feat. But if you are suffering from Palou fatigue, you weren’t happy to know that Palou added another point and extended his lead over Kyle Kirkwood to exactly fifty points.
It’s Day Two at Road America
Posted in IndyCar on June 20, 2026 by Oilpressure
Good afternoon from the beautiful grounds of Road America! We have actually been here for a while, but it was just before Practice Two started. We immediately grabbed the golf cart and went out to watch from a few different vantage points; including Canada Corner, Turn Five and the Carousel – after watching Friday’s Practice One from the pits.
Road America – Day One Wrap-Up
Posted in IndyCar on June 19, 2026 by Oilpressure
Practice One for the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America is now in the books. I spoke to more than a few people this morning who thought that Marcus Armstrong was going to break through with his first career IndyCar win this weekend. He got off to a nice start by leading the first practice, with a time of 1:44.2714. Armstrong was about a tenth of a second quicker that his teammate, Indianapolis 500 winner Felix Rosenqvist. Don’t forget, Rosenqvist got his only other career IndyCar win right here at Road America in 2020.
Good Morning from Road America!
Posted in IndyCar on June 19, 2026 by Oilpressure
Good morning from a cool, sunny and energetic Road America. We actually got here around 7:30 this morning, because Susan decided she wanted a photo vest for the weekend. That will give her access to photo holes, pit lane and victory lane. But we had to be here at 7:30 when they give away the photo vests for the weekend. Surprisingly, there was a lot of energy here at that hour.
Road America Preview
Posted in IndyCar on June 19, 2026 by Oilpressure
Since 1982, Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin had been a fixture on the IndyCar schedule; except for 2005, when lack of sponsorship left it off of the Champ Car schedule. The race returned in 2006 and 2007, but was inexplicably a casualty of the open-wheel reunification in February of 2008. For eight seasons, what we now know as the NTT IndyCar Series was not to race at what is perhaps the premier road racing facility in North America. Continue reading
The Loss of a True Racer
Posted in IndyCar on June 16, 2026 by Oilpressure
On Sunday, we learned that Dennis Reinbold had passed away at the young age of 65. I will admit, that I was totally unaware that Reinbold had been battling cancer for several years. I was in a press conference back in May, where Reinbold was at the stage. It occurred to me he had aged, but I never thought he looked sick. It serves as another example of how short and precious life is.
