Shawn Courchesne | Auto Racing

Our Little Piece Of Interweb Real Estate Is Growing Up So Fast

They said it couldn't be done.

A racing blog, at the Hartford Courant? Nobody is going to look at that.

Ok, so maybe it's just a few select friends hitting refresh over and over and over and over again, just don't tell the management types here our little secret.

Yes, its a big day at our treasured little piece of undervalued web space here, our little blog is growing up.

Back From The Dead?: IndyCar Series - ChampCar Merger Becomes Reality Friday

After more than a decade apart, a span the all but killed it, Indy style open wheel racing in the United States will reunify into one major division in 2008.

Officials of the Indy Racing League and owners of the Champ Car World Series have agreed in principle to unify the two divisions for the 2008 season.

Champ Car co-owner Kevin Kalkhoven signed the merger agreement with IRL CEO and founder Tony George on Thursday and his Champ Car partner Gerald Forsythe followed suit Friday.

Details of the agreement have yet to be announced by the IRL.   

"This is a great day for open-wheel racing and one that I and my Rahal Letterman Racing team have looked forward to for a long time,” said IRL team owner Bobby Rahal. “I applaud all of those that made this possible, but want to especially recognize all of those that made sacrifices and concessions to secure the future of open-wheel racing. I truly believe that this is the first step toward restoring open-wheel racing and the Indianapolis 500 to not only where it once was, but beyond."

Joey Logano Earns Second Team All-American Honors; Donny Lia On The Third Team

Seventeen year old Middletown native Joey Logano has been named to the 2007 All-American Auto Racing Team by the American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Association.

The AARWBA has named an All-American team since 1970.

Logano was named to the second team in the touring series category.

Logano, a developmental driver for Joe Gibbs Racing, captured the Busch East Series title this season, becoming the first rookie to accomplish the feat. In the process Logano became the youngest driver ever to win events in both the Busch East and NASCAR West divisions, winning in his series debuts in both divisions. Logano won 5 Busch East series events and finished in the top-10 in 10 of 13 races.

Could ’43 Of The Best Drivers In The World’ Cliché Soon Be True In Nextel Cup Series?

On Wednesday Gillett Evernham Motorsports announced that accomplished open wheel driver Patrick Carpentier will run full-time for their team in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (Nextel Cup Series) in 2008.

“We are excited to add Patrick Carpentier to our organization for 2008,” Gillett Evernham co-owner George Gillett said. “Patrick has shown tremendous talent in every series he has driven throughout his career and has a bright future in NASCAR. We are committed to giving Patrick the best resources and opportunities available to make this transition and we look forward to a great deal of success together both on and off the track.”

The Carpentier announcement comes a week after Nextel Cup owner Chip Ganassi’s announcement that 2007 Indianapolis 500 winner and IndyCar Series champion Dario Franchitti will run for his team in the Sprint Cup Series full-time next season.

Faceless Insurance Industry A Perfect Fit For Identity Lacking Busch Series

The city of Hartford is commonly referred to as “America’s Filing Cabinet,” and fittingly so.

Hartford is the Insurance Capital of the world and its fits that image so perfectly.

You have to know that any city where women’s basketball represents one of the biggest attractions in getting people to visit is hardly hopping with life or excitement.

Jeff Gordon No Fan Of A Jacques Villeneuve Cup Debut At Talladega

Jeff Gordon has nothing against the recent trickle of open wheel drivers finding rides at NASCAR’s highest levels.

But he is against one of those drivers making his Nextel Cup debut at one of the most pressure packed tracks on the circuit. One tiny mistake at Talladega Superspeedway can leave half the starting field mangled. On Oct. 7 Talladega could be the place where open wheel veteran Jacques Villeneuve makes his debut in the Cup Series for Bill Davis Racing.

Bill Davis Racing announced Friday that they will field a car for Villeneuve to make a qualifying attempt for the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega.

Villeneuve recently took part in a Car Of Tomorrow test session at Talladega, running more laps than any other driver during the session. Afterward NASCAR gave their approval that Villeneuve was ready to run an event at the track.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.; ChampCar; Nextel Cup Road Course Racing: Random Thoughts Between Drop Backs and Hand Offs

Regular readers of the the old racing blog here might have noticed a dip in the number of updates recently.

With UConn football preseason camp in full swing, it’s been a chore balancing everything. This week has seen me fairly preoccupied with daily UConn football stories and also preparing for the college football section which will come out prior to the first game of the season at Duke in Durham, N.C. on Sept. 1 (think I could make it to the Modified Tour event in Martinsville, Va. that night?).

But even with all the UConn work bouncing around in my head, racing thoughts have still been able to penetrate all the minutia of pass blocking, special teams and defensive fronts.

I figured I’d let a few of those thoughts spill out here.

Sebastien Bourdais Bids Au Revoir To ChampCar; Heading To Formula One

Just what the ChampCar World Series needs.

The only semi-recognizable name to the casual race fan currently in the ChampCar World Series top-10 is on the way out.

As had been expected much of the season, Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais, who has won the the ChampCar title the last three seasons, will move on to Formula One after this season.

Bourdais, 28, will join Scuderia Toro Rosso, the second Red Bull outfit in Formula One. It is the same team that recently dumped American driver Scott Speed. Toro Rosso will sport the Sebastien-Sebastien lineup beginning in 2008.

Jade Gurss' Great Look At Open Wheel Woes

I've been pondering writing something for the blog about how you wouldn't believe that open wheel racing in this country could fall any further, and yet it continues to.

I'll be getting to that once I can focus a little less on a football and a little more on racing.

But I did want to point readers to a great blog entry by Jade Gurss. For those that might not be aware, Gurss handles media relations and public relations for driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. In his spare time, which I can't believe the man even has, he puts together a blog that has become regular viewing for me (although I miss Mike Davis' half over there).

About Shawn

On August 18, 1995 Shawn Courchesne attended his first short track racing event, filling in on coverage for a Friday night show at Stafford Motor Speedway for the Hartford Courant. Little did he realize that night that it was just the first of so many nights to come spent in the pits covering all forms of auto racing.

Over the last 12 years Shawn has been the lead reporter covering motorsports for The Courant. During that time he has brought everything from coverage of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and Sports Car Racing to Drag Racing and Motocross to the pages of The Courant.

Shawn's emphasis has long been on covering the three NASCAR sanctioned short tracks in Connecticut. From the first green flag in April to the final checkered flag in October, Shawn blankets the state's auto racing scene.

Shawn began writing his auto racing blog in March of 2007 and within a month of its introduction it was the most visited site in The Courant's blog lineup.

In addition to racing, Shawn has been on the University of Connecticut football beat for The Courant since 2005 and also is a contributor to the UConn Sports Blog. Shawn began working at The Courant in 1993 as a high school clerk while still in college. Over the years Shawn has garnered numerous awards for his writing, along the way covering everything from Major League Baseball, the National Football League and world championship boxing to professional bull riding, water skiing and high school sports of all sorts.

E-mail Shawn at: scourchesne@courant.com