It was back on June 1, 2008, that Ryan Briscoe earned his maiden IZOD IndyCar Series victory and gave team owner Roger Penske his 300th in all forms of motorsports.
He started from the pole and finished second in 2009, while placing 11th and 14th the previous two seasons with Team Penske. Now he'll return to compete in the Milwaukee IndyFest this weekend in the No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing car.
Briscoe drove the Panther Racing entry in the Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit on June 1-2, and also started in the Indianapolis 500 last month with Chip Ganassi Racing Teams.
“We’re excited to have Ryan Briscoe back this weekend,” Panther managing partner John Barnes said. “It was great to work with him a few weeks ago in Detroit and he obviously knows his way around the Milwaukee Mile, so we feel like we’ll be able to have a good weekend in the National Guard Chevrolet. We’re working on getting him signed for several other races this season, so hopefully we’ll have that finalized in the short term future.”
Oriol Servia, who made his Panther Racing debut last weekend in Texas, is confirmed to compete in the No. 4 car June 23 at Iowa Speedway.
“I felt like the team gelled really well when we worked together in Detroit and I’m sure we’ll be able to pick right up where we left off this weekend in Milwaukee,” said Briscoe, who will leave following the June 15 race to continue preparations for the Le Mans 24 Hours.
Briscoe has seven career IZOD IndyCar Series wins and 13 pole starts in 107 starts.
Carpenter: Reading is fundamental
IZOD IndyCar Series team owner/driver Ed Carpenter held the attention of grade-school children at Indianapolis Public School 60 on June 10 as part of the Indiana Department of Education's campaign for summer literacy, the Hoosier Family of Readers.
The program, which engages local celebrities to be guest readers and relay to students some of their favorite childhood books, seeks to encourage students to continue reading through the summer vacation. Students have access to more than 300,000 books online through the Hoosier Family of Readers campaign.
“Reading is a fundamental thing that we all do … it’s good to get out here with kids that are excited about reading and great listeners,” said Carpenter, who will compete in the Milwaukee IndyFest in the No. 20 Fuzzy's Ultra Premium Vodka car.
Anniversary race at Milwaukee
The Milwaukee 100 on June 15 will be the 25th Firestone Indy Lights race at Milwaukee.
Didier Theys (1987), Mike Groff (1989), Paul Tracy (1990), Bryan Herta (1993), Steve Robertson (1994), Greg Moore (1995), Scott Dixon (2000), Townsend Bell (2001), Alex Lloyd (2007) and Tristan Vautier (2012) won at Milwaukee and the Firestone Indy Lights title in the same season.
Of note
Coastal.com, the largest online retailer of eyeglasses and contacts in North America, will continue as the primary sponsor of the No. 55 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports car driven by Tristan Vautier for the next three races. ... The next "INDYCAR 36," featuring two-time IZOD IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon of Target Chip Ganassi Racing, will be broadcast at 11 p.m. (ET) June 20 on NBC Sports Network. Earlier that evening, how seats are made for IZOD IndyCar Series drivers will be among the segments on "How It's Made" on the Science Channel (9 p.m. ET) in the U.S. ... IZOD IndyCar Series driver James Hinchcliffe, Pro Mazda driver Shelby Blackstock and USF 2000 driver Andrew Hobbs will visit patients at the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin on June 13.