Tag: Kyle O'Gara

Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing (SFHR) development driver Kyle O’Gara, a Roncalli High School Senior, announced today in front of his classmates on the south side of Indianapolis that he would be taking them all with him to Coors Lite Carb Day for the Firestone Indy Lights Freedom 100 on May 24.

O’Gara, 18, will make his Firestone Indy Lights debut at the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway through a partnership between SFH Racing Development and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports (SPM), a team that has won seven of 10 total runnings of the Firestone Freedom 100 at IMS and six of the last 11 series championships.

“It’s a dream come true for me to be racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway,” O’Gara said. “Sam Schmidt has proven over and over that his team knows how to put together a car that can win in Firestone Indy Lights competition, and I’m excited to be apart of that and learn as much as possible.”

While O’Gara has spent a good portion of his high school career traveling for his race schedule, he has always worked closely with Roncalli High School to ensure he maintained a 4.0 GPA. To show support for Roncalli, the left side of O’Gara’s helmet for the Firestone Freedom 100 will be painted in Roncalli colors and carry the red “R,” while the right side will feature the orange, white and green Irish paint scheme he has carried since he was eight years old.

One of O’Gara’s Freedom 100 sponsors, SportEvents.com, is providing all Roncalli High School students and faculty with tickets to the Freedom 100.

“It’s going to be so cool to see my school out at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, especially since a lot of them might not typically go,” O’Gara said.“

The O’Gara family has been involved in racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for more than 35 years in various capacities from mechanics and crew chiefs to engineers, race strategists and team owners. Kyle O’Gara will be the first O’Gara to race at the famous track however, excluding his famous sister-in-law Sarah Fisher.

“It will be very rewarding to watch Kyle drive over the yard of bricks after knowing and working with him for so long,” Fisher said. “Being part of most of his racing efforts to date, it's been exciting to see him moving up the ladder. This rung will be the most fun so far, knowing what his next steps could be. I'm tremendously proud of him and look forward to standing on the grid with him at Indianapolis.”

In October of 2012 O’Gara successfully completed his Firestone Indy Lights rookie test with Fan Force United at Kentucky Speedway. He will test with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports at Auto Club Speedway in April and at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in early May.

O’Gara’s Freedom 100 effort will be backed by Direct Supply and local Indianapolis companies Indiana Members Credit Union, Rotondo Weirich Enterprises Inc., Peterman Heating & Cooling, SportsEvents.com, Business Art & Designs and Indy Trading Post. A primary sponsorship announcement for O’Gara’s car is expected in the coming weeks.

Practice and qualifying for the Firestone Freedom 100 begins on May 23. The 11th running of the Firestone Freedom 100 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway will take place on May 24.

Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing (SFHR) development driver Kyle O’Gara took a big step in his career at Kentucky Speedway on October 18 when he strapped into a Firestone Indy Lights car for the first time.

At 17 years old, O’Gara turned just under 100 laps on the 1.5-mile tri-oval to pass his rookie orientation test for the Firestone Indy Lights series.

“I was a little nervous but it was just another step in the right direction for my career,” O’Gara said. “Getting used to using the clutch coming out of the pits and shifting was a big learning curve since I’m used to driving midgets which stay in one gear.”

O’Gara drove a car prepared by Fan Force United/ SFHR Development, with assistance from sponsors Service Central, SFHR Development, IUPUI and RW Motorsports.

SFHR IndyCar driver Josef Newgarden was on hand with open wheel veterans Sarah Fisher and Tyce Carlson to lend guidance.

“It was great to be part of a big day for Kyle,” Sarah Fisher said. “From a coaching standpoint, he was consistent. He got right to the driving line and continued to bring the speed up to a level that his engineer Mike Colliver was impressed with.”

Mike Colliver, who served as an engineering consultant for the test, noted O’Gara’s consistency during the test.

“Kyle settled right in and did exactly what we asked of him,” Colliver said. “He gave great feedback. We were able to do a lot of short runs to make changes on the car so he could see how it adapted to the changes. If he didn’t get up to speed as quickly as he did I wouldn’t have been able to do that.”

O’Gara’s quickest lap was just under 189 mph, which would have put him in the top-ten for qualifying at the last Firestone Indy Lights race at Kentucky Speedway.

O’Gara felt right at home driving at Kentucky Speedway, the site of Sarah Fisher’s first IndyCar pole and SFHR’s first IZOD IndyCar Series win.

“It meant a lot to me for my first open wheel test in a rear engine car to be at Kentucky Speedway,” O’Gara said. “It’s a track I’ve always dreamed of driving at and it has a lot of great memories for SFHR.”

In 2013, O’Gara and SFHR Development are working toward a partial oval schedule in Firestone Indy Lights in addition to a mixed USF2000 and USAC schedule.

Kyle O’Gara is starting to think his senior year of high school may be just what his racing career needed.

After completing his first week as a senior at Roncalli High School in Indianapolis, the Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing development driver collected his second victory in a row on Saturday, August 18 at Kalamazoo (Mich.) Speedway.

O’Gara topped the speed charts for the first two USAC/STARS D1 Midget practice sessions and won his qualifying heat race from the eighth position. The fastest six cars from the heat races were inverted for the feature race, so O’Gara started the 30-lap feature from fifth.

“My team just gave me a great car, and it was the fastest car on the track,” O’Gara said. “It was a new track for me, so I was still learning on each lap after I got the lead.”

He took the lead from Patrick Wilda, Jr. on lap 15 and never looked back. The No. 17-B RW Motorsports midget led until the checkered flag on lap 30.

“I’m really happy to get another win for the RW Motorsports team and for my sponsor Service Central,” O’Gara said.

Three races remain on the USAC/STARS D1 Midget schedule, two of which are at Grundy County Speedway in Morris, Ill., the site of O’Gara’s first win in the series.

After the win at Kalamazoo Speedway, O’Gara returned to the halls of Roncalli High School to receive pats on the back from his fellow students.

“Roncalli gives updates of my racing results over the announcement system, so most of my friends know about my racing,” O’Gara said. “A lot of them don’t really know what it’s all about, but they’re learning about racing and are very supportive.”

On a night when most of his Roncalli High School classmates were working out the details of getting to the first day of school, 17-year-old Kyle O’Gara was trying to figure out how he could get to the front of the pack in a USAC/STARS D1 Midget Feature after starting last.

If the 30-lap feature Saturday night at Grundy County Speedway in Morris, Ill., is any indication, O’Gara had no problem getting to school on time Monday morning.

As the Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing (SFHR) development driver, O’Gara drove the No. 17-B RW Motorsports midget from the back of the pack Saturday night to win his first-ever USAC/STARS D1 Midget feature.

Despite having a car that was fast as soon as it rolled off the trailer, O’Gara was forced to skip qualifications due to a rules infraction. As a result, he lined up last on the grid.

The young driver and his team were undeterred by the setback, and O’Gara charged quickly through the field.

“We started on the tail but were up 10 spots in the first two laps,” O’Gara said. “From there we took the lead on lap 13 and didn’t look back.”

O’Gara led the final 17 laps of the 30-lap feature to collect the win.

“I knew it was going to be a hard race to get up front, but I also knew we had the car to do it,” he said. “We were the fastest in the practice sessions and our heat race, and I was confident in the crew.”

O’Gara’s victory message to his Twitter followers included a message to one of his racing mentors – Bryan Clauson – who shares several connections to O’Gara. Clauson drove for SFHR’s IndyCar team in the 2012 Indianapolis 500, and he also frequently drives a USAC Silver Crown car for RW Motorsports, the team that prepared O’Gara’s winning car at Grundy County Speedway.

O’Gara frequently reaches out to Clauson for advice at various race tracks. The veteran driver also ends his messages to O’Gara by telling him where to park his race car at the end of the race.

This was O’Gara’s winning tweet:

@kyleogara “Parked the ‪@RWMotorsports‬‬ 17b in the circle tonight at Grundy County! Started 20th and came through the field in 13 laps.”

It was a message he couldn’t wait to share.

“BC (Bryan Clauson) tells me to park my car in victory circle every night, so that tweet was for him,” O’Gara said.

After the dust from O’Gara’s victory settled, he traveled back to his home on Indianapolis’s south side to prepare for the first day of his Senior year at Roncalli High School. Administrators there frequently work with O’Gara to ensure he doesn’t fall behind on school work due to his racing schedule.

“When I have to travel for racing, Roncalli works with me and helps me keep up with my work,” O’Gara said. “School has always been first and that is a huge thing with SFHR owners Andy and Sarah as well as my parents. I finished last year off with a 4.0 GPA because it’s really important to me.”

As for the future, O’Gara has his eyes set on racing in the Indianapolis 500.

“I would really like to be in Firestone Indy Lights in the next couple years and race in the Indy 500 eventually,” he said. “That’s something I’ve always dreamed about.”