Tag: Nathan O'Rourke

Josef Newgarden and Nathan O'Rourke may be in the spotlight at the Robo-Pong 200 as former winners of the event, but there's one more Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing employee in the running. Gearbox mechanic Jon Laski will be competing in the 200-mile event with co-driver Simon Short, and Laski stands to lose more than just bragging rights if he doesn't have a good showing.

Earlier this week SFHR's crew chief Anton Julian made three bets with Laski in regard to his performance in Robo-Pong. Each bet is worth $50, and if Laski loses all three bets he has to pay up $150 and wear a pink firesuit in public for a week. The bets are:

• Laski must qualify in the top-30
• Laski must not get lapped by O'Rourke in the first stint of the race
• If he doesn't have mechanical problems, Laski must not lose to O'Rourke.

SFHR driver Josef Newgarden and his head engineer Nathan O'Rourke are used to playing on the same team to ensure the No. 67 SFHR Dallara/Honda/Firestone car is at the top of its game. However, they have maintained a healthy level of competition the entire year on challenges ranging from iRacing competitions to hair follicle count. After facing off 10 times, Newgarden and O'Rourke are tied with five victories each.

The final challenge of the season comes down to Sunday's Robo-Pong 200, where the two will face-off on different teams in the biggest kart race of the year at New Castle Motorsports Park. Newgarden will be teamed up with co-driver Mark Dismore, Jr. and O'Rourke will join forces with IZOD IndyCar driver Ed Carpenter for the 200-mile race. Both teams will be driving karts built by the same person and will share set-up data. With an even playing field, driver skill will be the difference between winning or going home a loser.

Newgarden has predicted that his lap times will be 0.5-0.6 seconds faster than O'Rourke. O'Rourke on the other hand believes that Newgarden will only be 0.2-0.3 seconds quicker. While there has been no trash talking, Newgarden did say this: "I think if anything Nate's just sad that he has to run with Ed and not me."

Take a look at Newgarden and O'Rourke's stats below to see who you think will pull off the victory: