Sam Beasley and Jacob Donald co-drove to victory in the ninth RoboPong 200 at New Castle (Ind.) Motorsports Park on Sunday. The winners earned the $10,000 first-place prize and will have their names etched on the Dan Wheldon Cup that is on permanent display at the facility. They finished almost 30 seconds ahead of Jimmy Simpson and Robbie Seward, the polesitters in the 200-lap race on the 15-turn circuit.
IndyCar racer Josef Newgarden (LEFT) teamed with former Indy car driver Mark Dismore, owner of the karting facility, to win the 2011 event. There wasn't a repeat this year as Newgarden – teamed this time with Dismore's son Mark E. Dismore – retired midway through the event, which also included IZOD IndyCar Series drivers – and past RoboPong 200 winners – Ed Carpenter and Jay Howard.
"We led some laps and win or lose it's great to come out here and compete with the young karters and young drivers who are aspiring to be IndyCar drivers because I was one of them six, seven years ago," said Newgarden, who ran his rookie season this year with Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing. "It's a lot of fun and I'll compete in this event every year that I can and support it."
Four days earlier, Newgarden lent his support at the Chris Griffis Memorial Mazda Road to Indy test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which featured drivers in USF2000, Star Mazda and Firestone Indy Lights.
"I want to do as much as I can for the young talent in the motorsports industry," Newgarden added. "I see myself five, six, seven years ago and I think it's so important to help talent get the opportunities all the way from karting to IndyCar. The Mazda Road to Indy is great and doing that through the stepladder series. I needed the help myself and I wanted to give back."
Carpenter co-drove with Nathan O'Rourke – Newgarden's engineer at Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing – to seventh place after starting 31st.