IndyCar News Bits

Indianapolis Motor Speedway was presented the Eastern Motorsport Press Association's 2016 Chris Economaki News Maker of the Year Award for the historic 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil at EMPA's annual convention Jan. 8.

C.J. O'Donnell, chief marketing officer for Hulman Motorsports, was a keynote speaker at the event and accepted the award on behalf of IMS.

Kevin "Rocket" Blanch, technical director for the Verizon IndyCar Series, is among the latest to be interviewed for the popular "Dinner with Racers" podcast. Listen to the podcast at http://www.dinnerwithracers.com/ep-41-kevin-rocket-blanch/ .

Others with INDYCAR ties recently interviewed include team owner/driver Ed Carpenter and Mike Hull, managing director for Chip Ganassi Racing. Past guests include Simon Pagenaud, Sarah Fisher and Oriol Servia, with all of the podcasts available on the website.

Team Pelfrey has confirmed a pair of drivers for its Mazda Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires program, with TJ Fischer returning to its Pro Mazda Championship presented by Cooper Tires team and Robert Megennis rejoining the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship powered by Mazda outfit. Fischer, 23, drove in four Pro Mazda races last season for the team with one top-five finish. Megennis, 16, was the USF2000 rookie of the year in 2016 with a pair of podium finishes and five top-five showings.