Autosportradio.com Show guests on Tuesday May 15th…
Brian Belardi
Previously a defensive back for the University of Colorado, Team Owner Brian Belardi was forced to retire from his hopeful football career after sustaining injuries. Upon graduating from UC Boulder, Brian went on to become a successful business owner with Orion Development Group and Liberty Engineering. Belardi has always had a passion for motorsports and is now continuing his successful business career with his most recent venture, Belardi Auto Racing. Backed with Brian’s winning mindset, Belardi Auto Racing has had a very successful run since joining the series in 2011.
To help with the growing team, John Brunner stepped in to aid Brian as Belardi Auto Racing’s team manager. Brunner has been involved in motorsports for over 25 years with experience from the SCCA, Atlantic Championship, Champ Car And the INDYCAR series. Throughout his career John has worked with seasoned drivers Alex Tagliani, Paul Tracy, NASCAR’s AJ Allmendinger, Patrick Carpentier and IZOD IndyCar series 2012 Rookie of the Year, James Hinchcliffe, among many others. John brings much experience to the team with his many management positions over the years, including Forsythe Racing, Vice President of Operations for the Atlantic series in 2009 and assisting Conquest Racing throughout their Indianapolis 500 run in 2010.
Santiago Urrutia
Beginning his racing career riding motocross events at the age of four, Santiago “Santi” Urrutia won the Latin American Motocross Championship for children aged 4-6. He progressed into karts, earning five karting championships in eight years, including the 2010 Uruguayan Master Category Karting Championship. Switching to cars, Urrutia raced for two years in the Italian-based Formula Abarth Championship, followed by single seasons in Formula 3 and, in 2014, the GP3 Series in support of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship. He moved to the U.S. in 2015 and won the Pro Mazda title, earning him the #SoulRed Mazda colors in 2016. Urrutia finished an agonizingly close second in the Indy Lights championship in both 2016 and 2017.
In the Mazda Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires program Santi has 7 poles and 10 wins.
Hobbies: Motocross, rock/pop music, soccer, movies
Racing Goal: To reach the Verizon IndyCar Series
Racing Hero: Gonzalo Rodriguez
Fitness: Cycling
Interesting Note: I race only for me; I don’t worry about who my competitors are.
Ed Jones
Ed Jones is an Emirati-born British racing driver. At different points in his career Jones has competed under both British and Emirati licences, currently under the latter in the Verizon IndyCar Series for Chip Ganassi Racing. He is the 2016 Indy Lights champion, winning for Carlin Motorsport in his second season in the series. He joined the IndyCar Series in 2017 racing for Dale Coyne Racing, placing 3rd at the 2017 Indianapolis 500.
“Scott is a legend of Indy car racing. Been so successful over the years. He’s one of if not the best person you can learn from. So I’m really going to take advantage of that, try and scrape every bit of knowledge out of him, and take it to my advantage. There is a wealth of resources in this team, it’s really going to be helpful. I think Scott is also a great guy off the track. Looking forward to working with him.”
Ed won 2017 Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award.
Interest outside or racing..Enjoys karting, boxing, music, cycling and football.
Willie Kay
This coming May, Tauranga’s Willie Kay will be making his 41st visit to the Indianapolis 500.
And this weekend, a small but vital element of the Indianapolis 500 has been in his care while making a visit to the Bay of Plenty.
The Green Flag Relay is a promotional world tour for the actual green flag that will start the 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 27.
Starting in January, the flag has been part of a Nasdaq stock exchange opening ceremony in New York, visited Times Square and was taken to the National Hockey League All Star game in Florida by 2016 winner Alexander Rossi.
Alex Damron
Alex, IMS Director of Communications: “I went with my college roommate and his family for the first time in 2008. I was a new Hoosier and they told me the Indy 500 was an experience I needed to have. They were right! I will never forget just how big the entire place felt and how fast the cars were going. It was love at first sight.”
This year a plan was put into place to send the Green Flag that will be waved to start the 102nd Indianapolis 500. Alex put the plan into motion and the flag, indeed, did circle the earth.
See you Tuesday evening at McGilvery’s Speedway…