While NASCAR celebrates its traditional Independence Day weekend events at Daytona International Speedway, four cars and drivers will participate in another racing tradition thousands of miles away, the annual Festival of Speed at Goodwood Estate in West Sussex, England.
Held since 1993, the Festival celebrates historic cars from all forms of racing. The three-day event, hosted by the Earl of March at his family’s estate, features a 1.16-mile hill-climbing competition for all classes and types of race cars and motorcycles, plus a 2.5-kilometer course for historic rally cars. This year’s Festival runs from July 3-5.
Click Here For More NASCAR Photos
Four NASCAR teams will participate in the three-day event, Hendrick Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing, Team Red Bull and Rusty Wallace Inc.
Landon Cassill, the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series Raybestos Rookie of the Year, will drive Hendrick Motorsports’ “T-Rex”, the then-revolutionary No. 24 chassis that four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon drove to victory in the 1997 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.
Taylor Earnhardt, the 20-year-old daughter of seven-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Dale Earnhardt, will drive the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing chassis that her father drove to his last career win in October 2000.
Rusty Wallace Inc., is sending its namesake, 1989 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Rusty Wallace, whose organization currently fields two NASCAR Nationwide Series teams. Also an ESPN commentator, Wallace will drive a No. 2 chassis fielded by his long-time former team, Penske Racing.
Mike Skinner, the 1995 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion, will drive a former NASCAR Sprint Cup chassis fielded by Team Red Bull, for whom he’s driven on a part-time basis while competing full time for another NASCAR Camping World Truck Series title.
Click Here For More NASCAR Photos
Cassill, Earnhardt, Wallace and Skinner are among this year’s Festival-record 103 drivers and riders.
Also attending the 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed: Jim Hunter, NASCAR Vice President of Corporate Communications. Hunter has over 40 years of experience in the sport, as a journalist, promoter, track president and administrator.
| 
|