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Gene Haas “In Good Standing” With NASCAR
By Josh Stewart on Aug 05, 2008Often lost in the circumstances involving the formation of Stewart-Haas Racing is the fact that one of those two namesakes currently resides in federal prison. But unlike Michael Vick--who may face further discipline from the National Football League following his release--Gene Haas will be welcomed back into NASCAR with open arms. Haas reported to prison in January to serve a two-year term after pleading guilty to one count of tax fraud. That followed a plea bargain resulting in the dismissal of several charges, which included reporting false race team expenses.
NASCAR Dads Respond To Savage’s Autism Rant
By Josh Stewart on Jul 27, 2008On July 16, conservative radio commentator Michael Savage set off a firestorm when he said, “In 99 percent of the cases, [an autistic child is] a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out.” He added, “What do you mean they scream and they’re silent? They don’t have a father around to tell them, ‘Don’t act like a moron. You’ll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don’t sit there crying and screaming, you idiot.’”
Kempner knows that the racing community is clued in. But he is concerned that a guy like Savage, who lauds a Ph.D., is taken seriously by others.
“This isn’t an Imus-type thing,” Kempner explains, referring to Don Imus’ comments about the Rutgers women’s basketball team. “It shouldn’t be confused with the shock-jock kind of stuff Imus said. What Imus said was just sophomoric and stupid. It’s certainly hurtful to the African-American community, and I wouldn’t condone it in any way, shape or form. But it’s much different than not understanding a disability or a disease and commenting like you do. It’s like telling a kid that has cancer, you know, ‘Suck it up and get better, OK.’ That exactly what the parallel is to that. Unbelieveable.”
Foreign Makes Say No To NASCAR
By Josh Stewart on Jul 23, 2008With NASCAR’s domestic mainstays looking to downsize support in light of financial woes, it might seem like a good time for other foreign manufacturers to follow Toyota into the fray and take advantage of a possible power vacuum. But representatives from several overseas automakers contacted by the Press say that you won’t be seeing their cars at the Daytona 500 or any other NASCAR race in the foreseeable future. “I don’t see us investing money toward gasoline-powered racing right now,” said Clark Campbell, motorsports manager for Volkswagen of America. “Unless they’re going to start allowing turbos and diesels into NASCAR, we wouldn’t even be thinking of it right now.”
Kerry Earnhardt To Cup?
By Josh Stewart on Jul 18, 2008The ways the stars are aligning, it isn’t out of the question. Mark Martin is off to Hendrick Motorsports next year. There is much speculation about Martin Truex Jr. leaving for another team in 2009. Reports have linked Paul Menard with a possible move to Yates Racing, taking father John’s home improvement chain sponsorship with him. And DEI has been unsuccessful finding full-time sponsorship for Regan Smith. The only driver who seems completely secure for 2009 is Aric Almirola.
Canceled Qualifying Rains On NASCAR Sponsorship
on Jul 12, 2008I don’t understand why NASCAR hasn’t yet figured out a better way to deal with qualifying rainouts. Magically, you can qualify Nationwide and Craftsman Truck teams just hours before they race. But reschedule Cup qualifying with a two-day window? Impossible!
Front Row Motorsports actually found sponsorship from Weber Grill. You think the Weber marketing crowd is feeling giddy about pursuing the next step after being jettisoned without even getting a qualifying lap?
Tafel Racing Ready For Battle On The Streets of Detroit’s Belle Isle
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The first eight races of the 11-event American Le Mans Series season have been battles for supremacy of the GT2 class. Saturday’s Detroit Sports Car Challenge at Belle Isle is expected to be one of the most heated yet as the teams bring their intensity to the tight confines of the last street race of the season. For 2008, the American Le Mans Series included three temporary street courses on its schedule; St. Petersburg, Fla., Long Beach, Calif. and Saturday’s two hour and 45- minute event on Belle Isle. Tafel Racing’s No. 71 Tafel/Bell Micro Racing Ferrari F430 GTC driven by Dominik Farnbacher (Ansbach, Germany) and Dirk Müller (a native of Germany now living in Monaco) claimed victories at both St. Petersburg and Long Beach. The three-time winning Bell Micro Ferrari (it added a class victory at Mid-Ohio in July) will again be joined in the Tafel Racing stable by the No. 73 Tafel Racing Ferrari F430 GTC of Alex Figge (Denver) and Jim Tafel (Alpharetta, Ga.). With the August 30 race in Detroit, the Cumming, Ga.-based operations hopes to make it a sweep of the temporary race tracks and secure their place in the trenches that will determine the ultimate victor in the season-deciding events at the Petit Le Mans (October 4) and Raceway Laguna Seca (October 18).
Like all temporary street courses, Belle Isle is narrow and lined with concrete retaining walls. Each of the 14 turns on the 2.096-mile lap is unique and none of the “straightaways” on the course are truly straight. The track’s tight confines demand a compromise of the drivers and engineers to squeeze out quick lap times in a car that can still race on the safe-side of the edge for the full duration of the event. The challenge, which is present at every track, is made more-so on street courses because the surface is slick from visitors to Belle Isle. The oil, grease and dirt that has been baked into the asphalt by daily drivers comes back to haunt the racers as the sun brings them back to the surface creating slippery conditions at speed.
In 2007, the first time the American Le Mans Series sports cars came to Detroit, the drivers of the Bell Micro Ferrari enjoyed some of their best results of the season. Müller, who was driving a Ferrari for another team at the time, earned his only podium finish in an abbreviated return to the American Le Mans Series by taking third. Farnbacher, who was co-driving in the No. 73 with Jim Tafel, matched that car’s best performance of the season with a fifth in GT2 class in the Motor City.
Detroit will be Tafel’s second Belle Isle event but his first street course of 2008 having sat out of the No. 73 at both St. Pete and Long Beach. Figge has never made a start on a street course in a sports car but has multiple street races under his open wheel racing belt. He has never started an event at Detroit however. Figge and Tafel are coming off their best effort together in the No. 73 after finishing sixth in GT2 class at Mosport International Raceway last Sunday. The No. 71 finished fourth in class. …
Nemechek To Celebrate Anniversary At Auto Club Speedway
furniturerowracing
“It’s been a fast and furious year with the Furniture Row team and the good news is that we’ve come a long way,” said Nemechek. “We still have a ways to go, but for a single-car team competing with the mulitcar big dogs, we’re holding our own and showing improvement.”
Busch & Edwards Placed On Probation For Next Six NASCAR Sprint Cup Races
CIA Stock Photo, Inc.
Busch, driver of the No. 18 car and Edwards, driver of the No. 99 car, both violated Section 12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock car racing; hitting another competitor’s car after the race had concluded) of the 2008 NASCAR rule book.
Jerry Toliver Has Sights Set On Indy Win
NHRA
Jerry Toliver and the Rockstar Energy Drink Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car team are determined to reach the winner’s circle before the 2008 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series comes to a conclusion.
NASCAR Nationwide Series: Season In Review – Week 27
CIA Stock Photo, Inc.
There have been 12 different race winners in 2008 in the NASCAR Nationwide Series: Kyle Busch (six), Tony Stewart (five), Denny Hamlin (three), Carl Edwards (three), Mark Martin (one), Matt Kenseth (one), Clint Bowyer (one), Scott Wimmer (one) and Ron Fellows (one) along with first-timers Brad Keselowski (two), Joey Logano (one) and Marcos Ambrose (one).
