Phil Pash's World of Wheels       (The World of Wheels column by Phil Pash first appeared in now-defunct Chicago TODAY in the early 1970s. It was the first year-round motor sports column in a Chicago paper)           Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2010 (Vol. 6, No. 19)                2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase To Kick Off Sept. 18 at Chicagoland Speedway--NASCAR and Chicagoland Speedway confirmed Aug. 9 the 1.5-mile oval near Joliet will open the 2011 Chase for the  Sprint Cup. It replaces Auto Club Speedway in California among the 10 Chase tracks. Chicagoland has had a race in July--the week after the July 4 weekend race in Daytona--since its first race in 2001. Next year's race will be Sept. 18. Since the Chase started in 2004, New Hampshire Motor Speedway has opened the 10-race "playoff." A Democrat running for re-election, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn naturally had to be involved. He says he's excited for the potential economic impact, according to the Associated Press. Quinn also said at the news conference that NASCAR is "a part of Americana" and Illinois will welcome incoming fans, said AP. Chicagoland representative Jay Keller said he predicts the Chase race will add about $27 million in revenue and 500 jobs at the track (The guy has to be a Quinn Democrat with a prediction like that--PJP). "When we were offered the opportunity to get this race and relocate our event on the schedule to the first (Chase) race, we jumped at it," Chicagoland president Craig Rust said. The move puts the first Chase race in the nation's third-largest media market, although it replaces Auto Club Speedway--which is considered the Los Angeles market (second nationally)--among the 10 Chase tracks, said NASCAR.com. Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR senior vice president of racing operations, said no other Chase venues will change. "Chicago will be the only new race in the Chase and our biggest market," O'Donnell said. "Chicago has a huge sports background. It's a track that is a fast track and has some unique qualities that we can bring to the Chase. We've got a tremendous fan base in the Midwest that will get behind this date. It's no secret that a lot of sponsorships, a lot of big companies are based in Chicago, so it makes sense for us." Rust acknowledged a Sunday afternoon race in September will require significant marketing to compete against the NFL's Chicago Bears, as well as potential baseball pennant races. "You are going to compete with somebody," Rust said. "You can't run from it. You have to get out there and compete, and we think by opening the Chase, this makes us a stronger event." Attending with O'Donnell were Cup points leader Kevin Harvick and David Reutimann, winner of the most recent race at Chicagoland. It's also the first major change officially confirmed in what's expected to be several significant shifts to the 2011 Cup schedule. Kansas Speedway and Kentucky Speedway both have Aug. 10 news conferences to announce their 2011 schedules. Kansas is expected to announce the addition of a second race date, while Kentucky will announce its inaugural Cup date. Based on the tentative 2011 schedule for the second-tier Nationwide Series that NASCAR sent to race teams last week, a copy of which was obtained by the Associated Press, Kansas' added race date will likely be June 5 and Kentucky's debut Cup race will be July 9. NASCAR has a "TBD" marked for June 4 on the Nationwide schedule the AP reviewed, while July 8 has a scheduled Nationwide race at Kentucky. Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., has struggled selling tickets and has been frequently mentioned as a candidate to lose one of its race dates. "What we've done is ultimately give each track the best opportunity to succeed," O'Donnell said. "California we think has a much better date for them, kind of back to their traditional date they used to have that worked well for them." California's lone race in 2011 is expected to be the fourth event of the season, on March 27. The track drew well when it ran just one race a year during the spring, but struggled to fill seats when it expanded to two races and took over the second spot on the schedule. Kentucky's 11-year-old facility is expected to get its Cup date from  Atlanta Motor Speedway, which on Aug. 5 announced its 2011 schedule with only one Cup date on Labor Day weekend. Kansas early this year announced plans to build a casino hotel facility on its grounds. Kentucky would be the first new venue on the Cup schedule since Chicagoland and Kansas were introduced in 2001. Among other possibilities for 2011, according to SPEED.com: At least one of Texas' two races would be run at night. Texas will make its announcement Aug. 17. A media release said the track would "reveal dramatic changes," and Brian France would be in attendance. Phoenix would have an earlier slot on the schedule, perhaps moving up to as early as the second race of the year. A spokesperson for Dover confirmed the track will have two Cup races next year, although no dates were announced. Although Las Vegas Motor Speedway has lobbied hard for a second date, specifically to host the season-ending race, the 2011 Cup season is expected to once again conclude at Homestead-Miami. NASCAR is expected to release the complete 2011 Cup schedule this month.    * * *         Montoya Ends 113-Race Winless Streak with Second Career Victory--Before an estimated crowd of 90,000, Juan Pablo Montoya broke a 113-race winless drought by capturing the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen on Aug. 8, his second victory in 131 NASCAR Sprint Cup races. His only other win came on June 24, 2007, at Infineon. This time, he led 74 of 90 laps and crossed the stripe 4.735 seconds ahead of Kurt Busch (Dodge), who posted his best career finish on a road course. Montoya (Chevy) pulled away from Marcos Ambrose and Busch over the final 16 laps at Watkins Glen International. Busch passed Ambrose (Toyota) at the start/finish line on lap 89 to take second from Ambrose, who came home third. A.J. Allmendinger (Ford), fresh from a contract extension with Richard Petty Motorsports, ran fourth (best of the year), followed by pole-sitter Carl Edwards (Ford), who collected his sixth consecutive top-10 finish. Jamie McMurray, Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton and Jeff Gordon completed the top 10. "It's about time," Montoya said. "We've lost a lot of them, gave away a lot of them. It gets frustrating, everybody fighting." It was the first career victory for Montoya's crew chief, Brian Pattie, whose call for four tires at the Brickyard 400 cost his driver a chance at victory. After a disappointing run at Pocono--during which Montoya chastised Pattie and the team when the No. 42 Chevrolet lost positions on a late pit stop--Montoya, Pattie and owner Chip Ganassi met Aug. 7 to make sure they were headed in the same direction. "I think we had a good talk with Chip," Montoya said. "Last few weeks have been really frustrating for the whole team because we've been so close to victory. Seemed to keep slipping away. I feel more relieved than happy right now." There were 10 lead changes among five drivers (McMurray, Montoya, Ambrose, Ryan Newman and Mark  Martin) and five cautions for 13 laps. ..... MORE GOOD STUFF: Montoya added another success to the already magical year his Earnhardt Ganassi Racing team owner has enjoyed. McMurray won the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 this year and Dario Franchitti added an Indianapolis 500 victory with Ganassi's IndyCar organization. Franchitti won again Aug. 8 at Mid-Ohio, and Ganassi's Rolex Grand-Am team won at The Glen on Aug. 7. ..... Ambrose, who won the Aug. 7 Nationwide race and had realistic hopes for an unprecedented weekend double at The Glen, was Montoya's equal until the final pit stop for both drivers under green on lap 59. "Something went wrong on the last pit stop," lamented Ambrose, who had out-braked Montoya for the lead in Turn 1 on lap 41 and held the top spot for five laps thereafter. "We lost the handle on the race car--maybe a different set of tires, slightly different spring rate in the tires. I had nothing for Montoya there toward the end." ..... Clint Bowyer broke a trailing-arm mount and spent three laps in the garage for repairs, a calamity that knocked him out of the top 12 for the final spot in the Chase. Bowyer finished 32nd and swapped positions in the standings with Martin, who was 19th. Martin is 10 points ahead of Bowyer with four races left before the Chase field is set Sept. 11 at Richmond. ..... Kurt Busch made his  350th career Cup start after celebrating his 32nd birthday Aug. 4. He has 22 wins and the 2004 series championship. ..... Dale Earnhardt Jr. (who finished 26th) made his 500th NASCAR national series points start--385 in Cup, 115 in Nationwide. He has 18 Cup wins and 23 wins and two championships in Nationwide. ..... Veteran road racer Ron Fellows was 40th in the No. 36 Chevy for Tommy Baldwin Racing. Fellows has three top-five Cup finishes and three Nationwide victories at Watkins Glen. ..... TRG Motorsports team driver Andy Lally was 18th in the No. 71  Chevy, dividing his time between four series--Grand-Am Rolex GT, American Le Mans Series GTC class and  Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. He made his first Cup start last year at The Glen. ..... Patrick Carpentier was 21st, Max Papis 22nd and Boris Said 38th. Said tangled with Stewart for the second consecutive road-course race and drew the ire of Greg Biffle (24th): "It sucks when you have to drive with people with their heads in the wrong place. (Said) did the same thing every restart. The guy is hanging on to the top 10 barely and races this race once a year or whatever. He 'banzais' the corner three-wide in Turn 1 because that is the only place he could make a pass on the restart. Anyone can do that. He just jammed it in there three-wide and Kevin (Harvick) was already turning in, I was already turning in. There was no place for it." ..... Travis Kvapil of Janesville, Wis., who started 41st, finished 30th, running on the lead lap. ..... Stewart ran three races in the week leading up to The Glen. He was not injured Aug. 6 after flipping a winged sprint car while competing in an event at Black Rock Speedway in Dundee, N.Y. On Aug. 3, Stewart competed in a World of Outlaws race at Fulton (N.Y.) Speedway, finishing 19th, and two nights later, he finished 11th in a Kasey Kahne charity race at Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pa. ..... Thirteen drivers were slated for double duty in Cup and Nationwide at Watkins Glen: Newman, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Harvick, Ambrose, Edwards, Joe Nemechek, Said, Fellows, Tony Ave, Michael McDowell and Paul Menard. ..... Edwards won the Coors Light Pole Award with a lap of 124.432 mph, his first pole of 2010 and fifth in 215 races. Edwards' last pole came in August 2008 at Bristol, 69 races ago. McMurray was second. The "go-or-go homers" who failed to qualify: J.J. Yeley, Dave Blaney and Ave.    * * *        Franchitti Wins at Mid-Ohio for No. 25, But Power Wraps Up Road Course Championship--Dario Franchitti won the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio presented by Westfield Insurance on Aug. 8, but Will Power took the IZOD IndyCar Series Mario Andretti Road Championship Trophy. It was the 25th open-wheel racing victory for Franchitti, who moved into a tie with Gordon Johncock for 12th on the all-time list, and his first victory at the 2.258-mile Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio, where he holds the track record and won his first pole 12 years ago. By fending off Power over the final 15 laps after a lap 70 restart to win by 0.5234 (the third-closest road/street course finish in series history), Franchitti closed to 41 points of the overall championship leader. Next up, after the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma, are four oval races to close the season. Though it was too little, too late to wrest the Andretti Trophy from Power, the Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver was satisfied with the outing on the physically demanding course. "Quite a lot of things running through my head right now, getting to that quarter century, doing it here at Mid-Ohio, a place I found almost every way to lose a race," said Franchitti, who started second and recorded his second victory of the season. "Twelve years ago it was my first pole here. It's very satisfying. I think the key to the race, obviously, was the Target car was very fast. I drove every lap like it was a qualifying lap, whether I was behind Will or ahead of Will. But the key was that first pit stop by the Target boys to get me out ahead, especially a 35-foot pit box. It's the tightest we run. In practice, we couldn't get the thing out of the box with Will parked in his or get it in properly. But when the race win was on the line, it didn't seem quite as difficult and managed to pass him. I think that was the key because we were incredibly evenly matched on the track." That brief stop for tires and a 22-gallon load of ethanol--during the first full-course caution period of the race--came on lap 25. Alex Tagliani, who pitted three laps earlier, assumed the point and led the next 30 laps. Franchitti and Power, running 1-2, both pitted on lap 60 under green--with Franchitti again slipping out a tick of a second quicker. "Dario, he just got out before us," said Power, whose pit stall was the first at pit-out. "I mean, that was it. I couldn't do anything about it. Obviously those guys did a really good stop. Initially, I thought they might have short-filled some. It was tight for everyone. Some people had some troubles in pit lane when we all pitted under yellow. I mean, it's great for the series we've got so many cars. It's a good problem to have when you can't fit the cars into pit lane. It just shows that IndyCar is growing." Power remained on Franchitti's rear wing for the closing laps, never more than 0.6157 of a second back. "I was trying really hard at the end to make him make a mistake, letting him see me in his mirrors, letting him know if he made one little slip-up, I'm going to get him," Power said. "That was the only way I was going to get by." Power's Team Penske teammate, Helio Castroneves, finished third and Tagliani finished a season-high fourth in the No. 77 FAZZT Race Team car. Scott Dixon was fifth in the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing entry. Ryan Briscoe, the third Team Penske driver, finished sixth and Raphael Matos gained 12 positions to finish seventh in the No. 2 HP de Ferran Dragon Racing car. Simona de Silvestro posted a season-best eighth in the No. 78 Team Stargate Worlds/HVM Racing car, and Marco Andretti was ninth. Andretti Autosport teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay recovered from front-wing damage sustained while leaving his pit stall on lap 25 to finish 10th. He started fourth in the No. 37 IZOD car. ..... MORE GOOD STUFF: It marked the second time in three weeks Ganassi cars won both an IndyCar and NASCAR race on the same day, with Juan Pablo Montoya victorious at Watkins Glen. ..... Franchitti is now within 41 points of Power with five races to go as he tries to repeat as series champion. ..... The race had zero passes for the lead under green, noted the Associated Press. ..... There's one road race left on the schedule at Sonoma, the same track where Power suffered a horrific wreck last year that left him with four broken bones in his back. The final four races are on ovals, tracks where Franchitti would appear to have an advantage. ..... Alex Lloyd, driving the No. 19 Boy Scouts of America car for Dale Coyne Racing, moved up eight positions to 13th--his best road/street course finish of the season. ..... J.R. Hildebrand, 2009 Firestone Indy Lights champion who was making his IndyCar debut, gained two positions to finish 16th in the No. 24 RollCoater car for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Francesco Dracone, also making his series debut in the No. 34 car, overcame a couple of spins to finish 22nd. ..... Danica Patrick finished 21st and tied Dixon's series record with 28 consecutive races running at the finish. Franchitti made it 26 in a row. ..... As part of the Racing for Cancer (www.racingforcancer.org) initiative, Andretti Autosport played host to 10-year-old Tiana Bishop on race day. The Defiance, Ohio, resident is undergoing aggressive chemotherapy to combat stage 4 Rhabdomyosarcoma (cancer of the connective tissue). She met the four Andretti Autosport drivers and joined Hunter-Reay during the driver introductions--even riding along in the Honda S2000 for a parade lap. ..... Three members of the No. 32 KV Racing Technology team were checked and released from the infield care center following a pit incident during the morning warm-up in which Mario Moraes' car made contact with two. X-rays on Chris Bennett (inside front tire changer), Anna Chatten (air jack) and Mike Briggs (fueler) showed nothing broken. Mike Guger took over fueling duties and Alex Case was the jackman for the race. "After what happened this morning with the pit accident, I was feeling pretty bad," said Moraes, who advanced four positions to finish 12th. "It was in my mind for a long time. But we didn't have any problems with our pit stops. The team did a great job." ..... Sliding backward into a tire barrier during the morning practice session didn't keep Power from qualifications, in which he claimed the top spot with a best lap of 120.965 mph. It was his seventh pole of the season, tying Castroneves' record. The Indy Racing League medical staff reported he had a thigh bruise, and he qualified in a spare car. Franchitti was second. The top six cars were separated by 0.3373 of a second, the top 19 of the 27-car field by less than a second. ..... Justin Wilson's car bounced into the tire barrier in turn five  after contact with Briscoe's during qualifying. Wilson hadn't yet processed what led to the collision when Briscoe, who got out of his car quicker, leaned in and poked Wilson with his finger, said the Indianapolis Star. That ignited the normally stoic Wilson. "If I could have gotten hold of him ..." Wilson said later. "Unfortunately, I didn't have the reach." Wilson said he had calmed down just enough as he climbed from his car to only shove Briscoe. They exchanged a few more words before separating. Twenty minutes later, at the transporter of Wilson's team, Briscoe came to apologize for both types of contact--car and body. "I didn't know you were there (alongside); I didn't see you," Briscoe said. Wilson accepted Briscoe's handshake, but he did so with his left hand because his right one was aching and swollen. X-rays were negative, but Wilson felt some pain in his thumb. ..... After being quickest in  practice Aug. 6, Graham Rahal qualified 26th and finished 20th. ..... Indy Racing League amended a sub-section of its IndyCar rulebook to accommodate 27 entries at Mid-Ohio. The starting field for each race is a maximum of 28 with the exceptions of 33 for the Indianapolis 500, 26 for Toronto and Mid-Ohio (which includes two provisionals), and only Leaders Circle members for Brazil (24 this year) based on available pit lane space. In addition to the 24 full-season cars, three others were at Mid-Ohio.    * * *        Marcos Ambrose Has the Hang of Nationwide Racing at Watkins Glen, Wins for Third Straight Time--Marcos Ambrose, leaving JTG/Daugherty Racing at season's end, posted his third consecutive NASCAR Nationwide victory at Watkins Glen International Aug. 7, winning the Zippo 200 from the pole. He hasn't won anywhere else in Nationwide, and this was his third victory in 73 races. Terry Labonte is the only other driver to win three consecutive races at The Glen (1994-96), and he did it in Sprint Cup. "It was a wonderful day for us," said Ambrose, who has not announced plans for next year, though the rumor mill says he's likely to land in a Cup ride at Richard Petty Motorsports. "We've had our troubles at JTG this year, and we're parting ways at the end of the season, and this is a really fitting way to finish this thing off." He led 60 of 82 laps and beat Joey Logano by 2.8 seconds. Kevin Harvick somehow avoided a 10-car wreck and overcame a dust-up on the first lap and a speeding penalty on pit road to finish third. Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch rounded out the top five. Ron Fellows, Nelson Piquet Jr., Jacques Villeneuve, Steve Wallace and Michael McDowell completed the top 10. Brian Scott (13th) was the highest finishing rookie. Crowd was estimated at 40,000. There were four cautions for 10 laps and three lead changes among three drivers. Brad Keselowski leads the points by 327 points over Carl Edwards, who finished 33rd after losing a cylinder. ..... MORE GOOD STUFF: "This is probably better than the last one," said Ambrose crew chief Frank Kerr. "We've had such a bad year. Sonoma is a thorn in our side." Ambrose was poised to capture his first Cup victory at Sonoma in June when things went awry. He stalled his No. 47 while leading under a late caution, was unable to keep pace, had to restart seventh when he couldn't get it refired and finished sixth. ..... There was a huge chain-reaction crash involving 10 cars coming out of the first turn on a restart after the first caution. Among those involved were Justin Allgaier, Trevor Bayne and Jason Leffler, all in the top 10 in season points. Brendan Gaughan, Boris Said, Colin Braun, Tony Raines, Victor Gonzalez Jr., Alex Kennedy and Billy Johnson also were involved. Leffler, Allgaier and Johnson were evaluated at the infield care center and released as the race was stopped for more than 25 minutes. ..... Veteran road racer Fellows (sixth) was driving the No. 88 for JR Motorsports, former Formula One world champion and Indy 500 winner Villeneuve (eighth) was in the No. 32 Dollar General Toyota for  Braun Racing and Trans-Am point leader Tony Ave (15th) was in the No. 35 Chevy for TriStar Motorsports. ..... Former Formula One driver Piquet Jr. (Baker Curb Racing No. 27 Ford) was seventh in his Nationwide debut. Brazilian Piquet, 25, made his NASCAR debut at Daytona in February, finishing sixth in the Truck race. He has recorded three top-10 finishes in four Truck starts in 2010. ..... Grand-Am Continental Tire Series driver Johnson (Roush Fenway Racing No. 6 Ford) also made his Nationwide debut, winding up 36th after being in the big wreck. Johnson, 23-year-old Californian, teamed with co-driver Jack Roush Jr. to give car owner Jack Roush his 400th career victory earlier this season in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge at Homestead-Miami. ..... Ambrose won the Coors Light Pole with a speed of 122.410 mph, a new track record. Logano was second. There were no cars that did not qualify. ..... Next race is Aug. 14 at Michigan.   * * *        Bodine Adds to Truck Point Lead with Nashville Victory--Forty-six-year-old Todd Bodine, driving the No. 30 Germain.com Toyota, won the Nashville 200 Aug. 7, his 19th victory in 154 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races. The Nashville Superspeedway win was his second of the season, and enabled him to pad his series point lead to 174 over Aric Almirola, who was third. That's the second largest point difference with 11 races to go. "We did it in the style of Germain Racing: Went out and just stomped on them," said Bodine, who led 91 of the race's 150 laps at the 1.33-mile concrete track southeast of Nashville. Austin Dillon, the highest finishing rookie, was second, giving him seven top-10 finishes in a row. Rounding out the top 10 were: Timothy Peters, Johnny Sauter, Ron Hornaday Jr., Matt Crafton, Brian Ickler (in Kyle Busch's No. 18), Justin Lofton and Ken Schrader in the second KHI Chevy. There were three lead changes among three drivers--Bodine, Peters and Almirola-- with four caution flags for 19 laps. ..... MORE GOOD STUFF: Bodine's winning margin was 4.16 seconds, his average speed 124.257 mph. ..... Estimated crowd was 12,000. ..... Point leaders: Bodine 2,188, Almirola 2,014, Peters 1,956, Sauter 1,955 and Dillon. ..... Bodine was the fastest qualifier with a top speed of 155.543 mph for his first pole of 2010 and sixth career. Dillon was second. There were no DNQs. ..... Eddie Sharp Racing will make its series debut at Chicagoland Aug. 27 with veteran Steve Park in the No. 41 Toyota. ESR, which built a top ARCA team, including the 2009 championship winner with driver Justin Lofton, has been headed for trucks. Sharp and Carl Hartman, friends for 20 years, formed Sharp Hartman Racing as an extension of ESR at the beginning of 2010. Park, a former Sprint Cup driver, made his truck debut in 1996. He has one truck win, three in Nationwide and two in Cup while driving for various teams including Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Richard Childress Racing.   * * *        Greg Biffle Wins at Pocono To End a Bunch of Winless Streaks--By winning the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 on Aug. 1 at Pocono, Greg Biffle ended a whole bunch of winless streaks--his own, his team's and his car-maker's. Plus, the victory surely perked up his team owner, Jack Roush, who was in Mayo Clinic recovering from injuries suffered in a second plane crash from which he walked away. Roush sent word via Roush Fenway Racing: "It's a proud day for Ford, Greg Biffle, (crew chief) Greg Erwin, 3M, the Pit Bulls and all the wonderful sponsors who have stood by us these last few months. I'm comforted in having (general manager) Robbie Reiser at the helm in my absence and know things are in good hands, but this couldn't have happened without the support of Ford and all the technical assistance they provide, and, of course Doug Yates and his collaboration with Ford on the new FR9 engine can't be overstated. They've done a wonderful job and this is just the beginning of the rewards that have resulted from all of their hard work." "I wish he was here, and I'm sure he's watching, and this one's for him," Biffle said of Roush, who suffered injuries to his face and eye when he crash-landed his jet plane July 27 in Oshkosh, Wis., where he flew for the EAA AirVenture. Biffle, who early in his career showed up at the gates of Rockford Speedway with his car saying he wanted to race, ended a 64-race winless streak with his 15th victory in 279 NASCAR Sprint Cup races. His last victory came on Sept. 21, 2008, at Dover. Roush Fenway and Ford last won in November 2009 when Jamie McMurray scored at Talladega. Both had gone 21 races into the 2010 season without winning. It was the 117th Cup win for Roush Fenway, which now has won at least one race a year for 14 straight seasons, since 1997. Biffle, pulling away from the field after a rain delay of more than 17 minutes, beat pole-sitter Tony Stewart to the line by 3.598 seconds in front of a crowd estimated at 100,000, up from last year's 80,000 on a Monday after a Sunday rain-out. Biffle said Roush called him in Victory Lane and the owner said "he never met somebody that had the will to win like I do."  "I'm glad he thinks of me like that," Biffle said. "No matter how grim the outcome can be, I'll still be digging." Biffle won Chase races at New Hampshire and Dover in 2008 before falling into the winless drought. He was winless last year for the first full season of his career, and he joked in Victory Lane he had forgotten how to celebrate. Biffle's crew kept the same car after driving the No. 16 Ford to a season-high third-place finish at Indianapolis. Before Indy, he finished 16th, 20th and 35th in his past three races. "The whole company needed it," crew chief Erwin said. "I can't really explain what this means. I know [Roush] is with us. This is a brand-new car at Indianapolis and we brought it here because we liked it so much." Carl Edwards, third in another Roush Fenway Ford, spoke with Roush on race-day morning and said his boss sounded in good spirits. "He was Jack," Edwards said. "Don't mess anything up. Don't wreck. He's been through a lot this last week. He really needed that victory. That's pretty cool. I'm sure he's really hard to handle for all those nurses in the hospital." Series point leader Kevin Harvick was fourth and Denny Hamlin fifth. Sixth-place finisher Jeff Gordon saw his bid for his first victory since April 2009 disappear when a four-tire stop under caution on lap 167 of 200 left him mired in traffic behind cars that took two tires or fuel only. Gordon led 39 laps, second only to teammate Jimmie Johnson's 96. Johnson wound up 10th. Mark Martin, Jeff Burton and Martin Truex Jr. were seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively. The start of the race was delayed by rain, and another rain delay was the second time the race was red-flagged. The second stoppage took nearly 29 minutes to clear the debris from a horrific crash involving Kurt Busch, Elliott Sadler and Clint Bowyer on lap 165. Busch's analysis of the incident was succinct. "I got wrecked on the straightaway," he said. "Jimmie Johnson drove straight through us." Johnson wasn't surprised by Busch's assessment. "Kurt isn't very fond of me," Johnson said. "He never has been. I think when he has a chance to take a shot at me, he'll probably do so. But certainly nothing intentional, and if he'd like to talk about it, I'm more than willing to talk about it." Johnson apologized over his radio as soon as the wrecking started. Sadler got the worst of it. His car plowed nose-first into the inside guardrail and berm behind it with enough force to rip the engine from the car. When safety trucks removed the debris from the infield, Sadler's car rode on one wrecker, the engine on another. Despite the severity of the impact, Sadler later walked out of the infield care center. "I'm fine. I'm OK," he said. "I'm a little sore, I think, from where the belts grabbed me. It knocked the breath out of me pretty good, but it's definitely the hardest hit I've ever had in a race car. I'm not sure what happened. I know some guys got spun out and moved up in front of us, and I saw some smoke. Everybody started checking up, and I checked up, but whoever was behind did not--and ran in the back of us and knocked me down through the grass." His teammate, A.J. Allmendinger, said he hit the back of Sadler's car. "Everyone was checking up in front of me and there was tons of smoke. I had nowhere to go," Allmendinger said. "I really hate it for Elliott and those guys. You hate to see anyone wreck, especially as hard of a hit as that. I'm really glad he's OK." ..... MORE GOOD STUFF: Sadler said NASCAR officials told him his impact was the hardest recorded in the history of the sport, said ESPN.com. NASCAR did not give Sadler the number of G-forces recorded by the black-box device and the governing body typically does not release that information. "We do not share those numbers except with the team and the folks at the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility at the University of Nebraska," NASCAR said in a statement. "But we were told it was the hardest one they have in their data in history," said Sadler. That means harder than Kyle Petty's 2003 crash at Bristol, which, according to published reports, was the hardest at the time at more than 80 Gs (80 times the force of gravity). Other hard hits that NASCAR publicly has claimed among the hardest include Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s 2003 crash at Talladega, David Reutimann's 2007 crash at California and Jeff Gordon's 2008 crash at Las Vegas. ..... Robbie Reiser, mentioned in Roush's above statement, is the subject of a story, "Reiser reflects on career, Kenseth, getting Roush Fenway up to speed," at www.NASCAR.com under News, Sprint Cup Series. Reiser's hometown is Allenton, Wis., and he was a race car driver, including in events at Rockford Speedway, before he went south and moved behind the pit wall. ..... The race had 19 lead changes among nine drivers and five cautions for 31 laps. ..... Travis Kvapil of Janesville, Wis., was 29th, one lap down, and his Front Row Motorsports teammate Kevin Conway (31st) was the highest finishing rookie. ..... Harvick leads the points by 189 over Jeff Gordon. ..... Stewart won the Coors Light Pole Award with a lap of 171.393 mph, his second pole of the season and 12th in 413 races. His first 2010 pole came at Texas in April. Juan Pablo Montoya was second. Failed to qualify: David Stremme and Max Papis. Kvapil qualified 32nd at 167.330 mph as a "go-or-go homer." His No. 37 Long John Silver's Ford now is 33rd in owner points. The top 35 in owner points are guaranteed a starting spot for the next race, Watkins Glen.    * * *         Austin F1 Track Would Cost $180 Million To Build, Say Documents Obtained by Newspaper--The Austin, Texas, Formula One track will cost $180 million to build, according to documents given to the Austin American-Statesman. The newspaper requested information on the project and despite them being marked "confidential," they were released by City Hall. Part of the paper's Web site post of Aug. 4: Drawings of a twisty track, low-slung, L-shaped grandstands and rounded welcome center designed by Tilke GmbH; and the promise of 1,200 new jobs per Austin Grand Prix race weekend are a few of the details contained in papers marked "confidential" but released recently by City Hall in response to a Statesman open records request. The sheaf of documents, produced by Full Throttle Productions, Formula One promoter Tavo Hellmund's Austin company, had originally been deemed off-limits to public view by city officials. Hellmund also contended the papers contained trade secrets and thus did not have to be released. But a July 22 attorney general's decision found the pages did not fall under exemptions in the Texas Public Information Act and ordered them turned over. The drawings and other materials are copyrighted to Full Throttle so cannot be reproduced without the company's permission. Full Throttle spokesman Trey Salinas also said the track depictions were outdated and so not appropriate for publication. "We should have more information on that soon," he wrote. Most of the 20 or so pages are devoted to singing the economic praises of F1's impact on a host community. According to Full Throttle's estimates, an F1 weekend in Texas would have a $300 million impact on the area every year. The number appears to be based on comparable figures for other F1 host cities, such as Melbourne and Bahrain. Some economists dispute the validity of such projections. The projections also include a dollar figure to build the track near Elroy, east of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, that's lower than previously reported: About $180 million. They also predict the construction project will attract 1,500-plus workers. The documents show Hellmund estimates another 1,200 temporary workers would be hired over Formula One race weekends; and that 40 workers would staff the track year-round. The documents also for the first time lay out the range of non-F1 activities Hellmund hopes to attract to the new facility, which, according to the papers, he hopes to keep active 250 days out of the year. Among them: Alternative fuel automobile research, driving schools, "professional motorsports team testing," police training facilities, music concerts and "high-end auctions." According to the papers, Hellmund anticipates hosting another 400,000-plus fans at other racing events, such as NASCAR and drag racing, in addition to the 300,000 fans he hopes to attract over the Grand Prix weekend. Former San Antonio Spurs (NBA) and Minnesota Vikings (NFL) owner Red McCombs is a key investor backing the Grand Prix race to be run in Austin, beginning in 2012. A wealthy car dealer, McCombs was introduced at a news conference July 27 to unveil a 900-acre tract of land a few miles southeast of downtown as the primary site for the track. McCombs addressed doubts the track can be built in time for the 2012 race season, saying he told F1 commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone, "You're talking about doing this in Texas. We have a reputation as a state and people."    * * *        Webber's Win in Hungary Gives Him F1 Point Lead--Mark Webber took advantage of a penalty against Red Bull-Renault teammate Sebastian Vettel to win the Hungarian Grand Prix Aug. 1 at the Hungaroring near Budapest and take the lead in the Formula One drivers championship. Webber's fourth win of the season (the most of any driver) gave him 161 points, four more than previous leader Lewis Hamilton of McLaren-Mercedes, who dropped out on lap 24 with gearbox trouble. Vettel is third with 151 points, defending world champion Jenson Button of McLaren has 147 and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso has 141 as 20 points separate the top five. Alonso was second in the race, followed by Vettel and Felipe Massa of Ferrari. "It was a bit of a gift for me but I haven't had many of them," Webber said. "It's a nice way to celebrate my 150th race and a great day for us as a team on our 100th race weekend." Penalties and fines were numerous. Mercedes' Michael Schumacher was judged in a stewards inquiry to have illegitimately impeded Williams-Cosworth driver and former Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello during an overtaking maneuver on the 66th lap and was penalized 10 grid positions for his next race, the Belgium GP on Aug. 29. "It was a bit of a go-karting maneuver," said Barrichello about Schumacher squeezing him in the direction of a concrete pit wall as the two fought for 10th place. "It was a hard fight and this is what we are here for, but I accept that the FIA stewards saw it as too hard," said Schumacher. Renault was fined $50,000 for the "unsafe release" of Robert Kubica's car after a pit stop while the safety car was on the track. Kubica also had to take a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for the incident in which he crashed into the Force India car of Adrian Sutil on pit lane and had to abandon the race after completing just a few more laps. Sutil also had to give up the race because of the incident. Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg retired after losing a tire in the pit lane which injured a Williams crew member. Mercedes also was fined $50,000 for the incident. Vettel, who started from pole position for the seventh time this season and fourth race in a row, was given a drive-through penalty on lap 32 for falling more than 10-car lengths behind the safety car. Webber took the lead when Vettel and Alonso pitted while the safety car was on the track. Racing at the time on the faster super-soft tires, Webber built a lead of 23 seconds over Alonso after the Vettel penalty dropped the German to third, and Webber later was able to make a pit stop on lap 43 without losing the lead. Alonso said the winding track--where overtaking is especially difficult--helped him stay ahead of Vettel's faster car and secure his runner-up finish. "On a normal circuit it would have been impossible to maintain second," acknowledged Alonso, whose Ferrari team achieved its stated purpose of finishing ahead of the McLarens, which were leading the constructors championship. Red Bull now leads with 312 points, with McLaren second with 304 and Ferrari third with 238. ..... OTHER GOOD STUFF: For Massa, the return to the circuit where he suffered a life-threatening accident in qualifying last year could be considered a success. "Against rivals who were really flying, we did the best we could," Massa said. "My championship definitely does not stop here. It has been a very special week for me and this has been a positive weekend for me and the team." Last July, Massa's Ferrari hit a protective barrier after his helmet was struck by a loose part that broke off  Barrichello's Brawn GP car during qualifying. He was hospitalized for nine days in Hungary, placed in an induced coma with multiple skull fractures and later had plastic surgery on his cranium in Brazil. ..... Russian rookie Vitaly Petrov enjoyed his best performance of the season, finishing fifth. "I feel wonderful because we did almost everything perfect," said Petrov, the first Russian to start an F1 race. "The points are very important for us because Mercedes didn't score any." Renault is fifth in the constructors table with 106 points, while Mercedes is fourth with 132. ..... Webber won by 17.8 seconds. When he eventually did stop for the mandatory tire change, on lap 43, he had built up a lead of more than 23 seconds, and that enabled him to rejoin the circuit still with four seconds in hand over Alonso's Ferrari. ..... Completing the top 10 were: Nico Hulkenberg (Williams-Cosworth), Pedro De la Rosa (Sauber-Ferrari), Button, Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber-Ferrari) and Barrichello. Only five cars retired, 19 were still running at the end. ..... Vettel's pole on July 31 was his seventh of the season and fourth straight. Webber was second for Red Bull's fifth 1-2 of the year. Webber has four poles and Hamilton is the only non-Red Bull driver to win a pole this year. ..... After 12 of 19 races this season, Webber now has four wins while Vettel, Button, Hamilton and Alonso have two each.    * * *        Fining Newman, Hamlin in Secret Another Move That Could Bite NASCAR in the You Know What--The mixed message NASCAR of Brian France is running scared, sez I. Attendance at races is down, partly because of the economy, but also because of NASCAR's outrageous ticket prices. One affects the other. In your lifetime, did you ever think you would hear about tickets being available for Bristol? I didn't. And the fans staying home aren't tuning in like they used to. Fans used to get upset, vocally, if a particular race wasn't on the tube. This is happening now, I believe, because fans have fallen out of love with the product. The romance is over and it's the cold, hard reality of the morning after. For one thing, the races are too long. For another, NASCAR is like the federal government--too many regulations. I made the comment last time that pretty soon, everyone will need a pickup truck just to haul around the rule book. The NASCAR of Brian France has lost sight that a great many of its fans came to the sport because they were free thinkers, not conformists. Even if they're full of hot air, free thinkers believe in speaking their minds. If something is not to their liking, they will let you know. Another crack in the dike is even tracks are turning down NASCAR races, witness Gateway here in Illinois. NASCAR's reaction to all of this? To start eating their own by fining star drivers--in secret, no less--for alleged disparaging remarks they made. While at the same time publically espousing a "Have at It, Boys" philosophy for yet another mixed message. I call this one "Muzzlegate," and it's another step on a very slippery slope. Will NASCAR start fining drivers--in secret--for criticizing tires or race tracks because those criticisms--which have been plentiful--could affect the NASCAR brand? Does NASCAR really want robots out there, agreeing with everything that comes from headquarters, with no dissent, no backtalk, no nothing. When the sport owes its birth to personalities, some good, some not so good. Because that will turn off fans even more. A recent FOX Sports poll asked this question online: Should NASCAR fine drivers for speaking their minds? The answer was a resounding no--by a 93-7 percent margin. An AOL Fanhouse online poll asked about the specific action: Was NASCAR right fining drivers without announcing what for? Again, a resounding no by an 81-19 percent margin--despite the poll question appearing in a very pro-NASCAR column. NASCAR needs to wake up and get back in touch with those non-conformist fans, who ponied up their money for the drive to the top. And knock off the mixed messages. People don't like that.--PJP. ..... The story: Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin acknowledged they were the  Sprint Cup drivers fined by NASCAR for making disparaging comments about the series. Neither driver would comment on the amount of the fines, although the Associated Press reported one was fined as much as $50,000, and sources told ESPN.com that driver was Hamlin. "What I asked what was the point of fining me if you're not going to tell anyone," Hamlin said, "they said, 'Well, hopefully it will keep anyone from bad-mouthing us.' Well, no one knows. All this coming out is a positive thing. Even though they may not have wanted everyone to know, now they do know it's happened for a reason and it's going to make the sport better." Newman acknowledged his fine was the result of comments made after the spring race at Talladega in which he questioned whether the kind of racing on display is what fans wanted to see. The race went 12 laps past the scheduled distance because of NASCAR's new overtime rule that allows for three attempts at its version of overtime. Hamlin, who has been outspoken on several issues, admitted he was fined for multiple comments. In terms of the reported amount of his fine, he said, "There's been illegal parts in the garage that haven't gotten penalized like I did." ESPN sources indicated it was for statements at Michigan, where the Joe Gibbs Racing driver brought up a phantom debris caution after winning, and at Chicagoland, where he was critical of potential changes to the Chase. "I might as well have backed off and saved my tires," Hamlin said after his Michigan win, in which the late caution erased a big lead he had. "No, I didn't see any debris, but I understand it's show business. I'm not saying it's accepted, but what can you do?" Hamlin also inferred the fine revolved around a Twitter conversation he'd had with someone after the Nationwide race at Chicagoland, according to Sports Illustrated. "More than likely, it was the Twitter comments that kind of got me in trouble with them," he said. "Chicago weekend, talking about some of the Nationwide stuff, but most of those conversations were all direct messages to one person. Anybody that follows me on Twitter knows I'm opinionated, and that's what people follow me for, is just for the quotes here or there." SI.com confirmed the context of that Twitter conversation, a suggestion the racing "was fixed," is what got Hamlin fined. It was a public exchange between Hamlin and SB Nation's Jeff Gluck, a blogger. Newman said he initially was frustrated by the fine, but upon reflection realized there had been warnings and what he said wasn't for the good of the sport. He had no problem with NASCAR not divulging the drivers' identities or amount of their fines. "I think everybody can voice their opinion," Newman said. "I think what NASCAR is telling you is be careful how you voice your opinion and where you voice it and the impact it has when voicing it." NASCAR has said only that the penalties were for the sake of protecting the brand. "It is the sanctioning body's obligation on behalf of the industry and our fans to protect the sport's brand," spokesman Ramsey Poston said in a statement. "Any action taken by NASCAR has nothing to do with the drivers expressing an opinion--it's focused on actions or comments that materially damage the sport. We have specifically discussed this in meetings with teams, drivers and stakeholders." NASCAR president Mike Helton insists he wants drivers to feel free to express themselves. Helton just doesn't want anyone doing so in a way that could hurt the sport's image. "The emotion of the sport, we encourage. The passion and the emotion of a driver wanting to win and, within reason, his driving style to do that, we encourage," Helton said. "What we discourage throughout the industry, though, is sending the message that the sport isn't worthy of following." Helton said the sanctioning body didn't identified the penalized drivers because NASCAR views it the same way as conversations officials might have with drivers after an on-track incident. Those talks usually remain private as well. "I don't want to lose any more money but I just want to be myself," Hamlin said. "That's all I can say and that's what I've told them over and over. I said, 'What if I don't agree with something? What do you want me to say? Do you want me to lie and tell something I don't truly believe in because I've never been brought up to do that?' I think you will see (opinions expressed), but it'll be a more toned-down fashion," Hamlin added.    * * *        NASCAR News & Notes, Off the Track--Red Bull Racing has emerged as the likely place for Kasey Kahne in the 2011 Cup season, the Charlotte Observer and ThatsRacin.com have learned (several other media outlets reported the same thing). Under a proposed arrangement, Kahne would drive one of Red Bull's Toyotas next season as he waits to take over Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet in 2012, sources close to the situation confirmed. Kahne drove a Dodge in 2009, he's driving a Ford this season and is under contract to drive a Chevy in 2012. Mark Martin, as he has maintained since news of Kahne's signing by Hendrick became public in April, would drive the No. 5 next season, his last with Hendrick. Jay Frye, Red Bull Racing's general manager, would neither confirm nor deny his organization has been in discussions with Hendrick Motorsports to have Kahne drive a Red Bull car next season. "Kasey is under contract with Hendrick Motorsports next year. That is a question for Hendrick," Frye said. An HMS spokesman declined to comment on the Kahne-to-Red Bull scenario. Kahne's agent did not respond to a request for comment. Such a deal would need to be approved by Chevrolet, Toyota and Red Bull officials and could still fall through. Sources maintained the deal to put Kahne at Red Bull has not been completed, but insisted it is the most viable option for the 30-year-old driver from Enumclaw, Wash. Kahne is in the final year of his contract with Richard Petty Motorsports. Red Bull has two drivers, Scott Speed and Brian Vickers, neither of whom are guaranteed to drive for the team next season. SceneDaily.com noted Frye said a decision should be announced on Speed's status by the end of August. Speed, in his second full year with the team, is 27th in points. Vickers has been sidelined since May for treatment of blood clots. He will not know until November if he will be able to return behind the wheel of the No. 83 for next season. ..... Leo Benjamin Gordon, the second child of four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon and his wife, Belgian supermodel Ingrid Vandebosch, was born Aug. 9. He weighed 7 pounds, 2 ounces and was 19 inches in length. The son is the couple's second child. Their daughter, Ella Sophia, was born in June 2007. ..... Three months after it opened, the NASCAR Hall of Fame said Aug. 9 its total attendance passed 100,000 last week, said the Charlotte Observer. The hall's daily attendance has averaged 1,140 people over the first 90 days of operation. If that attendance level holds up for the year, the hall would have about 410,000 visitors for its first year. The hall projected it would have 800,000 visitors in its first 13 1/2 months of operation, and then 400,000 people annually after that. The hall is finishing what is expected to be one of its strongest periods of the calendar. The $200 million Hall of Fame was built by the city of Charlotte and is operated by the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority. ..... Richard Petty Motorsports on Aug. 6 announced A.J. Allmendinger has signed a multi-year contract extension with the organization. Allmendinger will remain behind the wheel of the No. 43 RPM Cup Ford. "I am really excited about my future with Richard Petty Motorsports," said Allmendinger. "It's been such an honor to be behind the wheel of 'The King's' No. 43. I am happy to be able to continue to be his driver and feel for the first time in my NASCAR career I have the chance to build on something. Everyone at RPM and Ford Racing has worked hard to be successful this year and I know we're right on the verge of big things." Sporting News sources said the team is optimistic about re-signing Allmendinger's sponsor, Best Buy. Now RPM will work toward filling the remaining slots on the team. Kasey Kahne and Elliott Sadler have announced plans to depart at the end of the season. Marcos Ambrose, who will leave the No. 47 JTG/Daugherty Toyota team at season's end, is a leading candidate to fill the seat of one of the RPM Fords. Ambrose hopes his career path continues to include NASCAR, though he says he's truly not ruling out a return to racing in Australia, where he was V8 Supercar champion, said FOX Sports. Ambrose, in his fifth season of NASCAR competition and second full season at the Cup level, said, "But my heart is in NASCAR to be honest with you. I've got unfinished business at this level of racing. I feel like I've become part of the sport but I haven't become a contender on a weekly basis, and I feel like I'm really--if I left now, I would feel like I've got unfinished business. Paul Menard, who drives the No. 98 Ford for RPM, has not announced plans for next year but has talked to other teams, including Richard Childress Racing, according to multiple sources. ..... Frontstretch.com said Paul Menard has agreed in principle to move to Richard Childress Racing for 2011. Sponsorship would continue to come from his father's company, Menards, with a car number and crew chief to be announced. Multiple sources told FOXSports.com Menard would drive the full Cup season at RCR, potentially in the No. 32 car, and pilot the No. 33 Chevy part-time in Nationwide under the Kevin Harvick Inc. banner. Menard didn't deny he was considering his options. "We have to cover our bases," Menard said. "But we haven't done anything yet." ..... Richard Childress Racing is looking at possible expansion to four teams in Cup in 2011 and is in the process of finalizing a deal to run next year's Nationwide program through Kevin Harvick Inc., said ESPN.com. Team owner Richard Childress said an announcement on the deal with KHI should be made soon. The plan is for RCR to supply engines to KHI for the Nationwide program and for RCR to field two teams in the Truck Series for Childress'  grandsons, Austin and Ty Dillon. "I want to give the grandsons an opportunity to run," Childress said. RCR Cup drivers Jeff Burton, Clint Bowyer and Harvick would run KHI cars when in Nationwide. Childress would not comment on speculation Paul Menard, who drives for Richard Petty Motorsports, would be his fourth driver. RCR had four teams in 2009, but returned to three this season after sponsorship for the fourth team and Casey Mears could not be found. Menard would bring the family business, Menards, with him as a sponsor if he made the move. RPM does not have a deal with Menard for 2011. RCR started this season with John Wes Townley in the No. 21 in Nationwide, but sidelined Townley after the young driver had problems on the track. The car ran more races with other drivers, and now Morgan Shepherd is fielding the No. 21 for RCR. ..... Bobby Hamilton Jr. is negotiating to buy a second auto racing track in Tennessee. The Tennessean newspaper reports  Hamilton, who already owns Highland Rim Speedway in Ridgetop, hopes to purchase Riverview Speedway in Carthage. Both tracks are quarter-mile paved ovals. Riverview, which has a capacity of 3,000, is currently owned by Eddie Taylor. Taylor has owned Riverview since 2001 and confirmed he and Hamilton are working on a deal. Hamilton said he likes Riverview, which is currently not operating, because it's a newer facility with potential for success. Hamilton, the son of a late NASCAR driver, currently competes in NASCAR's truck series. ..... McDonald's and Watkins Glen International have renewed their partnership for the next three years. Not only does McDonald's remain the official drive-through restaurant of WGI but the McDonald's Family Zone will continue to provide fun for children of all ages. The McDonald's Family Grandstand offers a smoke and alcohol-free area for families to watch the racing and the McDonald's Kid Zone is home to games, inflatables, McDonald's characters and driver question-and-answer sessions. ..... Dover Motorsports has asked for its Nationwide race at Nashville in June and its Truck race at Nashville in August to be combined into a doubleheader during the Cup off-weekend in July, where Gateway had a doubleheader scheduled in 2009, said SceneDaily.com. That would give Nashville two Truck-Nationwide doubleheaders–-one on Easter weekend and one in July--on Cup off-weekends. NASCAR has not yet said if it would approve the schedule request. Dover saw its admissions revenue drop 17.3 percent so far in 2010 primarily from its tripleheader weekend at Dover International Speedway and its two Nashville race weekends, the company reported July 29. There also was a profitable NHRA event at Gateway  included in the company's financial report. For the first six months of 2010, Dover Motorsports saw its revenues drop 8.5 percent, with the most significant being admissions revenue dropping from $11.953 million to $9.883 million, chief financial officer Timothy Horne said on a conference call with investors. The company announced July 28 it would not ask for NASCAR events at Gateway International Raceway for 2011. That track, which had two Nationwide events and one Truck event on its 2010 schedule, was devalued from $10 million to $2.036 million, which is primarily the value of the land. "This was obviously a difficult decision, but with expenses rising and the economy continuing to exert pressure on revenues across the industry, we just didn't feel we had a choice," Dover CEO Denis McGlynn said on the call. The write-down of Gateway's value resulted in a loss of $6.284 million during the first six months of 2010, compared with a loss of $800,000 for the first six months of 2009. Dover also closed Memphis Motorsports Park after the 2009 season. ..... There's no doubt the Nationwide schedule will be "different" in 2011. In addition to Gateway dropping its two dates, Nashville, which has two 2010 dates, is seeking changes for 2011. But NASCAR informed the NHRA, which owns O'Reilly Raceway Park, the 2011 race would not be moved to Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which in the wake of attendance drops is looking to beef up its schedule on Brickyard 400 weekend, said the Indianapolis Star. "It's very good news," ORP spokesman Scott Smith said. "A lot of people were very much wanting to see it stay here." NASCAR President Mike Helton has been quoted as saying Nationwide could drop below its current 35-race schedule. "That's been bounced around," Helton said. "Is it necessary to do that? Obviously, there's players that have to be talked to in regards to that, Nationwide, for one, ESPN and other promoters and the competitors." Rusty Wallace Racing owner Rusty Wallace said Nationwide owners want the schedule cut back to help contain costs. ..... Admissions revenue at Speedway Motorsports Inc. tracks has dropped 16.7 percent for the first half of 2010, the company reported. Of the drop, 44 percent is attributed to lower ticket prices and 56 to decreased attendance for the events. SMI tracks had 14 Cup and Nationwide races January-June 2010, the same number as 2009. As far as the overall balance sheet, SMI showed a net profit of nearly $32 million in the first half of 2010, compared with a loss of $3.1 million last year, which included a loss of $55.6 million from the devaluation of Motorsports Authentics in the first six months of 2009. ..... Boris Said says he does not expect to drive the No. 26 Latitude 43 Motorsports Ford again this season. Said told Sirius NASCAR Radio's Sirius Speedway with Dave Moody, "There's no real polite way to say this, but (team owner) Bill Jenkins owes me a bunch of money. I got a better offer from Red Bull (for the No. 83 Toyota at Watkins Glen), so I took it." Asked if he expects to have any relationship with Latitude 43 going forward, Said replied, "(Jenkins) hasn't returned my phone calls all week, so I guess not. It's a bad deal for me, but it's a great deal for David Stremme. He's a good racer and a nice guy, so I hope it works out for him." ..... Jack Roush, 68, is hoping to be at Michigan, depending upon his progress this week. Roush, injured in a plane crash in Oshkosh, Wis., was upgraded to fair condition Aug. 1 at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., Roush Fenway Racing said. The co-owner of Roush Fenway and chairman of Roush Enterprises will continue to be treated at Mayo for facial injuries. ..... Often criticized by drivers for long races and for taking up two spots on the Cup schedule, "tricky triangle" Pocono now is being called unsafe. Track president Brandon Igdalsky said he is listening and he's promising changes. The track plans to add more safer barriers for next year's races and would like to install a catch fence on the non-grandstand areas. Igdalsky has taken a bigger role as his grandfather, track owner Joseph Mattioli, scales back his duties. Igdalsky brought corporate sponsorship to the races, a Truck race and has an eye on bringing back an IndyCar Series race. Pocono held its first race in 1968, its first Indy car race in 1971 (Guess who covered that one?--PJP) and first NASCAR race in 1974. Pocono co-owner Dr. Mattioli told Sirius NASCAR Radio's Sirius Speedway with Dave Moody he might be willing to give up one of the track's two race dates, but not in the near future. He said he will retain his two Cup dates until at least 2013, when new NASCAR television contracts take effect. Pocono, by the way, has a new three-megawatt ground-mount photovoltaic solar energy system. The 25-acre solar installation developed by enXco, located adjacent to the 2.5-mile race track, is so large it's visible from outer space. With its 40,000 photovoltaic modules drawing energy from the sun, it will become the primary electric energy source for the track while adding electricity to the local power grid. To reduce the environmental impact of fans traveling into the Poconos for the races, Pocono continued its "green" campaign by encouraging fans to park their cars and ride in on special charter buses, available at 11 pick-up locations. ..... Steve Letarte, 31-year-old crew chief for Jeff Gordon and the No. 24 Cup team, has signed a multi-year contract extension with Hendrick Motorsports. He had guided Gordon to 10 wins, 21 runner-up finishes, 77 top-fives, 108 top-10s and 14 pole positions in 174 races prior to Pocono. Letarte, a native of Portland, Maine, has been involved in the No. 24 team on almost every level, starting as a parts assistant while attending high school in 1995. Letarte stepped onto the pit box as Gordon's crew chief at New Hampshire on Sept. 18, 2005. ..... The late driver Tim Richmond  will be the subject of a new film airing on ESPN on Tuesday, Oct. 19, at 7 p.m. CT. ESPN Films has announced the fall schedule for its series "30 for 30," which will begin airing Aug. 24 and will air Tuesday nights throughout the fall. ..... Former NASCAR driver Tommy Ellis and his wife will serve time in prison for their scheme to defraud the Internal Revenue Service by not reporting all the proceeds from their car wash service, said the Associated Press. The 1988 Busch Series champion was sentenced July 30 to 18 months in prison for defrauding the IRS of more than $133,000 in tax revenue from the couple's two Richmond (Va.) area Buzz Thru Car Washes from 2003 through 2007. Ellis' wife Brenda received a 12-month sentence. U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson noted 60-year-old Brenda Ellis' health problems in giving her the shorter sentence. He will allow 63-year-old Tommy Ellis to serve his sentence after his wife finishes hers. ..... Two-time Cup champion Terry Labonte is expected to run three races this season for former owner Billy Stavola. He drove the No. 8 Stavola Brothers car 1984-1998 with four Cup  wins in 524 races. Labonte now will drive the No. 10 Chevy at Richmond, Charlotte and Texas. Cars and engines will be provided by Richard Childress Racing, said FOX Sports. More at www.stavolalabonteracing.com. ..... Braun Racing said Jeff Stankiewicz will remain as crew chief of the No. 11 Toyota driven by Brian Scott for the remainder of the Nationwide season. Stankiewicz has been serving as interim crew chief since Chicagoland, and in four races  guided Scott to two top-10 finishes. Stankiewicz, 27, came to Braun as a car chief in January. He has six ARCA championships with Frank Kimmel and one Nationwide championship with Kevin Harvick at Richard Childress Racing. ..... The MAKE Motorsports No. 50 Chevrolet will return to the Truck Series at Darlington Aug. 14 with driver T.J. Bell and a new primary sponsor in Liberty Tire Recycling, which says it is the nation's largest tire recycling provider and wants to make NASCAR more aware of a "green" view. Tracy Lowe is a MAKE Motorsports co-owner and one of a handful of female team owners in NASCAR. More at www.MAKEMotorsports.com. ..... Ken Schrader has been named to the staff of Richard Petty's Driver Search II Sept. 13-16 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Concord Speedway in North Carolina, and the road course at Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, S.C. Schrader, who is among a small group of racers with wins in NASCAR's top three divisions, will join road-course expert Marcos Ambrose and the Driver Search instruction staff for the unique training camp and competition designed specifically for aspiring race car drivers looking for an opportunity to advance their careers. The top driver will be awarded the chance to compete in the ARCA race Oct. 9 at Rockingham in an effort fully supported by Petty Holdings. Dillon Moltz, top driver in the inaugural Driver Search, finished 20th in the ARCA race at Pocono July 31. ..... Atlanta Motor Speedway's Sept. 5 Cup night race will be the Emory Healthcare 500, sponsored by Emory Healthcare, the largest health system in Georgia, part of Emory University Hospital. The multiple-year contract calls for Emory Healthcare to sponsor the event and become the track's official health care provider. ..... Lake Speed was the first race car driver inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. Five other athletes were inducted in a class that pushes the Hall over the 260-member threshold, nearly half football players.  Speed won more than $5 million during an 18-year NASCAR career.      * * *        NASCAR News & Notes, On the Track--Now Kyle Busch doesn't even have to practice to win Nationwide races. Busch missed rain-delayed practice July 31, flying into Iowa Speedway from Pocono in time for qualifying in the afternoon. In his first laps in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, he earned the second position. Brad Coleman practiced Busch's car. "It would've been better if I could've sat on the pole," Busch said. "Darn Trevor Bayne (who won the pole)." Busch's car was clearly dominant in the race that night in front of 55,988 fans; he led four times for 209 laps while winning the U.S. Cellular 250, his ninth victory this year and 39th in 190 Nationwide races. Busch, who has raced in only 17 of this season's 21 events, is one win away from the series season victory record of 10 he shares with Sam Ard. Busch is second in series history with 39 victories, nine behind Mark Martin's record. "I really like these cars," Busch said. "It's fun, man. I've really grown accustomed to these things and have learned how to drive them. You can really drive the Nationwide cars hard because they don't have a whole lot of horsepower, so you can really try to make up a lot by being able to get more out of the car, driver-wise. It says a lot about the team, it says a lot about my confidence as a driver and my confidence in the team that they can prepare great race cars--and also Brad Coleman and what he does. I told (crew chief) Jason (Ratcliff) before the start of this thing, 'Man, if I win this thing, I just might not practice any more.' I think I screw it up more when I practice it." Kevin Harvick was second, with Jason Leffler, Brad Keselowski and Bayne completing the top five. Steve Wallace, Michael Annett, Justin Allgaier, Matt Dibenedetto and Carl Edwards rounded out the top 10. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (14th) was the highest finishing rookie. Since Busch is ineligible for Nationwide's Dash 4 Cash program because he isn't running all the series races this year, an eligible driver can win $75,000 if he wins at Texas Nov. 6. There were six cautions for 27 laps (plus two red flags) and seven lead changes among three drivers. The first red was for Reed Sorenson's wreck in Turn 1 on lap 42, caused by a melted bead on the right-front tire. The second came 51 laps later, when Brian Keselowski nailed a stopped Colin Braun in Turn 2. Braun, who wrecked two cars in practice and qualifying, had spun off the corner before getting slammed by Keselowski. Three other cars were involved, but none of the drivers were hurt. Brad Keselowski leads the points by 231 over Edwards. At 19, Bayne became the youngest driver in series history to win three consecutive poles, the third driver to accomplish the feat and the first in 18 years. The others were Ard, Jeff Gordon and Michael Waltrip. Bayne won the 21 Means 21 Pole Award with a lap of 133.266 mph, his fourth pole in 36 races. Eric McClure, Darryl Harr and Johnny Champman did not qualify. ..... Driving the No. 2 Grand Touring Vodka Chevrolet for Kevin Harvick Inc., Elliott Sadler, 35, won the Pocono Mountains 125 July 31, his first victory in eight Camping World Truck Series starts--and in the first Truck race at Pocono. Sadler thus became the 21st different driver to win a race in each of NASCAR's three national series. He has nine total wins (three in Cup, five in Nationwide and one in Truck). Mark Martin leads all drivers with 95 total wins (40 Cup, 48 Nationwide, 7 Truck). Kyle Busch is next with 74 (18-38-18) and Harvick is third with 57 (13-36-8). Sadler also was the series seventh different winner in as many races and the third to win for KHI in 2010. Kasey Kahne was second, the first time he has lost in three Truck starts. Driving the No. 18 Toyota for Kyle Busch Motorsports, Kahne was .445 seconds behind in a race that went five laps past its scheduled distance of 50 laps at the 2.5-mile triangular track. Matt Crafton was third, followed by Aric Almirola and Justin Lofton, the highest finishing rookie. Rounding out the top 10: Mike Skinner, Austin Dillon, Timothy Peters, Denny Hamlin and Jason White. "It's hard to put in words what this means to me," said Sadler, whose last NASCAR victory was Sept. 5, 2004, in Cup at Fontana. "To have a tough couple years like we've had in the Cup Series, and things not go like we want to, as far as running up front, and winning races and leading laps and things like that. ... You sit at home a lot, wondering if you're ever going to make it back to Victory Lane. Are you ever going to have that situation again? Are you ever going to be in that position again? This, to me--I know it's recent, and it's (now)--but this is the biggest win in my career. There's a lot of naysayers out there, and there's a lot of people that write me off, not giving me a chance to make a comeback and be a strong presence again in this sport. To be able to come here and sit on the pole and win the race and race against people like Kasey Kahne and Denny Hamlin, who I think are two of the best race car drivers we have in our sport, means a great deal to me." Sadler announced July 9 he will leave the No. 19 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford in Cup at the end of the season. It took two green-white-checkered restarts to settle the outcome. There were six lead changes among four drivers and six cautions for 18 laps. Estimated crowd was 40,000. Todd Bodine, who finished 12th, leads the points by 149 over  Almirola and 193 over Johnny Sauter, who was 14th. Sadler won his first Truck pole with a lap of 162.602 mph. His best previous start was second in February at Daytona. Kahne qualified second at 161.917 mph, his best career start in the series. His previous best was fourth in his 2004 debut at Darlington. Two drivers, Michelle Theriault and Jerick Johnson, failed to qualify.    * * *        IZOD IndyCar Series News & Notes--Will Power left Infineon Raceway in 2009 in a medical helicopter--the result of a scary practice crash with Nelson Philippe that left the Australian with a broken back. When he returns to northern California for the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma later this month, he'll return a champion. Power wrapped up the inaugural Mario Andretti Road Course Trophy with his second-place finish at Mid-Ohio Aug. 8. He'll receive the trophy from its namesake on Aug. 22. Power leads the overall championship by 41 points. ..... Vision Racing driver Ed Carpenter, who paired with Fuzzy's Ultra Premium Vodka and Panther Racing for the Indianapolis 500 in May, will collaborate with them again for the three domestic oval races remaining on the schedule. He'll drive the No. 20 Fuzzy's Ultra Premium Vodka entry at Chicagoland Aug. 28, Kentucky Sept. 4 and Homestead-Miami Oct. 2. Indiana native and professional golfer Fuzzy Zoeller is behind the vodka. Carpenter started an Indianapolis 500-best eighth, ran as high as fourth and finished 17th in the May 30 event, which was his 100th IndyCar race. ..... Finally, IndyCar  drivers were able to assemble en masse following the hour-long autograph session Aug. 6 at Mid-Ohio. Andretti Autosport's Tony Kanaan had been attempting since mid-March to organize a meeting for drivers to share their opinions and "get on the same page" regarding safety, track facilities and promotion. "A lot of us sit and talk, but to get everybody in a room together was the main focus," reigning series champion Dario Franchitti said. "I just think this will improve the lines of communication with all the drivers instead of just a couple talking to Brian (Barnhart). We'll get the opinions of everybody about safety, the things we see at the tracks that others don't. It's been a long time coming." Barnhart, president of competition and racing operations, welcomes the input. Franchitti, Kanaan and Justin Wilson will be the de facto spokesmen. "I think it's a fabulous development," Barnhart said. "I've always tried to have an open relationship and be accessible to any of the drivers for any issues they raise. It is their livelihood and anything that can be done to present it in a more organized fashion I fully support." ..... Martin Plowman started on pole for the first time in 24 Firestone Indy Lights races. He led his first laps in two seasons of competition. And the Englishman won his first race since competing in the Asian-Pacific (karting) Championships in Japan. He drove the No. 27 Automatic Fire Sprinklers/KEP Printing entry for AFS Racing/Andretti Autosport to victory in the Mid-Ohio 100 Aug. 8 becoming the fifth different winner in nine races this season. Dan Clarke finished 0.8443 of a second behind in the No. 40 Wasteco Deans Knight Special for Walker Racing, tying his season high. Charlie Kimball finished third for his seventh top five. Plowman led every lap of the caution-free race and set a track record while earning his first Sunoco Pole Award. ..... Honda Performance Development is the first engine manufacturer to commit to the next generation of IndyCar. HPD president Erik Berkman announced the racing arm of American Honda Motor Company is extending participation beyond expiration of its current supply agreement at the conclusion of the 2011 season. HPD will continue to provide the Honda Indy V-8 engine to all competitors during the 2011 season, after which a 2.4-liter, twin-turbocharged V-6 power plant, designed by HPD, will debut when new engine specifications take effect in the series in 2012. The cost of a season-long lease for the 2012 Honda IndyCar engine will be reduced by up to 40 percent from current pricing. This follows a number of other significant cost reductions, which Honda has implemented since taking on the challenge of supplying the entire field of entrants in 2006. HPD has provided engines to the series since 2003. "Through both robust and trying times, our commitment to open-wheel racing in America has never wavered," Berkman said. "With today's announcement, we are pleased to reaffirm that commitment, and extend it deep into the current decade. We've had meetings with the (Indy Racing League) and meetings directly with individual competitors to agree on how we can limit our escaltion of costs and yet have fair and reasonable competition. With a passionate and energetic new title sponsor in IZOD, dynamic new management at its helm and plans to significantly reshape its on-track product in the near future, the IZOD IndyCar Series is poised for significant growth. We are delighted to take a role in that promising future." On June 2, IndyCar officials announced its 2012 engine platform will allow manufacturers to produce engines with a maximum of six cylinders as well as maximum displacement of 2.4 cubic liters. The ethanol-fueled engines will produce between 550 and 700 horsepower to suit the diverse set of tracks on which the series competes and will be turbocharged to allow for flexibility in power. Other manufacturers are welcome to join Honda in supplying engines, and IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard and team co-owner and former sporting director of Honda's Formula One program Gil de Ferran will travel to Europe in September to speak with potential manufacturers. Founded in 1993 and located in Santa Clarita, Calif., HPD is the technical operations center for American Honda high-performance racing cars and engines. ..... IndyCar officials fined driver Helio Castroneves $60,000 and placed him on probation for the remainder of the season for his actions during and following the July 25 race at Edmonton City Centre Airport. Castroneves was penalized for refusing to follow the direction of officials as well as portraying unsportsmanlike conduct when he engaged in physical contact with two officials on pit lane after the  race. Series officials met with Castroneves at the Indianapolis headquarters Aug. 1. "This rule is unique to IndyCar racing," said race chief steward Brian Barnhart, who is president of competition and racing operations for the sanctioning body. "It was put in place to protect our competitors, officials and fans, prevent unnecessary damage to these cars and allow for more passing opportunities. Bad things happen when these cars touch and there have been serious incidents with major consequences on temporary circuits throughout Indy car history. With the new wheel interlocking prevention technology that is coming in our 2012 car, we will be re-evaluating this rule in the future." Castroneves was leading the Edmonton race when he was issued a black flag for blocking Team Penske teammate Will Power on lap 93 following a restart. But the driver of the No. 3 car failed to take the drive-through pit lane penalty. Following the race, Castroneves was penalized 20 seconds and placed at the end of the lead lap (10th). After exiting his car, Castroneves engaged in altercations with two officials on pit lane. "I fully support the decisions of chief steward Brian Barnhart and Race Control," IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard said. "The drivers have been aware of the blocking rule for quite some time. Brian reminded the drivers of the blocking rule in the Edmonton pre-race drivers meeting, which serves as the first warning, and the rule was executed during the race just as it dictates. This sport is so close and competitive that emotions are always on display. However, that does not justify the post-race conduct of Helio toward series officials. This is a very serious matter and we weighed all options, including suspension. But we felt suspension would hurt the fans more than anyone else. Fans have paid their hard-earned money to watch the best drivers in the world and many bought their tickets for upcoming events with the expectation of watching Helio. He is a great ambassador for this sport and we know his actions after the race in Edmonton are not indicative of his normal behavior." Unlike other team sports, the penalty solely impacts the driver. He was to compete at Mid-Ohio. "I want to thank Randy Bernard for taking the time to meet with me in Indianapolis," Castroneves said in a statement issued by Team Penske. "Once again, I regret what occurred following the IZOD IndyCar Series race in Edmonton and I apologize for my behavior as I let my emotions get the better of me. Although my disappointment with being black-flagged while leading the race with just a few laps to go will probably always remain with me, I understand and accept the league's decision to penalize me for my reaction. I am ready to move forward and I'm hoping to add to Team Penske's success at Mid-Ohio." Castroneves lost the 2008 Detroit Grand Prix under similar circumstances. The Edmonton victory was awarded to Scott Dixon. ..... Davey Hamilton will return to the cockpit of the No. 21 HP de Ferran Dragon car at Chicagoland. He was scheduled to run three races, including Texas, but that plan was altered following Indianapolis. "It was always in the cards that Davey would drive again for us this season," de Ferran said. "Obviously, he was scheduled to run in Texas, but the accidents in Indy ruined that plan, now we will have him in Chicago. He really helped us a lot in Indy and I am sure the same will be true in Chicago. I wish we could run two cars full-time as this is very important to a team's competitiveness with the current testing restrictions." ..... KV Racing Technology co-owner Jimmy Vasser and driver Takuma Sato-–along with the No. 5 Lotus KV Racing Technology show car--will be at the McCall Motorworks Revival at the Monterey Jet Center on Aug. 11. They'll also be on hand during the week at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance as Lotus unveils several cars for the consumer. ..... While visiting Indianapolis for the premiere of his new movie, "Flipped," Oscar nominee Rob Reiner made his way to Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where IndyCar driver Sarah Fisher took him for a cruise around the oval at a top speed of 120 to 130 mph, said the Indianapolis Star. "We had the best time," he said, adding the ride gave him a "tiny" sense of what it might be like to hit 220 mph in a race car. "Flipped" cast members also attended the premiere, including John Mahoney (who played Martin Crane on "Frasier"), Anthony Edwards (who played Dr. Mark Greene on "ER"), Penelope Ann Miller and child star Madeline Carroll. Mahoney, who lives in Chicago, said he drove into town because he was tired of airports. ..... Conquest Racing signed Italian driver Francesco Dracone for the next two rounds of the series--Mid-Ohio and Infineon. Dracone, who spent three seasons in the Italian F3 championship, has been competing in the European Formula 3000 Series. ..... Danica Patrick will have another debut soon--as a voice on "The Simpsons." FOX announced Patrick will appear in the upcoming 22nd season of the animated comedy. Other celebrities lined up for the season include Martha Stewart, Hugh Laurie, Jon Hamm, Paul Rudd, Rachel Weisz, Cheech & Chong and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. ..... Pro Football Hall of Famer Lynn Swann was the grand marshal at Mid-Ohio. Swann, who won four Super Bowl rings with the Pittsburgh Steelers, is chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. Since 1980, he's been the national spokesman for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. ..... Drivers Simona de Silvestro and Ed Carpenter were to be guests of Kentucky Speedway and FOX Sports Ohio during the Cincinnati Reds-St. Louis Cardinals game Aug. 9 at Great American Ballpark. There's some media obligations worked in to promote the IndyCar race at Kentucky on Sept. 4. ..... Alex Lloyd, driver of the  No. 19 Boy Scouts of America car for Dale Coyne Racing, and team owner Dale Coyne were among the throng July 31 to kick off the Shining Lights Across America program during the National Scout Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia. Chief Scout Executive Bob Mazzuca recapped some of the special community programs the Boys Scouts  have undertaken during their 100th anniversary year, and told of the tremendous exposure Scouting had received from--among other things--the association with the car, Lloyd and Coyne. "Scouting is vital, as relative and important as our journey was when it began 100 years ago," he said. About 80,000 Boy Scouts from 50 states and 26 countries yelled their approval. Cameras switched to several live remote locations around the country, including New York, where crowds of Scouts jammed Times Square. The Jamboree, which began July 26, continued through Aug. 4. Lloyd was a Scout while growing up in England. ..... Teaming with VPX/Redline vice president TJ Humphreys, Dallas businessman James Sullivan and newly-formed SH Racing have everything but a driver in place to run at next year's Indy 500, with an eye on developing a full-season program by 2012, said the Associated Press.  Sullivan has teamed with former NASCAR owner Michael Holigan in motocross and action sports teams, helped produce a reality TV show ("The Reality of Speed," which aired one season on Spike and two on SPEED) and even served a stint as the Baylor Bear mascot from 2001-02. "At this point, the check is in the bank," Sullivan said. "We're not waiting on anything other than the very best driver at the best price we can get." The car will be operated in conjunction with an established, but yet-to-be-named IndyCar team and SH Racing is in talks with at least three drivers, including open-wheel vet Paul Tracy. The deal will be similar to the partnership between Kingdom Racing and de Ferran Dragon Racing for part-time driver Davey Hamilton and the collaboration between Andretti Autosport and Richard Petty to get John Andretti into a ride for this year's Indy 500. SH Racing will announce the partnership with the current IndyCar team when it unveils its Team Redline Xtreme car at the National Association of Convenience Stores Show Oct. 5-8 in Atlanta. The team will then focus on finding a driver, hopefully getting one in place before Christmas. "We wanted a program that's not driver contingent," Sullivan said. "We have everything in place, so now we can go hire a driver on merit, not on what foreign oil check does he have in his pocket." ..... Appropriately, Tony Kanaan's number for the 19th Huntington's Disease Triathlon on Aug. 1 was 711. Kanaan, the 2004 IndyCar champion who drives the No. 11 Team 7-11 car for Andretti Autosport, and A.J. Foyt Racing driver Vitor Meira were among 560 competitors in the event in Miami. All proceeds go to support research to combat and potentially cure the inherited degenerative brain disorder. Meira finished second in his age group (30-34) in the Olympic race that included a 1,500-meter swim, 40K bike and 10K run. Kanaan finished fourth in his age group (35-39) in the sprint triathlon that included a 400-yard swim, 12.4-mile bike and 3.1-mile run. "I don't think I can call myself a triathlete, but I'm in love with the sport," Kanaan said. "It's harder than racing my own car. Here it's just you, you can't blame anyone else for how you do." Kanaan will compete in the Miami 70.3 on Oct. 30, while Meira will compete in the Ironman 70.3 World Championship on Nov. 13 in Clearwater, Fla. ..... Bobby Rahal, president of the Road Racing Drivers Club, announced the election of 31 members for 2010, including eight with IndyCar ties. "For 58 years, membership in the RRDC has been a badge of honor for outstanding racers and a select few others with legacy-level relationships to the sport," he said. "Membership, however, also infers the responsibilities of racing leadership, representing the best qualities of sportsmanship, taking an active interest in safety and helping new drivers launch successful and enduring racing careers." Invitees included Ryan Briscoe, Gil de Ferran, Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Graham Rahal, Jimmy Vasser, Dan Wheldon and Justin Wilson. ..... Work was to begin Aug. 2 on more than $5.5 million of road improvements to prepare for the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix in 2011. Officials estimate work will be completed by mid-November. ..... Chip Ganassi will be honorary chairman of the 22nd Motorsports Hall of Fame of America induction ceremony on Aug. 25 in Detroit. Ganassi is the first team owner to capture in a single season the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400. Inductees include NHRA mechanical genius Dale Armstrong; race and stunt driver Joie Chitwood; NASCAR champion Alan Kulwicki; AMA Supercross champion Jeremy McGrath; the dean of racing broadcasters Ken Squier; Trans-Am champion Jerry Titus; and USAC sprint and midget champion Rich Vogler. ..... Bob Hills is director and chaplain of IRL Ministry, a 501c3 not-for-profit, non-denominational organization that--along with the Indy Family Foundation and CARA Charities--assists the racing community and extends helping hands into the local communities. ..... The IndyCar Safety Cell will be the base of the 2012 series car. Its clothing--in the form of aero kits--will be designed, manufactured and marketed to potential teams to purchase. It's an open process; anyone is welcome to promote an aero kit--pending approval from the sanctioning body, of course. You can design one. Go to indycar.com for details. ..... National Tire and Battery (NTB) was Graham Rahal's sponsor for the Aug. 6-8 IndyCar race at the Mid-Ohio. The NTB sponsorship is in conjunction with Rahal Letterman Racing, with whom Graham competed in this year's Indianapolis 500, and Newman/Haas Racing. Mid-Ohio is the second of six races that Rahal will run with NHR this year, with the other five carrying sponsorship from Quick Trim. Rahal was fifth at Toronto in his return to  Newman/Haas. ..... Seventeen driver/car combinations were at Mid-Ohio July 29 to prepare for the Aug. 6-8 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio presented by Westfield Insurance. All four Andretti Autosport drivers (Marco Andretti, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Tony Kanaan and Danica Patrick) were joined by reigning series champion Dario Franchitti of Target Chip Ganassi Racing; KV Racing's Mario Moraes, Takuma Sato and E.J. Viso; Simona de Silvestro of Team Stargate Worlds/HVM Racing; Dan Wheldon of Panther Racing; Raphael Matos of de Ferran Dragon Racing; Bertrand Baguette of Conquest Racing; Milka Duno of Dale Coyne Racing; and Justin Wilson and J.R. Hildebrand from Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Additionally, Francesco Dracone was in the No. 34 Conquest Racing car for his rookie test under the watchful eyes of IndyCar driver coach Al Unser Jr. and series technical director Kevin Blanch. Alex Lloyd, driver of the No. 19 Boys Scouts of America car for Dale Coyne Racing, took a few early laps to set up the car for Duno in the afternoon. "The engineers had a pretty full list of items to test, and we have to take the time and use the opportunity to evaluate those items so we have a stronger baseline entering the race weekend," said Matos, who also tested at Mid-Ohio on June 30. "We don't get the opportunity to test that often, so being in the car as much as possible is important." In addition, Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon participated in a carbon fiber brake test at the request of the sanctioning body for potential use in the 2012 IndyCar Safety Cell.   * * *        Formula One News & Notes--F1's governing body is pushing ahead with the selection process to fill the final spot on the 2011 grid, said autosport.com. Amid reports the FIA might prefer to keep the space open for now, F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone made it clear he would even be happy if one or two of this season's new teams do not survive beyond 2010. And Ross Brawn, Mercedes team boss and also head of the FOTA group's technical arm, warned time is now tight for 2011, even though Lotus--the best new team this year--prepared its campaign in mere months. "But it's very difficult," Brawn insisted. "So it looks pretty marginal to me to get a team together in time for next year. I think we've also got a pretty healthy grid now. Twenty-four cars is a pretty good size, and I don't think it's a disaster if a 13th team didn't come in. What we need to do is keep the teams we've got," he added. The competitive GP2 team ART has pulled out of the running for the 13th place for financial reasons, as has the American group Cypher. But it is believed the Villeneuve/Durango collaboration, as well as Epsilon Euskadi and perhaps also Stefan GP, are still hoping to debut next year. It has therefore emerged the Paris-based FIA has invited the remaining contenders to a meeting in the French capital on Aug. 13. Germany's Auto Motor und Sport believes the governing body has already turned down some applicants. ..... The Cypher Group has dropped its bid for the 13th entry in the 2011 F1 world championship, reported Adam Cooper on www.speedtv.com. Little hard information had come from the North Carolina-based outfit other than confirmation of a link with driver Jonathan Summerton. A statement from Cypher: "We remain completely committed to developing a credible and viable Formula One team and were able to raise a considerable amount of sponsorship and interest in recent months. However, after much deliberation, we have decided the budget we have is not sufficient to allow us to pursue the project in a manner befitting the series. It was not an easy decision, but one made out of respect for the FIA Formula One World Championship and our loyal supporters. The Cypher Group is reviewing projects and opportunities that will allow it to achieve the ultimate goal of entering Formula One in the near future. We would like to thank our fans for all their support and understanding." ..... Ferrari will face motor sports' world governing body in a disciplinary hearing in September after it was found guilty of breaking team order rules at last month's German Grand Prix. FIA said Aug. 2 the World Motor Sport Council hearing will be chaired by Nick Craw (of the U.S.), its deputy president for sport, in Paris on Sept. 8. Ferrari already has been fined $100,000 after Brazilian driver Felipe Massa appeared to let teammate and two-time world champion Fernando Alonso of Spain pass him to win the race on July 25. The WMSC has the power to exclude Ferrari from the championship, although that is highly unlikely. Massa led 49 of 67 laps before he was passed by Alonso following Ferrari radio messages. ..... In a rare rebuke by the McLaren group chairman, Ron Dennis has criticized the team's drivers, said SPEED Staff/GMM Newswire. In comments carried by British newspapers, the company's shareholder and former long-time F1 principal publicly scolded Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button for criticizing the qualifying pace of the MP4-25. Hamilton on July 30 said his 2010 car was "massively down" on pace at the Hungaroring. But he and Button have each won two Grands Prix so far in 2010, and are fighting for the drivers championship. McLaren also is among the leaders in the constructors standings, but the perception is Red Bull and Ferrari have the fastest cars. "We do have a very good race car," insisted Dennis. "So I find it infuriating when my guys say, 'I wish I was on the front row,' and build in the perception we're giving them cars less capable of winning races." Dennis' successor, Martin Whitmarsh, moved to play down Dennis' comments, amid rumors the 63-year-old might be keen to return to the F1 team. "Ron's not actually involved in running the race team, but he is, of course, chairman of the group and a shareholder in it," Whitmarsh said. Former long-time McLaren driver David Coulthard wrote in a Telegraph column it is "the first time" he can remember Dennis publicly criticizing the team's current drivers. ..... Adrian Newey was hospitalized after a racing crash in England last weekend. Red Bull's technical boss, whose RB6 car has won six Grands Prix so far in 2010, was contesting the Ginetta support-race during the British touring car round at Snetterton. Competing in a guest car, the 51-year-old was tipped into a spin before being struck side-on by another competitor. Briton Newey was removed from the car on a stretcher and taken to hospital for precautionary checks. Reports said he was talking in the ambulance on the way to hospital but in some pain, and the Ginetta series boss Lawrence Tomlinson confirmed he had escaped serious injury. ..... Former German Grand Prix driver and now Volkswagen's competition representative Hans-Joachim Stuck has had surgery after a head injury. German-language reports including in the Welt, Kleine Zeitung and Express newspapers say the operation on Aug. 7 was for a hematoma that developed after a heavy crash in an Audi R8 at the Nurburgring several weeks ago. At another event last weekend, the VW Scirocco Cup support race at the Nurburgring, he complained of headaches, dizziness, loss of balance and nausea. The reports say Stuck, who contested 81 races in the 1970s, has been transferred from intensive care to a normal hospital ward in the German town Neuwied. VW spokesman Stefan Moser confirmed Stuck's surgery. * * *        Drag Racing News & Notes--The 29th annual NHRA Nationals at Brainerd (Minn.) International Raceway will be this weekend, the final event of the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series "regular" season. The Countdown to 1 playoffs kick off for the top 10 in points in the final six races of the year, beginning with the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis on Labor Day weekend. Among news, Freightliner Trucks will be featured on the Dodge Charger Funny Car that Jack Beckman will race. Freightliner, a division of Daimler Trucks North America LLC, has been a Don Schumacher Racing associate sponsor for six years and DSR has used Freightliner tractors since 2004. The team currently counts eight Freightliner tractors among its fleet. Beckman primarily races the Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger in the series. ..... The first time Melanie Troxel got a taste of drag racing outside North America was at last year's FIA Nitrolympx at the Hockenheimring, albeit as a spectator in the grandstands. "I was still impressed with the level of competition over there," Troxel said. "There was a huge diversity of classes and cars. Plus, Hockenheim is a beautiful facility." This weekend Troxel is returning to the Nitrolympx as a competitor in the Pro Mod class, her second foray into European drag racing this year. "I'm looking forward to going back," Troxel said. "Now having raced in Santa Pod, I've gotten a taste for racing over there. We're looking forward to going back and running some of the kind of numbers we did in our exhibition run in England." While at Santa Pod, much of the team's energy was expended waiting for the car to clear customs, then getting it prepped and tuned to run. Despite all the uncertainty, Troxel ran an exhibition pass of 5.937 seconds at 242.42 mph, the quickest and fastest Pro Mod run in Europe to that point. The same Camaro Troxel will be driving once again this weekend was then raced to a better ET and speed by Micke Gullqvist earlier this summer in Finland. Gullqvist made the current marks to beat a 5.911 at 245.78 mph. Qualifying for the FIA Nitrolympx will be on Aug 13-14 with eliminations on Aug. 15. ..... Norm Froscher, a well-respected journalist for the Gainesville (Fla.) Sun who became a renowned national voice in drag racing, died July 29 at age 79 from complications following a heart valve replacement procedure, said his son, Teague Froscher. Born in Miami, Froscher had ambitions of becoming a horse jockey before growing too tall. Instead, Froscher turned to a journalism career, where his coverage of Gatornationals for the Sun and other media outlets brought him in contact with the top drag racers in the country. After joining the Sun in 1971, Froscher covered the NHRA event at Gainesville Raceway every year until 2009. In 2003, Froscher received a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Driver of the Year Foundation, joining Chris Economaki as the only two racing journalists to be so honored. Froscher also was a past president of the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association (AARWBA) and the Florida Sports Writers Association. Though Froscher made his mark writing about drag racing, he was passionate about covering all motor sports. Survivors include his wife of 42 years, Marilyn; a son, Teague; two sons, Norman Jr. and Morris, from a previous marriage; and a grandson. Guest book at forestmeadowsfh.com. ..... Don Schumacher Racing again will open the doors of its 100,000-square-foot race shop in Brownsburg, Ind., to fans on Sept. 3 when DSR hosts its fifth annual open house to benefit Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. The open house coincides with the opening day of professional qualifying for the 56th annual U.S. Nationals at nearby O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis. The popular event will be highlighted by the Indy Hi-Winders Car Club Car and Motorcycle Show and will feature an autograph session with all seven DSR professional drivers: Tony Schumacher, Cory McClenathan, Antron Brown, Rod Capps, Jack Beckman, Matt Hagan and Rod Fuller. The DSR Open House will take place 10 a.m.-3 p.m. while professional nitro qualifying is scheduled for 7 p.m. at ORP. Fans also will have the opportunity to win racing collectibles as part of a raffle drawing. There also will be a silent auction. DSR has raised more than $90,000 over the last five years with its open house and Bowling for Riley charity tournament. The second annual charity bowling event generated more than $12,000 for Riley this May. All proceeds from the DSR Open House go to Riley. More at www.shoeracing.com or call  (317) 858-0356. ...........   * * *        Quick Pit Stops--Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas scored a dominating victory in the Crown Royal 200 at Watkins Glen International Aug. 7, tying the single-season Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series win record with their seventh triumph of 2010. Pruett beat Max Angelelli to the checkered flag by 2.722 seconds, averaging a Daytona Prototype record 120.679 mph in the two-hour race slowed only by a pair of late-race cautions. Pruett managed to hold the lead on both restarts, leading the final 60 of the 99 circuits on the 2.45-mile Watkins Glen short course. The victory extended Pruett and Rojas' lead to 26 points over Ryan Dalziel with only two races remaining in the Daytona Prototype championship (302-276). Dalziel finished fourth in the No. 8 Corsa Car Care BMW/Riley started by Mike Forest. Angelelli shared the No. 10 SunTrust Ford/Dallara with Ricky Taylor. Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty finished third in the No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Chevrolet/Riley. The pair won seven races en route to capturing the 2007 DP title. Leh Keen passed Jonathan Bomarito for the GT lead following the final restart, and went on to score the first Rolex victory for Dempsey Racing in the No. 41 Dempsey Racing/Team Seattle Mazda RX-8 started by James Gue. Bomarito finished second in the No. 70 Castrol Syntec Mazda RX-8 started from the pole by Sylvain Tremblay. Two races remain--the Montreal 200 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Aug. 28; and the season-ending Utah 250 at Miller Motorsports Park near Salt Lake City on Sept. 11. ..... Shane Stewart of Bixby, Okla., reigning  American Sprint Car Series national champ, took the top spot over the 102-car field at the 20th annual ASCS Knoxville (Iowa) Nationals. Stewart assumed the point 10 laps into the 25-lap main event at the half-mile Knoxville Raceway clay oval Aug. 7 and then survived a late restart for his second career ASCS Knoxville Nationals triumph worth $10,000. Stewart beat Sammy Swindell to the stripe by 0.471 seconds for his 22nd career ASCS triumph and fourth of the year. Jason Johnson was third. ..... 55 laps at I-55 Raceway and the second annual Ironman 55 came down to the final one and just a couple of feet Jason Meyers won a World of Outlaws sprint car thriller over Lucas Wolfe Aug. 7. Wolfe used a slide job coming off turn four to take the lead on the final lap, with Meyers winning a drag race down the front straightaway by a 0.092 seconds, the closest finish of the season. The $20,000 win was Meyers eighth victory of the season and his second career triumph at I-55 Raceway, Pevely, Mos., the one-third-mile co-owned by Ken Schrader and Ray Marlar. The win helped Meyers close to within 46 markers of point leader Joey Saldana, who finished fifth. Steve Kinser, who finished sixth, is second in the standings, nine points behind Saldana. ..... Dyson Racing won a classic race Aug. 7 in the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón as Chris Dyson held off Patrón Highcroft Racing's Simon Pagenaud by 0.506 seconds in the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge. Dyson and Guy Smith each won overall in the series for the first time as did their Castrol-liveried, Mazda-powered Lola B09/86 coupe. Pagenaud and David Brabham were second in a HPD ARX-01c. Scott Tucker and  Christophe Bouchut were third overall and won LMPC in an Oreca FLM09. Gianmaria Bruni and Jaime Melo took GT in a Ferrari 430 GT over the Corvette of Olivier Beretta and Oliver Gavin. ..... Lola Cars International announced a technical partnership with Roush Yates Engines to offer a variety of their engines in Lola LMP designs for the 2011 season onwards. Initially majoring on the 2011 LMP2 design, Lola is offering the Roush prepared-Ford V-6 Eco-Boost TurboV6 unit as a standard installation. A low cost, high mileage solution, this unit is built with production-based parts at Roush Yates Engines facility in Mooresville, N.C. Roush Yates is also evaluating the Mustang V-8 unit for possible future installations. Both Lola and Roush will also investigate possibilities for LMP1 Prototypes, possibly for the 2011 season. Lola and Roush enjoyed a fruitful partnership from 1999-2001 with the Kremer Racing team. Two victories at Spa and Kyalami in 2000 cemented a close engineering bond between the companies, which will continue for customers choosing the Lola-Roush Yates combination. ..... Joey Coulter won the Berlin ARCA 200 at Berlin Raceway near Grand Rapids, Mich., Aug. 7, his first victory in 33 career ARCA starts. Craig Goess, who finished ninth, achieving a top-10 finish for the sixth consecutive race and ninth time this season, assumed the points lead for the first time in his 33-race career. The 29-year-old driver from Greenville, N.C., leads by 10 over nine-time series champion Frank Kimmel (fifth), 2,830-2,820. Justin Marks, who had the point lead before suffering transmission issues and finishing 21st, is third, 30 behind Goess. Five drivers are within 60 points of the lead, six are within 85 and seven are within 105. Remaining August races: New Jersey Motorsports Park (road course) Aug. 15, Illinois State Fairgrounds (dirt track) Aug. 22 and Chicagoland Aug. 27. Patrick Sheltra was second, Steve Arpin third at Berlin. Coulter became the 11th different race winner and the 10th driver to win his first career race in 2010. In 12 races, only Arpin has multiple wins (Salem, Texas). ..... 29th annual AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship presented by AMSOIL came to a close Aug. 7 at Loretta Lynn Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tenn. After a solid week of racing, 35 class champions were crowned. They emerged victorious from 1,406 finalists, who in turn had emerged from an initial qualifying field of more than 20,000 amateur motocross athletes. The complicated ranch track is off-limits for motocross riders the other 51 weeks of the year. ..... BMW Motorsport confirmed it will participate in the inaugural Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, the end-of-season three-race international championship featuring rounds from the European-based Le Mans Series, American Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series. Schnitzer Motorsport will enter a single M3 GT2 at the Silverstone 1000km Sept. 10-12, as well as the season-ending round in Zhuhai, China, Nov. 5-7 for drivers Jorg Muller and Dirk Werner. BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team's full-season two-car ALMS program with drivers Dirk Muller, Joey Hand, Tommy Milner and Bill Auberlen will represent the brand at the 1,000-mile/10-hour Petit Le Mans Oct. 2. Werner and Andy Priaulx will complete the team's lineup in the two cars. BMW is the first GT manufacturer to officially commit to the ILMC. In March, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest, organizers of the Cup, expanded the championship from LMP1-only to also include entries from LMP2, GT1 and GT2. Manufacturers' cups will be awarded only in P1 and GT2. The entry in LMP1 is expected to make up the majority of the numbers. Audi Sport Team Joest and Team Peugeot Total announced they will each enter a pair of diesel-powered prototypes, while ALMS regular Drayson Racing will also be present with its Lola B09/60 Judd. ..... Robb Brent, 23-year-old from Shelby Township, Mich., added his name to the list of first-time winners in this season's ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards, driving away from the field July 31 to win the Weis Markets 125 at Pocono by 2.844 seconds over Dakoda Armstrong. Brent seized the lead on lap 36 and led the final 15 laps to beat Armstrong, the winner at Talladega this spring, and Craig Goess, winner at Pocono in June. Brent became the 10th different winner in 11 series races this season, and the ninth driver to win his first race this season. His previous best finish was second on the road course at Palm Beach International Raceway in February. Justin Marks stayed atop the points with a fifth-place finish. ..... Steve Kinser, 20-time World of Outlaws sprint car champ who is estimated to have won more than 50 times when the series visits a new track for the first time, did it again July 27  in the first-ever race at Autodrome Drummond in Drummondville, Quebec, winning before a standing-room-only crowd. It was his sixth A-Feature win of the season in the Bass Pro Shops Maxim and 558th of his WoO career. Paul McMahan was second, Joey Saldana third. At Ohsweken (Ontario) Speedway, Jason Sides won on July 30 while Donny Schatz won on Aug. 1 (the race was rained out July 31 and run 24 hours later). ..... The BMS Scuderia Italia Porsche team captured a dramatic victory in the Spa 24 Hours GT race after the leading BMW crashed in the final hour Aug. 1. Wolf Henzler, Jorg Bergmeister, Martin Ragginger and Romain Dumas, who added Spa to his Le Mans success with Audi in June, took the win in a GT2-spec Porsche 911 GT3 RSR after chasing the faster BMW M3 for much of race. The BMW of Dirk Werner, Dirk Muller and Dirk Adorf appeared to have the race won with less than an hour to go. But Werner went off the road after "something in the steering broke" and hit the barriers. He was forced to pit for repairs, allowing the Porsche to make up a deficit of more than a lap. Another Porsche finished second, the IMSA Performance Matmut machine of Patrick Long, Patrick Pilet, Richard Lietz and Raymond Narac. Werner returned to the track two laps behind the winner to take third. This year's race marked an increase in U.S. participation. In addition to Long's runner-up finish and United Autosports' GT3 podium in their Spa 24 debut, NASCAR's Michael Waltrip and MWR co-owner Rob Kauffmann celebrated a respectable fifth place overall, third in the GT2 class in a AF Corse Ferrari. The United Autosports Audi was shared by Zak Brown, Richard Dean, Eddie Cheever and Mark Blundell. The race saw a high rate of attrition; only 24 of 40 starters finished. ..... Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha Sterilgarda) was the star of the Silverstone World Superbike show Aug. 1 as he added two race wins to his Superpole triumph on July 31. Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia) lost ground in the points with his fifth and sixth places as Leon Haslam scored a second and fourth on his Suzuki Alstare machine. Biaggi now has 373 points, Haslam 313, with three rounds and six races left to run. The 65,000 weekend crowd saw Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) take two second places, consolidating his third place overall in the points with 243. Leon Camier, Biaggi's teammate, was third in race two, his first podium since Miller Motorsport Park in May. The all-British podium in race one was the first since Assen this year, and five British riders filled the top five places in race two, the first time this has happened for UK riders in WSBK history. ..... Finn Jari-Matti Latvala scored a home victory in the Neste Oil Rally Finland July 31, becoming the youngest driver to win the event since it joined the World Rally Championship in 1973. Latvala, 25, took the lead on SS7 in his BP Ford Abu Dhabi team Focus RS WRC and held it the rest of the way, fending off a full-on attack from Citroen Total team driver Sebastien Ogier. Ogier finished second in his C4 World Rally Car, 10.1 seconds adrift of Latvala, while his Citroen teammate Sebastien Loeb was third, 15.9 seconds further back. Loeb, of France, still is on course to win a seventh consecutive title. His lead over Ogier, also of France, is 48 points with five events left. The win was the fourth at WRC level for Latvala. He scored his first on the 2008 Rally Sweden, where he became the youngest winner of a WRC rally. More at wrc.com. ..... SPEED and ARCA officials announced an extension of the current broadcast rights agreement that calls for a minimum of 10 ARCA races to be televised on SPEED live and/or same-day delayed in 2011. SPEED will drop the green flag on its 15th season of ARCA coverage at Daytona with the 48th running of the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 in February. ARCA's relationship with SPEED reaches back to April 20, 1997, when the network (then Speedvision) covered the race at Salem (Ind.) Speedway. Since then, SPEED has aired 176 ARCA races, including Pocono July 31. More at SPEED.com or ARCARacing.com. ..... The Rizla Suzuki MotoGP team has invited AMA Pro Racing SuperSport race winner Elena Myers to ride a factory GSV-R race bike in Valencia, Spain, following the final MotoGP event of the 2010 season Nov. 7. The offer was made after 16-year-old Myers was invited to tour the Rizla Suzuki pit garage during the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. "It blows my mind that people like that are kind of looking at me and the AMA stuff," said Myers, who rides for the Lucas Oil Roadracingworld.com RMR Suzuki team. "To get this opportunity is a once in a lifetime kind of thing." ..... Jorge Lorenzo won the U.S. Grand Prix MotoGP July 25 after Dani Pedrosa (Honda) crashed out of the lead at one-third distance at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The Yamaha rider's sixth win of the season helped him increase his world championship lead to 72 points over fellow Spaniard Pedrosa. Casey Stoner (Ducati) was second and Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) third. U.S. riders Nicky Hayden (Ducati), Ben Spies (Tech 3 Yamaha) and Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha) were fifth through seventh, respectively. Roger Lee Hayden's 11th place for LCR Honda meant brothers scored points in the same premier class grand prix for the first time since Carlos and David Checa at the 2005 Dutch TT. Rossi got on the podium in his second race back after injury. The seven-time world champion passed Andrea Dovizioso's Honda at the final corner with seven laps left and, after running side-by-side with his rival along the start/finish straight, swept around him before the Andretti Hairpin. ..... Sir Stirling Moss, OBE, is traveling to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion to race in his recently acquired 1961 Porsche RS 61 Sports Racing Spyder for the first time--a sister car to the one he raced in the Targa Florio. Moss is returning to racing after his serious fall down an elevator shaft in March. His return will be in race group 1A against an impressive list of Porsches, Listers, Lotuses and Maseratis Aug. 13-15. More at www.MazdaRaceway.com.   * * *        Sue McKarns Dies; Helped Late Husband Build ARTGO, Other Racing Businesses--Susan McKarns, mother of Rockford Speedway general manager Gregg McKarns, died in her sleep Aug. 8. Her husband, John R. McKarns, 65, long-time short-track auto racing promoter in the Midwest and business partner of Rockford Speedway owner and president Jody Deery, died Feb. 9 from complications of bladder cancer, which he had battled for some time. John and Sue retired to Tavares, Fla., in 2001, but returned to the Midwest for races, especially Oktoberfest at LaCrosse (Wis.) Fairgrounds Speedway. McKarns and Mrs. Deery were holders of the lease for the popular Wisconsin track. But John and Sue were known for their work in building up the old ARTGO Challenge Series. They bought it from founder Art Frigo in 1979 and leased the name to NASCAR in 1998. NASCAR shut it down in 2005. John and Sue also were business partners in various auto racing promotions: ARTGO Racing Promotions, Inc., Short Track Auto Racing Services, Inc. (STARS), Midwest MotorSports Company and MotorSports Management Services. The former Susan Banks and John McKarns were married on July 27, 1968. They had two sons: Geoffrey (Jaclyn) of Mundelein, and Gregg (Angela) of Rockford; and three grandchildren. Funeral arrangements are pending for Sue.       * * *        Rockford Speedway News & Notes--Veteran Tom Gille of Winnebago captured the Rockford Stanley Steemer NASCAR Late Model 20-car, 30-lap feature on Aug. 7--Figure 8 Tralier Race night. Attendance was estimated at 7,000 plus, with the stands and parking lots filled. Rest of top five: Ryan Carlson, Loves Park; Tim Sargent, South Beloit; Jon Reynolds Jr., Rockford; and Steve Rubeck, Monroe Center. Vern Fagerberg, Bloomingdale; Carlson and Jerry Gille, Roscoe, won heat races (Jerry and Tom are brothers). Rubeck was fast qualifier and Sargent won the trophy dash. Bargain Hunter Sportsman rookie Austin Nason, Roscoe, won his first feature in that class (12 cars). Other feature winners: Budweiser American Short Trackers, Nick Cina Jr., Belvidere (15 cars); Mtn Dew RoadRunners, Charlie Frisch, Beloit, Wis. (25 cars); and Challenge, Jason Van Hise, Loves Park (15 cars). The winner of the World Famous Figure 8 Trailer Race was decided by fan vote after two competitors were left--Mark Wiese and Mark Maday. Maday won. ..... The 45th annual National Short Track Championships are slated Oct. 1-3,  featuring 12 divisions of racing action. In addition to the region's only four-barrel Super Late Model event and the Big 8 Late Models, Illini Midgets have been added, as well as Figure 8. A complete schedule of events and divisions has been posted on the track Web site. Fans and competitors can have their names added to a mailing list by calling (815) 633-1500. ..... Jerry Gille of Roscoe posted his third Stanley Steemer NASCAR Late Model feature victory of the campaign July 31 and moved a little closer to a third consecutive Rockford season title. Points leader Tim Sargent, South Beloit, was in an early accident and finished eighth in the feature as Gille climbed within 48 points of him. Jon Reynolds Jr. of Rockford, second in the feature, also is second in points, 32  back with six weeks of racing left. "It's time to turn it on again," said Gille. Mikie Breiner, Johnburg; Eddie May, Crystal Lake; and Brandon Eash, Rockford, completed the top five in the 30-lap, 20-car feature. May, Eash and Sargent were heat race winners while Gille was fast qualifier and won the trophy dash. With a heat win, he would have had a clean sweep. Other feature winners: Budweiser American Short Trackers, Kyle Lapier, Belvidere (12 cars); Mtn Dew RoadRunners, Robert Roush, Marengo (24 cars) after Brett McCoy failed post-race inspection; Sam's Drive-In RoadRunner Challenge 2nd Over the Line Wins Race, Ricky Nielsen, Rockford (9 cars); Illini Racing Series Midgets, Tyler Trainor, Streator, over Derrick Gough, Roscoe (17 cars). ..... Wild Wednesday feature winners on July 28: Hornets Swarm, Vinny Mangiaracina, Rockford (12 cars); Yellowbook Hornet Challenge Backwards/Forwards Race, Bobby Yonke, Willowbrook (5 cars); National Figure 8 League, Tom Schneider, Belvidere (6 cars); Winged Women on Wheels, Tracy Wallin, Rockford (5 cars); Allison Legacy, Kyle Voss, Woodstock (5 cars); INEX Bandoleros, Cory Cootware, Iron Mountain, Mich. (3 cars); INEX Legends, Rachel Pinkerman, Barrington Hills (3 cars); Mtn Dew RoadRunners Super Summer Rumble, Bobby Frisch, Beloit, Wis., second straight win and third victory of season (13 cars). ..... Highlights of remaining schedule: Sept. 11, NASCAR Whelen Championship Night; Sept. 18, Night of Thrills; Oct. 1-3, 45th annual National Short Track Championships; Oct. 16-17, 19th annual Bahama Bracket Nationals; Oct. 24, Goblin 250 Enduro and Demo Derby. For additional information including ticket packages, contact speedway box office at (815) 633-1500 or visit www.rockfordspeedway.com.    * * *        Other Midwest News & Notes--Red-hot Bryan Clauson scored his second straight victory while capturing the 33rd annual Belleville Midget Nationals Aug. 7 at the Belleville (Kan.) High Banks. Clauson joins the late Stan Fox (1979-80) and Kasey Kahne (2000-01) as the only drivers to win back-to-back events. Brad Sweet, Jerry Coons Jr., Brad Kuhn and Davey Ray completed the top five in the 40-lap main. Clauson, driving the Corey Tucker-owned Parker Stone-BCI Spike/Ford-Esslinger, finished 1.13 seconds ahead of 2008 Belleville champ Sweet, runner-up for the second straight year. ..... Bryan Clauson capped off a perfect week by winning the Aug. 4 Cornhusker Midget Challenge at Junction Motor Speedway, McCool Junction, Neb. The event was round three of the Speedway Motors Midget Money Week sanctioned by the POWRi, USAC/SMRS and RMMRA Midget Series. Clauson won the previous features on Aug. 2 at Butler Motorplex, Rising City, Neb., and Aug. 1 at U.S. 36 Raceway, Cameron, Mo. His Aug. 4 victory in the 35-lap feature was worth $5,000 to the 21-year-old driver from Noblesville, Ind. Scott Hatton of Roscoe won the semi-feature and ran 16th in the feature. Behind Clauson in the feature: Brad Kuhn, Chad Boat, Don Droud Jr., Davey Ray. ..... NASCAR driver Johnny Sauter, a regular in the Camping World Truck Series (where Joe Shear Jr. is his crew chief), won the 29th annual Dixieland 150, an American Speed Association Kwik Trip Midwest Tour event, at Wisconsin International Raceway, Kaukauna, on Aug. 3. Seven-time Dixieland winner Steve Carlson, West Salem, Wis., was second, with Chris Wimmer, Wausau, Wis.; Nick Murgic, Rosemount, Minn.; and Jacob Goede, Shakopee, Minn., rounding out the top five. Other notable placings: 9. Travis Sauter, Necedah, Wis.; 10. Ross Kenseth, Spring Valley, Ill.; 15. Michael Bilderback, Rockton; 22. Brian Johnson Jr., Machesney Park. NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Scott Wimmer did not start  because of car damage sustained earlier in the night. Johnny Sauter, racing at WIR for just the third time, prevailed in a 15-lap shootout with Carlson and Chris Wimmer at the end. One of his two previous WIR starts was last year's ASAMT race, when he had to quit due to mechanical problems. Sauter, the fast qualifier, said, "I feel like I've raced here a thousand times watching my dad (Jim) race here. The car wasn't perfect, but it was good enough to win." The race will be broadcast Aug. 21 at 11:30 a.m. CT on FOX Sports North and FOX Sports WIsconsin. Next ASAMT event is slated Aug. 14. at Dells Raceway Park, the Wisconsin Dells 100. More at  www.asamidwesttour.com or call (262) 514-3880. ..... For 25 of the 26 laps in the inaugural SCCA Pro Racing Trans-Am Series Harrah's Autobahn Grand Prix presented by Mazda Aug. 1 near Joliet, it appeared championship leader Tony Ave of Maiden, N.C., would easily cruise to his fourth victory of the season after starting from the pole. On the final lap around the 3.56-mile road circuit, however, R.J. Lopez of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, managed to close a gap of more than five seconds to Ave and pulled out all stops in an attempt to steal the victory at the line. Unfortunately for Lopez, he crossed the stripe 0.460 seconds behind Ave and then slid off course and into the barrier in Turn 1 just after taking the checkered flag. Luckily, neither Lopez nor his car were significantly injured in the incident. It was Ave's first victory in the No. 4 Lamers Racing/McMahon Group/Optech/PME Corvette since winning at Lime Rock Park last month (he also won at Miller Motorsports Park and Road America in June). Ave grew his point lead to 98 (891-793) over Lopez with three races remaining. Lopez also drives a Corvette. For her third consecutive  race, Amy Ruman of Kent, Ohio, claimed third place. Simon Gregg of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., was fourth in a  Corvette, and Denny Lamers of Appleton, Wis., was fifth in a Mustang, the best result of his Trans-Am career. In the STO race, Joe Koenig scored the victory in a BMW M3 over Mark Boden in a Porsche GT3 Cup. In all, 12 cars ran. ..... Pole-sitter Sage Karam of Nazareth, Pa., led all 12 laps to win Round 8 of the Cooper Tires Presents the USF2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda in convincing fashion Aug. 1 during the Harrahʼs Autobahn Grand Prix Presented by Mazda at the Autobahn Country Club near Joliet. The Andretti Autosport driver had a 2.312-second advantage over Patrick McKenna of Dublin, Ireland, at the finish.  Both Karam and McKenna were in Mazda-powered Van Diemens. Tonis Kasemets of Mundelein, who won a similar race July 31, finished third in a Zetec-powered Van Diemen. Kasemets is a former SCCA Formula Continental champion, he's finished as high as second in the Atlantic Championship points, he's been in two Firestone Indy Lights races this year and he even has five Champ Car World Series starts. His appearance in this series, which is part of both the Indy Racing League's Road to Indy ladder system and the MAZDASPEED Motorsports driver development program, was similar to a trainer dropping a race horse back in class. Karam leads the Championship class points with 219 to McKenna's 197. At stake is a year-end scholarship from Mazda valued at $350,000 to help the champion advance to the Star Mazda series next year. Next USF2000 doubleheader is Aug. 21-22 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis. More at USF2000.com. ..... Also at Joliet's Autobahn Country Club, rookie Wyatt Gooden earned his second consecutive Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup victory Aug. 1 in Round Six of 10, and Brad Rampelberg of San Jose, Calif., became the first driver this season to win back-to-back SCCA Pro Racing Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup races, sweeping the doubleheader. ..... Chris Weinkauf won the 30th annual Miller Lite Larry Detjens Memorial 105 on July 29 at State Park Speedway, Wausau, Wis., over  Nathan Haseleu, Tim Sauter, Chris Wimmer and Mark Mackeys. Other notable placing: 19. Michael Bilderback. Numerous former racers at the track, many against the late Detjens, were invited to return: Dick Trickle, Dave Marcis, Tom Reffner, Scott Wimmer, Bryan Reffner and others. ..... Series points leader Mike Hess won the Mid-State Equipment Badger Midget Racing Series 20-lap feature July 31 at Beaver Dam (Wis.) Raceway, his second victory of the season. Other placings of note in the 12-car race: 2. Matt Smith; 3. Bob Schreffler. Heat winners were Smith and Courtney Erfurth. Hess holds a 228-point lead over Travis Berryhill heading into the Aug. 21 event at Beaver Dam. Hess has 905 points, Berryhill 677, Scott Hatton 663 and Davey Ray 590. The Badger portion of the scheduled Aug. 14 racing events at Wilmot (Wis.) Speedway has been cancelled. ..... Brothers John and Jerry Wood of Sun Prairie, Wis., finished 1-2 on Aug. 3 in the ASA Oregon Midwest Truck Tour race at Wisconsin International Raceway, Kaukauna. John set a new track record and had the field covered capturing his third victory of the season, and making the Wood brothers five-for-five this season. Rick Corso was third. Twelve trucks ran. Next event will be Aug. 14 at Dells Raceway Park. More at www.asamidwesttrucks.com.   * * *         Go-Kart Racing News & Notes--Winners on Aug. 6 at Thunder Valley Raceway near Pearl City were: Kid Kart, Addison Wythe, Byron; Jr.1 Clone, Jessica Reddington, Freeport, Il; Jr.2 Clone, Jordan Anderson, Savanna; Jr.1 Flathead,  Kaylie English, Fort Atkinson, Wis.; Straight Rail, Brad King, Rockford; and Pro, Patrick Ryder, Loves Park. ..... The high-bank dirt-track go-kart races at Thunder Valley Raceway near Pearl City were  shortened by rain July 30, but winners were: Noah Eisenhower, Freeport, Kid Kart; Chase Munns, Janesville, Wis., Junior 1; Kyle Roth, Byron, Junior 2; Ryan Deiter, Loves Park, and Jesse Johnson, Janesville, in Straight Rail; and Kourtnay Borman, Loves Park, Pro class. ..... Thunder Valley Raceway dirt-track go-kart races are going at facility near Pearl City, all classes will run every Friday night, races promoted by Lance Anderson of Rockford at (815) 964-1767 or visit cloverracing.com; race dates: Aug. 13, 20 and 27; Sept. 3, 10, 17 and 24; and Oct. 1. ..... Sugar River Raceway, Brodhead, Wis., is open for the season and in normal summer hours for practice--Wednesdays and Thursday, noon-8 p.m.; Fridays, noon-5 p.m.; and some practice time on early-season Saturdays. Thursday rent to race night started the first week in May. Call or e-mail SSR at (608) 897-2898 or www.sugarriverraceway.com for more details. SSR is located at N2236 Mt. Hope Road, southwest of Brodhead near the Sugar River. T.J. Patrick, Danica Patrick's father who was her crew chief, mechanic and coach when she was racing go-karts, is offering training classes at SRR this year, with 10 drivers and crew chiefs per class. Cost is $60 per driver. Call or e-mail SSR at (608) 897-2898 or www.sugarriverraceway.com for more details.     * * *        Automotive News & Notes, Not Necessarily from the Race Track--Still basking in the glory of a gold-medal finish at the Vancouver Games, the United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation recently received a serious boost in horsepower from car maker BMW that has team officials and athletes revved up about the approaching 2010-2011 World Cup season. Under a new four-year agreement, BMW Group has become the Official Mobility Partner of the USA Bobsled and Skeleton Federation (USBSF). Aside from financial support, the BMW Group will help athletes train more effectively while assisting sled designers tweak their already lightning-fast designs. "This is a very exciting development for our group," said Darrin Steele, USBSF's CEO. "Our sport is all about speed, performance, and power--three attributes that consumers worldwide already associate with the BMW brand. BMW has been helping the German Bobsled team for years so they have an intimate knowledge of our sport and what it takes to succeed at the top level. We're anxious to take advantage of their expertise and technology and work closely with them to take our program to new heights." Like the USA bobsled team, which collected its first four-man gold medal in 62 years this February, the BMW Group also is reveling in a recent win, having helped BMW Oracle Racing triumph at the illustrious America's Cup sailing competition this year. BMW's expertise in utilizing ultra-lightweight materials and advanced aerodynamics helped the BMW Oracle Racing Team design a state-of-the-art yacht that brought the coveted America's Cup trophy to the USA for the first time in more than a decade. "It is important to us to add substantive value to a partnership that is more than just a financial sponsorship," said Jack Pitney, Vice President of Marketing for BMW of North America. "We are excited to share our resources, which include some of the world's leading engineers and technology experts and an enthusiastic owner and dealer community, with U.S. Olympic athletes." The nine-event 2010-11 World Cup schedule begins Nov. 22-28 in Whistler, Canada. ..... Mecum Auction of Marengo has these upcoming events: Aug. 13-14, Mecum at Monterey, Muscle Cars & More; Sept. 16-19, Pheasant Run Resort, St. Charles, Muscle Cars & More; more at www.Mecum.com.    --30--