Archive for News
Mustang to Make NASCAR Debut in 2010
Posted by: | CommentsFord Motorsports announced Tuesday that its Mustang model will make its NASCAR debut in 2010. It’ll be the first time the Mustang brand has competed in NASCAR and the first Ford coupe in the Nationwide Series since the 1997 Thunderbird. The new Mustang will be coordinated with NASCAR’s transition of the Nationwide Series’ cars to the “Car of Tomorrow” platform. The platform will be nearly identical to that currently used in the Sprint Cup division, however the plan is to use different body styles in the Nationwide Series.
Image of 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series Ford Mustang, courtesy Ford Motorsports.
NASCAR expects to phase in the new car over 5 or 6 races in the 2010 season before employing the car full-time in 2011. The Chevrolet, Dodge and Toyota manufacturers have not officially announced which model they intend to submit for the new car design, however Dodge is rumored to propose its Challenger brand for 2010. NASCAR is interested in differentiating body styles from its highly-criticized Sprint Cup COT. According to a release made available from NASCAR.com, the new Nationwide car will sport a rear spoiler (rather than a wing) and a spring front suspension (rather than bump stops). The front splitter will apparently carry over from the Sprint Cup COT.
Ford Motorsports claims the Mustang has accumulated over 2,000 professional race victories. The fifth-generation Ford Mustang has enjoyed success in the KONI Challenge, SCCA Speed World Challenge and Formula Drift events. Ford has competed in the NASCAR Nationwide Series since its inception in 1982 under various brand names: Fairmont (1982-1986), Mercury Cougar (1984), Thunderbird (1987-1997), Taurus (1998-2005), and Fusion (2006-Present).
Click here to read the press release from Ford Racing.
Here’s my take on it: I think this is a great step in the right direction for NASCAR and the car manufacturers. It seems that NASCAR is taking a conservative approach with the new car’s debut; I think they could have been more aggressive though. While it’s certainly an improvement over the Sprint Cup COT — “let’s just put headlight decals on the thing and pretend it’s a stock car” — they could have gone a little further and allowed a more stock body and — dare I say — allowed the various makes to have different downforce numbers.
Why not take the guts of the COT platform (e.g., the frame, etc.) and throw a fully stock body on top of it? Drop in a front valence and rear spoiler for safety and then let them drive it. No headlight decals allowed. Whoever builds the better car wins. And it would be great to have something that handles dramatically different than the Sprint Cup cars to throw those drivers for a loop. Let the manufacturers duke it out for a little added drama.
We’ll see how it goes. It has to be better than the Fusion.
Alabama to Host Indy Racing in 2010
Posted by: | CommentsThe Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL announced today that the Indy Racing League has signed a three-year deal to bring Indy car racing to the Alabama track. The inaugural “Indy Grand Prix of Alabama” is scheduled for the April 9-11 weekend of 2010.
The Indy Racing League held a practice session on the 2.38-mile road course in March 2009. At 45 feet, the track is slightly wider than Watkins Glen International. Officials are hoping to draw 100,000 spectators over the three-day weekend.
The Barber Motorsports Park is located about 50 miles west of Talladega Superspeedway, where NASCAR typically races on the last weekend of April.
Click here for the official press release.
Happy Harvick Not So Happy?
Posted by: | CommentsTim Tuttle at SI.com, citing “multiple sources”, is reporting that Kevin Harvick is asking out of his contract with Richard Childress Racing (RCR) after this season. Harvick has another year remaining on the contract, but according to the report he is looking to move over to Stewart-Haas Racing, perhaps taking sponsor Shell/Pennzoil with him.
RCR has had a poor season so far in 2009 and Harvick is mired back in 25th in the point standings, pretty much putting him out of contention for the championship. Meanwhile Tony Stewart has had a remarkable season with his new team, posting fifteen Top-10s and two wins. Stewart leads the driver standings by 175 points over Jeff Gordon. The NASCAR Sprint Cup season passed the halfway point after Sunday’s race at Chicagoland.
Harvick stepped into the RCR #29 team after Dale Earnhardt was fatally injured at Daytona in 2001. The team changed numbers from 3 to 29 out of respect for Earnhardt. In just his third start for the team, Harvick posted his first win in a photo finish at the Atlanta race in March.
Harvick has not won a Sprint Cup race since the 2007 Daytona 500.
George Steps Down at IMS
Posted by: | CommentsTony George will no longer be president and CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway — a position he’s held since 1990 — according to a statement released by the Speedway today. He will be replaced by IMS executive Jeffrey G. Belskus. George will remain on the Board of Directors for both the IMS and the Indy Racing League.
The announcement was made by George’s mother, Mari Hulman-George, chairman of the board.
“Our board had asked Tony to structure our executive staff to create efficiencies in our business structure and to concentrate his leadership efforts in the Indy Racing League. He has decided that with the recent unification of open-wheel racing and the experienced management team IMS has cultivated over the years, now would be the time for him to concentrate on his [IRL] team ownership of Vision Racing with his family and other personal business interests he and his family share.”
“Tony will remain on the Board of Directors of all of our companies, and he will continue to work with the entire board to advance the interests of all our companies.”
Read the full Associated Press release at ESPN.com.
For more information about Jeffrey Belskus, read the official release from IMS.
Weatherman For Hire
Posted by: | CommentsI find it interesting to see how often drivers are able to “steal” a victory of sorts by gambling on the weather. Oftentimes it’s the teams that can afford to actually take the chance (e.g., those that have little to lose) that actually go through with it, but it’s not unusual to see a team successfully pull it off once or twice a season.
With the modern advances in both weather and computer technology a team is capable of making much better judgments about the changing weather conditions than, say, 10-15 years ago.
Weather radar can now be brought down to street-level precision — more than enough to identify a race track on the map. Precipitation is displayed real-time with both direction and speed, allowing for one to determine whether the shower is going to affect the track and if so, exactly when it should arrive. Furthermore, rainfall rates and duration can be analyzed to determine if the shower is going to just wet down the track, or be enough to wash out the remainder of the race.
Now I’m not necessarily suggesting that each team go out and hire a certified meteorologist (though I wouldn’t be surprised if teams had them already, perhaps to predict the weekend’s forecast to help the crew chief with the car’s setup), but in these large teams that have 50, 100, or 200+ employees, you’d have to believe that they would have 1 or 2 that are weather enthusiasts that are sufficiently equipped to find and interpret weather data.
If rain is forecast for race day… wouldn’t you want such a person in your pit area?
John Calla is a professional meteorologist. He has over 15 years experience watching The Weather Channel and 25 years experience shoveling snow. He also took an introductory level meteorology class in college. Mr. Calla will work for food.
FOX: GM to Scale Back NASCAR Support
Posted by: | CommentsUnder its bankruptcy restructuring plan, General Motors is expected to scale back support of NASCAR Nationwide and Truck Series teams, according to a report from FOXSports.com, which attributed the story to the SportsBusiness Journal.
The cost-cutting measures are likely to have the greatest affect on larger organizations, such as Kevin Harvick Inc., which fields teams in both series, and Rusty Wallace Inc. and JR Motorsports, which field teams in the Nationwide Series, according to SportsBusiness Journal’s Michael Smith, who wrote the story.
As Smith points out, support from manufacturers typically comes in the forms of engines, parts and cash. In most cases, factory support goes to larger, more substantial organizations, while smaller teams receive little assistance, if any.
GM participates in NASCAR’s top three touring series under the Chevrolet brand.
USAC Eastern Swing Kicks Off at Grandview
Posted by: | Comments
The third annual USAC Eastern Swing is ready to kick off the week of racing with the first event for the USAC National Sprint Cars at Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, PA on Tuesday, June 2. Three other events will be held in Pennsylvania.
Grandview will feature two 25-lap features for the sprint cars, one a make-up from last year’s rain-out. Also on the card is the wingless ARDC midgets.
The tour will then move over to Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, PA on Wednesday, June 3, where ARDC will also be the companion series. Big Diamond Raceway in Minersville, PA will host the Thursday, June 4 race. The Eastern Swing wraps up Saturday night (June 6) with USAC Sprint’s first trip to the 3/8-mile Mercer (PA) Raceway Park.
Dave Darland leads Levi Jones by 12 points in the National Sprint Car championship. Jesse Hockett is in third, 18 points back.
If you’re in the area — come on out and check out non-winged sprint car racing. It’s awesome!
In the meantime, re-live some of the action from the first Eastern Swing in 2007:
Night 1 — Grandview Speedway
Night 3 — Hagerstown (MD) Speedway
