IndyCar Series Trio Nominated For Honors
Sam Hornish Jr. headlines a trio of IndyCar® Series drivers on the ballot for the 2006 Auto Racing All-America team.
Hornish, a three-time IndyCar Series champion and 2006 Indianapolis 500 winner, is joined by 2005 IndyCar Series titlist Dan Wheldon and two-time Indianapolis 500 champion Helio Castroneves as nominees in the open-wheel category. All three drivers have been previously honored as members of the team.
Others nominated in the open-wheel category are Sébastien Bourdais (Champ Car), A.J. Allmendinger (Champ Car), and Justin Wilson (Champ Car).
Balloting for the team will be conducted by the more than 300 members of the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association. The annual vote selects two nominees from each of seven categories for the first team, which is honored at the annual AARWBA banquet Jan. 13 in Indianapolis. The winner of the Jerry Titus Award also will be announced at the banquet. The Titus Award honors the team's top driver - the one earning the most votes in the balloting regardless of category. The last two IndyCar Series champions -- Tony Kanaan (2004) and Wheldon - also won the Titus Award.
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Sportswoman of the Year - Danica Patrick
On Nov. 29, Danica Patrick will receive the Sportswoman of the Year award from the March of Dimes (New York State Chapter) at its 23rd annual luncheon at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. CBS News and Sports president Sean McManus is the chairperson.
The Sports Luncheon, which raises funds for March of Dimes support programs for mothers and babies, also will honor tennis great Andre Agassi as Sportsman of the Year, WNBA president Donna Orender with the Sports Leadership Award and HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg with the Corporate Leadership Award.
Patrick, the 2005 Bombardier Rookie of the Year, will make her debut in an Andretti Green Racing car at an Open Test Jan. 31 at Daytona International Speedway. The first of 17 IndyCar Series races will be under the lights March 24 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.(auto123.com)
RuSport Racing Sold
A team that had turmoil as a co-driver this season has been rescued by one of the big hitters of the Champ Car community. Dan Pettit, who came into Champ Car as partners with Kevin Kalkhoven and Jimmy Vasser in 2004, was confirmed Tuesday as the new owner of RuSPORT Racing. "It was a long and winding road but I'm happy to report that Dan has purchased the team from Carl (Russo), we're staying in Colorado and we'll have two cars on the grid in 2007," said Jeremy Dale, who will retain his role as team president. It was important to keep this group together because there's a lot here that's very good and fortunately Dan recognized that. He's going to be a great fit."
Pettit's purchase ended several weeks of speculation about the future of a team that ran the gamut of emotions in 2006. After Russo fired the kid he built this team around (A.J. Allmendinger) four races into this season and replaced him with Cristiano da Matta, Allmendinger won three consecutive races for Forsythe Racing. Following his initial podium at San Jose for RuSPORT, da Matta was critically injured in early August during a test at Elkhart Lake when he struck a deer.
Justin Wilson, who scored RuSPORT's first two wins in 2005, added another victory at Edmonton this year before breaking his right wrist at Australia during practice but still finished second in the point standings. And while Wilson was healing and preparing to run the finale at Mexico City with a cast on his arm, Dale was scrambling to keep the doors open because business interests had forced Russo to get out of motorsports. "Let's just say the last four weeks have been pretty interesting," said Dale. "There was a rumor in Mexico that Dan had bought the team which wasn't true but, by the time we got to the banquet (Nov. 18) in Indy, things were progressing.(Speed)
da Matta Vows To Return
Cristiano da Matta’s recovery continues at full-pace from the Brazilian’s hometown of Belo Horizonte, three and a half months after the former Champ Car champion suffered a life-threatening accident during testing at the Road America circuit in Elkhart Lake. Now, for the first time since the incident that forced him into a coma for over a month, the 33-year-old revealed his intentions to go back to racing in an interview to Brazil’s Grande Premio website.
“I hadn’t been away from the race tracks since I was six, so this has been very hard to me,” he said. “The doctor made me promise I wouldn’t be thinking about my future, because it would be bad for my recovery, but I don’t think I’ll be able to keep the promise! I’m almost 100% [recovered].”
da Matta has been training physically every day, but, in spite of all his enthusiasm, is still unable to perform activities, such as his hobby of mountain biking, in which he could risk another head hit.
“I feel very well physically, almost ready in fact,” he added. “But I can’t risk hitting my head again now, so I’ll have to wait a little longer.”
According to the report, da Matta plans on sampling a go-kart sometime during the first trimester of ’07 at the latest.(Speed)
Las Vegas Grand Prix Tickets On Sale Dec. 11
Tickets will go on sale for the first Vegas Grand Prix on Dec. 11, 2006. Tickets will be available at (www.vegasgrandprix.com), or by calling 1-877-795-RACE (7223).The three-day festival of speed and entertainment will feature the season-opening race in the Champ Car World Series, a Historic Grand Prix race, along with support racing events, boxing matches, concerts, expos and a celebrity poker tournament. The April 8 Champ Car World Series race will feature open-wheel cars reaching speeds of up to 180 miles per hour around a 2.44-mile, 14-turn temporary street course on and around “Glitter Gulch” in the heart of downtown Las Vegas.
In addition to the on-track activity, Vegas Grand Prix will present a free street party with headlining entertainment downtown, as well as host a charity gala, celebrity poker tournament and boxing events during race week. More details will be released on the star-studded line-ups for these events and separate tickets will be available for purchase in the near future for the charity gala and boxing events.
Admission into the event site is free. To access the seating areas with premium views of the race track, to view Jumbotron video boards of live race action and enjoy daytime concerts, patrons will need to be in a ticketed grandstand area. All grandstand seats on the Fremont Street Experience side of downtown are general admission and the seats on Grand Central Parkway, by the World Market Center, are reserved seats with pit and paddock access. General admission seats when purchased in advance are priced at $12 for Friday, $29 for Saturday and $44 for Sunday, or if purchased at the gate tickets are $14 for Friday, $32 for Saturday and $47 for Sunday. A three-day general admission advance purchase ticket price has been set at $70 or $78 if purchased at the gate. Three-day reserved grandstand purchase tickets are priced from $140- $175 and include pit and paddock access; advance pricing not available.
Paddock passes when purchased in advance are $20 per day or $40 for three days and $22 and $44 respectively if purchased at the gate. The paddock area is a separate area where all teams prepare their racecars and house their equipment, race transporters and spare racecars. Patrons must be 18 years or older to access the paddock area. Pit walk-through passes are priced in advance at $10 per day and $12 at the gate. Admission to the VIP Hospitality Club is available for $1,350 for all three days and includes all food and beverages catered by Wolfgang Puck Catering, premium view suite seating on the front straight, paddock and pit access along with concierge services and a fashion show. Vegas Grand Prix is also seeking hundreds of volunteers to help with many aspects of the event. For tickets, event and volunteer information, visit (www.vegasgrandprix.com).
Three Nominated For Award
Having scored an elusive three-peat in 2006 by winning the Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford title for the third consecutive time, Sebastien Bourdais found himself in position for another triple when the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association (AARWBA) All-American nominations were announced over the holiday weekend. The Frenchman, who has been named as a first-team AARWBA All-American for each of the past two seasons, headed a trio of Champ Car drivers nominated for All-American honors in the Open Wheel category. Bourdais, who won seven races on his way to the championship this year, was joined on the ballot by series runner-up Justin Wilson and five-time Champ Car racewinner A.J. Allmendinger.
The AARWBA organization, whose 300-plus members have honored the top drivers of the year since 1970, will award first-team All-American status to the two top vote getters in each of seven categories with the next two drivers in the voting being named to the second team. Any driver that receives five percent of the vote from the membership will earn honorable mention status. In addition, the driver that receives the highest number of votes regardless of category wins the Jerry Titus Award, signifying the Driver of the Year as chosen by AARWBA.
Bourdais led the series in wins, poles, laps led and fastest laps this year on his way to the championship and also ended the season on top of the SPEED Driver Rankings, which rates drivers from Champ Car, NASCAR, Formula 1 and the IRL. Wilson is seeking his first AARWBA award after finishing second to Bourdais in this year’s point standings while Allmendinger was named as a first-team All-American in 2003 after winning the Champ Car Atlantic title. The voting wraps up on December 3, with the All-Americans to be announced in the following days. The Titus Award winner will be announced at the AARWBA Awards Banquet, which will be held January 13 in Indianapolis.
Stewart A Turkey Night Surprise
Two-time NASCAR Nextel Cup Series champion Tony Stewart made a surprise appearance in the 66th running of the Turkey Night Grand Prix at Irwindale Speedway on Thursday night. Well, maybe it was a surprise to those who don't see him every weekend. Casey Mears, a driver on the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series who was entered in the USAC Midget and Sprint car races at Irwindale, said he knew Stewart was planning on racing in the Turkey Night GP after the Cup season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. It appears Mears was one of the select few who knew. "I'm never surprised to see him at a Sprint car or Midget car race," said Mears, a driver from Bakersfield who will be racing the No. 25 Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Hendrick Motorsports next year. "Are you?"
Those late getting to the track might have been. Stewart spent the afternoon putting down test laps, but made no indication he was racing until he took his car out for qualifying. It turns out Stewart, who drives for Joe Gibbs Racing on the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, was trying to make his first USAC race of the year. Not that he has much time for USAC racing with his NASCAR schedule. But he owns a Midget team and apparently decided a week ago to race his own car in the traditional USAC event that is run on Thanksgiving.
After beating a slew of NASCAR stars in qualifying, Kody Swanson of Kingsburg ended up battling his Western Speed Racing teammate Billy Wease in the Midget race. Wease led the final 20 laps to win after he and Swanson ran into lapped traffic late in the race. Wease was able to maneuver his way through the lapped cars better than Swanson and won by 0.189seconds. "I couldn't have asked for a better car than we had," said Wease, a driver from Noblesville, Ind.
Swanson, who crashed and rolled his car during the USAC Sprint car race, started from the pole in the 100-lap Midget race that included a NASCAR-filled field with Stewart, Mears, Jason Leffler and Truck Series driver Bobby East. Wease, who started fifth, caught Swanson on lap 80 and took the lead on the next lap. But on lap 90, Stewart crashed with Brady Bacon and set up a five-lap shootout between Wease and Swanson. "I made him earn every bit of it," Swanson said. Mears was the highest finisher among the NASCAR drivers entered in the race, taking 16th. Stewart was 24th, Leffler was 30th and East finished last, in 34th place.(dailynews.com)
Zanardi Test Sauber
Alex Zanardi made an emotional return to the Formula 1 cockpit slightly earlier than expected when he completed a three-lap shakedown at Valencia in Spain on Thursday. The Italian was not planned to test the BMW Sauber F1.06 until Saturday, but a change of schedule has not only allowed him to get out in the car early but also fired up the team to do everything they can to boost his speed. Zanardi claimed that the mechanics’ approach to him changed after he returned to the pits following a short run – and that modifications are now planned in order to help him go faster on Saturday.
“My greatest satisfaction was seeing the technicians’ attitude before and after,” he told Gazzetta dello Sport. “In the morning, when I was requesting modifications, the common denominator in the answers was: ‘But it’s just a test.’ -- “At the end of the three laps they started working like crazy, they got incredibly excited. Now they want to give me five different programs for the throttle and a more direct steering. They sent me out on wet tires, but when I returned to the pits they were well worn out...”(SPEED)
Kinser, Lasoski Will Return to Outlaws Series
Sprint car racing's most prominent drivers, Steve Kinser and Danny Lasoski, announced their plans to return to the World of Outlaws Sprint Series. The Outlaws have long been a top draw at Knoxville Raceway. Drivers such as Kinser and Lasoski, who splintered from the series last season to form the National Sprint Tour (NST), cited management issues and concerns over the television package as key reasons for their secession.
"I want to race with a series that can provide a solid schedule, point fund, and television package to help our sponsors," Lasoski, a four-time Knoxville Nationals champ, said in a news release. "In my opinion, the World of Outlaws has been able to put all those things together. I look forward to the day when we are all back together under one banner and this puts us one step closer."
Kinser, a 20-time Outlaws champ and 12-time winner of Knoxville Nationals, was a driving force in the NST, which faces an uncertain future. He became a key owner in the NST after the June 16 death of series founder Fred Brownfield. "Now I'll just have to worry about my two race teams," Kinser said in an Outlaws news release.
NASCAR's Kasey Kahne originally cast his sprint car team's lot with the NST, but moved the No. 9 team and driver Joey Saldana to the Outlaws early in the season. "The World of Outlaws turned out to have the best schedule, the best point fund, the best everything," Kahne told The Des Moines Register in May.
The Outlaws will feature a 2007 television package to air on ESPN 2 and Speed Channel. Knoxville Raceway will host the full field of Outlaws at least two race weekends next season.(desmoinesregister.com)
New Champ Car Team Completes Test
Champ Car’s newest team, Pacific Coast Motorsports and their drivers, American Alex Figge and Scot Ryan Dalziel completed their first Champ Car test Tuesday at the Motorsports Ranch in Houston. PCM, the 2004 Atlantic Champions competed in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) in 2005 and the Rolex Grand American Series in 2006 scoring podiums in each discipline with drivers Alex Figge and Ryan Dalziel. In preparation for their return to open wheel racing, PCM contracted Rocketsports, an existing team in the Champ Car World Series to provide the cars and crew for the test.
“Alex and Ryan have been driving much heavier prototype cars the past two years. We will take delivery of the new Panoz early next month, but until then, we wanted to give both drivers the opportunity to get used to the horsepower and the differences of the Champ Car prior to our limited testing with the 2007 Panoz,” commented PCM President, Tyler Tadevic. “This will allow us to get right to work developing the new car. Rocketsports did a good job tutoring us on Monday and on Tuesday, our engineers, Burke Harrison (Figge) and Tim Lewis (Dalziel), took over. Both drivers completed well over 350 miles and their fastest laps were within two-tenths of a second of one another. There were a few spins and a couple of offs, but no damage to either car and we all learned a lot. As a new team, it is great for us to go into the Thanksgiving holiday already having completed our first Champ Car test, with both drivers confident and encouraged by their performance”
While it was only his second Champ Car test, American Rookie Alex Figge has a diverse racing resume. He is a Toyota Atlantic race winner with experience in Pro Mazda and US Formula Ford 2000, in addition to his most recent sports car efforts.
Scotsman Ryan Dalziel is entering his third season with Pacific Coast Motorsports. Prior to coming to America in 2002, Dalziel competed in the British Formula Vauxhall Championship and British Formula Renault. Since his arrival, he has earned six victories, 15 podiums and back-to-back runner-up finishes in the 2003-4 Atlantic Championships. Dalziel competed in the 2005 Champ Car race at Toronto, finishing 10th for Dale Coyne race and has completed numerous Champ Car tests, but holds on to his Rookie status for his 2007 Champ Car campaign.
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