USMOD Series Debut Promises Plenty of Action In 2009

Racetracks in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina will be hosting the debut of the United Southeast Modifieds on Dirt Series (USMOD) in 2009. A group of former late model owners and drivers, along with a few die-hard race fans, developed the USMOD Series with the aim of bringing added excitement to their local speedways. These innovative speedsters are confident that the speed, history and unique look of northeast modifieds will generate plenty of excitement for drivers and spectators alike.

A number of current late model drivers, such as Ricky Elliot, Vic Coffey, Tim McCreadie and Tim Fuller, are running modified on a part-time basis. Organizers anticipate a high level of interest as some racing fans see these extraordinary race cars for the first time and see local drivers participating in a division not often seen on speedways in the past. Events have already been held at Hagerstown Speedway, Tyler County Speedway, Virginia Motor Speedway and the Dirt Track at Lowe’s, with great success. The positive feedback from local fans at these southeast tracks has boosted confidence that USMOD will go from strength to strength in the future.

As financial matters stand at the moment for USMOD, winners of series events will receive a purse of $1500. However, this is likely to change if sponsorship can be secured. No point fund is in place as yet, and this is also subject to sponsorship commitments. Negotiations are underway with several speedways, with the ultimate goal for USMOD being a schedule of around 10 to 12 races, with a “Big Purse” 6 race North-South Shootout series.

Taking into account the wide variety of options the RoC Dirt Tour’s set of rules makes available to drivers to be competitive, USMOD is considering adopting a similar rule package. While the original plan had been to only run small block modifieds, the Lernerville Speedway, Delaware International Speedway, Tri-City Speedway and Sharon Speedway all run big blocks weekly, and as these tracks are closest in location to the USMOD’s target area, big blocks will be included in the rule package. Small blocks and big blocks will run in the same division with weight breaks being allowed for small blocks. Depending on the level of feedback, a crate class may be added to the USMOD Series at a later stage.

With the USMOD series ready to set the southeast buzzing with excitement in the new year, auto racing fans have even more reason to make sure they are among the throng of spectators at each event in their area.

Lanier National Speedway to Host SpeedFest 2009

The Lanier National Speedway, located at 5309 Winder Highway in Braselton, Georgia, is to be the venue for SpeedFest 2009. Pro Late Model teams, Super Late Model teams and crowds of fans will gather for the fifth annual SpeedFest at the state-of-the-art facility on 24-25 January. With the closure of the USA International Speedway in Florida, officials from Champion Racing Association (CRA) Super Series and the Georgia Asphalt Series (GAS) needed to find a new home for the event, and Lanier National Speedway fits the bill perfectly.

Lanier National Speedway recently purchased the GAS series, which complements the CRA series, enabling organizers to combine the two groups into a major national event. Super Late Models will be competing in the 200-lap event for the winner’s purse of $10,000, while Pro Late Models will be competing to win $3,000 in their 100-lap event. Building up to the excitement of the weekend, fans must listen out for announcements by track officials in coming weeks with regard to bonuses for winning drivers. Terry Roberts, General Manager of Lanier National Speedway, noted that SpeedFest had found a great home and they consider it an honor to host the top Super and Pro Late Model teams in the “traditional battle of North and South drivers.”

SpeedFest 2009 is an open weekend, with teams and different organizations being welcomed from all over the country. On-track activities for the Super Late Model event will be managed by CRA’s Glenn Luckett and R.J. Scott, with the GAS Series officials directing the Pro Late Model event. Scott emphasized that with this type of special event, they will make every effort to be accommodating to racers from all different series.

Lanier National Speedway is a NASCAR-sanctioned 3/8 mile stock car racing track. Events are held at the track every Saturday night from March through to October. Auto racing has not been immune to the negative effects of the current economic downturn, but Lanier National Speedway is pulling out all the stops to ensure that drivers and fans are able to continue to enjoy this fast-paced sport – so make a plan to be at SpeedFest 2009.

Annual Race of Champions Great Fun

Every year some of the world’s greatest drivers gather together to enjoy a relaxing and entertaining bit of racing – the annual Race of Champions event. The race has been described as being “like racing go-karts in your living room” by Jenson Button (Formula One) and it certainly seems to be an apt description of this enjoyable event.

The Race of Champions was started in 1986 in Paris as a battle of international rally drivers. Now it is one of the best off-season auto racing attractions in the world. There are two parts to the competition – the two-man teams and an individual shootout. The drivers entered into the race start side-by-side in opposite lanes as they get ready to tackle the almost 1-mile lap that will take them back to the starting line. The lap takes the various drivers on separate paths and there are two laps. There is a team event which follows a best-of-three format, while the individual portion of the race works on a win and advance system. Both of the different races involve bracket racing and to keep things interesting, there are five types of cars that are rotated during the four-hour event. The prize for the teams is glory for your country and a great day of stress-free racing. According to seven-time Formula One Champion Michael Schumacher, ‘The World doesn’t go bad if you lose. It just means you get to have a drink earlier.’ Drivers come from both sides of the Atlantic to compete and fun is the main focus of the day. Some of the cars used this year included an Audi-powered KTM X-Bow track machine, a World Rally Championship Ford Focus, an Abarth 500 Assetto Corse, an open-wheel buggy that looks like a sprint car and another open-wheel vehicle resembling something more ungainly – like a praying mantis. Certainly such a selection of vehicles keeps drivers on their toes and helps to even out the playing field.

And that is exactly what they did do. Carl Edwards attended the event in London for the first time this year to see what all the fuss was about. He found himself inspired by a great day of racing and hopes to return soon. He did quite well, managing to reach the semi-finals in the individual driver’s category, even beating Michael Schumacher in a head-to-head race. Understandably, that was the highlight of Edwards’ trip. In the end it was the German team of Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel who took the team trophy for the second consecutive year. Sebastian Loeb proved to be the ultimate individual winner yet again, taking home the trophy for the third time. He did, however, get stiff competition from David Coulthard who went home with bruised hands from some intense driving but a big smile on his face.

East Bay South Shore Auto Sales Late Model Championship

Fans and drivers gathered together to enjoy a great night of racing at the “Clay by the Bay” this past weekend. Unfortunately all had to wait for the weather for a while, but with approximately 100 cars signed in for the various racing events, no one was about to go home due to a little inclement weather.

Because of the weather problems and the resulting delay, only drivers for the Late Model class got to warm up in the heat races. All the other drivers simply had to suck it up and do their best. By the time the clouds finally parted long enough for racing to get underway at the Gibsonton, Florida, race track it was clear that spectators were in for a great evening’s racing. The South Shore Auto Sales Late Model got off to a great start and pretty soon it was clear that the 21-point lead that front-runner KD Kelly had over Travis Varnadore in the East Bay South Shore Auto Sales Late Model Championship would be greatly increased during the course of the evening. Varnadore ran into some difficulties near the beginning of the Late Models race when an early caution set him back near the back of the field on the restart. In stark contrast, Kelley ran an excellent race with very few difficulties. However, the true star of the night was Roger Crouse who started off in 6th position and quickly and effectively made his way to the front of the field. Crouse managed to win the South Shore Auto Sales Late Model race with an evening of truly fantastic driving. It was his first feature win in the Late Models so far this season and he had plenty to be proud about. He was followed over the finish line by Al Larson, whose second place finish gave him his first top-5 finish of the season, and Trevor Merrel.

Despite only coming in 9th and not being able to take home the Late Model race victory trophy, KD Kelly was able to win the East Bay South Shore Auto Sales Late Model Championship. With two features wins, nine top-5 finishes and fifteen top-10 finishes, his grip on the championship trophy was secure. Varnadore finished the feature race just one place behind him.

Honda Quits F1 Racing

There’s no debating that the global recession is hitting every aspect of the economy hard. Auto manufacturers seem to be having an especially tough time and this has understandably led to Honda Motor Co.’s decision to withdraw from Formula One racing.

After sales in the U.S. started plummeting with the economic recession, Honda Motor Co. has had to make some tough calls. The U.S. was the company’s most profitable market. But their sales plummeted a striking 32% during the month of November alone – the worst drop the company has seen since 1981. Weak consumer sentiment and economic slowdown are the main reasons for the fall, neither of which have a quick-fix solution. Instead, Honda has had to take a long hard look at how the company is run and has chosen to re-focus its efforts in the industry. With regards to making cars, this means cutting down on luxury car development and speeding up the development of diesel engines, hybrid cars and compact cars. Honda’s F1 operations were carefully considered and eventually it was decided that they were unsustainable and expensive. The decision to leave F1 and the subsequent laying-off of assembly workers and reductions in production costs has slashed at least 20 billion yen (US$216 million) off the company’s productions costs. The engineers that were involved in those facets of the industry have been reassigned.

President Takeo Fukui said: “This difficult decision has been made in the light of the quickly deteriorating operating environment facing the global auto industry. Honda must protect its core business activities.”

Further, the company has decided not to supply engines to other teams and their Brackley, England-based team is up for sale. If the team is not bought, it will be the second team to leave the sport. The last team to quit was Honda-backed Super Aguri which folded earlier this year due to lack of funding. That will leave only nine teams to compete in the sport, and it seems this could be the start of a rather scary trend. According to Max Mosley, president of the F1 ruling body of the FIA, teams spend as much as $1.6 billion on the Formula One racing series each year. That amount is clearly unsustainable and, with the current economic conditions and current scandals that have unraveled in the sport, may ultimately see the disappearance of the sport altogether. However at this point other teams seem determined to continue.

Honda is not leaving off motor sport altogether. The company hopes to continue racing in the MotoGp motorcycle series as well as the IndyCar series.

AARWBA All-American Auto Racing Team Announced

Another fantastic year of auto racing is drawing to a close and now we’re at that special time of year when everyone’s hard work is duly recognized at various award ceremonies and events. This year is no different, and already the AARWBA All-American Auto Racing Team nominees have been announced.

So far it seems that top rivals Donny Schatz and Jason Meyers have been lumped together for the ‘Short Track’ category of the AARWBA All-American Auto Racing Team. Those who have been watching the two during the course of the year will find it somewhat odd that two rivals have now been made into teammates. Donny Schatz is not exactly a newcomer to the scene. This was the third consecutive time he’d won the World of Outlaws title and also the third consecutive year that he has been given First Team honors. Schatz competed ardently during the course of the year, winning 18 A-feature events and finishing the season with as many as 25 wins. He won as many as sixteen of the various World of Outlaws races and has also taken the Knoxville Nationals for the third season in a row. He is now one of only two drivers to accomplish that feat and he is eligible for the Jerry Titus Award, which is generally given to the ‘Driver of the Year’. After such a strong racing career he is understandably the perfect candidate.

Jason Meyers doesn’t quite have the same list of accomplishments under his belt, but he certainly isn’t doing too badly for himself. This is only the first time that Meyers has been named to the team and he was given Second Team honors after finishing second in the championship standings. He managed to win as many as nine of the World of Outlaws races this season and had 48 top-five finishes. He also had the quickest time trials at sixteen different races and managed to lead the series championship standings for a while near the beginning of the season. He has progressively improved his performance and stats over the year, finishing off by winning the first-ever ‘Breaking the VAULT’ challenge at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. In doing so, he also defeated nine other drivers including top rival Donny Schatz. Understandably both drivers are ecstatic about being named to the team.

Nicolas Prost Becomes New F3000 Champion

The F1 season has just drawn to a close and now it is time for all the other forms of racing to do likewise for the year. After a grueling year, Nicolas Prost has come on out top, becoming the 2009 F3000 Champion.

Since it was introduced to take over from F2 racing in 1985, F3000 racing has been an exciting and difficult avenue of racing that only the best of the best can hope to participate in as they work their way towards fulfilling dreams of racing in Formula One. F3000 racing is very similar to what one would encounter in F1 racing and it is a stepping stone for drivers heading to that aspect of auto racing. It is grueling, exacting and physically and mentally demanding. Crowds can enjoy all the thrills and spills of top-speed auto racing and drivers quickly gain a reputation for being really good or reliably reckless. Hence it is completely understandable that Nicolas Prost is ecstatic about being crowned the 2009 F3000 Champion.

It seems that the winner of the 2009 F3000 European Championship was decided on the tenth lap of the final race held at the Magione track. Nicolas Prost won the championship through points and through a lucky turn of events that saw his close rival, Adam Khan (TP Formula) being forced to leave the track and fall far behind in points. Though Adam Khan did try to recover his position when he later returned to the race, he never quite got it right. Prost was fortunate enough to have collected enough points during the course of the season to win the Championship season, despite only finishing seventh in the final race. The actual race was won by Fabrizio Crestani (GP Racing), who took the lead in the first few laps of the race and managed to hold his position for the majority of the race. He was followed by Romanini, Gonzales, Onidi, Gianmaria, Razia and Zapata e Khan in that order.

Commenting on his victory, Prost said: “I’m so happy for this title because I was very keen on winning it, not because I’m Nicolas Prost but because I like doing things at 100%.” Talking about his difficulty at keeping himself in the top seven, Prost remarked: “After the accident in Race 1, the car wasn’t completely ok even if the guys were great to repair it thus letting me start again. Unfortunately I had some vibrations. On this track it’s very difficult to overtake and so starting tenth it was impossible to win the race. I would have liked to win the title with a podium, but it’s fine anyway. I hope this title can help me in the future as I would like to do a test with a Ferrari F1.” Only time will tell if Prost will see his dream through, but for the meantime he can feel very proud of his new championship title.

F1 Championship Point System to Change

For years now the F1 Championship has been functioning on a points system: The drivers will collect points based on where they finish in the race during the course of the season and the person with the most points wins. It seems a flawless system – until you look at it a little more closely.

At first glance a person would assume that a driver would have to almost always win in order to come out on tops. But that is not necessarily the case. A person could finish in the top five consistently and, with a bit of luck, the other drivers finishing in the top five could always be different. Not only is it theoretically possible to win the F1 championship without actually winning a race – it has happened in both Formula 1 and other motor sports where the points system is used. The points system also allows drivers to play it ‘safe’, since they do not have to push the envelope to gain a win if they are in second place with a good number of points already behind them. Because of this, there is often no over-taking when cars should be fighting to be at the front. The exciting and crowd-drawing ‘edge’ to the sport is lost some, since spectators find themselves wondering why the drivers don’t even try to overtake.

Now it seems that is all about to become a thing of the past. The 2009 Formula One season is set to get off to a flying start with a medal system. Commercial F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has decided that the best way to stop drivers from sitting back and taking it easy is to erase the points system altogether. He has suggested that the FIA award the top three competitors in each race with a gold, silver and bronze medal. By the end of the race season, the driver with the most gold medals will receive the championship trophy while silver and bronze medals will act as tiebreakers. So far it seems that both the FIA and the various F1 teams are more than ready to support the change. Indeed, the concept has already been given the go-ahead for the 2009 Formula One season.

The change will put a new spin on a lot of current racing strategies. It will also throw into perspective current driver capabilities. It is interesting to note, for example, that Massa would have won the 2008 championship instead of Hamilton if the medal system had already been in place. Or would he? Perhaps both would have been pushed harder to succeed and their true abilities and talents would have shone through. One thing is for sure: racing fans can certainly look forward to an exciting 2009 racing season!