Stewart acquires points for Danica to run Daytona
January 31, 2012
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP)—Danica Patrick will be guaranteed a spot in the Daytona 500 via a partnership with Tommy Baldwin Racing.
TBR will officially field Patrick’s No. 10 Chevrolet in all 10 of her Sprint Cup Series races this season. It will begin the season with the points Dave Blaney earned last season for the No. 36 car.
Because Blaney finished 33rd in points last season, his car is guaranteed a starting spot in the first five races of the season. Teams can transfer or sell the points to another team, and Stewart-Haas Racing acquired them so Patrick is guaranteed to race in the Feb. 26 season opener.
TBR will field the No. 10 for David Reutimann in the 26 races that Patrick does not have on her schedule.
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No injuries in fire at Joe Gibbs Racing
January 31, 2012
HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. (AP)—Joe Gibbs Racing says no employees were injured when a fire broke out in its machine shop.
A spokesman for the NASCAR team says a few employees were treated on site for smoke inhalation, but were not transported to the hospital.
All employees are back in the building following the Tuesday fire.
It’s the second fire at the Gibbs race shop in about a year. The fire last year caused substantial damage to the JGR engine shop.
Joe Gibbs Racing fields Sprint Cup Series cars for Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano.
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Female hot rodder at home under the hood (NASCAR.com)
January 31, 2012
Aileen Melendez and the rest of Team Moroso put on a show during the NASCAR Preview 2012. (NASCAR)
As NASCAR’s past and present were on display at the inaugural NASCAR Acceleration Weekend, the sports’ future was well-represented by none other than high school junior Aileen Melendez of Anaheim, Calif., who showcased her engine building skills to a captive audience during the NASCAR Preview event.
“My parents love everything automotive, NHRA and NASCAR,” explained Melendez . “When I was a freshmen I had an extra elective, so my dad was like, ‘Why don’t you take automotive?’”
It was good advice that’s paid off.
Now, three years later, Melendez knows what every young woman, well, auto know.
Melendez is a member of Loara High School’s automotive tech program. She is one of five students—the only female—that comprise “Team Moroso,” who tore down and rebuilt an engine in a record-breaking 21:08 to capture the title of 2011 Hot Rodders of Tomorrow Engine Challenge Champions this past November.
Launched in 2008, Hot Rodders of Tomorrow is a nationwide high school engine building contest which fosters the future development of today’s youth for the race and performance industry.
Each November at the SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) Show, the top 10 high school auto tech teams who advanced via regional competitions across the country compete head-to-head for the best average time as they tear down and rebuild Chevy 350 high performance engines. Teams, which are made up of five students plus an instructor/coach, must properly disassemble and reassemble the engine with aftermarket components in the least amount of time. Winning students earn scholarship money for college.
“We weren’t nervous at SEMA, we just did what we practiced and took it home,” said Melendez, who has won over $20,000 in scholarships through her participation in the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow program.
Since its inception, the Hot Rodders program has worked hard to help grow a future base of performance enthusiasts for the motorsports and auto industry.
“My primary concern is that the people at the race track and in this industry as a whole are getting older,” said 40-year industry veteran Jim Bingham, chairman of Hot Rodders of Tomorrow. “You don’t see much young blood, and I wanted to create an avenue for bringing youth into the automotive aftermarket.”
Along with Bingham, automotive aftermarket industry pioneer Vic Edelbrock took an immediate interest in Hot Rodders. After witnessing the Hot Rodders competition five years ago, Edelbrock and daughter Christi were hooked on the program and helped expand the concept across the country.
“We are so proud to support these kids; providing an opportunity and changing lives is what it’s all about,” said Christi Edelbrock, VP of Business Development for Edelbrock. “It is our mission and passion to continue to grow this program by supporting America’s youth wherever and whenever possible.”
To date, Hot Rodders of Tomorrow has fostered a total of 152 teams in eight divisions consisting of 1,064 students from across the country and has raised more than $3.5 million in scholarship money. Twenty-three manufacturing sponsors are a part of the program.
The program also gives instructors an opportunity to grow enthusiasm in their school’s auto tech program.
According to Loara High School auto tech instructor Russ Bacarella, who trains the school’s Hot Rodders of Tomorrow team, any high school student can get involved.
“They don’t need to know how to use a ratchet or torque wrench coming in,” Bacarella said. “What I look for is dedication, a mindset that no matter what happens, they’ll continue to do their best. Our goal is to get the kids where they want to be. The youth really are our future, and we need to get them a trade, a skill, a profession and get them working.”
In addition to scholarship money and the championship title, NASCAR Performance and Edelbrock included a trip to Charlotte, N.C. for NASCAR Acceleration Weekend as part of the prize package for the Loara High School championship-winning team.
“The Acceleration Weekend is just a natural fit to show the students the passion and enthusiasm of our industry,” Edelbrock said. “It’s a great opportunity to show them what NASCAR is all about, the culture, the history, the shops and technology.”
For young automotive enthusiasts like Melendez, it was an opportunity to showcase her talents.
“I do the left side of the engine head,” explained Melendez, during a break from performing for NASCAR fans at the Preview event. “Then, after the engine is torn apart, I begin with the bottom reassembly. I put all the rod caps on, tighten them all down and torque them all down in sequence.”
“Then I help with whatever the boys are behind on,” she joked.
Jokes aside, Melendez is making it as woman in a place that’s traditionally very much a man’s world.
“The possibilities of what the automotive industry holds for these kids—guys and gals—as far as job placement and a career are endless,” Edelbrock said. “The kids can get focused on what the future holds for them, and to see these kids focused on a career in our industry is just second to none.”
During NASCAR Acceleration Weekend, Melendez and her teammates also attended the 2012 NASCAR Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and participated in a meet and greet with 2012 inductee Junior Johnson. They also toured NASCAR Technical Institute, the NASCAR R&D Center and Stewart-Haas Racing to gain valuable insight into what it takes to become a NASCAR team member.
“We’re from the other side of the country and this is new to all the kids,” Bacarella said. “They are seeing the magnitude of NASCAR and they understand there is a demand for their skill set. To see industry people like Doug Yates come up, high-five these kids and be truly impressed with their engine building talent gives them a great deal of confidence.”
“My dream job is in automotive,” Melendez said. “After seeing pit crew practice and the guys working in the shop at Stewart-Haas Racing, well, it’s just amazing what they do. They were fabricating everything by hand. They were all working together as a team just like we do.”
For Melendez, following dear ole dad’s advice continues to pay dividends.
“Going to exhibitions and seeing all the amazing cars, having relationship with the sponsors. I say thank you a million times to Hot Rodders and Edelbrock.”
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Top 20 Countdown: No. 14 AJ Allmendinger (Yahoo! Sports)
January 31, 2012
Editor’s note: Yahoo! Sports is counting down the top 20 drivers of the 2012 season, as predicted by the Yahoo! Sports NASCAR staff – Jay Hart, Jay Busbee, Nick Bromberg and Geoffrey Miller. The countdown will conclude Feb. 17 with the unveiling of the No. 1 driver.
(Getty Images) 2011 statistics Finish Poles Wins Top 5 Top 10 15 0 0 1 10 The countdownNo. 20: Marcos Ambrose | Career statsNo. 19: Kurt Busch | Career statsNo. 18: Martin Truex Jr. | Career statsNo. 17: Juan Pablo Montoya | Career statsNo. 16: Jeff Burton | Career statsNo. 15: Clint Bowyer | Career statsNo. 14: A J Allmendinger | Career statsNo. 13: Revealed Wednesday, Feb. 1
2011 finish: 15th
Our 2012 predictions:• Jay Hart: 16th • Jay Busbee: 12th• Nick Bromberg: 15th• Geoffrey Miller: 13th
Crew chief: Todd Gordon
Offseason action: Moved from Richard Petty Motorsports to Penske Racing.
2012 outlook: There was no bigger winner this offseason than AJ Allmendinger. There’s also no bigger question mark.
Allmendinger finally landed the ride he’s been dreaming of since leaving the world of open-wheel racing for full-time stock-car racing in 2007. Without question, Penske Racing gives Allmendinger the best shot he’s had to win in this, his fifth Cup season.
But was Allmendinger the right choice for team owner Roger Penske, who opted to part ways with Kurt Busch following the 2011 season?
Ultimately, Allmendinger’s performance will answer that question, but given who was available, he was Penske’s best option. David Ragan and Brian Vickers have slightly better resumés but still remain unproven despite significant time in better equipment, and hiring a soon-to-be 42-year-old David Reutimann isn’t a way to start over. Last season, Allmendinger beat all three of them and made a run at the Chase while driving for an organization that, lately, has been the model of instability.
Though Penske Racing hasn’t released the length of Allmendinger’s deal, team president Tim Cindric said, “If we realize our potential, I think he’ll be our driver for more than one year.”
From that statement, it’s pretty clear Allmendinger’s future with Penske beyond 2012 depends on what he does this season. The opportunity is there, now it’s up to Allmendinger to make the most of it.
Point of interest: Allmendinger has improved his final ranking every year of his career – from 43rd to 36th to 24th to 19th to 15th last season. If he continues that trend, a Chase berth will be very much within reach.
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Jay Hart is the NASCAR editor for Yahoo! Sports. Send Jay a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.
Former F1 driver Sutil convicted for fight (PA SportsTicker)
January 31, 2012
MUNICH (AP) —Former Force India driver Adrian Sutil was convicted on Tuesday of causing grievous bodily harm to a Formula One team owner in a nightclub confrontation in China and given an 18-month suspended sentence.
The Munich district court handed down the verdict and sentence after a two-day trial. The prosecutors asked for a 21-month suspended sentence. Sutil also was fined $262,200, to be paid to charities.
“The defendant knew that he had this glass in his hand. The glass was moving in an intended direction,” judge Christiane Thiemann said in her ruling.
Sutil was charged with causing grievous bodily harm to Renault team executive Eric Lux at a party following Lewis Hamilton’s victory at the China Grand Prix in Shanghai on April 17. Lux needed two dozen stitches after being cut in the neck by a broken glass.
Sutil, in his final statement before the verdict, apologized once again to Lux and said he had not realized he was still holding the glass in his hand at the time of the incident.
“I regret the incident very much. It’s a lesson for me,” Sutil said.
Sutil’s lawyer, Juergen Wessing, argued that Sutil’s action was unintentional and a reflex, but prosecutor Nicole Selzam rejected it as “ridiculous.”
After the verdict, Sutil said he was relieved that the case was over “and that I am in the clear with Eric Lux.”
Sutil talked with Lux on Monday by telephone and another attempt to settle the case fell through on Tuesday before the verdict, according to the dapd news agency.
The German told the court Monday that he had “tried everything” to settle the case out of court, offering “tens of millions” and a charitable donation but was turned down by Lux.
“I’m terribly sorry. I never wanted what happened there to happen,” Sutil said on the first day of the trial.
Sutil said last year he wanted only to spill his drink on Lux, who was part owner of the team now renamed Lotus, and that causing the injury was “unintentional and accidental.”
The 29-year-old Sutil lost his seat at Force India after five seasons to fellow German Nico Hulkenberg in December.
Sutil’s agent, Manfred Zimmermann, said he was hoping his client could land a deal next week to become a test driver for one of the Formula One teams.
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Allmendinger caps big offseason with Daytona win
January 30, 2012
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP)—AJ Allmendinger won five races during the 2006 season in Champ Car, then walked away hoping to launch a new career in NASCAR.
He was at the top of his game when he left open-wheel, and figured he’d make a smooth and successful transition to stock cars.
Instead, he suffered through a miserable five years.
Now, in what seems like a blink of an eye, it has all turned around for Allmendinger.
No driver has had a better offseason than “The `Dinger,” who landed the ride of a lifetime right before Christmas when Penske Racing picked him to fill the seat left suddenly open when the team split with former NASCAR champion Kurt Busch.
Then he opened the 2012 racing season with an impressive victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Allmendinger was the anchor for Michael Shank Racing, and used a gritty final stint—he was behind the wheel almost three hours at the end—to give longtime friend Shank his first victory in nine tries in the prestigious endurance event.
It was Allmendinger’s first major racing victory since he walked away from Champ Car at the end of the 2006 season.
“It’s always cool to be me,” Allmendinger quipped when asked about the last five weeks.
Then he quickly turned serious.
“No, I’m just kidding. The last five years, it’s actually (stunk) to be me.”
It was indeed a struggle as Allmendinger went from the top of one series to the bottom of another.
On paper, a deal with upstart Red Bull Racing seemed too good to pass up. The deep-pocketed team was making its entrance into NASCAR and it wanted Allmendinger to drive one of its two cars.
It was a disaster from the very beginning.
Red Bull wasn’t ready to race in the elite Sprint Cup Series, and even worse, it had no development plan for Allmendinger, who was brand new to stock cars. Most open-wheel drivers have been eased into NASCAR with races in either the second-tier Nationwide Series, the Truck Series, or the non-NASCAR affiliated ARCA Series.
But Allmendinger was thrown right to the wolves, and it became obvious immediately that the team and the driver were in very much above their heads.
Both Allmendinger and teammate Brian Vickers struggled to even qualify for races that season, and missing out on the events further slowed Allmendinger’s development. It didn’t take long for him to wonder if he’d made a huge mistake in moving to NASCAR. But the open-wheel leagues were in turmoil, and not even after the merger of Champ Car with the IndyCar Series did Allmendinger know for sure where he belonged.
He called that 2007 season, “Hell. Honestly, it was the worst year of my life when it came to my career.
“There were plenty of times in my bus on Friday, (after) missing a race, it was either, `Should I go back to IndyCar or slit my wrists?”’ he said. “It sounds kind of over the top, but I knew I wanted to be in the Sprint Cup Series. That’s where the best of the best was. With the two series still split, I had done what I did in Champ Car, and at the point, the IRL wasn’t appealing to me. I had a great opportunity to go to the Sprint Cup Series.
“It was just a tough couple of years. The last few years have been tough.”
He was eventually tossed aside at Red Bull, and landed with Richard Petty Motorsports, where he won a pole and led 232 laps over the last two years. He also became consistent, and notched 10 top-10 finishes, winding up 13th in points when the 12-driver Chase for the Sprint Cup championship field was set.
Even so, his future was unclear.
Best Buy decided to pull its sponsorship from RPM, and the team didn’t have the funding to field a car for Allmendinger. Then Busch split with Penske, and team owner Richard Petty suggested Allmendinger to Roger Penske for his suddenly open seat.
“When you part with a driver with the skills that Kurt has, you don’t just pick up the phone book and find someone who fits into his shoes,” said Penske, who was familiar with Allmendinger’s work in Champ Car.
“He was a great open-wheel driver,” Penske added. “He beat Will Power a couple of times, and you don’t beat Will Power if you’re not a pretty good shoe. We had a couple other people we were looking at, (but) knowing what we could give him and how our sponsors were very happy to have AJ, it was a whole package.”
Now Allmendinger is with a team that won five races last year and put both Busch and Brad Keselowski into the Chase. He knows it’s the opportunity of a lifetime, and hopes Sunday’s win at Daytona is the first of many trips to Victory Lane.
“The last few years have been tough,” he said. “I feel like the last two years I’ve at least gotten a good rhythm, and it makes me feel good to know that a guy like Roger Penske can look at my talent and say, `You know what? He might not have a Cup win and you have (sponsor) Shell/Pennzoil that’s used to winners and champions in their cars, but if we give him the right stuff he might be able to do that.”’
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Menzer: Earnhardt’s responsibilities growing under Letarte (NASCAR.com)
January 30, 2012
Steve Letarte has asked more of Dale Earnhardt Jr. than any crew chief before; both say their bond has helped their growth. (Autostock)
Prior to his pairing with crew chief Steve Letarte last season, the life of Dale Earnhardt Jr., at least at the track on race weekends, was quite simple.
The philosophy, in a nutshell, was to show up and drive. That is all.
Letarte changed that when he moved over to sit upon the pit box of the No. 88 Chevrolet Earnhardt drives for Hendrick Motorsports. Having helped guide veteran Hendrick driver Jeff Gordon to five consecutive Chase berths as Gordon’s crew chief, Letarte had a certain way of going about his business that was unlike anything Earnhardt had previously experienced.
“I never really had anybody ask that much of me as far as a crew chief goes,” Earnhardt said recently at the HMS shop. “They were more like, ‘Just be there with your helmet when it’s time to drive, and be ready to drive.’ But he’s asked me to do other things separate from the driving job itself. He’s got expectations of what he wants me to do as a driver that help him be a better crew chief.”
What has been required of Earnhardt is more of a full-time commitment to the team. He fills out post-race forms just like team engineers do, describing what he believed was going on with the car during certain stages of a race. He sits in on more team meetings—sometimes morning, afternoon and night in between on-track practices.
The public perception often has been that Letarte is a good fit for Earnhardt because the upbeat Letarte is such an open cheerleader in interviews and on the team radio during races. But it turns out his most important attribute is as taskmaster. Upon becoming Earnhardt’s crew chief, he told his driver bluntly that he expected Earnhardt to arrive at the job long before his first practice run and be prepared to stay late on days at the track.
“He wanted me there early,” Earnhardt said. “I was grumbling about it at first, but he just said, ‘That’s the way it is, man.’ … As soon as I got to the truck in the morning, I never left until the day was over with. I never did that my entire career until [last] year. I would go back to my bus in between practices. I was never there early, or did any of those things in the 10 years before that.”
Letarte chuckled when told of Earnhardt’s self-admission about grumbling.
“I guess I didn’t even care about his grumbling, because I didn’t even have to sell [the idea to him]. I just told him, ‘This is the schedule. This is how we’re going to go about our business.’ He never really grumbled to me,” Letarte said. “He was there; he was there on time and ready to work. I appreciate that about him. He’s the ultimate professional—and from everything I’ve seen, I would expect him to continue being the ultimate professional.
“He’s a huge part of the team. He’s the only guy in the car, and we need him to be a part of it. He’s never said anything but ‘Sure, I’ll be there.’ And he’s always said it with a smile on his face.”
The payoff
The hard work paid dividends as Earnhardt made the Chase last year for the first time since 2008—the first year he drove for Hendrick—and finished seventh in the final point standings, his highest finish since fifth in 2006 when he was still driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc. Team owner Rick Hendrick, who orchestrated the move to have Letarte become Earnhardt’s crew chief, insisted that the Letarte-Earnhardt duo has barely scratched the surface of their true dual potential.
“Nothing surprised me, but I never realized what a cheerleader Stevie could be—or how much Junior could take tough love. Stevie knew just when to deliver that, and when to put his arm around him,” Hendrick said. “I think a lot of the other guys were scared of him, and so they would hold it in and then get mad and say something, and then Junior would get mad and we didn’t go anywhere.
“But now Stevie knows exactly when he can pull that trigger, or just riding to the races with him and just how to work on him in more relaxed settings like that. I give Stevie a tremendous amount of credit. They haven’t shown their true potential yet, but I think you’ll see it this year. The communication, the confidence level … I just wish we had put them together earlier on. I had no way of knowing it would be as good as it is.”
And what exactly does Hendrick see as their “true potential?” As good as they were together last year, they never won a race. Earnhardt still hasn’t won since June of 2008 at Michigan, carrying a 129-race winless streak into this season that has to wear on the driver like a set of bad tires that he wishes could have been changed hundreds of pit stops ago.
“I just feel like they’ll win races and they’ll be back in the Chase. I think they’ll be better than they were last year,” Hendrick said. “They made a huge step last year from where they were. We hit on some things at the end of the year that they really liked. It’s amazing how close these cars can be, but then how different some of the setups need to be from driver to driver. Sometimes it takes a while to get all of that to fall into place.
“I just feel like the relationship between those two … Stevie is not going to lay down; he’s not going to accept Junior not being [a true pro]. And Junior needs that confidence that his crew chief is doing what he needs to do, and not slacking off because Junior’s maybe in a bad mood or he doesn’t want to do what the crew chief wants him to do that day. Stevie, that just rolls right off his shoulders. He doesn’t care about that. The mutual respect is unbelievable there.”
What’s next?
Letarte said one of the keys to his developing such a trusting relationship with Earnhardt so quickly is that he refused to buy into anyone else’s perception of the situation before he stepped in to form his own opinions. Even though he had worked at Hendrick since 1995, when he was only 16 years old, and obviously knew a great deal about Earnhardt, Letarte’s first opinion was that you never really know a man until you get close to him.
“I personally never asked anyone their opinion of Dale Jr., nor did I listen to anything about him that was ever offered to me,” Letarte said. “I went to Dale Jr. and introduced myself as if we had never met, and we started the process with a completely blank slate. So I had no expectations of what he would be like, and I think he’s been great. … I had no other expectations other than my expectations of his commitment and what I expected him to do as a race car driver. But I had no other expectations based on past history.
“In my opinion, when you line up on Sunday with 43 cars on the grid, what you did yesterday or last week or even how many championships you’ve won, it doesn’t matter. Forty-three guys have a chance to win the race.”
As it so happened , Letarte and Earnhardt became fast friends away from the track as well as clicking as coworkers on it.
“It’s just very easy to spend time around him, and I think he thinks the same of me,” Letarte said. “We get along really well. We’re friends. He spends time with me and my family. He respects what’s important to me, and I respect what’s important to him. We have a level of respect between us that all great friendships are built upon, and I think we have one.
“It’s very hard to go into battle with someone when you don’t have a great foundation. I don’t think you have to be friends, but you have to respect one another. Fortunately, we are friends—but we also respect one another. I never question his desire; I hope he never questions mine. That allows us to go into battle and when things get tough, we can be very matter of fact about what the issue is—and not have to work through a whole bunch of other mud to get there.”
Earnhardt added simply, “We seemed to really click right from the get-go.”
As for this year, they’ll again play summer basketball together—Earnhardt is a “decent shooting guard” and the much taller Letarte more of an inside force. They’ll also probably cook out once or twice and hang out. But in between all that, and much more importantly, they expect to be more competitive than ever on the race track. Earnhardt said he’s even looking forward to those early-morning skull sessions in the garage on race weekends.
“I understood once we got to doing it that I found that place enjoyable and that I wanted to be there,” Earnhardt said. “It’s been good. He’s an easy guy to be around. None of this works is he doesn’t have the right personality. He deserves a lot of credit. He took on a tough job here; it’s a tough little gig for him. But he’s done well with it so far.
“I don’t ask a whole lot of him other than not to change. The guy he was last year was perfect. The more of that, the better.”
The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.
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Top 20 Countdown: No. 15 Clint Bowyer (Yahoo! Sports)
January 30, 2012
Editor’s note: Yahoo! Sports is counting down the top 20 drivers of the 2012 season, as predicted by the Yahoo! Sports NASCAR staff: Jay Hart, Jay Busbee, Nick Bromberg and Geoffrey Miller. The countdown will conclude Feb. 17 with the unveiling of the No. 1 driver.
(Getty Images) 2011 statistics Finish Poles Wins Top 5 Top 10 13 0 1 4 16 The countdownNo. 20: Marcos Ambrose | Career statsNo. 19: Kurt Busch | Career statsNo. 18: Martin Truex Jr. | Career statsNo. 17: Juan Pablo Montoya | Career statsNo. 16: Jeff Burton | Career statsNo. 15: Clint Bowyer | Career statsNo. 14: Revealed Tuesday, Jan. 31
2011 finish: 20th
Our 2012 predictions:• Jay Hart: 15th• Jay Busbee: 13th • Nick Bromberg: 15th• Geoffrey Miller: 18th
Crew chief: Brian Pattie
Offseason action: New everything – team (Michael Waltrip Racing), crew chief (Pattie), crew and sponsor (5-hour Energy).
Outlook for 2012: Bowyer’s where-will-he-end-up was one of the major personnel stories of the 2011 season, and his eventual union with Michael Waltrip Racing brought a marquee-level driver to an organization that had long needed just such a talent infusion.
Bowyer had the best runs of his year at Talladega, winning the fall race and losing in the closest finish in NASCAR history in the spring one. Other than that, his results were fair-to-middling across the board, with four top 5 finishes and 16 top 10s, spread out almost equally across the entire season. Once again, he failed to make the Chase by a narrow margin, a wreck courtesy of Juan Pablo Montoya in Atlanta serving as the final nail in the coffin of his Chase hopes.
Still, Bowyer’s a talented driver, one that gives MWR an instant upgrade. He’ll have to please his new sponsor 5-hour Energy – Michael Waltrip expects that of all his drivers – but Bowyer’s got the Midwestern demeanor to do exactly that. If he lives up to his promise, this could be a strong year for him and Waltrip both.
Point of interest: Bowyer will have a completely new team, which is always a tricky business to integrate. He’ll have former Montoya crew chief Brian Pattie atop the box for him, who’ll serve as a calming asset for a driver who’s proven he’s not afraid to criticize his crew. Beyond that, we won’t know what we don’t know until Daytona, and probably not even then.
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Allmendinger leads Michael Shank Racing to win
January 29, 2012
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP)—The little team with no pedigree knocked off thebig boys with all those championships.
Michael Shank Racing did it with a pair of drivers hoping Sunday’s victoryin the Rolex 24 at Daytona is the kickoff to their career comebacks.
NASCAR driver AJ Allmendinger closed out the twice-around-the-clock win bypiloting the No. 60 Ford Riley for the final stint, a nearly three-hour drivethat included some door-to-door banging with Allan McNish for the lead.
It was Allmendinger’s first win in a major series in almost six years, andcomes about a month after he landed the job of a lifetime with Roger Penske’sNASCAR team.
“I feel very fortunate,” Allmendinger said. “This is one of the reasonswhy I love this race, because it really kicks off SpeedWeeks. It’s such aprestigious race. It’s one of those races you want on your resume and you wantto say that you were part of a victory.
“It’s amazing. I’m going to cherish this.”
IndyCar Series driver Justin Wilson, meanwhile, turned in his own strongperformance with a three-hour drive during the morning hours that proved he’shealthy—but more importantly, he’s still fast—after a six-month layoffbecause of a broken bone in his back. Wilson announced recently he’s reunitingwith Dale Coyne Racing for the upcoming IndyCar season.
“Hopefully this is the start of a good season,” Wilson said. “We justhave to work it out. I think it’s going to be an exciting year. I’m reallylooking forward to it.”
Allmendinger was suffering from severe leg cramps at the end of the race,and had to be helped from the car in Victory Lane. While waiting to start thepost-race news conference, he rested his head on a chair with his eyes closed.
The two paired with Grand-Am regulars Ozz Negri Jr. and John Pew to giveShank its first win in one of the most prestigious sports car races in theworld. Shank, who had a second entry that finished third, was nearly in tears inDaytona’s storied Victory Lane.
“I am just grateful,” he said of winning the 50th running of the 24-hourrace. It was Shank’s ninth attempt to win Daytona.
Allmendinger was suffering from severe leg cramps at the end of the race,and had to be helped from the car in Victory Lane. While waiting to start thepost-race news conference, he rested his head on a chair with his eyes closed.
“I’m beat. I’m cramping all over,” he said nearly two hours after the raceended. “I’ve never felt anything like this. But it’s a good feeling.”
Wilson said he had cramping in his legs and lower back, but said it wasunrelated to the broken vertebrae he suffered in an August accident at Mid-Ohio.He had to wear a protective shell for almost three months after the accident.
Ryan Dalziel was at the wheel for Starworks Motorsport’s second-placefinish, and Felipe Nasr was driving for Shank when he crossed the line in third.Ford swept the top three spots of the Daytona Prototype class, and won the racefor the first time since 1999.
It required holding off the vaunted teams from Chip Ganassi Racing, whichfinished fourth and sixth after both cars had mechanical issues.
IndyCar driver Scott Dixon was driving during the middle of the night whenthe shifter broke in the No. 02 BMW Riley. It put that car four laps down duringthe repair time, and long green flag runs prevented the team from making up thelaps fast enough to get back into contention.
NASCAR driver Juan Pablo Montoya was behind the wheel when the “star car”— the lineup also included IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti and NASCAR driverJamie McMurray—crossed the finish line one lap down, in fourth.
Meanwhile, the defending race winner group of Grand-Am champions ScottPruett, Memo Rojas, IndyCar driver Graham Rahal and sports car standout JoeyHand finished sixth, down four laps. Pruett was running inside the top threeheaded into the final hour, but a late gearbox issue took the defendingchampions out of contention.
“It was an epic race,” Ganassi said. “We just weren’t a part of it. Westruggled the whole 24 hours to keep pace with the Fords. It was a stretch forus to do it.”
The Ganassi drivers noted many times the Ford were far superior inhorsepower, and it was obvious in how the competition drove away from a Ganassicar every time a battle for position reached the oval portion of Daytona’scourse.
“All you have to do is have a pair of eyes and see what’s going on. We hada pretty big deficit in power,” Pruett said. “We kind of knew where we were ata third, halfway into the race. They could have us. We couldn’t match theirpace. They were running a half mph faster than we were easily.”
Andy Lally, NASCAR’s rookie of the year last season in the elite Sprint CupSeries, marked his return to sports car racing with a victory in the GrandTouring class for Magnus Racing.
Lally struggled through his NASCAR season, but loved every minute of racingstock cars, even though he’s now back in sports cars this year.
“Knowing how tough it was going to be, I’d do it all over again,” Lallysaid. “As tough as it was and as humbling as it was and as much of an underdogas you could be, we were, but it was still a blast. And to come back and drivewith talents like (this) … is cool trying to transition back into it and getback in the swing of things right off the bat.”
The race marked the debut of the Corvette in Prototypes, and the Ferrari andAudi in GT. The highest finishing Corvette was Action Express Racing, whichwound up fifth.
The top finishing Ferrari was from Risi Competizione, at fifth in GT. Thehighest Audi was APR, at 31st in GT.
The Corvettes suffered a huge blow less than an hour into the race when theSunTrust Racing entry blew its engine.
“It’s really disappointing but at the same time this is what happens inthis game,” team owner Wayne Taylor said.
IndyCar driver Marco Andretti was a last-minute addition to the StarworksMotorsport team, and arrived at Daytona after a two-day test session for IndyCarat Palm Beach International Raceway. He had to be treated for dehydration afterhis final stint in the car.
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SunTrust out, Gainsco in trouble at Rolex 24
January 29, 2012
DAYTONA BEACH, Florida (AP)—One former Grand-Am champion was knocked out ofthe Rolex 24 at Daytona less than an hour into the race, and another lostseveral laps a quarter of the way into the twice-around-the-clock event.
Max Angelelli took the No. 10 Chevrolet to the garage with an engine issue25 minutes into the race. The team sent the car back out after a few minutes,but Angelelli was back in the garage for good moments later in the 50th runningof the prestigious sports car event.
About five hours later, Alex Gurney took the No. 99 Chevrolet behind thewall after hitting something on the road course and puncturing a hole in theradiator.
Gurney, a two-time series champion and two-time race champion along withco-driver Jon Fogarty, lost four laps during repairs. Their Gainsco Racing teamis the one five-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson has driven for in recentyears. Gurney, Fogarty and Johnson finished 15th last year.
Angelelli started second in the race that began Saturday afternoon. He andteammate Ricky Taylor will still earn points because Angelelli completed 30minutes of racing, but it will leave them in a huge hole following Grand-Am’sseason-opening race.
“We’ve never had an engine problem in all the time we’ve run the Chevroletengine program, so this is the first time,” team owner Wayne Taylor said.“There was truly nothing we were worried about. In fact, this is probably theone 24 Hour we all felt—the only thing we were worried about was traffic, andwe didn’t have any issues. Really caught us by surprise.”
The engines are made by NASCAR’s Earnhardt Childress Racing organization.Taylor said the problem was in the valve train, and was “catastrophic.”
Angelelli and Wayne Taylor won the Grand-Am championship in 2005, and havefinished second in the standings the last two seasons to the Chip Ganassi Racingteam of Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas. The SunTrust team also won the 24-hour racein 2005.
Ricky Taylor said it will be difficult for the SunTrust team to get backinto the championship race because the Daytona Prototype class is so large inthis race, adding that the last-place finish will hurt more than if it happenedin another event.
“There’s 14 cars. It is hard to make up points,” he said. “The 24 Hour,we always have the most cars of any race, so we are losing more points than wecan gain in any other single race. We’ll just have to go out there and pick upwhere we left off at the end of last season and just win a lot of races.”
The failure also cost IndyCar driver Ryan Briscoe a shot at driving in theevent.
“It is just tremendously disappointing,” Briscoe said. “The effort thateveryone on the whole team put in and Wayne, Max, Ricky, the engineers, all themechanics—this is a big race for this whole team and proud to be a part of it.Still am. It hurts right now not to have a shot at winning the 50th.”
The two cars from the Ganassi organization are expected, as always, tocontend for the DP victory. An engine problem kept the Pruett and Rojas entryfrom qualifying, and Pruett started the race 13th in the field.
But he began picking off cars at the drop of the green flag, and had the No.01 BMW Riley out front before his driving stint was over. Graham Rahal and JoeyHand are also part of that team.
Ganassi’s other car, the No. 02, has NASCAR drivers Juan Pablo Montoya andJamie McMurray, and IndyCar drivers Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon, whostarted the race.
McMurray followed Dixon in the car, and had a slight incident on track withthe No. 01 car when Rojas was driving his stint.
McMurray said he expected Rojas to give him more room on the track.
“I caught Memo, I was running a little bit quicker than he was, evenoutside traffic,” McMurray said. “I got beside him two or three times and Ikind of expected him to let me go, and he didn’t. And then I got, I felt like awheel in front of him going into the kink and thought, `Well, he’ll for sure letme go now.’ And he didn’t, so we came together through the kink. It is what itis.
“You don’t really expect anybody to give you something, but when it’s yourteammate and it’s 20 hours to go, I kind of thought he would give me that. Iguess I shouldn’t expect anything like that.”
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