I was sitting watching the Emco Gears Classic Grand-Am Rolex race when the announcers spoke that they were going to a commercial break. A pause came about when one of the announcers told of official news that he had just heard, Scott Kalitta, an NHRA Funny Car driver, died today during qualifying.
I did a little more research and found out that Scott's funny car crashed and burst into flames, one source says that his engine exploded and flung his car down the track. He was pronounced dead due to numerous injuries that occurred from the accident.
The qualifying session was going on in Englishtown Raceway Park in Englishtown, NJ.
Scott Kalitta was 46 and had two Top Fuel Championships in his trophy case and 18 victories throughout his career. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Scott's family and friends.
Auto racing running with a new Porsche engine in their Daytona Prototype and limited practice time, David Donohue waited until the final minutes of qualifying to shatter the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course track record in qualifying for the EMCO Gears Classic presented by KeyBank, Round 8 of the 2008 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 season.
Competitors will take the green flag Saturday at 5:10 p.m. ET (live, SPEED). The race will run 250 miles, 111 laps on the 2.258-mile circuit, with a two hour, 45-minute time limit.
It was the series-leading third pole position of the season for Donohue, who co-drives the No. 58 Brumos Racing DP Porsche Riley with Darren Law. His fastest lap came on his ninth of the 15-minute session
"During our first practice session today, we had a wheel bearing fail and had to change an upright. That's why we spent most of the session in the garage," said Donohue, who won his eighth Daytona Prototype pole. "Then, we changed engines before the second and final practice, and got in only one lap at the end. Altogether, Darren and I each got in about four hot laps each today. I was very pleasantly surprised to win the pole, because we really didn't get to do much to the car today. It's almost the way it rolled off the truck. But the crew really worked hard to do it - they didn't get a break all day today."
Donohue broke Jon Fogarty's year-old Daytona Prototype track record of 1:18.374, 103.718 mph. Fogarty qualified second, running a lap of 1:17.885, 104.369 mph, in the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley.
The 24 Heures du Mans 2008 happened this past weekend. It was the 75th running of the classic race held at the all too famous Le Mans circuit in France.
It was a pretty crazy race with the race starting in sunny conditions. Then during the second half of the race i when the rain came down and starting making things ugly. 55 cars started the race and only 35 finished. That is the nature of Le Mans. It is an endurance track. A new record was set though. In 2006 the winning Audi set the all time record for most laps in the 24 hour time from, with 380. This year Audi and Peugeot both finished on the same lap, except in 381 laps total. One more than the previous record. It was a great race with three Peugeot 908 HDi's starting the race in a 1, 2, 3 fashion, they ended the race with the lap record setter crossing the line in 2nd place behind the #2 Audi R10 TDI, masterfully driven by Allan McNish, Rinaldo Capello and Tom Kristensen.
In GT1 a win by the Aston Martin DBR9 showed that Aston is eagerly coming back to its true roots of motor racing. Unfortunately the C6.R Corvette's couldn't overtake the 009 Gulf Oil Aston. Although, the number 63 Corvette of Jan Magnussen, Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell, finished on the same 341st lap that the 009 DBR9 did.
LMP2 saw a newcomer, Van Merksteijn Motorsport, with a Porsche RS Spyder that had a wicked purple and white paintjob that showed up every P2 car along with a host of P1 cars... Talk about beating the competition.
As a note, the Flying Lizard Motorsports team that Darren Law races for in ALMS finished 6th in their GT2 class. Unfortunately Darren was not driving for them this race, otherwise they would have won their clas, at the least.
Congratulations to the great drivers and teams that made it through. For the guys who didn't make it, better luck next year fella's.
Here is the breakdown of the overall, LMP1, LMP2, GT1 and GT2 race results. Overall:
51. It’s an age that is too old for professional Baseball, Basketball, Football and even Soccer. But that’s because those sports only require one ball. Didier Theys is still racing professionally. He is a young, older gentleman with experience and a great heart. I talked to the legend himself extensively the other day, and it’s quite obvious, and nothing short of amazing, that after 31 seasons, he still has the same passion and motivation that he had when he wanted to start driving race cars when he was 12 years old.
If you were to take a look at Didier Theys’ career, you would realize that this man has six driver championships won between five different racing series’. He has the speech of a northern American,fast and whole heartedly. Except that he’s from Belgium. At one point he could hear me typing over the phone and asked if I needed him to slow down. I didn’t even have to ask that many questions, and all I could really say was “Thank you for being so honest and upfront”, to which he replied one time, “There are no secrets in this sport.” I loved every second of it.
He was born and raised in Nivelles, Belgium and started racing go-karts when he was 16 years old. Where by today’s standards, you need to start karting when you are 8 and have a full team and move up from there. By the time he was 20 he had moved up into the racing car world. Even more so, he was a one man show, like many dedicated drivers of his day. He did it all himself. He was his own mechanic, engineer,pit crew, driver, water boy, and what else you can think of. What takes tons of support crew these days; he was able to do without. Theys told me that he had to take out a bank loan when he was 20 to be able to finance his first season in Formula Ford. Quite amazing by today’s standards.
Today drivers are picked and thrown away as many times as possible. Didier has proven to be an incredible force in racing, and for so many years. He has raced in cars from BMW, Ferrari, Maserati, Porsche, Formula Ford, Audi and plenty of others.
Remember the old Ferrari 333 SP Le Mans racer? Yeah? Well, Didier holds the record for the most starts at 75 for six years. He also won 12 times, took 13 second place finishes and 7 third place finishes. That means that he was on one of the podium steps 30 times with the Ferrari 333 SP… He drove the Ferrari in both ALMS and European LMS for three different teams, Doran Racing, Scandia and Horag Racing.
I was able to talk to him about the good ole’ Scuderia. He said that it was an incredible experience to drive that car every time, and that even though the factory was not “officially” involved, they were still incredibly supportive and sent him to their Fiorano test track many times to test his race car. At 12 wins in the Ferrari 333 SP, he has the most race wins of any 333 driver.
Didier also enjoyed piloting the BMW E30 M3, the winningest touring car ever, in 1987, the first year of the M3 program. He said that “BMW’s approach was a pioneer in factory sports car racing.” They used three private teams that they supported, and “That was the best, for a factory to use private teams” he said. Of course I had to ask how good the old M3 was. I’m a BMW fanboy, what can I say?
I remember watching Mr.Theys rock the 12 hours of Sebring this year. I had no idea that I would be talking to him a few months after. He was driving the Horag Racing Porsche RS Spyder, the same one he is piloting over in Europe in the LMS. I made a statement about how I believe that the RS Spyder is the most beautiful race car in the sports car world, and he literally jumped on that comment and agreed 100%, even for driving it is the best he said. There is no doubt that his love of Porsche is as great as his career stats. He, along with myself, love the red and white design of his number 27 Porsche. He told me that David Hotz, who is the son of Markus Hotz, the race team owner and manager, did the design, and did it amazingly we both agreed.
Theys went on to tell me his true respect for Markus Hotz, he said that the relationship between the drivers and the owner is so great since Mark is an ex-driver himself. So he understands and can relate to his drivers a lot better than most team managers.Horag Racing is a Swiss team.
Currently you can see the Swiss team battling in the European LMS. They are in 3rd place right now, in their LMP2 class, and quickly moving up to 2nd, with only 5points to go and 11 points to go into first. The RS Spyder had a tire puncture and body damage this past race in Barcelona, Spain, but he and his team still managed a 5th place finish. Didier went on to say that it was much more difficult to win overall on the European tracks because they are so much longer and higher speed tracks. He said that in America, especially at Mid-Ohio, Houston and tracks with smaller corners, it is much easier to win overall against the fastest class LMP1 because of the shorter length of the circuits.
Didier Theys these days resides in Arizona. Just in case you didn’t know, that’s in the United States, not his native Belgium. I asked why? He simply told me that he loves it over here.
I asked Didier whether he liked American or European racing better. He simply replied with that he liked both a lot, and that the Euro LMS is the exact same as the American LMS, except over in Europe they have to tack on about 50 lbs more to the cars and use 10Lless of fuel. Although, he went on to say “I miss American racing. I love the atmosphere and love doing Sebring.” He did say that the European cars are similar to the American scene for the quality of the teams. But, it is much friendlier over here he said. He told me that even though the international racing language is English, there are so many barriers over in Europe because of the cultural differences and the different languages from country to country, but that over here everyone speaks the same language.
Horag Racing’s next race is the Grand Prix circuit of the Nürburgring. I asked Didier, being from Belgium, how he liked the race. And he said “The Grand Prix circuit is not the most challenging, but it's still nice.” He continued to say “The crowd is good with enthusiasts, and brings a lot of Belgians, since it’s only about a two hour drive.” I had to ask, seeing as I am a ‘Ring enthusiast.
We started to get on the topic of technology in race cars. I asked what he preferred better, manual transmissions or paddle shifters, I barely got the question out before he answered “Paddle shifters!” “They have been using them in Formula 1 for 15 years and sports cars for 12.” “The Audi R8 was one of the first to use them. And I drove it in 1999, but had no issues for the new technology” Didier said. He went on to say “Paddle shift is the best improvement in the past 12 years… No driver can over-rev and engine when downshifting.” He continued with “You can’t miss a shift. You can’t really blow an engine up. You control the wear of the gearbox much better when being able to upshift and downshift.” We also talked about the Carbon brakes that are equipped on the race cars these days, and he was quick to tell me the that the Carbon brakes that his Porsche RS Spyder started the season with, will be ending the season with the same set! That is amazing.
One of the funnier things, and something that shocked me a little, while at the same time not really surprising me, was the fact that the race cars in the 80’s were so hard to drive, he said. He told me that Le Mans in 1985 with his Porsche; it had no power steering, low downforce, and made you so physically exhausted after three laps or so. He made a joke that even Arnold Schwarzenegger would not be able to do it for much longer than a racer could.
As the conversation pushed on, it was obvious that this man has the type of love for racing that an enthusiast does. He is a driving instructor and enjoys it as much as he does racing. So not only is Didier Theys an accomplished race car driver, he is training people how to drive better and helping to bring up more talent. What a man.
I asked Didier how he feels about being paid to be a professional driver, and he told me how lucky he is to have been paid to be a driver for 25 years. He knows that it isn’t easy to make a living off of racing, and he appreciates every day that he drives and every accomplishment he has in his trophy case.
I asked Mr. Theys quite possibly the hardest question that he has ever been asked, what is his favorite race track? Easy he says, “The one I win at.” He said that it didn’t matter whether the car was pink or purple, but that if he won races in it, he loved it.
We finished up talking a little bit about his current love for teaching and being a driving instructor at World Class Driving. He said that it is so passionate there. That each person that comes there already loves driving, he does the briefing and there is already a great connection between each person. He especially loves the Bentley Continental GT Speed more than most. He said that for its weight and size that it was so poised and amazingly comfortable. I told him that I was going up to VIR (Virginia International Raceway) at the end of this month with some friends, and he immediately gave me some excellent tips on how to be faster in the corners and more accurate on the track.
Didier Theys is an honorable man. He is an incredibly modest, telling me probably the best reason why he’s been so successful and so determined to be better was his better than most drivers’ understanding of engineering. He has an engineering degree and a mechanical background; this makes him better able to tell his crew what the car is doing right and wrong. The biggest reason though why he has been so great is as simply put as his best quote “determination is the key to competition.” He has the determination that you don’t see in many people these days. He tells me that he doesn’t currently have a contract after next season and will probably retire. The racing world will lose one of its best. But Didier will go on to inspire generations more with his love and true skill in the sport that has provided him such great love and admiration.
I loved it when I asked Didier if he really drove a BMW off the track, he said “It’s just an X5. Nothing too special. I just need something that gets me from point a, to point b safely with my family aboard.” Spoken like the true lively character he is.
Thank you to Didier Theysfor taking the time out of his morning to speak to me. If you have anyinquiries for Didier, you can check out Restart Communications, hisrepresentation company, or you can check out Horag-Racing for more info abouthis great team and him.
In case you didn't know, and if you are reading this you may not have, you can watch Speed Channel's live coverage of the remainder of the 24 hrs of Le Mans from 9 PM to 9:30 AM June 15. Their first half of the live coverage is already over (it ended at 12).
Have no fear for the in between time, you can go to RadioLeMans.com and click on "Listen Live" in red on the top of the left hand tool bar. It is slightly hard to see and/or find, but just keep looking on the top left side of the page. Radio Le Mans has live 24 hour radio coverage right on your computer. I wish there was video, but you can at least hear everything.
Auto racing Peugeot set such a quick pace in the first qualifying session for this weekend's LeMans 24 Hours, the Audis appeared to be standing still. Stephane Sarrazin, in the No.8 car, lapped eight seconds quicker than last year's pole time with a best of 3:18.513. Teammate Franck Montagny put the No.9 car just one tenth of a second behind, and Nicolas Minassian completed a lockout of the top three.
Seven-time winner Tom Kristensen set the quickest Audi time in the No.2 R10 TDi, but his lap was nearly six seconds off the pace of the lead Peugeots in the top LMP1 class.
In LMP2, Porsche works driver Sascha Maassen was third in Team Essex’s Porsche RS Spyder at 3:36.853, 1.5 seconds behind the leading Barazi Epsilon Zytek. Maassen is Long’s teammate at Penske in the American Le Mans Series.
Corvette Racing’s two factory Corvette C6.Rs sat second and third in GT1. Oliver Gavin was the quickest Corvette driver at 3:51.461 (nearly a half-second behind the class-leading Labre Saleen S7R of Christophe Bouchut). Next was Jan Magnussen in the sister Corvette at 3:52.361 with Aston Martin Racing’s David Brabham a further half-second back.
In GT2 American Porsche factory driver Patrick Long went quickest at 4:00.793 in the IMSA Performance Porsche 911 GT3 RSR that won last year’s race. Long, who drives a Porsche RS Spyder for Penske Racing in the States, was just 0.291 seconds ahead of the Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche of Jörg Bergmeister, who is driving with Johannes van Overbeek and Seth Neiman. Flying Lizard leads the GT2 championship in the American Le Mans Series and is one of the favorites at Le Mans after winning at Sebring.
Fans of Nascar will want to be in front of their TV to watch the next race on the Nascar racing schedule. This race, held today, is being run at the famous Pocono, Pennsylvania, race track. The track designers have taken the best features of several tracks on the Nascar racing schedule and combined them into creating a two and a half mile tri-oval track at Pocono featuring the longest straightaway on the Nascar racing schedule. This is a Nascar race featuring speeds over two hundred miles per hour and this translates into great excitement for the fans and spectacular crashes. The Nascar teams face several issues when the Nascar racing schedule leads them to Pocono. First is the high speeds and do they have the proper gearing and horsepower to compete. Then the ugly issue of tire wear and durability comes into play along with closely monitoring the gas millage of the race car to insure you do not run out of fuel on the last lap or two. I have seen potential winning drivers run out of fuel on the last lap at this track and this is a miscalculation that could cost a driver and his team the Nascar championship.
You may be an amateur, hobbyist or professional. Or maybe you're a major fan who has the Nascar racingschedule memorized, but would like to take your hobby to another level. Street car racing is an exciting sport, for both the spectators and the drivers on the track. It takes a high level of disposable income to seriously takepart in street car racing, as well as the auto racing supplies. It's vital to invest in auto racing supplies. Manyauto racing supplies are considered mandatory in auto racing. The most important aspect to consider whenpurchasing auto racing supplies is the level of safety it provides.
The following products are needed when seeking auto racing supplies: helmets, suits, and gloves. You may want to visit local race shops, order racing apparel catalogs, and online catalogs in order to get a good idea of what you may want or need from auto racing supplies. It's highly important to take into account the proper fit for your auto racing supplies. For example, if you're ordering a suit, key areas that must be measured in a precise fashion are the following: shoulder width, rise from waist to shoulder blades, and the width of the center of your back and sleeve length.
Congratulations Darren and the rest of the Brumos team!
Just a quick thing to share with you guys here, Darren Law, the Porsche racing driver that I interviewed a couple of weeks back raced Watkins Glen yesterday with hi Brumos Porsche team. Well, Law and his teammate David Donohue were able to nab second place, just behind Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas in their Lexus Riley Prototype.
Stay tuned for a post race interview with our man Darren.
Le Mans is a difficult track for anyone. Whether you've been there 1 time or a million times, it can still get the best of you, especially when it's raining.
Marc Gene found that out over the weekend when he, in his Peugeot 908 HDi, went flying during a 24 hours of Le Mans practice session. As Autoblog reports, he hit the wall at 120 MPH. That is a hell of a thud. Luckily Marc was alright after the crash.
Watch the video to see a Peugeot take to the air like a golden goose.
Kyle Busch proved his Nascar racing schedule dominance again on Sunday after winning the Best Buy 400. On lap 17 there was an exciting wreck seen above where Tony Stewart along with other drivers were taken out. Car 19 lost control hitting the upper wall around turn 2 leading to the collision of a bunch of cars. The worst part was the remaining cars did not move to the bottom of the track and continued to crash into the cars that were already wrecked.
Busch is leading the Nascar racing schedule points standings by 142 points. Jeff Burton and Dale Earnhardt Jr. follow in second and third. Busch took the lead with 73 laps remaining and that was that. Before his pass for first there was only one other lead change. Fans called it a boring race for the most part and Busch apologized by saying “Sorry if it wasn’t exciting.” He went on to give insight into why he has been doing so well in the Nascar racing schedule by saying “I just want to win everything, man (sports.yahoo.com).”
Auto racing: So a few moments ago I got off the phone with the great Porsche driver for Brumos in Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, Flying Lizard Motorsports in ALMS, and Motorsport Technology Group in Grand-AM Koni Challenge, Darren Law. Yes, he is a busy man. Even with everything that goes on in his life, he still found sometime to call and talk to me about his past race at Lime Rock, and his upcoming Rolex Sports Car races at Watkins Glen and Mid-Ohio.
Darren raced this past weekend in the Koni Challenge at Lime Rock Park for Motorsport Technology Group in a Porsche 997 911. Unfortunately they had an electrical problem in one of their practice sessions, but were able to get the car straightened out and Law ended up finishing 8th with teammate Andrew Davis.
As for his next race, Sahlen’s six hours of the Glen, Darren had some great things to say about Porsche and Watkins Glen the track, in particular. He said that going through the S-curves and the uphill portion of the 3.4 mile track you can hit about 180mph in the #58 Brumos Porsche Riley Prototypeby the end of the back straight. Pushing about 500hp from the Porsche's Naturally Aspirated 3.8L 6-cylinder was one hell of a feat, we both agreed, and one that Porsche seems to do “very well” Mr. Law concluded. Law said that Watkins Glen is a track that he looks forward to all season because of how fun of a track it is to race.
I talked to Darren a little about the following race at Mid-Ohio, or the EMCO Gears Classic, he said that it was going to be a good race; it is a technical track that takes a lot of precision. It seems that the 2.2 mile track is good for theV8 engine cars, as they are able to deal with the lower to mid speed corners due to their bigger power plants. Still though, this does not faze Darren and his Brumos Porsche team. He says that it should be a great race for him and his teammate, David Donohue, who both have great experience and success with this type of track.
One thing I had to know, as a racing enthusiast, was what goes through a driver’s mind while racing. Darren said that his mindset during each session of the racing series is totally different from the other. He said that while practicing he is thinking what exactly the front and rear of the car are doing while taking practice laps around the track. He said he was also thinking how the team can, including himself, find the best compromise between handling and speed. During qualifying, he said, it is much different. “During qualifying, I am thinking about which corners are worth more than others to get the best lap time.” As for the race, he said, “I am not thinking of nailing a corner as much as I am thinking about not making mistakes.”
Darren is a Porsche lover. Not only does he race them professionally, but he drives a 911 himself. He says that there is a noticeable difference in the engines, simply because his street car has a lot less power and RPM’s as his race cars,but as cars, they have a lot of driving passion which doesn’t really change between the street and race cars. They still have their great Porsche driving traits, he said.
Look to Auto Sport Blog to provide race coverage of Darren Law and all of his races, pre and post.
Thanks to Darren Law for taking the time out of his busy schedule to have a fun conversation with me.
In the spring of just about every year, I visit a small Caribbean country that has a passion for street car racing. Once a year the street car racing owners set their vehicles out for display on the block of a local area. They open the hoods and doors and show off the fancy audio equipment and auto racing supplies that each one of their vehicles has added to it. This display goes on for two days and evenings and crowds of fans are on hand to wander through the groups of vehicles and enjoy the features that are on display. One the third day the street car racing begins. There is an area set up for the event and the crowds shift over to the street car racing venue and cheer on their favorites. This is quite a passion for these people and they thoroughly enjoy the street car racing sport. I have enjoyed sharing their passion for street car racing and look forward to my annual visits to see what new vehicles are on display and join in the street car racing activities.
Auto racing: This is something that we have all read about for the past few years. The great one from Spain (Fernando Alonso), the one that beat out the German perfection (Michael Schumacher) for the driver's title two years in a row, was supposedly a Ferrari driver for the past season. This obviously was not the case, as Fernando Alonso was driving for McLaren-Mercedes, and Kimi Räikkönen was the number one man at Ferrari.
Now though, GrandPrix.com has the Spaniard dealing with Ferrari again. Only this time it seems that he has actually inked a deal that lands him at the hands of Scuderia Ferrari in 2010.
I for one never wanted Fernando at Ferrari. I like him as a driver, I think he is brilliant. I think he whines to much when he doesn't win or get his way though... With that being said, who is out as a Ferrari driver? Kimi just won the championship and Felipe Massa is the absolute man. I love watching him drive and hear how excited he gets when he wins, places well, or even just makes it to a race. He holds the racing world to such high regard, as a Brazillian who looks to Ayrton Senna for heroism I can't blame him. He seems to love it at Ferrari and Ferrari seems to love him. If you remember correctly, Massa was the only real Ferrari teammate to Schumi that Schumi didn't mind teaching and lending a hand to. Now with Michael as the driving coach for Ferrari, I think Massa would be staying longer than any other.
Could Kimi be out? Not so fast. Even though Kimi doesn't seem to have any desire for anything. As a Fin he isn't really born with many emotions I think. Ferrari has done very well with Räikkönen since he started there. He is winning races and has scored his first title as a Ferrari driver. He and Massa both are always on each other's heels.
What will happen with this? I personally love watching Kimi and Felipe battle it out with one another, but with that true modest respect for each other. I don't think that it would be that way if Alonso came on board. Just look at what he did when he was with McLaren and thought Lewis Hamilton was getting all of the press... Boo hoo!
This weekend our family enjoyed watching the interesting street car racing in the Speed Racer movie. The movie is a live action movie but with a cartoon feel. The Speed Racer movie is not a cartoon like the television series. The movie has some cool video effects and makes the races seem very exciting. In the movie, the bad guy wants to sponsor Speed Racer and fix the races so Speed will win. And of course, when Speed refuses, the bad guy starts doing mean things to Speed. Speed starts losing the races and doesn't qualify for the 500. Then Racer X asks Speed to do some street car racing. This is the race that had previously killed his big brother. So his father doesn't want Speed to do the street car racing. But Speed wants to hurt the bad guy by winning the street car race. Racer X, Speed Racer and another driver do a great job of beating up the cheaters and winning the race. It turns out that winning this race didn't hurt the bad guy like they wanted. But Speed Racer somehow gets an invitation to the 500 and, well, you have to see the movie to find out the rest and to see the cool street car racing.
NASCAR: KaseyKahne was able to hold off Kyle Busch, and the rest of the gang, for a big win atthe Coca-Cola 600 yesterday. It was one hell of a race seeing Kyle Busch take 3rdplace. He started 1st. It was a decent day for Hendrick as JeffGordon and Dale Jr. were both able to hold onto 4th and 5th,respectively. Jimmie Johnson posted 39th with an engine issue.
Auto racing is a sport that changes drivers, rules, owners, cars, just about as many times as I change my underwear… Every three days. Zing!
Seriously though, in the world of auto racing everything is constantly changing and evolving to be better than the year before.
Now we have a report that Kyle Busch could be the next man to test in Formula 1. Obviously Kyle has had one hell of a season in the Sprint Cup Series of NASCAR with Toyota. Could he be heading to one of Toyota’s current F1 teams? It’s possible. Especially since there is no American representation in F1 at the moment.
If you remember Scott Speed, the American youngin’ who had his shot with Red Bull for a few years, couldn’t really cut the mustard in one of the most grueling and demanding race settings on earth. That isn’t to say that he is no good, he was obviously chosen by the people in F1, which alone says a lot.
Still, is Kyle Busch our next American to head over the pond to challenge what has always been a series that was much more difficult for Americans to drive in? I won’t say whether he can do it or not. He seems to have a great talent in NASCAR, which attracts a lot of attention from European drivers as well.
We all know that Marco Andretti, the son of Michael and grandson of Mario Andretti, could have an easy time getting into Formula 1since he has shown good talent in IRL at the tender age of 21 and great driving ability in Honda F1 tests as well. When Marco tested he was just 1.5s shy of Jenson Button’s fastest lap that day and the next day in the wet he was just 1sshy of Fernando Alonso’s Championship lap of the previous season.
Kyle Busch or Marco Andretti? Which one do you think would be better suited? Or would you prefer Danica Patrick? Personally I love Danica, and not just because she is gorgeous. My theory on women in racing is that if they can deal with it, I can too.
Auto racing: Scott Dixon has become the first driver from New Zealand to win the Indy 500. Dixon was able to hold off Vitor Meira and the young great Marco Andretti to win the 92ndIndy 500.
The 92nd running of the Indy 500 is the first since IRL and Champ Car merged into the Indy Car Series.
Here are the final results of a yellow flag ridden race.
Auto racing: F1 has a rough day in Monaco with the wet weather unfortunately. It turned out to be a crash heavy day. Kimi Räikkönen and Felipe Massa were unable to get it done for Ferrari, as they started at the front in a 1, 2 fashion.
In the spring of just about every year, I visit a small Caribbean country that has a passion for street car racing. Once a year the street car racing owners set their vehicles out for display on the block of a local area. They open the hoods and doors and show off the fancy audio equipment and auto racing supplies that each one of their vehicles has added to it. This display goes on for two days and evenings and crowds of fans are on hand to wander through the groups of vehicles and enjoy the features that are on display. One the third day the street car racing begins. There is an area set up for the event and the crowds shift over to the street car racing venue and cheer on their favorites. This is quite a passion for these people and they thoroughly enjoy the street car racing sport. I have enjoyed sharing their passion for street car racing and look forward to my annual visits to see what new vehicles are on display and join in the street car racing activities. 
This weekend our family enjoyed watching the interesting street car racing in the Speed Racer movie. The movie is a live action movie but with a cartoon feel. The Speed Racer movie is not a cartoon like the television series. The movie has some cool video effects and makes the races seem very exciting. In the movie, the bad guy wants to sponsor Speed Racer and fix the races so Speed will win. And of course, when Speed refuses, the bad guy starts doing mean things to Speed. Speed starts losing the races and doesn't qualify for the 500. Then Racer X asks Speed to do some street car racing. This is the race that had previously killed his big brother. So his father doesn't want Speed to do the street car racing. But Speed wants to hurt the bad guy by winning the street car race. Racer X, Speed Racer and another driver do a great job of beating up the cheaters and winning the race. It turns out that winning this race didn't hurt the bad guy like they wanted. But Speed Racer somehow gets an invitation to the 500 and, well, you have to see the movie to find out the rest and to see the cool street car racing.