Thanks for visiting our Hot News page - news snippets from the world of Auto Racing.  Please visit our Rumors page for all the scuttlebutt.  If you have some news, or can supply more information about one listed here, e-mail us with as much supporting information as possible and we may post it.  User agreement & disclaimer. Newer rumors supercede older ones of the same topic.  Go to our forums to discuss any hot news.  

10/14/00

Christian Fittipaldi swims with the dolphins  Prior to the three day Honda Indy 300, Big Kmart/Route 66 driver Christian Fittipaldi was able to swim with the dolphins at Sea World near the Surfer's Paradise, Queensland, Australia race venue. Fittipaldi was third quick in the morning warm-up prior to starting 9th in the Honda Indy 300 later today.  The race starts in less than 1-hour (12:00 Midnight EST).

10/14/00

AutoRacing1.com condolences to the Tony Roper family  Our condolences go out to the family and friends of NASCAR truck driver Tony Roper who succumbed today to injuries suffered in a violent accident at Texas Motor Speedway yesterday. Roper is the fourth race car driver killed this year. Adam Petty, the 19-year-old grandson of racing legend Richard Petty, died on May 12 after crashing during a practice session for the NASCAR Busch series Busch 200 at New Hampshire International Speedway. On July 7 at the same track, Kenny Irwin was killed in a horrific crash during practice for the NASCAR Winston Cup New England 300. Scott Baker died on June 23 as a result of head injuries suffered in the ARCA 150 at Toledo, Ohio.  All 4 accidents were on oval tracks with no soft walls and none were wearing the HANS Device, mandatory next year in CART (ovals only) and F1.

10/14/00

Saturday Trivia  Keith Andrews was killed at Indy test driving a car owned by what former F1 Champion? Answer: Keith Andrews was testing 1950 World Champion Giuseppi "Nino" Farina's car.  Farina was 50 at the time; Andrews 36 years old. 

10/14/00

For Sale 2001 Daytona 500 Tickets  This is a listing.  See our Classified Ads page for all the details. 

10/14/00

Bobby Rahal Comments Update from Ed Krause 

* His opinion on the FIA's recent declaration that tobacco advertising would not be allowed in FIA-sanctioned motorsports events after 2006. "That's not anything different than what we've known for some time," Rahal said. "Until 2006 we are pretty much as we are today. If I was a betting man, I would say that tobacco advertising and sport will be impossible anywhere after 2006." 

* CART rules require that they announce their new 2003 engine formula by March 2001. "I think we've got to make our engine formula known within the next four or five months. That would give everybody time to prepare for 2003. We just want to make sure we do the right thing. The current formula has been in effect for a long time and we want to get the same kind of longevity from the new formula." 

* CART owners will decide who will take over for him as CART's permanent CEO in early to mid-November. "We don't have a set date."  "We understand there's some time pressure to it, but we want to know we have the right guy. An interviewing process has been going on over the last 30 days. I think in the next 21 days, we'll have a pretty good idea of who my successor will be." 

* RIO Promoter Emerson Fittipaldi thinks a road race will be more appealing to Brazilian fans and Rahal says he agrees with Fittipaldi (Editors Note: we believe that to be the case worldwide).  "Brazilians are much more road racing fans, both Emerson and I felt it would be a better event on the road course, and both of us applied for approval to the FIA through our affiliates in the United States and Brazil. We followed the correct protocol so that the FIA would approve the circuit, and they've done that." 

Earlier
* Interim CART CEO Bobby Rahal, who is about to leave CART to head up the Jaguar F1 team, has said that CART will review the Indy Lights chassis and engine specs for 2002, admitting the current cars don’t bear much relevance to Champ Cars. He said that this would take into account the Formula Atlantic series, so that both the feeder categories were unique to each other.

* Rahal also admitted his concern that there weren’t more US drivers being considered for Champ Car drives, but said that being American doesn’t give you an automatic right to race Champ Cars. ‘Racing has never been about affirmative action. It’s always been about doing the best job. Teams need sponsors, and sponsors want results, so the teams need to get the best drivers, wherever they’re from’.

10/14/00

Seen at Surfers Paradise  II

Left - the track was very wet on Saturday morning.  Right - Curb hopping

10/14/00

Seen at Surfers Paradise I

Left - notice overflow crowd.  Right - Papis & Tracy on rain tires on drying track

10/14/00

Chevron to acquire Texaco  As reported in our forums, Chevron Corp., the third-largest U.S. oil company, reportedly has reopened talks to acquire No. 2 Texaco Inc. for about $37 billion in stock plus the assumption of debt.  The San Francisco-based Chevron was expected to offer about 0.77 of a share, worth $64.87 based on Friday's closing price, for each share of Texaco, The Wall Street Journal reported late Friday, citing a person familiar with the matter.   The companies were attempting to finalize a deal this weekend so a transaction could be announced Monday morning, though significant issues still need to be resolved, the newspaper said   Senior executives apparently have been in talks for several weeks, but negotiations have accelerated in the past few days, the London-based Financial Times reported, citing people close to the companies.  Chevron declined to comment on the stories. A message left after office hours at Texaco's White Plains, N.Y.-based headquarters was not immediately returned.

10/14/00

More from Australia  David Besnard, the 1998 US FF2000 champion, revived his US open wheeler aspirations by winning the first part of the Young Guns challenge. With a test with the Dorricott Indy Lights team as first prize, competition was fierce between the 10 Australian under 25 hotshots who are racing the identical spec Honda (Acura) Integra Type Rs. Having qualified second behind last year’s European Formula Ford champion, Marcus Ambrose, Besnard got the jump at the start and led for the entire race. Christian Jones, son of 1980 F1 world champ Alan Jones, finished second with Ambrose, who missed a gear from the start, finishing third and set the fastest lap.  Besnard returned from America earlier this year after a frustrating season and a half in Formula Atlantic, with sporadic outings with an under financed team. He has signed a multi year deal to race V8 SuperCars in Australia, however has expressed a desire to return to the States to pursue his open wheeler ambitions.

10/14/00

Australia Happenings - Saturday (by Ed Krause)

* Instead of the basic checkered flag bunting, organizers of the Honda Indy 300 Gala Ball promoted a Go Wild, Go Indy theme for this year’s glittering party. The entire room was draped in leopard print material, glittering mirror balls and the end result was the ball hailed as the best ever. The guest list was around 1000 people and the celebrations were enhanced by the headline act, INXS, fronted by Australian Jon Stevens.

* The CART drivers have been given the thumbs up by the local press. Paul Weston from The Gold Coast Bulletin devoted almost an entire page to a glowing tribute to the competitors and teams who visit each year, describing them as good sports and a class act and how our local footballers and sports stars could take a few lessons from the Champ Car stars.

* The Gold Coast went into carnival mode on Friday night, with the Bacardi Carnivale of Colors party and thousands of people dancing in the streets. The festival, with exotic Rio-styled dancing and costumes had over 8000 people partying, with more than 10,000 expected for Saturday night and a $50,000 beach fireworks display set to close the show.

* Actor Meredith Monroe had a hot lap in a V8 SuperCar with Australian touring car legend and ex Formula 1 driver Larry Perkins, but unfortunately it was cut short by a crash on the circuit. The Dawsons Creek star was strapped in and ready to go, but unfortunately the track was being repaired from an earlier accident, so a full lap wasn’t possible.  ‘We weren’t in the car long enough to go really fast, but the take off was like flying. My eyes were wide open and I was laughing’ related Monroe after her abbreviated flying lap.

* Local Gold Coast girl Amy Erbacher won the coveted Bartercard Miss Indy 2000 title last night from a field of 26 of the hottest young girls in Australia. The 22 year old model triumphed over young West Australian student and model Catherine Gobby. Erbacher had returned from a modeling trip in Europe to compete in the sports model search and now will enjoy the prize of a $10,000 modeling contract, a jet ski, jewelry and clothes.

* Queensland Premier Peter Beattie announced that the 2000 Honda Indy 300 and attracted over $8 million in corporate sales and over 4000 extra corporate tickets had been sold over 1999 so far.

* Indy Chairman John Cowley has announced his intention to turn the Honda Indy event into a ‘Week of Speed’. Explaining that the event needed to keep re-inventing itself to attract spectators, Cowley said ‘It’s a dream of mine to turn this from a four-day event into something like a week of speed. ‘The race has matured to the extent where this is possible’. But Cowley also accepted that the feelings of local residents had to be taken into account when making plans for the future.

* Dayton Indy Lights championship leader Scott Dixon’s return to Australian racing has been aborted. The young New Zealander, who was due to drive a Honda (Acura) Integra Type R in the showcase Young Guns race, against some of the top under 25 racers in Australia, was withdrawn from the event by his PacWest Racing team for ‘contractual reasons’. Honda Indy 300 General Manager confirmed the withdrawal, saying ‘PacWest raised a number of issues with us (on Wednesday) and as a result we agreed to allow the withdrawal of Dixon’.  Dixon’s place in the Young Guns event was taken by Formula Ford driver Stuart McColl, who is now able to compete for the first prize of an Indy Lights test with Dorricott Racing.

10/13/00

Australia Attendance
Thursday - over 44,000
Friday - 50,788, up 3,400 over 1999

10/13/00

Friday Trivia  What six racing families have suffered multiple tragedy's Answer: 1. Ricardo/Pedro Rodriguez; 2. Doug and Peter Revson; 3. Davey and Clifford Allison; 4. Don and Rich Vogler; 5. Bill and Billy Vukovich; 6. Tony and Tony Lee Bettenhausen. 

10/13/00

Rubens Barrichello attends CART race at Surfers  According to one of our Australian correspondents, Ferrari’s Rubens Barrichello spent much of the morning practice session in the Newman/Haas pits his friend Christian Fittipaldi. Barrichello is spending the weekend in Surfers Paradise before going to next week's Malaysian Grand Prix.  He flew in from Japan (last weekends F1 race) rather than going back to Brazil.  Speaking about Ferrari's Michael Schumacher winning the championship, "It was a great result for the team," said Barrichello, "and I feel very much a part of it. It was just a great atmosphere in the team all weekend, and especially after the race. "I've been to Surfers Paradise before, so I decided to stop here between the races. There's a great atmosphere here as well. I'm enjoying myself, but also looking forward to next weekend. If we can just earn three points in Malaysia we will clinch the World Manufacturers Championship for Ferrari as well, which will be a great achievement for the team."

10/13/00

Receiving CART broadcasts via Satellite in Europe  A reader from Germany writes - I think I should explain exactly how to receive the channel AB MOTEURS, on which you can watch all CART races -except Japan and Australia, because they are at night- live and commercial-free. Everybody in Europe can receive ASTRA via Satellite.  All you need is a satellite dish, which doesn't have to be very big if you live in Central Europe. In southern and eastern Europe, it has to be a big dish. Satellite dishes are very inexpensive!  To receive AB MOTEURS, you need a digital receiver. The cheapest of them cost about 250 Dollars. The channel is unencrypted, that means that you should be able to receive it on every digital receiver. ASTRA is positioned at 19° East and the frequency of AB MOTEURS is 12,2655.  I think that the CART fans who don't understand French won't care too much that they can't understand the commentators. The important thing is that they see the races. If they don't have the equipment to receive it, they still have time to buy it before the Fontana race! The race in Surfer's Paradise will be shown at 10 in the morning on Sunday. 

10/13/00

Not one, but two rebroadcasts  For USA viewers, this weekends CART race from Australia will be shown live on ESPN at 12:00 midnight EST Saturday night.  In case you miss it, you can catch the rebroadcast at either Sunday at 7:00 PM EST on ESPN2 or Friday 10/20/00 at 1:00 PM EST on ESPN.

10/13/00

Vasser enjoys NASCAR test, CART options not materializing  Jimmy Vasser said in Australia that he enjoyed his test last week in one of Ganassi's NASCAR Cup cars, and is taking a serious look at NASCAR for next year. "The test went well," we went quick and made the car better. They want me to do it, but it's a tough decision. But right now, I don't have any options in CART. There's a lot of talk, but nothing has happened yet. I may be forced to do it." 

10/13/00

Rain expected again Saturday morning  More rain is predicted for Saturday morning, but the weather should be fine again for the afternoon's final qualifying. "If it rains, it won't be a bad thing for me," de Ferran said, grinning. "It would be one more point in the championship." Weather Forecast 

10/13/00

Tidbits from Australia  Our local correspondent, Ed Krause write - After over 100 consecutive rain free days on the Gold Coast, the day before the Champ Cars were due to kick off, it rained. Heavily. And then come Friday morning the stars of the Honda Indy 300 had to tiptoe around a slippery, difficult track in the early stages before it dried out for the second half of the session. Rookie Kenny Brack shone in the wet, heading the timesheets for a considerable period, while debutante local Jason Bright was also impressive, running as high as 12th during the slip and slide session before falling back when the circuit dried out. Bright ended his first day at the tail end of the field, however he kept his Della Penna Motorsports vehicle off the walls, something quite a few of his more experienced rivals were unable to do. 
Local Queenslanders can now buy personalized Indy number plates. Tenth anniversary Honda Indy plates, with a black background and the checkered flag logo are available for the really keen race fan.
For those of you who want to travel to next year’s Honda Indy 300, the Mercure Resort is definitely one of the hottest spots to be. Not only is it one of the closest hotels to the circuit, but it also hosts the BarterCard Miss Indy Race Team for a week and a half. It’s where the girls relax, enjoy themselves by the pool and hang out between official duties. However on Thursday night the guests at the Mercure were treated to the sensational sight of the 26 Miss Indy contestants parading in their bikinis by the pool, just before dinner. Best entree served up all week was the consensus.

10/12/00

Max Papis looking for a podium repeat at Surfers  Miller driver Max Papis finished second in the 1999 Gold Coast 300 at Surfers Paradise. Papis and his outgoing manner are crowd favorites in Australia and he looks for a return to the podium this weekend as the FedEx Championship Series heads to Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. The runner-up effort at Australia was one of three podium results Papis posted in 1999 and was at the time a career best finish. The 2000 race will mark Papis' fourth trip to Australia to race in what has become one of his favorite stops on the CART circuit. "It is hard to match the atmosphere that surrounds this race," said Papis. "Australia is a beautiful country and I always try to take a couple of extra days around this race to enjoy the people and the country. It has been a long hard year but this race always provides a chance to recharge my batteries." 

10/12/00

Kenny Brack, world traveler  When he takes the green flag on Sunday for the Gold Coast 300, Kenny Brack will be racing competitively on his sixth continent. This year Brack has added races in South America (Rio), Asia (Japan) and now Australia "I have been fortunate in my career to visit a lot of great places and race in some unbelievable locations. The only trouble with those trips are they are business and I end up seeing more of the track and the airport than I do of anything else. Ask me about the airports of the world and I can give you a great description."

10/12/00

Meadowlands, NJ track dead  Bruton Smith and Associates announced today that their plans to build a Superspeedway in the Meadowlands of NJ is dead because the State is not willing to subsidize such an effort.  They are now evaluating a site about 20 miles outside of Newark, NJ.  No word on similar efforts being explored by ISC and Donald Trump.

10/12/00

Eurosport slights European CART fans again  UPDATE In correspondence we had with Eurosport today, we learned that coverage of CART races in 2001 will be the same, or possibly less than in 2000.  Currently they don't have the rights for live coverage of CART races in 2001, and at best the two European races will get extensive highlights shown.  The remaining races much less.  They admitted they get 1000's of letters from CART fans but  "Eurosport has to cope with a lot of demand from varying sports, and as CART is American, and Eurosport is a pan-European site, it has chosen to dedicate its coverage to European Motorsport events only." In 2001 CART will have more races outside of the USA than F1 will have outside of Europe.  Perhaps CART is more international than even F1!  If it's any consolation to CART fans, Eurosport does not broadcast any F1 races live, nor F1 highlights either. Earlier today - A reader writes - This weekend's race in Surfers Paradise will not be shown by Eurosport, except for a half-hour 'highlights' show on Sunday evening. This could be a crucial race for who wins the title, so Eurosport's decision is very frustrating to CART fans in Europe. This is about the 6th race this season that they haven't shown CART races.  CART needs to fix this problem next year.

10/12/00

Roger Mears and Dorricott split  With word that Casey Mears will not be back with Dorricott Racing next year, comes word that Roger Mears will not be with the team after Fontana as well.  Since joining Dorricott In 1999 they had a record breaking year with a 1-2-3, in the championship.   2000 has been a pretty awesome year for the team too. One interesting note, in St. Louis their cars, numbered 1-2-3, finished the race in that exact order! 

10/12/00

New Jaguar boss Bobby Rahal to be keynote speaker  New Jaguar Formula 1 boss Bobby Rahal will be a keynote speaker during next year's Motorsport Industry Association organized conferences at Autosport International. Two morning conferences are scheduled for the popular trade-only days on Thursday January 11 and Friday January 12 at the NEC Birmingham.  Rahal will speak at Friday's business conference, which will examine all aspects of motorsport sponsorship and international marketing opportunities.

10/12/00

Australia Schedule for CART (All times ET USA)

Thursday Friday Practice 8:30 - 10:00 pm 
Friday Friday Qualifying (Group 1) 12:30 - 1:00 am (Group 2) 1:15 - 1:45 am 
Saturday Practice 8:00 - 9:15 pm 
Saturday Qualifying (Group 1) 11:45 - 12:15 am 
Saturday 
Sat Qualifying (Group 2) 12:30 - 1:00 am 
Sunday Race starts Midnight on Saturday (TV ESPN)

10/12/00

DRIVEN update  The release date of DRIVEN, starring Sylvester Stallone, will be April 27th 2001 with the hope that the popular racing month of May will give the movie staying power as the motorsports world gears up for the Indy 500.

10/12/00

Did you know?  That CART's race at Texas Motor Speedway next year will be 600 km long or about 372 miles, 248 laps.  We assume the number of laps will be rounded to 250.  To the best of our knowledge, that is the first time CART has ever held a 600 km race which means the engine manufacturers will have to run their slightly detuned 500-mile engines rather than their typical 200 to 250 mile sprint race motors.

10/12/00

Norbert Haug places blame on Mercedes  Mercedes Benz Motorsports director Norbert Haug admitted that they contributed to Hakkinen's failure to win the F1 crown and explained by saying: "Our mistakes early in the season contributed to our failure. It's a shame Mika dropped out in Australia and Brazil, when he was leading. He could have won both races, so we should take some criticism for his defeat."  What he didn't say was that his engines have been an utter failure in CART the last three years and the fear of being embarrassed in front of their hometown fans at Eurospeedway in Germany next year is the real reason Mercedes withdrew from CART.

10/12/00

Italian TV ratings soar for Schumacher's win  RAI TV confirmed that statistics showed 8 million people got up in the wee hours of Sunday morning in anticipation of ending Ferrari's title drought, but by the time the race finished, they had 10 million viewers celebrating with the Ferrari team on taking the 2000 driver's title.

10/12/00

Interview with Kenny Brack  Kenny Brack, driver of the No. 8 Shell Ford-Cosworth for Team Rahal, has experienced a great deal of success in just his first season in the CART FedEx Championship Series. After two successful seasons racing in the Indy Racing League (IRL) where he captured the 1998 season championship and the 1999 Indianapolis 500, the rookie driver has posted three podium finishes this season, including a career-best second in Cleveland, and has scored championship points in 13 of 18 races. Having already clinched the Jim Trueman "Rookie of the Year" award with a 58-point lead over Oriol Servia with two races remaining, Brack currently stands seventh in the chase for the CART drivers' championship. Heading into the second-to-last CART event of the season in Australia, Brack reflects on his first season in CART, the differences between competing in CART and the IRL and the role Team Rahal has played in his success this season.  Full Transcript

10/12/00

Thursday Trivia  What was the first oval track race Indy Cars ran on outside the USA?  Answer: 1971 at Rafaela, Argentina.  The race was sanctioned by USAC.  Now who remembers who won?

10/11/00

Last weekends TV Ratings (Source - Speedvision)

• NASCAR Winston Cup (TBS, 10/8) 3.4 rating / 7.1 share / 2.733m households
• NASCAR Busch (TBS, 10/7) 1.0 rating / 2.6 share / 0.804m hh
• NASCAR Happy Hour (TBS, 10/7) 0.9 rating / 2.2 share / 0.713m hh 

10/11/00

Wednesday Trivia  In what F1 race were two drivers from the same country killed?  Answer: At SPA in 1960 two F1 drivers from the UK, Alan Stacey and Chris Bristow, were killed in separate accidents in the same race!

10/11/00

CART European TV coverage  From a discussion on our forums - For those who don't know, Ben Edwards is the main CART commentator for Eurosport.  Last night radio Autosport had Ben on as their CART analyst. Amongst others the topic of TV coverage was discussed (actually was the first topic to be discussed, surprisingly!!!)   Ben said that Eurosport is hoping to do more with their coverage to back up the races in Germany/England, they are more enthusiastic and will try to make the most of it.  Whether this means better coverage on British Eurosport or ordinary Eurosport I don't know. Also there'll be better terrestrial TV coverage of the series.  Thanks to the dismal coverage, many CART fans over here keep asking themselves: What's happening in CART? as the radio announcer said last night.

10/11/00

ESPN's Kenny Mayne to host CART Awards Banquet  ESPN SportsCenter anchor and 2-Minute Drill host Kenny Mayne will be the host of the annual Championship Auto Racing Teams Awards Banquet October 30 at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.  Full Story

10/11/00

New discussion forums  Our new and improved discussion forums are now live for your use.  Check them out as we think you will like the new features.

10/10/00

CART announces Rio circuit and date changes  - 2nd UPDATE A reader writes to let everyone know to check out this link of the Jacarepagua circuit at the Nelson Piquet Speedway.  10/9/00 - We contacted the track and they told us the track CART will use will be a different track than the regular F1 and FIM track. It will combine parts of the oval and parts of the regular track.  Earlier today -  Championship Auto Racing Teams and Sports International Marketing, the organizers of the Rio 200, today announced that the Brazilian round of the 2001 CART FedEx Championship Series, has been moved to March 25.  In addition to the date change, CART officials confirmed that the race will be conducted for the first time on the road circuit at the Nelson Piquet International Raceway, located on the south side of Rio de Janeiro. Full Announcement | Revised 2001 Schedule

10/10/00

Penske buys out Kranefuss share  Roger Penske has bought our Michael Kranefuss's share of the #12 Jeremy Mayfield car.  Penske is now 100% owner of both the Rusty Wallace and Jeremy Mayfield teams.  Kranefuss will still work for the team.

10/10/00

Zonta and Wurz agree to be test drivers in 2001  F1 drivers Ricardo Zonta and Alexander Wurz have agree to be test drivers for the McLaren and Jordan F1 teams respectively.  We have removed them as prospective regular drivers on our 2001 Silly Season page.

10/10/00

Casey Mears and Townsend Bell Teleconference Highlights  Casey Mears and Townsend Bell were the guests this week on CART's weekly press teleconference.  Full Transcript.  Here are some highlights:

1. Casey Mears and the other three drivers were under a bit of pressure to perform at the recent Target Ganassi driver shootout for its two empty seats.  Although the drivers were all cordial to one another, there was a lot of tension in the air because so much was at stake.  He said he would have preferred if he had time alone with the engineers, rather than the other drivers watching his every move, including going out to the turns to watch one another.

2. Casey will not be back in Indy Lights.  He expects to be in Champ Cars, IRL or NASCAR next year.  He expects a Champ car decision soon after Australia.  See Rumors page.

3. Townsend felt the new Indy Lights cars should have more power, sequential gearboxes and driver adjustable sway/roll bars.  Both drivers felt the new cars should have more HP

4. Both felt that although Indy Lights cars are every bit as hard to drive as F3000 cars, they admit that because they aren't called F3000 cars (they are very close in specification) they don't get the world recognition that comes with being a F3000 driver.

5. Both were a bit surprised that Indy Lights will run with the IRL next year, but if it helps to get both sides together than why not?

6. Although Indy Lights will run 2 or 3 races with the IRL, the schedule will not expand.  It will stay right around 12 races for 2001.

10/10/00

Champ Car legends to be honored at Fontana and Awards banquet  The most illustrious group of Champ Car legends and CART champions has been assembled to celebrate the sport's rich heritage during the season-ending Marlboro 500 Presented by Toyota at California Speedway and the FedEx Championship Series Awards Banquet in Los Angeles.  The stellar group consists of 17 of the sport's greatest stars who have combined for 19 CART series championships, 26 Indianapolis 500 titles, 9 USAC championships and 406 career Champ Car triumphs. Those expected to attend the festivities include Mario Andretti, Michael Andretti, Wally Dallenbach, Emerson Fittipaldi, Dan Gurney, Gordon Johncock, Rick Mears, Juan Montoya, Bobby Rahal, Johnny Rutherford, Danny Sullivan, Al Unser, Al Unser Jr., Bobby Unser, Jimmy Vasser, Rodger Ward and Alex Zanardi.  Full Story

10/10/00

Lola bids farewell to Mark Handford  It is announced today (Tuesday) that aerodynamicist Mark Handford is to leave leading British racecar manufacturer Lola Cars International to take up a new position within Formula One with the Jaguar Racing Grand Prix team.  During the last 12 months Handford's main role has been the design of hardware and software for Lola's state-of-the-art wind tunnel at its Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, headquarters. His efforts have helped establish the facility as one of the best available globally. "Everyone wishes Mark all the best in Formula One," says Lola's Managing Director, David Bowes. "Mark has made a big contribution in getting our wind tunnel up and running and as a result of that we've probably got the best commercially available wind tunnel in the world. "We are naturally sorry to see him leave but we're parting on great terms and we've really enjoyed our year working together. I'm sure Mark will be a great asset to the Jaguar team, as he has been to Lola, but he came here to do a specific job and that job is now finished." Handford will leave Lola at the end of this week (Friday, October 13). 

10/10/00

Motorola will only sponsor Andretti in 2001  Motorola will only sponsor the #39 Andretti Team Motorola Green effort in 2001.  They will drop their sponsorship of the #18 PacWest entry.

10/9/00

Special Thursday edition of Inside CART  - PacWest Racing Group's Mark Blundell, a three-time winner in FedEx Championship Series competition, is this week's featured driver on "Inside CART," airing Thursday, October 12 at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN2. Please note that, for this week only, the show will air on Thursday as opposed to its regular Tuesday airtime.  Also on this week's show, the "Inside CART" crew visits the Indianapolis race shops of Team Green, Patrick Racing, and four-time defending series champions Target Chip Ganassi Racing. We also get a look at "Who's Hot" as the 2000 FedEx Championship Series winds down, the newly-crowned Toyota Atlantic Champion Buddy Rice, this week's "Tech Tip" focuses on the intricate Champ Car suspensions, race fans go one-on-one with Della Penna Motorsports' Memo Gidley, and Larry Henry goes "Around The Paddock."

10/9/00

AJ Foyt buys Earnhardt's Busch team  AJ Foyt has purchased Dale Earnhardt's NASCAR Busch team for his son Larry.  Foyt has decided to forego the IRL and move his son right into NASCAR in 2001.

10/9/00

Congratulations to the Burton's  Congratulation to Jeff Burton and his wife Kim on the new addition to their family today.  Mother and baby are doing fine.

10/8/00

Barber Dodge - Rossoni wins 2000 championship Nilton Rossoni won the 2000 Barber Dodge Pro Series Championship with his sixth victory of the season at the Racing For Kids Grand Prix featuring the Barber Dodge Pro Series at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. Not that Rossoni had to win the race to secure the crown, but the Brazilian made his way to the front from his fourth starting position early in the race and only Dutchman Sepp Koster could keep up with him. Thus Rossoni become the 15th champion of the Barber Dodge Pro Series earning the $305,000 Career Enhancement Award that will aid his efforts to move up the ladder into the CART Dayton Indy Lights Series. With their ten best results counting toward the championship, Rossoni secured the title 175 points to 155 points over American Jon Fogarty. The final top-15 standings for the 2000 Barber Dodge Pro Series are as follows. Only the ten best results are counted with the raw points in parenthesis were applicable. 
Nilton Rossoni 175 (178); Jon Fogarty, 155 (163); Sepp Koster, 130 (139); Matt Plumb, 112; Ryan Hunter-Reay, 104 (110); Michael Valiante, 97; Roger Yasukawa, 94; Jamie Menninga, 86; Alexandre Sperafico, 85; Thed Bjork 83; Andy Lally, 74; Andre Nicastro 69; Peter Boss, 54; Brent Sherman, 41; Marc Breuers 36 

10/7/00

Interview with Rick Hendrick  Hendrick, the 51-year-old founder and CEO of Hendrick Motorsports, talks about his three-car operation, plans for a fourth Winston Cup team in 2002 and his 20-year-old son Ricky Hendrick.  More

10/7/00

Jaguar team quotes from Japan Eddie Irvine and Johnny Herbert will start tomorrow's Japanese Grand Prix from and 7th and 10th positions on the grid respectively.  Eddie Irvine "I'm really pleased it all came together today. I don't think I could have found any more time in the car. I was on the limit on my quickest lap to the point where the car was sliding around a bit. Maybe a perfect lap would have given me a couple of tenths but there's no such thing as a perfect lap around here. We've now got to cash in tomorrow and end the weekend with a points' finish. We've got through a lot of positive work over the last two days and we are due a reward for those efforts."  Johnny Herbert  I wasn't happy with the balance of my car this morning so we took the decision to go back a step on set up and it was much better straight away. We couldn't quite dial out all the understeer which is a shame as you need a flowing car here to carry the speed through the lap, especially through the esses. On my best lap I got stuck behind Jos (Verstappen) in the last section but nevertheless I'm happy to be in the top 10. It would have been nice to get an extra tenth to take me up to eighth but we're definitely in the ballpark."    Gary Anderson - Technical Director, Jaguar Racing "Both drivers have worked hard at improving the car progressively so it's not surprising that we have got both cars in the top 10. We had a good test at Silverstone last week where we found about three tenths through aerodynamic developments. That has meant we arrived here confident of a good race. We have also stuck to the plan we had mapped out for Friday and today and a trouble-free run has enabled us to complete that program in preparation for qualifying. As for the race, we're in the hunt for points which is how we want to end the season."

10/7/00

Interview with Darrell Waltrip and Dale Jarrett  Darrell Waltrip talks about retirement while Dale Jarrett looks to post his first race victory since the Daytona 500 More

10/7/00

Ford to increase Busch series effort  Ford Racing's presence in the NASCAR Busch Grand National Series is set to increase dramatically next season with at least four new teams sporting the blue oval on a full-time basis. The newest additions to the Ford Taurus fold for 2001 are ppc Racing teammates Jeff Green and Jason Keller, currently the top two drivers in the NASCAR Busch Grand National point standings. The announcement of the team's switch to Ford was made today at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, NC. More

10/7/00

Paul Edwards Palmer Audi update  American Paul Edwards got his first podium of the year in round 19 of the Palmer Audi finals. He finished 2nd. Then he proceeded to finish 4th in round 20. He moved up to 8th in the Championship

10/7/00

CD-ROM - 2000 Auto Racing Analysis' Stock Car Racing Race Winners and Champions on CD-ROM is a comprehensive, 300+-page reference resource covering the wide range of stock car racing competition, allowing the auto racing community to easily access chronological listings of race winners in major series as well as listings of the annual champions of those racing series. Also included in nearly all cases are the car manufacturer identifications for the race winners and champions. 
2000 Auto Racing Analysis - Stock Car Race Winners and Champions Price: $29.95

10/7/00

CD-ROM - 2000 Auto Racing Analysis' Race Winners and Champions on CD-ROM is a comprehensive, 1100+-page reference resource covering the wide range of automobile racing competition, allowing the auto racing community to easily access chronological listings of race winners in major automobile racing series worldwide as well as listings of the annual champions of those racing series. Also included in nearly all cases are chassis and powerplant marques for the race winners and champions! 
2000 Auto Racing Analysis Race Winners and Champions CD-ROM  Our Price: $89.95

10/7/00

Book - 50 Years of World Championship GP Motor Racing  The 1999 Formula 1 season was the 50th since the creation of the FIA Formula 1 Drivers’ World Championship. Since the first race was held on a former wartime airfield at Silverstone in 1950, Grand Prix motor racing has evolved in spectacular fashion, developing from a minority sport followed by a small number of dedicated enthusiasts into the biggest sporting spectacular in the world.  AUTOCOURSE has drawn on the vast knowledge accumulated since its conception in 1951 to create a book to celebrate this Golden Anniversary. The book aims to capture the flavor of each period of Formula 1 and identify the trends and technical developments that characterize it. In addition, comprehensive results and statistics cover five decades. 
50 Years of Grand Prix Motor Racing List Price: $59.95, Our Price: $47.96, You Save: $11.99 (20%)

10/7/00

Saturday Trivia  Who else besides Emerson Fittipaldi and Graham Hill pulled American Peter Revson from his car when he was killed at Kyalami practicing for the South African GP?  Answer: Eddie Keizan. He was from Johannesburg.  He owned an alloy sports wheel business in the South African Republic. He started 3 GP's, all in South Africa.  In 1973 and 1974 he drove an ex-Works Tyrrell, and in 1975 a Lotus 72.

10/7/00

Stirling Moss tribute to Mario Andretti  You can find on the Stirling Moss website a tribute he wrote about Mario Andretti.  Moss was present in Houston at a black-tie dinner last weekend honoring America's greatest driver (photo of Mario and Stirling).

Order your 2001 CART and F-1 books and calendars now.  A perfect holiday gift.

Autocourse F-1 
Yearbook 2000-2001
List Price: $54.97
Our Price: $43.96
You Save:$10.99 (20%)

Order your Die-cast CART and Formula One Transporters here - AutoRacing1.com is pleased to announce that we now offer very high quality, detailed 1/43rd scale die-cast CART and Formula One Race Car Transporters for sale. We offer a wide variety of Transporters and it's easy to order online with VISA or MasterCard.  A perfect gift for the holidays or as a showpiece on your office desk.  Each transporter measures about 15" long.  More details

Jordan F1 Transporter (L) and Renault 6 Time F1 Champ Transporter (R)