Full Throttle

The Formula One empire built under the watchful eye of Bernie Ecclestone is being attacked from within. GPWC Holdings, which includes BMW, Ferrari Maserati, Renault and DaimlerChrysler the four largest and most influential manufacturers in the sport have announced they would set up a rival world championship series by 2008

“We have been more than patient with the management and governance of formula one but recent developments have underlined the need for a structure which guarantees a stable and prosperous future,” said J

MARTINSVILLE, Va. - There was no joy in victory Sunday at Martinsville Speedway for Jimmie Johnson and team.

Soon after Johnson took the checkered flag in the Subway 500, the team was told that a Hendrick Motorsports plane had crashed near an airport in the Martinsville area. Ten people, including team owner Rick Hendrick’s brother, John, and Rick’s son, Ricky, were killed in the crash.

Johnson was met by a team spokesperson, members of his crew and NASCAR officials as he climbed from his No. 48 Chevrolet and led to an area where he was told of the tragedy.

There were no interviews with any of the Hendrick teams’ personnel following the race, in which Johnson scored his second straight Nextel Cup victory and got his sixth win of the season.

Before learning about the plane crash, Johnson had stopped at the Turn 4 end of the track’s frontstretch and smoked his rear tires with the nose of his car pressed against the pit road wall. He headed for a stage being set up at the start-finish line for the usual post-race festivities, but those ceremonies were immediately canceled.

The other Hendrick drivers entered in the race and their crews were also not told until afterward about the plane crash. Jeff Gordon finished ninth, Terry Labonte 25th and Brian Vickers 27th in Sunday’s race.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Martin Truex Jr. extended his Busch Series points lead Saturday, holding off Greg Biffle in a green-white-checker finish in the Sam’s Town 250 at the Memphis Motorsports Park.

Truex’s victory, his sixth of the season, extended his lead over Kyle Busch to 208 points as Busch, who was leading until lap 202, fell off after brushing the wall in the second turn and finished 14th.

The race that started after overnight and early morning rain included a race-record 13 cautions, causing complaints from most of the top finishers about poor driving by slower drivers.

“The lap cars cost me the win,” Biffle said. “I totally don’t understand if they don’t have mirrors in their cars, or they don’t understand where they are on the race track, or they thought they were in the parking lot.”

Truex, whose Chevrolet started from the pole, led 133 of the 250 laps and seemed to be coasting with 10 laps to go, holding a lead of almost 2 seconds. With Busch dropping back, Biffle started moving in his Ford, getting within 0.127 seconds with three laps to go.
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Fenders crumpled to pieces. Cars beating and banging — against each other. Ten caution flags in 200 laps, with the leaders causing one by spinning themselves out on the track. Just another typical Truck race at Martinsville, where this time a current, not former Cup driver came out on top.

Jamie McMurray scooted past a late-race crash between leaders Travis Kvapil and Jack Sprague and held on to win the Kroger 200 Saturday afternoon at Martinsville. McMurray led the last twenty seven laps and was never seriously challenged by second-place Dennis Setzer, winning by a handful of car lengths to score his first career win in the Truck Series. The win was also the first for Jim Smith’s #2 truck this season, continuing a ten-year streak of at least one victory that dates back to the Truck Series’ inaugural season of 1995.
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For the second straight year Rubens Barrrichello has led not only qualifying, but the cheering of his home fans at Interlagos by storming to pole position in 1m10.646s. Michael Schumacher managed to set just the eighth fastest time, and coupled with a ten-place penalty for using the spare car (and engine) the German will start from eighteenth.

Juan Pablo Montoya completed a South American one-two as he recorded a best lap of 1m10.850 - 0.2s slower than Barrichello. Kimi Raikkonen qualified third, just 0.042s behind Montoya’s BMW Williams. As I noted earlier it is my belief if Barrichello were to lead the race at any point Schumacher wouldn’t contest the point. After Michael was assigned an 18^th spot on the grid for an engine change it appears the point is moot, and his main challenge will come from fellow South American Montoya.

In related news F1 Team Chiefs have settled on the qualifying format for year 2005, agreeing to purposals by the FIA. The new system will involve a similar set-up to the current one with single-lap qualifying on Saturday afternoon with low fuel loards for the fastest possible lap, before a second session on Sunday morning when drivers will have to qualify with fuel and tyres they will have to start the race with.

Friday practice is unaffected. The first qualifying session will see the winner of the last race run first (as is currently the case) and the final qualifying order will be the reverse of the finishing order of the first session.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - NASCAR Busch series points leader Martin Truex Jr. won his seventh pole of the season in qualifying Friday at Memphis Motorsports Park.

Truex, 144 points ahead of Kyle Busch, sped around the three-quarter-mile oval in a Chevrolet at 120.198 mph. But that lap - just off Jeff Green’s four-year-old qualifying record of 120.267 - was achieved only after some hard work.

Truex, a five-time winner on the circuit this season, had the second-fastest lap in practice behind Ron Hornaday. But adjustments before qualifying gave Truex the top spot for Saturday’s Sam’s Town 250.

“We didn’t have the best car when we started, and we worked real hard and figured out a way to make our car faster than everybody else’s,” Truex said.

Truex, who has won only once from the pole, qualified 10 spots ahead of Busch. But Truex doesn’t figure Busch will make it easy for him.

“For some reason, we just can’t get away from each other,” Truex said. “We can start 30th and first, and at the end of the race, we’ll be fifth and sixth.”

Former NASCAR champion Bill Elliott, running in his first Busch race in more than 10 years, qualified second in a Dodge. Elliott, racing only occasionally on the Nextel Cup circuit, went 119.601.

The newly repaved surface of Martinsville Speedway has produced record results with Ryan Newman setting fast time of 19.513 @ 97.043mph. Teammate Rusty Wallace grabs second fastest time to make an all Dodge front row.

Note the starting lineup and how spread out the Chase qualifiers are. With the Martinville 1/2 mile having a reputation for wrecked cars and surprise winners the Chase may take on a new face come Sunday evening.
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This weekend marks the fifth race of ten in NASCAR’s Championship Chase. It will be contested at Martinsville Speedway, the shortest track on the circuit and poses many unique challenges for the 2 or 3 remaining contenders for the NEXTEL Cup crown. It is also the finale for the Formula One year as the F1 Circus performs before a sellout crowd in Sao Paulo for the Brazilian Grand Prix. In truth the Brazilian GP is anti-climatic, both the drivers and manufacturers titles have been settled, but their are a couple points of interest.

Although ‘04 Grand Prix Champion Michael Schumacher claims he won’t provide teammate Ruebens Barrichello any breaks on his home track I have my doubts. My guess? Should Michael find himself in the lead he will most likely maintain the position. Should he for any reason be behind Barrichello during the race he won’t press the point. Call me crazy for going against Schumacher’s well known competitive spirit, but with all the seasonal records and the drivers/manufacturers championships already firmly etched with his name I just don’t see it.

Secondly is the Jenson Button saga. After Button’s attempted defection from BAR to drive for Frank Williams in ‘05 was turned down by FIA’s Contract Recognition Board it will be interesting to see how he performs. Josh Katinger who writes for Fast Machines.com has cited sources that state no animosity exists between Button and BAR boss David Richards. We”ll see, at least it will add a little intrigue to an otherwise dull GP weekend.

Major racing events this weekend:

NASCAR’s Busch Series: Sam’s Town “He Dared To Rock” 250 at Memphis Motorsports Park Saturday 23 Oct.
NASCAR’s Craftsman Truck Series: Martinsville Speedway, Saturday Oct 23.
World of Outlaws: Miller Lite Sprint Car Classic, Houston Raceway Park Saturday Oct 23.
American Sprint car Series: The WinterNationals, Devils Bowl Speedway, Oct 22-23.

Cross posted @ SportsBlog

Kentucky basketball coach Tubby Smith will be a partner in a new NASCAR Busch Series team.

Smith and his wife, Donna, will join driver Jamie Mosley and NEMCO Motorsports. NEMCO is owned by former Busch Series champion and current Nextel Cup driver Joe Nemecheck. Mosley is a Hazard native.

Mosley says the team already has drawn interest from potential sponsors because of Smith’s name recognition. Smith says he hopes the team will bring attention to the Tubby Smith Foundation, a charitable organization he founded in 1987.

Mosley has driven in the ARCA ReMax Series and on the Busch Series circuit. He says the team hopes to run their car in about 20 races next year.

If for no other reason than bordom, I spent some idle time pondering what the current Chase points race would look like under last years system.

Current Chase Points

Pos. Name Points Behind

1 Kurt Busch 5850 - 0
2 Dale Earnhardt Jr 5826 - 24
3 Jeff Gordon 5776 - 74
4 Elliott Sadler5693 - 157
5 Mark Martin 5664 - 186
6 Tony Stewart 5646 - 204
7 Matt Kenseth 5635 - 215
8 Jimmie Johnson 5623 - 227
9 Ryan Newman 5579 - 271
10 Jeremy Mayfield 5501 - 349
11 Jamie McMurray 3878 -1972
12 Dale Jarrett 3804 - 2046
13 Kevin Harvick 3662 - 2188
14 Bobby Labonte 3652 - 2198
15 Kasey Kahne 3626 - 2224

Current standings if compiled by ‘03 standards

Pos. Name Points Behind
1 Jeff Gordon 4328 - 0
2 Dale Earnhardt Jr - 4327 - 1
3 Kurt Busch 4139 - 189
4 Jimmie Johnson 4120 - 208
5 Tony Stewart 4021 - 307
6 Elliott Sadler 3984 - 344
7 Matt Kenseth 3942 - 386
8 Jamie McMurray 3878 - 450
9 Mark Martin 3862 - 466
10 Dale Jarrett 3804 - 524
11 Ryan Newman 3760 - 568
12 Jeremy Mayfield 3684 - 644
13 Kevin Harvick 3662 - 666
14 Bobby Labonte 3652 - 676
15 Kasey Kahne 3626 - 702

What does it mean? - Zero, Zip, Nada.

But it is interesting the 25 point penalty handed out to Earnhardt has a significant effect either way.