Full Throttle

You are browsing the archives of 2004 October.

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 [...]

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, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Christian Jones will compete in the 2004 Macau F3 GP with an Asian Formula Three supported TME Dallara TOM

FORT WORTH, Texas - Todd Bodine won his second straight NASCAR truck race Saturday, leading the final 38 laps after a lengthy red flag.
Bodine, the 40-year-old former Nextel Cup driver, finished a second ahead of Johnny Benson, another former Cup driver. Bodine, who averaged 115.179 mph in the Silverado 350K, is the first this [...]

Jimmie Johnson held off teammate Jeff Gordon by 1.7 seconds in a “must win” situation that even he admits may not help his Chase fortunes without outside help. Johnson snatched the lead with 16 laps left in the UAW-GM Quality 500, then held off Gordon to revitalize, at least momentarily, his effort to [...]

I’ve already stated my belief the Chase is down to three players, but credit is due Ryan Newman for a stellar performace in qualifing for Saturday night’s UAW-GM 500. Newman lost ownership of the track record at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in May. Thursday night, he regained the record with a lap at 188.877 [...]

CONCORD, N.C.

Added to the eariler Terry Labonte announcement, Mark Martin issued a press release stating his intentions to scale back his schedule after the 2005 NASCAR season. Currently 5th in this years “Chase” for the Cup it appears he will take one last shot at gaining the Championship, one of the few unfullfilled accomplishments remaining in [...]

If this story out of Brazil turns out to be true it may come to pass.
Tony Kanaan, who recently clinched the American Indy Racing League championship, says that he will be given a test with BAR as a ‘thank you’ by engine supplier Honda. Tha Brazilian, who has completed every single racing lap in the [...]

Prost having gained valuable experience in attempted f1 comebacks, after a year

A couple “Chase” drivers may embrace this idea purposed by Dale Jarret after their less than steller finishes at Kansas City this past weekend. One of the problems I noted from the inception of NASCAR’s “playoff” system is how severe a penalty a driver would suffer by a poor finish in one of the 10 [...]

On lap one of the Banquet 400 at Kansas pole sitter Joe Nemechek was passed by the Dodges of Kasey Kahne and Jeremy Mayfield, who then dominated much of the race. But Nemechek gambled, stayed out midway through the race when most others pitted, and then took full benefit of a string of late cautions [...]