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Mario Andretti Honored at Legends of Motosports at Barber Track
Mario Andretti will be the honored guest at the inaugural Legends of Motorsports Bobby Rahal Signature Event weekend, scheduled for May 21-23, 2010 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.
Legends of Motorsports co-founder Bobby Rahal was a frequent rival of Andretti in the course of their respective, storied careers. The three-time CART champion and 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner said this about his long-time respected nemesis, “Mario Andretti is one of the most formidable race car drivers to ever live. No matter what the series, his talent and determination made him a threat to win every time. It’s an honor to have him celebrated at the inaugural Legends of Motorsports event at Barber Motorsports Park.”
Andretti is one of only two drivers to win races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship and NASCAR. He also won numerous races in other racing disciplines including midget cars and sprint cars. During his career, Andretti won four IndyCar titles, the 1978 Formula One World Championship, the 1974 USAC Dirt Track Championship and IROC VI. To date, he remains the only driver ever to win the Indianapolis 500 (1969), Daytona 500 (1967) and the Formula One World Championship. No American has won a Formula One race since Andretti’s victory at the 1978 Dutch Grand Prix. All told, Andretti amassed 111 career wins on major circuits.
In addition to on-track competition, the Legends of Motorsports event at Barber will also include a charity gala on the evening of Saturday, May 22, at the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, featuring Andretti as its honored guest. The museum houses one of the world’s largest collections of Lotus race cars. Much of Andretti’s Formula One glory came behind the wheel of Lotus entries. Lotus also will serve as the official marque for the Legends of Motorsports weekend.
Barring overriding obligations at Indianapolis 500 qualifications, Andretti will be a highly visible part of Legends of Motorsports race day activities at Barber on Sunday, May 23, including leading a featured Lotus race.
Posted: March 19th, 2010 under Barber Motorsports - No Comments. Tags: Barber Motorsports
Bobby and Graham Rahal to both race at Barber Motorsports
Bobby Rahal will drive a Lotus in the Legends race that is much like this 1968 Lotus in the Barber Motorsports Museum. (The Birmingham News / Doug Demmons)Bobby Rahal didn’t want his son to become a race car driver. The three-time CART champion and 1986 Indy 500 winner resisted letting him have a go-kart.
“But there was never any doubt about what he wanted to do,” Rahal said Wednesday during a stop at Barber Motorsports Park to promote his Legends of Motorsports Series race in May.
As a youngster, Graham Rahal would accompany his dad to dinners with sponsors and sit quietly, soaking it all in — just as Bobby Rahal did when he traveled with his own father in the 1950s to race at the airport course in Courtland.
Nonetheless, Graham Rahal had some serious convincing to do.
“It took a lot of effort, because with my dad,” Graham said, “it was like he knew firsthand how dangerous it was. And my mom did. And really the only way I could get him to let me go go-karting was my brother and I came up with this plan that we were going to go go-karting together and it was something we were going to do together and the family experience type of thing.
“Well, my brother after basically the first event decided that racing was not for him,” he said. ¶
But by then the die was cast. Graham struck a deal with his dad that he could race if he kept his grades up.
Graham went on to become one of the rising stars of the Izod IndyCar Series. He’ll be at Barber for the April 11 Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, driving for Sarah Fisher’s team in a two-race deal that includes the March 28 race at St. Petersburg, which he won last year. in 2008.
His dad will be racing at Barber too — driving a Lotus in the feature race of the Legends of Motorsports event, a new racing series co-founded by Bobby Rahal that will feature vintage cars from the¤’60s and¤’70s.
The Lotus that Rahal will drive is a car that he sold to a man in California in 1973. Rahal said he tracked the guy down and he still had the car — virtually untouched and stored in a barn all these years. Rahal bought it back and restored it.
So, will there be a friendly competition to see who finishes higher at Barber, father or son?
“Unfortunately, I think he has it a little easier than I do,” Graham said of his dad’s competition. “He’ll try to tell me it’s tough. But the thing is that my dad, he’s just awesome and we were talking about this the other day, talking about (Formula One champion) Michael Schumacher. They both love racing, and my dad, the series he’s put together, I think he selfishly put it together so he could go racing all the time.”
Graham is still looking for a full-time Indy ride this year, a situation that has many Indy fans upset as they see numerous foreign drivers securing rides in the series.
Bobby Rahal said part of the problem is that Indy teams don’t have enough relationships of their own with sponsors, so they depend on drivers to bring their own sponsors.
Graham Rahal said there just aren’t as many skilled open-wheel American drivers as there are in other countries.
“I was talking to someone the other day .¤.¤. asking them why didn’t they have very many American drivers,” Graham said. “Simply put, ‘We’ve tested a lot of American drivers and none have been able to do the job properly.’ Read more »
Posted: March 19th, 2010 under Barber Motorsports - No Comments. Tags: Barber Motorsports
NASCAR tests spoiler at Talladega Superspeedway
Speeds exceeded 200 mph during NASCAR’s spoiler test at Talladega Superspeedway.
NASCAR plans to switch from a rear wing to a traditional spoiler, perhaps as early as next week’s race at Martinsville Speedway, and Tuesday’s test was the first time a large group of cars have been on track with the spoiler. There were 25 Sprint Cup teams at the test, which started with single-car runs and then moved to a drafting practice.
NASCAR called teams into the garage to change the size of the restrictor-plate, which is used to throttle horsepower and control speeds at Talladega and Daytona, the two largest and fastest tracks in the series.
Later, NASCAR ordered teams to trim the spoilers in an effort to level them off and decrease the drag, something driver Kurt Busch said was needed.
“Overall I’d say we have a thumbs up with the spoiler,” Busch said. “We might need to trim the spoiler a little bit to balance out the drag, because right now the lead car can get out there, but he can’t go anywhere, and it invites everybody else to suck up really easy.
“That’s a concern. We need to balance out how close we keep the pack and yet how controlled the pack is. But the spoiler felt comfortable.”
Four-time Cup NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon said he supports the change, and was never a fan of the rear wing, which was introduced in 2007 when NASCAR phased in a new model car.
“I was never crazy about the way the wing was mounted on the back of the car,” Gordon said. “I envisioned it being a little bit more like a Trans-Am car, where it was raised up. The wing we put on there was just a glorified spoiler. It sat down on the deck lid and wasn’t very appealing, and we weren’t really using it efficiently.
“I’m hoping and thinking that this is going to be a change for the better. I’m very supportive of it and open to it. And the fans seem to be supportive of it as well. That’s important. So if it’s good for the competitors and good for the fans, then I think it’s great for the entire sport.”
One hope in the return of the spoiler is that it will stop cars from going airborne in accidents. Carl Edwards was in a spectacular accident at Talladega last April, when his car went flying into the frontstretch fencing. Two weeks ago in Atlanta, Brad Keselowski s car also went airborne.
“We hadn’t seen cars do that with the spoiler on it,” driver Martin Truex Jr. said. “I think the wing is a big part of what was happening there. I think this will take care of that problem.”
NASCAR will analyze data from Tuesday’s test before setting parameters for a two-day test next week at Charlotte Motor Speedway. That’s where drivers will get a real feel for how the spoiler differs from the wing, Gordon said.
“This test is really just about what’s going to happen in the draft. You’re not going to find out a lot about balance and those things,” he said. “When we get to Charlotte, we’re going to find out what a spoiler really does in comparison to a wing.”
Posted: March 18th, 2010 under Talladega Superspeedway Race News - No Comments. Tags: Talladega Superspeedway Race
Versus and DirecTV come to agreement
There’s some good news to report for fans of IndyCar and for organizers of the Indy Grand Prix of Alabama.
The feud that has dragged on for months between DirecTV and the Versus sports network that broadcasts Indy races and NHL games has finally ended.
That means DirecTV customers can now see Indy races once again on Channel 603. And that’s good news for the race at Barber Motorsports Park because one of its goals is to showcase Alabama to viewers around the country. It’s sort of hard to do that if the race isn’t shown on one of the biggest satellite providers.
The season opener in Brazil on Sunday actually saw an increase in ratings of 76 percent over last year’s season opener in St. Petersburg. The rating was still a 0.4, which is an average of 411,000 viewers, so the numbers nationally are still anemic. But it was the third-highest rating for a race on Versus.
Posted: March 17th, 2010 under Barber Motorsports - No Comments. Tags: Barber Motorsports
Legends of Motorsports coming to Barber Motorsports
Barber Motorsports Park has announced plans to host a new series at its racetrack in Leeds starting in May.
The series, called the Legend of Motorsports, will feature iconic cars and legendary drivers. The first event will take place May 21-23 at Barber Motorsports Park and feature racing icon Mario Andretti.
Indy racing champion Bobby Rahal, who is co-owner of the series and competition director, will discuss the new event at a press conference at Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum Wednesday.
Posted: March 17th, 2010 under Barber Motorsports - No Comments. Tags: Barber Motorsports
It’s a Boy for the Gordon’s
Jeff Gordon announced Tuesday that his wife is expecting a baby boy, though the four-time NASCAR champion won’t push his son into racing.
“Whatever is going to be their passion in life, I want to support that,” Gordon said during a break during testing at Talladega Superspeedway. “If it’s racing, I’ll support that.”
The baby, due in August, will be the second child for Gordon and his Belgian wife, Ingrid. Their daughter, Ella, will be 3 in June.
The couple learned the baby’s gender last week.
“For us, the ultimate was having a boy and a girl,” Gordon said. “We want two, and we want both. We were going to be totally content and fine, and stop even if it was a girl.”
Gordon is part of a baby boom this season in NASCAR. Elliott Sadler and Carl Edwards became first-time fathers last month, and four-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson is expecting the birth of his first child in July.
Posted: March 17th, 2010 under Talladega Superspeedway Race News - No Comments. Tags: Talladega Superspeedway Race
Talladega test gets under way as NASCAR tries out the spoiler
Twenty-four NASCAR Sprint Cup teams are scheduled to bring Talladega Superspeedway roaring to life today.
In what amounts to a free show for race fans, NASCAR will conduct a one-day test session at Talladega to determine the effect the new spoiler will have on the Car of Tomorrow at NASCAR’s largest track.
NASCAR is replacing the rear wing on the car with the spoiler it used to have on the old car. But since the new car hasn’t been run with a spoiler, NASCAR wants to know how it will react on a track like Talladega, where drafting is everything.
NASCAR is particularly anxious to avoid any more cars becoming airborne and hopes the spoiler will do a better job of keeping the cars on the track than the wing.
But there won’t be a repeat performance of the incident at Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 6 in which Carl Edwards intentionally wrecked Brad Keselowski and launched him into the air.
Even if those two drivers were inclined to mix it up again, Edwards is not scheduled to be at today’s session.
The event runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is open to the public. Admission is free and grandstand gates at Entrance Plaza 3 will open at 8:45 a.m. The morning session will feature single-car runs while the afternoon session will be for drafting.
Food and beverages are permitted but the same rules apply today as for regular race weekends. Scanners are also permitted with teams expected to use the same radio frequencies they normally use.
During a lunch break, drivers Kurt Busch and Jeff Burton and Sprint Cup Director John Darby will participate in a Q&A session with fans.
Teams expected to participate are:
The No. 00 of David Reutimann, the No. 09 of Aric Almirola, the No. 2 of Kurt Busch, the No. 5 of Mark Martin, the No. 6 of David Ragan, the No. 11 of Denny Hamlin, the No. 12 of Brad Keselowski, the No. 14 of Tony Stewart, the No. 17 of Matt Kenseth, the No. 18 of Kyle Busch, the No. 20 of Joey Logano, the No. 24 of Jeff Gordon, the No. 29 of Kevin Harvick, the No. 31 of Jeff Burton, the No. 37 of Kevin Conway, the No. 39 of Ryan Newman, the No. 48 of Jimmie Johnson, the No. 56 of Martin Truex Jr., the No. 66 of Dave Blaney, the No. 77 of Sam Hornish Jr., the No. 78 of Regan Smith, the No. 83 of Brian Vickers, the No. 88 of Dale Earnhardt Jr., and the No. 98 of Paul Menard.
Posted: March 16th, 2010 under Talladega Superspeedway Race News - No Comments. Tags: Talladega Superspeedway Race
Restrictor plate size will be key at Talladega as Sprint Cup teams test NASCAR’s new spoiler
NASCAR will use restrictor plates with larger holes than they have used in the past at Talladega Superspeedway Tuesday as its Sprint Cup teams test the new spoiler that is expected to replace the rear win in a few weeks.
The test will not only help teams figure out setups for the new spoiler but help NASCAR evaluate which restrictor plate to use with the new configuration.
The test Tuesday is the first open test for Sprint Cup teams with the spoiler, and they likely will start with a restrictor plate with holes of 1-1/32 inches (66/64ths) – 7/64ths of an inch more than the plates used last October and 3/64ths larger than the plate used for this year’s Daytona 500.
The spoiler is expected to replace the wing starting with the March 28 race at Martinsville Speedway, although NASCAR has not announced a firm start date yet. The spoiler will definitely be in use, however, for the April 25 race at Talladega.
The test Tuesday will run from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. EDT with single-car runs from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and drafting from 2 p.m.-6 p.m.
“When you do all the math from the spoiler to the gear to the speed, you can compute what [restrictor plate] you think you should have, but we feel like it would be nice to have a confirmation of that so maybe if we have to adjust during the race weekend, it’s only once,” NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Director John Darby said.
“We’ll ask them to use all the same size and if it looks good, we’ll press on, and if we have to adjust up or down, we will.”
Most teams are expected to attend the test. But not all teams are going as Richard Petty Motorsports is only sending Paul Menard and Roush Fenway Racing is only sending Matt Kenseth and David Ragan.
“It will be much like the Nationwide [new] car was at Talladega with the spoiler on the car,” said Richard Childress Racing’s Kevin Harvick. “The air will be a little bit sharper turbulence than what we saw with the wing.
“Just knowing exactly what we need for plates and things like that is important as well. It’s more of an information-gathering session. The cars will drive great. It will be more important for the engine shop and the engineers than it will for me.”
Teams will fabricate their own spoilers for the test, but NASCAR will end up issuing teams the spoilers for the races. Richardson Racing Products will be making the spoilers and they should be ready for the March 23-24 test at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Darby said.
“I don’t think the test at Talladega is going to tell us a whole lot,” Hendrick Motorsports’ Jeff Gordon said. “It is really the test in Charlotte that we are all very interested in.
“The fans seem to want [the spoiler] as well as it looks good on paper. Right now it looks like a win-win until we get out there and see what it does on the track.”
In addition to replacing the wing with the spoiler, the rear quarter panel of the cars will be extended by four inches from the front edge, leaving only seven inches instead of 11 between the ground and the front edge of the rear quarter panel.
“We have some things we’re going to try down there body-wise,” said Stewart-Haas Racing director of competition Bobby Hutchens. “We’ll see how that all falls out [at Talladega].
“The [Charlotte test] is the real important test to see if what we’re learning in the wind tunnel is correct.”
Posted: March 15th, 2010 under Talladega Superspeedway Race News - No Comments. Tags: Talladega Superspeedway Race
Will Power wins wild Indy season opener in Brazil
Will Power’s late pass of Ryan Hunter-Reay gave him the lead and the win for the first IndyCar race of the season on the new street course in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The race seemed to be cursed from the beginning. In the first turn of the first lap there was a five-car pileup that left Mario Moraes’ car on top of Marco Andretti’s. Scott Dixon and Helio Castroneves were also caught up in it.
The wreck was caused by poor visibility from a cloud of concrete dust. Track officials used diamond grinders Saturday night to fix problems with the concrete but a lot of dust remained.
Dario Franchitti led much of the race but the skies opened up and drenched the course. The race was red-flagged because even with rain tires the standing water was too much.
There were also problems with power outages as the timing and scoring function was down for a while. And, of course, if you happen to be a DirecTV customer — and thus unable to watch the Versus broadcast — you likely had a hard time if you were trying to watch the race online.
A decision was made to switch to a timed event instead of the scheduled 75 laps. After the restart Hunter-Reay had the lead but was passed by Ryan Briscoe. But then Briscoe put his car into the tire barrier, giving the lead back to Hunter-Reay.
Power, driving for Penske, passed him with just a couple laps left to win. Hunter-Reay was second, followed by Vitor Meira, Rafael Matos, Dan Wheldon, Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti, Mike Conway, Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan.
Ana Beatriz, driving before her home country fans, finished on the lead lap, but Danica Patrick did not.
Posted: March 15th, 2010 under BARBER MOTORSPORTS NEWS - No Comments. Tags: Barber Motorsports
Penske Drivers Lead IZOD IndyCar Pre-Season Test
Pre-season testing for the IZOD IndyCar Series concluded Thursday at Barber Motorsports Park with the trio of Penske drivers — Will Power, Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe — leading the field after two days of running on the 2.3-mile road course located near Birmingham, Alabama. Temperatures in the mid-40s kept lap times about a second off those set in last year’s open test here, which also was headed by Power, and three teams — Dale Coyne Racing, Panther Racing and the new FAZZT organization — all elected to test instead test Sebring, Florida.
But the competition among the 21 drivers taking part at Barber was fierce, with the first 14 cars covered by less than one second, and just 1.6 seconds between first and 19th in the field. The 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series opens March 14 with the Sao Paulo Indy 300 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Will Power (#12 Penske Racing Honda) quickest in testing: “The track got quicker and quicker as more rubber was laid down and as everyone pushed harder and harder. The team did a great job and a 1-2-3 result is a great start for the season ahead. But you can already see just how incredibly competitive this season will be. There’s nothing between almost the entire field. It’s going to be an incredible year.”
Jack Spurney (General Manager, Honda Performance Development) on this week’s pre-season test: “The IZOD IndyCar Series has gotten the 2010 season off to a great start with this week’s test. Barber Motorsports Park is a beautiful circuit, and we had a nice-sized field of 21 drivers take part. Despite the cool weather on both days, the teams were able to get a lot of lap time in preparation for next month’s season-opening race in Brazil. We’re looking forward to returning here on April 11 for the race.”
Posted: March 14th, 2010 under Barber Motorsports - No Comments. Tags: Barber Motorsports