News for February 19th 2010

Sato joins Indycar Series for 2010

Former Formula 1 driver Takuma Sato will be joining KV Racing in the Indycar Series for the upcoming season. After his adventure with Super Aguri, which came to a sudden end in 2008 when the team went bankrupt, the Japanese driver was unable to find a racing seat in F1 so has decided to join Indycars as of this season.

“This is a very exciting time for me and all of my supporters,” 33-year-old Sato said. “I really missed racing last year and can’t wait to get started in this new challenge with such a great team. To me, KV Racing is a team with massive potential and great team spirit.

“With such a great champion as Jimmy leading the team, I am really confident that we will soon be a strong combination.

“I am also really motivated by the chance to be fighting at the front of the field, something I have missed in recent seasons. I want to sincerely thanks everyone who has continued to support me through difficult times and look forward to enjoying success together very soon.”

Edited: February 19th, 2010

Alabama Tourism Department revises ‘100 Dishes’

Scallops at the Battle House Hotel in Mobile, a sushi roll at Jensei in Homewood, fried chicken at Maggie’s Diner in Tuscaloosa and a peanut butter and jelly pastry at the Cotton Row in Huntsville are a few of the new dishes listed in the latest edition of the “100 Dishes To Eat In Alabama Before You Die” brochure released by the Alabama Tourism Department. From BBQ to fresh Gulf seafood, the brochure lists dozens of restaurants in small towns and downtowns across the state. Royal Red Shrimp at Old Bay Steamer and King Neptune’s on the Gulf Coast, the catfish and cheese grits at Radley’s Fountain Grill in Monroeville, baked grits at Highlands Bar and Grill in Birmingham, tomato salad at Hot and Hot Fish Club, L.A. Caviar at Lulu’s in Gulf Shores, fried chicken at Martin’s in Montgomery, BBQ Chicken with white sauce at Big Bob Gibson’s in Decatur and orange-pineapple ice cream at Trowbridge’s in Florence are just a few long time favorites.

Two of the state’s celebrity chefs appear on the covers. Lucy Buffett of Lulu’s in Gulf Shores is seen holding a “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” made famous by her brother Jimmy Buffett, on one side, while Frank Stitt is pictured on the reverse shelling fresh peas at one of his Birmingham restaurants, Highland’s Bar & Grill. Buffett and Stitt were selected for the covers because of their dedication to serving food grown by local farmers as well as being champions of the Farm-to-Table Movement. Stitt was honored by the James Beard Awards in 2009 as one of the nation’s best chefs and Highlands Bar & Grill was named one of the top five restaurants in the U.S. by the James Beard Foundation. Stitt also owns Bottega and Chez Fonfon in Birmingham. Lucy Buffett has appeared numerous times on NBC’s Today Show and the Food Network promoting and preparing her recipes from her cookbook, “Crazy Sista Cooking.”

“It has by far been the most popular brochure that we have produced to date,” said tourism director Lee Sentell. “I think the reason it’s so popular is that people love food. We love to eat and we love to eat good food,” he added. More than 800,000 brochures have been printed and distributed since its initial printing in 2005 as part of the “Year of Alabama Food” tourism campaign. This is the third update of the publication. Copies of the brochures are available at the state’s eight Welcome Centers, by calling 1.800.ALABAMA (252.2262), or by going online at

Edited: February 19th, 2010

Drivers Appearing In Roush Fenway Party Zone

PrintEmail ShareRace fans can get their Talladega weekend cranked up early in the Roush Fenway Racing Party Zone with driver appearances by Colin Braun and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Open on Saturday of race weekend, the Roush Fenway Racing Party Zone has a host of amenities for fans. Including:

• Saturday admission into the Roush Fenway Racing Fan Party Zone, located in the Hospitality Village
• Catering for continental breakfast & buffet lunch
• Unlimited soda, water, beer & wine
• Pre-Race pit road tour (time & weather permitting)
• Event Souvenir
• Saturday Suite/Hospitality parking pass
• Appearance by Colin Braun and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
(Driver Appearance can be canceled due to time, weather or schedule changes)
• Games and activities including pool tables, foosball tables and basketball goals

Cost of admission is only $65 for adults or $45 for kids age 12 and under. Hospitality admissions must be accompanied by a frontstretch grandstand or tower ticket.

Talladega Superspeedway is preparing for the 2010 Aaron’s Dream Weekend featuring qualifying for the NASCAR Nationwide Series, followed by the ARCA Racing Series 250 race on Friday, April 23. On Saturday, April 24, fans will see qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, followed by the Aaron’s 312 NASCAR Nationwide Series race. On Sunday, April 25, the greatest drivers in the world face off in the Aaron’s 499 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.

For more information on tickets to Talladega Superspeedway, please visit www.talladegasuperspeedway.com or call 1-877-Go2-DEGA. For our hearing impaired guests, please call TDD 1-866-ISC-TRAK (1-866-472-8725). Tickets also are available in person by visiting the Talladega Superspeedway Ticket Office from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. CDT, Monday- Friday.

About Roush Fenway Racing
Roush Fenway Racing is NASCAR’s largest team operating eight motorsports teams. Four in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with drivers Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards and David Ragan; and four in the Nationwide Series with Edwards, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Colin Braun, and Paul Menard. For more information on any of the Roush Fenway Racing teams, log onto www.RoushFenway.com. Become a fan of Roush Fenway Racing on Facebook by going to http://www.facebook.com/roushfenway. And for sponsorship inquiries please contact Robin Johnson at 704.720.4645.

Edited: February 19th, 2010

Charlotte-based USF1 isn’t testing, isn’t saying a lot

As Formula One testing continued in Spain on Wednesday and a new season drew closer, Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel posted the fastest lap.

The English team Lotus made a splash, returning to F1 after 17 seasons and dominating many of the headlines. The new USF1 operation, based in Charlotte, N.C., again dominated the anonymous quotes and whispers.

The first U.S. team to proclaim its entry in Formula One competition for three decades was nowhere to be seen.

On a rainy day and a soaked track, Vettel topped the charts, the Associated Press and others reported. Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher was sixth fastest with the Mercedes GP entry. Fairuz Fauzy was 11th in a Lotus.

Now back in F1 with Malaysian support, the Lotus team’s racing history is an extremely rich one.

A fraction of that history, but a significant part of the U.S. racing fabric: Lotus founder Colin Chapman, along with American hero Dan Gurney and two-time world champion Jim Clark of Scotland accelerated the revolution at the Indianapolis 500 nearly 50 years ago.

Emboldened by Jack Brabham’s top-10 showing in an underpowered mid-engined Cooper in 1961, Chapman put the Memorial Day weekend classic in his cross hairs.

With thumping Ford power, the nimble Lotus would quickly push the long-dominant Offenhauser roadsters off the Indy grid and out of the picture.

Stock car racing’s stamp was on that revolution as well, with the Stuart, Va.-based Wood Brothers operation recruited to handle the pit work at Indy. Champ car pit stops of the era were yawners compared with what had years earlier become routine in NASCAR racing.

The Woods’ reliability and speed rocked open-wheel racing’s world.

Unfortunately, USF1 appears less and less likely to weave any magic in the heart of stock car racing country and present it on a world stage in 2010.

Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone has for weeks expressed doubts about USF1, citing sponsorship difficulties.

“I think we won’t see Campos and I don’t think we will see the Americans,” at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix on March 14, the billionaire boss of F1 told the Sunday Express.

There was no response from team principals Peter Windsor or Ken Anderson to Ecclestone’s claims.

It was now being widely reported that YouTube founder Chad Hurley has withdrawn his support. He is said to be talking with established F1 teams.

Argentine driver Jose Maria Lopez, signed only last month, appears to be looking, too.

Martin Urruty of the Argentine sports newspaper Diario Ole, told ThatsRacin.com on Wednesday that Lopez had met with Windsor. An account on the web site of cable TV’s Speed also noted the meeting.

Additionally, Brian Bonner, USF1′s head of business development, has left, SpeedTV.com reported. The site also noted that the team’s Charlotte building is for sale, but said it holds a long-term lease.

And still, nothing from Windsor, an alumnus of Speed’s F1 coverage, or Anderson a designer. The most recent post on USF1′s site is a Jan. 25 item about the signing of Lopez.

The silence contrasts sharply with the noise made when Windsor and Anderson proclaimed their intentions a year ago.

The names of NASCAR standout Kyle Busch and Danica Patrick were bandied about.

More recently, the team’s defenders talked about plans to test a car at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama. Never happened, Viv Bernstein reported in a blog on nytimes.com. And no test has been scheduled, the longtime racing writer says.

“The bottom line is really simple: Sponsor money didn’t come through the way it was supposed to,” Bernstein quotes an anonymous source.

“They’re having trouble making payroll, they’re having trouble paying suppliers, and that’s the situation they find themselves in,” the source said.

With preseason testing in Spain, where the new team says it’s European base will be, there is still no USF1 car.

Another source told Bernstein the team might buy a car rather than build its own. That way, USF1 could still have a place on the season-opening grid.

Swell.

Fans and even some of the financial supporters of the first team carrying the American flag into Formula One competition for 30-something seasons will apparently have to adjust their expectations.

They might have thought they were getting a chance to cheer, maybe even chant “USA!, USA!, USA!” It looks more like Darrell Waltrip just paid Carl Long for a starting position in a race he would have otherwise had no business running.

But at least Waltrip would be willing to talk about it.

Edited: February 19th, 2010