News for March 17th 2010

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.

Edited: March 17th, 2010

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.

Edited: March 17th, 2010

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.

Edited: March 17th, 2010