Mike Calinoff: #17 Team Dream Season Review
December 9, 2003
The following is our exclusive Q&A with FastMachines contributor Mike Calinoff. Mike is the Spotter for Matt Kenseth and the 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup Championship team…
Unser Jr & Pat Patrick Could Team Up In IRL
December 9, 2003
Al Unser Jr and current CART team owner and series founder Pat Patrick could team up for the 2004 IRL season. Pat Patrick has been looking to offload his CART team (on some poor shmuck) as the series is in a constant state of limbo (will it or won’t it have 2004 season?) and “Little Al” is out of his Kelly Racing IRL ride. What a match made in heaven…I guess…
Crash.net: Patrick eyes Indy return deal with Unser
Post Season Points Change Possibility
December 9, 2003
The possibility of NASCAR locking in the top 10 drivers after the 26th race of the 2004 season, then having only that group compete over the final 10 races — with their standings possibly being reset to zero — for the Nextel Cup has been in the news for over a week now. So far I’ve resisted commenting on it…mostly because I’m not sure how I feel about it. On the one hand it would pretty much guarantee a great late season points battle for the championship, but on the other hand if you have a guy like Kenseth who works steadily all season long to build a great points lead that is all for naught if they set the points of the top 10 back to 0. I suppose I could get used to it…but perhaps it adds another level of complexity that we don’t need…
RPM.ESPN: Top 10 could duke it out for Nextel Cup
IndyStar.com: NASCAR may redo its points system
NYTimes.com: Nascar Might Revamp Race for Points Title
FOXSports.com: HAMMOND: Tweak points; don’t wipe slate clean
Ralf’s Got Contract Problems
December 8, 2003
The notoriously hard-nosed Frank Williams is apparently at odds with his driver Ralf Schumacher over a contract extension that would take Ralf’s ride at Williams through the 2005 season. Williams has already lost Montoya to Mclaren in 2005 and now stands to lose Ralf as well…however Frank has never been one to get pushed around by drivers…after all they are a-dime-a-dozen as they say.
Frank is smart enough to realize that out of all the precious resources that allow him to run a successful F1 team, drivers are not in short supply. There is no shortage of fast young drivers who would kill for seat in one of his cars, so why succumb to contract negotiations when he can adopt a “my way or the highway” attitude?
BBC: Ralf admits to contract problem
PlantF1.com: Ralf Denies It’s All About The Money
Senna To Be Honored
December 7, 2003
The death of Ayrton Senna will be commemorated by a number of events at next year’s San Marino Grand Prix…
BBC: Plans made to honour Senna
GrandPrix.com: Imola to remember Senna
PlanetF1.com: 10 Days Of Senna Celebrations Planned At Imola
Conscious NASCAR Fans
December 6, 2003
Yes, they really do exist, as David Phillips, Senior Editor of RACER magazine tells us. This kind of revelation - that all forms, breeds, and generations of auto racers and fans can conjoin to appreciate the simple, raw beauty and exhilaration of racing is kind of what I built this site for. Just because NASCAR’s mammoth marketing machine of the past several years has bred a lot of Johnny come lately fans doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of us out there with a sense of history and respect for racing in all its forms. I have a dream…
SpeedTV.com: Hope After All
Jim Dunn Racing Selects Tony Bartone For 2004
December 6, 2003
RIVERSIDE, CA, Dec. 2, 2003 - Jim Dunn Racing has selected Tony Bartone (pictured) to driver the K&N Filters/Lucas Oil Pontiac Funny Car in 2004, signing the 47-year-old drag racing veteran and former nationals champion to a three-year contract.
DragRaceCentral.com: Jim Dunn Racing Selects Tony Bartone to Drive K & N Filters/Lucas Oil Pontiac
Danny Sullivan To Compete At Sebring 12 Hours
December 6, 2003
BRASELTON, Ga. - Former Indianapolis 500 winner and Formula One driver Danny Sullivan, one of the most charismatic and successful American racing drivers of the 1980s and 1990s, will return to professional racing as he drives a factory-built Ferrari in the American Le Mans Series Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring March 17-20.
Fellows home after successful shoulder surgery
December 6, 2003
BRASELTON, Ga. (December 5, 2003) — American Le Mans Series driver Ron Fellows is home in Canada after undergoing successful surgery on his injured left shoulder Monday in Indianapolis.
Fellows, who drove the last two races of the 2003 season with a painfully dislocated shoulder, expects to be fully recovered from the surgery when the 2004 ALMS season starts with the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring March 17-20. The GTS class driving champion of the series in 2002 and 2003, Fellows will try to become the first three-time champion of any class in series history. He drives for the factory Chevrolet Corvette team.
Fellows injured his left shoulder in a rock-climbing accident on Sept. 20 near his home in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, Ont. The surgery was performed by Dr. Stephen L. Kollias, a shoulder specialist at the OrthoIndy group, and repaired rotator cuff and ligament damage. There was also a fracture.
Aston Martin set for Le Mans challenge
December 6, 2003
Following the lead of its similarly exclusive rival make Bentley, Aston Martin announced that it will have an entry for the 24 Hours of LeMans in 2004 following the creation of a new division to be known as Aston Martin Racing. Aston Martin won both the World Sportscar Championship title and Le Mans 24 Hours in 1959…
ChannelNewsAsia.com: Aston Martin set for Le Mans challenge
BBC: Aston Martin return to racing
iol.co.za: Aston Martin follows Bentley back on to track