2014 FulTrot's Racing Calendar

Happy New Year everybody! It is that time of year again. Get out your calendars and mark the dates of your favorite races in Formula One, MotoGP, WRC, NASCAR, NHRA and ADRL. Or just bookmark this blog.

2014 FIA Formula One World Championship:

 

1. Australian GP, Melbourne, March 14-16,
2. Malaysian GP, Kuala Lumpur, March 28-30,
3. GP of Bahrain, Sakhir, April 4-6,
4. Chinese GP, Shanghai, April 18-20,
5. Spanish GP, Catalunya, May 9-11,
6. GP of Monaco, Monte Carlo, May 22-25,
7. Canadian GP, Montreal, June 6-8,
8. Austrian GP, Spielberg, June 20-22,
9. Bristish GP, Silverstone, July 4-6,
10. German GP, Hockenheim, July 18-20,
11. Hungarian GP, Budapest, July 25-27,
12. Belgian GP, Spa-Francorchamps, Aug 22-24,
13. Italian GP, Monza, September 5-7,
14. Singapore GP, Singapore, September 19-21,
15. Japanese GP, Suzuka, October 3-5,
16. Russian GP, Sochi, October 10-12,
17. American GP, Austin, October 31 - November 2
18. Brazilian GP, Sao Paulo, November 7-9,
19. GP of Abu Dhabi, Yas Marina, November 21-23,


2014 FIM MotoGP World Championship:












1. Commercial Bank GP of Qatar, Losail, March 23,
2. Red Bull GP of the Americas, Austin, April 13,
3. GP Red Bull de la Republica Argentina, Argentina, April 27,
4. GP bwin de Espana, Jerez, May 4,
5. Monster Energy GP de France, Le Mans, May 18,
6. GP d'Italia TIM, Mugello, June 1,
7. GP Monster Energy de Catalunya, June 15,
8. Dutch GP, TT Assen, June 28,
9. German GP, Sachsenring, July 13,
10. Red Bull Indianapolis GP, Indy, August 10,
11. bwin GP Czech Republic, Brno, August 17,
12. Hertz Bristish GP, Silverstone, August 31,
13. GP di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini, Misano, September 14,
14. GP de Aragon, Aragon, September 21,
15. GP do Brasil, Brazil, September 28,
16. AirAsia GP of Japan, Motegi, October 12,
17. Australian GP, Phillip Island, October 19,
18. Shell Advance Malaysian Motorcycle GP, Sepang, October 26,
19. GP Generali de la Comuntat Valenciana, Valencia, November 9,


2014 FIA World Rally Championship:










1. Rallye Monte Carlo, Jan 14-19, at Gap-Monaco, mountainous asphalt, susceptible to ice and snow,
2. Rally Sweden, Feb 5-8, at Karlstad, ice and snow covered gravel,
3. Rally Guanajuato Mexico, Mar 6-9, at Leon, run on gravel,
4. Vodafone Rally de Portugal, Apr 3-6, at Faro, run on gravel
5. Rally Argentina, May 8-11, at Villa Carlos Paz, run on gravel,
6. Rally d'Italia Sardegna, Jun 6-8, at Olbia, run on gravel,
7. Lotos Rally Poland, Jun 27-29, at Mikolajki, run on gravel,
8. Neste Oil Rally Finland, at Jyvaskyla, run on gravel,
9. ADAC Rallye Deutschland, Aug 22-24, at Trier, run on asphalt,
10. Coaters Hire Rally Australia, Sept 12-14, at Coff's Harbour, on gravel,
11. Rallye de France-Alsace, Oct 3-5, Strasbourg, run on asphalt,
12. RallyRACC - Rally de Espana, Oct 24-26, at Salou, asphalt and gravel,
13. Wales Rally GB, Nov 14-16, at Deeside, run on gravel.


2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship:

1. Daytona Budweiser Duel #1, Feb 20, 07.00 pm,
    Daytona Budweiser Duel #2, Feb 20, 08.30 pm,
    Dayona 500, Feb 23, 01.00 pm, Daytona Beach, Florida,
2. March Phoenix Race, March 2, Phoenix Int'l Raceway, Arizona,
3. Kobalt 400, March 9, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Nevada,
4. Food City 500, March 16, Bristol Motor Speedway, Tennessee,
5. Auto Club 400, March 23, Auto Club Speedway, California,

6. STP 500, March 30, Martinsville Speedway, Virginia,
7. Texas 500, April 6, Texas Motor Speedway, Texas,
8. Bojangles' Southern 500, April 12, Darlington Raceway, South Carolina,
9. Toyota Owners 400, Richmond Int'l Raceway, Virginia,
10. Aaron's 499, May 4, Talladega Superspeedway, Alabama,

11. NSCS May Kansas Race, May 10, Kansas Speedway, Kansas,
12. Sprint Showdown, May 17, Charlotte Motor Speedway, North Carolina, 07.00pm,
     Nascar Sprint All-Star Race, May 17, same race track, 09.00pm,
13. Coca-Cola 600, May 25, Charlotte Motor Speedway, NC,
14. NSCS June Dover Race, June 1, Dover Int'l Speedway, Delaware,
15. Pocono 400, June 8, Pocono Raceway, Pennsylvania,

16. Quicken Loans 400, June 15, Michigan Int'l Speedway, Michigan,
17. Toyota - Save Mart 350, June 22, Sonoma Raceway, California,
18.Quaker State 400, June 28, Kentucky Speedway, Kentucky,
19. Coke Zero 400, July 5, Daytona Int'l Speedway, Florida,
20. Camping World RV 301, Jul 13, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, NH,

21. Crown Royal 400, July 27, Indianapolis Motors Speedway, Indiana,
22. Gobowling.com 400, Aug 3, Pocono raceway, Pennsylvania,
23. Cheez-it 355 at the Glen, Aug 10, Watkins Glen Int'l, New York,
24. Pure Michigan 400, Aug 17, Michigan Int'l Speedway, Michigan,
25. Irwin Tools Night Race, Aug 23, Bristol Motor Speedway, Tennessee,

26. NSCS August Atlanta Race, Aug 31, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Georgia,
27. Federated Auto Parts 400, Sep 6, Richmond Int'l Raceway, Virginia,
28. NSCS Sep Chicagoland Race, Sep 14, Chicagoland Speedway, Illinois,
29. Osram Sylvania 300, Sep 21, New Hampshire Speedway, NH,
30. AAA 400, Dover Int'l Speedway, Delaware,

31. Hollywood Casino 400, Oct 5, Kansas Speedway, Kansas,
32. Bank of America 500, Oct 11, Charlotte Motor Speedway, North Carolina,
33. Talladega 500, oct 19, Talladega Superspeedway, Alabama,
34. Goody's Headache Relief Shot 500, Oct 26, Martinsville Speedway, Virginia,
35. AAA Texas 500, Nov 2, Texas Motor Speedway, Texas,

36. Quicken Loans 500, Nov 9, Phoenix Int'l Raceway, Arizona,
37. Ford Ecoboost 400, Nov 16, Homestead-Miami Speedway, Florida

For more info on these races, please click here for the NASCAR website.


2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series:

1. 54th Annual Circle K Winternationals, Feb 6-9, Pomona, CA,
2. 30th Annual CarQuest Auto Parts Nat'ls, Feb 21-23, Phoenix, AZ,
3. 45th Annual Amalie Oil Gatornationals, Mar 13-16, Gainesville, FL, *
4. 15th Annual SummitRacing.com Nat'ls, Mar 28-30, Las Vegas, NV,
5. 5th Annual Four-Wide Nat'ls @ zMAX Dragway, April 11-13, Concord, NC, *
6. 27th Annual O'Reilly Auto Parts Spring Nat'ls, Apr 25-27, Baytown, TX,
7. 34th Annual Summit Racing Equipment, May 16-18, Atlanta Dragway, Atlanta, GA, *
8. 26th Annual Kansas Nat'ls, May 23-25, Topeka, Kansas,
9. 45th Annual Toyota Summernationals, May 29-June 1, Englishtown, NJ, *
10. 14th Annual Ford Thunder Valley, June 13-15, Bristol, TN,
11. Auto-Plus New England Nat'ls, Jun 19-22, Epping, NH, *
12. 17th Annual O'reilly Auto Parts Route 66, Jun 26-29, Joliet, IL,

Next three races (13-15) is known as the "Western Swing":

13. 8th Annual Summit Racing Equipment Nat'ls, Jul 3-5, Norwalk, OH, *
14. 35th Annual Mopar Mile-High Nat'ls, Jul 18-20, Morrison, CO, *
15. 27th Annual Sonoma Nat'ls, Jul 25-27, Sonoma, CA, *

16. 27th Annual O'reilly Auto Parts Northwest Nat'ls, Aug 1-3, Kent, WA,
17. 33rd Annual Lucas Oil Nat'ls, Aug 14-17, Brainerd, MN,
18. 60th Annual Chevrolet Performance US Nationals, Aug 27-Sep 1, Indy, IN, *
19. 7th NHRA Carolina Nat'ls, Sep 12-14, Concord, NC, *
20. 29th Annual AAA Texas FallNationals, Sep 18-21, Ennis, TX, *
21. AAA Insurance Midwest Nat'ls, Sep 26-28, Madison, IL, *
22. 30th Annual Auto-Plus Nat'ls, Oct 2-5, Mohnton, PA (Maple Grove), *
23. 14th Annual Toyota Nat'ls, Oct 30-Nov 2, Las Vegas, NV, *
24. 50th Annual Auto Club Finals, Nov 13-16, Pomona, CA. *

Pro Stock Motorcycle 16 race series is marked with *
For more info on these races, please click here for the NHRA website.

Update, the PDRA has replaced last years ADRL. Please click here to go to their website for the dates and more information on the racing series.

Thanks for reading.

Source: Formula One Management, FIM MotoGP, FIA World Rally organization, NASCAR, NHRA, PDRA.

And we have touchdown!

This picture of pro mod driver Chip King at Englishtown reminded me of the space shuttle touching down at Kennedy Space Center. 

And just a few days after I initially drafted this piece, Haskett Bros. Racing posted similar photo on Facebook, which I just could not deprive you off. The second picture below is of Todd Lesenko driving Jim Dunn's Funny car.

So graceful, yet so dangerous, is the job of both driver and pilot [of the now retired flying brick]. Ok, that might be a stretch but you can't deny the similarity in the pictures.

Thanks for reading.

Photo credit: Mark Rebilas, second photograph right's owner unknown, scenic reflections.com

Why I love Super Slo-Mo

One of the things that I like about watching racing footage, any form of racing for that matter, is the super slow motion you so often get to see. In this year's running of Le Mans, the French-ies showed some pretty good clips. Luckily for us, NHRA drag racing has incorporated super slow motion into each of their televised events.

As an illustration, this 1 minute video highlights two Top Fuel engine explosions in super slow motion.

In the first one, as Lex Joon starts on his pass, a cylinder goes out sending the car into a tire spin resulting in a massive explosion. Super slow motion footage captures the moment when the engine spews out two spark plugs. Pretty wild stuff!

In the second highlight, shortly after leaving the starting line a fuel hose came loose on Steve Chrisman's top fuel's engine, which causes the engine to lean out and consequently push out the head gaskets.



Thanks to ESPN and crew of cameramen and announcers for capturing the moments we knew existed but were never able to see before.

Thanks for reading.

Source: ESPN/YouTube

Lizzy's back

Lizzy Musi ran into trouble while qualifying for the an ADRL event at Thunder Valley back in April of this year. The car had a tendency to want to move to the right and when she lifted off the throttle, the car snapped violently to the left and the rest is as they say... history.

The violent crash was caught on tape and seen by millions across the country when it was picked up by the daily talk shows on national TV. She was even invited on to talk about it and the ADRL racing series. Talk about making the most out of a bad situation.

In the video below, she talks about her come back, as well as how much fun she's having in the Top Sportsman Category. The footage of the crash is also shown.
Make sure you watch the video, cause she's a rising star in drag racing with a lot of charisma.



Did you catch cameraman Grinner Hester diving head first over the retaining wall as the car was hurling towards where he stood just a moment before. Survival instinct at its best and caught on tape.

Best of luck to Lizzy in the Top Sportsman category.

Source: ADRL

The racing weekend that was - UPDATED

ADRL, at Gateway Drags IV, St. Louis:

Snyder with 2 track records

With near perfect atmospheric conditions on Friday, and continuing on Saturday, the Gateway Motorsports park saw numerous world and track records, as well as a bunch of first time winners.

Pro Extreme driver Mick Snyder put his Corvette for the second race in a row in the winner's circle, with a 3.63 at 208.23 mph. "To get two in a row is just crazy," Snyder commented after the race. He also set two track records.

Unfortunately, during the first round of PX's qualifying on Friday, Todd Tutterow met the wall but was able to walk away unscathed. For pictures of the accident, click here.

Pro Nitrous winner Doug Riesterer was the feel-good story of the weekend, having arrived Saturday morning at the track and hereby missing the three previous qualifying sessions, he dug deep inside and qualified his Camaro into the field. He then went on to win of Rickie Jones and matching the latter's  Friday night track record. In the final, Riesterer edged Burton Auxier with a 3.826 at 189.10 mph.

Extreme 10.5 winner Todd Moyer had lady luck on his side as his competition couldn't get his car started, leaving Moyer to a solo pass of 4.608 at 125.17 mph. "It was ugly, that's all I can say, but we haven't had any luck this whole year so this feels good" Moyer said. "I almost forgot what it feels like."

Todd takes out Trevor in XPS

Extreme Pro Stock winner Todd Hoerner has lot's of reasons to celebrate, after beating a hard charging Trevor Eman, of Team Aruba. Hoerner became the first ever driver in XPS to win running electronic fuel injection (EFI) and this was also his first win ever in this class. En route to this final, he had an awesome .002 reaction time in a holeshot win against defending World Champion Cary Goforth.

XPS runner up Trevor Eman had a very fruitful weekend and made great strides towards winning a race in the very near future. He ran a career best of 4.07 seconds.

A shout goes out to "Lil" JD, son of our friend Jeff Dobbins, on being the winning crew chief in XPS and who got them the first ever win in XPS while running EFI in the Sonny Racing Engines sponsored Camaro.

Pro Mod driver Jeff Naiser went 3.876 in the semis and later improved to a 3,867 at 193.32 mph to pick up his first win in the new class.

No. 16 qualifier in Top Sportsman class, Chris Nyerges met the no. 15 qualifier Jim Sackuvich in a a race that was called "a matchup of underdogs" by many. Nyerges came out on top with a pass of 4,467 at 157.72 mph.

Pro Extreme Motorcycle rider Eric McKinney won back-to-back races for the first time with a 4.072 et at 176.01 mph victory over Travis Davis in the finals.

The next race will take place at the Virginia Motorsports park on June 22-23. For more info, please click here. If you can't make it to the race, like many of us, just go to the ADRL website for live streaming content. Two thumbs up for ADRL.


Moto GP, at Catalunya:

Lorenzo immediately after the race

Spain's largest newspaper (in circulation), El Pais, will run "Lorenzo wins Catalunya home MotoGP duel" in the sports section on Monday. The Factory Yamaha rider fought hard nearly for the entire race with fellow home hero Dani Pedrosa, who blasted from the second row to first place leading into the first corner at the start of the race.

American Ben Spies rode an awesome race, briefly getting into the lead on lap three, only to run wide and fall after getting on the grass. He quickly rejoined the race and charged all the way from last to tenth place.

Pedrosa leads at the start

On lap 7 Lorenzo executed Spies' botched pass of a couple of laps earlier to perfection, but a relentless Pedrosa stayed with Lorenzo and around the half way mark, used the slipstream to regain the lead. With five laps to go, Lorenzo, riding on softer rear tire, was able to catch up to Pedrosa (who was on a harder tire), but then suddenly Pedrosa's Honda made a wheelie and forced the Spaniard to back off to bring the front wheel back down. He went on to run slightly wide in the next corner and the rest is as they say "history".

Lorzenzo finished first, his third in five races, Pedrosa came in second, and Andrea Dovizioso took third riding for Yamaha. He held off the fast charging event pole sitter and World Champion Casey Stoner who finished fourth, who suffered from the cooler race conditions.

Rossi's during his pre-race ritual 

Valentino Rossi, who finished 2nd at the last race, was humbled today on the slower Ducati, crossing the finish line 17.6 seconds behind the race winner. Still trying to make the Ducati handle better, he tested an aluminum swing-arm on Friday, and now will have two more days of testing with the new A-arm and some set-up ideas. Hopefully they will make the Ducati a bit faster, for we all would like to see Rossi battling with the front runners again.

Interesting post race quote, by Dani Pedrosa:

"These bikes have traction control and wheelie control, but they are not magic. We have everything said to the limit, to help but not stop [wheelies], because if we have all the controls set to never make a wheelie the bike would not be fast enough."

Next race will be the British GP at Silverstone on June 17 next. For more info, please click here.

NASCAR, at Dover, Del.:

Jimmie in victory lane

Jimmie Johnson and Hendrick Motorsports are back! Jimmie drove away from Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth after a restart with 31 laps to go and never looked back.
Johnson led 289 laps of the 400, and with this win records his 57th career victory, eight most all-time and tying him for the most wins at Dover with legends Richard Petty and Bobby Allison.

The Dover Monster Mile mascot

As usual there were some large wrecks at the all concrete short track.

"The way the cautions fell [Sunday], it allowed us to really flex our muscle and bring home the win. I'm proud of the effort. It was a brand new race car we brought to the track. We pulled it off the truck, and it was awesome all weekend long," said Jimmie Johnson.

Though Johnson won handily, his car might not have been the fastest. The No. 24 of teammate Jeff Gordon was at least its equal, but Gordon had to pit on lap 250 because of a loose wheel.

Below there is a video of the latter part of the race and the finish.



Results of the FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks:
1. Jimmie Johnson, 2. Kevin Harvick, 3. Matt Kenseth, 4. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 5. Clint Boyer.

The next race is the Pocono 400 on June 10.


NHRA, at E-town:
E-town, aka Old Bridge Township Raceway park, was the place to be for the NHRA guys this past weekend.

A Steve Torrence burn out.

In Top Fuel (T/F), Steve Torrence beat in Tony Schumacher and Spencer Massey in earlier rounds with his quicker reaction time, but in the final round he used sheer horsepower advantage to win over Brandon Bernstein at the finish line. He won with a 3.800 at 323.66 mph.

Torrence on his win, "It's really a little surreal coming out and having success in a short time."

And Massey failed to back up the T/F best low e.t. of the event as a national record.

In Funny Car (F/C), Johnny Grey claimed his first win of the season and second of his career by beating Ron Capps with a 4.078 at 314.39 mph.

Anderson, KB celebrate 100th win

In Pro Stock (P/S), KB Racing debuted the first of their new Rick Jones' build Camaro's with high hopes and quickly surpassed these, when it made it all the way to the finals. It would race none other than the car it was replacing, with teammate Jason Line behind the steering wheel. In an emotionally charged race, Greg Anderson, in the new car, raced to his fourth victory of the season with a 6.56 at 212.03 mph, that bested teammate Jason Line, when his engine broke a valve spring that cost him about two-hundredths.
And to top it off, car owner Ken Black, who is recovering from illness, jetted all the way from Las Vegas to be with his boys for their 100th win. Great stuff!

In Pro Bike, Eddie Krawic won for the first time at the track where he once worked as a track manager,  an emotional victory for sure. He beat Hector Arana Sr. when he red lighted at the start of the final round of eliminations. It is Krawic's 14th career victory on the Screamin' Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson.

For information on this race, please click here.

The next race will be run at "Thunder Valley" on June 15-17.

Thanks for reading.

Source: ADRL, Crashnet, MotoGP, Fox, NHRA, NASCAR, Wikipedia

Great Shots

Living on a paradise island has its pro's: the beach is just a couple of minutes away, it's white sand warm while the clear blue ocean is always cool and refreshing.

However, being so far removed from large scale motor racing events, of any kind, is my biggest con. Photographers, the internet and cable TV do their best to bring us what we missed. And boy, do we owe them a great deal of gratitude. Well, maybe less of cable TV!

Take for example photographer Mark J. Rebilas, who goes to great lengths to push the envelop each time he has a camera in his hand. Sometimes he goes beyond the call of duty, as is shown with the picture on the right, by renting a helicopter in order to get the optimal view (for us). Click on the pictures to see a larger version.

Ok, anyone with sufficient funding can get himself a helicopter. So one has to have an eye for taking pictures too... and quickly. Earlier in the year his shots of Pro Mod racer Mike Janis running into trouble down in Gainesville, Florida, were placed centerfold in premiere drag racing magazine Drag Illustrated.

Thanks to Mark and photographers like him around the world (yes, here in Curacao too) that fools like me can live happily on a paradise island, far removed from the racing action.

I didn't want to pass the opportunity to show Todd Robertson's great funny car paint job, which won the 2012 Detroit Autorama. Gotta love that creativity.

Thanks for reading.

Source: Mark J. Rebilas, Drag Illustrated, Todd Robertson

Our Cars!

Maybe its just me, but I am always very proud to see "our" cars competing at the highest levels in drag racing stateside. Such small islands like Aruba and Curacao still have enough fighting spirit to be amongst the only foreign teams, or car owners in the case of King Kong V, to be competing in ADRL, the most exciting drag racing league in the world. This is not an exaggeration. To see for yourself, click here.

With "our cars" I am referring to the Ford Mustang of Team Aruba, driven by Trevor Eman (an Aruban native), and the Dodge Stratus of Frankie Brandao, driven by legendary racer Pat Musi, who uses his engines to power King Kong V to many round wins and even some records. The two cars do not compete in the same category.

The video below shows, amongst others, King Kong V's first round win at 1:26 minute mark, and a second round loss at the 2:45 minute mark, at the Spring Drags in Bristol, Tennessee.



Team Aruba is one of those that is loved by the fans. They have been presented the friendliest team award by the fans, at least once that I can remember.... correct me if I'm wrong.
The team is mostly, if not completely, comprised of Arubans who fly back and forth to the U.S. to race against the well established American teams. They do one hell of a job and are well on their way to securing a win one of these days. And Trevor is gaining much experience each round and is very quick on the tree. They are racing this weekend at the 34th Mountain Motor Nationals at Budds Creek, Maryland.

To watch another video of King Kong V racing at M.I.R., click here.

Thanks for reading.

Source: ADRL

The racing weekend that was

In NHRA:
Everybody loves Vegas, especially Robert Hight (F/C), Spencer Massey (T/F) and Allen Johnson (P/S) after this weekends' races at the strip.

Robert Hight drove his Ford to a win over Bob Tasca III to earn his 26th career victory with a 4.154 at 312.93 mph.

Top Fuel teammates Spencer Massey and Antron Brown met each other in the finals with Massey taking the win light with a 3.83 at 323.89 mph in his Fram sponsored dragster. Runner-up Brown now leads the series while Massey's win propelled him to third in the points.

The BK boys started the season with a bang and Line qualified #1, but that all ended with an all-Dodge Pro Stock final, when Allen Johnson defeated Vincent Nobile with a 6.648 at 207.3 mph. This is Johnson's tenth career win. Both Johnson and Nobile use engines by Roy Johnson (Allen's father).

Erica Enders had her best race of the season but lost to the eventual winner in the Pro Stock semi-finals. She has been beating everybody on the tree though! It is just a matter of time!

The next race is scheduled for April 13-15 at Charlotte, N.C., with the always exciting Four-Wide racing.

In ADRL:

A couple of first time champs dominate at the season's first ADRL event, the CarSafe Dragpalooza VIII. Here follows the first-time winners list:

Rickie Jones (Pro Nitrous),
Alan Pittman (Extreme 10.5),
Casey Stemper (Pro Extreme Motorcycle),
John Pluchino (Extreme Pro Stock),
Marco Abrussi (Top Sportsman),
Mike Castellana (Pro Mod).

The new and revolutionary SuperCar class made its debut and was an instant hit with the fans. Bo Butner went 5.862 at 119.46 in his Ford Mustang.

Next race: April 20-21 at Bristol Dragway.

In NASCAR:

What a race! Longtime race leader Jeff Gordon ran out of fuel following the first attempt at a green-white chequered flag when Clint Bowyer "dive-bombed" down the inside line and took out Jimmie Johnson.
The wreck resulted in several drivers with cut tires, spins or wrecking into the wall, including Kyle and Kurt Busch, Juan Pablo Montoya, Travis Kvapil and Dave Blaney.

At the end, Ryan Newman emerged victorious at the end of the 500 laps at Martinsville Speedway. To go to a race recap video, please click here.

Next race: April 14 in Texas, Sat 7 pm on FOX

In WRC:

Mikko Hirvonen wins the Vodafone Rally de Portugal, but after scrutineers find irregularities he is disqualified. Pending his appeal, Ford privateer Mads Ostberg is named the winner.

The scrutineers found differences in the car's clutch and turbo. However, Yves Matton, the teams's race director, claims the penalty handed down was too severe and is appealing the decision.

For the highlights video of this race, please click here.  In the words of a driver, "so much mud... so much fog."  Lots of slipping and sliding. Don't miss it!

Thanks for reading.

Source: NHRA, Fast doorslammers.com, ADRL, Nascar, Crash.net.

One tough chassis

Rickie Jones, son of renowned chassis builder Rick Jones, turned his car up side down in a Pro Nitrous semi-final run in the ADRL World Finals.

I guess the fact that he was going up against "The Iceman" got to him, since he stayed on the trottle a bit too long. The RJ Race Cars-built '69 Camaro lost traction and quickly turned right and bicycled on two wheels before turning over as it crossed the centerline and bounced its nose off the right wall. Jones remained on his roof and did a couple of slow spins until sliding to a stop near the left wall.

Rickie Jones recalls: “It was actually very calm in the car, no big hits. Everything worked as it was supposed to, my helmet, the poured seat, safety belts, and I want to thank the guys back at RJ Race Cars for building me a safe car. It really did its job today.”

The car was brought back to their shop in Galesburg, Illinois, and will be put on the jig to ensure that everything is up to code. What isn't will be fixed and the car will leave the facility like new.

This is why I use RJ Race Cars.
They build one tough chassis!