Antron Brown Wins Gold at Indy

Brown Dominates Top Fuel Class on way to 1st U.S. Nationals Title

09.05.11 -Antron Brown raced to his third Lucas Oil Raceway win Monday when the action came to an end at the prestigious Mac Tools U.S. Nationals presented by Lucas Oil. .

Brown became the first driver to win the historic event in both Top Fuel and Pro Stock Motorcycle when he powered his Matco Tools dragster to a 3.813-second run at 321.73 mph. The final-round performance was enough to get past Del Worsham and secure his fifth win of the season and 30th of his career.

“Words cannot describe how this feels,” said Brown. “To come here and win at Indy, the biggest stage in drag racing, means so much. It just goes back to my childhood dream and sitting under those grandstands as a kid and saying ‘I want to do that one day.’ It’s the greatest feeling I’ve ever had.”

 

WILLY T. RIBBS SET TO RETURN FROM RETIREMENT IN BALTIMORE GRAND PRIX

Ribbs Will Return To Cockpit After A 10-Year Hiatus

08.24.11 - Legendary race-car driver Willy T. Ribbs, the winningest African- American driver in history, has been coaxed out of retirement by his friend and business partner Chris Miles of Starting Grid, Inc. to compete in the Firestone Indy Lights round of the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix on Labor Day weekend.

“I wanted to honor Willy the best way I knew how,” said Miles, fellow principle at Willy T. Ribbs Racing. “To me, I don't think a lot of people remember what Willy meant to minorities who aspired to be involved in the motorsports industry. Having him race in Baltimore is my way of saying, ‘Thank You!’ ”

 

NEW HAMPSHIRE RESULTS UPHELD; NEWMAN/HAAS RACING, TARGET CHIP GANASSI RACING PROTESTS DENIED

08.24.11 - INDYCAR announced today that the top three finishing positions of the Aug. 14 MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway were upheld during a protest hearing Aug. 23 in Indianapolis. The hearing was conducted by a panel consisting of Jerry Gappens, Rollie Helmling and Jeff Stoops. As Senior Official and pursuant to IZOD IndyCar Series Rule 12.4, INDYCAR President of Competition and Operations Brian Barnhart elected to have a panel resolve the protests filed by Newman/Haas Racing and Target Chip Ganassi Racing.

The protests were denied based on these grounds, according to a signed statement from the panel: "After hearing the excellent presentations by each of the participants in the protest hearing and after reviewing and being sympathetic with each of their positions, the Protest Panel was unanimous in its decision. It is this Protest Panel's conclusion that INDYCAR Senior Official Brian Barnhart had the authority under the governing 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series rulebook to render the decision that was made.

We also agree that his decision to abort the restart and set the finishing positions that existed before the attempted restart to be an exercise of reasonable discretion. The protests as to Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, Inc. d/b/a Target Chip Ganassi Racing car number 9 and Newman/Haas Racing, LLC car number 2 are hereby denied." Per Rule 13.1 of the IZOD IndyCar Series rulebook, the decision may be appealed by 5 p.m. (ET) of the second business day following the release of the decision. 

Menard Wins at Indy, Captures Brickyard 400

Late-Race Fuel Strategy Propels Menard to his 1st Sprint Cup Series Victory

07.31.11 - Forget that Jeff Gordon was the fastest car during the race, Forget that Paul Menard had never won a Sprint Cup Series event in 166 attempts, Forget that his dad, John Menard has been trying to win at indy for 35 years, remember that in this day and age of NASCAR racing, that the difference between winning and losing is about fuel mileage, fuel mileage, fuel mileage.

Menard and his RCR team played it brilliantly, as crew chief Slugger Labbe had Menard give the lead up to defending race winner Jamie McMurray in an effort to save fuel. They believed McMurray didn’t have enough fuel to finish the race. Labbe then turned his attention to Jeff Gordon, who fell way behind after a late fuel stop but was blazing his way through the field.

 

Motorsports Industry Reaching out to Minority Youth

07.21.10 WINSTON-SALEM -- Five hundred kids are learning about the fastest growing sport in the world at the Diversity in Motion camp this week.

“Right now there's 25,000 jobs in motorsports in north carolina, and very few minorities are filling those positions,” said Dr. Jim Hand, a WSSU motorsports management professor. “So what NASCAR is doing and what the government and the state wants to do, is they want to introduce minorities to motorsports so they know that's a viable option to get into as an occupation.”

Winston-Salem state's motorsports management program, the only four-year program and historically black university in the nation to offer the program, teamed up with NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program at the Salvation Army to show kids first hand what a career in NASCAR is all about.

 

Dallara Chassis Chosen as Future Indycar in 2012

INDIANAPOLIS (AP)—The IndyCar Series has decided to go with a Dallara chassis for the 2012 season in a move it hopes will help small-budget teams and generate some fresh buzz for open-wheel racing.

The new chassis will cost $349,000 each, officials said, with a complete car costing $385,000. That’s a 45 percent price decrease from the current formula.

“The figures they throw up are a good start,” said Sarah Fisher, a driver and owner of Sarah Fisher Racing.

Cars will feature a rolling chassis with an enhanced safety cell, and manufacturers will be able to be dress the cars in multiple ways with aero kits. Each team can race two different aero kits from any manufacturer during the season, with a maximum price of $70,000 for each kit.