Bill Joyner, fuel manager for Sunoco Race Fuel, the “Official fuel of NASCAR,” was presented the prestigious Buddy Shuman Award during the annual NMPA Myers Brothers Awards Luncheon today in Las Vegas. Joyner is the 58th recipient of the award, established in memory of early NASCAR Grand National Series driver and technical inspector Louis Grier “Buddy” Shuman.

Presented annually by the Champion Spark Plug brand of Federal-Mogul Motorparts, a division of Federal-Mogul Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: FDML), the Shuman award recognizes individuals and organizations that have played vital roles in the continued growth of professional stock car racing. Past recipients have included Bill France Sr., Richard Petty, Rick Hendrick, Richard Childress, Ken Squier and several other of the sport’s biggest names.

Joyner and Sunoco for decades have been associated with product and service excellence at the world’s premier race tracks. Joyner works closely with every team in NASCAR Sprint Cup, Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series competition and is a trusted partner to team owners, engine builders, crew chiefs and drivers at virtually every level of the sport.

Sunoco has been a major player in racing since the 1960s and was selected as the “Official Fuel of NASCAR” in 2004. The company provides racing gasoline for every Sprint Cup, Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series event and distributes its products to more than 500 US race tracks.

“The Buddy Shuman Award is one of the sport’s most prestigious honors, not only because of Buddy’s popularity in NASCAR’s formative years, but because past recipients have included many of the most influential figures in racing history. Bill Joyner is truly one of the unsung heroes of Cup racing and well deserving of this honor,” said Michael Proud, director of marketing, North America, Federal-Mogul Motorparts.

Buddy Shuman was one of NASCAR racing’s first stars—a talented driver, a dedicated proponent of the sport and a figure loved and respected by those who came into contact with him. He died tragically in a hotel fire at the height of his career.

Luken Communications' latest network offering, Rev'n, officially launched at 4:54 p.m. Eastern on December 1, 2014. The initial debut includes 26 affiliates in 24 markets with an estimated reach of more than 37 million homes.

Rev'n, a network geared towards the performance enthusiast, is dedicated to all things revving including cars, trucks, motorcycles, boats, ATVs, snowmobiles, events, auctions and more. Luken Communications has a proven history of popular automotive content such as Two Guys Garage, Bidding Wars, Truck and Road Test Magazine.

David Leach, President and CEO of Luken Communications, said, "The creation of an automotive network has been a very personal project for our team. Everyone at Luken has devoted a considerable amount of time and effort into making sure Rev'n is a high-quality, exciting network for viewers, affiliates and advertisers." Leach continued, "We are thrilled with the finished product and the timing couldn't be better to make it a reality."

For more information on Rev’n, please visit www.revntv.com.

DC Electronics (DCE), one of the motorsport industry’s manufacturers of custom built electrical systems, is now a distributor for the Crawford Composites PaddleShift System in the US.

Crawford Composites is a manufacturer of autoclaved composites for the US racing industry, and its superlative carbon work is used throughout the industry to provide strong and lightweight components.

The PaddleShift System is a fully configurable, pneumatic sequential shift system. Designed for various applications and proven with Xtrac and Emco installations, the system can be customized to each customer’s specifications.

Each installation is bespoke and the system has been created with the ability to mesh with a wide range of components. The actuator mounts, AN lines, CAN templates for ECU and data logger are all designed and produced in-house by Crawford Composites’ team of industry experts.

The Crawford Composites’ PaddleShift System has a reliable and powerful closed loop Gearbox Control Unit which is packaged in a compact and lightweight carbon fiber box. Its features include a high-speed processor, configurable analogue and speed inputs, CAN comms, onboard logging, ratio learning and over-rev protection.

Chief Executive Officer of DCE, David Cunliffe said, “We are delighted to offer our customers in the US the chance to use this innovative system from Crawford Composites. The unique aspect to this system is between Crawford and ourselves we fit the system to the car, wire it up then Crawford’s test driver tunes the system on the track before we hand back the race ready car to the customer.”

For further information on DCE visit www.dcemotorsport.com

Officials from the new dual-division CARS Tour announced the inaugural schedule for the upcoming 2015 season.

The tour, featuring both Late Model Stock and Super Late Model classes, will kick off the 10-race season on March 28 and conclude October 11. Each event will feature an optional, tour sanctioned, test day prior to race day. In addition to the schedule release the individual tour logos for each division have been released to beginning branding for the upcoming season.

The first ever event of the CARS Tour will take place at North Carolina’s Southern National Motorsports Park. The 4/10th mile track will again make its mark on the tour on May 30. CARS Late Model Stock Tour drivers will be especially excited about the two dates after the facilities decision to not have Late Model Stock Cars as part of their weekly racing program.

From there teams, drivers, and fans can begin working their way back across the state with an April 18 date at Orange County Speedway followed by a May 9th date at Hickory Motor Speedway. The tour will revisit Orange County Speedway again on Aug. 1 with both dates marking the only Super Late Model racing held all season at the ultra-fast 3/8th mile track.

The wildcard of the schedule comes at the midpoint of the season as a “Friday Night under the Lights” race takes place at Tri-County Motor Speedway in Hudson, N.C. on June 12. The big event will mark the first time in the track’s history that it will host a true Super Late Model branded race.

The season wraps up at Hickory Motor Speedway on Oct. 11.

2015 CARS Tour Schedule

Date – Venue – Location

March 28 – Southern National Motorsports Park – Kenly, N.C.

April 18 – Orange County Speedway – Rougemont, N.C.

May 9 – Hickory Motor Speedway – Newton, N.C.

May 30 – Southern National Motorsports Park – Kenly, N.C.

June 12 – Tri-County Motor Speedway – Hudson, N.C.

July 10 – Motor Mile Speedway – Radford, Va.

Aug. 1 – Orange County Speedway – Rougemont, N.C.

Aug. 29 – Concord Speedway – Concord, N.C.

Sept. 19 – Myrtle Beach Speedway – Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Oct. 11 – Hickory Motor Speedway - Newton, N.C.

Stand 21 Safety Foundation will host a seminar at the 2014 PRI Trade Show—Racing Goes Safer: Latest Developments You Need to Know About.

Again this year at PRI, the Stand 21 Safety Foundation will bring together noted motorsports industry safety experts to share their latest thinking on what you need to know to keeping safer in a race vehicle.

This information will be of interest to drivers, and to those concerned with drivers’ safety:  crews, sanctioning bodies, and families.

The fast-moving-session will cover the current safety issues of stronger helmets, safer helmet removal, head and neck restraints, fire protection, heat stress, and driver distraction.  Plus, there will be an update on the MXSMS safety research program for Motocross riders.

There will be time afterward to meet the experts, and ask any specific questions.
 
Speakers include: Dr. Terry Trammell (IndyCar Medical Staff), Ed Becker (Snell Memorial Foundation), Dr. Jacques Dallaire (Performance Prime), Jacques Berger (FIA Safety), John Waraniak (SEMA VP), and Don Taylor (Moderator).
 
This seminar will be held Friday, December 12, 10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m., in Meeting Room 240, on the second floor of the Indiana Convention Center. Admission is free for all registered PRI attendees, with no reservation required.

Veteran tuner John Medlen confirmed he left John Force Racing and started working with Don Schumacher Racing.

"I will be helping (crew chief) Jimmy (Prock) on Jack Beckman's (Funny) car," Medlen said. "I guess my official title would be assistant crew chief."

Prock was the crew chief for John Force's nitro Funny Car before resigning at JFR just prior to the Las Vegas fall race.

"Jimmy and I had a great working relationship for many, many, many years, and we worked well on Force's car," Medlen said. "Jimmy is one of these guys who likes to try new things, and that is just about basically all I do is search for new things, new solutions, and new technology. But, if you can't parlay it onto a car then it is all kind of an exercise in futility. I just had an opportunity to work with Jimmy and try to keep going forward with new things, both with safety and performance, and I didn't want to stop that momentum."

Medlen acknowledged departing from JFR wasn't easy.

"Yeah, it was a real difficult decision," Medlen said. "You just have to kind of add up the plusses and minuses and make a decision. It comes down to being very difficult, and at some point you have to make a decision. I needed to go forward with the current things we were working on."

Medlen said Beckman will make his first test laps of the offseason in January at Palm Beach (Fla.) International Raceway Nitro Jam.

Beckman, the 2012 NHRA nitro Funny Car world champion, failed to make The Countdown to the Championship  last season, finishing 11th in points and he had zero race wins.

"I'm optimistic and enthusiastic about 2015," Medlen said. "We are flogging every aspect of the car. We will say the setup, the tuneup and the parts and pieces. We are working day and  night. We think we are in a good position to win. I'm real excited because new things, not all of it works, but you have to keep flogging the new stuff to try and get ahead and improve the performance and the cosistency and make the window of operation wider so you can win those rounds when everything doesn't work exactly perfect. The days pass and the months pass and if you don't continue to make some sort of progress, you may stay the same which is fine for today, but tomorrow's  competition is going forward and they are going to win. We really would not want to do this if we didn't have an opportunity to try and win."

ProMedia Events announces a new sponsorship for the NMRA, NMCA and NMCA WEST 2015 season. Aerospace Components, a long-time supporter of ProMedia Events, will be the official sponsor of the Winners Circle at each motorsport event across the country. Competitors who earn the right to be called "champions" at each race will now visit the all-new Aerospace Components Winners Circle to accept their coveted trophy.

"Thanks to Aerospace Components' sponsorship of the Winners Circle, we'll be able continue our exclusive winners circle experience at every event in 2015," said Steve Wolcott, President & CEO of ProMedia Events. "Our event team and everyone at ProMedia is excited to continue our great relationship with Kim and Al Kussy with the Aerospace Components Winners Circle."
 
For several years, Aerospace Components has been a consistent contingency sponsor for each ProMedia drag racing series. During that time, they've contributed thousands of dollars to winning race teams through the NMRA, NMCA and NMCA WEST contingency program, which is one of the largest all-cash programs in street legal drag racing.
 
"We're thrilled to be the official sponsor of the NMRA, NMCA and NMCA WEST winners circles in 2015," said Kimberly Kussy, Owner & Vice President of Aerospace Components Inc. "The new Aerospace Components Winners Circle and partnership with ProMedia once again exemplifies our HUGE support for the sportsman racers and their teams."
 
"At each event, it's a place where every winner actually owns the winners circle for a period of time," added Wolcott. "Each series and Aerospace Components provide exclusive awards, custom photography, high-energy music and much more. It's all about the winning racer, their dedicated crew and family."
 
Stay tuned for an exciting new custom trophy to be presented at the NMRA season opener in Florida. A brand new design, honoring one of the automotive aftermarket industry veterans, will be unveiled at the Spring Break Shootout at Bradenton Motorsports Park on March 5-8.

Flaming River has received its certification for ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management Systems standards. By adhering to ISO’s 9001 quality standards, Flaming River’s manufacturing processes and products are certified to world-class specifications for quality, safety and efficiency.

The ISO 9000 family of quality management system standards ensures that Flaming River Industries, Inc. meets or exceeds the needs of its customers and the standards of manufacturing excellence as set forth by the guidelines of ISO 9000 and OEM standards per the regulatory authorities.

For more information, please call 1-800-648-8022 or visit www.flamingriver.com.

Memphis International Raceway (MIR) announced that Bobby Sides is joining the organization as Director of Race Operations - Dirt Track & Road Course, effective January 2, 2015. Sides will oversee racing operations on the dirt track which is scheduled to open summer of 2015. He will also oversee operations on the road course and special events held at MIR.
 
Sides brings with him 31 years of management experience and was the former operations manager at Memphis Motorsports Park from 2003–2009. He was heavily involved with the dirt track on the MIR property as, he planned and coordinated all the weekly events and oversaw the staff. He will join the MIR team early next year and be involved in the construction and development of the events at the new state-of-the-art dirt track. 


"I couldn't be more pleased to have Bobby join the team and take MIR into the next chapter with the addition of a weekly Friday night dirt track program to our already impressive schedule," stated Pam Kendrick, VP and GM of Memphis International Raceway. "With Bobby's experience and knowledge in the industry, and prior experience at this facility, it was an automatic call once the expansion was finalized. He is a natural fit at MIR with his experience, love of the sport and racer relationships." 


"I'm very excited and look forward to the new challenge this opportunity brings at this time in my life," stated Sides. "I'm looking forward to seeing the dirt track become a reality for the racers and the fans. This is something people have been asking for, and I'm excited to be a part of it."


One of the most popular and knowledgeable journalists in racing, Robin Miller, will be videotaping interviews all three days of the PRI Trade Show on a stage located at booth number 7151.

Miller reports for Racer magazine and Racer.com, and the videos will be available for viewing on Racer.com. He is scheduling two per day—at 10 a.m. and at 2 p.m. Miller asks the kinds of questions that genuinely bring new insights from the racing figures he interviews, and there’s often a lot of fun along the way. Be sure catch at least one of his interviews during the Show.

Interviewees have not be confirmed yet, but stayed tuned for more details in the future.