Drivers Deke Astle, Jim Martel, Mike Rowe, Fred Schulz and Ron Wyckoff, drag racing icon Bob Tasca, historian R.A. Silvia and car builder/mechanic Dave Tourigny make up the New England Auto Racing Hall of Fame’s class of 2014.

They, along with the still to be announced pioneer class, will be inducted at NEAR’s 16th Hall of Fame banquet Sunday, November 16, at The Lodge at Maneeley’s in South Windsor, Connecticut.

Banquet ticket information will be announced shortly and will be posted on the New England’s Antique Racers’ website (NEAR1.org) in the near future.

Astle was a champion at both Seekonk and Lakeville Speedways. “The Little Man with the Big Cigar” was also a major force throughout Eastern New England, most notably at Westboro and Thompson Speedways.

Martel won in cars ranging from Cutdowns to Supermodifieds over four-plus decades of competition. He has victories at over a dozen tracks.

Maine’s Turner continues to compete, adding to a list of accomplishments that includes over 200 victories and 13 championships including seven at Oxford Plains Speedway.

The late Schultz’s championships at Norwood Arena (1969) and Westboro Speedway (1978) figure among a list of accomplishments over a career that began in the post-World War II “cutdown” era.

Wyckoff was a major winner at Plainville Stadium and Riverside Park Speedway and a force everywhere else in the 1960s and ‘70s.

Tourigny designed, built and maintained an impressive list of Modifieds for the Koszela family and for drivers Fred DeSarro, Bugs Stevens and Mike Stefanik.

Silva has emerged as one of New England top auto racing historian, serving promoters, competitors, media and fans for over three decades.

Toyota will have a new face for 2015.

Long before the 2015 production Camry’s coming out party at the New York Auto Show in April, Toyota Racing Development was hard at work to development a vehicle for competition in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup division.

In concert with Calty, Toyota’s car design studio, the project has been in progress since fall of 2013.

“The neat thing about this new commitment that NASCAR and the OEMs have is that as we development our product for the showroom, the expectation is that we’re going to take that to the race track,” said David Wilson, president and GM of Toyota Racing Development.

“So, this past April, Bill Fay, (group vice president and) general manager of the Toyota division (Toyota Motor Sales), unveiled the 2015 Camry at the New York Auto Show and that set about our plan to update our Camry for the race track.”

Toyota presented its’ “first look” to NASCAR’s Research and Development Center in Concord, North Carolina earlier this month, which was returned for further development.

“We had a preliminary submission, but we have more work to do,” Wilson said. “We’ve been working with NASCAR on the car. They give you the opportunity to see where you are and of course our objective is to get the most performance out of it as possible.

“We have to pass their submission criteria, so we’re going to have another go at it and hope to have that put to bed in the middle August. Then we’ll unveil it to the public and get ready for 2015.”

Wilson acknowledged that TRD has “a lot” on its plate right now. In addition to a new model for next season, Toyota is working with the other manufacturers, teams and NASCAR on a new engine package as well. Engine builders from Chevy, Ford and Toyota are attempting to knock off 100 horsepower from the cars before next season. Representatives from most teams are schedule to participate in a NASCAR test at Michigan Speedway on August 18 following the Sprint Cup race.

“We have a lot of respect for NASCAR’S commitment to continue to try and improve the quality of racing, the quality of entertainment,” Wilson said. “It’s always a fine line of course because change whether it’s rules, whether it’s body or engine, it takes time and it can have financial implications for the OEMs as well as for our team partners. That’s the part we’re all sensitive to particularly in this time.

“What’s good about it is that there’s a process now—NASCAR and the team there in Concord are treating us as stakeholders. They’re soliciting our opinions. We have some say in it—and that’s healthy.”

The Camry introduced in April will be the eighth generation of the model in the United States.
On May 29, the 10 millionth US-built Camry rolled off the production line in Georgetown, Kentucky.

When the new Camry hits the track for Speedweeks 2015, it will mark the third design of the car since Toyota entered the Cup Series in 2007. Cup Camrys have earned 65 wins in the first eight seasons of NASCAR competition.

Changes to the 2015 include a new front fascia, tail and character lines.

“We’re happy, very happy,” Wilson said. “We’re excited because the new Camry looks great and we look forward to getting it out on the race track because 2015 is going to be a big year for us because we pace the Daytona 500 again.

“It’s our turn and we’ll have our 2015 Camry pacing the field.”

Speedway Motorsports Inc. reported second-quarter net income of $27.2 million, or 66 cents per share. In last year’s second quarter, the Concord-based company (NYSE:TRK) posted a net loss of $67.8 million, or $1.64 per share, after recognizing a goodwill-impairment charge of $89 million.

Quarterly revenue dipped to $175.9 million from $176.8 million. Revenue from race admissions fell to $31.1 million from $34.2 million, which the company attributes to bad weather.

Speedway faced lower interest expense of $5.3 million from $9.2 million, which reflected a refinancing of debt.

The company said its revenue continues to be affected by “the ongoing weak and uncertain economic conditions, including unemployment and high fuel, food and health-care costs.”

Speedway reaffirmed its second quarter results are consistent with previous earnings guidance of 90 cents to $1.10 per diluted share, excluding non-recurring and other special items, for 2014.

The company owns and operates eight race tracks, including Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Roush Fenway Racing announced that long-time partner Fastenal will team with Ricky Stenhouse Jr., serving as the anchor sponsor on the #17 Ford in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) for a multi-year agreement beginning next season. Fastenal first joined with Roush Fenway in 2010 and has served as a primary partner for multiple Roush Fenway teams and drivers in both the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) and NSCS.

"Fastenal is a first class partner and we are extremely pleased to have them team with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and the No. 17 team starting next year," said Roush Fenway co-owner Jack Roush. "Ricky has accomplished a great deal in a short time, and continues to improve each week. We have very high expectations for his success in the future and I'm thrilled that Fastenal will be a part of that."

Stenhouse, who earned NSCS rookie of the year honors in 2013, will move into his third full-season of Sprint Cup competition in 2015. Considered one of the most talented up-and-coming drivers on the circuit, Stenhouse posted back-to-back NNS championships in 2011 and 2012.

Fastenal is currently in its third season as a primary partner on the #99 NSCS entry driven by Carl Edwards, and was the primary partner on the #60 NNS team that captured the owner's championship in 2011. Fastenal has also served in a limited role as a primary partner for the #16 and #17 NSCS teams the past two seasons.

"We appreciate everything Carl has done and wish him nothing but the best," said Fastenal President Lee Hein. "That said, we're looking forward to continuing our partnership with Roush Fenway Racing as the anchor sponsor of the #17. We already have a strong relationship with Ricky, and we're 100% confident that he'll do a great job representing our company on and off the track."

"As a driver, I'm thrilled to have Fastenal on board for next season," said Stenhouse. "I grew up working in a race shop, helping my dad build cars and racing engines. I appreciate the chance to work with a partner like Fastenal that plays such an important role in building our race cars and helping us win on the track. I've had the opportunity to work with them in the past and meet a lot of the men and women that are part of the 'Blue Team.' I look forward to representing them on the racetrack, and to taking them to victory lane."

TECAT Performance Systems, an Ann Arbor-based business that designs and manufactures wireless sensors, announced that they have appointed Ronald Rath to the position of chief executive officer, effective immediately. Rath has been acting as the interim chief executive officer since January, and is now officially taking on the role full time.
 
For the past 15 years, Rath has been in management consulting, supporting clients in the development of executive relationships, development and execution of transformation strategy, and cost base optimization. He has worked with the leadership teams of Fortune 100 companies to develop and implement successful transformation plans focused on revenue growth, operational excellence and supply chain management. He serves on the Board of Directors and as treasurer for the SAE International.

Rath received his BS in mechanical engineering from GMI Engineering and Management Institute and his MS in manufacturing systems engineering from Kettering University.
 
“I am very happy to be joining the company at such an exciting time,” said Rath. “TECAT Performance Systems sales are growing at a rapid rate, and the company is managing the growth well. I look forward to being a part of its continued success.”

TECAT Performance Systems launched their WISER system earlier this year, the latest in non-invasive, low power consumption, wireless torque measurement systems. The sensor has done very well this year, particularly in the test and instrumentation market, due to its small size and high accuracy.  The company plans to launch a new release to the system later this year, as the product enters new markets.

The National Auto Sport Association's (NASA) ninth annual NASA Championships presented by Toyo Tires is preparing for the first of two nationwide events. The first of the twin bill will be the Eastern States Championships to run at Road Atlanta, Aug. 29-31. Going from a single national championship event to a double, the NASA Western States Championships will take the green flag at Sonoma Raceway, Nov. 7-9.

Entries for the NASA Eastern States Championships are flowing into registration. The 2.54-mile, 12-turn undulating Road Atlanta circuit is drawing top competitors from the east, as well as from across the country. So far nearly 300 entries have been received with the larger classes being Spec Miata (SM), Honda Challenge (HC), Spec E30 and American Iron (AI).
 
Brian Fassler is returning to the NASA Championships in his new American Iron Extreme (AIX) Class Ford Mustang. Fassler will be a driver to to watch in what will be one of the weekend's fastest events.
 
"I've only been to Road Atlanta three times," Fassler said. "Once in 2010, in my first year of racing, and twice this year. I enjoy the track and I can't wait to see how the Championships go in a month. My goal for the weekend is to represent my sponsors as well as I can. I wouldn't be able to go to the Championships without them. Secondly, I'm going to try my hardest to win my first Championship next month. I see Chris Griswold being my main competition. He and I battled it out last year at Miller Motorsports Park and I know we've both stepped our games up since last year. It's going to be a hard race with some strategy put into it.  This will be my fourth attempt at the NASA Championships with some success. I started on pole in 2012 at Mid-Ohio in STR2 and led the first half of the race. I started on pole in AIX last year at Miller (first time there) and reset the track record by over a second. I've finished fourth in AI in 2012 and third in STR1 last year at Miller.  I'm driving my 2014 Ford Mustang with help from Paul's Automotive Engineering, Precision Turbo, Hoosier, Technitron Rotary Table Interfaces, Wiseco Pistons, Ford Racing, JRi Shocks, Cometic Gasket and Hawk Performance."
 
Florida's Alex Bolanos has been in contention in Spec Miata (SM) the last two years and is looking for the overall win at Road Atlanta next month.
 
"I qualified for the Championships at Sebring by getting the pole, setting fast lap and winning in all four races," Bolanos said. "I am driving my No. 57 Spec Miata sponsored by Momo, Autotechnik, and Apex Alignment. I've raced at Road Atlanta twice a year for the past few seasons. I have over seven podiums and a win in this year's SCCA Major there.  My goal is to win. I was in the hunt in 2011 at Mid-Ohio and had a hub failure and finished a close second in 2012 to Yannis (Tsiounis). I see Yannis and Steyn (Danny) being strong next month and I am sure there will be locals in the hunt as they were at Mid-Ohio.  I was second in TTE in 2008 at the Championships. In 2011 I won one of the qualifying races and had a failure during the race in SM and in 2012 I finished second in SM."
 
Will Faules, NASA Championships event manager, is happy with the level of enthusiasm for the new format with a month to go before racing begins.
 
"We have a strong contingent of drivers from the east as we expected," Faules said. "We also have groups coming to Road Atlanta from as far as Colorado, California and Arizona. The list of competitors is drawing other racers in from across the country. Road Atlanta is a great facility with a lot of paddock room. The track is second-to-none and we are looking forward to some great racing all weekend come August."
 
Road Atlanta is a 2.54-mile, 12-turn undulating road course located in Braselton, Ga., just 50-miles north of Atlanta. Road Atlanta is known as one of the most exciting places to drive a race car. The ultra-fast circuit has only one slow corner, Turn Seven, which leads onto the long back straight. The approach to the fast downhill Turn 12 is blind challenging drivers to carry a lot of speed down the hill that leads to the front straightaway and in to Turn One. The stretch out of Turn One to Turn Five consists of set of esses and lefts and rights that will reward a good handling car.
 
Complete information on the NASA Championships presented by Toyo Tires can be viewed at nasachampionships.com.
 
For additional information, please contact NASA Championships Media Director, Kyle Chura at kyle@kcapr.com or (248) 821-0468.  More detail can be found at nasaproracing.com or nasachampionships.com.     
 
To qualify for the NASA National Championships presented by Toyo Tires, NASA competitors must compete in and score points in four regional races around the country, five for the Western States Championships.  The 2014 National Championship presented by Toyo Tires Eastern weekend will feature over 300 competitors racing for the NASA National Champion trophy in 36 racing classes and nine Time Trial divisions around the famed Road Atlanta circuit home to Petit Le Mans.
 

Veteran Verizon IndyCar Series team A.J. Foyt Racing is evaluating a possible return to the Indy Lights series in 2015. The Waller, Texas-based Foyt outfit is taking a serious look at purchasing a new Dallara IL15 chassis to compete in the top step of the Mazda Road To Indy, and provided it happens, it would serve as the team's third tour in the Indy Lights series since its formation in the 1980s.

"There's a lot of interest there—we think Dallara's built a good car for the series and that it would be a really good training ground for us with mechanics and anyone looking to come up to the IndyCar Series with us," said team manager Larry Foyt.

Under the direction of A.J. Foyt, the team entered the original Indy Lights series in 1989 , then known as the American Racing Series, with a car for future Indy Racing League founder Tony George. The team returned in 2002 for the inaugural season of the Infiniti Pro Series, winning the championship with A.J. Foyt IV, and ran one more full season with current IndyCar Series owner/driver Ed Carpenter in 2003. The team continues to work toward adding a second IndyCar entry to its roster for 2015, and given the long off-season ahead, Foyt says the team has plenty of time to work on putting a Lights deal together for someone who might be interested in moving up through Foyt's in-house ladder system.

"It's something where we'd be looking for a driver that has some budget – maybe coming from somewhere that they have some sponsorship that wants to join a road with a team where we already have an IndyCar team in place," he added. "The good thing there is we have the space and a lot of equipment already, and we'd have to buy the big ticket items, but we're already in good shape with a lot of what we'd need to run things."

Foyt expects the costs to own and run the 2015 Indy Lights car to be higher than what they experienced in the Infiniti Pro Series, yet offered an interesting take on how he expects to sell the program to interested parties.

"It's going to be more expensive, and it's hard to sell your typical sponsor on regular impressions to make, but I think the car's more relevant and more what a kid coming out of Europe or other big ladder series would expect to drive," he said. "It's more representative of what they'll be going to in the future, and that makes a difference in what you're paying for.

"It closes the gap between the current Lights car and the current Indy car, and I think that's really good. It's going to take some more budget, but I think the car is more related to what these kids will be driving in the future than what the Lights car is right now."

MasterCraft Safety, Inc. a solely owned corporation based in Santee, California, has announced the merger of Impact and MasterCraft Safety, Inc. to form Impact Racing, Inc. The newly formed California Corporation is part of a continuing strategy to provide increases in manufacturing efficiencies and customer service.

“By consolidating our manufacturing efforts we will be better positioned to meet the needs of our ever increasing and loyal customer base. We will continue our 40-year tradition of providing high-quality, made-in-the-USA safety products to our recreational motorsports, professional motorsports and our country’s military defense personnel,” stated Robbie Pierce, CEO of Impact Racing, Inc.
 
As part of the newly formed corporation strategy, all current MasterCraft Safety, Inc. manufacturing will be relocated from Santee, California, to Indianapolis, Indiana. The MasterCraft Safety brand manufacturing operations will be housed in one of four buildings on the existing Impact manufacturing campus. In addition to housing MasterCraft Safety brand’s manufacturing operations, the newly remodeled, state-of-the-art facility will house Impact Racing, Inc.’s corporate offices by late November.
 
A multi-phase project, all manufacturing of MasterCraft Safety products at the Santee location will cease by August 31, 2014. Impact Racing, Inc. will retain the MasterCraft Safety offices and showroom at the 9335 Stevens Rd., Santee, California, location to provide continuing sales and service to its Southern California customers. 
 
Impact and MasterCraft Safety products will retain their respective brands and logos. “While there is some crossover, MasterCraft Safety and Impact offer different, high-quality products to uniquely different demographics. We feel it is important to maintain the two brand identities that our customers have come to know and trust,” stated Pierce. 

An innovative piece of off-road racing history will be auctioned for a good cause this Friday, August 1.

The Class 8 Baja-winning 1976 Ford F-100 campaigned by Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Famer Frank “Scoop” Vessels will go on the block. All proceeds from the truck’s sale will benefit the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame, which is housed in the National Automobile Museum in Reno, Nevada.

The truck helped revolutionize off-road racing. BFGoodrich used this F-100 to test its first-generation off-road radial tire. Previously, off-road tires were agricultural-based bias-ply designs—not optimal for high-speed durability and control.

“Scoop” Vessels and his 1976 F-100 proved that radial tires were the wave of the future by capturing the 1977 Baja 500 Class 8 win on the new BFGoodrich Radial All-Terrain T/A. Vessels also won class honors in the Baja 1000 that year on the new BFGs.

The truck was built for Vessels in 1976 by Charlie Haga. Not only was this F-100 the first to win an off-road race on radial tires, another technological tidbit is that it ran on propane: The F-100’s 404 ci Ford V8 was converted to an Impco LPG fueling system by Don Bass. Propane’s density is consistent, solving the fuel-starvation issues inherent in normal carburetors when off-road vehicles encounter uneven terrain and altitude changes. (Fuel injection wasn’t viable at the time.) The F-100 currently runs on gasoline.

Behind the Ford V8 is an Art Carr race-prepped Ford C6 automatic. The rearend was built by Jack Chrisman. Other period components include Rough Country shocks, custom disc brakes, American Racing wheels, BFGoodrich Radial T/A tires, and F-250 spindles with knock-off hubs. This truck was refreshed for display in 2005. It was recently housed at the Petersen Automotive Museum following a multi-year appearance at the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame.

Driver Frank “Scoop” Vessels’ off-road racing career spanned three decades. Debuting as SCORE’s 1972 Rookie of the Year, Vessels went on to capture 30 major victories and four points championships. SCORE named Vessels “Offroadsman of the Year” in 1978.

Frank Vessels was inducted into the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2007. Tragically, “Scoop” died in a plane crash in 2010.

Potential buyers of this historical piece of off-road racing lore—estimated to sell for $75,000–$100,000—have several ways to bid. Bids can be placed in person when the truck goes across the block at Auctions America’s California Sale on Friday, August 1, at the Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel. For remote bidding options, click here.

After multiple years on the market, the Cleveland (Tennessee) Speedway sold at auction last week for $800,000.

Retired investor Al Chapman of Chickamauga, Georgia, said he's not sure what the future holds for the track, but keeping it open and operating is an option.

The Johnson family reportedly had been trying to sell the track for three years after filing bankruptcy. David Johnson said safety, and addressing the decrepit grandstands would be top priorities if racing remains part of the property's future.

Chapman purchased the track and an adjoining 25 acres. Along with the property, the equipment at the track sold for $1700.