NASCAR Whelen Euro Series and the Autodromo dell’Umbria of Magione signed a partnership that will bring all the thrill of american stock car racing to Italy on September 20 and 21. With close racing on the track, amusement for the whole family in the paddock, NASCAR fans will enjoy an event entirely dedicated to “Made in USA” entertainment.

Italian fans are known to be among the most enthusiastic and passionate of the world and a lot of Italian teams and drivers take part in the official NASCAR series in Europe. It was therefore natural to choose Italy as the home of the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series Semi-Finals. Located in an ideal position in the heart of the Italian peninsula—near Rome and Florence, but easily reached from Milan, Turin or Naples—Magione is the ideal place to welcome fans coming from all over the country to discover the unique atmosphere of NASCAR races.

“For us here in America, Italy is synonymous with motor racing and passionate fans. That’s why we are very pleased to be bringing NASCAR racing to the heart of Italy and to the beautiful Autodromo dell Umbria in Magione,” said George Silbermann, NASCAR Vice President, Touring & Weekly Series. “With our great partners at the circui, NASCAR and the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series look to make Magione the place to be for NASCAR fans and for NASCAR racing for years to come.”

“We are very happy to host the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series Semi Finals and we are looking forward to create all sorts of attractions for the fans around the races. This is a long term commitment and we are building for the future,” said the Director of the Autodromo dell’Umbria Ezio Sisti, whose strong will to create something new in the Italian motorsports scene played a key role in creating this partnership. “Magione offers an interesting mix of fast and slow corners, a view on the whole track for the fans and an ideal geographical position, in a region of amazing beauty.”

The characteristics of the track, built as a true Roman arena, will guarantee exciting races. The 2507 kilometers long circuit, consisting of 11 curves, allows spectators to see almost the entire track and not miss a single bit of the action on track. The show, however, will not take place solely on the track, because the fans will find many attractions in the paddock and will be able to get close to the drivers and the cars, which are powered by mighty 400 horsepower, 5.7-liter V8s.

“The Autodromo dell’Umbria will quickly become the place to be for fans looking for close and spectacular racing. Moreover, its location is ideal to welcome fans coming from all over Italy. The circuit and the whole region want this event to be a big success. It will be a pleasure for us to share our passion with the Italian fans,” said Jerome Galpin, NASCAR Whelen Euro Series President - CEO.

The Magione weekend will play a key role in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series season, thanks to the doubled points awarded for the semi-finals. More details about the event will be unveiled to the media in the coming weeks. This meeting will also provide a great opportunity to discover an area with many tourist attractions, thanks to its proximity to cities such as Assisi and Perugia, which allow tourists to enjoy beautiful sights and the flavors of the Italian cuisine.

The Carolina Clash Super Late Model Series is gearing up for its 15th year of competition in the Southeastern United States.

In addition to the traditional tracks visited by the Carolina Clash, the tour will make stops at three new venues in 2014. Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tennessee, Screven Motor Speedway in Sylvania, Georgia, and Clary’s Speedway in Brinkleyville, North Carolina, have all joined the Carolina Clash schedule for this year.

“The current schedule has 18 races in the regular season, with a few TBA dates, rain dates, and definite off weekends defined. The off weekends are planned for Easter weekend and coincide with a few other major events in the southeast. We are currently waiting on confirmation on a few other races and will have all the events in place by the first race of the year at Carolina Speedway in Gastonia, NC,” said Mark Huey of the Carolina Clash Super Late Model Series.

The Countdown to the Cup Championship Series will feature six or more races, starting with the August event at Lancaster (South Carolina) Speedway.

Other schedule highlights include stops at Laurens County Speedway for the annual Laurens County Shrine Club Benefit Race, an annual visit to the highlands of southwest Virginia to Wythe Raceway, another Shrine Race at Carolina Speedway with the Gaston Shrine Club Shrine 100 and two Carolinas-Tennessee Challenge Matchups at Volunteer Speedway in May and July. More details will be announced for this two-race series as the events draw closer. Ray Cook and Austin Dillon were each winners at Volunteer in 2011. Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, S.C., will play host to the series during their Hall of Fame event on Sunday, Aug. 31.

The Carolina Clash will be returning to Friendship Motor Speedway for two races in 2014, and could potentially play host to the Carolina Clash Bash season finale event. Friendship came back to the tour last September and has hosted 13 events there in the past. Three-time series champion Dennis Franklin is the most recent winner there.

Two stops on the tour will take teams to Clary’s Speedway. The Carolina Clash has only raced at Clary’s twice, but not since June 28, 2008, when Ray Tucker went to victory lane. Booper Bare won the other event there on May 27, 2006.

The season was to be highlighted by the Winter Freeze event at Screven Motor Speedway in February. The race was designated as a bonus race, but was cancelled due to winter weather in the area. Screven officials did, however, book a regular season Carolina Clash event on May 3, 2014, the first official visit since 2009.

Four to five races are currently on tap for the Fayetteville Motor Speedway, which was the birthplace of the series, where Johnny Pursley was most recently the winner in October 2013. The first race in Fayetteville will be April 5, 2014 with the annual running of the Ed Gibbons Memorial race. Two races are on schedule for Lancaster Speedway, as well, starting with the track’s season opener on March 29.

2014 Carolina Clash Super Late Model Series Schedule:

Date – Track – Location

March 8 – Carolina Speedway – Gastonia, N.C.
March 29 – Lancaster Speedway – Lancaster, S.C.
April 5 – Fayetteville Motor Speedway – Fayetteville, N.C.
May 3 – Screven Motor Speedway – Sylvania, Ga.
May 10 – Volunteer Speedway – Bulls Gap, Tenn.
June 7 – Fayetteville Motor Speedway – Fayetteville, N.C.
June 10 – Laurens County Speedway – Laurens, S.C.
June 21 – Friendship Motor Speedway – Elkin, N.C.
July 12 – Volunteer Speedway – Bulls Gap, Tenn.
Aug. 2 – Clary’s Speedway – Brinkleyville, N.C.
Aug. 9 – Fayetteville Motor Speedway – Fayetteville, N.C.
Aug. 12 – Carolina Speedway – Gastonia, N.C.
Aug. 16 – Lancaster Speedway – Lancaster, S.C.
Aug. 31 – Cherokee Speedway – Gaffney, S.C.
Sept. 5 – Clary’s Speedway – Brinkleyville, N.C.
Sept. 6 – Fayetteville Motor Speedway – Fayetteville, N.C.
Sept. 20 – Wythe Raceway – Rural Retreat, Va.
Oct. 4 – Fayetteville Motor Speedway – Fayetteville, N.C.
TBA – Friendship Motor Speedway – Elkin, N.C.

For the past decade, NASCAR and OCESA have established the NASCAR Mexico Toyota Series as the national championship for racing in the country.
 
Tuesday’s announcement establishes the framework for them to build upon that success.
 
NASCAR and CIE, the leading live entertainment company in Latin America and third biggest live entertainment promoter of the world, have reached a 10-year landmark agreement for the Mexico-based Toyota Series to continue to operate under the NASCAR banner through the 2023 season.
 
“This historic announcement represents the next step in the growth of the sport and the international impact NASCAR is making,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president of racing operations. “The NASCAR Mexico Toyota Series continues to be a bridge that makes NASCAR more relevant to the Hispanic community in the U.S. Along with the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series and the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, the NASCAR Mexico Toyota Series gives our sport a strong and unified presence across North America and Europe."
 
The NASCAR Mexico Toyota Series is the premier auto racing series in Mexico. It traditionally runs a 15-race schedule, and for the second year in a row will kick off the season at Phoenix International Raceway. In another significant moment, Deportes Telemundo will air NASCAR Mexico Toyota Series’ Toyota 120 live on mun2, a first for NASCAR and the Mexico-based series.
 
“This extension symbolizes the strength of our relationship with NASCAR,” said Federico Alaman, managing director of the NASCAR Mexico Toyota Series. “I’m very proud of how far the series has come since its inception and continuing to operate under the NASCAR banner for many years to come will reinforce the high level of competition and excitement the NASCAR Mexico Toyota Series brings to every event.”
 
The 2014 season will mark the 11th overall for the NASCAR Mexico Toyota Series, which has been a NASCAR-sanctioned series since 2007. The inaugural year featured just one oval, while recent years have had just one or two road courses. This is emblematic of the shift the series has undergone under the NASCAR banner.
 
And the results are impressive.
 
Official sponsors have grown from 19 in 2007 to 37 last year, while the series averages 34 cars a race.
 
NASCAR Mexico is a partnership between NASCAR and OCESA that oversees marketing and licensing for the NASCAR and NASCAR Mexico brands in Mexico. Its marketing programs aim to increase interest in NASCAR Mexico Toyota Series events as well as NASCAR events in the U.S. that are televised in Mexico. It also seeks to attract corporate support of stock car racing from companies based in Mexico and throughout North America.
 

Yellowstone Drag Strip in Billings, Montana, has rejoined the NHRA Member Track Network.

Located 15 miles northwest of Billings, Yellowstone Drag Strip was built in 2003 and sits on 15 acres. The facility features paved pit areas, six staging lanes, a large grandstand and a two-story brick tower among other amenities.

“We are very excited to have Yellowstone Drag Strip back as an NHRA Member Track and part of the NHRA Northwest Division,” said Matt Levonas, NHRA Northwest Division Director. “Montana has a long history in drag racing and we’re looking forward to adding to that history and expanding NHRA’s presence in the Northwest.”

As an NHRA sanctioned track, the facility will be eligible to offer racers a variety of NHRA racing opportunities, including the NHRA Summit Racing Series, the NHRA Summit Racing Jr. Drag Racing League and the NHRA Drags: Street Legal Style presented by AAA.

An NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Regional event will be showcased at Yellowstone on June 20–22, and will feature the 260 mph Top Alcohol Dragsters and Top Alcohol Funny Cars along with hundreds of sportsman racers in 10 different classes from Comp Eliminator to Super Stock to Super Gas.

“We are very happy to be back under the NHRA banner,” said C.W. McCarthy, owner/manager of Yellowstone Drag Strip. “We have a lot of exciting events planned this year with ESPN coming for a track spotlight on June 7 and the return of the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series back to Montana in June.”

The ASCS Frontier Region will race 19 times in Montana and South Dakota during its second season of competition.


Spread among four facilities, the northernmost ASCS tour will begin on May 16–17 at the Electric City Speedway in Great Falls, Montana. The weekend marks two of the eight scheduled visits on the year.

Billings Motorsports Park, just north of Billings, Mont. will play host to the Frontier Region on six occasions with the first coming on Saturday, June 14. Paring with the Billings dates four times, the Gallatin Speedway in Belgrade begins their season with the ASCS Frontier region on June 13.

The region pairs with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series three times during the month of July starting at the Electric City Speedway on July 11, followed by the Billings Motorsports Park on July 12. The following Saturday, July 18 will be the Region’s lone South Dakota visit to the Black Hills Speedway in Rapid City.

2014 ASCS Frontier Regional Schedule:


May 16 – Electric City Speedway – Great Falls, Mont.

May 17 – Electric City Speedway – Great Falls, Mont.

June 13 –Gallatin Speedway – Belgrade, Mont.

June –14 Billings Motorsports Park – Billings, Mont.

June 20 –Electric City Speedway – Great Falls, Mont.

June 21 –Electric City Speedway – Great Falls, Mont.

July 11 –Electric City Speedway – Great Falls, Mont.*

July 12 –Billings Motorsports Park – Billings, Mont.*

July 18 –Black Hills Speedway – Rapid City, S.D.*

July 25 –Gallatin Speedway – Belgrade, Mont.

July 26 –Billings Motorsports Park – Billings, Mont.

Aug. 15 –Gallatin Speedway – Belgrade, Mont.

Aug. 16 –Billings Motorsports Park – Billings, Mont.

Aug. 29 – Electric City Speedway – Great Falls, Mont.

Aug. 30 – Electric City Speedway – Great Falls, Mont.

Aug. 31 – Electric City Speedway – Great Falls, Mont.

Sept. 6 – Gallatin Speedway – Belgrade, Mont.

Sept. 12 – Billings Motorsports Park – Billings, Mont.

Sept. 13 – Billings Motorsports Park – Billings, Mont.


*Indicates events held in conjunction with the ASCS National Tour

Toyo Tire U.S.A. Corp. (Toyo Tires) announced a new partnership with Porsche Club of America (PCA) that puts the brand in front of more Porsche owners than ever before. The PCA brings Porsche owners together through more than 3000 events per year including club races, car shows and high performance driver education.
 
This marks the first such agreement between Toyo Tires and the PCA, in which members will see Toyo Tires branding across PCA club racing materials including: race programs, quarterly club racing news, rule books, in Porsche Panorama magazine and on the club’s website at pca.org. Toyo Tires will also continue as the title sponsor of PCA’s High Performance Driver Education (HPDE) program and of the Spec Boxster contingency program.
 
“Toyo Tires is proud to support the Porsche Club of America through club racing and driver education programs,” said Stan Chen, manager of events and motorsports, Toyo Tire U.S.A. Corp.  “We are also proud to offer these owners quality, ultra-high performance tires whether they are taking their Porsche to work or to the track.”
 
 

Royal Purple has announced an exclusive raffle opportunity for automotive enthusiasts who visit Royal Purple’s truck and trailer display at predetermined events throughout 2014 to win an all-expense paid trip to this year’s SEMA Show in Las Vegas, November 4–7.

The winner of the grand prize drawing will receive guest credentials to attend the 2014 SEMA Show—a trade-only automotive event, not open to the general public—air travel to Las Vegas, three nights’ accommodations, Royal Purple apparel and an invitation to Royal Purple’s winner’s dinner for the winner and one guest.
 
“This is a fun way for us to give back to our fans, and what better way than to combine it with our new truck and trailer traveling to events across the country,” said Royal Purple Motorsports/Events Coordinator Kyle Neal.
 
Fans can enter to win the all-expenses paid trip to the 2014 SEMA Show at the following events Royal Purple is participating in:

• March 7 – Goodguys 5th Spring Nationals, WestWorld of Scottsdale, Scottsdale, Ariz.
• June 7-12 – Hot Rod Power Tour
• June 7 – ZMaxx Dragway at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Charlotte, N.C.
• June 8 – Chillhowee Park, Knoxville, Tenn.
• June 9 – Downtown (Kanawha Blvd.), Charleston, W.Va.
• June 10 – Summit Motorsports Park, Norwalk, Ohio
• June 11 – Lake County Fairgrounds, Crown Point, Ind.
• June 12 – The Isle Casino, Bettendorf, Iowa
• June 13 – Chula Vista Resort, Wisconsin Dells, Wis.
• June 28-30 – Street Machine Nationals at Du Quoin State Fairgrounds, Du Quoin, Ill.
• September 5-7 – Holley LS Fest at Beech Bend Raceway Park, Bowling Green, Ky.

Official rules can be viewed by visiting http://www.royalpurpleconsumer.com/2014-sema-sweepstakes-rules/.

The Circuit of the Americas near Austin, Texas, has apparently lost one of its longest-tenured, most experience executives with the recent departure of Bruce Knox, executive vice-president of COTA.

The circumstances could not be confirmed. “Per company policy,” said Julie Loignon, vice president of COTA's public and media relations, “we can't comment on personnel matters.”

Knox's history with COTA began in 2010, long before ground was broken for the road course, making him easily one of the facility's longest-tenured employees. He was installed into the project by minor investor Red McCombs, the mercurial 86-year-old San Antonio magnate who has owned Clear Channel Communications, multiple auto dealerships, the Minnesota Vikings, the Denver Nuggets and San Antonio Spurs sports teams.

McCombs controls McCombs Enterprises, where Knox worked. In 2011, Knox was President and CEO of Formula One United States, charged with bringing the F1 race to COTA. Once that was on track, Knox remained with COTA as its executive vice-president.

Knox was one of the few COTA executives with any experience in the automotive realm: Previously, he was CEO and director of Interactive Remarketing, a company he co-founded and grew to become the largest seller on eBay Motors, managing asset portfolio liquidation for clients such as Bank of America, HSBC, Capital One, Wells Fargo, Americredit and National City. The company was acquired by McCombs Partners in 2005. His association with eBay Inc. began in 1999 when eBay acquired his company.

Subsequently, Knox served as chief operating officer and chief marketing officer of an eBay subsidiary from 1999-2003. The entity served as the foundation for eBay Motors and quickly evolved to become the world's largest online automotive marketplace. In addition to assisting in the launch of the eBay Motors platform, Knox was also charged with running a national series of vintage car auctions that formed the world's largest vintage car auction company.

Champion Oil announced that Lane Automotive in Watervliet, Michigan, now offers the complete line of Champion motor oils, chemicals, additives, and lubricants.

Founded in 1964 and known for its customer service as a premier supplier of performance parts and accessories for racers, hot rodders, truck and off-road enthusiasts, Lane Automotive’s divisions include Motor State Distributing, ALLSTAR Performance, Lane Collectables, and the Lane Automotive Showroom.

Today, the company serves customers around the world from a 153,000 square foot warehouse/office complex located in Watervliet, Michigan, at the intersection of Interstate 94 and Michigan 140.

For more information, visit http://rzo.r.mailjet.com/redirect/wowbhph4o6zy4365m21sfm/www.laneautomotive.com/ or call 1-800-772-5266.

If you were to come to PRI one day and pry the lid off the top of the building and just peer in, you would identify a lot of the activity here as “selling.” This is a critical part of the equation here at PRI, and one of the key ways we work to keep in close touch with this ever-changing industry. For us, the sales process is a highly effective communication tool. The sharing of ideas, news, perspectives and, occasionally, industry gossip goes both ways. PRI ‘hears’ a lot through its sales team. A big part of selling is answering the question, “What do our customers want?” Believe me, they tell us, we listen and get to work on our products to make sure they align directly each year with the answer to this question.

At PRI, there’s 55 years of experience on the sales team in selling PRI. The PRI team of Judy, Reed, Francisque, Eric, Jeff and Andrea are to be found throughout the year at races, industry events, company visits and elsewhere communicating—in addition to all the phone calls and emails every day. There’s also a hardworking bunch of sales administrative assistants who deliver the logistics of the PRI selling effort—Kristen, Audrey, Janelle and Gabriela. When motorsports professional share generous comments of appreciation about the PRI Trade Show, or PRI magazine, the sales team here deserves a big part of the credit. They’re key in providing the extraordinary showcase of the newest racing products at the PRI Trade Show. They’re key in providing such a large editorial well in this magazine.

Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of racing businesses view what they do as technical. It’s about speed. It’s about parts. It’s about engineering. Yes, but it’s a very valuable exercise to view a business as a sales and marketing organization. It can tell you how well you’re communicating. Most importantly, it can tell you how well you’re listening.

SEMA Show’s Racing & Performance Section: In a move to provide one rep per company for all SEMA products and services, the PRI sales team will also be selling exhibit space in the Racing & Performance Section of the SEMA Show. It makes a ton of sense as SEMA brings its exhibit sales in-house this year. There are hundreds of companies that exhibit in both the PRI Trade Show and the Racing & Performance Section of the SEMA Show. Now, one sales rep can help with both shows. Easy. Efficient. And, you’ll be interested to know, the change comes as a way to improve communication, especially as it pertains to all that SEMA has to offer. “By bringing Show sales together with member services in-house at SEMA, our members will now experience a customer-service relationship that includes all that SEMA has to offer,” notes Chris Kersting, SEMA president.