Andersen Promotions confirmed Thursday its desire to see all three of the Mazda Road to Indy divisions run in front of IndyCar, and only IndyCar, for 2014.

Schedules for Indy Lights, Pro Mazda and USF2000 were all released and the schedules sync up with the recently released IndyCar schedule.

All Indy Lights races will feature same-day coverage on NBCSN with international rights held by ESPN International. Pro Mazda and USF2000 will also be featured on NBCSN with a minimum of four highlight shows, which will also be broadcast on Motors TV in Europe.

Indy Lights has a 14-race slate with four doubleheader weekends on the four road course races at Barber, Indianapolis, Mid-Ohio and Sonoma. The doubleheaders will feature a 40-minute sprint race on Saturday and a 60-minute feature race Sunday just prior to the IndyCar race.

Barber and Mid-Ohio are holdovers while Indy Lights returns to the IMS road course for the first time since 2007. The series returns to Sonoma for the first time since 2010.

The remaining six races are split three apiece between street courses (St. Petersburg, Long Beach, Toronto) and ovals (Indianapolis, Pocono, Milwaukee). Fontana has been dropped for 2014.

Pro Mazda and USF2000 also will have 14-race schedules. All Pro Mazda road and street races will be doubleheaders (six weekends) and standing starts. Oval races will occur at Lucas Oil Raceway Park in Indianapolis the night before the Indianapolis 500, and at Milwaukee in August.

USF2000’s 14 races will come on just seven weekends. All road and street races will be doubleheaders with the exception of Mid-Ohio, which will be a tripleheader as it was this year.
These two series also have the previously announced Cooper Tires Winterfest Championship to look forward to.

Here’s a breakdown of all dates and schedules:

Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires

• 14 races

• Three street circuits, four road courses, three ovals

• Doubleheader rounds at all road courses

Round, Date, Track
 
1, March 30,  Streets of St. Petersburg
2, April 13, Streets of Long Beach
3/4, April 26/27, Barber Motorsports Park
5/6, May 9/10, Indianapolis Motor Speedway
7, May 23, Indianapolis Motor Speedway
8, July 6, Pocono Raceway
9, July 20, Streets of Toronto
10/11, August 2/3, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
12, August 17, The Milwaukee Mile
13/14, August 23/24, Sonoma Raceway

Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires

• 14 races

• Two street circuits, four road courses, two ovals

• Doubleheader rounds at all road and street circuits
• Standing starts on all street circuits

Round, Date, Track

1/2, March 29/30, Streets of St. Petersburg
3/4, April 26/27, Barber Motorsports Park
5/6, May 9/10, Indianapolis Motor Speedway
7, May 24, Lucas Oil Raceway
8/9, June 28/29, Streets of Houston
10/11, August 2/3, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
12, August 16, The Milwaukee Mile
13/14, August 23/24, Sonoma Raceway

Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda

• 14 races

• Two street circuits, four road courses, one oval

• Doubleheader rounds at all road and street circuits with one tripleheader road course event

Round, Date, Track

1/2, March 29/30, Streets of St. Petersburg
3/4, April 26/27, Barber Motorsports Park
5/6, May 9/10, Indianapolis Motor Speedway
7, May 24, Lucas Oil Raceway
8/9, July 19/20, Streets of Toronto
10/11/12, August 2/3, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
13/14, August 23/24, Sonoma Raceway
 
Cooper Tires Winterfest Championship (six races)

February 21/22, NOLA Motorsports Park
February 25/26, Barber Motorsports Park

A week after dueling for the Firestone Indy Lights championship at Auto Club Speedway in California, Sage Karam and Gabby Chaves will be karting teammates in the inaugural Dan Wheldon Memorial Pro-Am Karting Challenge at New Castle (Ind.) Motorsports Park.

The timed 2-hour race Oct. 26 beginning at 12:30 p.m. (ET) features INDYCAR drivers, team owner Bryan Herta and special guests comprising 12 teams competing on the one-mile serpentine circuit. Admission is free and competitors will participate in an autograph session at 11:45 a.m.

Also, a silent auction will include a karting suit worn and signed by Wheldon. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Alzheimer's Association, a cause Wheldon worked to raise awareness for after his mother was diagnosed in 2008.

“It’s a fitting tribute as Dan was a great champion of our work and took great interest in the programs for individuals in the early stages of the disease,” said Heather Hershberger, executive director of the Alzheimer’s Association Greater Indiana Chapter. “While saddened that Alzheimer’s has personally touched his family, we are inspired by this generous and moving tribute.”

Marino Franchitti will substitute for his brother Dario, who was injured Oct. 6 in a race incident in Houston, while reigning IZOD IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon (a teammate of Wheldon's at Target Chip Ganassi Racing) and former Firestone Indy Lights race winner and IZOD IndyCar Series driver Martin Plowman also will compete.

Other INDYCAR drivers participating:

*James Hinchcliffe

*JR Hildebrand

*Ed Carpenter

*Simon Pagenaud

*Josef Newgarden

*Tristan Vautier

*Sebastian Saavedra

*Alex Tagliani

*Conor Daly

*Bryan Herta

*Jay Howard

*Sage Karam

*Gabby Chaves

*Zach Veach

Also scheduled to compete are Scott and Mark Borchetta of Big Machine Records, members of the Wheldon family and former IndyCar driver PJ Chesson.

The pro-am challenge will be part of the 10th RoboPong 200 race weekend, an endurance karting event that Wheldon won in 2005—the same year he won the Indianapolis 500 and the IZOD IndyCar Series championship.

Many of the same INDYCAR drivers competing in the challenge will participate in the RoboPong 200, including former race winners Carpenter and Howard plus Will Power, Simona De Silvestro, Stefan Wilson, James Davison, Matthew DiLeo and Logan Gomez.

NASCAR President Mike Helton will present the Racing and Performance Keynote speech November 5, 2013, in the VTC Theater during the SEMA show.

SEMA Chairman of the Board Nate Shelton will provide the opening comments for this exciting keynote session.

SEMA-member companies continue to play a significant role in NASCAR’s 70-year history and Gen-6 evolution, and NASCAR has played an equally important role in SEMA’s 50-year history and continuing evolution. SEMA’s roots are embedded in racing and the performance aftermarket. Racing and the performance lifestyle are critical to continued relevance and innovation within the NASCAR and SEMA communities and include longtime members and enthusiasts as well as next-generation companies, fans and enthusiasts.

The Racing and Performance Forum panel session will be held Nov. 5 from 1–3 p.m. in the VTC. Speakers will include Jamie Allison, director of Ford Racing; Jim Campbell, leader of General Motors Performance Vehicles and Motorsports; Wilfried Eibach, chairman of the Eibach Group; Alwin Springer, former president of Porsche Motorsport North America; and Yves Morizot, founder and chairman of Stand21. The roster will also include several other leaders from the racing and performance community.

John Kilroy, vice president and general manager of PRI, will provide an overview of the exciting programs and events leading PRI’s return to Indianapolis, the racing capital of the world.

This forum panel will address questions about the impact of advanced technologies and tighter federal emissions and fuel-efficiency standards on the racing and performance market today and in the near future. For instance, is Gen Y’s lack of interest in cars affecting racing and performance? Does 4G trump a V-8 for many young people who may be less interested in driving than their parent’s generation was?

Does winning on Sunday still translate to selling on Monday?

This session will explore how leading automakers and SEMA companies are focusing on matching horsepower with the fastest computing power and supporting existing series such as NASCAR and off-road racing. It will also review the merger of Grand-Am and ALMS to form the United SportsCar Racing series as well as new series such as Global Rallycross.

The final day of the season for the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series presented by GEICO will be the most significant day in the brief history of the MAVTV network.

That’s when the network will televise the Lucas Oil Challenge Cup races live from Lake Elsinore (California) Motorsports Park on Sunday, Oct. 27.

It will be the first live telecast of a motorsports event on MAVTV since Lucas Oil purchased the network in 2011. It’s also a benchmark for the future of the network.

“The decision to televise the Challenge Cup live was made the middle of this year,” said Jason Patison, MAVTV’s programming director. “Once SPEED transitioned to Fox Sports 1, we decided that we were going to be the new motorsports destination for automobile enthusiasts everywhere. To that end, we realized that we needed to bolster our live programming, and what better place to start than with the Lucas Oil Challenge Cup?”

The decision to kick off its live motorsports with the Challenge Cup and focus mainly on the race between the Pro 2 and Pro 4 trucks was an easy one in many ways, because the production company has been shooting and distributing the off road races since Lucas Oil took over the series in 2009.

As a result, Dave Wonser, production manager said, “We are very familiar with the ins and outs of shooting the event, the kind of delays that can occur and so on.

“The unpredictability of off-road racing can definitely present challenges with regards to timing,” Wonser said. “We’ll be building several features and stories to have on hand in case of such delays.”

Director Jeff Manhart and producer Chris Bond will be working with MAVTV’s regular off-road announcing team—host Ken Stout, color commentator Cameron Steele and pit reporters Rob Klepper and Erin Bates.

The telecast will begin at 5 p.m. ET.

Todd Parrott was released from Richard Petty Motorsports on Monday for violating NASCAR’s substance-abuse policy.

The 19-year veteran crew chief won the 1999 Sprint Cup championship with Dale Jarrett and most recently oversaw the No. 43 Ford team and driver Aric Almirola. Parrott has been with RPM since 2010. He has 31 Sprint Cup wins.

Parrott has already submitted his application for NASCAR’s Road to Recovery program and NASCAR officials confirm he has been accepted into the program.

Greg Ebert will take over as the interim crew chief for Aric Almirola's team.

Ebert has served in the role of car chief of the No. 43 Ford for the past two seasons and has been a car chief with RPM since its inception. Before joining RPM, Ebert spent nine years at Roush Fenway Racing serving the last five of those seasons as the car chief for Matt Kenseth.

"We are confident in Greg's leadership abilities and we will give him the resources he needs to be successful," explained Sammy Johns, vice president of operations and competition. "He is very familiar with our race program and gives us a more seamless transition. More importantly, he gives Aric the best opportunity to finish the season strong."

Twenty drivers arrived in Hampton, Virginia, eager to show off their driving skills at the 2013 Drive For Diversity Combine. First, though, they were put through the paces Monday with the equally important off-track assessments at Hampton University.

This is the third year the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program—created in 2004 and now executed by Rev Racing—has partnered with Hampton. The NASCAR D4D program is designed to identify and train young female and diverse drivers at the grassroots level who demonstrate necessary talent to climb the ranks within the motorsport industries.

The drivers, who represent 12 US states and Mexico and come from a wide array of racing experience, took part in physical training assessment as well as driver evaluation on Rev Racing’s iRacing simulators Monday.

Additionally, the program’s partnership with Hampton includes presentations to the drivers by Dr. David Hunter from the university’s department of kinesiology today, and by Dr. Kwame M. Brown on sports psychology Wednesday.

“All of the drivers in this combine are going to come away from this experience better prepared as drivers,” said Marcus Jadotte, NASCAR vice president of public affairs and multicultural development. “In addition to gaining valuable seat time and direction from some of the leading officials in the sport, they’re also going to better understand the physical training that’s required to be successful in the sport.

“There really are no losers. One group—the group that’s selected—will obviously have an opportunity to race with Rev Racing. Those who aren’t selected will come away from this experience as better drivers.”

The iRacing allowed many of the drivers to get their first look at Langley Speedway, the .4-mile asphalt oval at which they will test Late Model Stock Cars on today.

Phil Horton, Rev Racing’s Director of Athletic Performance, ran the candidates through a battery of tests in Hampton’s fitness center. Horton, who worked in the NBA before breaking into NASCAR in 1998 as Ernie Irvan’s trainer, has worked with a number of top drivers in the sport over the years. He’s seen the emphasis on physical fitness and conditioning rise in prominence at all levels, to the benefit of the competitors.

“One of the things about being fit as a driver in NASCAR is how it relates to your concentration,” said Horton. “Some drivers like to lift weights. Some drivers like to run marathons. Bottom line, your body has to be fit to carry out the task that you’re trying to be successful at.

“When the cars are 130 degrees and you’re on the last laps, you really need to be able to concentrate on driving and not how you feel, how your body’s reacting and how you’re dehydrated. Physical fitness is one of the most important things you have to be able to concentrate on and win a race.”

The new Aston Martin GT4 Challenge Series, announced during last week's Petit Le Mans American Le Mans Series event, will join NARRA four times in 2014, including for its inaugural rounds during NARRA's Grand Prix of Georgia at Road Atlanta, April 11-13.
 
The spec series showcasing the V8 powered Aston Martin Vantage GT4 and headed by Kevin Buckler's famed The Racer's Group organization will also feature at the North American Road Racing Association's Watkins Glen (May 16-18), Virginia International Raceway (June 6-8) and Sebring International Raceway (Nov 21-23) events.
 
Speaking about the announcement, NARRA General Manager Aaron Hmel said: "This is a perfect fit. NARRA is the home of high-end and high-performance. Both NARRA and TRG-AMR (Aston Martin Racing) North America are committed to creating first class events for drivers, sponsors and fans alike.
 
"Of course NARRA has a history of hosting high-end single make series, having sanctioned the SRT Viper Cup for the past three years, as well as our ongoing partnership to sanction the Radical Cup USA. But to be chosen by and associated with the Aston Martin brand is a real feather in our cap, and shows just how desirable our calendar is.
 
"The addition of the Aston Martin GT4 Challenge to our line-up, that includes NARRA's own US GT Championship- open to all high-end marques and famous for its Viper, Corvette, Porsche and Ferrari rivalry- the Whelen US TimeTrial Championship and Radical Cup will make for some of the most spectacular events outside of the big three [NASCAR, United SportsCar and IndyCar] next year.
 
"This is only the beginning too, as we finalize our schedule of events and continue to work with a number of series who wish to be apart of our lineup in 2014."
 
Aston Martin GT4 Challenge Series of North America Director LisaKay Foyle added: "We are understandably excited about this schedule and the quality of the tracks where we will be racing. These venues are without question among the best road courses this side of the globe, and we are very proud to be able to offer our teams and drivers the chance to fulfill their dreams of racing Aston Martins on these storied layouts."
 

Global Rallycross is pleased to announce its return to Las Vegas, holding the final event of its 2013 season on November 6-7 in conjunction with the world-renowned SEMA Show. The two-day race event will feature the ninth race of the 2013 Supercars season, and the sixth race of the inaugural GRC Lites season.

The track being built for the event will be located at the end of strip, and will provide an exciting and challenging course with new aesthetics for the likes of drivers such as Ken Block, Brian Deegan, Tanner Foust, Bucky Lasek, Bryce Menzies, Travis Pastrana and Scott Speed.

"The 2013 Vegas Finale will be an awesome ending to a great season, and will set the stage for an action-packed 2014," says Colin Dyne, CEO of Global Rallycross. The final 2014 schedule, which will be announced in November, will include 10-11 events, including the summer X-Games.

Global Rallycross will also have a booth at the SEMA Show from November 5-8. The series will occupy booth #50647, located on the Skybridge of the Las Vegas Convention Center. To schedule an appointment please contact Bud Tody at btody@global-rallycross.com.

For the complete race schedule and to learn more about the series, please visit www.global-rallycross.com. For up to the minute updates, check out the Global Rallycross twitter at @GlobalRallyX and Global Rallycross facebook at www.facebook.com/globalrallycross.

ABOUT GRC VEGAS FINALE

Tickets can be purchased in advance at www.globalrallycrosstickets.com, or trackside 11/6 & 11/7.  General Admission 2-day pass - $35, children 12 & under - $10.

The track is located south of the old Sahara between Las Vegas Blvd and Paradise Rd, just 2 blocks north of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The Motorsport Industry Association, (MIA), the global business motorsports network, is hosting an International Business Reception celebrating the return of PRI to “The Racing Capital of the World”.

Every year at PRI, this relaxed, informal Business Reception is the key international industry meeting point during this great show. It is, simply, the best opportunity to make new international contacts, explore new overseas business and discover export opportunities. US attendees always include guests from the major racing series—NASCAR, ALMS, GRAND-AM, IRL and NHRA—who join PRI's many overseas guests from all corners of the motorsport world.

For 2013, the MIA will widen invitations to welcome all of PRI’s thousands of international business visitors, in addition to business leaders from the US motorsport community, who are looking for increased exports.

This event takes place Thursday evening, December 12, from 6:00–8:00 p.m., at the Columbia Club.

The elegant and historic Columbia Club is the premier private club in Indianapolis, conveniently located in the heart of downtown on Monument Circle. In beautiful surroundings, our informal event is the best-value, enjoyable way to make new friends, discuss international business and build networks during PRI 2013—the largest and most successful hardcore racing show in the world.

There is a fee to attend this reception. Get more information and register at http://www.the-mia.com/events_diary.cfm/flag/2/e_id/760.

Caesars Palace Las Vegas has hosted some of the greatest entertainment acts in the world—from Evel Knievel, to Frank Sinatra and Celine Dion, to the Formula One World Championship events in 1981 and 1982.

On Thursday, November 7,  taking part simultaneously with the automotive industry’s trade show, SEMA, Las Vegas history will once again be made as the SPEED Energy Stadium SUPER Trucks event (SST) makes its way to Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip.

The race track for this special one-day only event will be constructed in front of Caesars Palace. High-flying SST trucks will propel past The Colosseum and through the Caesars Palace marquee. Fans will be thoroughly entertained as the high horse-powered SPEED Energy Stadium SUPER Trucks battle door-to-door, drifting around the seven-turn asphalt racecourse and flying over specially constructed metal ramps.

An event at Caesars has long been a vision of series President Robby Gordon. The unique form of racing that SST offers was immensely popular more than 20 years ago—known then as the Mickey Thompson Off-Road Championship—and fittingly Gordon, one of the world’s greatest off-road racers, has brought it back to life.

“Bringing SST to Caesars during SEMA Show week, the world’s most premier automotive specialty products trade event, is something unheard of,” said Gordon. “We would like to thank everyone at Caesars Palace and The Forum Shops at Caesars for giving us the opportunity to present a race like this. Getting to race SST trucks on this property is something phenomenal.”

“Through the years Caesars Palace has always set the standard and continually raised the bar on the Las Vegas Strip,” said Caesars Palace Regional President Gary Selesner. “An event like this is special because it pays homage to the historical attention-grabbing events that Caesars Palace is known for—like Evel Knievel and the Formula One races, yet also brings forth a new element of exciting entertainment for our guests. We are thrilled to welcome SST with this monumental event and encourage locals and race fans alike to join in on the action.”

In addition to the SST lineup, USA Pro SuperMoto and Modified Trophy Karts will be competing with a full program of qualifying and main events.