Valvoline, a leading marketer, distributor and producer of quality branded automotive and industrial products and services, will be reunited with Hendrick Motorsports after finalizing a multi-year sponsorship agreement that will kick off next season.

The Official Lubricants Partner of Hendrick Motorsports beginning in 2014, the Valvoline brand will be featured as a major associate sponsor of the team's full stable of Chevrolet SS race cars through the 2017 NASCAR campaign. The company will utilize Sprint Cup Series drivers Kasey Kahne, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. as spokespeople to promote Valvoline premium motor oil products and services.

In addition, Valvoline will be the preferred oil poured by Hendrick Motorsports' sister company, Hendrick Automotive Group, which operates 87 auto dealerships across the United States. The dealerships also will use Valvoline professional series, a line of fuel system preventive maintenance products that increase fuel economy and drivability, and Valvoline antifreeze. Both product lines contain patented technology that provides exceptional performance.

"The Valvoline team is thrilled to partner with Hendrick Motorsports and continue the long history of winning on the track for both organizations," said Sam Mitchell, president of Ashland Consumer Markets. "Both companies have a strong heritage and similar values with employees driven by hard work, commitment to innovation and passion for cars. This is going to be an exciting and great relationship."

Beginning in 2014, Hendrick Motorsports will use Valvoline products in its Chevrolet R-07 racing engines in the elite Sprint Cup Series. Valvoline was a partner of the team from 1993-95, supplying lubricant technology that contributed to the organization's first Cup championship with Gordon.

"When I was 14 years old, I won my first drag race with Valvoline in the car," said Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports and chairman of Hendrick Automotive Group. "It's an innovative American brand that has great racing heritage and a winning history with our organization. This is the company that basically invented motor oil, and we're excited about having them as a corporate sponsor and hands-on technology partner.

"Our dealerships are proud to offer a trusted product like Valvoline as our preferred oil. Hendrick Automotive Group stores serviced nearly 2 million vehicles last year, and we know our customers can rely on Valvoline's performance in the same way our racing engineers will."

Bell Racing’s Star Classic helmet is featured prominently in the Ron Howard movie Rush, based on the epic 1976 Formula One season and the championship battle between James Hunt and Niki Lauda. Bell Racing provided 80 custom painted helmets for the film, replicating the paint designs, color schemes and sponsors of Formula One drivers from the era including the 1976 season.

Bell provided helmets for the main characters James Hunt, played by Chris Hemsworth and Niki Lauda, played by Daniel Bruhl. In addition, the Star Classic was used by the stunt and performance drivers who replicated the racing action from the 1976 season and depicted Formula One drivers from that era including Mario Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi, Jean Pierre Jarier, Carlos Pace, Harald Ertl, Carlos Reutemann, Vittorio Brambilla, Jochen Mass, Jacques Lafitte, Clay Regazzoni, John Watson, Arturo Merzario, Jody Scheckter, Graham Hill, Jean-Pierre Beltoise, Patrick Depailler, Noritake Takahara and Ronnie Peterson.

“Bell is proud of our involvement with Rush and the opportunity to help bring this compelling racing story to the big screen,” said Kyle Kietzmann, President, Bell Racing USA. “The Star Classic model from our vintage line of helmets is a perfect choice for the film as it replicates the design of the original 1970’s Star II full face helmet used during the 1976 Formula One season. The Star Classic is built to current safety standards using modern technology and manufacturing techniques. This assured the actors, stunt drivers and performance drivers were well protected while filming the race scenes depicted in the movie.”    

James Hunt wore Bell during his career including the 1976 season. While Niki Lauda wore Bell during his career, he was wearing another brand during the 1976 season and in his horrific accident. As a result the Bell Helmets logo is featured on Hunt’s helmet but does not appear on Lauda’s helmet in the film.

The 2014 motorsports schedule for Texas Motor Speedway will once again feature the eighth race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup with November’s AAA Texas 500, but also includes variations to its spring NASCAR doubleheader weekend and annual IndyCar race.

The Texas 500 NASCAR doubleheader schedule will be modified to provide both local and visiting fans the ultimate sports weekend with the NCAA Final Four tournament semifinals also being staged that weekend in Arlington.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Texas 500 has been run Saturday evening the past three years, but will return to its traditional Sunday afternoon slot for only the 2014 season. The shift to Sunday, April 6, will avoid a head-to-head conflict with the college semifinal basketball games scheduled for Saturday, April 5, and also allow fans that are visiting the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex for the college basketball tournament the opportunity to enjoy some NASCAR racing, in particular the Texas 500 since there are no NCAA Final Four games that day.

Texas Motor Speedway also will tweak the traditional NASCAR race weekend schedule and run the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 Nationwide Series race the evening of Friday, April 4, while The Dallas Morning News SportsDay Qualifying Day for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will take place the afternoon of Saturday, April 5. The on-track activity officially begins Thursday, April 3, with a pair of Nationwide Series practices and The Dallas Morning News SportsDay Qualifying Day for the Nationwide Series set for Friday, April 4.

With the NCAA semifinals scheduled for Saturday, April 5, and the championship game for the evening of Monday, April 6, the race schedule changes provide a unique opportunity for a dynamic sports weekend in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

The IndyCar/NASCAR doubleheader remains in its traditional slot—two weeks after the Indianapolis 500 on June 5-7—but IndyCar Series race fans literally will get more mileage out of their visit next season. “America’s Original Nighttime IndyCar Race” will have an additional 50 kilometers of race action and be retitled the Firestone 600 to reflect the change in the race distance.

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will be paired with the IndyCar Series for the 18th consecutive season, dating to the speedway’s opening in 1997. The WinStar World Casino And Resort 400 will be held the evening of Friday, June 6, along with IndyCar Series qualifying. The race week kicks off Thursday, June 5, with practice and qualifying for the WinStar World Casino And Resort 400. The weekend culminates with the Firestone 600 IndyCar Series race the evening of Saturday, June 7.

The Texas Motor Speedway season concludes once again with a NASCAR tripleheader spiced with playoff-type drama as the AAA Texas 500 race week is set for Oct. 30-Nov. 2. The weekend will feature the AAA Texas 500, the eighth race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup since its debut in 2005, on Sunday, Nov. 2. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will be joined by its other top-tier series as the Camping World Truck Series WinStar World Casino And Resort 350 will be held the evening of Friday, Oct. 31, and the Nationwide Series O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge on Saturday, Nov. 1.

Pole qualifying for the NSCS AAA Texas 500 and NCWTS WinStar World Casino And Resort 350 will be held Friday, Oct. 31, while the NNS O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge qualifying will be held Saturday, Nov. 1. The race week officially begins Thursday, Oct. 30, with a pair of NCWTS practices.

Official start times and television partners for each event will be announced at a later date.

Sharp-Gallaher Racing expects to grow to 40 employees as it moves to Mooresville from Denver, North Carolina, to occupy an existing building.

The NASCAR racing company expects to spend $3.1 million to relocate to a building at 126 Exmore Drive in Deerfield Business Park. The facility totals 46,000 square feet in manufacturing and office space.

Sharp-Gallaher has two drivers, Justin Lofton and Max Gresham, who race in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

The company will bring 25 jobs from the Denver area of Lincoln County and add 15 jobs at the Iredell County facility. Salaries for those jobs will average $57,000 per year, the company says.

Last week, both the Iredell Board of County Commissioners and the town of Mooresville Commissioners approved incentives grants for the project. The total value of those inducements is $132,000 to be paid over five years.

Eddie Sharp Jr., team co-owner, says the move will allow the team to be closer to vendors and to a pool of racing employees.

“It is the heart of the motorsports industry and will be an honor to be headquartered in Race City USA with some of the best teams in our sport,” Sharp says.

H3R Human Resources Services, a Toronto-area consulting and outsourcing firm, continues its overall growth strategy and increasing focus on serving the motorsports community through the launch of US operations and an office in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the introduction of a dynamic new corporate logo.

H3R Human Resources Services Inc., a North Carolina registered company, has officially opened its new office at 401 North Tryon Street, 10th Floor, Charlotte, NC, 28202 and can be reached at 704/737-6535, or toll-free at 888/437-1414.

While its Charlotte office will be the center of its work in the motorsports sector, H3R will also be developing a practice that provides the full spectrum of human resources capabilities to support a variety of clients in the Carolinas and surrounding area, as it currently does in Canada.

H3R has been very successful in helping small businesses, not-for-profits, associations and other organizations without internal human resources teams to improve their people-management practices with very positive results. H3R is also available to assist the human resources teams of mid-size and larger organizations on a project basis. We are also very excited about working with new partners we have been developing in Charlotte and across the US.

In discussing this new US initiative, H3R Managing Director Michael Bennett shared that “H3R is very excited to be expanding into the US and Charlotte in particular. With Charlotte being the center of the NASCAR community and the largest banking center in the US outside of New York City, it is a perfect fit with our focus on growing our motorsports practice and our extensive experience in financial services—it is a natural place for us to be."

For the motorsports community, H3R offers two specialized services. H3R Performance Staffing (H3RPS) focuses on recruitment, search (headhunting), work visas and career transition/outplacement for race teams and other motorsport organizations across North America and globally. H3RPS also provides the strategic and tactical human resources support of H3R. Launched in December 2012, SpeedSportJobs.com, the world’s premier job posting board for careers in motorsports, offers motorsport organizations a highly cost-effective and functional online recruitment portal, which in its first 9 months has been visited by more than 3200 people from over 30 countries who are specifically seeking career opportunities in motorsports and has featured postings from championship winning teams in NASCAR and Grand-Am, as well as leading race track operators, the US Olympic Bobsled team and other motorsports organizations.

Bennett stated, “Our motorsports programs combine my lifelong passion for racing and our ability to help organizations manage their people more effectively to achieve superior performance and results while minimizing the distraction and administration of HR management. We will help race teams and other motorsports organizations do better and we look forward to working with them in Charlotte, Indianapolis and right across the US and Canada.”

Attendees and exhibitors of the 2013 Performance Racing Industry Trade Show in Indianapolis will have a powerful business tool at their disposal—the Internet.

From December 12–14, show goers will have access to free, unlimited Wi-Fi throughout the Indiana Convention Center, compliments of PRI.

"The PRI Trade Show continues to invest in valuable new features each year in order to make attending the Show as convenient and affordable as possible for motorsports professionals," said John Kilroy, producer of the PRI Trade Show. "Stay in touch with your business, go online for answers—take full advantage of complimentary Wi-Fi during this year's Show."  

Now in its 26th year, the PRI Trade Show will feature more than 1100 exhibiting companies occupying over 3300 booths, and attract upwards of 40,000 motorsports professionals to the Racing Capital of the World, Indianapolis.

For more information on the 2013 PRI Show, visit www.pri2013.com.

V8 Supercars will add twilight races and simplify its race formats for 2014, ahead of a planned international expansion in 2015. As part of the re-alignment, the series' first race in the United States at Austin's Circuit of The Americas has been dropped for next year, although series officials say it will return in 2015.

COTA was dropped from next year's calendar due to date clashes, the series says, but will return in 2015 as part of what series chief James Warburton described as "an extensive international strategy for 2015 and beyond."

V8 Supercars is also talking to other American venues with a view to adding a further US date alongside Austin in the future, as Warburton emphasized that the track remained part of the series' long-term plans.

"The timing of COTA securing the X Games next year led to the mutual agreement of a gap-year before consolidating, planning and returning to Texas in 2015," Warburton said.

Following its annual selection process, the 2014 Class of the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame has been announced. The upcoming class features five driving greats: Denny Bonebrake, Steve Francis, Bob Kosiski, Kenny Walton and the late Ed Gibbons.

Denny Bonebrake recently retired from competition following an illustrious career, which spanned 45 years. A Maryland native, Bonebrake is one of Hagerstown, Maryland Speedway’s all-time winningest racers.

Steve Francis, known as the “Kentucky Colonel,” remains active today and is a former World 100 and Dirt Track World Champion, along with countless major victories on America’s national circuits.

Bob Kosiski, the patriarch of the famous dirt racing family from Nebraska, was a top contender on the tough IMCA stock car circuit and a short track winning icon for many years across the upper Midwest.

Kenny Walton, a 1978 World 100 champion, has also a NASCAR Weekly Regional championship and multiple NSCA circuit titles on his long and successful resume.

Ed Gibbons, a second generation South Carolina dirt star, drove to over 400 victories and was a top southeastern runner for a number of years until his untimely passing following an automobile accident in 2009.

This class’ Contributing Category includes Allan Brown, journalist, historian and founder of the National Speedway Directory; Renegade STARS and World of Outlaws late model group technical inspector Walter Burson; and long time prominent Iowa car owners Larry and Penny Eckrich.

The Hall’s Circle Track Magazine sponsored Sportsman’s Award will be presented to veteran Alabama racing great Red Farmer for his years of dedication as an ambassador to the sport.

The 2014 induction class ceremony will be presented at the North-South 100 weekend next August at Florence Speedway in Union, Kentucky.

The exciting new world of sports car racing in the United States will come to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway next summer, as the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship will compete Friday, July 25, in the Brickyard Grand Prix during the Kroger Super Weekend at the Brickyard.

GRAND-AM Road Racing and the American Le Mans Series are merging after this season to form the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, which will represent the unified, elite level of sports car racing in North America.

“Sports car racing is entering a new era that will provide even more excitement for fans,” said J. Douglas Boles, Indianapolis Motor Speedway president. “We think the wide array of high-performance cars in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship will produce great action and are very happy that the Brickyard Grand Prix will remain as one of the marquee events in the North American sports car schedule.”

This will be the third consecutive year in which exotic prototype and production-based GT sports cars will race on the IMS road course on the same weekend as the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series stock cars compete on the IMS oval, creating one of the most unique motorsports events in the world.

The unified TUDOR United SportsCar Championship won’t be the only new look to the Brickyard Grand Prix. Sports cars will race on an updated version of the IMS road course, which incorporates an infield section and part of the world-famous oval. The changes will create even more competitive racing and better passing opportunities.

Competition will take place simultaneously in four classes next July in the Brickyard Grand Prix, with two prototype classes and two production-based GT classes: Prototype, Prototype Challenge, GT Le Mans and GT Daytona.

IMS will announce the complete schedule for the Brickyard Grand Prix, the Crown Royal Presents the “Your Hero’s Name Here” 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race and the Indiana 250 NASCAR Nationwide Series race in the future.

Toyo Tire USA. Corp. has hired industry veteran Randy Gaetz, vice president of sales and marketing for Del-Nat Tire Corp. for the past three and a half years, to be its vice president of sales, effective October 7.

Gaetz succeeds John Hagan, who recently was appointed senior director of sales for Toyo's North American original equipment group. He has been a part of the tire industry for 35 years in a variety of sales and marketing roles. Prior to his time at Del-Nat he worked for GPX International, Tire Centers L.L.C. and Group Michelin.

According to Toyo, Gaetz has extensive experience "working with tire manufacturers and dealers, spanning both consumer and commercial products. He has led high performing sales teams and successfully managed supplier-dealer relationships."

In his new role with Toyo Tire, Gaetz will report to Roy Bromfield, Toyo's chief operating officer.

"I am very excited to welcome Randy Gaetz to our team and to this critical sales leadership role," Bromfield said.

"Randy is an up-through-the-ranks tire industry executive, and his expertise will provide a significant benefit both to our dealers and to the future growth of the Toyo Tires brand in the US."