NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team owner Eddie Sharp Jr. has formed a partnership with businessman Bill Gallaher of Santa Rosa, California, creating Sharp Gallaher Racing.



Gallaher is a successful real estate developer specializing in premium retirement communities and is Chairman of the Board of First Community Bank, based in Santa Rosa. He brings to SGR a business background that officials expect will raise the bar in Camping World Truck Series competition both on and off the race track.



"Bill coming on board is a game changer," Sharp said. "We have aggressive plans to step this team up as a premier organization in NASCAR, and Bill's partnership makes that possible. I am so humbled and thankful to Bill for his trust in me and our organization."



Eddie Sharp Racing was formed in 2005 and has had its share of success, winning the 2009 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards Championship as well as 19 ARCA Racing Series events. ESR was also runner up in the ARCA Racing Series Championship three times in 2007, 2008 and 2010 before entering the Camping World Truck Series in 2011.

Sharp Gallaher Racing has a 40,000-square-foot facility located in Denver, North Carolina. ESR currently runs NASCAR Late Model, ARCA and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series teams with technical support from Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing (RCR) and Earnhardt Childress Racing (ECR).

On behalf of its staff, track officials, drivers, crews and fans, Irwindale Speedway in Irwindale, California, has announced its contribution to a memorial fund for Bakersfield Speedway track official Steven O'Neil.
 
O'Neil, 54, was on duty at the Oildale facility on Saturday night, August 10, when he was struck by a race car. He died later at a local hospital.

"We know that there was an immediate response from the fans at the speedway ... taking up a collection for the family, and we want try to help out as well," said Irwindale Event Center President/CEO Jim Cohan.
 
"All of racing is really one big family, and our track officials are the people who we ask to keep us safe every night," he added. "Losing one of them is something that affects everyone in the entire racing community very deeply."

Contributions to the Steve O'Neil Memorial Fund may be sent to Steve O'Neil Memorial Account, PO Box 9506, Bakersfeild, CA 93389 (ref. account # 34154).

Hitachi is celebrating its partnership with Penske Racing with an exclusive business networking event leading up to the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma IZOD IndyCar Series race on August 25, featuring a panel discussion with the three-time Indianapolis 500 winner and current series championship leader Helio Castroneves.

Hitachi, the primary sponsor for nine races on the No. 3 Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet IndyCar driven by Castroneves, will host the event in San Francisco on August 22, 2013.

It will be held at the Nissan Infiniti dealership in downtown San Francisco, and will feature a panel discussion on the power of information technology in racing and in business, moderated by Amy Bernstein, Editor, Harvard Business Review.

Titled, "How to Utilize Technology and Information to 'Take the Lead' in Racing and Fortune 500 Businesses," the event takes place from 5:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. PST, on the fourth floor of the Nissan Infiniti of San Francisco dealership, 1395 Van Ness Avenue.


In addition to the moderator, panelists include:

    ◦    Helio Castroneves, Three-time Indy 500 winner, current IndyCar championship leader
    ◦    Will Power, Driver of the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske IndyCar
    ◦    Tim Cindric, President, Penske Racing
    ◦    Ron Ruzewski, Technical Director, Team Penske
    ◦    Asim Zaheer, SVP, Marketing and CTO Office, Hitachi Data Systems

Reserved parking for the event can be accessed through the dealership's customer parking and service entrances, both located on adjacent Bush Street.

In planning for the 38th annual Red Clay Classic, ABC Raceway has made one of the most anticipated race events of the 2013 stock car racing season in the Northland a little more attractive—especially for the drivers.

The venerable three-eighths-mile red-clay oval located south of Ashland, Wisconsin, will host its traditional season finale on Friday and Saturday, September 27-28, and this year’s edition will offer a record purse sure to attract more racers and fans to the popular event.

Drivers from throughout the Upper Midwest and south-central Canada are expected to attend, bringing upwards of 200 WISSOTA-sanctioned Late Models, Modifieds, Super Stocks and Midwest Modifieds to compete for their share of what is one of the biggest offerings in regional short-track stock car racing.

The planned overall purse has been increased to exceed $80,000 for this year’s edition, with the vast majority of the approximately $6000 pay bump earmarked for the middle-of-the-pack finishers in Saturday’s four championship features.

The winner’s share in three of the four features remains the same as in the past few years. The Mid-Mods will race 25 laps on that Saturday night for $600 to win, the “big” Mods will battle 35 laps for a $3000 first-place check, and the Late Models will run their 50-lap main event for a top prize of $4000.

Only the Super Stocks will see an increase at the very top, with an ABC Raceway division-record $1800 check to be written out to the winner of their 30-lap headliner, but the increase is offered throughout their payout as well.

“We felt that by offering the purse increase to the middle of the feature payouts instead of just to the top (finishers), it will help more drivers feel that the trip to the Red Clay Classic is worthwhile,” explained Raceway Board member Eric Erickson, who created the purse proposal. “More and more drivers want to see a special event like this pay well for a top-ten or top-15 finish. They all know it pays big to win.”

In addition to the huge winners’ checks and healthy overall payout, another $2600 in bonuses will be offered. The track is again offering a $500 “Champions’ Challenge” to any past RCC winner who captures a feature on that Saturday, and Northern Clearing Inc of Ashland is ponying up another $150 each to the drivers that post the fastest timed laps in each of the four main events.

For more information, visit abcraceway.com.

Richard Childress Racing has named Mark McArdle as its director of racing operations.

McArdle joins RCR following a four-year stint at Furniture Row Racing, where he served first as director of competition, then as executive director of competition.

This season, his role has included splitting time between RCR and Furniture Row Racing—which has had a technical alliance with RCR since 2010.

McArdle will continue to work closely with Furniture Row Racing, but will do so from the RCR facility, not traveling to FRR's facilities in Colorado.

He previously spent two decades in open-wheel racing, winning three Indianapolis 500 trophies before moving to NASCAR in 1999.

Recently, Design Engineering Inc. (DEI), completed a new 12,000-square-foot warehouse addition, which is expected to improve efficiencies for warehouse supply and delivery, R&D and office management.

With growing demand for all five product performance product lines—DEI, Boom Mat, Ny-Trex, Radiator Relief and CryO2—DEI utilized available property adjacent to its headquarters to build a new facility; all construction is now complete, and DEI is fully operational in the new building. 

The new warehouse more than doubles in size the company’s prior warehouse space at their headquarters, located at 604 Moore Road, Avon Lake, Ohio. 

The 80’ by 150’ by 24' metal and steel beam building features new packaging work stations, all new pallet racking, and the latest scales and packaging systems.

The majority of the building is devoted to inventory processing, with all raw materials and finished goods consolidated in one centralized large area for easy loading and unloading by pallet truck. The shipping and receiving area features new concrete loading docks with added loading zone space to maneuver for speedy distribution.

For more information, go to www.designengineering.com or call 800/264-9472.

The Southern California Timing Association has announced that for the first time, a live audio broadcast of the Bonneville Speed Week will be available through the SCTA website, www.scta-bni.org.

This is a first for the SCTA in officially releasing real time audio information from the famed Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah during this year's Speed Week, August 10-16.
 
Sponsors, fans, supporters and families of those in competition can join with the announcing staff, consisting of Harold Osmer and Ron Christensen, during the entire week of speed trials and record setting attempts this year.

The SCTA is expecting in excess of 500 vehicles in competition to break records at Bonneville.
 
To hear this year's show, go to the SCTA website (www.scta-bni.org) and look up the link under 2013 Bonneville Speed Week information. Clicking on the link, you will be sent to a special page with the show streaming live.
 
The Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) sanctions land speed racing trials in two locations. Racing is conducted six times each year at the El Mirage Dry Lake bed in Southern California, and also the world renowned Bonneville Speed Week in August combined with the World Finals in October of each year at the Bonneville Salt Flats in northwestern Utah.

With just two months left to enter the BILSTEIN “Just Add…” Sweepstakes, the vehicle has been chosen by popular vote. BILSTEIN will hand over the keys to a custom BMW 335i at the 2013 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, Nevada.

BILSTEIN, a manufacturer of monotube gas pressure shock absorbers, announced this contest on April 15, 2013, where enthusiasts could enter to win one of three customized vehicles and a trip to the SEMA Show.

After thousands of votes were counted, the BMW 335i was chosen over the Ford Mustang GT and the Ford F-150 truck as the vehicle that will be given away at the SEMA Show on November 5-8, 2013.

The BMW 335i will be customized by GSR Motorsports and equipped with a host of top aftermarket brands such as HRE Wheels, Falken Tire, K&N, Magnaflow, DENSO, Katzkin Custom Leather and of course BILSTEIN shock absorbers.

Participants have already had the chance to vote for the HRE Wheels that will be installed on the BMW and more opportunities will follow for anyone entered in the BILSTEIN Just Add Sweepstakes.

The custom BMW is up for grabs until October 7, when entries close and the winner is announced on or before October 11.

For more information about the BILSTEIN “Just Add…” Sweepstakes, visit justaddbilstein.com.

Stephen L. Lineberger has been chosen as the new President & CEO of CV Products, based in Thomasville, North Carolina. He succeeds Jim Zoretich, who has taken a leadership post at Performance Motorsports Inc. in Mentor, Ohio.

Lineberger brings more than 30 years of executive-level management experience to CV Products, with leadership in sales, marketing, branding and product design.

He has led companies in different industries and of various scopes and sizes. From heading up early-stage start-ups to running highly recognizable companies, Lineberger brings a unique perspective on both domestic and global markets.

Lineberger, who received his bachelor’s degree from Newberry College in South Carolina and his MBA from Wake Forest University’s Babcock School of Management in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, also has a strong commitment to family and community through support for the United Way and Second Harvest Food Bank, among others.

For more on CV Products, visit www.cvproducts.com.