Levi Jones, one of the most decorated drivers in the history of the United States Auto Club (USAC), is retiring.

Jones, a seven-time USAC national champion who earned six of those titles with Tony Stewart Racing (TSR), is ending his driving career effective immediately, and will turn his focus toward his family and working within his family’s business.

“After reevaluating where I am at this point in my life, I’ve made the decision to step away from my career as a professional driver and focus on my family and our business,” Jones said. “Racing has consumed the majority of my life, and while I’ve been fortunate to have had the opportunity to share this with my family, the time has come for my focus to shift to exploring what lies outside of the sport.”

Jones and his family own a handful of Rural King Supply franchises, a chain of farm- and retail-based stores in the Midwest.

His Sprint Car titles came in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011. Jones earned back-to-back Silver Crown championships in 2010 and 2011. All but Jones’ 2005 Sprint Car championship came with TSR.

“My decision to end my career wasn’t an easy one, but I’m in a place personally that allows me to do so without being bitter or wondering what might have been,” Jones said. “I’ve had the privilege of winning a lot of big races in my career thanks to the support of great teams filled with a lot of great people.”

Jones is from Olney, Illinois, and began racing 410 Sprint Cars in 1998 when he was 16. Now 31, Jones is married and resides with his wife, Heidi, and their children in Swansea, Illinois.

Jones joined TSR in 2006 where he piloted the team’s No. 21 USAC Sprint Car entry, finishing second in the national championship.

He is the only five-time USAC Sprint Car champion. In his 16-year USAC Sprint Car career, he made 393 starts and earned 28 victories, 35 fast-time awards, 157 top-fives and 115 top-10s. Jones also made 74 USAC Silver Crown starts. He won three feature events and scored six fast-time awards and 22 top-fives.

His most recent win came May 24 in the prestigious Hoosier Hundred event at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis. Jones also made 120 USAC National Midget Car starts during his career, earning four victories, 24 top-fives and 33 top-10s.

The Le Mans 24 Hours will be back at a more traditional date in 2014, as the race will take place at the end of the 24th week of the year.

It is the ninth time in 91 years that the Le Mans 24 Hours will be run on June 14-15, the last being in 2008.

The test day will again be held two weeks before the race, on Sunday, June 1, 2014, while scrutineering will take place June 8-9.

As has been the case since 2012 and the revival of the test day two weeks before the blue riband event in the FIA World Endurance Championship, this schedule will enable the teams to install themselves in the center of the Le Mans circuit, and they will not have to dismantle their installations before the start of the biggest rendezvous of the international endurance season.

The full 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship calendar will be announced before the end of September 2013.

The International Hot Rod Association has announced that Pro Stock will be featured at two of their Nitro Jam events this year.

Pete Berner and the Summit Racing Equipment Team will be among four teams returning to the genesis of Mountain Motor Pro Stocks for the MOPAR Nitro Jam Nationals at the Grand Bend Motorplex in Grand Bend, Ontario, July 19-21 and the CarSafe Northern Nitro Jam presented by Perry Harley-Davidson at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan, August 9-10.

“The secret is out,” Berner said. “We’re going back to IHRA, and I’m really looking forward to racing again at what used to be home for Mountain Motor Pro Stock. This four-car, Chicago style shootout is sponsored by Summit and I want to thank Jim [Greenleaf], as well as Scooter [Peaco, IHRA Vice President], for their efforts in making this a reality. I know that Pro Stock is a favorite class of many drag racing fans and I hope they are as glad to see us back at IHRA as we are to go back.

“The last time we ran quarter-mile, we set the World Record. With the car and power we have now, we’ve surpassed our eighth-mile time on that record setting run, so depending on the conditions, we might have the opportunity to reset it again.”

Paul Spriet, Grand Bend Motorplex Owner/Operator, said he is also looking forward to seeing Pro Stock return to his facility with the IHRA.

For more, visit www.ihra.com.

A trio of nights have been added to the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVTV American Real lineup in the form of Arkansas’s I-30 Speedway and Crowley’s Ridge Raceway, as well as the newly opened Lexington 104 Speedway in Tennessee.

A rare midweek appearance at the I-30 Speedway, the Little Rock oval has been confirmed for Thursday, August 22. A rescheduled date from June, the Thursday appearance will serve as a tune-up for teams before heading into the twenty-sixth Comp Cams Short Track Nationals presented by Hoosier Tire on October 24-26.

Friday, August 23, sees the Lucas Oil ASCS presented by MAVTV American Real returning to the tight quarter-mile Crowley’s Ridge Raceway in Paragould, Arkansas, for the first time since April 15, 2000.

Saturday, August 24 brings the Lucas Oil ASCS National lineup to the Lexington 104 Speedway, formerly known as Bargerton Speedway.

Located just outside Lexington, Tennessee, $500,000 has been spent to give the facility a complete makeover; the addition will be the seventh facility visited by the Lucas Oil ASCS presented by MAVTV American Real in the state of Tennessee since 1994.

Further details on the events, as well as additional information regarding the American Sprint Car Series, are available at www.ascsracing.com.

Lingenfelter Performance Engineering has announced an agreement to place Continental Tires on all Lingenfelter vehicles. 


As the "Official Tire" of Lingenfelter Performance Engineering, Continental's line of performance passenger, light truck and SUV tires, including the ExtremeContact line of tires, will be featured on all vehicles that roll out of the Lingenfelter Performance Engineering shop, including Lingenfelter Signature Series cars and trucks, show cars, street rods and race vehicles.


"The Lingenfelter team has worked side-by-side with Continental Tire for several years and is our preferred tire brand. The synergies between our companies make this agreement the next logical step," said Ken Lingenfelter, owner, Lingenfelter Performance Engineering. 
     

In March 2012, a Lingenfelter-tuned ZL1 Camaro, equipped with Continental ExtremeContact DWS tires, became the first to exceed 200 mph, hitting 202.67 mph at Continental's Uvalde Proving Grounds in Uvalde, Texas.

iON America, the consumer electronics company that has brought Shoot/Share Wi-Fi connectivity to point-of-view (POV) cameras, has announced that iON has been named the official POV camera of Team Lucas and Lucas Studios.
 
Team Lucas is a dynamic, one-of-kind “grassroots” advertising and marketing platform created by Lucas Oil that reaches hundreds of millions of consumers a year. 

As part of the new and extensive marketing partnership, iON cameras will have a major presence at all motorsports events and properties operated by Lucas Oil. These include the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series, Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, Lucas Oil Pro Pulling League, Lucas Oil Modified Series, Lucas Oil Drag Boat Series and the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series.

iON cameras will be used during all events and for broadcasts originating from both the Lucas Oil 1-10 Speedway in California and the Lucas Oil Speedway in Missouri. The two organizations are also collaborating on product development as co-developers of a professional series of camera mounts designed for high-intensity motorsports and other extreme environments.

Together, Team Lucas and iON produced this video clip featuring footage shot with and of iON cameras: http://youtu.be/s-9Acsm3QhQ .

iON has also become a technical partner to the Lucas Oil-owned and operated production facility, Lucas Studios, which will use iON Air Pro, Speed Pro, Adventure and other iON cameras to capture POV camera footage at all Lucas motorsports events. The footage will then be aired during the events and used in the production of live and taped broadcasts that air across five networks: CBS, CBS Sports Network, NBC Sports, SPEED and the Lucas Oil-owned MAVTV cable network.

“iON is a great fit for Team Lucas, sharing the same forward thinking as our other prestigious partners that see the strength and value of the Team Lucas marketing platform and share our interest in improving the value of motorsports programming to consumers,” said Bob Patison, executive vice president of Lucas Oil and president of MAVTV. “We believe that iON cameras will enable us to greatly enhance the viewer experience, creating an interactive environment that we believe will drive more viewers to our programming.”

With its 14-megapixel sensor, 60 frames per second HD video and 180-degree lens, the top-of-line iON Air Pro cameras will make it easy for Lucas drivers and production personnel to capture live action footage from the track and share it with audiences on screens throughout the raceway as well as on TV broadcasts.

Many of the video clips will also be available on social media channels, enabling motorsports enthusiasts see what racing looks like from the driver’s perspective and providing an exciting new viewing twist to the sport.  

A year-long collaboration between the FIA Institute and Formula One teams will see F1 cars feature a new, advanced side impact protection system next season, designed to improve crash performance in angled impacts.



Currently, side impact protection is provided by crushable tube structures attached to the side of the chassis. While effective in normal, direct impacts, these can break off during oblique impacts, such as that famously suffered by Robert Kubica in the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix.



Marussia, McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull all engaged with the FIA Institute to help find an improved solution and the result—based on a Marussia design optimized by Red Bull—was an evolution of the current tube system, but using high-performance carbon fiber with a bespoke external and internal geometry and precise layup configuration.



The tubes do not shatter on impact, but progressively crush and decelerate the car in a highly controlled manner. During testing, the structures were able to absorb nearly 40kJ of energy in both normal and oblique impact directions—a major improvement over current designs.



With the design of the structures and how they are attached to the chassis to be standardized in the F1 regulations, the new system will also save teams money by reducing impact test costs.

For more, visit www.formula1.com.

Regardless of how its entries fare in GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge competition, this weekend at Watkins Glen International will mark a major milestone for Porsche.

The Glen is due to host the 100th IMSA GT3 Challenge Cup race, which features exciting competition for semi-professional drivers alongside some of the most career-minded GT drivers in one of the world's most successful race cars—the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.

The IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge is one of three official development series sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association. It is also the largest one-make series in North America.

Two 45-minute events will be held—on Saturday prior to the Continental Tire 150 and as a Sunday run-up to GRAND-AM's Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen.


"We'll arrive with a healthy complement of 32 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars and a hotly contested championship battle featuring the top four competitors separated by a mere nine points," said Steve Sewell, IMSA's series manager.

Off-track activities scheduled prior to Saturday afternoon's race include a tech panel answering questions about the Porsche GT3 Cup car, silent auction, pre-race driver meet-and-greet and autograph session, and Porsche Club of America activities.

The weekend's races mark the Challenge Cup's debut at Watkins Glen. Porsche, however, has a long and storied history at The Glen dating to 1952—the last time sports car races were run through the community's streets.

This year's “Hut Hundred” Honda USAC National Midget race sports a new twist. The USAC/POWRi race scheduled July 3 will find a new home at Tri-City Speedway in Pontoon Beach, Illinois.

The race also kicks off a full weekend of USAC racing, continuing with the July 4 AMSOIL National Sprint race at Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, Indiana, then the July 5 and 6 USAC/POWRi “Bash @ Belle Clair” races at the Belle Clair Speedway in Belleville, Illinois.

The Hut Hundred tradition dates all the way back to the early 1950s and has spanned numerous facilities in its 59 years.

Brady Bacon of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, who scored a USAC Sprint victory last week at I-96 Speedway in Michigan, is the defending champion, adding his name last year to the illustrious list of former winners.

The Pontoon Beach track also sports a long history of USAC events, dating back to Danny Frye’s Midget victory in 1961. Thirty-eight of the 59 USAC races held there have been Midget races, and defending Honda USAC National Midget Champion Darren Hagen and the late Bob Tattersall lead all drivers with four wins.

Mel Kenyon owns three, while two-time winners have been Tracy Hines, Kyle Larson, Jeff Gordon, Steve Knepper and Brad Sweet.

Others with Tri-City victories include Levi Jones, Bryan Clauson, Jerry Coons Jr., Josh Wise, J.J. Yeley, Jack Hewitt, Russ Gamester, Tom Bigelow, Pancho Carter, Merle Bettenhausen, Larry Rice, Jimmy Caruthers, Les Scott, Bob Wente, Billy Mehner, Don Meacham and Frye.

The 100-lap race is unique as it sports a three-abreast start, and with 33 scheduled starters there will be plenty of action.