A total purse of $18,000 will be on the line, with $15,000 for the winner, when the 12th annual Mopar Hemi Challenge, an extremely popular one-race shootout, is held during the 58th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals presented by Auto-Plus, August 29 to September 3 at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis, Indiana.

Mopar, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary, has renewed its agreement with NHRA to sponsor the event, which features NHRA’s Super Stock A/Hemi (SS/AH) class. Dodge Darts and Plymouth Barracudas, classic muscle cars of the 1960s and 1970s, are most associated with the class.

Drivers expected to compete in the Mopar Hemi Challenge this year include the father-son team of Charlie Westcott Sr. and Jr., each of whom has won the event, and former event winner Jim Daniels and Joe Teuton III.

The Mopar Hemi Challenge will be held August 31. Tickets are available for the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals presented by Auto-Plus by calling NHRA, 800/884-NHRA (6472), or logging on to NHRA.com.

STP and the World of Outlaws, two of the most storied brands in motorsports history, have announced a multi-year title sponsorship agreement. Beginning in 2013, the series title will be the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series.
 
STP brings more than 40 years of racing history to 34 years of the World of Outlaws barnstorming dirt tracks across the country, making this sponsorship a perfect fit to showcase STP to the dedicated fans that follow the premier sprint car series in the world.
 
STP is already a familiar fixture at World of Outlaws events. Its visibility will increase beginning with the season-opener in February at Florida’s Volusia Speedway Park. STP will be launching aggressive activation efforts around World of Outlaws events from coast to coast, including broadcast integration and at-track activity.
 
The 2013 World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series schedule will be announced in early December and is expected to include more than 85 events across the United States and Canada.
 
For more on the World of Outlaws, click WorldofOutlaws.com, go to Facebook.com/WorldofOutlaws or follow on Twitter @WorldofOutlaws.
 
To learn more about STP and its history, click STP.com, go to Facebook.com/STP or follow on Twitter @STPracing.

IndyCar race teams will get their first opportunity to test the new track layout in Sonoma at a test session on Friday, August 17. Fans will be admitted free.

The one-day test will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will allow drivers to test the modified configuration, which features changes to Turns 7, 9 and 11. The modifications are designed to enhance passing. 

The session will also allow drivers to test the series’ new race car, which features a new body, new engine and new chassis for 2012, among other enhancements. The open test falls just one week prior to the GoPro Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma race weekend, August 24-26.

Twenty drivers from 12 teams are currently scheduled to attend the test, including:

•    Ryan Briscoe, Helio Castroneves, Will Power (Team Penske)
•    Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon (Target Chip Ganassi Racing)
•    Charlie Kimball and Graham Rahal (Chip Ganassi Racing)
•    Marco Andretti, James Hinchcliffe, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Sebastian Saavedra (Andretti Autosport)
•    Sebastien Bourdais and Katherine Legge (Dragon Racing)
•    Ed Carpenter (Ed Carpenter Racing)
•    JR Hildebrand (Panther Racing)
•    Oriol Servia (Panther/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing)
•    Takuma Sato (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing)
•    Josef Newgarden (Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing)
•    Simon Pagenaud (Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports)
•    Mike Conway (A.J. Foyt Racing)

Race fans are invited to watch the test session for free and enjoy the open paddock. There will be pit tours and ticket specials for the upcoming race weekend, as well as a press conference with the drivers during the lunch break.

The raceway will feature a number of ticket packages at the test session, highlighted by the Brasil IT All Access package, which includes a reserved Sunday ticket, Garage/Pre-Race Pass and race-day Q&A with Tony Kanaan and Rubens Barichello for $99.

For more information, visit racesonoma.com/indycar or call 800/870-RACE (7223).

NASCAR announced this week the addition of three executives to key roles on its Brand, Consumer and Series Marketing team to help increase the sport's appeal to youth, Gen Y and Hispanic fans.

Greg Downey has been named senior director brand and consumer marketing; David Zane will join as director, brand marketing; and Joseph Machin will assume the role of director, multicultural marketing.

Downey, Zane and Machin join NASCAR after tenures with world-renowned companies with reputations for deep consumer insights and best-in-class fan and customer relations. Downey was previously at Coca-Cola; Zane at ESPN; and Machin with a number of leading Hispanic marketing agencies.

Downey, who will report to NASCAR managing director of brand, consumer and series marketing Kim Brink, was group director of entertainment marketing at Coca-Cola where he oversaw the company's North America entertainment marketing efforts including branded integrations, celebrity endorsements and gaming strategies. He was also among the brand's leaders for asset activation, media negotiations, brand building and advertising.

Zane, who will report to Downey and manage the brand marketing team, joins NASCAR from ESPN, where he was an associate director of sports marketing and led the development and implementation of marketing strategies to attract viewership for ESPN's motorsports (NASCAR, IndyCar, NHRA) and golf properties across all of the media company's platforms.

Machin, also reporting to Downey, will assume the newly developed role of director of multicultural marketing in which he will oversee NASCAR's marketing efforts to key multicultural segments with a focus on reaching potential Hispanic fans. Throughout his career, Machin advised brands such as KFC Foods, Telefonica Movistar Latin America, Terra Networks, Bank of America Home Loans, Nissan North America and Chevrolet on their multicultural marketing efforts.

The 2012 WKA Daytona KartWeek dates are set for the traditional December 27-30 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.

This year’s KartWeek dates fall on a Thursday through Sunday.

The 2012 version of Daytona KartWeek will feature the tripleheader lineup of Speedway Dirt on the quarter-mile Flat Track, Mazda/Bridgestone Manufacturers Cup on the infield Sprint Course, and Vega/TS Racing National Road Racing on the DIS superspeedway road course.

Meetings with DIS management over the coming weeks will determine the day-to-day schedule for 2012 Daytona KartWeek. Traditionally—for Road Racing and Manufacturers Cup—December 27 is parking day, December 28 is practice, and the 29th and 30th are full days of racing.

The daily schedule at the Flat Track has varied in recent years.

Special lodging rates at beachside and trackside hotels will be released via WKA’s Pit Board soon.

For more information, visit www.worldkarting.com.

The BR Motorsports “cut-away sprint car,” as seen on the World of Outlaws (WoO) show on the Speed Channel, is now on display at the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum in Knoxville, Iowa, in time for the 52nd annual Goodyear Knoxville Nationals. 



According to 1992 National Sprint Car Poll “Rookie of the Year” Blake Robertson of BR Motorsports, “The car was built at our shop in Visalia, California. It took over one year to complete the project. We debuted it at the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) Trade Show in Orlando in 2006. Some of the parts were supplied to us already cut away, but the majority we did ourselves in our machine shop at BR Motorsports.”



Amongst the companies that participated in the project were Schoenfeld Headers, Brodix Cylinder Heads, Hilborn Fuel Injection, KSE Steering, Fuel Safe, King Racing Products, DMI, Waterman Fuel Pumps, MSD and Dan Olson Oil Pans.



For more information on the PRI Trade Show, visit www.performanceracing.com/tradeshow.

For further information on the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum, visit the museum’s website at www.sprintcarhof.com.

Organizers of the Grand Prix of America at Port Imperial have unveiled a blue-and-red logo for the Formula One race that will take place on the shores of the Hudson River in New Jersey in June 2013.

It features a stylized Statue of Liberty crown over a checkered-flag helmet, anchored by a single star.

The logo was created by Racer Media and Marketing, a media and design agency directed by President Paul Pfanner.

Although the Grand Prix of America staff considered a number of concepts, the Statue of Liberty was key to everyone. The iconic monument, which represents freedom and international friendship, graces the Hudson River harbor between New York and New Jersey.



Pfanner said it was a fitting symbol for the race that will run on a 3.2-mile road course in the towns of Weehawken and West New York, N.J., with the dramatic New York skyline as the backdrop.



Pfanner, graphic designer Aaron Justus and their associate George Tamayo worked on the brand identity for two months, in consultation with the Grand Prix of America management group. Pfanner further credited the Grand Prix of America team, led by executive chairman and promoter Leo Hindery, Jr., with the vision that ultimately created the brand.

Ivor Wigham’s European Rally School and Motorsport Park (ERS), a 430-acre, full-service motorsports and special events facility located in North Central Florida, has been acquired by investment firm The Strategic Group of Gainesville, Florida.

Considered one of the top performance rally training schools in North America, the Starke, Florida-based ERS has been renamed The Florida International Rally and Motorsport Park (The FIRM). Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

For nearly 15 years, ERS has provided high-performance driver training and motorsport training, test facilities, and more for motorsport enthusiasts, professional drivers and teams, Hollywood stunt drivers, US Military Special Forces units, and major automotive and aftermarket equipment manufacturers.

New ownership has already begun making improvements, including track modifications, private garages and an updated rally school fleet, according to a representative of The Strategic Group (TSG).

Facilities and services offered include the RallyPro Performance Driving School, an exotic car experience, the International Security Academy, and a full-service special events facility for private and corporate functions. The FIRM also offers open-to-the-public track days for automotive and motorcycle enthusiasts every month.

For more information, visit www.gorally.com.

The Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda is opening its doors to give up-and-coming drivers a taste of the next level car on the Mazda Road to Indy.

The winners of the Skip Barber Winter and Summer Series presented by Mazda will be awarded a seat at the second annual Chris Griffis Memorial Mazda Road to Indy Open Test on October 10-11 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.



The test, dedicated to the memory of Sam Schmidt Motorsports’ Firestone Indy Lights team manager, brings together the three levels of the Mazda Road to Indy Ladder system including the Star Mazda Championship Powered by Goodyear and Firestone Indy Lights.

Hosted by IndyCar, the outing not only offers all three series a jump-start on the 2013 season, but also showcases the ladder system to prospective teams and drivers.



The winner of the 2012 Skip Barber Summer Series presented by Mazda, whose season concludes on October 6, will join 2011-2012 Skip Barber Winter Series presented by Mazda Champion and Rookie of the Year Jake Eidson at the test.

With his Winter Series crown, Eidson, 17, of Littleton, Colorado, will also receive a fully funded ride in the 2012 Skip Barber Racing School Championship Shoot-Out for a chance to win a seat in the 2013 USF2000 series.



For more information, visit www.usf2000.com.

With the lone Sprint Cup team it backs slated to switch to another manufacturer, Dodge is pulling out of NASCAR at the end of this season.

Once a supporter of four teams on NASCAR’s premier circuit, the automaker entered this season with only one, Penske Racing, which will move to Ford beginning in 2013.

Although Dodge did unveil a vehicle the manufacturer expected to use on the Sprint Cup tour next season, the carmaker is not participating in a two-day tire test of 2013 vehicles at Martinsville Speedway this week. On Monday, Penske announced it would use Roush-Yates engines for 2013, leaving no organization to build Dodge engines for next season.

Dodge has left NASCAR before—the manufacturer pulled out in 1977 and then returned to great fanfare in 2001, with former three-time championship crew chief Ray Evernham leading the company’s effort. That incarnation of Dodge has won 50 races, with Penske leading the way with 29 under the company’s banner.

Dodge’s parent company, Chrysler, went through a government-backed Chapter 11 reorganization during the recent economic recession and resurfaced in an alliance with Italian automaker Fiat, which now owns a majority of the company. Under Fiat’s stewardship, Dodge has increased its participation in other forms of motorsports such as sports-car racing.

Its NASCAR program, though, has gradually dwindled in size in recent years. Evernham Motorsports, which won 13 races under the Dodge nameplate, eventually morphed into Gillett-Evernham Motorsports, which won a pair of events. That team was eventually bought by the ownership group of Richard Petty Motorsports, which fields Fords. Petty Enterprises raced Dodges from 2001-08 before becoming part of the current RPM.

The petroleum company Valvoline owned and sponsored a race car that was operated out of the Evernham shop and fielded as a Dodge in 2006-2007. Chip Ganassi and co-owner Felix Sabates also used Dodges from 2001-2008, winning six times with the manufacturer before moving to Chevrolet in a merger with the motorsports branch of Dale Earnhardt Inc.