Officials from Virginia Motorsports Technology Park, home of Virginia International Raceway (VIR), have announced a series of educational seminars hosted by Krause & Associates LLC set for 2020.

The main focus of the sessions will be on what to do with logged car and driver data and video. Attendees will also learn how to drive better, quicker and safer with their data and information, according to a press release by VIR.

Most sessions will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The next event is set for Saturday, March 14, titled “Beyond the Squiggly Lines - GM PDR.”

To register and view the complete event schedule, visit driverdevelopment.motorsportreg.com.

Renegade Race Fuels and Lubricants, based in Bowling Green, Kentucky, has announced the addition of Keith Jordan to its race fuel staff. Jordan will serve in the newly created role of Traction Compound Manager for the fuel and lubricant company under the Valor Oil, LLC banner.

“There is so much more than just spraying down some compound to making a track work properly. That is why we chose to bring on a professional with proven experience to develop and manage our traction compound business,” Renegade Race Fuels and Lubricants Tech Director Ron Finney said.

Jordan has over two decades of experience formulating traction compounds and drag strip preparation.

Renegade Race Fuel offers fuels, car care components, lubricants and additives, boosters, traction compounds, tire treatments, and more.

For more information, visit renegaderacefuel.com.

Benton County Speedway, the 1/4-mile track in Vinton, Iowa, has new promoters for the 2020 season.

Site of the first-ever IMCA Modified event in 1979, Benton County Speedway has sanctioned the Modifieds and Stock Cars since 2001, Hobby Stocks since 2002, Northern SportMods since 2005 and Late Models since 2017.

Specialty Racing Promotions, owned by Rick and Corey Dripps, took over “The Bullring” management duties from former promoter Mick Trier late in the 2019 season, according to the Cedar Valley Times/Vinton Eagle. The new promoters oversaw the season-ending Arnold Motor Supply Dirt Knights Tour show last September.

“We went home that night excited about a lot of things. That race gave us a great headstart going into this year and things couldn’t have worked out better for us,” Corey Dripps said, who is a long-time IMCA Modified driver. “Benton County Speedway is the first track I ever watched a race at. It’s the first track I ever raced at (in a Pro Stock in 1992) and it’s the first track where I won a race. It’s always been special to me.”

The 2020 season opens April 2 for the Frostbuster Special before the first regular Sunday night event on April 19.

“I’ve done a lot of different racing and IMCA has the best rules package for competitiveness and cost-effectiveness,” Dripps said.

In addition to the Modifieds, IMCA Sunoco Late Models, IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars, IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks and Karl Kustoms Northern SportMods run weekly through IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing season championship night on Aug. 23.

Special events for each IMCA division are scheduled throughout the season. The Dirt Knights Tour returns on Memorial Day, Kids With Cancer Night on May 31 and the Urbana 5 Memorial on July 2.

For more information, visit icma.com.

Image courtesy of IMCA

Sebring International Raceway in Highlands County, Florida, has become a National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Member Track.

Sebring’s grassroots drag racing program takes place on the front stretch of the famed Raceway, which is perhaps best known for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts.

The 2020 Air & Electrical Services Sebring Drag Racing schedule will include 12 events, a majority of which will be on Thursday nights. Two special events – the Sebring Battle at the Bridge and the Sebring Summer Showdown, will be high-prize-money weekend events attracting competitors from throughout the region.

Competitors race Sebring’s eighth-mile drag strip heads-up style on the same concrete surface that IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and FIA WEC World Endurance Championship drivers compete on each March.

“Every year the Air & Electrical Services Sebring Drag Racing program grows, particularly for our fans,” Sebring Drag Racing Director Matt Muha said. “We’ve had good car counts every year and with the NHRA behind us we believe we will have even larger fields in 2020.”

For more information, visit sebringraceway.com or nhra.com.

Photo courtesy of Sebring Int’l Raceway

Keystone Automotive Operations, Inc. has added BMR Suspension products to its line card. BMR provides suspension products for late model, street performance, drag racing, and more applications.

According to BMR, its products are manufactured using “carefully sourced steel, premium welding techniques and in-house powder coating” at the company’s facility near Tampa, Florida.

“Given BMR’s endless engineering capabilities paired with its record-setting performances on the track, the addition of them to our assortment was a no brainer,” Keystone Category Manager Brick Spurio stated in a written release. “With a vast parts catalog for applications from late-model to classic muscle, their line will provide our customers [with] a solution for all their performance handling needs.”

BMR’s product categories include Ford Mustangs, GM Late Models, GM Mid Muscle Cars, GM Classes Muscle Cars, Mopar, and more.

For more information, visit bmrsuspension.com or keystoneautomotive.com.  

 

The Approved Body Configuration (ABC) has approved the “Next Gen” body for asphalt late model competition beginning in 2021, according to a press release by ABC.

The Next Gen body—along with the current ABC body produced by AR and Five Star Race Car Bodies—will be legal for Champion Racing Ass’n, Southern Super Series, ARCA Midwest Tour, CARS Tour and SRL Southwest Tour competition.  

Updates to the Next Gen body include an improved design for the body panels, which will help reduce the potential for overall body shape manipulation. A more complete set of inspection templates and dimensions have also been developed in order to maintain shape parity.

“The new body style has been proven, through extensive wind tunnel testing and a year of on-track competition, to be aerodynamically equal to the current body,” a company press release stated.

Sanctioning organizations may also have the option to implement the new body design late in the 2020 season in order to help the teams in need of major repairs.

Five Star released the Next Gen body in 2019, but it wasn’t approved for widespread competition until this announcement. The ABC committee will work with AR Bodies in an effort to keep two manufacturers in the program, according to the press release.  

For more information, visit fivestarbodies.com/ABC.

Photo courtesy of Five Star Race Car Bodies, Facebook

PFC Brakes, the provider of brakes and related components for racing and related categories, has announced the addition of Doug Jackson to its motorsports sales team.

Jackson, a late model racer, holds over 30 years of experience in the motorsports industry with a focus on braking.

“We look forward to improving and expanding our footprint in the motorsports world utilizing Doug’s firsthand experience and knowledge,” a company official stated on a press release.

PFC Brakes is based in Clover, South Carolina. Its braking applications include motorsports, street, off-highway, fleet, and motorcycle.

For more information, visit pfcbrakes.com.

Universal Technical Institute (UTI) has announced two new California-based programs to address the state's need for skilled workers. The new Early Employment and Welding Technology programs build on the success of several other recently launched offerings in California.

The Early Employment Program, a groundbreaking program being developed in partnership with local employers, blends post-secondary technical education and on-the-job skills training to develop California's pipeline of skilled employees and give students an inside track on long-term careers. The program will launch at UTI-Sacramento this Fall.

The Welding Technology Program, which trains students to fill the state's growing need for certified welders, will launch at UTI-Long Beach in August 2020.

"We work with our employer partners to develop and implement industry-aligned programs that graduate prepared, professional technicians who are ready to work," UTI Chief Executive Officer Jerome Grant said. "These two programs give students hands-on real-world training, along with the hard and soft skills to enter the workforce in demand with confidence."

For more than two decades, UTI's industry-aligned training has helped California employers meet the demand for skilled talent. From UTI campuses in Rancho Cucamonga, Sacramento and Long Beach, California employers have hired more than 13,000 UTI graduates since 2009, according to a UTI press release.

Demand for skilled automotive and diesel technicians is strong. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that, by 2026, there will be more than 1.2 million job openings (100,000 per year on average) in the transportation sector, according to a UTI press release.

For the complete story, visit uti.edu.

Athena Racing has announced the addition of two new members to its Board of Directors, as well as ten new members to its Board of Advisors.

The non-profit organization is an extracurricular S.T.E.M. program that provides training and mentorship to female high school students interested in pursuing careers in the motorsports, automotive, and related industries.

“Our team looks forward to the guidance that our new directors and advisors will provide to enhance and grow our program,” Athena Racing Board President, Founder and CEO Loxley Browne said. “We are confident that our current Board is equipped to guide us into a future that continues and strengthens our efforts to bring diverse programming and relevant conversations to Athena Racing while reaching more students and community members than ever before.”

The current lineup of Athena Racing Board of Directors and Board of Advisors can be found below.

Athena Racing Board of Directors
Sandra Bauler – Driving instructor, business consultant, speaker, educator

Diana Tracy – Entrepreneur, philanthropist, coach

Hannah Grisham – Professional race car driver, college student, brand ambassador

Loxley Browne – Entrepreneur, writer, speaker, Athena Racing Founder and CEO


Athena Racing Board of Advisors
Derron Cyrus – Cisco Global Training Lead, engineer, driver, fabricator, mechanic

Lance Smith – Entrepreneur, fabricator, inventor, race car driver, car collector

John Hayes – Engineer, inventor, mentor, stunt driver

Gary Clasen – Retired AAA Insurance agent, civic leader, fundraising specialist

John Lowenberg – Miramar Community College Autotech instructor

Dave Stall – Automotive and motorsports journalist, mentor, car collector

Alexander Becker – San Diego Office of Education Workforce Specialist

Mike Miller – Retired engineer, team owner, race car driver

Les Werling – Retired mortgage banker, car restorer, race car driver

Jenifer Swanson – Commercial real estate and business attorney, small business owner, vintage race car driver

For more information, visit athenaracing.org.

Driving legends Janet Guthrie and the late Dale Earnhardt comprise the 2020 inductee class of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) Hall of Fame. The two drivers will be honored at the 2020 IMS Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Indianapolis 500 Oldtimers Dinner presented by Firestone on Thursday, May 21 in downtown Indianapolis.

The two were chosen from a ballot of 14 nominees by a panel of more than 140 auto racing journalists, participants and historians.
 
“Once again the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame voting panel has chosen two outstanding people who played direct roles in elevating the Speedway, both behind the scenes and in the public eye,” said Tony George, chairman of the board of directors of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Foundation, which operates the IMS Museum. “Dale Earnhardt’s embrace of the Brickyard 400, especially in 1995 Victory Lane, further elevated the race as a premier NASCAR event, while Janet’s courage, professionalism and driving talent led the way for greater female participation in motorsports.”

An accomplished road racer before coming to Indianapolis, Janet Guthrie’s historic tenure at IMS began in 1976 when she became the first female assigned to a car on the entry list. She didn’t make a qualifying attempt but returned in 1977 and became the first female qualifier in race history. Guthrie finished ninth in 1978, the best finish by a female until Danica Patrick’s fourth-place result in 2005. Her result was even more remarkable given that Guthrie cracked her wrist several days before the race, secretly wore a cast and essentially drove an Indy car one-handed for 500 miles.

Earnhardt—one of the most successful and respected figures in motorsports history—amassed an impressive record at the Brickyard 400, earning five top-10 finishes in just seven starts, including an extremely popular win in 1995. His NASCAR career is well documented: seven NASCAR Cup Series championships, tying Richard Petty for the most in history (later equaled by Jimmie Johnson), plus 76 Cup series wins, including the 1998 Daytona 500.

Earnhardt suffered fatal injuries in a final-lap accident at the 2001 Daytona 500, yet his persona and legacy continue to shape the sport. He was part of the NASCAR Hall Fame’s inaugural class in 2010 and has been inducted into numerous motorsports Halls of Fame.

For more information and the complete story, visit indyracingmuseum.org.