Milltronics USA has named Hales Machine Tool, Inc. as its exclusive, full-service distributor for Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Northwest Wisconsin.

Milltronics customers in those regions now have access to Hales’ team of industry veterans specializing in service, parts and applications with in-depth knowledge of machining, tooling, programming, fixturing and work holding.

Hales operates out of a 13,000-square-foot building in Plymouth, Minnesota, with a showroom, parts, used machines and offices.

“We’re excited to be representing Milltronics,” said Dan Hales, President of Hales. “They offer a wide selection of great value mills and lathes aimed at job shops, tool and die, tool rooms, etc., and we have strong relationships with thousands of these customers.”

Founded in 1983, Hales is a second-generation family business. The company has won top dealer awards many times from multiple machine tool builders over the years, according to Milltronics.

For more information, visit milltronics.com or halesmachinetool.com.

Photo of Dave Schmolke, Randy Hales, Al Dulas and Tim Hales courtesy of Milltronics

W Series, the single-seater motor racing series for women drivers, has appointed Tracey Keenan to the new board director role of Chief Commercial Officer.

In this position, Keenan will sit on the W Series’ main board and lead commercial strategies and revenue growth across multiple business lines including global sponsorship, broadcast rights and licensing.

Keenan most recently served as the vice president and general manager of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)’s UK and Ireland offices, the company’s largest business outside of the US. There, Keenan was responsible for the monetization of broadcast, digital and OTT platforms, live events, sponsorship, licensing and marketing.

Before joining WWE, Tracey has worked in commercial roles in several sports, entertainment and media organizations, where she led partnership, sales and business development programs.

“[Keenan] understands the rapidly changing face of sponsorship and commercial sports, and will work well with our marketing, events, communications and social media teams to optimize W Series’ partnership offering and tailor its assets and brand to a wide variety of brand and business partners,” said Catherine Bond Muir, W Series’ Chief Executive Officer. “She has an impressive record as a commercial and strategic high achiever in sport, and has done a lot to drive gender equity for female athletes.”

The W Series is an all-female racing series aiming to get drivers to the pinnacle of motorsports, Formula 1. For more information on the new series, visit here. 

For more information, visit wseries.com.

Photo of Tracey Keenan courtesy of W Series

Racing program Moorespeed will expand its participation in the IMSA Porsche GT3 Challenge USA by Yokohama to include two cars.

Rob Ferriol joins Moorespeed in IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge competition for the remainder of the season, beginning at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada, from June 7-9. Ferriol joins full-season Moorespeed driver Riley Dickinson as a Moorespeed teammate.

The addition fulfills a stated goal from the team last fall to pair an experienced driver with the 16-year-old Dickinson as he strives for a Platinum class championship for cars built between 2017 and 2019.

Ferriol will field the No. 5 Moorespeed/GridRival Porsche 911 GT3 Cup in the Gold class, which is for 911 GT3 Cup cars built between 2014 and 2016.

Ferriol comes to Moorespeed after opening the season running with TPC Racing. The change in teams is amicable for Ferriol, who worked closely with TPC Racing and Moorespeed in a collaboration to make the move for 2019, according to a team release.

This weekend’s doubleheader at Montreal is part of the FIA Formula One Canadian Grand Prix. The trip to the Canadian track is also a first for Moorespeed.

For more information, visit moorespeed.com or porschegt3cupusa.imsa.com.

Roush has announced a new, $6 million purpose-built durability and road simulation test facility—which is the first of its kind, according to the company—that allows businesses to test the structural reliability of vehicles and vehicle components early in the product design timeline.

“Roush’s investment in the Roush Advanced Durability Lab ensures products in the development phase live up to users’ expectations,” said Jeff Johnston, president of testing services for Roush. “It gives us the unique capability to serve our customers at subsystem, component and full vehicle levels.”

The Roush Advanced Durability Lab acts as a full vehicle road simulator that eliminates the need to drive vehicles on a proving ground. It recreates real-world forces and motions while reducing total durability test time.

The lab’s technology also features the world’s only contract six-degree-of-freedom (6-DOF) test rig, according to Roush, which means there are six parameters or ways that the device can move to simulate the complex, nonlinear events that are required for meaningful durability road simulation.

“As modern vehicle technology continues to advance, so does the testing,” Johnston said. “Roush can engineer and release solutions to any issues found during real-time simulation, which will save customers money, provide faster testing cycles and get products to market faster.”

Features of the full-service lab include 2,500-square-feet of bedplate for vehicles; sub-system and component durability testing; private, isolated control rooms; central 450 gallons-per-minute hydraulic pump; and a cooling tower.

“Roush’s expansion adds a new servo-hydraulic infrastructure that enables a myriad of other testing applications, including component durability, calibration and test-to-failure,” said Johnston.

The facility, located in Roush’s Building 11 in Livonia, Michigan, is now available to customers in the automotive, electric vehicle, autonomous and more industries.

For more information, visit roush.com.

Racing Point, Formula 1’s Silverstone-based team that was “saved from extinction and rebranded last summer following a cash injection from billionaire Lawrence Stroll,” has announced a brand new factory also based in Silverstone, England.

The team has not been upgraded to a new building since 1991, housing team members from Midland, Spyker and then Force India.

“It definitely shows good potential and is a solid move,” said Racing Point's Sergio Perez of the new factory, which will remain close to the famous Northamptonshire circuit. “The team is in the best position it has ever been. These things take time but [the plan for the new factory] is really encouraging. It’s nice to see that the future is looking bright for the team.”

The team plans to increase their staff from around 400 to approximately 600.

For more on Racing Point, visit racingpointf1.com.

In other F1 news, Formula 1 recently announced that 10 teams have been confirmed to compete in the 2019 Formula 1 New Balance Esports Series for the first time since its inception in 2017.

The pinnacle of motorsports confirmed that Ferrari, along with Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing, Alfa Romeo Racing, McLaren F1 Team, Rich Energy Haas F1 Team, Renault F1 Team, Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda, SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team and ROKiT Williams Racing will all be competing in the series through their esports teams, making this the biggest season yet.

For more information on this news story, visit here. For more on the competition, visit f1esports.com.

Image courtesy of F1

Rockingham Dragway owner Steve Earwood will be honored for his lifetime contributions to the sport of drag racing during the 17th annual NHRA Hot Rod Reunion at Beech Bend Raceway in Bowling Green, Kentucky, set for June 15-16.

Earwood, who is credited with putting straight-line racing on the media map while serving as NHRA’s media relations director in the 1970s and early ‘80s, will be honored in a formal recognition ceremony at the National Corvette Museum also in Bowling Green. 

Produced by the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum in Pomona, California, and sponsored by AAA Insurance, the NHRA Hot Rod Reunion and the companion California Hot Rod Reunion at Bakersfield, California, feature nostalgic race cars competing in a host of categories along with static displays of many of the classic vehicles that helped propel the sport to international stature.

The 2016 recipient of the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame’s Founder’s Award, Earwood also is a member of both the East Coast Drag Racing Hall of Fame and the NHRA Southeast Division Hall of Fame. He is a founding member of the North Carolina Motorsports Association (NCMA) and has served on the Governor’s Motorsports Advisory Council.

After directing NHRA’s national media program for eleven seasons, Earwood was marketing vice president at Billy Meyer’s Texas Motorplex and vice president and general manager of Atlanta Dragway before realizing a lifelong dream of track ownership with his 1992 purchase of Rockingham.

Under his direction, the NHRA Winston Invitational, which was contested at Rockingham from 1992 through 1998, became a successful All-Star event in drag racing history leading, in 1994, to his acceptance of the NHRA’s “Man of the Year” Award in the Southeast region.

Earwood also received the 2010 Richmond County “Citizen of the Year” award for his efforts to keep the track viable in an ever-changing marketplace and promote state tourism.

For more information on the track in Rockingham, North Carolina, visit rockinghamdragway.com.

Photo courtesy of The Richmond Observer

Officials with the Lucas Oil Speedway, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, and the Lucas Oil MLRA have announced that the 13th annual CMH Diamond Nationals presented by Super Clean will expand to two nights (July 13-14), with $15,000-to-win Late Model features both nights.
 
The added program and increased purse (an increase of over $7,500 from the original July 13 feature that was to pay $12,000-to-win) is to help fill the void of the canceled 27th Annual Lucas Oil Show-Me 100 presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com. Additionally, each non-transfer will receive $200 both nights.

"We looked at all our options for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, the Lucas Oil MLRA, for Lucas Oil Speedway, and for our television partners and feel this is the best option for everyone," said Danny Lorton, Lucas Oil Speedway General Manager.
 
Severe weather damaged the Lucas Oil Speedway complex on May 20 and forced cancellation of the Show-Me 100, which has been a traditional Memorial Day Weekend event that's been held at the track since 2010.

The expanded Diamond Nationals sets up a blockbuster stretch of events for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. The nation's elite drivers will compete in eight action-packed events in just 10 days, with over $500,000 up for grabs.

Those who purchased tickets or camping spots to the Show-Me 100 will receive refunds.

For more information, visit lucasdirt.com or lucasoilspeedway.com.

A total of 38 high school teams have qualified for the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow (HROT) Dual National Championship set for the SEMA Show in the Las Vegas Convention Center and the PRI Show in the Indiana Convention Center.

To qualify, teams must finish disassembling and reassembling a small-block Chevrolet engine in less than 33 minutes (including penalties).

Teams of high school students have competed in the timed engine building competition at various events around the nation beginning mid-March of this year.

The qualified teams will go head-to-head at either the SEMA Show (Nov. 5-8, 2019) or the PRI Show (Dec. 12-14, 2019) to be the quickest build with the least penalties. The winners will receive scholarship opportunities to select technical schools.

The current playoff standings can be found online here. For more information, visit hotroddersoftomorrow.com.

James Lawrence of Power Automedia has been elected chairman-elect and will help the SEMA Board of Directors lead the association in the next few years. Lawrence fills the position held for the past two years by Tim Martin of Aftermarket Advisors. Martin will begin his term as chairman in July.

Melanie White of Hellwig Products and Kathryn Reinhardt of Pilot Automotive were also voted onto the SEMA Board of Directors while Chris Douglas of COMP Performance Group and Les Rudd of Bob Cook Sales were re-elected and will serve another term.

SEMA Board members are industry representatives who volunteer their time to lead and guide the association. They are elected by all SEMA-member companies and represent the key membership categories: manufacturers, distributors/retailers, manufacturers’ rep and services.

The entire 2019-2020 SEMA Board of Directors will be honored and recognized during the SEMA Installation & Gala in July. At the same time, outgoing SEMA Immediate Past Chair Doug Evans of Crower Cams & Equipment Co., Inc. and board member Kyle Fickler of Aeromotive, Inc. will be concluding their volunteer terms and honored for their service and contributions. The event will also feature a special tribute to 2019 SEMA Hall of Fame Inductees Bob Chandler, Bruce Crower and Marla Moore.

For more information, visit sema.org or semashow.com.

Circuit of The Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, is reportedly out $25.9 million in state funds for its Formula 1 race.

COTA—which sought funds from the state’s Major Events Reimbursement Program to offset the costs for the 2018 US F1 Grand Prix—was initially denied the subsidiaries last year because it failed to include a plan to prevent human trafficking, as required by law.

The track appealed the decision, and a bill was introduced in 2019 by the House that could have provided the money, according to Austin Business Journal. Details were not worked out with the Senate, however, and the measure failed to come up for a vote before the state ended its session on May 27.

The circuit’s 10-year contract with F1 runs through 2021, but F1 Managing Director Sean Bratches told the Associated Press on May 28 that his organization plans to race at COTA for “many years to come.”

Each year, the track has to pay a $25 million licensing fee to the race organizers.

The 2019 event will not be affected, as reported in early March this year. The 2019 F1 US Grand Prix is set for November 1-3, 2019.

For more information, visit circuitoftheamericas.com/f1.