Officials have sent out the coveted letters of acceptance into the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, which is set for August 15-18 at Monterey County’s WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

More than 500 historic and period-correct race cars will be competing in 14 groups that span 103 years of motorsports history. The earliest cars racing in the pre-war group are a 1911 National Speedway Roadster and 1911 Fiat S74, while the endurance group features a more modern 2014 Lola Toyota Rebellion LMP1 prototype.

In honor of the 50th anniversary of the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA), historic IMSA cars will be featured, with more than 145 vehicles accepted into four IMSA-specific groups. Some include a 1991 AAR Toyota Eagle MkIII, Porsche 935s, 1976 Dekon Monzas, Greenwood Corvettes, Riley and Scott Mk IIIs, and Mazda GTO, GTU and GTP cars, among the many.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca website.

Registration is now open for the 14th annual NASA Championships Presented by Toyo Tires at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Morrow County, Ohio, which is set to take place September 18-22, 2019.

For the sixth time since NASA held its first Championships event in 2006, the NASA Championships are returning to Mid-Ohio, home to such marquee races as the IndyCar 200, the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the Acura Sports Car Challenge.

“Mid-Ohio is a track racers love. It has everything from long, fast straightaways to corners with tricky elevation and camber changes, and lots of opportunities for passing,” NASA Vice President Jeremy Croiset said. “It’s a great facility for our Championships event.”

For more information on the Championships and to register, visit the NASA Championships website here.

MAHLE Service Solutions is partnering with MAHLE Engine Components to relocate production from York, Pennsylvania, to a shared facility in St. Johns, Michigan.

The move, which will take place by the end of the year, is designed to help the company profit from organizational synergies and increase development of the next generation of repair shop and diagnostic equipment.

The move will also provide an improved customer service experience and increased overall efficiency, MAHLE says.

MAHLE Service Solutions will assemble its PRO series of shop tool and equipment products in St. Johns, including its ArcticPRO (featuring its new next generation of A/C service units), FluidPRO (fluid exchange systems), and NitroPRO (nitrogen tire inflation systems) products. Production is expected to begin by the end of 2019.

“This new facility reinforces our market offerings that provide outstanding customer value, less downtime and a low total cost of ownership over the lifetime of each product,” MAHLE Service Solutions General Manager Rich Wolf said.

On a related note, the MAHLE Engine Components facility in St. Johns has won the GM Supplier Quality Excellence Award every year since 2012.

For more information, visit the MAHLE Service Solutions website.

PPG has announced the appointment of Devashish Saxena as its vice president and chief digital officer.

In this new role, Saxena will lead the company’s digital transformation and create a sustainable digital organization "to unlock customer value through enhancement, connectivity, automation, insights and innovation." He began the position on April 1.

Most recently, Saxena led digital strategy as the vice president of global digital business and e-commerce at Rexel, a France-based multi-channel distributor of electrical supplies.

Before this, Saxena served as the senior vice president for global e-commerce strategy at the U.K.-based Premier Farnell, a multi-channel distribution group. His background also includes senior internet marketing roles at both Texas Instruments, Inc. and A.T. Kearney. Saxena began his career as an e-business strategy architect at Nortel Networks.

For more information, visit the PPG website.

Volkswagen’s Beetle Supercars return to competition this year in the second season of the Americas Rallycross (ARX) series. Two Beetle supercars will be entered under the Andretti Rallycross banner, with support from Volkswagen R, Volkswagen’s performance division.

The season begins June 8-9, at historic Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, where a brand-new 0.7-mile circuit will be built around the “Keyhole” section of the race track. The cars will then compete through the rest of the season, taking in races at Gateway Motorsports Park in Illinois, Trois-Rivières in Canada, and Circuit of The Americas in Texas, before returning to Mid-Ohio in October for a final round of competition.

“We’ve had a successful and longstanding relationship with VW and are happy to welcome the support of Volkswagen R into our Rallycross family,” Andretti Autosport CEO Michael Andretti said. “We have an exciting driver lineup, which we can’t wait to announce, and are confident that the team and VW will be in a strong position to defend our ARX championship.”

The team will continue to race the Beetle Rallycross vehicles, built by Volkswagen Motorsport in Europe, and developed by Andretti Autosport in the U.S. The cars will race with the same 2.0-liter 560-horsepower turbocharged engines that propelled the team to success in 2017 and 2018.

For more information, visit the Americas Rallycross (ARX) website.

Allen Berg, the founder and president of Allen Berg Racing Schools (ABRS), announced today that motorsports executive Jim Bowie had joined the racing school staff. Bowie will be tasked with drafting and executing “a new strategy and vision for the future of ABRS.”

“Jim brings an incredible history of success in all aspects of the business side of motorsports," Berg said. "His background is comprised of very diverse and relevant experience, but it is his innovative way of thinking that we need today at ABRS."

Berg and Bowie, and ABRS, are committed to reenergizing the driving school category by completely changing the customer experience.

The pair are reportedly not ready to share the new programs but have teased 'never-been-done' racing school enhancements which will be announced soon.

For more information, visit the Allen Berg Racing Schools (ABRS) website.

(Photo courtesy of ABRS, Facebook).

Fan voting for the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2020 opens today on the NASCAR website.

Fans may go to nascar.com/halloffame and vote for their favorite driver among 20 nominees. The five receiving the highest percentage of votes will comprise the Fan Vote ballot.

Voting runs through Monday, May 20 at 11:59 a.m. ET. The NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2020 will be voted on and announced at the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Wednesday, May 22.

The 20 nominees are detailed alphabetically by last name below.

 Sam Ard , NASCAR Xfinity Series pioneer and two-time champion
 Buddy Baker , won 19 times in the NASCAR Cup Series, including the Daytona 500 and Southern 500
 Neil Bonnett , won 18 times in the NASCAR Cup Series, including consecutive Coca-Cola 600 victories
 Red Farme r, three-t ime Late Model Sportsman champion; 1956 Modified champion
Ray Fox, legendary engine builder, crew chief and car owner
Harry Gant, winner of 18 NASCAR Cup Series races, including two Southern 500 victories
Joe Gibbs, combined for nine car owner championships in Cup and XFINITY series
John Holman, won two NASCAR Cup Series championships as co-owner of Holman-Moody Racing
Harry Hyde, 1970 NASCAR Cup Series championship crew chief
Bobby Labonte, won a championship in both the Cup Series and XFINITY Series
Hershel McGriff, 1986 NASCAR west series champion
Ralph Moody, won two NASCAR Cup Series championships as co-owner of Holman-Moody Racing
Marvin Panch, won 17 times in the NASCAR Cup Series, including the 1961 Daytona 500
Jim Paschal, 23 of his 25 NASCAR Cup Series wins came on short tracks
Larry Phillips, first five-time NASCAR weekly series national champion
Ricky Rudd, won 23 times in NASCAR Cup Series, including the 1997 Brickyard 400
Mike Stefanik, winner of record-tying nine NASCAR championships
Tony Stewart, three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, two-time Brickyard 400 winner
Red Vogt, the first master mechanic of NASCAR, and a founding member
 
For more information, visit the NASCAR website.

Goodson Tools & Supplies for Engine Builders, based in Winona, Minnesota, is now an authorized distributor of Sunnen engine building products in Canada.

“This is something we are very proud to have earned, and we will service the Canadian automotive market with Sunnen OEM products going forward,” Goodson National Sales Manager Dave Monyhan said to The Shop. “We have a very efficient method of shipping the many products we offer to all of our Canadian customers and now to be able to service their account with original Sunnen automotive products is really good for both Sunnen and Goodson.”

“Dave Monyhan and Goodson Tools have proven they can out-service most anyone in the shop supply distribution business and they earned the ability to carry our Sunnen name throughout all of Canada,” Sunnen’s Tom Dustman, who is based in St. Louis, said to The Shop. “I know the Goodson team will provide our products to the automotive customers in a very professional and full-service manner.”

For more information, visit the Goodson Tools & Supplies for Engine Builders website.

(Image courtesy of Goodson Tools & Suppliers for Engine Builders, Facebook).

The Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) has launched a new set of Rally Safety Guidelines to improve safety at every level of the sport while maintaining the action and spectacle loved by fans across the world.

The guidelines gather the best practices currently applied at the World Rally Championship level in a format that can be used by rally organizers at a regional and national level.

Close proximity to the cars on stage is all part of the thrilling spectator experience. A key aspect of the guidelines is to help promoters further increase spectator protection.

There are also other suggestions for safety best practice throughout the 100-page manual.

For instance, the FIA is encouraging all of its National Sporting Authorities (ASNs) to have their own safety delegates at each event they sanction. This will be supported by a training program for safety delegates with a pilot training seminar later this year. From 2020 onwards, regional training seminars will be conducted for these Safety Delegates from each country around the world.

Other key points in the guidelines cover the role and responsibilities of officials; the use of safety cars and the safety plan; special Stage set-up; communication with marshals and fans; and incident handling.

"Safety is the key for the sustainability of rallying in the future and one of the keys in safety is education—we see this around the world. These guidelines will help educate all to have the best procedures and the best habits in rallying,” FIA Rally Director Yves Matton said.

For more information, and to download the FIA Rally Safety Guidelines, visit the FIA website.

(Photo courtesy of the FIA).

The South Carolina motorsports community just got a boost.

Legislation (H.B. 4242) was introduced in the South Carolina House of Representatives to create the South Carolina Racing Study Commission in order “to study how the state can encourage all forms of racing.”

The bill, which has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee, provides an opportunity to examine the important economic and civic value that additional motorsports can provide the area.

H.B. 4242 builds upon legislation signed into law last year aiding and incentivizing the construction of motorsports complexes to help pave the way for new racing facilities in the state.

For more information, including how to take action and contact lawmakers, visit the SEMA Action Network (SAN) website.