The Jennerstown Speedway Complex in Jennerstown, Pennsylvania will have a new ownership group when the season begins in May.

Richard Pologruto, John Morocco and Larry Hemminger have taken command of the speedway. All three men were part of the original group of six that revitalized the speedway during the past four years.

During that time, the number of competitors has consistently grown, and the attendance has exceeded more than 100,000 fans each of the last two seasons, according to the track.

New to the schedule of events this year is the addition of the All Star Monster Truck Tour, that will feature the iconic BIGFOOT, on July 27.

Although the Motor Mountain Masters is not new, it will have a slightly new agenda, with the addition of the Farmers Union Co-Op charger division. Masters weekend will offer the highest prize money of the year for the Charger drivers. The Stoystown Auto Wrecker Modifieds will also be in action again, along with Martellas Family of Pharmacies Late Models division.

Enhancing the Masters is the addition of the Hard Charger Award, which honors the driver who advances the most positions during the 150-lap event, along with a cash bonus to the winners of the first segment and second segment. More bonuses will be announced ahead of the August 9–10 event.

In addition, the new ownership group has also established a point fund for the weekly divisions at the track. The track will offer more than $22,000 in year-end point fund money that will be divided among the top-10 drivers in the five weekly divisions.

“This is an important aspect that has been missing from our racing program until 2019,” Jennerstown Speedway Complex General Manager Billy Hribar said. “The drivers are dedicated to Jennerstown Speedway week after week, and these cash bonuses are our way of saying thank you for the unwavering commitment of our competitors.”

For more information, visit the Jennerstown Speedway website.

Five of NASCAR’s legendary competitors—three drivers and two owners—were enshrined into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina, last week during the Induction Ceremony held in the Crown Ball Room at the Charlotte Convention Center.

Davey Allison, Jeff Gordon, Alan Kulwicki, Roger Penske and Jack Roush comprise the 10th Class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame – now home to 50 inductees.

“What a special evening. I’m so honored to be here surrounded by friends, family, fans and many people that have worked very hard behind the scenes for me over the years,” Gordon said of the honor. “Thank you to the fans who make racing the great sport that it is. You make being a race car driver a dream come true.”
 
In addition to the five inductees enshrined, Jim Hunter was honored as the fifth recipient of the Landmark Award for Outstanding Contributions to NASCAR.

Prior to last week's Induction Ceremony, journalist Steve Waid was presented the seventh Squier-Hall Award for NASCAR Media Excellence.

For more information on the 10th Class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, including short biographies of each of the inductees, visit the NASCAR website here.

NHRA fans can now experience the thrill of live drag racing action on a new platform for the 2019 season. The service formerly known as “NHRA All Access” is shifting gears to become NHRA.TV. Current NHRA All Access subscribers will be automatically transitioned to the new platform and will be notified via email.

NHRA.TV will operate on a cloud-based video streaming platform utilizing Sony’s intelligent media service, Ven.ue. In partnering with Sony Ven.ue, NHRA will continue to provide an ever-increasing catalog of exclusive drag racing video content on demand, according to the NHRA.

NHRA.TV will not only allow subscribers to live stream all 24 events in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series (MYDRS), but also provide access to historical race footage, exclusive exhibition matches and coverage of other NHRA series. Live video will be available from Friday through Sunday for all MYDRS events, with audio available on most other race days. Fans will soon be able to stream NHRA.TV on a variety of platforms including Android and Apple apps as well as Roku TV.

“Our fans have expressed the desire for an upgraded, more user-friendly online video platform,” NHRA President Glen Cromwell said. “We are excited to partner with Sony and bring their advanced cloud-based streaming service to the world’s most exciting motorsport.”

To subscribe to NHRA.TV and catch all the live drag racing action this season, as well as many historic races, visit the NHRA.TV website.

Marx Group, a full-service marketing communications agency, has hired Caitlin Dempsey as an account executive, further expanding its Detroit-based team.
 
Dempsey joins Marx Group after several years at Hirons & Company, an advertising, public relations and digital agency in Indianapolis, where she led several of the firm’s accounts specializing in leading large digital advertising and communications campaigns. Prior to that role, she was responsible for marketing and sales for the Eidelweiss Resort in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, and held a fifth-grade teaching position with Teach for America in San Antonio.

At Marx Group, she will manage accounts driving PR, advertising, social media and communication strategies for our clients.
 
“Caitlin joins our team as part of our recent growth and brings a significant amount of agency experience including brand and marketing management. Her dedication to building trusted relationships with clients fits perfectly with our agency values and will greatly support our client-facing team,” said Marx Group President/CEO and Creative Director Frank Buscemi said.
 
Dempsey earned a Master’s degree in marketing from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor’s degree in English Literature and Public Relations from the University of Maryland. She currently resides in Royal Oak, Mich.
 
Marx Group, founded in 1984 in Los Angeles, by chairman and chief strategy officer, Tom Marx, provides fully integrated marketing communications services as well as research and strategy to companies in the automotive, trucking, tech and consumer goods industries.
 
The company has offices in San Rafael, California, and Bloomfield Hills, Michigian. Marx Group opened its Detroit-area office in 2016. Since that time, the company has reportedly doubled in size.
 
For more information, visit the Marx Group website.

INDYCAR is bolstering the commercial side of its business with the addition of two veteran industry executives.

SJ Luedtke, a Nike sports marketing executive for the past decade, has been hired as INDYCAR’s vice president of marketing. She will be responsible for advancing INDYCAR’s brand across all channels, managing event and experiential assets, accelerating fan growth and engagement and working with media partners to drive consumption and ratings.

Luedtke joined Nike in 2010, rising to senior brand director of football. She developed and led integrated campaigns, including “Make ‘Em Miss” and “Who You With” while partnering with leadership to extend the 30th anniversary of the “Just Do It” campaign. She also oversaw key athlete brands.

Prior to working at Nike, Luedtke spent 14 years working in multiple areas of motorsports marketing, including leading client services at Team Green and Andretti Green Racing and heading up Goodyear’s agency team leveraging strategic partnerships across NASCAR, NHRA and off-road racing.

Mike Zizzo has been retained by INDYCAR as a communications consultant. Zizzo is an award-winning public relations executive with more than 22 years of experience in the motorsports industry, including managerial roles with two of North America’s premier racing sanctioning bodies.

Zizzo served as vice president of competition public relations for Championship Auto Racing Teams from 1996-2002 before joining NASCAR as the senior public relations manager with emphasis on competition from 2002-2005. He arrives at INDYCAR from Texas Motor Speedway, where he spent the past 13 years as the vice president of communications and was a two-time recipient of NASCAR’s Speedway Public Relations Representative of the Year Award.

“The depth of knowledge and experience that SJ and Mike possess in their respective fields will strengthen our organization,” INDYCAR President Jay Frye said. “They both hold a passion for INDYCAR and are widely respected within our industry. They will immediately begin to actively engage with the sport’s numerous stakeholders to contribute to the continued growth and success of the NTT IndyCar Series.”

For more information, visit the INDYCAR website.

NHRA President Glen Cromwell has been elected to the NHRA Board of Directors, announced NHRA Chairman of the Board Dallas Gardner.

Cromwell joined NHRA in 1997 and became president at the start of 2018. He rose through the ranks from his first position as a division director and has been a key player in leading NHRA’s marketing efforts over the past 20 years.

“Glen brings valuable perspective to the NHRA Board of Directors, and we are glad to welcome him to the Board,” Gardner said. “His years of experience and knowledge of every facet of the NHRA, and his passion for the sport and commitment to sustaining it and seeing it grow, are a valuable asset to the board and to the sport of NHRA drag racing.”

Before joining NHRA in 1997, Cromwell served in a variety of capacities with Lombard, Illinnois-based FELD Motorsports, producer of AMA Supercross events.

“I’m honored to become part of the NHRA Board of Directors,” Cromwell said. “I’ve been witness to the growth of the sport since I began with NHRA and the future of the sport is brighter than it has ever been.”

Cromwell joins board chairman Gardner, and other members of the board Michael Cohen, Ed Desser, and Peter Clifford.

For more information, visit the NHRA website.

(Image courtesy of NHRA)

Drivers of the full-fendered Thunder Stocks/Street Stock division will have another place to race as a special four-race Mini Series has been introduced for the division between New Humberstone Speedway (Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada) and Ransomville Speedway (Ransomville, New York).

The Can-Am Thunder Stock Challenge is a four-race series that will pay $500 to win, $300 for second, $200 for third, $150, $100, $90, $80, $70, $60, $50 for tenth on back. Payouts will be made in Canadian dollars at Humberstone and in American dollars at Ransomville.

“I’m very happy Dave [Bitner Jr.] and I was able to make the Can-Am Thunder Stock Challenge mini-series work between the two tracks,” Ransomville Speedway General Manager Jennifer Martin said. “Racers want to race and we want to be able to help them do that by working together and giving them opportunities to race at other facilities.”         

Two races at each track will make up the Can-Am Thunder Stock Challenge. The challenge will begin on Friday, May 3, at Ransomville (with the rain date of May 10).

Race two will take place on Sunday, May 26, at New Humberstone Speedway.

Race three will be the John Susice Memorial at Ransomville on July 26, with lap bonus money being available. 

The final race and championship trophy presentation will take place on September 8, at New Humberstone.                        

“We are looking forward to seeing the best drivers from Ransomville come over and seeing our best go over there and do well,” New Humberstone Speedway President Dave Bitner Jr. said. “Being able to work with Ransomville allows our competitors to race there and to have their competitors come race with us, giving them more options and another place to race.”

For more information, visit the Ransomville Speedway website or the New Humberstone Speedway website.

The Sauber F1 Team has made the announcement the iconic squad will race under a new banner in 2019: Alfa Romeo Racing.

“It is a pleasure to announce that we will enter the 2019 Formula One World Championship with the Team name Alfa Romeo Racing," Alfa Romeo Racing Team Principal Frederic Vasseur said. “After initiating the collaboration with our Title Sponsor Alfa Romeo in 2018, our team made fantastic progress on the technical, commercial and sporting side. This has given a boost of motivation to each team member, be that track-side or at the headquarter in Switzerland, as the hard work invested has become reflected in our results.”

The team's long-term partnership between Sauber and Title Sponsor Alfa Romeo was initiated in 2018. After finishing the championship in eighth in 2018, the collaboration has been further extended with Sauber ownership and management remaining unchanged.

Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi will drive for Alfa Romeo Racing in 2019. The newly renamed team will also unveil its 2019 car during testing at Barcelona, set for February 18.

For more information, visit the Alfa Romeo Racing website.

NASCAR announced several initiatives and procedural updates today for the 2019 season.

Among the announcements made was NASCAR’s plan to move its thorough post-race inspection to the race track immediately following each national series race. If a vehicle fails post-race inspection, it will be disqualified, resulting in a last-place finish and the loss of all benefits from the win/finish, as well as any stage points. All other vehicles would move up in the finishing order under this scenario.

NASCAR will inspect the first- and second-place vehicles, as well as a random vehicle, after each event. Previously, full post-race inspections took place at the NASCAR Research & Development Center in Concord, North Carolina.

“Our industry understands the need to focus on what happens on the race track,” NASCAR Executive Vice President of Competition and Racing Development Steve O’Donnell said. “We cannot allow inspection and penalties to continue to be a prolonged storyline. Race vehicles are expected to adhere to the rule book from the opening of the garage to the checkered flag.”
 
The disqualification procedure will be implemented for all three NASCAR national series, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series.
 
NASCAR also unveiled several other competition and personnel updates for 2019:

    •    The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series will feature the “Triple Truck Challenge” this season, a bonus program that takes place at three consecutive races – Texas (June 7), Iowa (June 15) and Gateway (June 22). All drivers earning series points are eligible and drivers who win one of the three races receive a $50,000 bonus. Winning two races nets a driver $150,000 total ($50,000 per race plus a $50,000 bonus), while winning all three races results in a $500,000 total prize ($50,000 per race win, $50,000 bonus for winning twice, plus a $300,000 bonus for sweeping the Challenge races). Monster Energy Series and Xfinity Series drivers are not eligible to compete in the three races of the program.

    •    O’Donnell announced that the “Generation 7” car in the Monster Energy Series is scheduled to make its debut for the 2021 season and will be designed to feature new technologies and elements that showcase future production vehicles. “There is a great deal of interest from our current and potential manufacturer partners to make the cars look even more like they do on the street,” O’Donnell said. “This will be an exciting progression in our racing technology that began with the introduction of the 2019 rules package.”

    •    NASCAR has implemented a model of series-specific inspectors. Each national series will have a dedicated team of officials who will specialize in inspections for their respective garages.
 
    •    Qualifying procedures across all three national series remain the same for 2019, with the exception that the first round of ‘group qualifying’ for short track and intermediate tracks will shorten to 10 minutes in length (previously 15) and the breaks between sessions will be five minutes long (previously seven).
 
    •    The national series driver participation guidelines remain mostly unchanged from 2018. Drivers with more than five years of full-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series experience are eligible for a maximum of seven NASCAR Xfinity Series starts and five NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series starts. Drivers who elect to accumulate Monster Energy Series points are not eligible to compete in any Dash 4 Cash or Triple Truck Challenge races, or the final eight races in either the Xfinity Series or the Gander Outdoors Truck Series. In addition, drivers who earn points in the Xfinity Series are ineligible to compete in Triple Truck Challenge races and the Championship race for the Gander Outdoors Truck Series.
 
    •    Ben Kennedy has been elevated to managing director of racing operations and international development. He previously served as general manager of the Gander Outdoors Truck Series. His new responsibilities will include initiatives aimed at growing the sport, including managing NASCAR’s growth on the international scene.
 
    •    NASCAR introduced the assistant directors for each series – Kip Childress (Monster Energy Series), Seth Kramlich (Xfinity Series) and Jesse Dollevoet (Gander Outdoors Truck Series).

The 2019 NASCAR season officially opens this weekend with “Speedweeks” at Daytona International Speedway with the Sunday double-header, Daytona 500 Busch Pole Award Qualifying, and the Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona.

For more information, visit the NASCAR website.

Motor State Distributing, in a partnership with the Engine Builders of America, will host the AERA Tech and Skills Conference at its headquarters in Watervliet, Michigan, on March 30.

The all-day event will feature presentations on the latest trends and technology in engine components, machining and engine building. Some of the industry’s top manufacturers will also be on hand, including representatives from Edelbrock, Mahle Motorsports, Melling, King Engine Bearings, Fel-Pro Gaskets, Driven Racing Oil, and Dart Machinery.

For more information, including how to register as a manufacturer/exhibitor, visit the event page here.