Jay Frye will become president of INDYCAR as part of Hulman & Company organizational changes announced by Mark Miles, President and CEO of the parent company.

Frye, who has led INDYCAR's Competition and Operations departments since November 2015, will add Marketing and Communications to his responsibilities, effective January 1. Miles will continue as CEO of INDYCAR.

Frye joined Hulman & Company, which owns INDYCAR and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in 2013 as Chief Revenue Officer, leading the combined team of INDYCAR and IMS in sponsorship sales, licensing and account services. In 2014, the team secured a title sponsorship agreement with Verizon as well as the addition and expansion of several other corporate partners, including TAG Heuer and Panasonic.

Mark Sibla, INDYCAR Chief of Staff, Competition and Operations, will similarly expand his role with the Indianapolis-based sanctioning body, becoming Chief of Staff of all INDYCAR departments.

The reorganization is a result of C.J. O'Donnell's resignation at year's end. O'Donnell has been Chief Marketing Officer at INDYCAR and IMS since November 2013.

Curt Cavin, INDYCAR vice president of Communications, and a new role to be filled with INDYCAR vice president of Marketing will report to Frye.

Additional organizational changes have been made at IMS, including Jarrod Krisiloff will have his responsibilities expanded at IMS, becoming vice president of Facilities and Events. He has been executive director of Events for the past two years. Dan Skiver will become director of Operations and will be responsible for the many functions related to IMS events. Pat Garlock will be promoted to assistant manager of Facilities and Events. Alex Damron will be promoted to senior director of Communications,for IMS and Hulman & Company, and corporate communications will be added to his responsibilities. 

In related news, The IndyCar Series is adding a new, part-time team for the 2019 season, DragonSpeed. DragonSpeed announced that it would compete in five races next season, including the 103rd Indianapolis 500, powered by Chevrolet engines and with driver Ben Hanley.

For more information, visit indycar.com.

Members from the Advanced Engineering Technology Conference (AETC) recognized the contributions of motorsports engine builders during its 2nd Annual Engine Builder Happy Hour, which brought together engine builders and engineering professionals for a special evening of networking during the 2018 Performance Racing Industry (PRI) Trade Show in the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Ben Strader of EFI University received the “U 40 Engine Designer Award.” After moving to California during a brief stint in the Navy, Strader started working for various racing teams doing engine development and tuning work before opening a shop in Southern California.

In 2003, Strader founded EFI University, the first vocational school dedicated solely to motorsports and racing engines. During the last 15 years, the school has helped teach thousands of racers in dozens of countries about engines and EFI tuning. Strader has also worked closely with original equipment manufacturers and race teams in all levels of motorsports from grassroots to top-tier professionals in NHRA Pro Stock, NASCAR, off-road, land speed racing, power boats and even aircraft racing at the Reno Air Races to help develop winning engines and EFI Systems.

Strader, who is also a professional pilot, runs the engine development program for the school which seeks to further education for racers through R&D partnerships with racing manufacturers.

Sonny Leonard of Sonny’s Racing Engines, Inc., received the AETC “Engine Builder Honor” award. In 1968, after building engines as a hobby, Leonard opened up a two-bay garage (Sonny's Garage) in Madison Heights, Virginia.

In June of 1990, Sonny’s Automotive Racing moved into its current state-of-the-art facility that includes two SuperFlow dynamometers, a five-station head porting room, a sheet metal and welding shop for fabricating manifolds and separate engineering, tooling and conference rooms. After a 2007 expansion, the shop is currently about 15,000 square feet. 

During this time, Sonny campaigned several race cars with the team name Southern Rat. More recently, Leonard and the team from Sonny’s World Class Racing volunteered to build a high-performance engine for the 2018 Sunnen Engine Charity Sweepstakes, which raised over $102,000 for charity.

For more information, visit aetconline.com.

Wow... What a Show!

This year's Performance Racing Industry (PRI) Trade Show in Indianapolis more than delivered on its billing as the world's premier event for motorsports professionals over three days of exhibits and a Race Industry Week that provided a wealth of training, education, networking opportunities and special events.

Attended by tens of thousands of racing and performance buyers and industry members, the December 6-8 expo at the Indiana Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium produced a one-of-a-kind experience and venue to shop aisles of new products and equipment by more than 1100 leading manufacturers and service providers.

Visitors from all 50 states and 70-plus countries conducted business, met with customers and partners, and discovered cutting-edge solutions throughout the week, whether it was specialized product training sessions conducted by exhibitors, management education seminars led by expert presenters, or live demonstrations along the Show's world-famous Machinery Row.

So much industry expertise, business and networking opportunities, and new technology on display—be sure to visit our PRI 2018 Photo Gallery: https://bit.ly/2rDlWp7

And mark your calendars for next year's Show, December 12-14, 2019!

For the second time, the American Sprint Car Series will sanction non-winged sprint car racing as the Texas-based Elite Non-Wing Tour has become an ASCS regional tour.

Unlike the former Canyon Region, and all winged tours of the American Sprint Car Series, the newly sanctioned Elite Non-Wing Series will not be required to run the ASCS Spec Head, but will remain with the series current rules package.

Presented by Abilene Powder Coating, the ASCS Elite Non-Wing Series will see action in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas, with 15 tracks making up a 26-race lineup. 281 Speedway in Stephenville, Texas, and Big O Speedway in Ennis, Texas, will split 10 events between the two ovals for the largest share of appearances.

Tracks with a pair of nights include Ark-La-Tex Speedway in Vivian, La., as well as Heart O’ Texas Speedway in Waco, I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, Ark., and Rose Bowl Speedway in Winona, Texas.

Remaining tracks on the tour include Devil’s Bowl Speedway (Mesquite, Texas), Grayson County Speedway (Bells, Texas), Route 66 Motor Speedway (Amarillo, Texas), Superbowl Speedway (Greenville, Texas), Timberline Speedway (Corley, Texas), West Texas Raceway (Lubbock, Texas), 82 Speedway (Petty, Texas), and Diamond Park Speedway (Murfreesboro, Ark.).

For more information, and the complete 2019 schedule, visit here.

Turn 14 Distribution has awarded StopTech as its Supplier Of The Year for 2018. Presented annually, the honor recognizes the leading supplier’s merit in the industry and the role it plays in the supply chain.

StopTech, the high performance and racing brand from Centric Parts, was honored for it excellence in supply chain support, product innovation and dedication to the supplier/distributor partnership.

“After a rigorous process ranking all suppliers on product quality, performance, growth, profitability, and commitment to partnership, StopTech emerged as Turn 14 Distribution’s 2018 Supplier of the year,” Turn 14 Distribution’s CEO Jon Pulli said to The Shop.

StopTech, founded in 1999, offers brake components and upgrades for production cars. In 2013, StopTech earned full ISO/TS 16949:2009 Quality Management System certification for the design and manufacture of automotive brake systems and components, according to the company.

For more information, visit turn14.com or stoptech.com.

Caney Valley Speedway (Caney, Kansas) promoter Kerry Gorby has acquired the Oil Capital Racing Series (OCRS) sprint car organization from series owner Barry Grabel.

The process of the sale has been in motion for a few months and is now official. Grabel had owned the series since 2005 when he and Tulsa, Oklahoma businessman Tom Sewell partnered together. Grabel became the sole owner in 2012.

Ameri-Flex Hose and Accessories, a Tulsa-based business, has agreed to continue as the series title sponsor.

“I am not looking to make a bunch of changes. The current rules package needs to be retained and we can build on the success that the series has accomplished to date. The racers have a great title sponsor behind them in Corvan (Robison) and I have some marketing ideas that I will look to implement as well,” Gorby said.  

The first item on the agenda is to release the 2019 race schedule.

“My track, Caney Valley Speedway (Caney Kansas) will book about the same number of races as normal while traditional shows like the Harold Leep Classic (Thunderbird Speedway) and the AmeriFlex Challenge (Salina Highbanks Speedway) will still be some of our marquee events,” Gorby said.

For more information, visit ocrsracing.net.

As part of the continued growth of Formula E Holdings Ltd.—promoter of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship—Alejandro Agag and the board of the company have agreed that Agag should step-up from the role of CEO to become Chairman.

This will allow the company to bolster the management team with a new CEO, who’ll be appointed in the coming months. Agag will continue to serve as CEO until the new person joins Formula E. With the support of the new CEO, Agag—acting as Chairman—will be able to focus on relationships with commercial partners, host cities and the FIA.
 
“It’s time to open a new phase in the world’s fastest-growing motorsport. I’m really proud of the job we’ve done, together with the FIA, our management team, shareholders, partners and teams. Formula E is in the best moment of its short history. As Chairman, I’ll be better placed to help the new CEO and our strong management team to continue growing the sport that I believe is the future of motor racing.”

Agag will replace the current Chairman Simon Freer, who oversaw the series for the last four years.

For more information, visit FIAFormulaE.com.

Five Ontario, Canada dirt tracks have announced the creation of the Ontario Dirt Competition Committee (ODCC). The group has been created with the intention to govern the rules for both street stock and mini stock-type race cars at five Ontario dirt tracks, including Brighton Speedway in Brighton, Humberstone Speedway in Port Colborne, Merrittville Speedway in Thorold, Ohsweken Speedway in Six Nations, and South Buxton Raceway in Merlin.

“The common rule package has provided amazing racing at all of our member tracks,” said Ohsweken Speedway promoter Clinton Geoffrey. “We felt the next step was to streamline the process for updating and clarifying the rules in both divisions. As a group, we are extremely excited to continue working together as a group.”

The committee is composed of 15 members for street stocks and 12 members for mini stocks, including the promoter, head tech official and current champion at each track (South Buxton Raceway is not included on the mini stock committee as it does not have a similar division). The committee will conduct regular conference calls to discuss any pressing issues that may arise throughout the season.

The committee also offers drivers and race teams a central place to pose technical questions, make suggestions or requests and to voice concerns. Any technical rule changes that the committee makes will be adopted at all five members tracks at the same time. Drivers will be able to ask questions, make suggestions and voice concerns using an easy-to-use online submission form found on the committee’s new website at OntarioDirtComp.com. The committee will begin accepting new questions and suggestions via the online web form beginning December 15, 2018.

“I think it’s great that all the tracks are working hard to get on the same page when it comes to rules for the street stock and mini stock racecars,” said Brighton Speedway owner and promoter Mark Rinaldi. “It is one of the areas of dirt racing that probably had the biggest gap in rules and to bring that in line across four or five tracks is great.”

The committee is working to clarify current “grey areas” in the existing rule packages that drivers recently brought forward. However, no major rule changes are expected to the current mini stock and thunder stock rule packages ahead of the 2019 season.

Finally, the Ontario Dirt Competition Committee rules will be used for the 2019 Insta-Panels Duel on the Dirt Series. Insta-Panels returns as the title sponsor of the Duel on the Dirt Series for the second consecutive season. In 2018, 82 street stocks and 60 mini stocks competed in the Duel on the Dirt Series across the five member tracks using the combined rules package.

For more information, visit OntarioDirtComp.com.

The World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Model Series 2019 tour will span 47 races at 36 total tracks in 16 states and includes nine new venues to the schedule.

The season kicks off on Feb. 8-9, with the Winter Freeze IX at the Screven Motorsports Complex for a two-night show in Sylvania, Georgia, before heading down to Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Florida, for the 48th Annual DIRTcar Nationals, Feb. 13-16. Four straight nights of racing alongside the Super DIRTcar Series will showcase a 50-lap, $10,000-to-win feature event each night, with each driver’s best two finishes being counted towards their season points total.

From Florida, the Series invades Tennessee for a huge weekend, where it will compete March 8, at Duck River Raceway Park in Lewisburg, Tennessee, for the first time since 2017 followed by the Tennessee Tipoff at Smoky Mountain Speedway on March 9.

Later, an 11-race month of July, highlighted by the Prairie Dirt Classic, kicks off Independence Day weekend on July 5, at the appropriately-named Independence Motor Speedway in Independence, Iowa.

August features nine race nights, beginning with the $50,000-to-win USA Nationals at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, WI and finishes out with visits to the I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, MI, for the first time since 2014, and Sharon Speedway for the inaugural Battle at the Border in Hartford, OH. After this final Midwest swing, the stretch run to the championship winds through New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Tennessee before concluding with the World of Outlaws World Finals presented by Can-Am championship weekend at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.

“The schedule in 2019 will feature traditional venues and new tracks,” Series Director Matt Curl said. “Our trend toward monthly destination events continues to grow while we also build on highly competitive races from Georgia to North Dakota, Missouri to New York. As we saw this past season, the battle for the championship will be intense and we expect it to go down to the wire once again in Charlotte.”

For more information, including to view the complete 2019 World of Outlaws Late Model schedule, visit here. 

The final round of the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow (HROT) Engine Challenge 2018 Dual Championship took place last week at the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) Trade Show in Indianapolis, Indiana. Team Vibrant Performance from Burton Center for Arts & Tech in Salem, Virginia, won the overall competition with an average time of 17 minutes and 26 seconds.

The timed engine competition featured 17 teams battling for placement in the “Elite Eight” playoffs, which pitted the top four teams from the 2018 SEMA Show in Vegas with the tour four teams from PRI 2018.

The top four from PRI included Team Engine & Performance Warehouse from Elkhart Area Career Center in Elkhart, Indiana, Team RHS Racing Heads from Forsyth Central High School in Cumming, Georgia, Team Allstar Performance also from Forsyth Central High School and Team Vibrant Performance from Burton Center for Arts & Tech in Salem, Virginia.

The top four teams from SEMA included Team Custom Automotive Network (CAN) from Eastern Oklahoma Technology Center in Choctaw, Oklahoma, Team Canton Racing Products from Lakeshore High School in Stevensville, Michigan, Team Mr. Gasket from C D Hylton High School in Woodbridge, Pennsylvania, and Team Edelbrock from Hunter High School in West Valley City, Utah.

All eight teams created at least one perfect engine build, with Teams Engine & Performance Warehouse, Vibrant, and Edelbrock making two perfect builds.

Team Vibrant coach, Chris Overfelt, led his team to victory for a third time. “I am in shock all over again,” he said after the competition.

Over $3.7 million in scholarships were awarded throughout the season, with each student earning scholarship opportunities ranging from $5,000 to $10,000 from Ohio Technical College, School of Automotive Machinists & Technology and Universal Technical Institute.

For more information on the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow, visit hotroddersoftomorrow.com.