Bell Racing USA announced the creation of the Bell Helmets Women in Motorsports Mentor Program, which offers women interested in careers in motorsports, whether on or off the track, the opportunity to receive advice and guidance from women with diverse professional motorsports experience.

“Mentorship is a critical element in helping people learn, maximize their talents and achieve success in any field, including the sport of racing,” said Kyle Kietzmann, president and COO of Bell Racing USA. “We are proud to help facilitate a mentorship program for women in motorsports and grateful to the athletes and industry experts who are so willing to share their knowledge and experience, offering advice and guidance to women as they follow their dreams and pursue a career in racing.”

Participants will write for the Bell Racing USA blog, offering advice, tips and important lessons they have learned over the course of their careers – with the goal of helping the next generation of women in motorsports.

Beginning January 1, women with questions about careers in motorsports, female racers looking for advice or parents of young female racers can submit questions to mentor@bellracing.com, and program participants may answer questions that relate to their area of expertise.

Women participating in the program are:
·       Kendra Jacobs, marketing director, Knoxville Raceway
·       Ashley Sanford, NHRA Top Fuel driver
·       Shea Holbrook, sports car driver
·       Sarah Fisher, Indy 500 veteran and business owner
·       McKenna Haase, winged sprint car driver
·       Christina Lam, sports car driver
·       Katherine Legge – sports car and Formula E driver
·       Sabre Cook – junior formula driver and engineer
·       Ashley Freiberg – sports car driver and instructor
·       Pippa Mann – Indy 500 veteran and sports car driver
·       Ana Beatriz – IndyCar veteran and Brazilian Stock Car driver
·       Jill Swanson – CEO, Fresh Air Systems Technologies

For more information, visit bellracing.com.

Making the announcement at this year’s Performance Racing Industry (PRI) Trade Show, the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and Global Time Attack joins GRIDLIFE as the founding members of the North American Time Attack Council (NATA) Council.

The NATA Council is a leadership committee dedicated to the development, evolution, and success of time-based, competitive motorsport events such as Time Attack and Time Trials. The goal of the Council is the progression of motorsports through the consultation and collaboration of its members in the planning and execution of programs and events.

NATA and its member organizations seek to represent the interests of all drivers, from beginner to professional competitor, in order to ensure access, inclusivity, consistency and a high quality driver experience.

“SCCA is thrilled to formally align with GRIDLIFE and Global Time Attack. Each represent the best of what the sport can be and the shared commitment to progression and development is inspiring. The NATA not only creates strength between the three, but as the SCCA program is in its infancy, this is an amazing opportunity to learn from the best in the industry,” SCCA Director of Marketing and Experiential Programs Heyward Wagner said.

Visit northamericantimeattack.com or facebook.com/NATACouncil/ for more information including organizational announcements, schedules and any information related to the Council and its members’ activities.

In related news, the SCCA’s Board of Directors approved the rule set to create GT-X, a new Summit Racing Equipment Road Racing class designed to capture internationally-homologated cars and tube-frame cars outside of the current available classes. Eligible cars will include those homologated to FIA GT3, SRO GT4 and TCR specifications.

The GT-X class will be eligible at all Regional, Majors and Hoosier Racing Tire SCCA Super Tour events in 2019. That will not include the 2019 SCCA National Championship Runoffs, although it could be considered for future Runoffs events.

SCCA has obtained permission to use the current rule sets through their respective organizing bodies, including the Federation Internationale de L'Automobile (FIA), Stephane Ratel Organization (SRO) and World Sporting Consulting (WSC).

For more information, visit scca.com.

The middle step on the Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires open-wheel development ladder is being rebranded as the Indy Pro 2000 Championship presented by Cooper Tires for the upcoming season.

Fitting in between the entry-level Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship and Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires – the final stepping stone to the IndyCar Series –  Indy Pro 2000 will continue to build on a strong foundation, which was further strengthened this year following the introduction of the state-of-the-art Tatuus PM-18.

Originally debuting as Star Mazda in 1991, then reformed as Pro Mazda in 2013 when Andersen Promotions took over the helm after the previous administration ceased operations, the series has served as a vital training ground for many of today’s open-wheel stars during its 28-year history.

Current IndyCar drivers Marco Andretti, James Hinchcliffe, Spencer Pigot and Graham Rahal all established their credentials in either Star Mazda or Pro Mazda, while recently crowned champion Rinus VeeKay is poised to move up one more step on the ladder when he enters the Indy Lights fray for 2019.

Indy Pro 2000 competitors next season will vie for a champion’s purse valued at $596,700 to progress to Indy Lights and follow in their footsteps, with the aim of graduating to the IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis 500.

“We are indebted to the tremendous support of Mazda over the past nine years, but now, as the Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires legacy continues to grow, we feel the time is right to introduce a new look as we head into a new season,” said Dan Andersen, owner and CEO of Andersen Promotions. “The Tatuus USF-17 has been hugely successful from the time it was introduced in USF2000 two years ago, and since the same chassis – along with some considerable enhancements – forms the basis for the PM-18, it makes sense to incorporate this into the name evolution, while also strengthening our ties to IndyCar.”

For more information, visit indycar.com/RoadToIndy.

Dodge and National Muscle Car Association (NMCA) have announced that every new Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack 1320 owner will receive a complimentary one-year associate membership to the NMCA for the 2019 racing season.

“Our relationship with Dodge // Mopar kicked off last year with the popular HEMI Shootout and the Challenger R/T Scat Pack 1320 membership program adds to that success,” ProMedia Events and Publishing, the parent company of the NMCA Muscle Car Nationals, Founder and CEO Steve Wolcott said.

The Challenger R/T Scat Pack 1320 is an impressive modern muscle car that has a 485 horsepower, 392 HEMI under the hood. The car comes standard with drag radials and it has run a best of 11.72 at 115 mph—classifying the Challenger R/T Scat Pack 1320 as the quickest naturally aspirated street-legal muscle car available. The NMCA associate membership will be activated through the SRT Concierge service.

All 1320 owners will receive complimentary entries to all six NMCA national events in the Dodge // Mopar HEMI Shootout. There will be special parking for HEMI Shootout participants and NMCA drag racing instructors will be on-hand to help rookie racers. The NMCA membership also includes a one-year subscription to Fastest Street Car Magazine, NMCA membership card and decal package.

For more information, visit NMCAdigital.com.

Engine Parts Group, Inc., also known as Engine Pro, has recognized three automotive aftermarket manufacturers for its business performance achievements over the past year. The awards were presented at Engine Pro’s recent annual shareholder meeting in Dallas, Texas.

Hastings Manufacturing received the group’s Opportunity Award. This award is presented to the Engine Pro supplier who in the past year has provided outstanding profit margins and other financial incentives such as rebates, product promotional opportunities and other profit potential.

Dura-Bond Bearing Co. captured the Fulfillment and Accuracy Award. This award is presented to the Engine Pro supplier who in the past year has achieved excellent order fill and on time delivery along with superior order accuracy.

The third award, the Good Stewardship Award, was presented to the supplier who has maintained superior marketing practices along with sales and marketing assistance. That award was earned by Melling Engine Parts.

“Our Engine Pro shareholders have worked hard to identify the most important components that they believe will lead to future success for the group, our customers and our more than 90 suppliers. These awards are based on those factors and were carefully chosen to reflect our suppliers’ service to the group’s nine independent engine parts distributors across North America and Australia,” Engine Pro President William E. Cook said.

Engine Pro is one of the largest engine parts distribution networks in the US and Australia. The group’s independent specialty engine parts distributors operate 36 warehouses and inventory a full line of internal engine components for domestic and import passenger car, light truck, heavy duty, industrial, marine, agricultural and performance applications.

Visit enginepro.com for more information.

(From left to right: Jeff Guenther, Hastings Manufacturing, William E. Cook, Engine Pro and Dan Qualls, Hastings Manufacturing).

Champion Racing Association (CRA) Powered by JEGS has officially released the 2019 Schedule for the ARCA/CRA Super Series Powered by JEGS. The ARCA/CRA Super Series 2019 season will consist of 14 total races, with 11 of those being point events. Next year will be the 23rd season of competition for the Template Super Late Model touring series that first raced in 1997.

CRA will continue the Chase for the Championship format for determining a series champion for the 2019 season. The playoff format has produced more teams competing for a championship in every CRA division, both in 2017 and the 2018 seasons.

The 2019 racing season kicks off with the traditional non-points opener for both the ARCA/CRA Super Series and the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour with CRA SpeedFest 2019 at Watermelon Capital Speedway in Cordele, Georgia on Saturday-Sunday, January 25th & 26th. The ARCA/CRA Super Series race will be a 200 lap event, counting yellow flag laps up to lap 175.

The ARCA/CRA Super Series will then kick off its 2019 point season on Saturday, April 6th at Anderson Speedway, located in Anderson, Indiana, with a 125 lap event, the first of two events on the fast quarter mile oval.

Later in the season, the ARCA/CRA Super Series will crown their 2019 Tour Champion with the 48th running of the prestigious Winchester 400 on Sunday, October 13th, in its second visit of the season to Winchester Speedway.

To view the full ARCA/CRA Super Series 2019 schedule, visit here.

For more information about all four touring series’ within Champion Racing Association (CRA) Powered by JEGS, visit cra-racing.com.

The Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) presented by Sawblade.com has scheduled 51 events for its 28th season.

With a few nights of racing still in the works, more tracks will be finalized as series officials head into the indoor racing season with the Tulsa Shootout and Chili Bowl Nationals.

“Right now, we have five events as TBA as we work out some details, but we’re excited to see some tracks returning to the National Tour that has been absent for a few years, as well as continuing to add new tracks,” ASCS Scheduling Coordinator Terry Mattox said. “We’re hoping to announce a few of those TBA events between PRI and the Chili Bowl.”

Kicking off the 2019 lineup with the 46th Devil’s Bowl Spring Nationals March 15-16, the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by Sawblade.com stays in the “Lone Star State” through the following weekend as Golden Triangle Raceway Park returns after a five-year absence from the tour lineup on March 22-23.

Later, the first new track of the season comes May 17, at I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, Mich.

Riverside Int’l Speedway in West Memphis, Ark., on Aug. 24 will lead into Labor Day weekend with West Burlington, Iowa’s 34 Raceway getting its first taste of the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by Sawblade.com on Aug. 30 before the return to Lake Ozark Speedway for the Lake Ozark 360 National on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1.

Three nights with $10,000 on the line at the ninth annual Hockett/McMillin Memorial on Sept. 19-21.

The Creek County Speedway Fall Fling will move to the early weeks of October with the dates falling on Oct. 11-12. The Devil’s Bowl Winter Nationals hits the following week on Oct. 18-19 with the 2019 season wrapping up during NASCAR weekend at Texas Motor Speedway as Tony Stewart presents the Vankor Texas Sprint Nationals on Nov. 1-2.

To view the complete 2019 Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Cars Schedule, visit here.

In related news, the rules for the 2019 season of the ASCS have been updated and posted online. As announced a couple weeks ago, updates to the chassis and wing t-posts will be mandatory as the series continues to work with the newly-formed Sprint Car Council.

To view the new rules for the ASCS 2019 season, visit here.

Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) confirmed no changes to the eligible classes for its 2019 SCCA National Championship Runoffs, scheduled for Oct. 8-13, at VIRginia International Raceway.

The same 28 classes that made up the 2018 Runoffs, held in October at Sonoma Raceway, will compete at the 2019 event. New regulations announced in May guaranteed places in the preeminent SCCA event for classes reaching a certain level of entries over the past two seasons, with additional classes being included based on venue space and event format.

The 2018 Runoffs classes are: American Sedan, B-Spec, E Production, Formula 500, Formula 1000, Formula Atlantic, Formula Continental, Formula Enterprises, Formula Enterprises 2, Formula F, Formula Mazda, F Production, Formula Vee, GT-1, GT-2, GT-3, GT-Lite, H Production, Prototype 1, Prototype 2, Spec Miata, Spec Racer Ford 3, Super Touring Lite, Super Touring Under, Touring 1, Touring 2, Touring 3 and Touring 4.
 
Five classes (Formula 500, Formula 1000, Formula Atlantic, Formula Enterprises 2 and GT-1) will be on probation for the 2019 Runoffs because they were below 10 cars at the 2018 event. If they do not have a minimum of 10 participants at the 2019 event, the class will run as a supplemental race, but no National Champion will be named.

In related news, SCCA officials have announced the seven individuals as part of the Club’s newest Hall of Fame class. David Ammen, Dr. Frank Falkner, George Follmer, Patricia "Patc" Henry, John McGill, Dorsey Schroeder and Henryk Szamota make up the 2019 Hall of Fame class which joins the prestigious ranks.

As usual, the new group will be formally inducted during the SCCA Hall of Fame and Awards Banquet on Saturday, January 19, as part of the three-day SCCA National Convention taking place again in 2019 at the South Point Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

For more information, visit scca.com and scca.com/pages/nationalconvention.

The North American motorsports division of MAHLE, MAHLE Motorsport, announced Joe Maylish has recently been hired to lead the company’s marketing department from headquarters in Fletcher, North Carolina.

Maylish brings a wealth of experience to the job including working most recently as sales and production manager for SPEED SxS, a division of Robby Gordon Motorsports in Charlotte. Prior, he worked as a sales associate and then regional sales manager for U.S. Legend Cars/Speedway Motorsports Inc. in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he was exposed to various forms of racing including NASCAR, NHRA, off-road and grassroots motorsports.

“While our audience is diverse and includes street performance enthusiasts, as well as grassroots racers, MAHLE has a long-standing history with NASCAR and an emerging relationship with drag racing and the NHRA,” stated Brad Greene, general manager of MAHLE Motorsport. “Joe’s outgoing personality, coupled with his years of automotive aftermarket experience, both engine shop and upper-level racing, made him stand out as the perfect hire. His fresh new perspective and enthusiasm for the position is already making him a very valuable member of the team.”

MAHLE is one of the world's largest piston manufacturers and leading piston liaisons between upper-level professional racing, OE and the specialty equipment automotive aftermarket.

For more information, visit mahlemotorsports.com.

Six drivers with hopes of reaching the highest levels of NASCAR will compete for Rev Racing next season in the NASCAR Drive for Diversity Driver Development Program.

The 2019 class includes returning NASCAR Drive for Diversity driver Rubén García Jr. of México City, México, who is fresh off his second NASCAR Peak Mexico Series Championship and finished third in points in the NASCAR K&N Pro East Series in 2018.
 
Ernie Francis Jr., who recently won his fifth-consecutive Trans-Am Series Championship, will join Chase Cabre of Tampa, Florida, and Nick Sanchez of Homestead, Florida, as the development program’s other returning drivers.
 
Gracie Trotter of Denver, North Carolina, and Brooke Storer of Land O’ Lakes, Florida, will each make their NASCAR Drive for Diversity debuts for Rev Racing in 2019.
 
The six drivers were selected from among 12 national and international drivers invited to participate in the two-day NASCAR Drive for Diversity Driver Development Combine at New Smyrna Speedway and Bethune-Cookman University in October.
 
Beginning in February, the drivers will compete for Rev Racing in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and NASCAR Whelen All-American Series for one full season with mentoring and equipment provided by the race team.

The NASCAR Drive for Diversity Driver Development Program aligns drivers with a team of executives, athletic directors, crew chiefs and mentors tasked with helping them achieve career successes, and thus improving their goal of reaching one of the three NASCAR national series.
 
This year’s class will look to follow in the footsteps of program graduates and current Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers Kyle Larson, Daniel Suárez and Bubba Wallace.

In related news, NASCAR, Race Team Alliance and 704Games announced a collaboration that will create the first-ever NASCAR esports league on consoles, eNASCAR Heat Pro League. The newly formed esports league will feature up to 16 race teams and 32 drivers, each owned and operated by prominent NASCAR race teams.

Beginning today, fans across the nation owning NASCAR Heat 3 can begin to qualify for the first-ever eNASCAR Heat Pro League Draft, scheduled to take place early next year. Following the Draft, the esports league will feature a 16-race season beginning in spring 2019 and culminating during the 2019 NASCAR Playoffs. All eNASCAR Heat Pro League races will be live streamed online at NASCAR.com and Motorsport.com.

For more information, visit NASCAR.com, NASCARDiversity.com, and eNASCARHeatProLeague.com.