President of K & M Tool and Die John Kouns—along with the officials of the United States Speed Association (USSA)—have announced that K & M Tool and Die has become the title sponsor of the USSA midget division, now known as the K & M Tool and Die Mel Kenyon Midget Series.

Based in Lebanon, Indiana, K & M Tool and Die has developed and manufactured items from concept to prototype and eventually to production. K & M Tool and Die provides milling, turning, jet machining, welding, ultrasonic cleaning, wire basket repair and component assemble to a wide variety of industries including racing.


“We decided to sponsor the Mel Kenyon Midget Series for an opportunity to provide young people an educational and safe means of racing in a professional, competitive and enjoyable environment,” Kouns said. “The knowledge gained by these young racers will grant them the ability to handle many failures and successes later in life and perhaps give them a start in opportunities with future hobbies or careers.”

“The Kouns family are racers and we want to thank them for taking the next step as the Title Sponsor of The K & M Mel Kenyon Midget Series,” USSA President Don Kenyon said.

The K & M Tool and Die Mel Kenyon Midget Series will officially make its debut at Anderson Speedway on Friday, May 25, with the Parallax Power Supply Don and Mel Kenyon Classic 75. The 75- lap race features the season’s best purse and is the longest on the K & M Tool and Die Mel Kenyon Midget Series 2018 schedule.

Pro All Stars Series (PASS) officials have revealed that tour-type modifieds will be a part of the inaugural Commonwealth Classic at Richmond Raceway on October 20.

The tour-type modified division will join the PASS Super Late Models, Late Model stock cars, Limited Late Models and street stocks on the card for the Commonwealth Classic.

The weekend will begin on Thursday, October 18, with hauler parking and safety inspection. A practice day for all divisions is scheduled for Friday, October 19, that will also see more parking and safety inspection. Additional practice, qualifying and all features will take place on Saturday afternoon, October 20, all ending under the lights of Richmond Raceway.

As a bonus, fans will be able to access Richmond’s state-of-the-art Fan Zone and watch everything going on in the garage area throughout the weekend.

The Commonwealth Classic will consist of a 100-lap event for the PASS Super Late Models paying $10,000-to-win and $700-to-start.

Additionally, both the tour-type modifieds and Late Model stocks will each return to Richmond Raceway for the first time in a number of years, both competing in 75-lap races that pay $7,000-to-win and $700-to-start.

The Limited Late Models and street stocks will make their first appearances at Richmond Raceway with the Limited Late Models racing for 50 laps and $4000-to-win and the street stocks racing for 40 laps and $2000-to-win.

Tickets are available for purchase online at RichmondRaceway.com.

Beginning in 2021, INDYCAR engines will produce more power due to a new configuration, the sanctioning body announced.

The 2.4-liter, twin-turbocharged V-6 engines are projected to generate at least 100 more horsepower than the current 2.2-liter platform, with more than 900 horsepower achieved in the 2.4-liter formula when using push-to-pass overtake activation.

Providing stability for the Verizon IndyCar Series and its competitors, the engine regulations will be in place for six years, through the 2026 season. INDYCAR has utilized the 2.2-liter, turbocharged V-6 formula since 2012, with exclusive use of twin turbos since 2014.

Engines will continue to turn at a maximum of 12,000 RPM.

On-track testing will begin in the summer of 2020.

“Our drivers have been asking for more horsepower and thanks to the hard work of Chevrolet, Honda and the INDYCAR engine group, they’re going to get it,” INDYCAR President of Competition and Operations Jay Frye said.

Executives from Chevrolet and Honda have said the new configuration suits their needs.

Frye said additional manufacturers have been included in the planning of the next generation of engine specifications.

“We’ve talked with a lot of key executives and asked for their opinions, and they’ve all said this is a very relevant platform to what they’re doing,” Frye said. “No announcements of additional manufacturers are imminent, but it feels like we’re on a good path.”

The ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards will utilize a timed qualifying session format when the series returns to Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 24, for the first time in 14 years.

It’s the first time in series history that ARCA will set the starting field via timed session qualifying.

The session will begin when the command from the tower is given to release the cars coming off pit road. Teams will have the option of when to leave pit road to make their qualifying run, as well as how many laps they run. When a car returns to pit road, its qualifying attempt is complete.

When time expires in the scheduled session, qualifying will be complete regardless of where the cars are on track. A car’s best lap time from the session will become the official time of record. Regardless of the time remaining, the qualifying session will be considered complete once all cars have made qualifying attempts.

“The timed session qualifying procedure makes the most efficient use of the time available to complete a qualifying session providing each team with an equal opportunity to win the General Tire Pole Award,” ARCA President Ron Drager said.

The ABB FIA Formula E Championship has teamed up with Modis, the official partner for professional staffing and solutions for IT and engineering, to launch the search for an aspiring innovator to join the electric street racing series on a six-month internship.

The project, titled the Innovation Manager Challenge, was revealed ahead of the BMW i Berlin E-Prix. Under the mentorship of Eric Ernst, the head of Technology at Formula E, one successful candidate will help implement and oversee a new software platform for the opening rounds of season five.

Both Formula E and Modis are said to be particularly keen to hear from self-starters, drivers of change, problem solvers and great communicators with a basic knowledge of computer science.

Applicants will be put through their paces with tests designed to measure numerical aptitude, logical thinking and behavior heuristics. A shortlist of promising candidates will then be invited to participate in an interview stage, with the winner being announced on July 14.

They will get to work on September 1, with six months to develop and apply software used at official championship events. The internship will involve interaction with teams all over the world and hands-on experience at two race events.

“I’m fully supportive of finding the next generation of new talent and it’s fitting to collaborate with Formula E — the most competitive and accessible platform for innovation and advances in technology currently. I look forward to meeting the applicants and welcoming them to the electric revolution,” Formula E Founder and CEO Alejandro Agag said.

Those interested in the opportunity must apply before July 1 on the Modis website at modis.com/innovation-manager.

Officials from Gas City I-69 Speedway have announced that the UMP modified class has been added to seven race nights this season at the quarter-mile, semi-banked clay oval.

The new dates include May 18, June 8, June 15, July 6, August 3, August 31, and September 7.

“The UMP modified teams are supporting the track with excellent car counts each week,” Track Promoter Jerry Gappens said. “More importantly, they are producing excellent racing and exciting entertainment for our fans.”

The UMP modified division is averaging 24 cars per event at Gas City this year.

The NASCAR Diversity Internship Program (NDIP) will welcome its largest class in program history during Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race weekend.

More than 30 top students from across the country have arrived in Charlotte for orientation at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the NASCAR Hall of Fame and other racing venues before attending the Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race on Saturday. Following orientation, the interns will officially begin the 10-week, paid program.

Since its inception in 2000, NDIP has offered a select group of students from diverse backgrounds a unique hands-on experience in the motorsports industry. The program has grown to include several industry partners and continues to provide career opportunities for multicultural students as one of the premier internships in sports.

Among the notable NDIP alumni are Brandon Thompson, managing director of the NASCAR Touring Series, and Jusan Hamilton, who last year became the first African American to serve as race director for a NASCAR national series event.

Erica Wilkerson, another NDIP alum, now works in youth marketing at NASCAR and manages NASCAR Acceleration Nation. Pedro Mojica interned with Rev Racing and the NASCAR Research and Development Center before joining IMSA as a technical engineer.

The 2018 NDIP class will have roles at NASCAR and program partners across the industry which include International Speedway Corp., Toyota, Motor Racing Network and several tracks and teams.

NDIP is open to sophomores, juniors, seniors and graduate-level college students and offers hands-on experience with one of the top sports industries in the country. The internship provides opportunities to multicultural students from all majors with a minimum grade point average of 3.0.

INDYCAR drivers are now required to undergo a clinical eye-tracking computer test recently cleared by the Food and Drug Administration. It has been implemented as part of the sanctioning body’s concussion evaluation protocol.

Drivers competing in this month’s Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil—plus drivers in the Mazda Road to Indy development ladder program—have been tested by the innovative system known as I-PAS and created by Pittsburgh-based Neuro Kinetics, Inc.

The I-Portal Portable Assessment System, commonly referred to as the “goggles test,” runs high-quality diagnostic tests to evaluate patients with symptoms of dizziness and balance disorders, especially those associated with medical conditions such as concussions, migraines or BPPV (benign paroxysmal positional vertigo).

I-PAS resembles a virtual reality headset and is just as portable. It integrates clinical eye tracking with a digital display allowing medical professionals to run a series of non-invasive oculomotor, vestibular and reaction time tests.

INDYCAR was introduced to the I-PAS technology following the first race of the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series season. Driver Will Power’s car struck the wall during the first practice on the St. Petersburg, Florida, street circuit. Nothing about the incident raised concerns. The following day, after winning the pole position at a track-record pace, Power experienced concussion-like symptoms. When he didn’t feel significantly better the next day, he was held out of the race as a precaution.

With aspects of the incident not correlating, Power was sent to be examined by Dr. Steve Olvey, a former Indy car medical director, at the University of Miami’s concussion program. Olvey and his group put Power through a battery of tests, including I-PAS. It was determined that an inner ear infection – not a concussion – had triggered the symptoms.

“That was a game-changer for us,” INDYCAR Safety Consultant Dr. Terry Trammell said.

INDYCAR is particularly well-suited to partner with Neuro Kinetics in the introduction of the I-PAS system, given the sanctioning organization’s long history of ongoing data collection. Each Indy car carries a “black box” that collects chassis G-forces occurring during a crash and there are accelerometers tracking head movement in the earpieces of all drivers. This data collection allows analysis of forces that produce injury, and the information is used for real-world reconstruction of the crash to further safety advancements.

Underway is a project to compare testing of drivers who have sustained an impact with ear resultant averages of at least 50 Gs. The purpose of the project is to attempt to determine if there are detectable changes in drivers who were exposed to one or more potentially concussive events over the course of a season but were not diagnosed with a concussion.

(Photo courtesy of INDYCAR.)

The ABB FIA Formula E Championship is set to make its debut in the Middle East next season in Riyadh, with the Saudi Arabian capital scheduled to host the opening round of the electric series’ 2018-19 season five in December.

Formula E will bring international racing to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the very first time as part of a 10-year agreement with the General Sports Authority and Saudi Arabian Motor Federation.

The announcement was made by His Royal Highness Prince Khaled Bin Sultan Bin Abdullah AlFaisal, President of the Saudi Arabian Motor Federation, and His Royal Highness Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal Al Saud, Vice-Chair of the Saudi Arabia General Sports Authority, together with Formula E Founder and CEO Alejandro Agag.

Pending confirmation of the calendar by the FIA World Motor Sport Council, the E-Prix will see the Formula E cars navigate the streets of the Ad Diriyah district — with experienced motorsports promoter Carlo Boutagy tasked to deliver and promote the race through his company, CBX. Further details on the location and circuit layout will be revealed at a later date.

“Bringing racing to Riyadh for the first round of the new season is the perfect setting for the next phase of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship. An exciting and vibrant country that is focussing on its future, Saudi Arabia will be the ideal venue to mark the competitive debut of the next generation Formula E cars,” Formula E Founder and CEO Alejandro Agag said.

Thunderhill Raceway Park in Willows, California, has partnered with Hooked On Driving to present the Motorsport Safety Foundation (MSF) Level 2 certification program.

The program is open to experienced and newer instructors that have passed the MSF Level 1 certification program.

Thunderhill management, led by David Vodden, has committed resources to subsidize the program delivered by Hooked On Driving (HOD). HOD has committed that the event will be not for profit, and if there are proceeds, they will be donated to MSF.
 
The program will be a full day in a classroom and on track, with role-playing, mentoring and the thorough review of MSF training standards and practices.

The June 1, 2018, event will take place at Thunderhill Raceway from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. An hour-long open track session will follow the program. Lunch will be provided.

For more information and to register, visit the HOD website here.