Anderson Speedway, a 1/4-mile banked paved short track in Anderson, Indiana, will reportedly invest at least $500,000 in upgrades to the facility.

A $100,000 loan was approved this week, according to The Herald-Tribune. The funds will be used for improvements to the track and facility, including upgrades to the seating and new LED lighting.

The track currently utilizes wooden bleachers, which will be repaired and replaced with aluminum walkways and seating. The main grandstand was acquired from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in the early 1960s after a fire at Anderson Speedway.

Track President Rick Dawson says the bleachers will be replaced one section at a time. The upgrade project is expected to be completed in time for the 2019 season opener.

First opened in 1947, the speedway is currently running its 71st season of racing. Perhaps best known for the Little 500 sprint car race, the track is set to host the 70th running of the Pay Less Super Markets/UAW-GM sponsored event on May 26.  

Land of Legends Raceway promoter Paul Cole has announced the debut of a new sprint car series. The inaugural Land of Legends Raceway 360 Sprint Classic Series is set to encompass four race dates with CRSA 305 Sprint Series and Patriot Sprint Tour travelers.

The series boasts a lucrative $4,000 point fund posted by Cole's own SuperGen Products, a supplier of Champion Power Equipment.

A-Verdi Storage Containers presents the LOLR 360 Sprint Classic Series on May 5. Patriot Sprint Tour headlines this first 'Saturday Spectacular' event. Patriots also close out the season on August 24.

Drivers from the Empire Super Sprint (ESS) organization will also be showcased during the second and third series stops at the fairgrounds. The Super DIRTcar Series showdown presented by Honeoye Auto Parts is set for July 5, while another 'Saturday Spectacular' sponsored by Tradition Chevrolet/GM is set for August 4.

The 360 Sprint Classic Series champion will receive $1,500 from the $4,000 purse, with points allocated to drivers in qualifying races as well as each 25-lap A-Main. A driver must enter all four series events to be eligible for season-ending awards.

The 2018 season gets underway on April 28 when Filer's Powersports presents the first 'Saturday Spectacular.' A full lineup of racing includes Pepsi Big-Block Modifieds, Donath Motor Worx Sportsmans, Big Dog Country Street Stocks, Mike Emhof Motorsports 305 Sprint Cars and New Legends Sportsmans.

Land of Legends Raceway is a 1/2-mile dirt track in Canandaigua, New York, that runs races most every Saturday night from April through September.  For more information or for tickets, visit www.LandOfLegendsRaceway.com.

Leavine Family Racing (LFR) has named Michael Leavine as the Competition Director for the organization and its No. 95 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series team.
 
Leavine is the grandson of Team Owner Bob Leavine and has served as the Director of Operations at the organization for the past year. He will continue to serve in his current Director of Operations role as well as the additional responsibilities associated with his Competition Director position. 

“Michael has actually been serving as our de facto Competition Director for a while now, but we are finally making it official,” LFR General Manager Jeremy Lange said. “This change is well-deserved, since Michael has definitely put in the effort as a valuable asset to this race team and has always played an integral role in the overall performance of LFR.”

In his expanded role, Leavine will help to maximize the team’s resources with Richard Childress Racing (RCR), who LFR currently has an alliance partnership with.
 
Leavine is a graduate of Baylor University where he earned a degree in Business Management. He had raced both open-wheel and stock cars in the early 2010s but left his driver days behind after accepting a front office role at LFR working in marketing, public relations, social media, and travel logistics for the organization in 2013.

During the summer of 2016, Leavine was named the shop foreman, and in 2017, he was promoted to the Director of Operations.

The promotion will be effective immediately as Leavine, and the team, get ready to travel to Talladega Superspeedway for this weekend’s race.

A group of motorsports industry experts will discuss "Racing Safety Through the Years" at the International Motor Racing Research Center (IMRRC) on Saturday, May 19.

A panel of five will cover the progression of racing safety from the early 1950s to recent times. Speakers include Dr. James Norton, Mike Semel, Randy States, R.J. Valentine and Rick Hughey. For more information on speakers’ biographies, visit here.

The conversation will showcase the challenges and solutions used in decades past as well as state-of-the-art emerging technologies available today.

Part of the IMRRC's ongoing Center Conversations Series, the discussion will be an open forum in which audience participation is encouraged.

The talk will be live-streamed on the Center's YouTube channel or via the Center's live-stream page. The discussion will also be archived on the Center's YouTube channel to watch in the future.

The talk, sponsored in part by the Watkins Glen Area Chamber of Commerce, will begin at 1 p.m. and is open to the public. The Racing Research Center is located at 610 S. Decatur St., Watkins Glen, New York.

Hot Shot’s Secret has announced the co-sponsored NHRDA World Final VIP Trip Giveaway in support of the lubrication manufacturer’s title sponsorship of the National Hot Rod Diesel Association (NHRDA).

One winner will receive:

• • Two VIP tickets to the World Finals October 12 and 13 in Ennis, Texas
• • A luxury box suite in Texas Motorplex Tower
• • Catered food and beverages at the event
• • Two tickets for the year-end banquet
• • NHRDA and Hot Shot’s Secret swag
• • Two round-trip flights, accommodations for two nights and a rental car
• • Two 2019 NHRDA memberships
• • Participation in a Diesel TV interview

“We are very proud to support NHRDA and to be the title sponsor. This is the first time we have co-sponsored a giveaway promotion that will send two lucky people to the finals in Texas with an all-expense paid trip. We hope everyone that loves the best in diesel racing and pulling will enter and we look forward to meeting the winner,” Hot Shot’s Secret Director of Marketing Kyle Fischer said.
 
To enter online go to www.hotshotsecret.com/nhrda/. Officials will select the winner on Monday, September 3, 2018. Entrants must be 18 years of age or older and reside in the continental USA or Canada to enter. One entry per household is allowed.
 
NHRDA’s mission is said to be to provide a forum where both competitors and fans can safely come together to enjoy the sport of Diesel Motorsports. The season recently kicked into gear with nine events scheduled across the country. For a complete listing of events, go to NHRDA.com/Events.
 
For more information about Hot Shot’s Secret, a division of Lubrication Specialties, Inc. (LSI), visit hotshotsecret.com. To speak directly with a Hot Shot’s Secret technician, call 800/341-6516 or visit here.

WISSOTA Auto Racing will unveil a new points system beginning with its 2018 season.

The first winner of the 2018 season in any Wollak Construction WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series presented by QA1 division has the opportunitiy to receive a maximum of 112 national points.

“In years past the heat races were not necessarily a good indicator as to the performance of a driver in the challenge series, but with the new system [the series] will have points that better reflect the drivers’ performances throughout the event,” WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series director Craig Sullivan said.

The points race will see quick changes in the on-track competitive environment. There are no changes to the "show-up" points or the number of shows that will be calculated into the national point totals for drivers. With some tracks starting as much as a month later than expected, WISSOTA expects to see the tightest points race to date.

“The new system will make the great racing seen in 2017 even better going into 2018,” WISSOTA Associate Executive Director Carson Gramm said. “I’m proud that our promoters were able to deliver a system that will continue to prove itself each week of the season. Our common goal of strengthening WISSOTA Auto Racing, and its member tracks, has become evident in this change.”

The new points system comes after the WISSOTA Annual Meeting. Held each November, the goal of the meeting is to hear feedback and make organizational changes to enhance safe and competitive dirt track racing.

The 2018 season features 20 events and will use the new national point system to determine the champion. One unique thing about the series is that they use passing points to determine the lineups. A driver accumulates passing points throughout the entire event, which are added to their total.

For a full breakdown of the 2018 WISSOTA Auto Racing point structure, visit www.wissota.org.

Mid America Dragway, located in Arkansas City, Kansas, has joined NHRA’s Division 5, the West Central Division.

Mid America Dragway reopens with co-owners Jim Maybrier, his son Chris, along with their respective families, taking over ownership of the facility which includes the surrounding land and the acreage on which the dragstrip is located. The Maybrier families are said to be deeply invested in drag racing and are working to revitalize the infrastructure for the track to open for a busy slate of racing this spring.

“Mid America Dragway is an all concrete facility that has held drag racing events since the early 1960's,” Track Co-Owner Chris Maybrier said. “We are the first owners in the history of the dragstrip to also own the property it sits on. We are looking forward to working with NHRA. NHRA's rich history in the sport is second to none and thus far, the guidance and the assistance we have received from Division 5 has been instrumental to this process.”

“Everyone in NHRA’s West Central Division is very excited about the commitment the Maybrier’s have made to re-open Mid-America Dragway,” NHRA West Central Division Director Rob Park said. “The track has a long history of great racing and racers. They will be an instant contender for the championship at the Summit Racing ET Finals.”

As an NHRA-sanctioned track, the facility will be eligible to offer racers a variety of NHRA racing opportunities, including the NHRA Summit Racing Series, the NHRA Summit Racing Jr. Drag Racing League, NHRA Jr. Street, and the NHRA Drags: Street Legal Style presented by AAA.

Racers in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wisconsin make up the NHRA Division 5. For more information, including schedules, point standings, and more, go to the Division 5 website, NHRADiv5.com. 


(Photo courtesy of NHRA).

The I-Pace eTrophy race car will make its global public debut at the 2018 BMW i Berlin E-Prix on Saturday, May 19.

Panasonic Jaguar Racing had previously announced in September 2017 that its all-electric I-Pace racer would be joining the ABB FIA Formula E Championship as a support series next year.

“We are excited to reveal the new Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy race car in Berlin and demonstrate its dynamic capabilities for the first time," Panasonic Jaguar Racing's Team Director said. "Jaguar Racing and Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) are building the key foundations for the incredibly exciting championship and we are pleased with the progress of our test and development program, which has included a successful tire test with our partner Michelin."

Testing the car ahead of the demo at Jaguar's facilities in Warwickshire and Gaydon, UK, the race-spec I-Pace has completed its first shakedown as well as tire tests with Michelin in Ladoux, France.

Making sure things run smoothly is MS-RT, the race technology division of M-Sport, as the technical operations partner for eTrophy, providing on-track engineering and technical assistance to the competitors. Alongside MS-RT will be Williams Advanced Engineering firm to provide the vehicle control systems.

A total of 20 I-Pace eTrophy cars will line up on the grid from the start of the 2018/19 season of Formula E, hitting the city streets with a full line up of competitors ahead of the main championship race.

Automotive performance entrepreneur and long-time racer Kyle Tucker announced his acquisition of the driveline division of C&R Racing (South), known for performance radiators, transmissions and driveline components.

Tucker is the owner and co-founder of automotive aftermarket chassis and suspension parts manufacturer Detroit Speed Inc.

Located in Mooresville, North Carolina, with headquarters in Indianapolis, Indianapolis, C&R Racing (South) is a division of PWR Performance Products.  

Now under the same leadership of the Detroit Speed family, C&R Racing’s driveline division has been renamed GearFX Driveline, LLC, effective immediately.

GearFX will operate independently and retain its original C&R Racing staff.
 
“Throughout my relationship with C&R Racing, they have proven their reliability and commitment to quality through their long-time racing expertise,” Tucker said. “Now, I’m excited to bring that knowledge and racing technology to the street market.”
 
GearFX has plans to expand into the off-road market. The company will also manufacture rear gears and offer dyno break-in and testing, and REM polishing.

The company is also said to hand-pick part components based on track-tested quality and function. They assign a unique serial number and “birth certificate” to each new unit, an origin-labeling process that allows the customer to know exactly when and by whom the component was built.

Retired Formula 1 Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg has announced the creation of a driver development program aimed to find and support new talent within the sport.

The Rosberg Young Driver Academy is backed by Petronas, a current partner with Mercedes F1, and was launched in Italy last weekend.

Rosberg has started the academy with his former karting adviser Dino Chiesa.

“Dino is the best in the karting world and I believe in the performance of Dino's own Kart Republic Chassis which we will be using. He was my boss in all my international karting years. The most successful year was when Lewis and I were in Team MBM and Dino lead us to great successes,” Rosberg said, alluding to Chiesa’s running of the Mercedes-Bens-McLaren team for Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton in 2000 and 2001.

Two European racers will assist the program, 13-year-old Taylor Barnard and 18-year-old Lorenzo Travisanutto.

(Photo courtesy of Nico Rosberg).