The Motorsport Safety Foundation has partnered with the racing safety equipment manufacturer MOMO to assist the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) in promoting driver safety throughout the 2018 race season.

The Motorsport Safety Foundation has secured nearly $20,000 in certificates for SFI and FIA-approved MOMO racing gloves, boots or even a racing suit to be awarded at the discretion of the SCCA Chiefs of Tech at SCCA’s seven remaining 2018 Hoosier Super Tour races across the US.

“Many racers dedicate their resources around what makes the car go fast, but we all know that the most important factor in winning races is the driver,” Chief Operating Officer of the Motorsport Safety Foundation Scot Elkins said. “With the right safety gear, a driver performs at their peak.”

The Sports Car Club of America, Inc. (SCCA), founded in 1944, is a 67,500-member motorsports organization that incorporates all facets of autocross, rally and road racing at both Club and professional levels. With headquarters in Topeka, Kansas, the SCCA annually sanctions over 2,000 events through its 116 Regions and subsidiary divisions.

Don Hawk has been named the chief racing development officer for Speedway Motorsports, Inc. (SMI).

Hawk, who started with SMI in 2007, most recently held the position of senior vice president of business affairs.

In his new role, Hawk will oversee racing operations, including areas of racing development, innovation and competition across all racing series at the eight Speedway Motorsports facilities.

He will be responsible for working with key stakeholders and industry representatives to create exciting and competitive racing for drivers and fans across a variety of motorsports racing series, including NASCAR, NHRA, IndyCar, World of Outlaws, SCCA and more.

Additionally, Hawk will maintain his role as executive vice president for U.S. Legend Cars International, where he has worked for more than a decade to grow the grassroots racing series into an incubator for some of NASCAR’s rising stars.

“I look forward to his work in this new role and his efforts to bring the very best competition to race fans across the country," SMI President and CEO Marcus Smith said.

The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) has named this year’s Wendi Allen Scholarship Fund (WASF) recipients: Johanna Foege, of the St. Louis Region, Youmna Zalzal, of the San Francisco Region, and Lexie Murray, of the Central Carolina Region.

Each recipient will receive $1,500 to support her travel to Tire Rack National Solo events and the Tire Rack Solo National Championship.

Additionally, the SCCA will waive entry fees for scholarship recipients to all Tire Rack National Solo events attended during the year, as well as work with the Solo community and commercial partners to seek out other forms of support for the recipients, such as driver training, mentoring, products and logistical assistance.

In previous years, only two WASF recipients were named, but Mazda has supplied funding for a third scholarship.

In recent news, online registration for the 24th United State RoadRally Challenge (USRRC) is open at motorsportreg.com. This year’s USRRC is hosted by the St. Louis Region Oct. 4–7 with help from the Southern Illinois Region. The annual celebration of sports cars and classic sports-car rallying will test the teamwork, time-keeping and route-following skills of SCCA RoadRally teams from across the country.

Livernois Motorsports & Engineering, the tuning shop that also provides engine services, performance products and vehicle manufacturing, has announced this year’s Customer Appreciation Track Days taking place at Milan Dragway in Milan, Michigan.

The spring edition will take place Saturday, May 12, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. while the fall edition is set for Friday, September 28, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Livernois customers (those whose cars have been upgraded or tuned by Livernois Motorsports) are invited to take part in the free event at the 1/4-mile drag strip.

To RSVP for yourself and one other guest, or for more information, contact info@livernoismotorsports.com or 313/561-5500.

Drivers can now turn laps in the R1DT, Yamaha's new prototype dirt track race car, at the Ventura, California-based Cory Kruseman Driving School.

Introduced last fall, the cars are designed to be a low-cost, low-maintenance turnkey production race car, giving a new level of accessibility to fans and would-be-racers from outside the dirt racing industry.

"A big part of the ongoing project to bring these cars to actualization is to get driver feedback on the car," Yamaha R1DT Project Manager Dave Park said. "We want to hear from more drivers: What they like, what they might change. These cars are still prototypes, and we're going to make sure they are dialed before we go into production—assuming we can get them to the finish line."

The prototypes are tube chassis, purpose-built dirt track cars powered by a fuel injected, inline 4-cylinder engine from Yamaha's R1S production motorcycle.

The Yamaha R1DT concept brings some unique features to dirt track racing, like symmetrical suspension components, variable engine output, data acquisition, and the ability to run on pump gas.

For more information and updates on the Yamaha R1DT prototype car, visit www.facebook.com/yamahadirttrack.

Short course off-road racing will be unified thanks to a newly completed partnership with Lucas Oil and a group of Midwest race tracks, including Crandon International Raceway (Wisconsin), Bark River International Raceway (Michigan), and ERX Motor Park (Minnesota).

The announcement comes on the heels of news that one of the country’s leading short course off-road racing series, TORC: The Off-Road Championship, will not hold events in 2018. Series officials released the following statement on the TORC website last Friday:

Citing the need to ensure the future of short course off-road racing, a number of major Midwest tracks, including those listed above, withdrew from the TORC series at the beginning of the month.

“We very much appreciate the effort that the TORC ownership group has put into the series over the past two seasons,” explained Crandon President Cliff Flannery. “Unfortunately, recent business developments dictate that as a group we must take a different direction in moving toward the future.”

The new Lucas Oil Midwest Sportsman Regional Series schedule kicks off with four weekend championship events, for both the PRO and Sportsman categories, which will compete this season under existing Midwest rules packages. Wrapping up the schedule is the 3rd annual championship event at Crandon. For more information, visit here.

June 15-16-17—25th Forest County Potawatomi Brush Run—Crandon, WI
July 13-14-15—3rd Annual Off-Road Race at ERX—Elk River, MN
Aug.10-11-12—43rd Bark River Off Road Rumble in the U.P.—Bark River, MI
Aug.31 – Sep. 1—49th World Championship Off-Road Races—Crandon, WI
Sep. 2—3rd Annual Crandon World Cup/AMSOIL Cup*—Crandon, WI

Wagler Motorsports Park, located in Lyons, Indiana, has joined the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) as a Division 3 member track in the North Central Division.

Track owner Jeremy Wagler is also the owner of Wagler Competition Products, a manufacturer of cylinder heads for diesel trucks. Wagler will oversee track operations with the assistance of Total Venue Concepts.

“Wagler Motorsports Park is very excited to join the NHRA Member Track network and become a part of its rich legacy,” said Wagler. “We plan on holding a select number of special events, as well as private test sessions for our customers and race teams. The truck and tractor pulling will be added as well for the coming season and the 2019 season will be looked at shortly.”

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 Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio make up NHRA’s Division 3. For more information, including schedules, point standings, and more, go to the Division 3 website, NHRADiv3.com.

The polls are now open for the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2019 Fan Vote.

For the 10th consecutive year, fans are asked to cast votes for up to five nominees for inclusion into the Class of 2019. Fans can vote up to 50 times per day at NASCAR.com/halloffame.

The five nominees who receive the most votes will count as one of the ballots cast by the Voting Panel on NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Day on May 23. The polls close on May 21.

The announcement will air live on NBCSN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. 

For more information, and a list of the nominees, visit NASCAR.com/halloffame.

Vortech Superchargers has announced the addition of Dave Werremeyer to Team Vortech.

More commonly known in the racing community simply as "Dave W", Werremeyer, who has been an integral part of the drag racing and performance community for many years, brings a wealth of racing information and relationships that is expected to benefit both new and existing Team Vortech racers.

Formerly National Tech Director and Racer Communications for ProMedia, Werremeyer was in charge of creating and overseeing the rules for the heads up racing classes, and running each vehicle through tech inspection at each NMRA and NMCA race event.


For more information, visit vortechsuperchargers.com.

Opening night of the Arnold Motor Supply Dirt Knights Tour sees the series in action on Memorial Day at Benton County Speedway, the traditional home track of the IMCA Modified division.

Wehrs Machine and Racing Products comes on board as presenting sponsor for the tour, which counts forays into Wisconsin and South Dakota among its eight 2018 dates.

After the Monday, May 28 lidlifter at Vinton, the series is at 141 Speedway in Francis Creek, Wisconsin, on Wednesday and Thursday, June 21-22; at Farley Speedway on Friday, June 29; at Knoxville Raceway on Thursday, July 19; at Park Jefferson Speedway in Jefferson, S.D., on Monday, July 23; at Hancock County Speedway in Britt on Tuesday, July 24; at Buena Vista Raceway in Alta on Wednesday, July 25; and at Clay County Speedway in Spencer on Monday, August 6.

Feature winners earn a $2,000 share of the $10,000 purse to be paid each night. All features are qualifying events for the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot and pay a minimum of $200 to start and $100 tow.

IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing National, Side Biter Chassis North Central Region, state and series points will be awarded.

“The Hawkeye Dirt Tour built a solid foundation over the past eight seasons for this series,” commented IMCA President Brett Root. “The schedule for this year includes established specials, such as the $10,000 to win Clash at the Creek at 141 and the Dynamic Drivelines Dirt Duel at Knoxville, before ending in Spencer, the headquarters of Arnold Motor Supply.

“We appreciate the support of both Arnold Motor Supply and Wehrs Machine for this tour,” he added. “We look forward to crowning the champion of what will be a very exciting and competitive series this summer.”

An average of more than 32 IMCA Modifieds competed at Hawkeye Dirt Tour events in 2017 while the Dirt Knights broadcast followed the Dakota Classic Tour adventures of eventual national champion Jason Wolla, Corey Dripps, Hunter Marriott, Johnny Scott and Brock and Cody Bauman.