Current Little 500 mechanic Sam Brooks, current car builder and mechanic Bob East and former driver David Harrison will be honored on Saturday, May 26, as part of the Little 500 Hall of Fame ceremony set for the Pay Less Little 500 presented by UAW-GM week at Anderson Speedway.

From Indianapolis, Brooks was the chief mechanic who assisted Eric Gordon from 1993-2013 and has worked with Jacob Wilson since 2014. Brooks played a part in 10 Little 500 wins (’93, ’98, ’01-’05, ’07, ’10, ’14) between Gordon and Wilson.

From Brownsburg, East has built cars that have gone on to win eight Little 500s and 11 poles. He is also the chief mechanic for Klatt Enterprises Inc., having worked on an entry each year from 2013-2017.

As a mechanic, East has one Little 500 win (2017 with Kyle Hamilton), two podiums and three top-five finishes, with 320 laps led across three editions of the race.

From Tiffin, Ohio, David Harrison made 13 Little 500 starts as a driver between 1988 and 2002. He was the event’s rookie of the year in 1988, completed 4,865 career laps and scored a best finish of sixth in his maiden race appearance.

A multiyear deal between INDYCAR and NBC Sports Group will put eight Verizon IndyCar Series races, including the 103rd Indianapolis 500 and its qualifications, on NBC in 2019.

The agreement is an increase from the five races set for broadcast television this year. The rest of the 2019 Verizon IndyCar Series races will air on NBCSN.

In an INDYCAR first, fans will have access to Verizon IndyCar Series content feeds not available on any other platform, including practice and qualifying sessions not televised live, through NBC Sports Gold, a direct-to-consumer product.

All 2019 INDYCAR races will also be streamed live on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app to authenticated subscribers.

The Verizon IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis 500 have been aired annually on ABC, the latter since 1965.

Camp 95, a two-day event open to high school students who are interested in learning more about various careers in NASCAR, returns for the fourth year in a row.

Hosted by Leavine Family Racing (LFR), the camp offers education on motorsports careers from engineering and building race cars to marketing and sponsorship roles.

The camp will take place Tuesday, July 10, and Wednesday, July 11, at the LFR shop in Concord, North Carolina.

The application for Camp 95 will be available on LFR95.com from April 2–May 12, 2018.

Performance Open Wheel Racing, Inc. (POWRi) is now the official sanctioning body for I-44 Riverside Speedway (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) and Port City Raceway (Tulsa, Oklahoma).

Under the POWRi banner, Oklahoma micro sprint car racers will have a consistent rule package within industry standards.

“Fantastic people run both tracks and they will be able to utilize everything POWRi has to offer in the Micro 600 Leagues. POWRi will play a role in supporting both of these tracks to bolster car counts and grow the bottom line,” POWRi’s Kenny Brown said.

I-44 Riverside Speedway will continue to hold the annual Turnpike Challenge, a regular event for the POWRi Lucas Oil National and West Midget Leagues set for this weekend, while the Port City Raceway will return to hosting the Outlaw Nationals on September 22, said to be one of the largest micro events in 2018.

(Photo courtesy of T.M. Hill).

The world-renowned Laguna Seca road course will officially be called the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca beginning April 1.

The County of Monterey and WeatherTech have come to terms on a multiyear naming rights agreement at the famed 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course.

WeatherTech replaces Mazda, which held a 17-year sponsorship of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca that ends March 31.

WeatherTech, based in Bolingbrook, Illinois, is a manufacturer of vehicle accessories and is heavily involved in motorsports. In addition to sponsoring the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and its own team, WeatherTech CEO David MacNeil and son Cooper are themselves sports car racers.

 

(Tony Stewart, white car, and Jeff Gordon, yellow and red car).

Two NASCAR legends with Central Indiana ties have been elected to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame, which has a new name, logo and criteria for enshrinement beginning with the 2018 election cycle.

Five-time Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard winner Jeff Gordon and two-time Brickyard champ Tony Stewart were chosen from a ballot of 14 nominees by a panel of auto racing journalists, participants and historians.

Gordon, who attended Tri-West High School in Pittsboro, Indiana, won 93 races in NASCAR's top series, including the Daytona 500 three times. He won the NASCAR series championship four times following a stellar career in USAC open-wheel racing where he was the 1990 national Midget series champion and 1991 Silver Crown titlist. The versatile driver added an overall win in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona to his stellar resume in 2017 and drove the Pace Car before the 2015 Indianapolis 500.

Stewart, a Columbus, Indiana, resident, was a winner in every form of motorsports he attempted. He was a standout driver in USAC, winning the national Midget series championship in 1994, and the Triple Crown (Silver Crown, Sprint Car, Midget) in 1995. He won three IndyCar events and the 1996-97 series championship. After taking his talents to NASCAR, Stewart won 49 races in the sanctioning body's top series and three series championships.

The 2018 inductees were announced on "Founder's Day," March 20, the 109th anniversary of the day the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Company was officially formed. They also are the first to be enshrined under the Hall's new name and scope, which includes the stars of the Brickyard 400 and United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis for the first time. The induction ceremony will be May 24.

NASCAR/ARCA veteran driver Mike Wallace will join the MAVTV broadcast team to help call the action for the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards on MAVTV in 2018.

Coverage begins Saturday, April 7, from Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville, Tennessee. Wallace will serve as the telecast's pit-road reporter, joining booth announcers Bob Dillner and Jim Tretow.

Wallace, the younger brother of Rusty Wallace and older brother of Kenny Wallace, earned his share of racing accolades, winning in nearly every major division he's competed in including NASCAR Xfinity, Camping World Truck, Winston West Series, and the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards. His best finish in the Daytona 500 was 4th in 2007.

MAVTV and ARCA jointly announced a multi-year broadcast rights agreement under which ARCA Racing Series events will be televised on MAVTV through the 2019 racing season. MAVTV aired 10 ARCA race events in 2017 and will increase that number to 12 in 2018.

Eleven of the 12 events will air live on MAVTV, including the networks first ever superspeedway telecast from Michigan International Speedway June 8.

Wallace's son Matt Wallace is expected to compete in the North/South Super Late Model Challenge race that precedes the Music City 200 ARCA race at Nashville Saturday, April 7.

Donald Weber, president of Engine Parts Group, Inc. and well-respected aftermarket industry executive, passed away Sunday, March 4, 2018.

EPGI was formed in 1989 with 12 members representing premier engine parts distributors throughout the US. Weber was elected as the group’s first board chairman and helped guide them in its early development.

Early in what would become a long automotive aftermarket career, Weber joined Lutzoff Automotive Warehouse (LAW) in Los Angeles, California, as their general manager and would later become the owner. During his tenure with LAW, the company became a founding and charter member of Engine Parts Group/Engine Pro (EPGI).

Following LAW, Weber joined the National Crankshaft Company. Following NCC’s sale to a fellow distributor organization in 2006, he took an active role directly with Engine Parts Group/Engine Pro first managing and directing the development of the private label products program, then taking over as president & CEO in November 2009.

Weber was an avid motorsports enthusiast, with a specific interest in international motorsports competition including F1 racing. He was an accomplished amateur racer, with an impressive SCCA career which resulted in a regional championship and “Rookie of the Year” honors in his very first racing season and his familiar nickname “Racer Don.”

A memorial and celebration of Don Weber’s life is scheduled for Saturday, April 7, 2018, at 10 a.m. The memorial will be held at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations in Don’s name to KJAZZ, www.kkjz.org, the all jazz/blues public radio station that was Don’s favorite.

Torrance, California-based Edelbrock, LLC has appointed Don Barry to the position of president and CEO.

Barry, joining the company after most recently serving as the chief commercial officer of automotive tool distributor ISN, is said to have built a distinguished career leading some of the foremost brands in the consumer products and automotive aftermarket industries.

Before ISN, Barry was the President and CEO of The ACCEL Performance Group, which included the ACCEL, Mr. Gasket, and Mallory brands. In this position, he was said to have successfully driven revenue and profit growth through the introduction of new product lines, brand re-positioning, and new customer acquisition.

He also spent 16 years at 3M in positions of increasing responsibility and culminating as the president of the European Consumer and Office business unit. He began his career with S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc.

"I'm very excited to be joining the Edelbrock team. Edelbrock is an iconic brand in the aftermarket industry and I look forward to leading Edelbrock's growth into the future and being part of this historic company's next phase,” Barry said.

LS Fest event staff have announced a unique new award for LS Fest West 2018 participants dubbed “Best In The West.”

Over the course of the three-day event, media attending the event will have the opportunity to submit their choice for the participant vehicle they think most deserves the title of Best In The West. Any vehicle that has been registered as a participant in the event is eligible to win.

When a vehicle has been voted for, a window sticker, pictured above, will be placed on the vehicle signifying it is in the running for Best In The West.

With over 100 media in attendance in 2017, 2018 is said to be slated for even more media coverage. Media outlets like Car Craft, Super Chevy, Chevy High Performance, LSXTV.com, Lateral-G.net, Pro-touring.com, GM-EFI.com, Bangshift.com, Fastest Street Car, Vette, Auto Revolution, LS1tech.com, Xtreme Off Road and more will be in attendance.

Holley LS Fest events are a celebration of anything and everything powered by GM’s incredible LS and current generation LT engines. The LS Fest West was introduced in 2017 in response to the over-popular event based in Bowling Green, Kentucky.