Eleven-second pit stops could be a thing of the past.

There are ongoing discussions between team owners and NASCAR of further reducing the number of pit crew members going over the wall from six to five, according to sources.

The cost-cutting initiative could go into effect as early as 2017.

It would be up to each team’s discretion how to choreograph the pit stops. However, under a full fuel stop, the most likely scenario would feature the elimination of one tire carrier. In the evolution of NASCAR pit stops, most team incorporated two tire carriers in the mid-90s.

The current proposal to limit crew personnel over the wall is twofold: As a cost-cutting measure for mid-level operations. Second, as a safety initiative to eliminate additional bodies on pit road.

What are the consequences?

When the current fueling systems were introduced in 2011, teams pared down from seven to six men over the wall when the catch-can position was eliminated. Under most circumstances, teams used a front and rear combination of tire carrier and changer along with a jack man and fueler. Under certain strategies in the Xfinity Series, teams incorporate a second gas man because it takes longer to refuel the cars.

If five crewmen are used to pit the cars, the time of stops are likely to increase by 1.5 to three-seconds depending on the configuration of the stop. The top teams — Joe Gibbs Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing, Team Penske and Hendrick Motorsports — would still likely employ two carriers for non-fueling stops depending unless NASCAR mandates against that in the rule.

For teams that incorporate one carrier, the body type of that athlete is likely to change — particularly if he’s expected to deadlift two 84-pound tires over the wall. Teams would likely recruit a taller individual with longer arms in order to execute the move on the right side of the car while the jack man would index the left side tires.

From a financial standpoint, top teams that currently pay six figures for a tire carrier — plus travel expenses — can reallocate the funds back into the race for research and development.

TV could also put more emphasis on the athletes going over the wall and incorporate those team members into the weekly storylines.

Stay tuned. Originally reported by Motorsport.

Drag races will continue in Roswell, AZ. The city has agreed to lease an airstrip to a local hot rod group.

According to the Daily Record, the legal committee unanimously agreed to lease the runway at the Roswell International Air Center to NHRA-member Alien City Dragway for $500 a month.

Opponents say the 35-acre runway would net much more money renting as airplane storage, but the president of Alien City Dragway says the drag races generate revenue from visitors and the company has been improving the runway with its own money.

Attesa, the 2,360-acre recreational motorsports destination being developed by Danrick Builders near Casa Grande, Arizona will feature two world-class road racing courses designed by the best circuit design company in the industry.
 
Apex Circuit Design Ltd. of Buckinghamshire, England is designing two separate 2.8-mile road courses, plus a karting track, driver experience center and a multi-surface racing and event area.

These circuits, estimated to cost $310 million for construction, will be the foundation for Attesa’s Motorsports Technology Core, which will also include residential, industrial and commercial properties, plus a hotel and convention center and 6000-ft private air strip.
 
Attesa will be home to the first Apex-designed tracks in the U.S., adding to a list that includes circuits in Dubai (UAE), Bangkok (Thailand), Hockenheim (Germany), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Sydney (Australia) and Shaoxing (China).

Apex designed Hampton Downs in New Zealand, which hosts A1GP, V8 Supercars and historic F5000 racing. Apex also designed the FIA World Rallycross circuit in Barcelona, Spain and is the International Management Group’s (IMG) commercial rights holder as the preferred designer for the FIA World Rallycross Championship.
 
While many fans consider oval racing as America’s favorite type of motorsport, road racing, where drivers turn left and right in negotiating a circuit with elevation changes and vastly different corners is becoming more and more popular. Even stock car racing, which has raced on ovals almost exclusively since its inception, now host major events on road courses to the delight of spectators and TV audiences.
 
“The traditional drawback to road racing has been limited viewing for spectators,” said Dan Erickson, Member/Manager of Danrick Builders. “But Apex has worked with us to solve that problem. Both of the full-size circuits at Attesa will be built predominately below grade with a 25’ berm surrounding each course. Fans will be able to sit up high and see the entire track with very few obstructions. We’re probably going to have better spectator sightlines than a lot of oval race tracks.”
 
Both the public circuit, designed for testing, product development and major racing events, and the private circuit, for members of an exclusive club at Attesa, will meet FIA 2 (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile) and FIM A (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme) standards for performance and safety.

Except for Formula 1, the tracks will be acceptable for any type of racing series in the world including MotoGP, the world’s most popular motorcycle racing series, and all major open wheel, sports car and stock car series.
 
In addition to the two, full-size racing circuits an FIA CIK -approved karting track, a 129-acre driver experience center and a multi-use arena are planned for Attesa. These areas will offer provisions for new product introductions and media events, high performance driver training, ride-along entertainment and temporary courses for off road, short track and motocross events.
 
Targeted for ground breaking in summer 2017, Attesa plans to be a motorsports entertainment destination that will draw guests from all over the world. It plans to combine speed, luxury experiences and racing opportunities while creating a powerful economic engine for Pinal County.
 
Attesa is currently going through the entitlement process in Pinal County.
 

NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers were fine playing out the stretch run of the season under the old points format that crowned the champion for consistency, according to Herald Online.

Performance will be just as important under the new Chase playoff format, but drivers welcome the looming urgency of the final seven races.

NASCAR will inaugurate championship Chases in the Xfinity and Camping World Truck series on Saturday at Kentucky Speedway and Loudon, New Hampshire, respectively. The knockout rounds have been in place at the Sprint Cup level since 2014, but this year will be the first time all three NASCAR series will be using them at once.

The 12 Xfinity drivers in the Chase view the playoff as a second chance to correct mistakes, which under the old format was challenging at best.

"If it was regular-season points, we'd have been out a long time ago," said Darrell "Bubba" Wallace, who's bunched among nine competitors with 2,000 points. "We get a chance to regroup here, which is always nice when you get a reset button. We just have to go out and execute now."

The Xfinity and Trucks Chases consist of seven races with three elimination rounds. Xfinity winners from Kentucky, Dover and Charlotte automatically advance to the Round of Eight with the rest of the field set on points. The top four from the next round of three races move on to the season finale at Homestead, Florida.

Points were reset to 2,000 with three bonus points added for each win. Erik Jones now enters Saturday night's 300-mile race at Kentucky with 2,012, six ahead of former leader Elliott Sadler and nine more than Daniel Suarez.

Jones earned his fourth Xfinity win last week at Chicagoland Speedway and has been eighth or better in three series starts at Kentucky.

Sadler is familiar with the Chase after finishing ninth in Cup's first playoff in 2004. He has also been in the Xfinity title hunt in recent years with runner-up finishes in 2011 and 2012.

The 41-year-old veteran sees the Chase as a chance to finally break through even though his sizable lead over Jones has been cut after the reset for the playoffs.

Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch won the July race at Kentucky from the pole but is focused on defending his title this weekend at New Hampshire. That leaves the 1.5-mile oval to Xfinity regulars in the playoffs' only stand-alone race.

Drivers seem especially eager to see what the repaved, reconfigured layout offers the second time around.

"Going back there, I have a better idea of what I need," said Ty Dillon, who has four top-seven runs in five Xfinity races at Kentucky. "Old asphalt, new asphalt, it was always good to me."

The FIA World Rallycross Championship, presented by Monster Energy, will visit Africa for the first time next year, with Killarney race circuit in Cape Town set to enter a new multi-year deal with championship promoter, IMG.

The South African round will form the final event of next year's World RX calendar, which has gone from strength to strength in the past couple of years. This year's finale took place at Estering last weekend (September 24-25).

“We have been looking at South Africa as a potential new venue in World RX for some time and we are delighted to be able to announce the new deal from 2017 onwards,” Paul Bellamy, World RX Managing Director for IMG, revealed, “We are the only FIA World Championship to host an event in sub-Saharan Africa and the Killarney circuit is a fantastic facility where we can create a truly sensational season-closer.

“Next year will mark the first time that a rallycross event has taken place on the African continent and we are extremely excited to bring the sport to a new continent. I'd like to thank the Killarney organizers and the city of Cape Town for all their support in helping to get this project off the ground.”

Dating back to 1947, Killarney has the magnificent back drop of Table Mountain in one of the world's most beautiful cities, Cape Town. The Western Cape had its first taste of international F1 racing when the non-championship Cape Grand Prix was held at Killarney back in 1960 and, since then, the complex has grown to host several forms of circuit racing, as well as motocross, karting, stock cars and drag racing. The construction of a brand new rallycross track will commence in the next six weeks and will become a permanent circuit.

“Killarney is delighted to be hosting this first-of-its-kind event in Africa,” Des Easom, executive manager of Killarney International Raceway, commented, “Our thousands of loyal fans and spectators, Cape Town and its 'New Seven Wonders of Nature' Table Mountain deserve no less. This is a thrilling, highly competitive form of racing with international appeal and media coverage. We look forward to working with IMG and pooling our expertise and experience on the series of events. This is a great addition to our whole-year racing calendar and spectators can look forward to an international and world-class event.”

Originally reported by Crash.net.

Yvan Muller will call time on his glittering FIA World Touring Car Championship career at the end of the current season.

The four-time world champion, who starts this weekend’s WTCC Race of China locked in a seven-way fight for the coveted runner-up spot, is the category’s most successful driver with more wins, pole positions, fastest laps, laps led and titles than any of his rivals.

While the Frenchman, part of Citroën’s factory WTCC line-up since 2014, won’t stop racing entirely, he will scale back his competition races to spend more time with his family and to build his emerging Yvan Muller Racing team.

“I am not sure that age is the main factor when it comes to ending a career,” he said. “With all the testing, the simulator sessions, the physical training and the travel to the race venues, a season of professional motor racing requires a level of personal commitment that I am no longer prepared to put in. At the same time, I am at a time of my life where I want to do something else and I am happy to be able to make that decision after 11 seasons of FIA WTCC.”

Muller enjoyed success in karting and single-seaters earlier in his career, but it has been in touring cars where he really made his name, winning titles in France and Britain before arriving in the WTCC in 2006. Unsurprisingly given his record, he was immediately a contender for victories, and in 2008 claimed his first title.

Three more titles followed in 2010, 2011 and 2013, and when Citroën arrived in the WTCC ahead of the 2014 season and wanted a driver that could help them adjust to touring cars from rallying, Muller was the obvious choice. He has claimed 11 victories with the French manufacturer, taking his record win total up to 48.

Paying tribute to Muller’s contribution to the team’s WTCC success, Citroën Racing head Yves Matton commented: “The whole Citroën Racing team is proud to have Yvan Muller in its ranks. Every time we get involved in a competition, we look to recruit the best drivers. That is why we invited Yvan to join us from the start of our involvement in FIA WTCC. We will not forget his contribution. Coming in from rally driving, we had everything to learn, and he has always been more than happy to offer the team the benefit of all his experience. He is a great competitor and a great guy, who has always put Citroën’s interests first.

“It is to Yvan’s credit that, after three seasons with us, he has decided to end his career at a point when he is still capable of winning pole positions, races and titles. He will always be part of the Citroën Racing family and we wish him all the best for the next stage of his life, which we will follow with interest.”

Speaking about the future, Muller himself added: “Driving has been part of my daily life for so long that I can’t see myself stopping racing entirely. But I am going to spend more time with my family and developing my team, Yvan Muller Racing. Before that, though, I am going to put everything I’ve got into meeting the team’s goals.”


Originally posted on the FIA website.

The World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series will take the stage at Fulton Speedway during NAPA Auto Parts Super DIRT Week for the Kenny Wallace Dirt Racing Experience Saturday Night Special.

Fulton Speedway is a super-fast 3/8-mile clay high-banked track in Fulton.

The event is among the final four of the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car season prior to the Bad Boy Off Road World Finals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.

For the past two years, seven-time Series Champion Donny Schatz has dominated the World of Outlaws Sprint Car races in Central New York. Last year he was victorious in each of the Outlaws’ three stops in New York – Weedsport Speedway in May, Lebanon Valley Raceway in July and Rolling Wheels in October. The Northeast sweep boosted his wins tally to 31, giving him the extra boost to win the 2015 Series Championship.

The series will be bringing its high-flying winged-sprints to Fulton Speedway for the first time since 2014. Leading the stout field into the green flag for 25 laps, Daryn Pittman eclipsed his single-season win mark that year. Holding off late pushes from the Platinum drivers, he recorded his 11th win of the season.

The 14 total victories that season is still the 2013 series champion’s personal best.

In addition to the attracting the world’s best sprint car drivers, many of the big-block modified drivers will also be on hand for the “Win and You’re In” race where the winner will earn the 41st and final starting spot for the NAPA Super DIRT Week Bud Light 300 on October 10 at Oswego Speedway.

Cory Reed, the general manager for Fulton and Brewerton Speedway, said the excitement of Saturday’s show will set the tone for the weekend finale, which is set to happen just a “crow’s walk” away.

He said the combination of the World of Outlaws and Super DIRTcar Series will deliver the one-two punch fans will remember.

“I think the biggest thing is it just makes sense for Fulton to host that event because of its proximity to Oswego,” Reed said. “We share a lot of fans and attention in this area. So to have both tracks operating in the biggest racing spectacle in the Northeast, it just makes sense.”

For more information, visit here.

The Trans Am Race Company has announced a 13-event schedule for the 2017 Trans Am Championship that sees the vast majority of venues return from its 50th Anniversary season with the addition of Indianapolis Motor Speedway on June 18, alongside the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association.

The Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix, an invitational exhibition in 2016, will now feature as a full-fledged stop on the 2017 circuit for the TA and TA2 classes—bumping the number of events for class competitors to 13. However, TA and TA2 competitors will have only 12 finishes count towards the Championship with the lowest finish from the first five events of the season automatically dropped.

"Trans Am will retain all of our marquee weekends such as Mid-Ohio and Road America alongside NASCAR XFINITY, while formally adding Detroit and the legendary Motor City 100 to our Championship schedule,” said John Clagett, president of The Trans Am Race Company.

"We also are making our return to the Formula Drift weekend at Road Atlanta," added Clagett, "joining a coveted weekend at Watkins Glen (The US Vintage Grand Prix Weekend) and starting a new tradition on the legendary track at Indianapolis."

Although they will once more feature on the Trans Am schedule, Homestead-Miami Speedway, Road Atlanta, Watkins Glen and New Jersey Motorsports park will be visited by Trans Am on new dates — changes that bring about a more balanced schedule for the 2017 season.

"Following up Trans Am's 50th Anniversary season was never going to be an easy task," continued Clagett. "However, with the minor tweaks throughout the schedule and the addition of Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Detroit to our slate of world-class tracks, Trans Am is poised for another successful year in 2017."

2017 Trans Am Championship Schedule:
Venue / Partner  

March 5 – Sebring International Raceway  (SVRA) 

April 9 – Homestead-Miami Speedway

May 6 – Road Atlanta (Formula Drift) 

June 3-4 – Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix (IndyCar)

June 18 – Indianapolis Motor Speedway (SVRA) 

July 2 – Brainerd International Raceway

August 12 – Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (NASCAR Xfinity)

August 26 – Road America (NASCAR Xfinity)

September 10 – Watkins Glen (SVRA)

September 24 – Virginia International Raceway (SVRA) 

October 8 – New Jersey Motorsports Park

November 4 Circuit of The Americas (SVRA)

November 11 – Daytona International Speedway (HSR)

Originally reported by Racer.

Huth Ben Pearson International announced that they have hired Jeanette Clayton to the newly created position of Marketing and Sales Associate. In her new role, Ms. Clayton will lead marketing initiatives and help the company build its presence in the broader tube and pipe fabrication market. 

 

Ms. Clayton had been serving as Target Marketing Manager at Guarantee Digital Delafield, WI, overseeing digital and strategic marketing campaigns for clients. She has held a number of other responsible marketing positions as well. She received her B.A. degree from University of Rochester in New York, where she was also a two sport varsity athlete in soccer and basketball.  

 

Huth Ben Pearson International LLC has been a manufacturer of compression pipe benders and end forming equipment around the world for over 50 years. With its equipment and tooling designed and manufactured in Hartford, Wisconsin, the company goes to market under both the Huth and Ben Pearson brand names. Visit their website for more information. 

Precision Turbo & Engine is the presenting sponsor for the NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series portion of the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals at St. Louis, September 23-25.

The race is the ninth of 10 events for the NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series in 2016.

"Precision Turbo & Engine is always excited to visit St. Louis,” said Precision Turbo and Engine Vice President Roger Conley.

Since 1987, Precision Turbo & Engine (PTE) has been a leader in turbocharger technology for street and race applications. PTE offers a line of replacement, upgrade and custom turbochargers featuring the Competition Engineered Aerodynamics compressor and turbine wheels.

Additionally, PTE manufactures its own line of lubricants, intercoolers, boost control products, electronic fuel injectors, and is a distributor for stand-alone engine management systems and fuel system components.

The NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series is highlighted by historic muscle cars, like ’67 Mustangs, ’68 Firebirds and ’69 Camaros, as well as a variety of late model American muscle cars. With more than 3,000 horsepower, the suspended door Pro Mod cars travel the quarter-mile in less than six seconds at speeds exceeding 250 mph.

The 2016 NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series is showcased in a 10-race schedule that includes stops at several NHRA national events across the country.

Rickie Smith, a two-time Pro Mod champion, won the season opener in Gainesville, FL., and the third race of the season in Atlanta, while Troy Coughlin, another two-time world champ, raced to victory at the fourth event of the year in Englishtown, NJ. Jim Whiteley earned his first career victory at the event in Houston and Mike Castellana raced to a win at Thunder Valley in Bristol, TN. Bill Glidden pushed the Precision Turbo Chevy Camaro to the Winner’s Circle in Norwalk, OH., and Von Smith hoisted the trophy at the next event in Indianapolis. At the most recent Pro Mod event in Charlotte, NC., Bob Rahaim bettered the competition to earn his first win after two runner-up finishes earlier in the season.

All 10 races in the 2016 NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series season are airing on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) and FOX Sports 2 (FS2).