Australia's Supercars Championship has canceled its scheduled Malaysian street race in Kuala Lumpur.

The KL City 400 was due to take place on Aug. 12-14, and would have been the series' first round outside Australia and New Zealand since it raced at Circuit of the Americas in 2013.

Series CEO James Warburton said a legal dispute involving the Malaysian promoter had held up preparations.

"We have been formally advised by the Malaysian promoter that due to ongoing legal action in Malaysia, to which we're not a party, there is insufficient time to prepare the street circuit in Kuala Lumpur for the event," he said. "We apologize to our fans for any inconvenience, but unfortunately this is a matter outside of our control."

A move to Malaysian Grand Prix venue Sepang was investigated but "was simply not possible," said Warburton.

The Kuala Lumpur event was launched with a five-car demonstration race last August.

Warburton said Supercars had not given up on racing in the city, and was determined to return to Asia.

"We have a four year agreement to race in Malaysia until the end of 2019 and we look forward to returning to Kuala Lumpur when all the local legal issues have been resolved," he said. "We believe this event on the streets of KL will be one not to be missed.

"We are absolutely committed to continuing to expand the series into Asia and are currently considering a number of other options to race in the region beyond 2016."

Auto racing's big Memorial Day weekend produced some interesting overnight ratings numbers for Sunday's trifecta of broadcast-network races—if not the knockout punch some might have been expecting.

The 100th running of the Indianapolis 500, boosted locally by a lifting of the live TV blackout, generated a huge gain in Indianapolis—where it scored a 33.6 rating, up 161% from last year—but was down from 2015 numbers in overall overnight TV ratings. According to ESPN, the race earned a 3.8 rating, averaging 5,859,785 viewers, according to Nielsen Fast National data. The national rating peaked at a 4.4 in the half-hour from 3-3:30 p.m., with 6.8 million watching.

Milwaukee had the second-largest rating among local markets with an 8.4, followed by Dayton, Ohio, at 7.6, Cincinnati at 7.2 and Knoxville, Tenn., at 6.6. Rounding out the top 10 metered markets were Fort Myers/Naples, Fla., at 5.9, Seattle/Tacoma at 5.8, Greenville/Spartanburg, S.C., and Louisville, Ky., at 5.7 and Columbus, Ohio, at 5.6.
 
The Indy 500 telecast also was streaming live on WatchESPN for the first time and had an average minute audience of 23,000 and 5.3 million total minutes viewed.
 
The rating and viewership were down from last year’s 4.1 final rating and 6.394 million average viewers.

However, Indy did outscore NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 more decisively than last year. Sunday night's race on FOX scored a 3.2 overnight rating, down 11% from last year (3.6), and the lowest overnight for the race since moving to FOX in 2001, according to SportsMediaWatch.

NASCAR's Xfinity Series also took a hit, with Saturday's race from Charlotte on FOX Sports 1 dropping to a 0.78 rating from a 1.27 last year when the race aired on FOX.

Formula 1's Monaco Grand Prix, leading off F1's appearances on NBC in 2016, scored a 1.07 overnight rating, down from a 1.13 last year.

These numbers will be updated as additional data becomes available.

Executive vice president Steve O’Donnell said Martin Truex Jr.’s dominant victory in the Coca-Cola 600 has NASCAR heading “back to the drawing board” to improve its 1.5-mile racing.

O’Donnell, the chief racing development officer for NASCAR, credited Truex and Furniture Row Racing for its “blowout” victory in which the No. 78 Toyota led a record 392 of 400 laps at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“Certainly great for Martin Truex Jr. and the race team and Furniture Row and (owner) Barney Visser,” O’Donnell told SiriusXM NASCAR’s “The Morning Drive” in his weekly appearance. “But also certainly a challenging race for us and things we’ve already learned and going to back to the drawing board, and one of our stated goals is passing up front. That was not what we saw (Sunday) night.

“Not to take anything away from Martin. He had the car to beat, and he didn’t give it up all night long.”

The quality of racing was in contrast to the Sprint All-Star Race the previous week on the same track. NASCAR changed its rear-toe alignment rules for the All-Star Race, restricting the amount of “skew” teams can employ to improve handling and stability. As a result, there hardly were any spins in the longest race of the season as several drivers said their cars felt more comfortable on the 1.5-mile oval.

O’Donnell said NASCAR used different rules in successive weekends at Charlotte to prove out whether the changes had a significant impact. Nearly four hours of mostly lackluster racing Sunday affirmed that.

“That’s one of the reasons we ran two different things to have some comparative data,” O’Donnell said. “We saw some really good things with the skew we had for the All-Star Race. It’s something we can immediately pull the lever on.”

NASCAR already announced last week that the skew rules from the All-Star Race would be used for the June 12 race at Michigan International Speedway and the July 9 event at Kentucky Speedway.

O’Donnell also said NASCAR would look at finding ways to improve tire wear in night races, which typically have cooler track conditions.

“More so than anything, you immediately look at the partnership with Goodyear and what we need to do to really look at how we wear tires as much as possible, particularly at night races,” he said. “We can go to work on that.

“Goodyear has been a great partner this year from the rules package and matching that up. We’ve seen some really strong results, particularly in the day races. Obviously, we’ve got some things to look at as we look at some of the future night races and see what we can do with that tire combination and the rules package.”

O’Donnell also conceded when a driver has a car as good as Truex’s was, there only is so much that can be done to improve passing at the front of the pack. There were nine lead changes across 600 miles Sunday, mostly during green-flag pit sequences.

“It’s one of those things,” O’Donnell said. “(NASCAR Chairman) Brian (France) said this. We only have one race to compare against vs. 14 to 15 NFL games, or 10 NBA games. But if you do look at, and we do compare ourselves in terms of being a playoff sport each and every week, and you’ll have those blowouts from time to time.

“I don’t want to by any means take anything away from what Martin, (crew chief) Cole Pearn and that team has done because they are more deserving of that win. He is a great story. When you look at it, he’s a guy who you expect could win a championship now. That is just great to see.”

WELD has announced that the operations of its CCW (Complete Custom Wheels) Forged Performance brand will relocate to its Kansas City headquarters by December 31, 2016. The process of moving equipment will begin in the late second half of this year.

WELD acquired CCW of Holly Hill, Florida, a manufacturer of premium forged road race, sports car and luxury car wheels in November 2014. WELD has designed space at its Kansas City facility to accommodate the move of CCW Forged Performance from its current operations in Florida.

“Since we acquired CCW nearly two years ago, it has been our long term goal to move its operations and personnel to Kansas City,” said Norman Young, president and CEO of WELD. “We will complete the move later this year. Our goal is to cause no disruptions to CCW’s loyal customers and to maintain the uniqueness of the CCW brand promise. The consolidation of CCW’s operations allows us to not only share many resources such as engineering, marketing and sales, and customer support, but to greatly improve our company overall. We are anxious to see the boost in innovative design and manufacturing methods once CCW, HiPer Technology and the many WELD family brands are together in our expanded facility."

WELD was founded in 1967 in Kansas City and has more than 150,000 square feet of space that includes manufacturing, distribution, offices and an in-house engineering and test lab.

CCW Forged Performance’s custom wheels have been used in competition at tracks around the world on performance vehicles from the Porsche 911 to BMW M3s. Modern muscle cars like the Corvette C6 Z06, Shelby Mustang GT350, Dodge Hellcat and Chevy Camaro Z28s get the performance edge and styling boost that made CCW famous.

Formula One cars will reportedly be fitted with a further development of the "halo" cockpit protection system in 2017.
 
Germany's Auto Motor und Sport said the decision was taken by the FIA as well as team technical directors during a five-hour meeting at Monaco's Novotel hotel on Friday.
 
The decision to definitely push ahead with a controversial covering for the premier open-cockpit formula followed a scary incident in Thursday practice, when a flying metal drain cover was hit by Jenson Button's car.
 
"We must make sure that the risk for all of us (drivers) is reduced to the minimum possible," fellow F1 veteran Fernando Alonso told RTL broadcaster.
 
The 2017 "halo" will, in fact, be a development of the black carbon version seen on the Ferrari earlier this year, in stylized titanium and possible to open via a hinge.
 
But it is believed the Red Bull-devised "aeroscreen”—favored by many in the pit lane—is still in the running to replace the halo for 2018 and beyond.

Shirley Muldowney could probably use a little help now; she's recovering from having a lung removed. The lung had a tumor that might have been cancer. At last report, she and her family were still waiting on word, but she is recovering nicely and is in good spirits in a hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Anyone who wants to send her a card, it can be mailed to: Shirley Muldowney, c/o Geiger Media Global, 526 Kingwood Drive, Suite 96, Kingwood, TX 77339.

Or messages can be sent through the Shirley's Kids website, which is her charity.

Muldowney’s history with the IHRA goes back as far as the IHRA itself. Muldowney would post her first national event win at the sanction's Southern Nationals in Rockingham, North Carolina, in 1971, and a runner-up finish at the same race a year later.

A devastating crash in 1983 took her a year to recover from, but she made it back to the track, and ran with the IHRA periodically. One of her more memorable events was in 1997, when she scored a big victory at Norwalk Raceway Park on May 24 when she clocked the quickest and fastest run in IHRA history during a special match race with Doug Herbert.

Muldowney was paired with defending IHRA World Champion Herbert during the track's Budweiser/Coca Cola Fox Hunt, where she clocked the 4.854-second run at 301.30mph to win the first round of competition. She followed that effort with a 4.944-second, 299.10mph pass to win the second and final round of the match race.

Unfortunately, it didn't count in the record books since it was a match race, but in March of 1997 Muldowney, runner-up to Herbert in 1996's IHRA Snap-on Series, set what was then the official IHRA Top Fuel miles per hour performance world record of 294.98 mph.

If anyone can snap back, it's Shirley Muldowney. "I'm a fighter," she says, "always have been, and I'm going to fight this as best I can with everything I've got."

Rockingham Dragway owner Steve Earwood is opening his race track for an “old school” event on June 4 that will scrap all the electronic gadgetry that has become so commonplace in drag racing.

No “Christmas Tree” starting system, no incremental times and speeds, no digital scoreboards. Instead of all the complexities of the modern sport, Rockingham will offer heads up, run-what-you-brung-and-hope-you-brung-enough street-style drag racing in a manageable environment. The electronic timing will be offered to those who wish to record their times, upon request.

“We had a lightning issue at one of our ‘Fun Run’ test and tune events,” Earwood said, “and in desperation, we kind of told everyone what was going on and offered them the option of running without timing equipment. Surprisingly, many of them preferred the simple ‘arm drop’ start to the complexities of the Christmas Tree and really didn’t care about timing.

“That goes back to the beginnings of the National Hot Rod Association,” Earwood continued. “They started with ‘arm drop’ starts, then flagmen, then electronics. Obviously, if you’re looking for precision, you have to have electronic timing but, if you’re just looking to have some fun with like-minded friends, I can see how simpler might be better.”

The NHRA originally was founded to address the perils of street racing by providing a controlled environment in which Americans could feed their inherent need for speed without fear of unnecessarily endangering their lives or the lives of others.

The response was overwhelmingly positive, leading law enforcement to partner with local car clubs and track promoters across the country to direct young gearheads off the street and onto the drag strip.

Flash forward 70 years and, thanks to movie franchises like “The Fast and the Furious” and reality TV shows like American Outlaws, street racing once again has become a major concern for civic leaders, law enforcement and safety-minded racing enthusiasts like Earwood.

So, while others are looking ahead for “new solutions” to an old problem, Rockingham’s owner has decided that the future may lie in the past.

“We’ll see,” said the 2016 winner of the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame’s Founder’s Award. “We’re not trying to re-invent the wheel. We’re just trying to provide alternatives. For those who prefer electronic timing and scoreboards, we’ll make allowances for them, too. It’s all just about having fun. Twenty-five dollars for car-and-driver or motorcycle-and-rider for unlimited runs down the quarter mile starting at 6 p.m. If people like it, sure, it could become something we do on a regular basis.”

Admission to watch is $10, children age 12 and under are free.

The Tatuus USF-17 chassis, which will be utilized in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship beginning next year, was officially revealed at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The new Tatuus USF-17 will be the series’ standard for at least the next five years, and features a carbon fiber monocoque chassis to meet the latest FIA safety standards as well as a 2.0-liter Mazda MZR engine and Cooper racing tires. It will replace the stalwart Van Diemen/Elan tube-frame car which has provided the backbone of the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda since 1999.

The USF-17 is based upon the same FIA-approved Formula 4 T-014 design, which is utilized in the Italian and North European Zone F4 series, as well as the new-for-2016 BRDC British Formula 3 Championship. Significant enhancements include the provision of a PFC four-piston brake package, Cosworth Omega L2 Plus data system with Cosworth CFW 277 steering wheel (complete with integrated dash and gear change paddles) and a Magneti Marelli electronic gearshift system, forged aluminum American Racing Technomesh wheels and stainless steel exhaust headers.

Unique USF2000 sidepods, engine cover, front and rear wing end plates, nose cone and front cover combine to form an aero package that includes carbon composite wings with adjustable twin-element rear wing and a carbon composite diffuser. The rolling chassis is priced at $51,800, which is significantly less than the current USF2000 car.

“Today marks yet another great moment for the Mazda Road to Indy as we take another step forward into a bright future with the new Tatuus USF-17,” said Dan Andersen, owner and CEO of Andersen Promotions. “I have watched Tatuus work with my staff and our partners on this project over the last six months, and I am convinced we made the right choice on this new car. They listened to what I wanted in a race car and delivered a beautiful, technologically advanced and, I believe, fast racecar. I have to thank Project Manager Scot Elkins, who has shepherded this project from its inception.”

The prototype USF-17 car will undergo a testing and development program over the course of the next six weeks at four different race tracks in North America, after which the final specifications will be fixed. Mazda sports car talent and USF2000 steward/driver coach Joel Miller will handle the bulk of the testing duties.

Delivery of the first batch of 15 cars—all of which have already been sold—is set for September, with an initial two-day series test slated for late October. A second batch of 15 cars is scheduled for delivery in December. A second series open test will take place in January of 2017.

The winner of next year’s USF2000 championship—the first to be run with the new Mazda-powered Tatuus USF-17—will receive a Mazda scholarship to assist in graduation to the 2018 Pro Mazda Championship, which will see the debut of another brand-new car featuring the same chassis along with an updated Mazda engine, enhanced aerodynamics and wider Cooper Tires.

“We talk a lot about the Mazda Road to Indy as the finest and most comprehensive driver development ladder in the world,” said John Doonan, director of Motorsports, Mazda North American Operations. “The unveiling of the USF-17 today is the next step for Andersen Promotions to continue to improve the safety, performance and value of each series. We can’t wait to see the USF-17 racing next season and then the new Pro Mazda chassis to follow in 2018. To go along with the sleek Indy Lights IL-15 chassis, we will have the finest lineup of race cars anywhere.”

Interest in the USF-17 has been high. The September shipment of 15 cars has been sold as well as half of the second shipment in December. They will be delivered to 12 different teams, nine of which are new to the series.

“For me and for all of the people working at Tatuus, this is a fantastic day,” said Gianfranco De Bellis, Tatuus Race Cars director. “I have great memories from my first experience with Dan Andersen 20 years ago in America. Our commitment and wish was to build the best car possible. I hope this will be appreciated by all the teams and something that we will all be proud of. I want to thank Scot and everyone involved in this project. We will look forward to seeing the car on track to be sure that it is not only a beautiful dream, but a reality.”

Testing will begin in June at NCM Motorsports Park in Bowling Green, Ky., followed by dates at Barber Motorsports Park, Road America and Lucas Oil Raceway.

The FIA has decided to reverse its decision on banning Formula 1 drivers from removing the tear-off strips from their helmets during grands prix.


The ban was originally supposed to come in from this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix, leading to McLaren driver Jenson Button describing the proposal as "silly.”


Button, however, could partly understand the decision given team-mate Fernando Alonso had suffered two failures in the past year after a tear-off strip had lodged in the brake duct of his car.


The debate, however, continued into the Monaco drivers' briefing with FIA race director Charlie Whiting that was conducted post-practice, with Toro Rosso's Dannil Kvyat describing the discussion as "kindergarten talk.”


Much of the conversation focused on just where the tear-offs should be disposed, given the difficulties drivers faced in attempting to place them inside any kind of receptacle in the cockpit, particularly on such a twisty track as Monaco.


Taking the comments under consideration, Whiting has now decided to lift the ban with immediate effect, albeit urging the drivers to show restraint on how often they disposed of the strips.


Whiting said: "I have decided, based on discussions with the drivers, they are likely to be put in more danger trying to dispose of tear-offs in the cockpit than they are from a tear-off on the track.


"With this in mind I felt the best thing to do was exercise common sense and ask the drivers to simply keep the amount of visors they use to an absolute minimum, bearing in mind of course that this will vary due to a number of factors.


"Based on this rationale we do not intend to make a report about any driver disposing of a tear-off on the track or in the pit lane."

The start of the Formula 4 United States Championship certified by FIA, powered by Honda series has been pushed back due to continued delays in manufacturing, SCCA Pro Racing has announced.

The F4 U.S. Championship is scheduled to have its inaugural race weekend July 1-3 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. Previously, the series was to kick off June 10-12 at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, New Jersey.

Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations require a minimum of 12 cars for each championship event. The car count for FIA regulations would have been met, however, the manufacturing schedule had only allotted one car per team.

Teams like JDX, a race team from Colorado with three drivers entered in the series, have multiple drivers, meaning that competitors would have had to share cars or sit out the entire race weekend.

"The decision to postpone the race was a decision we ultimately made in consultation with the team owners and partners," said Derrick Walker, SCCA Pro Racing President and CEO. "After talking to each team owner individually, the consensus was that they didn't want to even consider New Jersey if each driver was not yet able to compete due to the late arrival of race cars. All the teams are supportive of the decision. We appreciate the loyalty they have shown us and want to do this right."

Debuting the F4 U.S. Championship at Mid-Ohio means the course will now feature two race weekends for the series. Mid-Ohio was already scheduled to host the F4 U.S. Championship on Aug. 12-13.

"There's no question Mid-Ohio is a classic road course as it is ideally suited for our F4 U.S. Championship race cars and provides all the challenges our drivers need," Walker said. "Scheduling the debut for July allows time for the additional orders to be fulfilled so all teams and drivers can compete."

Adding the F4 U.S. Championship to the Mid-Ohio schedule in July has opened-up the series to race with three other formula series that it would not have had the chance to otherwise. Fans will now be able to watch the F1600 Formula F Championship, the F2000 Championship, the Atlantic Championship Series and the F4 U.S. Championship during the Fourth of July weekend. All four divisions are sanctioned by SCCA Pro Racing.

"It's going to be an absolutely great weekend," Formula Race Promotions co-owner Al Guibord said. "Open wheel fans are going to see all levels of cars from the new F4 U.S. Championship to the pinnacle Atlantic Championship. Our series has been racing at Mid-Ohio for a decade now. The history and pedigree of the track makes exciting opportunity for our drivers and the F4 competitors."

The F4 U.S. Championship will reschedule the race slated for New Jersey Motorsports Park at a track and date to be determined to maintain a five-event championship series, which is required by FIA regulations.