NHRA and Beech Bend Raceway Park officials have announced that Quick Fuel Technology has been named the presenting sponsor for the JEGS NHRA SPORTSnationals, May 27-29, in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Quick Fuel, headquartered in Bowling Green, has had an ongoing relationship with the track for a number of years.

“Quick Fuel has been a great partner over the years to not only our facility but to our racers as well,” said Dallas Jones, owner of Beech Bend Raceway Park. “Their increased support to include the JEGS SPORTSnationals is tremendous and we’re looking forward to once again be hosting this great event for the racers and fans.”

The JEGS SPORTSnationals presented by Quick Fuel returns to Beech Bend Raceway Park, who hosted the inaugural event 1974 and last hosted the event in 1986.

NHRA brought back the SPORTSnationals program in 2004, expanding to three events in 2006 with the support of JEGS.  The decision was made last year to take a single JEGS SPORTSnationals back to its birthplace in Bowling Green, Ky.

The Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions has announced a long list of new and returning marketing partners for the 2016 season.

Announced in January, Arctic Cat has assumed the naming sponsorship of the series in 2016.  The newly named Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions will kick off the points season at Atomic Speedway on Saturday, April 2.

“We are extremely excited and grateful for the growing list of partnerships”, said Tony Stewart, owner of the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions.  “Our team will work hard in making sure each and every one of our partners achieves the brand recognition through the All Star Series that will help drive consumers to their websites and stores.”

The All Stars have also secured new partnerships with EMi, State Water Heaters, Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts, and Classic Ink USA in addition to maintaining relationships with the following partners.

Sponsor breakdown:

Hoosier Racing Tire is the official and exclusive tire of the Arctic Cat All-Star Circuit of Champions.

Racing Electronics is the official and exclusive radio provider of the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions.

Series contingency sponsors include: Daido Engine Bearings, Lincoln Electric, MSD Performance and Outback Steakhouse.

Daido Engine Bearings will award each A-main winner.

Lincoln Electric will award the quick qualifier at each event.

MSD Performance will award the hard charger each A-main event.

Outback Steakhouse will award the 5th, 10th and 15th finisher of each A-main event
JE Pistons is the 2016 dash sponsor.

Hunt Brothers Pizza, All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads and Kistler Engines/Racing Products are the 2016 heat race sponsors.

EMi  is the official driver’s meeting sponsor.

State Water Heaters is the official sponsor of each and every hot lap session in 2016.

Kear’s Speed Shop, Donovan Engineering, Schoenfeld Headers, Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts, Classic Ink USA and Jake’s Golf Carts are also sponsors of the All-Stars this season.

Mark Miles guarantees there will be 33 cars in the 100th Indianapolis 500, and he's also predicting the race will be sold out for the first time in 20 years.

"We've got a very good chance of selling every seat and you might be surprised how soon it happens," said Miles, the president and CEO of Hulman & Company, which oversees the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Verizon IndyCar series. "All of the suites are already sold out and we're looking at building 12 temporary ones to accommodate the demand. And we're already way ahead of total ticket sales a year ago."

While IMS never releases crowd figures, the last full house was in 1995 prior to the Indy Racing League/Championship Auto Racing Teams split. That's when scalpers got three to five times face value and the Speedway sported in excess of 275,000 permanent seats. That number was cut back to 257,325 by 2004, according to The Indianapolis Star, and following another reduction in 2012, now stands at roughly 235,000.

There have been noticeable gaps in the grandstands since '96 and many ticket brokers quit buying seats because they couldn't get rid of them. But that's not the case this year.

"It's really good, the best it's been since the Split," said Mike Peduto, who started Circle City Tickets in the early 1980s. "It was soft last year but it seems like everyone wants to go this year to the 100th. It's going to be neat to see it full again."

Miles claims the Snake Pit in Turn 3 topped 20,000 people last year and has even more demand this year, but with all the parking and other entertainment in the infield, there's not a lot room for fans other than the spectator mounds.

"That's going to put a premium on general admission tickets so we've got to figure out a way to manage the demands since we've got less room for GAs than we used to," continued Miles. "But it's a good problem to have."

As for making sure the traditional 11 rows of three remains intact, Miles said: "We've very confident it's going to happen and we'll make sure it does."

IMS has helped out with engines, aero kits and money the past few Mays and right now there are 29 confirmed driver/car combinations.

Veteran Townsend Bell is certain he's going to have a ride, he's just not sure who with at the moment, and 2015 Rookie of the Year Gabby Chaves is close to having enough funding but still needs $100,000, while '96 Indy winner Buddy Lazier was at the Phoenix test and is returning with his own team.

Beth Paretta and Katherine Legge of Grace Autosport have been embraced by Chevrolet and Honda and are trying to work out a co-op deal with an established team. Simona de Silvestro and Oriol Servia are also hoping to land something by May, as is Tristan Vautier and Carlos Huertas.

The available seats appear to be Michael Andretti's fifth car, SPM's third car and KVSH's third car. Right now Honda powers 15 cars and Chevy 14 and each manufacturer has agreed to provide 18 if needed.

Gateway Motorsports Park officials announced that 28-year motorsports veteran John Bisci has joined the staff of Gateway Motorsports Park in the new position of Media and Promotions Manager.
 
With more than 40 years of experience in the entertainment industry, Bisci will be actively involved in the promotion of the NHRA-sanctioned Dragplex and Gateway Kartplex. Bisci brings event development experience that will be utilized for schedule expansion and racing diversity.
 
Bisci’s experience includes media relations for NHRA-sanctioned tracks, as a publicist for Mello Yello Drag Racing Series teams and representation for multiple NASCAR sponsors and drivers. Bisci joins the track’s expanding public relations team and will be working closely with Susan Ryan, who has led the public and media relations efforts for Gateway Motorsports Park since its rebirth in 2011.
 
“John’s vast motorsports experience and his passion for the sport is a tremendous gain for our racing community and programs," said Chris Blair, General Manager and Executive Vice President at Gateway Motorsports Park. “John understands the needs of the racing community and the media on every level, and he knows what it takes to elevate the awareness of the sport.  Our racers, marketing partners and fans will benefit greatly by this addition to our team.”
 
"I am proud and excited to join the Gateway Motorsports Park team,” Bisci said. “It is important to work for, and with, people who share my passion for the sport. This is an exciting time for Gateway Motorsports Park, and I am pleased to be a part of the continued growth of one of the fastest growing, up-and-coming motorsports facilities in the United States."

Design Engineering, Inc. announced the company’s inaugural Cruise-In car show planned for Saturday, June 18, at the company’s headquarters at 604 Moore Road, Avon Lake, OH. DEI is located three miles from Interstate 90. The event begins at 10 a.m. and concludes at 3 p.m. This show will bring some of the area’s most exciting custom cars and hot rods to DEI as part of the 2016 Cruisin’ Times Lucky 7 Road Show.

Tom Miller, DEI’s V.P. of Marketing and Sales, said, “DEI is very excited to host this custom car show at our facility. In the past we enjoyed hosting a stop for race cars and drivers who were competing in the annual Tire Rack’s One Lap of America and invited the local community and media to visit the event at the DEI facility. That event was so successful that we wanted to develop more events that will allow DEI to share our passion with others.”

A 50/50 raffle will be held during the Cruise-In to benefit the Friendship Animal Protective League in memory and deep respect for our friend Ken Moore, a prior DEI employee who lost his battle with cancer in February.

The DEI Cruise-In will include music provided by Its Show Time D.J. services, great barbeque with all the fixin’s can be purchased from Jones Bones BBQ, raffles, DEI T-shirts and hats will be for sale and a scratch and dent sale area will be open.   
A rain date has been set for Sunday, June 19, in the event of inclement weather.  Admission and parking is free for this public event.

For more information about DEI’s Cruise-In event, visit www.DesignEngineering.com, call 800-264-9472, or e-mail: TimM@designengineering.com. To keep up with the very latest DEI Cruise-In announcements, connect with DEI at Facebook.com/DEIcruisein.

The Neal Tire MOWA Sprint Car Series presented by Casey’s General Store will utilize a new race format beginning this year.

Starting with opening night at Tri-City Speedway in Pontoon Beach, Illinois, drivers will be using a unique qualifying format with a heat invert and feature invert. The fast qualifier will draw a invert pill. Drivers will run progressive through each heat to determine the starting lineup in feature. A fan will draw an invert pill for the feature, which will remove the need for a dash.

“This will shake things up a bit as well as allow the fans to be able to better understand the way things are done from previous years. The passing points format in the past was very hard for fans to keep up with and even the drivers were wondering if they made enough points up after a heat to make the cut line for the A-Main,” said MOWA President Jeremy Standridge. “This way you know how many cars will be coming out of the heat race, and you still have to qualify hard and not sandbag or lay back to make the invert. With the top qualifier drawing an invert pill, he may start front row pole of the heat race or start 4th in the heat race. This is where luck comes into it, and you still have to race hard in the heat race and put a show on for the fans.”

The names of the 18 men who are the 2016 inductees into the United States Road Racing Championship Hall of Fame have been announced.

Among them are great drivers, dedicated car owners, and highly-skilled mechanics, each adding their own special style to the remarkable series of races that ran from Canada to Mexico and in every corner of the USA from 1963 to 1968.

Presented by Victory Lane Magazine, this year's class includes Gerry Bruihl, Bob Challman, Don Devine, Jerry Entin, George Follmer, Davey Jordan, Bill Krause, Dave MacDonald, Frank Monise, Lothar Motschenbacher, Wally Peat, Paul Reinhart, Swede Savage, Tony Settember, Ike Smith, and Jerry Titus.
 
Special plaques commemorating the occasion will be presented at the annual Tribute to the USRRC dinner on Saturday, April 9, at the Wally Parks NHRA Museum in Pomona, California. A number of the drivers and/or family members will be on hand to accept the honors and reminisce about the times.
 
Previous USRRC Hall of Fame Inductees include: Mark Donohue, Parnelli Jones, Jim Hall, Hap Sharp, Roger Penske, Charley Hayes, Bob Holbert, Dan Gurney, Chuck Parsons, Ed Leslie, Ken Miles, Skip Hudson, Bud Morley, John Cannon, Peter Revson, and Doug Hooper.

"We honor these men as the real deal in American road racing," said event organizer Dave Wolin. "They were the working components of a great new era in racing, when true professionalism became part of the sport and public recognition levels shot skyward.  These honorees all had a part in the process, and we owe a great deal to their legacy. I was lucky enough to know a number of them, and even luckier to have entered a few USRRC races myself ... and I want it on my permanent record that always tried my damnednest to stay out of the way of everyone on this remarkable list!"   
 
The gathering will present a rare opportunity to hear stories of the celebrated series from the people who were there and making the history.  The event includes a world class dinner and a slide presentation from the glory years of the series by noted writer Mike Martin, the author of the definitive work on the USRRC.
 
In addition, there will be a round table discussion with drivers and other luminaries of the era, an exclusive autograph session and, a silent auction featuring vintage memorabilia.  All of the above is squarely aimed at making Saturday, April 9th a unique evening filled with all the sights, sounds, and memories of an indelible era in American motorsports.

One of the highlights of the evening will be the presentation of two very special awards; the Road Racing History Award recognizing historic accomplishment and personal dedication to the sport, recognizing a worthy participant from the USRRC era, and the highly regarded Peter Bryant Award Challenger Award, named for the legendary racing engineer and designer, will be presented to the crew chief, car builder, or team mechanic who best epitomizes the unlimited spirit of the sport.  Previous Bryant Award winners include Alwin Springer, Howden Ganley, Phil Remington, Trevor Harris, and Bruce Burness.
 
Dinner guests will not only hear from many of the people who competed in the USRRC Series but also from a number of the people who built and maintained the incredible unlimited beasts.  Invitees include 1965 USRRC Champion George Follmer and his crew chief Bruce Burness, 1964 champion and Chaparral builder Jim Hall, retired Porsche Motorsports head Alwin Springer, drivers Parnelli Jones, Jerry Entin, Dave Jordan, John Morton, Paul Reinhart, Harry Heuer, Bill Krause, Oscar Kovaleski and Lothar Motschenbacher and engine builders / crew members such as Gary Knutson and Ike Smith, plus authors like Pete Lyons, Dave Friedman, Mike Martin, Rod Campbell, and Allen Kuhn, with more to be announced.
 
As befitting the occasion, a number of priceless race cars representing the era will be on display at the museum for the night of this event and Autobooks, the official booksellers of the "Tribute to the USRRC" will also be on hand.

"We truly understand just how very passionate USRRC fans are and how passionate the people who took part in this fabled series are as well.  We know that bringing them together at the Wally Parks Museum on April 9th will be a truly memorable occasion for both," Wolin concluded.  
 
Proceeds from the event will benefit a number of motorsport-related charities. Ticket sales have been brisk and, as of this release (03.23.16), few remain for this unique limited-attendance event.

The second event of the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow Engine Challenge took place at the 50th Annual Summit I-X Piston Powered Auto-Rama in Cleveland this past weekend. Four teams raced the clock for their chance to qualify for the Dual National Championships held later this year at SEMA Show & PRI Show.
 
With a variance of just one and a half minutes in times, teams qualifying included Allstar Performance (23:28) from Lakeshore High School (Stevensville, MI), Vibrant Performance of CD Hylton High School (24:29) (Woodbridge, VA) and teams Be-Cool (24:32) and QA1 (25:05) of Elkhart Area Career Center (Elkhart, IN).
  
Hot Rodders will head to Tarrant College in Fort Worth, Texas, this Saturday, March 26, 2016 for the next engine challenge.

Visit HotRoddersOfTomorrow.com to learn more.

Hot Rodders of Tomorrow Engine Challenge 2016 Schedule:

Tarrant College Hot Rodders Qualifier: Fort Worth, TX; March 26, 2016

Coker Tire Chattanooga Cruise-In: Chattanooga, TN; April 2, 2016

Magnaflow Exhaust Event: Santa Margarita, CA; April 2, 2016

Summit Racing Atlanta Motorama: Atlanta, GA; April 16-17, 2016

UTI Pennsylvania Qualifier: Exton, PA; April 23, 2016

Edelbrock Car Show: Torrance, CA; May 14, 2016

Lane Automotive Car Show: Watervliet, MI; May 28, 2016

UTI Northern CA Qualifier: Sacramento, CA; June 4, 2016

11th Annual NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing: Joliet, IL; July 30-31, 2016

SEMA Show: Las Vegas, NV; November 1-4, 2016 (Dual National Championship)

Performance Racing Industry: Indianapolis, IN; December 8-10, 2016 (Dual National Championship)
 
Hot Rodders of Tomorrow is a non-profit and S.T.E.M. program whose mission is to develop the future of today's youth for the aftermarket racing, performance and automotive accessory industry. High school teams from across the United States compete against a clock to accurately tear-down and rebuild an engine; teaching them not only mechanical knowledge, but the ability to work together as a team. The organization has awarded over $15.5 Million in scholarship opportunities to deserving students. Learn more at HotRoddersofTomorrow.com
 
Contact: For additional information in starting a team or sponsorship opportunities,
contact Rodney Bingham at RBingham@hotroddersoftomorrow.com.

Honda unveiled the new racing livery for its Civic Red Bull Global Rallycross race car, announcing plans to campaign the all-new turbocharged 2016 Civic Coupe in the series in partnership with Red Bull and Olsbergs MSE.

The Honda Civic Red Bull GRC team will begin racing on May 21 in Phoenix, Arizona, at the first event of the season.

Developed from a production-model 2016 Civic Coupe chassis by Olsbergs MSE with technical assistance from Honda Performance Development, the Civic Red Bull GRC car is built to withstand the demands of racing in a series that emphasizes repeated aggressive acceleration and varied terrain. The car will boast more than 600 horsepower, turn in a 0-60 mph time of 1.9 seconds and is designed to handle the 70 foot table-top jumps featured on each race track.

“Global Rallycross is seriously extreme racing, and it’s a terrific platform to showcase the new Civic Coupe to an enthusiastic, performance-minded young audience,” said Nick Lee, national advertising manager, American Honda Motor Co Inc. “We won’t encourage our customers to take 70-foot jumps out on the street, but we will use this platform to tell people about all the incredible technology and performance capabilities of our new Civic Coupe.”

Driving the Honda Civic Red Bull GRC car for Team Honda will be Sebastian Eriksson and Joni Wiman. Eriksson, from Sweden, and Wiman, from Finland, have both made their mark in the series, with Wiman winning the 2014 Global Rallycross Championship and Eriksson finishing second in 2015.

Turn 14 Distribution, a performance parts distributor, has added BBS Wheels to its line card. With the addition of BBS’ full lineup of road wheels to its assortment, Turn 14 Distribution continues its strategy of expansion to include the highly sought-after products and provide its customers with the company’s distinguished wheel offerings.

"Turn 14 Distribution is pleased to add the BBS line of premium wheels. The BBS name is synonymous with motorsports and quality and we will now be able to offer it to our customers," said Kyle Shelley, Turn 14 Distribution's director of sales.

BBS has evolved from a small company founded in 1970 by a pair of amateur racers—Heinrich Baumgartner and Klaus Brand—to become a worldwide force in the design, engineering, and production of road and racing wheels. Each wheel profile is optimized to reduce unsprung weight while offering high strength and a world-class appearance.

The company’s road wheels are divided into three lines. The Forged Line is crafted from either billet aluminum or magnesium alloy, die-forged using up to 18 million pounds of pressure, and developed with optimized stiffness-to-weight ratios to provide safety and long-term durability.
 
BBS’ Performance Line is created using a unique flow-forming process, which uses a continuous rotational motion, three hydraulic rollers, and high pressure at high temperatures to assist in forming the inner wheel area. The process increases wheel strength and stiffness by changing the mechanical properties of the material.

The Design Line uses a low-pressure aluminum casting method to offer a high strength-to-weight ratio while preserving a low cost of acquisition for the consumer.