Verizon IndyCar Series team Andretti Autosport announced that the No. 25 Honda of Justin Wilson will race this weekend at Sonoma Raceway to honor the late driver. Wilson passed away earlier this week following injuries sustained during the series event at Pocono Raceway on Sunday.

“Justin was a true racer and advocate to our sport,” said team owner Michael Andretti. “We will have Justin and his family in our hearts this weekend as we honor him in the way he would want us to, by doing what he loved—racing.”

IndyCar Series veteran Oriol Servia, Wilson’s close friend, will now have the responsibility of driving the No. 25 Andretti Autosport entry, formerly piloted by Wilson, at Sonoma.

"This is the most difficult quote I have ever had to come up with. The situation is so difficult on so many levels for obvious reasons that it’s hard for the words to come out the right way. I have known and raced Justin for more than 10 years. I have an enormous amount of respect for him as a racer, but his qualities as a human were definitely an inspiration to anyone who ever met him.

“As I said earlier this week, I truly feel he was one of these souls who has evolved a lot more than the rest of us, and it is something you could feel immediately during your first exchange with him. He will be greatly missed as we all try to emulate his spirit. I am honored and emotional with the opportunity of driving his car this weekend. I want to thank my friends at Andretti Autosport for the opportunity, and I want to express how deeply touched I am by the desire of Julia, Stefan and all the Wilson family to have me driving the No. 25.”

“As a family, we cannot imagine a better person to race in Justin’s honor than Oriol (Servia),” said Stefan Wilson, brother to Justin and fellow IndyCar driver. “His path and Justin’s crossed in many different ways through the years. As a competitor, and also as a person, he carries Justin’s spirit well, and we know that Justin would approve.”

Additionally, American Honda Motor Company, Inc., and Honda Performance Development today announced a contribution to the Wilson Children’s Fund based on laps completed by all Honda entries in this weekend’s GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma Verizon IndyCar Series season finale at Sonoma Raceway.

The Wilson Children’s Fund was established this week to benefit the surviving daughters of Honda IndyCar driver Justin Wilson and his wife, Julia.

American Honda and HPD will contribute $50 per lap completed at Sonoma by each of the 13 Honda entries at this weekend’s race for a possible donation of just over $55,000 to the Wilson Children’s Fund.

“Justin was a valuable member of our racing program, but he also was our friend, and all of us at American Honda and HPD grieve together at his loss,” said Art St. Cyr, president of Honda Performance Development. “We’re hoping to honor his memory with this pledge, and hope that Justin’s many fans and friends can also assist the family at this tragic time.”

As the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series prepares to return to tradition with Labor Day weekend's Bojangles' Southern 500, Darlington Raceway has named 2016 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Terry Labonte as the grand marshal.

Throughout his 37-year Sprint Cup career, Labonte recorded 22 victories, 182 top fives, 361 top 10s, 27 poles and two Sprint Cup championships.

Labonte also has two wins at Darlington, the first of his career in the 1980 Southern 500 and the last Southern 500 run on Labor Day weekend in 2003, Labonte's final Sprint Cup victory.

"Darlington is where I won my first race and my last, and I'm honored to serve as Grand Marshal for the first time at the Bojangles' Southern 500," said Labonte. "I love the Labor Day tradition, and Darlington always brings back special memories for me. I look forward to being part of such a historic weekend for NASCAR."

Labonte will give the command to fire engines along with Bojangles' CEO Clifton Rutledge. Bojangles' recently signed a five-year extension with Darlington to serve as the entitlement sponsor of the Southern 500 through 2019.

"Darlington Raceway has such a rich history in NASCAR and the state of South Carolina, and it is truly a privilege for Bojangles' to have our brand aligned with such a memorable event," said Rutledge. "The Bojangles' Southern 500 is returning to Labor Day weekend where it belongs and that is a big deal to everyone, including all of us at Bojangles'. For me, being a part of giving the command to start engines with a NASCAR legend like Terry Labonte is a huge thrill."

Osage Casino Tulsa Raceway Park will celebrate its 50th anniversary in style with the NHRA Heritage Series Nitro Nationals and Old Time Drags next month, highlighted with the appearance of drag racing legends Don “the Snake” Prudhomme and Tom “the Mongoose” McEwen.

Many other special guests will attend the Nitro Nationals, which will be held September 18-19, and numerous events are planned for the two-day celebration.

“On an annual basis, it’s one of our biggest shows,” said Todd Martin, who co-owns the track with Keith Haney. “This year, it’s going to be our top show. It’s our 50th anniversary, and there aren’t many tracks in the country that can say they’re 50 years old. It’s a total throwback.”

Don Garlits and Shirley Muldowney have made appearances at Tulsa in the past, but getting “Snake” and “Mongoose” together is a big deal.

“They’ve all brought in great crowds, but to have ‘Snake’ and ‘Mongoose’ together is great,” Martin said. “That was one of the greatest rivalries there ever was in drag racing.”

“The Snake” and “the Mongoose” were a big part of the early days of the track, racing their famous Hot Wheels Funny Cars as part of match-race shows.

“It’s going to be fun going back to Tulsa,” Prudhomme said. “I haven’t been there in many years. It’s one of the main tracks that got the ‘Snake’ and ‘Mongoose’ going, where we match-raced in the early days. It was a big part of what we did, so to go back and see it and see the fans, it’ll be a great time.”

Prudhomme, a four-time Funny Car champion, raced McEwen countless times in their long careers, building one of the top rivalries in the sport.

“At a big PDA race (Tulsa) had, I beat him in the final years ago,” McEwen said. “We’ve run there a lot, and it’s a nice race track. We’re looking forward to coming in for the weekend.”

Tulsa Raceway Park helped promote the Snake and Mongoose movie in 2013, beginning by renting out a local theater for a private showing for racers and fans. The movie played at the theater for six weeks, the longest run in the United States.

“Don and McEwen both sent us a thank-you letter for the extra effort,” Martin said. “For us to be able to have them come back and be a part of our 50th anniversary, they’re helping pay back the favor for us promoting the movie.

“It’s a huge deal for them to come back. Those are some iconic names in the sport. They recognize the history of Tulsa. They recognize our effort to promote the history of the sport.”

Both icons are looking forward to seeing friends and fans from the past and the present.

“There will be new fans, old fans, all kinds of people,” McEwen said. “When our movie came out, they had a big thing in the town, and they showed it in the theater for six weeks. A lot of people went to it, so Tulsa is a drag race town.

“People will come from all around—St. Louis, Oklahoma, Texas—so it will be a big deal. We’ve always done well there, and we’re looking forward to it.”

Prudhomme and McEwen helped raise drag racing’s profile in the early days, and they both are still active in promoting the sport. Interacting with fan was — and still is—an important part of what they do.

“There are great stories from fans,” Prudhomme said. “People will come up and say, ‘When you were racing “the Mongoose,” I helped you pack your parachute,’ or, ‘I helped you change your tires.’ They often say, ‘You probably don’t remember me,’ and while I often don’t, I totally appreciate it.

“What’s so cool about it is it left a lot of great memories for young kids coming up. I’ve had kids say to me, ‘You changed everything for me. I wasn’t really doing much, but I got into cars because I got so excited about it.’ Those are nice things, and we get that a lot.”

In addition to Prudhomme and McEwen, other past stars of the sport will be in attendance, including Benny Osborn, John Collins, and Mike Edwards, among others. A private meet-and-greet will be held on Thursday night with all the legends, with tickets available to the public.

Go Green Racing has announced that Jeffrey Earnhardt will make his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut in the No. 32 Ford Fusion at Richmond (Virginia) International Raceway during the Federated Auto Parts 400 on September 12.

This will be the first time two members of the Earnhardt family have competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at the same time in more than a decade. Jeffrey Earnhardt’s cousin Dale Earnhardt Jr. competes full-time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driving for Hendrick Motorsports.

“I’m really excited to get this opportunity and thrilled that CorvetteParts.Net is sponsoring my debut in Sprint Cup,” said Earnhardt. “The Keens have been very good to me and having their company be part of an important day in my career is pretty cool. I appreciate everyone at Go Green Racing for making this happen and look forward to doing my best to make it a good debut.”

The 26 year-old has three previous starts in NASCAR XFINITY Series with longtime Go Green Racing sponsor CorvetteParts.net, as they will once again team with Earnhardt and Go Green Racing for the event at Richmond. The Federated Auto Parts 400 will mark Earnhardt’s return to Go Green Racing. In 2012 Earnhardt made one start for Archie St.Hilare in the NASCAR XFINITY Series while making 16 starts in 2013.

“Tom and I have been waiting for this announcement like expectant parents,” said CorvetteParts.net owner T.J. Keen. “We are very excited to have Jeffrey back in the CorvetteParts.net (Keen Parts) uniform and look forward to having him wheel the Go Green Racing No. 32 Ford Fusion at Richmond. We are extremely honored to be affiliated with Archie St. Hilaire and the entire organization. Every member on this team gives 100 percent week in and week out and their positive attitude and desire is none to compare.”

“Mason and I are really looking forward to Jeffrey’s first start in the sprint cup series with the 32 team,” stated team owner Archie St. Hilaire. “Jeffrey drove for us in the Xfinity series a few years back and worked really well with our crew chief Clinton Cram. I think their relationship will help Jeffrey move up into the cup series a smooth transition and hopefully be the start of something great for the future.”

Arctic Cat Inc. has announced it is launching the Stadium Side-by-Side (SXS) Powered by Arctic Cat Racing Series, which will be the undercard, or lead-in race, to the main event at Robby Gordon’s Stadium Super Trucks (SST) events.

The new Stadium SXS Series Powered by Arctic Cat will feature 10 Arctic Cat Wildcat side-by-sides driven by action sport athletes, fans and dealers, who will use the same track as the Stadium Super Trucks.

The first Arctic Cat Stadium SXS Series race will be held September 18-20, 2015, at the Sands Sports Super Show in Costa Mesa, California. The series will also race at this year’s Las Vegas SST event, which is held in conjunction with the SEMA Show in early November.


Starting in the spring of 2016, consumers can register at Arctic Cat dealers to win a chance to drive a Wildcat in the undercard series in front of thousands of fans.

In addition, Arctic Cat will sponsor the Team Wildcat Racing SST Truck for the remainder of this race season, as well as next year’s season. This sponsorship will put a black and green Arctic Cat truck on the track to compete for the SST Series Championship.

Robby Gordon’s SST Series, officially now known as the Speed Energy Formula Off-Road presented by Traxxas, is in its third season. It concludes its 11-race 2015 season in November in Las Vegas.

Madison Heights, Michigan-based Motovicity Distribution has announced the addition of Alpinestars to its line card.

Alpinestars manufactures a variety of shoes, gloves, and racing suits for the automotive industry, and the company’s products are used throughout motorsports. Alpinestars suits are worn by motorsports drivers in all levels of racing, from grassroots series to elite level racing such as Formula 1.

“We are very excited to have Motovicity join our dealer network as a key distributor,” said Alpinestars National Sales Manager Chris Thompson. “We feel Motovicity is a strong and enthusiastic company that will represent our brand well, and will play a vital part in furthering our exposure and availability into new markets.”

Motovicity’s sales manager, Ryan Balicki, was also enthusiastic about adding the brand to the lineup. According to Balicki, “Motovicity is excited to now offer Alpinestars to our customers. A leader in the performance and protective apparel world, Alpinestars is a great addition to our already strong lineup, and offers our customers another high quality option.”

Alpinestars is now available for wholesale purchase through Motovicity Distribution. For product inquiries, call 888/SPEED-16.

Carroll Shelby Licensing and Shelby American are opening a series of mod shops and Carroll Shelby’s Store locations worldwide. By partnering with high caliber businesses to open mod shops for customers in Europe, the Middle East, Australia, Canada, China and Africa, the company can help fans sate hunger for Shelby vehicles and parts across the globe.
 
“Shelby is continuing its international expansion by placing factory authorized modification centers and retail locations in key markets,” said Neil Cummings, Co-CEO of Carroll Shelby International and CEO of Carroll Shelby Licensing. “We will continue to open mod shops worldwide to give people access to the cars, parts and authentic Shelby merchandise they want. Our mod shops will be run by the best experts in those areas, who know the local regulations and are in touch with the consumer base.”
 
Shelby American offers performance vehicles and related products ranging from authentic continuation Cobra roadsters and Coupes, to cars based on the Ford Mustang. Shelby American also builds the Shelby Raptor muscle truck and Shelby Focus ST hot hatch. These will be available now through mod shops in the United Kingdom, Canada, China and South Africa, as well as a US shop building cars especially for the Middle East. Shelby plans to continue its expansion and wants to license a facility in Latin America.
 
“Ford has taken the Mustang global for the first time with the new generation car,” said Joe Conway, Co-CEO of Carroll Shelby International and CEO of Shelby American. “We are following Ford’s global initiative and plan to also offer our products worldwide. All of the vehicles will be pure Shelby, but we also plan to tailor some of them to fit the local market.”
 
The new mod shops will also be permitted to open a Carroll Shelby’s Store and sell merchandise. A full range of authentic branded products will be available to enthusiasts.

The board of Porsche AG has decided to extend the Le Mans prototype program until the end of the 2018 season. With its ground-breaking concept—a downsizing turbo engine and powerful energy recovery systems, combined with an extreme lightweight design—the racing car with a performance of around 1000 hp serves as a research laboratory for future sports car technology.

Matthias Müller, Chairman of the Executive Board of Porsche AG, said: “Motorsport is an important part of Porsche’s brand identity–but not an end in itself. Racing has got to help the technology of future road going sports cars. It was the revolutionary efficiency regulations that convinced us to return to top-level motorsport for the 2014 season. That we have managed to take the crown jewels of endurance racing in only our second year, with a one-two result in Le Mans in 2015 with our highly innovative and complex 919, is an outstanding testimony to the people in the Weissach research and development centre. The competition bears fruits and we see further potential for future synergy between the racing and road car programmes. This is why we have extended the programme.”

For class one Le Mans prototypes (LMP1) entered by manufacturers, the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) regulations stipulate hybrid systems and limit the amount of energy (fuel and electricity) available per lap.

Wolfgang Hatz, Member of the Executive Board, Research and Development, underlined this: “Porsche sets bench marks in the WEC. The two-litre V4-cylinder turbo charged petrol engine with a performance of over 500 hp is the most efficient combustion engine we have built so far. We are the only ones able to generate eight megajoule of electrical energy per lap in Le Mans from our two energy recovery systems. It is easy to detect that the challenge provided by the sport pushes our engineers to extreme performances.”

Dirt racing and sportsman-level drag racing are relatively free from spec restrictions, whereas road racing, by comparison, can have a crushing burden of rules.
 
In some sanctions, in fact, brake “specs” not only dictate what specific part may be used, but also might limit where they can be purchased.
 
Every winning spec bid to a venue should be done to benefit the series participants, as opposed to decisions made on price alone, the prevailing opinion holds. The critical point is that if the spec is wrong it can put all racers at risk, because brakes are safety specific. Racers are urged to speak up if they see a problem with the spec.
 
Nonetheless, several brake suppliers believe spec systems in the future will increase, because it is proven that rules restrictions have kept a lid on R&D costs for race teams. And with a huge portfolio to choose from, Luca Brusamolino of Brembo in Plymouth, Michigan, suggested spec racers change pads to alter performance enhancements.
 
“Just by changing the pads you can change the temperature the rotors attain,” he said. “Pads are like shoes—try on a few to see how they fit your needs, your driving style. Pads also initiate lots of discussion within the teams. Some teams need to guide the driver to a specific pad because of other concerns in the car setup.”
 
Staying current with rules and specifications when a new series or racing category is introduced requires a great deal of study and attention. Nor should it be viewed as an area in which to cut corners, so to speak, as Ian Berwick of Pagid Racing in Cape Coral, Florida, bluntly summed up brake costs: “Being frugal with the brakes is a fool’s errand.”
 
 
Louise Ann Noeth is the founder and principal of LandSpeed Productions. Her award-winning writing and photography have been published around the world in several languages, and in publications including The New York Times, Sports Illustrated and Performance Racing Industry Magazine. Among her myriad accomplishments, Noeth authored the critically acclaimed, award-winning “Bonneville Salt Flats: The Fastest Place On Earth,” currently in its seventh printing. 

The Organizers of the Dakar Rally have acknowledged the final decision of the Peruvian authorities to cancel the Inca Desafío, which was scheduled to be held September 11-13, as well as the stages of the 2016 Dakar Rally that were announced last April during a joint press conference.

Due to forecasts concerning the El Nino weather phenomenon, which is expected to be extremely violent this year, the Peruvian government has decided to make this issue a national priority by ensuring that all state services are able to mobilize if necessary to help the population that could be affected.

While hoping that the people of Peru will not have to face these predicted disasters, the entire Dakar organizing team is already hard at work to create an alternative route with optimal sporting and safety conditions both in Argentina and Bolivia.

The final route of the 2016 Dakar Rally will be announced in the second half of September.