By Michael Berenis

Tampa Sports Car Examiner

Running at wide open throttle up to 170 miles per hour, this clip shows the Nissan Skyline GTR R34 in a balls to the wall battle for top speed. Catastrophe lurks at these speeds on public roads, only the insane dare tempt fate. Read more about this wild run at Tampa Sports Car Examiner.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

By the end of the race, there were no fewer than three cars running without any scrap of a front clip left, and the No. 78 had substantial portions of rear sheetmetal removed as well. Who says Sprint Cup cars can’t take a beating? Today’s race saw a record-setting 12 cautions and 7 lead-changes–a sharp departure from the typically more sedate racing at this low-speed road course, the carnage was attributable in part to the new double-file restarts. The field looked like it had just spent Saturday night at the short track by the time the whole thing was over. See more after the jump.

NASCAR coverage brought to you by Valvoline Engine Guarantee–the first and only motor oil in the industry that will guarantee your engine up to 300,000 miles. *Registration required, some limitations apply.

Continue reading "The Fenderless Division" »

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Though it was pretty great to see the No. 48 team score its first road-course win, you couldn’t help but feel Marcose Ambrose’s complete and total heartbreak as he saw the victory slip from his grasp. After racing hard, dominating the later part of the race, and expertly holding off second-place Jimmie Johnson, the Aussie underdog hit some miserable luck in the final four laps when his car refused to re-fire after he’d coasted it under caution to conserve gas. Though drivers are not generally supposed to be able to gain (or lose) positions under caution, NASCAR ruled that Ambrose start from the position he’d slid to after his car rolled to a stop, far enough from the front that he’d have no hope of fighting his way back, simultaneously handing Jimmie the No. 1 spot. Ouch.

It seems a bit rough, but ultimately… fair? NASCAR cited “failure to maintain a reasonable speed on the track” as grounds for the penalty, even though by the end other cars were spinning out and shedding sheetmetal onto the track without so much as triggering a caution. A little inconsistent, maybe? After the race, even Jimmie Johnson said he was a bit astonished by what had happened–though he’d planned to stay on Ambrose, to keep pushing him as hard as he could to try to get him to slip up, this was “the last mistake he expected him to make,” and even hinted that NASCAR’s decision was odd enough that he would’ve fought it if he had been on the receiving end. Did NASCAR make the right call here? Or did they make an exception at the expense of the relatively powerless Ambrose, perhaps so they could help Jimmie on to the high-profile victory while quieting media and fan clamor over the No. 48 team’s so-called slump?

NASCAR coverage brought to you by Valvoline Engine Guarantee–the first and only motor oil in the industry that will guarantee your engine up to 300,000 miles. *Registration required, some limitations apply.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

The race is about to start, and I’ve been hearing a lot from the media about what drivers need to do to get the advantage on Infineon’s tricky road course. The buzz is that it’s going to be all about hard driving off the corners–there’s only a couple of good places to pass on this track, and one of them is on hairpin Turn 11, so the key is digging hard under the other guy and accelerating off the corner faster than him to take his spot away. Word around the garage, however, is that it’s going to be the drivers who navigate the track most smoothly who will end up in the catbird seat, and that the ones who drive crazy aggressive in the turns will wreck themselves out.

Either way, it seems like a lot depends on driver nerves and it may very well turn into a wreckfest–Jimmie Johnson spoke in the press conference about the way short-range battles break out as drivers beat on each other for all-important track position, getting vengeful and often losing sight the bigger picture–like, the need to still be running at the end of the race. The atmosphere is tense, with a lot of guys gunning to win their first race of the season and a number of teams in flux–Kasey Kahne, a top contender here, will be leaving his team for Hendrick pretty shortly, and the Red Bull team just cut Casey Mears loose. Marcos Ambrose is likely to kick the stuffing out of a lot of cars this afternoon, and other top picks include Kahne, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jimmie Johnson, and even Denny Hamlin as a possible suprise winner. The prerace is running now on TNT, and in a few minutes we’re going to be treated to the comical spectacle of 3500 lb taxicabs lunging around a road course. Be sure to tune in!

NASCAR coverage brought to you by Valvoline Engine Guarantee–the first and only motor oil in the industry that will guarantee your engine up to 300,000 miles. *Registration required, some limitations apply.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

I’ve been vaguely aware of Legends cars for years but have never actually seen them race, so I was stoked to learn that they’d be running Saturday afternoon at Infineon in place of the Nationwide event–(which ran yesterday out in the Wisconsin woods at the massive Road America, kind of making me wish I could be on both sides of the continent at once, but that’s a different story). Apart from being just about the cutest things you’ve ever seen–think of what Pikachu might’ve driven if he’d been a moonshine runner during Prohibition–the 5/8th-scaled Legends cars are part of an interesting, if slightly quirky, segment of the motorsports world.

Brainchild of legendary NASCAR promoter Humpy Wheeler, the series emerged in the early 90′s and was intended to bring the spec racecar within range of the average-income American–the theory being, anybody could race. The fiberglass-bodied cars run 1250 cc motorcycle engines making about 120 hp, are 10 and a half feet in length, and only weigh 1300 lbs including the driver.  The bodies are modeled after the cars driven by stock car pioneers such as Fireball Roberts and Buck Baker.  Today’s race also included the Thunder Roadsters, mini open-cockpit buzzbombs, running a race-within-a-race along with the Legends cars, kind of like American Le Mans Series does. It’s true that it’s not the fastest racing you’ve ever seen, but even so it was over before I knew it–it was as if they only ran 20 laps or so, then decided they’d had enough hilarity for one day. But participants clearly have an awesome time–the mood in the garage area was exuberant as the tiny cars passed through their appropriately miniature post-race inspection stations, with nothing of the grim overworked aloofness that you sometimes get from NASCAR teams. See more pics from the Legends race below the jump!

NASCAR coverage brought to you by Valvoline Engine Guarantee–the first and only motor oil in the industry that will guarantee your engine up to 300,000 miles. *Registration required, some limitations apply.

Continue reading "Legends Cars Swarm the Track At Infineon" »

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

From a leafy photo hole on Infineon’s backstretch atop a concrete divider with no tire wall and no safety barrier, you could literally put out a hand and brush these K&N Pro Series West cars as they roared bone-shakingly by during their 200-mile race today. Not that you’d want to, because you’d probably lose a limb, especially if it was the No. 26 Ford, here doing a very credible impression of Hammond’s cutaway car following some late-race sawzall bodywork. I think this is about as close as I’d ever want to get to a hot track, at least without being in a race car. A nearby flagger said she’d been getting gravel kicked at her by the cars at this range, and I guess if they wreck, you’re just supposed to duck.

The Thunder Valley Casino 200 was actually a pretty wild race–look at the condition of the cars!–and these sturdy little Pro Series cars can take a lot more beating and banging than the comparatively fragile Sprint Cup CoT’s that’ll be running tomorrow. But the 200 doesn’t air until June 24th, 3pm  on SPEED, so you still have a chance to catch it if you want to check out some really decent stock car road-course action. Hit the jump for more close encounters!

NASCAR coverage brought to you by Valvoline Engine Guarantee–the first and only motor oil in the industry that will guarantee your engine up to 300,000 miles. *Registration required, some limitations apply.

Continue reading "Reach-Out-And-Touch-You Close" »

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Jimmie Johnson gets a couple of wheels off the ground and shoots flame while getting it whoa’d down for Turn 9 at Infineon during Sprint Cup Practice today. These cars are stiff, but they also weigh 3500 lbs, and it’s amazing how articulated they get as they punt themselves off the curbs on these road-course corners. Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet was fourth quickest in final practice today, and he’s been consistently fast during practice and quals here over the last few days. Jimmie hasn’t yet won at a road course and is pretty desperate to put that feather in his cap. Marcos Ambrose turned the fastest final-practice laps, but Kasey Kahne, pole-sitter for Sunday’s race where he’ll start alongside Jimmie, was only 25th fastest on the final run. Hmm, in a race where passing is difficult and track position is everything, there’s likely going to be a bit of a bumper-car derby if ultimately slower cars are at the front of the starting grid. I’m kind of guessing Jimmie’s going to run away from the field, at least initially. Do you think this will be the place where he’ll end his slump and score his first road-course win?

NASCAR coverage brought to you by Valvoline Engine Guarantee–the first and only motor oil in the industry that will guarantee your engine up to 300,000 miles. *Registration required, some limitations apply.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Kasey Kahne won the pole position for Sunday’s Sprint Cup race, and will share the front row with Jimmie Johnson, who will start from the second position. Kasey claims to have surprised himself a bit by running the fastest lap through Infineon’s tight turns during qualifying yesterday, but he’s often qualified well here, having scored a win last season and started from within the top ten in the last five consecutive races here. And at a track where passing is rough and track position is all-important, that’s no small thing. Meanwhile, Australian road-course phenom Marcos Ambrose, who’s an extreme talent but not always a top finisher elsewhere in the season, will also get his chance to shine this weekend at Infineon: he qualified 6th for Sunday’s race. Check out the complete starting-lineup rundown here.

NASCAR coverage brought to you by Valvoline Engine Guarantee–the first and only motor oil in the industry that will guarantee your engine up to 300,000 miles. *Registration required, some limitations apply.

Continue reading "Kasey Will Start From the Pole at Infineon" »

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

A few days ago Porsche rightly snubbed Mini after Mini challenged them to a race. Well, now Hyundai has jumped into the mix and has challenged Mini to a race. This I want to see.

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Ryan has seen this A6 tooling around town a few times. Amazing pic! You can see more on Peter’s Audi A6 ride page.