Dixon surpasses Amato’s record with 53 Top Fuel Titles

JOLIET, IL - With Sunday’s win at Route 66 Raceway, Larry Dixon passed Joe Amato by claiming his 53rd Top Fuel title. “As for Joe Amato, I’m not worthy; that’s all I can say,” said Dixon “He has so many wins and so many championships. To pass guys like ‘Snake’ [Don Prudhomme] and [Don] Garlits, these are all people I looked up to as kids. For a lot of years Joe Amato was the guy. Like I said, I’m not worthy.” After posting a 3.78 in his semifinal win over Doug Kalitta, Dixon returned to stop arch rival Tony Schumacher, 3.773 to 3.823 in the final round. Now Larry sets his sites on Schumachers record of 62 wins. But as “The Sarge” is still racing, Larry has to hit a moving target!

In Funny Car, Matt Hagan paired with Robert Hight in the final round after his semifinal win against Ashley Force Hood. Matt’s 4.022 in the semifinal was a new national record. Hagan halted Hight’s 3 win streak with a 4.035 sec blast against Hight’s 4.069 sec run. “In the first race we won in Houston, I had to pedal the car but not here.” Commented Hagan. “ This weekend, I had a great race car. We tested some stuff recently, but they put what they know back in the race car this weekend. I told Tommy, ‘That’s the race car I’m used to.’”

The outcome in Pro-Stock was not necessarily surprising, but Mike Edwards had to work hard in the final round. Edwards was No. 1 qualifier with 3 6.60 runs in eliminations. Paired against Jason Line in the final round, Edwards lagged off the light with a near perfect .007 sec reaction time against Line’s .006. “The first thing Jason said to me was ‘Man, you were late.’” Edwards was first across the finish line by four-thousandths, 6.594 sec to Line’s 6.599 sec. Line had a better top speed of 208.46mph vs. Mike’s 207.94mph. “What a great way to finish the day” exclaimed Edwards, “We weren’t at our best today, but we managed to pull off another win. It just feels great. To think that I’m having a better year than last is just incredible. I can’t believe what is taking place. It is all very humbling to me.” Mike has won an amazing six of the season’s first 10 events, while surpassing last year’s victory total of five.

Dario Franchitti Collects a cool $2.75 Million at Indy

INDIANAPOLIS, IN – Dario Franchitti wins his second Indy 500 race and the fourth for team owner Chip Gannassi. After the championship win with Andretti-Green Racing in 2007, Dario signed with Ganassi to explore the realm of stock cars. After suffering a broken ankle in an unfortunate accident in a Nationwide series race, and lack of sponsors for the car, the effort was ended in June. It turned out to be a stroke of luck when Ganassi driver Dan Wheldon departed to Panther Racing giving Dario a shot at his seat. The rest is now history.

Starting from 10th position with a strong car, Dario was able to claim the lead from pole sitter Helio Castroneves by the end of the first lap and went on to lead 155 of 200 laps. "Congrats to Dario. What an awesome car he had. Ganassi did an incredible job to put him up there. It was the car to beat today. We tried. Unfortunately, silly mistakes put us in the back. I’m very disappointed. I’m more disappointed with the mistake. Certainly, I am very upset for my guys. They did an incredible job the whole month long. They should walk out of here with their heads high,” commented Castroneves on Dario’s performance.

Thrilling 6-Hour Endurance Race

MONTEREY, CA – In what was a thrilling 6-hour endurance race, Patron Highcroft Racing again took top honors with the HPD ARX-01c piloted by Brabham/Pagenaud/Franchitti. Starting from 33rd position, the Patron team had to work hard. Only 78 minutes after the start, Pagenaud managed to claim the lead. “The opening laps were pretty exciting. Starting at the back you have to find motivation and that was getting to the front” commented Pagenaud. Though the Patron car ran strong, by no means was it an easy race to win. Four cars led the race – Patron Highcroft, Dyson Racing, Muscle Milk Team Cytosport and Intersport Racing – but the Highcroft vs. Dyson match was the most exciting. The Dyson Lola-Mazda, also battling to the front after an early spin, gave the Highcroft car a run-for-its-money. The cars were 1 and 2 for over 2-1/2 hours. A cunning pit strategy by the Patron team placed Franchitti 30 seconds over the Lola with 45 minutes left in the race. Foregoing new tires, Franchitti stated that “it was a bit like drifting.” The LMP-2 Muscle Milk Porsche RS Spyder placed second overall.

The GT-class promised to be a thriller – and it was! Eight different cars led the race including three Ferraris, 2 Corvettes, 2 BMWs, a Porsche and a partridge in a pear tree. But on the final restart, an aggressive pass of Joey Hand’s BMW by Patrick Long, the Flying Lizard Porsche was at the front when the 6-hours were up. “It was definitely a bit more relaxing for me,” said Bergmeister, who got to watch this year. “I knew Patrick would do a good job because he has been good all week long. There were some who thought it wouldn't work out because the BMW was charging but I knew that Patrick would work it out and pull away.” Joey Long had a different perspective: “It was unfortunate,” Hand said of the finish. “We had the car to beat in the second half of the race. That last restart, that gaggle. I went when they said ‘green’ and by that point Long was past me. His green was at a different time than mine, I think.” He went on to say “I’m not going to say [he jumped it], but I can tell you when I was told ‘green’, he was by me, slamming me in my door. It was disappointing because you could tell that I could get back the Corvette and hunt down Long. He’s a good racer. We’ve raced together since we were kids.”

Webber dominates Monaco GP

MONACO, MONTE CARLO – It seems like old times. Controversy at the Grand Prix of Monte Carlo was sparked by former teammates Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. Barrichello has been faulted for throwing his $50,000 steering wheel onto the race line following an incident on lap 31 while climbing the Beau Rivage. It appears that a technical problem caused his Williams to impact the Armco barriers on both sides of the track. Karun Shandock and Bruno Senna both ran over the wheel during the race. Some argue that Barrichello recklessly endangered his fellow drivers by throwing the wheel in frustration. Rubens’ commented “I threw the steering wheel because I wanted to get out of the car as soon as possible… After the shunt I was facing the wrong side of the track and the car was on fire," Williams co-owner Patrick Head defended his driver, "If you are standing in the middle of a 120mph corner, you tend to think 'let's get out of here as quickly as you can'." William’s driver Hulkenberg also crashed out of the race following a failure. No champagne at Williams this weekend!
Seven-time World Champion, Michael Schumacher appears to be back in the swing of things in F1. Never mistaken for a milquetoast driver, the German was penalized for an aggressive pass of Fernando Alonso in the final corner immediately after the safety car exited the track. The move placed him in 6th place. The stewards deliberated for four hours on Sunday deciding to drop the German out of the points to 12th position. Mercedes reserve driver Nick Heidfeld told Sky television: "The move was very clean… The rules are different this year. In the past you could only overtake from the start/finish line, now it is from the safety car line. Alonso was a little bit asleep," As of the time of this writing, Mercedes has not decided if they will proceed with an appeal of the decision.
What was not controversial this past weekend in the Principality was the utter dominance of The Red Bull car driven by Mark Webber. Though the race was marred with crashes, with 4 appearances of the safety car, Webber kept his cool and the performance of the Red Bull did the rest. What makes the win extra sweet for Webber is that it is the first time in 52 years that an Australian has won at Monte Carlo and it moves Red Bull in the lead in the Constructor’s title. The last Aussie to win at Monaco was the great Sir Jack Brabham. “To win in Monaco is a dream for any Formula One driver. It is a very, very special event and every Formula One victory is special but to win on the streets here fair and square off the pole, no attrition again, that’s nice and control the race from the front. To join such great winners here is a real special moment for me. I was reminded yesterday that Jack Brabham won here in 1959, so it has been a while for the Australians. A special day.” Webber is certainly in good company.

Hamlin Sweeps Darlington!

DARLINGTON, SC – Denny Hamlin certainly entered an exclusive club this weekend sweeping both the Nationwide Race and the SPRINT Cup race at Darlington. Only two other drivers can claim a sweep at this difficult track. Mark Martin did it in 1993 and the legendary Dale Earnhardt in 1987. During the SPRINT Cup race Sunday, Hamlin was running a brilliant race with a great car, and was able to capitalize on mistakes by the other two contenders, Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton. In the closing laps, Jeff Gordon made a rookie mistake by failing to signal to following drivers his intent to pit and was forced to make another lap before entering pit lane. While this may not seem to be a major faux-pas, David Reutimann spun bringing out the caution flag, forcing Gordon to cut his stop short in order to avoid losing a lap. "I don't like making mistakes like that,” commented Gordon after the race.

Jeff Burton, leading at the time of the caution, came out of pit lane in 3rd place, but was flagged by NASCAR for running over his air line, costing him several positions. At the restart, Hamlin was in the lead. With Gordon and Burton in 12th and 13th positions, he had a clear shot to victory. Jamie McMurray finished in 2nd place followed by Denny’s teammate Kyle Busch. Asked about the pit row mishap, Burton said emphatically “We have to make a decision whether we want to be a championship team or do we just want to pretend to be one, I think we're a championship team. I think our guys will get it together and we'll be just fine." Hamlin on the other hand was understandably quite elated. “We went back and forth all night and fine-tuned it to perfection at the end. Right there at the end, it was the best it's been all night. That's all you can ask for."
The new NASCAR spoiler was surrounded by controversy this weekend. Apparently, the wide wing can magnify damage caused by glancing off the wall. "If you get the right rear into the wall hard enough, it'll hit that spoiler and move the deck lid over, which makes it difficult," said Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 Ford. "It's pretty wide, and I'm sure if it does cause problems that NASCAR will look at that and figure out how to narrow it up a little bit.”
Just to show how quickly things can change in NASCAR, Jimmie Johnson had a 108pt lead just 3 races ago. Today he is 110 points down from Kevin Harvick, a swing of 218 points! Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth complete the top 5 in the standings. Stay tuned for Dover next weekend.

Mr. Harvick's Wild Ride!

TALLADEGA, AL – It was some wild driving at the “’Dega” this past weekend. The Aarons 499, a grueling 188 laps around the 2.66 mile Talladega Superspeedway, ended well for Kevin Harvick, ending a win drought for he and Richard Childress Racing. Harvick had not won a points race since the 2007 Daytona 500, while RCR had not won a race since October 2008. “Everything just played out perfect for us today,” Harvick said.
That was not how it felt for most drivers. A long series of wrecks extended the race by 12 laps with 3 attempts at a green-white-checkered finish. The first restart attempt ended when Newman and Logano tangled resulting in a 9-car pileup. The second saw a spin by Johnson and Biffle after making contact at the front of the pack. On the third, and final (by NASCAR rules) restart, two “teams” jumped to the front of the pack. Hamlin pushing Montoya on the outside and Harvick pushing McMurray on the inside. The McMurray/Harvick team pushed out in front and were running strong. Just at the right moment, Harvick pulled-off a picture perfect slingshot move beating McMurray to the finish line with Montoya following in third place. It was quite an exciting finish.
This year’s exciting race comes after a lackluster race in the fall when drivers were told they would be penalized for “excessive” bump-drafting. The drivers were left to police themselves, and from the fans standpoint, made for a great race. I’d hate to be the team owners that have to pay for the carnage or the crews that have to put the cars back together again. But most importantly, no one was seriously hurt during the race – at least physically. The cold relationship between Jimmie Johnson and car-owner Jeff Gordon was strained further when Johnson cut-off Gordon on lap 183. "The 48 is testing my patience, I can tell you that. It takes a lot to make me mad -- and I am pissed right now," Gordon said.
Only 30 cars were running at the end. A couple of NASCAR records were broken this weekend. There were a record total of 88 lead changes with a record 29 different leaders.

The Battle on the Beach!

Long Beach, CA - With a thrilling pass in the final laps of the ALMS Long Beach GP, Simon Pagenaud took the lead from Adrian Fernandez to win the street fight in California. The Patron Highcroft Honda Performance Design LMP2 car was able to overtake the LMP1 Aston Martin V-12 powered Lola winning the race by a slight 0.353 sec margin. The nimbleness of the LMP2 car was the ticket on the tight street course known as Long Beach. "I could see Adrian was having some issues in the final laps and I thought I could just play it smart and settle for second. But I'm a real racer and I know everybody in the team wants to win and that's what they deserve. "I said to myself I would keep pressuring him to the end and maybe he would make a mistake.” Co-driver David Brabham commented "It was a great fight all the way to the end and he put huge pressure on Adrian and capitalized on it.”
In the GT class, The #45 Flying Lizard Porsche piloted by Bergmeister and Long reclaimed their title at Long Beach. Starting from 4th position, behind the Risi Ferrari (pole) and the #3 Corvette of O’Connel/Magnussen, the 45 car remained in fourth for much of the race. Able to capitalize on a quick pit stop an hour into the race, the Porsche emerged in third place. Driver Long kept the pressure on and claimed the lead with 10 minutes remaining in the race. The Porsche also won the Michelin X Green challenge being the most efficient car on the track.
It should be noted that the Corvettes were hampered with an additional 25 kilos of weight. Program Manager Doug Fehan expects that the weight penalty will be removed prior to the Le Mans race in June, hopefully leading to the much anticipated three-way battle in GT.