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All you IRL fans in Kansas can start partying and rejoicing…. the 2010 IndyCar Series race will be held on a Saturday - something fans have been requesting for a long time! Kansas Speedway announced its 2010 schedule today and there are a couple of changes that fans will definitely appreciate:

The Kansas Speedway announced its 2010 spring racing schedule on Friday.

Among the changes – the IndyCar Series race will be held on a Saturday, while the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race will be held on Sunday.

The Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 will be held on Saturday, May 1, 2010 and the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 will be held the next day.

“We look forward to hosting both the IndyCar Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2010 as we celebrate our 10th year of racing,” said Kansas Speedway President Jeff Boerger.

Scott Dixon won this year’s IndyCar Series race at Kansas Speedway, while Mike Skinner prevailed in a rain-shortened O’Reilly Auto Parts 250.

“Our fans, especially those that travel from other areas to enjoy racing at Kansas Speedway, have asked that both of these races run earlier in the day and by moving our race weekend back a week, we’re able to accommodate this request,” Boerger said.

For more information visit Kansas Speedway’s website or check out details on the IRL, NASCAR and other Kansas Speedway series’ websites!

Interesting article based on an interview with Tony Stewart at Indy re: the way that technology has changed auto racing forever…

This has been nagging at me all week.

There was Tony Stewart, one of the true devotees of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, sitting at a microphone Sunday after finishing third in the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, firing back after a question about the way the cars were spread out all day.

“When was the last time, other than stock car racing, you saw any kind of bumper-to-bumper racing here?” the two-time Brickyard winner and five-time Indianapolis 500 participant said.

“That’s my question to you: Have you seen that in the last 30 years here?”…

LINK - JSOnline.com

Well, they went and did it. BMW announced this morning it’s plans to pull from Formula One racing effective the end of the 2009 season. Citing “restructuring” of the company, BMW’s spokesperson called this a “landmark” decision - indeed!

BMW’s original Formula One involvement began in the 1980s as an engine supplier. With Brabham from 1982 to ’85, the company clinched eight Formula One victories and one world title, courtesy of Nelson Piquet in 1983. Following a final win with Benetton in 1986, BMW were absent from F1 competition until 2000 when they began supplying engines to Williams, taking 10 victories over the following five years.

In 2006 the company took over the Sauber team and enjoyed a positive first season as a fully-fledged works entry, finishing fifth in the constructors’ championship, with two podium finishes. The team went from strength to strength in 2007, occupying the ‘best of the rest’ slot behind Ferrari and McLaren. Scoring in all 17 races, BMW Sauber eventually finished second in the standings, behind Ferrari.

Last year, the team became championship contenders, with driver Robert Kubica clinching the team’s first pole position in Bahrain and then a maiden win at the Canadian Grand Prix. However, they have found the going a lot tougher this season and have scored just eight points to date.

As more and more women get into auto racing - and actually do well at it - we are going to see more female-focused sponsors. Attend a NASCAR Sprint Cup race and you’ll see lots of pink - more in the shops than in the stands, however - as many vendors miss the mark on female fans, thinking they’d want pink “versions” of their fan t-shirts and hats rather than show off their “colors”, say in the red/blue of Tony Stewart or the AMP green of Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

NASCAR isn’t the only series that is recognizing the correlation between the advancements of the female driver and the increased interest and participation of the female fan. ARCARacing.com announced earlier this week that Pocono will make history - or, “her”story if you will, with the launch of new female-focused sponsors for ARCA driver Alli Owens, one of the few women drivers who has seen success - and support - from fans across the board.

40 Small businesses - either run by women entrepreneurs; having products focused solely on women consumers; or run by women - have become product sponsors for Alli’s already-unique female-driven car. Owens will be one of two women driving at the Pennsylvania ARCA 200 on August 1, 2009.

“This is a new idea for our sport and for ARCA RE/MAX - support from small businesses, who typically could not afford a large sponsorship in any series. But there should be no discount for the ‘passion’ of women in business, like myself,” said Alli Owens. “We are amazingly driven in whatever we do. I’m so happy to be able to promote some of the best small businesses across the country, run by women - since they support the effort of women in racing! As one of my young fans just said last week, ‘You Rock and Girls Rule!’”

“As a team owner, I’m enthusiastic to have support by so many companies for our team,” said DMS team owner Eddie D’Hondt. “It’s a very different way of approaching the business aspect of our sport, but it’s also an innovative way to market. Alli is already unique to the sport, being a woman - her platform of awareness is heightened, and that makes it attractive for a potential sponsor. Her reach is great, and the female consumers drive 85% of the purchasing decisions in a family. We are listening; and we are happy to support women & women-run businesses to complement our full line of great sponsors.”

To view the full list of female-centric sponsors that will be participating in the August 1st event, please visit www.arcaracing.com/news.

The return of the NASCAR Camping World Series West to Portland International Raceway featured a thrilling dash to the finish on the final lap, with Jim Inglebright taking the victory in the BI-MART Salute to the Troops 125 on Sunday.

It marked a second career series win for the veteran West Coast competitor, who had cut back to a limited schedule of races this season.

Inglebright was third as the field thundered down the front stretch of the road course for a restart with two laps to go in a green-white-checkered finish. He charged to the outside of Brian Wong heading into the first turn. Then a lap later, he slipped to the inside of Greg Pursley heading to the checkered flag.

Pursley, who had slid wide in Turn 12 on the final lap, held on to edge out Wong for second place.

“I saw the 26 car (Pursley) go into the last corner,” Inglebright said. “It looked to me like everything was normal and all of a sudden his front end just took off, the car just took off and went off into the dirt. We were there to capitalize on it. We were going to finish second and were content with that.”

Inglebright credited the strategy of his crew chief on his No. 1 Federated Auto Parts/Jelly Belly Chevrolet and the support of his team for help in keeping him in contention for the win.

“Rodney Haygood, my crew chief made an awesome call on the pit stop strategy,” Inglebright said. “We saw a few guys come in early and Rodney said we needed to come in. So, we came in and after that all the other leaders came in. That put them behind us. The only bad thing was I got spun out by the 16. It was just a racing thing, but it kind of put us behind the eight ball.”

“My whole team was a cheerleading section, telling me to keep digging,” he said. “The car got real fast in the middle of the race for some reason. We picked up four or five tenths on everybody. I think everybody else slowed down and my car didn’t, which helped get us out of the hole that we were in.”

With Felipe Massa injured in Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday and likely to be sidelined for the rest of the 2009 Formula One season, Ferrari must find a replacement driver in time for the next race in Valencia, Spain on Aug. 23. Insiders say that former world champions Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso are tops on the list of potential candidates.

A source close to the team confirmed that Alonso is not an impossible choice. Getting him into the car half a season ahead of schedule will be a big task. But Renault team boss Flavio Briatore may well be tempted by a huge influx of cash.

Meanwhile, Schumacher is available and has retained his ties with Ferrari. F1 commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone will be keen to see him back behind the wheel, if only for half a season, as it would do wonders for TV ratings and provide a massive boost for the promoters of the last seven races. Schumacher would also be a big morale booster for the team and obviously provide valuable feedback.

The Spaniard Jaime Alguersuari, 19, will become the youngest driver to race in Formula One this weekend and is drawing criticism from fellow drivers about his inexperience even before the start of the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest. Alguersuari will set the record at 19 years 126 days, breaking the mark set by the New Zealand driver Mike Thackwell by 57 days.

Don’t miss this weekend’s Formula 1 action - view it online or check your local listings!

Jeremy Mayfield is back under suspension for a failed random drug test after an appeals court ruled in NASCAR’s favor Friday, issuing a stay on the injunction that gave the driver the right to return to the race track.

The one-page decision by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stands until NASCAR’s full appeal can be heard.

NASCAR appealed to the Richmond, Va., court after a federal judge on July 1 lifted Mayfield’s suspension based on the argument that the drug testing system was flawed.

U.S. District Court Judge Graham Mullen still has NASCAR’s request before him to overturn his earlier decision based on its claim that Mayfield tested positive for methamphetamine a second time on July 6.

Mayfield was suspended May 9 for failing a random test done eight days earlier, and NASCAR has said he tested positive for methamphetamine. Mayfield has denied ever using the illegal drug.

Presented by Mazda beginning Saturday, July 25 at 2:00 p.m. ET.
Coverage from The Autobahn Country Club continues on Sunday,
July 26, beginning at 1:00 p.m. ET.

This weekend’s race events are a Mazda triple-header on both
Saturday and Sunday, featuring:

Cooper Tires Presents The Atlantic Championship Powered By Mazda
Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear
SCCA Pro Racing Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup

The broadcast team for each event will be veteran commentator Rick
Benjamin and legendary race-driver Elliott Forbes Robinson.

WHEN: Saturday, July 25 at 2:00 p.m. ET
Sunday, July 26 at 1:00 p.m. ET

Eldora Speedway - the “little track that could” - is getting a lot of great PR this year as more fans recognize the excitement and attraction of small track, home town racing…

Eldora Leaves Others in the Dust

If you’re one of those people who can’t imagine sitting for hours watching race cars go around in circles, then you need to come and sit by the third turn at Eldora Speedway.

There are a lot of great half-mile ovals around the country, but this one, cut out of cornfields on the Indiana-Ohio border, is something special. It is the equivalent of Daytona, Indianapolis and Le Mans all rolled into one. And the King’s Royal, which took place July 17 and 18, is one of its premier events.

At just 40 laps, the King’s Royal used to be the richest sprint-car race in the country. Its $50,000 purse is no longer the biggest, but it’s still the race that drivers most want to win. They race World of Outlaws winged sprint cars, 1,375-pound micro machines with 410-cubic-inch engines that crank out nearly 900 horsepower. Averaging 130 miles per hour, it takes them just 13 seconds to complete a lap here…

LINK - Read the FULL STORY at WSJ.com