Pirelli is the new spec tire for the Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series this year, succeeding Hoosier which had ousted Goodyear and Dunlop as official rubber in Grand-Am’s earliest days. Pirelli officials say the 11,616 laps run during the Jan. 4-6 tests on the 3.56-mile Daytona road course represent 41,353 miles of full-speed going by the 70 race teams taking part. That, says Pirelli, marked the biggest week in the company’s North American competition history. The Italian tire maker brought to Daytona 2,500 of its new P-Zero tires, made in its Rome, Ga., plant, plus a full complement of tire engineers and staff personnel to the north Florida course for this huge exercise. The really big test comes on Jan. 26 when the 46th annual Rolex 24, presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16, is flagged off.

A rare gaffe was committed by Speed on Jan. 7, opening night of its daily Pre-Season Thunder TV coverage from Daytona, when nary a single car make was revealed when reporting test speeds. It was rectified 24 hours later on Tuesday night’s 30-minute show, when every driver’s speed was accompanied by his car make. But subsequent shows were off the pace, making it hard to learn which car make was quick. Once or twice during the half-hour show a top-to-bottom table appeared including car make, but in the streaming bottom-of-screen video no car makes appear. Fix it guys, fix it. 

If he hasn’t already accumulated enough money, Bernie (Eye for the Buck) Ecclestone of Formula One organizing fame, auctioned off his collection of rare cars in October, but kept the racing versions for himself.

When Emerson Fittipaldi takes the wheel of the Chevy Corvette pace car at the Indianapolis Speedway to pace this year’s Indy 500 on May 25, car guys are wondering if it will be the high-horsepower 2009 model, or the less-powerful 2008 version. GM is telling dealers its 2009 ZR-1 ’Vette will be the fastest car it has ever made, thanks to its supercharged 6.2 liter (378 cubic inch) 620 horse V8 engine mated to a six-speed manual transmission. Expected top speed for this $100,000 super Corvette will come close to 200 mph says GM, reporting it is designed to do zero to 60 in some three seconds. The LS9 engines for this model will be hand-built at GMs Michigan plant, while final assembly will take place in Bowling Green, Ohio.

It has been announced DaimlerChrysler’s 2007 payment of a $30 million fine to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is the most ever paid by an automaker for failing to meet federal fuel-efficiency standards. The penalty was assessed when the company’s imported fleet of 2006 models failed to meet the average fuel-economy standard of 27.5 miles per gallon. This mpg fine broke the record $28 million paid by BMW in 2002. Since 1982 this country has collected $735 million in such fines from automakers. Current mileage standards for cars and light trucks are 27.5 mpg and 22.2 mpg. Other carmakers paying fines last year included BMW at $5.1 million; Porsche $4.6 million; and Volkswagen $1 million. For each one-tenth-mile below the standard, automakers pay $5.50 multiplied by the number of vehicles sold here. Germany-based Daimler sold an 80.1 percentage stake in its Chrysler unit last year to Cerberus Capital Management, which has paid $281.9 million in fines to date, most in the industry. BMW lies second at $245 million with Porsche third at $57 million. U.S. and Japanese automakers avoid fines by using past or future year mileage credits to offset noncompliance. Some automakers qualify for a 1.2 mpg credit, making cars that can run on E85, a blend of 85 percent Ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.

Study up on Egg Foo Yong and Chop Suey. Reports from the front office of the North American Int’l Auto Show in Detroit reveal a record five different Chinese automakers are showing their products.

Who would have thought a half-century after a teen-aged Roger Penske pedaled his bicycle from his south Cleveland residence  to Sportsmans Park, a dirt track in suburban Bedford, Ohio, to see his first auto race, that the Penske Automotive Group, now a $13 billion Fortune 500 auto retailer, would be advertising for a general manager for its Toyota dealership in Bedford?

It’s only a few days til the Jan. 19  California Racing (originally Roadster) Ass’n Reunion dinner at the famous Knott’s Berry Farm Hotel south of L.A. Wanna go? Call Walt James at (661) 713-1414.

An interesting news squib from Germany reports retired road racer Michael Schumacher was unhappy with the slow pace of his taxicab on a recent visit to Munich. So he took over the wheel of the taxi after repeated requests for the driver to speed up. Taxi driver Tuncer Vilmaz told a Munich newspaper “It was sheer lunacy,” reporting the seven-time world-driving champion took downtown curves at full speed. It was worth it, however, as Schumacher gave the driver the equivalent of $146.72 for the $88.03 fare.   
 
NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick has let it be known he is talking about lifetime contracts with his two-time Nextel Cup champion driver Jimmie Johnson and his crew chief Chad Knaus.

$20 million is the bar talk figure being heard when the discussion turns to Coors Light becoming the official beer of NASCAR for the next five years. That includes “pouring rights” at all ISC tracks.

A recent national survey of U.S. fan interest in sports, shows the NFL (35 percent) leading college football (25.8 percent), MLB (21.9 percent), college basketball (17.8 percent), NBA next with (15.8 percent) and NASCAR sixth, with 15 percent. The NHRA was rated 12th with 7.8 percent and Formula One 19th at 6.1 percent with the AFL 20th and last at five percent.

One of this newspaper’s longest-serving photographers, Don Figler of St. Louis, recently was awarded second place in the Photographic Society of America’s November competition for his “Splash Landing” boat-racing photo. Congratulations Don.

Here’s a get-well message for Mike Hollander, the long-time racing news provider from California, currently diagnosed with the Big C. Hang in there Mike.

Despite an inability to agree on dates and terms for a return of Formula One racing to Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the 2007 FIA Formula One Promotional Trophy for the year’s best promoter, was presented to IMS head man Tony George at an early December ceremony in Monte Carlo.