One of the delights of driving in Germany is that there is no speed limit on its superbly designed autobahns, nor has there ever been one, since the first autobahn debuted ages ago as 120-mph traffic has long been commonplace. But now the City-State of Bremen has imposed a 120-kilometer (74.56 mph) speed limit on 37 miles of the fabled superhighway, which runs through its sector of northern Germany. During WWII the ability of the Autobahn to let Nazi Germany move troops and material with speed and facility to areas of need so impressed General Dwight Eisenhower, the then Commander in Chief, U.S. Forces European Theater, that as soon as ‘Ike’ became President of the United States he ordered a start on what we now know as the Interstate Highway System. The Hitler-created no-speed limit autobahns resulted in a country of superb drivers; never is a single car seen in the left lane; and on-the-road courtesies — rarely practiced elsewhere in the world — prevail.

Sunday’s Grand Prix of Spain was a dull and uninspiring race. It puzzles Ye Ed why Formula One drivers, supposedly the best in the world, have yet to figure out how to use a restart to set the stage for a position-improving move once the green flag reappears. It’s a lesson every stateside rookie learns early on. We always smile when seeing Kimi Raikkonen, current world champion and winner in Spain, for when he first arrived in F-1 from Finland a few seasons back, a reporter noted his girlfriend was busy in the paddock area doing her high school homework. Nary a sign of, nor mention of, disgraced FIA President Max Mosley on the F-1 telecast from Spain.

Shocked might be too conservative a word to describe the emotion felt when watching Talladega TV qualifying for Nationwide Series cars Friday. There were a mere handful of fans in the huge grandstands. A Gatling gun fired into the seating area might not have hit a single soul. Gas prices, or other reasons? Conversely, the grandstands and infield spectator areas at Spain’s Circuit de Catalyuna were overflowing Saturday with people watching Formula One qualifying, obviously enhanced by the prospects of home-country favorite Fernando Alonso being in the cast. The new F-1 qualifying format holds great appeal for spectators. With less than a minute left in the final qualifying period, Renault’s No. 1 driver Alonso finally became No. 1 for the pole. But with just seconds remaining, Alonso was shifted to outside front row by the flying Finn Kimi Raikkonen. Racing show business at its very best.
 
We didn’t catch any “name” slips during Saturday’s telecast of the Nationwide Series race at Talladega. From the first day of Nationwide’s involvement in this series, which for 12 years carried the Busch name, TV announcers and others frequently used the Busch name instead of new sponsor Nationwide, which reportedly paid NASCAR $80 million for a seven-year run as the series’ title sponsor. To end these verbal gaffes Nationwide placed “Name Jars” in track media centers, ESPN offices and in Nationwide team garages, so those who uttered the wrong name were asked (ordered?) to place a dollar bill in the jar. This gaffe cash goes to the NASCAR Foundation for eventual distribution to charity. No word yet on “how much.” 

Nuts and bolts. The rare Sprint Cup-POWERade tie-in between the racing teams of NASCAR stock-car driver Kevin Harvick and NHRA Top Fuel drag racer Bob Vandergriff may evolve into a single, multi-series racing organization. The Vandergriff-owned NHRA stable has been getting engine help from Harvick’s Richard Childress stock-car house, and now the straightliner is proposing one jointly owned team fielding cars in both series. His reasoning is such a team would offer sponsors a much broader reach. Should the idea gel, the broadened new team would debut next year.

Team owner Chip Ganassi made headlines recently when publicly criticizing the performance of his two NASCAR teams, which had not won a race nor achieved a top-10 finish this year until this past weekend. Following his outburst, Ganassi swapped Juan Pablo Montoya’s No. 42 Dodge crew chief Donnie Wingo with Jimmy Elledge, who had twisted the wrenches on the No. 41 Dodge wheeled by Reed Sorenson. Both drivers are buried deep in series points and could easily miss The Chase, unlike Ganassi’s Grand Am sports-car road-racing effort, which is having one of its best seasons. No comment from Felix Sabates.
Speed is making much of retired driver Sam Posey’s decision to assist on the network’s Formula One telecast team this year. Posey has long suffered from Parkinson’s disease, which claimed my wife, Tommye, after 54 years of marriage. Posey stands up well against the disease and, in addition to his occasional efforts during the live race telecasts, writes all the teases heard touting the network’s F-1 coverage as well as the copy for the opening videos at each race, plus contributing to the pre-race qualifying shows. Posey’s handiwork gives heart to all sufferers of this neurodegenerative disease. Another former driver, Eddie Cheever, winner of the 1998 Indy 500, has signed on at ABC’s Indy telecast team, joining fellow ex-driver Scott Goodyear and host Marty Reid. 

Still at it. Terre Haute North High School teacher Charles Boehler advises the school’s 14th-annual Motorsport Show comes off at this western Indiana school from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 8 with May 9 a rain date. Goal of the show is to give students (and guests) an up-close look at the many well-prepared racing cars on display and to talk with their drivers, owners and sponsors. Many past students have gone into careers in auto racing, reports Boehler, who is the Careers and Technology chairperson and Machine Trades teacher at the school.  
 
The 18th annual Vintage Open Wheel Celebration — also known as the Vic Yerardi Memorial — is booked at New Hampshire Int’l Speedway May 13-16. This year’s theme is “A Century of Excellence,” celebrating the cars of California builder Frank Kurtis. Specifics from Al Novotnik at (203) 847-7478.

Paralyzed race-car owner Sam Schmidt made the business pages recently for borrowing $4.5 million to buy 20 million shares of stock in troubled Standard Management Corp., to become its largest shareholder. Standard is involved in several diverse businesses.

Up, up and up! That’s the message the American Le Mans Series is sending about television viewership of its races. TV watching is up 37 percent over last year, while at-track attendance this year has jumped to 106,000 per race with Sebring’s 170,000 the high mark so far this year.

I’ve long-beefed about too many foreign drivers being in stateside open-wheel racing series, but here’s a change. Californian Troy Castaneda, a 2007 graduate of a Sacramento high school, has journeyed off to Italy to take part in the six-race Italian Formula Master open-wheel series, which begins in June. He took his first kart ride in 2004 after an injury ended his competitive gymnastic aspirations. Despite being the youngest competitor in the class, Castaneda won the 2006 Northern California Rotax title. We wish him well in sunny Italy.