The National Hot Rod Ass’n recently completed its biggest event, the six-day 54th-annual running of the U.S. Nationals at O’Reilly’s Raceway Park, long known as Indianapolis Raceway Park, in nearby Clermont. While the prize money, $2.5 million, was the highest in NHRA history, the “mileage” contested was the shortest in history as, for the first time at the U.S. Nationals, the Funny Car and Top Fuel class drivers traveled only 1,000 feet instead of the traditional 1,329 foot (quarter mile) distance. This week the series heads to North Carolina for the debut race at zMAX Dragway.

Will wonders never cease? Auto mags are reporting Cadillac is now gearing up to produce a new four-cylinder model! This, from the only car company in this country that at one time proudly sold a deluxe offering with a 16-cylinder engine. 

With major changes coming in Mazda’s engines and powertrain systems, one wonders if those involved in the Star Mazda Racing Series will have to go to the new direct-injection engine Mazda is now touting. The company, now closely allied with Ford, never mentions rotary engines, a design it hyped heavily a decade ago, but is now long forgotten.

It will be interesting to watch the newly announced team of Scott Dixon and Gil de Ferran, Indy 500 winners both, in the 10-hour Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta on Oct. 4. Neither are considered “long–distance” drivers.

The victory by Penskeman Helio Castroneves at Sonoma just days after a highway fire destroyed the team’s primary cars marked the second time the Penske team won a race days after a devastating incident damaged its cars. The first episode came in 2006 when the team headquarters in Reading, Pa., was flooded and its cars seriously damaged. The team rallied and won next time out at Kansas Speedway.

Jeff Gordon came in for some unexpected publicity when he was mentioned on TV newscasts as spectating at the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York. Are you a player, Jeff?

An event new to Atlanta Motor Speedway, the ACDelco Street Drag Nationals, is scheduled Sept. 19-20. It replaces the NOPI Nationals Motorsports Supershow, which was canceled last month. The Atlanta track’s dragstrip gets busier and busier every year. The ACDelco affair includes hot rods, tuners and drag cars and will include a Show-N-Shine competition each day.

Harking back to my recent visit to the debut weekend of New Jersey Motorsports Park is the excellent handiwork of Atlantic City Press reporter Jayson Mazda. His copy was appropriately tailored to the newcomer, as the weekend events were the first motorsport activity in the area since the huge banked board Atlantic City Speedway up the road in Hammonton in the 1920s. One of Mazda’s pieces dealt with the difficulty of getting in and out of cars quickly during the two-driver headline event. He revealed, to the inch, the dimensions of the cars’ doors, width of seat and headroom for drivers, including driver quotes explaining often getting banged up effecting the quick in-and-out changes with their co-pilots during such events.

Party time in Indy? For the 100th anniversary of the first race at Indianapolis Speedway — a motorcycle race — big plans are being made for a Feb. 27, 2009 birthday party at Indy’s Convention Center. Tickets at $300 a person are now being sold for the event, which includes a cocktail party in the 500 Ballroom, dinner and entertainment in the Sagamore Ballroom. Proceeds will benefit the Hall of Fame Museum on 16th Street. The 500-mile race’s 100th birthday does not come until 2011.

We received news that legendary modified racer Bugs Stevens is on the mend. Sadly, Bugs has Lyme Disease, which somehow triggered Guillain Barre Syndrome. According to his wife, Doris, he is improving, but remains hospitalized at South East Rehabilitation Center in Fall River, Mass.

Former MARC Times Publisher Dick Beebe makes his National Speed Sport News this week (page 5). We welcome him and his loyal readers, who will begin receiving NSSN this week. Welcome aboard.