Where does $15 million in annual prize money rank a performer in today’s high-paying sports world? In auto racing’s case only 20th! On the roster of the world’s highest paid athletes, that’s where Nextel Cup champion Jimmie Johnson’s $15,313,020 in 2007 winnings left him. The highest paid athlete listed for 2007 is boxing’s Oscar de la Hoya at $53 million, followed by another boxer, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. at $50 million. Next is the NFL’s Dwight Freeney at $30,750,000. Atop Johnson’s 20th place listing on this all-male roster are two from boxing, four from the NFL, six from Major League Baseball and seven NBA basketballers. What is not taken into consideration is the 60-percent share of auto-racing prize money most car owners take.  This means Jimmie Johnson is driving for starvation wages! The above numbers pale alongside the 20 million Euro (30-plus million dollar) fine just levied by Italian tax authorities on motorcyclist Valentino Rossi on some undeclared 50 million Euros of winnings over the past 10 years.  

A new engine rule for NASCAR’s Craftsman Truck Series vehicles is not sitting well with drivers. It mandates a carburetor spacer that looks much like the restrictor plate currently in use at the Daytona and Talladega tracks. It is one-inch thick with holes tapered from 1-1/4” diameter at the top to 1-1/8” diameter at the bottom and will be used at all tracks the Truck and Nationwide Series cars will run. Officials say this spacer lowers engine revs by 500 and should save teams money throughout the season. But drivers who tested the new unit at Atlanta say it cuts power by some 70 horses — too many — they say, reporting the 100-percent full-throttle running it allows all the way around race tracks inhibits their ability to pass another truck.

Joey Clanton, who has been grabbing attention down South, recently signed to drive a Roush-Fenway Ford F-150 in the Craftsman Truck Series. John Quinn, who as a 2007 crew chief won a race for Eric Darnell, will captain Clanton’s No. 09 pickup.

Pre-season betting favors a Team Hendrick driver winning the 2008 Sprint Cup in light of Hendrick cars having won exactly half of the 36 Cup races run in 2007 and on Saturday, winning the first race (Budweiser Shootout) of the 2008 season, which also marked a first-time Team Hendrick win for new driving hire Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

Is Toyota now seeking a “Green” racing car? The Japanese automaker recently announced plans for a hybrid racing car. Employees at its headquarters facility say it plans to enter the car in France’s 24-Hours of Le Mans race in 2010. But all the company’s PR department is saying is that it is “Doing R&D toward participating in auto races with hybrid vehicles,” with no mention of Le Mans.

Catching many eyes at the Chicago Auto Show, which runs through the 17th, is the ’08 Dodge Challenger SRT8 Muscle Car. Little changed from the 1970 original. It carries a 6.1 liter 425 horsepower Hemi V8 and will cost you $40,095 (thanks to the $2,100 gas guzzler tax) when it hits dealerships in June. Race fans are reveling in memory of the original Trans-Am Series. Come this fall the Dodge Challenger will offer a variety of V8 and V6 engines says the company. These new models can be previewed at next month’s New York Auto Show at Manhattan’s Javits Center.

Here’s a pat on the back for Bob Bondurant, who this week celebrates 40 years in the high-performance driving instruction business. Bondurant’s “campus” in the Gila River Indian community of Chandler, Arizona, has turned out hundreds of ace drivers in its 40-year tenure.

A spokesman for Penske Automotive Group, parent of Smart USA, says the first SmartForTwo cars were delivered to U.S. customers in January. The tiny three-cylinder 70 HP cars are being distributed by a network of 68 dealers in 38 states. The company says waiting time for a SmartForTwo car is now about a year as some 30,000 reservations for the car have already been made.

Missing Dan Luginbuhl? The Penske Corp. is now advertising for a Director of Communications-Marketing for the IRL and ALMS series.

Down the road, lighter Corvettes with smaller V8 engines will be seen  as less-powerful versions appear, says ’Vette executive Tom Wallace. At the Detroit Auto Show he said fuel economy is now the most important aspect of future engine design now that carbon footprint and other key facets have been addressed. Principal goal is reducing pounds per horsepower. But the 2008 ’Vette lineup includes a 430 horsepower 6.2 liter V8 and 505 horsepower 7-liter V8. Its 2009 ZR1 model will be lighter and more zippy due to the use of carbon fiber in place of some heavier metal body parts thanks to a 620-plus HP supercharged 6.2 liter V8 power unit. Ultimate goal is meeting the 35 mpg fleet average fuel economy by 2020. 

The annual U.S. sports attendance survey by Business Wire, following the recent Super Bowl game, showed Pro Football as the most-followed U.S. sport with a 30 percent fan following, ahead of baseball at 15 percent, trailed by college football at 12 percent and auto racing with 10 percent. Of importance to readers of this newspaper is the doubling of auto racing percentage from the five percent recorded in the previous survey.

Canada’s popular Motorsports Expo in Toronto’s Congress Centre has new dates due to construction delays at the Centre. Organizer Glenn Butt tells us it will now be held Feb. 29 thru March 2. More from Butt at (905) 721-1782.

Alabama’s Talladega Superspeedway is one beneficiary of the state’s new tourism department’s declaration that 2008 is “The Year of Alabama Sports.” A Birmingham ad agency has been charged with creating TV commercials touting the state’s principal sports events, including Alabama Speedweek in Talladega.

Try www.milwaukeemile.com for a look at the new Web site of the Milwaukee Mile, which recently debuted.