July 30, 2008 - NSSN Staffer Starts Charity

• National Speed Sport News staffer Liz Mellott saw a need and started a new charity, "Petey's Promise," a pet-food pantry that is intent on helping pet owners who are struggling financially care for their pets. Fellow NSSN staffer Sara Barkman and NSSN Publisher Corinne Economaki serve on the non-profit organization's board. Petey's Promise was featured in a local news article published by the Concord (N.C.) Independent-Tribune. Read the Independent-Tribune's article by clicking here and visit www.peteyspromise.org for more information.

Report: Truex Staying With DEI

• ESPN has reported that Martin Truex, Jr. has signed a two-year agreement that will keep the driver at Dale Earnhardt, Inc.

July 24, 2008 - Mosley Wins Lawsuit

• According to an Associated Press report, FIA head Max Mosley won an invasion of privacy suit Thursday against a tabloid newspaper that claimed he took part in a Nazi orgy. High Court judge David Eady ruled the News of the World must pay Mosley $120,000 in damages, plus legal costs of an estimated $1.7 million, for the story claiming Mosley participated in a sadomasochistic sex romp with a Third Reich theme. The 68-year-old Mosley has acknowledged he participated in an encounter with sex workers in a basement apartment in London, but says it was private and that there were no Nazi overtones. Mosley said the ruling exposed “the Nazi lie upon which the News of the World sought to justify their disgraceful intrusion into my private life.

NASCAR Cuts Toyota Horsepower

• NASCAR ordered all the Toyota motors in the Nationwide Series to use a smaller carbeurator spacer that will knock down 15 horsepower in the motors.

NHRA Selects Panel

• The National Hot Rod Ass'n has named the members of a safety task force created to investigate, analyze and determine ways to implement added safety measures in drag racing. The move comes in the wake of the death of longtime racer Scott Kalitta in a Funny Car crash on June 21. The task force is headed by Dan Olson, NHRA director of Top Fuel and Funny Car racing. He is joined by Austin Coil, crew chief for John Force Racing; Jim Head, Funny Car driver/crew chief; Alan Johnson, crew chief for the U.S. Army Top Fuel dragster; Jon Oberhofer, crew chief for Top Fuel driver Doug Kalitta; Mark Oswald, co-crew chief on Melanie Troxel’s Funny Car; and Tim Wilkerson, Funny Car driver/crew chief. Other representatives from NHRA and the Professional Racers Owners Organization (PRO) will also participate.

Labonte In No. 10 At Pocono

• Gillett Evernham Motorsports announced today that Terry Labonte will drive the No. 10 Charter Dodge in the Aug. 3 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway. Labonte, 51, the 1984 and 1996 Sprint Cup series champion, will substitute for Patrick Carpentier who is racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race that weekend in his hometown of Montreal. “I think anyone who follows our sport knows the caliber of driver and person Terry Labonte is,” said Tom Reddin, Gillett Evernham Motorsports CEO. “We appreciate Terry’s willingness to step in and help us out for a weekend.” Labonte owns 857 starts in his career including six in 2008 with Petty Enterprises. He finished 30th at Pocono in June. Carpentier is a veteran open wheel driver who moved to NASCAR late last season and is racing the No. 10 Dodge fulltime in the Sprint Cup Series. He finished second in the Montreal race last year and will pilot the No. 9 SUBWAY Dodge in the race on Aug. 2.

July 23, 2008 - ALMS Crew Member Improving, Transferred

• De Ferran Motorsports crew member Keith Jones, injured in Saturday’s American Le Mans Series race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, was transferred Tuesday from the Ohio State University Medical Center to the Richard M. Fairbanks Burn Center at Wishard in the Wishard Health Services in Indianapolis. Jones’s condition has been updated from critical to serious today. Jones was burned during a fire in the pits at Mid-Ohio. The team has asked that all wishes and cards for Keith Jones be sent to the de Ferran Motorsports headquarters in Brownsburg, Ind. The team headquarters are listed below: Keith Jones, c/o De Ferran Motorsports, 485 Southpoint Circle, Suite 900, Brownsburg, IN 46112.

Who's Kahne's Bud?

• Budweiser officials said the brewery will upgrade from associate sponsor to primary sponsor of Kasey Kahne's World of Outlaws team for 2009.

July 18, 2008 - Slack Leaving LMS

• The fallout from the "sudden retirement" of longtime Speedway Motorsports, Inc., and Lowe's Motor Speedway President H.A. Humpy Wheeler continued this week, with the resignation of Lowe's Motor Speedway Vice President of Events Roger Slack. Slack, who had been with LMS for 11 years, will leave the company at the end of July and hopes to find work in the short-track industry.

July 17, 2008 - Dollar General To Sponsor Fisher

• Sarah Fisher has found sponsorship for two IndyCar Series races. Fisher announced Wednesday that Dollar General would sponsor a car fielded by the team she owns for the Meijer 300 at the Kentucky Speedway on Aug. 9 and the Chicagoland 300 on Sept. 7. In 2002, Fisher became the first woman to start from the pole in a major U.S. open-wheel race at the Kentucky Speedway. “It’s great to return to Kentucky with my own team,” she told The Associated Press. “I’ve done well there in the past, and I believe I can do just as well or better with my own team behind me. In May, her initial sponsors backed out of their deals after Fisher and her husband poured their life savings into Sarah Fisher Racing. She found new sponsors for the Indy 500 and fans pitched in, donating more than $50,000 to help Fisher, but her car was taken out in a crash on lap 106.

Tracy To Race At Edmonton

• According to the AP, The former CART champion will drive in the July 26 Rexall Edmonton Indy in a car fielded by Walker Racing, supported by Vision Racing and sponsored by Subway. “It’s going to be good to be back in a race car and see how we can do,” Tracy told The Associated Press in a Tuesday phone call. “A lot of these (IndyCar) teams are pretty tired right now. They’ve had a bunch of races in a short time and there have been a lot of crashes, so people are kind of run into the ground. We’re coming in fresh, with a fresh outlook and a lot of motivation.” The 39-year-old Tracy, winner of 31 races in CART and its later iteration as Champ Car, found himself out of a ride when Champ Car was absorbed into the IRL’s IndyCar Series in February. Forsythe Championship Racing, for whom the Canadian raced in recent years, closed down rather than joining teams moving to the IRL for the 2008 season.

July 15, 2008 - Stremme Or Truex To No. 12?

• This according to the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal: Penske has offered no hints as to who might replace Ryan Newman. Newman will not return next year to Penske and appears to be weighing options from Stewart-Haas, Richard Childress Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing. As far as Newman's replacement, Martin Truex Jr.’s name has been mentioned, but Truex’s current contract with DEI is still the subject of legal debate, and it is unclear if DEI will indeed force Truex to return for another season or give him his release. Truex has been pushing quietly to become a free agent. David Stremme, who drove for fellow Dodge owner Chip Ganassi until being released at the end of last season, has been a Penske test driver this season, and Stremme could also be under consideration.

July 11, 2008 - DEI Will Appeal Penalties

• Dale Earnhardt Inc. is appealing the penalty NASCAR levied on the team and driver Martin Truex Jr. earlier this week. NASCAR penalized Truex and DEI 150 points after his No. 1 car failed to fit a roof template during its initial inspection at Daytona International Speedway last weekend. The 150-point penalty dropped Truex from 14th in the standings to 18th. Crew chief Kevin “Bono” Manion and car chief Gary Putnam were suspended from the next six races and placed on probation until the end of the year, but are allowed to continue working with the team while the penalty is being appealed. Manion was also fined $100,000.

Franchitti, Ganassi To Meet Today

• According to the Associated Press, Dario Franchitti will meet with car owner Chip Ganassi today to determine the next step for Franchitti's career. The Ganassi-owned No. 40 ceased operations last week due to a lack of sponsorship, leaving Franchitti and 70 Ganassi employees without jobs. Franchitti said he is weighing his options, but doubts a return to the IndyCar Series, where he won the 2007 championship and the 2007 Indianapolis 500.

Penske Mourning Death Of Team Member

• Penske Racing is mourning the loss of transportation coordinator Bill Passwater, who died earlier this week. All three Penske cars will carry commemorative decals at Chicagoland this weekend, as will the Penske IndyCar Series entries at Nashville Superspeedway and the American Le Mans Series entries at Lime Rock. Passwater was 33.

RCR Denies Split With Sponsor

• Richard Childress Racing issued a statement denying reports that sponsor Jack Daniel’s would leave the team after the 2008 season: “Jack Daniel’s and Richard Childress Racing have a contract through the 2009 season. Any reports in the media to the contrary are simply not accurate.”

July 9, 2008 - Sopenzo New Chief For McDowell

• Michael Waltrip Racing announced Peter Sospenzo will take over as crew chief of the No. 00 Champion Mortgage Toyota Camry beginning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the remainder of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Bill Pappas, who previously served as Michael McDowell’s crew chief, will advance to head of engineering. “Walking into Michael Waltrip Racing for the first time last night, I was surprised by how beautiful the facility is and how efficient the operation has become and I am really looking forward to working here,” Sospenzo said. “When I heard there may be a change, I started talking to Dr. Eric Warren and Cal Wells. I worked with Ryan Pemberton at Ginn Racing and stayed in touch with him. It’s going to be nice to work with him again and also work with Bobby Kennedy.”

July 2, 2008 - Kerry Earnhardt To Race DEI Car

• For the first time in his career, Kerry Earnhardt, the son of seven-time NASCAR Champion Dale Earnhardt, will drive a Dale Earnhardt, Inc. entry in a NASCAR race. Earnhardt will pilot the No. 8 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet in the July 4 Daytona 250 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway. “I've won several races with DEI in an ARCA car, but I'm really looking forward to driving a fast car at Daytona under the DEI umbrella,” Earnhardt said.  “I appreciate DEI giving me the opportunity to get back in a car; especially one that I know will be fast and competitive.  I love running the speedways (Daytona and Talladega) and can’t wait for the weekend to get here.” Earnhardt, who currently works at DEI as a team liaison, will be making his 70th-career start in the series, but only his fifth Nationwide start since 2003. He most recently competed regularly in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2006. It will be Earnhardt’s ninth-career Nationwide Series start at Daytona International Speedway.

Pocono Race Plans Announced

• Brandon Igdalsky, president of Pocono Raceway, Tom Foley, CEO of the American Red Cross Southeastern Pennsylvania (SEPA) Chapter, and Bob Owens, senior vice president of Sunoco, today announced the details for the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500, to take place August 1-3. A partnership of Sunoco, Pocono Raceway and the American Red Cross Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter was formed to provide much-needed funds to help people throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania recover from devastating disaster.  Through this partnership, Pocono Raceway is also donating a portion of the proceeds from ticket sales and merchandise, as well as providing other revenue-generating efforts to benefit the Red Cross SEPA Chapter’s Red Cross House.  “This is the first time since 1997 Pocono Raceway has changed the name of the race – Pocono Raceway admires and respects the work of the Red Cross and wanted to help support its mission and the great work they do for families in Pennsylvania,” stated  Igdalsky.