National Speed Sport News

A New Points System
OK NASCAR, we've had enough of your goofiness.

If you really want to know which race-car driver did the best job at the end of the year, there is only one way to find out, and there is no other.

Drop the Chase. Award no points for the pole or for a lap led during the race. These things mean nothing. The winner of a race should be awarded 43 points. The driver taking last placeread more

Cup Drivers Have To Go
For a few years now I've been watching Cup drivers setting and breaking all sorts of Nationwide Series (Busch Series) records. This group of drivers includes Mark Martin, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch.

When all is said and done there most certainly must be an asterisk next to the names of these current drivers in the Nationwide Series record books.

Sam Ard, Tommy Houston,read more

50 Years Ago - August 3, 1960
Athol Graham, 36, was killed Monday when his hand-built car skidded and flipped while attempting to break the land speed record at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats. Graham was traveling in excess of 300 mph when the rear drive wheels broke loose from the salt under acceleration from the car's 3,000-horsepower airplane engine.

25 Years Ago - August 7, 1985
Dean Thompsonread more

Helio Was The Winner
The IRL made a huge mistake by taking the win from Mr. Castroneves during the event in Edmonton.

Helio may have tried to make his car a bit wider, yet he didn't make any erratic moves or dangerous ones. Drivers fight for every spot they can take during the race and not one of them will simply give their place away.

A much faster car is one thing to yield to, not an equal oneread more

Just Good, Hard Racing
Most people think what Carl Edwards did to Brad Keselowski was uncalled for. I disagree, and I consider myself somewhat of a BK fan.

If the roles were reversed, I think BK would've been justified by taking out Edwards. It's unfortunate because of the big hit the No. 22 took after he came to a stop, but as a fan I appreciate the wild action as opposed to just watching Edwardsread more

Traco And Mauri Rose
I enjoyed the piece on "traco" and Jim Travers and Frank Coon written by Bob Gates in a recent issue of National Speed Sport News. While Gates did a good job of covering their career in a brief article, he did not mention that they had worked for three-time Indy champion Mauri Rose.
Bill Chester
Bryan, Texas

Missing From The List
After reading Ye Ed's column from the July 7thread more

Save Angell Park!
After spending Independence Day weekend at Angell Park Speedway in beautiful Sun Prairie, Wis., for a two-day USAC midget show, one thing became apparent: A Prairie Burger is a terrible thing to waste.

Angell Park is widely known as the home of several important things. The National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame, perhaps the finest dirt track for midgets on the planet and, ofread more

Robby Got Dissed!
I have been an avid reader of National Speed Sport News for many years, but I took exception to the coverage of the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Infineon Raceway.

We all know that Jimmie Johnson is a great driver. Do we need a three column "Marcos's Mistake" story all about Johnson? There is second story about Johnson's memories, which mentions Johnson, Marcos Ambrose, Chad Knaus,read more

When the Aug. 16, 1961, issue of National Speed Sport News arrived in mailboxes, race fans were shocked by the front-page headline: "RACE LEADERS BATTLE TEAMSTER INROADS."

The issue included four stories, along with statements from NASCAR's Bill France and USAC's Tom Binford, detailing efforts by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to unionize professional race-car drivers through theread more

More IndyCar Ovals, Please
Once again the IRL has ended its short series of oval-track racing. There is very little interesting in street racing. The IRL does not need that kind of racing, where they seem to tear up a lot of expensive equipment.

Years ago the "pavement pounders" seemed to have voted out the good USAC/IRL racing, which was a terrible mistake. If those guys want to come to Americaread more

A Great Hoosier Hundred
This year marked the 57th or 58th running of the Hoosier Hundred depending on who you want to listen to. Dick Jordan of USAC goes with 58th, so that's good enough for me.

I have attended all of them and this was one of the best in recent years. I attended the first one in 1953, crawling around in the grandstand trying to take home as much dirt as possible (I was 6 years oldread more

Unacceptable Fire Safety
I watched the Texas IndyCar race on TV June 5. It was very good except for the accident with the bad fire.
The first truck on the scene took way too long and then they had some kind of trouble with the hose. When they finally got it to the car, nothing came out!
By then the second truck pulled up with a lot less trouble, except for being too slow to arrive. All the timeread more

USAC Has Some Issues
If there ever was an organization that needed to go the way of AAA, it's USAC. The race fields are dwindling big time (especially Silver Crown and midgets).

A few short years ago the Hoosier Hundred drew 50 to 55 entries, but now it draws 36. The midget division is in disarray (several teams pulled out at the end of last year) and USAC has no clear vision as to what to do inread more

In Response...
Dear Brad Mehlinger in Derby, Miss.,
I, too, am a bit disheartened with modern motorsports sanctioning bodies, but what you are suggesting for an economy run is promoted once or twice a year, known as a solar-powered event.
You can join the other four fans and when you cheer the cars on as they crawl by, the drivers will actually be able to hear you over the "woosh" of theirread more

Penalize Bowyer!
After watching the Nationwide race on Saturday afternoon (May 15) I cannot decide who is the bigger offender - Clint Bowyer or NASCAR: Bowyer for his absolutely idiotic move on Denny Hamlin or NASCAR for not giving Hamlin his spot back.
The race was under a yellow flag. Hamlin was minding his own business in second spot with a chance to win the race and Bowyer took him out ofread more

Good Condition
At Eldora Speedway last night the track was in great shape. Thanks Tony, the USAC sprints were spectacular.
I see where Tony has invited this year's Indy winner to come to Eldora. That would be neat to see, but in my eyes what would be more special would be to have last night's modified winner race once more at Indy.
Come back Tony and win at the speedway for us and for othersread more

Words From Jack Miller
Thanks to National Speed Sport News, Dave Argabright, Ken Cormack, Steve Hardin and several other outstanding members of our auto-racing fraternity, our mailbox has been jammed for the last two weeks with cards and letters from all over the world offering their best wishes for a speedy recovery from my massive stomach surgery.
My wife Louise and I have received lettersread more

Lucky Technicality
J.C. France has been reinstated as a Grand Am Series driver and his arrest has been overturned on a technicality, what a shock!
I guess when you're a France even drug possession doesn't mean much. Now J.C. can continue to use daddy's (and granddaddy's) money and influence to avoid any type of responsibility.
Perhaps J.C. can take an official position in the family business;read more

50 Years Ago - April 27, 1960
USAC officials announced the sanctioning body's midget division had been renamed the USAC 110 Offenhauser Division. A USAC statement said, "The name midget is being changed in order to give the paying public a more clear and better understanding idea of what type of show they will see and can expect."

25 Years Ago - May 1, 1985
Noting he "just wasn't comfortable outread more

Problems At Cherokee
I went to the late-model fiasco at Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, S.C., Saturday (April 17). The way some of these promoters run these shows always leaves me wondering where their heads are.
Qualifying the late models at close to 9 p.m. and then running all the beginner classes first is totally inconsiderate to all the fans who came to see the late models.
I don't know howread more

Thanks To Kasey Kahne
This past weekend I attended the races at Williams Grove and Lincoln and had a great time.
I met Kasey Kahne and asked him to autograph some items for me and for some of my friends who couldn't attend the races that weekend.
We spoke before the racing activities started and he was very gracious. He autographed all the photos I had and also some parts (hoods and wings) forread more

Eldora Letdown
What happened at Eldora Easter weekend? We were there Saturday night, the parking lot was dry and it only sprinkled for about 15 minutes.
Canceled due to weather? I am the non-winged USAC fan you want. I stay at the local motels (Celina), eat locally and at the track and buy clothes at the track. I have spent my weeks and my vacation money following Indiana Speedweek and had aread more

A safety innovation that forever changed superspeedway racing debuted on May 5, 2002.

That's the day practice for the 86th Indianapolis 500 started at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and 4,240 feet of the track's concrete retaining wall was covered with the new Steel and Foam Energy Reduction (SAFER) barrier.

Under development by the Indy Racing League and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Midwestread more

Reviving The Novi
Referencing the March 24, 2010, edition of NSSN, section 'Torn From The Headlines,' under 'Countdown to 100,' "No car had a more star-crossed career at Indianapolis than the Novi. The supercharged V-8 debuted in 1946…"
I am honored to say I have the original Miller/Ford/Novi that debuted at Indianapolis in 1941, not 1946. It was driven by Chet Miller, who started 10thread more

Midget Racing Needs Help
Midget auto racing is dying. How long can a sport using $50,000 motors and racing for $500 purses last, especially without a TV package?
What began as a hobbyist sport is now the most expensive of the open-wheel, front- engine divisions. You have sanctioning bodies, promoters, engine builders, chassis builders and owners who would all like to make some money from a fanread more

Disappointed In Gibbs
I could not believe it when Joe Gibbs changed to Toyota after great success with GM race cars.
Also, Michael Waltrip and Rusty Wallace both made millions driving American-brand race cars and both went with Toyotas. What happened to patriotism toward our country and its products?
It appears Toyota is offering sweet deals and won't stop until it dominates all the series.read more

No Respect For Edwards
I am a NASCAR fan and like all NASCAR fans I have my favorite driver. I am proud to say Tony Stewart is my favorite driver.
Respect is the name of the game and my respect is given to all NASCAR drivers who race throughout the year, but I have lost all respect for Carl Edwards and his blatant attempt to harm another driver during the Atlanta race March 7. I no longer haveread more

National Speed Sport News has seen an influx of letters from readers concerning the Carl Edwards/Brad Keselowski incident during Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. We've decided to share some of those letters with our readers.

Yesterday NASCAR announced it would be placing Carl Edwards on probation for three races, with no further actions against him expected by theread more

Hockey Over NASCAR
Sunday a group of us got so tired of seeing one driver leading lap after lap that we switched to the Olympic hockey game.
None of us are hockey fans, but we all agreed the game was far more exciting than the Vegas race (even the finish was not close and also boring).
How about using restrictor plates on tracks the size of Vegas? Maybe it will create close racing with TVread more

Honoring Bob Higman
Thank you to all of Bob Higman's racing friends and family who expressed their sympathy by donating to his memorial and took time to join us by honoring a great legend and a very kind man. He is missed.
Pat Kirkpatrick
Lafayette, Ind.

What About DirecTV?
I read with interest the comments of Randy Bernard, the newly appointed IndyCar CEO, concerning his vision on how to growread more