ORLANDO, Fla. — The World Racing Group, which owns the World of Outlaws, DIRT and UMP as well as several race tracks, announced that its Lernerville Speedway in western Pennsylvania will pay $40,000 to win for both of its major races in 2008. The track will be celebrating its 40th anniversary. The Don Martin Memorial for the World of Outlaws sprint cars and the Firecracker 400 for the World of Outlaws Late Model Series will each pay 40Gs to the winner.

• ASA Racing President Dennis Huth said ASA will be offering a new form of insurance to its competitors. In the past, ASA members have received a $500,000 insurance policy that covers them at the race track.
But the policy, to be written by WSIB Motorsports Insurance, will cover competitors from the time they leave their homes to head to the track until the time they return back to their residence. Huth says it is the first such program in motorsports.

• Playboy magazine announced its sponsorship of the Mazda MX-5 Cup racing series. The series is part of the MazdaSpeed Motorsports Development Ladder which promotes champions of Mazda series to the next level of their careers.
The MX-5 Cup champion receives a Mazda-supported ride in the SCCA Speed World Challenge Touring Car championship.

• The 20th annual Performance Racing Industry Trade Show, the third-straight at the Orange County Convention Center, drew more than 1,400 exhibitors and a record 4,265 booths. It was the largest PRI show yet.
Exhibitors used more than 7,000 hotel rooms in the Orlando area and came to Orange County from 45 countries.

• Sprint-car driver Kenny Adams and his longtime friend and crew chief Red Stauffer stopped by the NSSN booth. Adams is looking forward to the 2008 season with the American Sprint Car Series Rebel region. Adams says the series will have 27 races within five hours of his Florida home. It would be the least amount of traveling he’s done in years.

• Teenage sprint-car driver Dakotah Stephens and his parents also visited with NSSN. Stephens destroyed his car in a spectacular crash during the Florida 400 and did not compete in the Mopar Sprint & Midget Classic. Stephens, who checked out fine with doctors, does not remember the crash.

• Former team owner Daryl Saucier, who now builds fuel pumps through his DSR Racing company, has gotten more involved with the racing end of the sport again in the last few years. Saucier told NSSN he will work with California sprint-car ace Damion Gardner in 2008, racing primarily in the Midwest in cars owned by Gardner.

• Skip Barber Racing School announced a regional racing series for the Mazda MX-5 Cup car, which is one of the most popular cars in amateur and professional road racing.
The Skip Barber Mazda MX-5 Cup Regional Race Series will use MX-5 cars converted by  Skip Barber Racing to similar specifications as those raced in the SCCA Pro Racing Mazda MX—5 Cup. Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and Road Atlanta will be among the race tracks where the series will race in 2008.

• Former Attica Raceway Park promoter Gene Frankart, who now works for the University of Northwest Ohio and its Limaland Motorsports Park, was walking the show touting the merits of the UNOH program that allows students to build, work on and race their own cars at the quarter-mile oval.

• The Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals will be offered live on HBO Pay Per View Jan. 12. While NSSN readers learned about the program via an ad in last week’s issue, the television agreement was officially announced. The program will be sold for $24.95 and can be ordered from www.hbo.com.

• The Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series confirmed a Labor Day weekend event at the under-construction Thunderbolt Raceway in Millville, N.J. The Grand Am Rolex Series and the Grand Am Koni Challenge Series will be part of the Aug. 30-31 event on the 2.3-mile road course.

• Lucas Oil will sponsor Speed Wong Racing’s two-car entry in the NASCAR Grand National West Series for drivers Jason Patison and Brian Wong.

• Former Indy Car driver and Pikes Peak Hill Climb winner Robby Unser has formed Robby Unser Racing to participate in drifting competition in 2008.