Newsmaker of the Week

Brad Keselowski has won NASCAR Cup races before, lots of them in fact. But chances are his Atlanta win last Sunday is one he’ll never forget, and for all the wrong reasons. Keselowski as sick as a dog all weekend, ill enough to miss his practices and personal appearances. His race day status was questionable enough that Austin Cindric was …

Among the many achievements race car drivers registered last week in Florida, on both dirt and asphalt, using full-fender cars and open cockpit machines, none eclipses the run of Brandon Sheppard. For four nights on the lightning fast Volusia Speedway Park clay, Sheppard drove Mark Richards’ Rocket house car to the winners’ circle every time. That’s four straight features, backed …

Race tracks have been changing hands at a rapid rate over the last several years. But no one has had the sledgehammer impact that Chris Larsen has had on Orange County Fair Speedway, a track in Middletown, N.Y. with nearly 100 years of racing history that was desperately in need of a makeover. One year into his five-year lease at …

Tim Shaffer, the ‘Steel City Outlaw’ got off to the best start in his long and storied career this past weekend at Bubba’s Speedway Park in Ocala, Fla. Shaffer won the first two races of a three-race All Star Circuit Of Champions mini-series that kicked off the 2019 410 Sprint season nationwide. A hard charger, and immensely popular, Shaffer charged …

Andy Jankowiak’s dream of winning the Indoor Auto Racing Series’ premier race, the Gambler’s Classic inside Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall, was realized Saturday night. And the delightfully eccentric driver couldn’t have been happier. This was Jankowiak’s Classic from the first lap of practice until the checkered flag fell. He was picture perfect all weekend. In the past, he’d been blindingly …

Christopher Bell moved past Kyle Larson on the final lap of Saturday night’s Chili Bowl and raced his way into history. Close finishes in this race are nothing new, but this one had a special feel as two great midget drivers, each fully engaged in NASCAR career pursuits, battled down to the wire. The Chili Bowl is one of those …

Teenager Max McLaughlin’s meteoric rise through the ranks of auto racing got an incalculable boost last week. Flush with success on the Super DIRTcar Series circuit and the upstate New York weekly big block tracks, Max packed his bags and headed back to Mooresville, NC where he has been hired to drive by Hattori Motorsports – the same organization that won …

In his twelve years as a racing businessman, Brett Deyo has distinguished himself as an accessible, energetic and innovative promoter. Since taking over the reigns at Fonda (NY) Speedway, Deyo has sought to rebuild a once fine Fairgrounds oval that had fallen on tough tines. Without yet having turned a wheel, Deyo propelled Fonda into the headlines this past week when …

The second running of the East Coast Indoor Dirt Nationals is now history. And the winner is an expert on dirt tracks with full size cars and on concrete tracks with TQ Midgets. Erick Rudolph, among the most versatile competitors in racing, raced to victory in the $5,000-to-win 600 Micro Sprint feature, this after wining his heat race and A-Main Qualifier. He …

Christmas came early for  Ryan Smith and it came in the form of the seat in Michael Heffner’s 410 Sprint cars. The choice of Smith by Heffner was an easy one. They had, after all, been together before when Heffner first started owning Sprints. Between that first time and this next time to come, Heffner’s team was shaken to its …