Newsmaker of the Week

Joanne “Joanie” Mahoney is a name readers of Area Auto Racing News have most likely never heard of. But she has certainly is ingratiating herself into the collective conscience of auto racing fans. She is the County Executive of Onondaga County, N.Y. and the architect of a $50 million redevelopment scheme that would transform the New York State Fairgrounds at …

  The old adage, “everybody talks about the weather, but no one can do anything about it” may be true, but this past week’s latest temperature and precipitation misery has forced the hands of promoters, even those with events weeks away.  It all started with USAC and ASCS rainouts in sunny Florida.  Then, Lincoln (PA) Speedway gave up for the …

Two of the biggest races of Speedweeks in Florida were won last week by drivers with Northern roots.  Daytona 500 winner Joey Logano is a North Carolinian today as most every NASCAR National Series driver is. But his racing career blossomed in his native Middletown, Connecticut.  From the time he first drove Quarter Midgets at ‘Little T’ in Thompson, Ct., …

Ahh, that Florida weather! Yes, it’s too cold to take a plunge in the Atlantic Ocean, and yes, it has been cold enough at New Smyrna, Volusia, Ocala and East Bay to see your breath some nights when the races are over. Florida’s relative warmth is the reason the outdoor racing season gets a jump start. Fields of cars have …

Tony Stewart’s All Star Circuit Of Champions made its debut at Bubba Ocala Speedway last weekend and Australian born Kerry Madsen is sure glad it did. Madsen authored an improbable and immensely satisfying three-for-three start to his season and devastated the competition each time. By the end of the weekend, 410 Sprint Car fans were asking one another, ‘is this …

There was a time when Erick Rudolph could be a hard guy to interview. But not any longer. This talented wheelman was in charge of Saturday night’s Gamblers Classic inside Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall, a high profile race that’s hard to win. He was eager to talk about the winning car Mark Lafler built for him, about his dirt track …

Since he burst upon the racing scene as a pre-teenager, Jeff Gordon has excelled.  And when his career began at NASCAR’s upper echelon, Gordon became an instant star.  Wins and championships seemed to come easily to a driver who outran those previously up front often.  Along the way, Jeff Gordon changed racing. Parents at quarter midget tracks nationwide imagined their …

The chant was said to have been the most raucous in the twenty-nine year history of the Tulsa, Oklahoma’s the Chili Bowl.  And the chorus in unison heralded the efforts of one man.  “Rico!, Rico!, Rico!”  That man was Rico Abreu, who is among the most popular drivers in the country right now after winning Saturday’s Chili Bowl.  Abreu is …

A southwestern ASCS 360 Sprint Car driver, a proverbial  big fish in a little pond, rocketed to the top of the collective national Sprint Car awareness by winning the climactic 410 Sprint Car race of Winter Heat in Copopah, Ariz.  Saturday.  The big guns were all there – Steve Kinser, Christopher Bell, Danny Lasoski, Dale Blaney. But in the end,  Aaron …

Andy Jankowiak fought the ‘Battle Of Trenton’ in the mid-December Indoor TQ Midget main event and did so with a perfectly driven race. This was a textbook job. Sure Jankowiak went into this battle with an advantage by starting on the pole position. But he had to survive eighteen double file restarts, lapped traffic and some of the hardest chargers in …