Auto Racing Capsules: NASCAR to do away with undisclosed fines
admin | Jan 26, 2012 | Comments 0
WELCOME, N.C. (AP) — NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick said Wednesday night his wife is 14 weeks pregnant.
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WELCOME, N.C. (AP) — NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick said Wednesday night his wife is 14 weeks pregnant. Harvick announced DeLana Harvick’s pregnancy during a media event at Richard Childress Racing.
The couple closed their race team at the end of last season and said they were excited to use all the free time they were about to acquire. But they also weathered persistent rumors they were closing Kevin Harvick Inc. because they were splitting up and selling off the assets to prepare for a divorce. Both repeatedly dismissed the comments.
The Harvicks join a growing baby boom in the NASCAR garage. Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon, Elliott Sadler, Jimmie Johnson and Jamie McMurray are among the drivers with young children.
Rubens Barrichello will test an IndyCar next week for KV Racing. It’s not clear if the test will bring the Brazilian Formula One driver to IndyCar for 2012.
Barrichello is scheduled to be at Sebring International Raceway driving a Dallara DW12 for KV Racing, a person familiar with the test told AP on condition of anonymity Wednesday because the 2-day test session is exploratory for both Barrichello and the race team.
Fellow Brazilian Tony Kanaan, a close friend of Barrichello’s who drives for KV Racing, posted Wednesday night on Twitter that Barrichello would be testing.
“As we couldn’t keep a secret anymore,” Kanaan wrote, indicating in the post Barrichello would be helping the team with feedback.
Next week’s test could be a feeler to see if Barrichello has any interest in possibly racing in IndyCar in 2012, or if he can offer any technical assistance to KV, which has partnered with Chevrolet this season.
Barrichello has spent the last 19 seasons in Formula One, but was replaced last week at Williams by Bruno Senna. He has no seat lined up in F1 for the 2012 season.
“I won’t be driving the Williams car this year,” he posted last week on his Twitter page. “I wish my friend (Senna) all the best. The future is wide open.”
A few days later, he responded to well-wishers again via Twitter, indicating he planned to race a bit longer.
“when I said that things were open is because I still have lot’s of speed on me,” he posted. “just like an old friend said: racing is in my blood.”
Barrichello is an 11-time winner in F1. He has 68 podium finishes, but none last season. The Brazilian notched a pair of ninth-place finishes last season, and ended the year with only four points.
Barrichello has scored the eighth highest points total in Formula One history, spent five years as teammate to Michael Schumacher at Ferrari and was championship runner-up twice, in 2002 and 2004. He became the first driver to reach 300 Grand Prix entries and 300 starts in 2010, and served as chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association.
He’s been quoted in the past as saying his wife would not let him race in the IndyCar Series, and it’s not clear if Barrichello was serious. Drivers from around the world have expressed concern about the compatibility of the IndyCar and high-banked oval tracks, and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon was killed in the Oct. 16 season finale at Las Vegas.
The IndyCar Series presently has only four ovals on its announced 2012 schedule.
Barrichello is close with Kanaan, who drove last season for KV and is scheduled to return to the team in 2012.
KV Racing fielded three entries last season, for Kanaan, Takumo Sato and EJ Viso. Kanaan finished a team-best fifth in the final IndyCar standings.
– Jenna Fryer
Grand-Am
Pruett looks to make history in Daytona’s 24 Hours
Scott Pruett will aim for the record books during the 50th anniversary of the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Pruett, a four-time Rolex 24 winner, will try to tie Hurley Haywood’s record five victories this weekend. Pruett was part of last year’s race-winning team in the headlining Daytona Prototype class. Along with teammate Memo Rojas, he is the two-time defending Grand-Am Series champion.
“Tying Hurley’s record would be incredible,” Pruett said. “It’s always exciting — no matter what the sport — to be able to get close and then tie or even surpass one of the great records. Looking at the quality of the teams this year, the Rolex 24 has turned out to be an incredible show.
“It’s going to take a lot of effort, and a bit of luck, to be able to win.”
Qualifying starts Thursday at Daytona International Speedway. The twice-around-the-clock race begins Saturday.
Pruett is again part of the star-studded entries from the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates organization. He’s teamed in the No. 01 BMW/Riley DP entry with Rojas, IndyCar Series driver Graham Rahal and sports car veteran Joey Hand.
The No. 02 team from Ganassi is made up of NASCAR drivers Juan Pablo Montoya and Jamie McMurray and IndyCar stars Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon. Franchitti and Dixon have combined to win six of the last nine IndyCar championships.
A year ago, the race came down to a fight between the two Ganassi cars. Pruett pulled away from Dixon on a smooth final restart to beat his teammate by 2.42 seconds. It gave team owner Ganassi a Grand Slam of sorts in auto racing — it was his fourth major victory in the United States during a one-year period, adding to the Daytona 500, the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400.
Except for the Rolex win, Ganassi drivers were shut out of all those races in 2011.
The Ganassi teams this year will be challenged by a five-car contingent of new Corvette DPs, which was unveiled late last year amid great hype because of body designs inspired by Chevrolet’s production Corvette.
Two other heralded cars will debut this weekend with the Corvettes: The Ferrari 458 Italias and Audi R8s were both built specifically for Rolex Series competition. Two-tome Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip will co-drive one of the Ferraris, along with X-Games star Travis Pastrana, Rob Kauffman and Rui Aguas.
The entry is a joint effort of the Italian sports car team AF Corse and Michael Waltrip Racing.
“It’s Daytona, and there’s no place I’d rather race,” Waltrip said. “The Daytona 500 will always be the most important race to me, but this weekend’s race is really special. I’m looking forward to seeing all the drivers from around the world. It’s like all the drivers you have heard about or seen on television gather for this one race. Plus, I can’t wait to spend the week with Rob, Rui and Travis. This is going to be a lot of fun.”
Pastrana has never before had the opportunity on his schedule to attempt the race.
“This is a prestigious event that I have always watched and followed on television,” Pastrana said. “Friends like Jimmie Johnson and Boris Said raced in it and it’s something I wanted to try. It’s always been held on the same weekend as the first round of Rally America, so this is one of the first time’s I’ve had the opportunity to be part of the Rolex 24.
“Rob asked me to join the team and it didn’t take long to answer.”
The star-studded race includes three-time F-1 winner Giancarlo Fisichella of Italy and NASCAR driver AJ Allmendinger. Representing the celebrities, it’s GT class regular Patrick Dempsey of “Grey’s Anatomy,” and AC/DC lead singer Brian Johnson, a long-time historic/vintage racer who is co-driving a BMW/Riley in the Daytona Prototype class.
Last year, Dempsey shuttled back and forth from the race and the Sundance Film Festival, capping the weekend with a successful premier of a new movie and a career-best third-place finish in the GT class.
On Tuesday, the event lost a star-studded entry when IndyCar driver Tony Kanaan posted on Twitter that sponsorship had fallen through on the DP entry he planned to drive. Kanaan was to make his race debut along with fellow IndyCar drivers Ryan Hunter-Reay and EJ Viso.
“Guys, unfortunately I will not race at the Daytona 24H this Saturday,” Kanaan posted on his Twitter page. “The funding that the Starworks Motorsports team had went away.”
It will be the first 24 Hour race that Hunter-Reay has missed since 2006.
In honor of the 50th anniversary, Daytona International Speedway has gathered 29 of the previous 49 winning cars. On Friday, the parade of cars will begin near the Daytona beach and travel to the track.
Two-time Rolex 24 winner A.J. Foyt is Grand Marshal of the race.
– Jenna Fryer
Filed Under: Auto Racing
