Weakly Racing_Newz

For the week of March 19, 2007

Glimpses of Sebring

Acura can’t help but be pleased with their American LeMans debut, taking the P2 class win over their more experienced Porsche rivals along with second overall behind the dominant Audi diesel.

Did someone sneak a bunch of Lucas “black boxes” into the Teutonic fleet ? The P2 Porsches, including those subject to the vaunted precision preparation of Penske, as well as at least one of the two Audis, suffered from persistent electrical problems.

Sebring did seem more of an endurance contest than a race. Will anyone beat the Audis, or the Corvettes, this year. Competition in those ranks is mighty thin. P2 seems sure to be a highlight, maybe even for overall wins at some venues. Ferrari seems poised to challenge Porsche in GT2, though the latter will surely have strength in numbers. Speaking of numbers, for all the technical highlights, the Sebring field was meager at barely 3 dozen cars. While the race garnered dedicated TV coverage on SPEED the Florida classic got scant notice from the general print press.

Okay Let’s talk a little dirt.

The guys who race Quad4-powered midgets over at Whip City now have a website. They’re not exactly a club, more like a group of like-minded racers, and rare for oval trackers, they race like their road-racing counterparts, just for fun, not money or “points”. Their cost estimates of $100-$200/night probably rank them among the more realistic and forthcoming.

http://www.myspace.com/quad4midgets

Missing from the Whip City schedule this year seems to be a return of the 305 sprint cars. Truth be told they were probably just too bulky and powerful for the quarter-mile oval. SCONE (Sprint Cars of New England) does seem to have a new weekly home. It’s a location I can’t exactly place --- Legion Speedway in Rumsey NH.

http://www.sconesprints.4t.com/index.html

A number of Capital District drivers seem to be on their roster.

Coming up at SAM

Looking ahead the Saratoga Automobile Museum has a double-header on Saturday March 31. Keith Herbst’ chronicler of the post-war midget boom out Buffalo way, presents at 1 p.m., then road-racing pioneer and engineer extraordinaire Bill Milliken will be on hand at 2:45.

Tomorrow is now Today

This Sunday we’ll get our first real view of what the Car of Tomorrow holds for NASCAR’s future.

Cheers

Greg Rickes

Cheers

Greg Rickes