Scott Kalitta, Drag Racer, Dies in Crash

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 22, 2008

ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. (AP) — The drag racer Scott Kalitta died Saturday when his funny car burst into flames, crashed and exploded during qualifying for the N.H.R.A. SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.

The National Hot Rod Association said the 46-year-old Kalitta, who had 18 career victories and was the 1994 and 1995 top fuel season champion, was taken to the Old Bridge division of Raritan Bay Medical Center, where he died a short time later.

Witnesses told The Star-Ledger of Newark that Kalitta’s Toyota Solara was traveling an estimated 300 miles per hour.

Kalitta of Palmetto, Fla., started his career at Old Bridge in 1982. His father, Connie Kalitta, was a longtime driver and team owner known as the Bounty Hunter. His cousin, Doug Kalitta, also races.

“We are deeply saddened and want to pass along our sincere condolences to the entire Kalitta family,” the N.H.R.A. said in a statement. “Scott shared the same passion for drag racing as his legendary father, Connie.”

Kalitta retired in 1997, sitting out most of two seasons before returning for 10 races in 1999. He sat out three seasons, then returned in 2003, joining his cousin on the family’s racing team.

He is survived by his father; his wife, Kathy; and sons Corey, 14, and Colin, 8.

The Nascar Nationwide driver Brad Keselowski, a native of Rochester Hills, Mich., about 20 miles away from Kalitta’s hometown, Mount Clemens, said he learned the news from a television report.

“That really hits close to home,” Keselowski said. “I send my thoughts and prayers out to him. That’s tough to hear.”

Last year, the funny-car driver Eric Medlen died after an accident at a testing session in Gainesville, Fla.

Infineon Raceway and Milwaukee Mile

Earnhardt In Victory Lane, In Pursuit Of Series Point Lead

Kyle Busch is hearing the footsteps. Dale Earnhardt Jr. broke a 76-race winless streak this past Sunday at Michigan International Speedway, and as a result closed the gap between himself and Busch, the NASCAR Sprint Cup points leader. Earnhardt, third in the standings, trails Busch by only 84 points.

The last time Earnhardt led the series points: after race 27 at New Hampshire in 2004.

Earnhardt has yet to win a road race in NASCAR Sprint Cup competition. In eight career starts at Infineon, he has yet to post a top-10 finish. The track likely also posts some other, inner challenges to Earnhardt. In 2004, during a sports car practice session for another racing series, a Chevrolet Corvette he was driving crashed and burst into flames. Earnhardt escaped serious injury.

Emphasis On Winning: Earnhardt Win Boosts His Potential Chase 'Seeding'

Earnhardt's win at Michigan had ramifications both immediate and down the road: He earned 10 bonus points that will be applied toward his "seeding" if he makes the 12-driver Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR's "playoffs" contested over the final 10 races.

The Michigan victory places Earnhardt fifth in the current seeding lineup. Kyle Busch, with four victories, is the prospective top seed.

Prior to the Chase, all drivers who qualify have their point totals re-set to 5,000. Bonus points for victories are then applied, meaning that right now, Busch has a potential starting total of 5,040, with Earnhardt at 5,010.

Gordon Always a Favorite

At this point last season, Jeff Gordon had four wins and was first in the points standings. This year, he's still in the top 12, but has yet to visit Victory Lane. That could all change this weekend. Gordon is the all-time leader in road course wins with nine – five of which have come at Infineon Raceway. He last won there in 2006 and won three straight from 1998-2000.

Montoya Returns To Site Of Historic Win

Juan Pablo Montoya's struggles this season are well-documented; he's 22nd in series points. Chances are he welcomes this week's stop; Montoya notched his NASCAR Sprint Cup win – and his only one, to date – last year at Infineon Raceway.

Seeing Red (Bull): Teammates Vickers, Allmendinger On The Upswing

Team Red Bull's drivers – Brian Vickers and AJ Allmendinger – are looking better all the time in their respective Toyotas. Vickers has posted consecutive top-five finishes at Pocono (second) and Michigan (fourth); Allmendinger had consecutive top-20 runs (12th and 19th).

Allmendinger -- from Los Gatos, Calif. -- has had past success on road courses; in the 2006 Champ Car season he won four road-course events.

Vickers is closing in on the top 12 in points – and a potential berth in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. He's 16th in points, 97 out of 12th.

Road Course Ringers Time to Shine?

Races at the Infineon Raceway and Watkins Glen International road courses add a wrinkle to the event, and another challenge to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regulars – the road course ringers.

This season is no different. This Sunday’s field will include road course aces Boris Said, Brandon Ash, Max Papis, Ron Fellows, Brian Simo and Marcos Ambrose, who his also a regular in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Said is the most successful of the bunch, with four top-10 finishes in eight starts at Infineon Raceway.

But the surprising statistic to this storyline: A road course ace hasn’t won a road course event in over 30 years. The last to do so was Mark Donohue at Riverside International Raceway in 1973.

Ken Clapp Central To Track's 40 Years, 20 NASCAR Events

Infineon Raceway will be hosting its 20th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday – the highlight of the track's 40th anniversary season.

The person responsible for bringing NASCAR to Northern California back in 1989, Ken Clapp, will be on-hand all weekend and will be inducted into the raceway's Wall of Fame on Friday.

Clapp, who has spent nearly 60 years in auto racing, was also instrumental in the creation of Infineon Raceway.

Clapp, from Danville, Calif., worked for NASCAR in a variety of capacities for more than 20 years and was a personal mentor of Chairman/CEO Brian France.

Clapp's resume spans many different areas in racing:

• From 1966-2006, he promoted 4,150 single-day NASCAR-affiliated racing events in Calif., Washington and Oregon.
• From 1967-1970, he was a VP at Infineon Raceway, where he promoted NASCAR late model races, IndyCar Series events, Trans Am sports car racing, NHRA drag racing and motorcycle events.
• He promoted more than 40 "World of Outlaw" Sprint Car events in Oregon and Calif.
• From 1977-99, Ken served as a Commissioner on the NASCAR National Commission.
• Other key roles at NASCAR: 1970 - 1983: Director of PR and Marketing for Western US, Japan, Australian and Mexico; 1983-1995: NASCAR VP of Western Operations; 1995-1999: NASCAR VP of Marketing Development; 1999 – present: Sr. Consultant to NASCAR Digital Entertainment.
• From 1990-2002, he made 17 trips to Japan to plan the NASCAR Japan exhibition effort.
• In 2002, he was inducted into the West Coast Hall of Fame and in 2006 inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame (Calif.).

Kenseth Comeback: Former Champion ‘Chasing the Chase'

Matt Kenseth has proven it before – never, ever, count him out.

After making the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup in each of the four seasons since its 2004 inception, earlier this season it looked as if Kenseth might not make it five-for-five in 2008.

After race No. 10 (Richmond), Kenseth was in 22nd place, 204 points out of the Chase cut-off of 12th place.

Unbelievably, he has made up all but 14 points of that deficit thanks to five consecutive finishes in the top-seven, including a third-place finish at Michigan this past Sunday.

This improbable launch up the standings isn't a new practice for Kenseth. In 2005, Kenseth was in 24th place after race No. 14 (Pocono). It took him only until race 25 (Fontana) to climb back into the top 10. (In 2005, the top 10 drivers made the Chase.)

Tight Races Throughout The Standings

Though NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points leader Kyle Busch picked up 11 points on second-place Jeff Burton this past weekend, he finds another driver in hot pursuit – Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Earnhardt, 145 points out of first going into Michigan, closed the gap considerably with his dramatic win. Earnhardt slashed the deficit by 61, and is now only 84 points behind Busch.

And it gets tighter as you go down the standings – especially at the all-important 12th-place position.

Clint Bowyer failed to crack the top 20 for his fourth consecutive race, and has fallen from fourth after his win at Richmond all the way to 12th. There's more bad news. That 12th-place cushion couldn't be much smaller. Bowyer is only 10 points ahead of 13th place David Ragan, and 14 points ahead of 14th place Matt Kenseth.

NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES

Milestone Marker: Kenny Wallace To Join Exclusive Club

Kenny Wallace has over 750 starts in NASCAR's national series and No. 400 in the NASCAR Nationwide Series is slated for Milwaukee. A start Saturday will put Wallace in select company – only two other drivers have 400 starts in the series. Tommy Houston was the first and ended his career with 418 before Jason Keller (whose last win was at Milwaukee in 2003) passed Houston last fall and holds the current mark at 438 – and counting.

Wallace's first series start came at Martinsville in 1988. He's accumulated nine wins and 10 poles. He'll be sharing his monumental start with brother, Mike, and nephew Steve who are also entered at Milwaukee.

Logano An Immediate Hit

His crew chief, Dave Rogers, said it best. "Three races, two poles, one win. He's okay." "He" is Joey Logano, an 18-year-old talent who is living up to plenty of hype. He'll make his fourth start for Joe Gibbs Racing Saturday at The Milwaukee Mile and goes in as one of the favorites. Logano became the youngest driver in series history to win when he did so from the pole at Kentucky last Saturday eclipsing the mark set by Casey Atwood at Milwaukee in 1999 (18 years, 10 months, 9 days). Logano was 21 days past his 18th birthday. The No. 20 car won the race and pole at Milwaukee last year and this year has won a series-best seven races with four different drivers. But the one constant has been Rogers at the helm.

Caterpillar to take over for AT&T at RCR

With AT&T's NASCAR Sprint Cup sponsorship coming to an end, Richard Childress Racing has found a replacement sponsor for Jeff Burton.

FOXSports.com has learned that Caterpillar has agreed to become the primary sponsor of the No. 31 Chevrolet driven by Burton beginning next season. The deal, which is expected to be announced on Wednesday, is a multi-year agreement.

Burton has 20 career victories, including one this season at Bristol Motor Speedway. He is currently second in the Cup series standings.

Based on an agreement reached by AT&T and NASCAR last year, the telecommunications giant had to give up their sponsorship deal at the end of this season. The agreement came after a protracted legal battle between AT&T and Sprint after Sprint phased out the Cingular brand — one of two brands which were grandfathered in when Sprint (formerly Nextel) took over sponsor rights for the Cup Series.

Currently, Caterpillar sponsors Bill Davis Racing's No. 22 Toyota Camry driven by Dave Blaney. The manufacturer of industrial equipment has been involved in NASCAR since 1993, when it was an associate sponsor for Kyle Petty's No. 42 Pontiac. They joined Bill Davis Racing in 1999 and have sponsored the No. 22 Sprint Cup entry since.

CAT has five Sprint Cup wins to its record, including the 2002 Daytona 500 when Jeff's brother Ward drove them to Victory Lane.

Statistical Advance: Analyzing The Toyota/Save Mart 350 At Infineon Raceway

Montoya Returns To Defend First NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Win

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to wine country this weekend — Sonoma, California for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway.

While all the drivers are preparing for the first of two road-course races on the schedule, Juan Pablo Montoya (No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge) and new crew chief Brian Pattie will be intently focused on defending Montoya’s only series win.

Montoya ended his rookie season with one win, at Infineon, three top-five and six top-10 finishes putting him 20th in the final series driver standings in 2007.

This season hasn’t gone quite as he had planned only with one top-five finish (Talladega). He currently is 22nd in the standings and has had to deal with two crew chief changes thus far. The team started the season with Donnie Wingo, then Jimmy Elledge, before settling with Pattie.

This weekend though, look for Montoya to be up front. NASCAR Pre-Race Loop Data Statistics for Infineon Raceway has Montoya near the top of several key categories: Driver Rating (115.3) is ranked first in the series, Average Running Position (10.588). “Last year I felt a ton of pressure heading into Infineon because everyone expected to me to run well and win because of my background,” Montoya said. “This year I don’t feel any pressure. Our goal is to run well, and if we have a shot at the win obviously we are going to take it.”

HORNADAY vs BUSCH POST RACE

Race Recap: Logano Becomes Youngest Winner In NASCAR Nationwide Series History

By Amanda Brahler
Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

SPARTA, KY. (June 14, 2008) -- Everybody knew Joey Logano would win in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. It was just a matter of how quickly he could get it done.

In only his third career start, Logano answered that question Saturday night in the Meijer 300 at Kentucky Speedway, becoming the youngest driver to win in NASCAR Nationwide Series history at 18 years and 21 days.

"It's definitely awesome," Logano said. "We didn't unload this morning the way we wanted to. (Crew chief) Dave (Rogers) and the guys never gave up. They worked hard on it and changed everything. That last pit stop we got it about right. Overall, it was a pretty good night."

Kentucky has now produced three straight first-time winners and eight different race winners in as many races.

Logano won the pole for the 300-miler, his second in as many weeks, and led 76 of the 200 laps, second only to Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch. Busch led a race-high 85 laps.

Logano took the lead from Busch on Lap 147, passing him on the outside of Turn 4. On Lap 164, Busch's charge to reclaim the position ended after he lost control of his Toyota on the backstretch, spinning and slamming the outside retaining wall.

Busch started the event 43rd after flying into Kentucky following the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in Michigan. He slid into the lead for the first time on Lap 40.

Following Busch's wreck, the race was Logano's to lose. With the race running green flag to the finish thereafter, Logano crossed the finish line 2.259 seconds over second place Scott Wimmer.

"It was unfortunate to see Kyle hit the fence there," Logano said. "The whole last 20 laps I was praying it would go green."

The win was the 10th overall on the season for Joe Gibbs Racing and the seventh for the No. 20 team, with four different drivers, led by Rogers.

"When you are in good equipment, you are going to run well," Wimmer said. "Joey is a great driver. The 20 car has been the class of the Nationwide Series all year long. We need to do our homework."

"Three starts, two poles, one win. He's okay," Rogers said of young Logano with a smile.

Mike Wallace picked up a position to finish third at the finish after Jason Leffler lost a tire on the last lap. Leffler finished 16th.

Nashville winner Brad Keselowski and rookie Bryan Clauson finished fourth and fifth. Clauson who turns 19 on Sunday, notched his career-best finish. Keselowski is now second in the point standings behind leader Clint Bowyer.

Marcos Ambrose, David Ragan, Mike Bliss, Bowyer and Jason Keller rounded out the top 10.

Race attendance was a track-record 73,195. It was the eighth straight sellout at the facility in which Speedway Motorsports Inc. agreed to purchase earlier this year.

Race Recap: Darnell Nips Benson For Win At Michigan

By Tim Tuttle Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

BROOKLYN, Mich. (June 14, 2008) Erik Darnell surged past Johnny Benson in the final 50 yards to win by inches Saturday in the Cool City Customs 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Michigan International Speedway.

Benson drove his Bill Davis Racing Toyota inside Darnell's Roush Fenway Racing Ford in Turns 3 and 4 on the 100th and final lap and had a half-truck length lead coming onto the frontstretch.

Darnell dove down to run alongside Benson, who was on the apron beneath the white line, and they ran side-by-side to the finish.

"The way these trucks draft, the way you can side-draft with them, especially in the air at a bigger place like Michigan, I knew he was going to be able to suck up to the side of me and pull off and get a run, so I had to do the same thing to him," Darnell said. "And, fortunately for me, I got it right at the start-finish line and we were able to beat him by just a little bit."

Darnell wasn't sure that he'd won.

"It's so hard to tell from inside the truck," Darnell said. "I thought I may have had him by a little bit, but if we did, it wasn't by much. It was close and then you get done and you don't really know whether to come back around and try to grab that checkered flag. You're just kind of in a state of confusion there for a little bit, but once you get it figured out, it's alright."

Benson lost by .005 seconds, the closest margin of victory in the truck series since NASCAR began electronic timing a decade ago.

"I thought I'd try on the last lap way down low," Benson said. "I timed it perfectly. I was able to get alongside him, got ahead of him. I just couldn't stay ahead of him. I don't know what I'd do differently if I had to do it again."

Darnell's victory was the second of his NASCAR career and the first this season for both Roush Fenway Racing and Ford in the series. Roush Fenway has won the past two years and four of the nine NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races at Michigan. It was the 17th Michigan win for Roush, whose Roush Industries headquarters are in nearby Livonia, Mich.

"This is my favorite place," team owner Jack Roush said. "This is home for me."

Scott Speed was third in a Bill Davis Racing Toyota, followed by Todd Bodine's Germain Racing Toyota and Brendan Gaughan's Circle Bar Racing Ford.

Ron Hornaday Jr. and team owner Kevin Harvick had an angry confrontation with Kyle Busch in the garage after Busch's contact spun out Hornaday on the final lap in Turn 1.

Hornaday, the points leader going into the race, was running fourth. Busch's Billy Ballew Motorsports Toyota tapped him in the left rear. Hornaday finished 23rd, the last truck on the lead lap, and fell to third in the points, 21 behind Benson, the new leader.

Darnell led the final 25 laps and was in control until a late caution forced a restart with three circuits to go on the two-mile track. Darnell pulled away on the restart, but Benson closed on the final lap.

"I think the finish was a little more exciting than I wanted it to be," Darnell said.

NEWS AND NOTES

NASCAR Calls mandatory meeting for all Cup drivers Friday: NASCAR called a mandatory meeting for Sprint Cup drivers and owners before Friday's practice at Michigan International Speedway in which president Mike Helton encouraged everyone to keep the fans first. NASCAR officials and drivers both agreed this simply was a reminder that during these tough economic times when fans are paying $4 a gallon for gas to travel to tracks that drivers should be more positive about the sport. In other words stop complaining about the new car that has become a target for everything that is wrong in NASCAR's premier series, from creating boring races to being so hot that the drivers are at risk. "My interpretation was that the drivers should be thankful for the position they're in and should be more positive in where this car is going to be in a year or two," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. Jeff Burton agreed. "In today's conversation you could have heard whatever you wanted to hear," he said. "I bet if you asked every driver what they heard they would have said something different. What I heard was things aren't bad. Let's don't forget we can make things better."
NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said this so-called "Come to Jesus" was a reminder of chairman Brian France's preseason back-to-basics message. That the timing was a few days after the lawsuit, he added, was merely coincidental and that the lawsuit wasn't discussed. "We remind them if it weren't for the fans we wouldn't be here," he said. "The fans are paying over $4 a gallon for gasoline. [We told them] to keep the fans in mind when you're talking, to show your appreciation to the fans. Without them this wouldn't be like it is." The criticism reached an all-time high last weekend at Pocono. Denny Hamlin and several others implied the car was much hotter than the older car and possibly put drivers at risk. Series director John Darby understands. He said there are a lot of things available to keep the cars cooler "that's not being used." He reiterated that NASCAR has no plan to change the car until it's been through an entire season.(in part from ESPN.com)

Two officials named in a $225 million racial discrimination and sexual harassment lawsuit against NASCAR have been placed on administrative leave for violating company policy, The Associated Press has learned. The officials, who were not immediately identified, were sent home from Kentucky Speedway on Friday evening, a person familiar with the NASCAR investigation told the AP. The person requested anonymity because NASCAR's investigation is ongoing. NASCAR sent a team of investigators from its human resources and legal offices to Kentucky this weekend to interview those named in the suit. Of 27 interviews conducted away from the track Thursday and Friday, two officials were found to have engaged in behavior that violated NASCAR policy. Their leave is indefinite. In addition, investigators failed to uncover a single instance where Grant complained to her supervisors or other NASCAR employees about the way she was treated, the person familiar with the investigation told AP. Grant has said she followed the chain of command all the way to Nationwide Series director Joe Balash, but stopped short of telling human resources because she was reprimanded by that department for a separate incident two weeks after lodging her complaint. She said she viewed the reprimand, which included a threat of termination, as retaliation for complaining to Balash. Balash was not one of the officials placed on leave Friday. Grant's lawyer, Benedict P. Morelli of Morelli Ratner PC, was not immediately available for comment.

Brian France says NO WAY in Discrimination Suit

NASCAR big cheese Brian France says the suit filed by former official, Mauricia Grant, is a no no. He is saying that she never reported any type of racial discrimination, sexual harassment to her supervisors.

Grant filed a $225 million suit against NASCAR on Tuesday, alleging racial discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliatory termination.

France said Wednesday the detailed filing was the first NASCAR learned of her claims.

France also said:

"The disappointing thing is, she makes a lot of claims,'' France said. "None of them are reported. It's inconsistent with anything of our policies and how we operate the company and the sport and so the fact that it went on as she stated ... for many months I guess but never bothered to tell anyone in management what was going on, which is what our policy says, is very disappointing because we would like, if those type of things were in fact going on, we would have loved to have been able to do an investigation and review of such an allegation and we'll still do that because now that she has made these claims, we'll do like what we always do which is a very clear review. She didn't do that and that's what every employee at NASCAR is instructed to do if they think they're in a situation of discrimination or harassment or whatever it might be. She just didn't do that. Then in fact has filed a lawsuit as a remedy to this problem. We'll deal with that as well. That's really where we are.''

Q: Did you have any indication that this was coming?

"No. I knew about it this week when the suit was file. Again, our policy is such that it's very clear. We talk to employees all the time making sure that their work environment is a good one. If it's not, if there's any problems, they have a very clear path to get it solved. It's just inconsistent with anything that we would tolerate at NASCAR.''

THE LAWSUIT CAN BE SEEN HERE: NASCAR LAWSUIT

New Investor For Petty Enterprises

In a press conference today at Lowes Motor Speedway, Kyle Petty, along with NASCAR's Brian France, #43 driver Bobby Labonte, Richard Petty, new CEO David Zucker and Andrew C. Davis, Managing Director of Boston Ventures, announced a partnership between Boston Ventures and Petty Enterprises. Zucker becomes the first non Petty to be in chargeof Petty Enterprises, and he said that he plans to expand to more cars in the future. No announcement was made about sponsorships past 2009. General Mills/Cheerios will leave the #43 after 2008 season. The portfolio of businesses that Boston Ventures has include American Media Inc. (The National Enquirer), Billboard Publications, Continental Cablevision, Marshall & Swift, Motown Records, River City Broadcasting, Six Flags Entertainment, Survey Sampling, Inc., and Vue Entertainment.

Also announced was a 4 year extension for driver Bobby LaBonte, which will keep LaBonte in the #43 until 2012. “I have known all along this is where I want to finish my racing career,” said Labonte.