Editor’s Note: In a nod to our 91 years of history, each week SPEED SPORT will look back at the top stories from 15, 30 and 60 years ago as told in the pages of National Speed Sport News.
15 Years Ago — 2010
News: Chevrolet is returning to the IZOD IndyCar Series and will team up with the most successful team in the history of the sport — Team Penske.
That means legitimate engine manufacturer competition will return to the sport for the first time since Chevrolet left IndyCar at the end of the 2005 season. Chevrolet will build a twin-turbocharged, direct-injected V.fJ racing engine powered by renewable E85 ethanol fuel for the 2012 season joining Honda in the series.
“Chevrolet is the winningest name in racing,” said Chris Perry, vice president of Chevrolet marketing. “We won 104 races, six driver’s championships and seven Indianapolis 5OOs. Chevrolet will return to the lndianapolis 500 and to lndyCar racing. Why are we returning to lndyCar? For several reasons — we are passionate about the technology Second. the series is growing and the interest is increasing. The sponsorship has doubled in more than one year.
“But the most important reason is we are competitors. We are returning to IndyCar to win. This is a natural fit for Chevrolet. We are all proud to be back.”
Chevrolet will partner with Ilmor and use the technology in production engines. The company is looking to expand the technology into its production engines.
“Our partnership with Ilmor will help us build performance by using the least amount of fuel and with E85 Ethanol,” said Tom Stephens. GM vice chairman, global product operations. “Our goal is to win on the track. advanced technology and the marketplace. That is why we are proud to partner with Ilmor Engineering.”
Penske has a long history with the Chevrolet brand and is the first IZOD IndyCar Series team owner to commit to the new engine, which will be built by Ilmor — the engine company that he owns.
“The demographics are different now in IndyCar racing,” Penske said. “In llmor, we are in the racing business. We are competing head-to-head with other manufacturers. and with Ilmor we will see the game move up and have increased competition, which means more customers and more fans. We need to fill these grandstands. We have to keep our costs down and get our racing up. This announcement will do that. It’s a great opportunity for us.
“Hopefully, this is going to open some eyes and bring some more engine manufacturers in.”
Winners: John Force’s Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals victory over Jeff Arend and his National Hot Rod Ass’n record 15th Funny car championship at Matt Hagan’s expense served the same purpose.
For the Castrol GTX High-Mileage Ford Mustang driver, the weekend’s mission at Auto Club Raceway was part personal revival and part job review with his 25-year sponsor. It also paid tribute to the technical and engineering support from the Ford Motor Co. in trying to make race cars safe, aerodynamically competitive, and relevant to the automaker’s global sales and marketing initiatives.
Drag racing is a business, yet it’s a romance for Force. It’s his personal stamp on drag racing, his legacy. At the same time, it’s his payback for all the long hours his team has put in and the mega-dollars Ford has invested in his Eric Medlen Project and his operation through the years. It’s his responsibility; he has to enable his workers to take care of their families, and all the new goals he has on the horizon. It’s his permission to keep doing what he loves to do.
That Force defeated Arend with a 4.905-second elapsed time at 310.41 miles per hour to the Toyota driver’s 4.109 e.t./307.65 mph is for history.
Same for the titles Larry Dixon (Top Fuel), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and L.E. Tonglet (Pro Stock Motorcycle) earned — and for the event victories Antron Brown (Top Fuel), Shane Gray (Pro Stock) and Eddie Krawiec (Pro Stock Motorcycle) registered.
But the numbers Force crunches in his head carry six and seven digits.
“At the end of the day it’s about me delivering to keep my job,” Force said, thinking back to the September 2007 accident at Dallas that beat him up physically and emotionally. “They might want a young kid. I’m 61 years old, so I have to live in that gym just to have the energy of these kids.”
30 Years Ago — 1995
News: Hendrick Motorsports enjoyed its most successful season this year. Jeff Gordon brought Rick Hendrick’s three-car stable its first Winston Cup, winning seven races while stablemate Terry Labonte posted a trio of triumphs.
But as good as the season was for Gordon and Labonte, it was that bad for Hendrick’s third driver, veteran wheelman Ken Schrader.
Only days after his DuPont-backed No. 24 claimed its first series title, Hendnck vowed to bring Schrader and his Chevy back to the front of the pack to where he’s not been since 1991 —victory lane.
“It’s hard to celebrate when two teams win 10 races and another team with one of the senior guys who’s been with you hasn’t won a race,” Hendrick said. “He’s not going to drive in the Busch Series next year. He might drive some trucks, but companion weekends we run the Winston Cup car, he’s not going to be driving. We’re committed to coming out of the gate hard with Schrader’s effort next year.”
Engine failures were Schrader’s major woe. Hendrick hopes a change will remedy that situation.
“l think early this year we had a tremendous problem blowing motors,” Hendrick aid. “We’re taking Rick Wetzel, who did Joe Gibbs’ motors this year, and he’ll be doing the engines for Ken Schrader’s cars next year. That should eliminate those seven engine failures.
“I’ve got two engine shops, one in Winston-Salem and one here. We were doing Schrader’s motors in Winston-Salem and we were also doing research and development for the new Chevrolet cylinder head. We might have spread ourselves too thin.” Hendrick said. “In order to eliminate any doubt, we’re coming back with another effort to help Kenny. Wetzel’s motors won three races this year and our other engines ran second to them in all three.”
Winners: Freddie Query logged victory No. 3 against a championship-caliber field as Hal Goodson clinched his first major touring series championship in the Myrtle Beach 400 Slim Jim All Pro Series season-ending clash at Myrtle Beach Speedway on a very pleasant Sunday afternoon along the Grand Strand or South Carolina.
Query, a 43-year-old retired school teacher and grand· father from Mooresville, N.C. picked up all the major bonus- es, including three $1,000 payoffs for leading at lap 100. lap 200, and lap 200 as he beat noted short-track specialist Jeff Purvis to the finish line by .03 seconds.
“I had more fun today than I have had all season,” said Query following the event. Query led the most laps after taking the lead from polesitter Ron Barfield on lap 15. Barfield dropped from the lead when he stripped a spur gear in the rear end or his car.
“Racing Jeff Purvis is such a great thrill. Then when you go and beat a Jeff Purvis you know you’ve beat a real good race car driver.”
60 Years Ago— 1965
News: Hard-driving Bobby Allison won the national championship in NASCAR’s speedy modified division, but only after a season-long battle with fellow-townsman Charles (Red) Farmer.
It is the fourth consecutive division title captured by Allison, who will be 28 on Friday. He won the 1964 championship and in 1962 and 1963 he won the championship in the former Modified-Special division, which was absorbed by the modified division at the end of the 1963 season.
By winning the 1965 national championship in NASCAR’s sportsman division, Rene Charland became the second man in NASCAR history to win as many as four consecutive national titles in one division.
His record is surpassed only by the five straight titles won by Jim Reed in the old Short Track division.
Winners: Dick Atkins, 1964 Bay Cities Racing Ass’n champion and up-and-coming USAC star, found Lady Luck smiling his way Saturday night at Ascot Park as he captured the rain delayed Thanksgiving night 150-lap USAC Midget Grand Prix.
Atkins, driving the Pestana Offy No. 3x, raced into the lead on the 147th lap when Bob Wente, who looked like a sure winner, lost a magneto and had to slow down his pace, giving up his front-running position.
Atkins, who never ran less than fifth in the 24-car field during the entire 150 laps, completed the distance in 1 hour, 1 minute and 2.43 seconds, far under the track record of 57:06.30 set last year by Parnelli Jones.
Wente limped across the finish in second place and was followed by Tommy Copp, Lowell Sachs, Bill Mehner and Paul Jones.
