It’s time for our weekly Friday morning tour around the racing world. From hot laps to the main event, here’s what’s on our mind this week.
Hot Laps: World Finals Weather
With the World Finals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte a mere week away, we (the Charlotte area) are expecting five days with temperatures in the 80s through Oct. 30 and highs in the low 50s come the opening night of the World Finals on Nov. 1.
Qualifying: Kerchner’s First Race
Who won the first race this columnist ever attended during the early 1970s?
The answer is Art Ball. The legendary winner of more than 300 races during a career that spanned numerous racing classes and lasted six decades, died Oct. 20 at the age of 85.
First Heat: Trivia Time
Who won the 1989 USA sprint car title, and who claimed the 2006 National Sprint Tour championship?
Steve Kinser claimed the USA crown and Danny Lasoski took top honors during the lone NST season.
Second Heat: New Blood
Looks like there will be a good share of new blood in the NTT IndyCar Series next season, with third-generation driver Pietro Fittipaldi tabbed to drive for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and Indy NXT champion Christian Rasmussen joining Ed Carpenter Racing.
They will join previously announced Chip Ganassi Racing hotshoe Kyffin Simpson.
Third Heat: The Champ Again
Rain washed out the USAC sprint car season finale scheduled for Oklahoma’s Red Dirt Raceway, handing Justin Grant his second consecutive championship. Grant won a series-best 11 features en route to the title.
Fourth Heat: Do It Yourself
Few NASCAR national touring series drivers, especially Cup Series regulars, want to race bad enough that they build their own race car.
But that’s what Stewart-Haas Cup Series driver Ryan Preece did. Preece and his father built a modified in three weeks and won Thursday’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. It was Preece’s 26th victory in the series, where he won the 2013 championship.
Dash: Diverse Motorsports Action
With the racing season winding down, are you starved for racing action? If so, check out a variety of motorsports action live from Legends of Havasu this weekend live on SPEED SPORT affiliate AOE.tv.
Ultra4 USA off-road racing, rock bouncing, sand drags and F-1 powerboats will be among the classes in action.
B Main: Holy Guacamole
Which NHRA racer will pick up the coveted sponsorship of Avocados From Mexico?
With Mission Foods on board as series sponsor beginning next season, guacamole seems like a perfect combination with tortillas. Unless of course, Pace or Tostitos bring salsa to the party. And when there are tacos, we should also have some cerveza, right? Bring on Corona, Dos Equis and Modelo.
I’ll stop before I go down Tequila Avenue.
Feature: Jumped Ship
After several years of tutelage courtesy of the Toyota Racing Driver Development program, ARCA Menards Series champion Jesse Love jumped ship.
Love has signed a NASCAR Xfinity Series contract to drive for Richard Childress Racing and Chevrolet beginning next season. Love won 10 ARCA races driving Venturini Motorsports Toyotas this season.
While there may not have been “any room at the inn” on one of the Toyota teams for Love, this harkens back to the early 1990s when Rick Hendrick and Chevrolet swept in and grabbed Jeff Gordon from Ford’s clutches.
Big get for Richard Childress Racing and Chevrolet, and it makes one wonder how much of a role RCR Cup Series driver Kyle Busch may have played in this acquisition.