plus 4, Drivers were in tune -- and out -- in '09 - Florida Today

Drivers were in tune -- and out -- in '09 - Florida Today
Schumacher returns to F1 with Mercedes - Silicon India
Rally PanAm preview - Motorsport.com
Schumacher targets eighth Formula 1 title - The Guardian - Nigeria
Subject: Re:Knoxville Iowa 1/2 mile - by:... - Flattrack.com

Drivers were in tune -- and out -- in '09 - Florida Today

Posted: 25 Dec 2009 10:16 PM PST

Without a doubt, the biggest story in NASCAR in 2009 was Jimmie Johnson winning his record-setting fourth consecutive championship.

But was it the one that generated the most buzz? Perhaps. But after Johnson etched his name in the history books, racing diva Danica Patrick signed on with racing darling Dale Earnhardt Jr. to run a partial Nationwide Series schedule. Talk about a beehive.

Here are our other selections for the year's top NASCAR stories, each including a line from a popular song, with a revision or two for fun:

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has the worst performance season of his career, finishing 25th in points. An institution off the track as irrelevant on it, much to his confusion and chagrin and much to consternation of his fans. Whatever happened to Saturday night? When you got dressed up and you felt all right?

Mark Martin shows he's still got what it takes, winning five races and making a serious run at the championship. I do believe I'm feelin' stronger every day.

Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon give Hendrick Motorsports a 1-2-3 finish in championship points. We are the champions, No time for losers, 'Cause we are the champions -- of the world.

NASCAR attendance and TV ratings lag. The former can be blamed on the rotten economy, the latter on what more than a few fans consider rotten racing and robot-like, corporate-beholden, take-no-chances drivers. Where are you Jimmy Spencer, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you?

Tony Stewart defies doubters and has a successful season as an owner-driver, something unheard of in NASCAR. Hey, how do you like me now?

Kyle Busch wins the Nationwide Series title, runs wild in the Truck Series but flames out in Sprint Cup. You can't always get what you want.

NASCAR and Jeremy Mayfield engage in a season-long mud-wrestling match over Mayfield's positive drug test for speed, sullying each other and making a bunch of lawyers rich in the process. Send lawyers, guns and money.

The downward spiral of Richard Petty continues as his in-name-only union with the Gillett family, the late Gillett Evernham Motorsports, doesn't last the season and he merges with Yates Racing and moves to (cough, cough) Ford. Memory, All alone in the moonlight . . . I can smile at the old days, I was beautiful then.

Juan Pablo Montoya qualifies for NASCAR's championship playoff, rubbing fenders and ruffling feelings along the way. Don't turn your back on me, I won't be ignored.

The four Richard Childress Racing teams -- Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Casey Mears and Jeff Burton -- fail to qualify for the playoff. Good times, bad times, I know I've had my share.

Brad Keselowski breaks into NASCAR, wins, and angers more than a few of his peers, especially Denny Hamlin. Will he be a factor or a flash in the pan in 2010 for Penske Racing? I wanna heal, I wanna feel like I'm close to something real, I wanna find something I've wanted all along, Somewhere I belong.

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Schumacher returns to F1 with Mercedes - Silicon India

Posted: 25 Dec 2009 09:48 PM PST

Hamburg: Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher is to come out of retirement to race for Mercedes GP, the Formula One team confirmed Wednesday.

Schumacher, who had quit the sport in 2006, will make his debut with the new team on March 14 at the Bahrain Grand Prix, the opening race of the 2010 season.

Schumacher said he had agreed to a three-year deal with the Silver Arrows team alongside Nico Rosberg in an all-German driver line-up and was "totally fired up" for a return to racing.

Explaining why he had decided to end a three-year absence from racing, Schumacher said the idea of a German F1 team "extremely tempts me", while working together with team principal Ross Brawn again also played a major role.

"Above all, however, my old hunger for racing is back," he said on his website.

The announcement comes 11 days ahead of Schumacher's 41st birthday Jan 3, making him easily the oldest driver in next year's championship.

The signing also came a day after Mercedes GP announced a long-term agreement with Malaysian national oil and gas company Petronas.

Schumacher had planned a comeback with Ferrari in the summer after Felipe Massa was sidelined following a crash, but doctors declared him unfit to race following a motorcycle accident earlier in the year.

He said he was now fully fit and had decided on a return after receiving a call from team principal Ross Brawn at the beginning of November asking him to race again with Mercedes.

"In Abu Dhabi (at the last Grand Prix of 2009), when Ross asked me if I could imagine returning to F1, I felt that I wasn't ready for it. But only two weeks later, when he called me once again, I realized that my old passion was returning," he said.

"Suddenly I was on fire again. For me, the imagination to be back in a F1 car and to compete for the world championships is exciting and extremely inspiring."

Schumacher said until recently he was absolutely sure he had ended his racing career.

"But sometimes things change suddenly and unexpectedly. All of a sudden, the framework conditions aren't the same anymore," he said.

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Rally PanAm preview - Motorsport.com

Posted: 25 Dec 2009 04:11 PM PST

Street heads to South America for 2010 "El Dakaro"

American Rider Jonah Street and Team Rally PanAm soon fly to Buenos Aires, Argentina for the 2010 running of the Dakar Rally. Street, winner of Stage 5 at the 2009 version of this epic 16-day race, intends to again run at the front in a field of premier international rally competitors.

With another year of experience, the Rally PanAm team prepared a very competitive racing motorcycle for Jonah, and completed nearly a year of intense preparation and training for this the biggest motorsports event in the world. Mechanic Niles Follin, who packed the KTM 690RR bike into a shipping crate recently, says, "This is the best rally bike we have ever prepared."

After the 2009 event, the team met and made a list of essential items necessary for Street to challenge for the Dakar win. They discussed everything from bike development and spare parts to practice rally routes and physical training. Even in tough economic times, the team was able to prepare well for the rally. "It was very difficult," says team manager Charlie Rauseo, "but we managed to check off all of the major items on our list. Jonah and the team are ready. We need to thank some stalwart sponsors including Top One Oil and Plan Administrators, Inc. (PAi)."

The race starts in Buenos Aires on January 1. The competitors will race over the Andes Mountains into the Atacama Desert in Chile and return for the finish in Buenos Aires on January 17, 2010.

-source: rallypanam

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Schumacher targets eighth Formula 1 title - The Guardian - Nigeria

Posted: 25 Dec 2009 12:58 PM PST

Schumacher targets eighth Formula 1 title

RETURNEE Michael Schumacher says he intends to crown his Formula 1 (F1) comeback by challenging for the 2010 title.

The seven-time champion announced his return for 2010 on Wednesday with Mercedes, the renamed Brawn GP team. Despite three years out of the sport, he insists that he can threaten the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button - the 2008 and 2009 World champions.

"I have won the title seven times and the team won both titles last year, so what do you expect," the German, who turns 41 on January 3, said. "Now Mercedes are team owners you cannot expect anything else other than the world title.

"That is what we aim for but we have to deliver and that is our job. Honestly, I can't wait until February 1, when we will officially run the car."

Schumacher retired in 2006 after competing in 250 grand prix, 180 of them for Ferrari. He won 91 races, 71 for Ferrari, on his way to his multiple world titles. F1 supremo, Bernie Ecclestone, has welcomed Schumacher's return and believes he can even win the title at the age of 41.

"Forget about winning races - I have him on my bill for winning the championship," Ecclestone told F1's official website. "It's fantastic for Formula 1 that he turned into a 'comeback kid' but at the same time, it's good for Michael.

"Now he has all his strength together and has 100 per cent motivation that will give us many exciting races in 2010."

Schumacher almost returned to F1 last summer. He was going to act as a stand-in for Ferrari's injured driver, Felipe Massa, but pulled out because of a neck injury he sustained in a motorcycle accident last February. Recent medical checks have been positive though, and he is confident he is back to full fitness.

Schumacher will reportedly earn £6.2 million after reuniting with Mercedes team principal, Ross Brawn, who masterminded all seven of his titles, the first two with Benetton in 1994-5 and the subsequent five with Ferrari from 2000-4.

Williams' driver, Rubens Barrichello, who drove with Schumacher at Ferrari, suggested that the German driver's track record was the key to Mercedes' decision to lure him out of retirement. The Brawn former driver, Barrichello, wrote on his Twitter feed: "Experience is all that matters in F1 now.

"The team needed me last year and needs Schumi now. I hope for a great fight, but a clean one as well."

Lucas di Grassi, who will make his debut with Virgin Racing next season, believes that Schumacher still possesses the will to win after losing to him in a recent karting event in Brazil.

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Subject: Re:Knoxville Iowa 1/2 mile - by:... - Flattrack.com

Posted: 25 Dec 2009 11:32 AM PST

Its a discussion on the forum about Knoxville. I find it very informative and I don't think anyone is bagging on Kidd. At least not on this thread. I got rid of my rose colored glasses a long time ago. I don't agree with everything people say on here but I like to hear about things from the past like crappy track conditions at certain tracks and why people think it was like that.

Berts take on Knoxville back when it sucked sounds right on. I wasn't there but when ever you pit on the infield there's gonna be a place where everyone drove across the track and that spot is hard and slick and different than the rest of the corner especially if the track was real wet. Thats what happened to Geoff Lowe at Fairbault MN back in 81. Inconsistant track surface caused by the vans that drove over turn 4 and made that part of the track hard and dry and slick. Lowe high sided and was hit by another rider.

Knoxville will be fine if the weather cooperates and if the track crew knows what its doing. Thats how it is at every dirt track motorcycle race.

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