plus 4, Daytona International Speedway To Host XDL Stunt Competition February ... - RoadracingWorld.com

Daytona International Speedway To Host XDL Stunt Competition February ... - RoadracingWorld.com
Off-road racing pooch has a need for speed - Pantagraph
Gritty Greipel hangs on to Tour Down Under leader's jersey - Summary - Earthtimes
Jury still out on young gun - Florida Today
George's legacy not a favorable one - ESPN.com

Daytona International Speedway To Host XDL Stunt Competition February ... - RoadracingWorld.com

Posted: 22 Jan 2010 10:19 PM PST

From a press release issued by Daytona International Speedway:
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Daytona International Speedway will be the home to the XDL Championship Series during the opening weekend of Daytona 200 Week By Honda on Feb. 26-28.
A new event to the Daytona 200 Week By Honda schedule, the season kick-off of the XDL Sportbike Freestyle Championship will mark the XDL's fifth season as the only national sportbike freestyle championship and the series' first visit to the state of Florida.
One of America's fastest growing action sports, the series pits competitors from all over North America, Asia and Europe on 600cc sport bikes against each other as they battle for bragging rights and a chance to compete for the XDL Championship Series title.
Riders are scored based on the difficulty, execution and overall performance as they show off their skills in head to head challenges, freestyle rides and the crowd favorite-Speed and Strength Sickest Trick – in which riders attempt risky tricks to impress the audience.
XDL Championship Series events will take place behind the Lockhart and Keech Grandstands on the West End of Daytona International Speedway with tickets starting at $5 for Friday and $20 for Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday's events will include K&N Circle Challenge and the Speed & Strength Sickest Trick while Sunday will feature the Sartso Women's Cup, FMF Cup and Team Battle.
Daytona 200 Week By Honda is highlighted by the historic Daytona 200 By Honda AMA Pro Racing event on Friday night, March 5 and the Daytona Supercross By Honda on Saturday night, March 6. The Speedway also hosts AMA Flat Track events on the new Daytona dirt track, vintage motorcycle racing, an Amateur Supercross and Championship Cup Series and American Sportbike Racing Association events.
Tickets for all Daytona 200 Week by Honda events, including the XDL Championship Series, can be purchased at www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com and 1-800-PITSHOP. Stay connected with Daytona International Speedway on Twitter (www.twitter.com/disupdates) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/DaytonaInternationalSpeedway)

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Off-road racing pooch has a need for speed - Pantagraph

Posted: 22 Jan 2010 10:33 PM PST

PERRIS, Calif. — Opee is only 8, but he's already a popular veteran in the down and dirty sport of motocross. He can pull 6 Gs. He's been the centerfold for Cycle News and poses regularly for fan photos. He's a survivor of the grueling Baja 500 and has racked up more than 10,000 hours on a dirt bike.

Sometimes, you can barely see the 70-pound pooch — a blue merle Australian shepherd — through the dust on his goggles and his custom helmet, complete with cam.

"I am his biggest fan,'' said Mike Schelin, Opee's owner, race partner and a purveyor of used motorcycle parts from a shop next to his mobile home.

Schelin got the dog in 2001 shortly after his divorce. He raises him with other dogs and two horses at a spread he calls Miracle Flats.

Known as "The Dogfather'' to some in the sport, Schelin always takes a back seat to Opee.

"He was my instant best friend,'' Schelin said. "He slept in my tool bag. There was something about him. He's had charisma since Day One. I knew I had a dog who could make a difference.''

Schelin, 41, realized he had a four-legged motocross fan as a pet when he started riding in the desert with Opee on the chase.

"I felt bad for him, he would run so long.'' So Schelin bought a four-wheeler and they went desert riding together. The dog didn't like the dust in his eyes, so Schelin got him goggles. One day, Opee ditched the four-wheeler and hopped on the motorcycle tank, where he's been ever since, Schelin said.

If the bike isn't moving, Opee will just fall asleep on the tank. They keep it bare because they've never found a covering that's comfortable for the dog, Schelin said.

Reaction to Opee was magic. He was an instant canine ambassador to off-roading. Finding sponsors was no problem and soon Opee had his own custom gear, including a specially made neck brace, inflatable vest, backpack, water supply and several jerseys. He got his American Motorcycle Association card and his SCORE International card, the latter so he could race in Baja.

The dog does lots of other things, too. He's been a search and rescuer, a California assistance dog and visits kids in hospitals with Schelin. They regularly work crowds at races in the area, including the Supercross in Anaheim.

Opee appears to be Schelin's biggest fan as well.

"From what I see, he loves Mike and would go anywhere with him,'' said Ricky Johnson, a seven-time national motorcycle champion who owns Perris Raceway near Schelin's place.

Opee and Schelin race, but not to win. Because they're different and for safety's sake, they always start in the rear and they only compete with the cyclist in front of them, Schelin said.

Schelin's greatest triumph came when his five-member team — with Opee in the driver's seat for 276 miles — finished the cross-country Baja 500 with 10 minutes to spare — in 17 hours, 49 minutes, 36 seconds — and ahead of half the pack.

"The average person races eight times before he finishes,'' he said.

In the beginning, Schelin had trouble seeing around Opee, but they worked out shifts and leans and it's seldom a problem now. Schelin also uses voice commands.

"When we come up to a jump, I tell him to set it up and he will drop down and give me more of a view,'' Schelin said. If they're at the bottom of a cliff or big hill and there's too much weight, he just tells Opee to get off and meet him at the top.

Schelin doesn't go racing without Opee these days.

"I can't go as fast without him. I can't jump as far without him. I don't feel as safe without him. He's become a natural part of the bike with me. We have this natural rhythm.''

Even the most skilled motocross racer has a plaster cast past and Opee is no exception. His worst crash came in the 2006 Baja 500.

"We took a spill at 75 mph in the dirt and went into a 40-foot skid,'' Schelin said.

The dog isn't attached to the bike or Schelin in any way. He skinned his nose and scraped his paw. Schelin sliced his leg. The injuries weren't enough to put them out of the race though.

"I would never do anything to hurt my dog,'' Schelin said. "Opee keeps me in check at all times. If he doesn't jump up on the bike, we don't go.''

Schelin is not only racing partner but stage dad for his dog, with a few goals for the future: Do a back flip with Opee into a foam pit ("he would hold on the same way I do — gravity''); see Opee recognized as the fastest dog on the planet (he's written to Guinness); take a tandem skydive; and go to the movies to see Opee in a major motion picture.

Schelin answered a Hollywood agent's TV ad three years ago, but he hasn't heard back and is looking for representation. Opee, he said, is too talented to go undiscovered.

"The only thing missing is the cape.''

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Gritty Greipel hangs on to Tour Down Under leader's jersey - Summary - Earthtimes

Posted: 22 Jan 2010 09:50 PM PST

Article : Gritty Greipel hangs on to Tour Down Under leader's jersey - Summary
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Jury still out on young gun - Florida Today

Posted: 22 Jan 2010 10:12 PM PST

Brash young'un Brad Keselowski aims to set NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series on fire. But he better handle the gasoline and matches with care lest he set himself aflame.

The 25-year-old burst onto the Sprint Cup scene with a flourish last season, storming to victory -- and putting Carl Edwards in the fence in the process -- in the spring Talladega race. He later spawned a wrecking rivalry with Denny Hamlin, who got the last laugh by bashing Keselowski in the Nationwide Series finale at Homestead.

Keselowski did score four top-10s in 15 Cup starts and won four of 35 starts in Nationwide, making enough of an impression that Roger Penske signed him to replace David Stremme in the No. 12 Dodge.

That could be seen as a blessing or a curse since that ride has seen a number of drivers -- including Stremme, Brendan Gaughan and Travis Kvapil -- who failed to live up to Penske's expectations and got fired.

So what makes Keselowski think he could be the guy to nail down that ride?

Asked during Daytona's recent fan fest, he showed maturity and more than a bit of the cockiness that would both serve him well and set him up for a fall.

"Wow, man. Let me duck," he answered. "I've been practicing, working my boxing skills."

He then got serious.

"You never know. I mean, what the important part is for everyone to drink the Kool-Aid, so to speak, and to know that it takes a team to win," he said. "It doesn't take a driver, it takes a team, and for everybody to understand that, which has been a major part of the process since day one when I met with Mr. Penske and his group about coming over here was understanding that I alone -- . . . I can't fix anything myself. We all have to work together. I don't have any magic cures or magic wand other than heart and desire and a passion to win. There's some skills that come with that, yes, but it's the passion that makes the most difference."

If anything, Keselowski's got passion and ego and drive and determination. He wouldn't have reached NASCAR's elite level without it. Whether he possesses the smarts, the self-control, the discipline and the judgment to be successful remains to be seen. It will be played out over this season's 36 points races in Cup and 35 in Nationwide.

But one thing's for certain: he has no regrets about exceeding the maximum number of races in 2009 that cost him his eligibility for Rookie of Year honors in 2010.

"Absolutely not," he said. "I had signed up with Hendrick Motorsports . . . seven races . . . that would help me retain my rookie status. If I would have stuck to my guns on that, then I would have never ran Talladega. I hold no regrets for that reason alone.

"But then there's also the benefit of getting to run the Penske car for the last three races. When I look back at it, man, if I wouldn't have ran Talladega, how much would that have changed my world? How much would that have changed my confidence or my decision-making process?"

Contact DeCotis at 242-3786 or e-mail mdecotis@floridatoday.com.

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George's legacy not a favorable one - ESPN.com

Posted: 22 Jan 2010 08:24 PM PST

No matter how true the statement actually is, Tony George will go down in history as the man who effectively destroyed Indy-car racing.

Since George inherited leadership of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1989 at the age of 29, Indy-car racing went from being a successful sport on the rise to a struggling, directionless entity, dwarfed in this country by stock car racing and virtually invisible in the overall sports spectrum.

Even the Indianapolis 500, the powerful trump card that George used in an attempt to gain overall control of Indy-style racing, is a shadow of its former self, a poor second cousin to NASCAR's Daytona 500 in terms of impact and prestige.

Fueled by an enticing combination of veteran American drivers with names like Andretti, Unser and Mears and an incoming wave of international Formula One stars including Emerson Fittipaldi and Nigel Mansell, Indy car combined the best elements of traditional American oval racing and F1 and reached its peak from 1990 to 1995. By every measurable statistic -- little things like sponsorship, attendance and television ratings -- it was a match domestically for NASCAR and starting to worry F1 on the world stage.

Which means that George's decision in 1994 to create the Indy Racing League as a competing alternative to the existing CART IndyCar World Series could not have come at a worse time.

The formation of the IRL, which began staging races in 1996, sparked a 13-year battle for control of Indy-car racing and ultimately led to a mass exodus by fans, sponsors and manufacturers. NASCAR's impressive growth in that period almost exactly coincided with Indy car's decline.

With all of the key components in the sport except the Indy 500, CART should have put the IRL out of business by the late '90s. When it failed and most of the CART teams switched allegiance to the IRL between 2002 and 2004, George and his series should have landed a knockout punch.

Instead, lingering resentment toward George and the IRL galvanized what remained of CART to band together and continue as the Champ Car World Series, which limped along until the end of 2007. When Champ Car finally threw in the towel and agreed to be absorbed by the IRL, it was a war no longer worth winning. And the desperate state of the American economy nullified any positive momentum that should have resulted from the so-called unification of Indy-car racing.

All of which makes the events of the past eight months all the more astounding. Despite being perceived as the man who brought open-wheel racing back together, George was forced out as the CEO of the Speedway and the Hulman family's other business interests in June 2009. At the same time, he chose to not continue as the leader of the IRL, the series he formed to win the war he created.

This week, George resigned his positions as a board member of IMS and Hulman & Co., bringing his traumatic 20-year tenure as the leader of the Speedway to a whimpering, anticlimactic end. We may never know why he made the decision to abandon these responsibilities; George has not publicly commented about his forced departure as IMS CEO and voluntary decision to relinquish leadership of the IRL, other than a couple of posts several months ago on his Vision Racing team's Web site in which he claimed to be "perplexed" by his family's collective decision to vote him out.

George did many positive things during his two decades at the helm of IMS, including thoroughly modernizing the historic track while never asking for or accepting a penny of taxpayer money. Those improvements included the construction of an infield road course that attracted Formula One back to America after a 10-year absence and ultimately carried the Speedway back to its motorcycle racing roots in the form of a Moto GP event.

George also was responsible for the decision that brought NASCAR to Indianapolis, a prime example of a double-edged sword if there ever was one. The successful Brickyard 400 certainly lined the IMS coffers, but it also detracted from the uniqueness of the Indy 500 and contributed to turning Indianapolis into just another NASCAR town.

While the Brickyard has been a big money-maker for the Speedway, the other key changes during the Tony George era required huge expenditures -- especially the formation and running of the IRL. It was that massive drain on the Hulman family trust -- estimated at upward of half a billion dollars -- that ultimately led his mother and three sisters (who make up two-thirds of the Hulman & Co. board) to orchestrate his ouster.

History will record that for every positive thing George did for the Speedway or the overall sport of auto racing -- such as funding the development of the SAFER barrier system now successfully utilized at almost every major oval track in the world -- there was a far more significant negative action. And at the top of that list is the creation of the IRL.

Ultimately, George's legacy will be defined by the IRL. And it's not a happy one. Don't believe me? Then check out a few of the reader comments posted in response to the news story reporting George's decision to vacate the IMS and Hulman & Co. boards. The vast majority of Indy-car racing's remaining loyal fans blame George and his creation of the IRL for the downfall of the sport they love. George -- with Bill France Jr. prodding him on one side and Bernie Ecclestone on the other -- was the man solely responsible for choosing to go into competition with CART, which since 1979 had led the growth and development of Indy-car racing, including the Indy 500.

So what are we left with? An IRL IndyCar Series that in many key respects is a virtual clone of CART in the '80s and '90s. Same teams, same mix of road racing and ovals, but now managed -- some would say mismanaged -- by IMS. But with a significantly diminished fan and sponsor base and no longer featuring George in the mix, other than as the owner of a midfield team created as a vehicle to put his stepson Ed Carpenter into Indy cars.

I'll close by repeating a thought I expressed in a column I wrote in January 2006, when George and the IRL retained KISS bassist Gene Simmons and his marketing company to represent the IndyCar Series. It's richly ironic that the anthem Simmons penned to promote Indy-car racing was titled "I Am Indy." Because Tony George seems to have thought HE was Indy, and clearly he wasn't.

I strongly believe that Indy-car racing's former fans -- and there are millions of them -- aren't going to embrace the IRL until the man who created it accepts some responsibility for the detrimental actions he forced upon the sport they love.

Sports fans in the 21st century demand accountability -- just ask Mark McGwire or Tiger Woods. And all of Izod's millions of dollars of marketing clout won't achieve anything until George breaks his silence to apologize for his role in putting Indy-car racing in the downtrodden position it occupies.

The Tony George era may be gone. But it certainly won't be forgotten by anyone who cares about Indy-car racing.

John Oreovicz covers open-wheel racing for ESPN.com.

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