Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/nofenders/zbjv/~3/eRWpua2Oaew/local-uw-dawg-students-shining-in.html
Wednesday
Allmendinger?s NASCAR Career Is Effectively Over
Since we broke the news on Twitter before Saturday night’s race that A.J. Allmendinger was being replaced by Sam Hornish, the Dinger’s world has come apart. NASCAR announced he had failed a drug test, and Allmendinger has since requested the B sample be tested and admitted he tested positive for a stimulant. Penske has tabbed [...] 
TheNASCARInsiders.com
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2012 season in the rear view: Jeff Gordon
Vitals: 1oth in the points standings. 2 wins, 11 top 5s, 18 top 10s. 5 DNFs.
Moment to remember: Yeah, yeah, yeah, there was that whole thing at Phoenix. But we're saving that for Clint Bowyer. Instead, we're going to go with Gordon's surprise win at Pocono after he went from sixth to first in less than a third of a lap.
As the pack entered turn one, Gordon had Kasey Kahne to his inside and Martin Truex Jr. to his outside. But leader Jimmie Johnson got loose while racing Matt Kenseth and the two made contact and washed up the track. Brad Keselowski and Greg Biffle, the drivers immediately behind them, were forced to check up, and that opened the door for Gordon, who was in front by the time that Kenseth spun into Denny Hamlin, causing the yellow flag to fly. Before the race got back going, the skies opened up, and the race was called. Gordon was in victory lane.
(However Gordon's win was marred by the death of a fan outside of Pocono Raceway after the race. The significant weather had been tracking towards Pocono for some time, and as the race wasn't called until the rain started falling, may fans ran out of time to take shelter before the storm hit. In the aftermath, many tracks emphasized severe weather policies.)
Moment to forget: Because he made the Chase, Gordon doesn't have to cleanse his brain of the awful start to his 2012 season, but man, it stunk. There was the blown engine at Daytona, contact with Dale Earnhardt Jr. that led to a flat tire at Bristol, a crash at Talladega, and more tire issues at Darlington. After all that in the first 11 races, Gordon was 24th in the standings.
And then after he qualified for the Chase by the skin of his teeth at Richmond, Gordon's playoffs started just like his regular season. At Chicago, his throttle stuck as he entered turn one and he slammed the wall. He finished 35th.
The wrap: After that awful start, Gordon needed a strong midseason kick to make the Chase. And he got it, finishing in the top 10 in 10 of the remaining 15 races. But it wasn't necessarily a departure from the beginning part of Gordon's season. He wasn't running poorly, he just had some crazy bad luck.
Case in point, after that 35th place finish at Chicago, Gordon was back up to fifth in the standings after Texas with two races to go. But then was quickly back to 11th after that whole Phoenix thing. But, in true Gordon fashion, he scrambled back into the top 10 by winning the season finale at Homestead.
James Buescher wins 2012 Camping World Truck Series title
James Buescher held off a furious late race charge by Ty Dillon that was blunted by a crash to win the 2012 Camping World Truck Series title Friday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
After a late race restart, Dillon had closed to second behind Kyle Busch and within a point of Buescher as they ran. Had Dillon been able to pass Busch, he would have assumed the points lead.
However, as Kyle Larson, who finished second last week at Phoenix, went low to pass Dillon for second with five laps to go, he couldn't complete the pass and made contact with Dillon, sending Dillon into the wall and Larson into a spin. The damage from the crash didn't destroy Dillon's truck but destroyed his chances. He was held two laps in the pit lane after passing the pace car in his hurry to get to pit lane before the red flag was displayed.
Buescher finished 13th. Timothy Peters was 8th, not enough to make up his 11 point deficit entering the race.
Cale Gale beat Kyle Busch in a thrilling finish to Friday night's race, passing Busch on the low side on the final lap in turns 3 and 4. Busch had the momentum advantage off of the high side off of turn four, but Gale pinched Busch towards the wall as the two came off the final corner and maintained the advantage as he made contact with Busch and Busch made contact with the wall to win by about a foot.
Pedro Matos Chaves Bill Cheesbourg Eddie Cheever Andrea Chiesa
Lewis Hamilton takes first Formula 1 race in United States since 2007
If the cowboy hats donned on the heads of the drivers atop the podium after Sunday's United States Grand Prix were any indication, Formula 1 enjoyed its stay in the Lone Star state this weekend.
The world's most prominent racing series was back in the states for the first time since the 2007 USGP at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. And from the early returns; the enthusiasm, the crowd (an announced 80,000+ attended qualifying on Saturday), and the lack of traffic problems, this inaugural race at the Circuit of the Americas just outside Austin was a success. And it'll be the most-watched race of the entire weekend.
Yeah, that's including the Sprint Cup season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
On the American scene, the date choice for the first Circuit of the Americas United States Grand Prix seemed a curious one. It was up against the NFL's early games and scheduled to end during the opening segment of the Ford 400. (The University of Texas football team was off on Saturday.) Did Bernie Ecclestone and F1 want to steal some of NASCAR's thunder? Did they want to directly compete with the Cowboys and Texans? Heck, does the sanctioning body even care enough about those U.S. factors to even consider them?
After all, this is Formula 1, the land of seemingly budgetless racing.
Mario Andretti was at the U.S. Grand Prix and said to the Austin American-Statesman, said that the two races shouldn't have been run on the same day. The man would seem to be a pretty good resource on the subject; after all, he's run in both series.
"You do have a crossover of fans," Andretti said Friday. "I know, personally, some people who are down there and would've been here. And maybe even vise versa."
The Circuit of the Americas is a 3.427 mile track just southeast of Austin-Bergstrom Airport and many drivers were worried about the track's tricky approach to turn one, especially on the first lap. The run up to the almost 180 degree turn featured a steep hill into the braking zone and into the apex, which, because of the incline, seemed like it almost came out of nowhere to the drivers.
But the first lap of the race was clean, and polesitter and points leader Sebastian Vettel sprinted out to a substantial lead over teammate Mark Webber, who took second from Lewis Hamilton on the start.
However, Hamilton dispatched Webber (who ended up retiring from an engine failure) and eventually reeled in Vettel, taking the lead after the polesitter led the first 41 laps. Hamilton held on to win by six tenths of a second. (Side note: During a mid-race pit stop, Hamilton's pit crew changed all four tires on his car in an astonishing 2.4 seconds.)
That, along with Fernando Alonso's fourth place finish, meant that Vettel wasn't able to clinch the points championship at Austin and will carry a 13 point lead over Alonso into the season's final race in Sao Paulo, Brazil next weekend.
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Tuesday
The fix is in? NASCAR advertises ?Six-Time? merchandise before season finale
This is it, people! The smoking gun! Proof positive that NASCAR is one big conspiracy designed to load up Jimmie Johnson with championships! It's right here, people!
This, via NASCAR.com, is a shot of a commemorative "six-time" plaque honoring Jimmie Johnson's 2012 victory at Homestead ... problem is, that "victory" hasn't happened yet. Now, Johnson has a huge hill to climb to win the Sprint Cup, but if he does ... well, you'll know something's up, won't you?
(Via @dustinlong)
Carlo Abate George Abecassis Kenny Acheson Andrea de Adamich
2012 season in the rear view: Kurt Busch
Vitals: 25th in the points standings. 0 wins, 1 top 5, 5 top 10s. 6 DNFs.
Moment to remember: Let's start with the positive, shall we? Busch finished third at Sonoma and was a contender for the win until he suffered a broken trackbar. But yet, he still finished third. It was a testament to Busch's driving ability and why he wasn't rideless for the 2012 season. The dude can wheel a race car.
Moment to forget: What else can we write about Busch that hasn't been written already? Here are the moments that Busch would like you to forget or believe were taken out of context or blown out of proportion in 2012:
-- Being confronted by Ryan Newman's gas can man after the race at Darlington. Newman's crew was mad that Busch smoked his tires through their box after both drivers had gone for a spin late in the race.
-- Threatening a reporter after being asked a question about racing Justin Allgaier in the Nationwide Series race at Dover while being on probation. Busch was subsequently suspended for the next week's race at Pocono.
-- After crashing at Talladega in October, Busch drove away from the accident scene with safety officials near his car and even a bag of equipment atop his car. As he was driving away from the scene, Busch had his helmet off, and said he couldn't hear the calls to stop his car.
-- Nicknaming himself "Outlaw." OK, so Busch wants you to remember that, but it's not in good form to give yourself a nickname, especially if it's going to be "Outlaw." It's best everyone forgets that one.
The wrap: This was supposed to be a redemptive year for Busch, right? One that was supposed to show how he was going to get back to "old school" racing and redeem himself after unceremoniously parting ways with Penske after 2011. Instead, Busch found himself in the spotlight under much the same circumstances in 2012. He moved to Furniture Row Racing for the final six races of the season, and closed out the year with three top 10s after scoring just two in 30 races for Phoenix Racing. Will the honeymoon period extend into 2013, or will Furniture Row and Busch be a good fit for each other?
Francois Cevert Eugene Chaboud Jay Chamberlain Karun Chandhok
Explaining The Leg Wave: Guy Coulon And Wilco Zeelenberg Speak
Watch a modern MotoGP, Moto2 or World Superbike race with a casual fan and you can be certain there is one question they will ask you: "Why are they waving their legs about like that?" Many theories have been offered, often directly contradicting each other. For example, several years ago, I suggested that the leg wave is entirely mental. Earlier this year, the Australian motorcycle coaching organization MotoDNA described the possible role which aerodynamics play, the exposed leg helping to create more drag. Much has been said, yet it seems impossible to settle the argument one way or another.
Asking the riders to explain does not help much. It is a question I and other journalists have asked of many different riders, including Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Cal Crutchlow, and Dani Pedrosa. Their answers always boil down to the same thing: "It just feels natural," they say. An interesting response, perhaps providing an insight into how deeply racers have internalized so much of the physical part of their riding, but not doing much to help explain the phenomenon.
To attempt to get to the bottom of this mystery, I turned to some of the best minds in the MotoGP paddock. For an explanation of the physics behind the leg wave, I asked Monster Tech 3 Yamaha crew chief and technical guru Guy Coulon, while for further insight from the point of view of an observer and ex-rider, I spoke to Wilco Zeelenberg, team manager of Jorge Lorenzo - the one current MotoGP rider who does not dangle his leg while riding.
Subaru STI Mechanical Watch Limited Edition
Whenever you’re stumped looking for the perfect Christmas gift to buy somebody you love, it’s always a good idea to surf the Internet to find out what kind of items are out there that make for the perfect holiday present.
Well, if you happen to be reading this, may we suggest this pretty fancy but affordable mechanical timepiece from Subaru?
It will only be limited to 300 units and priced at around $700 a piece, a figure that’s not that steep relative to what you’re going to get in the market for a timepiece with an automotive collaboration on it.
As for the watch itself, there are some touches done to it that pay homage to the automotive world, including a power-reserve counter that’s shaped like a fuel gauge at the six o?clock position and a window on both sides of the gears that show hints of a figure that appears to have been inspired by a boxer engine piston. And, and did we mention that the watch itself uses gears to measure the time while also showing local times of a number of international cities and even the Nurburgring race track.
The only caveat is that if you’re thinking of scooping this timepiece up as a Christmas present, you might have to wait past the holidays to get it. Subaru will actually bring the watch to the 2013 Tokyo Auto Salon where they will have 30 units on hand ready to be sold.
Subaru STI Mechanical Watch Limited Edition originally appeared on topspeed.com on Monday, 24 December 2012 12:00 EST.
Source: http://www.topspeed.com/cars/car-news/subaru-sti-mechanical-watch-limited-edition-ar140190.html
Monday
The Year That Was: A splash n? go history of 2012 in the world of NASCAR
Can't believe we're already at the end of the year! Why, it seems like just yesterday that we were all basking in the glow of Juan Pablo Montoya's jet dryer fire at Daytona.
February
The season started with a rain-delayed Daytona 500. During the rain, we were joined for an impromptu live chat by a fella named Brad Keselowski. What ever happened to him? Once the race started, it wasn't long -- as in, two laps -- before Jimmie Johnson and Danica Patrick were taken out in a wreck. But the big story was the inferno caused by Montoya's collision with a jet dryer. That halted the race, allowing Keselowski to become the Twitter sensation that he is today. Oh, yeah, and Matt Kenseth won the race. We also saw the high school yearbook photos of a few of your favorite drivers.
[Related: Danica Patrick to divorce after seven years of marriage | Photos]
March
NASCAR came down hard -- for a little while, at least -- on the 48 team for unauthorized modifications. A few drivers got a handful of Tony Stewart on live TV. In Bristol, Keselowski won his first race of the season. In the first of many ugly events for Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. cut his tire, ending Gordon's Bristol day early. Clint Bowyer collected Gordon and Johnson in a late wreck at Martinsville that would have no later recriminations whatsoever.
April
Check out a bird's-eye (well, satellite's-eye) view of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s car graveyard. Denny Hamlin's second win of the season, at Kansas, made the #11 the winningest number in NASCAR ever.
May
Danica Patrick showed some salt by crashing Sam Hornish Jr. after the checkered flag at the Talladega Nationwide race. At the Sprint Cup race, another monstrous wreck led to differing opinions; meanwhile, Keselowski won again on a daring last-lap move on Kyle Busch. Talladega was also the second half of a Kentucky Derby/NASCAR two-day infield jaunt that we haven't totally recovered from. At Darlington, Jimmie Johnson scored win No. 200 for Hendrick Motorsports, and Kurt Busch got into a fight with Ryan Newman's crew and got himself suspended for a race. Off the track, Jeremy Mayfield was ordered to pay $1 million for his dogs' attack on a postal carrier, and NASCAR named its 2013 Hall of Fame class.
[Related: Beer-chugging champ Brad Keselowski is perfect NASCAR pitchman]
June
DALE EARNHARDT JR. WON A RACE. In other news, Carl Edwards fell out of the top 10 after hitting a wall at Dover, continuing a long slow slide. His teammate Matt Kenseth revealed he'd be leaving the 17 and Roush Fenway after the 2012 season.
July
AJ Allmendinger failed a drug test, setting off an unfortunate chain of events that saw him leave the Penske team. And, for a moment, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was in first place in the standings.
August
Sadness as a fan died from a lightning strike outside Pocono. Mark Martin had a scary wreck that could have been much worse at Michigan. Tony Stewart threw his helmet at Matt Kenseth at Bristol in the best fight of the year between drivers. It couldn't possibly get any better than that, could it?
September
Merry-go-round: Matt Kenseth revealed he's headed to Joe Gibbs Racing, while Joey Logano headed to Penske. A blown pit call in Richmond cost Kyle Busch a slot in the Chase and a possible championship shot. After yet another tumultuous season, Kurt Busch jumps to Furniture Row Racing.
[Related: Clint Bowyer pleased with second-place finish in points race]
October
Dale Earnhardt Jr. suffered a concussion in a monstrous Talladega wreck and missed two races. Denny Hamlin's championship chances vanished after mechanical problems at Martinsville.
November
In a perfect metaphor for his season, Kevin Harvick's car was hit by a parachuter's sandbag right before the Texas race. But Harvick had better news ahead, as he is reportedly headed to Stewart-Haas in 2014. Oh, and there was a little disagreement between the crews of Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer. In the end, however, the last man standing was Brad Keselowski, who hammered down his first Sprint Cup championship with an exceptional Chase.
Congrats to Brad, and thanks to all of you for a great season! We'll see you ... well, we'll see you all offseason. Stick around, won't you? Only three months to Daytona!
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2013 Silly Season? Who?s Where, and What?s What
It may only be October, but it?s never too early to start thinking about silly season in indycar world. Without the post-Vegas fallout to contend with this year, silly season has picked up steam much earlier this year than in … Continue reading 
Source: http://anotherindycarblog.wordpress.com/2012/10/10/2013-silly-season-whos-where-and-whats-what/
Pedro Matos Chaves Bill Cheesbourg Eddie Cheever Andrea Chiesa
Sunday
De la Rosa: ?There won?t be another Spanish F1 team? | F1 Fanatic round-up
De la Rosa: “There won’t be another Spanish F1 team” is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.
In the round-up: Pedro de la Rosa is pessimistic about the potential for a successor to HRT.
De la Rosa: “There won’t be another Spanish F1 team” is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.
Source: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2012/12/24/f1-fanatic-roundup-2412/
Enrico Bertaggia Tony Bettenhausen Mike Beuttler Birabongse Bhanubandh
Althea To Field Giugliano Aboard Aprilia For 2013 WSBK Campaign
After their split with Ducati over the support required for campaigning and developing Ducati's new Panigale superbike, there was some speculation as to what would become of the Italian team which ran Ducati's crypto-factory racing program for the past two years. On Monday, Althea announced that as expected, the team would be making the switch to Aprilia, and racing an RSV4 in 2013.
The team will field only a single rider, Davide Giugliano remaining with the team for 2013. The young Italian had an excellent rookie season with the Althea Ducati team, getting on the podium twice at Misano and Assen and regularly tussling with front group of WSBK men.
Althea's choice for Aprilia makes a grand total of four RSV4s on the 2013 grid. Beside the factory Aprilia squad of Eugene Laverty and Sylvain Guintoli, Michel Fabrizio will also be racing an RSV4 for the Red Devils Roma, while Giugliano races the bike for the Althea team.
Below is the official press release from Althea:
Team Althea Racing together with Aprilia in 2013 World Superbike Championship
Althea Racing partners with Aprilia and prepares to compete at the top level in the 2013 World Superbike Championship.
Newey Happy At Red Bull
Red Bull design chief Adrian Newey insists that he is happy with the team. Newey is widely regarded as one of the finest technical men in the sport, and is often credited as being the brains behind Red Bull?s recent domination. He believes that his future may move him away from F1, but for now [...]
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Formula1Fancast/~3/8l4sy7fPHDs/newey-happy-at-red-bull
Nissan Called Qashqai Review Some Units And The NV200 in Spain
The car firm Nissan has recalled in Spain some units of Qashqai models and NV200, due to a defect in the steering wheel that can affect the direction of the vehicle, according to the association FACUA-Consumers in Action in a statement. This campaign, according to the consumer, affects units of these models made this year. [...]
Source: http://www.autocarblog.co.uk/365-nissan-called-qashqai-review-some-units-and-the-nv200-in-spain.html
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