Source: http://www.autocarblog.co.uk/196-more-data-in-circuit-perhaps-for-formula-1-in-mar-del-plata.html
Sunday
More Data In Circuit Perhaps for Formula 1 in Mar del Plata
Just a few hours we had breakfast with the news of the likely return of Formula 1 in Argentina and once again talk of a street layout located in the resort city of Mar del Plata. In 2009 Bernie Celestine envoys had visited the famous city of Buenos Aires and had been amazed at the [...]
Carl Edwards trains with a Texas SWAT team
This is pretty impressive: Carl Edwards traveled to Texas to train with a local SWAT team, engaging in everything from rappelling to shooting to hostage rescue. (The "hostage" in question was Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage, and he was rescued unharmed.)
We spoke with Edwards after his escapades, and we'll have a detailed interview and story for you next week. Tidbit: when we talked with Edwards, he was actually in a Texas Subway ... and nobody recognized him. More to come!
Into the Crystal Ball? 2012 is finally Here
YES? The season truly feels like it is upon us as I pull my trusty crystal ball out and attempt to peer into the future for the first time this year. The 2011 offseason was a hornets? nest of unbridled … Continue reading 
Source: http://anotherindycarblog.wordpress.com/2012/03/20/into-the-crystal-ball-2012-is-finally-here/
Could the new Charger draw some teams to the Dodge camp?
Wishful thinking or harbinger of the future? Multiple voices inside the Dodge camp are insisting that several teams -- that's teams, plural -- have contacted them about running Dodge in 2013 now that Penske Racing has opted to switch to Ford.
Dodge SRT CEO Ralph Gilles and company spokesmen have used some variant of the phrase "phones ringing off the hook" in repeated public comments, starting with Sunday's revelation of the 2013 Dodge Charger. You can see it in the photo above; clearly that's a far cry from the current box that every team runs.
The unveiling was planned before Dodge got the news that it would be a lame-duck manufacturer. Still, the company is pressing forward with plans to remain in NASCAR, perhaps on multiple fronts. "We are going to take our time and come up with a plan that will hopefully see us return to Daytona next year with a new team," Dodge spokesman Dan Reid told the Detroit Free Press.
The question, of course, is which teams could even conceivably make the switch. Hendrick, Roush, Childress and now Penske are all locked in tight with their current manufacturers. Gibbs is a possibility, but Toyota has worked too hard to get into NASCAR to let a marquee team like that go free. It will cost Dodge tremendous money to lure a team away from another manufacturer, but if it were the right team, it could be a sound investment.
Perhaps a combination of smaller and second-tier teams, or battlefield promotions from the Nationwide Series, could serve, but one key will be Penske's performance this year. If Dodge can demonstrate that it can take the team from two Chasers to two legitimate championship contenders, then those phones really will ring off the hook ... or off the table, since nobody's phone sits on a hook anymore.
Saturday
NASCAR Saturday cartoons! Enjoy the first episode of ?Pit Chatter?
Here's a little Saturday treat for you: the first episode of our new animated series "Pit Chatter." In this episode, entitled "The First Date," you learn some amazing ? and perhaps disturbing ? things when you date a NASCAR fan. Get yourself a big bowl of cereal and enjoy.
Fun times, strange quotes at the Las Vegas Media Center
NASCAR drivers! They're funny! Or at least reasonably so! Check out this collection of clips from the best of Friday's media sessions. And even though the jokes don't really warrant the guffaws they draw from the assembled media, it's still good to see a little bit of life out of these cats. Enjoy.
Friday
Martin Whitmarsh: ?We?re starting from the right place?
After Jenson Button’s win in Australia McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh says that the team is well placed for a title challenge, given its recent history of developing its car over the course of the season. The difference is that this … Continue reading 
Source: http://adamcooperf1.com/2012/03/19/martin-whitmarsh-were-starting-from-the-right-place/
Whoa, Dodge Has Style
A new day is dawning in the aesthetics of the sport’s highest series. Or at least it looked that way on Sunday. Dodge unveiled it’s new Charger Cup car on Sunday and it looks great (sorry I didn’t include a photo, but check out the unveil video here). A car with bodylines and a distinctive [...] 
TheNASCARInsiders.com
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheNascarInsiders/~3/Oh9NJb0iQe0/
Wreck of the week, with the new ?Crazed Montoya? rating system!
It's time to bring back Wreck of the Week, and this year, we've got a whole new twist. In honor of the man who brought us NASCAR's greatest wreck in a generation, we're proud to begin ranking each week's wrecks in the currency of Crazed Montoyas.
Suggested by reader Patrick Jacques, we're shamelessly ripping it off from Puck Daddy's "Stunned Milbury" ranking system (get the home office to cut you a compensation check, Wyshynski). We'll go from one Crazed Montoya (routine spin/fender bender) to five Crazed Montoyas (jet dryer exploding into a fireball). So let's begin, shall we?
It wasn't a banner week for wrecks, but this spin-and-park-it by Kurt Busch gave us something to talk about, if only to see if Busch was going to go batcrap crazy in the infield care center. He's now up to four wrecked Phoenix Motorsports cars. James Finch is going to have Kurt bring his own cars to the track before long.
Verdict: Two Crazed Montoyas. Just barely, and only because the car got towed off the track.
NASCAR Saturday cartoons! Enjoy the first episode of ?Pit Chatter?
Here's a little Saturday treat for you: the first episode of our new animated series "Pit Chatter." In this episode, entitled "The First Date," you learn some amazing ? and perhaps disturbing ? things when you date a NASCAR fan. Get yourself a big bowl of cereal and enjoy.
Thursday
What went wrong for the back of the grid?
It was another frustrating season at the back of the grid for F1?s relative new boys. Lotus, HRT and Virgin all in their sophomore seasons in Formula One all failed, again, to score points in 2011. So what went wrong last season and what does 2012 have in store. Lotus They?ve arguably been the best [...]
2012 VW Beetle: Relax Guys, it's Okay to Drive One
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Seemingly every car has a stigma attached to it. Some make their driver look like he has a big ego, some are classified for country folk, and some cars even get tagged with a specific gender. Yup, how many guys do you see driving a Miata? Not too many, unless you happen to know me ? hey, it?s a Mazdaspeed MX-5, leave me alone. The Volkswagen New Beetle was another car that got stuck with the ?chick?s car? label, and rightfully so. C?mon, there is a flower vase in the dashboard?
In 2012, VW redesigned the beetle, giving it a lower profile and elongated hood, which makes it look stouter, flower vase and all. On top of the more ?manly? look, VW also targeted men in particular in 2012 Beetle ads. The two ads that stick out most are the ?Slap five? and ?Thanks for flying Volkswagen,? both of which are directly aimed at men ? the former more than the latter. I guess fist bumping and high-fiving random dudes and one pretty woman makes the Beetle manly. Hmm?
Regardless of my opinion on it, this campaign worked. Since September 2011, 49% of all 2012 Beetle buyers were men. That?s nearly one-third more than last year. Apparently, Volkswagen knows a thing or two about how men?s brains work and aren?t afraid to blatantly go after what it wants. One mind trick VW pulled over men’s eyes was to focus mostly on the turbocharged models, tugging away at our weakest point, raw power. I wonder what people would think of me if I decided to trade my Miata for a Beetle.
2012 VW Beetle: Relax Guys, it's Okay to Drive One originally appeared on topspeed.com on Thursday, 22 March 2012 13:00 EST.
Source: http://www.topspeed.com/cars/car-news/2012-vw-beetle-relax-guys-it-s-okay-to-drive-one-ar126785.html
Tony Stewart dominates off the line for his first career Vegas win
Be afraid, NASCAR drivers. Be very, very afraid.
Right up until about last September, the knocks on Tony Stewart were piling up. His best days were behind him. He couldn't juggle both ownership and driving. He was scoring points against the media but not on the track.
Amazing how one championship changes everything, doesn't it? And yet the doubts still persisted ...
He just got hot at the right time. He made a mistake ditching his championship crew chief. He can't win before the weather turns warm. He can't win at Vegas.
Hey, guess what? Smoke's done all this and more in the last few races, and Sunday's run at the Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas affirmed that we write off Tony Stewart at our peril.
Stewart wasn't the best car early ? that honor belonged to none other than Dale Earnhardt Jr. ?�but Smoke absolutely dominated on restarts, beating both Brad Keselowski and Jimmie Johnson off the line after pulling off an amazing three-wide move to take the lead near the race's midpoint.
"That's what they pay me to do!" he crowed to his crew after the maneuver, which put him at the front of the pack for the remainder of the day.
Only Johnson could mount any kind of challenge, but even Five-Time's attempt at running down Stewart faded long before the checkers flew. "Man, I want to win," Johnson said. "But Tony really got away on those restarts."
"We were so strong on restarts," Stewart agreed before thanking a grocery list of sponsors, "especially the Hendrick engine department and chassis department. That was the key to the race."
The win gives Stewart all kinds of momentum that he hadn't been able to gather up during a disappointing Daytona run and a frustrating Phoenix race in which his car wouldn't restart. Add to that an "anything you can do, I can do better" shot right back at former crew chief Darian Grubb, who won last week with Denny Hamlin, plus the fact that this is his first victory at Vegas, and you've got one heck of a fine afternoon for Smoke. Darlington and Kentucky are now the only tracks at which he hasn't won.
The win vaulted Stewart up seven spots in the standings, seating him at eighth with a win in his pocket earlier than at any time in his career. Clearly, the good times aren't yet done for Smoke.
Michael Andretti Keith Andrews Elio de Angelis Marco Apicella
Who?s got Montoya?s wreck from the Daytona Explosion? Dale Earnhardt Jr., of course
Like many race fans, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a fan of NASCAR history. Unlike most race fans, Earnhardt has the means and connections to get his hands on actual pieces of that history. And there's no more historic piece of NASCARiana in recent years than Juan Pablo Montoya's fireball-sparking 42 from this year's Daytona 500.
Guess what's now sitting in Junior's backyard?
"I got about 50 or 60 cars out there and I didn't buy any of them," Earnhardt said. "We get a forklift or a tractor with a forklift or front-end loader and just carry it into the woods and just set it out there somewhere." (Why is it no surprise that Earnhardt's backyard is like some backwoods version of the warehouse at the end of "Raiders of the Lost Ark"?)
So where does the Montoya car rank among Junior's collection?
"That one's good," he said. "That one ranks right up there.� I've got the car (Dennis) Setzer flipped when he was driving for Keselowski at Talladega so that was pretty cool, but it ranks right up there.� It's one of the top two or three."
Of course, the Montoya car is only half the Daytona Explosion equation. To complete the set, Junior needs to get his hands on the jet dryer, right?
"I'd like to have it, but I don't know where it is," Earnhardt said. "It's probably somewhere in Daytona or NASCAR might be studying it somewhere. I think we'll just stick to race cars out there."
Two words, Junior: tour groups. You'll never have to drive a lap again.
Wednesday
Fan yells at Brian McKnight?s son to take off hat before performing national anthem
R&B singer Brian McKnight and his sons sang the national anthem before Sunday's Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway, and his son Niko was, uh, not-so-kindly told to take his hat off before the anthem started.
The request to "take that [stuff] off your head" was audible on the race broadcast, but it's really only understood if you are paying close attention for the request. We certainly didn't notice it as it happened live.�(Note: the video above is uncensored and contains adult language.)
And yes, Niko McKnight did oblige, and removed his hat and acknowledged the area the request came from.
(H/T to The Sports Grid)
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