Opinion Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Let’s face it, we all have mixed opinions about the Halo in Formula 1. Some understand it’s for the sake of safety, and the drivers wanted something to be done for head protection after notable incidents that’s ended seasons, and even a driver’s life. Others utterly despise the new look, and wish there was a different approach of protecting a driver, like the canopy NHRA Top Fuel drivers use. After opening day of free practice for the Rolex Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne, I sawRead More
By Luis Torres, Staff Writer When NASCAR fans think of who’s the greatest crew chief of all-time, more often than not, you’ll hear the names of Hall of Famers Ray Evernham and Dale Inman. How about the 1980s? Tim Brewer, Jeff Hammond and Gary Nelson pop into fans heads, but one that’s been ignored lately is Kirk Shelmerdine. The NASCAR Hall of Fame announced its latest nominees for the Class of 2019 on Tuesday and Shelmerdine, alongside Harry Gant, Jeff Gordon, John Holman and Ralph Moody are the newest nominees.Read More
By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Restrictor plate racing is a strategic game, requiring critical thinking to make the right moves. A few days removed from Sunday’s Daytona 500 and it has dawned on me how frustrating this current era of racing has become. What happened to the word patience? The days of strategizing your move without causing a junkyard is gone. Part of this has to do with three things — stage racing, the demand of winning the Great American Race at an all-time high, or just a generational problem.Read More
By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Saturday’s Lucas Oil 200 at Daytona International Speedway has as diverse a field as the ARCA Racing Series has seen in a long time. The race marks the first time ARCA will use composite bodies at a restrictor plate track, giving a fair playing field for all 39 drivers who’ll accept the 80-lap grind. The historic field consists of long-time veterans, a Navy Academy grad, female teammates and young guns in top budget teams. Let’s begin with Venturini Motorsports teammates Natalie Decker and Leilani Münter.Read More
By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer The 2018 editions of the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hours were polar opposites of each other. The Rolex 24 had only four cautions and because of that, the winner of the second class of cars broke the long standing distance record set by the overall winners in 1982. The Bathurst 12 Hours had so many cautions earlier in the race that broadcasters debated on whether the race would set a record for the shortest distance covered. The Rolex 24 had twoRead More
By Luis Torres, Staff Writer A week removed from the annual NASCAR Media Tour, the buzz around media tabloids wasn’t about Speedweeks or season expectations, but drivers being vocal about NASCAR’s promotion towards the future as the sport enters its 70th season without a strong media darling like Dale Earnhardt, Jr. The first wave of the “Young Gun Movement” from the early 2000s are now the established veterans who are carrying the sport, but we’re seeing a promotional shift favoring the second movement with drivers Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, WilliamRead More
By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Sebastian Vettel is in a class of his own in 2017. The Ferrari driver just picked up his third win and sixth podium of the season in spectacular fashion by overhauling team mate Kimi Raikkonen with a strategy that recalls memories of his friend and mentor Michael Schumacher. He is calm, he is confident, he is excited, and it shows. He is relishing the budding rivalry with Lewis Hamilton and the challenge of beating Mercedes, but he is already a step ahead of them. In anotherRead More
By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer With rumors of a third potential engine supplier possibly in the works for the Verizon IndyCar Series, let’s take a look at a few companies that could provide a nice boost to rival the current regime of Chevrolet and Honda. 1. Mercedes Mercedes has a long motorsports heritage dating back to the early 20th century. Granted, they stepped away from the sport for nearly 40 years but they came onto the Indy car scene with a splash in 1994 by badging the PenskeRead More

Posted On April 10, 2017By Joey BarnesIn Breaking News, Headline News, Opinion

BARNES: The Long Beach Experience

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief There are few races that draw the desire out of race drivers more than the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. The same could be said for the journalists covering the sport. I’ve been privileged to cover several events across NASCAR, IndyCar and even Formula 1, but what was experienced this weekend was a one of a kind moment in my still relatively young career. Covering the 100th Indianapolis 500 last year, the enormous crowds and interest wasn’t all that surprising – especially considering the milestoneRead More
By Toby Christie, NASCAR Writer FORT WORTH, TEXAS — When walking around Friday afternoon before qualifying for Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, I couldn’t help but notice there were a ton more fans sitting outside the grandstands checking out the midway than what were actually up in seats watching the racing action. When I asked many of them if they were going to go inside to watch qualifying, they said that they didn’t think qualifying was worth the price of admission. Once qualifying began, I immediatelyRead More