NEW FORMAT: The International Hot Rod Association is planning a major overhaul of its Nitro Jam traveling racing series, including competition by invitation only for professional competitors and reducing events from three days to two. However, no changes are being made to IHRA’s sportsman programs.

WORLD CHAMPION: With a fifth-place finish in the Grand Prix of Brazil, British driver Jenson Button clinched his first Formula One World Driving Championship and the first for Brawn Racing.

DRIVER SWAP: Formula One aces Rubens Barrichello and Nico Rosberg will essentially switch places next season with Barrichello leaving Brawn Racing to join Williams and Rosburg going from Williams to replace Barrichello at Brawn.

HALL OF FAME: Bill France Sr., Bill France Jr., Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Junior Johnson were elected to the first class for induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina, next May.

BIG-MONEY MAN: Dirt-late-model driver Jimmy Mars earned his third $50,000 triumph of the season when he won Sunday’s Dirt Track World Championship at Lawrenceburg (Indiana) Speedway.

TO THE TOP: With his second-straight and third triumph in five Chase races, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Jimmie Johnson moved to the top of the National Speed Sport News Power Rankings. The rankings appear weekly in America’s Motorsports Authority.

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