STAYING PUT: Surprising no one, Speedway Motorsports Inc. Chairman Bruton Smith accepted $80 million worth of incentives from the city of Concord, North Carolina, Cabarrus County and the state of North Carolina, and proudly announced Lowe’s Motor Speedway would remain in Concord permanently.
JOINT VENTURE: Two of the most competitive teams in the Champ Car World Series will combine operations for the 2008 season. Forsythe Championship Racing owner Jerry Forsythe and RuSport owner Dan Pettit announced today that they will combine operations next season and run under the banner of Forsythe/Pettit Racing.
TURKEY TROT: Open-wheel driver Dave Darland added another gem to his resume when he dominated the 67th running of the Turkey Night Grand Prix midget race at California’s Irwindale Speedway. Darland drove a Toyota owned by Steve Lewis.
WINNING DEBUT: Toyota debuted a new 360ci V8 sprint car engine during the Turkey Night Grand Prix, and Bobby Santos III drove it to victory lane. The engine will be available for sprint-car and USAC Silver Crown competition next season.
MORE CRATE ENGINES: UMP DIRTCar Racing will introduce crate engines for competition in 2008 with the introduction of the Pro Late Model class.
FINALISTS: National Speed Sport News named 10 finalists for the fifth annual Economaki Champion of Champions presented by Rockett Brand Racing Fuel. They are: Sebastien Bourdais, Jerry Coons Jr., Dario Franchitti, Steve Francis, Jon Fogarty/Alex Gurney, Ron Hornaday Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano, Donny Schatz and Tony Schumacher.
NUMBER ONE: Nextel Cup champion Jimmie Johnson remained atop of the National Speed Sport News Power Rankings.
SUBSCRIBE: National Speed Sport News has been published weekly since 1934. To subscribe to National Speed Sport News, click on the following link for a special industry rate: www.nationalspeedsportnews.com/subscribe.html?pid=NQ%2BVfhkepT4%3D.