Racing News: 2007 SCCA National Champion Thomas Thrash Jr. Dies in Crash

KILLED: 2007 SCCA E Production National Champion Thomas Thrash Jr. was killed in a crash during practice for the June Sprints at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. He was 47. Forty-eight-year-old Dennis Frank was killed later the same night when he was struck by a sprint car that flipped off the race track at St. Francois County Raceway in Missouri.

NO CLEVELAND GP IN 2010: Cleveland city officials told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that the race that ran for 25 years until last year will not return until at least 2011, as the city and the Indy Racing League cannot get together on a date for the event at the Burke Lakefront Airport.

DANICA DERBY: It appears that NASCAR team owner Chip Ganassi will be a player in the bidding for free agent Indy car driver Danica Patrick. With the possibility that Ganassi’s championship-winning driver Scott Dixon may leave the team for a new operation headed by Gil de Ferran, Patrick would be the leading contender for the open seat.

GO SOUTH YOUNG MAN: It appears the Indy Racing League will be racing in Brazil next season with a race in the capital city of Brasilia.

STILL ON TOP: Despite his worst finish of the season, sixth in the British Grand Prix, Formula One point-leader Jenson Button remains atop the National Speed Sport News Power Rankings, which rates drivers from all auto-racing disciplines. The rankings appear weekly in America’s Motorsports Authority.

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