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Racing News: McNamara Takes Victory in Formula DRIFT Round 5: Throwdown

Compiled by SEMA Editors

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Darren McNamara took his first victory of the season in Round 5: Throwdown last weekend.
  

Formula DRIFT Announces Contract Extensions for Venues; McNamara Takes Victory in Round 5: Throwdown
Formula DRIFT presented by GoPro has extended contracts with Road Atlanta and Evergreen Speedway through the 2016 season. The Streets of Long Beach venue partnership will continue in 2015. In an effort to plan for the future of the Series with established long-running relationships with venues, Formula DRIFT has committed to the following tracks for the 2015–2016 season, Road Atlanta, Evergreen Speedway and the Streets of Long Beach for 2015. More venues are expected to sign contracts soon.

Formula DRIFT returned to Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Washington, last weekend for Round 5: Throwdown, where Darren McNamara in the Falken Tire Nissan S14 took his first victory of the season. Rounding out the podium in second place was Dean Kearney in the Oracle Lighting SRT Viper. In third place was current point leader Chris Forsberg in the Hankook Tire Nissan 370Z for his fifth consecutive podium of the season. The 2014 Formula DRIFT Championship season continues to Round 6: Showdown at Texas Motor Speedway, September 12–13.

Ford has supported drivers in Formula DRIFT since 2005, when the sport triggered a successful Ford Racing Performance Parts engine development program for a supercharged 4.6L V8 crate engine. Ford is giving fans the opportunity to enter to win an EcoBoost-powered Fiesta ST. Anyone can enter the contest online while watching the hot action each weekend at www.formuladrift.com.

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Don Garlits will be honored by the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame as a member of the 2014 class of inductees.
  

Don Garlits to Be Inducted Into British Drag Racing Hall of Fame
In mid-November, Don Garlits will be honored by the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame as a member of the 2014 class of inductees. Garlits will be joined by his daughters Donna and GayLyn, and the grandchildren (Sarah, Rodney and Anna) at the Gala Awards Dinner at the famed Savill Court Hotel at Windsor Great Park, near Windsor, Surrey, and west of London, November 22.

The occasion marks the 50th Anniversary of the first “British International Drag Racing Festival” (often referred to as the “DragFests”) organized by the late Sydney Allard—the British industrialist/automaker who built the first dragster in Britain. Garlits and the “Swamp Rat 6B” participated in that first series of races held at several Royal Air Force airfields across Britain in September and October 1964. He raced his friend and rival Tommy (“TV Tommy”) Ivo in the series of match races and won the “People’s Challenge Trophy” for the best aggregate performance, with a string of low-eight-second passes at 190+ mph.

Garlits' participation in that first series of events encouraged other established U.S. drag racers to follow behind him, and helped launch the sport all over Europe. He returned to Britain to race in 1976 and 1977, driving the “Swamp Rat 21” at the now-famed Santa Pod Raceway—Britain’s first, special-built drag strip. He set the British track record at 232+ mph in 1977.

In addition to Garlits' contributions to the growth of drag racing in Great Britain, he is also being honored for his overall performance record, and his significant contributions to the sport’s technological and safety advances. The selection committee noted Garlits’ passion for protecting the history of the sport through The Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing in Ocala, Florida, his own International Drag Racing Hall of Fame and his continued passion for pushing on the performance envelope with the electric-powered Swamp Rat 37, which he is seeking to break the 200 mph barrier in 2014—the 50th anniversary of his record-breaking 201-mph pass in August 1964 with Swamp Rat 6-B.

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Tanner Foust finished first in the Red Bull Global Rallycross Championship in New York last weekend.
  

Tanner Foust First to Checkered Flag at Volkswagen Rallycross New York
The Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross team is coming home with a first-place trophy. Tanner Foust and Scott Speed were two of the fastest cars on the track throughout the fourth round of the Red Bull Global Rallycross Championship in New York, battling their way to a 1–2 finish. However, Speed’s second-place finish was later penalized due to an unapproved adjustment done under the first red flag of the race. Under the championship’s supplemental regulations, he was penalized from that point forward, resulting in a ninth-place finish.

The Olsbergs MSE Ford duo of Patrik Sandell and Joni Wiman are in the top five heading into the Charlotte round next weekend. Red Bull driver Wiman scored a fourth-place result in Long Island last Sunday.

The next round of the Red Bull Rallycross Championship will be held at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway, July 25–26. NBC will air the race live on Sunday, July 26, at 2:00 p.m. (EDT).

RSR Racing Announces Jack Hawksworth to Team With Chris Cumming at the Brickyard Grand Prix
RSR Racing has announced the addition of Star Mazda Champion and Indycar Series driver Jack Hawksworth to the driver lineup in the #08 car for the IMSA TUDOR United Sports Car Championship Brickyard Grand Prix. Coming from a successful sixth-place finish in a wild Indycar event on the streets of Toronto, Hawksworth will have his first sportscar racing experience on the 2.43-mile road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, July 24, at 10:45 a.m. when the series takes to the track for the opening practice session. Hawksworth will be paired with Chris Cumming, who normally drives with Alex Tagliani. Round 6 of the IMSA TUDOR United Sports Car Championship takes place Friday evening, July 25.

Bully Dog's Dog Days of Summer 2014 Results

Grand Bracket (trucks that earned more than 1000 hp in the dyno event)
 Dirt Drags
Work Stock Diesel
Joe Harrell: 306.04 ft.
 Work Stock
1st Place: Justin Tyler
2nd Place: Kalen Johnson
2.6 Diesel
Weylin Richards: 381 ft.
 Single
1st Place: Lucas Steicklein
2nd Place: Lyle Richmond
3.0 Diesel
Bob Millican: 353.07 ft.
 Twin
1st Place: Dan Madden
2nd Place: Dmitri Millard
Pro Mod 4x4
Katie Neibaur: 266.04 ft.
 Open
1st Place: Dmitri Millard
2nd Place: Verlon Southwick
Smoker Tractor
Josh Scott: 272.07 ft.
  
3.2 Diesel
Ryan Thain: 340.04 ft.
  
Pro Mod Diesel
Ken Jones: 325.02 ft.