2013 is scheduled to be the final year of production for the sixth-generation Chevrolet Corvette, otherwise known as the C6. Having replaced the fifth-generation C5 Corvette in late 2005 as a 2006 model, that will mark a seven-year run on the market, which is impressively long in anyone’s book, but fairly typical in Corvette history.

Keeping the C6 fresh all those years had as much to do with special models like the ZR1 and Grand Sport as it has with constantly tweaking smaller things like the options, accessories and colors that have been offered.

For its final model year, the 2013 C6 will reportedly get a last new color called Night Race Blue. The Corvette is already offered in two blue hues: one called Supersonic Blue Metallic (an option that costs an extra $300 on the standard Vette) and a lighter blue introduced for the 2012 model year called Carlisle Blue Metallic. The latter debuted at last year’s SEMA Show to celebrate the Corvettes at Carlisle event in Pennsylvania that claims to attract more privately owned Vettes in one place at one time than anywhere else in the world.

CorvetteBlogger also reports that Chevrolet will be deleting Competition Gray wheels from the options sheet and replacing them with the Black Painted Aluminum wheels you see above.

Source: http://www.autoblog.com/2012/04/13/chevy-c6-corvette-to-get-night-race-blue-and-new-wheels-for-fina/

infineon nascar Boy Hayje

David Phillips
Editor and Chief

David Phillips is a long-time contributor to print and electronic publications in the U.S. and abroad, including Racer, Autosport, AutoWeek, Motor Sport and SPEEDtv.com, oversees the daily updating of news stories and assigns, edits and contributes feature material for inRacingNews.com.

Chris Hall
iRacing.com Series Writer

Chris Hall has been writing since the nineties and moved into motorsports reporting in 2005, covering series such as ALMS, British GT, FIA GT, Le Mans and 2CV racing for Full Throttle magazine, Motorsport.com, The-Paddock.net, GTGateway.com, L’ Endurance and, of course, inRacingNews. During 2008 and 2009, he worked with the RSS Performance Porsche Carrera Cup Team (and former British GT(C) champions) as a data engineer for a variety of drivers and models of 997s.

Jameson Spies
Contributing Writer

19 years old, Jameson Spies lives in Quartz Hill, California. He grew-up surrounded by racing. His mother raced late models throughout Southern California while his father built and setup the car. Not surprisingly, Jameson began racing go-karts at the age of 13, and is now racing Spec Trucks at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. He has a passion about all forms of racing and hopes to make a career out of it.

Jason Lofing
iRacing.com Series Writer

Jason is 21 years old and was born and raised in Elk Grove. California. A big time NASCAR fan, he hasn?t missed a race on Sunday in years. Lofing is also a huge San Fransisco Giants fan and tries to take in at least a couple games a year. Other than sim racing, his biggest (and far more expensive!) hobby is photography. Although he is rather new to sim racing, Lofing has already accomplished some pretty impressive results, qualifying for the 2011 iRacing Oval Pro Series in Season 1, 2011, winning the inaugural Landon Cassill Qualifying Challenge and finishing runner-up in the second one.

Ray Bryden
Technical contributor

Ray grew up in Nova Scotia, which means he?s a hockey nut, but in Nova Scotia?s two non-winter months he had to find other diversions, which meant watching F1 racing on weekends with his dad and brothers. Without the resources to get started in racing, he gravitated to computer versions of racing ? first Atari games like Pole Position, followed by PC racing games like Indianapolis 500: The Simulation. Dozens of others came and went, until Grand Prix Legends came along and he decided sim-racing was his official hobby. Years were spent enjoying this both offline and online until a few years of fatherhood took priority. When free-time reappeared he heard about iRacing and signed up in 2008 and became so involved in the service that he wrote one of the first books on the subject of sim-racing, iRacing Paddock. When not writing for inRacingNews.com, his main occupation is as a research associate with Saint-Gobain working on advanced ceramic materials.

<!–

Tony Rickard
Contributing WriterTony first started sim racing in 1990 with the release of Indy 500 and got hooked from then on, getting to grips with the major releases until Grand Prix Legends (GPL) saw him race online for the first time. From that point on Internet racing was the only option and Tony has competed in a number of online championships from 1998 on. During which time he has discovered the genuine camaraderie that exists in Internet Racing.

Tony is 48, married with three children and resides in the UK. The mix of motorsport and computing take up most of his spare time away from the family and his role as an IT Manager.

–>

Patrick Atherton
Contributing Writer

Patrick Atherton, originally from Adelaide in the state of South Australia, currently resides just outside of Melbourne, Victoria with wife of 17 years and 3 kids. A business manager by profession, but also dabbles with blogging, cartooning and fine art, having been published both as a writer in a short-lived South Australian motorsport yearbook and later as a cartoonist in a niche trade magazine. At the age of 19 he competed in club circuit events in an Austin Healey Sprite, later indulging in sprint karts between 1994 and 2000. Following the move to the State of Victoria he raced Road Race Karts (?Superkarts? as they are known in Australia) in the popular Rotax class, competing at Phillip Island, Oran Park, Mallala, Wakefield Park, Eastern Creek, Calder Park, Sandown and Winton. It was during this time he met former Australian F2 champion and inventor of Australia?s first, and most prolific race simulator rig, Jon Crooke. This culminated in an introduction to Papyrus? legendary NR2003 simulation, and the subsequent sim racing addiction which brought him to iRacing.

Tim Terry
Contributing Writer

Tim Terry, aka the voice of Maritime stock car racing, fell in love with sim racing in 2004 after he joined the Sim Racing Network crew as a pit reporter. From October 2004 to SRNtv?s closure in June 2007, he?s covered prestigious races and leagues such as the Online 500, FLM Fall 400, Real Racing Online and the DMP Racing League ? each as the lead broadcaster for the company. At the same time the wheels started to turn in another direction as he began announcing stock car racing locally. Terry became the assistant announcer at Scotia Speedworld in May 2007 and took over full duties in May 2009 when long-time voice Mike Kaplan retired from the track. Terry also became the series voice of the Parts For Trucks Pro Stock Tour in ?09 and continues to hold down both posts in 2011. He has also announced races for the Pro All Stars Series, Atlantic Open Wheel and Maritime League of Legends tours and has called races at six different Atlantic Canadian tracks. Terry can be heard online at WebRacingNetwork.com, RLMtv.com and OLRtv.com covering sim races. He also makes occasional appearances on PSRtv.com. In addition to inRacingNews, his articles and columns can be read on ScotiaSpeedworld.ca, MaritimeProStockTour.com and his own website at timterryonline.com.

David Allen
Contributing Writer

North Carolina born and raised with over 15 years of computer/IT experience, I combine two of my biggest hobbies — racing and technology — here at inRacingNews. In my spare time I run a Nascar fan site and cure my own need for speed riding atvs. If it involves technology or racing I’ll be there, but combine the two and I’ll be looking a front row seat. Stop by and say hello anytime!

Allen Krier
Contributing Writer

Allen was born in West Palm Beach, Florida but grew up in Atlanta and attended Georgia College and State University where he received a BS in Information Systems. Currently a resident of Albany, GA, he started sim racing in 2008 while in college when iRacing was first released to the public. Since then, Krier has been a two time iRacing Pro Series driver (2009 and 2010), picking up one Pro Series win at Daytona in ?09. Besides sim racing, Allen?s other hobbies include RC Car racing as well as ?attending and watching any sporting event that I can including going to the local dirt track.

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/formula-one-news/f1-formula-one-news/hill-now-fully-behind-bahrain-decision

lowes motor speedway nascar at texas motor speedway Tony Gaze

NADA, J.D. Power Form Strategic Alliance

Alliance Will Provide Industry Leadership in Vehicle Marketplace Data

MCLEAN, Va. — The National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) has formed a strategic alliance with J.D. Power and Associates to help dealers leverage their own business data to receive enhanced market intelligence through J.D. Power’s Power Information Network (PIN).

The alliance is a major step in NADA’s ongoing efforts to help dealers use their data to improve operations while satisfying their regulatory obligations. Access to dealer data continues to be a major concern for dealers across the country, with questions about who owns and who controls the data.

“NADA wants access to dealer data to be done the right way, and J.D. Power expressly acknowledges that the dealers own that data,” said Phil Brady, president of NADA.

J.D. Power brings extensive data management capability and expertise. The alliance with NADA will allow the association to provide leadership in vehicle marketplace data.

“J.D. Power is a well-established leader in vehicle marketplace information,” Brady said. “And we welcome the opportunity to work with them to ensure data collection protects and promotes dealer interests.”

PIN provides timely point-of-sale transaction data for both new and used vehicles to participating dealers. The PIN service helps dealers manage risk, make more informed decisions about inventory and ultimately sell more vehicles. PIN’s advanced market intelligence solutions address industry needs and assist with, among other things, pricing for vehicles and F&I products, vehicle appraisals, local market and competitive benchmarking, marketing strategies and inventory optimization for both new and used vehicles.

“PIN helps dealers understand key consumer and vehicle sales trends in their market,” said Finbarr O’Neill, president of J.D. Power and Associates. “This, in turn, helps ensure that the right product mix gets to the marketplace to meet consumer demands.”

Among other things, a new dealer agreement will include an enhanced indemnity to protect dealers, and J.D. Power has agreed to ensure that their data is properly used and maintained.

“J.D. Power is very pleased to be working with NADA to address these important issues. We share NADA’s desire to act in the best interest of the dealer,” added O’Neill.

Currently, 9,500 dealer franchises participate in the PIN program. With the NADA alliance, that number is expected to grow.

The NADA Story
The NADA story began in 1917 when 30 auto dealers traveled to the nation’s capital to convince Congress not to impose a luxury tax on the automobile. They successfully argued that the automobile is a necessity of American life, not a luxury. From that experience was born the National Automobile Dealers Association. Today, NADA represents nearly 16,000 new-car and -truck dealers, with 32,500 franchises, both domestic and international. For more information, visit www.nada.org.

SOURCE National Automobile Dealers Association

Source: http://www.autoblog.com/2012/04/12/nada-j-d-power-shack-up/

Carel Godin de Beaufort David Carl Allison Lucas di Grassi

Rick Ware Racing (RWR)

Fort Worth, TX. (April 11, 2012) ? Through a continued partnership with LEI, The Blackstone Courtyard by Marriott will host Rick Ware Racing for the upcoming NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. The Blackstone Courtyard by Marriott logo will be prominently displayed on the RWR Nationwide Series race entree No. 41 Ford driven by last years Rookie of the Year Timmy Hill for the O?Reilly Auto Parts 300 on Friday, April 13th , 2012.

?We look forward to heading back to Texas Motor Speedway and to the Blackstone Courtyard by Marriott.? said team owner Rick Ware. ?As we have said before we have always realized our sport and our team sincerely appreciates the support of companies such as the Blackstone Courtyard and we look forward to having their guests join us for the race and putting on a good show for them. We are pleased to be returning to the Fort Worth area; where we know we?re going to have a great place to stay and a great place to race.?

Rick Ware Racing competes in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and has also participated in the Grand American Road Racing Series Rolex 24 at Daytona. The team website is www.wareracing.net and can be followed on Facebook and Twitter.

?We look forward to hosting team owner Rick Ware and the Rick Ware Racing team,? said Jed Wagenknecht, the general manager for The Blackstone Courtyard by Marriott. ?Each year we are very pleased to be selected as a destination hotel for the race fans and race teams when they come to the Texas Motor Speedway.?

The O?Reilly Auto Parts 300 for the NASCAR Nationwide Series at Texas Motor Speedway is scheduled for Friday, April 13th with the green flag expected to drop at 7:46pm CDT. The Nationwide Series race will be televised live on ESPN2 and can be heard on select affiliates of the MRN Radio network nationwide and on Sirius XM Radio Channel 90.

For information on race weekend lodging and rates at The Blackstone Courtyard by Marriott, please visit http://hotelvideos.us/ctyblackstone2010.html or call the property directly at 817-885-8700 and ask for reservations.

- Rick Ware Racing / Linkous Enterprises, Inc. Press Release

Source: http://www.catchfence.com/2012/nationwide/04/10/the-blackstone-courtyard-by-marriott-partners-with-lei-and-rick-ware-racing-for-the-nascar-nationwide-series-event-at-texas-motor-speedway/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-blackstone-courtyard-by-marriott-partners-with-lei-and-rick-ware-racing-for-the-nascar-nationwide-series-event-at-texas-motor-speedway

Paul Goldsmith Olivier Gendebien Joseph Francis Nemechek III

The end of the exurbs ? that?s the way many pundits are interpreting the latest round of census data. The last year offered good news for cities and central suburbs across the country and bad news for the McMansion boomtowns of the ?90s.

Of course, it wasn?t always that simple. Some metros ? Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, St. Louis ? resisted the trend. Others, like Houston, saw increased development in the urban core, but with the balance still tipping toward the ?burbs. Still in far more places than not, there were positive trends.

Census data gives us reason to hope the future of American housing won’t look like this. Photo: You Just Made My List

Yonah Freemark at the Transport Politic takes a nuanced look at the data and wonders whether the trend represents the new dynamic in American living:

Most important was the change in growth dynamic within each of the metropolitan areas (MSAs). 14 of 21 central counties experienced an increasing percentage of their respective region?s growth compared with the period from 2000 to 2010. This means that new growth in most regions studied was more concentrated in the central county than it had been in the 2000s. For example, whereas just 3.8% of the Washington region?s population growth between 2000 and 2010 occurred in the District of Columbia itself, 13.4% of the same region?s growth between 2010 and 2010 occurred in the central city. Most extreme, perhaps, was the situation in Cook County (the central county for the Chicago region), which took in 51.3% of the region?s population growth between 2010 and 2011, while the county had declined significantly in population between 2000 and 2010.

It is hard to know to what degree these trends are reflective of a still-recovering economy. High gas prices, mass foreclosures, and difficulty acquiring loans certainly are likely to encourage people to stay put, decreasing what is called domestic migration, or movement from one U.S. city to another. The nation?s largest cities, which generally have high rates of domestic out-migration, are mostly reliant on international immigration to grow. So if the economic situation improves, the trends affected U.S. demographics between 2010 and 2011 may no longer apply.

Nevertheless, high gas prices appear to be a fact of the future, and the growth of downtowns, which occurred in the 2000s despite the mostly good economic conditions, both indicate that more popular cities may be a future fact of life. Even so, there is still work to be done: In only about half of the metropolitan areas did growth in the core counties as a percentage of regional growth match or rise above the existing population of those core counties as a percentage of the region?s population. In places like Dallas and Houston, for example, high growth rates in the core counties were not large enough compared to those counties? share of existing population, meaning that effectively population continues to be distributed on the whole outside of the core. This was less true in cities like New York, Minneapolis, and Philadelphia, where the core county absorbed a higher percentage of regional growth than their existing population.

As Freemark points out, last week?s report on changing travel preferences among young people further reinforces the idea that Americans? appetite for large lots and two-car garages may, finally, be waning.

Elsewhere on the Network today: Rust Wire wonders if Ohio?s cars-first transportation policy violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Fast Lane reports that transit ridership continues to climb nationally. And Burning the Midnight Oil analyzes the revised plan for California High Speed Rail.

Source: http://streetsblog.net/2012/04/09/the-great-sprawlback-census-data-shows-a-very-good-year-for-cities/

2010 nascar camping world truck series schedule Patrick Gaillard nascar charlotte motor speedway

F1: Team Boss Expresses Bahrain Concerns

Bahrain GP is being questioned by at least one team leader…

An unidentified F1 team boss has spoken out about his fears for the safety of his personnel should the Bahrain GP go ahead.

Until now team insiders have resolutely stuck to the ?we have faith in the FIA and FOM to make the right decision line, but today the team boss ? speaking anonymously ? made it clear to the UK?s Guardian newspaper that the teams are concerned, despite there being no formal government advice against going.

?I feel very uncomfortable about going to Bahrain,? he said. ?If I’m brutally frank, the only way they can pull this race off without incident is to have a complete military lock-down there. And I think that would be unacceptable, both for Formula One and for Bahrain. But I don’t see any other way they can do it.

?We’re all hoping the FIA calls it off. From a purely legal point of view, in terms of insurance and government advice, we are clear to go. But what we find worrying is that there are issues happening every day.
?Other team principals are going through the same worries. I spent all last week making sure the insurances are right so I can reassure the teams. I’ve sent out an email to our legal department to make sure all our employees are covered for acts of terrorism and civil disorder while traveling to, during and coming back from the Bahrain GP.?

He stressed that the main concern was for staff: ?We have a lot of people. Our first and foremost priority has to be our employees. And their families. That’s what concerns us most, even though we’ve not said anything about it. It seems to me that while there has been some political progress in Bahrain they’re not quite ready. The best thing would be for the race to be postponed until later in the year, or even cancelled.

?But that is a decision that must be made by the FIA, FOM [Formula One Management] and the commercial rights holder. I never anticipated a decision being made until the week before China. I believe Jean Todt is in China, which is interesting.?

Source: http://formula-one.speedtv.com/article/f1-team-boss-expresses-bahrain-concerns/

Hans Herrmann Nico Hülkenberg Jacky Ickx

Kansas Speedway Logo

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (April 5, 2012) ? Kansas Speedway is offering fans free admission to the grandstands on Friday, April 20 for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practices. In lieu of admission, Kansas Speedway is requesting fans make an on-site donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

?This is a great opportunity for our fans to come see the practice sessions for both of our races this weekend and also support a great cause,? said Kansas Speedway President Patrick Warren.

Parking lots will open at 9 AM and gates will open at 11 AM with the first on track activity scheduled for 11:20 AM with the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The Truck Series will practice again at 2 PM. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will hold practice sessions from 12:30 PM ? 1:50 PM and 3:30 PM ? 5 PM.

Tickets for Kansas Speedway?s 2012 race events, including the STP 400 (April 22) and the Hollywood Casino 400 (Oct. 21) are on sale now by calling 866.460.RACE (7223) or visiting www.kansasspeedway.com. Every season ticket comes with a Track Pass that provides you with access to the infield for the pre-race concert, driver introductions and much more. Renowned blues guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd will be performing the pre-race concert for the STP 400, which will begin at approximately 10:15 AM.

Parking is always free at Kansas Speedway and fans can bring in one 14x14x14-inch soft-sided cooler with their favorite food and beverages.

About the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS):

Since its inception in 1949, LLS has invested more than $814 million in research. These dollars have funded programs that have led or contributed to such advances as chemotherapy, bone marrow and stem cell transplantation and new, targeted oral therapies such as Gleevec®. Locally, LLS is partnering with The University of Kansas Medical Center to develop life changing therapies. More than $1.5 million has been committed to the Therapy Acceleration Program which is currently testing six existing drugs in hopes they can be used as effective cancer treatments. One of the most promising is an existing arthritis drug, auranofin, which will be tested using clinical trials to see if it?s effective as a treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Source: Kansas Speedway, Press Release

Source: http://www.catchfence.com/2012/sprintcup/04/05/kansas-speedway-offering-free-admission-on-april-20-request-donations-to-leukemia-and-lymphoma-society/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=kansas-speedway-offering-free-admission-on-april-20-request-donations-to-leukemia-and-lymphoma-society

nascar schedule nascar schedule Geki nascar in las vegas

David Phillips
Editor and Chief

David Phillips is a long-time contributor to print and electronic publications in the U.S. and abroad, including Racer, Autosport, AutoWeek, Motor Sport and SPEEDtv.com, oversees the daily updating of news stories and assigns, edits and contributes feature material for inRacingNews.com.

Chris Hall
iRacing.com Series Writer

Chris Hall has been writing since the nineties and moved into motorsports reporting in 2005, covering series such as ALMS, British GT, FIA GT, Le Mans and 2CV racing for Full Throttle magazine, Motorsport.com, The-Paddock.net, GTGateway.com, L’ Endurance and, of course, inRacingNews. During 2008 and 2009, he worked with the RSS Performance Porsche Carrera Cup Team (and former British GT(C) champions) as a data engineer for a variety of drivers and models of 997s.

Jameson Spies
Contributing Writer

19 years old, Jameson Spies lives in Quartz Hill, California. He grew-up surrounded by racing. His mother raced late models throughout Southern California while his father built and setup the car. Not surprisingly, Jameson began racing go-karts at the age of 13, and is now racing Spec Trucks at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. He has a passion about all forms of racing and hopes to make a career out of it.

Jason Lofing
iRacing.com Series Writer

Jason is 21 years old and was born and raised in Elk Grove. California. A big time NASCAR fan, he hasn?t missed a race on Sunday in years. Lofing is also a huge San Fransisco Giants fan and tries to take in at least a couple games a year. Other than sim racing, his biggest (and far more expensive!) hobby is photography. Although he is rather new to sim racing, Lofing has already accomplished some pretty impressive results, qualifying for the 2011 iRacing Oval Pro Series in Season 1, 2011, winning the inaugural Landon Cassill Qualifying Challenge and finishing runner-up in the second one.

Ray Bryden
Technical contributor

Ray grew up in Nova Scotia, which means he?s a hockey nut, but in Nova Scotia?s two non-winter months he had to find other diversions, which meant watching F1 racing on weekends with his dad and brothers. Without the resources to get started in racing, he gravitated to computer versions of racing ? first Atari games like Pole Position, followed by PC racing games like Indianapolis 500: The Simulation. Dozens of others came and went, until Grand Prix Legends came along and he decided sim-racing was his official hobby. Years were spent enjoying this both offline and online until a few years of fatherhood took priority. When free-time reappeared he heard about iRacing and signed up in 2008 and became so involved in the service that he wrote one of the first books on the subject of sim-racing, iRacing Paddock. When not writing for inRacingNews.com, his main occupation is as a research associate with Saint-Gobain working on advanced ceramic materials.

<!–

Tony Rickard
Contributing WriterTony first started sim racing in 1990 with the release of Indy 500 and got hooked from then on, getting to grips with the major releases until Grand Prix Legends (GPL) saw him race online for the first time. From that point on Internet racing was the only option and Tony has competed in a number of online championships from 1998 on. During which time he has discovered the genuine camaraderie that exists in Internet Racing.

Tony is 48, married with three children and resides in the UK. The mix of motorsport and computing take up most of his spare time away from the family and his role as an IT Manager.

–>

Patrick Atherton
Contributing Writer

Patrick Atherton, originally from Adelaide in the state of South Australia, currently resides just outside of Melbourne, Victoria with wife of 17 years and 3 kids. A business manager by profession, but also dabbles with blogging, cartooning and fine art, having been published both as a writer in a short-lived South Australian motorsport yearbook and later as a cartoonist in a niche trade magazine. At the age of 19 he competed in club circuit events in an Austin Healey Sprite, later indulging in sprint karts between 1994 and 2000. Following the move to the State of Victoria he raced Road Race Karts (?Superkarts? as they are known in Australia) in the popular Rotax class, competing at Phillip Island, Oran Park, Mallala, Wakefield Park, Eastern Creek, Calder Park, Sandown and Winton. It was during this time he met former Australian F2 champion and inventor of Australia?s first, and most prolific race simulator rig, Jon Crooke. This culminated in an introduction to Papyrus? legendary NR2003 simulation, and the subsequent sim racing addiction which brought him to iRacing.

Tim Terry
Contributing Writer

Tim Terry, aka the voice of Maritime stock car racing, fell in love with sim racing in 2004 after he joined the Sim Racing Network crew as a pit reporter. From October 2004 to SRNtv?s closure in June 2007, he?s covered prestigious races and leagues such as the Online 500, FLM Fall 400, Real Racing Online and the DMP Racing League ? each as the lead broadcaster for the company. At the same time the wheels started to turn in another direction as he began announcing stock car racing locally. Terry became the assistant announcer at Scotia Speedworld in May 2007 and took over full duties in May 2009 when long-time voice Mike Kaplan retired from the track. Terry also became the series voice of the Parts For Trucks Pro Stock Tour in ?09 and continues to hold down both posts in 2011. He has also announced races for the Pro All Stars Series, Atlantic Open Wheel and Maritime League of Legends tours and has called races at six different Atlantic Canadian tracks. Terry can be heard online at WebRacingNetwork.com, RLMtv.com and OLRtv.com covering sim races. He also makes occasional appearances on PSRtv.com. In addition to inRacingNews, his articles and columns can be read on ScotiaSpeedworld.ca, MaritimeProStockTour.com and his own website at timterryonline.com.

David Allen
Contributing Writer

North Carolina born and raised with over 15 years of computer/IT experience, I combine two of my biggest hobbies — racing and technology — here at inRacingNews. In my spare time I run a Nascar fan site and cure my own need for speed riding atvs. If it involves technology or racing I’ll be there, but combine the two and I’ll be looking a front row seat. Stop by and say hello anytime!

Allen Krier
Contributing Writer

Allen was born in West Palm Beach, Florida but grew up in Atlanta and attended Georgia College and State University where he received a BS in Information Systems. Currently a resident of Albany, GA, he started sim racing in 2008 while in college when iRacing was first released to the public. Since then, Krier has been a two time iRacing Pro Series driver (2009 and 2010), picking up one Pro Series win at Daytona in ?09. Besides sim racing, Allen?s other hobbies include RC Car racing as well as ?attending and watching any sporting event that I can including going to the local dirt track.

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/real-world-racing/3rdparty/hanninen-hangs-on-as-mikkelsen-gains

Jo Gartner Casey James Mears california auto club speedway

The shift in driving habits has exposed the inadequacy of the federal gas tax to fund national transportation programs, and the need to shift away from road building. Graph adapted from the FHWA

It?s a new era for federal transportation policy, say the top New York City Department of Transportation officials tracking action on Capitol Hill. We just don?t know what kind of era it?s going to be.

?If this was 1996 or 1985 it would be pretty clear where we would go with federal transportation policy, with a few tweaks,? said DOT Director of Policy Jon Orcutt during a presentation at NYU?s Wagner School last night. ?That?s not true today.?

Two changes are forcing a shift in transportation politics and policy at the federal level. The amount Americans drive has started to stall out. And earmarks have been transformed from political windfalls for powerful Congressmen to untouchable liabilities.

Linda Bailey, the federal programs advisor for NYC DOT, said that working for New York City has given her a new appreciation for the policy drawbacks of transportation earmarks for the localities receiving them. ?You typically get $1 million for a $10 million project,? she said. ?Somehow now you?re supposed to come up with $9 million to fund the rest of the project.? The city still has earmarked money from the last transportation bill, passed in 2005, sitting on the table, Bailey said.

But at the same time, the lack of a new transportation bill ? Congress recently passed its ninth extension of that 2005 law, which expired in 2009 ? is in part due to Congress members? newfound opposition to directing federal dollars back to their districts.

?It?s thrown the whole formula out of the window, in terms of what you do politically,? said Orcutt. In particular, the end of earmarks has forced federal transportation policy to become more sharply ideological, whereas horse trading could paper over divides in the past. This year, for example, suburban Republicans helped kill the House of Representatives? radical transportation bill, which would have eliminated dedicated funding for transit entirely. With earmarks, argued Orcutt, those same representatives might have been able to bring big projects to their districts even while cutting transit in the rest of their regions, and safely voted yes on the overall bill.

One in ten dollars in the last transportation bill was earmarked for specific projects, said Bailey. No earmarks at all were included in either the House or Senate proposals from this year.

Even as the elimination of earmarks complicates the path to passing a transportation bill, changes to the way Americans get around are challenging the very structure of federal transportation policy. Though federal transportation spending remains heavily focused on building highways, the growth in driving slowed considerably over the last decade, and actually declined in 2008 and 2009.

Adjusted for population growth, the trend is even more striking. According to a report from U.S.PIRG released today, the average American drove six percent less in 2011 than in 2004.

?Transportation is changing in this country,? said Orcutt. ?Driving is leveling off. The federal program is really obsolete, in a way.?

The shift away from driving threatens the financial footing of the transportation system. The gas tax hasn?t been raised since 1993, but for many of those years, the continued rise in mileage masked the erosion of the gas tax by inflation. Without that growth, the plummeting value of the gas tax ? in constant dollars, the gas tax has fallen from 18.4 cents a gallon to only 11 cents ? can?t fund what it used to.

That, the DOT officials argued, is why no one in Washington seems able to pass a significant new transportation bill. The House Republicans, led by Transportation Committee Chair John Mica, tried to cope with declining revenues by ending the funding of transit out of gas tax receipts, as well as trimming road spending by a smaller amount. That plan has gone nowhere in the House; Bailey said she?d heard that the Republicans only managed to find 180 out of the 218 votes they needed for Mica?s bill.

The Senate?s bipartisan transportation bill, which passed 74-22, cobbled together enough unrelated revenues to keep funding levels exactly where they were under the previous law. Those funds were only enough to last 18 months; a more fundamental rewrite of the law would be necessary almost immediately.

Though the Senate bill consolidates a number of federal programs, the DOT officials said the only truly significant change in it is the expansion of TIFIA, a federal loan program. TIFIA loans have been used to great effect in cities like Los Angeles, which are looking to stretch local revenues further, said Orcutt, but financing isn?t a replacement for funding. ?At some point, you have to decide to spend more,? said Bailey. Similarly, Orcutt argued that public-private partnerships, sometimes touted as a new paradigm for transportation funding, ?don?t really do anything if there?s not real money attached.?

Unfortunately, the political will to raise the gas tax is scarce. Bailey said she doesn?t see the current House Republicans approving an increase in the near future. The Obama administration, added Orcutt, hasn?t been any more receptive to increasing the gas tax, arguing in bad times that it would harm the economy and during the recovery that oil prices are rising too quickly.

In fact, both the Senate and House bills would mark the end of the transportation funding paradigm that has prevailed ever since the interstate system was created. Neither relied exclusively on the gas tax, meaning both abandoned the traditional ?user-pays? philosophy that has guided federal transportation spending. It?s clear that the current era of federal transportation policy is coming to a close, but the next era can?t emerge until Washington is willing to find the money for the level of spending it demands.

Source: http://www.streetsblog.org/2012/04/05/federal-transpo-policy-entering-new-era-say-nyc-officials-now-what/

nascar camping truck Keith Greene Jesús Iglesias

A city firefighter who left a man to die on a Brooklyn street was sentenced to community service on Monday, the result of a plea deal with Kings County District Attorney Charles Hynes.

Manuel Tzaj Guachiac. Photo via New York Times

Pat Quagliariello was reportedly texting his girlfriend and speeding when his BMW SUV struck Manuel Tzaj Guachiac in Bensonhurst in October 2010. Quagliariello did not stop, and refused to talk to investigators when he turned himself in hours later. Wrote the Post:

Quagliariello, whose older brother is well-respected NYPD Detective Anthony Quagliariello, was not given a Breathalyzer or a blood test to determine his blood-alcohol content, sources said.

But the sources insisted that probers could not have done that legally because they have no witnesses saying Quagliariello was driving the vehicle.

At the time of his death, Tzaj Guachiac, 25, had been in the country six months. He moved to the United States from Guatemala, where he had a wife and son.

After the crash, Quagliariello was charged with criminally negligent homicide and leaving the scene. According to the Daily News, a prosecutor ?vowed that ?there will be a jail sentence.??

A Hynes spokesperson told Streetsblog that Quagliariello pleaded guilty to leaving the scene without reporting, and that his sentence requires him to visit 35 high schools to speak to students as part of the DA?s ?Choices and Consequences? program ? a project aimed at educating teens on the perils of reckless and drunk driving.

If you?re wondering how a homicide charge gets reduced to leaving the scene with no jail time, so were we. When we asked about Quagliariello?s plea deal, Hynes?s office refused further comment.

In other words, not only do killer drivers have virtually nothing to fear from New York police and prosecutors, the machinations behind sweetheart deals like the one granted to Pat Quagliariello are none of the public?s business.

Source: http://www.streetsblog.org/2012/04/03/hynes-deal-community-service-for-firefighter-in-deadly-hit-and-run/

2010 nascar camping world truck series Eddie Keizan Sam Hanks