AMA Director of Racing Joe Bromley said that one does not get much more classic or unique than the Peoria TT, and they were excited that the rolling thunder of the AMA Vintage Dirt Track National Championship Series would visit the famed track. He added that fans would get plenty of opportunity to see history come alive at Peoria, with two days of racing and competition in both short-track and TT.

On Friday, Aug. 24, at the Peoria Motorcycle Speedway, the doubleheader event will kick off with short-track racing for round 13 of the national championship series. Steve Nace of Steve Nace Racing said that Dirt-track racing is one of the most thrilling shows on two wheels and they are excited to be at Peoria this weekend, and they are looking forward to a great crowd of race fans to cheer on these racers.

PMC race director, Bert Sanders said that the Peoria Motorcycle Club, being one of the oldest and most prestigious clubs in the AMA, is proud to host the AMA Vintage Dirt Track National Championship Series at the PMC Race Track on Aug. 26.

In addition to the vintage program, the Friday night short-track will include several modern support classes. The Sunday TT will allow modern race bikes to participate in one amateur open support class. One can avail class details by contacting the individual event promoters.

In period-correct classes that reflect the storied history of AMA dirt-track competition, the AMA Racing Vintage Dirt Track National Championship Series recognizes national champions. Dirt-track competition wrote much of the early history of racing in America, from the original factory Class A racing in the 1920s to the Class C production-based structure that emerged shortly after. Today’s rules are written to avoid non-traditional modifications that violate the spirit of a vintage meet and the class structure reflects the diverse eras of dirt track’s history.

In 2011, Villopoto put together an unprecedented grand slam, winning both Supercross (stadium/indoor) and Motocross (outdoor) titles, the Motocross of Nations (a dirt motorcycle Olympics) and the inaugural Monster Energy Cup. All of these wins happened after a serious leg injury. In the inaugural Monster Energy Cup, he earned $1 million. It was the largest purse in the history of the sport.

However, Villopoto’s season nearly was derailed after that. He crashed on the first lap of the main at Chase Field in Phoenix main and went to the back of the field. A week later at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, he went off the track following a red flag and again was last.

Both times, though, Villopoto finshed third at Phoenix and fourth in Los Angeles, thereby fighting his way back. The two rally-from-the-back races allowed him to stay in the championship hunt even though he did not win.

He carried his good momentum to 2012. With four races still left in a 17-race schedule, he clinched this year’s Supercross title earlier than any previous rider did. Last Saturday in New Orleans, he had his fourth straight win. He led all 20 laps of the championship heat. This year, Villopoto has won nine of 14 Supercross races.

Villopoto became the fifth rider to win consecutive Supercross championships with this title and became the first since Ricky Carmichael in 2005 and 2006. Bumping Jeremy McGrath, he also clinched the title earlier than anyone else did. McGrath did it with three races left in 1996.

Villopoto has started working on his outdoor program to get ready for the motocross season that starts in May and this is because of the added bonus from the early title clinching.

Villopoto still wants to win every Supercross race he enters, although wrapping up the title so early allows him a chance to get ready for the next season while racing in the current one. It is a luxury few riders get to enjoy.

Villopoto said that his short-term focus is on Supercross and long-term focus is outdoors, therefore he is making transitions through training and riding.

Just with additional riders in a race and on Grass Track machines, it is the 2nd round of the Solo championship, which is raced on an oval circuit like speedway.

As former Swindon Robins Speedway Ace Steve Masters will be on his case, the series leader Dan Berwick from Kent will have his work cut out.

Darren Drew and young Ben Millichap who made an impact in round one, British Masters Qualifier Scott Creswell as well as the in form Simon Phillips will be the other contestants. Veterans Kevin Akers and Dave Abbott as well as youngster Luck Tuck are the other locals to watch out for.

The present Quad Oval championship leader and champion of the Grand Final at the recent Dirt Track round at Oxford Stadium, Danny Smith will give solid competition, although QRA British Quad Beach Cross champion Michael Nash is eager to add the inaugural British Dirt Track Cross Championship title to his honors.

The Quads are accomplished of outstanding speeds with some recently out pacing WRC Rally cars at an event, although they only bear a resemblance to those seen on the farm. To the Wiltshire countryside, these rider active machines will without doubt be bringing color and spectacle.

With the prices being Adults £10, Concessions (Students and OAPS with ID) £7, Children 12-16 years of age £3 and Children 11 and under GO FREE, the first race will be at 11.45am, practice from 10am.

With only nine points separating the top four riders heading into the penultimate round, the 2011 SX season has brought some of the tightest racing in years. Ryan Villopoto aboard the Monster Energy Kawasaki KX450F is leading the nine point pack. Two-Two Motorsports Honda rider Chad Reed is five points behind Villopoto.

Reigning Supercross Champion Ryan Dungey trails Reed by a point, and three points behind Reed is two time Supercross Champion, James Stewart (San Manuel Yamaha).

The Monster Energy AMA Supercross series is visiting Salt Lake City’s Rice Eccles Stadium for the third year in row. As a mixture of sleet and rain is expected in the forecast the weekend is shaping up much the way it did in 2010. As the series embarks on its last outing before the season finale in Las Vegas the conditions should offer a great spectacle.

If there are any changes now that Two-Two Motorsports’ Chad Reed has the full weight of Factory Honda in his arsenal, it will be interesting to see. The Aussie benefitted from injuries to Honda riders Josh Grant and Trey Canard as the team decided to back Reed rather than bring in an outsider this late in the game.

Chad has taken the SuperLite championship by storm and he is a 4-time off-road UTV winner. In the 2010 Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series, he won numerous podium finishes and found himself battling for the title fight during the final race. For 2011, he battles in both Pro-Modified UTV class and SuperLite Championship.

Brian Deegan has signed an agreement with Ford Motorsports. In the Global RallyCross Championship, he will race a Ford Fiesta and take on the Lucas Oil Off Road Series in a Ford F-150 SVT Raptor.

Pro Lite driver Jimmy Stephensen has his sights set determinedly on the top of the podium, as the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series (LOORRS) shifts into high gear for Rounds 3 and 4 this weekend. After two podium finishes in as many races this season, the Ironclad Energy + Hydration / Discount Tire Nissan driver has plenty of impetus behind him coming into Surprise, Arizona.

Stephensen declared that the at the season opener in Firebird, the opposition was ferocious and there are a lot of new trucks and drivers to compete against. He added that in Pro Lite this year, Deegan, Brandt, Ampudia, Currie, Cameron Steele, and Kyle Leduc are all running and he feels delighted to be on the podium both days.

On Thursday afternoon, Hirvonen succeeded the super special stage in Lisbon and in spite of running first on the gravel stages, he held onto his lead through the opening two stages of Friday.

Ogier won stages three and four to take the lead from Hirvonen going into midday service. In 2010, he triumphed in Portugal. With Hirvonen third and Latvala fourth, just six seconds covering the top four. Reigning world champion Sebastien Loeb of France concluded the morning loop in second.

On SS5, Ogier and Latvala took a joint stage win, with Latvala leaping up to second place, permitted Ogier to widen his lead. Going into the final stage of the day, Latvala then won SS6 to trim Ogier’s lead to 1.8 seconds.

After the opening day of the Rally of Portugal on Friday, Sebastien Loeb was off the pace. To add a more positive road position for Day 2, he dropped back on the final stage of the day.

Latvala said that he is not scared of what is happening right now, even though it might not be the perfect position for him. He added that this time it would have been the greatest time to slow down.

Henning Solberg and Matthew Wilson, M-Sport Stobart drivers, lie fifth and sixth respectively. Albeit in Super 2000 trim, for the Motorsport Italia team, Armindo Araujo claimed an extraordinary seventh on his home event, where he is debuting the new Mini rally car. Ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, who lost time to a puncture on his Ice 1 Citroen on SS5, Federico Villagra is eighth in his Munchi’s Ford. Khalid Al Qassimi is in top ten in his Team Abu Dhabi-entered Fiesta.

The betting odds for the WRC drivers are available. The best odds are: Sebastien Loeb 3/4, Mikko Hirvonen 5/2, Sebastian Ogier 11/2, Jari-Matti Latvala 6 and Petter Solberg 14.

Brad had cut a tire on the concluding lap and struck the wall, even though he appeared to be cruising to be triumphant. Mark moved away Brad’s car and sprinted to the checkered flag. In the closing laps, he had been trying to preserve fuel. Ever since Sara Christian concluded sixth in a race in 1949, Danica finished fourth and set a record for the highest finish by a female. It was her most excellent record in 16 career Nationwide Series starts.

Comparisons to women drivers were sidetracked by Patrick. She said that all she tries in NASCAR is to be triumphant in the race and does not think about achieving top finishing position for a female.

In the late 1980s, Shawna Robinson won three of NASCAR national touring race. Robinson competed in the NASCAR Goody’s Dash Series and the Darlington Dash Series. Four-cylinder compact cars contended in the series. Driving in a short-lived oval track series for “big rig” trucks, Robinson first gained national interest. In the Dash series, she was a rock-solid contestant and she finished third, a couple of times in series points. She landed in a competitive ride, now the Nationwide Series, by attracting enough attention for her superlative driving skills, but unfortunately the sponsorship dried out and her endeavor got short-circuited.

Buckler said in a phone interview that TRG Motorsports will enter the Daytona 500 with driver Andy Lally and plans to run the full season, will get the points from the Richard Petty Motorsports No. 98 car.

If a member of the ownership group from the previous year becomes a member of the ownership group of another team for the upcoming year, NASCAR allows for offseason points transfers. From last year, teams in the top 35 in owners points are locked into the field for the first five races of this season.

A former TRG partner named Thomas Pumpelly took the owner points with him to Richard Childress Racing and “divested himself” from the organization. Of Paul Menard’s No. 27 team, he is now technically listed as the “owner”.

No. 71 had no owner points, therefore at Richard Petty Motorsports; the organization went and got Menard’s old No. 98 points. The team said that it has “partnered” with Petty. For years, Veteran motorist Andy Lally has raced during Daytona International Speedway, winning three vital events, except in Daytona 500.

For the third time, Lally won the GT Class in the Rolex twenty-four during Daytona. Lally is upon trial the starting mark in the Daytona 500 interjection to TRG’s top-35 owners points finish final season, although he has only 8 Sprint Cup starts.

At the “World Center of Speed”, Lally will make his first Sprint Cup Series start when he takes the green flag on Sunday, February 20. Having competed in the 2008 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season-opener, the Northport, N.Y. native is no stranger to the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway. On the 3.56-mile Daytona road course, he may be better known for his three wins.

The current system gives 175 points to the winner, devised on a napkin over drinks at a Daytona bar in 1974, and decreases in increments of five points. For the last-place finisher it is three points down to 34 points, and gives bonuses for leading a lap and most laps led.

Before the season begins next month, the overhaul could be implemented.

NASCAR managing director of corporate communications, Ramsey Poston said that in a recent series of town hall meetings, the sanctioning body has bounced several new competition ideas around to drivers and car owners.

In a news conference scheduled Friday at Daytona International Speedway, NASCAR president Mike Helton and vice president of competition Robin Pemberton will address 2011 rule changes. For the upcoming Speed Weeks program, topped by the Feb. 20 Daytona 500, a large number of Sprint Cup teams will be here Thursday through Saturday testing. Any changes to the points system are expected to come Jan. 26, although NASCAR is expected to announce some competition changes Friday, as its executives will continue meeting with team owners, executives and drivers over the next eight days.

NASCAR officials Bob Latford, Joe Whitlock and Phil Holmer devised the base formula for the current points system. They are the ones who jotted numbers on cocktail napkins inside the Boot Hill Saloon on Main Street in 1974.

On the motorsports side, Evernham will not be involved. As a crew chief for Hendrick Motorsports, in the 1990s, he won three Sprint Cup championships with Jeff Gordon. Special projects will be developed by Evernham related to Hendrick’s various business entities. It will include development of high-performance vehicles for retail consumers, made up of Hendrick Performance brand.

Hendrick said that Ray would be of great help in ensuring on behalf of customers and dealers that the Hendrick Performance parts and cars will have a racing pedigree. At REE, he has assembled a terrific group of people. For the organization on projects like this, Hendrick believes that he sees a lot of opportunity for them. They will be a valuable resource for the organization.

Evernham said that over the years, he and Rick had many conversations about their passion projects and both had so much of crossover with what they enjoy working on. Whether it is with performance parts and cars, both had a sense of opportunity to do some unique things.

In 1999, Evernham left the Hendrick organization to form his own NASCAR team. For ESPN, he has most recently been a television analyst. The network confirmed that Evernham is leaving ESPN for his new role with Hendrick.

Rich Feinberg, vice president of motorsports for ESPN said that for the past three seasons, Ray has been a valuable member of the NASCAR team and he wished him all the best in his new role. He added that if Ray, ever wants to come back, ESPN would be happy to talk to him.