David Maillie specializes in automotive safety products and information. He holds numerous patents and awards for his patented headlight cleaner and restorer. For more information, tips, safety and money saving products for your auto please visit http://www.mdwholesale.com
Article Source: Auto Racing Legend Juan Montoya Leaves Formula One For NASCAR
Morgan Shepherd Victory in Jesus Chevrolet Eric McClure Kroger Ford
The final grand prix of the season in Abu Dhabi summed up why the 2010 season will go down in Formula 1 history as a classic year.
There were super-fast Red Bulls, world champion drivers in the thick of the action, strategic errors, raw emotion and a final twist in an epic tale as Sebastian Vettel won his first world title.
Before the race was run, the sun-soaked paddock was buzzing with talk of "the greatest season ever" and debate about the highlight of the season swelled.
In fact, as the dust settles on Abu Dhabi, the teams' attentions are already turning to 2011 - all the teams and most of the race drivers get their first run on next year's new Pirelli tyres at the Yas Marina track at the weekend.
With just 118 days to go until the cars and drivers return to the desert in Bahrain to rejoin battle, expectations are already building that 2011 could be another classic year, matching events this season.
As BBC pundit Eddie Jordan exclaimed on Sunday: "We have five world champions competing next year, what are we in for?!"
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Jordan is right to be excited.
The men who defined this season remain in situ - Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button at McLaren, Fernando Alonso at Ferrari, and Vettel and Mark Webber at Red Bull.
All of them know they have things to improve in 2010 - particularly the number of errors they have made. And the long winter will give each of the 24 drivers on the grid time to analyse and agonise over crucial mistakes and frittered points that ultimately defined their seasons.
"Every one of us made too many errors and that is why we found ourselves in a position with five guys fighting it out," reflected Button, who saw his title defence end in Brazil.
Though he was the first to bow out, Button had the cleanest season of all the five contenders but found himself let down by a lack of pace - particularly in qualifying - as he got to grips with a McLaren in his first season with the team.
Alonso will rue his uncharacteristic errors in Australia and China, his crash in Monaco and, most of all, the fatal call from Ferrari to bring him in early for fresh tyres in Abu Dhabi.
Hamilton will reflect on his ill-judged passing moves in Monza and Singapore, which effectively ended his hopes, while Webber will relive his frightening somersault in Valencia and his costly crash in Korea.
Vettel, too, made more than his fair share of errors. He must take the blame for crashes with his team-mate Webber in Turkey and an unwitting Button in Spa, while his attempt to go around the outside of Webber at the start in Silverstone earned him a puncture.
For Red Bull, though, one of the biggest areas of focus will be the poor early-season reliability, from spark plugs to wheel nuts, that prevented Vettel bursting into an early lead.
When Red Bull adviser Dr Helmut Marko was asked on Sunday what his next goal was after his team captured both championships, he said they intended to cut out the errors so they could win the titles sooner.
All the top teams will be adding grease to their usually slick operations over the winter at the same time as building their cars to a set of regulations that have been tweaked again.
Gone will be the double-diffusers which caused so much controversy at the start of 2009, as well as the F-duct that McLaren pioneered at the start of 2010, forcing everyone else to follow suit.
Blown diffusers - 2010's other defining technical tweak - will stay to an extent, though.
In come those Pirelli tyres, while Kers energy storage and power-boost systems return after a year away. There will also be a new technical trick in the form of moveable rear wings, an attempt to solve F1's perennial problem even in a season as great as this - the difficulty of overtaking.
The success of the teams' research into the effects of these changes will shape next year's title chase - and it is by no means a given that this year's big three will be the ones who get it most right.
There have been concerned whispers that the efforts of waging a season-long campaign have diverted attention away from 2011 development programmes at Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren.
The strain of winning the 2009 championships certainly drained Brawn Grand Prix, which had a debilitating effect on them this season in their new guise as Mercedes.
However, with no championship to fight for, teams such as Mercedes and Renault, who stopped developing their 2010 car in September so they concentrate on next season, could make it a five-way battle for honours next year.
"It has been a special year," mused McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh. "Can there be more?
"We have to keep the focus on brave, fantastic drivers in great machinery; an even-handed regulator, stability and clear rules that are administered properly.
"We can't guarantee it but there is no reason the championship next year can't be as good - or even better."
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/sarahholt/2010/11/could_f1_2011_be_even_better.html
Denny Hamlin David Carl Allison Gregory Jack Biffle David Lee Blaney
David Maillie specializes in automotive safety products and information. He holds numerous patents and awards for his patented headlight cleaner and restorer. For more information, tips, safety and money saving products for your auto please visit http://www.mdwholesale.com
Article Source: Auto Racing Legend Juan Montoya Leaves Formula One For NASCAR
Verizon Wireless Dodge Elliott Sadler GT Vodka Chevrolet Jason Leffler
Filed under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Chase for the Sprint Cup, Sprint Cup, Hendrick Motorsports
Just days after Jimmie Johnson secured his record-extending fifth NASCAR Sprint Cup title, Hendrick Motorsports experienced quite possibly the largest shift within its organization, ever. With the exception of Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus, crew chiefs changed teams and drivers switched shops. All of it, goofy enough, in a bid to become as good or better than Johnson & Knaus in 2011. But before they get there, it's worth noting what Hendrick Motorsports did in 2010 that earned them the distinction of FanHouse's top NASCAR team of the past season:
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Source: http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2010/12/22/2010-team-rankings-hendrick-motorsports-leads-way/
Shell Pennzoil Chevrolet Kurt Busch Miller Lite Dodge Jeff Gordon
Filed under: Sam Hornish Jr., Penske Racing, Indianapolis 500, NASCAR
LAS VEGAS -- Three-time IndyCar champ and 2006 Indianapolis 500 winner Sam Hornish Jr.'s NASCAR future remains in limbo, but his team owner, Roger Penske, said Thursday that he will likely field Hornish in the Daytona 500 and possibly in the Indianapolis 500, too. Penske confirmed the news during a sponsorship announcement at his Ferrari dealership in the Wynn Las Vegas Thursday, where the team unveiled Kurt Busch's new No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Dodge in the Sprint Cup Series and a similar design for the iconic No. 3 Penske car that three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves will drive at Indy next May. For all his success in open-wheel racing, Hornish has never managed to make a big splash in NASCAR's big leagues, with only a pair of top-five finishes and eight top-10 efforts in 108 starts over three full seasons. And with no primary sponsor signed for his No. 77 Dodge, Penske said Hornish still doesn't have a full schedule set for 2011. Penske said both a limited Cup and Nationwide Series slate were possibilities. "I told him that, at the end of the day, I'd much rather do a program where we can support you 100 percent than have some pick-up program with not enough sponsors,'' Penske said. "We need to have the continuity. We have a number of opportunities, but we just couldn't get them closed at this point.
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Source: http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2010/12/03/sam-hornish-jr-may-return-to-indy-500/
Kenny Wallace Federated Auto Parts Chevrolet Jason Keller T Coleman Pressley
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Article Source: NASCAR Online TV Live: RaceView Advantages And Disadvantages
Filed under: Bobby Labonte, Jamie McMurray, Jeff Burton, Kurt Busch, Mark Martin, Daytona Int'l Speedway, NASCAR Testing, Sprint Cup, NASCAR
As defending Daytona 500 champion Jamie McMurray made his first laps on the repaved Daytona International Speedway Wednesday, the newness of it all was mildly overwhelming at first. "Honestly, from my first 15-lap run in the draft, it took awhile to take it all in and kinda understand what was happening," McMurray said of the first of two days of Goodyear tire tests on the 2.5-mile speedway's new pavement. "When we unloaded, the cars seemed really wide and the track seemed narrow. But, really, after running 20 or 30 laps, it was not scary and was not that big of a deal. "Today (Thursday), when I got out there, it felt way more comfortable and you kinda learn little tricks and stuff." What they also learned, McMurray and other drivers said Thursday at a press conference at the speedway, is that because the new surface is so smooth and fast and so much easier to drive, big packs of cars will stay together longer, and that means the chances of big crashes are greater. "It's gonna be different racing than what we've had in the past," McMurray said. "The cars are going to stay bunched up more. When you're really close together, it increases those chances" of a big crash, McMurray said. "You just gotta hope that you can make it to the end, because the odds [of a crash] are going to be really good, I'd say." Barring a huge mistake or problem, "you're not going to the lose the draft," said Jeff Burton. "It's going to be big packs all the time. Three-wide is work. Four-wide is a wreck. Because of the mentality of superspeedway racing. there's going to be efforts to go four-wide to pick up positions, and when that starts happening, it's going to be get hairy."