Legendary NASCAR Executive Jim Hunter Dies

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NASCAR Vice President of Corporate Communications Jim Hunter died Friday night in Daytona Beach after a year-long battle with cancer.

Almost always seen wearing a NASCAR #48 ball cap -- referencing the sport's 1948 beginnings -- Hunter was a legendary figure in the sport, having worked as a racing journalist, public relations specialist, president of Darlington Raceway and ultimately as a top executive with the sanctioning body during a 40-year career with NASCAR.

(He's pictured at Darlington Raceway in 2008 with the Charlotte Observer's Jim Utter, at left, and Sirius NASCAR Radio's Claire B. Lang, right).

"Jim Hunter was one of NASCAR's giants,'' NASCAR Chairman Brian France said. "For more than 40 years Jim was part of NASCAR and its history. He loved the sport but loved the people even more.

"It seems as if everyone in the sport called him a friend. Jim will forever be missed by the NASCAR community.''

 

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Source: http://motorsports.fanhouse.com/2010/10/30/legendary-nascar-executive-jim-hunter-dies/

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Webber battling rivals and critics

Go on, admit it. How many of you were tipping Mark Webber for the 2010 world championship at the start of the year?

Hugely popular, massively likeable, a sports nut who's as happy to shoot the breeze about Didier Drogba, Lance Armstrong or Ricky Ponting as he is to talk about Fernando Alonso, Adrian Newey or Bernie Ecclestone.

But Jenson Button's successor as the next Formula 1 champion? Alonso, Lewis Hamilton or Sebastian Vettel maybe, but not the 34-year-old Australian who had only won his first grand prix in 2009.

With three races remaining, however, which driver has led the most laps this season, led the championship for the most races and currently enjoys the biggest points advantage over his four rivals he has had all season?

F1 has learned this year how much this one-time Minardi backmarker has been under-estimated.

Webber himself would never tell you that because it's not his style to blow his own trumpet. Action not words is how he chooses to operate.

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But he's well aware that this could be his one and only chance of emulating fellow countrymen Sir Jack Brabham - his father Alan's motor-racing idol - and Alan Jones in achieving motorsport's highest honour.

And he knows there are plenty of people waiting to see if he really is made of the right stuff to withstand the pressure from the more recognised contenders - his team-mate Vettel, Ferrari's Alonso and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button - and make it a hat-trick of Australian champions.

To the doubters, the last two races showed that Webber had lost the mid-season momentum that had propelled him so forcefully to the front of the grid.

They believe they detect that the balance of power within Red Bull has shifted significantly towards Vettel.

Singapore and Japan were both labelled as Red Bull-friendly tracks but Vettel came out on top of the in-house battle.

The German out-qualified Webber at both circuits, and then out-scored him in both races.

The nightmare for Webber is that if Vettel beats him into second place here in Korea and again in Brazil, the pair would be tied on points heading into the final event in Abu Dhabi but Vettel would lead the title race for the first time this season because he would have won five races to Webber's four.

And, say the Webber doubters with a note of triumph, remember that Vettel won at Yas Marina last year.

So, they say, it's the dream ticket for Red Bull, then - the team's star young driver will graduate to become F1 champion.

None of this is new to Webber, nor will it cut any ice with him. He needs no reminding of his challenge.

This is a man whose website records his greatest achievement in motorsport so far as "getting into Formula 1 because the odds were stacked against us".

To emphasise the point, he's taken inspiration this week from a book, Don't Die With The Music On.

Written by one of Australia's most successful rugby league coaches, Wayne Bennett, it's all about making the most of your potential.

While preparing back home in Australia last week, he also spent time with two Aussie sporting greats, Ponting and Pat Rafter.

If Webber had heard Michael Schumacher talking about him on Thursday, he would probably have nodded in agreement.

"He has improved massively," said the seven-time champion in a BBC interview.

"Looking at his results, the way he drives and his consistency, I'm very much impressed with him."

"You'd rather be ahead than be behind."

Webber's team-mate at Williams during the 2005 season, Nick Heidfeld, is another who has noticed how his performances have stepped up this year.

The five championship contenders pose in Korea ahead of this weekend's grand prix. Photo: Getty

"He's made a good improvement in his racing because he was already strong in qualifying," said Heidfeld.

"If you look at the guys in the championship, he's done the least amount of mistakes. He seems to cope well with the pressure. He's doing a really good job and I'd still back him (for the title)."

Ah yes, pressure.

The charge that Webber cannot handle it was levelled at him after his ragged performance in Australia, where he ended up crashing into Lewis Hamilton.

His mistake off pole position in the next race in Malaysia to let Vettel through on the inside of the first corner - the move that decided the race in Vettel's favour - was picked on as another example of his fragility when the heat was on.

But Webber will tell you himself that he needed no public dressing down. He knew he'd got things wrong, and his results since then have proved the point.

Apart from that terrifying high-flying accident in Valencia when he misjudged his distance to Heikki Kovalainen - his only retirement this year - he's made none of the errors that have afflicted Vettel, Alonso and Hamilton.

Webber's team boss, Christian Horner, has been quick to reject criticism that Webber's been feeling the pressure of the run-in like Jenson Button did last year.

"You never saw Jenson on the podium in the second half of the season," Horner said.
"Mark, though, has been consistently running at the front. He has the character, like Sebastian, to deal with the situation."

Much might be read into Webber's spin in second practice in Korea. But he explained it calmly as a balance issue on the softer tyre and then proceeded to set the fastest time.

"We're in the hunt, mate," was his succinct summary of his track debut in Korea.

But he appreciates that he must check Vettel's resurgence, and the sooner the better.

"I win the next two races, it's all over. I'm doing my best then hopefully the rest will take care of itself," he said on Thursday, well aware of what his 14-point advantage means.

Vettel has admitted he's felt much more comfortable in the car since new software was installed to enable smoother power delivery through the double diffuser to accelerate out of corners.

It means that Webber has lost the little edge over his team-mate that he'd previously enjoyed when it was more driver-reliant.

Now he has to dig deeper again to repeat the sort of qualifying fliers that earned him pole in Spain, Monaco and Spa, thereby putting pressure on his team-mate to do the chasing and the overtaking which doesn't always seem to come naturally to him.

Red Bull insist both drivers will receive equal backing as they home in on the constructors' championship which they could clinch for the first time this weekend if they take another one-two finish and McLaren fail to score.

As far as the drivers' title goes, Webber will take nothing for granted after so much misfortune in previous years.

Always learning, always improving is another of his mottos.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/jonathanlegard/2010/10/go-on-admit-it-how.html

Michael Annett Germain com Toyota Brendan Gaughan Loan Max Toyota

Canadian Grand Prix 2010 Qualifying gallery


Lewis Hamilton qualified on pole for the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix. Mark Webber claimed second and his team mate Sebastian Vettel took third. Michael Schumacher had a disappointing exit from Q2.

Here are a few pictures from today's qualifying sessionhttp://4.bp.blogspot.com/_f2dCclIT9q8/TBU2pSETAWI/AAAAAAAAGU0/TikVOL6oQ7E/s1600/Canadian+Grand+Prix+2010+Qualifying+gallery.jpg


Credit : Daylife, F1Fanatic

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/F1InsightAFormula1Blog/~3/hEQl3ODC7zc/canadian-grand-prix-2010-qualifying.html

Richie Ginther Yves Giraud Cabantous Ignazio Giunti Timo Glock

Sprint Cup contenders Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick survived Talladega Superspeedway

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Source: http://doxcar.com/sprint-cup-contenders-jimmie-johnson-denny-hamlin-and-kevin-harvick-survived-talladega-superspeedway/

Brad Keselowski Ruby Tuesday Dodge Trevor Bayne Ricky Stenhouse Jr

My Japanese Grand Prix review

Hello everyone, what another enthralling weekend we have just had at the famous figure-of-eight track at Suzuka.

Red Bull were dominant in Japan as Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber secured a one-two finish, coming home ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, while the McLaren duo of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button slipped back in the title hunt.

I went to the Brooklands Museum to film my thoughts on the race and you can watch it here.

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IF YOU ARE OUTSIDE THE UK, CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/murraywalker/2010/10/my_japanese_grand_prix_review.html

Chico Landi Hermann Lang Claudio Langes Nicola Larini

Alonso in champion form after Korea win

Runner-up Lewis Hamilton applauded race-winner Fernando Alonso as they cruised round their slowing down lap at the Korean Grand Prix. Was the Englishman also hailing the 2010 world champion?

Alonso's superb victory in yet another thrilling race has turned the title race on its head - for the umpteenth time this year.

It moves the Spaniard, already a double world champion, into the lead for the first time since the Australian Grand Prix, the second race of the season, at the end of March.

The Ferrari driver is 11 points ahead of Red Bull's Mark Webber, who crashed out on the second lap of racing. Hamilton's second place moves him up to third, 21 points behind his arch-rival.

It is a sign of just how close this incredible championship is that all five men who were in contention before this race remain so, even though Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel retired with an engine failure and Hamilton's team-mate Jenson Button could finish only 12th after a difficult race in his McLaren.

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However, with only 50 points still available in the two remaining races, Button - 42 points behind Alonso - must effectively be counted out, as he admitted himself after what he described as "a pretty horrific day". Are you still in the championship, BBC F1 pit-lane reporter Lee McKenzie asked Button after the race. "Not really," he said.

Vettel, too, 25 points (one win) adrift, is in serious trouble, despite having what is undoubtedly the fastest car.

Both those two teams must surely now start to give serious thought to backing their leading driver over the other - as Ferrari have been doing since they asked Felipe Massa to hand the lead of the German Grand Prix to Alonso.

For Red Bull, in particular, it is an agonising situation.

Their emotional investment in Vettel has been clear for a very long time - and it was emphasised yet again when team principal Christian Horner was quoted saying before the Korean race that they were building the team around him for the future.

But unless some disaster befalls Alonso in Brazil or Abu Dhabi, it is difficult to see how Vettel can make up 25 points in two races on a man who has won four of the last seven grands prix, scoring more points than anyone, and whose last four results read: win, win, third, win.

Still, though, Horner told BBC Sport after the race that it was too early to start backing one driver over the other.

"As we saw in this race, different drivers were leading the championship at different points," Horner said.

"Fernando we gave a big gift today, and we need to look at that, but we have seen how quickly things can change.

"At the moment our strategy remains unchanged - this championship will not be over until the last lap in Abu Dhabi has been completed, and we will be pushing flat out until that time."

That is all well and good, but this is surely the point at which Horner - and team owner Dietrich Mateschitz - have to start asking themselves some hard questions and making some equally tough choices.

They have had by far the fastest car this season - a Red Bull has been on pole at 14 of the 17 races - and yet, for a variety of reasons, they find themselves with two races to go with neither driver leading the championship.

Alonso's advantage over Webber is not large - it is effectively the equivalent of a fourth place.

If, therefore, Webber won the two remaining races with Vettel second and Alonso third, Webber would win the championship. But if Vettel won them, with Webber second and Alonso third, then Alonso would be champion.

Complicating the issue is that, on the evidence of this season, the chances of Red Bull taking one-twos in the next two races are pretty slim.

There are two reasons to say that.

Firstly, Red Bull have proven again and again in 2010 that they cannot consistently deliver the results the performance of their car suggests they should.

Sometimes that has been down to the drivers, sometimes the team and sometimes things out of their control, such as the engine failure that hit Vettel in Korea. Whatever the reason, though, it keeps happening.

Secondly, it is far from clear they will, on pure performance, be able to dominate the last two races.

Of the two tracks, Abu Dhabi probably favours Red Bull more than Brazil. But neither of them are 'Red Bull tracks' in the fashion of, say, Suzuka, the Hungaroring, Silverstone or Barcelona. Both remaining events are difficult to predict.

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Alonso, then, will remain a serious threat on pure competitiveness on the track and could well win in either Sao Paulo or Abu Dhabi. As Eddie Jordan pointed out in the F1 Forum, if you were minded to bet on anyone to win the championship, it would be the Ferrari number one.

Alonso drove another fantastic race in Korea. He was the only man anywhere near the Red Bulls on qualifying pace and in the race he buried an undeserved reputation for not being particularly good in the wet.

Although the Red Bull clearly has more downforce than the Ferrari, Alonso never let Vettel off the hook, pressuring him hard throughout the race.

Horner said Vettel had lost a "guaranteed race victory", but it did not look very guaranteed as the Ferrari closed right up to the gearbox of the Red Bull in the laps before its retirement.

Was Vettel managing the gap? It didn't look that way as he made a mistake and ran wide on lap 43, allowing Alonso to gain more than a second on him.

Was he already struggling from a lack of power that prefaced the failure? We may never know. But, until just before Vettel retired, the race still looked to me like a proper, flat-out fight between the German, Alonso and Hamilton.

What a battle it was. What a season it has been. And what a climax it promises to be.

Alonso might be favourite to win the title after what Martin Brundle described as "a champion's drive". But it is still all to play for. And after a year of so many twists and turns, you would be better off keeping your money in your pocket.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2010/10/alonso_in_champion_form_after.html

Citifinancial Ford Reed Sorenson Paul Menard Richmond Menards Ford

Last-ditch pass helps Kyle Busch win Trucks race at Talladega

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Source: http://doxcar.com/last-ditch-pass-helps-kyle-busch-win-trucks-race-at-talladega/

Jason Keller T Coleman Pressley Mike Wallace Hermie Sadler III

What it's like being an F1 presenter and producer

Hi guys,

I hope you enjoyed this weekend's show. I'm writing this blog entry in the production office at 1am on Monday in Singapore (about three hours after the grand prix finished).

We stay on European time for the Singapore GP which means out of bed at 1pm, and into bed at 4am, which is strange but seems to work for the media and the teams.

Anyway, to this week's blog.

I remember as a TV-obsessed kid wondering what happened when the presenters weren't on screen, so I decided to show you!

I know lots of you are keen to get as close to F1 and the BBC's coverage as possible, which is why I love doing the blogs and the tweets. But this weekend I've decided to up the ante.

I asked the director Richard if it was possible to record the talkback and the three camera feeds along with our actual output.

The result is embedded below. It is about as close as you'll get to being an F1 presenter without actually doing it.

You can hear exactly what I hear as the show gets going. You'll also spot the transmission on the bottom right as well as the three cameras we use.

Now, the start of the show is notoriously much easier than the end.

For the race build-up, we know pretty much what we're going to do and who we'll speak to. By contrast, after the programme we generally have 30-50 minutes to fill without any script or running order.

I'd love to know what you make of the video. You can hear last minute changes of shot, the plan unfolding inside the McLaren garage and how we make late, swift decisions to try to make the show as dynamic, exciting and entertaining as possible.

I should point out, by the way, that as the video was filmed within the confines of the Singapore track, it is only available to UK users.

Anyway, enough words, watch the video and let me know what you think!

Jake

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Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/jakehumphrey/2010/09/what_its_like_being_an_f1_pres.html

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