Corporate Sponsorships Aid NASCAR Diversity

Despite the popularity of the sport, NASCAR has often been described by critics as a White man’s sport. With the exception of a few trailblazers, such as ESPN NASCAR analyst and former NBA All-Star Brad Daugherty, most coverage of racing includes very few faces of color or women.

However, NASCAR diversity has been at the top of the sports agenda for the past six seasons as a result of its Drive for Diversity initiative. The program seeks to develop minority and female drivers and crew members and give them the opportunity to compete against established NASCAR talent.

One such individual taking advantage of NASCAR diversity is 19-year-old racing sensation Michael Cherry, who is in his second year in the Drive for Diversity program and recently received sponsorship from Nationwide Insurance.

“It’s an honor to support Michael Cherry as he works his way up in NASCAR,” said Nationwide agent Carlo White. “This sponsorship is a good opportunity for Nationwide to support diversity in racing, and that’s something that is very important to us. Michael is a very promising young racer and will be a great representative of the Nationwide Insurance brand.”

Despite the efforts of Nationwide, NASCAR diversity has become a critical issue since fired NASCAR employee Mauricia Grant filed a $225 million lawsuit against the racing league in 2008, claiming racial and sexual discrimination, sexual harassment and wrongful termination.

Grant, a Black female, said of her NASCAR experience: “I loved it. It was a great, exciting, adrenaline-filled job where I worked with fast cars and the best drivers in the world. But there was an ongoing daily pattern [of harassment]. It was the nature of the people I worked with, the people who ran it, it trickled down from the top.”

After Grant filed the lawsuit, NASCAR spokesperson Ramsey Poston emphasized the dedication to NASCAR diversity and a zero tolerance policy for any form of harassment. “As an equal opportunity employer, NASCAR is fully committed to the spirit and letter of affirmative action law,” Poston said. And they are optimistic that the Drive for Diversity initiative and Nationwide’s sponsorship of Cherry will accomplish their goals of diversity.

“We’re pleased to see Michael, and promising young drivers like him, earn the opportunity to take their racing careers to the next level,” said Max Siegel, CEO of the managing group in charge of the diversity initiative. “The goal of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity initiative is to create meaningful opportunities for a wide range of drivers to compete in NASCAR. Nationwide Insurance will be a great partner for Michael because they have a proud tradition of supporting NASCAR and diversity in general.”

Cherry, a Valrico, Fla. Native, finished fourth in the point standings during his rookie year in 2008. He will race for the Addis Motorsports at Greenville-Pickens (S.C.) Speedway. Cherry said, “It’s truly an honor (to) represent Nationwide Insurance. The addition of their sponsorship to our Addis team and the Drive for Diversity initiative really makes this an unbelievable opportunity for me. I definitely plan to make the most of it.”

In addition, the world of auto racing plans to make the most of NASCAR diversity and become a sport everyone can enjoy and celebrate.

Todd A. Smith is the web master for ; Regal Mag The preeminent Online Magazine for African American Men. For more information on this subject visit our ; Sports Section To read about ; NASCAR diversity

Article Source: Corporate Sponsorships Aid NASCAR Diversity

Source: http://www.articlespan.com/article/228771/corporate-sponsorships-aid-nascar-diversity

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Jeff Gordon wins at Phoenix to snap 66-race drought

Jeff Gordon Ends Drought Jeff Gordon snaps 66-race winless streak by taking the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at PhoenixJeff Gordon Ends Drought AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Just before peeling off what he called a lame burnout near the finish line, Jeff Gordon screamed into his radio, the emotion pouring out with his voice. [+] Enlarge Jared C. Related posts:
  1. Jeff Gordon wins the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway Jeff Gordon Ends Drought Jeff Gordon snaps 66-race winless...
  2. NASCAR’s Jeff Gordon gets new spotter starting at Pocono CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Jeff Gordon will have a new spotter...
  3. Jeff Gordon wins pole at Charlotte Motor Speedway; Jimmie Johnson to start 10th CONCORD, N.C. -- Jeff Gordon's long winless streak is well...
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Source: http://doxcar.com/jeff-gordon-wins-at-phoenix-to-snap-66-race-drought/

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Jeff Gordon wins at Phoenix to snap 66-race drought

Jeff Gordon Ends Drought Jeff Gordon snaps 66-race winless streak by taking the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at PhoenixJeff Gordon Ends Drought AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Just before peeling off what he called a lame burnout near the finish line, Jeff Gordon screamed into his radio, the emotion pouring out with his voice. [+] Enlarge Jared C. Related posts:
  1. Jeff Gordon wins the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway Jeff Gordon Ends Drought Jeff Gordon snaps 66-race winless...
  2. NASCAR’s Jeff Gordon gets new spotter starting at Pocono CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Jeff Gordon will have a new spotter...
  3. Jeff Gordon wins pole at Charlotte Motor Speedway; Jimmie Johnson to start 10th CONCORD, N.C. -- Jeff Gordon's long winless streak is well...
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Source: http://doxcar.com/jeff-gordon-wins-at-phoenix-to-snap-66-race-drought/

Brendan Gaughan Loan Max Toyota Aric Almirola JR Motorsports Chevrolet

NASCAR Tickets - Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Off to a Strong Start

When racing owners Chip Ganassi and Teresa Earnhardt decided to join forces last November, the two NASCAR dynasties only hoped for the kind of success their combined teams have achieved thus far in the 2009 Sprint Cup Series. Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates and Dale Earnhardt, Inc. struck a deal in November 2008, bringing drivers Martin Treux Jr., Juan Pablo Montoya and Aric Almirola together as teammates under the unified name Earnhardt Ganassi Racing. These three drivers have spent the last few months testing together, and sponsorship and driver lineups have now been solidified as Earnhardt Ganassi moves forward early in the 2009 season.

Martin Truex Jr., the most experienced of the Earnhardt Ganassi crew, was carried over from Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and has been a top competitor for the Sprint Cup Series since 2004, when he ran two races for DEI and finished 70th in points in the series. Truex has had three consecutive Top 20 finishes since 2006 and finished at number 15 in last year's Sprint Cup Series. His transition to the merged Earnhardt Ganassi Racing team has proven to be successful so far for No. 1, as he started the racing season with a pole win at the Daytona 500 and promises to be a fierce competitor for the rest of the year, as well.

Columbian racer Juan Pablo Montoya is similarly enjoying this new Ganassi/Earnhardt merger, as the three-year NASCAR veteran finally has a more experienced driver (Truex, Jr.) to partner with. Montoya came to the NASCAR circuit after competing with Formula One and even winning the Indy 500 in 2000, spending 2008 with other Ganassi drivers Reed Sorenson and Dario Franchitti. Montoya posted a 14th place finish at Daytona this year and followed the next week with a consistent 11th place finish at Fontana, expecting more success for the rest of the season.

When recently asked about his new teammates, Montoya said that he, Truex and Almirola are working together fantastically, saying, "A lot of times you go to teammates and they really don't want to help. Like in the [Daytona 500] if I saw Martin, I would try to help him. If he saw me he would try to help me. It worked really well and I'm really pumped up about it."

Another Earnhardt Ganssi driver, Aric Almirola, is also pumped up about the team's new camaraderie. Currently in his first full Sprint Cup season, Almirola is enjoying the benefits of the newly minted team, getting his feet on the ground as he braces for the '09 season. Although he has yet to post a finish past the top 30 in this year's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Almirola got some early help from Montoya during Daytona, recalling an instance during the day when "we were toward the back and both of us had just pit and were on fresh tires. Juan pushed the ever-living daylights out of me for about three laps straight and we went from 27th to the top 15. We were flying. We were going to the front and it was cool to have his help."

Truex, Montoya and Almirola are posing a triple-threat on the scene of the Nascar Sprint Cup Series already this season, and everyone with NASCAR tickets has gotten to witness this blossoming team chemistry to its fullest. The Ganassi/Earnhardt merge was created in part because of financial necessity but also for drivers to improve on performance, and so far the deal has been nothing but successful for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing. To watch these Earnhardt Ganassi drivers speed to the finish line of NASCAR races this season, get tickets to a Sprint Cup race online and prepare for a memorable day at the track!

This article is sponsored by StubHub.com. StubHub is a leader in the business of selling NASCAR tickets, sports tickets, concert tickets, theater tickets and special events tickets.

Article Source: NASCAR Tickets - Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Off to a Strong Start

Source: http://www.articlespan.com/article/248656/nascar-tickets-earnhardt-ganassi-racing-off-to-a-strong-start

Willie Allen Derrike Cope Kevin Harvick Brad Keselowski

The Vintage Mercury-Lincoln Cougar - A Nascar Legend

Many have thought of the Mercury Cougar a simply nothing more than a luxo-bloated version of a Ford Thunderbird. It may well surprise many Ford, Mercury as well as Ford Mustang and Mercury Cougar enthusiasts that 35 years ago that the Cougar “Pony” Car was kicking butt on the Trans-Am circuit.

In its origins, the Cougar was an idea that Lincoln-Mercury had been tossing around, for some time, with the idea of a smaller sporty car. As early as February 1963 this idea of a smaller as well as sporty Lincoln-Mercury vehicle, to be introduced to the North American market, came to emerge within the corporate head office, marketing and design staff.

The success of the Ford Mustang was all that was needed to put the wheels in motion. Indeed the famous marketing reference in regards to the product market popularity and sales of the Ford Mustang ‘Pony” Car was a sign in a donut shop that “Or donuts sell as fast as Mustangs”. Nothing drives the automobile industry more than the potential and promise of fast car sales figures. It is noteworthy that even the name of the vehicle product “Cougar” can be said to be family line generated. After the name Cougar is not only six letters but is another member of a line of fast creatures. Both the names of Mustang and Cougar evoke an image of sleekness and fast speed as well as agility.

Built on a 111 inch wheelbase, the Cougar was three inches and half inches shorter than its cousin – the Thunderbird. Underneath the elegant sheetmetal of the Cougar was a Mustang, so to speak. In actuality the Cougar shared with its cousins – the sporty Mustang, and the more dour family vehicle - the Ford Falcon (which was also known in the Canadian market as the Ford Frontenac product. The Ford Mustang had the greatest fortune of being born from the Ford Falcon product line. Mustang enthusiasts owe a great debt of gratitude to a so called compact “Family” car. The Ford Falcon allowed both the Mustang car project as well as the Cougar car product a quick to develop, cheap to produce as well as a proven and durable base platform. Even the dash of the early Mustangs was a direct copy of the Falcons.

Underneath all of the glitter of its elegant sheet metal the Cougar car was all Mustang, using the exact same Falcon front suspension and a solid rear axle with four-leaf springs. A base 289 cubic inch V-8 made 200 bhp (gross), but the real action came in the guise of a 390 cubic inch V-8 that made 320 bhp. A GT option included a performance handling package and power disc brakes that replaced more standard front brake drums. Finally special GT wheels rounded out the package.

It has been said that Lincoln Mercury’s chief designer had envisioned the Cougar as an elegant European sports car, along the lines of the Jaguar Mark 2. How was it that the Cougar went racing?

In 1967 Lincoln Mercury turned to Bud Moore to be the point man for a shot at the SCCA Trans-Am Championship. Team Cougar made up of drivers, Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones, Formula 1 driver Peter Revson and NASCAR driver Dave Pearson came in second in Ford Mustang’s team. In 1968 then under the aegis of Moore, driver DeWayne “Tiny” Lund went on to capture the NASCAR Grand Touring Championship.

So where and how did the Cougar go wrong. It seemed that Lincoln-Mercury was never quite sure on how to market the Cougar. This lack of market focus, as well as not knowing and perceiving the needs and desires of the potential Cougar customer market proved to be the Cougar’s undoing. By the 1969 product introduction the Cougar was a little longer and a little wider. From then on it was only a short decent into landau roofs as well as the opera window type styling and options of the day. Once started this downward trend and spiral of the Cougar was inevitable. The halcyon years of the early Cougar - specifically the early Cougar model years of 1967 – 70 remain a time when the Cougar’s roar boomed out of dual exhausts and the sign of a car that had some bite to it.

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Article Source: The Vintage Mercury-Lincoln Cougar - A Nascar Legend

Source: http://www.articlespan.com/article/129872/the-vintage-mercury-lincoln-cougar-a-nascar-legend

Kevin Harvick Brad Keselowski Ruby Tuesday Dodge Trevor Bayne

F1 teams battle over cost-cutting

The first race of the 2011 season is still two months away, but the fight for a competitive advantage in Formula 1 is still raging away behind the scenes.

As their engineers put the finishing touches to their new cars in time for the start of pre-season testing next month, team bosses are trying to thrash out a new cost-saving agreement. And it's getting a bit nasty.

Rivals - almost without exception, I'm told - believe Red Bull exceeded en route to winning the world title last year the limitations laid out in the document that defines how teams commit their budgets. They also claim that Red Bull are blocking a new version of the so-called Resource Restriction Agreement to take the sport through to 2017, where the current one runs only to 2012.

One insider at a rival team said Red Bull had been "flouting" the RRA. This is quite a serious accusation, as it effectively claims Red Bull either spent longer developing the aerodynamics of their car, employed more staff, or spent more money - or all three - than they were allowed to. In other words, they had an unfair advantage.

Red Bull deny outright that they overspent in 2010, and insist they are objecting to the revised agreement only because it is flawed in its current form and they want to ensure it is "fair and equitable". More of which in a moment.

"We've worked in accordance with the RRA limits since they were introduced," Red Bull team principal Christian Horner told BBC Sport. "With tremendous hard work and internal efficiencies, we believe we've absolutely adhered to it.

"Red Bull has committed its budgets wisely and it's obviously surprising that people will feel that way, but it's inevitable, I guess, when you're at the front and winning races."

No one will go on the record to confirm their suspicions about Red Bull, but Virgin Racing chief executive officer Graeme Lowdon, while making it clear he does not know about Red Bull's budget, says: "On something as fundamental as this, on something that's there to make the whole business you're in sustainable, if someone was to even breach the spirit of that, then that's extremely disappointing.

"I cannot see how anyone can level a criticism at an RRA. If it made a worse show, or watered it down, then there would be a case to answer. But it doesn't so it's very disappointing if teams ignore something as fundamental as this."

In many ways, this financial dispute echoes the technical rows that enveloped Red Bull in 2010.

Unable to explain or understand how the RB6 car was so fast, rivals first accused Red Bull of having an illegal ride-height control system, and then of an overly flexible front wing. Red Bull insisted the car was completely legal, and the FIA, F1's governing body, never found otherwise.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner

Horner finds Red Bull in the middle of another controversy about 2010. Photo: Getty

"We expect other teams to potentially challenge [whether we have over-spent]," Horner says, "as they have done on front wings and ride heights and everything else in the course of last year. But we don't have any issue.

"Red Bull probably has the third or fourth biggest budget in F1. We spent prudently and have achieved great efficiency within the factory, and we have to top that in 2011."

This row has come up in the context of negotiations over revising ways of controlling F1's costs. Keeping a lid on budgets is, along with ensuring the racing remains as good as possible, one of the central themes for F1 stake-holders at the moment, as the sport's bosses seek to ensure it remains both compelling for its audience and affordable for its competitors in a difficult economic climate.

The RRA is the document the teams drew up in 2009 to control costs in F1. It defines a series of limitations on resources, getting stricter through 2010, 2011 and 2012, and the penalties for exceeding them. But it was always meant as a stepping-stone to a longer agreement.

In the current agreement, there is a sliding scale of penalties covering the following main areas of resource commitment:

  • Aerodynamic development, measured in wind-tunnel hours or computational fluid dynamics data, with the more you do of one, up to a given limit, meaning the less you can do of the other;
  • Total staff numbers, from 350 in 2010 down to 280 in 2011, and total external spend, from 40m Euros in 2010, down to 20m Euros in 2011, with the more you commit to one, the less you can spend on the other.

The penalties were based on a sliding scale. For example, a breach of up to 5% is punished by having that same amount taken off your resource allocation for the next year; a breach of 5-10% means having 1.1 times that amount taken off; and so on.

The new document - the fundamentals of which were largely agreed at a meeting at the Singapore Grand Prix last September - changes that.

One team principal, who did not wish to be identified, said that the new RRA relaxes the restrictions on resources - teams can spend a bit more money and employ a few more staff - and in return the policing is stricter, both in terms of how teams' spending is analysed and the penalties for exceeding the limits.

But the detail is proving problematic, with Red Bull in particular unhappy about the new document as it stands.

Horner says his objections are rooted in ensuring the new RRA, which would run until 2017, does what it is intended to do.

"The RRA is a positive thing for F1," he says. "I think a solution can be found for the outstanding issues, it just needs some sensible discussion between the teams, because the thought of an unrestricted spend in F1 is unpalatable for all the teams.

"So it is a matter of achieving transparency and a fair and equitable system between all independent and manufacturer-owned teams so that no party is at an advantage or disadvantage."

"The resource restriction needs to be sorted quite quickly because at the moment it is unclear what rules we are working to in 2011 in many respects, so it's important a solution is found and I think one will be found."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2011/01/f1_teams_battle_over_cost-cutt.html

James Christopher McMurray Casey James Mears Juan Pablo Montoya Ryan Joseph Newman

Di Resta out to prove winning potential

Paul di Resta has bumped up the British numbers racing in Formula 1 this year by finally signing for Force India.

But unlike his compatriots, McLaren drivers and world champions Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, Di Resta is out to prove he deserves his place on the grid.

The likeable 24-year-old Scot, whose promotion has been expected for some time, has plenty of reasons to feel confident about his first season in F1.

Over the course of 12 months as Force India reserve in 2010, Di Resta has already managed to galvanise the team's support.

His manager Anthony Hamilton, father of Lewis, revealed: "There hasn't been anything negative from the team. Paul has done a great job and they love him."

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The team were so smitten by Di Resta that his seat does not depend on sponsorship - in stark contrast to 2011's other rookies, Pastor Maldonado of Williams, Virgin's Jerome D'Ambrosio and Sauber's Sergio Perez.

In fact, to partner Di Resta with German Adrian Sutil, Force India will have to pay a financial settlement to Sutil's 2010 team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi for breaking the firm contract the Italian had for this season.

Force India must be certain Di Resta has something worth paying for.

The son of racer-turned-businessman Louis di Resta and cousin of three-time IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti, Di Resta has described having racing "in his blood".

After winning the 2010 German touring car championship (DTM) for Mercedes on his weekends off from F1 duties, Di Resta arrives as a proven champion.

In his junior career, the Scot raced against future F1 world champions Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, notably beating the German to the Formula Three Euroseries crown.

Di Resta recalled in a 2008 interview: "Sebastian was my team-mate in 2006. I definitely beat him on far more occasions than he ever beat me.

"I'm not saying that I'm a faster or better driver than him but you'd have to say there's at least parity between us.

"As for Lewis, when we had the same machinery we were equally good."

In terms of raw talent Di Resta may well be a match for two of F1's fastest men but it will be difficult for him to prove it when he rejoins them on track.

The laidback Scot's first task will be to adapt his racing mindset from DTM's slower 'tin-top' cars to F1's open, single-seater speed machines.

The difference between driving a touring car with 500bhp and an F1 car charged with 750bhp and tonnes of downforce can be compared to handling a family estate car and a supercar.

"It requires a different style to drive both [cars] on the limit; it's not easy," explains McLaren reserve and driver Gary Paffett, who was one of Di Resta's Mercedes team-mates in the DTM last year.

"But if you can win in DTM it puts you in a good position to do a good job in F1. Paul will do a good job - but how good?

"If you're used to winning you might have to get over the fact that you're not going to be beating the McLarens and Ferraris week in, week out or beating your team-mate 100% of the time. That's something you have to learn."

In eight first practice sessions over grand prix weekends for Force India last season, Di Resta was only able to out-pace either Sutil or Liuzzi, who alternated in the other car, once.

Improving that niggling statistic will be a target for the Scot when the season begins with free practice in Bahrain on 11 March.

Beyond that, barring a major surprise Di Resta will not have the machinery capable of reigniting his teenage rivalry with Hamilton and Vettel, Red Bull's reigning champion.

Force India finished seventh in the constructors' championship last season with Sutil collecting best-place finishes of fifth in Malaysia and Spa. In terms of pace, both drivers failed to qualify inside the top 10 in the final six races of 2010.

The development of Force India's 2011 car has had to absorb some unsettling changes at the team's Silverstone factory, with two technical directors, James Key and Mark Smith, as well as chief designer Lewis Butler leaving for rival teams in the space of a year.

Force India intend to fine-tune the new VJM04 car in the wind tunnel before introducing it at the second pre-season test in Jerez - a policy also adopted by McLaren, but not by Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, Renault and Williams, who will all have new cars ready for the first test in Valencia next week.

After the flashbulbs and fanfare of being unveiled as an F1 driver have died down, Di Resta will start the process of making his opportunity count in Valencia driving a modified 2010 car.

Di Resta may still have everything to prove in F1 but like the rest of 2011's rookies he also has nothing to lose.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/sarahholt/2011/01/paul_di_resta_has_bumped.html

Nanni Galli Oscar Alfredo Gálvez Fred Gamble Howden Ganley