Nascar and Racing International Speedway Corp

This time it's official. As of July 1, Tony George is out as CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Instead he'll focus his efforts on the Indy Racing League and will continue on as member of the board of directors of the Speedway and the family's Hulman & Company.

George's mother, Mari Hulman George, made the announcement Tuesday. It comes four weeks after several news outlets, including FanHouse, reported the move was imminent -- only to have George deny the reports then.

"[George] has decided that with the recent unification of open-wheel racing and the experienced management team IMS has cultivated over the years, now would be the time for him to concentrate on his team ownership of Vision Racing with his family and other personal business interests he and his family share," Hulman George, the IMS' chairwoman of the board, said, while also praising her son's "leadership and direction."

One might have figured that long-time NASCAR fans would have been rejoicing this week thanks to the reincarnation of Darlington Raceway's legendary Southern 500.

The race -- a staple of NASCAR's top series for 54 years -- was traditionally held every Labor Day weekend at the gritty South Carolina track and produced some of the best-known races of NASCAR's modern-era.

It was a place where drivers made a name for themselves and was a place where legends cemented their status as such in stock car racing.

But in 2004, that all disappeared thanks to a track realignment by the higher-ups in NASCAR and International Speedway Corporation that sent the traditional weekend packing to the West Coast in what has turned into a lame, ill-timed attempt to gain fans in the Los Angeles market.

But now, with ratings dropping in 2007, attendance dropping in 2008, growth slowing, and sponsorship troubles occurring thanks to NASCAR being a tourism-based industry that has likely overpriced itself, the legendary Southern 500 at "The Lady in Black" is returning in a much different form -- with lights and in May.

Have you ever seen a more blatant exploitation of tradition?

Earlier this week, word came out the the head of International Speedway Corporation, Lesa France-Kennedy, was looking to expand operations at the company's Kansas Speedway.

In other words, she wants a second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series date for the mid-west 1.5-mile cookie-cutter track as part of the deal to woo a Hard Rock Casino & Hotel to just outside the track's Turn 2:

As part of their proposal, Kansas Speedway announced International Speedway Corporation ("ISC") will petition NASCAR for a second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series date for the track if Kansas Speedway and The Cordish Company are awarded the casino management contract for Wyandotte County (Kan.).

While the "petition" to NASCAR hasn't gone through yet, I'm willing to bet that the casino is a sure-bet to come to the area. (Ha, get it?)

And once that casino goes through, ISC's move to ask NASCAR for a second race date that comes at the expense of one the other race dates in the company's portfolio will go through faster than a stack of chips next to a degenerate gambler.

Of course, it makes things a little easier when ISC and NASCAR are owned by the same people.

Here on my first visit to Chicagoland Speedway, I've noticed that the facility truly is a modern racing venue.

The infield is laid out well, the infield access tunnel is more than large enough for the biggest vehicles, the grandstands have excellent sight lines and the fan area with the souvenir trailers is plenty wide enough -- all of these are a direct result of the intelligent planning of the speedway when it was first started in 1999.

Those factors, combined with the addition of lights in 2008, have allowed Saturday night's LifeLock 400 to reach sellout status again after falling off in 2007. Or, as the track claims, all 75,000 grandstand "Track Packs" have sold out, allowing the speedway's "2008 Racing Season" to be sold out.

Geoffrey Miller is in Concord, N.C. for Sunday's Sprint Cup Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. He'll aim to eat as many elephant ears as possible while blogging away "Live from Lowe's" throughout Memorial Day weekend.

Jeff Gordon may have had a car capable of running in the Top-10, but he simply didn't have the track position.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had the car to beat until lap 296 when he blew a tire and slapped the wall -- while leading.

Somehow, though, the two Hendrick Motorsports teammates ended up fourth (Gordon) and fifth (Earnhardt Jr.) in the final standings of Sunday night's Coca-Cola 600.

Earnhardt Jr. truly had a car that was one of the top two or three in the entire field, and he likely had the best car as the race was set to begin its final 100 laps of the scheduled 400. Then, his right rear tire went flat as he prepared to lap Hendrick teammate Gordon while entering turn 3 on lap 296, and the No. 88 veered into the wall.

Luckily, Earnhardt had been using the high lane all evening so the impact wasn't as severe as it could have been. The team brought him to pit road many times under the subsequent caution, threw some new rubber on it, pulled out the fenders, and double-checked the suspension.

Junior rejoined the race around 20th, but the car just wasn't the same.

That's where his path aligned with that of Jeff Gordon's team and how to maximize their final finish.

The red color scares off some, and the remnants of it may find their way to a poor soul's shirt, but the "Famous Martinsville hot dog" is a true relic of the "good ol' days" of NASCAR racing.

The hot dog, a trademark at the half-mile paperclip track since who-knows-when, is one thing you don't mess with at a track known for heated tempers and bent sheet metal. The dog even has a Youtube video about it, which you can catch below the jump.

After all, $2 will get you a hot dog that easily clears most of the major food groups.

The dogs start with boiled Jesse Jones hot dogs, wrapped into what is more of a roll than a hot dog bun, and then topped with chili, mustard, onions, and vinegar-based slaw. The concoctions are then then wrapped in some wax paper and left in a steamer to keep in their warmth.

Fans, drivers, crew members and -- most naturally, of course -- media members dig the famous creations and a few years ago, disdain over a change to the normal recipe caused the top levels of NASCAR to get involved.

I don't know if the intent was there, but California Speedway Auto Club Speedway president Gillian Zucker sure made waves highly unrelated to the racing held at her track last weekend.

Instead of talking up the record 33 lead changes at the track or the impressive mettle showed by fans who stuck out one of the worst weather weekends in NASCAR history, she instead changed the post-race story but floating the idea that she'd be interested in increasing the banking of the Fontana speedway if significant changes need to be made to alleviate the track's drainage problem.

Such a change would completely alter the track's dynamic and create the potential for NASCAR to need restrictor plates at the 2-mile track because speeds would rise dramatically.

Higher-ups in the parent organization of ACS, International Speedway Corporation, squashed that thought quickly and painlessly on Thursday -- and it didn't necessarily come with an attitude of "thanks but no thanks".

It was a very clean-cut "No" from Wes Harris, ISC's senior director of investor and corporate relations. A "No, Ms. Zucker, please don't talk about these things again before consulting with your bosses"-type of statement.

From SPEED.com:

After a long, rain-soaked weekend at the artist formerly known as California Speedway for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, I still don't get it.

Why in the world is NASCAR racing there twice in a season?

Blame the weather, blame the track layout, blame the traffic, blame the writers or blame the awards ceremonies -- but it's really time to face the fact that the racing at California just isn't that good and more importantly, no one shows up to watch it.

Say goodbye to California Speedway.

Unfortunately, that line would more than please a good number of NASCAR fans in any other instance. But this time, it's not nearly as dramatic as, say, NASCAR dropping the burden-of--fan-approval-and-attendance that's known as the sport's Southern California shining star.

Instead, the International Speedway Corporation-owned facility will take on a new moniker, just in time for television commentators to make the mistake plenty of times this weekend during NASCAR events.

The 2.5-mile D-shaped oval will now be called the "Auto Club Speedway of Southern California", or "ACSSC" (like akk-ssss-kuh) for short.

Likely not.

But the new speedway name does still stand. From track president Gillian Zucker:

"The Auto Club's commitment to its members and fans will be seen over the next ten years in facility improvements, fan promotions and cutting edge guest amenities. We believe this relationship is the start of a new era for motorsports in Southern California and we look forward to the day when one in every two households in Southern California has not just a member of Auto Club but a member of the Auto Club Speedway fan family," said Zucker in a press release.

So, for the next ten years of your life, the Auto Club of Southern California will get some promotion for every event that happens there because the Associated Press will have to call the track by its new official name. Not a bad move for Auto Club.