Nascar and Racing Other Racing Series

Wisconsin is not regarded by many people as a mecca for auto racing. However, it does have a fair history in the sport. Tracks like Road America (Elkhart Lake) and Madison International Speedway have been around for over 40 years, while the Milwaukee Mile has been around for over 100 years.

The historic racetrack on the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds in West Allis is in trouble. After its most recent run of major events, the Milwaukee Mile may be about to shut its doors for good.

You get the feeling this is kind of what the renegade Formula 1 teams wanted all along.

Wednesday, F1 and FOTA [Formula One Teams Association] announced that plans from last week for the international racing series to split in 2010 had been halted after a deal between the two was struck.

Terms of the deal -- while not completely released -- include plans for Max Mosley, the righthand man for F1 chief Bernie Eccelstone, to take a backseat and leave the sport entirely at the end of his term in October, in addition to plans to scrap the class-creating plans for financial cutbacks.

It's been nearly 14 years now since a major auto racing division decided to split and implode itself.

Naturally, that just means it's time for another series -- this time it's Formula One -- to set itself back 20, 30 or maybe 60 years.

Reading, however, the summary released Thursday night by the Formula 1 Teams Association, one could probably argue that FOTA is trying to avoid such a relapse thanks to new rules for the 2010 championship that F1 czars Bernie Eccelstone and Max Mosley have presented.

Need a quick tour of the racing world? Strap in today and come back later this week as FH takes a lap around Formula One, NASCAR and the NHRA. IndyCar fans, you'll have to wait until 2009 truly gets moving.

Before you start, yes, I'll acknowledge that 'lap around' doesn't quite fit with drag racing's fire-em-down-the-strip style of racing.

But come on, does a stunning brunette who actually wins in this rough and tumble sport of speed, fire and guts truly fit drag racing's mantra?

You bet not, and that's a big part of the reason why the NHRA is racing that you need to be watching.

Need a quick tour of the racing world? Strap in today and come back later this week as FH takes a lap around Formula One, NASCAR and the NHRA. IndyCar fans, you'll have to wait until 2009 truly gets moving.

In two races so far in 2009, one team has won, a dominant team has struggled, the defending champion faces a possible season-long suspension and the results of the first two races might be completely tossed out in the near future.

No, it's not the constant source of American race fan complaints -- NASCAR -- but instead, those issues are today's everyday life of the 2009 Formula One season.

SEBRING, Fla. -- While a whole lot of America will be tuned into NASCAR's annual spring stop at Bristol, Tenn. this weekend, the rest of the world will be paying attention to another annual rite of spring, Saturday's 12 Hours of Sebring.

And believe it or not, there's a whole lot more similarities between the two worlds than either audience would admit.

The world's most popular form of racing -- in terms of global fans and ratings -- announced this week a new system to crown its champion in 2009 that certainly leaves a lot to desire.

That series, the FIA Formula One World Championship won last year by British driver Lewis Hamilton, officially adopted a new drivers championship rulebook that gives the season-ending trophy to the driver with the most race wins.

Sure, it looks like a system that will make racing exciting, but I can't help but look at all of the competition problems it will expose.

Can we please be real?

All this talk about a NASCAR driver hopping into a Formula One car and suddenly delivering the world its first American-bred F1 star since Mario Andretti is ludicrous.

Putting Kyle Busch or any other NASCAR driver (with the obvious exception of Juan Pablo Montoya and Scott Speed) behind the wheel of the newly announced USF1 team would be 90 percent novelty and 10 percent pure optimism.

Bristol Motor Speedway's public relations department got a nice kick this week thanks to a few NASCAR Whelen Modified Series drivers putting down some impressively fast laps at on the high banks of the half-mile east Tennessee track.

The laps, according to the track, were "record-breaking" because they eclipsed Ryan Newman's 2003 lap of 14.908 seconds (128.709 mph) during Sprint Cup qualifying at the track.

It turns out, thanks to the ever-mindful Jayski, that the laps might not have been so record-breaking after all.
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Racing series around the world are feeling a growing hole in their wallets thanks to this ol' economy, but that's no matter for a group out of Charlotte, N.C., that's looking to join up with pricey Formula 1.

The upstart -- their taking "USF1" as their working team name -- is aiming to have an American operation field two American drivers in F1 in the near future, and Tuesday, they discussed some drivers -- including a pair of NASCAR names -- they might interested in.

Some of those wheelmen (and a wheel lady, mind you) seem like logical targets, but the others? Well, not so much.