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  • David Phillips
    Editor and Chief
    David Phillips is a long-time contributor to print and electronic publications in the U.S. and abroad, including Racer, Autosport, AutoWeek, Motor Sport and SPEEDtv.com, oversees the daily updating of news stories and assigns, edits and contributes feature material for inRacingNews.com.
  • Chris Hall
    iRacing.com Series Writer
    Chris Hall has been writing since the nineties and moved into motorsports reporting in 2005, covering series such as ALMS, British GT, FIA GT, Le Mans and 2CV racing for Full Throttle magazine, Motorsport.com, The-Paddock.net, GTGateway.com, L' Endurance and, of course, inRacingNews. During 2008 and 2009, he worked with the RSS Performance Porsche Carrera Cup Team (and former British GT(C) champions) as a data engineer for a variety of drivers and models of 997s.
  • Jameson Spies
    Contributing Writer
    19 years old, Jameson Spies lives in Quartz Hill, California. He grew-up surrounded by racing. His mother raced late models throughout Southern California while his father built and setup the car. Not surprisingly, Jameson began racing go-karts at the age of 13, and is now racing Spec Trucks at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. He has a passion about all forms of racing and hopes to make a career out of it.
  • Jason Lofing
    iRacing.com Series Writer
    Jason is 21 years old and was born and raised in Elk Grove. California. A big time NASCAR fan, he hasn’t missed a race on Sunday in years. Lofing is also a huge San Fransisco Giants fan and tries to take in at least a couple games a year. Other than sim racing, his biggest (and far more expensive!) hobby is photography. Although he is rather new to sim racing, Lofing has already accomplished some pretty impressive results, qualifying for the 2011 iRacing Oval Pro Series in Season 1, 2011, winning the inaugural Landon Cassill Qualifying Challenge and finishing runner-up in the second one.
  • David Ifeguni
    Contributing Writer
    I was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1988 and moved to Midland, Michigan when I was two years old. I stayed there until third grade when I moved to Farmington Hills, Michigan and now I currently live in Naperville, IL where I'm attending Metea Valley High School as a 9th grader. In the past, I have participated in soccer and this year I plan on joining swimming or water polo. My family includes my 15 year old sister, a 7 year old sister and my mom and dad. I have been writing since 6th grade and have participated in many writing contests in my school and have received several awards for writing.
    My fascination for motorsports began when I was nine. The first NASCAR race I watched on TV was the 2009 Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway, won by Kasey Kahne. My favorite NASCAR drivers are Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Jimmie Johnson. I have watched all the races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series since 2010. I currently have three wins on iRacing, two of them in the Nationwide car at Daytona and one in the Street stocks at Charlotte. My favorite car and type of track on iRacing is the Nationwide Series (B Class) car and superspeedways.
  • Katier Scott
    Contributing Writer
    I am a veteran sim racer who first started racing way back in 1993 on the SPRTSIMS section of Compuserve with a league who can trace themselves all the way to the present. Within that league I act as Chief Steward and try to bring the unique viewpoint that this experience gives me into my articles.
    I have a BA (Hons) in Journalism and Editorial design and have been writing for seven years and currently cover the Lotus 79 CTC and Radical series alongside my freelance work. Living in the UK, as well as motorsports I love Photography, Arts and Crafts and reading.
  • Dylan Sharman
    Contributing Writer
    I was born in Adelaide and we moved-out for Angle Vale for a few years until I was about 7 years old, when we moved to the Barossa Valley where I live now. I'm 19 years old and currently traveling back and forth weekly as I'm studying for a Diploma of Furniture Design and Technology.

    I've always had a love for racing as my close family did some racing and we were always out at the local dirt track. I joined iRacing back in 2010 and slowly but surely got the hang of it as this is my first experience with sim racing and am loving it each time I race. I've won two SK Modified titles (almost had three in a row but finished P2 in 2011 S4), an inRacingNews Challenge championship (2012 S1 Mazda) and was also an AustralAsian Intel GT Series Finalist.
  • Nathan Aljoe
    Contributing Writer
    Nathan's passion for motorsport first began in the late 1980s, captivated by the season in which Aryton Senna won his first F1 title with McLaren. Over the years his interest widened to include the British Touring Car Championship, World Rally Championship, NASCAR and various other forms of motorsport. Nathan began sim-racing in the mid 1990s using games developed by Papyrus. He later moved onto SimBim simulations such as GTR, GTR2 and GTR Evolution and has most recently joined the iRacing community.

    When he's not working or sim racing, Nathan enjoys spending time and relaxing with his family. Other hobbies include going to festivals, tinkering with his car and doing up his house.
  • Austin Hartenfels
    Contributing Writer
    Born and raised in Fredericksburg, Virginia, I have always had a serious passion for cars and motorsports. Hoping one day to become an automotive journalist for a magazine, I constantly crave the exciting competition that comes along with racing and sim-racing. Having participated in a mere test session in a Legends car at Old Dominion Speedway, I have not been able to get into any real-life competition . . . yet.

    As a sim racer, my interests date back to "GTR Evolution." My goal is to have fun and win some races. I made it to Oval Pro in 2010, but did not become very successful. I enjoy any mixed road racing competition and love racing the Silverados around almost any track.
  • Jordan Hightower
    Contributing Writer
    Jordan began sim-racing in 2005 with the NASCAR Racing 2003 Season sim and then joined the iRacing community in June of 2008. He hails from Fort Smith, Arkansas where he is currently enrolled at the University of Arkansas Fort Smith, after which he plans to attend the University of Arkansas to earn his MBA. Although he enjoys watching and playing basketball, most of Jordan's focus is on motorsports, particularly NASCAR: "Anything that burns gas and goes fast, I like."
  • Scott Kelly
    Contributing Writer
    Born and raised in the greater St. Louis, Missouri area, Scott Kelly has had a love for motorsports ever since his father did the right thing by introducing auto racing into his life. No longer able to quench his need for speed by spectating NASCAR races on TV and watching dirt track stars slide around local tracks, Kelly eventually picked-up sim racing in his teens, wheeling cars found in Ratbag Games' "Dirt Track Racing" and "World of Outlaws: Sprint Cars" while also becoming introduced into multiple Papyrus sim-racing series. Joining the iRacing ranks in late 2011, Kelly set his sights on the short track racing he was familiar with, focusing on the sprint car, while also driving the Legends and street stock in multiple iRacing.com leagues.

    Kelly brings not just his enthusiasm for racing to the highest-rated motorsports simulation, but also his B.A. degree in English; he covers the action seen in the iRacing.com Sprint Car Series, while also placing the spotlight on various leagues within the service. Enjoying his start to a career in motorsports journalism, Kelly also doesn't mind visiting victory lane from time-to-time.
  • Kenneth O'Keefe
    Contributing Writer
    Kenneth was born in Smithville, Ontario on December 23, 1994. A major racing fan, he enjoys competitive kart racing in the Rotax Max category at Mosport International Karting. Kenneth also tunes into Formula One and NASCAR races on those Sundays when he is not at the kart track.

    O'Keefe has been sim-racing since 2005, starting on the Live For Speed simulator. After moving to iRacing in 2008, he was able to qualify for the NASCAR iRacing Pro Series (NiPS) in both 2011 and 2012. He will continue to compete and write about the iRacing.com Skip Barber Series throughout the coming year before taking another run at the NiPS in late 2013.
  • Chris Owens
    Contributing Writer
    I was born in Florence, South Carolina in 1989 and have lived here my entire life. I've been around racing since I was a young kid watching with my dad on Sundays. In 2009 and found my local track, Florence Motor Speedway and started working for them as a PR guy the same year. At the end of that season, I started writing for RACE22.com, a Late Model Stock Car news site. In 2010, I picked up my first DSLR camera and started shooting races. To this day, I've experienced some of the best races from behind the camera.

    I've been with the iRacing service since its public beta in 2008, back when the top oval car was the Late Model. I've been in over 500 races on the service with 70+ wins on both oval and road. My favorite car on the service is the Chevrolet Silverado. Darlington Raceway and Concord Speedway are my favorite tracks simply because everybody hates them.
  • George Wood
    Contributing Writer
    After beginning his racing career with go-karts at age seven, George then turned wrenches on street stocks until he could finally turn the wheel. Following the successes of his friends and family, George has since retired from real-world racing, where he is now a science and mathematics faculty member for several local community colleges. When George isn't grading laboratory reports or iRacing, he is performing at bluegrass festivals in the Northeast, making fishing lures, playing golf, and rooting for his beloved Baltimore Orioles.

iRacing.com Global Challenge Series Quarterly Recap: Part 3

by Jonathan Wimbush on June 18th, 2013

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Week Two's events at Laguna Seca seem like a distant memory...

It’s hard to believe that the first and second quarters have both come and gone in the iRacing.com Global Challenge Series. Over the next few days followers of this series can look forward to updates recapping the action from the first half of the season. In this article, the finale for my three article series, I’ll be sharing my perspective on difficult it is to gain and maintain a competitive edge, and how the process can be made easier. This is based off of my experience so far in the Cadillac CTS-V class. One of the questions I ask myself each week is, “How can I do better than the week before?” Many drivers would automatically give the answer that “practice makes perfect.” I would echo the same sentiment, however [...]

Down Strikes Back

by Dylan Sharman on June 17th, 2013

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Down was in superb form at Sonoma, taking pole and romping to convincing win.

Round Six of the iRacing.com V8 Supercar Series headed to Sonoma Raceway to tackle the Cup layout.  After last week’s chaos at VIR, this week couldn’t come soon enough as the drivers championship heats-up with Justin Ruggier atop the  standings without tasting victory this season while ANZ also extended their lead over Tatts.com in the Teams Championship. Qualifying was led by Madison Down once again as he broke the lap record in qualifying with a 1:13.027 while another strong qualifying performance by the rookie of the series Adrian Stratford saw him gain the outside of the front row alongside Down. Josh Muggleton and Ruggier started third and fourth ahead of Vail Riches and Leigh Ellis on Row Three.  Shaun Kelly led the LMR team with Jon Latham and Brad Ryan [...]

Get to Know . . . Casey Malone

by David Ifeguni on June 17th, 2013

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Malone carries the colo(u)rs for Trucking in the NiSWC.

This week, I interviewed an iRacer who is 20 years old and was born in Mansfield, Texas.  He currently attends Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas and has been on iRacing since September of 2010.  Now, he drives the #92 Garry Mercer Trucking Chevrolet SS for Last Row Motorsports in the NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship. If you haven’t guessed by now you should probably start watching the NiSWC races, and you should read the title of the article! Since joining the iRacing.com service nearly three years ago, Casey Malone has impressed many other iRacers . . . and himself.  He has started 256 oval races and has won 41 times, the first of those coming on his first day on iRacing in the Legends car at South Boston.  If [...]

Red Sox Dry Lagoon 30 at Laguna

June 14th, 2013

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Story by James Prostell Jr. MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA – There’s a classic saying that “the only constant is change,” and few tracks embody that statement quite like Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. In fact, the name Laguna Seca translated from Spanish means “dry lagoon,” suggesting that at one time this land that has put sports car, IndyCar and motorcycle racers to the test was submerged under water. Moreover, the current track layout has only been used since 1988 – before then drivers blasted around at breakneck speeds for about half a lap. One thing that hasn’t changed over the years is the corkscrew. Known innocently on the map as turns 8 and 8A, the tight left combined with a blind right (and a sixty-foot drop!) has tested the mettle and metal of [...]

Get to Know: Case Brinksma

by David Ifeguni on June 10th, 2013

193
Brinksma had nearly 100 wins to his credit on iRacing.

iRacing.com has thousands of members racing its virtual cars on its laser-scanned tracks, but how many of them can say they race real cars on real tracks?  The iRacer I interviewed this week has been racing in the real world since 2010 and has won championships in both sim racing and real racing. This week’s featured driver is Case Brinksma. Since joining the iRacing service in 2009, the 16 year old from Chino, CA he has started won 97 of 634 oval races, and has finished in the top five in nearly half of those races. Not only is Brinksma up front at the end of his race, he’s fast before the green flag, witness his 118 career pole positions. He is also in the small group of iRacers with [...]

iRacer Profile: Cole C. Anderson

by David Phillips on June 8th, 2013

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motorsport simulations

Cole C. Anderson may be a young man of few words (see below), but when it comes to iRacing his accomplishments speak for themselves.  Apart from contributing more than 100,000 laps in competition to the 737M iRacing laps in the books, he has more than 600 wins to his credit, from IndyCars to Silverados, Corvettes and Advanced Legends, the latter of which saw him finish runner-up in the 2013 S1 standings.  He’s also had success in Street Stocks, twice finishing in the top five and, speaking of success Anderson has achieved “real world” racing success in quarter midgets and Late Models at Elko Speedway, a 3/8 mile, high banked oval near his home in Northfield, MN, winning the Minnesota Quarter Midget Racing Association 2011 Heavy Honda championship and MQMRA 2012 [...]

In the Driver’s Seat – At Last!

by Joe Pisciotta Jr. on June 7th, 2013

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NiSWC champion Ray Alfalla gets acclimated with the help of 15-year old PWC driver Ernie Francis Jr.

Remember as a kid the first time you sat in your parents’ car?  You grabbed the steering wheel tight, raised your arm out the window and imagined taking the checkered flag at Daytona or Indy.  Did you ever think that even if you were talented enough to pursue a career that you would need financial backing from your family or a sponsor? Enter Ray Alfalla, a native of Matanzas, Cuba who came to the United States in 1995 when he was six years old. Quickly, he developed the aspiration to follow in the footsteps of his boyhood idol: NASCAR’s Rusty Wallace.  Since Ray lived in Miami, he would frequent Homestead-Miami Speedway as a spectator to watch NASCAR races, but obviously Ray had dreams of his own – being behind the [...]

iRacer Profile: Courtney Terrell

by Matt Kingsbury on June 6th, 2013

248
video games

IndyCar Road racer regular Courtney Terrell who was seen at the top of the week a few times took some time to speak with me and tell me a bit about himself. Terrell is an employee of Indianapolis Motor Speedway and a member of Team NAP Racing. Q:  Tell us a bit about your team and how did it get that name? A:  Our team name is Team NAP Racing. When we were discussing potential team names I threw this name out there because all of my teammates (Tim Doyle, Yang Ou, Carlos Bolanos Jr. and Vincent Sciuto) love to take naps…and the name stuck. Q:  How did you first get into simracing? A:  I’ve been racing video games since Bill Elliott’s NASCAR Challenge when I was 10 years old. [...]

Red Sox Speedfest 30 at Mosport

June 5th, 2013

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Story by James Prostell Jr. BOWMANVILLE, ONTARIO, CANADA – Having hosted just about every class of road racing on it’s 2.459 mile circuit, including Formula 1, IndyCar, Can-Am, endurance racing and more, it’s easy to believe that Canadian Tire Motorsport Park is recognized as Canada’s Home of Motorsports. What’s harder to believe is that less than 55 years ago, the land on which Mosport was built was once a farm before the British Empire Motor Club got a hold of it. Over the years Canadian Tire Motorsports Park hasn’t only grown to host some of Canada’s most prolific races, but also raises some of the country’s stars of tomorrow with the Mosport Kart Complex and hosts further development with the Bridgestone Racing Academy and the Mosport Driver Development Centre. Also [...]

Strategic Call Brings Down Victory

by Dylan Sharman on June 1st, 2013

88
Down capitalized on the right strategy and superb pit work to take the win at PI.

Round 3 of the iRacing.com V8 Super Car Series came home for the first time this season with the teams and drivers tackling their first endurance event of the season at Phillip Island. Qualifying was led by Justin Ruggier with a fast lap of 1:30.831 while Shaun Kelly got a personal best qualifying position of second alongside Ruggier on the front row. Madison Down and Mitchell McLeod would start from the second row with Richard Hamstead and Adrian Stratford on Row Three ahead of Vail Riches and Josh Muggleton.  Back in ninth and tenth, respectively, just .03s behind P4 McLeod is John Emerson and Brad Ryan, highlighting a super tight qualifying session with the drivers from 4th to 10th covered by .035 When the lights went out it was Ruggier [...]

iRacer Profile: Tomaz Bastos

by David Phillips on June 1st, 2013

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video games

A wise man once said “Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.”  Since winning the 2013 S1 Division 3 Cadillac Cup title, life — in the form of completing his studies in agronomy — has happened to Tomaz Bastos.  So if you were expecting him to pick-up where he left off (winning six of 15 races to beat Marcos Morros Josa and Alessandro Costa to the D3 Caddy title) in the Cadillac CTS-V’s new arena — the iRacing.com Global Challenge, you would be disappointed. Although Tomaz hasn’t raced much — indeed at all — since April, he’s hardly been inactive.  The Carioca has been using his free time to practice in the Williams-Toyota FW31 . . . with some help from his brother Pedro Gabriel who [...]

inRacingNews Challenge Re-Summits

by Joe Pisciotta, Jr. on May 30th, 2013

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Paul Clarke (Solstice) uses Stuart Adams (Mazda) as a pick to gain breathing room on Oscar Gomez Castro (Solstice).

The inRacingNews Challenge mixed-class series visits West Virginia’s Summit Point Motorsports Park four times in several unique configurations during 2013 S2.  In Week Two  drivers experienced Jefferson Reverse which is the shortest track layout at the Park and this week the series headed back to Summit for another round in its “Short” configuration.  This 1.46 mile, technically challenging track provides road racers elevation changes, two long high speed straights and where conserving tires is essential for a strong finish. Last week after draft racing at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s road course the Solstice overall point leader held onto a small lead while in Mazda a new name took the top spot.  This week it happened again; and with names  regulars know all too well. Pontiac Solstice Ilham Halabi (Asia) qualified in [...]

iRacer Profile: Steve Burnett

by Ray Kingsbury on May 29th, 2013

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video games

Steve Burnett is one of those good guys in the NASCAR iRacing.com Late Model Series. Not necessarily the fastest driver on track or even the most experienced, Steve always manages to make his presence known in some way.  After I had asked for help in getting visuals and strength of field results from competitors, Steve immediately stepped-up to the plate summing up his races and sending me pictures and results. Due to his willingness to help me out I decided it would be a good offer to give him the opportunity to get a bit more exposure on the iRacing world and to show my appreciation to him. So here is a little bit more about Steve. Q: How did you get started in the sim-racing world? A: I started [...]

Get to Know: Brandon Buie

by David Ifeguni on May 28th, 2013

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racing games

For this week, I interviewed Brandon Buie, a Pro Series-licensed driver who has been on iRacing since December of 2012. Brandon has been sim racing since the days of NASCAR Racing 2, over a decade ago. Based on his iRacing statistics, it’s safe to assume he learned a thing or two about sim racing from playing NASCAR Racing 2. His first win came on December 5th, 2012 — four days after he joined iRacing — in a Legends car at South Boston Speedway.  Since then, he hasn’t stopped winning. In 820 oval starts in two and a half years on iRacing, he has visited victory lane 113 times and has finished in the top five 405 times. In 128 road starts, he has won 12 races and has finished in [...]

Red Sox Paddock Hill 30 at Brands

by James Prostell Jr. on May 27th, 2013

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Story by James Prostell Jr. KENT, ENGLAND – They just don’t make ‘em like this anymore. The unique dips, bends, and picturesque views of Brands Hatch, Britain’s best loved motor racing circuit, are unlike any others that will be encountered by our McLaren Turbo Challenge racers over the course of the season. With parts of the track having names like Graham Hill Bend, Stirlings, Clark Curve and Brabham Straight, this road course simply exudes British racing history. Circuit owners MotorSportVision have done a masterful job building up the amenities that draw competitors and fans to the track while doing little to disrupt the natural, flowing beauty that keep them coming back for years to come. Round 3 sees the McLaren Turbo Challenge Series visit Brands Hatch and series leader Brad [...]

Unfamiliar Territory

by David Phillips on May 27th, 2013

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A win is a win is a win. Hudson celebrates his first win against NiSWC competition.

You’ll have to look long and hard on the oval side of iRacing to find a series in which Tyler D Hudson’s name is not writ large on the roster of past champions and race winners.   That’s hardly surprising for an iRacer with more than 1100 wins to his credit and some three dozen top five certificates in overall and divisional championships from NASCAR iRacing.com Class A, B and C to SK Modifieds, Late Models and Advanced Legends. So it’s something of a surprise Hudson’s name does not figure quite so prominently in the annals of the NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship.   To be sure, he’s made his presence known, competing in every NiSWC since its inception in 2010 and collecting nearly twenty top ten finishes.   But his name is [...]

iRacer Profile: Omar Soto

by David Phillips on May 25th, 2013

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racing games

Omar Soto found himself in unfamiliar territory in 2013 Season 1 (actually Season 1C to be precise): atop the iRacing.com Mazda Cup standings.  The Spaniard had come close to previous racing titles in the past, taking a pair of thirds in the 2012 S4 Star Mazda and Radical Challenge series, not to mention claiming the Cadillac Cup time trial crown in 2012 S2.  But the Mazda Cup title was his first overall racing championship since joining iRacing in March of 2012.  And he earned it, to say the least, with 62 wins in 65 starts to outdistance Martin Lammert in the points race. It might be awhile before Soto finishes a season atop the standings again, as 2013 S2 finds him  devoting considerable energies to the iRacing.com Grand Prix Series [...]

Exceeding Expectations

by David Phillips on May 23rd, 2013

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Michaels celebrated his new partnership with Twister with a fourth place at Sebring.

Round Two of the 2013 iRacing.com World Championship Grand Prix Series at Interlagos produced a noteworthy “first” when Stephen Michaels disconnected from the event.  While it’s not unusual for a driver running a lap down in P30 to withdraw from a race, the fact it was the first time Michaels failed to finish in the top ten of an iWCGPS event is remarkable. True, it’s not as if the 18 year old high schooler from Ballston Lake, NY has scores of iWCGPS races under this belt.  On the other hand, from the moment he qualified for his first iWCGPS race at Mid-Ohio in the latter part of 2012, he has been a fixture at the sharp end of the field.  How sharp?  Michaels qualified and finished ninth in his iWCGPS [...]

My First Time… a Late Models Virgin

by Ray Kingsbury on May 22nd, 2013

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Our intrepid contributor forces it three wide into Turn One.

Since I started covering the NASCAR iRacing.com Late Model Tour for inRacing News, I have found it difficult to get content from racers for my articles as many of the Late Model regulars were unaware the series is being covered (despite regular posts to that effect on the Late Model forum – Ed).  So I decided it was about time I bought the Late Model content and gave it a try myself. My first experience would be New Hampshire Motor Speedway in a small, nine person race.  Luckily for me, 2013 S1 Late Model champion Ty Majeski was there and willing to give me his race setup so that I could hit the ground running. At New Hampshire there isn’t much of a challenge to being at a decent pace, [...]

Circle Track School: Lessons From A Champion

by George Wood on May 22nd, 2013

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Tony Stewart: A champion's champion.

The great thing about going to the local short track is that you’re never really sure who is going to show up, and especially so when it’s a special event. Here in Pennsylvania, my local track, Selinsgrove Speedway, hosted their annual 358/360 Sprint Car National Open last week, drawing several touring drivers as well as some from Canada, Michigan, and New York. However, the biggest surprise of all came from Indiana. Tony Stewart decided to fly up to the track from Martinsville, Virginia, to have some fun and race against the Pennsylvania sprint car drivers around a moderately banked and wide surface that is considered the fastest on the East Coast. With qualifying speeds expected to be around 17.5 seconds on a cold April night, everyone was excited about the [...]