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Knoxville and Oskaloosa Kick off "Iowa Speed Week"

2012 Knoxville Nationals A-Main competitors salute the fans with a four-wide parade lap.

This just in from Knoxville Raceway PR ... it's a festival of central Iowa sprint car racing:

12th Annual Cox Design & Metal Fabrication Iowa Speed Week Starts Thursday; Will Again Award Jesse Hockett “Mr. Sprint Car” Title

KNOXVILLE, IOWA (July 31, 2013) - Kyle Larson of Elk Grove, California, is the defending Jesse Hockett “Mr. Sprint Car” titlist and it appears that he will once again be a contender during the twelfth annual Cox Design & Metal Fabrication Iowa Speed Week, August 1-10, between the half-mile dirt tracks in Knoxville and Oskaloosa. Larson, a regular with the NASCAR Nationwide Series this season, is expected to compete in a majority of the sprint car racing events at both Knoxville Raceway and the Southern Iowa Speedway during the ten-day period.

Uncle pressdog’s Fireside Chat — Pocono, Daytona and MIA F1 Edition

Word, everybody. Have a good 4th (at least you Americans out there)? No hard feelings to my U.K. friends, I hope, what with us celebrating our break away from the empire and all. Hey, we’ve been tight since 1815, right?

A few things to get through before I have to start the day job, so …

IndyCar at Pocono Raceway — (Race notes here.) It was going to be hard for this race to suck in many people’s eyes just because they were so jacked up that IndyCar was going back to Pocono Raceway.

And I get that, because it is exciting to have IndyCar back on a track that was designed for IndyCar (to the best of my knowledge), and another non-street/road course (calling Pocono an "oval" is a stretch).

Ashley Freiberg Wins at Watkins Glen

Ashley Freiberg, in her first season of sports car racing ever, won the second race of the weekend at Watkins Glen. News release below. Story from the series' site here.

FREIBERG BECOMES FIRST FEMALE OVERALL NORTH AMERICAN GT3 CUP CHALLENGE WINNER

21-Year-Old Ashley Freiberg Makes History At Watkins Glen International

WATKINS GLEN, NY (June 30, 2013) - Watkins Glen International will be forever in the history books as IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge by Yokohama's Ashley Freiberg became the first woman to claim an overall GT3 Cup Challenge victory in North America with her win at The Glen after starting from the pole. The 21-year-old also broke the championship tie and now leads the series championship points battle by four points over Madison Snow.

Uncle pressdog’s Fireside Chat — Rain Outs and Putrid Racing Edition

OK, I apologize for the headline. Someone on Twitter accused me of being “the TMZ of racing” and I let it go to my head, I guess. I’m not even sure what TMZ is. I’ve heard of it. They do all the who’s screwing who stuff, right? Yeah, that’s me in a nutshell.

ANYWAY, I’m at Caribou Coffee in tony West Des Moines, Iowa, since the 20 mps DSL line that serves pdog WORLD HEADQUARTERS is operating at 0 mps right now and the repair personnel are coming this afternoon.

Try going without Internet access for a few days. It’s total systemic shock. Aside from The Twitter and everyone over 30’s addiction to Facebook, every time we wanted to know something like store hours or an address for something we’d go to the computer and then realize the Internet is out. All we had was the 3G DROID X. It’s like living by digital candlelight.

NASCAR, IndyCar, F1 Weekend Viewing Guide

All times are Eastern ...

IndyCar at Texas (full track schedule here)

Friday:

1:30 p.m. -- Practice (no TV, www.indycar.com for timing and scoring)

2:30 p.m. -- Qualifying (no TV, www.indycar.com for timing and scoring)

7:45 p.m. -- Practice  (no TV, www.indycar.com for timing and scoring)

Saturday:

8:30 p.m. -- Race (ABC, green flag at 8:40)

NASCAR Sprint Cup at Pocono (Full viewer's guide here)

Friday:

Noon -- Practice (SPEED)

3:40 p.m. -- Practice (SPEED)

Saturday:

10 a.m. -- Practice (SPEED)

11:40 -- Qualifying (SPEED)

Sunday:

1 p.m. -- Race (TNT)

NASCAR Nationwide at Iowa

Friday:

4:30 p.m.-- Practice (No TV, www.nascar.com for timing and scoring)

7 p.m. -- Practice (No TV, www.nascar.com for timing and scoring)

Saturday:

5:05 p.m. -- Qualifying (No TV, www.nascar.com for timing and scoring)

8 p.m. -- Race (ESPN)

F1 at Montreal

Friday:

10 a.m. -- Practice (No TV)

2 p.m. -- Practice (NBC Sports Network)

Saturday:

10 a.m. -- Practice (No TV)

1 p.m. -- Qualifying (NBC Sports Netowrk)

Sunday:

2 p.m. -- Race (NBC, pre-race show on NBC Sports Network at 1:30)

 

Spam Filter Issues

I apologize that some recent legit comments have gotten caught in my comment spam filter. Even one of my own comments got caught in the filter. I've complained to my site host and just busted about 10 comments out of spam jail. They should all be back where they belong.

 

Sorry again for the FUBAR deal. I'll try to monitor the spam filter more closely.

Uncle pressdog’s Fireside Chat — Double D (Detroit and Dover) Edition

Last day of May! Crazy. We got Indy and the Coke 600 Presented by Falling Camera Cables in the rear view, so let’s slurp some coffee and chat about some stuff ..

J.R. Hildebrand and Panther -- Word came out yesterday that J.R. Hildebrand essentially got “let go” by Panther Racing. He’ll be replaced for the rest of the season by Ryan Briscoe. From what I can read, Hildebrand had a “contract” with Panther until the end of this season.

But, as we’ve learned, “contracts” with drivers in motor sports either 1) have a ton of escape clauses or 2) are ignored at some point by some or all of the parties involved, because this isn’t the first time that a driver who allegedly had a contract through a certain date is shown the door. Cough, cough ... Katherine Legge ... cough.

Ashley Freiberg Lands in S.I. "Faces in the Crowd" Section

Ashely Freiberg is getting some ink in SI. See my bracing interview with Woman of pressdog® Ashley here.

News release below ...

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE NAMES FREIBERG A FACE IN THE CROWD; FEATURED IN JUNE 3 ISSUE

EFFORT Racing Driver Ashley Freiberg Turns Heads at the TIME, Inc. Publication

SI cover NEW YORK, NY (May 29, 2013) - Sports Illustrated magazine, the most respected voice in sports journalism with a weekly audience of nearly 21 million adults, will highlight IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge by Yokohama's lone female driver Ashley Freiberg, the current series points leader. Freiberg will be showcased as part of the publication's "Faces in the Crowd" feature in the June 3, 2013 issue, on newsstands now.

Cyndie Allemann Competes in 24 Hours of the Nürburgring

Cyndie Allemann at Nurburgring

Woman of pressdog® Cyndie Allemann has now raced at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Le Mans and the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Read all about her adventures in Germany on Cyndie's site HERE and follow her on Twitter @CyndieAllemann. Read my interview with Cyndie HERE.

 

Shea Holbrook Adds Team Owner to Her Resume

Shea Holbrook

Shea Holbrook’s transition from driver to driver and team co-owner came with a big dose of big picture.

In 2013 Shea Racing has expanded from just Shea Holbrook and her family-run team to a three-car effort with the addition of Jon Miller of Orlando, Florida, and P.J. Groenke of Toronto, Canada.

The team will continue to compete in Pirelli World Challenge, with Miller driving in the Touring Car (TC) category and Holbrook and Groenke driving in the Touring Car B-Spec (TCB) category. The move to add two drivers to the team required Holbrook to turn over her Honda Civic TC car to Miller. Holbrook and Groenke will drive slightly modified Honda Fits in the TCB class.