THE LINE

December 17, 2008

(ALMS)
Farnbacher Loles will be a Porsche factory partner in the Series’ GT2 class with Germans Wolf Henzler and Dirk Werner as the primary pilots in a new Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. The pairing of Henzler and Werner combined for five class victories and five pole positions in GT2 during the 2008 season. In his first year as a works driver, Henzler shared the Series GT2 championship with Flying Lizard Motorsports’ Jörg Bergmeister. Werner finished a close second in the 2008 Porsche Cup rankings, based on his race results in both Europe and North America. “Everyone at Farnbacher Loles is proud to announce our partnership with Porsche for the 2009 American Le Mans Series season,” team owner Gregory Loles said. “Many people have worked very hard to gain this recognition from our manufacturer."The team, based in Braselton, Ga., enjoyed a class win, two pole positions and four podiums in its rookie American Le Mans Series season this year. Farnbacher Loles will also field Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars in the 2009 Patrón GT3 Challenge by Yokohama.

(All images courtesy of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway has unveiled the logos for all three motor racing events in 2009 at the legendary Brickyard, the 93rd Indianapolis 500, 16th Allstate 400 at the Brickyard and second Red Bull Indianapolis GP. The red-and-blue design of the Indianapolis 500 logo has a traditional, historical feel. The sleek, bold design of the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard logo features two different shades of blue: navy and sky. The “Allstate” and “Good Hands” logos also appear in the design. The Red Bull Indianapolis GP logo has a fresh, modern look while incorporating the primary design colors of red, white and blue.

Detroit. It just keeps getting worse for the Motor City. Autoweek reported late today (12/18) that the 2009 Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix weekend had been canceled. Roger Penske was quoted by Autoweek as saying: "Obviously, it's something we're disappointed in, but as good businessmen we've got to make a call," he said. "We have the assets to continue on, but there's no reason at this point to have an event that wouldn't be first-class. This is a real economic time of distress for everyone and we couldn't sit here and count on a lot of things happening that we know weren't going to happen, especially knowing we live in such a distressed area with unemployment and all the other things going on. We had to make the decision." Penske, a suburban Detroit resident and an avid supporter of the city and the region, was solely responsible for bringing the racing event back to Detroit in his role as chairman of the Downtown Detroit Partnership. Penske added that Audi's recent decision to quit the ALMS in 2009 (after Sebring), combined with Porsche pulling the plug on its factory RS Spyder prototype program was a factor, but it's clear that the precarious state of Detroit's economy overall was the overriding reason. Not Good.

Publisher's Note: We have been treated to the scintillating images of photographer extraordinaire John Thawley all season long, and now we've put together an image gallery of John's best work from 2008 in a special year-end gallery. Click here to see these special images. And we wanted to extend our heartfelt thanks again to John for allowing us to share his superb work with our readers. - PMD


(Copyright © 2008, John Thawley ~ Creative Communications Group All rights reserved.)

(Jim Haines/IMS)
Five-time MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi (No. 46 Fiat Yamaha) speeds through the rain around the IMS road course on his way to victory in the Inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis GP at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last September. Rossi's 69th win brought him closer to his sixth MotoGP championship and moved him ahead of the great Giacomo Agostini for the most wins in the premier class. 91,000 fans attended the race.

(Leigh Spargur/IMS)
The Borg-Warner Trophy - the most coveted piece of hardware in all of motorsport - and the scoring pylon at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Danica Patrick, Andretti Green Racing. After much promise and more than a little hype, Danica Patrick (No. 7 AGR Motorola Dallara/Honda/Firestone) became the first female in history to win an Indy car race when she captured the rain-delayed Indy Japan 300 at Twin Ring Motegi. Patrick, who turned 26 three weeks before the event, won in her 50th IndyCar Series start. "Finally," Patrick said in victory lane. "This is a long time coming. It was a fuel strategy race, but my team called it perfectly for me. I know I was on the same strategy at Helio (Castroneves) and when I passed him for the lead, I couldn't believe it. This is fabulous." Patrick's path to victory was the direct result of a call by team manager Kyle Moyer to bring her in at the end of a caution to top-off her fuel with 50 laps to go. Helio Castroneves (No. 3 Team Penske D/H/F), making his 100th IndyCar Series start, finished 5.8594 seconds behind, and Scott Dixon (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing D/H/F) was third. Dixon's Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, Dan Wheldon (No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing D/H/F), finished fourth, and Tony Kanaan (No. 11 AGR Team 7-Eleven D/H/F) came home fifth. Dixon had a 3.6-second lead overWheldon with six laps to go, but he had to pit for a splash of fuel on Lap 195. Wheldon and Kanaan had to follow suit on Lap 196. That left the door open for Patrick and Castroneves, whose last pit stop came on Lap 148. "I think Danica is such a fantastic person and I’m thrilled for her that the monkey is finally off of her back," said team owner Michael Andretti afterwards. We have all believed in her and she proved today that she is a winner. Frankly, I think this is the first of many."

(Shawn Payne/IRL)
Tears of joy for Danica Patrick after her first IndyCar victory.

Roger Penske, Derek Bell, Hans Stuck, Dave Cowart, Audi. The 2008 inductees into the Sebring Sports Car Racing Hall of Fame joined the prestigious Hall of Fame during ceremonies on Friday, March 14, the day before the 56th annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida. Best known for orchestrating 14 wins at the Indianapolis 500 and being the most successful car owner in Indy car history, Penske began his career in sports car racing in 1958. At Sebring he had three class victories, then served as manager for Jim Hall's 1965-winning Chaparral team. Penske's team also won the Trans-Am class and finished third overall at the 1968 12 Hours of Sebring with a Camaro. Penske Racing has claimed the last two class championships with the Porsche RS Spyder. Derek Bell has five Le Mans victories and two Sportscar World Championships to his credit. He is probably the most successful driver at Sebring to never have won the 12 hour classic, recording six podium finishes (including second place four times) in 15 career starts. Hans Stuck is a three-time Sebring winner, driving for BMW in 1975 and then taking two wins driving a Porsche 962 in 1986 and 1988. His victory in 1986 with Bob Akin and Jo Gartner remains the fastest 12 hours ever. Stuck also has two class victories at Sebring driving for Porsche. He won back-to-back Le Mans races in 1986 and 1987. David Cowart achieved success both on and off track at Sebring. As a competitor, he won the IMSA GTO championship, and competed in the Sebring 12-hour 11 times. His greatest contribution at Sebring, however, came as a race official and co-promoter with Charles Mendez from 1978-82, helping maintain the Sebring tradition during a difficult period in sports car racing. Audi becomes only the third manufacturer to be inducted into the Sebring Hall of Fame. Since the world debut of the Audi R8 in 2000, Audi has won every Sebring 12-hour classic, taking the pole position all eight years and setting the fastest race lap seven times. In 2006 Audi made automotive history by becoming the first manufacturer to win a major endurance race with a diesel-powered car. Audi also has won Le Mans seven of the past eight years, including the last two with the R10 TDI prototype.

(ALMS)
Roger Penske was one of the inductees into the Sebring Hall of Fame for 2008 last March.

(Photo of Danica Patrick from the 2008 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue by Ben Watts; Suit by: Aspara; Location: Singer Island, Fla.)

A sizzling Danica Patrick appeared in the Sports Illustrated annual Swimsuit Issue, which hit newsstands last February. More than 69 million people are read the special issue, while more than 250 million people viewed photo galleries on the magazine’s website. "What an amazing honor to be asked to be in the SI Swimsuit issue," said Patrick, who joined other models and celebrities at a launch party Feb. 12 in New York City. A four-page spread featured photos of Patrick taken at Singer Island, Fla., by photographer Ben Watts in the fall of 2007 following the IndyCar Series Open Test at Barber Motorsports Park. "It was a lot of fun, actually," she said. "I expected it to be nerve-wracking. I've posed (for many photos) in clothes, but I'd never posed in a swimming suit. I didn't know if I'd know exactly what to do, but amazingly it all translated over. I was comfortable and we all had fun. We shot so much stuff in a relatively little amount of time. It was a day and half of a good time. We even were able to relax a little after the second day."  

Scott Dixon, Ganassi Racing. Helio Castroneves (No. 3 Team Penske Dallara/Honda/Firestone) raced from the 28th starting position (due to a penalty during qualifying) to first, winning a photo finish in the PEAK Antifreeze & Motor Oil Indy 300 at Chicagoland Speedway, but Scott Dixon (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing D/H/F) won his second IndyCar Series championship. When the leaders pitted on Lap 185 with 15 laps to go, series points leader Scott Dixon won the race off pit lane and led the next 14 laps as Castroneves pulled alongside for the final two laps. After the two took the checkered flag side-by-side, it took a review of photographs by IndyCar Series officials to determine that Castroneves had edged Dixon by .0033 of a second, the second-closest finish in IndyCar Series history. (The IndyCar Series Timing & Scoring photo system takes a picture every ten-thousandth of a second.) It was Castroneves second victory of the season and the second time he’s finished runner-up in the championship in his career. Dixon maintained a 17-point lead in the championship to become the second driver to win multiple championships in the IndyCar Series. Dixon also won in 2003. “(This) championship means a lot more,” said Dixon. "I think this year is much tougher. I've said in the recent weeks that we didn't really know what we had won then. It was a rookie season for me in the (IndyCar Series) and for the team at that point as well. The year on a whole has been amazing, an unforgettable year. I think any year where you win the 500 is going to be like that. But when you top it off with a championship, I still can't believe it. Getting married, winning a 500, winning a championship in one year, not too many people can probably say they've done that.”

(Shawn Payne/IRL)
Scott Dixon celebrated with his wife and parents after winning the 2008 IndyCar Series championship, his second. Dixon moves from fifth to second on the IRL career win list with 16 (Sam Hornish Jr. has 19). Dixon also tied Dan Wheldon’s record of 6 wins in a season set in 2005. Dixon set a new record of wins from pole in a season (4), and he also moved to second on the career pole list with 14 (Helio Castroneves has 26). Dixon also set a new record with 899 laps led in a season, moving him from eighth to fifth on the career laps led list with 2,181 (Hornish Jr. has 3,428). To top it all off, Dixon also won the Indianapolis 500 last May.

(Ron McQueeney/IMS)
Nicky Hayden with his title-winning 2006 Honda and a 1909 Indian at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Hayden was at The Speedway to check out the new circuit for the Red Bull Indianapolis GP.

Josef Newgarden, Conor Daly and Jeremy Shaw. In a motorsports world that generally looks down on the notion of young American driving talent, two American teenagers wowed the world and proved otherwise as Josef Newgarden won the Kent race at Brands Hatch’s Formula Ford Festival on October 19th, and Conor Daly took the Walter Hayes Memorial race at Silverstone on November 2nd. The two boys ably represented Jeremy Shaw's fantastic driver development program - Team USA - and tallied the two best American performances in a major British Formula Ford race in the entire 40 year history of the racing category.

Carl Edwards, Roush Fenway Racing. Carl Edwards (No. 99 Roush Fenway Racing Office Depot Ford) did all he could to catch Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Lowe's Chevrolet) for the Sprint Cup championship. Edwards lead 157 of 267 laps on his way to winning the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November - his series leading ninth win in 2008 - but Johnson only had to finish 36th or better to sew up the championship, and he came home in 15th. Still, it was a great season for the 29-year-old driver.

(Autostock Image)

Happy Holidays from the Michigan State University Formula Racing Team!

(IMS)
Paul Newman, shown in one of the on-track scenes for the 1969 motion picture release Winning, part of which was filmed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1968. Newman acquired the racing "bug" (much to the dismay of his wife, Joanne Woodward) while filming the movie and went on to a significant driving career, winning four SCCA national championships. Newman was part of the Dick Barbour racing team that finished second at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1979, andhe also recorded two Trans-Am wins in the early 80s. Newman - at age 70 - also co-drove a Roush Racing Mustang in the 1995 Daytona 24 Hours with Mike Brockman, Mark Martin and Tommy Kendall. The team easily won the GTS class. In 1983, Newman formed a partnership with rival Carl Haas, and Newman/Haas Racing became a power in American motorsport. The team, now known as Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, has won eight Indy-style racing championships and 107 races, the most by any open-wheel racing team over the past 25 years. Justin Wilson recorded the team's latest win at the Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix, on Labor Day weekend. Mario Andretti told USA Today in an interview last weekend that he would remember his off-the-track moments with Newman as much as the 12 years he drove for him. "I got to appreciate his character," Andretti said. " He's fun to be with. He had so many dimensions. We had a ball arguing like hell because we were on different ends of the political spectrum. He was way left and I was way right. We were locking horns a lot, but always with respect."