Sunday
Oct272013
THE LINE - OCTOBER 30, 2013
Sunday, October 27, 2013 at 02:10PM 
(Infiniti Red Bull Racing)
Twenty-six-year-old Sebastian Vettel (No. 1 Infiniti Red Bull Racing Renault) won the Airtel indian Grand Prix at the Buddh International Circuit near New Delhi on Sunday - and his fourth consecutive World Championship - becoming the youngest driver in Formula One history to do so. It was also the fourth consecutive Constructors’ World Championship for Red Bull Racing as well. Vettel joins Alain Prost, Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher as the only drivers in Formula One history with at least four World Driving Championships. Asked who he wanted to thank after the achievement, Vettel said: "First of all my family; my parents and my brother and of course my girlfriend as well. If I would dedicate this title to someone than it would be to my girlfriend, as this season was not very easy with all the ups and downs and some emotions that also hurt inside of oneself. In these situations you need someone that gives you so much love and strength to overcome certain situations and to get back into the car and have fun again."
(Infiniti Red Bull Racing)
Red Bull Racing technical director Adrian Newey and team principal Christian Horner celebrate with Sebastian Vettel after their fourth World Championship together.
Red Bull Racing technical director Adrian Newey and team principal Christian Horner celebrate with Sebastian Vettel after their fourth World Championship together.
(Infiniti Red Bull Racing)
After his win Sebastian Vettel said: "I'm speechless. I don't know what to say, I crossed the line and I was just empty. You want to think of something to say and I just can't. It has been an amazing season, the spirit in the team is great and it is a pleasure to jump in the car and drive." As the BBC reported, Vettel has not always been a popular winner. Wins in Belgium, Britain, Canada and Singapore were greeted by boos, and Vettel revealed after the Indian Grand Prix how he had been affected by the abuse he had received. "It has not been an easy season," he said. "From the outside people will think it was easy but it wasn't. It has been hard for me in particular. To be booed when I have not done anything wrong was hard, but I think I answered it on the track, which I am very pleased about." Editor-in-Chief's Note: As if to punctuate his post-race remarks, Vettel did doughnuts on the track after the win, which earned Red Bull Racing a 25,000 Euro fine and the German a reprimand for failing to go straight to parc ferme. Not that Vettel could give a shit, but it only served to underline the pasteurized and sanitized way of racing that has become a plague in F1, and that has turned so many enthusiasts - especially here in the U.S. - off. Not to take anything away from Vettel, who is clearly a tremendous talent behind the wheel, but robot drivers driving robot cars with obscene budgets is not a long-term strategy for the health of F1 racing. The powers that be don't exactly see it that way, which makes it even worse and means more of the same is coming our way. - PMD
After his win Sebastian Vettel said: "I'm speechless. I don't know what to say, I crossed the line and I was just empty. You want to think of something to say and I just can't. It has been an amazing season, the spirit in the team is great and it is a pleasure to jump in the car and drive." As the BBC reported, Vettel has not always been a popular winner. Wins in Belgium, Britain, Canada and Singapore were greeted by boos, and Vettel revealed after the Indian Grand Prix how he had been affected by the abuse he had received. "It has not been an easy season," he said. "From the outside people will think it was easy but it wasn't. It has been hard for me in particular. To be booed when I have not done anything wrong was hard, but I think I answered it on the track, which I am very pleased about." Editor-in-Chief's Note: As if to punctuate his post-race remarks, Vettel did doughnuts on the track after the win, which earned Red Bull Racing a 25,000 Euro fine and the German a reprimand for failing to go straight to parc ferme. Not that Vettel could give a shit, but it only served to underline the pasteurized and sanitized way of racing that has become a plague in F1, and that has turned so many enthusiasts - especially here in the U.S. - off. Not to take anything away from Vettel, who is clearly a tremendous talent behind the wheel, but robot drivers driving robot cars with obscene budgets is not a long-term strategy for the health of F1 racing. The powers that be don't exactly see it that way, which makes it even worse and means more of the same is coming our way. - PMD
(Photo by Christa L. Thomas/HHP courtesy of GM/Chevrolet Racing)
Jeff Gordon (No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet SS) won the Goody's Headache Relief Shot 500 Powered By Kroger NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday. Gordon passed Matt Kenseth (No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Dollar General Toyota Camry) with 21 laps to go and went on to the victory. It moved him into third place in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings, 27 points out of first place with three races to go. "I'm just so proud of my team for never giving up. We've shown it all year long and we've been through a lot. But this is making it all worth it, to get this huge win at Martinsville," Gordon said in Victory Lane. "Man, what a great race car." Watch NASCAR videos here.
Jeff Gordon (No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet SS) won the Goody's Headache Relief Shot 500 Powered By Kroger NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday. Gordon passed Matt Kenseth (No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Dollar General Toyota Camry) with 21 laps to go and went on to the victory. It moved him into third place in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings, 27 points out of first place with three races to go. "I'm just so proud of my team for never giving up. We've shown it all year long and we've been through a lot. But this is making it all worth it, to get this huge win at Martinsville," Gordon said in Victory Lane. "Man, what a great race car." Watch NASCAR videos here.
(Photo by Rusty Jarrett/HHP courtesy of GM/Chevrolet Racing)
(Photo by Brian Czobat © 2013, LAT Photo USA, courtesy of Toyota Racing)
Matt Kenseth (No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Dollar General Toyota Camry) finished second to Jeff Gordon at Martinsville and is now tied with Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Lowe's Chevrolet SS) with three races remaining in the season (Kenseth owns the tiebreaker). "Jeff's experience got me. I just don't have that much experience running up front here," Kenseth said. "I had something that was working, but I was hurting the rear tires and ended up hurting the front tires, too." Johnson said "It's been a great battle with the 20 car and the 24 team has shown it wants to be a part of the championship battle as well," said Johnson, who owned a four-point advantage heading into Sunday's race. "It's going to be a fight to the end. It's what I want to see and I know it's what the fans want to see, too. We'll keep digging hard."
Matt Kenseth (No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Dollar General Toyota Camry) finished second to Jeff Gordon at Martinsville and is now tied with Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Lowe's Chevrolet SS) with three races remaining in the season (Kenseth owns the tiebreaker). "Jeff's experience got me. I just don't have that much experience running up front here," Kenseth said. "I had something that was working, but I was hurting the rear tires and ended up hurting the front tires, too." Johnson said "It's been a great battle with the 20 car and the 24 team has shown it wants to be a part of the championship battle as well," said Johnson, who owned a four-point advantage heading into Sunday's race. "It's going to be a fight to the end. It's what I want to see and I know it's what the fans want to see, too. We'll keep digging hard."
(Photo by Nigel Kinrade © 2013, LAT Photo USA courtesy of Toyota Racing)
Twenty-year-old Darrell Wallace Jr. pulled away from the chaos behind him to a decisive win in Saturday's NASCAR Camping World Truck series Kroger 200, becoming the first black driver to triumph in a NASCAR national series race since 1963, the year Wendell Scott posted his only big-league win. "It hasn't hit me yet," Wallace said Sunday morning. "I think the only time it hit me was when I took the checkered, and then after that it still hasn't hit me. I guess tomorrow or whatever, it usually takes a couple days for a big win to settle in. It has been over a year since my last one. But it's been great seeing all the outlets that I'm on and doing all this stuff. It's for the better, and it's trying to change the sport, and I'm all in for that. "Just carrying the torch that Wendell Scott laid down for us and taking it farther, and that's the biggest thing I'm trying to do. I don't really pay attention to all the media stuff and let that get to me and forget where I came from. That's not my type. I read through it, appreciate everybody for all the comments, but I've still got three races to go." Wallace was a member of the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program, designed to help minorities and women break into the sport. Watch the NASCAR videos here.
Twenty-year-old Darrell Wallace Jr. pulled away from the chaos behind him to a decisive win in Saturday's NASCAR Camping World Truck series Kroger 200, becoming the first black driver to triumph in a NASCAR national series race since 1963, the year Wendell Scott posted his only big-league win. "It hasn't hit me yet," Wallace said Sunday morning. "I think the only time it hit me was when I took the checkered, and then after that it still hasn't hit me. I guess tomorrow or whatever, it usually takes a couple days for a big win to settle in. It has been over a year since my last one. But it's been great seeing all the outlets that I'm on and doing all this stuff. It's for the better, and it's trying to change the sport, and I'm all in for that. "Just carrying the torch that Wendell Scott laid down for us and taking it farther, and that's the biggest thing I'm trying to do. I don't really pay attention to all the media stuff and let that get to me and forget where I came from. That's not my type. I read through it, appreciate everybody for all the comments, but I've still got three races to go." Wallace was a member of the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program, designed to help minorities and women break into the sport. Watch the NASCAR videos here.
(Photo by Nigel Kinrade © 2013, LAT Photo USA courtesy of Toyota Racing)
(Photo courtesy of Ford Racing)
John Force captured his unprecedented 16th NHRA Funny Car championship Sunday driving his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang to a dramatic victory in the 13th annual Toyota Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The 64-year-old Force scored a narrow final round victory over his youngest daughter, Courtney, in a shootout between the No. 1 and No. 2 qualifiers. Force, whose 4.062 got him to the finish line just a few feet ahead of Courtney (4.085), gave a shout out to his crew chief after winning his third straight tour event and the 138th of his career. “I just want to take a minute and say ‘how about that Jimmy Prock,’” Force said of the veteran with whom he began a collaboration last July. “A lot of work goes into what we do and we couldn’t be here without Castrol, Ford, Auto Club, Mac Tools, Traxxas and BrandSource,” Force said after ending a streak of four first-round losses at LVMS. “I’m just strapped into that rocket ship. Jimmy Prock and Danny DeGennaro and all these kids putting this car together, we won as a team." It was Force’s 75th tour victory in a Mustang and the championship was his 10th for Ford. “I’m happy for my dad and his Castrol GTX team,” said Courtney, the 25-year-old graduate of Cal State-Fullerton. “It’s huge for John Force Racing for him to get that win and clinch his 16th championship.
John Force captured his unprecedented 16th NHRA Funny Car championship Sunday driving his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang to a dramatic victory in the 13th annual Toyota Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The 64-year-old Force scored a narrow final round victory over his youngest daughter, Courtney, in a shootout between the No. 1 and No. 2 qualifiers. Force, whose 4.062 got him to the finish line just a few feet ahead of Courtney (4.085), gave a shout out to his crew chief after winning his third straight tour event and the 138th of his career. “I just want to take a minute and say ‘how about that Jimmy Prock,’” Force said of the veteran with whom he began a collaboration last July. “A lot of work goes into what we do and we couldn’t be here without Castrol, Ford, Auto Club, Mac Tools, Traxxas and BrandSource,” Force said after ending a streak of four first-round losses at LVMS. “I’m just strapped into that rocket ship. Jimmy Prock and Danny DeGennaro and all these kids putting this car together, we won as a team." It was Force’s 75th tour victory in a Mustang and the championship was his 10th for Ford. “I’m happy for my dad and his Castrol GTX team,” said Courtney, the 25-year-old graduate of Cal State-Fullerton. “It’s huge for John Force Racing for him to get that win and clinch his 16th championship.
Editor-in-Chief's Note: Check out Porsche's quest to return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2014 - and win. A new page has debuted with images, films, background information and even a multimedia journey through Porsche's motorsports history.- PMD