THE LINE - SEPTEMBER 18, 2013

(Photo by Brian Lawdermilk, courtesy of GM Racing/Chevrolet)
Juan Pablo Montoya is coming back to open-wheel racing in 2014. Montoya will join Will Power and three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves in Team Penske's IZOD INDYCAR Series lineup, driving the No. 2 machine. Montoya, 37, is a native of Colombia and is one of the most talented and accomplished drivers in the world. He has won in Formula One, NASCAR and the CART Indy Car Series. Montoya earned 11 IndyCar wins over two seasons as he captured the CART Series title in his rookie season of 1999 followed by a victory in the Indy 500 in 2000. He is the only driver to win the Indianapolis 500, the 24 Hours of Daytona and the Monaco Grand Prix. "I am really excited to join this legendary team beginning next year," said Montoya. "I have had the opportunity to drive for some of the best racing teams in the world and I have always admired Roger Penske and his organization. I consider it an honor to be offered the opportunity to drive for Team Penske." "Juan is a proven winner at all levels of motorsport," said Roger Penske. "He has won a lot of races and championships and he has an extremely passionate fan base. We look forward to building on his successes together and we believe he will be a great addition to Team Penske." Roger Penske has a record 15 Indianapolis 500 victories as a car owner.

(Photo by Russell LaBounty/LAT Photo USA © 2013, courtesy of Toyota Racing)
Matt Kenseth (No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Dollar General Toyota Camry) won the rain-ruined GEICO 400 at Chicagoland Speedway last Sunday night. Kenseth, the top seed in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, got a big push from Kevin Harvick after a restart on Lap 245 of 267 and pulled away to beat Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch (No. 18 Doublemint Toyota Camry) to the checkered flag by .749 seconds, keeping Busch from the second three-series (Truck, Nationwide, Sprint Cup) weekend sweep of his career. It was was Kenseth's sixth win of the season - the most for any Sprint Cup competitor in 2013 - and his most ever in a single season. It was Kenseth's 30th win in NASCAR's premier series. “I’ve always wanted to win here in Chicago,” said Kenseth in Victory Lane after a very long day. “It’s only a couple hours from where I grew up - up in Wisconsin. So it feels great to finally get the win here. We’ve been close a lot.” Find NASCAR videos here.

(Photo by Brian Czobat/LAT Photo USA © 2013, courtesy of Toyota Racing)
The pack of Sprint Cup cars race on into the night, led by Matt Kenseth (No. Joe Gibbs Racing Dollar General Toyota Camry). Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Lowe's Chevrolet SS) finished in fifth. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Time Warner Cable Chevrolet SS) suffered a blown engine on Lap 226.

(Photo by Brian Lawdermilk courtesy of GM Racing/Chevrolet)
Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Richard Childress Racing Budweiser Designate A Driver Chevrolet SS) came home third, followed by Kurt Busch (No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Serta Chevrolet SS), who battled back from a lap down after a pit road speeding penalty early the race to finish fourth.  Jeff Gordon (No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet SS) stormed back to finish sixth after a flat left rear tire on Lap 173. Chase drivers claimed the top six spots in the finishing order and 10 of the first 12.

(Photo by Russell LaBounty/LAT Photo USA © 2013, courtesy of Toyota Racing)
Kyle Busch (No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry) flat dominated the Dollar General 300 powered by Coca-Cola Nationwide race at Chicagoland Speedway last Saturday. Busch won his 10th NASCAR Nationwide Series race in 20 starts this season, leading 195 of 200 laps in claiming the record 61st victory of his career. Joey Logano (No. 22 Penske Racing Discount Tire Ford Mustang) ran second and Sam Hornish Jr. (No. 12 Penske Racing Wurth Ford Mustang) finished third and extended his lead in the series standings to 17 points over Austin Dillon (No. 3 Richard Childress Racing AdvoCare Chevrolet Camaro) , who came home fourth. Watch videos here.

(Photo by Russell LaBounty/LAT Photo USA © 2013, courtesy of Toyota Racing)
It was the Kyle Busch show last weekend in Chicago. He and his wife Samantha celebrate in Victory Lane after Busch (No. 51 Kyle Busch Racing Dollar General Toyota) held off Brad Keselowski (No. 19 Brad Keselowski Racing DrawTite Ford) in the closing laps of Friday night’s EnjoyIllinois.com 225 Camping World Truck Series race at Chicagoland Speedway. It was Busch's 34th win in the series. Ryan Blaney (No. 29 Brad Keselowski Racing Cooper Standard Ford) finished third. Watch the finish here.

(Toyota Racing)
Toyota Racing visits the United States for the first time for the inaugural Six Hours of Circuit of the Americas, the fifth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship. Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi and Stéphane Sarrazin will drive the No. 8 Toyota TS030 HYBRID in Austin. High-downforce aerodynamic updates to the TS030 HYBRID performed well at Interlagos, Brazil, and is expected to help the team this weekend. The weekend schedule at the 5.515km Circuit of the Americas begins with a test day on Thursday and two official practice sessions on Friday. After Saturday’s final morning practice, qualifying takes place at 3:35 p.m. in the afternoon. The race begins at 11.00 on Sunday.

(IMSA)

The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) announced on Thursday, September 12, that TUDOR has been named entitlement partner for the next five years of what now will be known as the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. The IMSA announcement preceded TUDOR’s official U.S. launch during New York Fashion Week. The TUDOR United SportsCar Championship extends ties of the prestigious Swiss watchmaking market to premier U.S. sports car racing dating back to 1959, when NASCAR Founder and IMSA Co-Founder Bill France Sr. and Rolex formed their initial relationship. Rolex will continue to serve as Title Sponsor of the annual Rolex 24 At Daytona and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida. Rolex will also continue as Official Timepiece at Sebring International Raceway. In 1926, Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf registered “The Tudor” brand and established Montres Tudor SA in 1946. From 2009 to 2011, TUDOR had a partnership with Porsche Motorsports as Timing Partner, and two years later, it began its collaboration with Ducati as global Timing Partner. Its affiliation with the FIA World Endurance Championship — which includes a race in Austin, Texas, alongside the American Le Mans Series race later this month — commenced this year. The inaugural TUDOR United SportsCar Championship will debut next January with the 52nd Rolex 24 At Daytona. The complete USCC 2014 schedule:

Jan. 25-26: Daytona International Speedway

March 15: Sebring International Raceway

April 12: Long Beach (with INDYCAR)

May 4: Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

May 31: Detroit Belle Isle (with INDYCAR)

June 29: Watkins Glen International 

July 13: Canadian Tire Motorsport Park 

July 25: Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Aug. 10: Road America

Aug. 24: Virginia International Raceway 

Sept. 20: Circuit of The Americas 

Oct. 4: Road Atlanta

*With three circuits (Long Beach, Detroit Belle Isle and Virginia International Raceway) on the 2014 schedule not having all four TUDOR United SportsCar Championship classes competing, each class (Prototype, Prototype Challenge, GT Le Mans and GT Daytona) will race 11 times next season. In addition, preseason test sessions have been set for Nov. 16-17 at Sebring International Raceway and Nov. 19-20 at Daytona International Speedway. The test sessions will be open to all four classes of cars that will compete in the new championship: Prototype, Prototype Challenge, GT Le Mans and GT Daytona.

Editor-in-Chief's Note: According to the press release: "Following a four-hour steering committee meeting at Circuit of The Americas between officials from the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) and the Automobile Club l’Ouest (ACO), both organizations today confirmed a collaborative decision that cars eligible for the Prototype class in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship and the LM P2 category internationally will remain so through the conclusion of the 2016 season." This means that the former GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series’ DP class, as well as the P2 cars from the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón (ALMS) will be eligible for two more seasons beginning in January. (It also includes the DeltaWing DWC13.) This is a cost-efficient move, especially for the American teams who choose to stick with running the GRAND-AM DP cars. “This is outstanding news for prototype teams all over the world,” said IMSA Chairman Jim France. “This addresses long-term on-track competitive stability, along with the economic realities of today’s business climate that face everyone wanting to compete at sports car racing’s highest level." In other words, Jim France gets his way and his beloved DP cars survive to be (somewhat) relevant for a couple more seasons. And all the parties involved get to hand-wring for another two years while trying to come up with a rules package that's relevant and somewhat cost-efficient for prototype racing. This passes for progress when it comes to major league road racing in this country in this day and age. I guess we're all supposed to go along to get along and get used to it. We'll see. - PMD

Editor-in-Chief's Note: INDYCAR has just announced (9/13) that it will not be returning to Baltimore next year. Expect the same decision from the new Tudor United SportsCar Championship series - Baltimore will not be on their 2014 schedule. - PMD

(Jaguar)
Jaguar was front and center at last weekend’s 2013 Goodwood Revival. Over 30 competition Jaguar and Jaguar-powered racers competed at the sell-out event.

(Jaguar)

(Lister Motor Company Limited)
After a gap of almost 25 years since the last Lister rolled off the production line, the three Lister companies of George Lister Engineering of Cambridge, Brian Lister Light Engineering and Lister Storm, have been reunited into one organization that will recreate one of the greatest sports racing cars of the 1950's - the fabulous Lister 'Knobbly' Jaguar. Lister Motor Company Limited has invested in a new, state-of-the-art facility in Cambridge, which includes CNC machining, 3D scanning and Catia design, all of which will enable George Lister Engineering to develop and deliver an exciting and near identical development of the historic, race-winning, competition and track car. Brian Lister’s original working drawings and manufacturing jigs have all been re-commissioned, and many of the team involved in the original 1950’s project with Lister Cars have been called back into service, including Martin Murray, Colin (Chippy) Crisp, Graham (Curley) Hutton, Laurence Pearce and even Brian Lister himself. The cars will be built to be identical to those of 1958, and will be race-ready 'out of the box' to race with BHL-C (C for Continuation) chassis insignia and up to FIA/HTP Appendix K specification. Race proven, Jaguar D Type-specification engines and D Type gearboxes will be supplied by world-renowned experts, Crosthwaite & Gardener, and all race preparation and track commissioning will be undertaken by Chris Keith-Lucas of CKL Developments, another leading specialist in historic Jaguar restoration and preparation. The streamlined Knobbly body will be recreated using the original Shapecraft body bucks by the skilled artisan craftsmen, Clive Smart and Adrian Breeze. A series of Lister sponsored historic race meetings is planned for 2015, in time for the Lister 125th year anniversary.

(Lister Motor Company Limited)

Editor-in-Chief's Note: My friend Jeff Zwart passed along his new video for Forza Motorsport - "FilmSpeed." As Jeff commented: "Our latest, enjoy something done totally in camera… no special effects." Watch the visual awesomeness here. - PMD