auto racing

#258, NASCAR at 75 detailed by four authors in new book

Jimmy Creed, born and raised in Talladega, Alabama, is a decades-long journalist whose interest in motorsports and specifically NASCAR racing began when he was a young boy. Creed knows the city’s famous racetrack as well as any journalist. He cultivated his knowledge in his long tenure as the sports editor of The Anniston Star in nearby Anniston, Alabama. As one of four writers who’ve collaborated to write NASCAR 75, a definitive volume of the legendary sport, Creed is our guest this week on The Weekly Driver Podcast. Co-hosts Bruce Aldrich and James Raia speak with the veteran journalist about his lifetime involvement in motor racing and his participation in compiling the text and images of the coffee table-sized book. “You

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De Tomaso refreshes hypercar standing with new P900

Italian sports car manufacturer De Tomaso is on the comeback trail after financial issues derailed the company in the early 2000s. De Tomaso has introduced the P900 hypercar, one of the few road cars that achieves 1:1 power to weight ratios. It allows  the 900 kilogram (1,984-pound) machine to produce 900 horsepower. The automaker is also passing, at least for now, on the EV future, betting instead on the use of environmentally friendly synthetic fuel in the P900. Only 18 P900s will be built priced at $3M each. It’s a big step for the producer of the famous Mangusta and Pantera models. The P900 is a bold attempt to refresh De Tomaso’s hypercar standing and is using the shortest and

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#201, Al Unser Jr. talks drugs, driving in new book

As co-hosts of The Weekly Driver Podcast, Bruce Aldrich and I sometimes have a guest cancel at the last minute. Two-time Indy 500 winner Al Unser Jr. was our scheduled guest. With his non-appearance, we decided to talk about him. Specifically, we discuss Unser’s new book, “A Checkered Past.” The 302-hardcover offering includes a foreword by Roger Penske, the team owner who once employed “Little Al” and who is now the owner of the Indianapolis Speedway. The book is written “As Told To Jade Gurss.” A long-time journalist, Gurss has written several additional motorsports books and has also worked in marketing and publicity for Mercedes-Benz and Mazda in his varied career. Unser’s book is appropriately titled. Throughout his adult life,

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Bobby Rahal set to celebrate Indy Cars at Rolex Reunion

Bobby Rahal, the three-time Indy 500 winner who also won three consecutive Indy Car races at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca beginning in 1985 will have a feature role at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. Rahal will be part of the celebration of a historic Indy Car group that originally competed between 1963 and 1978. It will be run for the first time in an exhibition August 12-15 during Monterey Auto Week. The introduction of rear-engine Indy Cars, starting at the Indianapolis 500 in 1963, changed the sport. A front-engine car and its driver would never win the Indy 500 again after 1965. Rahal, who has Rahal Straight at the Laguna Seca racetrack named for him, will debut his recently restored

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Michael Schumacher in coma after skiing accident

Michael Schumacher, the retired seven-time Formula One champion and extreme sport enthusiast, remains in critical condition after undergoing brain surgery following a skiing accident in the French Alps. Schumacher, 44, who retired from Formula One racing for the second time in 2012, fell while skiing off trail in Meribel, France, earlier Sunday, Dec. 29. He hit his head on a rock, according to a statement from the resort and as reported via major news organizations. According to the resort managers, Schumacher was wearing a helmet and was conscious when rescuers arrived on scene. The Grenoble University Hospital Center said the retired driver arrived at the clinic in a coma and underwent immediate surgery for a serious head trauma. It was

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