Statement from Randy Humphrey of Humphrey-Smith Racing on the passing of NASCAR driver, Jason Leffler:

“We are deeply saddened by the passing of Jason Leffler and extend our heartfelt condolences to his family.  Jason was part of our family at Humphrey-Smith Racing and we are very thankful for his contributions to our team over the last few years.  Our main concern is for his son Charlie and our thoughts and prayers are with him.

A new law has been proposed in New Jersey that would allow the confiscation of cellphones after a car accident.

It would allow police to take your cellphone as evidence, if they have reasonable cause to believe that a driver had been talking or texting on the phone before an accident.

Police could then determine if an accident was caused by distracted driving.

• A one-of-a-kind, customized Ford Mustang plays a prominent role in the upcoming film from DreamWorks Studios, “Need for Speed,” based on the long-running video game series
• Mustang fans have crowd-sourced a list of about 3,000 Ford Mustang appearances on the large and small screen over nearly five decades

• Mustang made its silver screen debut in the 1964 James Bond film “Goldfinger” just months after its launch

Looking to turn around his 2013 season in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, 15-time Funny Car world champion John Force is hoping for the ultimate Father's Day present at legendary Bristol Dragway.

Force is currently 10th in points and has yet to make a final-round appearance through nine races in what has already been a highly competitive 2013 Funny Car season.

A three-time winner at the storied track, Force will get an opportunity to make it four at the Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals presented by Tri-Cities Area Ford Dealers, June 14-16, at Bristol Dragway. Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel), Ron Capps (Funny Car), and Mike Edwards (Pro Stock) are the defending winners of the event that will be televised on ESPN2HD.

A week after controversial restart costs him, Johnson gets third win of season

LONG POND, Pa. -- It’s not a good idea to rile up Jimmie Johnson.

A week after a penalty for jumping the final restart at Dover knocked Johnson out of a near-certain victory, Johnson absolutely scorched the field in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Party in the Poconos 400, beating Greg Biffle to the finish line by 1.208 seconds.

The win was Johnson’s third of the season, his third at the Tricky Triangle and the 63rd of his career. Johnson increased his series lead over second-place Carl Edwards (18th Sunday) to a staggering 51 points after 14 races.

JOHNSON TAKES THE LEAD AT POCONO

• Three Audi R18 e-tron quattro cars ready for 24-hour race
• Rainy weather limits test program
• Marco Bonanomi tests tire generation for 2014

Ingolstadt/Le Mans, June 9, 2013 – Audi completed its preparations for the most important endurance race of the year with a test in France that was largely held in rain. Two weeks before the Le Mans 24 Hours, Audi Sport Team Joest set up the long-tail version of the Audi R18 e-tron quattro for the high-speed track on the eight-hour test day.

On a mostly wet Sunday at La Sarthe, the team of the eleven-time Le Mans winner
concentrated on testing various aerodynamic set-up versions of the Audi R18
e-tron quattro. In addition, the engineers experimented with different tire
pressures in order to analyze the performance of the rain tires on a single lap
and across longer distances. When showers set in, the team decided to end the
morning’s practice session early. The track conditions were too inconsistent,
as Loïc Duval came to find out too in an off-track excursion in the Tertre
Rouge corner toward the end of the first half of the day. His car, designated
as number 2, remained structurally undamaged in the incident and was ready to
resume the test after the lunch break.

Escort launched Monday the Passport Max, a detector that is the first to convert analog radar waves to digital signals, Escort said.

The company hopes to accomplish for radar what the compact disc did for audio, namely, creating a shift to digital.  The change will improve detection and greatly reduce false alerts, said Escort.

The company calls it “a paradigm shift” for radar detectors.

Typically, a radar detector is confronted with all sorts of radiation signals from which it must decipher a radar gun signal.  This “background noise” is generated by cellphones, motion sensors, bank alarm systems, and even solar energy from the sun.

Bowling Green, Ky.-based Holley Performance Products will participate in the 2013 Hot Rod Power Tour, June 1-8.

Code 3 Associates/Mobil 1 Chevrolet Driver Scores First Win of Year

Date: June 2, 2013

Event: FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks (Round 13 of 36)

Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

Location: Dover (Del.) International Speedway (concrete, 1-mile oval)

Start/Finish: 22^nd/1^st (Running, completed 400 of 400 laps)

Point Standing: 16^th (338 points, 135 out of first; 33 behind 10^th)

Winner: Tony Stewart of Stewart-Haas Racing (Chevrolet)

Victory lane was the last place Tony Stewart expected to end up when he strapped himself into his No. 14 Code 3 Associates/Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS for the FedEx 400 benefitting Autism Speaks NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday at Dover (Del.) International Speedway.

After all, winning from the 22^nd spot on the starting grid in a racecar with which he’d struggled through practice and qualifying this weekend on a fierce, 1-mile concrete oval at which almost half (47) of the previous 86 Sprint Cup Series winners started no farther back than the front two rows, felt like nothing short of a monster task.

New Products Drive 38 percent Year-to-Date Rise

DETROIT – Cadillac’s year-to-date sales increase of 38 percent will be the brand’s largest since 1976, making the 110-year old brand the fastest growing major automotive brand in the U.S.

When sales are officially reported later today, Cadillac’s May increase of 40 percent will mark its 12^th consecutive month of sales growth.

“Cadillac is back.” said Bob Ferguson, vice president, Global Cadillac. “Our growth is product-driven, new luxury vehicles with dramatic design and performance drawing new customers to showrooms.”

Ensenada, B.C., Mexico (June 2, 2013) – As near perfect weather conditions blanketed the Baja California desert, 32 trophy trucks gathered in Ensenada for the running of the prestigious 45th Annual Tecate Baja 500. This event saw Robby Gordon of Orange, Calif., back behind the wheel of his familiar SPEED Energy / Toyo Tires / MAPEI No. 77 Chevrolet Trophy Truck for the first time since dominating the Parker 425 in February.

During qualifying Thursday afternoon, Gordon raced around the 5-mile qualifying course the quickest, putting him on the overall pole to start Saturday’s 500-mile race. Shortly after taking the green flag, Gordon’s hopes of a flawless race where extinguished, when he had to ultimately test his driving skills by saving the No. 77 trophy truck from crashing violently in the wash. The SPEED Energy / Toyo Tires / MAPEI Chevrolet Trophy Truck would find itself hydroplaning and spinning around after hitting flooded water at nearly 90 MPH.

Mooresville, NC (June 4, 2013) Joey Logano added to the excitement at Dover International Speedway as he overtook race leader Kyle Busch on the final pit stop and won the 5-Hour Energy Nationwide Series race on Saturday, June 1^st.  With only 37 laps to go, a caution brought the field in for a final stop.  Logano changed four tires all night, but made the last minute call for only two right-side tires.  That call turned out to be a race-winning move.  Logano powered his Roush Yates Engine off pit row as the new race leader and pulled away from Brian Vickers for a winning margin of about 10 car-lengths.  Logano’s win made driver history with an unprecedented third consecutive victory on the Nationwide circuit.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (June 4, 2013) – Gooding & Company, the official auction house of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance acclaimed for selling the world’s most significant and valuable collector cars, will be hosting the 10th Anniversary sale of the Pebble Beach Auctions on August 17 and 18.  This year Gooding & Company offers an early preview of some of the most highly sought after and rapidly amassing value collectible – the distinguished Italian race car.  Auction highlights include a 1948 Alfa Romeo 6C Competizione 2500 from the famed “Sleeping Beauties” collection,  a 1965 Ferrari 275 GTB Long Nose Alloy in dazzling in Fly Yellow, and an extremely low mileage 1965 Ferrari 500 Superfast with only one owner since 1966.  All three early consignments are a rarefied display of Italian design and racing ingenuity.

“In celebration of Gooding & Company’s 10th Anniversary as the official auction house of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, we are pleased to present a stellar line up of Italian marques,” says David Gooding, President and founder of Gooding & Company. “Our Pebble Beach Auctions will offer collectors the opportunity to bid on a selection of the finest racecars ever produced.”

1948 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Competizione
estimate: $2,800,000-3,500,000
Images copyright and courtesy of Gooding & Company. Photos by Mathieu Heurtault.

DETROIT – The suggested retail price for the 2014 Chevrolet SS sports sedan is $44,470, including a $995 destination charge, Chevrolet announced today. Title and license fees are extra. The SS goes on sale in the fourth quarter of 2013.

The U.S.-exclusive SS – Chevrolet’s first rear-drive performance sedan since 1996 – comes well-equipped in only one model, with a power-operated sunroof ($900) and full-size spare tire ($500) as the only options.

“The all-new SS is engineered for performance enthusiasts who’ve been clamoring for a rear-wheel-drive sedan,” said Chris Perry, vice president of Chevrolet Marketing.  “Adding the SS to the lineup further solidifies Chevrolet’s position as America’s best-selling performance-car brand that also includes the all-new 2014 Corvette Stingray and Camaro Z/28.”

Memorial Day is time to honor those who died serving in the U.S. armed forces. But it's also much needed three-day weekend, and for millions across the land, it signals the kickoff to BBQ season.

We've noticed that many of our forum members and loyal readers have a passion for the pit (pit bbq, that is), so from Memorial Day to Labor Day this summer, Fridays will be devoted to all things grilled.

Bob Stretch has won 10 TA2 races, two TA2 Championships, holds plenty of TA2 track records and has found himself on pole for TA2 a multitude of times.  In short, Bob Stretch has done it all.  However, after a waterlogged race at Lime Rock Park, Bob Stretch was able to do something that no other TA2 driver has ever done—he won the Trans Am race outright.

The Series arrived to a wet track on Friday as it prepared for practice sessions and qualifying; however, the rain was quick to reappear and never quite relented.   Qualifying was rained out and left the drivers preparing to grid by points for the race.

A meeting of motorsport greats: Ahead of the 2013 FORMULA 1^TM SANTANDER BRITISH GRAND PRIX (28-30 June), two past British winners from two very different eras of Formula 1^TM met at Silverstone to compare Silver Arrows...

Image by: Steve Etherington/Mercedes AMG Petronas

Two-time British Grand Prix winner, ex-Mercedes-Benz driver Sir Stirling Moss, lent his support to fellow Brit Lewis Hamilton’s bid for success at this year’s Silverstone event, as the pair compared their Mercedes cars.

BMW released photos and details of its new X5 model, noting its many standard features. However, the X5 model carries over engines from the previous generation.

BMW released photos and details of the new generation of its X5, which hits showrooms late this year. (Credit: BMW)

BMW used to make even iPod integration an option, but those days seem to be over. The new X5 will come standard with many tech features, from a USB port and navigation to BMW Apps, which integrates social media running on an iPhone with the car's dashboard.

DETROIT – General Motors North America President Mark Reuss, a lifelong racing enthusiast, will drive the 2014 Corvette Stingray Pace Car in the Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit, presented by Quicken Loans. this Saturday and Sunday (June 1-2).

The Indy Dual in Detroit races are part of the Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix weekend of racing that begins Friday, May 31. Reuss will drive the Pace Car for both Indy Dual races.

“The all-new, 2014 Corvette Stingray proved last week at Indy that it’s at home on the racetrack, and we’re excited to bring it home to Motown to pace the Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit,” said Reuss. “To be able to drive this car, on this track, in this city, is a huge thrill for me personally, and I can’t wait to get behind the wheel to pace this great field.”