Author: Tim Newey

Motorsports on TV This Weekend: May 20 – 22, 2011

All times are Pacific Time.


AMA Pro Motocross Racing from Rancho Cordova, CA
Sunday: 8:00 – 10:00am on SPEED TV.
 


American LeMans Series 12 Hours of Sebring
Sunday: 1:30-3:00pm on ABC.

Formula One Debrief
Saturday: 4:00 – 5:00am on SPEED TV.


Formula One Series – Spanish Grand Prix
Qualifying: Saturday, 5:00 – 6:30am on SPEED TV.
Race: Sunday, 4:30 – 7:00am, 1:30 – 4:00pm on SPEED TV.


Global RallyCross race – Twin Peaks from Snoqualmie, WA
Saturday: 4:30 – 6:00pm on ESPN2.
 


GP2 Series Racing from Barcelona, Spain
Sunday: 3:00-4:30am on SPEED TV.


Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge from Virginia
Sunday: 10:00-12:00pm on SPEED TV.


Izod Indy Car Series: Time Trials from Indianapolis
Saturday: 8:00 – 11:30am, 1:30 – 3:30pm on Versus.
Sunday: 9:00 – 3:30pm on Versus.
 


Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Racing from Florida
Sunday: 12:00 – 1:00pm on SPEED TV.


Mobil 1 The Grid
Sunday: 7:00-7:30am on Speed TV.
 


NASCAR Camping World Truck Series from Charlotte.
Qualifying: Friday, 1:00-2:00pm on SPEED TV.
Race: Friday, 5:00-7:30pm, 9:30pm -12:00am on SPEED TV.


NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Setup
Friday: 4:30-5:00pm, 9:00-9:30pm on SPEED TV.

NASCAR Countdown
Sunday: 10:30 – 11:00am on ABC.


NASCAR Live
Friday: 12:00 – 1:00pm on SPEED TV.


NASCAR Nationwide Series Race from Iowa Speedway.
Sunday: 11:00 – 1:30pm on ABC, 10:00pm – 12:00am on ESPN2.

 

NASCAR Now
Saturday: 8:00 – 9:00am on ESPN2.


NASCAR Raceday
Saturday: 1:00 – 4:00pm on SPEED TV.

 


NASCAR Sprint Cup Series All Star Race from Charlotte, North Carolina
Qualifying: Friday, 2:00-4:30pm on SPEED TV.
Race: Saturday, 4:00 – 8:00pm, 9:00PM -1:00AM on SPEED TV.

 

NASCAR Victory Lane
Saturday: 8:00-8:30pm on SPEED TV.
Sunday: 1:00-1:30am, 5:00-5:30pm, 9:00-9:30pm on SPEED TV.


NHRA Drag Racing from Topeka, Kansas
Qualifying: Saturday, 2:30 -4:30pm on ESPN2.
Eliminations: Sunday, 4:00 – 7:00pm on ESPN2.


NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series from Atlanta.
Sunday: 3:30-4:00pm on ESPN2.


Speed Center on Speed TV
Friday: 7:30 – 8:00pm
Saturday: 6:30 – 7:00am, 12:00 – 1:00pm.
Sunday: 4:00 – 5:00pm, 8:00 – 9:00pm.


Toyota Pro Celebrity Race from Long Beach
Sunday: 1:00 – 1:30pm on SPEED.


Trackside
Friday: 8:00 – 9:00pm on SPEED TV.
Saturday: 12:00 – 1:00am, 8:00 – 9:00am on SPEED TV.

USAR Pro Cup Racing
Sunday: 2:00 – 3:00am, 3:00 – 4:00pm on Comcast Sport Net California.


Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain
Sunday: 6:00-7:00pm, 10:00-11:00pm on Speed TV.

A 1941 Ford: Some Dreams Do Come True

Jim Martin of Yuba City and his 1941 Ford.
Jim Martin of Yuba City and his 1941 Ford.

“Some Dreams Do Come True” is painted on the back of Jim Martin’s beautiful 1941 Ford. I recently got the chance to talk to Jim after my Dad who is Jim’s neighbor in Yuba City, sent me some pictures of his car. Like a lot of us, Jim has always had a love for his first car, a 41 Ford, and when he got a little older and had the opportunity to buy another one, he did. Jim bought this car about 10 years ago. He said he not only bought it because it was a 41 but because of how nice it was. A father and son team in Yuba City had built it and had given it a nice custom paint job.

It has a strong Chevy 350 with an RV cam and a big carb. They added power brakes, power steering and a nice CD stereo system. The gray interior is super comfortable for the occasional runs Jim takes with the Central Valley Knights Car Club. He says it is a great driver and he needs to take it out more often.

Jim grew up in Santa Cruz in the 1950’s and loved fast cars. He fixed up his first 1941 Ford with a big flathead V-8 and 3 carburetors in his auto shop class at school. He belonged to the Santa Cruz Dragons an early car club in the area. He said they had cool jackets and club plaques. Next time I’m in Yuba City, I’ll get a picture of his plaque that he still has hanging on the wall in his garage. Jim and his buddies would often find a deserted road in the hills outside Santa Cruz and test out their cars by drag racing each other. He said it was a simpler time, no fights or drugs, just fun with fast cars. The other car club in town was the Santa Cruz Clockers, who were older and had more money and faster cars. They would all go to the Salinas Drag Strip and watch them race on a track instead of the street. Jim is a 1954 graduate of Santa Cruz High School and still goes back for the reunions, occasionally driving his car and participating in the Hot Rods at the Beach car show in Santa Cruz.



Our thanks to Jim Martin for allowing us to photograph his beautiful car and sharing his interesting story of growing up in Santa Cruz and his first 41 Ford.

NorCal Drivers Racing Highlights: May 13-15, 2011

Finally a busy race weekend. Even though it seemed like it was raining clear across the country, most series were able to get their races in. The three top series in NASCAR were all at “The Monster Mile” in Dover. The Grand Am series was at Virginia International Raceway. The World of Outlaws were at Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, PA. The NHRA racers were in Atlanta, GA for the Southern Nationals.

Bill Lester from Oakland, CA is our "NorCal Driver of the Week"
Bill Lester from Oakland, CA is our "NorCal Driver of the Week"

This week our “NorCal Driver of the Week” is 50 year old Bill Lester, who grew up in the Bay Area (Oakland, I believe). Bill and 20 year old co-driver Jordan Taylor won the GT Class at the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series race in Virginia. It was his first win in a national series. Bill has had an unusual path to success in racing. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley and worked for Hewlitt-Packard for 16 years. While working, he raced as an amateur around Northern California in SCCA events. He progressed through different series including several years in the NASCAR Truck Series and a couple of Sprint Cup starts. For the last few years, he has been pretty much racing full time in the Grand-Am series. After this win, Bill is in 5th place in the points standings. Congratulations to Bill Lester on a great win!

Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series

Scott Pruett from Auburn and co-driver Memo Rojas came in 2rd place and broke their string of 6 consecutive wins going back to July of last year in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series. They are still the points leaders by a substantial margin in the Daytona Prototype class.

Henri Richard from Los Altos Hills finished in 5th place in the Daytona Prototypes and moved up to 20th place in the points.

Bill Lester from Oakland won the GT class in Virginia.

Joey Hand from Sacramento had a 3rd place finish in the GT Class.

Dane Cameron from Glenn Ellen, (north of Sonoma) finished in the 4th position in the GT Class.

Other NorCal drivers competing were Memo Gidley from San Rafael and Jonathan Bomarito from Monterey.

50 yr old NorCal driver Bill Lester and 20 yr old Jordan Taylor Winners in Virginia.
50 yr old NorCal driver Bill Lester and 20 yr old Jordan Taylor Winners in Virginia.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series

Matt Crafton from Tulare, started in the 10th spot and finished 3rd and took over the lead in the Camping World Truck Series points standings.

Justin Marks from Rocklin who won his 2nd career pole in the Truck Series had a good race and finished in the 10th position.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

A. J. Allmendinger from Los Gatos, after starting on the front row and having very high hopes, finished 37th with engine problems. This disappointing finish dropped A.J. five spots in the points standings to 16th place.

Jeff Gordon from Vallejo, finished in 17th place and moved up 3 spots in the standings to the 14th position.

NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series

Brian Thiel from Pleasant Grove struggled a little and was eliminated in the final round of qualifying on Saturday. Brian is currently in 16th place in the NHRA Funny Car standings.

Karen Stoffer from Minden, Nevada has kept up her early season success. In Atlanta she qualified 2nd fastest with a time of 6.929 at 194.16 mph on the Geico Suzuki. On Sunday, Karen made it through 3 rounds of eliminations to lose in the final round to LE Tonglet. She is the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle points leader.

The No. 80 Autohaus Motorsports Chevy Camaro driven by Bill Lester.
The No. 80 Autohaus Motorsports Chevy Camaro driven by Bill Lester.

World of Outlaws

Jason Meyers from Clovis started 16th in the A Main at Williams Grove Speedway and moved up 8 spots to finish 8th. It was his 11th top 10 of the year and good for 5th in the points standings.

Paul McMahan from Elk Grove didn’t have one of his best races. He started 22nd and finished in 19th. Paul is 8th in points with 4 top 5’s and tied for the lead with 3 fast times.