The Frontstretch Newsletter SPECIAL EDITION: September 29th, 2012

THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
September 29th, 2012
Volume VI, Edition CXCV

Hey Race Fans!  Do you think you can predict the finishing order of this year's Chase?  If you can, we'll give you our shirt!  If you want a chance to win a Frontstretch T-Shirt and a free FanVision rental for a race weekend in 2013, now is your chance.  Simply submit a list of the 12 Chase drivers in the order you think they will finish.  You have until the end of the race at Dover to make your picks - but after the checkered flag flies on that race, we will not accept any more submissions.  Then, we'll hang on to all of your predictions until after the final race in Homestead and tally them up.  If you can correctly place all 12, you win the T-Shirt and the FanVision rental!  If nobody places all 12 correctly, we'll give the prize to whomever can get the most drivers in their correct points positions at the end of the year.  Please submit your entries to FrontstretchEditors@googlegroups.com by the moment of the checkered flag at Dover!  We will accept only one entry per person (if you submit more than one list, we will only take the FIRST one you submitted!) Good luck!
 
Frontstretch at the Track: Phil Allaway will be live at Lime Rock Park for today's season finale for the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series. Stay tuned to Facebook, Twitter (@Critic84 and @TheFrontstretch) as well as the Breaking News box for all of the latest information coming out of this weekend's events. 

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CTSCC Street Tuner Race Recap: Kleinubing Holds Off Lally to Win Race, Championship
by Phil Allaway

Entering Friday's final race of the season for the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge's (CTSCC) Street Tuner (ST) class, the Freedom Autosport duo of Tom Long and Derek Whitis had an 11 point lead over Pierre Kleinubing in the standings.  Andy Lally was just one point behind Kleinubing in third, well within striking distance.  In case of a tie in points, Kleinubing would win the title because he earned more second-place finishes than the duo of Long and Whitis.  As a result, the Long/Whitis had to finish sixth or better to win the title regardless of what Kleinubing or Lally could do.

With a 33-car starting field, that's not necessarily all that easy.  The weather then proceeded to make things miserable for everyone.  Due to the conditions, Grand-Am decided qualifying was cancelled and the field set by points.  This put Whitis' No. 25 Mazda MX-5 on the pole with Jayson Clunie, starting Kleinubing's No. 31 Mazdaspeed 3 alongside.

When the green flag flew, Whitis took advantage of the clear vision that comes with the pole in the rain and pulled out to a small advantage as Clunie dropped back.  Meanwhile, Jesse Combs in the Murillo Racing No. 56 BMW 328i was coming to the front from his fourth starting spot.  By Lap 8, he was already putting pressure on Whitis, then took over the lead a couple of laps later.

The slippery conditions resulted in a number of minor incidents on track.  Izzy Sanchez spun his Mazdaspeed 3 on a couple of occasions, while teammate Glenn Bocchino spun and had some trouble extricating himself.  Billy Johnson, who was doing a one-off in the No. 77 Honda Civic Si for Compass360 Racing, had an off as well.  However, despite the weather, there were no serious incidents.

For former World Challenge champion Michael Galati, Friday was a very interesting day.  Galati's Kia Forte Koup spun out multiple times with minimal damage.  In addition, the windshield defogger failed early in the race.  As a result, Galati drove much of the race with something resembling a Swiffer mop in his hand so that he could wipe the fog off his windshield at speed.  He would eventually finish 12th.  

Despite the rain, there was really minimal interruption of green flag racing.    An early yellow flew to tow the Riley Racing Mazda RX-8 off the track was the only interruption in the first hour.  However, by the one hour mark of the race, the rains became very heavy and lap times dropped off by roughly eight seconds.  Combs continued to lead until he collided with the Porsche Boxster driven by Dinah Weisberg in Turn 1.  Both cars spun and Combs became stuck in the mud with a flat tire.  This knocked Combs' No. 56 out of the lead and brought out the caution.

The point leading No. 25 briefly retook the lead as a result, but after a round of pit stops and driver changes, Johnson took over the lead.  However, the car on the move was the No. 31 with Kleinubing now behind the wheel.  Kleinubing quickly moved himself up to second before another full course due to a wreck involving the Ford Focus ST of Bret Seafuse and the BMW 128i of Elivan Goulart.  This closed the pack back together and allowed Kleinubing to begin an assault on Johnson.

Just as the rain began to let up, Kleinubing got by Johnson to take the lead with 37 minutes to go.  Meanwhile, the No. 25 now driven by Long was dropping back through the pack.  Multiple drivers were able to get by the Freedom Autosport MX-5 and the championship was completely out of their grasp.

With a half-hour remaining, the No. 56, now driven by Jeff Mosing, crashed into the tires, bringing out the final full course yellow and closing the pack up again.  On the final restart, last year's Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year Andy Lally barged by Johnson in Turn 1 to take second away.  Contact was made between Lally's Kia and Johnson's Honda in the process.  Once the rain completely stopped, Lally began to reel in Kleinubing as the track dried.  This was literally a championship battle, as whoever won the race would take the title.

Lally appeared to have the faster car, but put a wheel off course with less than two laps to go.  That allowed Kleinubing to open up just enough of a gap over the Kia to hold to claim the victory and with it, the 2012 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge ST Championship.

After the race, Kleinubing was very pleased with his performance and the final showdown with Lally.

"It was a tough battle all day, but you want to race for a championship, there's no one better [to race against] than Andy Lally and Billy Johnson," Kleinubing said.  "We got a little lucky today with the rain.  Without it, we were a fifth to sixth-place car.  But, the rain helped.  Once the track started drying, Lally started to catch up quickly.  Thank god it rained."

Behind Kleinubing and Lally was the pairing of Johnson and Trevor Hopwood in third.  The No. 15 Multimatic Motorsports Ford Focus ST driven by Gunnar Jeannette and James Gue finished fourth, while the No. 76 Honda Civic of Gareth Nixon and David Thilenius rounded out the top-5.

The BimmerWorld No. 80 of team owner James Clay and John Capestro-Dubets was sixth, followed by the CJ Wilson Racing No. 04 Mazda RX-8 of Marc Miller and Kyle Gimple.  The No. 50 Berg Racing Porsche Boxster was eighth, while the i-Moto No. 30 of Bocchino and Ryan Ellis was ninth.  Long and Whitis' No. 25 rounded out the top-10.

Kleinubing claimed the ST title by just three points over the duo of Long and Whitis, and four over Lally in third.  Lally's normal teammate, Nic Jonsson, who was not at Lime Rock Friday, finished in a tie for fourth with the BimmerWorld duo of Clay and Capestro-Dubets, 36 points out of the lead. 

Saturday brings the season finale for the CTSCC's Grand Sport (GS) class and the Rolex Sports Car Series back at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut.  The GS race is scheduled for a 10:30am start, while the Rolex Sports Car Series finale will roll off a little after 3:00pm.

Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager and a Senior Writer for Frontstretch.com. He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.

Martin Truex, Jr., Gordon Win Sprint Cup Practices at Dover
by Phil Allaway

On Friday, opening practice for the Sprint Cup Series was delayed approximately 30 minutes due to early morning rain showers, and again later on due to water seeping up through the concrete surface.  However, once the cars got out on track, it was the Michael Waltrip Racing stable that quickly showed that they had some speed to spare.  Martin Truex, Jr. in the NAPA Toyota that was fastest, turning in a lap of 22.918 seconds (157.082 mph).  Teammate and fellow Chaser Clint Bowyer was second with a 22.989 second lap, while Denny Hamlin was third.  Mark Martin in the third MWR Toyota was fourth, while Greg Biffle rounded out the top-5.

As far as the rest of the Chasers were concerned, Kasey Kahne was eighth quickest, followed by Kevin Harvick in ninth.  Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was 12th quickest, Tony Stewart 15th, and Jimmie Johnson was 25th.  The stragglers were Brad Keselowski in 29th, Jeff Gordon in 36th and Matt Kenseth in a distant 44th.

In the second practice session, Gordon picked up the pace significantly in order to win the session with a lap of 23.115 seconds (155.743 mph).  Joey Logano was second, followed by Johnson in third.  Kurt Busch was fourth quickest, while go-or-go-homer David Stremme was fifth in his Inception Motorsports Toyota.

As for the Chasers, behind Gordon and Johnson was Keselowski in sixth, Kahne in 13th, Biffle in 14th and Hamlin in 17th.  Truex concentrated on race runs and ended up 22nd quickest, while Bowyer was 32nd, Harvick 35th, Kenseth 38th, Earnhardt Jr. 41st and Stewart 44th.

Sad News: Chris Economaki Dies at 91

Early Friday morning, legendary motorsports journalist Chris Economaki died in his sleep at a nursing home in Wyckoff, New Jersey.  He was 91 years old.

Economaki fell in love with motorsports in the late 1920's in his native Ridgewood, New Jersey.  At the time, there was a race track essentially in the middle of the town. (Today, there is nothing left of the track, but there is a "Race Track Road" in Ridgewood that runs near where the track was).  He would sneak in to watch the action.  By age 14, he was already writing a column for National Auto Racing News, which was the precedessor of National Speed Sport News.

Economaki eventually took over National Speed Sport News and served as the publication's jack of all trades.  This lasted up until last year, when failing health and other factors forced him to shut down the print edition and make the publication online-only.  While there, he helped to launch the careers of many motorsports journalists, including our former colleague, John Potts, whom Economaki hired to write for the paper at the tender age of 12.  It has since been purchased by Ralph Sheheen and now operates a website and publishes a monthly magazine.

To many fans, Economaki will be best remembered for his work on television.  Economaki first worked as a pit reporter on the earliest Grand National race telecasts on ABC's Wide World of Sports starting in 1961.  His skills behind the mike and unparalleled knowledge of the sport took him all over the world, covering NASCAR, Indycars, Formula One, Sports Cars, and even the Bathurst 1000 in Australia.  He worked for ABC, CBS, ESPN, the Seven Network (Australia) and other various outlets before stepping away from television in the late 1990's.

Economaki is survived by two daughters, Corinne and Tina, along with two grandchildren.

Grand-Am Releases 2013 Schedule

On Friday morning, Grand-Am Road Racing officially released the schedules for the Rolex Sports Car Series and the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge.  There are some rather substantial changes.

Firstly, the number of races on the calendar drops one from 13 to 12.  Back during the Grand-Am/ALMS merger announcement, this season length was said to be ideal.  Four tracks have been dropped from the calendar.  Those are the roval at Homestead-Miami Speedway, New Jersey Motorsports Park, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and the short course at Watkins Glen International. 

In their place are three new tracks.  The first of those is the brand new Circuit of the Americas near Austin, Texas that will host their first race, the U.S. Grand Prix for Formula One in November.  Road Atlanta will join the schedule with a sprint race in April, while the new infield road course at the renovated Kansas Speedway is on the schedule in August.  Road America will no longer be in June as support to the Nationwide Series.  Instead, Grand-Am will join ALMS as part of a combination weekend the same weekend that Sprint Cup and Nationwide will be in Watkins Glen.

2013 Rolex Sports Car Series Schedule

January 26-27 Rolex 24 at Daytona, Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, FL
March 2 Circuit of the Americas, Austin, TX
April 6 Barber Motorsports Park, Leeds, AL
April 20 Road Atlanta, Braselton, GA
June 1 Belle-Isle Park, Detroit, MI
June 15 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, OH
June 30 Sahlen's Six Hours at the Glen, Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, NY
July 26 Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Speedway, IN
August 10 Road America, Elkhart Lake, WI
August 17 Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, KS
September 8 Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Salinas, CA
September 28 Lime Rock Park, Lakeville, CT

2013 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Schedule

January 25 Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, FL
March 2 Circuit of the Americas, Austin, TX
April 6 Barber Motorsports Park, Leeds, AL
April 20 Road Atlanta, Braselton, GA
June 15 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, OH
June 29 Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, NY
July 26 Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Speedway, IN
August 10 Road America, Elkhart Lake, WI
August 17 Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, KS
September 8 Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Salinas, CA
September 27-28 Lime Rock Park, Lakeville, CT

Have news for The Frontstretch?  Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com with a promising lead or tip.

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Coming Monday in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- AAA 400 Race Recap by Jeff Wolfe
-- Secret Star and Stat of the Race by TBA
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, and more!
 
Monday on the Frontstretch:

Thinkin' Out Loud: AAA 400 by Bryan Davis Keith
We'll have an excellent recap of Sunday's AAA 400 from Dover International Speedway

Commentary by TBA
A commentary about the hottest topic leaving Dover.

Bowles-Eye View by Tom Bowles
Tom brings back his weekly post-race commentary with all of the insight you need from Chase race No. 3 at Dover.

Big Six: AAA 400 by Amy Henderson
Looking for all you need to know leaving Sunday's event at Dover? Amy has your who, what, when, where, why and how from a weekend of racing.

Pace Laps: Dover by the Frontstretch Staff
In our newest column this season, we'll take a look at the biggest stories to keep an eye on in each series after a weekend at Dover, Delaware..

Nationwide Breakdown: OneMain Financial 200 by Bryan Davis Keith
All the post-race analysis you need following Saturday afternoon's Nationwide Series race from Dover.

Tracking the Trucks: Smith's 350 by Beth Lunkenheimer
Beth has all the post-race analysis you need following Saturday night's Camping World Truck Series race from Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

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