Colodny finishes fourth in debut

Local racer Dallas Colodny made his Late Model debut at Toyota Speedway in Irwindale, Calif., Saturday night. Colodny, who spent the last couple of seasons in the ASA SuperTrucks, qualified eighth in the 32-car Late Model field, and took the checkered flag in fourth place.

Meanwhile, his younger brother Hunter was at Shasta Speedway, where he finished 15th in a 21-car field in the Legends of the Pacific division.

A couple of local racers will be in action tonight; Jerry Allec Jr. will compete in the SRL Southwest Tour race at All American Speedway in Roseville, and Mackena Bell has her second Super Late Model outing of the season in Irwindale.

Bell is holding a fund-raising golf tournament at Empire Ranch Golf Course in Carson City on May 9 in an effort to secure sponsorship to for the last four races of the 22-race season.

- Despite the cold, blustery weather Sunday, the pit grandstands were well-filled for the drivers' meeting at Reno-Fernley Raceway's first test and tune session on the 3/8 mile banked dirt oval.

Cars from the Modified, Pro Stock, Hobby Stock, Pure Stock Mini, Modified Mini, Dwarf, and 318 divisions were on hand, as well as a lone Sprint 100 open-wheeler.

The track appears to be in excellent shape, fast and smooth. Another test and tune session is scheduled for Sunday, and admission for spectators is free. Call 291-8908 or 240-2851 for more information.

- Tonight is the season opener for TT racing for motorcycles and quads at Thunder Bowl Speedway in Mound House. Gates open at 3 p.m., and admission for spectators is $7, with kids five and under free. Call 450-7167 for details.

- Formula 1 officiating came into question last week in Australia when stewards took forever to deploy the safety car, then took an equally long time to get it off the track after Williams driver Kazuki Najakima's accident.

Conspiracy theorists e-mailing Dave Despain's Wind Tunnel program on SPEED on Sunday night attributed the delay to an attempt to assist eventual winner Jensen Button maintain his leading position in the race.

There were some post-race surprises, too. A 25-second penalty was levied against Toyota driver Jarno Trulli for passing McLaren's Lewis Hamilton while the safety car was on course, dropping him from third place to 12th, out of the points. Then on Thursday, a review determined that Hamilton and McLaren had provided "misleading" evidence, and Trulli was restored to third place while Hamilton was disqualified. And Red Bull's Sebastien Vettel was penalized for contact with BMW-Sauber driver Robert Kubica in the closing laps of the race, a call that both commentator David Hobbs and I question. And to add insult to injury, Vettel and Red Bull received a $50,000 fine because Vettel continued to drive with a damaged car. If NASCAR were to do that, they'd be able to bail out the GM, Chrysler, and Ford with the fine money!

- This weekend is one of the busiest so far in the 2009 racing season. Formula 1 continues its far-east swing with the Malaysian Grand Prix, televised tonight on SPEED at 1 a.m. Thunderstorms and heavy rain are predicted, so it could be a very interesting event.

The IndyCar Series opens its season with a street race in St. Petersburg, Florida. Qualifying is at 2 p.m. today on VERSUS, with the race at 11 a.m. Sunday on the same channel. Twenty-two cars are entered, thankfully without rolling chicanes Marty Roth and Milka Duno. Also missing is alleged tax evader Helio Castroneves, who is on trial this week and next. His seat at Penske Racing will be occupied by Australian Will Power.

- NASCAR is at the very fast Texas Motor Speedway, with the Nationwide race on ESPN at 11:30 a.m. today and the Sprint Cup coverage on FOX starting at 10:30 a.m. Sunday. It looks like Jimmie Johnson's team has hit their stride with the win at Martinsville last weekend. Some fans are unhappy with Johnson's "bump and run" on Denny Hamlin at Martinsville, but Hamlin ruefully admitted in a post-race interview that he would have done the same thing if the positions had been reversed.