Allmendinger enjoys success at Rolex 24

Well, the seal on the 2012 racing season was broken last weekend with the Rolex 24 at Daytona. A.J. Allmendinger did an ironman final stint of almost 3 hours and brought his Mike Shank Racing Riley/Ford home first. It was one of the best Rolex 24 races in recent memory, if not one of the best all-time, with three cars finishing on the lead lap. A late caution flag could have changed the entire outcome, but the Shank team dodged a couple of bullets in the final half hour. The win gives Allmendinger a lot of confidence and momentum heading into the Daytona 500 with his new team, Penske Racing. If I were a betting man, I'd lay down some cash that A.J. will score his first Cup win this year, and maybe make the Chase. He was 15th in points last season, his best result since he came to NASCAR. Depending on how well the Penske engineers have done with the restrictor plate and the new fuel injection on the Penske Dodges, A.J. may be wishing he had some of the Ford power that was so evident in the Rolex 24. Ford-powered Prototypes finished 1-2-3, and had an obvious speed advantage over the other engines in the class.

There was a lot of buzz before the race about the new Corvette Daytona Prototype, but the cars had teething problems and couldn't stay with the Ford-powered entries. The top two Corvettes came home fifth and eighth, laps down. But I think the Corvette has a lot of potential, and it sure looks pretty. The narrower greenhouse on the third generation prototypes makes the all the Prototype cars look a lot zoomier, too. Porsche, as usual, ruled the GT class, but I enjoyed seeing the new Audi in the mix along with the Camaros, BMWs, and Mazda RX8s. Speed's coverage was superb as always, and I let a few weekend household projects slide to watch a good portion of the race.

I had a call last week from Anthony Guerra Jr., who is bringing Outlaw Kart racing back to northern Nevada after a hiatus. The karts used to run at Fuji Park, moved to Champion Speedway, then to Thunder Bowl in Mound House before the local organization disbanded and kart racers started traveling across the hill to Red Bluff and Chico. Guerra told me that he is building an eighth-mile oval in the infield at Rattlesnake Raceway in Fallon. He plans to have the track completed by the end of the month, and the first play day event is scheduled for March 31. Classes will include Beginner and Intermediate (Briggs-Stratton 4-stroke engines for younger drivers) as well as 250cc and 500cc Open divisions. If you have an interest in racing with the Nevada Outlaw Kart Association (NOKA) this season, you can contact Guerra at 775-997-6049.

Ford recently unveiled the 2013 Ford Fusion Sprint Cup car, the first of the new style cars to be revealed. The goal was to return to NASCAR's original "stock car" concept, with the race car more closely resembling its production relative. From the pictures I've seen, it looks like Ford has done a good job of it. The Ford Design Center spent the past year on the project, which had the goal of keeping the overall proportions of the car similar to the street version as well as an identifiable Ford front end and grille. Distinctive design and brand cues on the sides of the car were also included. It will be interesting to see what the Chevrolet and Dodge versions of their 2013 racers will look like, and how closely they will resemble the street versions. I applaud NASCAR for working with the manufacturers to make each manufacturer's race car distinctive, rather than the cookie-cutter cars of today. It will also bolster the "win on Sunday, sell on Monday" paradigm that drew manufacturers to NASCAR racing in the first place. And it will probably put a lot of the current cars on the market for ARCA, ASA, and Vintage racers to buy.