Auto Club Speedway President Dave Allen Talks About Auto Club 400 NASCAR Weekend

NASCAR fans who come to the track for the Auto Club 400 weekend (March 19-22, 2015) will notice more information booths and more people in place to answer questions and guide fans to the right place for the events around the track. Image Credit: Michael Zito via Auto Club Speedway (2014)

Auto Club Speedway President Dave Allen Talks About Auto Club 400 NASCAR Weekend

At the end of last year, Dave Allen was named President of Auto Club Speedway by the parent company, International Speedway Corporation, President - John R. Saunders.

Dave was picked to succeed Gillian Zucker, who recently became president of business operations for the Los Angeles Clippers Basketball team after a 9 year run at ACS. Gillian came to be President of Auto Club Speedway after stints in executive management of Kansas Speedway and Daytona International Speedway.

The track, initially called California Speedway, was built in the late 1990s by racing mogul Roger Penske. Allen joined Penske at the track in 1999 and became senior director of sales and marketing in 2002.

Allen most recently served as the track's vice president of sales and marketing, and helped Zucker complete the naming rights with Auto Club of Southern California in 2008.

In 2015, there have been a few motorsports events already at ACS - but none are as large in terms of fan interest as next week's event, The Auto Club 400 with NASCAR on March 22, and the MAVTv 500 Verizon IndyCar Series race set for June 27.

Dave Allen, President of Auto Club Speedway (right) stands with racecar driver AJ Allmendinger (center), and former PGA and Champions Tour Player Dave Stockton in the grandstands tee box at Auto Club Speedway. Image Credit: Joann DeLeoz Young via Auto Club Speedway (2015)

Welcome Dave Allen ...

<<< Audio of interview here (questions below) >>>

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You have been involved with Auto Club Speedway since near its beginning - What has most impressed you about the facility and its evolution through the last 16 years since you came on board?

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Last Thursday, it was announced Auto Club Speedway will upgrade its safety features in Turn 1 by adding about 600 feet of tire-barrier inside the turn. What are the future plans and timing concerning a more permanent solution to safety and walls around the track?

Contributed from Facebook: When was the track last resurfaced? - Any plans on resurfacing the track?

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The facility at Auto Club Speedway has a large infield - Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where the Indy 500 is held, has successfully transformed its infield into a very compelling road course race track - reminiscent of the layout pace found at the track in Portland Oregon ... is Auto Club Speedway planning on attracting additional professional racing through a robust road course addition as IMS has done?

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Dave Allen, President of Auto Club Speedway, takes a swing from the grandstands tee box at Auto Club Speedway. Image Credit: Joann DeLeoz Young via Auto Club Speedway (2015)

Speaking of road course racing, March 10th, you were in a track event promotion on involving golf with multifaceted racecar driver AJ Allmendinger - who, by the way, is having his most promising start to the 2015 NASCAR season (currently P5 in points) with the Kroger/USO sponsored Chevy of JTG Daugherty Racing. Tell us how this came about and some of the impressions and conversation you had with the IndyCar, Sports Car, and NASCAR driver during this golfing challenge.

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Join us on Thursday March 19, 2015 for the Hangar 24 Fan Party just before the Haulers arrive! - When: 5pm-7pm - Where:  Auto Club Speedway Hangar 24 Craft Beer Zone near the Gate B entrance to the O’Reilly Auto Parts Fan Zone - Why:  Watch the NASCAR haulers arrive at the speedway, meet other NASCAR fans, taste Hangar 24’s Craft Brews and maybe see a driver or two. Image Credit: Auto Club Speedway

The NASCAR Hauler Parade begins the NASCAR weekend on March 19th at 5:00pm PT, with Qualifications on March 20th in a knockout format - please highlight the events surrounding Qualifications? What do fans need to be on the look out for while attending Race Day for the Auto Club 400 with NASCAR this coming weekend on March 22?

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ENDS

Schedule for the Auto Club 400 weekend at Auto Club Speedway (March 19-22, 2015):

• Thursday, March 19 @ 5:00pm PT is the NASCAR Hauler Parade - Come welcome your favorite NASCAR team to Southern California (begins at 6:00pm from Rancho Cucamonga Quakes Baseball Stadium)

• Friday, March 20 is Pole Day (NASCAR Qualifying Day)

• Saturday, March 21 is the NASCAR Xfinity (formerly called Nationwide) Series Treatmyclot.com 300

• Sunday, March 22 is the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Auto Club 400

• Fifth Cup race on the 2015 schedule

• Free parking, unbelievable menu items and a full weekend of entertainment, live music and fun await fans in the Speedway’s FanZone.

• Tickets start at $45. To purchase tickets call 800-944-RACE (7223), log on to www.autoclubspeedway.com or visit the Auto Club Speedway Ticket Office.

 • Fans can take Metro Link from Lancaster, Oxnard or Oceanside directly to the track for $19 roundtrip.

• Auto Club 400 Race will air on FOX beginning at 12:30pm PT

... notes from The EDJE

Paul Tracy Close To Becoming A Bricklayer In IndyCar

Paul Tracy during a time he thought a three-race agreement with KV Racing Technologies announced at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach might lead to a full ride in 2011 ... it was not to be. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2010)

Paul Tracy Close To Becoming A Bricklayer In IndyCar

Paul Tracy is looking to have a full year secured ride in the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series ... and he is close to getting his deal.

In a conversation at the 50th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona with the media in attendance, Tracy shared that he is nearing an agreement on driving for a full season with Michael Shank Racing, a team partially owned by AJ Allmendinger, co-driving winner of the 2012 Rolex 24 at Daytona held this past weekend.

In looking to find additional information on the progress of these developments, this posting at Twitter this morning from Paul Tracy speaks volumes:

paultracy3 paul tracy

When it comes to getting things done, we need fewer architects and more brick layers ................

For a little understanding of what frustration Las Vegas resident the "Thrill From West Hill" is talking about, one needs to know what may be standing in the way of finalizing a Michael Shank Racing DW12 effort to deliver a full season ride for Paul Tracy.

This excerpted and edited from The Sault Star -

Tracy's last ride: Racer close to 1-year deal
By DEAN MCNULTY, QMI AGENCY - Jan. 30, 2012

It was Tracy who spotted a then-teenaged Allmendinger at a go-kart race in Arizona more than a dozen years ago and decided to help the youngster with his racing career.

Tracy even introduced Allmendinger to some high-powered ChampCar World Series team owners that resulted in Allmendinger winning the Atlantic Series championship in 2003. But after only three seasons in ChampCar, Allmendinger defected to NASCAR, a move that Tracy was highly critical of at the time.

Time, however, seems to have healed those wounds because in an interview with Associated Press motor sports writer Jenna Fryer at Daytona where Tracy was driving the No. 77 Doran Racing Riley Ford, he said there are only some finishing touches that need to be made to get him in an MSR Dallara DW12 come March 25 for the opening IndyCar race at the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

"We have a car, we have a sponsor, but we need to put an engine package together," Tracy said of the contract talks.

That may be a sticking point as MSR had been reported to be in line of one of the new Lotus engine packages that will debut in the IndyCar series this season.

Tracy has a long term relationship with rival Honda, which has backed the Canadian driver for the past four seasons as he attempted to get his open-wheel racing career back on track.

The 43-year-old native of Toronto has not had a season-long contract since ChampCar folded in 2007.
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"What I think what has hampered me most over the last few years is really only being in a car three, four, five times a year," he said. "When you are not out there testing all the time with the likes of Dario (Franchitti) or Scott Dixon and all these guys, they are in the car all the time.

"When you are out of the car, you get rusty. It didn't affect me as bad in '07 when ... I jumped back in and I could get going right away. And I can still get going pretty well, but it's so competitive now that you just can't be out of a car for that long."

Tracy said most teams in the IndyCar Series are at a competitive disadvantage at the best of times going up against the financial might of Chip Ganassi Racing and Penske Racing.

"It's very, very difficult to get in top notch, top level IndyCar equipment because it's so expensive and Penske and Ganassi really have a handle on that," he said.
[Reference Here]

The 2012 season provides a unique opportunity for a new team to be competitive right away due to the fact this is the first year of a new formula. All teams are starting out with a new chassis, with a choice of one of three new turbo-charged power plants - Honda, Chevrolet, and Lotus.

This scenario just might be what the doctor ordered for a new team, that has a winning tradition behind it, with a driver who has the skill, experience, and heart to be a bricklayer in the IZOD IndyCar Series.

... notes from The EDJE


- Article first published as Paul Tracy Close To Becoming A Bricklayer In Indycar on Technorati -

First Grand-Am Races of 2012 in the record books.

DAYTONA BEACH, FL (January 29, 2012) - Roush Yates Engines powered Ford Daytona Prototype series entries to a 1-2-3 "podium finish" in Sunday's 50th Running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The 761-lap endurance race was green flagged yesterday afternoon.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series star AJ Allmendinger drove the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Ford / Riley Daytona Prototype entry to the win. It was an epic battle over the final two hours between three Ford DP entries in one of the most competitive Rolex 24 events in recent memory.
Allmendinger traded the lead with Michael Shank Racing teammate Felipe Nasr (No. 6) and pole sitter Ryan Dalziel (No. 8) in the Starworks Motorsport Ford / Riley over the final hours - even in the light of being placed in the car for a stout 3-hour stint to anchor the No. 60's driving chores to the checkered flag finish.

Dalziel finished second while Nasr took third in clearly the greatest day of sports car/road racing performance history at Roush Yates. Allmendinger's margin of victory was 5.198 seconds over Dalziel. 

When the media seemingly and rightfully tagged the BMWs and Corvettes as the teams to beat in the 14-car DP division, Ford /Riley and a team of engineers, technicians, and assemblers at Roush Yates Engines were able to shed Ford's "underdog" moniker as soon as all six Ford DP entries touched the Daytona pavement early last week. They were fast and it proved no fluke once the top starting spot was earned by Dalziel.

"It just doesn't get any better in road racing than winning the 50th Running of the Rolex 24 - such a prestigious event," said Doug Yates, Roush Yates CEO. "This was just an amazing accomplishment from everyone at Roush Yates, who had a hand in making these engines perform flawlessly, to the teams and drivers who put their talent on the line and trusted our technology. This is the 10th year that we have had engines in the Rolex 24, and Roush Yates has stayed committed to making this program better each year. This was truly our year."

In addition to Allmendinger, the winning No. 60 driver roster consisted of IndyCar driver Justin Wilson, John Pew, and Ozz Negri as the team took home the coveted Rolex watches and trophy.

A tired and sweating Allmendinger in victory lane said: "I want to thank everyone at Roush Yates and (DP program manager John) Maddox. Wow, I am so worn out right now ... but this Roush Yates motor was a rocket ship. Michael puts together great race cars and we owe this to him. Ford 1-2-3 on the podium ... wow that is absolutely amazing."

John Maddox, Roush Yates Engines' Daytona Prototype/Road Racing program manager commented: "This was our 10th attempt to win this thing overall. Finally! In these past 10 years we have been really good down here ... and had tragedy strike (our engines). Now it all came together. We had a few practice and qualifying struggles, and even an early race concern. But the professionalism of every person down here connected to these Ford teams enabled this great outcome. We are definitely connected with the right partners in Michael Shank Racing and Starworks."
BMW Performance 200 (Friday)

DAYTONA BEACH, FL (January 27, 2012) - A Roush Yates-built Ford Boss 302R engine sat on the pole with driver Shelby Blackstock for Friday's BMW Performance 200 Grand Am Continental Tire Series race here; and it a Roush Yates-built Boss 302R that won - but with a different driver / car than the polesitter.

Jack Roush Jr. and co-driver Billy Johnson, who started from the outside pole, won Friday's season-opening Grand Am Continental Tire Series event in their No. 61 Ford Mustang.
Prior to Friday's win at Daytona, and over the past two seasons (since Miller Motorsports Park in 2009), Johnson and Roush Jr. have earned 6 wins, 14 podiums, and 17 top five finishes.
Johnson led the final 18 laps to win Friday's Grand Sport division race.

His victory with teammate Roush Jr., in the No. 61 Roush Performance Products/Gary Yeomans Ford Mustang powered by the Roush Yates-tuned Boss 302R, gave Roush's father, team owner Jack Roush, a first Grand Am victory at the Daytona International Speedway.

The margin of victory over second-place Charles Espenlaub in the No. 48 Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3 was 1.061 seconds. Espenlaub's teammate Bryan Sellers was third in the No. 46 BMW.
Polesitter Blackstock and co-driver Jade Buford finished a respectable 10th in the No. 51 Roush-Yates-powered Mustang. Twenty-five of the race's 58 laps were run under a total of six caution flags.

"I think pretty much the first hour and a half was a close moment," Roush Jr. said of the racing. "There're opportunities to have incidents at any moment in time, especially at the beginning of the race, it was really sketchy." The race began on a wet surface, which dried as proceedings progressed. And in the end, things played in the Roush team's favor.

"It's great to finish this race first, especially after not being able to finish in the last two years," Johnson said. "To come back and have a strong finish and start off the season on a good note rather than a hole with zero points is huge."

(Portions of this article were courtesy of Grand Am media)

Special Note of Congratulations to all our friends who raced at Daytona this weekend. Scott Pruett, A.J. Allmendinger, Michael McDowell, Andy Lally, Anthony Lazzaro, John Edwards, Darren Law, Patrick Dempsey, Memo Gidley, Joe Foster, Jonathan Bomarito, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Joey Hand, Randy Pobst, James Sofronas, David Donohue, Dario Franchitti, Owen Trinkler, Terry Borcheller, Eric Curren, Boris Said, Charles Espenlaub, Bill Auberlen, Jeff Westphal, James Clay, Patrick Long, Mark and Mathew Pombo. See you all at the races this year. Cheers, Dicken

NASCAR at PIR

Jimmie and Jeff

The Winning Duo

The Artist at Work in Victory Lane

JTG Pit Wagon

AJ Allmendinger

The Red Bull Car

Marcos Ambrose

Michael McDowell's Ride (Image credite: Dicken Wear)

Marcos Ambrose Spotter, Al DiRusso and the Editor at PIR April, 2010

It's always good to see old friends and fellow Karters do go in mainstream Motorsports. And it was great to see AJ get his first pole at one of our favorite tracks. AJ Allmendinger described his first NASCAR Sprint Cup pole as "a small victory" - with the fervent hope that it leads to something bigger, as in a race win.

Allmendinger led a quartet of former open-wheel stars in Friday's qualifying session for Saturday's SUBWAY Fresh Fit 600™ at Phoenix International Raceway. With a lap at 134.675 mph (26.731 seconds), Allmendinger's No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford edged Scott Speed's No. 82 Toyota (134.373 mph) for the Coors Light Pole Award. (Ed Note: Both AJ and Scott raced Karts with us as did Sam Hornish, Jr before he moved onto Indy Cars).

Sam Hornish Jr. (134.198 mph) qualified a career-best third in his No. 77 Dodge, followed by Marcos Ambrose (133.814 mph) in his No. 47 Toyota. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was fifth fastest at 133.640 mph.

"I knew we were going to be quick," Allmendinger said. "We were quick in practice, but you go out there and you just don't know how much grip is going to be on the racetrack. I knew I was going to have to get everything out of it to have a chance of beating (Speed).

"It's a small victory for us to get our first career pole together, and to start up front is really cool, but the big picture is (Saturday), and that's what we're focused on."

Speed was the 13th driver to make a qualifying attempt. Allmendinger went out 30th and had the benefit of a slightly cooler track.

"As soon as Turn 1 started getting shaded - that's when Scott ran his lap, when the shade had kind of come over - I knew the grip was going to be there, but it was a little surprising how gripped-up the racetrack got," Allmendinger said.

"It was still really hot out there, but it seems like, at a lot of these older racetracks, a couple of degrees, when it gets cooler, can really change the racetack a lot."

Speed was sporting a shaved head at Phoenix, a far cry from the blue-black dye job he had for the last two races, at Bristol and Martinsville.

"I had to shave all the black hair because that seemed to be bad luck," Speed said. "I also named our car. Her name is 'Rattlesnake.' I think it's kind of mean and sounds fast. We're in Phoenix, so it fits. I don't know which one of those has changed our luck around, but we'll continue doing all of them."

It was a game of numbers - two and four.

Capitalizing on a late caution that extended Saturday's SUBWAY Fresh Fit 600™ three laps past its scheduled distance of 375 laps, Ryan Newman and crew chief Tony Gibson snatched victory from Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Kyle Busch with a two-tire call under the final caution.

Both Busch and Johnson took four tires on Lap 373, under caution for Scott Riggs' blown tire in Turn 4 one lap earlier. Gordon, who took two tires and left pit road with the lead, spun his tires on the decisive restart on Lap 377, allowing Newman to surge into the top spot.

After two circuits under green at the flat one-mile track, Newman crossed the finish line 0.13 seconds ahead of Gordon to win his 14th NASCAR Sprint Cup race and his first since the 2008 Daytona 500 – ending a 77-race drought.

Johnson charged from seventh to third during the green-white-checkered-flag finish. Mark Martin, also on two tires for the final restart, ran fourth, one position ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya. Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer and Joey Logano completed the top 10.

Johnson extended his lead in the series standings to 36 points over Kenseth in second and to 96 over third-place Greg Biffle, who finished 22nd Saturday.

"I've got to throw Gibson under the bus - he wanted to go four, and I said, 'Just give me two,'" Newman said. "I liked the track position. I'd rather block than have to boot. I was in a good position there, obviously.

"I had restarted on the bottom side earlier tonight and could not get going. On two tires, I was kind of impressed - but there were a lot of cars behind us with two tires. It was a good situation to be in. It was just the right time, right place."

Busch and Johnson had dominated the two long green-flag runs that preceded the two-lap dash to the finish. In fact, Busch, who tied Johnson for most laps led with 113, stayed out front from the time he passed Johnson on Lap 262 until Riggs' accident 110 laps later.

"I can't freaking believe this," Busch lamented on the radio to crew chief Dave Rogers when the ninth and final yellow flag flew. "What do you want to do?"

Busch and Rogers opted for four tires. Johnson made the same call for his No. 48 team.

"I was excited to see the caution come out, because it was an opportunity to win," Johnson said. "I decided - I made the call for four tires. It's the first time that I can remember in a long time that I actually said what I wanted for a pit stop, with the way Martinsville played out and Bristol and last night's (Nationwide) race (where four-tire calls proved successful). I knew with the green-white checkered there weren't a lot of laps, but I felt we might get a caution with everybody racing so hard.

"So I made the call for four and made the most of it. We got from seventh to third and just did what we could. So, not a bad night at all. Excited to see us stretch out the points a little bit and get another top-five finish here."

Racing for the first time since March 31 surgery to repair a torn ACL in his left knee, Denny Hamlin completed the race in 30th place, two laps down.

Asked after the race if he was in pain, Hamlin replied, "More than I can tell you. I'm pretty sure I didn't do any damage or anything like that, but I'm absolutely exhausted right now."

Hamlin had Casey Mears standing by as a relief driver, but opted not to use him.

"I got a lot of encouragement from the team," said Hamlin, who fell three spots to 18th in the standings. "Through thick and thin, we're a team. I feel like they'd give their left leg for me and do everything they could do to make sure we were successful, and I felt like it was my duty and my job and that's what I'm hired to do, is to try to do the best I can and keep this team as good as we can."

Editor's Note: PIR has always been a fun track to go to for me since moving out West in 1997. When I was the President of the Arizona Sports Racing Association, we held many events at PIR. I also helped start a Kart Racing Group within ASRA after the Open Wheels Classes died off. It runs to this day in the Southwest at various tracks. As the President of the Professional Test Drivers Association of America (PTDAA), I have spent many days of private testing for OEs at PIR, and always find the staff there very helpful. A special thanks to Griffin Hickman and his staff at PIR in thee Media Center for all their help and understanding.