HERTA READY TO BEGIN NEW STATE OF ENDURANCE.Byline: TIM TIM Timothy TIM Technical Interchange Meeting TIM Transient Intermodulation Distortion TIM Time Is Money TIM The Invisible Man (movie) TIM Telecom Italia Mobile (Italian cellular provider) HADDOCK Motor Sports Bryan Herta begins a new stage in his auto racing career this weekend at Sebring International Raceway Sebring International Raceway is a road course auto racing facility located in Sebring, Florida. The raceway occupies a portion of Hendricks Field, a former military training base and currently an active airport for private and commercial traffic. for the 12 Hours of Sebring, the season opener for the American Le Mans Series The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consists of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. . It will be the Valencia driver's first race in an endurance car and his first season of endurance racing. After months of testing and preparation, Herta said he is still trying to get used to having multiple drivers on his team. An even greater challenge has been his Panoz Motor Sports team adding new drivers and changing drivers. Herta started testing in the offseason with Terry Borcheller as his co-driver. But Borcheller had trouble physically fitting into the LMP LMP left mentoposterior (position of fetus); last menstrual period. LMP abbr. last menstrual period LMP Last menstrual period, see there 1 entry. David Donohue took Borcheller's spot on the team about two weeks ago. Now, the Panoz team has added a third driver, Bill Auberlen, for the 12 Hours of Sebring. Herta, who comes from the CART FedEx Series and one-driver-per-car teams, said the multiple drivers has taken some adjustment. ``It's a different thing for me entirely,'' said Herta, a Hart High of Newhall graduate. ``I'm not used to seeing someone else driving the car.'' In order for the drivers to get familiar with each other, the Panoz team has been in Sebring since Monday, turning laps and preparing the car for Saturday's race. Aside from making adjustments to the car, the drivers have been getting acquainted with each other in a relatively short period of time. ``It was less than ideal,'' Herta said. ``But we're lucky we're at Sebring here for a week of track time.'' The 12 Hours of Sebring will be celebrating its 50th anniversary and the list of winners is impressive. A.J. Foyt, Dan Gurney, Mario Andretti and Herta's former CART boss Bobby Rahal head a list of auto racing legends who have won the 12 Hours of Sebring. ``The track has a lot of history,'' Herta said. ``The roll call is a who's who of drivers who have won this thing. For me, this being my first race, I hope we can run clean and all 12 hours. I'd like to finish on the podium. If we do that, I'll be real happy.'' --Four in a row? Newman-Haas driver Cristiano da Matta Cristiano Monteiro da Matta (born September 19, 1973, in Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil) is an auto racing driver, winner of the American CART Championship in 2002, and former Toyota Formula One driver. won his third straight race by taking the CART FedEx Series season opener in Monterrey, Mexico, on Sunday. He is now in a position to become a part of history. If da Matta can win the Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 14, he will become only the third CART driver to win four races in a row. The last driver to do it was Alex Zanardi in 1998. Al Unser Jr. won four races in a row in 1990. No CART driver has won five races in a row. ``I can't wait to get to Long Beach,'' da Matta said after winning the Tecate Telmex Grand Prix in Mexico. ``Everywhere that didn't count (in testing), we were the fastest, so it is good to be fast here and achieve some results.'' Da Matta came into Long Beach last year with a chance to win two in a row but couldn't get around Helio Castroneves, who has since moved with Team Penske to the Indy Racing League The Indy Racing League, better known as IRL, is the sanctioning body of a predominantly American based open-wheel racing series. The League consists of two series, the premiere IndyCar Series . But da Matta shouldn't feel too bad about not being able to pass Castroneves last year. No one could as Castroneves won the pole and led every lap. Another streak intact for da Matta is his consecutive wins at Monterrey. In the two years of the race, da Matta has won twice. ``I'm glad I can leave here with sweet memories again,'' da Matta said. ``I think the Mexican fans are great and I want to thank them for treating me so well. I know they were all pulling for a Mexican to win, but they still treated me great. I'm already looking forward to coming back next year.'' --Moving up: NASCAR NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing), organization that sanctions American stock-car races, est. 1948. It held its first race in Daytona Beach, Fla. Winston Cup driver Tony Stewart put himself in quite a ditch when he only completed two laps and finished last in the Daytona 500 to start the season. Since then the driver of the Joe Gibbs Racing Joe Gibbs Racing (also known as JGR) is a group of NASCAR racing teams owned by Joe Gibbs, who first started racing on the NASCAR circuit in 1991. Headquartered in Huntersville, North Carolina, more notably near Charlotte, the team amassed three NEXTEL Cup Championships Pontiac has moved into the top five in points and is in championship contention. His win in the MNBA MNBA Minimum Normal Burst Altitude America 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway Atlanta Motor Speedway (formerly Atlanta International Raceway) is a superspeedway in Hampton, Georgia, twenty miles (32 km) south of Atlanta. It is a 1.54-mile (2.48 km) quad-oval track with a seating capacity of over 125,000. It opened in 1960 as a 1.5 mile standard oval. on Sunday moved him from 11th to fifth in points. ``I'm really excited about our point situation,'' Stewart said. ``I'm looking at it from the prospective of top-fives. We've been in the top-five for the past three weeks, so that right there makes me extremely excited about the possibility of what might lay ahead of us.'' THIS WEEKEND'S RACES NASCAR WINSTON CUP Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 Site: Darlington, S.C. Schedule: Today, qualifying (Fox Sports Net, 11 a.m.); Sunday, race (FOX, 9:30 a.m.). Track: Darlington Raceway (egg-shaped oval, 1.366 miles, 25 degrees banking in turns 1-2, 23 degrees in turns 3-4). Race distance: 400 miles, 293 laps. Last race: Tony Stewart passed Ward Burton with 24 laps to go and held off Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win the MBNA MBNA Monument Builders of North America MBNA Mercedes-Benz North America MBNA Maryland Bank, National Association MBNA Maryland Bank North America MBNA Mount Baker Nurses Association (Bellingham, Washington) America 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Last year: Dale Jarrett overcame a series of unusual events before riding to victory. He started second, then fell to 31st by lap 60 when his pit crew failed to properly attach two lug nuts to his left front wheel. But in the race's most critical moment, it was Jarrett's pit crew that came through to get him out in front of Steve Park with 16 laps left. Fast facts: Park returns to racing this week. At Darlington Raceway last September, he crashed and suffered a brain injury in a Busch Series event. ... Dale Earnhardt set the race record of 139.958 mph in 1993. Next race: Food City 500, March 24, Bristol, Tenn. On the net: www.nascar.com BUSCH GRAND NATIONAL DarlingtonRaceway.com 200 Site: Darlington, S.C. Schedule: Today, qualifying, 9:30 a.m.; Saturday, race (FX, 9:30 a.m.). Track: Darlington Raceway (egg-shaped oval, 1.366 miles, 25 degrees banking in turns 1-2, 23 degrees in turns 3-4). Race distance: 200 miles, 147 laps. Last race: Pole winner Jeff Burton came from behind following his final pit stop and pulled away to win at Las Vegas on March 2 - his 16th Busch victory. Next race: Channellock 250, March 23, Bristol, Tenn. On the net: www.nascar.com CRAFTSMAN TRUCKS Darlington 200 Site: Darlington, S.C. Schedule: Today, race, 1:30 p.m. Track: Darlington Raceway (egg-shaped oval, 1.366 miles, 25 degrees banking in turns 1-2, 23 degrees in turns 3-4). Race Distance: 200 miles, 147 laps. Next race: Advance Auto Parts Founded in 1932, Advance Auto Parts (NYSE: AAP), headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, is the second-largest retailer of automotive replacement parts and accessories in the United States. AAP had 2005 sales of approx. $4. 250, April 13, Martinsville, Va. On the net: www.nascar.com FORMULA ONE Malaysian Grand Prix This article is about Formula One race. For other uses, see Malaysian Grand Prix (disambiguation). First included in the Formula One World Championship in 1999, the current Malaysian Grand Prix Site: Kuala Lumpur. Schedule: Sunday, qualifying (Speed Channel, 9 p.m.); Monday, race, (Speed Channel, 10:30 p.m.). Track: Sepang International Circuit The Sepang F1 International Circuit is the venue used for the Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix, A1 Grand Prix as well as the MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix. It is also used as a venue for many other major motorsport events. (permanent road course, 3.443 miles, 15 turns). Race Distance: 192.879 miles, 56 laps. Last race: Michael Schumacher avoided a pileup at the start and easily held off Juan Pablo Montoya Juan Pablo Montoya Roldán (born September 20 1975 in Bogotá, Colombia) is a race car driver in NASCAR for Chip Ganassi Racing and a former Formula One and Indycar driver. He was born in Bogotá where he was taught the techniques of karting from an early age by his father Pablo, an to win his third straight Australian Grand Prix This article is about Formula One race. For other uses, see Australian Grand Prix (disambiguation). The Australian Grand Prix is a Formula One race that is part of the annual Formula One championship season. on March 3. Next race: Brazilian Grand Prix The Brazilian Grand Prix (Portuguese: Grande Prêmio do Brasil) is a Formula One championship race which occurs at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in Interlagos, Brazil. , March 31, Sao Paulo. On the net: http://www.formula1.com INDY RACING LEAGUE Bombardier/ATV Indy 200 Site: Avondale, Ariz. Schedule: Saturday, qualifying, 11 a.m.; Sunday, race (ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. , 1 p.m.). Track: Phoenix International Raceway Phoenix International Raceway, or just PIR, is a one mile tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona. It opened in 1964, as the new home of major open-wheel racing in the Phoenix area, replacing the track at the Arizona State Fairgrounds as an automobile racing venue. (oval, 1 mile, 11 degrees banking in turns 1-2, 9 degrees in turns 3-4). Race Distance: 200 miles, 200 laps. Last race: Defending series champion Sam Hornish Jr., who won the final race last season, won the season-opening Grand Prix of Miami on March 2, leading 166 of the 200 laps. Next race: California 400, March 24, Fontana, Calif. On the net: www.indyracingleague.com NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION
The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Mac Tools Gatornationals Site: Gainesville, Fla. Schedule: Today, qualifying, 8 a.m.; Saturday, qualifying, 8 a.m. (ESPN ESPN Entertainment and Sports Programming Network 2, 5 p.m., tape); Sunday, eliminations, 8 a.m. (ESPN2, 2 p.m., tape). Track: Gainesville Raceway. Last race: Del Worsham denied John Force his 100th career victory by beating him in the Funny Car final at the Checker Schuck's Kragen Nationals in Chandler, Ariz., on Feb. 24. Tony Schumacher won the Top Fuel final over Larry Dixon and Bruce Allen topped Warren Johnson in the Pro Stock category. Next race: SummitRacing.com Nationals, April 7, Las Vegas. On the net: www.nhra.com AMERICAN LE MANS SERIES MOBIL 1 12 HOURS OF SEBRING Site: Sebring, Fla. Schedule: Saturday, race, 8:30 a.m. (Speed Channel). Track: Sebring International Raceway. Race distance: 12 hours (timed event). Next race: Grand Prix of Sonoma, May 16-19, Sonoma, Calif. On the net: www.imsaracing.net CAPTION(S): box Box: THIS WEEKEND'S RACES (see text) |
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