MOORESVILLE, NC (July 26, 2021) — Saturday’s broadcast of the CARS Tour’s 4th Annual Throwback 276 at Hickory Motor Speedway will now feature one of the most recognizable voices in stock car racing. Today, Pit Row TV announced Winston Kelley, Executive Director of the NASCAR Hall of Fame and MRN Radio personality, will serve as pit reporter and honorary event historian for the race broadcast. Kelley will be joined by a booth team of others passionate about the sport’s history including play-by-play announcers Steve Post and Tony Stevens, along with host Lenny Batycki.

The Honeywell Home Throwback 276 by Baker Distributing has quickly become a traditional midsummer pilgrimage for race fans across the country. Drivers and teams from the Solid Rock Carriers CARS Tour redesign their paint schemes, crew uniforms, and even their car numbers for a one-off night where they not only create new memories for themselves and the fans in attendance, but also recall old ones with friends and many former greats of auto racing who attend.

“The addition of Winston Kelley to our line-up of announcers continues Pit Row TV’s commitment as a leading streaming service provider of national caliber racing entertainment and content with familiar, interesting personalities and exemplary production quality for our subscribers,” said Tony Stevens, Chief Steward at Pit Row TV. “Winston was one of my heroes growing up and someone I looked up to as an example of what a motorsports media personality should be.”

“I’ve heard a lot about this event from Postman (Steve Post) and many others in the industry. It’s a great way to honor our sport’s deep history from grassroots to the Cup Series,” said Winston Kelley. “It is truly an honor to be asked to join the Pit Row TV team. I’m excited to see so many long time friends, make new ones, share stories and memories, and most of all enjoy a great night of short track racing, the true backbone of our sport.”

Longtime race fans will also be able to meet a variety of drivers in-person on Saturday including former NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity series drivers such as Scott Riggs, David Reutimann, Joe Nemechek, David Green and Jody Ridley. Longtime Carolina racing fans will be excited to meet former regional stars including Larry Pollard and Bosco Lowe.

Viewers who tune in to the Honeywell Home Throwback 276 by Baker Distributing can expect to see traditional Saturday afternoon qualification coverage on Pit Row TV and CARS Tour’s various social media channels, with driver introductions and the main broadcast slated to begin at approximately 7:30pm ET. The first green flag for the 138-lap super late model feature waves at 8pm ET with the late model stock event running immediately afterwards. To watch the events, fans can visit pitrow.tv/watch or carstour.tv/watch for various ways they can see the action including most popular platforms and apps like Roku and Amazon Fire TV.

For more information on Pit Row TV, follow them on major social media channels @pitrowtv. Additional information on the CARS Tour can be found at CARSRacingTour.com, or also on the tour’s various social media channels including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.

IMOLA, Italy (25 July 2021) – Young Jak Crawford demonstrated why he is considered America’s top hopeful for Formula 1, dominating a Euroformula Open weekend at Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari. The 16-year-old Texan racer won two of the three weekend races on the fast circuit, in addition to a close second, the pole position and recording the fastest race lap in all three events.

“It was a very good weekend, for sure,” said the Red Bull Junior Team driver of Team Motopark’s No. 52 Dallara F320-Spiess VW. “I feel good; I feel confident. I’m feeling very good with the car, and I’m feeling good with my driving, as well.”

Crawford also had two firsts and a second at Paul Ricard, giving him four victories and two seconds this season. He placed fourth and was top rookie in the most recent event at Hungaroring in Budapest, and placed seventh in his first race at Portimao, Portugal, on his 16th birthday. Sunday’s weekend moves Crawford into third in the standings despite missing five races.

“I’m still hoping to make a run for the championship, and the goal is to keep gaining every race,” he said. “We outscored the championship leader by a lot this weekend.”

Crawford quickly took to the 3.05-mile circuit, where he won a Formula 4 event last November. Fifth in opening practice, he improved by 1.5-seconds to run second in the second session. He then went nearly two seconds faster in qualifying, capturing the pole with a lap of 1:34.886-seconds in a red-flag shortened session, putting 0.523-seconds on the second-place qualifier.

“We never put on new tires for the practice, so we were at a disadvantage at not knowing what it would be like going into the qualifying,” he said. “We did a race run in the second practice on very old tires, and we were still quite quick. We knew we had the pace, but we were waiting until qualifying to show everything.”

The Red Bull Junior driver quickly demonstrated that advantage in the opening race at sunset on Saturday. Pulling away at the start, he built up a nine-second lead, only to have a safety car erase that advantage. Undeterred, he pulled away at the restart and went on to win by nine seconds.

“My personal highlight of the weekend was probably race one,” Crawford said. “I was really quick and put out a nine-second gap. Then after the safety car, I put out another nine-second gap. Race one and qualifying were my standout sessions, way ahead of the field for sure.”

With the top six finishers from that race inverted for Sunday morning’s second race, Crawford got out in sixth at lights-out. He passed point leader Cameron Das on lap two, got around Louis Foster for fourth on lap three, and then put two wheels in the grass at the beginning of the following lap to take third.

Crawford then needed two laps to capture second, and he quickly caught up to the race leader. Crawford followed his F3 teammate Roman Stanek the remainder of the 19-lap event, making several attempts on the final circuit before coming up 0.125-seconds short.

“It was a good battle, for sure, but it was very difficult to overtake, which is why I ended up not passing him,” he said. “Roman drove a very good race. He was a little bit better off the last corner, as I was struggling with the dirty air, so he was able to keep the gap. We definitely had the pace and almost got the win, but I just wanted to keep it safe on the last lap to avoid any incidents.”

Running the fastest lap of the race put Crawford on the pole for Sunday afternoon’s final race. He took the lead at the start, closely followed by Stanek. A multi-car incident brought out a safety car on lap 3. Stanek regained the lead prior to crossing start/finish at the restart. With Stanek forced to return the position, Crawford then led the rest of the way, winning by 4.222-seconds.

“It was quite a difficult race,” Crawford admitted. “I took the lead but then there was a safety car. There was some oil dropped down in the last two corners, and when I went for the restart I slipped on the oil in the corner. That allowed Roman to get past me, but he overtook me before the finish line so he had to give the position back to avoid getting a penalty.

“After that, once I got back out in front, I pulled away and showed strong pace. I didn’t get to show my full pace in the second race.”

The next Euroformula Open event is at Austria’s Red Bull Ring on Sept. 10-12. This weekend, Crawford returns to Budapest for an FIA F3 race at Hungaroring, three weeks after competing there in Euroformula

Portland heatwave collects several drivers in 100-mile Trans Am sprint, Local favorite Cindi Lux first in class for SGT

PORTLAND, OREG. (24 JULY 2021)- Sunday at Portland International Raceway was all about survival for the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli West Coast Championship as drivers endured nearly 150 degree temperatures from the cockpits of their TA2® machines. The heat wave moving through the Pacific Northwest also caused changing track conditions with several segments of the 1.967-mile circuit polling with traction-robbing oil.

Battling the heat and a slippery circuit, Tim Lynn charged from an eighth-place start to claim his second victory of the season. Lynn’s No. 17 Roof Options Ford Mustang crossed the line in second behind Jeff Holden, but was later promoted to first after Holden’s shocks were found to be noncompliant in post-race tech, which disqualified his race result.

“It was a hot and difficult race,” Lynn said. “We missed The Ridge. To come back and take the win was special for the team.”

The 100-mile sprint saw three different leaders, with Ken Sutherland (No. 68 Cascade Sotheby’s Chevrolet Camaro) taking the lead from pole-starter Brad McAllister (No. 28 www.PortlandImplantDentisry.com Ford Mustang) off the start. McAllister repaid the favor on the next circuit and held the point until a full course yellow brought out by Carl Rydquist on Lap 9 grouped the cars back up.

Rydquist missed qualifying on Saturday due to a clutch failure earlier that day in practice. The TA2® West Coast championship leader started from the last row and pierced into the top 10 before his car stalled in Turn 6, requiring a tow.

On the restart, Holden got the jump on McAllister. In a wheel-to-wheel dogfight, Holden contested from the outside on the back straight, moving into first and bringing Sutherland up with him. Trying to regain his position, McAllister spun off track through the Carousel. The Portland native continued under his own power, but lost out on his podium chance before retiring later in the race with mechanical issues.

While Holden pulled away from the pack, the battle for the last podium positions were just as heated as the weather, leaving the top three undecided until after the checkered flag dropped.

Lynn charged through the field and started to make his podium bid on Lap 31. The WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca winner moved into third after winning a lap-long contest with Troy Lindstrom’s No. 63 RaceCars4Rent Ford Mustang.

With 10 laps left, Sutherland shunted off course and stayed there for the remainder of the race, gifting Lynn his third podium finish of the season.

Starting sixth in the No. 67 Cascade Sothbey’s Chevrolet Camaro, Dave Kunick also had his share of action campaigning for his first podium finish of the season. After a battle against Matthew Butson ended with Buston losing brakes in the final laps, Kunick was in fourth when he inherited third from Darrell Anderson. On the final lap, Anderson ran out of gas before crossing the finish line. Kunick was issued a time penalty post-race for jumping the start, but with Anderson finishing a lap down, Kunick was able to keep his promoted second-place result.

“The track was incredibly oily and there was a lot of action from start to finish,” said Kunick. “The team did great with the set up, building a car that would outlast these grueling conditions.”

After making contact with the Turn 12 tire barrier in practice, Anderson missed qualifying as his team completely rebuilt his suspension and bodywork overnight. Starting from 15th, the No. 15 Park Place Constructors Chevrolet Camaro pilot charged to third by Lap 42 and built a sizeable gap from Kunick until running out of gas on the final lap.

Anderson was fourth at the end of the race but was later classified third following technical inspections.
“We got lucky today,” said Anderson. “The team put in a lot of hard work overnight to make sure I made the race. I was devastated when we ran out of gas on the last lap. I didn’t’ know we were in third when it happened, which made it all the more painful. To come away with a podium result after the weekend we had was a true reward.”

Mitch Marvosh recovered from a 12th-place start to finish the race in fourth. His smooth passes in the final laps of the race in the No. 29 Wolf Entertainment Ford Mustang earned Marvosh the ChillOut Move of the Race. Michele Abbate wrangled gremlins most of the weekend but was able to wheel her No. Lucas Oil Products Chevrolet Camaro to a fifth-place finish.

Local fan favorite Cindi Lux out drove John Schweitzer (No. 00 Superior Builders Inc Ford Fusion), crossing the stripe in the No. 5 Lux Performance/Black Rock Coffee Dodge Viper first in class (sixth overall) nearly 18-seconds ahead of Schweitzer.

“Today’s race had a lot of action going on all over the place, possibly due to the heat,” said Lux. “Portland is an older track and it gets greasier with higher temps. My car ran great for the first third of the race, but then the differential got hot, and about 10 laps later it was totally blow up and fried. It was a handful, but we nursed it all the home for the win.“

The Trans Am West Coast drivers will take a summer break before returning for their penultimate round at Utah Motorsports Campus October 9-10.

The next time the National TA2® drivers take the green will be on the streets of Nashville for the inaugural Music City Grand Prix August 6-9. For more information visit www.gotransam.com

Oregon local Cindi Lux to start on pole in SGT class

Driving the brand new No. 24 www.PortlandImplantDentisry.com Ford Mustang , McAllister climbed to the top of the standings immediately, beating his best time each circuit until he stuck with the 1:16.076-second flyer that put him on pole. Pulling into the pits after just four laps, McAllister held Ken Sutherland to a second-place start for Sunday’s 100-mile race by 0.052 -seconds.

PORTLAND, OREG. (24 JULY 2021)- Portland native Brad McAllister reeled off a series of fast laps early during the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli West Coast qualifying at Portland International Raceway on Saturday, claiming his first Motul Pole Award of the season.

“It couldn’t feel better to win pole at my home track,” McAllister said. “We worked really hard on this project. It’s great to finally have the car complete and running fast times, especially here at Portland in front of my family and my sponsors.

“Tomorrow is going to be a battle until the very last lap, so getting pole doesn’t mean anything but points, it’s that last lap that counts,” continued McAllister. “It’s critical to have tires left at the end and we went out there just enough to set the fastest lap so we could save our Pirelli tires for the race.”

It took Sutherland nine laps to do what McAllister did in four. After setting the second-fastest lap, the Portland native also parked his No. 68 Cascade Sotheby’s Chevrolet Camaro after four laps. However, Jeff Holden stayed out on the hot 1.915-mile circuit to pop off a 1:16.49-second lap, edging out Sutherland for second.

After watching his time be topped from the pits, Sutherland went out for another five laps to set his fastest time of the day (1:16.128-seconds), reclaiming second-place to complete an all Portland-native front row.

We were just trying to get a good lap in,” said Sutherland. “It’s our first weekend in this car, I knew Brad (McAllister) was going to be fast so our strategy was just to hang it behind him. (Jeff) Holden came back and set a fast lap, and we had to go back out. I didn’t want to put more laps on our tires, and we were digging on that last push, but it was worth it, we moved up a position.”

Holden did not go back out to challenge Sutherland, and The Ridge pole-starter settled for a second-row start in the No. 11 Joe’sRacing/MidValleyTrans/M1 Chevrolet Camaro.

“It’s never good to use up too much of your tires in qualifying, so we decided not to go back out,” said Holden. “We figured we did about as good as we were going to do on the greasy track and decided to just save the fight for the race. We will just get it to the front the long way tomorrow.”

Fourth and fifth place were only decided by .011-seconds with Chris Cook in the No. 62 RaceCars4Rent Ford Mustang taking fourth (1:16.626-seconds) followed by Matthew Butson in the No. 19 Butson Racing Chevrolet Camaro (1:16.637-seconds) starting in fifth.

In the SGT class, another Portland driver took pole. Cindi Lux out drove her closest class rival (and several TA2® cars) John Schweitzer by more than 13 seconds in the No. 5 Lux Performance/Black Rock Coffee Dodge Viper to take her second SGT pole position start of the season.

“The heat comes into play with the track, that’s one of the unique things about Portland, it is such an old surface that the track will actually lose a second to a second and a half because of it holding the heat,” said Lux. “We had a time that we wanted to meet and once we met that, our strategy was just to park it. Anything after that is just abusing the tires. We got our car set up for the long run tomorrow, so it’s going to be an awesome race.”

Championship leader Carl Rydquist and Thunderhill pole starter Darrell Anderson did not make qualifying.

Anderson’s No. 15 Park Place Constructors Chevrolet Camaro suffered severe damage during practice after making contact with the tire barrier in Turn 8 during practice. With the suspension needing a full rebuild among other body damage, Anderson said, “…we will make the race but we won’t look pretty.”

Anderson will start on the back row with someone who has won twice following a last-place start. Rydquist has two consecutive come-from-behind victories (Thunderhill, The Ridge), and on Sunday the reigning West Coast XGT champion will once again contest for the checkered in the No. 47 Racecars4Rent/GroupWholesale Ford Mustang from the back row. Rydquist lost his clutch during morning practice which forced him to miss qualifying.

“We missed qualifying because my clutch started to slip in practice, it wouldn’t make qualifying so the team decided to replace it so we would be race ready tomorrow,” said Rydquist. “The good thing is though that the test sessions gave us a lot of proof in the data that shows we found the speed in the car and myself, this is my first time here. I was eager to do qualifying to surprise everyone that we got everything sorted out so quickly, but we couldn’t do that. We are going to come out and surprise everyone in the race instead.”

The Trans Am West Coast drivers will take the green on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. Pacific for 51 laps or 75 minutes. Follow Live Timing and Scoring all weekend at www.gotransam.com/livetiming