Patrick Long is known as a consummate sportscar racer but the Porsche factory driver has expanded his resume in 2009 to include stock cars. To date, he’s driven in three NASCAR Camping World Series East races — one road course and two oval-track events. And the glib California native has done very well, including a near-win at Watkins Glen International over the weekend.
“I grew up around street racing, midgets and sprint cars,” Long said. “While I have made my trade in sports cars, someone saw my talent and asked, ‘Would you want to try a road course in a stock car?’ I said sure as I am the kind of guy that wants to race in everything from the Baja, to rally’s to championship indoor races. My goal is to …Â Details
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From running a race to running his mouth, and everywhere in between, Tony Stewart is remarkable.
We’ve found out about the in between part this year as Stewart has made fools of all those who doubted him, which pretty much includes everyone, because really, who didn’t think he would crawl out of the box as an owner/driver.
But not only is Stewart standing tall, he’s looking down at the NASCAR world, red firesuit on, smiling from ear to ear.
It’s taken him just four months to do what no one else who’s tried has been able to do since 1998 – win a race as an owner. Appropriately, he did that by beating the odds, too.
On a track where a single tank of fuel is …Â Details
LONG POND, Pa. — Tony Stewart faced long odds, coming from the back of the field in a backup car to win Sunday’s Pocono 500, just as he faced long odds building a race team when he assumed half-ownership of Stewart-Haas Racing last year.
But this weekend Stewart the driver was as cool as Stewart the businessman, conserving gas in the final laps while holding off Carl Edwards to become the first owner/driver to win a NASCAR Cup event in 11 years. He stretched his series points lead to 71 points over Jeff Gordon…Â Details
Roger Penske, known for his successful racing teams, in addition to being the nation’s second-largest auto dealer, has struck a tentative deal to buy the Saturn brand from General Motors. USA TODAY spoke with Penske on Sunday at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa.
Q: What’s the next step in your acquisition of Saturn?
A: The next step is to close the transaction, which we hope to do at the end of the third quarter. We’ll be dealing with GM on future product. Then we have the opportunity to source product from around the world as we go into future years. First, we’re putting an organization together and closing the transaction. The great news is that we have 350 dealerships that will be alive and well and will not have to be shut down. I think that’s a real by-product of this. For me personally…Â Details