TWO DAYS before Formula Drift Singapore last year, Jane Cheah gave birth to her first child, Johanna Ariff Johanis.
Her husband, Ariff Johanis Ahmad, was not by her side as he had left their home in Kuala Lumpur to take part in the inaugural Formula Drift championship here.
And to make this year even more special, Cheah, decided to team up with her husband for this weekend’s competition which has been renamed Formula Drift ProAm Series.
Said Cheah, 32: “I’ve taken part in drifting competitions in Malaysia, but never on an international level like this.
Richard Petty was scheduled to lead the first lap July 4 for the Firecracker 400 at Daytona International Speedway much as he led the last lap 25 years ago on the same day.
The difference is that this year he was expected to drive a replica of his famous No. 43 STP-sponsored Pontiac for the pace laps, the same car he drove to victory in arguably the biggest race in NASCAR history in 1984.
Petty, 71, was set to pace the field for the start of the 37th Annual Firecracker 400, now called the Coke Zero 400.
He won the same race exactly 25 years ago, his epic 200th career NASCAR victory in front of then-president Ronald Reagan, finishing in bizarre fashion under caution…Â Details
Darrell Waltrip, Bobby Allison, Glen Wood, Richard Childress, Lee Petty and Cale Yarborough have been named as finalists for induction to the inaugural class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Petty and Yarborough were announced as nominees Thursday, a day after former drivers-turned-owners Wood and Childress were announced and two days after Waltrip and Allison’s names were released.
The full list of 25 drivers will be unveiled on SPEED this Thursday at 8 p.m. ET. A total of five drivers will be inducted at the opening of the Hall of Fame in Charlotte in May…Â Details