One recent Saturday night, when the Santa Ynez Valley YMCA held a father-daughter dance, one of the evening’s party-goers could have easily been excused for being too tired to cut a rug that night.
While Andy Grider of Los Olivos and his daughter Marley may have had fun at the soir/e, Grider’s already had more fun and excitement than some of his neighbors might see in a lifetime.
Grider has returned to the Central Coast after having spent most of January in South America as the navigator for Team Dakar USA in the 5,948-mile Dakar Rally, the world’s longest and most dangerous racing event.
He navigated while riding in a Hummer H3 driven by NASCAR owner-driver Robby Gordon.
It was a fruitful trip for Grider, whose wife Annie accompanied him on the trip for the two-week race (Jan. 3-17) through Argentina and Chile. He and Gordon took third place in the car category — the glamour division of the event — with a finishing time of 45 hours, five minutes and 50 seconds…. More info
Honda have confirmed that Richard Branson’s Virgin Group are interested in acquiring their British-based Formula One team.
Nothing has yet been resolved, but a spokesperson for the Japanese car firm said on Wednesday: “We are negotiating with several buyers and one of these parties is the Virgin Group.”
The news that the sale process is continuing will be encouraging for Jenson Button, who remains under contract with the team, and also for Bruno Senna, who has been widely tipped to make his Formula One debut with Honda should the team make it to the grid in Melbourne in five weeks’ time…. More info
What could be better than beating your archrival? How about doing it on national television? SPEED, the definitive network for motor sports and automotive lifestyle programming, is giving this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to two San Diego-area high schools as part of the second season of popular prime time original program, Drag Race High.
Set to premiere Feb. 18 at 10 p.m. ET, SPEED is teaming with High Five Entertainment to capture the three-month contest between El Camino and Ramona High Schools. In their pursuit of constructing a champion hot rod, students will receive instruction from teachers Steven Jennings of El Camino High School and Robert Grace of Ramona High School. Both schools receive $10,000 to begin the project and are allowed to raise up to $50,000 cash or in-kind contributions, such as parts, donated by outside organizations. …Â More info
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Ask the average fan what a Corvette race car looks like, and chances are he’ll describe the Pratt & Miller-built C6.R entries that have dominated ALMS GT1 competition since 2005. But on any given weekend, from the end of January through December, it’s possible to find scores of Vettes competing in vintage-class races all over the United States. Have you ever wanted to see a big-block Sting Ray go head-to-head against a 427 Cobra, or a ’63 Z06 battle it out with a Shelby GT350 Mustang? Thanks to vintage racing, legendary match-ups like these are still very much alive.
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There are currently around 50 different sanctioning organizations that hold races throughout the country. One of the larger groups is the Sports Car Club of America, or SCCA, which runs vintage races …Â More info
