DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Richard Childress Racing and Earnhardt-Childress Racing Engines will pay tribute to the life and legacy of the legendary Dale Earnhardt throughout 2011 Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway.
Commemorative No. 3 decals will adorn all eight of RCR’s race cars, transporters and pit boxes. ECR employees will … Details
Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher posted the quickest time on the second day of Formula One testing in Jerez on Friday.
The Mercedes driver set a time of 1 minute, 20.532 seconds at the Jerez Circuit in southern Spain.
Felipe Massa of Ferrari  … Details
Michael Waltrip knew the questions were coming and tried to gather his thoughts in advance so he’d be ready to answer. He even wrote about it in his book.
Still, that didn’t stop Waltrip’s eyes from misting up when asked about the 10-year anniversary of Dale Earnhardt’s death.
“About a year ago, I realized that … More
2012 FORD FOCUS TITANIUM HATCHBACK
BY DAVID COLMAN
 If you think of the Focus as Ford’s VW Golf beater, you’re aiming too low. Golf was just the low hanging fruit in Ford’s quest to redefine the sport compact sedan. The real target was Audi’s A3, a loftier goal indeed. Has Ford succeeded in outdoing the A3? Not quite, but close enough to give Audi reason to be concerned. If you want to build a better sport sedan than Audi, you’d best hire Germans to design it, and that’s just what Ford has done. The Focus was conceived in Germany, and has been on sale across Europe for more than a year. It has already established a successful track record in World Rallye competition as well as World Touring Car track contests. While Focus may be new to the US, it is by no means an unproven entity abroad.
 Looking at this svelte sedan from outside, you are first struck by the clean-lined ethos of its design. The snout sits low while the butt remains slightly elevated to impart a feline rake to the static posture. Horizontal detailing around the front grill is handsome without being fussy. The side view looks racy and succinct, with windshield A pillars so extravagantly flattened that the sedan version posts a stellar wind tunnel coefficient of 0.297. Although the Cx of the five-door hatchback we drove is slightly higher than that, the hatch chassis is stiffer because the five door openings require added structural chassis reinforcement. The solidity of the platform, which Focus shares with the European C-Max minivan, is indisputable. Over the worst road irregularities, the Focus evinced no squeaks, groans or deflections. The interior remains ethereally silent no matter what racket the road surface beneath promises to impart.