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In the board room and on the race track, Roger Penske is equally comfortable as a leader. The Captain, as he is known in racing and corporate circles, has been there and done that. At 75, he shows no signs of backing off the gas.
What you see is what you get with Ryan Briscoe -- a fresh-faced, affable young man who loves the career he chose and feels grateful for what he has accomplished.
What: Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix. When: 3:30 p.m. Sunday, June 3. Where: Raceway at Belle Isle Park, 2.1-mile street course. ABC (Channel 7 Detroit).
Map of Detroit Grand Prix on Belle Isle
Today is one of the biggest race days of the year. Here's a quick look at the major races: Grand Prix of Monaco Details: 8 a.m., Speed Track: Circuit de Monaco (street course, 2.075 miles), 78 laps, 161.9 miles.
Rick Hendrick readily admits riding on the door of Jimmie Johnson's No. 48 Chevrolet into victory lane after the Sprint All-Star Race was "the dumbest thing I've ever done." So he can't wait to do it again -- in an even more outrageous fashion.
This is the Great American Day of Left Turns, with 1,100 hundred miles of auto racing. First you have the storied Indianapolis 500, with the storied Brickyard and the storied milk bath for the winner (noon, ABC). Then you have the even-longer Coca-Cola 600 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway (6 p.m., Fox).
"I was offered a rookie driving test here," Penske said. "But I couldn’t take time off from work. A guy called Mario Andretti did. I think he was the best guy anyway. I’m better sitting here on this side of the wall."
"I think when you look back on it, I look back at probably one of the worst moments of my life, how fast life can change. I think it brings racing to reality."
Brad Keselowski won the NASCAR Nationwide Series event at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday, leading the final 67 laps to give Penske Racing a winning start on auto racing’s biggest weekend.
Singer-actress Olivia Newton-John was back in the spotlight on Friday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The four-time Grammy Award winner and star of the movie "Grease" gave the command to start engines in the Firestone Indy Lights Freedom 100 race, which was won by Esteban Guerrieri from Argentina for Sam Schmidt Motorsports.
In a 28-year career that includes 10 Sprint Cup championships and 200 victories, it’s hard to recall a two-week stretch in which Hendrick Motorsports flexed its dominance as thoroughly:
Rusty Wallace was stunned by his election to the NASCAR Hall of Fame, but he had an inkling just before being named one of five inductees Wednesday.
Michael Andretti's three drivers go into the Indianapolis 500 with strong chances to win. Yet there was still talk Friday about the driver who is no longer with the team: Danica Patrick.
Jimmie Johnson and his No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet team didn't win the pole for Sunday's Coca-Cola 600, but that's about the only thing they haven't won recently.
It was just a pit-stop competition, but it could have major implications on Sunday in the Indianapolis 500. Target Chip Ganassi Racing scored its first-ever victory in the annual IZOD Pit Stop Challenge event on Carb Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday.
It's Indy week, so we take a look at the past five winners of the Indianapolis 500: 2011: Dan Wheldon >> The 2005 winner found Victory Lane again, leading for only the final lap (the final 1,000 feet after a crash). 2010: Dario Franchitti Franchitti led for 155 of the 200 laps and went the final 36 laps without pitting.
When asked at Indianapolis Motor Speedway today whether the series might return to the Irish Hills, Randy Bernard, the series’ chief executive officer, said he was eying other places.
As part of his duties, Suh will give the "Drivers, start your engines" command before the June 3 IndyCar race. Suh, a devoted race fan, also will ride in an official Chevy Camaro pace car.
It has been a rough start this season for four-time IndyCar Series champion Dario Franchitti. His Honda/Dallara, with the exception of the race in Brazil, has not been particularly fast, and he has had trouble adapting to the pedals of the new series car. But the Scotsman took it in stride at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Thursday, even cracking a few jokes with the media.
Ryan Briscoe, an IndyCar driver for Team Penske, is providing perspective from inside the cockpit for Free Press readers this season. Find past columns at freep.com/ryanbriscoe.
Susie Wheldon kept it short and took no questions from the media. Her late husband, a larger-than-life racing figure, would have no doubt said more and loved to mix it up with the media.
Is Detroit fixable? I mean really, fundamentally fixable? Beneath the paint jobs to dress her derelict buildings up for a big event, or the repair job on Cobo Center, or the makeover along the riverfront? Is Detroit fixable?
New York Giants receiver Hakeem Nicks is expected to be sidelined up to three months after suffering a broken right foot at a team organized activity early Thursday. Nicks suffered a fractured fifth metatarsal of his right foot as he was running a route during individual drills, the team said in a release later in the afternoon.
Nick answered your questions this afternoon. He's driving in the Traxxas TORC Series -- off-road truck racing -- in southwest Michigan on Saturday and Sunday. Nick also has competed in the Olympics in snowboard cross and won an X Games gold medal. Earlier, Nick played football at Northern Michigan for one year and was the U.P. state wrestling champ at 189 pounds in high school. Whew!
Sprint Cup champion Rusty Wallace hated running second to anyone and doesn't plan to start now that he's part of the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
All public parking on Belle Isle will be closed during race weekend. Fans can park downtown and take shuttle buses or the ferry to the island. Both services will cost $10 for adults and $5 for children.
When you compete against Iron River's Nick Baumgartner, you're in for a battle.
Penske, the legendary race car team owner and Birmingham businessman, today checked out preparations at Belle Isle for the return of the Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix on June 1-3.
What's not to like about the Motor City on a gorgeous sunny day on the Detroit River from the bridge of a multimillion-dollar boat? The problems of the town -- and the world -- seem a long way off.
The field is set for the Indianapolis 500. And, more important, it's full.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. led for 209 of 250 laps and won the NASCAR Nationwide race at the Iowa Speedway on Sunday, his third straight win on Iowa's short oval.
Chris Buescher captured the ARCA Racing Series' Menards 200 at Toledo Speedway on Saturday night.
Test your knowledge of current sports events for the last week. (For the most part, there are no right or wrong answers, so everybody scores a 5.)
Jimmie Johnson is back. Like he was ever gone.
Saturday was Pole Day, but Indy 500 festivities continue this week at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Roger Penske ran out the clock on Michael Andretti’s team, giving the Indianapolis 500 pole to Ryan Briscoe.
If Marco Andretti was down in the dumps before practice started for the Indianapolis 500, he has a new spring in his step and new confidence in the cockpit now.
Welcome back to Indianapolis as we prepare for Saturday’s Pole Day qualifying for the 96th Indianapolis 500. It’s getting right down to it now, so everyone at Team Penske is eager to get under way.
Sprint showdown and All-Star race, Pioneer Hi-Bred 250, N.C. Education Lottery 200 and Dollar General Summer Nationals.
NFL suspended Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma filed a defamation lawsuit Thursday against commissioner Roger Goodell, claiming the league's top executive made false statements that tarnished Vilma's reputation and hindered his ability to earn a living playing football.
The new Chevy racecar will compete against Ford, Toyota and Dodge in the Sprint Cup in 2013, while a limited-production version of the Chevy SS is scheduled to arrive in dealer showrooms as a 2014 model late next year.
GM plans to start selling a limited production version of a full-size sedan with a V8 engine called the Chevrolet SS, which will reach dealerships in late 2013. The vehicle, drawing inspiration from Super Sport vehicles of GM’s past, will double as Chevrolet’s next NASCAR Sprint Cup stock car.
Central Michigan won the NASCAR Kinetics: Marketing in Motion 2012 spring competition. CMU was the top finisher among 18 schools.
The Detroit Free Press is giving away two grand stand tickets to the Detroit Chevrolet Belle Isle Grand Prix race on June 3, along with a meet-and-greet with a race car driver at the event! Enter our contest on Facebook for a chance to win the tickets.
Subject to the additional restrictions below, the Detroit Free Press Detroit Grand Prix tickets Sweepstakes (the “Sweepstakes”) is open to U.S. residents (excluding Puerto Rico) who are 18 years or older at the time of entry.
Manchester City won the English title for the first time in 44 years, surging past Queens Park Rangers, 3-2, on Sunday with Sergio Aguero scoring his team's second goal late in stoppage time.
Jimmie Johnson broke free on a restart three laps from the end in the Southern 500 and held on Saturday night to give Hendrick Motorsports its 200th Sprint Cup victory. "I can't believe we won 200 of these things," team owner Rick Hendrick said. "I can't believe it took this long after we won 199."
Novak Djokovic joined Rafael Nadal in declaring he won't play again on the new blue clay court at the Madrid Open after losing to Janko Tipsarevic, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3, Friday in an all-Serb quarterfinal.
Carroll Hall Shelby, the Texan who created the famous Shelby Cobra and uncounted other high-performance machines that turned the auto world on its ear, and made it a whole lot more fun for 50 years, died in Dallas Thursday night at age 89. He had been hospitalized for pneumonia.
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