Scott Kalitta : 1962- 2008

The sad news has spread throughout the racing community today. Multiple NHRA champion funny car driver Scott Kalitta, Has passed away from his injuries from a terrifying accident, during the Lucas Oil Supernationals in Englishtown, New Jersey, eerily enough, the very racetrack where he first started his drag racing career. My heart goes out to his family, and to the crew, officials, and fans of the NHRA. He died doing what he so passionately loved, and he'll sorely be missed. Race in peace, my friend.

“Scott shared the same passion for drag racing as his legendary father, Connie. He also shared the same desire to win, becoming a two-time series world champion. He left the sport for a period of time, to devote more time to his family, only to be driven to return to the drag strip to regain his championship form."

-National Hot Rod Association Statements, on the Passing of Scott Kalitta





Here's the Broadcast of the event, led by announcers Paul Page, Gary Gerould, Dave Rieff & Mike Dunn, of ESPN



Photo Courtesy: Auto Racing Daily
Video Courtesy: ESPN, You Tube

The Monkey is Finally Off Junior's Back

It took about 76 races, a team change, a sponsor change, and a new set of teammates to do it, but he finally did. Dale Earnhardt Jr. has finally won a race this year in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. He won the LifeLock 400 @ Michigan International Speedway, on a bit of a lucky break, considering the caution caused by Sam Hornish, Jr. spinning out, with 3 laps to go, creating a green-white-checkered finish as his fuel was running really low towards the end, so much so- that he ran out of fuel on the cool down lap, having to be pushed into victory lane.

"We needed that caution. It is what it is. We run out, we run out. We knew we had a chance to win the race. They can write what they want about how we did it but we got one. We made it happen." - Dale Earnhardt Jr

The next race- a race I myself am looking forward to is the Toyota/Save Mart 350 from the road course in Sonoma, California. Finally, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series can go fast and turn left....and right, this weekend, a rarity in the "running joke" of the series.


Photo Courtesy: Paddock Talk.com

Audi Wins the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the 8th Time in 9 Years

Okay - how many of you thought that Audi wasn't going to have a clear shot of winning the race? Anybody? well, it certainly is no surprise to me that Audi with their R10 won the 24 overall in 8 of the past 9 years , despite the Peugeot 908 dominating the first part of the race. never in my life have I seen such an amazing team dominate such an amazing race in the fashion that they have - especially when Peugeot was really putting pressure on them during the entire 24 hours. This truly was a perfect race for Audi, and a classic race for the 275,000 spectators that were on hand to see it who definitely got their money's worth. Peugeot vows to come back next year after finishing second..and so, the battle between the diesels continues on, for sure.


Le Mans Results
1. Dindo Capello (Italy) / Tom Kristensen (Denmark) / Allan McNish (Scotland) Audi Sport North America (Audi R10) 381 laps

2. Marc Gene (Spain) / Nicolas Minassian (France) / Jacques Villeneuve (Canada) Team Peugeot Total (Peugeot 908) 381 laps

3. Franck Montagny (France) / Christian Klien (Austria) / Ricardo Zonta (Brazil) Peugeot Sport Total (Peugeot 908) 379

4. Alexandre Premat (France) / Lucas Luhr (Germany) / Mike Rockenfeller (Germany) Audi Sport Team Joest (Audi R10) 374


Photo Courtesy of F1 Fanatic

Scotty Doesnt Know....How to Quit, Kubica's Comeback, Khane's Win in Pocono, & The Battle of the Diesels - The Remix

Texas Motor Speedway - Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon won the Bombardier Lear Jet 550, extending his lead to 35 points in the IRL Indy Car Series championship over Team Penske's Helio Castroneves. The race ended under caution when second place Marco Andertti (Andretti Green racing) and 3rd place Ryan Hunter-Reay (Rahal-Letterman Racing) at the time collided with each other towards the end of the race

The "Mclarri" (McLaren & Ferarri) Streak is Broken!!!!....Robert Kubica Wins Formula One's Canadian Grand Prix...breaking the stranglehold in the series, usually ending by Mclaren or Ferrari going to the podium. It's his first career win, and BMW Sauber earned its first 1-2 finish. David Coulthard, was so excited to finish 3rd, he was literally running from his parked car in the pits to get to the podium. the next race will be @ the French Grand Prix in Magny-Cours, France (much to the disappointment of most Americans like myself, considering the Canadian G.P. is the only North American stop on the F1 tour this year)



Rolex Series: Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Pruett won the 6 hours @ the Glen in Watkins Glen, NY, extending his points lead....and being a Ganassi fan, kinda makes me a little happy, to be honest. They're 34 points ahead of defending series champions - The Gainsco Pontiac Riley Team, headed by Bob Stallings



NASCAR Sprint Cup: As much as I personally am not into the whole NASCAR thing, I gotta respect Kasey Kahne for winning the race at Pocono. I didn't see much of the race, but i know it was long hard & fought one, mostly because the 500 miles just seem to have gone on forever, almost...at least Toyota still has the manufacturer's points lead, and I hope they might win it, come November in Homestead






Le Mans Series: Finally, the wait is over...The 76Th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is less than a week away. Can the Peugeot Team repeat the dominant-like run of their first few stints of the 12 Hours of Sebring over the Audi R10? It should be an interesting battle of the diesels


Photos Courtesy of: Indy Racing League, American Le Mans Series, Toyota, Canada.com, The UK Mirror

Coming Soon: The Hot Lap Motorsport Podcast

Hey all you racers, I finally got off my sabbatacle to give you this recent update:

Thanks to my friends at the Hung Throttle Podcast, who answered some questions I've had, I got to know a little bit about podcasting, and I someday hope to be a future broadcaster in motorsports...so I broke my bank and bought a Zoom H2 Handy Recorder, and I plan to start podcasting, with a local karting driver, and friend of mine- on the subject of motorsports around the world, the good and the bad...Coming soon, guys

See ya later