Spreading the Motocross wealth

By Jun 26, 2019, 2:52 PM EDT
Rich Shepherd, ProMotocross
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The 2019 450 season has been dominated by Eli Tomac and Ken Roczen, but in the past few weeks other riders have been making a considerable amount of noise.

Roczen drew first blood by winning at Hangtown and for the next three races those two riders alternated wins and dominated the Moto victories. Between them, they have now won eight of the first 10 Motos.

But the last two weeks have witnessed fresh faces on the top step of the podium.

Last week’s victory by Marvin Musquin marked the first time someone other than Tomac or Roczen broke into Victory Lane. Musquin won Moto 1 – becoming only the fourth different rider to win a Moto this year. He finished third in Moto 2 to secure his overall victory.

Musquin winning was not exactly a surprise, however. He is one of the seven riders so far this season who swept the top 10. And with a second-place finish at Pala and a worst of sixth at Hangtown and High Point, he has never been very far back from the leaders.

Zach Osborne, Jason Anderson, Cooper Webb and Justin Barcia are the other riders with perfect records of top-10s and they occupy the top seven positions in the standings.

While there have been seven riders who have swept the top 10, that has left the door open for seven others to make their mark.

The assault on Tomac and Roczen actually began at High Point in Round 4. Blake Baggett became the first rider other than Tomac or Roczen to win a Moto. He fell in Moto 2 and dropped to 15th, but that was enough to give him a seventh-place overall finish.

With the exception of the mistake at High Point that cost him an opportunity to score a top-five, Baggett’s consistency is what has allowed him keep the leaders in sight. Baggett has finished between seventh and 10th four times this year and that places him eighth in the standings.

A disastrous Moto 1 at Pala in Round 2 kept Baggett from joining the seven riders who’ve swept the top 10.

Rounding out the top 10 in points are Dean Ferris and Justin Bogle and like Baggett, they secured their spot among the elite with a majority of strong runs.

Justin Bogle finished ninth at High Point. Jeff Kardas, ProMotocross

On the strength of top-10s at Hangtown, Thunder Valley, and WW Ranch last week, Ferris sits ninth in the standings. Consistency has been one of Ferris’ hallmarks this season with all five of his efforts landing between eighth and 11th.

Bogle’s three top-10s came at Hangtown, Thunder Valley, and High Point – but he has been unable to finish better than ninth this season and is a relatively distant 10th in the points – 15 markers behind Ferris. Bogle’s consistency rivaled Ferris until last week. In the first four rounds of the season, he finished between ninth and 12th; last week he fell to 15th with a pair of modest Motos in the sandy soil of Florida.

Fredrik Noren is the only other rider with a pair of top-10s. He finished ninth at Pala and WW Ranch and those two strong runs played a role in securing him a ride with the JGRMX/Yoshimura/Suzuki Factory Racing Team this week in Southwick.

Justin Hill (seventh at Pala), Joey Savatgy (eighth at High Point) and Cole Seely (10th at Pala) round out the riders with top-10 finishes this season.

With throaty roar, NASCAR Next Gen Camaro is taking Le Mans by storm on global stage

Associated PressJun 8, 2023, 4:00 PM EDT
Le Mans 24 Hour Race - Car Parade
Chris Graythen/Getty Images
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LE MANS, France — The V8 engine of the NASCAR Chevrolet Camaro has a distinct growl that cannot go unnoticed even among the most elite sports cars in the world at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

When the Hendrick Motorsports crew fired up the car inside Garage 56, NASCAR chairman Jim France broke into a huge grin and gave a thumbs up.

“The only guy who didn’t cover his ears,” laughed seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson.

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France has been waiting since 1962 – the year his father, NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., brought him to his first 24 Hours of Le Mans – to hear the roar of a stock car at the most prestigious endurance race in the world.

A path finally opened when NASCAR developed its Next Gen car, which debuted last year. France worked out a deal to enter a car in a specialized “Innovative Car” class designed to showcase technology and development. The effort would be part of NASCAR’s 75th celebration and it comes as Le Mans marks its 100th.

Once he had the approval, France persuaded Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet and Goodyear – NASCAR’s winningest team, manufacturer and tire supplier – to build a car capable of running the twice-around-the-clock race.

The race doesn’t start until Saturday, but NASCAR’s arrival has already been wildly embraced and France could not be more thrilled.

“Dad’s vision, to be able to follow it, it took awhile to follow it up, and my goal was to outdo what he accomplished,” France told The Associated Press. “I just hope we don’t fall on our ass.”

The car is in a class of its own and not racing anyone else in the 62-car field. But the lineup of 2010 Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller, 2009 Formula One champion Jenson Button and Johnson has been fast enough; Rockenfeller put down a qualifying lap that was faster than every car in the GTE AM class by a full three seconds.

The Hendrick Motorsports crew won its class in the pit stop competition and finished fifth overall as the only team using a manual jack against teams exclusively using air jacks. Rick Hendrick said he could not be prouder of the showing his organization has made even before race day.

“When we said we’re gonna do it, I said, ‘Look, we can’t do this half-assed. I want to be as sharp as anybody out there,” Hendrick told AP. “I don’t want to be any less than any other team here. And just to see the reaction from the crowd, people are so excited about this car. My granddaughter has been sending me all these TikTok things that fans are making about NASCAR being at Le Mans.”

This isn’t NASCAR’s first attempt to run Le Mans. The late France Sr. brokered a deal in 1976, as America celebrated its bicentennial, to bring two cars to compete in the Grand International class and NASCAR selected the teams. Herschel McGriff and his son, Doug, drove a Wedge-powered, Olympia Beer-sponsored Dodge Charger, and Junie Donlavey piloted a Ford Torino shared by Richard Brooks and Dick Hutcherson.

Neither car came close to finishing the race. McGriff, now 95 and inducted into NASCAR’s Hall of Fame in January, is in Le Mans as France’s guest, clad head-to-toe in the noticeable Garage 56 uniforms.

“I threw a lot of hints that I would like to come. And I’ve been treated as royalty,” McGriff said. “This is unbelievable to me. I recognize nothing but I’m anxious to see everything. I’ve been watching and seeing pictures and I can certainly see the fans love their NASCAR.”

The goal is to finish the full race Sunday and, just maybe, beat cars from other classes. Should they pull off the feat, the driver trio wants its own podium celebration.

“I think people will talk about this car for a long, long time,” said Rockenfeller, who along with sports car driver Jordan Taylor did much of the development alongside crew chief Chad Knaus and Greg Ives, a former crew chief who stepped into a projects role at Hendrick this year.

“When we started with the Cup car, we felt already there was so much potential,” Rockenfeller said. “And then we tweaked it. And we go faster, and faster, at Le Mans on the SIM. But you never know until you hit the real track, and to be actually faster than the SIM. Everybody in the paddock, all the drivers, they come up and they are, ‘Wow, this is so cool,’ and they were impressed by the pit stops. We’ve overachieved, almost, and now of course the goal is to run for 24 hours.”

The car completed a full 24-hour test at Sebring, Florida, earlier this year, Knaus said, and is capable of finishing the race. Button believes NASCAR will leave a lasting impression no matter what happens.

“If you haven’t seen this car live yet, it’s an absolute beast,” Button said. “When you see and hear it go by, it just puts a massive smile on your face.”

For Hendrick, the effort is the first in his newfound embrace of racing outside NASCAR, the stock car series founded long ago in the American South. Aside from the Le Mans project, he will own the Indy car that Kyle Larson drives for Arrow McLaren in next year’s Indianapolis 500 and it will be sponsored by his automotive company.

“If you’d have told me I’d be racing at Le Mans and Indianapolis within the same year, I’d never have believed you,” Hendrick told AP. “But we’re doing both and we’re going to do it right.”

Le Mans 24 Hour Race - Car Parade
Fans gather around the NASCAR Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 that is the Garage 56 entry for the 100th 24 Hours of Le Mans at the Circuit de la Sarthe (Chris Graythen/Getty Images).

General Motors is celebrating the achievement with a 2024 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Garage 56 Edition and only 56 will be available to collectors later this year.

“Even though Chevrolet has been racing since its inception in 1911, we’ve never done anything quite like Garage 56,” said GM President Mark Reuss. “A NASCAR stock car running at Le Mans is something fans doubted they would see again.”

The race hasn’t even started yet, but Hendrick has enjoyed it so much that he doesn’t want the project to end.

“It’s like a shame to go through all this and do all this, and then Sunday it’s done,” Hendrick said. “It’s just really special to be here.”