ARAB INVASION
An invasion into North American motor sports seems to be under way.
Considering how poorly the American economy is doing and the sad state of affairs with U.S. auto makers, some entity soon might be needed to bale out racing in this country.
First, a sheik from Qatar gave noted crew chief Alan Johnson $11 million to start his own Top Fuel and Funny Car team next year. His Highness Sheikh Khalid Bin Hamad Al Thani — you can call him Sheikh Khalid — already is part owner of the Awesome Al Anabi Pro Modified team and promotes drag racing in his country.
Hey, drag racing beats camel racing any day.
And now reports out of Canada say Kuwaiti investors plan to spend about $172 million to build a one-mile oval track with 62,000 seats in Southern Ontario — a few miles away from Buffalo, N.Y. — and be race-ready by 2010.
The Kuwaiti investment bank Bayt Al Mal Investments is putting up the money.
"NASCAR is not involved in the track project in any way," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston told Ontario’s London Free Press. "NASCAR has no intention to race at the proposed track."
Principles in the group hope that getting an Indy Racing League, American Le Mans Series or Grand Am series race would convince NASCAR to change its minds, the story noted.
Shams Faiz, chief operating officer at Bayt Al Mal Investments, told the Niagara Falls Review that this was a strategic location giving them access to both northern American states of New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania as well as the rich southern Ontario markets.
MY MISTAKE
I’ve often thought it was stupid when a tire changer doesn’t tighten a lug nut during a race.
But I won’t be so quick to judge after mistakenly putting Bobby and Donnie Allison in the Unser family when writing this week’s column for the Review-Journal.
I incorrectly called the brothers “Unsers” when describing the famed 1979 fight after the Daytona 500.
I apologize. Readers of the R-J and viewers on LVRJ.com deserve better.
Stupid is as stupid does, and I made Forest Gump look like a Rhodes Scholar on that one.
GOING, GOING, GONE
Kurt Busch’s No. 2 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car that ran in last year’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway garnered $85,000 Thursday night at the Barrett-Jackson collector car auction. Proceeds go to the Victory Junction Gang children’s camp, through the Kurt Busch Foundation.
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