The old adage that everything that can go wrong will seemed to come true for Gabi DiCarlo and the Great Clips Race Team during the ARCA/REMAX series stop at Salem Speedway in Salem, IN. What looked to be a promising start quickly turned into a long weekend as the Great Clips Team unloaded what was a very fast race car only to have it back into the wall during practice.

The backup car was quickly prepared, but was unable to make a qualifying attempt forcing Gabi to the 31st starting spot. DiCarlo was then caught up in a early race crash that decimated the 35 car field.

The team was able to repair the damaged racer and get Gabi back into the race where she salvaged a 25th place finish.

Kristin Bumbera will make her NASCAR Grand National Series debut on April 19th at Thunderhill Raceway in Kyle, Texas. At the age of 20, Kristin Bumbera is driving for Next Generation Racing, Inc. in the NASCAR Grand National Division this year and also a full season in the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program for Frank Jordan’s Golden State Racing in the NASCAR Whelen Late Model Series at All American Speedway in Roseville, CA. 

The Allstate Texas Thunder 150 will be broadcast live on HDNET and delayed on The Speed Channel.


History was made Sunday at the NHRA Funny Car race in Las Vegas, Nev. Ashley Force, who made it to the final round in her Castrol GTX Mustang, jumped up four spots in the standings to become the first woman to ever lead the Funny Car standings after an event.

“The thing about drag racing that we all know is you can go from hero to zero very quickly,” said Force. “We are enjoying (success) now while we have it, but we know there are three other teams in our camp alone who are gunning for that number one spot.
 
“(Actually), I didn’t know I was the points leader until after the race. I was surprised. It definitely made not winning a little better, and losing to Wilkerson made it a little bit easier because we’re such good friends with he and his family.”

Brazilian driver Ana Beatriz’s third-place finish in Saturday’s Indy Lights support race was the best finish by a woman in the seven-year history of the series. Beatriz made only her second start.
“If I start to think that this is my second race of the season and I’m already on the podium, that surprises me,” Beatriz said.

“It was a great race,” said Sam Schmidt Motorsports driver Beatriz. “I didn’t imagine that I would pass Richard (Antinucci). I just thought that Richard and Rafa (Matos) would just pull away and I wouldn’t be able to catch them.

“I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s race and trying to finish on the podium again. We’ll have to make some changes on the car because we’ll probably start further back in tomorrow’s race and work on passing through the straights and trying to overtake people.”


Seventeen year-old Mackena Bell of Carson City, NV has started her rookie season in the NASCAR Whelen Series with a top 10 finish of the 22 car field, in the 50-lap season opener, at the infamous All American Speedway in Roseville, California.

Bell has 4 Rookie of the Year awards and a “Most Inspirational Driver” title under her

Focused on learning as much as possible throughout this 2008 season, Bell says the most important part of running this series is progressing from week-to-week and earning the respect of those already successful in the series.

“By pushing myself each time I enter the track, being patient and up-on-the-wheel, my goals are simple for the season. Improve each week, stay positive and finish races.”

With a relatively small race team compared to other drivers within the series, the #11 Late Model is headed by Mackena’s father, Kelly, and Crew Chief Dave Sciarroni of Sciarroni Bros. race team.

“She has a ton of potential as a late model driver,” said Sciarroni. “I have no doubt that she will find success at this level as she is mature beyond her years. I was impressed at how well she analyzes what the car is doing and surprised at how clearly she can communicate that information back to me. ”


Hillary Will has a self-described love it -- hate it -- relationship with Las Vegas.

“That was our first win, and we were on top of the world. That was such a great feeling. We were a fairly new team, and that was a big, big accomplishment for us,” Will recalled. 

“The Strip instantly became my favorite track because of that. It stayed that way until, well, the crash.”