Published: Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Auto racing notes: Injured Benson hopes to return soon
Johnny Benson, injured June 13 in a Super Modified race in Michigan, hopes to be back racing in about three weeks — if he can find a ride.
The reigning NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion lost his full-time ride a few days before his accident when Red Horse Racing couldn't find sponsorship for him.
"Right now I don't have a ride, so it doesn't really matter when I can get back in or not," he told guest host Mike Joy on last Sunday night's Wind Tunnel show on Speed TV. "If I talk to the right people and maybe get some great opportunities, which I think will come along here in the very near future, hopefully I'll be ready for it when it happens.
"I've got a couple of things working. Just like anything else, like in the (No.) 1 (truck), it's so sponsor-driven, it's very easy to be pulled out of your ride if someone brings you money. ... But I think, being the past champion, it won't be where I'm sidelined too long."
Benson came away from the Michigan crash with three broken ribs, as well as a broken scapula and collarbone. The 45-year-old Grand Rapids, Mich., native was initially listed in serious condition and spent three nights in a hospital before improving enough to be released.
"The ribs are probably worse than the majority of them," Benson said. "Everything connects up there at the top and that's where everything is broken and that's where it really hurts. Sometimes it's hard to breathe and other times it's not."
Asked how he was feeling, Benson, who lives in Charlotte, N.C., replied: "A little bit beat up is all, but it's definitely nice to be (in) your own house and your own chairs, so it's good to be home for sure."
CLEVELAND STAYING OFF INDYCAR SCHEDULE: Organizers say the Grand Prix of Cleveland likely won't be on the IndyCar series schedule for 2010. It would be the third consecutive year without the event.
John Lewis, a vice president with the Indy Racing League, said Wednesday that the poor economy has cast doubt on the ability of the promoter to raise money for the event. The IRL schedule for 2010 is expected to be released at the end of July.
Lewis said that the promoter, MJ Productions, wants to focus on trying to get the Cleveland race to return in 2011, which the league would welcome.
The Cleveland event was held along Lake Erie's shoreline at Burke Lakefront Airport for 26 years.
The race was canceled after the IRL-Champ Car merger in 2008.
BIG MONEY: Drivers taking part in this week's four NASCAR events at New Hampshire Motor Speedway will race for their share of a track record $7,005,549 total purse.
The biggest share, $5,423,189, will be up for grabs in Sunday's Lenox Industrial Tools 301 Sprint Cup race, in increase from last year's track record.
The Nationwide Series will race for $1,197,559 in Saturday's Camping World RV Sales 200.
On Friday, drivers in the Camping World East Series will race for their share of $217,884, while the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will compete for $166,917.
MOSLEY OUT: FIA president Max Mosley averted a breakaway series in Formula One but won't stick around to oversee it.
Mosley said he will not seek re-election after reaching a deal to keep eight rebel Formula One teams from forming their own series.
Mosley has been the president of the FIA, the international federation that governs Formula One, since 1993. His leadership style has been criticized as too autocratic, and many of the teams blamed him for precipitating the rift. Still, Mosley had said previously he was seriously considering running for a fifth term.
"This for me is an enormous relief," he said, referring to the "personal difficulties" he has faced.
His son, Alexander Mosley, was found dead at his luxury apartment May 5 after an accidental drug overdose.
The 69-year-old FIA president, the son of former British fascist leader Oswald Mosley, also was at the center of a media frenzy last year when a tabloid newspaper reported he took part in a sadomasochistic orgy with five prostitutes in London. A video of the incident was widely circulated on the Internet.
Mosley successfully sued the News of the World for invasion of privacy.
The episode brought calls for Mosley's ouster as FIA president, but he won an overwhelming vote of confidence to stay on.
The reigning NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion lost his full-time ride a few days before his accident when Red Horse Racing couldn't find sponsorship for him.
"Right now I don't have a ride, so it doesn't really matter when I can get back in or not," he told guest host Mike Joy on last Sunday night's Wind Tunnel show on Speed TV. "If I talk to the right people and maybe get some great opportunities, which I think will come along here in the very near future, hopefully I'll be ready for it when it happens.
"I've got a couple of things working. Just like anything else, like in the (No.) 1 (truck), it's so sponsor-driven, it's very easy to be pulled out of your ride if someone brings you money. ... But I think, being the past champion, it won't be where I'm sidelined too long."
Benson came away from the Michigan crash with three broken ribs, as well as a broken scapula and collarbone. The 45-year-old Grand Rapids, Mich., native was initially listed in serious condition and spent three nights in a hospital before improving enough to be released.
"The ribs are probably worse than the majority of them," Benson said. "Everything connects up there at the top and that's where everything is broken and that's where it really hurts. Sometimes it's hard to breathe and other times it's not."
Asked how he was feeling, Benson, who lives in Charlotte, N.C., replied: "A little bit beat up is all, but it's definitely nice to be (in) your own house and your own chairs, so it's good to be home for sure."
CLEVELAND STAYING OFF INDYCAR SCHEDULE: Organizers say the Grand Prix of Cleveland likely won't be on the IndyCar series schedule for 2010. It would be the third consecutive year without the event.
John Lewis, a vice president with the Indy Racing League, said Wednesday that the poor economy has cast doubt on the ability of the promoter to raise money for the event. The IRL schedule for 2010 is expected to be released at the end of July.
Lewis said that the promoter, MJ Productions, wants to focus on trying to get the Cleveland race to return in 2011, which the league would welcome.
The Cleveland event was held along Lake Erie's shoreline at Burke Lakefront Airport for 26 years.
The race was canceled after the IRL-Champ Car merger in 2008.
BIG MONEY: Drivers taking part in this week's four NASCAR events at New Hampshire Motor Speedway will race for their share of a track record $7,005,549 total purse.
The biggest share, $5,423,189, will be up for grabs in Sunday's Lenox Industrial Tools 301 Sprint Cup race, in increase from last year's track record.
The Nationwide Series will race for $1,197,559 in Saturday's Camping World RV Sales 200.
On Friday, drivers in the Camping World East Series will race for their share of $217,884, while the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will compete for $166,917.
MOSLEY OUT: FIA president Max Mosley averted a breakaway series in Formula One but won't stick around to oversee it.
Mosley said he will not seek re-election after reaching a deal to keep eight rebel Formula One teams from forming their own series.
Mosley has been the president of the FIA, the international federation that governs Formula One, since 1993. His leadership style has been criticized as too autocratic, and many of the teams blamed him for precipitating the rift. Still, Mosley had said previously he was seriously considering running for a fifth term.
"This for me is an enormous relief," he said, referring to the "personal difficulties" he has faced.
His son, Alexander Mosley, was found dead at his luxury apartment May 5 after an accidental drug overdose.
The 69-year-old FIA president, the son of former British fascist leader Oswald Mosley, also was at the center of a media frenzy last year when a tabloid newspaper reported he took part in a sadomasochistic orgy with five prostitutes in London. A video of the incident was widely circulated on the Internet.
Mosley successfully sued the News of the World for invasion of privacy.
The episode brought calls for Mosley's ouster as FIA president, but he won an overwhelming vote of confidence to stay on.
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