NEW YORK — Hendrick Motorsports has passed Roush Fenway Racing as the most valuable team in NASCAR, according to Forbes’ annual rankings.
Hendrick is valued at $335 million, Forbes announced Tuesday. Roush Fenway, which topped the list in the first two years of the rankings, is second at $313 million.
Joe Gibbs Racing ($184 million), Gillett Evernham Motorsports ($150 million) and Richard Childress Racing ($130 million) round out the top 5.
Three Hendrick drivers top Forbes’ list of the highest-paid drivers. Jeff Gordon ($32 million) narrowly edged Dale Earnhardt Jr. ($31 million). Jimmie Johnson ($23 million) is third, followed by Tony Stewart ($19 million), who races for Gibbs.
LONDON — Dino Toso is leaving Renault after five seasons as head of the Formula One team’s aerodynamic technology.
Renault has won two F1 constructors’ championships and never finished lower than third since Toso took charge of the department in 2003.
Renault won in 2005 and ‘06 but has slipped to seventh in the 10-team standings with only nine points leading into the eighth of the 18 grand prix races this season. Speculation is mounting that No. 1 driver Fernando Alonso is considering quitting the team.
The team released a statement Tuesday saying Toso would be “seeking new challenges in motorsport” after delivering the revised aerodynamic package which should help the new R28 be more competitive against the leading cars before the end of the season.
“My passion for motorsport has always centered on innovative aerodynamics, and been motivated by a thirst for competition,” Toso said in the statement. “I’m looking forward to tackling new challenges that will allow me to fully express my technical creativity in the years ahead, and take me back to what I love most: the thrill of competition.”
Dirk de Beer will replace Toso as head of Renault’s aerodynamics department.
MUSKOGEE, Okla. — A Muskogee man who was struck by a pickup truck outside an NHRA race in Kansas has died.
Kristi Pankratz, a spokeswoman for the Topeka, Kan., police, confirmed Tuesday that James C. “J.J.” Jenkins, 52, was the second person to die from injuries sustained when a truck hit several pedestrians who were walking back to their car following the NHRA Summer Nationals in Topeka on June 1.
Jenkins’ wife, Joy, told the Muskogee Phoenix her husband suffered a major brain stem stroke Saturday and died at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan.
Judy Brewster, 55, of Muskogee, died at a Kansas hospital shortly after the accident.
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