Fearless predictions: The whole enchilada

There is plenty of racing on tap this weekend, including Skagit Speedway’s season opener in Alger, AMA Supercross’ annual visit to Qwest Field in Seattle, Formula One in China and the NHRA in Georgia. In Cup news,

NASCAR’s top series will run a rare Saturday night race at Phoenix International Raceway and Yakima Speedway will host four divisions of racing in the annual Apple Cup.

IndyCar returns to the streets of Long Beach and the Northwest Legends join Evergreen Speedway’s three Whelen All-American Series divisions at the Monroe track.

Decisions, decisions. Where to go? What to watch live and what to set the VCR or DVR for? Dirt or asphalt? Two wheels or four, roundy-rounds, left-and-right turners or fast-but-straight? It’s almost too much for Momma Whitmore’s baby boy to figure out.

But here goes anyway.

— Skagit Speedway opens its 2009 season on Saturday with the 410, 360 and Sportsman Sprints and Outlaw Hornets slated to run beginning at 7 p.m..

I asked track announcer Kaleb Hart with some insider predictions, but his response didn’t help much: “Big Crowd. Sunshine. Lots of happy people going home after seeing a great night of racing. Truth be told, opening night is the hardest to predict because we don’t really know who will be there until the pit gate opens at 3 p.m. Part of the excitement of the whole enchilada.”

— AMA Supercross racing returns to Seattle’s Qwest field at 7 p.m. on Saturday. It’s the second-to-last stop on the 17-race schedule, and defending champion Chad Reed has just a five-point lead over former champion James Stewart in the season standings. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster of the Qwest Field box office.

— The 43rd annual Apple Cup at Yakima Speedway kicks off at 1 p.m. on Saturday with trophy dashes and heat races for the Pure Stock, Sportsman, Street Stock and Late Model divisions. All divisions return to action at 1 p.m. on Sunday, culminating with a 125-lap late-model feature, the Apple Cup.

— The NASCAR Whelen All-American Series returns to action at 7 p.m. on Saturday at Evergreen Speedway, with the Super Late Model, Street Stock and Mini-Stock divisions joined by the Hornets and Northwest Legends.

— Defending champion Jimmie Johnson has won the past four Cup races at Phoenix, but Jeff Burton, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kevin Harvick have also recorded multiple wins there. The rare Saturday race follows the Nationwide Series on Friday and the Camping World Series West on Thursday.

— On the Nationwide circuit, points leader Carl Edwards has had success at Phoenix, but so have fellow “Insurance Frauds” Harvick, Greg Biffle and 2008 winner Kyle Busch, who trails Edwards by just 23 points.

— Defending champion Tony Schumacher rolls into the NHRA Southern Nationals having won back-to-back Top Fuel events, but points leader Antron Brown won the event last year. Ashley Force Hood (Funny Car), Mike Edwards (Pro Stock) and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle) are the other defending winners at Atlanta Dragway.

— There is so much drama in Formula One, with Brawn GP, winner of the first two grand prix, having its controversial diffuser approved by auto racing’s world governing body, FIA, and defending champion Lewis Hamilton reportedly looking to get out of his contract with McLaren after “lie-gate” at the Australian Grand Prix.

Add to that the uncompetitive nature of traditional powers McLaren and Ferrari, and this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix, and the championship, appears to be up for grabs.

— IndyCar returns to the street course at Long Beach, Calif., the site of the final Champ Car race last year. This season for road and street courses the series has a tire rule similar to Formula One — teams must run both the harder and softer sets for at least two green flag laps each — which has added some intrigue and strategy.

Blanked again last week, I nevertheless look forward to a successful weekend of predictions (with so many races to pick from, I’ve got to get at least one right, right?).

Locally, former champion ,Nat Barber has the car to beat in Evergreen Speedway’s Mini-Stock division and Casey Branch looked good in the Street Stock feature. The late-model pick will be tougher, as some of the regulars may make the tow to Yakima, but I’ll say Jeff Knight gets his second career win.

Having won the last event in Jacksonville, Fla., James Stewart has momentum and is my pick for the Supercross event. I like another Stewart — Tony Stewart — to win the NASCAR Cup race and his former teammate Kyle Busch in the Nationwide Series race at Phoenix. Let’s say Justin Wilson wins the IndyCar race in Long Beach and Jarno Trulli of Toyota takes the F1 race in China.

For the NHRA event — great time of the year to be in Georgia, by the way — I’ll go with Larry Dixon (Top Fuel), Ron Capps (Funny Car), Jeg Coughlin (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle).

There, did I forget anyone?

I’m not going to attempt to pick the Apple Cup or Skagit Speedway winners, because I just don’t know who’s going to be there. Lame cop-out? Perhaps, but it’s not like I haven’t skipped out on you before.

I honestly didn’t learn enough last weekend to go out on a limb like this, but here goes anyway (Ed: Yeah, so much for that “Fearless” stuff, huh?).

I’m going to say Naima Lang repeats as the Super Late Model and NASCAR champion, Travis Blackwood re-takes the Street Stock crown, Nat Barber is the Mini-Stock champion, John Carlson repeats in the Super Figure 8 division and Seth Funden wins the Stinger 8 title.