AutoWeek articles from February 2008

AutoWeek archives from February 2008

A Big Wheel at the Rolex 24.(News)
February 4, 2008... The Penske/Taylor Riley-Pontiac was doing well until Helio Castroneves suffered a tire blowout that put the team well back. It finished third overall, six laps behind the Ganassi/Sabates Riley-Lexus that earned the team's third consecutive...

HERE ARE THE GOOD OLD DAYS; Build a Westfield XI, and it'll be Le Mans 1956 all over again.(News)
February 4, 2008... Byline: MARK VAUGHN "Is that an 11?'' yelled the guy somewhere back in the flimsy rearview mirror. "Sort of!'' we yelled back. It's a 1168-pound replica of Colin Chapman's ultimate lightness wagon. While the original Lotus 11 won...

SILVER & BLACK; Filmmaker Michael Brown enshrines special Corvettes.(Revs)
February 4, 2008... Byline: Phil Berg In 1985, tv anchor Michael Brown and his wife, best-selling novelist Sandra, had the means to buy a Corvette for his 40th birthday. As Will Cooksey, longtime boss of the Bowling Green, Kentucky, Corvette plant, says,...

But Wait, There's More...(BWTM)
February 4, 2008... Press Release We Didn't Finish: NASCAR driver Jamie McMurray selected for jury duty . . . Hyperventilating Hyperlink http://tinyurl.com/35duo8 This Week's Sign the Automotive Apocalypse Is Nigh-But for a Good Cause For a...

Passenger Nation.(Column)
February 4, 2008... Byline: Kevin A. Wilson Now that the Los Angeles show is in the fall, Detroit's competition for hot car news in January is the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. That's where General Motors' CEO Rick Wagoner said we'll have driverless...

EXTRA.(Briefs)
February 4, 2008... Windy City Hummer Hummer will show an H3-based truck at the Chicago auto show and will put it on sale this fall as a 2009 model. The H3T has a five-foot truck bed mated to a crew-cab body. Base power comes from a 3.7-liter, 242-hp...

LOTUS FLOWERS; New models offer even more fun. Now, this is platform sharing we like!(News)
February 4, 2008... Byline: MARK VAUGHN When you were a kid and you got a radio-controlled car, didn't you imagine how cool it would be to be the size of GI Joe and able to climb inside and drive it? That feeling is what the new crop of Lotus sports cars is...

TWO-WHEEL LOWDOWN.(Revs)
February 4, 2008... Byline: GEORGE P. BLUMBERG 2008 KAWASAKI CONCOURS 14 A new Supersport Touring entry throws down the technology gauntlet. 1352-cc, 156-hp, liquid-cooled inline-four; 615-lb dry weight (with ABS); quarter-mile in 10.88 sec @ 124.27 mph...

Gentleman's Roadster; 1920 ROLLS-ROYCE SILVER GHOST RUNABOUT.(Escape Roads)
February 4, 2008... Byline: JAN TEGLER Meet "Seymour,'' a 1920 Silver Ghost Runabout that served as the prototype for a new class of Rolls-Royce: the roadster. Tom and Abby Campi of St. Michaels, Maryland, acquired the one-of-a-kind British-American hybrid in...

Letters.
February 4, 2008... Some get it I really enjoyed Mark Vaughn's "Vegas by Vespa'' in the Jan. 21 issue. Riffin' on Hunter Thompson ("a man would be a damn fool . . . in case something went horribly wrong. . .'') sure beats reiterating "iteration.'' Keep up...

SNOWMOBILE WITH A V10! Audi S6 is laugh-out-loud fun, even when the flakes fly.(News)
February 4, 2008... Byline: Wendy Warren Keebler Our Audi S6, with its terrific cabin and its sweet and savage V10 power, got lots of requests for "extended stays'' during its second quarter. And it served especially well when winter hit. First, though,...

NO CONTEST; Sebastien Loeb faces zero opposition in Monte Carlo.(Competition)
February 4, 2008... Byline: ANTHONY PEACOCK Citroen driver Sebastien Loeb claimed his fifth Monte Carlo Rally win during the opening round of the 2008 World Rally Championship, breaking the record of four event wins held by legends Sandro Munari, Walter Rohrl...

STILL NO DEAL.(Competition)
February 4, 2008... Rumors rippled through the open-wheel racing community the week of Jan. 21 that Indy Racing League boss Tony George had recently offered Champ Car World Series management a deal that would unify the two series for 2008. But such a merger again...

ASTON AUDIO; 007's brand to get Bang & Olufsen SOUND.(News)
February 4, 2008... Byline: NICK KURCZEWSKI Four doors won't be the only distinguishing features when the Aston Martin Rapide arrives in late 2009. The car likely will be the first Aston to offer an audio system from Bang & Olufsen. Best known for...

EXTRA.(Briefs)
February 4, 2008... DE FERRAN RETURNS Two-time CART champion (2000, 2001) and Indy 500 winner (2003) Gil de Ferran will come out of retirement to drive a fourth Acura ARX-01b prototype in the American Le Mans Series LMP2 class. De Ferran also will run his own...

Great(s) Driving.(Column)
February 4, 2008... Byline: Cory Farley One of the perks of motoring journalism is that you sometimes get to ride with people whose driving skills are to your own as an NFL quarterback's Hail Mary pass is to you flipping dirty socks into a hamper. It's a...

BIG SHOULDERS, BIG MUSCLE; Chicago show debut for production Challenger.(News)
February 4, 2008... Byline: MAC MORRISON Here's an early peek at what we expect will be all the rage at the upcoming Chicago auto show: the 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8. Dodge plans to reveal the reborn muscle car Feb. 6, so expect to be inundated with...

SMOKIN' DEALS.(News)
February 4, 2008... Dodge's SRT-tuned Charger highlights the week's incentives, with cash-back savings. Or take advantage of deals on leftover 2007 models from Nissan, Kia and Toyota. SEDAN 2008 dodge charger srt8 MSRP: $39,130; $500 to $3,000 cash...

Meanwhile, outside our car world . . .(50th Anniversary countdown)
February 4, 2008... Syria frees captured U.S. Navy pilot Lt. Robert C. Goodman Jr. Soviet leader Yuri Andropov dies; Konstantin Chernenko is named to replace him. The Soviet Union withdraws from the summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Indian prime minister Indira...

Market.(Escape Roads)
February 4, 2008... Byline: DAVE KINNEY 1962 Porsche 356B Coupe RM Auctions: Automobiles of Arizona Phoenix Jan. 18 1582-cc, air-cooled four-cylinder engine. Four-speed manual gearbox. Champagne yellow with black vinyl. Delivered new in...

1984.(50th Anniversary countdown)
February 4, 2008... Armed with some high-tech computers, drag racer Kenny Bernstein calculates that he will be able to take his Funny Car to an unheard-of top speed of 260 mph. People shake their heads in disbelief. AutoWeek signs NASCAR racer Neil Bonnett as...

UNDER THE HOOD.(Briefs)
February 4, 2008... SNAKEBITTEN Okay, we know the Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR is one potent beast. How did it get that way? Click over to autoweek.com, and get the rundown from the very Chrysler engineers who worked over the Viper's engine and chassis. South...

DON'T WORRY about the future of transportation not being fun; It's Tesla-rrific!
February 4, 2008... Byline: MARK VAUGHN The Tesla roadster proves the sound brilliance of the Lotus Elise chassis by showing that even with 990 extra pounds of batteries stuffed into it, the car is still fun to drive. Granted, there are a few more...

Drivers Log.(News)(Product/service evaluation)
February 4, 2008... GRITZINGER: Saab can call it a SportCombi; all I know is this is one fun station wagon. I assume that this is the kind of turbocharged V6 power that Ford has "discovered'' with its EcoBoost turbocharged gasoline direct-injection engines coming...

TATA'S TALE; A dossier on the Indian company that soon may own Jaguar and Land Rover.(News)
February 4, 2008... Byline: JULIAN RENDELL If all goes as expected, any day now, Ford will conclude seven months of talks and announce the sale of Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata Motors of India. This is automotive history in the making-the first time a...

FLEET STREET; Briefs on our other long-termers.(News)
February 4, 2008... Lexus LS 460 L The cold temporarily confused some of the electronics, with the tire-pressure monitor going wacky for a bit, and the trunk got stuck shut. Neither required attention. Acura MDX It's a great ride, but those...

Studies in Studebaker; Abe Lincoln to Muppets, Chocolates to chinese coupes, museum is a treat.(Revs)
February 4, 2008... Byline: BROOKS BRIERLEY Visiting the venerable Studebaker collection in its current home in South Bend, Indiana-several blocks east of its old location-is a real treat. Both cool and inviting, on a tree-lined street in a historic...

TV: Feb. 8 - 10.(Competition)
February 4, 2008... Friday, Feb. 8 Two Guys Garage, 9:30 a.m., Speed My Classic Car, 10 a.m., Speed 2003 NHRA Nationals from Madison, Ill., 11 a.m., ESPN Classic NASCAR Media Day 2008 Preview, 1 p.m., Speed Russo and Steele Auction, 2 p.m.,...

WINNING AGAIN; More than six years after his near-fatal crash, Zanardi is about a lot more than racing.(Competition)(Alex Zanardi)
February 4, 2008... Byline: CURT CAVIN Alex Zanardi is on the cell phone from Italy, where he returned three years ago from Monte Carlo to give his young son, now nine, an Italian education. As he pulls into his garage in Padova, near Venice, after a...

RAPIDE RUN; Aston's luxury performance sedan makes tracks.(News)
February 4, 2008... Our spy shooter was ready when Aston Martin took its Rapide sedan for some hot laps at subzero temperatures on an ice track. Pegged for a late-2009 introduction as a 2010 model, the $400,000 DB9-based Rapide will battle the likes of Porsche's...

Reader in Hell; Spy shooter snags shots of future Buick.(News)
February 4, 2008... AutoWeek reader and freelance automotive journalist Chuck Arehart caught these test models on a recent run through Hell, Michigan. Though they are camouflaged to look like Cadillacs, what you're really seeing is the next-generation Buick...

TRACK RAT'S SNAKE; Second-generation Viper ACR takes "race `n' ride'' to a new level.(News)
February 4, 2008... Byline: PETE LYONS The Viper cage clangs shut, and there you are, locked in with 600 snakepower of coiled poison. Slowly, it raises its fanged face, blinks its slitted eyes, smiles. "Good day, sir. May I offer you some whine?'' ...

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS? Two teams had good odds but tough luck at Daytona.(Competition)
February 4, 2008... Byline: TRAVIS BRAUN The number seven was unlucky at Daytona. Farnbacher Loles Racing and the Racer's Group teams each entered seven GT Porsches, none of which won. TRG took second through fourth positions, and Farnbacher Loles had a best...

PERFECTION REWARDED; A clean, trouble-free run gives Chip Ganassi a Daytona record.(Competition)
February 4, 2008... Byline: GARY WATKINS No fewer than six cars had a real shot of winning the 24 Hours of Daytona with just more than six hours remaining in the race. In the end, Chip Ganassi Racing in partnership with Felix Sabates notched up a unique...

SPANISH FLYING.(News)
February 11, 2008... Formula One teams test nowhere more than they do at various circuits in Spain, and that has been the case for years. But while winter usually sees teams running in drama-free environments-like that shown here as Toyota's Jarno Trulli laps the...

WHAT A DRAG.(Competition)
February 11, 2008... Pomona, California: It doesn't matter whether you go to the NHRA season opener (48th annual Carquest NHRA Winternationals, Feb. 7-10) or the season finale (44th Auto Club NHRA Finals, Nov. 13-16) or both, this drag strip, located east of Los...

WHAT A DRAG.(Competition)
February 11, 2008... Gainesville, Florida: The 39th annual AC Delco NHRA Gatornationals, March 13-16, should be emotional, as it was the last event in which John Force Racing driver Eric Medlen competed before his death the next week following a practice crash at...

WHAT A DRAG.(Competition)
February 11, 2008... Charlotte, North Carolina: The first NHRA Carolinas Nationals, Sept. 11-14, will be held at a new drag strip now under construction next to Lowe's Motor Speedway in the Charlotte suburb of Concord. You can bet the farm that owner Bruton Smith...

Letters.
February 11, 2008... demon ditto Demon? A front-wheel-drive Chinese car? Are they completely nuts? The competition is rwd! The money managers are officially killing a once-proud marque. John Cleland, Pasadena, Md. Sticks and Stones The price is...

TOYOTA'S REBOUND.(Competition)
February 11, 2008... It won't take much for Toyota to do better in 2008 than during its dismal 2007 Cup debut. Michael Waltrip Racing, Bill Davis Racing and Team Red Bull combined for only 163 starts in 258 team opportunities. Toyota won two poles-Dave Blaney at...

NASCAR BY NUMBERS.(Competition)
February 11, 2008... 18: Drivers who have won at least once in each of NASCAR's three series. But only Mark Martin, Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch and Kasey Kahne have multiple wins in the Cup, Nationwide (formerly...

1985.(50th Anniversary countdown)
February 11, 2008... One of the cars tested by AutoWeek this year is the Porsche 944 Turbo (shown here catching up to its 911 Carrera kin). The British government approves a five-year plan for the continuation of British-Leyland, in cooperation with Honda. Step...

Drivers Log.(News)(Product/service evaluation)
February 11, 2008... KEEBLER: I prefer this '08 coupe to our long-term '07 sedan, even with its smaller, less powerful four-cylinder (as opposed to the sedan's rather awesome V6). The power feels like plenty to me for this lighter vehicle. Maybe because it's newer,...

Meanwhile, outside our car world . . .(50th Anniversary countdown)
February 11, 2008... Ronald Reagan, 73, begins his second term as president. Soviet leader Konstantin Chernenko dies at 73 and is replaced by Mikhail Gorba-chev, who initiates a broad program of reform. Reagan and Gorbachev agree to step up arms-control talks and...

THE ROOKIE CLASS.(Competition)
February 11, 2008... Every rookie of the year this decade has won poles or races, and Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman won both in their rookie seasons. That impressive run might end this year. The 2008 class is a mixed bag, with foreign-born open-wheel...

WELCOME BACK, COACH.(Competition)
February 11, 2008... In the four seasons immediately before he returned to the National Football League, Joe Gibbs' two Sprint (formerly Nextel) Cup teams won 12 poles, 23 races and two Cup titles. In his four years back with the Redskins and away from Joe Gibbs...

SWEET HOME MOORESVILLE.(Competition)
February 11, 2008... Petty Enterprises spent 2007 debating whether to stay in Level Cross, North Carolina, or move to Charlotte, the heart of stock-car country. The Pettys had operated in Level Cross since 1948, when NASCAR was incorporated. But it had become...

DON'T BET AGAINST HENDRICK.(Competition)(Rick Hendrick the owner of Hendrick Motorsports)
February 11, 2008... Byline: AL PEARCE Funny man, that Rick Hendrick. The owner of Hendrick Motorsports sat in front of the entire American motorsports media in mid-January and said with a straight face that his teams were tied for dead last in the 2008 Sprint...

MUSCLE MACHINE; A wet-and-wild first drive in Dodge's Challenger SRT8.
February 11, 2008... Byline: MAC MORRISON Herb Helbig is dead serious. He's about to turn loose a group of journalists who still don't get why some top-line racing series never recruited them. "Don't. Wreck. My. Cars,'' says the now-retired chief engineer...

PEUGEOT ROCKS SEBRING.(Competition)
February 11, 2008... Peugeot blitzed Audi during the official American Le Mans Series preseason test at Sebring International Raceway, on the French manufacturer's first visit to the bumpy 3.7-mile circuit. The lone Peugeot 908 HDi turbodiesel prototype set a...

Hamana-hamana-hamana-SOLD! Recession? Ha! There ain't no recession in a Phoenix auction tent.(News)
February 11, 2008... Byline: MARK VAUGHN Never mind all that doom and gloom from the financial markets; if the world economy were going to the poor house, it would arrive there in a nice Bugatti Type 57, a Duesenberg Model SJ or, more likely, a wildly...

EXTRA.(Briefs)
February 11, 2008... BACK TO WORK Tony Cotman, the Champ Car executive vice president and race director who quit his job recently (Competition, Jan. 28), has landed at the Indy Racing League. Cotman's hiring fills a leadership void under Brian Barnhart, left...

WHAT A DRAG.(Competition)
February 11, 2008... Bristol, Tennessee: The eighth annual O'Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, May 16-18, may not be quite the hot ticket the Bristol Motor Speedway NASCAR Sprint Cup night race is, but this is a wonderful place for racing of any kind. ...

TV: Feb. 15 - 17.(Competition)
February 11, 2008... Friday, Feb. 15 NASCAR Live, 1 p.m., Speed (L) NASCAR Sprint Cup practice from Daytona Beach, Fla., 1:30 p.m., Speed (L) Russo and Steele Car Auction, 2 p.m., ESPN2 NASCAR Nationwide Series qualifying from Daytona Beach, Fla.,...

Market.(Escape Roads)
February 11, 2008... Byline: DAVE KINNEY 1950 Packard Station Sedan Gooding & Company: Scottsdale Auction Scottsdale, Ariz. Jan. 19 130-hp, 288-cid inline-eight-cylinder engine. Three-speed manual transmission with column shifter. Light green...

WINDY CITY KEEPS ON TRUCKIN'.(News)
February 11, 2008... Byline: DALE JEWETT, JONATHAN WONG Trucks traditionally have taken center stage at the Chicago auto show, and this year's show-which celebrates its 100th anniversary Feb. 8-17 at McCormick Place-keeps the streak alive. Higher fuel...

EXTRA.(Briefs)(Pininfarina Industrie S.p.A. introducing new car)(Carroll Shelby suing the Shelby American Automobile Club to prevent it from using his name and related images.)(Lexus may build a compact sport/utility vehicle-smaller than the RX 350)(Brief article)
February 11, 2008... Pininfarina's Swiss Sketch At the Geneva motor show in March, Pininfarina will unveil the Sintesi, a concept that draws on the Italian design house's previous two concepts, the Birdcage 75th sports car shown at Geneva in 2005 and the...

WHAT A DRAG.(Competition)
February 11, 2008... Indianapolis, Indiana: The 54th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals are scheduled for Aug. 27-Sept. 1. Speaking of a great town for racing, this is the event win every racer wants on a resume. It's the sort of race you save your best engine for,...

But Wait, There's More...(BWTM)
February 11, 2008... WHO WRITES THIS STUFF? "I'm suffering from electile dysfunction: the failure to be aroused by any candidate.'' -GM's Bob Lutz, when asked whom he supports in the U.S. presidential race Lest we forget, custom sneakers are hardly a...

Grokking New-Age Luxury.(forecast of luxury cars market)(Column)
February 11, 2008... Byline: Steve Thompson Speaking at this year's Automotive News World Congress, Scott Keogh, Audi of America's chief of marketing, said that Audi henceforth would try to embody "new-age values coming mostly from the West Coast.'' In...

FAST FOOD? Yeah, the racing is important, but so is your appetite. Here are five of our favorite places to dine during the NASCAR season.(Competition)
February 11, 2008... Pal's in northeastern Tennessee: Some of America's best hot dogs, hamburgers, fries and shakes come from the dozen or so Pal's restaurants within easy drive of Bristol Motor Speedway. These small, family-run, local institutions are strictly...

NATIONWIDE DOMINANCE.(Competition)
February 11, 2008... Byline: AL PEARCE Seven straight and nine of the last 10 Nationwide (formerly Busch) Series champions raced for Sprint (formerly Nextel) Cup outfits that overwhelmed the series' grass-roots teams. Unless something dramatic happens, that...

CHASING THE TITLE.(Competition)
February 11, 2008... Byline: AL PEARCE Bill Davis Racing has built an impressive resume in 21 years of NASCAR racing. The North Carolina-based company has won poles and races in all three major NASCAR series and has had top-10 drivers in the final standings of...

Accountability Starts Here.(Column)
February 11, 2008... Byline: Dutch Mandel On the last weekend in January, Josh Ammirato, 18, slammed into a tree near Ocala, Florida. He killed himself and four others in his car. I don't know Josh, but I know a lot of 18-year-olds, so this story hits hard...

BACK TO THE STARTING LINE.(Competition)
February 11, 2008... Byline: STEVEN COLE SMITH What a strange, star-crossed year 2007 was for the National Hot Rod Association. It saw the institution of the NHRA's touted, complex countdown formula that pared the championship field to the final race. It also...

EDSEL'S EYE; 1947 Lincoln Continental Club Coupe.(Escape Roads)
February 11, 2008... Byline: Leigh Dorrington The only son of Henry Ford, as many sons of dominant fathers do, sought his own niche. Edsel Ford was said to have an impeccable eye for design and was largely responsible for designing bodies for the new Ford...

THE TEACHER; Thousands have learned to drive the Bob Bondurant way.(Revs)
February 11, 2008... Byline: LARRY EDSALL The doctor asked Bob Bondurant if he wanted the good news or the bad news. Bondurant asked for the good: Three broken ribs would heal, so would both of his broken legs, and his concussion was mild. And the bad...

TRACKING THE CATS; Revived F-Type and four-door XK among the claws in Jaguar's paws.(News)
February 11, 2008... Byline: JULIAN RENDELL A $50,000 Jaguar F-Type two-seat sports car, a coupe version of the new XF sedan and a sporty four-door XK supersedan are centerpieces of the company's post-Ford model plans. The cars are all in the feasibility...

Hating Is Easy.(Column)
February 18, 2008... Byline: Kevin A. Wilson A couple of weeks ago in this space, I wrote a screed (no other word for it) against the advent of the robotic car. My news hook was General Motors' Rick Wagoner suggesting that the first such cars could appear in a...

Autoweek's '08 Nascar & NHRA fan guide.(Fan Guide)
February 18, 2008... The 50th Daytona 500 is upon us, and while it is NASCAR's biggest race of the year, there is plenty more racing to come your way over the next nine months. The 2008 AutoWeek Fan Guide gives you inside information on the season's action, with...

2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Teams and Drivers: Part 1 of 2.(Fan Guide)
February 18, 2008... A.J. Allmendinger AGE: 26 CUP DEBUT: Bristol, 2007* STARTS: 17 POLES: 0 WINS: 0 BEST SEASON FINISH: 43rd (2007) TEAM: Team Red Bull OWNER: Dany Bahar CAR: No. 84 Toyota Camry CREW CHIEF: Rick Viers ENGINE SUPPLIER: Toyota Racing...

Starburst.(News)
February 18, 2008... Defending NHRA Funny Car champion Tony Pedregon survived this fireball, which occurred when his engine exploded as he raced John Force during the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, California. Pedregon went to a hospital for treatment of a...

KNOW YOUR NHRA.(Fan Guide)
February 18, 2008... A Top Fuel dragster accelerates from 0 to 100 mph in less than eight-tenths of a second, which is 9.1 seconds quicker than an Audi R8.

Classic-Car Prep; How to make sure your vintage bling is ready for spring.(Revs)
February 18, 2008... Byline: John L. Stein Six months after parking your new Mercedes-Benz E-Class to go on sabbatical, you twist the key to resume your normal driving routine without hesitation. But half a year after mothballing your Hillman Minx for its...

2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Teams and Drivers: Part 2 of 2.(Fan Guide)
February 18, 2008... Mark Martin AGE: 49 CUP DEBUT: North Wilkesboro, 1981 STARTS: 698 POLES: 41 WINS: 35 BEST SEASON FINISH: Second (2002, 1998, 1994, 1990) TEAM: Dale Earnhardt Inc. OWNER: Teresa Earnhardt CAR: No. 8 Chevrolet Impala SS CREW CHIEF: Tony...

TV: Feb. 22 - 24.(Competition)
February 18, 2008... Friday, Feb. 22 2004 NHRA from Gainesville, Fla., 11 a.m., ESPN Classic NASCAR Nationwide Series practice from Fontana, Calif., 12:30 p.m., Speed (L) NASCAR Sprint Cup practice from Fontana, Calif., 3 p.m., Speed (L) NASCAR...

'08 SCHEDULE.(Fan Guide)(Calendar)
February 18, 2008... www.nhra.com All races televised on ESPN2; all times Eastern Feb. 10: Carquest Winternationals, Auto Club Raceway at Pomona (Pomona, Calif.) www.pomonaraceway.com; 7:30 p.m. Feb. 24: Checker Schuck's Kragen Nationals, Firebird...

SOLID CONNECTION; NASCAR Technical Institute opens doors.(Fan Guide)
February 18, 2008... Byline: CURT CAVIN John Dodson was the son of a race-car driver, so when he graduated from his Winston-Salem high school, he had a path to pursue his dream. Many other racing hopefuls haven't been so fortunate, much less connected....

EXTRA.(Briefs)
February 18, 2008... Chrysler Product Plans? Published reports say that Chrysler plans to pare its model lineup, cutting some 15 models. The automaker says nothing is settled yet but that model lines and dealerships need to be consolidated to eliminate costly...

Meanwhile, outside our car world . . .(50th Anniversary countdown)
February 18, 2008... Spain and Portugal join the European Economic Community. President Reagan freezes Libyan assets in the United States. President Ferdinand Marcos flees the Philippines after ruling for 20 years; Corazon Aquino succeeds him. A major nuclear...

Market.(Escape Roads)
February 18, 2008... Byline: DAVE KINNEY 1959 Pontiac Catalina Convertible Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale, Ariz. Jan. 15-20 Tri-power (three carburetors), 389-cid V8. Automatic transmission. Pink exterior with pink and white leather seats,...

KING FOR A DAY; Jari-Matti Latvala breaks through in Sweden.(Competition)
February 18, 2008... Byline: ANTHONY PEACOCK Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala, 22, became the youngest driver ever to win a World Rally Championship event, after a dominant performance in Sweden, where he led from start to finish. The Finn beat the record...

CONFUSION REIGNS IN OPEN-WHEEL SAGA.(Competition)
February 18, 2008... Word leaked on Feb. 7 that the Champ Car World Series and the Indy Racing League were on the verge of merging in time for the 2008 season. But as AutoWeek went to press, several obstacles stood in the way of the groundbreaking deal that would...

EXTRA.(Briefs)
February 18, 2008... BMW RETURNS BMW confirmed it will return to U.S. racing in 2009 (Competition, Jan. 28) when it enters two V8-powered M3 coupes in the American Le Mans Series GT2 class. Rahal Letterman Racing will campaign the cars. Drivers will be named...