El Cajon's Cole Whitt is the points leader in USAC's National Sprint Car series.
Whitt, 17, recently won the USAC Border Wars competition with a second-place finish at Winchester (Ind.) Speedway and an eighth-place run at Eldora (Ohio) Speedway.
Whitt is a third-generation driver. Grandfather Jim Whitt won Cajon Speedway's track championship in 1969 and was considered one of the area's most talented drivers. Dad Tobin Whitt was Cajon's champion in 1989 before retiring too early.
Cole started racing go-karts at age 7 and had won 10 national championships before he was old enough to drive on the street.
In 2004, Cole Whitt, whose cousin Brandon went to the Elf School of Racing in France and later competed on the NASCAR Craftsman Truck tour, was the youngest finalist in the Red Bull Driver's Search.
He joined the USAC National Sprint Car series shortly after turning 16.
The Unlimited Hydroplane season opens in Evansville, Ind., this weekend minus the reigning championship boat and the winningest active driver on the circuit.
Dave Villwock and the Miss Elam Plus will not be racing in the first three of the season's six races – or the “Eastern swing” of Evansville, Madison, Ind., and Detroit.
Elam's owners have decided instead to take the boat to the Middle East next winter for what they hope will be the launch of a World Unlimited Hydroplane series. Villwock will be staging at least exhibitions – and there are hopes three other boats will be on hand – in Abu Dhabi, Monte Carlo, Oman and Muscat.
Villwock will be racing in the final three race of the Unlimited Hydroplane season, which concludes Sept. 21 on Mission Bay.
Unlimited Hydroplane officials are still expecting 10 boats to race at Evansville.
Defending Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series champions Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty finally scored their first win of the 2008 Daytona Prototype season Saturday in the rain on the Mid-Ohio road course.
Eight cautions totaling 37 laps slowed the average speed for the 76-lap race to 62.317 mph. Gurney and Fogarty were also the defending race champions.
Darren Law and David Donohue ran second. Points leaders Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas finished eighth after spinning off the course during a period of heavy rain. They retained the season points lead.
El Cajon's Austin Cameron finished seventh in the NASCAR Camping World Series West series race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma on Saturday. Cameron is fourth in the series points race. Ramona's Johnny Borneman finished 26th in the race. Jason Bowles won the 68-lap race, which served as the semimain to Sunday's Sprint Cup race.
San Diego resident Richard Antinucci finished ninth in the Firestone Indy Lights race at Newton, Iowa, on Saturday and is second to race winner Dillon Battistini in the season points race.
Ramona's John Manke finished first and fourth in the two ends of the Super Late Models doubleheader at Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino last Saturday.
The Qualcomm Stadium stop on the 2009 Supercross tour will be Feb. 14. There will be 17 races next year. The series will open Jan. 3 with the first of three Anaheim races.
The Red Bull Air Races stop scheduled for Stockholm, Sweden, July 5-6 has been canceled because of a safety problem.
CHECKERED FLAGS
Kyle Busch: Not only is he the driver to beat in all three NASCAR series, he proves he's just at home on road courses as ovals. His victory in the Sprint Cup race at Sonoma was his 11th of the season in the three classes.
Felipe Massa: Ferrari driver's win in the French Grand Prix puts him atop the World Championship standings.
David Gilliland: Former Winston West driver scores a breakthrough for Yates Racing with a runner-up finish in the Sprint Cup race at Sonoma.
RED FLAGS
Helio Castroneves: After leading the most IndyCar Series laps at Iowa, he falls to a season-worst 14th after a late stop to fix a tire problem and falls 48 points behind Scott Dixon in the season points race.
SCHEDULE
Tomorrow
NASCAR Sprint Cup: Qualifying, Lenox Industrial Tools 301, Loudon, N.H. (1.058-mile oval; Speed Channel, noon).
RaceLegal Drags: Qualcomm Stadium, west access road, 6 p.m.
Saturday
IndyCar Series: SunTrust Indy Challenge, Richmond, Va. (.75-mile, D-shaped oval; ESPN, 5 p.m.) – Chip Ganassi teammates Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon are beginning to dominate the series. Wheldon scored his second victory of the season last week at Iowa to celebrate his 30th birthday. Dixon has won three races and leads the points standings after nine events.
NASCAR Nationwide Series: Camping World RV Sales 200, Loudon, N.H. (200 laps; Channel 10, 11:30 a.m.) – Joey Logano, 18, finished second to Carl Edwards at Nashville last week after scoring his first victory the previous week. But Logano won't drive in this series again until mid-July. Kevin Harvick edged Edwards in this event last year. Harvick has three poles at New Hampshire. Reigning series champ Edwards' victory at Nashville was his first Nationwide win since he won the Nashville race last June.
NASCAR Craftsman Trucks: O'Reilly 200, Memphis, Tenn. (150 laps, .75-mile tri-oval; Speed Channel, 5:30 p.m.) – There have already been a series-record nine winners in 11 races this season. Johnny Benson won last week in Milwaukee.
Sunday
NASCAR Sprint Cup: Lenox Industrial Tools 301, Loudon, N.H. (301 laps, TNT, 9:30 a.m. – New Hampshire could be the perfect place for Jeff Gordon to pick up his first win of 2008. He leads all active drivers with three wins and 12 top-five finishes at New Hampshire, although he lost to Denny Hamlin by .068-second last June. Kyle Busch, who has one win and three top-five finishes in six starts at New Hampshire, is coming off his first Sprint Cup road course victory ... although he also won the Nationwide Series road race in Mexico City this season.
NHRA Drag Racing: Summit Racing Equipment Nationals, Norwalk, Ohio (ESPN2, 4 p.m.) – The sport is dealing with the death of a second Funny Car driver in as many years after Scott Kalitta's fatal accident at Englishtown, N.J. Five-time Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher last week picked up his fifth victory of 2008 in 11 starts, although it was his first at Englishtown.
RACING NUMBERS
9 – Deaths in professional classes of NHRA “nationals” drag racing meets since 1955 (four in Top Fuel, three in Funny Car and two in Pro Stock).
9 – Different winners in 11 Craftsman Truck races this season.
11 – Wins for Kyle Busch in NASCAR's three “national” series this year.
