As we get closer to the start of the 2007 ChampCar season various driver and team line-ups are being confirmed. As expected second-generation American star Graham Rahal (below) has been confirmed as the second driver at the championship winning Newman-Haas team.

MinardiUSA have announced that their second driver will be “Speedy” Dan Clarke where the Englishman will join previously announced ex-F1 driver Robert Doornbos. Despite continuing to stress that they would only rin one car this year for Paul Tracy, the Forsythe team has announced that Mario Dominguez will return to the team in a second car for the 2007 season, just nine months after being effectively sacked by the team.

The RuSPORT and Rocketsports teams will combine this year to run as RSPORTS, effectively pairing Justin Wilson and Alex Tagliani.

NASCAR entered a new era over the weekend when the long awaited, and much maligned, “Car Of Tomorrow” made its race debut at the tight Bristol oval. While feedback from the fans seems to have been positive, many of the drivers, including eventual race winner Kyle Busch (5), were still vocal in their feelings about how the new car handles. Even as he celebrated his win (below) Busch commented “I’m glad we could come out of here with a victory, but I still can’t stand to drive these things. They’re terrible.”

The race was dominated by the Joe Gibbs cars of Tony Stewart (20) and Denny Hamlin (11) who between them lead for 434 of the 500 laps before hitting problems. Pole sitter Jeff Gordon (24) also hit problems but managed to fight his way back up to third, sufficient for him to take over the Nextel Cup series points lead from the absent Mark Martin. A late caution saw the race end with a two lap shoot out from which Busch emerged ahead of the hard charging, but clean driving, Jeff Burton (31).  As well as being the first win for the COT, Busch’s victory was the 200th for Hendrick Motorsports and the 600th for Chevrolet.

The Top 10 Finishers were:

1. Kyle Busch (Chevrolet)
2. Jeff Burton (Chevrolet)
3. Jeff Gordon (Chevrolet)
4. Kevin Harvick (Chevrolet)
5. Greg Biffle (Ford)
6. Jeff Green (Chevrolet)
7. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Chevrolet)
8. Clint Bowyer (Chevrolet)
9. Jamie McMurray (Ford)
10. Casey Mears (Chevrolet)

New team driver Oliver Jarvis steered TeamGB to their first A1-GP victory in the feature race at Mexico during the lastest round of the World Cup of Motorsports over the weekend. Team USA although visibly quicker after the pit stops wasn’t able to catch jarves anbd finished a solid second ahead of South Africa. The previously dominant German team managed only ninth with their new driver, while sprint race winner, Alex Yoong of Malaysia came home in fifth place behind Italy.

With two races left to run the current overall Top 10 team standings are:

1.  Germany
2.  New Zealand
3.  Great Britain
4.  France
5.  Malaysia
6.  Switzerland
7.  Holland
8.  Italy
9.  Mexico
10.  USA

The NHRA has confirmed that Eric Medlen, 33, who had emerged as one of the most popular young drivers in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, succumbed Friday afternoon to injuries suffered when his race car crashed into a guardwall during a Monday test session at Gainesville Raceway. The talented Funny Car driver never regained consciousness. After being treated at the track, he was transported by ShandsCair helicopter to Shands at the University of Florida medical center where medical staff treated him for four days for a severe closed head injury.

Little more than three years ago, Medlen took over driving responsibilities for John Force Racing in the Funny Car in which Tony Pedregon won the 2003 championship. He had distinguished himself as one of the brightest young stars on the circuit, winning six times in his first three seasons and never finishing outside the top five in driver points. He was the sport’s top Funny Car rookie in 2004, winning in Brainerd, Minn.  He won three races in 2005 and two in 2006.

“Eric Medlen was the son I never had,” said team owner John Force. ”He was the leader of my next generation of drivers. Robert Hight, my daughter Ashley, and I were with the family throughout this very difficult time. This loss is a huge blow not only to the Medlen family, but to drag racing and to John Force Racing. I just want to thank everybody for their support, from Larry Smiley with Racers For Christ to the hospital staff to the whole drag racing community. Our prayers go out to the family.”

Last year’s series runner-up and former Champion Dan Wheldon dominated the IRL season opener under the lights at Homestead Speedway in Miami on Saturday night. This was Wheldon’s third consecutive victory at the venue and once again established him as one of the potential power houses for the season ahead. At one point a minor mistake in a pit stop dropped the Englishman down to ninth place but it only took him ten laps of flat out power driving to regain a lead he never relinquished.

Behind Wheldon the race was somewhat processional, especially for the IRL which is noted for its close finishes on oval tracks. Wheldon was followed home by team mate Scott Dixon with reigning champion Sam Hornish Jr . finishing a distant third in his Penske. Vitor Meria (Panther) and Tony Kannan (AGR) were the only two other finishers on the lead lap. Sarah Fisher marked her full time return to the IRL with a solid 11th place while media darling Danica Patrick hit the pit lane wall at pit-in and stomped off to the garage area in a somehat lackluster debut for her new team, Andretti-Green Racing. Fellow AGR star on the rise, Marco Andretti, pitted an ill-handling car early in the race.

The Top 10 finishers were as follows:

1. Dan Wheldon (Ganassi )
2. Scott Dixon (Ganassi)
3. Sam Hornish Jr (Penske)
4. Vitor Meira (Panther)
5. Tony Kanaan (Andretti-Green)
6. Ed Carpenter (Vision)
7. Dario Franchitti (Andretti-Green)
8. Tomas Scheckter (Vision)
9. Helio Castroneves (Penske )
10. Buddy Rice (Dreyer & Reinbold)