I Dig Sports
We’re back with another new edition of the SPEED SPORT Power Rankings! With rain stopping dozens of races across the country, was there any major movement in the Power Rankings? Click below to find out!
CONCORD, N.C. – Stewart-Haas Racing and Busch Beer have revealed what Kevin Harvick’s millennial car will look like when it rolls onto the track for the Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 18.
The car, which is primarily pink, features an array of emojis and new-age slang. The paint scheme came about as the result of a bet by Busch Beer prior to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season finale last November at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Busch Beer was so confident that Harvick would win his second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship on Nov. 18 that the company said if he didn’t, his car would sport a millennial-inspired paint scheme at some point in 2019.
Old guys will rule again at Homestead. In fact, Busch is so confident that Harvick will win that if he doesn’t, we’ll give millennials the v lit paint scheme they always wanted in a race next year. Don’t @ us. pic.twitter.com/uZ63oc8wa2
— Busch Beer (@BuschBeer) November 15, 2018
Harvick didn’t win the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship that night at Homestead-Miami Speedway, that honor went to Joey Logano. As a result, Busch Beer was forced to honor the Twitter bet.
Busch Beer fans on social media voted for what should go on the car back in March and the scheme was revealed Tuesday on Busch Beer’s Twitter page.
“I think the car and the program are a lot of fun,” Harvick said. “It sucks losing a bet, but I’m willing to live up to my end of the deal. Through the process of the car design, I’ve learned a lot of new words, none of which make sense to me, nor could I ever use in the right context. However, it’s the All-Star race, and we have a great partner in Busch, who always like to have fun and keep things fresh. In the end, I want to win. Whether I’m driving a millennial pink car, a purple car or my normal car, it’s all about winning.”
#MillennialCar is finally here IRL. Who else is ready for @KevinHarvick and the #MillennialCar to slay at the #AllStarRace? pic.twitter.com/3hqpFbM6KY
— Busch Beer (@BuschBeer) May 7, 2019
Some people love the old joke about the young race fan who grows up believing the last four words to the national anthem are “Gentleman, Start Your Engines.”
Others don’t see the humor in that. Maybe it all comes down to personal experience.
In July 1964, Johnny Rutherford was standing near Mario Andretti on the grid at New Jersey’s Trenton Speedway. On tap was a 150-mile Indy car race. Rutherford was starting 14th. Andretti, three rows further up, was in his maiden race with the Dean Van Lines team. Chief mechanic Clint Brawner and his assistant, Jim McGee, were performing the usual last-minute checks as the first notes of “The Star-Spangled Banner” rang out.
In those days, before TV coverage turned everything into a pose, pre-race formalities were for spectators. For the combatants, the work went on.
“McGee was hammering on the wheel nuts, the old spinner type,” recalled Rutherford. “Mario, an immigrant, was standing there at attention. McGee kept banging the wheels as the national anthem played. Mario turned his head, just slightly, and in a thick Italian accent — much thicker than how he sounds today — said, ‘Jimmy! Jimmy! Don’t bang!’”
Subscribers Only
This content is accessible to subscribers only. To read the rest of this article, please login, or if you are not a subscriber, signup here and explore our subscription options starting at just $19.95 per year. Subscribers have access to all premium content including SPEED SPORT Magazine features and editorial and exclusive programs and features on SPEEDSPORT.tv. Don't miss out on this tremendous value!The anthem was sacred to Andretti, who had only been in the United States for nine years. He arrived in New York on June 16, 1955, a Thursday, just past sunrise. Already, the weather was out of a tourism brochure: blue skies, temps in the 60s, climbing toward a forecasted high of 80. Mario would always remember the day being “clear and sunny, just like in the movies.”
Today, so much of his life is a highlight reel: the four Indy car titles, the 1967 Daytona 500 win, the Indianapolis 500 victory in 1969 — jeez, 50 years ago — and the 1978 Formula One world championship. In June 1955, he couldn’t dream of the fame and fortune he would find.
He was 15 years old and staring at the Statue of Liberty from the deck of an ocean liner, the 668-foot Conte Biancamano. To his right, Manhattan’s skyscrapers glistened. But Mario was not smiling.
On board with him were his twin brother, Aldo, and their sister, Anna Maria, who turned 21 that very day. They’d sailed from Genoa, Italy, in the company of their parents, Alvise Luigi “Gigi” Andretti and his wife, Rina. Their journey over the blue Mediterranean, through the Strait of Gibraltar and across the Atlantic took 10 days.
Gigi and Rina were searching for a new life. The one they’d left had dissolved into no life at all. Before World War II, Gigi was caretaker for several farms and vineyards in Montona, on Italy’s Istrian peninsula, and the family lived comfortably.
But when the war ended and Europe’s borders were re-drawn, Istria belonged to communist Yugoslavia. Their freedom stolen, their wealth stripped away, 350,000 residents shuffled out of the region in what history books call the Istrian exodus.
Mr. and Mrs. Andretti, their kids and Rina’s parents were part of that diaspora. They spent several days in a camp in Udine, Italy, before being assigned to a displaced-persons compound in Lucca. There, the Andrettis were one of 17 families sharing a large room, with blankets for walls.
Eventually, they were given two tiny, connected rooms. The grandparents took one; in the other, Anna Maria had her own small bed, while Mario and Aldo shared the upper tier of a bunk bed, their parents below them.
Those crowded quarters were the family home for seven years. Next time you hear some race var driver talk about how he came from nothing, think about Mario Andretti in that bunk, in a building filled with strangers, in a place that wasn’t home.
But he and Aldo had spirit. In Lucca, they hung out at an auto repair shop owned by Sergio Seggiolina and Antonio Biagini, who allowed the teenagers to park the cars their customers dropped off. The men introduced the young Andrettis not only to the steering wheel, but also to the race car. They took the boys to the 1954 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, where they marveled at Alberto Ascari and his blood-red Ferrari. And early in 1955, Sergio and Antonio brought the twins to Florence so they could glimpse the passing Mille Miglia, Italy’s storied open-road race.
“It was as if I was living for the first time,” Mario told his biographer, Bob Collins.
His excitement was short-lived. That same spring, Gigi Andretti announced the family would leave for America. To Mario and Aldo, the news was devastating. In the days leading up to the trip — and during the voyage itself, Mario told writer Ed Hinton — one would whisper to the other, “No corse in America.” No racing in this new home of ours. Hence the lack of smiles as their ship idled past Lady Liberty.
But to Gigi Andretti, the sunlight bouncing off those Manhattan windows looked like gold at the end of a rainbow. Clearing immigration, he and his family traveled 80 miles west to Nazareth, Pa., home of Rina’s uncle Tony, who’d sponsored their immigration. Gigi took a job at Bethlehem Steel.
On the family’s first Sunday in Pennsylvania, Aldo was in bed with a headache when Mario bounded up the stairs, claiming he’d heard the rumble of racing engines. Aldo sprang out of bed and the two of them were out the door, chasing the noise.
It drew them to Nazareth Speedway, a half-mile oval of hard-packed dirt, around which hulking jalopies were sliding.
Mamma Mia! Corse in America! Through sheer, dumb luck, they had landed in a race-track town.
INDIANAPOLIS – Chicago Blackhawks goaltender and two-time Stanley Cup champion Corey Crawford will lead the field to the green flag for the sixth annual IndyCar Grand Prix on May 11.
Crawford will serve as the driver of the Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport Coupe Pace Car for the opening event of the Month of May at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Twice an NHL All-Star (2015, 2017) and a member of the NHL All-Rookie team in 2011, Crawford is just the eighth Blackhawks goaltender to win more than 100 games in the team’s storied history. The Windy City fan favorite is also an avid car enthusiast who enjoys restoring vintage vehicles.
“I’m honored to have been selected to drive this year’s Pace Car at a place as famous as the Brickyard,” Crawford said. “Indianapolis is an incredibly passionate sports city, and I couldn’t be more excited to represent the Blackhawks and see their love for IndyCar racing in person.”
Crawford, 34, a native of Montreal, was selected by the Blackhawks in the second round of the 2003 NHL Draft. He lifted the Stanley Cup with his teammates in 2013 and again in 2015.
“It’s great to have such a popular athlete with Hoosier sports fans and a dedicated car enthusiast like Corey Crawford lead the IndyCar Grand Prix field to the green flag in a Corvette,” said Michael Stouffer, Chevrolet motorsports marketing manager. “The IndyCar Grand Prix will be a thrilling race that kicks off an exciting three weekends of action in May at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.”
Crawford will lead the starting field of the NTT IndyCar Series race on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course at IMS in a Corvette Grand Sport that features:
– 460-horsepower (343 kW) LT1 direct-injected V-8 engine
– Eight-speed paddle-shift automatic transmission
– Z07 performance package
– Polished aluminum 19-inch front/20-inch rear wheels
– Competition sport bucket seats
– Performance data recorder
– Selective magnetic ride control
– Arctic white body color with unique GM design graphics package
“Corey is going to have a blast driving this year’s Corvette Pace Car, especially since he’s such a true fan of cars and racing,” IMS President J. Douglas Boles said. “Many Indy residents have long enjoyed cheering for Corey and his teammates, and between today’s news and the return of Jim Cornelison to the Indy 500, the Blackhawks are fast becoming the preferred NHL team of IMS.”
ESCALON, Calif. – After five years of racing together, Cody Hodgson has made the tough decision to depart Double Nickel Racing and the Weiher family and seek other opportunities this season.
Double Nickel Racing was born in 2014 as a combination effort between the Hodgson and Weiher families, with Cody Hodgson tabbed as the driver.
“It has been a great five plus years racing with Todd Weiher and everyone involved with this race team, but I really feel that in every driver’s career they have to take a step back from running their family car, and that is where I am at,” Hodgson said. “Initially I had planned on getting through this season, and spending the offseason trying to put something together, but it feels like right now is the right time for both myself and the Weiher’s to change directions.
“I truly wish the Weiher Racing team all the best moving forward.”
With a strong racing pedigree, Hodgson has had success in nearly everything he has sat in.
A three-time National Karting Champion, Hodgson has also picked up two Super Kart USA Pro Shifter Titles, and he became the second American to ever podium at a Rotax Karting World Championship event when he did so in Egypt back in 2009.
In 2011 Hodgson spent time as a NASCAR development driver with Dave Davis Motorsports in the K&N Pro East Series, before making the jump to sprint cars back in 2014.
“Again, Todd Weiher has been like a second father to me, and without him and his family none of this would have been possible,” Hodgson added. “I have a lot of racing left in me, and I am already on the hunt for my next opportunity.
“I have a lot of fire in me, and all I want to do is go racing.”
Longtime Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland was named the new GM and president of hockey operations of the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday, and he got right to work.
At his introductory news conference, he said he had already informed Ken Hitchcock that he will not return as coach of the team.
Holland had spent 36 years with the Red Wings organization, including 22 as GM, and was the architect of three Stanley Cup winning teams.
Two weeks ago, Holland's position with the Red Wings shifted to an advisory role when Detroit welcomed Steve Yzerman as the GM. Yzerman, a former Red Wings great, had previously served as the general manager in Tampa Bay.
According to multiple reports, Holland's deal with the Oilers is for five years, at $5 million per year.
The Oilers have missed the playoffs in 12 of the past 13 seasons, despite picking first overall for three straight years from 2010 to 2012 and again in 2015. There is pressure to win while superstar captain Connor McDavid is still in his prime -- and under contract. McDavid, 22, has a deal that runs through 2025-26 with a $12.5 million cap hit.
Holland will report to Oilers CEO Bob Nicholson. According to owner Daryl Katz, Holland will have "full autonomy" in roster decisions.
"I know fans don't want plans and promises," Katz said. "They want results."
Holland said he does expect to implement "some change" but did not provide a timeline or details. He emphasized long-term sustainability, but added: "I'd like to think we are talking playoffs in '19-'20."
Holland will help choose the team's next coach. The Oilers fired Todd McLellan in November, and used longtime NHL coach Hitchcock for the remainder of the season.
Holland, a British Columbia native, called himself a "Western Canadian boy" and he spent lengths listing his personal and family connections to provinces in Western Canada. Holland called the decision to leave the Red Wings "emotional" but said he still had the passion and enthusiasm to be a general manager, which led to him taking the new job.
"I've got a core to work with," Holland said. "Now I've got to go out and support that core, find a coach, and provide stability, and build a program here that our fan base is excited about."
"My job is to provide stability," Holland said, one of a number of times he used the word "stability."
In Holland's tenure, the Red Wings made the playoffs for 25 seasons, which ended in 2017 as the team entered a rebuild.
Kirk taking indefinite leave to deal with alcohol, depression
Chris Kirk announced Tuesday that he is taking "an indefinite leave" from the PGA Tour to address issues with alcohol abuse and depression.
Kirk, who turns 34 on May 8, took to Twitter to share a statement about beginning "a new and better chapter in my life."
"I have dealt with alcohol abuse and depression for some time now," Kirk wrote. "I thought I could control it, but after multiple relapses I have come to realize that I can't fix this on my own. I will be taking an indefinite leave from the PGA Tour to deal with these issues. I don't know when I will be back, but for now I need my full focus on being the man my family deserves."
A former standout at the University of Georgia, Kirk earned the first of four PGA Tour wins at the 2011 Sanderson Farms Championship and reached as high as 16th in the world rankings following his victory at Colonial in 2015. But he's down to No. 188 in the latest rankings, having missed 11 of 17 cuts this season including each of his last four starts. He last teed it up two weeks ago at the Zurich Classic, where he teamed with Sepp Straka.
Kirk's lone top-40 finish this season came at Bay Hill, where he tied for 15th. He is currently fully exempt on Tour based on his FedExCup standing last season.
Kirk and his wife, Tahnee, have three children ages 7, 5 and 20 months.
Each week on GolfChannel.com, we’ll examine which players’ stocks and trends are rising and falling in the world of golf.
RISING
Max Homa (+9%): A sports writer’s dream, Homa overcame layers of scar tissue and years of self-doubt to reach the pinnacle of the sport. What a cool story – and what an example for those 20-something, mini-tour grinders who wonder if they’ll ever make it to the Big Show.
Joel Dahmen (+5%): The cancer survivor and irreverent journeyman is easy to root for, and he’s getting closer and closer to that first Tour title. His gutsy up-and-down on 18 netted him another cool $263K and pushed him inside the top 100 in the world rankings for the first time.
Tiger (+4%): Why do we, as media members, focus so much on Woods? Because he’s the only active golfer who could win the freakin’ Presidential Medal of Freedom. The comeback: Complete.
Pat Perez (+2%): In his first individual starts in two months, Perez gutted out a tie for eighth at the Wells Fargo – despite being in excruciating pain during therapy. Not bad for a 43-year-old who thought he’d be out for a year with a torn Achilles’ tendon.
Morgan Pressel (+1%): Rather than beg and plead for a handout, Pressel instead buckled down and advanced through the 36-hole U.S. Women’s Open sectional qualifier for the first time since she was 16. Respect.
FALLING
Rory (-1%): His final-round retreat at Quail Hollow wasn’t concerning, unless it’s viewed through the prism of his 93rd-best Sunday scoring average. For as well as he’s played this year, McIlroy has a Players title and a bunch of what-could-have-beens.
Lydia Ko (-2%): Round and round goes the Ko carousel, parting ways with her swing coach as her ball-striking stats drift toward mediocrity. Sigh.
Duf’s putting (-3%): It’s an all-day stripe show with the irons, but it’s seriously uncomfortable watching Dufner suffer on the greens. On the weekend in Charlotte he holed just 70 feet of putts – total – and looked like it was the last place on Earth he wanted to be. Which is so relatable.
Phil (-4%): Ranked 208th in driving accuracy, Mickelson is more inaccurate now than he’s ever been. That doesn’t bode well heading into Bethpage, where the rough is expected to be at least 4 inches deep.
Brooks vs. Brandel (-5%): How are player-analyst beefs still a thing in 2019? Though we don’t always agree, Chamblee isn’t a clown or some hot-take artist – he’s more prepared than any broadcaster in sports. If his researched opinions didn’t generate a reaction from golf fans, um, he wouldn’t be doing his job.
Rosaforte Report: It's finally major time for Tour winner Homa
Max Homa went into the Wells Fargo Championship hoping to qualify for the Colonial and Memorial events, not for the first major appearance of his career.
Guess what?
Homa will be at Bethpage next week in the PGA Championship, along with seven other first-time winners on the PGA Tour’s 2018-19 season. This will be Homa’s first trip back to the New York area since the 2013 Walker Cup at National Golf Links. “It’s sort of sweet,” he said. “I can’t wait.”
Neither can fellow first-time winners Cameron Champ, Kevin Tway, Adam Long, Martin Trainer, Keith Mitchell, Corey Conners and C.T. Pan. All of them are feel-good stories, all of them now belonging to the same Tour-winner fraternity that includes players far more familiar to the public than themselves.
“I doubt a lot of people knew who I was until this past weekend,” Homa said.
Maybe not “a lot,” but certainly some significant names were aware of Homa. For the first 24 hours following his win, there was no stopping the text messages and the calls, from Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rogers, from Golden State Warriors forward Andre Iguodala, from PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan. “I appreciate everybody reaching out. It’s been a blast,” Homa said from his home in Scottsdale, Arizona, admitting, “I’m a little bit startled by it.”
Known more for his tweets than his birdies, Homa hardly looked startled on the back nine Sunday at Quail Hollow. It was like he was playing for Cal-Berkeley again, the clock set back to 2013. Homa was vibing like a multi-winner and people were appreciating it.
“I just called him to congratulate him, tell him how impressive it was to watch him seize the tournament, fight through the years,” Monahan said in a text, “How exciting the road ahead is and just wanted to make certain he had a chance to watch ‘Game of Thrones.’”
The “Game of Thrones” reference the commissioner made was in reference to a Homa tweet about missing the popular show in lieu of the post-victory whirlwind that lasted through Monday night, when Homa had a chance to catch up with college coach Steve Desimone.
The hardship of missing 15 of 17 cuts in a single season, or making more money playing pro-ams than from tournament purses, as Homa did early in his career, doesn’t come close to the scare Desimone faced in multiple myeloma, when he retired in May 2016. Now in remission for three years, Desimone talked about how far Homa’s come since his days at Berkeley – after UCLA passed him over – how his attitude could have been better during their years together, how it all seemed worth it on Sunday night. “There’s two parts,” Desimone said of the bond. “There’s life and there’s your profession.”
With Homa closing in on his first Tour win, Desimone kept flashing back to Homa’s course-record 61 that he posted in the 2013 Pac-10s at LA North. That 2013 Cal-Berkley team was one of the best, if not the best in NCAA men’s history – though it didn’t win the national title. “It’s fun reflecting on that team, How far we’ve all come,” Homa concluded. “How that’s not a guarantee for a great career.”
Two years ago, Homa was carrying his own bag in second stage of Web.com Q-School. Now, at 28 years old, he’s a PGA Tour winner with his future in focus. A future that now includes a maiden major start at the PGA Championship.
FC Cincinnati has relieved Alan Koch of his managerial duties just 11 games into the team's expansion season in MLS, the team announced on Tuesday.
Assistant coach Yoann Damet will take over on an interim basis.
"After a series of recent issues and a team culture that had deteriorated, we determined that it's time to make a change to return a club-centered focus to the team," said FCC president Jeff Berding.
"This decision is not driven by recent game results themselves, but rather the underpinnings that have led to those results. We have not come close to maximizing the talent we have in the dressing room this year, nor have we seen a foundation being built that will set us up for success this year and into next year.
"Our whole locker room is committed to our club goal of earning an MLS postseason bid, and we need to put them in the best position to do so," Berding added.
The move comes a week after Koch publicly questioned the talent at his disposal.
That didn't go over well with the players, with forward Fanendo Adi lamenting the team's lack of identity following last weekend's 1-0 defeat to the San Jose Earthquakes, a match in which FCC played a man up for the final 39 minutes.
With the team currently mired in a seven-game winless streak, Berding felt compelled to make the move.
Questions still remain regarding the construction of the roster. Heading into the season, Cincinnati was widely viewed as being short of attacking options, even after the acquisition of on-loan U.S. international midfielder Kenny Saief. That has proven to be the case, with FCC currently suffering through a 521-minute goalless run.
Koch didn't help himself either, making some curious personnel decisions, including the playing of usual center midfielder Fatai Alashe in a wide midfield role for 45 minutes during the match against San Jose.
Koch was in his third season with the club. With the team playing in the second-tier USL, he was hired just prior to the start of the 2017 campaign after the team dismissed John Harkes. He led FCC on a memorable run to the semifinals of the U.S. Open Cup that season, dispatching MLS sides the Columbus Crew and the Chicago Fire. The following year, he led Cincinnati to the USL regular season championship.
He departs with an MLS record of 2-7-2. His record at USL level was 35-13-8.
Phone: (800) 737. 6040
Fax: (800) 825 5558
Website: 
Email: 
