BROWNSBURG, Ind. – GearWrench, the manufacturer of premier mechanic hand tools, has partnered with Don Schumacher Racing to be the official tool supplier of Ron Capps and the NAPA Auto Parts Funny Car team.

The multi-year agreement between GearWrench and DSR’s NAPA Funny Car team marks the tool maker’s first foray into NHRA drag racing since 2014. The brand’s racing sponsorship platform has grown substantially since 2017, having partnered with various IndyCar, NASCAR, Formula Drift, and Monster Energy Supercross teams, among others.

“Getting involved with Ron and the NAPA team and NHRA is a no-brainer,” said Rena Fiorello, Director of Brand Management at GearWrench. “Drag racing is one of those sports where the fans can really relate. They tinker on their own cars at home and bring them out to their local dragstrips on open test-and-tune nights. NHRA fans are our target audience, and Ron will be an excellent ambassador for us. GearWrench tools are designed to meet the toughest requirements of automotive technicians and industrial users. What better testament to the quality of our products than to be used on Ron’s 330-mile-per-hour, nitromethane-burning beast of a vehicle?”

The move also supports the retail relationship between GearWrench and NAPA Auto Parts.

“We’ve enjoyed a long relationship with NAPA, and this partnership with the NAPA Funny Car team will help us build on that,” Fiorello said. “We’re working with them on an aggressive growth strategy, which includes expanding the GearWrench product line across the NAPA system. We’re thrilled to expand our partnership by teaming up with them on the track.

As the official tool supplier of the NAPA AUTO PARTS Funny Car team, GearWrench branding will be prominently featured on Capps’ 11,000-horsepower Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, his firesuit, NAPA crew member shirts, and throughout the NAPA hospitality area. GearWrench is also planning to partner with NAPA Auto Parts on various activation programs and appearances both on and off the track.

“I’m delighted to bring GearWrench into our NHRA world,” said Capps, the 2016 NHRA Funny Car world champion. “The racing on the track at any NHRA event is always incredible, but as we know, most of those races are won in the pit area where the talented teams tear these cars apart and put them back together in a matter of minutes. GearWrench offers a durable line of products for the professional-level mechanics. The same tools used by NAPA crew members can be purchased at NAPA stores. With NHRA fans having the most accessibility of any sport that I know of and having a front-row view to watch GearWrench tools at work, this partnership is a natural fit.”

INDIANAPOLIS – When Jonathan Byrd II envisioned the possibility of bringing dirt-track racing back to the Indianapolis metro area, he saw it as a way for the city to reconnect with its racing roots.

After all, ESPN’s popular Thursday Night Thunder television series from the 1980s and ’90s began largely in the Circle City, with racing at the paved Indianapolis Speedrome featured alongside several Hoosier State dirt tracks.

However, the execution of Byrd’s vision was all about the timing of the deal.

Byrd had broached the idea of running a dirt race at the “back track” of the Marion County Fairgrounds in 2016, but those conversations – and his family’s involvement in motorsports – stalled after the death of multi-time USAC champion Bryan Clauson, who was backed by the Byrd family before his passing.

Five years later, and with an established tenure as the general manager for the Speedrome in his back pocket, Byrd felt the opportunity was right to rekindle the dirt discussion.

“Back in 2015 and ’16, when we got re-involved in dirt racing with Bryan, he and Lauren (Stewart, Clauson’s then-fiancee) promoted the Shamrock Classic at DuQuoin, and all I could think was, ‘You know, I want to be able to promote a midget race,’” Byrd told SPEED SPORT in an exclusive interview. “I love midget racing, and I had talked to the old owners of the Speedrome about the possibility of me renting out the facility to either run a dirt-track race or figure out how to make dirt midgets on pavement work out again. I’d had a connection with the old board president of the Marion County Fairgrounds, and I approached them in 2016 and said, ‘Hey, I’d love to talk about this idea that I have.’

“The back track there at the time was the perfect size for a midget race, but there was really no infrastructure for something like that at that point,” Byrd noted. “I was thinking tents and temporary (facilities) and lots of Port-A-Potties – where there’s a will, there’s a way – but there was also a whole bunch of stuff that needed to be done to really make it a proper race track with safety and everything. It could have happened five years ago, but I just didn’t have the financial wherewithal at that point, and then the racing stuff got paused when we lost Bryan.

“Kevin (Garrigus, Indianapolis Speedrome owner) and I had broached the subject of a dirt track in the past, as far as what it would take and where would it be and what would work, and I told him I’d had the idea five years ago to do a track at the Marion County Fairgrounds, and that I could try to open up those discussions again to see if everybody would be interested in doing something. Little did we know, at that time, that they had had a discussion already among the board (members) and wanted to reach out to our group at the Speedrome about us taking over the promotion and ownership of the back track there at the fairgrounds. That evolved into building a new track, and that’s how Circle City Raceway was born.

“The timing was serendipitous, more than anything.”

Circle City Raceway will feature a quarter-mile dirt oval, with seating potential for as many as 5,000 fans at full grandstand capacity. Byrd was also quick to point out that the track is not a short-term project.

“We intend to be here for a while,” he said. “We have a 15-year contract with a 15-year option on our lease at the Marion County Fairgrounds … and we have some very favorable terms, but we are also investing hundreds of thousands of dollars into this project. It’s going to take a while to get that return on investment. But in the meantime, my view is that if we’re going to do something, let’s do it right.
“Getting back into watching dirt racing over the past few years, I just loved the bullrings, the small little race tracks that are conducive to midget racing,” Byrd continued. “But I thoroughly enjoyed what the (World of) Outlaws did at Kokomo last October as well. There is a void in the Indiana marketplace, and I really want our bread and butter to be winged 410 (sprint car) racing. I think it’s going to be well-received.

“We have so many (sprint car) teams based in Indianapolis, and they have to travel three or four hours on a fairly regular basis to race. Now, they’re going to be 15 or 20 minutes away from a track they can race at nine times next year. It’s a cool opportunity, I think.”

MOORESVILLE, N.C. – Multi-time USAC champion Chris Windom will make his NASCAR Cup Series debut during the upcoming Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on March 28.

Windom will drive the No. 15 Chevrolet Camaro fielded by Rick Ware Racing with sponsorship from NOS Energy Drink during his NASCAR Cup Series debut. The Food City Dirt Race will be the first NASCAR Cup Series event held on a dirt surface since 1970.

Last year the Illinois native became the seventh driver to win the USAC Triple Crown by winning a championship each of USAC’s three national divisions – midget, sprint car and Silver Crown.

“I am excited to have Chris make his debut in the NASCAR Cup Series with Rick Ware Racing in the inaugural dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway,” said team owner Rick Ware. “Chris is an established dirt racer, whose achievements surpass many. I’m looking forward to seeing him race, and hopefully bring home a good finish.”

“We are thrilled to be part of this new opportunity with Chris Windom and Rick Ware Racing,” says NOS Energy Marketing Director Lauren Albano. “Coming off a 2020 USAC championship season, it’s clear Chris is a wheelman and ready for this next challenge. Bristol Motor Speedway is such an iconic NASCAR track and will be rather special to see a NOS Energy car hit the track with one of our original dirt track drivers.”

While extremely successful in USAC, Windom has dabbled in other forms of auto racing in recent years. He’s made five NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts and seven ARCA Menards Series starts. He’s also competed in the Indy Lights division during the Freedom 100 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“I’m very excited for this unique opportunity with RWR,” Windom said. “Not only to race in the NASCAR Cup series, but to be a part of the first time they race Bristol on dirt is really cool. Hopefully my previous dirt experience will give me a head start out of the gate. I have to thank Lauren Albano with NOS Energy Drink, Brodie Hayward, and David Byrd for helping make this possible for me.”

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — For the first time there is a budget cap in place for the Formula One teams. But of course, Formula One being Formula One, there are all sorts of loopholes and exemptions.

After plenty of bickering among the teams and negotiations among the teams, Formula One’s commercial owners Liberty Media and the FIA, the teams eventually agreed to an annual budget limit of $175 million.

Then along came the hardships of COVID-19. The teams were now more amenable to reducing the cap even further and in May they voted for a new figure of $145 million.

But not included in that are a number of big-ticket items, including driver salaries (that’s a “savings” of more than $40 million on Lewis Hamilton’s salary alone!), the cost of the power units, the salaries of the three highest-paid employees, marketing, PR, leasing costs, hospitality, factory maintenance and more.

Yet five teams already have budgets below the cap: Haas, Aston Martin, Williams, Alfa Romeo and AlphaTauri.

Alpine (formerly Renault) and McLaren are somewhere in the middle, so they will have to make some adjustments up or down with their budgets.

The big three — Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari — are spending more than $250 million annually, so they will need to make some cuts and adjustments. And they have found a legal loophole by working with their sister/junior teams.

Haas, for example, is setting up a facility on the Ferrari grounds at Maranello. Former Ferrari employees, including technical director Simone Resta, will work there, but they will be paid by Haas. Red Bull personnel can move to AlphaTauri and there will also be an exodus of Mercedes staff who will head to Aston Martin.

Meanwhile, on the financial front, many of the teams will receive reduced payouts in 2021 from the revenue that Liberty Media generates from the sport and business.

According to a report in the Financial Times, Formula One reported operating losses of $363 million in the first nine months of 2020.

That income — or lack of it in 2020 — is derived from a number of sources, including: what the TV networks pay for the rights to televise the races; on track advertising; luxury hospitality paddock club suites at the track; and what the circuits pay to host the races.

Most tracks rely at least partially on spectator ticket sales to help them pay anywhere from $20 million to more than $50 million to host a grand prix. But with most circuits having no — or just a few — fans at their races last year, Liberty had to waive those fees and let the tracks have the races for free. The tracks even asked Liberty to pay some of their operating costs.

More income was lost because there were no VIP hospitality suites at the tracks.

However, Liberty is not going to be as generous and as charitable this year. Outgoing Formula One CEO Chase Carey has warned that F-1 expects its partners to do their share this year. In other words, the tracks won’t get the races for free.

Carey has also sought to increase revenue by signing a deal with Amazon’s digital streaming services.

The money earned in 2020 will be paid out to the teams in 10 equal installments in 2021. The payouts are based on the teams’ results from last year, so first-place Mercedes will rake in a lot more than Williams, which finished last in the constructors’ championship.

According to Auto Motor und Sport, Mercedes will be paid $126 million in prize money this year compared to the $177 million it earned in 2019 and was then paid in 2020.

However, the teams will have to spend plenty of money this year — first to develop their 2021 cars, which are based on the 2020 models, and second, to design their 2022 cars with the radical new technical rules.

Plus, there is no doubt =the pandemic will continue to affect Formula One’s income flow in 2021. For example, as of mid-January not a single one of the 23 tracks on the 2021 schedule of races was offering any tickets for sale to the fans.

But the financial stress on the teams will be eased some by the new budget cap introduced this year.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Sabres defenseman William Borgen will miss up to two months with a broken right forearm, further depleting Buffalo's injury-thinned blue line.

Borgen had the fracture surgically repaired Tuesday, the team announced hours before it completes a four-game road trip at New Jersey. The rookie was hurt during a 3-2 win at New Jersey on Saturday.

Borgen, 24, has no points in four games this season.

The news of Borgen's injury comes a day after the Sabres announced that veteran defenseman Jake McCabe will miss up to eight months after tearing two ligaments and damaging the meniscus in his right knee against the Devils.

Buffalo is already playing without top defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, who remains out indefinitely while recovering from the aftereffects of testing positive for COVID-19 three weeks ago.

The Sabres are 1-5 in their past six games and coming off a 3-2 loss at the New York Islanders on Monday night.

The banged-up St. Louis Blues got more bad injury news Tuesday with word that defenseman Carl Gunnarsson won't play again this season and forward Ivan Barbashev is out at least six weeks.

Gunnarsson injured his right knee when he got tangled up with Kings forward Gabe Vilardi midway through a 3-0 loss to Los Angeles on Monday night. Barbashev had surgery on his left ankle Tuesday morning and will be reevaluated in early April.

St. Louis was already without top winger Vladimir Tarasenko, forwards Jaden Schwartz, Robert Thomas and Tyler Bozak, and No. 1 defenseman Colton Parayko. The additional injuries to Gunnarsson and Barbashev will further test the Blues' depth.

"It's the situation that we're in," coach Craig Berube said after an optional practice. "We've just got to move forward and go play and win some games."

The Blues are a long way from their Stanley Cup celebration in June 2019 after letting captain Alex Pietrangelo leave in free agency, losing Alex Steen to retirement because of a back injury, and playing without Tarasenko all season after another operation on his left shoulder.

Then came Bozak's injury from a big hit, Thomas' broken hand, Schwartz's lower-body injury and Parayko's upper-body injury. Bozak is skating and seems the closest to returning; Berube didn't have any updates on Schwartz or Parayko.

"We've just got to keep grinding through this and keep working together," Berube said. "The biggest thing is just sticking together as a team, making sure we're doing that, and guys that are going in the lineup are getting an opportunity to play. We need everybody just to step up."

One of those players the Blues need to step up is forward Mackenzie MacEachern, who called losing Gunnarsson "a sad day for the team." On defense, there's more of an onus on young players Niko Mikkola and Jake Walman.

"Them and other guys that are in there right now," Berube said. "They don't have to come in and be special. We're asking them just to come in and do the job that they're asked to do."

St. Louis has lost two in a row but remains in second place in the West Division. Tarasenko is skating, and general manager Doug Armstrong has said he expects the 29-year-old Russian to be back well before the end of the regular season, which runs until early May.

Upon news that Tiger Woods was seriously injured in a car crash Tuesday in Los Angeles, Woods' fellow professional golfers and other athletes reacted on social media and elsewhere, many offering their thoughts and prayers to Woods and his family.

Here are some of those reactions:

ORLANDO, Fla. – The LPGA Tour’s first full-field event of the season begins Thursday at the Gainbridge LPGA, but it could be several more weeks before the tour’s longest hitter returns to action.

Bianca Pagdanganan, who as a rookie led the tour in driving distance in 2020, wasn’t able to Monday qualify for the Lake Nona event. While she’ll try again at next week’s LPGA Drive On Championship at Golden Ocala, the long-hitter isn’t slated to compete until the Lotte Championship in mid-April. It’s not because she doesn’t want to tee it up, but because of the playability rules for 2021.

The LPGA’s annual priority list is the guide the it uses to determine who gets into the field each week. LPGA commissioner Mike Whan announced last May that the tour would use the same priority list for the 2021 season as it had in 2020, because of the coronavirus pandemic. Winners in 2020 could improve their position on the priority list with a victory, but everyone else, regardless of performance, would maintain their status heading into 2021.

“I try not to think about it as much since there’s only so much we can control, and how I feel towards certain things is one of the few that I can,” Pagdanganan told GolfChannel.com via email. “I’m just going to enjoy this year and the tournaments I’ll be playing.”

Pagdanganan made the most of her playing opportunities in 2020. She made her first start in July, competed in 10 events, recorded two top-10s and capped off the season at No. 60 on the money list. In an ordinary year, that top-80 finish on the money list would have earned her entry into nearly every event in 2021. Pagdanganan, however, won’t get to reap the rewards of a solid first season. Instead, she sits at No. 167 in Category 14, which is made up of the top-45 finishers at 2019 Q-Series. It’s the same position she held at the start of last season with a limited number of playing opportunities.

She was the 20^th alternate for the Gainbridge event.

“I don’t exactly know how I feel about having a second rookie season, but it’s nice to come into the year with more experience because of the events I was able to play in last year,” Pagdanganan said. “With that experience, I have a better idea as to where my game stands and [I’ll] use last year as a motivation to work harder and become a better player.”

Should the 23-year-old Filipino enjoy a season similar to the one she had in her first run as a rookie, she could reshuffle into a higher position on the priority list (after the Pure Silk Championship concludes on May 23) and increase her playing opportunities in the latter months of the 2021 season.

Pagdangnan finished T-9 in her major debut at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship to earn her biggest payday of the year, $83,765. She led the tour in driving distance at 283.07 yards.

LA Galaxy forward Efrain Alvarez has been selected by both the Mexican and United States under-23 national teams, as the two nations compete to have the 18-year-old represent them at the CONCACAF Men's Olympic qualifying tournament.

On Tuesday, CONCACAF announced the official preliminary rosters for all eight teams participating in the 2020 Olympic qualifying tournament, set to be held in Guadalajara, Mexico from March 18 to March 30. Though Alvarez appears on both the rosters for Mexico and the United States, the player will need to make a decision by March 8, the latest any country can submit their final 20-player roster.

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Alvarez, who was born in Los Angeles to Mexican parents, is eligible to represent both countries under FIFA's statutes for dual-nationals. In the past, he has played for the United States at the under-15 level before switching to participate with Mexico's under-15 and under-17 squads. With El Tri, Alvarez played in the 2019 FIFA Under-17 World Cup, scoring four goals and guiding Mexico to a second place finish.

2020 Concacaf Men's Olympic Qualifying preliminary rosters confirmed
Details: https://t.co/iqn0HFnxk0

Listas preliminares confirmadas para la Clasificatoria Olímpica Masculina de Concacaf 2020
Detalles: https://t.co/q4qmMUxJ2Y#CMOQ pic.twitter.com/nCc67i2iJd

— Concacaf (@Concacaf) February 23, 2021

However, Alvarez accepted a call into the United States men's national team last December, for a training camp that included fellow dual-national and LA Galaxy teammate Julian Araujo. Afterward, USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter gushed over Alvarez, praising his ability to play in multiple positions on offense.

"What I saw today in training is [that] he's a guy you want to be around the ball, a very creative player, has a good change of pace, very good in tight spaces," Berhalter said at the time.

Berhalter admitted that despite the invitation, Alvarez had not decided whether to pursue a one-time switch to join the United States and cement his international future. Under the new FIFA eligibility rules, players like Alvarez are able to change allegiances before the age of 21 if they have played less than three competitive matches at the senior level.

The tug of war for Alvarez is the latest in a longstanding struggle between both CONCACAF powerhouses over dual-national talent. Earlier this month, Santos Laguna star Santiago Munoz revealed he had been approached by the United States over a potential switch. Munoz was born in El Paso, Texas and grew up across the border in Ciudad Juarez. While Munoz was included in Mexico's preliminary list for the upcoming tournament, he was not selected by the United States this time around.

Mexico will face the United States in the final Group A match on March 24.