MOTOR SPORTS ROUNDUP News and notes

Everyone misses the boss: Like everyone else at Bobby Hamilton Racing, 20-year-old Chase Miller misses the boss. But Miller, who drives a part-time schedule for the team in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, has something to remember the late Hamilton by. Miller, who will make his fourth truck start of the season Saturday at Martinsville, recently was given a handwritten checklist from Hamilton by his widow, Lori. Hamilton died of cancer in January. "Last week Lori found a checklist that Bobby Sr. had started making for me," Miller said. "It had 10 bullet points, but he had only written down five of them. He must have been making it for me last season and never gave it to me. Number one on his list was to never turn right in a spin. That sure would have been helpful in Daytona. He also advised me to never run without my HANS device. The most valuable information he left for me was to always make myself familiar with my surroundings on the race track and never commit to what my spotter says without checking. It's easy sometimes to focus on the truck in front of you and forget about what is beside you or behind you that could be potential problems." Miller said he will treasure the unfinished checklist. "To the average person, it's only a little piece of paper with tiny handwriting, but for me it's full of knowledge that I will never forget from an unforgettable person."
Concrete evidence: History was made in August 1992 when Bristol Motor Speedway became the first NASCAR track to go to an all-concrete racing surface. In July, fans will have the opportunity to own a piece of that history. The Nextel Cup cars ran on that track last Sunday, but a new concrete surface will be in place for the Sharpie 500 in August. Pieces of the torn up .533-mile concrete oval will go on sale, beginning July 1. A portion of sales will benefit the Bristol chapter of Speedway Children's Charities. Three versions of the collectible will be made available. A piece of concrete in an acrylic case will sell for 25, a 12-by-14 inch framed piece will cost 60 and a "Concrete Showpiece" will be priced at 100.
Fueling it: The St. Petersburg Grand Prix this weekend will feature two racing series using renewable biofuels made with ethanol. The IndyCar Series began its season last Saturday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the first race by any series using a blend of 98 percent ethanol and 2 percent unleaded fuel. The league is the first racing series to have all of its cars run on renewable fuels. Because engines have to be optimized to run on such high biofuel blends, Honda, which provides all the engines to IndyCar, made the necessary conversions for the race teams. The league also had to shrink its fuel tanks from 30 to 22 gallons, matching up with tire wear to ensure that drivers will take the same number of pit stops as when the league ran on a methanol blend before this year's conversion. The American Le Mans Series, which also will race in St. Petersburg, will race almost all its cars on an E10 biofuel mixture. The change came in response to the league's manufacturers, including Porsche, Ferrari and General Motors, said Scott Atherton, president and CEO of the American Le Mans Series. Only a diesel Audi model is not running on the ethanol blend this season. "The series becomes an accelerated test lab for manufacturers so the technology can be mainstreamed," Atherton said. He said the E10 that the ALMS is using this season is an entirely street-legal blend. The same technology used in the ALMS cars will be seen in the manufacturers' product lines in 12 to 18 months, he added.
Associated Press
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