UNITED STATE

The merger deal’s done, and we’re a few (huge) steps away from U.S. open-wheel racing’s greatest season since 1995.
By David Phillips

After 12 years and countless millions spent or squandered on two separate series, the sport of Indy car racing is finally whole again.

Now comes the hard part: making it all work. It’s no secret that the two series’ shotgun wedding just a month before the season start was not ideal. When the first green flag of the year drops at Homestead-Miami Speedway, inevitably loose ends will be trailing in the wake of the frenzied scramble to prepare for the 2008 season.

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F1 PREVIEW 2008

We’ll get answers to the crucial questions from March to November. But RACER’s writers are ready to lay down their predictions right now.

IS IT GOING TO BE KIMI RAIKKONEN vs. LEWIS HAMILTON FOR THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, AND HOW WILL IT BE DECIDED?

Check out the winter testing times, and there seems little doubt that 2008 will be another Ferrari versus McLaren season, but with the Italian team edging a 0.2sec advantage over its British rival. And, unless some giant strides are made by Williams, Renault and BMW, even the silver cars will start the season more than 0.5sec per lap clear of the field.

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AB POSITIVE

Antron Brown may have jumped from the NHRA’s slowest pro class to its fastest, but he’s definitely not in over his head.
By Tom Anderson

You don’t have to be a card-carrying gearhead to notice that there are countless differences between an NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series Pro Stock Motorcycle and a Top Fuel Dragster. The 350hp, 195mph bikes aren’t puny, but when you consider the rail pushes out another 7500hp, covers the quarter mile in four-and-a-half seconds and blasts through the timing beam 140mph faster, you’d think the switch from two wheels to a nitro-gulping four would be a challenge of cosmic proportions.

Thing is, nobody told Antron Brown he was supposed to struggle.

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QUESTION MARQUE

Is Ford’s NASCAR Sprint Cup game plan of quality over quantity an inspired move, or a high-risk strategy with no fallback? Early polling says it’s the former, but only time will tell.
By Ben Blake

Based on the evidence from the first two non-restrictor plate races of the year, Fontana and Las Vegas, Ford’s “all our eggs in one basket” approach to the NASCAR Sprint Cup would seem to be working just fine.

Only eight Fusions started in California, with a mere seven taking the green flag in Nevada. That compares to 15 Chevrolets, double-figure Dodges, and nine, then 10 Toyotas. Five of the Fords came from one team, the Roush Fenway Racing empire. And so did the winning driver, Carl Edwards. Twice.

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