Auto Racing
‘Most dangerous thing ever’ gets a NASCAR rewrite
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Moving swiftly to address driver safety concerns, NASCAR on Tuesday banned cool-down laps and will start allowing teams to hook up cooling units to their engines on pit road – the first major changes to the popular new knockout qualifying format unveiled this season.
The decisions were made during a conference call with crew chiefs. Several people who participated told The Associated Press that NASCAR initially said teams could use external fans on pit road to cool the engines. But after nearly unanimous objection, NASCAR relented on the use of cooling units.
NASCAR this season moved to the knockout format that widely has been praised as more entertaining. Drivers, however, were barred from cooling their engines on pit road because using the cooling units would mean opening the hood – and once hoods are open, NASCAR inspectors would have too difficult a time policing the pits to make sure adjustments were not being made.
The result? Drivers the last two weeks were slowing their cars to a crawl and circling the track at slow speeds at the same time other drivers were speeding past during their qualifying attempts – sometimes 150 mph faster.
Brian Vickers called it “the most dangerous thing I’ve ever done in racing” after last week’s qualifying session at Las Vegas.
Cycling
From two runners-up to first, Degenkolb leads Paris-Nice
CIRCUIT DE NEVERS MAGNY-COURS, France – John Degenkolb of Germany dominated a sprint finish to win the third stage of the Paris-Nice race and take the overall lead Tuesday.
Degenkolb, who finished the first two stages in second place, finished more than a bike’s length ahead of Australian rider Matthew Goss. Spanish rider Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil was third, with all three riders clocking the same time of 4½ hours over 112 miles from Toucy to Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, a motor racing circuit in central France which hosted Formula One races until 2008.
In the overall standings, Degenkolb moved eight seconds clear of overnight leader Nacer Bouhanni of France and 12 seconds ahead of Moreno Hofland of the Netherlands.
Soccer
FIFA opens a new round of World Cup ticket sales
SAO PAULO – FIFA will open a new round of ticket sales for the World Cup online on a first-come, first-serve basis Wednesday.
About 345,000 tickets will be available for all matches except four – the opener, the two semifinals and the final.
Tickets will go on sale through FIFA’s website. This round will remain open until April 1, but FIFA said “tickets are expected to sell out fast.”
The last-minute sales phase is expected to start April 15, also on a first-come, first-serve basis. A random draw for high-demand matches took place in the previous rounds for the 64 matches.
FIFA said fans from 212 countries and territories already have secured tickets. Brazilians got 57 percent of them, totaling 906,433. Americans took 125,465, followed by Colombians (60,231) and Germans (55,666).
World Cup Skiing
Chip White fades to black as USA women’s speed coach
LENZERHEIDE, Switzerland – Chip White is stepping down as the women’s speed coach after this week’s World Cup finals.
The U.S. ski team announced the move Tuesday.
White was part of the program for 18 years and helped develop skiers such as Julia Mancuso and Lindsey Vonn. Under his tutelage, the Americans finished on the World Cup podium 122 times in speed events and captured six Olympic medals.
White joined the organization in 1990 as a project coach with the men’s speed team. He jumped to the women’s side in 1996, where he served as an assistant for 14 seasons. He was named head coach of the women’s speed team after the 2010 Olympic season.
Associated Press
