Auto Racing
Stenhouse and Stewart get new crew chiefs for 2014
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Stewart-Haas Racing and Roush Fenway Racing reorganized their competition departments.
SHR named Chad Johnston crew chief for Tony Stewart. Johnston was crew chief for Martin Truex Jr., and will replace Steve Addington.
The team also named Greg Zipadelli vice president of competition responsible for managing all four Sprint Cup teams. Matt Borland was named vice president of engineering.
Daniel Knost was promoted from race engineer on the No. 39 team to crew chief for the new No. 41 team for Kurt Busch.
Roush-Fenway, meanwhile, reunited Nationwide Series crew chief Mike Kelley with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the Sprint Cup Series. Chad Norris will work with Trevor Bayne in the Nationwide Series, and Scott Graves will crew chief Chris Buescher. Seth Barbour was named crew chief for Ryan Reed.
Cycling
Verbruggen speaks up in response to Armstrong
GENEVA – Former UCI president Hein Verbruggen called Lance Armstrong’s claim that he helped cover up the rider’s doping at the 1999 Tour de France a “ridiculous story” and said Tuesday he has nothing to fear from an independent investigation.
Armstrong alleged collusion by Verbruggen during his first Tour victory in 1999 in an interview published Monday in Britain’s Daily Mail.
“It’s a ridiculous story and, in addition to that, it was not a positive (doping) case,” the former UCI boss said Tuesday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
After urine samples showed traces of a banned corticosteroid, Armstrong’s team produced a backdated prescription for a saddle sores cream. He was allowed to continue riding toward a victory which revived the sport’s popularity after damaging doping scandals.
Armstrong declined to implicate the UCI during his interview with Oprah Winfrey in January, in which he admitted extensive doping, including with cortisone, during his seven Tour wins.
In this week’s Daily Mail interview, he claimed Verbruggen instigated a cover-up to explain his positive tests at cycling’s signature race, which had been wrecked by doping cases in 1998.
Verbruggen served as UCI president for 14 years, stepping down in 2005 after Armstrong’s seventh consecutive Tour victory.
Golf
Golf rules tweaked over use of video technology
Golf took another stand against video evidence Tuesday by announcing a new decision that would not penalize a player whose ball moves at rest if the movement only is detected by enhanced pictures.
It was the second time in the last two years that the U.S. Golf Association and Royal & Ancient have established new guidelines involving video.
The next edition of “Decisions on the Rules of Golf” effective Jan. 1 will include three new decisions, the most significant being 18/4. It says that when “enhanced technological evidence” shows that a ball moved, it will not be deemed to have moved if not “reasonably discernible to the naked eye at the time.”
The other changes to the 2014-15 edition:
Decision 14-3/18 allows players to use smartphones to access weather reports. The new decision also clarifies that players are permitted access to information on the threat of an approaching storm for their own safety.
Decision 25-2/0.5 was revised to clarify when a golf ball is embedded. Officials have noticed an increased in tour players asking for relief and a debate on whether the ball has broken through the soil. The revised decision will be accompanied by illustrations.
Decision 27-2a/1.5 was revised to allow players to go forward 50 yards without losing their right to return to play a provisional ball.
The new edition of “Decisions” includes three new decisions and 59 revised decisions, while 24 decisions were taken out.
Associated Press
