ALMS news tidbits
Tuesday (May 9) features a Transporter Parade that will meander downtown during the lunch hour. Transporters from both the American Le Mans Series and Champ Car will participate. Series teams will include Alex Job Racing, Aston Martin Racing, Audi Sport North America Team Champion, Penske Racing, Risi Competizione, Intersport Racing, Corvette Racing, Flying Lizard Motorsports and Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing. …
Tuesday will also see Multimatic Motorsports Team Panoz in a Klein Tools Pit Crew exhibition at Reliant Park, preceded by a media luncheon with Panoz drivers Gunnar Jeannette and Tom Milner as well as Ferrari drivers Mika Salo and Jaime Melo from Houston’s Risi Competizione. … Thursday (May 11), the Series will conduct a “Drivers Chat" at 2 p.m. CDT in the paddock at the IMSA compound featuring Salo, Intersport's Clint Field, Dyson Racing’s Chris Dyson, and Flying Lizards’ Johannes van Overbeek. … Risi Competizione will also conduct a “Tech Talk" at its transporter at 1:15 that afternoon. Saturday’s “Tech Talk" will feature Dyson Racing at 1 p.m. at its transporter. …. Halliday and Champ Car driver Katherine Legge will conduct a press briefing/photo shoot also at 1:15 p.m. Thursday. … Friday (May 10) features the always popular Driver Autograph Session with all Series drivers at 5:15 p.m. in the paddock.
Robert Clarke, president of Honda Performance Group, will be on hand Friday at noon at the Media Center with American Le Mans Series President/CEO Scott Atherton to address questions about Acura’s recently announced LMP2 program for 2007. … Perhaps you noticed that Aston Martin recently unveiled its new DBS, which is to be driven by James Bond in the November release of “Casino Royale." There is no irony that Tomas Enge and Darren Turner drive car No. 007 for Aston Martin Racing. … Look for the American Le Mans Series to kick off its Fantasy Racing league for the Lone Star Grand Prix. Fans will be able to choose teams every race with a special grand prize awarded to the winner at season’s end. … Ever in step with pursuing the edges of new technology, the American Le Mans Series will offer a series of podcasts on its Web site this coming week from the Reliant Park. Look for commentaries and special sound clips from the likes of Penske Racing’s Lucas Luhr, Giuseppe Risi, Honda’s Robert Clarke as well as the complete Drivers Chat. … This Saturday’s nationally renowned Speed Freaks radio show will feature drivers Halliday, Dyson and James Weaver between 4-6 p.m. ET. … Wondering what happened to the Maserati MC12 that ran on the Series last season? It has been under the watchful care of Giuseppe Risi and will be on display this week at the headquarters hotel, the Hyatt Regency in downtown Houston. … Under “The American Le Mans Series Family Continues to Grow" category, Dyson Racing’s Guy Smith and his wife Alicia are expecting their first child in mid-October. Wonder if they’d consider naming it Laguna Seca?
The next round of the 2006 American Le Mans Series is the Lone Star Grand Prix, scheduled for 8 p.m. CDT on May 12 in Houston. It will be broadcast at 1 p.m. May 13 EDT on CBS Sports, the first of five straight Series events on the CBS network. Qualifying is set for 6:15 p.m. CDT on May 11. American Le Mans Radio will have live coverage at www.americanlemans.com, which also will have IMSA Live Timing & Scoring.