POWER PLAYERS for the week of May 1:This week's 10 most influential
people in the Business and Politics of Motorsports, as selected by long-time journalist/publicist and industry insider Michael Knight. 1. Darrell Waltrip -- His Talladega calls -- ''You're second guessing a guy who's second guessing a guy"; "I've never seen anything like this"; "I don't know how to explain this" -- perfectly reflected the Sprint Cup race's mayhem.
2. Brian France -- NASCAR chairman attends a drivers' council meeting for the first time and now faces a week of criticism over yet another dangerous Talladega wreckfest.
3. Mark Miles -- How will IndyCar's CEO deal with the embarrassment of the canceled Boston street race?
4. Nico Rosberg -- Russia was his fourth consecutive Formula One victory this season for Mercedes and historic seventh straight going back to last season. Lewis who?
5. Courtney Force -- After a winless 2015 NHRA's most marketable athlete gets a much-needed Funny Car win and leads the class standings -- as sister Brittany does in Top Fuel.
6. Ed Bennett and Scott Atherton -- Chairman and president, respectively, of U.S. sports car racing close to issuing a "Future Strategies" memo. That should rearrange a series that has too many classes, the cost of participation is too high given the available return, and has no drivers known to the general public. So far, the much desired unification of ALMS and Grand-Am has been a significant disappointment.
8. Greg Anderson and Jason Line -- Team Summit's Chevy Camaros continue complete domination of NHRA's electronic fuel injection Pro Stock class. Anderson beat his teammate last weekend in yet another Summit final round.
[ more next week . . . ]
