people in the Business and Politics of Motorsports, as selected by long-time journalist/publicist and industry insider Michael Knight.
1. Gene Haas -- Kurt Busch wins Pocono's rain-delayed Sprint Cup race in the Haas owned-and-sponsored car and the Haas Formula One team comes to North America for the Canadian Grand Prix.
2. Bernie Ecclestone -- What will Formula One's controversial boss have to say in Montreal about Alexander Rossi winning the Indianapolis 500, the status of the U.S. Grand Prix, and whatever else he decides to opine about?
3. Eddie Gossage -- How many people can arguably America's most aggressive race promoter put into the Texas Motor Speedway grandstands for IndyCar?
4. Jack Beckman -- His unbelievable explosion during a qualifying pass in Epping, N.H., the most sudden and violent many NHRA observers have ever seen, made the national TV news.
The cancer survivor wasn't injured.
5. Alexander Rossi -- Graham Rahal has urged the Indy 500 winner to take maximum advantage of his Brickyard win. It may take a win on the super-fast Texas oval to convince people Indy wasn't a fluke.
6. Mike Helton -- NASCAR and its vice chairman get as close as it can to Detroit, at Michigan International Speedway, where automaker executives hope for bragging rights using the sanction's latest "less" downforce rules.
3. Eddie Gossage -- How many people can arguably America's most aggressive race promoter put into the Texas Motor Speedway grandstands for IndyCar?
4. Jack Beckman -- His unbelievable explosion during a qualifying pass in Epping, N.H., the most sudden and violent many NHRA observers have ever seen, made the national TV news.
The cancer survivor wasn't injured.
5. Alexander Rossi -- Graham Rahal has urged the Indy 500 winner to take maximum advantage of his Brickyard win. It may take a win on the super-fast Texas oval to convince people Indy wasn't a fluke.
6. Mike Helton -- NASCAR and its vice chairman get as close as it can to Detroit, at Michigan International Speedway, where automaker executives hope for bragging rights using the sanction's latest "less" downforce rules.
7. Paul Tracy and Townsend Bell -- PT isn't afraid to tell it like it is and Bell had a car capable of winning the Indy 500, so what they say about Saturday night IndyCar at Texas Motor Speedway will shape opinions.
9. Bryan Clauson and Rico Abreu -- Clauson claims USAC's Indiana Midget Week title for the third time and Abreu ends the tour with a Kokomo Speedway victory.
[ more next week . . . ]
