Former State Sen. Gerald Dial (R-Lineville) denied on Tuesday knowledge of a rumored grand jury investigation regarding his tenure on the embattled Motorsports Hall of Fame Commission, but said he was still considering a 2026 run for State Senate.

Governor Kay Ivey recently dismissed and replaced the entire appointed Motor Sports Hall of Fame Commission, including Dial, the former board chairman, according to Alabama Daily News.

Karen Lakey, former Motorsports Hall of Fame Commission accounts manager, allegedly stole $236,610 from the Commission. The theft was revealed in an audit released by the Alabama Department of Public Examiners, which detailed numerous improprieties, and is being investigated by the Attorney General’s Office.

Other findings from the report include a former Motorsports Hall of Fame executive director purchasing a 1968 Camaro Convertible pace car from the Commission for $15,000 in April 2023. The Commission indicated to auditors that the vehicle was advertised for bid and that the former executive director was the only individual who bid on it. The Commission placed an advertisement in a local newspaper stating that bids were being accepted for a “1968 Chevrolet.” The advertisement provided no additional information regarding the car, including the model, according to the audit.

The spouse of the former executive director also purchased a 1998 Ford F-150 truck from the Commission for $1,000.00 in March 2024. 

Dial denied any knowledge of any rumored grand jury investigation into his tenure on the Motorsports Hall of Fame Commission.

“I can’t understand why they haven’t arrested that woman. All the evidence that’s there. If you rob a bank, they go out and arrest you the next day, and she basically robbed the bank, and they’ve not done anything. It’s kind of weird,” Dial told 1819 News on Tuesday. “Ever since I announced I might run for my office, there’s been all kinds of rumors about me. I think there’s some people in Montgomery that would be real frightened if I came back.”

Dial, 88, has said he is considering a run for State Senate District 13, currently held by State Sen. Randy Price (R-Opelika).

“We keep getting phone calls from people in the district encouraging us to run,” Dial told 1819 News on Tuesday. “We haven’t made a decision yet. They’re going to do a poll, probably starting next week. We’re going to look at it. We haven’t made any decisions, yes or no. We haven’t ruled it out, but I guess you’d say it’s 50/50 right now. We’re looking at our options and all those things.”

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The collapse of two promising, historic teams led to a failed superteam. That team was HScott Motorsports. Started in 2013 after Turner Scott Motorsports’ shutdown, co-owner Harry Scott Jr. bought out long-time Cup Series backmarker Phoenix Racing to form the team. Moves like moving the team’s operations from Spartanburg, South Carolina, to Mooresville, North Carolina, and hiring young, promising drivers with sponsorship.

Like Justin Allgaier and Michael Annett, plus getting equipment from the most outstanding NASCAR team in history, Hendrick Motorsports. With such a successful history behind him from TSM, and all this behind him. It looked like a sure success. But it was a failure, so why did it fail?

The Lawsuit That Ended Turner Scott Motorsports

The Ganassi-aligned team was a superteam in and of itself. The team won the 2012 Truck Series title with James Buescher, who moved up to the Nationwide Series to race with the team. They also had great success, with eight total wins, only beaten by their truck series success, where they had eleven total wins, plus three wins in the ARCA series.

Even helping to develop drivers like Kyle Larson, Jeb Burton, Brandon Jones, and Justin Allgaier. But then the owners sued each other, which put the brakes on the whole superteam. Turner Scott’s other co-owner, Steve Turner, accused Harry Scott of owing the team 2 million for a debt he agreed to in 2012, but two years later, he still hadn’t paid.

Scott sued Turner in a North Carolina court soon after. But the suits wouldn’t last long. As Harry Scott won the lawsuit against Turner, Scott took the remaining equipment from the team to start HScott Motorsports with Chip Ganassi.

Harry Scott’s Attempt At A NASCAR Superteam

It wasn’t only HScott’s beginnings that showed Harry Scott’s ambitions to become a NASCAR superpower. In 2015, HScott collaborated with Chip Ganassi again to run the No. 42 Xfinity team together, which did actually win with Kyle Larson in the finale. However, the partnership would end after 2015.

Where Harry Scott showed his ambition, and the series where HScott was actually a superteam was the K&N Pro Series East, which was also in partnership with Justin Marks, who now co-owns Trackhouse. They won the 2015 title with future Hendrick star William Byron and his Liberty University sponsorship, establishing themselves as a fourth-tier superteam.

The team would include future Cup driver Justin Haley, who Braun Auto Group sponsored. Scott Heckert finished second in the points, while Rico Abreu, fresh from his Chili Bowl win, joined the thriving team. Bringing his sponsors, Accu-Doc Solutions and GoPro Motorplex.In 2016, they signed on Harrison Burton, the son of former driver Jeff Burton, who began driving the No. 12 DEX Imaging Chevy.

HScott also signed promising dirt drivers Tyler Dippel and Hunter Baize. But along with the Cup team, the K&N East Series superteam would also shut down due to a lack of viable driver/sponsor options for 2017. This showed how massive a priority sponsorship was, which, of course, is essential for starting any kind of superteam.

Living and dying by the sponsorship dollars!

HScott Motorsports made sure there was as much sponsorship as possible for a mid-2010s NASCAR team. With the team’s two Cup drivers, Allgaier and Annett, both came with sponsorship. Michael Annett’s father, Harrold, was the CEO of TMC Transportation, which sponsored Michael’s racing efforts. Justin Allgaier was sponsored by Brandt, which he earned by being the best young driver from Illinois. BRANDT’s home state.

This was, on paper, a very savvy move by Harry Scott. NASCAR in the mid-2010s was going through an all-time ratings drop, and full-season sponsorship was something valuable that used to come easily to teams but was now incredibly rare. So, it brought short-term stability to the attempted superteam.

But HScott would become the best example of a struggle many teams have faced before and since. The struggle between sponsorship and development. Annett and Allgaier showed promise in the Nationwide Series; both had top-five points finishes in Nationwide, and Allgaier even earned a few wins. Some of which were even with Harry Scott’s old team TSM.

But while they were fast, they weren’t the fastest and were constantly beaten by those who went on to have success in the Cup Series, like Stenhouse and Austin Dillon. Anyone could see they needed more development, but when you value sponsorship money above all, that becomes something you can figure out later. But could they really?

That was always going to be hard, but it would be even harder on a new team with no veterans to lean on and with high expectations. At this point, they’d have to call Tom Cruise for this mission impossible. So was it a shock that it backfired?

From 2014 to 2015, between them, HScott only got a single top ten, an eighth at Bristol by Allgaier. Never even finishing top 25 in points. By 2016, the team was already on the ropes due to the terrible twos of bad results mixed with ambitious expansion, so in 2016, they went on an all-out push.

HScott’s 2016 Hail Mary Run

HScott tried everything they could to finally establish themselves as the superteam Harry Scott wanted them to be. They cut ties with CGR and aligned with Hendrick Motorsports, the consistently dominant team in NASCAR history.

Their most shocking move, though, was signing Clint Bowyer, which best showed Scott’s superteam ambitions. A driver who almost won the title a couple of times and had a handful of Cup wins. Expect they didn’t really sign him well permanently.

Bowyer really signed with SHR, a real NASCAR superteam to replace co-owner Tony Stewart, but he was on his retirement tour for 2016, and HScott swooped in and got the rights to sign him through a loophole in his contract. His old team, MWR, shut down after 2015, which is why he was a free agent.

The Contract That Changed Everything For Bowyer

According to his contract, Bowyer and his sponsor, 5-Hour Energy, were signed to the #15 car. So HScott flipped the #51 they started with after buying out Phoenix, who used 51 around to 15, and like that, Bowyer and Five Hour Energy were HScott. Plus, there weren’t any good rides open for 2016 from anything close to a superteam, so Bowyer didn’t buy out his deal and decided to rock with them for the year.

While that would result in Bowyer’s career-worst year, it would be HScott’s best in the Series. Bowyer in the HScott 15 had three top tens throughout the year, and heading into the regular-season finale, they were still in contention for the playoffs, though it was a long shot. But that hope was significant.

Scott had used the money from Five Hour Energy to pay off his debts, so if Bowyer got into the playoffs and got HScott those playoff winnings. They could sign a good driver to replace him and rebuild from there, while keeping their young talents to become a superteam in a few seasons. However, HScott’s last hope of becoming the superteam they were aiming to be would be gone when Bowyer crashed with Bayne in Indy. Eliminating him from the playoffs.

HScott’s Shutdown And Legacy

In December 2016, Harry Scott announced HScott’s shutdown to the world, a somber and sobering moment. Ending his dream of a NASCAR superteam, “Over the past several months, I considered a number of options for moving forward with the team,” Scott said in the statement. “Regrettably, there are no viable sponsor/driver options immediately available to allow the team to participate in 2017.”

“I love this sport and being part of it. I invested in NASCAR because I truly believe it represents the best racing competition in the world and the best people in all sports.” Justin Marks hoped their hiatus from the K&N East Series would be temporary, but tragically, the whole racing world would learn how permanent it really was.

At the beginning of August 2017, news began to spread that Harry Scott Jr. had been confirmed dead at the age of 51. This only came months after TSR’s other owner, Stevie Turner, was also confirmed dead.

Justin Marks’ Take On HScott

Team co-owner Justin Marks posted on Twitter: “I know he took tremendous pride in seeing every one of our drivers at HScott Motorsports … realizing their dreams and starting their journey in our cars. Harry loved racing and was truly committed to seeing success across all of his teams.

Without his commitment to the sport, many would not have had the opportunity to ascend to the positions they hold today. My thoughts are with Harry’s friends and family during this difficult time.

“I’ll always remember my first business partner in NASCAR with gratitude, pride, and joy.”Marks is correct: despite his failed superteam ambitions, his legacy can be seen all over the sport today, with Byron and Larson winning races and titles with Hendrick now.

Final Thoughts

Justin Marks used this experience to co-own a legit NASCAR superteam in Trackhouse, Allgaier winning races regularly in the Xfinity Series with JRM, even earning a title of his own, and the likes of Brandon Jones, Jeb, Harrison Burton, and Rhodes, who also drove with them in K&N, being regulars in the lower series.

And all the races and titles he won as HScott’s owner in K&N, plus the Truck and K&N titles he earned as co-owner with TSR, put him in the history books forever. Thanks a bunch for reading!

Noah Gragson left the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season with some momentum. Gragson had a few good runs during the 2025 campaign, but it was full of mistakes and wrecks that didn’t allow him to finish. Now, the Front Row Motorsports driver is ready to put it all behind him.

Gragson’s biggest priority for the 2026 NASCAR season must be finishing races. The driver of the No. 4 car was involved in too many accidents that hurt his ability to finish and run well. It has been a rollercoaster tenure for Gragson in the Cup Series; however, returning to Front Row Motorsports should help.

There was plenty of speculation regarding Front Row Motorsports during the offseason, as the team’s future could have gone downhill if it lost the trial. Instead of worrying about the future, Gragson can now focus on improving his performance with the No. 4 team ahead of the 2026 NASCAR season.

Lindsay Brewer grabbed attention with a playful new Instagram post shared on Monday, December 29.

“I’m your Uber driver, get in!” the professional race car driver and social media personality, 28, captioned photos in which she posed inside a parked vehicle in Laguna Beach, California. Brewer sat sideways in the driver’s seat with the door open, smiling directly at the camera as palm trees and a bright blue sky framed the background.

For the look, Brewer wore a fitted white cropped tank that highlighted her toned midsection, layered over a bright yellow bikini top. She paired the top with loose-fitting, light-wash jeans. White sneakers completed the outfit, keeping things sporty and practical while still photo-ready.

Her long blonde hair was styled in soft waves that fell over her shoulders, and her makeup appeared natural, with a fresh glow that fit the sunny beachside setting. Brewer accessorized minimally, letting the outfit and setting do most of the talking.

Known for balancing her racing career with a strong social media presence, Brewer has built a loyal following by blending high-speed motorsports with lifestyle content.

Although he’s now 42, Mike Rockenfeller is practically ageless. He still looks as young and drives as fast as his younger teammates within the Ford Multimatic Motorsports stable of Mustang GT3 drivers. He can easily be viewed one of sports car racing’s greatest drivers, ambassadors and gentlemen of the millennium with his affable attitude and incredible insights.

The German driver best known as “Rocky” made his early mark coming up the sports car ladder with two distinct German brands: Porsche and Audi. In 2010, he won both the Rolex 24 At Daytona and 24 Hours of Le Mans overall in the same year; the Rolex aboard an Action Express Racing Riley-Porsche closed cockpit Daytona Prototype and Le Mans in a factory Audi R15 TDI Plus diesel LMP1 open prototype. He’s the second most recent driver to do that, as Fernando Alonso did so in 2019 with a Cadillac DPi-V.R at the Rolex 24 and a Toyota TS050 Hybrid in LMP1 at Le Mans.

But in recent years, “Rocky’s” manufacturer presence has been distinctly American. He raced both GT and Daytona Prototype Corvettes off-and-on through the mid-2010s, and then was the sports car expert who guided Jimmie Johnson, Jenson Button and the Hendrick Motorsports collaborative Garage 56 Chevrolet Camaro ZR1 to take NASCAR back to Le Mans in 2023. He also ran select NASCAR Cup Series races for Johnson’s Legacy Motor Club team when it still ran Chevrolets.

Since 2024, “Rocky” has been a “blue oval” man through and through. He’s been back in a full-time seat in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship as part of Ford’s Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) effort, and through the end of 2025, was the only driver Ford kept in that full-time role for both seasons.

For 2026, things change a bit. After Rockenfeller and Harry Tincknell shared the No. 64 Ford Mustang GT3 in 2024 and Rockenfeller and Seb Priaulx then partnered to be the proverbial veteran and young charger pairing in 2025, both “Rocky” and “Sebby” shift to Michelin Endurance Cup roles in 2026 split between the Nos. 64 and 65 cars.

Rockenfeller seems to feel something different with Ford than he did with the German brands he raced with earlier in his career. As he reflected during the IMSA-sanctioned November test, being part of Ford means going back more than a century and building on it as Ford continues its global motorsports ramp-up to be one of the world’s most pre-eminent motorsport manufacturers.

“Where I’ve come from, I was not surprised… but at Charlotte when they did the season launch two years ago, I’d just joined the program so I only understood it somewhat,” Rockenfeller explained. “But they do NASCAR. Off-road. Baja. Obviously sports car racing. They will do F1. Then Hypercar/GTP… yes, it’s Europe for now, but hopefully they come to the U.S. It’s unreal how big their program is. The Red Bull F1 thing I hope will be very successful, super cool and exciting. The range they go is unreal.”

Ford’s perception is changing globally, too, he noted.

“For me coming from different brands and joining a new one, in Europe, Ford is a different brand than what it is in the U.S.,” Rockenfeller said. “Here, it’s massive. There, the Germans are quite big. That’s normal.

“But I always had friends driving Ford. A friend of mine in go-karts has three Ford dealerships. I always looked at it, but I never imagined I’d race for Ford. To get to know the family and Jim Farley and all of them, (Mark) Rushbrook, it’s such a family. And they’re emotional with racing. They really love it, and you can see it in the programs they do.”

Rockenfeller then proceeded to tell just how much of the Ford family presence the manufacturer wanted to share with its drivers.

“The first year in Detroit, we went to the Henry Ford House, where he basically lived. It’s kind of a museum almost,” he said. “It’s unreal to hear the stories; Edsel and that. It’s unreal. To hopefully write some history together is great. I feel such a part of it. To identify, it takes a bit of time. You need to know the cars, the people, and success and not success together. Year three … this year changed a lot for me. I feel like I’m there now.”

Indeed, the leap Ford made in IMSA from year one in 2024 to year two in 2025 with the Mustang GT3 was paramount. Rockenfeller won the Motul Pole Award for the Rolex 24 and the duo finished third with third driver Austin Cindric, who was deputizing for the injured Ben Barker. The sister No. 65 car won the Rolex with Frederic Vervisch, Christopher Mies and Dennis Olsen.

Ford’s No. 64 car enjoyed major success as the year progressed with two wins on the streets of Detroit – notably cast against the corporate headquarters and backdrop of crosstown rivals General Motors – and then the six-hour TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks in Indianapolis. With one other podium (second at Road America), Rockenfeller and Priaulx finished third in GTD PRO points.

“Every victory is special in its own,” Rockenfeller admitted. “Detroit is the only street circuit (for GTD PRO). It’s cool scenery and it’s different. I love to race in cities anyway but that’s the only chance on the calendar to do so. We don’t do Long Beach. Then obviously that’s the home race for Ford Motor Company and GM is there. It’s a big battle between us. To come out on top was the highlight.

“Indy was so cool; we were second the year before. We knew it was a strong place for us. To win with ‘Sebby’ was good as we just started working together this year and it turned out to be a pretty good combo.

“Then at Indy, it was special to have the whole family (as part of new IMSA Resilient Racers program) there enjoying it, taking the pictures, being on the podium. Especially as a father of three, you understand what matters in life. You think racing is the most important or when you’re doing it. But there’s a lot more in life, to share emotions and give something back. That’s very special.”

For 2026, Rockenfeller will share the No. 64 car with Olsen and Barker, who are set to embark on the full-season effort. That means Rockenfeller’s IMSA goal for 2026 is trophy hunting at the three longest Michelin Endurance Cup rounds, and notably, adding another Rolex watch to his 2010 one. Missing out in 2025 stung, he admitted.

“In the end, to win you need to be perfect,” he said. “The other car had a better setup and we didn’t. The last two tenths, probably. They deserved it! I’m happy they did. Obviously, I’m a Ford driver, so it’s good for all of us if the car wins.

“In the end we had a strong season. I’m sure the big goal is to win the championship. If you ask me what do you prefer, I don’t know if I would pick between 24 and the championship. Probably the championship. It gives a better picture of the whole year.

“But at Daytona, I’d like to get a free watch and not have to buy one!”

IMSA Wire Service PR