Southern California’s tribute to a true automotive legend returns this weekend, bigger and more significant than ever. After a one-year hiatus, The 2025 Carroll Shelby Tribute and Car Show roars back into Irvine this Saturday, May 17, set to celebrate a remarkable trio of 60th anniversaries central to the Shelby legacy, all while supporting the California Fire Foundation.

This year’s free-to-spectators event marks six decades since the introduction of the iconic Shelby GT350, the arrival of the fearsome Shelby 427 Cobra, and Shelby American Racing’s historic FIA World Sports Car Championship victory. These milestones defined an era of American performance, largely shaped by Carroll Shelby, who built his famed cars in Southern California during the 1960s.

The tribute event, which began in 2013 following Shelby’s death in May 2012, honors his enduring impact. Organizers expect hundreds of high-performance Ford and Shelby vehicles to flood Whatney Street in Irvine for the show, which runs from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

The day promises a feast for enthusiasts, with the renowned Segerstrom Shelby Event Center museum opening its doors to showcase its impressive collection of Shelby vehicles and memorabilia.

Nearby, Hillbank Motorsports/Superformance/Shelby Legendary Cars will also welcome visitors to its facility. Team Shelby Pacific Coast Region joins these entities in hosting the tribute.

Shelby American plans a strong presence, displaying its latest vehicles, including the 2025 Shelby GT350 and the tire-shredding 830 horsepower Shelby Super Snake, alongside its lineup of high-performance trucks.

Several key figures from the Shelby world will attend, including Carroll Shelby’s grandson Aaron Shelby, Shelby American President Gary Patterson, and Vice President Vince LaViolette.

They join Shayna Stander of Hillbank Motorsports and Ted and Rae Segerstrom for presentations, an autograph session, and awards. Food trucks will also be on site. All profits from the 2025 Carroll Shelby Tribute will benefit the California Fire Foundation, providing assistance to those affected by recent devastating fires in Southern California.

This Saturday’s gathering offers a unique opportunity for fans to immerse themselves in Shelby’s heritage, meet key personalities, and support a cause, all while celebrating the powerful legacy of an American automotive icon.

NASCAR has had its fair share of strange and bizarre happenings over the years, and the All-Star Race is no exception. In the past, ‘One Hot Night’ ended with the race winner in the hospital, the first All-Star Race had the winning car (suspiciously) blow its engine just as it crossed the finish line, and there was also that time NASCAR let teams roll out the backup cars (mid-race)…after they all crashed due to a surprise rain shower.

Five years ago, NASCAR hosted another All-Star Race to remember, but not necessarily for the action on the track. The entire world felt strange to begin with, as it was taking place in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of this, the event was moved from Charlotte Motor Speedway for the first time in over 30 years, heading to Bristol Motor Speedway in the middle of July.

Oh, and did we mention this particular All-Star race took place on a Wednesday?

With the pandemic forcing NASCAR to alter its schedule on the fly, the sanctioning body was toying with the concept of mid-week races in 2020. So, on a Wednesday night at Bristol on primetime television, they allowed a limited number of fans at the half-mile short track, reaching about 1/4th of its actual capacity. An estimated 22,000+ showed up in what turned out to be the most attended sporting event in the United States since the 2020 pandemic began.

Something is off

Aric Almirola, Stewart-Haas Racing Ford

Photo by: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

As soon as cars rolled out on track, those watching noticed something was visually off with the cars. The numbers were shifted back towards the rear wheels with sponsor logos placed ahead of them on the door. NASCAR was hoping to give more visibility to brands on the cars, but aesthetically, those watching were unimpressed. In fact, most hated it. NASCAR did eventually move the numbers in 2022, but instead chose to move them forward on the car, which still wasn’t popular, but at least it doesn’t look quite as odd.

The cars had more surprises to offer, but that wouldn’t become noticeable until the sun went down.

In the meantime, the event went forward with the ‘Open’ race, which gave those not yet locked into the All-Star Race a chance to race their way in. In this event, a notable incident overshadowed the outcome, involving Bubba Wallace and Michael McDowell.

The two drivers were battling for third place when McDowell grew frustrated with Wallace, and appeared to turn down abruptly, hooking Wallace into the outside wall and crashing him out of the race. 

Wallace was furious, giving a fiery interview to FOX. “I don’t even need to see a replay. look at this s***. People say he’s one of the nicest guys in the garage. Can’t wait for the god-fearing text that he’s gonna send me about preaching and praising respect. What a joke he is.” 

Wallace ended up walking off with the damaged front bumper of his No. 43 car, dropping it off at McDowell’s hauler in a moment that instantly went viral. McDowell and Front Row Motorsports later auctioned the bumper off for charity and everyone were pretty good sports about it in the end.

Choose rule

Photo by: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Aric Almirola, William Byron, and Matt DiBenedetto ended up racing their way into the main event, while Clint Bowyer won the fan vote, taking the final spot on the grid.

The Open also debuted the choose rule — a new concept for NASCAR, but commonly used in local races around the country. Drivers throughout the entire field were allowed to choose which lane they wished to restart in for the very first time, and of all the things that were trialed at this particular All-Star Race, this is the one rule change that stuck.

The choose rule remains in use to this very day in all three national divisions.

A literal NASCAR glow-up

The All-Star Race field

Photo by: Getty Images

As the cars rolled onto the concrete half-mile for the main event, the already strange-looking machines looked even odder than before. It was nighttime, and underglow lighting was clearly emanating from beneath the rear bumper of every car.

The Fords were blue, the Toyotas red, and the Chevrolets amber. 

And while it looked a bit whacky, you have to applaud NASCAR for its willingness to try new things in the All-Star Race, even if it all feels like strange fever dream a few years later.

As for the race itself, it was fairly straightforward. All 20 starters remained running and on the lead lap at the very end, while the field struggled to put any real challenge to Chase Elliott. NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver claimed victory over Kyle Busch, which the fans certainly loved.

Race winner Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports

In fact, one overly enthusiastic (and likely intoxicated) fan decided to place an exclamation point on the surreal day by scaling the catch-fence in response to Elliott’s win. He was promptly removed by security. Meanwhile, Elliott grabbed his COVID mask, a Roman gladius sword and proceeded to celebrate in Victory Lane.

And that was the end of the Bristol All-Star Race experiment. The event is now hosted by North Wilkesboro, the numbers are closer to the front wheels than the rear wheels, and there are no LED lights under the cars.

The only lasting legacy from this event was the choose rule, while the rest faded away…and maybe that’s for the best.

This summer, the motorsports version of the “Field of Dreams” will roar back to life. Just an hour from downtown Des Moines with a large cornfield surrounding the Iowa Speedway, Newton, Iowa, will once again host the two largest professional motorsports series in the United States: the IndyCar Series and NASCAR.

The NASCAR weekend Aug. 1-3 is especially important for the speedway and for Iowa farmers. For the second straight year, the Cup Series race will bear the name of the largest state corn grower organization — the Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol.

How this partnership came to be — and the impact it has had on the parties involved — is a story that begins in Iowa Speedway’s infancy. 

Beginnings

Since Iowa Speedway opened in 2006, Iowa Corn has been on the radar of racing bodies trying to stage events there. Iowa Corn CEO Craig Floss said that ahead of the first race, the speedway reached out to the association. At the time, though, none of the events at the speedway involved ethanol. Apart from state pride, there was no specific reason for the organization to jump in. 

Iowa Corn left the door open, however — and the 2007 IndyCar season just so happened to be when the series announced it would move to 100% fuel-grade ethanol. 

“[Iowa Speedway] approached us again and said, ‘Here’s what IndyCar wants to do. This could be one of their flagship races in Iowa. Would Iowa Corn reconsider and would you perhaps come in?’ ” Floss said. “We started working through it and as a farmer board, we decided, ‘Let’s give this a try. Let’s see how this might work.’ ”

Iowa Corn was in — and ready to be the title sponsor of the first top-division nationwide series to take place in the state since three races in 1915 and 1916 at racetracks in Burlington and Des Moines. (Back then, the races were hosted by the American Automobile Association (AAA).) 

Beginning with the 2007 Iowa Corn Indy 250, Iowa Corn was a title partner with the Speedway for 11 years under three different names. After the 2018 event, time was up from the ICGA’s point of view. Floss said the partnership had run its course and had been a success for the group’s farmer members — and importantly, it was no longer the organization’s only foray into motorsports. 

Ethanol’s Motorsports Expansion

In late 2010, NASCAR announced its intention to begin running an E15 fuel blend (Sunoco Green) in all three of its nationwide series, including the Cup Series. This move also kicked off a partnership with Growth Energy, and American Ethanol branding became an ever-present sight in the sport. American Ethanol and Get Bioethanol branding served as the title sponsor for multiple races, and a further partnership with Richard Childress Racing has seen the famous No. 3 Chevrolet car sponsored by the initiative on numerous occasions. 

Floss said that Childress in particular has been a visible proponent of Growth Energy and ethanol as a whole, appearing in front of the Senate Agriculture Committee in 2014, and other occasions, for the ethanol industry. 

(In Dec. 2024, it was reported that the recognizable green Get Bioethanol ring situated at the fuel port of the stock cars would be going away from the 2025 season onward.)

A Speedway Reborn

In 2023, Iowa Speedway was navigating the second year of its new main event — an IndyCar Series doubleheader weekend introduced in 2022. The racetrack, owned by NASCAR but not hosting a race at the organization’s top three levels, was suddenly thrust into the discussion as a potential option for a Cup Series race in 2024. 

By Sept. 2023, an opening in the Cup schedule appeared. It was going to be a very quick turnaround, but NASCAR’s top drivers would be headed to Iowa for the first time ever. Current Iowa Speedway President Eric Peterson was on the NASCAR West Corporate sales team at the time, and began work on trying to get a title sponsor for the race. 

The person he got in touch with was Floss, who said he had no idea the call was coming. Floss said Iowa Corn made its decision in October or November, and the decision was officially announced Dec. 4, 2023, as The Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol.

In between negotiations for the title sponsorship and the race in June 2024, Peterson moved to Iowa and took the mantle as president of the speedway. The pressure was immense — not only because it was the first race at the speedway for the Cup Series. It was also going to be held in prime time on USA Network — another boost Iowa Corn considered when taking on the sponsorship, as it was NBC‘s first event of the season. 

Peterson said NASCAR had to “roll out the red carpet” in preparation to make the event a success.

“When NASCAR’s heading is on a show somewhere, they offer the resources, the support, [and] the team to make this successful. It’s not even an option not to be successful,” Peterson said.

A Winning Weekend

The dash to promote the 2024 race and prepare sponsor events on a short turnaround put the Iowa Corn and Iowa Speedway teams into overdrive. Tickets for the race sold out before Christmas, only heightening the pressure.

Floss said the quick sellout confirmed the decision to be a title sponsor was the right one, and it was backed up by the results of a survey Iowa Corn did with farmer members. Floss said he expected farmers’ most popular sport to be football or baseball — but racing was at the top of the list. Iowa Corn Promotion Board First Vice President Joe Roberts, a farmer from Wright County in the northern part of the state, is one of those farmers. 

A fan of racing since he was a little kid, Roberts said he could barely contain his excitement when the announcement was made. As a part of the Iowa Corn checkoff promotion staff, he worked on the market development, research, and education angles the organization was taking in the lead-up to the race. He said the race (and the location of the track) was a great jump-off point for the educational aspect of the campaign.

“A lot of people might not be familiar with what Iowa Corn does, and then we get to highlight everything that we do, not just here at the race, but what we do to grow markets nationwide,” Roberts said. “What we do in the research field, trying to drive new uses for corn. A little bit of it is public perception, the ability to reach consumers and educate them about what corn farmers do, and to be able to showcase that right there in their backyard where they’ve got cornfields right outside the racetrack.”

When race day arrived on June 16, more than 1,100 farmers gathered at Iowa Corn’s hospitality tent outside turn four of the racetrack. Floss said the farmer response in the lead-up to the race exceeded expectations, as did the race weekend. The Cup race, won by Ryan Blaney, drew 2.693 million average TV viewers, and Iowa Corn’s internal metrics confirmed the sponsorship had been a smart bet. 

“We really believed and felt that for the dollars invested, the return and exposure that we got — the leverage factor — was awesome,” Floss said. “That’s why we decided to do it again.”

Full Speed Ahead

Iowa Speedway and NASCAR agreed — Peterson said economic impact studies done after the race showed that the race provided about $100 million of economic benefit for Iowa. A new two-year title sponsorship deal was swiftly reached. With a triumphant first Cup weekend in the books, there was now a full year to try and make the 2025 edition of the Iowa Corn 350 an even bigger success. 

Peterson said a lot of credit for the partnership working has to go to Iowa Corn’s persistence and emphasis on activation — year-round promotion and events that advertise the race to a wider audience. He said there has been an incredible amount of effort from both the organization and the speedway to highlight the race and the impact of Iowa’s corn farmers.

With more time to get the word out, Peterson and Iowa Speedway have gone on a barnstorming tour of the state, hitting counties in all four corners and bringing along a racing simulator. Peterson has gone on a lot of these visits, and he said Iowa farmers have felt the love from the racing community. Iowa Speedway also made improvements to its own facilities with more entrance gates and the Busch Light Concert Series, which will take place in the infield during race weekend.

Iowa Corn has also been very active in planning and promoting the event, and Floss said there are a number of activations the commodity group is setting up, including partnerships with mechanics studying at local community colleges. Floss said it has been important for Iowa Corn to be active and open, as they want the race to be a celebration of the farmers who make E15 happen.

“It’s about corn farming, but it’s about agriculture,” Floss said. “It’s about showcasing what agriculture does for the broader economy, not only in Iowa, but nationally. What we do to help bring down fuel prices — we really hit on that with farmers present. Our goal is to always highlight, Why do farmers want to do this? Why does it matter to them? How does this impact their bottom line?”

A New Date, New Possibilities

With a year-round push ahead of the second Iowa Corn 350 also comes a new date: Aug. 3. 

When the 2025 schedule was under development, NASCAR reached out to Peterson to ask when the best time to run the race would be. Peterson said he was asked if putting the race on during harvest season would be a bad idea. The track avoided running into harvest, but Peterson said the new August date might lead to improved visuals around the speedway, thanks to the fields tended by Tyler Clement (whose family are the former owners of the track).

“We said, ‘Yeah.’ This is the Iowa Corn 350, right?” Peterson said. “That was a major part that played into this. Bumping it into August, which is just kind of on that cusp as you’re leading into the fall. I feel like that timing is really good from the overall visual and presentation of folks coming in from out of state and they see the corn there. That alone is pretty impactful. It looked good in June last year, it will look even better in August this year.”

Over 1,000 Iowa corn farmers will be present at the race weekend this summer. Roberts said one of his favorite parts of the weekend is welcoming those who come in from all over the country to see what the Heartland has to offer and telling them all about the role farmers play in American motorsports.

“I hope they come up and see the performance of E15 at the fastest short track on the planet and enjoy the beautiful cornfields that surround it and are the true source of that amazing, homegrown affordable biofuel,” Roberts said.

Chris Buescher and RFK Racing have been issued an L1 penalty following further inspection from Kansas, NASCAR announced Thursday (May 15).

Buescher and RFK Racing were fined $75,000, 60 driver and owner points, and 5 NASCAR Playoff points.

The violation stems from an issue with the front bumper cover of the No. 17, NASCAR said.

Additionally, Buesher’s crew chief Scott Graves has been suspended from the next two NASCAR Cup Series events; the All-Star Race and the Coca-Cola 600.

NASCAR announced post-race Sunday the two vehicles Buescher and Carson Hocevar’s No. 77 would be taken to the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, N.C. for further inspection.

Buescher started the race on the outside front row, ultimately finishing eighth.

Prior to the penalty, Buescher was ranked 14th on the NASCAR Playoff grid with a 33-point edge over Ryan Preece, the first driver below the cutline.

Now Buescher is ranked 24th, 27 points below the cutline. Preece is now in the playoffs, as it stands, because of that penalty.

Buescher has posted 1 Top-5 finish and 6 Top-10 finishes through the first 12 races of the year, but no victory.

Dominic Aragon is currently the editor-in-chief for The Racing Experts.

From Grants, New Mexico, USA, Aragon started watching NASCAR in 2004 and has been covering the sport since 2009. Aragon is a 2012 graduate of Grants High School and a May 2016 graduate of the University of New Mexico with a B.A. in Mass Communications & Journalism. Aragon has worked in local and national media, as a musician, and an educator. He is co-author of the 2024 book “All of It: Daytona 500 Champion Tells the Rest of the Story” with racer Geoff Bodine.

Aragon, his wife Feliz, and son Christopher currently reside in Grants, New Mexico, USA.

You can reach Dominic at daragon@theracingexperts.net.

The Intimidator. The Man in Black. Ironhead. One Tough Customer.

Dale Earnhardt was called all of those — he was such a legendary NASCAR figure that just one nickname wasn’t enough. Considered by many to be the best driver in the sport’s history, Earnhardt died in a last-lap crash at the 2001 Daytona 500 and has since attained almost mythical status among race fans.

But the new four-part Amazon Prime documentary that premieres May 22 won’t just concentrate on the seven NASCAR Cup championships and Earnhardt’s aggressive on-track persona, according to two of his children. Instead, as Dale Earnhardt Jr. said in a Zoom interview with reporters Wednesday, it will also include a heavy focus on Earnhardt’s personal relationships.

“It shows you the human side of Dad,” Earnhardt Jr. said of the documentary. “It celebrates the man on the race track, for sure. But it also celebrates the person he was, for better or worse. And there’s some tough moments in there. Some honest moments in there.”

Said Kelley Earnhardt Miller, Earnhardt’s daughter, during the interview: “This is a human interest story. … The good and the bad, right? Life is full of that.”

Added Dale Earnhardt Jr. about his father: “To a lot of people, he was like Elvis. … Or a John Wayne figure. … They thought that he was indestructible and bulletproof and and couldn’t do any wrong. … And so they worshiped him. I think that was the challenge for me and Kelley. We knew him as a real person that was a good dad. And a tough dad. And a not-so-good dad sometimes, with all of these human imperfections.”

Earnhardt had four children and was married three times, having at least one child with each of his wives. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kelley Earnhardt Miller have had prominent careers inside the world of racing as well and are known for their authenticity. Both are interviewed extensively in the documentary. Said Earnhardt Miller: “People have always said: ‘You guys are just like normal folks.’ And we are normal folks, and this documentary just showcases that. … At the end of the day, we’re all very similar in the way that we come through the world. Some people’s stories are just out there more so than others.”

After the first two episodes debut May 22 on Amazon Prime, the final two will drop May 29. In between all that, Amazon will stream the Coca-Cola 600 live from Charlotte Motor Speedway, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. as one of the primary broadcasters.

The timing of the documentary and the way it is sandwiched around the broadcast isn’t an accident. The idea, Earnhardt Miller said, is for NASCAR fans to get a sense immediately through the first two episodes of the documentary that Amazon’s groundbreaking five-race package of Cup Series races that begins with the Coke 600 is not a passing fling for the streaming giant.

Said Earnhardt Miller: “I think for Amazon that this (documentary) is an avenue for them to show our NASCAR fans how dedicated and serious they are about the NASCAR product that’s coming out, and the races that they’re going to be doing. And so I think the timing for all of that was super important and very relevant. They’ve got to gain that trust quick.”

This isn’t the first major documentary to delve deeply into Earnhardt’s life. The documentary “Dale” debuted in 2007, and Earnhardt Jr. said he has always believed that film was an excellent homage, particularly to his father’s racing career. But, he said, there is plenty of room for another documentary 18 years later, as Earnhardt’s death recedes in the memories of some younger fans and drivers.

Said Earnhardt Jr: “We are so far down the line from his passing and his impact on the sport … that a large portion of our fan base in NASCAR has never seen him race. And I see a lot of (new NASCAR fans ask): ‘Why is this person so respected and appreciated? Why was he so loved? I don’t understand. Help me understand.’ And so I feel like it was a great opportunity to introduce him to people that maybe don’t know him that well, or don’t know much about his career. There’s even drivers in the field on Sundays that don’t know, really, what this person was all about. … I think my dad was the most amazing person I ever met and that I’ve ever known. I just have so much respect and love for him, and I miss him terribly.”

THOMPSON, Conn. (WFSB) – NASCAR driver Ryan Preece returned to Connecticut yesterday.

Preece came back to race in the feature event at Thompson Motor Speedway.

The Berlin native told Channel 3 Sports Reporter Marc Robbins that he returns as often as he can to enjoy the competition and atmosphere of the Connecticut track.

Preece driving a race car is something Connecticut racing fans have been seeing for many years.

The 34-year-old Berlin native attracted a pretty good sized Wednesday night crowd at Thompson for the Monaco Modified Tri Track Series.

“For me, it’s the people. I spent a lot of nights going up and down I-91 and I-84 running to the race track. Anytime I can come back to race in Connecticut is fun for me,” Preece said.

It is also fun for a growing fan base that follows his weekly cup races all over the country.

“He’s an awesome guy. Every time I meet him, whether it’s in NASCAR or before, he’s the same guy, and I respect that,” one fan said.

In addition to gaining respect, Preece says he gets added fuel from all types of races.

No matter the level, there is always something to learn in one race that he might be able to use in another.

“There’s always things that you can do to be better. If the car isn’t what I need, there’s a few things I’ve learned on Sundays to bring here,” Preece said.

At least half the fun for Preece is getting his hands dirty working on the car before he even grabs the steering wheel.

“Honestly, it is fun, but it’s certainly intense. In these moments there are the moments when you hammer down and get speed. I came here to win, not to ride around. Right now, we have a lot of work to do,” he said.

Preece wasn’t kidding. His car just wasn’t working at an optimum level in this race. When he hit the pits about two thirds of the way through the 75 lap race, that was the end of his night.

But there is more racing this weekend. He hopes to qualify for the All-Star Open Sunday in North Carolina, and there will be more runs at back home in the future.

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