The ticket renewal process begins tomorrow (May 16) at 10 a.m. PT for all multi-day Grandstand and RV space purchasers from last year’s BITNILE.COM Grand Prix of Portland, featuring the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, and Pacific Office Automation 147, headlined by the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Eligible customers from 2024 will receive a direct email communication with further purchase instructions. Public ticket sales will begin for multi-day Reserved Grandstand tickets and any remaining RV spaces on Monday, June 2 at 10 a.m. PT for both events.

This year’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES race weekend is set for August 8-10, and the NASCAR Xfinity Series event follows later for the first time on August 29-30 over Labor Day weekend. Both events are scheduled on new dates this summer at Portland International Raceway creating a ‘Speed Month’ at the motorsports facility positioned just south of the Columbia River along Interstate 5 in North Portland.

“We are thrilled to have ‘Speed Month’ at Portland International Raceway with both of these big motorsports events moving to August. Portland is exclusively and uniquely the only city on the West Coast to host both INDYCAR and NASCAR national series races,” said Jerry Jensen, vice president and general manager of Green Savoree Portland, LLC, which owns and operates the event at PIR. “We will also be offering combo ticket packages to both events for the first time providing fans further benefits and savings for attending both weekends this August.” 

As part of this combination ticket packaging, returning multi-day Grandstand ticket holders renewing both their BITNILE.COM Grand Prix of Portland and Pacific Office Automation 147 seats will receive a free INDYCAR Paddock Pass, a $75 value. Gold Grandstand customers also receive a complimentary Infield Parking Pass with their renewal purchase to both events, limited to one per order and a value of $30 for the INDYCAR race weekend and $25 for the NASCAR event.

Both events offer a tremendous family value. Children 12 and under receive free General Admission when attending either event with a ticketed adult. Additional family value packages will be announced at a later date when public sales begin on June 2. Also, both events will feature no fees on order processing when ordering online at RacePortland.com.

All ticket pricing and options, including parking passes and RV Club spaces, are posted online at RacePortland.com. Stay up to speed on these premier Portland events on social media all year long by following #PortlandGP and #NASCARPortland or by signing up for the E-Club on the website to get exclusive pre-sale access on tickets.  

PIR PR

Carson Hocevar’s new livery for this year’s NASCAR All-Star Race is a slam dunk.

Earlier this week, Hocevar – who was recently caught flipping the bird at an opponent during a race – debuted a paint scheme promoting the 2025 WNBA All-Star Weekend. The No. 77 Chevrolet driver will don the unique look in the Cup Series All-Star race, which is slated to feature a promoter’s caution and altered format.

A large WNBA All-Star logo will be visible on the hood of Hocevar’s car alongside the words “Indy 25.” This year marks the first time that Indianapolis will play host to the annual event, with the All-Star Game, STARRY 3-Point Contest, and Skills Challenge all set to take place at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse – home of the Indiana Fever – from July 18-19.

The out-of-the-blue partnership between Spire Motorsports, Gainbridge, and the WNBA is intended to draw more attention to women’s sports while bringing together motorsports and basketball fans.

“Carson driving a WNBA All-Star paint scheme is an opportunity to cross-promote two properties in our sponsorship portfolio,” Gainbridge Chief of Sponsorship Strategy Mike Nichols said in an official press release. “The scheme highlights our commitment to investing in women’s sports.”

Mel Raines, CEO of Pacers Sports & Entertainment, added: “We’re thrilled to collaborate with Spire Motorsports and Gainbridge to highlight AT&T WNBA All-Star 2025 during NASCAR’s All-Star Race.”

Hocevar, for one, is thrilled to be able to represent the WNBA. “It’s really cool to showcase the WNBA All-Star Game on our car for the NASCAR All-Star Weekend,” he said. “I had the chance to visit Gainbridge Fieldhouse in January and it’s definitely worthy of hosting the game.

“Gainbridge has been a great partner for Spire Motorsports and done a lot to promote and expand women’s sports, so it’s exciting to see that support open new doors for those teams and athletes.”

This surprisingly isn’t the first time that NASCAR and the WNBA have intertwined. During last year’s Brickyard 400, Josh Berry paid tribute to Fever superstar Caitlin Clark by featuring a lifesize photo of the Iowa product on the hood of his No. 4 Ford Mustang Dark Horse.

DON’T MISS:

Addressing the touching gesture, Clark told reporters at the time: “Never did I ever think I would appear on a race car, honestly I grew up watching NASCAR…I was kind of a big fan growing up and now to be on a car, is super cool.

“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh! Is this real? I want to drive the car. So, sometime maybe I have to take a spin, but it’s super cool… Hopefully, it brings good vibes and we get the dub.”

Berry was more than happy to represent one of the WNBA’s best players, stating: “It really is a great opportunity, to have her on the hood of our race car. The amount of reach and popularity she’s gained over the last couple of years has been really, really amazing to watch.

“How it’s transcended women’s basketball, right? Obviously, being a girl dad, I guess, you don’t necessarily put the two together right now, but as she grows older, I’m sure it’ll be a cool thing to look back on, as she continues her career.”

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EAST SYRACUSE, N.Y. — NASCAR Driver Ross Chastain made a pit stop in Central New York to emphasize the importance of seat belt safety as part of New York’s annual “Click It or Ticket” campaign.

Chastain, known for driving at speeds of 200 miles per hour and wearing nine seat belts every Sunday, visited East Syracuse Minoa High School to engage students in a hands-on seat belt safety experience.

Chastain, a watermelon farmer from Florida and a professional race car driver, is set to compete for a million-dollar prize at NASCAR’s All-Star Race on Sunday. However, he said his priority is promoting road safety through his “Protect Your Melon” campaign.

“I want to be part of the prevention of accidents on the road, which aren’t actually accidents,” Chastain said. “People are crashing on the roadways, unbelted, just like we crash on NASCAR tracks, but I would never be unbelted. I have nine seat belts, a ton of safety gear.”

Chastain’s “Protect Your Melon” truck will be visible at Watkins Glen in August, but his current focus is on reminding New Yorkers that seat belts save lives as the state kicks off its “Click It or Ticket” campaign.

“I’ve hit the wall head-on at 140 miles an hour before,” Chastain said. “So, it’s something that I feel like I can speak to. Some people might be a little surprised to see a NASCAR driver talking about safe driving, but there’s nobody better.”

Emma DeBerjeois, East Syracuse Minoa’s class president, shared her personal experience with the importance of seat belts. Last year, she was involved in a car crash where her vehicle flipped twice after being T-boned.

“I went to go make a left turn and I was T-boned, which resulted in my car flipping twice and hitting a little small brick wall in Fayetteville,” DeBerjeois said. “And I was stuck upside down, like on the top of my car, kind of dangling.”

Thanks to her seat belt, DeBerjeois emerged with barely a scratch. She believes sharing such experiences can help teenagers understand the dangers of driving.

“I think it definitely will help teenagers realize, like, the reality of how dangerous driving can be,” she said. “Some people don’t have a story that connects with them, but when you have so many people and so many experiences around, I feel like it will definitely help children understand more.”

Chastain hopes that by positively reinforcing the importance of seat belts and showcasing the safety gear in race cars, the message will become ingrained in students’ everyday lives.

“I feel like that if you just keep positively reinforcing it, showing them the race car, letting them see what’s inside and the safety gear we have, hopefully when they leave for the day, the kids and the others, the building just becomes part of their everyday life,” Chastain said. “And then everything about it again, it’s always on.”

Through the experiences of Chastain and DeBerjeois, students learned that buckling up can indeed protect their “melon.”

Racing in NASCAR can be expensive for a lot of reasons. From building a competitive car to managing team operations, even the smallest things can add up quickly.

Having a strong car and a solid list of sponsors doesn’t guarantee wins, but it sure helps. There have been plenty of times when talented drivers never reached their full potential because they lacked sponsorships in NASCAR.

One of those cases was Josh Wise. Despite having real talent, he struggled to land sponsors. That changed when NASCAR fans — and Dogecoin — made history by raising money for the underdog driver.

Josh Wise’s Dogecoin Sponsorship

While driving the No. 98 car for Phil Parsons Racing, Wise spent most of the 2014 season without a main sponsor.

He didn’t make headlines that year, but part of that came down to driving for an underfunded team.

He showed flashes of talent, but nothing really stuck — until fans took notice. His situation started trending on the NASCAR subreddit (r/NASCAR).

That led users to reach out to the Dogecoin community on Reddit. The crypto group had already backed a few causes, including some in sports.

When asked for help, they started a fundraiser for Wise. In just eight days, the campaign brought in nearly $55,000. The average donation? Around $41.

A crypto platform called Moolah jumped in to support the effort, offering the best exchange rate for the campaign. The funds were enough to get Wise’s car to Talladega. The internet even chose the car’s color scheme.

Excited by the support, Wise said, “I can’t thank the dogecoin and Reddit community enough for the support.”

The birth of the Ford Fusion Dogecar became one of the most iconic moments in NASCAR. The black, gold and white car, covered in the “Doge” meme, finished 20th in the race.

The response was so strong that fans pushed to see the Dogecar in the All-Star Race. Once the fan vote opened, users rallied hard and got Wise a spot in the race. He finished 15th — a big deal in his career.

The Dogecar’s buzz didn’t end there. Wise drove it in another race, and they even launched merch that sold out fast.

Later, the Dogecar was added to the NASCAR ’14 video game, cementing its place in NASCAR pop culture.

Two years after the Dogecar moment, Wise retired from racing and moved on to other things, though he’s still involved with the sport in different ways.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — It took Tony Kanaan a dozen tries to win the Indianapolis 500, and, much later, four years to accept it was time to retire and find something else to do outside a racecar.

His 2023 start in the Indy 500 was supposed to be the last of his career and perhaps will ultimately go down as his final appearance in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

But that final 500 led to a full-time job with Arrow McLaren Racing, where in under two years Kanaan has been promoted to team principal and the man in charge of making the decisions while McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown focuses on Formula 1.

And, in a worst case weather scenario May 25, Kanaan might just find himself back in the field of 33 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. After two days of rain delays, Kanaan on Thursday completed the veteran refresher course required for him to be the emergency replacement driver for Kyle Larson should Larson have to leave Indianapolis early to make it back to North Carolina for the the Coca-Cola 600.

A long rain delay in Indy last year ruined Larson’s attempt to complete motorsports 1,100-mile “Double” and he never turned a lap in Charlotte. NASCAR made clear to Larson and Hendrick Motorsports that the Coca-Cola 600 must be his priority or it will cost him dearly in the Cup Series championship race.

Although Kanaan said the refresher course rekindled his passion for Indianapolis, he would prefer not to replace Larson and race again at age 50. He’d have to start last if Larson leaves Indianapolis before the race begins.

“My retirement, I think my biggest fear was how much I was going to miss this,” Kanaan said. “But not sure I want to start 33rd and try to pass everybody and suffer for 2 1/2 hours. I did go out on my own terms and I don’t have the need to go back and run this race again.”

Kanaan will be on Larson’s timing stand during the race and cannot replace him in the car once the race begins.

His acceptance of being a retired racer comes from the massive responsibility he’s been given by Brown. With Brown based in England, Kanaan is the day-to-day boss at Arrow McLaren and thriving in the new role.

“The team loves him, I haven’t had that since I started the IndyCar team. He leads by example. He’s a workaholic. He’s motivated, and that rubs off on people,” Brown told The Associated Press. “None of that surprises me. What did surprise me about TK is the dude can talk and listen at the same time. He takes a lot of advice, which is a bit unusual. He talks to our board members all the time — probably more than me — and he knows what he doesn’t know and doesn’t want to make mistakes, he’s decisive, and he ain’t scared.

“If I tell him to do something — and it’s something unpleasant — Tony’s like ‘OK, I’ll do it.’ Then 10 minutes later he calls me and tells me its done.”

Adjusting to a new role

Kanaan doesn’t look at his new job as the guy tasked with doing Brown’s dirty work — and there was a lot of it last year as the IndyCar team had a slew of driver hiring and firings.

He said he understands the difficult business side of motorsports and noted Michael Andretti fired him in 2010 despite an existing contract over a loss of sponsorship. It was then he truly understood the brutal nature of the sport and has carried it with him into his role as leader at Arrow McLaren.

“I think the way I want to run the team, Zak and I think the same. It’s not that he doesn’t want to do it, it’s that I’m in charge and I should do it,” Kanaan said. “If he’s going to do everything for me, why am I here? When you’re being honest, good or bad, it’s going to be uncomfortable.

“I had to do a few things these with people that were my friends,” he continued. “It’s not about that. We run a company now. It’s also my reputation and how I want this team to be perceived to be successful. If people are not able to separate the friendship to the professional, then too bad. I think it’s just a choice that I made. I think I’m a fair person. I think I try to run the team as fair as I can. If you’re lacking, I will tell you. Or if you’re doing good, I’ll tell you. I will never forget, Zak told me one day, ‘You don’t need a title. If 10 people walk in the room, they should be able to pick who the boss is.’”

The drivers’ view

Arrow McLaren fields three full-time entries for Pato O’Ward, Christian Lundgaard and Nolan Siegel, and a fourth car at Indy for Larson. O’Ward has embraced the feedback he receives from his new boss because Kanaan “still thinks he’s a racing driver.

“I think it drives everybody forward. Obviously, always has a good spirit, lots of energy,” O’Ward said. “I always like to hear the negative feedback more, I would say, than the positive because I feel like the positive, it’s always very dependent on just results. But I feel like behind the results, there’s a lot of things that happen, and you always learn more from the things that you’re doing maybe not optimal. I always welcome it.”

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

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