Race Car

Simona de Silvestro walked through the lobby of an Inner Harbor hotel Thursday looking comfortable in her white shirt and black jeans. "I feel like I'm back home," the IndyCar driver said. "It was one of the best races we had last year, and I'm really looking forward to getting back on the race track here. " De Silvestro was one of the first drivers to come here to promote last year's inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix. Thursday, one day after officials confirmed the race will return Labor Day weekend, she was back with her newly designed HVM Nuclear Clean Entergy race car with a new Lotus engine that has proven powerful in practice.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blakewould like to see the grand prix bring Baltimore to world's attention. However, last year the Ravens brought Baltimore to the world's attention when it was in the AFC championship game. I hope we stay with a winner! Jim Holechek, Baltimore

Two Baltimore-based contractors -- including a former race car driver-- have proposed taking over the Baltimore Grand Prix and repaying some of the debts accumulated by the race's former promoters. Sharon R. Grinnell, president of sGrinnell Enterprises LLC of Owings Mills, and Gregory K. O'Neill, vice president of BMW Construction Specialists of Curtis Bay, approached city officials early last month about organizing the city's Indycar race. The Baltimore Sun obtained a copy of the proposal that their group, Baltimore Motorsports Group, LLC, submitted to the city.

Simona de Silvestro walked through the lobby of an Inner Harbor hotel Thursday looking comfortable in her white shirt and black jeans. "I feel like I'm back home," the IndyCar driver said. "It was one of the best races we had last year, and I'm really looking forward to getting back on the race track here. " De Silvestro was one of the first drivers to come here to promote last year's inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix. Thursday, one day after officials confirmed the race will return Labor Day weekend, she was back with her newly designed HVM Nuclear Clean Entergy race car with a new Lotus engine that has proven powerful in practice.

Willy T. Ribbs is going back into retirement. Ribbs, who became the first African-American to race in the Indianapolis 500 in 1991 and hadn't raced in an Indy car in 17 years, finished 13th out of 16 drivers in the Firestone Indy Lights event Sunday. Ribbs quit after 28 laps. "I physically ran out of gas," said Ribbs, 56. Ribbs said that he lost radio contact with his Willy T. Ribbs/Starting Grid, Inc. team after two laps. Had he known he only had seven laps left, "I would have found a way to push the car across the finish line," he said a few hours later.

Mario Andretti laughs."Martini is the star of the movie," he says. "He's getting fan mail. Three letters last week, addressed to Martini Andretti."Andretti continues with affection."

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Dale Earnhardt was in the ambulance and about to be driven to the Daytona International Speedway's infield care center yesterday, when he looked back at his crumpled race car."I saw the wheels were still on it," he said after the crushing accident that had seen his car roll over and off the speedway and land in a heap on the backstretch grass with 10 laps to go in the Daytona 500."I jumped out and told the guy in the car to fire it up," he said. "And when it started, I said, 'Get out!

The ultimate dream of many race fans is to drive a race car on one of the local ovals. Until recently, the only way to realize such a dream was to spend a lot of your own money and invest in your own team.Finksburg's Greg O'Neill is trying to change that in the form of a racing school, called Speed Quest Motorsports. Although there is much to be learned, the primary intent of the school is to provide the experience of driving a sprint or late-model race car to local racers and fans.For as little as $200, the racing fan can get into a $50,000 race car and run up to speeds of 100 miles per hour.

Most people would consider themselves lucky just to survive a life-threatening crash. NASCAR driver Neil Bonnett was in such a crash at Darlington in 1990, one that affected his memory and equilibrium, but he is having no second thoughts about getting back behind the wheel."

INDIANAPOLIS -- Jacques Villeneuve doesn't play golf, which instantly sets him apart from nearly every other driver in the Indianapolis 500."I'm too competitive," said the rookie. "To go golfing would not be relaxing. Everything I do, I want to win. It would be just too frustrating."Villeneuve demonstrated this resolve the first day drivers were allowed to qualify for the 78th Indianapolis 500. He put his Player's International Reynard/Ford on the inside of Row 2 by compiling a four-lap average of 226.259 mph. It was a performance that made him the fastest of nine rookies in Sunday's race.

Two Baltimore-based contractors -- including a former race car driver-- have proposed taking over the Baltimore Grand Prix and repaying some of the debts accumulated by the race's former promoters. Sharon R. Grinnell, president of sGrinnell Enterprises LLC of Owings Mills, and Gregory K. O'Neill, vice president of BMW Construction Specialists of Curtis Bay, approached city officials early last month about organizing the city's Indycar race. The Baltimore Sun obtained a copy of the proposal that their group, Baltimore Motorsports Group, LLC, submitted to the city.

It has been an incredible run for Tony Stewart , who has risen from the ranks of a competitive afterthought to the driver to beat in the Chase for the Championship. Two victories in two weeks has much to do with that. "It's huge," Stewart said after winning in Loudon, N.H., on Sunday after Clint Bowyer ran out of gas on the final lap. "When you talk about momentum, that race car doesn't know anything about momentum. It knows what you put in it, it knows how we drive it. … It doesn't know anything other than just what's put in it. "Momentum deals with people.

Would that Baltimore were Radiator Springs, the dilapidated, melancholy town off Route 66 revitalized almost single-handedly and instantaneously by race car Lightning McQueen in the Pixar movie "Cars. " Fate dealt Radiator Springs a bad hand when Interstate 40 bypassed the town, detouring traffic from the once thriving, neon-lit locale to new destinations. McQueen rescued it, however, repairing not only the road he destroyed but all the businesses, too. Later, he attracts a Ferrari and other luminary cars to the once-abandoned city in New Mexico.

Willy T. Ribbs is going back into retirement. Ribbs, who became the first African-American to race in the Indianapolis 500 in 1991 and hadn't raced in an Indy car in 17 years, finished 13th out of 16 drivers in the Firestone Indy Lights event Sunday. Ribbs quit after 28 laps. "I physically ran out of gas," said Ribbs, 56. Ribbs said that he lost radio contact with his Willy T. Ribbs/Starting Grid, Inc. team after two laps. Had he known he only had seven laps left, "I would have found a way to push the car across the finish line," he said a few hours later.

IndyCar driver Mike Conway was in town Monday to unveil his new black and yellow race car that will be sponsored by Buffalo Wild Wings and Wings Across America (the Buffalo Wild Wings Grill and Bar Maryland Franchisee). The local company will be the primary sponsor on his No. 27 Andretti Autosport Dallara in the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix . But also of interest was Conway's opinion on the controversial finish of Sunday's IndyCar race in Loudon, N.H. "It was a shame, really," said Conway, whose car crashed out of the race before he finished the first lap. "I wasn't involved, but I could see it was raining.

Think what you want about the Busch brothers — whether they spice up every race weekend with a feisty edge or are an embarrassment to the brand. This much we know: They sure get everybody's attention. After Kyle Busch gathered much of the controversy over his speeding ticket and his infamous dust-up with Kevin Harvick earlier this season, brother Kurt figured he should step up his game. He found a worthy adversary in Jimmie Johnson at Pocono. Jockeying for a top-five finish, the drivers traded paint in the closing laps.

Not every race fan or driver is able to attend the races every week. Some can attend only when time and finances permit. But they still love drag racing as much as the weekly competitor.Stanley Nusbaum is an avid race fan. He loves drag racing and attends as often as time allows. And he competes when he can.Some day, when he has the time and finances, he plans on pursuing drag racing on a weekly basis. Now, he gets his kicks racing at least once a year at 75-80 Dragway on Fall Ford Spectacular Day.Nusbaum fell in love with drag racing while in high school.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- It was the last lap. Ernie Irvan and Kenny Schrader came out of the fourth turn dead-even. Then Schrader nosed ahead as the two barreled toward the finish line.But with yards to go, Irvan pulled an old auto-racing trick. His Ford bumped Schrader's Chevrolet hard to regain the advantage and he burst across the finish line -- nine-hundredths of a second ahead of his rival.Irvan, the man who almost died in a racing accident two years ago, is back, driving like he has never been away.

Baltimore driver Marc Bunting, who will drive his Porsche 911 GT3 in the American Le Mans Series race here in September, turned the engine on and stepped on the gas. Behind the car, Akil Wise, 11, his brother, Da'Sean, 13, and their friend in Boy Scout Troop 8548, Jabari Gilliam, 13, all jumped and then smiled sheepishly. "I'm scared out of my mind," Akil said when asked what he thought about the race car. "I didn't think it would be so loud. " "It was like thunder," Da'Sean said.

now playing "Bad Teacher" (R). Cameron Diaz stars in this comedy centered around a foul-mouthed junior high teacher. With Justin Timberlake, Jason Segel, Lucy Punch and John Michael Higgins. TownMall Cinemas (11:30 a.m., 1:50, 5:00, 7:50, 10:10) "Cars 2" (G). In this Disney/Pixar sequel, race car Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) and tow truck Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) head overseas to compete in the first-ever World Grand Prix, and run into a little espionage before the finish line.