It was announced today that AJ Allmendinger has failed a second drug test after a second test found a banned substance in his system. Allmendinger has been suspended from NASCAR since July 7th when he was removed from the car before the start of the Coke 400 at Daytona.
The banned substance has not been clarified yet and the Allmendinger camp is insisting that the results were within a few nanograms of the accepted parameters. NASCAR has not commented on the levels.
A spokesperson for Allmendinger reports that the driver contracted an independant lab to determine if any of his daily products were the cause of the failure.
If Allmendinger agrees to complete NASCAR's "Road to Recovery" program than he will be reinstated. Until that time, it appears Sam Hornish Jr will drive the #22 Pennzoil Dodge for Penske (at least for this weekend's race at Indy anyway).
Lets just hope this doesn't become another Jeremy Mayfield case.
Suffering a property loss can be a tragic experience for
anyone. When you have sentimental value in the stolen item, your suffering is
even greater. For 42 years, Robert Russell of Texas has searched for his
treasured 1967 Austin-Healey, which vanished from his Philadelphia home in
1970. The 66-year-old sales manager never gave up searching for the missing Healey,
which vanished the morning after his second date with his future wife.
After a few days, many people begin to realize that their
car is gone and carry-on with an empty hole in their heart. You lose that
feeling of closure and you will forever be without the peace of mind that comes
with recovering your stolen property. Luckily for Mr. Russell, he never gave up
and eventually spotted his car listed on eBay in Beverly Hills. After confirming
the stolen car was his, Mr. Russell took position of the classic British roadster,
which is now valued around $23,000.
After seeing a story like this, you should never give up
hope in recovering your stolen property. There are also things you can do now
to prevent a car theft happening to you in your home. Technology has greatly
advanced over the past 42 years and it is a lot easier to keep your car secure.
Car Security
When you are home with your vehicle, always keep it stored
safely in a locked garage. If you must store your vehicle outside, be sure to
keep it locked and close all of the windows. Even if it is for a short period
of time, do not leave a door open or your convertible top down. This is
inviting anyone into the car and you’re making it easy to bypass that first
layer of security.
Additionally, you should be sure to install an alarm system
on your vehicle with an engine immobilizer and glass breakage sensors. Most
modern day cars have an option for this when you purchase the vehicle. I would
also suggest installing alloy wheel locks to prevent your wheels from being stolen.
An additional security method could be installing a Lo-Jack device to track
your vehicle if it is stolen.
Home Security
When it comes to protecting your car, you also need to
protect your home. One suggestion is to install a surveillance system inside
and around your home. This will help deter a possible thief or get a nice mug
shot of the burglar if they try to steal your car.
You should also secure your garage by covering up any
windows and replacing your garage door motor with one that has a rolling code
system. Additionally, be sure not to leave your keys or garage door opener in
the car. A burglar could smash the window to get into the home to take the car.
Also, always keep your garage door closed unless you’re there to monitor it.
As mentioned earlier, I advise you to keep your car stored
in the garage. I would also suggest re-enforcing the door between your garage and
your home by installing a slab door that cannot be kicked down. Also, replace
any hinges with visible pins and install three-inch screws on the hinges.
Be sure to look at other DIY home security tips to protect your
home and keep your valuables safe.
About the Author: Dan Miller is a home security professional
and car enthusiast. He is also a copywriter for HomeSecurityDeals.com and a
consistent reader of Zach’s Auto Review.
Saturday night's race at Daytona was one of the better races I've seen this season. I always love restrictor plate racing because you never know what is going to happen even on the last lap. This year's Coke Zero 400 did not disappoint with the race coming down to the last few corners.
Throughout the entire race, the team to beat was the 16-17 tag-team of Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth (the Daytona 500 winner). Kenseth led the most laps with 89 while Biffle was out front for 35. They were hurt by a late caution as Jimmie Johnson was punted ducking down to pit road. This started a chain reaction accident taking out multiple cars including Jeff Gordon who was in third at the time. While Biffle and Kenseth were not involved, they already committed to pit road. Before they hit the line, the red lights came out signaling pit road was closed. While Kenseth drove through, Biffle elected to pit forcing Kenseth to re-pit and they both restarted in the back from Biffle's penalty.
While the pair did eventually work their way back up, Biffle got loose causing a 15-car accident. On the last lap, it was down to Kenseth/Biffle, Stewart/Kahne and Harvick/Burton. Coming back tot he start/finish line, it was just Kenseth, Stewart, and Burton (who had an amazing save on his #31 Chevy). At the finish, Stewart was the winner taking his fourth Daytona summer win while continuing to chase an elusive Daytona 500 win. Burton took second while the dominating Kenseth walked away with third. The drafting partners of all three were taken out in the last lap wreck though Kahne did finish in the top 10.
I did want to point out the frustrating coverage by TNT this weekend as they spent the entire race "with continuous coverage." Their idea of continuous coverage is nothing like ESPN's last year. Instead they played a commercial in the bottom third of the screen every two minutes plugging "non-stop coverage" then they would still go to commercial breaks anyway. Even after the commercial ended, the bottom third of the screen would continue to plug the sponsor limiting the size of the actual racing (i feel bad for anyone with a small TV since you couldn't see anything). Their coverage has been horrible this season often switching to less important camera angles while races were going on for the win. I hope they fix their problems soon or NASCAR dumps their coverage.
In other news, there is a surprising report of AJ Allmendinger being suspended for failing a random drug test at Kentucky. Since this report showed up 90 minutes before the race, Penske was forced to rush Sam Hornish Jr. to the track where he arrived just minutes before the green flag. Hornish ended up 33rd after a tire problem caused him to spin just pas half way. Penske officials say they will meet with Allmendinger to grasp the situation.
See everyone next week at Loudon, NH for the Lenox Industrial Tools 301.
Results:
1. Tony Stewart #14 Mobil 1 Chevrolet
2. Jeff Burton #31 Wheaties Chevolet
3. Matt Kenseth #17 Zest Ford
4. Joey Logano #20 Dollar General Toyota
5. Ryan Newman #39 Aspen Dental
6. Carl Edwards #99 Subway Ford
7. Kasey Kahne #5 Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet
8. Brad Keselowski #2 Miller-Light Dodge
9. Michael Waltrip #55 Aaron's Toyota
10. Bobby Labonte #47 Kingsford Toyota
Standings:
1. Matt Kenseth 676
2. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -25
3. Greg Biffle -44 (+1)
4. Jimmie Johnson -58 (-1)
5. Tony Stewart -84 (+4)
It is time for the latest Forza Motorsports 4 car pack to hit the marketplace. The July car pack will drop July 3rd for 560 Microsoft points and will feature some of the fastest cars in Forza. This article will run through the ten news cars. Also be sure the check out the trailer below.
- McLaren 59 GT MP4-12C GT3
This car has a mouthful of a name that sounds like the latest fax machine out of the HP R&D department but it is actually one of the fastest carbon-fiber production sports cars on the market. This car borrows a lot of technology from F1 including the steering wheel. The GT3 had to be detuned for the series to make it tractable so it is down to 539 hp (not like thats a small amount). The car also features a Ricardo six-speed sequential gearbox and will be in limited production.
- 1998 Aston Martin V8 Vantage V600
As many of you know, I love a good Aston. While this was personally not one of my favorite designs, this is a quality Aston driven by two Eaton superchargers producing 600hp and 600 lb-ft of torque from the 5.3L V8. Only 56 cars were made so here is your opportunity to snatch one up albeit a virtual one.
- 1973 AMC Gremlin X
Your thoughts are probably the same as mine, "WTF?" Yes the AMC Gremlin has finally poked its ugly face into the Forza network with the "X" trim package adding stripes, body colored fascia, slotted road wheels, and a black-out grill. While the X did add some flare, it did not add any power making the sales boost for AMC in '73 a surprise.
- 1952 Hudson Hornet
This historical car was a technological marvel back in its day. The car was also a racing masterpiece which set records that would stand tall for decades. The Hornet also had a staring role in Pixar's "Cars" as Doc Hudson. Now you can create your own Doc to take to the Forza 4 track of your choice.
- 1954 Jaguar XK120
For any fan of classic British sports cars, or cars in general, the '54 XK120 was a dream car. This classic roadster delivered an exhilarating ride and refined performance. While performance in that day was only 210hp, the car still had plenty of power (and the looks) to snatch up that beautiful lady at the Bellagio.
- 2012 Ascari KZ1R
Lets welcome yet another fax machine to the Forza family. While I cannot understand the naming system of these new hyper cars, I can appreciate a car this good looking packing enough power to reach a 200mph top speed and 0-60 in three seconds. This car gets its power from the same 5.0L V8 out of the M5 while only weighing in at 3,000 pounds. Seeing as this car will have a limited edition run of only 50 cars, this may be your best chance to snatch up a KZ1R.
- 1956 Lotus Eleven
This car was amazingly powerful for a 1.1L engine. In 1956, the car could hit 143 mph and it managed a seventh place finish at Le Mans. Because the car only weighed 1,000 pounds, its minuscule engine could do amazing things. Check out the Eleven in the Lotus dealership.
- 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLK55 AMG
While this may not seem like a particularly special car, the SLK55 is a masterpiece with its 5.5L V8 throwing out 415 hp and 376 lb-ft of torque. This loud example of AMG power features a seven-speed transmission while being one of the sharper cars in the pack.
- 1995 RUF CTR2
Even though the recent Porsche Pack added more rear-engined cars from that other sports car company in Germany, Forza continues to add cars from RUF. The CTR2 is based on the 993 chassis and is capible of 220mph and a 0-60 time of 3.6 seconds from the 3.6L twin-turbo flat six. Power comes in at 520 hp eventually getting up to as much as 580hp. While they are street legal, I would advise against driving them anywhere near a cop unless you like a challenge.
- 2012 Spyker C8 Aileron
This car is designed for the GTE class and the 4.2L mid-engined C8 produces 400hp and 354 lb-ft of torque providing power through a six-speed automatic ZF box. We will see how the Aileron performs soon in the next Le Mans race.
As is typical with Forza, you can also expect new monthly rivals challenges based on the new cars. This pack is also not part of the season pass. Check out the trailer below.
