Ryan Long/Special to ESPN.comA VW Squareback chases a Simca 1204 in LeMons competition.

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. -- I have a confession to make.

It was a privilege to be trackside at Road America Aug. 18, watching Guy Smith and Lucas Luhr put on the closest race in American Le Mans Series history.

But the real reason I had journeyed to Wisconsin to my favorite track in the United States was for what followed a couple of days later:

24 Hours of LeMons.

In a nutshell, LeMons is beater racing on road courses. Teams are allowed to spend $500 on a donor car, and encouraged to spend many times more than that on serious safety equipment, which includes race-spec seat, roll cage and fuel system. Modifications to steering, brakes and exhaust also are permitted.

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Ryan Long/Special to ESPN.comThis Alfa-powered X1/9 was the overall winner at Road America.

The safety aspect is taken very seriously, but little else is. LeMons rules are fairly restrictive yet loosely defined, keeping in the casual spirit of the series, which features 20 events across America in 2012.

Still, you see some crazy stuff. A team known as Pabst Blue Racing installed a GM Northstar V-8 into the back of a 1990 Nissan Maxima; at Road America, it was a work in progress that wasn't working too well.

Meanwhile, Team Launcha Splatos took a Bertone X1/9, painted it up like a Sandro Munari-era Alitalia Lancia Stratos rally car, dropped in the V-6 from an Alfa 164, and took the overall win.

The Road America event -- dubbed the Chubba Cheddar Enduro, in honor of former Car and Driver editor (and occasional LeMons participant) Csaba Csere -- was my second LeMons race. I recognized about half of the 35 entries from the October 2011 event I attended at Autobahn Country Club, including a late 1960s Volkswagen Type 3 Squareback known as "Der Schnitzelwagen."

"We're putting out 55 horsepower at the wheels and running sub four-minute laps," driver Charles Navarro said.

For the record, Dario Franchitti holds the Road America track record in a 1998 Reynard/Honda Indy car, speeding around at an average of nearly 146 mph.

Another car that caught my eye was an E30-era BMW 3-series, a bright red racer that had a framed 40x 30-inch portrait of former Albanian dictator Enver Hoxha strapped to its roof.

As always with LeMons, there was a story behind the bizarre aerodynamic appendage. Phil Greden, aka Judge Phil, the "Chief BS Judge" of the LeMons Series, wasn't pleased when Team Mark's Harder LemonAid appeared at a prior race with the equivalent of grid girls. Made aware of Greden's known fascination with communist dictators, the Hoxha livery was a transparent attempt to get back in the judge's good graces.

We noticed a ratty old Porsche 944 that was being driven with some verve, and soon learned that the driver was Emanuele Pirro, a five-time 24 Hours of LeMans winner. The real LeMans.

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Ryan Long/Special to ESPN.comFive-time 24 Hours of LeMans winner Emanuele Pirro talks LeMons racing.

Pirro did not have a professional obligation to be at Road America on a Monday. He retired from the factory Audi sports car team after the 2009 season, though he has returned to the cockpit for the occasional endurance race.

No, the 50-year-old Italian was in rural Wisconsin purely because he wanted to be there, sharing in the "professional" race debut of his sons Cristoforo and Goffredo while his wife, Marlene, served as the team's hospitality director.

I convinced Pirro that the dork in a bucket hat and shorts using an iPhone as a recorder and camera was really a journalist, and he sportingly agreed to a short interview.

"I'm here for several reasons," he said. "First to race with my sons -- they don't race, but we wanted to have a nice adventure together. This is their very first car race, if you can call it that. We didn't know anything about LeMons. We heard of it but I had never seen it. We thought it would be a good time to do it, with my sons on holiday, so we came from Italy just for this.

"And Road America is a circuit I have always loved," he added. "It's my favorite circuit in the U.S. I had so many great moments here, so to come back brings up good memories."

Driving the legendary Audi R8 prototype, Pirro was the overall winner in ALMS races at Road America in 2005 and '06. I asked him how much adjustment it took to slow down to the level of a tired, old, stock Porsche.

"I really had to force myself to detune my mind because the memories are still so vivid," he said. "I could drive my race car here from scratch and be immediately on pace because I remember everything so well. I had to force myself to forget all that information. Every car has got its own character, and every car should be driven the way she wants. I try to drive well, not necessarily to drive fast. I try to respect the car.

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John Oreovicz/ESPN.comThe Pirro Porsche makes a pit stop in the LeMons race. Things are laid-back during LeMons events.

"Honestly, it's not so far from a 'real' car, just at a reduced pace. All the basics are there: braking, downshifting, turning in, a good line. Everything is like the real business, just 50 percent slower."

The battered old Porsche made for a bizarre juxtaposition with Pirro and his sons, who like their father were kitted out in his old Audi Sport firesuits and pro-grade Arai helmets.

It was also strange to see a LeMans (the real one) legend scaling a chain link fence while lugging five-gallon jugs of gasoline out to the pits to fuel his own car. But that's all in the back-to-basics spirit of the series.

"I like it," Pirro said with a smile. "I like the humor of the teams -- the Toyota painted to look like a BMW M1, or the Fiat X1/9 that looks like a rally car. It's really been a nice experience and we're having a lot of fun. I think if you really love motor racing, you tend to like everything, not only the top of the pyramid. We are happy to be here.

"I still have a great passion for racing, and actually I thank God for that. Because sometimes after so long, you can lose a little bit of enthusiasm. Believe me, I'm enjoying my stints in this car very, very much."

I could totally relate to what Pirro was saying. I've been going to racetracks for 35 years, the past 20 of them on a professional basis as a writer or PR man. And while the politics and some other aspects of the job can be depressing or demoralizing, I still get the same kind of buzz from standing trackside and watching race cars being driven to their limit that I did 10, 20 or 30 years ago -- whether it's an Indy car streaking past at 220 mph at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, or a VW Squareback struggling to make it up the hill to Turn 6 at Road America.

Rick Dole/Getty ImagesGuy Smith got it done when it counted for Dyson Racing on Saturday.

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. -- Sports car fans were treated to perhaps the most thrilling race in the history of the American Le Mans Series Saturday on a picture-perfect day at Road America.

Despite starting next to last on the 35-car grid, Dyson Racing's Chris Dyson and Guy Smith edged the pole-winning Muscle Milk Racing entry of Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr by 0.083 seconds in the closest finish in ALMS history.

The Dyson team's triumph was even sweeter because last year at Road America, they came out on the opposite end of an almost equally dramatic finish, losing out by 0.112 seconds to Graf and Muscle Milk.

But there was far more to this race than an epic finish. Graf and Luhr overcame a four-lap deficit after their Honda-powered HPD prototype suffered a coolant leak just 38 minutes into the four-hour contest. The pole-winning German duo had appeared unbeatable in the early stages of the race, repeatedly extending their lead by 3-4 seconds a lap to build a cushion of almost a minute before they had to make a lengthy pit stop.

By that stage, the No. 16 Dyson car had charged from the back of the grid up to second place, and it inherited the lead when the Muscle Milk team ran into trouble.

However, a 16-mile deficit to the race leader almost wasn't enough to derail Luhr and Graf, overall winners of five consecutive ALMS races heading into Road America.

Repeatedly running laps at qualifying pace and taking advantage of full course cautions, the Muscle Milk men put themselves back into contention. When the green flag waved after the final caution with 19 minutes remaining, Luhr carved through the field and passed the No. 20 Dyson car of Eric Lux to move into second place with nine minutes to go.

Luhr quickly eliminated the 8.7-second gap to leader Smith, but struggled with traffic over the last three laps. Luhr made a desperate move on the final corner of the last lap and his HPD briefly nosed ahead of the Dyson Lola/Mazda, but his front end washed out and Smith won the half-mile drag race to the finish line.

"It was too close for comfort," said Smith after his third career ALMS victory. "Last year was really close, and I never expected something to beat that.

"Going into the final corner, Lucas was all over me," the Englishman added. "I thought, 'Do I defend, or do I not?' I thought I had it covered, and to be honest he made a really good move, but I knew the way he got around me I could get back to him if I slingshot around him."

The last eight ALMS races at Road America have featured an average margin of victory of 1.198 seconds, the smallest of any circuit in the series.

"I've won close races, and I've lost close races, but I prefer winning them," remarked triumphant team owner Rob Dyson. "I knew when they were four laps down that there was plenty of time for them to make it back up.

"We had the reverse result last year, and hats off to Guy for battling it out like that and still gaining the win out of it. It was a tight race, but exciting as hell."

Martin Plowman and Conquest Racing claimed P2 class honors by a comfortable two-lap margin after chief competition Christophe Bochut and Level 5 Motorsports succumbed to late-race suspension problems in their HPD-Honda.

However, the GT class was much closer, with Bill Auberlen in a Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing BMW M3 edging Jorg Bergmeister's Flying Lizard Porsche 911 by 2.631 seconds.

An even closer finish went down in the PC class, as Thomas Kimber-Smith eked out a 0.423-second victory over Colin Braun in identical Oreca prototypes.

But it was the top P1 class and the stunning overall finish that had everyone buzzing.

"At the end, when it went green, I think you just drive it on pure adrenaline," Smith said. "You have to take risks you usually wouldn't take.

"Last year I was on the grass trying to make the pass … at least this year I was on the road."

Rick Dole/Getty ImagesMuscle Milk team owner Greg Pickett, left, and his drivers Lucas Luhr, center, and Klaus Graf made their pole-setting qualifying run pay off with their fifth consecutive race win.

STEAM CORNERS, Ohio -- Engines serve as a wake-up call at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

With the smoke of a thousand campfires still in the air, groggy race fans shaking off the excesses of last night are jarred to life by the sights and sounds of the IZOD IndyCar Series.

Indy car drivers aren't accustomed to being early-morning track sweepers, but they got a reward for that 8 a.m. practice: With qualifying set for 11 a.m., their day in the car was done by noon. Most of the field went to debrief with their engineers, then grab a quick nap prior to the late-afternoon autograph session.

Will Power dug deep to produce the kind of scintillating qualifying lap we have come to expect from him. The electric Aussie claimed his third pole of the season, and already the 27th of his career, tying him for ninth place with Al Unser on the all-time list.

"I was determined to get a pole because I know track position is really important around here, so I put a lot of energy into that lap," Power said. "I thought I got every single sector right, and that's just what gave us the lap time."

The time was 1 minute, 5.6662 seconds, which was more than a second faster than recent IndyCar Series times and only three-tenths off the outright track record of 1:05.347, set in 1999 by Dario Franchitti and -- remarkably -- duplicated to the thousandth of a second by Gil de Ferran a year later.

The cars in those days had close to 900 horsepower, which shows just how much grip the combination of the Dallara DW12 chassis and red-sidewall Firestone alternate tires produce.

"It's so bloody quick around here," marveled Power after averaging 123.825 mph around the 2.258-mile road course. "Man, when I got out of the car, I felt dizzy. I probably held my breath through a lot of the lap. We just need to be good in every situation and keep chipping away at the points lead that [Ryan] Hunter-Reay's got."

The afternoon was reserved for the American Le Mans Series, as prototype and GT classes went to battle in the heart of the day. The track got slick as it heated up, but that didn't stop the Pickett Racing Muscle Milk team from dominating the action, as Lucas Luhr and Klaus Graf put together their fifth consecutive race win.

The only problem the German duo suffered in their HPD ARX-03a-Honda was slight difficulty when restarting the car after pit stops. ALMS rules mandate shutting down engines when refueling.

"That got all of our attention and gave us some extra heart beats," Luhr said. "Winning five races in a row is very special. From the outside looking in, it might have looked easy, but everyone -- Klaus, myself, everyone from Muscle Milk Honda -- are working overtime and very hard. It is very special to win five in a row, and in this style."

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Rick Dole/Getty ImagesKlaus Graf teamed up with Lucas Luhr to win their fifth American Le Mans Series race in a row.

One driver who had the afternoon off chose to skip the nap in favor of watching the ALMS action with keen interest. It was three-time IndyCar Series champion Franchitti, whose brother, Marino, was making his second start in the Prototype Challenge class for Oreca FLM09 chassis and first for PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports.

The younger Franchitti took the class pole over former IndyCar racer Bruno Junqueira, then co-drove with Rudy Junco Jr. to the win after Ryan Dalziel had to make a splash-and-go fuel stop late in the race.

Big brother Dario was waiting in Victory Circle.

"It was a nice debut with the team, wasn't it?" Marino exclaimed. "This was a very fun win, an exciting time. I'm looking forward to the next race for sure."

For the road-racing faithful who are camping at Mid-Ohio, the Saturday card still wasn't done. Races for US F2000 formula cars and Pirelli World Challenge sports cars followed before it was finally time to head back to the campsite, grab a cold beverage, rustle up some grub and get a hearty campfire burning.

With rain forecast overnight and into Sunday, you have to wonder who's keeping a closer watch on the skies: the Indy car drivers or the campers.

"It could be kind of crazy with the weather," said three-time Mid-Ohio winner Scott Dixon. "I have a feeling there would be a lot of yellows if we raced in the wet."

INDIANAPOLIS -- I know it was a case of too little, too late. But I can't help but think that INDYCAR, Road America and even the American Le Mans Series missed out on a great opportunity by not coming to terms to add an Izod IndyCar Series race to the Aug. 16-18 ALMS weekend at America's fastest road course.

I'm sure that the sanctioning fee that INDYCAR was seeking was optimistic, given the circumstances: asking to piggyback, admittedly while bringing added value, to a schedule long ago established. You could even argue that INDYCAR should have been paying Road America (and/or the ALMS) to get on the bill.

INDYCAR tried to sugarcoat the disappointment of not adding a 16th race at Road America (or anywhere else) to replace the canceled round in China by announcing that the now-confirmed season finale at Auto Club Speedway in California will be extended to 500 miles. But buried at the end of a press release bearing other news, the creation of the first 500-mile IndyCar race outside of Indianapolis in 10 years had little impact.

INDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard said he wanted to add a 16th event to the IndyCar Series schedule to replace China only if it had long-term value. So why not get a head start on 2013 and the future by immediately going back to Road America, the circuit that is hands-down the most beloved by IndyCar racing's entire road-racing constituency? On a weekend when a knowledgeable and enthusiastic audience would already be there?

For the vast majority of the IndyCar drivers, the opportunity to compete at Elkhart Lake would be a reward for their professionalism and hard work developing the Dallara DW12 into a car that has raced well on every type of circuit this year. Wouldn't it have been great to grant them the pure joy of driving the track that most drivers would call their favorite road course in America, if not the world?

I suspect the majority of ALMS fans who had already bought tickets for the sports car race would have been happy to modify their plans to include a bonus IndyCar race. And I'm guessing that tacking IndyCar onto the existing ALMS slate would have sold another 10-15,000 tickets.

Road America is also a favorite venue for the teams that participate. The laid-back vibe of Elkhart Lake, a classic Wisconsin small town anchored by the popular Siebkens Tavern, makes for a weekend that everyone involved in the sport looks forward to.

Road America president George Bruggenthies is a notoriously tough negotiator, and we must conclude that the numbers and the logistics simply didn't work for the August weekend for either the track or INDYCAR.

But I certainly hope the dialogue that Bruggenthies and Bernard have engaged in over the past couple of weeks is a good head start toward putting Road America back on the IndyCar Series schedule for 2013 and beyond. The support for racing there in August that was recently expressed by drivers, teams, fans and even Milwaukee race promoter Michael Andretti should send both of them a strong message that the sport of IndyCar racing wants to be at Elkhart Lake.

For the long term, and the sooner the better.

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum is always a treat for racing fans, and at $5, it's an unbelievable bargain.

But recently, the good folks at 16th and Georgetown have managed to pack even more value into that modest entrance fee.

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John Oreovicz/ESPN.com "Big Oly" was the vehicle Parnelli Jones drove in his off-road racing years and Parnelli calls it his personal favorite in the collection.

A year ago, the Hall of Fame assembled 70 Indianapolis 500 winning cars for a unique 90-day exhibition to conclude the Speedway's three-year-long Centennial Era celebration.

This year's special exhibit isn't as extensive, but it is almost just as appealing: The Hall of Fame has acquired the Vel's Parnelli Jones Collection, which until recently was privately displayed in Torrance, Calif.

The Jones collection includes several important race cars that Parnelli Jones drove, in addition to numerous Indy cars and Formula One cars built under the Parnelli name.

VPJR was formed in 1967 and fielded entries throughout the 1970s in USAC Indy cars, Formula 5000 and Formula One. The 1972-73 lineup, known as the Vel's Parnelli Jones Superteam and featuring drivers Al Unser, Joe Leonard and Mario Andretti, was the precursor to today's multicar efforts by the likes of Penske Racing and Ganassi Racing.

Perhaps the most significant car in the Parnelli collection is the oldest -- the Watson/Offy roadster that Jones drove to the first 150 mph lap in the history of IMS in 1962, and to victory in the Indy 500 a year later.

Jones will celebrate his 1962 pole position and 150 mph milestone by running a demonstration lap at 4 p.m. on Pole Day on Saturday, immediately prior to the Fast Nine pole qualifying shootout. He will also sign autographs at the Hall of Fame on Wednesday, May 23 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Taking pride of place on a central pedestal in the entrance to the museum is the 1964 Lotus-Ford that Jim Clark drove to pole position at Indianapolis. Later that summer, Jones took over the rear-engine special and won an Indy car race at the Milwaukee Mile.

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John Oreovicz/ESPN.comA rich history of Indianapolis 500 winners is on display at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame with cars spanning a century.

Another Lotus on display is the 1968 Type 56 "wedge" car powered by a turbine engine. Joe Leonard took pole position at Indianapolis in this car and led the race until being sidelined by a mechanical failure with nine laps remaining.

VPJR fielded the Colt-Ford in which Al Unser won the Indianapolis 500 and USAC championship in 1970. That car, along with the car that Unser took to a second consecutive Indianapolis victory in 1971, is currently on display at IMS.

A less successful (but perhaps more unique) Indy car is the 1972 Parnelli chassis designed by Maurice Phillipe. The IMS Hall of Fame currently boasts three of the so-called "dihedral" cars, including one in Mario Andretti livery that features the small wings that angle out of the sides of the chassis.

Expected to arrive soon is the Parnelli VPJ4B Formula One car that Mario Andretti campaigned for Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing from 1974 to '76. Something completely different is "Big Oly," the Ford Bronco-based off-road racing truck that Jones drove to two consecutive victories in the Baja 1000.

Another machine with a notable pedigree is the King-Ford USAC dirt car in which Unser won four consecutive Hoosier Hundred races on the dirt mile at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.

These eight vehicles are currently housed in a separate wing of the Hall of Fame. But the rest of the museum is as worthwhile as ever, with an array of cars and motorcycles from the past century that naturally concentrates on notable Indy cars.

Currently, the Marmon Wasp that won the first Indianapolis 500 is displayed next to the Dallara IR07 that Dan Wheldon won the 100th anniversary race in last year.

INDIANAPOLIS -- The opening sequence of ABC's broadcast of the 2011 Indianapolis 500 was nominated for a Sports Emmy Award.

Now you can be part of the cinematic introduction to this year's race, which no doubt will be bigger and better than ever before.

ESPN and ABC have put out a casting call seeking extras to participate in a video production set to take place Wednesday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

There's no pay involved, but it's your chance to show your passion for The Greatest Spectacle in Racing -- and possibly see yourself on television when ABC's race broadcast kicks off at 11 a.m. ET on May 27.

Prospective extras should plan to be at IMS from 8-11:30 a.m. Enter through the track's main entrance on West 16th Street -- the tunnel between Turns 1 and 2. All ages are welcome.

Participants are being asked to dress like race fans -- wear IndyCar gear and bring along coolers, backpacks, scanners and headphones -- just as if you were attending the Indianapolis 500.

Because multiple scenes will be shot, ABC is requesting that everyone bring along a spare T-shirt or polo shirt to swap out. Beverages and snacks will be provided.

It promises to be a great experience for true Indianapolis fans -- and maybe a chance to become part of ABC's 48-year history of Indianapolis 500 coverage.

If you're interested, send an email to iwanttobeanindyextra@gmail.com for additional details.

Oh, and break a leg!

Robert Laberge/Getty ImagesJosef Newgarden will start the Long Beach Grand Prix on the front row alongside Dario Franchitti.

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- The introduction of a new chassis and engine formula was expected to shake up the ranks in the Izod IndyCar Series.

But no one expected a rookie running for the sport's smallest team to emerge as a front-runner.

Driving for Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing, Josef Newgarden is the best story of the early IndyCar season. The 21-year-old from Nashville has had moments of brilliance in each of the three weekends to date, and he'll start the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach from the outside of the front row.

Newgarden didn't qualify that far up front; he actually managed the seventh-fastest time and was elevated five places because the cars that qualified ahead of him using Chevrolet power have been assessed a 10-place grid penalty for unauthorized engine changes.

But that doesn't diminish his achievement -- or the SFHR team's -- a single bit.

Former driver-turned-owner Fisher endured the disappointment of losing her sponsorship from Dollar General stores over the offseason, and the No. 67 SFHR car looks pretty plain in its white-and-blue paint.

But the team showed that a small group of quality people teamed with a talented and hungry driver can produce results.

"Josef has really come in and energized our team," said team owner Fisher. "He's amazingly mature and professional, and we're really enjoying working with him. To deliver this kind of a result shows the kind of potential we have."

Four-time series champion Dario Franchitti will start from pole position, but he's not worried about having the rookie alongside.

"Believe me, we've proven time and time again that whether you're a rookie or a veteran, you can screw up just as well," Franchitti remarked. "He'll be fine. He's a good driver who belongs at this level, and he proved it again today."

Stars come out to honor Jim Hall

American Le Mans Series sports cars and the Izod IndyCar Series have become a hot ticket at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Southern California is America's hot spot for car culture, and the pairing of open-wheel formula cars and sports cars has made the Long Beach race weekend only more appealing. While Friday rain had spectators seeking shelter inside the Lifestyle Expo, the return of sunshine on Saturday brought them back in droves to finally enjoy on-track action.

The sports car and Indy car worlds collided Thursday night at the fourth annual Road Racing Drivers Club dinner at the Long Beach Hilton. This year's honoree was Jim Hall, and a pair of Hall's most iconic Chaparral cars -- a 1966 2E Can-Am sports car and the Indianapolis 500-winning 1980 2K -- were proudly on display.

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John OreoviczTwo of Jim Hall's most iconic Chaparral cars -- a 1966 2E Can-Am sports car, top, and the Indianapolis
500-winning 1980 2K -- took center stage Thursday in Long Beach.

The normally reserved Hall was talkative and virtually beaming throughout the evening, which was hosted by RRDC President Bobby Rahal. Several of Hall's drivers and competitors took the stage to offer appreciations, including Roger Penske, Johnny Rutherford, Brian Redman and Gil de Ferran.

"Jim Hall is an icon in this sport, and it was a pleasure to sit down with him and listen to the recollections of an extraordinary visionary from such an important era in our sport," said Rahal.

Hall was a successful driver who made a dozen Formula One starts in addition to his success on the American sports car scene. But he's most famous for co-founding the Chaparral marque, which produced a series of successful sports cars with backdoor technical support from Chevrolet throughout the 1960s.

Chaparral introduced the aerodynamic wing to sports cars, and the 1970 2J used a fan to create downforce, a concept that was later copied by the Brabham BT46B that Niki Lauda drove to victory in the 1978 Swedish Grand Prix.

The last Chaparral, the 2K, was the first Indy car to use underbody ground effect tunnels. Hall's concept was drawn and developed by John Barnard, who went on to design a series of F1 championship-winning cars for McLaren, Ferrari and Benetton.

"It's fabulous to be honored by your peers, and that's really what it is here tonight," said Hall. "There are so many of the real racers here, and I'm honored to be with them. It's terrific to follow the three guys who were previously recognized by the RRDC [Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones and Penske], and to see so many of the other people in the sport who were willing to come here and support this event just makes you really proud."

The RRDC Long Beach dinner has become one of the most popular stops on the banquet circuit, with someone famous or historically significant at almost every table.

Six Indianapolis 500 winners were present (Rahal, de Ferran, Rutherford, Jones, Rick Mears, Danny Sullivan and Franchitti), representing 13 Indy wins.

AP Photo/Andre PennerRubens Barrichello said racing on ovals is one of the challenges he's looking forward to in the Izod IndyCar Series.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Formula One's most experienced driver is switching to Indy cars.

Rubens Barrichello, with 322 F1 starts and 11 Grand Prix victories, confirmed Thursday in a news conference in Sao Paulo that he will contest the full 2012 Izod IndyCar Series season. The 39-year-old Brazilian will drive the No. 8 Dallara-Chevrolet for KV Racing Technology with sponsorship from Embrase.

KVRT also announced a two-year contract extension for Tony Kanaan, the 2004 IndyCar Series champion, who is beginning his second season with the team. E.J. Viso will drive KVRT's third entry with a new sponsorship package from CITGO.

Barrichello tested KVRT's Dallara-Chevrolet at Sebring International Raceway from Jan. 30 through Feb. 1 and ran a subsequent test at Infineon Raceway later in February.

Kanaan and Barrichello are close friends (and godfather to each other's children), and Kanaan joked that he convinced Barrichello to test by tweeting him a picture of the new Dallara Indy car.

But he actually had been working on his friend to make the switch to American racing for quite some time.

"What people don't realize is how many years I've been bugging him to do this," Kanaan said. "It's been going on for the last three years. This year, with the unfortunate situation of not getting the job [with Williams F1], he accepted. But it's something I've been working on him for a long time.

"I knew he was going to love the car," Kanaan added. "He's a real racer, and he wants to win races. Over there he didn't have a chance. Here he will."

Barrichello is no stranger to Indy car racing, having attended several CART and IndyCar Series races over the past 15 years at venues including Milwaukee and Indianapolis.

His interest in competing in oval racing was questioned, especially after some of his remarks promising his family he would not compete on those tracks were widely publicized.

But Barrichello said Thursday that racing on ovals is a key attraction of the Indy car challenge.

"It's something very new to me, and even with 19 years of experience, I will start as a rookie," Barrichello said. "But I think I will get better as the year progresses. I will keep my feet on the ground and work as hard as I can.

"I am very competitive, so, of course, I want to do well," he added. "But how well I'm going to do, I guess we are going to see sometime soon."

KVRT co-owners Jimmy Vasser and Kevin Kalkhoven are hopeful the addition of Barrichello will elevate their team to the level of perennial Indy car powerhouses Ganassi Racing and Penske Racing.

"With Tony's expertise on ovals and Rubens' ability to set the car up for road courses, I think it's going to be a very powerful combination," said Vasser, who won the 1996 CART-sanctioned Indy car championship. "We do have the challenge of the ovals, but with Tony's experience and little bit of knowledge that I might be able to impart, I think Rubens will be just fine.

"The sky is the limit for our team, and I think victories are in our future."

News of Barrichello's confirmation for the full season was applauded by his IndyCar Series competitors.

"Great news," four-time IndyCar Series champion Dario Franchitti said. "I think the competition level just went up again."

"It's good for the series, and you can only see it going up," said Will Power. "New car, new teams, even greater depth in driver talent. I think it's great."

Perhaps the happiest person about Barrichello's announcement was INDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard, who unexpectedly has an additional worldwide star (and more than 1.4 million Twitter followers) on board.

Bernard has compared Barrichello's arrival in Indy cars to those of former F1 world champions Emerson Fittipaldi (in 1984) and Nigel Mansell (1993).

"It's an exciting day for the IZOD IndyCar Series and a positive step to start 2012," Bernard said. "We've said all along that one of the most important factors that will make the IZOD IndyCar Series successful is having the best drivers in the world, and there's not a person in the world who knows racing that wouldn't tell you that Rubens Barrichello is one of the greatest drivers of all time.

"I think it's been interesting to hear the response of the other drivers," Bernard added. "It's been, 'This is great for us because it will show how good all of our drivers are.'"

Barrichello's first Indy car race is the March 25 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

DETROIT -- The automotive industry is getting back its swagger.

Take a look around the floor at the North American International Auto Show, where you'll find a 650-horsepower Mustang and a 580-horsepower Camaro, both totally street legal and for sale off the showroom floor.

That's more power than most racing cars have in this day and age.

But the show of brute force is indicative of an industry-wide shift back toward power and performance after a couple of lean years geared toward fuel efficiency and environmental friendliness.

From a racing standpoint, perhaps the most important new car on display at Detroit was the redesigned 2013 Ford Fusion. The midsize four-door sedan has sleek lines that were compared to those seen on Jaguars and Aston Martins.

Ford's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series cars are badged as Fusions, which made me wonder how the 2013 version would translate to NASCAR's boxy Car of Tomorrow specifications. But Ford Racing boss Jamie Allison assured me that next year's Ford Cup entry "will look exactly like the car you and I are looking at today."

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AP Photo/Carlos OsorioThe next-generation Ford Fusion was drawing plenty of attention at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

"It's stunning," he added. "This car carries the new face of Ford and we've been working with NASCAR because we race Fusions in the Cup series. Next year, you're going to see this new face of Ford on a car that is unique and identifiable as a Ford on the track."

Ford Racing officials are excited about the prospect of much more distinct differences in identity between the four competing marques in the Sprint Cup Series next year. But they discounted speculation that the company is looking to rejoin Chevrolet as an engine manufacturer in the Izod IndyCar Series, even though the new turbocharged engine formula would be a perfect platform to promote Ford's EcoBoost engine technology.

"There were times in our history when we were very active in open-wheel racing," Allison said. "We are now at this time focused on production-based racing and technologies. We want the cars we race to be evocative of the cars in people's driveways. Open-wheel racing, and the demands of what it requires to succeed with purpose-built applications, are right now not a priority for us."

Allison is also excited about Courtney Force's NHRA Funny Car debut in a John Force Racing Mustang.

"Courtney is absolutely a delight," he said. "We saw what [sister] Ashley [Force Hood] did when she came into the sport. We are very excited. She has a lot of potential. I've been to a couple of her tests and I think it's going to be a great year for John Force Racing and all the Fords."

Over at Honda, I had a long talk with Honda Performance Development president Erik Berkman, who filled me in on the status of the Honda IndyCar program.

"We're comfortable with how things are progressing," Berkman said. "We had to compromise a bit when the displacement was reduced from 2.4 to 2.2 liters, and that kind of squandered the early advantage we had gained by being the first to commit to building an engine for the V-6 turbo formula."

Berkman was a new car project leader for Honda when HPD last had engine building competition in Indy cars. He is quickly discovering the pratfalls that come with not being the IndyCar Series' sole engine supplier.

A year ago, before Chevrolet and Lotus also committed to IndyCar to produce engines for the 2012 season, Berkman told me he hoped to avoid the kind of "arms race" that characterized the war between Toyota and Honda in CART from 2000-02 and the IRL IndyCar Series from 2003-05.

In CART, Toyota began financing teams like Ganassi Racing, while Honda purchased chassis for its key teams and hired Wirth Research to develop the basic Dallara IRL chassis for its flagship team, Andretti Green Racing.

A complicating factor is that the INDYCAR 2012 engine rules have not been finalized and aren't expected to be done until the end of the month.

"Everyone is worried that we're not showing our hand or Ilmor [Chevrolet] isn't showing their hand, but how can we when major targets like minimum weight are still yet to be defined?" Berkman said. "We haven't locked in our final spec for the first race yet, and with the rules being finished so late, we may not have a definitive specification until the third or fourth race."

Eight of the 10 engines Honda intends to supply for a hypothetical 25-car grid have been claimed: Four to Ganassi Racing, two to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, one to AJ Foyt Racing and one to Sam Schmidt Motorsports. Berkman is still deciding how to allocate the final two engines, which had originally been intended for Newman/Haas Racing.

"My phone has been ringing off the hook," he said with a laugh.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Jim Rathmann was considered one of the last links to Indy car racing's roadster era.

But in many ways, Rathmann, who died Wednesday at the age of 83, was ahead of his time. In fact, he should probably be considered the sport's first superspeedway specialist.

Two of Rathmann's three official Indy car race wins were at fearsomely fast ovals, topped by his victory in the 1960 Indianapolis 500. That race is considered a classic, with an intense duel between Rathmann and Rodger Ward that some Indy old-timers believe was the finest two-man battle in the hundred-year history of the great race.

The 1960 500 featured a record 29 lead changes; Rathmann led 12 times for exactly half of the 200 laps on the way to his triumph.

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AP PhotoJim Rathmann -- winner of the 1960 Indy 500 -- celebrates qualifying for what would be his last 500 in 1963.

Meanwhile, Ward set a record for most times led without winning (10).

They swapped the lead eight times in the last 31 laps alone and it appeared Ward was set to claim the win when he passed Rathmann on the 194th lap, but he pitted two laps later with a worn front tire, handing the win to Rathmann by some 12 seconds.

Rathmann had already earned three second-place finishes at Indianapolis (1952, '57 and '59), and he made three front row starts, briefly holding the one- and four-lap qualifying records in 1956 and 1960.

While Rathmann's win at Indianapolis to kick off the 1960s is what made him famous, he had already won Indy car races at arguably more fearsome tracks. Rathmann was the winner of the 1958 "Race of Two Worlds" (also known as the 500 Miglia di Monza/500 Miles of Monza), an unofficial event staged on a 2.64-mile banked oval at Monza, Italy, that featured Indy cars and modified Formula One and sports cars.

Lap speeds exceeded 176 mph on Monza's high banking, some 30 mph faster than the pole speed at Indianapolis. Rathmann won all three 63-lap heats as the more powerful American cars dominated the proceedings. Rathmann's speed over the total 500 mile was 166.7 mph, a figure that would not be exceeded at the Indianapolis 500 until 1986.

Yet there was an even faster oval track that Rathmann soon also mastered: the brand new Daytona International Speedway, where USAC staged an Indy car doubleheader in April 1959. Rathmann qualified second behind his brother, Dick (the nomenclature of the Rathmann brothers is a story unto itself), then won the first 100-mile heat with an average speed of 170.261 mph. Rathmann won a second 50-mile race with a 160 mph average, but the day was marred by the death of driver George Amick on the last lap of the first race, an event that convinced USAC officials that Indy cars were not suitable for high-banked tracks like Daytona.

Rathmann's only other Indy car race win came at the Milwaukee Mile in 1957, the year he posted his best finish in the USAC championship (second). He was also fourth on two occasions before he retired after the 1963 Indianapolis 500 to devote attention to his burgeoning auto dealerships in Florida. But he maintained close ties to the 500, driving the Pace Car six times.

Ill health prevented Rathmann from attending the centennial edition of the Indianapolis 500 last May. Parnelli Jones, 78, the winner of the 1963 race, is now the oldest living Indy winner.