Obituaries
FILE - In this Oct. 16, 2009, file photo, former NASCAR driver and owner Junior Johnson smiles as he speaks to media about being named to the NASCAR Hall of Fame during a news conference at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. Johnson, who won 50 NASCAR Cup Series races as a driver and 132 as an owner and was part of the inaugural class inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2010, has died at 88. (AP Photo/Bob Jordan, File)
Junior Johnson, "The Last American Hero," dies at 88

Jenna Fryer Dec. 20, 2019 07:04 PM EST

FILE - In this May 3, 2001 file photo founder and chairman of Simpson Racing Products, Bill Simpson, is followed by reporters and photographers as he arrives at NASCAR headquarters in Daytona Beach, Fla. The pioneer in safety for race car drivers has died. Bill Simpson died Monday, Dec. 16, 2019 from complications from a stroke. He was 79. (Nigel Cook/Daytona Beach News-Journal via AP)
Motorsports safety pioneer Bill Simpson dies after stroke

By Jenna Fryer Dec. 16, 2019 07:01 PM EST

Denny Hamlin drives on the front stretch during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race on Sunday, Nov. 17, 2019, at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Fla. Hamlin is one of four drivers running for the championship. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)
Sticky Situation: Hamlin’s title run ends with tape gaffe

By Dan Gelston Nov. 17, 2019 08:11 PM EST

Denny Hamlin waits in the garage for a NASCAR Cup Series auto race practice to begin on Friday, Nov. 15, 2019, at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Fla. Hamlin is one of four drivers racing for the series championship. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)
NASCAR championship push tinged with sadness for Joe Gibbs

By Dan Gelston Nov. 16, 2019 01:04 PM EST

FILE - This May 24, 2019 file photo shows BWT Arden's Anthoine Hubert. French driver Anthoine Hubert has died in a Formula Two accident at the Belgian Grand Prix following an estimated 160 mph (257 kph) collision on Lap 2 at the high-speed Spa-Francorchamps track, which earlier Saturday Aug. 31, 2019, saw qualifying for Sunday's Formula One race. (David Davies/PA via AP, File)
Motorsport in mourning after F2 driver Anthoine Hubert dies

By Jerome Pugmire Aug. 31, 2019 01:39 PM EDT

FILE - In this Sept. 21, 2018, file photo, Dale Earnhardt Jr. looks at his daughter, Isla, and his wife Amy on pit row prior to an Xfinity Series NASCAR auto race at Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Va. Earnhardt Jr. will take the weekend off from broadcasting to be with his wife and daughter after the three were in a plane crash landing Thursday, Aug. 15, 2019, near Bristol Motor Speedway. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
Darlington throwback: Keselowski relishes NASCAR celebration

By Pete Iacobelli Aug. 29, 2019 12:47 PM EDT

In this Oct. 18, 2018, photo, drivers are lined up on the track for the start of the small-block modified feature race during the 57th annual Eastern States Weekend races at the Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown, N.Y. The track was lengthened to its current distance, 5/8 of a mile, and in 1924 a unique form of clay was trucked in from a pond in nearby Goshen. Annual races were held and regularly attracted 25,000, and after a hiatus for World War II, the stock car was born and the track flourished. It attracted some of the all-time greats, Al Unser, Mario Andretti, and Bobby Allison among them, and capacity crowds. (Kelly Marsh/Times Herald-Record via AP)
Orange County Fair Speedway celebrates centennial

By John Kekis Aug. 17, 2019 02:58 AM EDT

Weekend Sports In Brief

By The Associated Press Aug. 05, 2019 03:56 AM EDT
FOOTBALL FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Tom Brady has never known what it's like to play out the final season of a contract in his 20-year NFL career, and...

Weekend Sports in Brief

By The Associated Press May. 27, 2019 02:08 AM EDT
AUTO RACING INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Simon Pagenaud won his first Indy 500 on Sunday, making an audacious pass of Alexander Rossi before taking the white...

FILE - In this Sept. 7, 1976 file photo Austria's Niki Lauda behind the wheel of his Ferrari 312 T2 on the track of Florano after a near fatal crash on Aug. 1 during the German Grand Prix. Three-time Formula One world champion Niki Lauda, who won two of his titles after a horrific crash that left him with serious burns and went on to become a prominent figure in the aviation industry, has died. He was 70. (AP Photo/Raoul Fornezza, File)
The Latest: Hamilton says Lauda 'bright light in my life'

May. 21, 2019 04:27 AM EDT

FILE - In this July 7, 2018, file photo, former Formula One World Champion Niki Lauda of Austria walks in the paddock before the third free practice at the Silverstone racetrack, Silverstone, England. Three-time Formula One world champion Niki Lauda, who won two of his titles after a horrific crash that left him with serious burns and went on to become a prominent figure in the aviation industry, has died. He was 70. The Austria Press Agency reported Lauda's family saying in a statement he "passed away peacefully" on Monday, May 20, 2019. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)
F1 great and aviation entrepreneur Niki Lauda dies at 70

By Geir Moulson May. 20, 2019 09:43 PM EDT

FILE - In this May 26, 2006, file photo, NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., right, and his mother Brenda Jackson, front left, arrive for the premiere of the Disney/Pixar animated film "Cars" at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. Jackson, a longtime employee at JR Motorsports, has died following a battle with cancer. She was 65. The team announced her death Monday, April 22, 2019. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton, File)
Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s mother dies after battle with cancer

Apr. 22, 2019 03:17 PM EDT

FILE - In this Oct. 10, 2014, file photo, Charlie Whiting, FIA Race Director, right, and FIA President Jean Todt, left, arrive for a news conference at the 'Sochi Autodrom' Formula One circuit , in Sochi, Russia. The governing body for international auto racing says its Formula One director Whiting has died from a pulmonary embolism. He was 66. The FIA issued a statement Thursday, March 14, saying Whiting died in Melbourne, where the season-opening Australian Grand Prix will be raced on Sunday. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, File)
F1 race director Whiting dies 3 days before Australian GP

By John Pye Mar. 13, 2019 09:49 PM EDT

FILE - In this Aug. 17, 2017, file photo, NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., left, stands with artist Sam Bass as he's presented with an original painting during a press conference at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tenn. Bass, NASCAR's first officially licensed artist, has died following a battle with kidney problems. He was 57. (AP Photo/Wade Payne, File)
Sam Bass, NASCAR's paint-scheme artist, dies at 57

Feb. 16, 2019 04:15 PM EST