Autoblog

Remember Scott Speed? Despite having the best name in racing, the American driver is easy to forget. While drivers like Juan Pablo Montoya and Jacques Villeneuve found great success in Formula One, Speed just dropped out of the bottom of the pinnacle racing series, and has continued to fall since. The former Scuderia Toro Rosso driver has finally landed at the bottom rungs of the American stock-car racing ladder, but he's preparing to race his way back up to the top.

The latest development sees Speed getting behind the wheel of a Toyota racing pick-up in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Thanks in (large) part to Speed's benefactor, Red Bull, he'll be joining the Bill Davis Racing line-up, making his debut with the team in Kansas later this month before moving on to ten more races this season in addition to a full calendar of ARCA races in the No.2 Toyota that's sponsored by...you guessed it, Red Bull. Speed will also have an experienced coach in his corner: Richard "Slugger" Labbe, whose previous pupils include the likes of Dale Jarrett, Michael Waltrip and Speed's fellow F1-NASCAR migrant Jacques Villeneuve. Even with all the support, we'll have to wait and see how Speed fares on the lower rungs of the American oval racing ladder.

[Source: AutoWeek]

Scott Speed's climb through the Red Bull Young Driver's Program was a great deal more promising -- and lengthy -- than his actual Formula 1 career. As of today, the 24-year-old Californian has been replaced in his Scuderia Toro Rosso seat by former BMW test driver Sebastian Vettel. Vettel, a 20-year-old German, is highly regarded by STR half-owner Gerhard Berger, and will race in this week's Hungarian GP.

Speed's tenure has been a forgettable year-and-a-half of no results and more than a few skirmishes and crashes -- not all of which are entirely Speed's fault. Even the Red Bull cars, piloted by the much more experienced Mark Weber and David Coulthard, haven't shown too much life. The drama has been stoked by the STR team owners', Berger and Franz Tost, increasingly acidic and public comments about how displeased they are with the STR driver lineup. Things reached a nadir when, after Speed's exit from the European Grand Prix, he was physically assaulted by Tost.

Speed says he doesn't want to want to ruin his relationship with parent team Red Bull, and would work with them even if not in Formula 1 -- but he wouldn't race for STR again for any amount of money. As for the premiere motorsport category, with Speed's ouster, the record of American drivers in F1 remains, uh, nothing short of dismal.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

[Source: Daily F1]

Scuderia Toro Rosso's Scott Speed will return to his racing roots in November, sliding into a shifter kart to race in the 10th running of U.S. karting's SuperNationals in Las Vegas.

Speed got his start in karting, and he's the only shifter kart pilot to win the SuperNats twice, in 2000 and 2001. (The picture shows Scott at the 2001 SuperNats. That's 2006 Champ Car title contender A.J. Allmendinger two karts back.) He'll be racing alongside brother Alex (U.S. national champion in 2003, 2004 and 2005) in karts prepped by his father, Mike.

The SuperNats have long been the one U.S. race that every karter wants to win, and the one-off appearance by America's one and only F1 driver is bound to attract competitors from across the country. (The $10,000 purse for the headline class won't hurt, either.)

If you want to see a Formula 1 driver practicing his racecraft up close and personal, be in Las Vegas November 10-12! Event details are here.

[Source: SPEED Channel]

The development of Scott Speed, The Brand, continues apace with the announcement that America's first Formula 1 driver in decades has partnered with VoodooPC, makers of ultra-fast PCs, to introduce Scott Speed Editions of Voodoo's ENVY laptop (shown above) and the company's OMEN desktop.

Coveted by gamers everywhere, the top of the line OMEN desktop is billed as "the world's most insane personal computer," and sports a system-wide liquid cooling system. Just like Scott's F1 ride, his PCs are not for the weak of wallet - OMEN models start at $5,100.

[VoodooPC via SpeedTV]

American Formula 1 driver Scott Speed (that's him doing his best Kevin Costner imitation at right) has lent his name to a new twist on the exotic car timeshare/rental concept. While outfits like San Francisco-based Club Sportiva bill themselves as "the ownership alternative," allowing club members to rent exotic and classic cars owned by the club, Speed's Squadra Piloti operates in the manner of a dating service, putting members who own, say, a Lamborghini Gallardo, with other members who want to drive one (think Match.com, but with cars).

Squadra Piloti (it means "team of drivers" in Italian) members can make arrangements like swapping their exotics for a specified time, or simply renting their bahnburner to a member whose daily driver is, well, sub-exotic.

If having an F1 pilot as a member is important to you, Squadra Piloti's uber-driver Scott Speed is up against Club Sportiva's Mario Andretti. Tough act to follow, Scott.

Check out the Squadra Piloti website for more info. If you try it out, let us know how it goes! Maybe Scott will rent you his Toro Rosso ride...

[Sources: Scott Speed's Squadra Piloti, Club Sportiva]