Tasca, Burk to be guests tonight on The Race Reporters

Bob Tasca III, who won his first two career NHRA Funny Car events last season, will be the Newsmaker of the Week on The Race Reporters radio show, Wednesday, February 3, at 7 p.m. ET, on www.PowerUpChannel.com.

Tasca’s family has a long heritage in the automotive and racing industries. In fact, Tasca’s late grandfather is credited as one of the first to adopt the “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday” philosophy of using motorsports as a promotional and marketing vehicle. Tasca is considered a contender for the class championship as the NHRA season opens February 14 with the 50th anniversary Winternationals in Pomona, Calif.

Host Michael Knight will be joined for the journalists’ roundtable by Jim Pedley, managing editor of RacinToday.com; and Jeff Burk, editor of DragRacingOnline.com, MaxChevy.com and MoparMax.com.

NASCAR.com senior writer Dave Rodman will join Knight in the last segment to preview the start of stock car action at Daytona International Speedway. [2/3/2010]

Cruze, Camaro up for World Car Awards

The World Car Awards announced that Chevrolet Cruze is a finalist for the prestigious World Car of the Year Award, and the Camaro is a finalist for the World Car Design of the Year award. The winners will be announced at the New York International Auto Show on Thursday, April 1.

The Cruze is one of 10 finalists for the World Car of the Year award, as selected by a jury of 59 international automotive journalists, based on their experience with each candidate as part of their professional work. The jury members constitute a balance of representation from Asia, Europe, North America, South America, as well as other parts of the world.

The jurors' next step is to re-evaluate the "top ten" cars, in preparation for a final round of voting later this month. They will specifically rate each vehicle in terms of overall merit, value, safety, environmental responsibility, emotional appeal, and significance.

Cruze has already earned the top rating of five stars from the European New Car Assessment Program (EuroNCAP). According to EuroNCAP, Cruze is the first passenger car to receive maximum scores in both the frontal offset collision test and side impact crash test since EuroNCAP began providing crash test ratings in 1997. Cruze also received best-in-class, five-star crash safety ratings in the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) testing in Australia, and the Chinese New Car Assessment Program (C-NCAP) testing in China.

The Chevrolet Camaro is one of four finalists for the World Car Design of the Year, as selected by a jury of five design experts from around the world. The 59 World Car Awards jurors will now vote on the expert's design recommendations.

“It’s rather humbling to be nominated for the best new design in the world,” says Tom Peters, executive director, GM performance cars and full-size trucks. “The nomination is a tribute to the passion of many individuals who worked so hard to make the dream of the new Camaro come to life.”

According to Yahoo!, Camaro was the most-searched vehicle in 2009. Camaro has also received the Popular MechanicsAutomotive Excellence Award, and was named an All-Star by Automobile Magazine. Since its introduction in 2009, Camaro has outsold Mustang for seven straight months.

For more information about the World Car of the Year award jurors and process, visit www.wcoty.com. (General Motors co. photos) [2/3/2010]