Alex Tagliani to drive for Bryan Herta Autosport IndyCar Series team

Alex Tagliani will drive for Bryan Herta Autosport's Izod IndyCar Series team in 2012, the team announced on Monday.
Tagliani is a veteran of the IndyCar, CART and Champ Car World Series. He won the pole for the Indianapolis 500 in 2010 and won one race and four poles in an eight-year career in the CART and Champ Car World Series.
Bryan Herta Autosport won the Indianapolis 500 last year with Dan Wheldon as the team's driver. Wheldon died in an on-track crash at the IndyCar Series season finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Bryan Herta Autosport will be using the new Lotus cars in the IndyCar Series as a factory partner team. It is the team's first full season in the IndyCar Series.
Go to Hometownstation.com for comments from Tagliani and Herta.

Photo: Alex Tagliani will drive for Bryan Herta Autosport in the 2012 Izod IndyCar Series. (Courtesy of BHA)

NASCAR K&N Pro Series Pro skips Irwindale

The NASCAR K&N Pro Series West will not be making a stop at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale or Southern California for that matter.
The closest the West Series will get to Los Angeles is Stockton.
NASCAR released the scheduled for the 2012 West Series on Friday. The series has expanded to 15 races and will visit Minnesota, but the traditional Fourth of July race at Irwindale is not part of the schedule.
The West Series will make three visits to tracks in California. Stokcton 99 Speedway, Infineon Raceway in Sonoma and All-American Speedway in Roseville are on the West Series schedule.
Go to ESPNLA.com for more on the decision to skip Irwindale.

Tanner Swanson keeps Turkey Night Grand Prix championship in the family

The 71st running of the Turkey Night Grand Prix at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale didn't start out very clean.
A five-car crash at the start of the USAC Sprint Car race took out the leader in the Western Sprint Car standings and a former Turkey Night Grand Prix champion.
Tanner Swanson spun out before the start of the 40-lap Sprint Car race. Audra Sasselli, who entered the race with a 20-point lead in the Western Sprint Car standings, had her car overturned in the crash.
Tracy Hines, who won the Sprint Car race at the Turkey Night Grand Prix in 2008, was also collected in the crash.
Cody Gearhardt was taken to a nearby hospital for observation. Jo Jo Helberg and Bobby East also crashed at the start of the race and did not return.
Tanner Swanson escaped the crash and went on to win the Sprint Car race. He was followed by his brother, Kody Swanson, in second. Kody Swanson won the Turkey Night Grand Prix Sprint Car race last year.
Caleb Armstrong from New Castle, Ind., won the 98-lap, crash-filled USAC Midget race.
Bryan Clauson, who won the previous two Midget races at the Turkey Night Grand Prix, was third.
Ross Rankine won the USAC Ford Focus Midgets race, the first of his career. Nick Drake was second, followed by Garrett Peterson in third.
Jessica Clark, a senior at Westlake High School, won the USAC Ford Focus Western Pavement and Southern California championship. She finished in 13th place in the 23-car Turkey Night Grand Prix field.

Jack Beckman's rough road to NHRA Funny Car title

Jack Beckman has survived cancer and beat the odds on starting a family. By the end of the weekend, he can check another goal off his list.
Beckman is one of three drivers in contention for the NHRA Funny Car championship at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona.
He entered the weekend one point out of first place and behind his Don Schumacher Racing teammate Matt Hagan.
Cruz Pedregon, a two-time NHRA champion, is in third place and only 26 points out of first.
Go to ESPNLA.com for more on Beckman's rise to the top of the NHRA Funny Car class.

Photo: Jack Beckman, top, trails Matt Hagan by one point in the NHRA Funny Car standings. The NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season finale is this weekend in Pomona. (NHRA)

Ron Silk tops NASCAR Hunter Index for October

Ron Silk, who won the NASCAR Whelen Modified Series championship last week in Connecticut, was voted as the top driver in the NASCAR Hunter Index for October.
He won two Whelen Modified races in September, including one at New Hampshire International Speedway, and took over the lead in the Whelen Modified standings.
No drivers from the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West were ranked in the top 10. Three drivers from the K&N Pro Series East were in the top 10, including Sergio Pena, who won at Greenville Pickens Speedway in South Carolina. He came in at No. 9.
Go to NASCAR Home Tracks for more on the Hunter Index.

Photo: NASCAR Whelen Modified driver Ron Silk was voted as the top driver in the Hunter Index for October. (Getty Images)

Greg Pursley wraps up NASCAR West Series championship

With a runner-up finish at All American Speedway in Roseville, Greg Pursley won the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West championship.
Pursley won six of the first eight West Series races en route to capturing the first West Series championship of his career.
Eric Holmes won the West Series race at Roseville, his second in a row.
Go to the K&N website for more on the West Series race from Roseville.

Photo: Greg Pursley finished second at All American Speedway in Roseville and won the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West championship.(Credit: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images for NASCAR)