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crazy Woman Driver exciting thanks to strong engines from Chevrolet and Honda. And the racing should continue to improve as everybody gets more comfortable with the new cars that debuted last spring. The teams from Penske and Ganassi will be as formidable as ever, and the Andretti group looks to be back on its game. What the series needs now, I firmly believe, is for its American-born young guns like Marco Andretti and Graham Rahal to seriously contend. I���m hoping that���ll happen, beginning March 24 in St. Petersburg, Fla. Formula 1 When the cars line up in Melbourne, Australia, on March 17, I suspect that more American fans than ever will be paying attention. The entire race weekend in Austin, Texas, last fall, was terrific, and could be the start of something big (relatively speaking, of course) for F1 in the USA. CHANGING LANES This season will be something of a transition as the series will introduce new engines in 2014. For 2013, the status quo likely will prevail ��� meaning everyone again will be chasing Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull. His most probable challengers will be Ferrari���s Fernando Alonso, who put up a great fight for the title, McLaren���s steady Jenson Button and my personal favorite, Lotus��� Kimi Raikonnen. Lewis Hamilton made a head-scratching jump from McLaren down to Mercedes-Benz, though he���s getting a king���s ransom to replace 20 crazy woman driver 0313 cl.indd 2 the retired Michael Schumacher and Mercedes already is boasting about its 2014 engine. NHRA The straight-liners roared to back to life in Pomona, Calif., in mid-February, with a new title sponsor that ���Days of Thunder��� fans will appreciate. The newly christened Mello Yello Drag Racing Series promises to be anything but mellow, though, as everyone tries to derail the domination of Don Schumacher Racing. How dominant were they, you ask? Well, DSR���s Antron Brown won the Top Fuel Dragster division with teammate Tony Schumacher finishing second, while DSR���s Jack Beckman won the Funny Car crown while teammate Ron Capps finished second. Brown and Schumacher will be strong again, but I���m looking for Morgan Lucas, who won three times early last season, to be more consistent, and for Shawn Langdon, who finished third last year, to take the next step. Langdon, by the way, set the NHRA���s all-time speed record last year at 334.14 mph. In Funny Car, John Force Racing drivers won the first six races, then won only four the rest of the year. One of those victories, however, belonged to 24-year-old Courtney Force, the youngest of Force���s daughters, and the pace of her development will be one of the year���s big stories. March 2013 // WWW.CHANGINGLANESDIGITAL.COM 2/5/13 9:21 AM