ON THIS DAY IN MOTORSPORT - DECEMBER 31 SIGNIFICANT EVENTS:|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| 1955 – General Motors becomes the first U.S. corporation to make over US$1 billion in a year. 1967: Evel Knievel attempts “The Caesars Palace Fountains” jump which was Knievels longest attempted motorcycle jump at 141 feet (43 m). When he hit the takeoff ramp, his bike lost power and caused Knievel to come up short and land on the safety ramp ripping the bars out of his hands and finished up sliding into the Dunes parking lot. Knievel suffered a crushed pelvis and femur, fractures to his hip, wrist, and both ankles and a concussion that kept him in the hospital for a month in a reported coma for 29 days. https://youtube/watch?v=XX2XUESyXsI 2000: The American Le Mans Series races at Adelaide Grand Prix Circuit, Adelaide, Australia for the series grand final. 70,000 attended but the race was supposed to run with a day into night format finishing up just before the dawn of the new year. The race was supposed to go 1,000 kilometers but ended due to time constraints at 10 p.m. when only 850 had been completed. The ALMS originally contracted with Adelaide for nine years but did not return. It was won by Rinaldo Capello and Allan McNish in the #77 Audi Sport North America Audi R8 2007: Robbie Maddison (on the 40th anniversary of Evel Knievel jumping the fountains at Caesars Palace), live on ESPN, broke the world motorcycle jumping record, travelling 98.34m on a motorbike. 2008: Robbie Knievel jumps 200ft in front of the volcano at the Mirage Hotel. BIRTHS:||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Sir Malcolm Campbell (11 March 1885 – 31 December 1948) - gained the world speed record on land and on water at various times during the 1920s and 1930s using vehicles called Blue Bird. His son, Donald Campbell, carried on the family tradition by holding both land speed and water speed records. He competed in Grand Prix motor racing, winning the 1927 and 1928 Grand Prix de Boulogne in France driving a Bugatti T37A. He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1990. Hermann Tilke (born 31 December 1954 Olpe, Germany) iGerman engineer and auto racer, who has designed numerous Formula One motor racing circuits: 1999: Sepang International Circuit, 2004: Bahrain International Circuit, 2004: Shanghai International Circuit, 2009: United Arab Emirates Yas Marina Circuit, 2010: United States Atlanta Motorsports Park, 2012: United States Circuit of the Americas, Tony Kanaan (Antoine Rizkallah Kanaan Filho) (born December 31, 1974) - won the 2013 Indianapolis 500 and the 2004 Verizon IndyCar Series championship. 1998 Champ Car World Series Rookie of the Year. 1997 Indy Lights Series champion. Brad Sweet (born December 31, 1985 in Grass Valley, California) - 2013 Kings Royal at Eldora, and 7 WoO wins.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 10:00:00 +0000
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