Ridemakerz Model Cars - Pratt & Miller Introduces Eco Corvettes

At their facility in New Hudson, Michigan, Pratt & Miller (the engineering team behind the AMLS Corvette program) introduced eco-friendly editions of their famed C6R and C6RS Chevrolet Corvettes. Jumping on the green bandwagon, the new models are smaller and lighter than the company's current race and street editions.Now for the details; these all-new eco-friendly Vettes are powered by either high-torque electric motors or the forearm muscles of the driver. (Did we have you going for just a second?)Yup, these are toy Corvettes manufactured by Ridemakerz, a company that uses a Build-A-Bear process that lets kids actually "build" model cars that they can have fun with after the build is complete.The two new Corvettes, one that features "Jake" the Corvette Racing mascot (the skull), can be built at Ridemakerz stores in nine states. Models can also be ordered on-line and then assembled at home (www.Ridemakerz.com).At the debut of the new Corvettes at Pratt & Miller's race shop, Ridemakerz 's CEO Founder Larry Andreini told us, "The new C6R and C6RS tap into American's general love of cars and their particular passion for America's sports car, the Chevy Corvette. We're excited to make these models available so that kids, parents, and any car enthusiasts can all build and trick out their ultimate model Corvette. Fathers and sons should especially be fired up about these Pratt & Miller Corvettes because of their racing record and awesome style. These cars are something they can build and enjoy together."OK Dad, now you know what to get your kid for Christmas. Build two and you can upset the wife by racing through the living room.Ron Fellows, long-time Corvette race driver, was also on hand to help launch the new cars. He didn't seem to mind that the cars were electric as he raced the assembled media and demonstrated that he was as fast when controlling his car via a joystick as he is when he is behind a full-sized wheel.The event also gave Ridemakerz the chance to do something good in Detroit ... a town that could use a break these days. The company has two stores in Detroit, and to help celebrate the new C6R and C6RS, Ridemakerz contributed $2,500 to Mitch Albom's charity, The Dream Fund at the College of Creative Studies. (Albom is a Detroit-based, nationally syndicated radio talk show host and sports reporter.) Additional funds were donated based on the sales of model cars at the company's two Detroit stores.Albom noted, "Kids everywhere love cars, but even more so in Detroit. These cars and the Ridemakerz experience will get kids and a lot of dads I know excited. I'm glad to have Ridemakerz as part of the team that supports The Dream Fund."

[ Via: Automobilemag ]
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U.S. Manufacturers to Slash Funding - NASCAR Racing News

Not only is NASCAR the most popular form of racing in America, it's probably more popular than all of its rivals put together. It's got more fans, more sponsors, more money, and more credibility. It's also got a tragic flaw - a well-deserved reputation for being the most arrogant sanctioning body in the country. And its long-overdue comeuppance is on the way.After a decade as America's most-ballyhooed sports-marketing marvel, the bloom is coming off the NASCAR rose. Its fan base is aging. Attendance is plummeting. Television ratings are off significantly from historic highs. Licensing revenue is down. Sponsors are walking. Operating costs are skyrocketing. So despite the introduction of the Car of Tomorrow, NASCAR is looking more and more like yesterday's news."NASCAR's model is resisting change rather than embracing it," says a longtime motorsports media and marketing maven who requested anonymity for fear of retribution. "In an age that celebrates individuality, it's a mass-market, homogenized product featuring cars that are nothing more than parity appliances. It's stuck in a time warp, and it seems old all of a sudden - a twentieth-century sport in the twenty-first century."To a certain degree, NASCAR is a victim of its own success. So much money has flowed into the Sprint Cup series that top drivers now earn as much as it cost to run an entire program ten years ago, and annual car budgets are running as high as $25 million. With the economy tanking, sponsors are hard to find. Thus, Carl Edwards, a perennial front-runner with the Roush Fenway juggernaut, has raced with Office Depot, Claritin, Aflac, AAA, and Dish Network on his hood at different Cup events this year. In the meantime, the truck series is losing Craftsman as its title sponsor, and NASCAR hasn't been able to land a replacement.The latest body blow is the news that American automobile manufacturers intend to slash their NASCAR funding. With the Big Three hemorrhaging money, cuts are inevitable. But there's a bigger issue. For the first time, automakers are seriously asking themselves why they're spending hundreds of millions of dollars in a series that promotes drivers rather than cars and showcases carbureted pushrod V-8s in massive, one-size-fits-all chassis clothed in generic bodywork with minimal connection to products sold in dealer showrooms."We don't feel we have enough identity in the cars," says Ford Racing spokeman Kevin Kennedy. "Also, we would like NASCAR to consider changes that would make the technology more relevant. We'd like them to consider alternative fuels, for example. We'd like them to look at smaller [engine] displacement. But NASCAR understands our concerns, and they're thinking of ways to create more rivalries between manufacturers."

[ Via: Automobilemag ]
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