Tasca, Burk to be guests 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 drove his Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Shelby Mustang to eighth in the 2009 Full Throttle points. His 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.  [02/02/10]

Old Chrysler liquidation moves forward

A federal bankruptcy judge approved the voting process for the former Chrysler LLC to liquidate its assets. On Jan. 21 in New York, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Gonzalez approved the 343-page disclosure statement filed by Chrysler LLC (also known as Old Carco LLC).

The company’s debtors will vote on whether to approve the plan and the judge set a hearing date of March 16 to confirm the bankruptcy plan.

Chrysler LLC still faces objections from Michigan taxing authorities and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. The MDEQ says Old Carco must pay $2.8 million for environmental clean-up costs, including $116,00 already spent by the state at several facilities.

Old Carco has sold several properties to raise funds including a foundry in Indianapolis and 71 robots from the Newark, Del., assembly plant. The largest transaction was the sale of the Newark plant on 271 acres to the University of Delaware for $24.2 million.

Chrysler Group LLC has agreed to buy 5,000 company cars from Chrysler LLC for $91.2 million.[02/02/10]