Editors Note: In a nod to our 90 years of history, each week SPEED SPORT will look back at the top stories from 15, 30 and 60 years ago as told in the pages of National Speed Sport News.

15 Years Ago 2010

News: One of the most successful relationships in auto racing history ended as Philip Morris is

no longer the sponsor of Team Penske in the IZOD IndyCar Series.

In order to satisfy a ban on tobacco sponsorship in the United States that was originally instituted by the Attorneys General of various states in 2000, known as the Master Agreement, the final part of that ban goes into effect in June. And while Marlboro decals have not been on the Penske cars since that team left CART at the end of 2001 and joined the IndyCar Series full time in 2002, the paint scheme itself was enough to remind race fans of a pack of Marlboro cigarettes.

Feb. 23 marked the first official day of a new paint scheme one that is predominantly black with red striping along with some white on the top of the car.

This marks the end of an era, said Team Penske President Tim Cindric. When I look at the red-and-white era of Team Penske, this is the first time since 1990 that our team hasnt had the red-and-white colors. There are a lot of changes for us internally, but hopefully we will represent ourselves with the same success that weve had before.

Philip Morris will no longer sponsor the Team Penske cars and this is the first time that we

Havent had a Marlboro association since 1990.

For two decades, the red-and-white paint scheme at Team Penske represented excellence in auto racing. It was the famed Marlboro paint scheme, which originally was used in Formula 1, but as sponsor Philip Morris increased its involved in CART in the mid-19805 before joining

Penske in 1990 the mere site of race cars with that paint scheme meant winning.

Winners: Despite a miscue on the original start. Justin Marks recovered nicely to easily win the

rain-shortened Tire Kingdom 150 ARCA Racing Series event Saturday afternoon at Palm Beach lntl Raceway.

Polesitter Casey Roderick and Marks brought the 34-car field to the green flag on the 2.25-mile road course and Marks locked up the brakes entering the chicane on the front chute and six cars slid off course together. nose to tail with all able to continue with minimal damage.

With the shuffling of the field Mikey Kile set the early pace over Steve Arpin and Joey Coulter but threatening skies delivered the anticipated light rain by lap three.

A full-course yellow flag waved on lap eight and most of the field ducked onto pit road on lap 10 for new Hoosier rain tires the first time the ARCA tour ever raced on the deeply grooved soft rubber.

When the green flag waved again it was still Kile in front. but young rookie Roderick had Bill Elliotts Dodge on the move to take the point on lap 15. By lap 25 Rob Brent had moved by Kile for second with Frank Kimmel, Coulter, Marks, rookie Blake Koch and Tom Hessert in tow.

Despite the continued wet conditions, Brent kept the pressure on Roderick and moved to the front on lap 30. The second full-course yellow flag waved on lap 34 for a couple of cars that had run off course with most of the field heading for pit road for gas and fresh rain rubber. Roderick was out front once again and at the lap-40 mark the order Roderick, Marks. Koch and Brent.

Marks had the hammer down and rocketed past Roderick on lap 43 and quickly had a five-car length advantage. but just five laps later Roderick was finished with transmission failure. 

On lap 55, Marks and Koch hit pit road for fuel only with Brent staying out.

Once back on track Marks was a man on a mission as he ran down Brent and pulled away to an 18-second lead with 10 laps remaining as the rain went from a drizzle to a steady downpour and the field was forced to slow due to standing water on the track surface.

At lap 70. ARCA officials declared the race complete, five laps short of the advertised distance with Marks the victor in front of Brent, local driver Koch, Hessert and Arpin.

30 Years Ago 1995

News: Bruton Smith has always been known as an auto racing visionary and one who does things in a big way. Smith hit a bulls-eye in both areas last Tuesday as he announced a north Ft. Worth location for his new $75 million Texas Motor Speedway.

Smith finally settled on a 1,600-acre site near Alliance Airport, 15 miles north of downtown Ft. Worth for the nations newest superspeedway.

But in addition to naming the winning site from the three locations considered, the numbers involved with the facility are mindboggling.

Texas Motor Speedway will include a 1.5-mile tri-oval boasting 24-degree banked turns and a 2.5-mile oval/infield road course. The 150,000 seats planned for the initial construction will make the facility the second largest sporting venue in the world, trailing only the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, according to Smith.

Phase II of construction will encircle the entire track with seating that will eventually total 270,000, just shy of Indys nearly 300,000 seating.

Also planned are 205 skyboxes to accomodate 14,000, by far the largest number of luxury

suites at any sporting facility. Smiths choice of the airport-area property, owned by Ross Perot Jr., ended speculation as to where the Charlotte and Atlanta Motor Speedways head would site

his new venture. A southeast Dallas parcel and one in Grand Prairie, west of Dallas, were the others most prominently mentioned. But one plus that the Alliance Airport property offers is access.

The access is perhaps the biggest thing, Smith told the attendees. In addition to great road systems, Alliance offers the chance to land as many as 1,000 private planes so close to the track that guests could then walk to the race.

Perot led the development of Alliance as a major airport for commercial use. American Airlines located a major maintenance facility there.

Other than the huge AA hangar and support buildings for the airport, the TMS site is completely rural.

Winners: The story of Sundays Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami Presented by Toyota was Eliseo Salazars tunnel vision, and the fast pit work of Jacques Villeneuves crew.

The first put Michael Andretti, the early race leader, out of action while the second  left the French Canadian at the head of the field after the dust settled following Andrettis departure. Villeneuve stayed there until the finish of the 90-lap, 164.619-mile contest.

In all, the PPG IndyCar World Series opener was under yellow a total of seven times for 28 laps, as the 1.829-mile course proved as slippery as a skating rink. Although no one was injured in

what were a succession of minor skirmishes with the downtown Bicentennial Park circuits concrete barriers and tire walls, the yellows did have a major effect on the outcome.

It was on the third restart that leader Andretti tried to slip his Kmart Texaco-backed Newman Haas team Lola L T15 Ford underneath Salazars similar Dick Simon-owned Cristal Mobil 1 Copec entry.

Whether or not Salazar saw Andretti, he moved as if to give the then-race leader room to pass, then moved back to his right, crowding Andretti, causing his Kmart entrys right front wheel into the concrete. Andretti managed to keep going in the lead for 21 more laps. But, his day was then done as the lower right front wishbone finally cracked. putting him out of the race.

That left the surprisingly fast sophomore Maurico Gugelmin and his PacWest team Ford Reynard R951 in the lead with Villeneuves Players Ltd. cigarettess ponsored R951 Ford in second.

On the following exchange of pit stops, however, it was Villeneuve who came out first with Gugelmln second. And, while Gugelmin tried hard, and while several more yellows gave him the opportunity to turn things around, Villeneuve wasnt about to be displaced.

In the end, the Players driver crossed the Une 1.02 seconds to the good, having averaged 82.801 miles per hour for the distance. Third, about another second behind, was Bobby Rahal in his Miller Genuine Draft Lola L T95 Mercedes.

60 Years Ago 1965

News: Arnold Knepper of Belleville, Ill., one of the most improved drivers in USAC competition last season, this week became the second rookie assured of a car for the 49th annual 500-mile race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 31.

He will be at the wheel of the Konstant Hot Special, an Offenhauser- powered roadster entered by Tassi Vatis of Vatis Enterprises, Inc., New York, N.Y.

Knepper, who started his racing career in midget competition, made several appearances in the sprint car and championship events during the summer of 1963 and campaigned as a regular in both divisions throughout 1964. He earned seventh-place ranking among all sprint car drivers and finished 16th in the national big car point standings.

His 1964 sprint car record shows 17 starts and he collected points in all but two of the races, finishing sixth or better eight times.

In the big car division, he was particularly consistent on the one-mile dirt tracks, where he started five times. He placed fifth at Langhorne, sixth in the Hoosier Hundred, seventh at Springfield, 10th at DuQuoin and 11th at Sacramento. He also qualified for four races on one-mile paved ovals.

Winners: Junior Johnson, who changed ten wheels at strategic times wheeled his 1965 Ford to victory in the 125-mile Richmond 250 Sunday almost a lap ahead of second-place Buck Baker in a 1964 wedge Dodge.

The Ronda, N.C., driver, who see-sawed in and out of the lead, made several pit stops for tires under the many caution flags.

Many times he made his stops in installments so as not to lose a lap on the field. He would then roar up at the tall end of the short field behind the pace car, ready to race when the green flag came out.

1. T. Putney, Arden, S.C., was third in a 1965 Chevrolet, six laps behind the leaders and fourth place went to Bob Derrington of Houston in a 64 Ford completing only 237 of the 250 laps.