It all began with George.

In addition to operating a lumber business in Hartford, Ohio, George Blaney owned a multi-car race team. In 1958, his son, Lou, joined fellow drivers Gib Orr and Dale Johnson as the third entry on the Blaney racing team, dubbed the “Three White Mice.” Behind the wheel of a ’34 Chevy coupe, Lou Blaney launched a magnificent 47-year racing career.

He accumulated roughly 600 victories in supermodifieds, sprint cars and modifieds. Two-hundred of those triumphs came in sprint cars between 1961 and ’81, including the 1966 Williams Grove National Open. Between 1972 and ’78, Blaney had a lock on the sprint car championship at Pennsylvania’s Lernerville Speedway, winning all but one (in ’76 he finished second to Ted Wise).

In the meantime, Lou Blaney met and married Kate Keir. The couple had two sons — Dave in 1962 and Dale two years later.

In 1979, Lou Blaney’s focus turned to big-block dirt modifieds. Piloting a red and white No. 10 car, Blaney claimed five modified championships at Sharon Speedway, which sat just two miles from the family home. He won the Lernerville Speedway modified championship in 1989, ’91 and ’96.

Lou Blaney turned the sprint car over to Dave Blaney in 1981. A year later, Dave Blaney ran the full All Star Circuit of Champions schedule, finishing third and earning rookie-of-the-year honors. The next season, Dave Blaney won seven All Star features and was again third in points.

Driving for Ralph and Jim DePalma, Dave Blaney won the USAC Silver Crown Series title in 1984 despite not winning a race.

He continued competing with USAC but was also running more frequently in a winged sprint car in World of Outlaws competition, where he saw a more lucrative future. With crew chief Gary “Deuce” Turrill, Blaney claimed his first WoO victory in 1985 while driving for Mike Bishop. In ’88, he finished fourth in Outlaws points.

In 1989, Blaney split time between the World of Outlaws and the fledgling USA series, finishing fourth in WoO points. He also claimed his first of three runner-up finishes in the big-block modified Super DIRT Week finale at the New York State Fairgrounds.

Lou and Dave Blaney had been basketball standouts, but Dale Blaney took that to a new level. After an outstanding high school career, he was a four-year starter for West Virginia University. In 1986, he was a fourth-round draft pick of the Los Angeles Lakers.

However, on the final day of training camp, Blaney informed head coach Pat Riley he was leaving. Basketball had stopped being enjoyable and what he really yearned to do was race sprint cars like his father and brother.

Dale Blaney made his sprint car racing debut in 1990, wheeling a car owned by Denny Stockdale. The 26-year-old won two features at Sharon Speedway that season, then six the next year on his way to claiming the 1991 Lernerville Speedway championship.

In 1992, Dave Blaney competed in his first NASCAR Cup Series event, driving a Pontiac for Stan Hover at North Carolina Motor Speedway. Meanwhile, Dale Blaney earned rookie-of-the-year honors during the Knoxville Nationals.

Dave Blaney started 1993 by winning the Chili Bowl Nationals, then drove a Ford-powered sprinter for Casey and Beverly Luna on the WoO trail. He claimed 11 victories, including Eldora Speedway’s Kings Royal, in their mount that season with crew chief Kenny Woodruff and finished second to Steve Kinser in the championship.

In 1994, Dave Blaney was again runner-up to Kinser, while earning 10 wins in the Lunas’ sprint car. After being rideless in ’93, Dale Blaney piloted Dean and D.J. Lindsey’s No. 2d car in ’94, claiming five All Star feature victories and sharing rookie-of-the-year honors with Tim Shaffer.

Dave Blaney won 12 features in 1995, including his second Kings Royal and captured the WoO championship. Dale Blaney signed with Tim Hughes and won the All Star championship and the Ohio Sprint Speedweek title.

In 1996, Dave Blaney was runner-up to Mark Kinser in WoO points, while Dale Blaney won a second All Star title and the Brad Doty Classic.

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – American Flat Track will move its Daytona TT season opener to March 14 to coincide with the running of the Daytona 200 at Daytona Int’l Speedway.

The move is part of a new multi-year agreement between American Flat Track and Daytona Int’l Speedway.

Traditionally racing two days apart, the Daytona TT and Daytona 200, sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association and operated by the American Sportbike Racing Ass’n, will now run together on the second Saturday of the historic Daytona Bike Week festivities.

Fans will be able to enjoy the 79th Daytona 200 during the day and stay into the evening to cheer on the athletes of American Flat Track at their season-opening Daytona TT.

“2020 is shaping up to be a breakout season for AFT,” said Michael Lock, CEO of American Flat Track. “After incorporating the Start-Finish banking for the first time at the TT in 2019, we are further enhancing the track design to encourage even more passing into turn one for our season opener in 2020. All this and now combining the historic Daytona 200 with the incredible action of the Daytona TT is sure to deliver a can’t-miss day of action for race fans. We are delighted to be partnering with DIS and ASRA to bring an unparalleled experience to Daytona Bike Week.”

The 2019 running of the Daytona TT made history as American Flat Track introduced a multi-surface racetrack by incorporating the front stretch of the historic Daytona Int’l Speedway tri-oval into its purpose-built dirt TT course. 2020 will see this taken to the next level with further track enhancements.

Coupled with the back-to-back motorcycle race action will be a myriad of activities in the UNOH Fanzone including live music, Kids Zone, Rider Meet & Greet, official merchandise and more.

“This will be a doubleheader unlike any other in the history of Daytona International Speedway,” said Chip Wile, president of Daytona Int’l Speedway. “Combining the longstanding Bike Week At Daytona traditions of the Daytona 200 and American Flat Track into one day will deliver the ultimate experience for fans of motorcycle racing. Bike Week At Daytona will be even more exciting and in the process, even more memorable.”

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The International Hot Rod Ass’n and Summit Racing Equipment will continue the longest series partnership in drag racing with the IHRA Summit Super Series and IHRA Summit Team Finals programs in 2020.

The IHRA Summit SuperSeries, the largest and most prestigious bracket racing program in drag racing, will return for a 19th consecutive year in 2020. The $200,000 program is the World Championship for over 12,000 IHRA member-track racers each season and held at nearly 100 IHRA-sanctioned member tracks.

IHRA Summit SuperSeries track champions from 28 states and international competitors from Canada, and Aruba are represented in Top (Box), Mod (No Box), Sportsman and Junior divisions, at the IHRA Summit SuperSeries World Finals at Memphis International Raceway. In addition, qualifying Summit Team Final champions from seven IHRA regions are also competing at Memphis, making it the most illustrious championship event in bracket drag racing.

“The Sportsman racer has been and will continue to be one of the most important components of the Summit Racing Equipment family,” Summit Racing Motorsports and Events Manager Jim Greenleaf said. “We are proud to support the men, women and kids who gather at their local IHRA tracks to participate in the Summit SuperSeries and Summit Team Finals. It is a great feeling for us to see champions from all over the United States, Canada, and Aruba show up in Memphis for the Summit World Finals to race head-to head for an IHRA World Championship.”

“The Summit SuperSeries and Summit Team Finals are wildly successful programs that saw an increase with new members and increased participation in 2019,” IHRA Vice President Skooter Peaco said. “The programs bring together IHRA-member tracks and racers in an environment which features great competition and builds outstanding camaraderie and lifelong friendships. We are proud to continue our efforts in the successful program.”

In two weeks, Chase Koepka will go from one extreme in professional golf to the other.

Last week the 25-year-old was on the ground floor in St. George, Utah, trying to navigate through the first of three stages of Korn Ferry Tour Q-School. He advanced, shooting a four-round total of 14 under, but still has a ways to go before securing status for the 2020 season.

This week, however, he’ll live like the other half when he plays in the PGA Tour’s limited-field CJ Cup in South Korea on an unrestricted sponsor exemption. The tournament’s other two exemptions went to Whee Kim, a Korean player who made 27 PGA Tour starts last season, and Yongjun Bae.

This will be Koepka’s fifth career PGA Tour start. He also played last month in Las Vegas and has twice paired with his older brother, Brooks, in the two-man Zurich Classic team event.

There’s ample upside this week for the younger Koepka, who is ranked No. 1,874 in the world: a win would earn him essentially three years of PGA Tour status, while a high finish could be a big step toward securing status for the 2021 season on either the PGA Tour or Korn Ferry Tour. The 78-player, no-cut format also means a guaranteed payday. Last place will still walk away with $15,600 – which can be a healthy paycheck on the Korn Ferry circuit or the European Challenge Tour, where Koepka missed nine cuts in 12 starts this year.

Koepka’s brother (and world No. 1) won this event last year and headlines the field in search of a successful title defense. The Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook listed Brooks at 8/1 to win this week, behind only 2017 champ Justin Thomas. Chase’s odds of 500/1 were ahead of only two other players.

If you’re entertaining the thought of Chase finishing as the higher Koepka in Korea, look no further than two weeks ago when Brooks missed the cut at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open while Chase, playing on a sponsor exemption, made the cut and finished 67th.

Add a new title to Tiger Woods’ resume following an announcement Tuesday that he will author a memoir with HarperCollins Publishers.

“Back” will be published across all HarperCollins global locations and is being billed as “a candid and intimate narrative of an outsize American life.”

“I’ve been in the spotlight for a long time, and because of that, there have been books and articles and TV shows about me, most filled with errors, speculative and wrong,” Woods said in a statement. “This book is my definitive story. It’s in my words and expresses my thoughts. It describes how I feel and what’s happened in my life. I’ve been working at it steadily, and I’m looking forward to continuing the process and creating a book that people will want to read.”

No publication date for “Back” was given.

Rather than the crowning achievement of her career, winning a second consecutive World Cup title marked the end of three years that Carli Lloyd hopes never to repeat.

In an interview this week on ESPN's Laughter Permitted with Julie Foudy podcast, Lloyd, 37, spoke at length about her frustrations with a diminished role on the U.S. women's national team after the 2016 Olympics and the toll the past three years took on her professionally and personally.

"I'm not going to lie and sugarcoat it," Lloyd said. "It was absolutely the worst time of my life. It affected my relationship with my husband, with friends. It really was rock bottom of my entire career. But somehow, you see light at the end of the tunnel, and I can honestly say I'm having more fun now playing than I ever have in my career. I think I just learned a lot throughout it."

Lloyd said that a badly sprained ankle suffered while playing for the Houston Dash in the National Women's Soccer League in 2017 took her off the field at a time when the U.S. national team under Jill Ellis was shifting to a 4-3-3 formation.

Feeling marginalized even at that time, the player who rose to fame as an attacking midfielder said she nonetheless committed to learning a new role as a forward to fit the new system. Yet despite believing she was playing the best soccer of her life as the 2019 World Cup arrived, the co-captain remained largely a reserve.

"There's no denying it," Lloyd said. "I deserved to be on that field that whole World Cup, but I wasn't. And I think I've grown as a person, as a player. It sucked. It absolutely sucked."

Lloyd played in all seven World Cup games for the U.S., but her only start came in the group phase against Chile. She scored in each of the first two games to set a record by scoring in six consecutive World Cup games overall. She also set a record as the oldest player to score two goals in a World Cup game, a month shy of her 37th birthday when she did so against Chile.

Although vocal throughout World Cup preparations and the tournament itself about her desire to start, Lloyd served as captain without incident. She reiterated in this week's interview with Foudy that her frustration was personal and not a distraction to the team.

"I was super happy for my teammates and happy for Megan [Rapinoe], who put the team on her back, and for several other players," Lloyd said. "It was great to see, and I'm happy that I could still have been a part of it."

With her interest in kicking footballs generating more attention of late, Lloyd said she's still entertaining that idea. However, she also said she feels she still has a couple of years left in soccer.

She scored eight goals in 14 games this season for the NWSL's Sky Blue FC. That helped a team previously plagued by poor performance and off-field controversy regarding its commitment to professional standards to an impressive uptick in results and optimism.

With Ellis stepping down as U.S. coach, Lloyd said she wants to talk with whomever takes over as coach about where she fits in for next summer's tournament in Japan, qualification willing. She didn't rule out a scenario in which she'd participate without a starting role, saying it was too difficult to set such parameters without knowing where a new coach was coming from.

"I hope a coach comes in that values me, respects me, wants me [as] a part of the Olympic plans," Lloyd said. "There's no question my abilities are there. I'm able to do it. Physically I'm able to do it. I would love to be a part of it, but I want to have an open, honest conversation, because if I'm not, I can't go through what I went through for three years."

Governing body proposes changes in marketing and advertising regulations

The IAAF is poised to ease its rules on athlete sponsorship and allow competitors and national teams to wear larger logos on their kit and have greater flexibility in their placement.

The governing body’s council approved new principles relating to marketing and advertising in Doha recently and they are likely to be rubber stamped next month.

Athletes will also have greater flexibility when it comes to their personal sponsors’ logos appearing on kit at meetings outside the World Athletics Series, such as the Diamond League – pictured above in Birmingham this year.

The IAAF says the proposals are to “increase the number of logos, the size and the placement of them; give greater flexibility and opportunity in respect of member federations and their national sponsors’ logos appearing on kit; have an approvals process for all kit before use at a World Athletics Series (WAS) event; give greater flexibility and opportunity in respect of athletes and their personal sponsors’ logos appearing on kit at non-WAS events; and increase the flexibility in respect of shoes, other apparel and accessories.”

New eligibility regulations for transgender athletes

Also in Doha, the IAAF Council approved the eligibility regulations for transgender athletes to replace the former sex reassignment regulations which were introduced in 2012.

Competitors must now keep their levels of natural testosterone below five nanomoles per litre of blood, compared to 10 nanomoles in the past, in order to compete in the female category.

The new regulations, which came into force on October 1, are said to have been drafted to align with the regulations which apply to athletes with differences of sexual development (DSD).

“Under the new regulations a transgender female athlete is no longer required to be recognised by law in her new gender but should provide a signed declaration that her gender identity is female,” said the IAAF.

“She must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the expert panel that the concentration of testosterone in her serum has been less than 5nmol/L continuously for a period of at least 12 months prior to being declared eligible, and must keep her serum testosterone concentration below that level to maintain her eligibility to compete in the female category.”

Britain's Cameron Norrie was beaten by Feliciano Lopez in the first round of the European Open in Antwerp.

Norrie, the British number three and world number 61, lost 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 to Spaniard Lopez.

The 24-year-old had three early break points on Lopez's serve but was unable to convert them.

Despite the defeat, Norrie will become the British number two on Monday behind Dan Evans, who replaced Kyle Edmund at the top of the national rankings.

Edmund, who won the tournament in Antwerp in 2018, lost in qualifying this year and is set to fall outside of the world top 70.

Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray begins his European Open campaign against Belgian Kimmer Coppejans later on Tuesday.

Murray is planning a month-long break when the tournament finishes but he could leave Antwerp early if his wife, Kim, goes into early labour with their third child.

Defeat in Saturday's World Cup quarter-final against New Zealand could herald the end of a golden era in Irish rugby.

Prop Cian Healy concedes that, with head coach Joe Schmidt and skipper Rory Best leaving after the tournament, the match in Tokyo really is 'do or die'.

The All Blacks are undefeated in their last 17 World Cup games, last losing to France in the quarter-finals in 2007.

"I think everyone understands the position we are in and the opportunity of what we have to do," said Healy.

"That is going to pose big challenges to the coaches to pick that team, because everyone has put their hand up and wants to be involved."

Despite Ireland's recent successes against New Zealand, winning two of the last three meetings, the All Blacks will go into the contest as clear favourites having played some imperious rugby on their way to topping Pool B.

Meanwhile Ireland endured a more turbulent time in the group stage with inconsistent performances doing little to answer questions over their ability to consistently perform near their peak.

Although they struggled against Japan and failed to impress against Russia, there were strong Irish performances versus Scotland and Samoa that offered signs of a squad capable of mixing it with any team in the world.

"We've got some new stuff that we haven't done before," teased Healy on Tuesday.

"It's up to them to figure it out."

Leinster prop Healy also dismissed the idea that Ireland's recent successes against New Zealand would give his side an edge going into Saturday's game.

In 2016 Ireland recorded their first win over the All Blacks with a memorable display in Chicago before defeating them on home soil last November.

"It's going to be a different kettle of fish at a World Cup," Healy said.

"They've gone the whole way a couple of times and we haven't, so it's a huge challenge to us and we're looking forward to it.

"I don't look back on any of them (past wins), they're gone for me now and none of them have been at a World Cup, so they don't matter an awful lot."