BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — May 1 marked 25 years since the death of racing legend Ayrton Senna.

The weekend of the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix was a horrible one. Roland Ratzenberger was killed in an accident during qualifying and then Senna lost his life in a single-car crash during the opening laps of the following day’s race.

Back in 2004, 10 years after Senna’s accident, McLaren team boss Ron Dennis met with a small group of journalists, including yours truly, to reflect on the life and times of the Brazilian who drove for McLaren from 1998 through 1993 and won three world championships with the team.

“When he joined our team, he did not have a sense of humor,” Dennis recalled. “That doesn’t really go down well in our team. Some of you consider us gray and uninteresting and lacking passion and ‘esprit de corps.’ But it is just not like that inside the team. If I reflect back, he didn’t have a sense of humor, and it was important that he had one.

“I started the process of trying to give him an understanding of the value of laughter, and what a great way it was to break tension in a situation. Of course, it became an amusing mission for (teammate) Gerhard Berger and myself. Practical jokes ran consistently through the team and they were sometimes extreme.

CONCORD, N.C. – On Tuesday, multi-time AMSOIL USAC National Sprint Car Series champion car owner Richard Hoffman passed away after a recent illness.

Hoffman was a major part of the United States Auto Club pit area for more than six decades, following in the footsteps of his father Gus, and the immense outpouring of memories and support on social media in the wake of his passing directly reflected his impact within the racing industry.

SPEED SPORT has collected a sampling of those Twitter messages, which can be viewed below.

We are deeply saddened by the loss of a great man. Please keep your thoughts & prayers with the family of Richard Hoffman. It’s truly been an honor to drive for him over the last several years and the relationship we were able to build over that time is something I will cherish. pic.twitter.com/djWjTaSNxT

— Brady Bacon (@BradyBacon) April 30, 2019

Heartbroken to hear the loss of a great businessman, a great car owner, a great man and a great friend. @richhoffman69 you will be so missed by many. Rest In Peace Sir. pic.twitter.com/VncckNXaZi

— Chad Boespflug (@ChadBoespflug) April 30, 2019

Saddened to hear the passing of Richard Hoffman. Thoughts and prayers to @hoffmanracing and the Hoffman family. ?? #69

— Landon Simon (@LandonSimon24) April 30, 2019

Richard Hoffman was one of the most intense competitors I’ve ever met. He’d been winning since before his current drivers were born, and all he wanted to do was keep winning. And setting fast time. It was kind of a running joke that they might not always stay in palaces…

— Kirk Spridgeon (@KirkSpridgeon) May 1, 2019

We’re going to miss a guy who set the bar for the rest of the series. He & his team were the mainstays. The team you had to beat, no matter the year. I always appreciated his constructive criticism, and his support & praise meant more than anyone.

— Kirk Spridgeon (@KirkSpridgeon) May 1, 2019

RIP Richard Hoffman, a man who has done so much for the racing community. I enjoyed speaking w/ him last summer in Indiana. He spoke of the long list of great wheelman that drove his car, seemed very proud, for good reason. Thoughts go out to his family, friends & @hoffmanracing pic.twitter.com/yHh0xqyDHk

— Brent Anderson (@FireDownBA) May 1, 2019

My thoughts and prayers are with Richard Hoffman’s family and friends and the entire @hoffmanracing team through this difficult time. Richard was an important part of a great legacy and I will cherish the few conversations that I was able to have with him. ??

— Isaac Chapple (@IsaacChapple52) May 1, 2019

?? Thoughts & Prayers to the entire @hoffmanracing Family during this very difficult time on the passing of Richard Hoffman. We appreciate the fast racecars, friendships & memories together during our time in the famous #69 @USACNation Sprint Car! RIH R.H. ? pic.twitter.com/rSXYC5BHW4

— Dave Darland Racing (@DaveDarland) May 1, 2019

Saddened at the passing of Richard Hoffman @hoffmanracing he will be sorely missed.

— Keith Kunz (@KeithKunz) May 1, 2019

This is so sad to hear of the passing of Richard Hoffman. He was a special man. RIP

— Bob n Monica Clauson (@mowerman677) May 1, 2019

Condolences to the family, friends and fans of the legendary @USACNation car owner Richard Hoffman. Hoffman's team won an amazing 11 @USACNation National Sprint Car owner titles. Richard Hoffman was a 2013 inductee of the @sprintcarhof. pic.twitter.com/QgGEYxNlwz

— IMS Museum (@IMSMuseum) April 30, 2019

Saddened to hear about the passing of Richard Hoffman. He always came by our pit to ask about @John_Andretti. His passion for sprint cars was second to none. #RIP

— Jarett Andretti (@JarettAndretti) April 30, 2019

HOLLY, Mich. – As the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series presented by Engine Pro season prepares to kick off this weekend at Anderson (Ind.) Speedway, one of the prevailing storylines circles around the impressive class of rookies that will take to the track this season.

In fact, more than a half-dozen rookie contenders are entered for Saturday’s Must See Racing 50 at the high-banked, quarter-mile Indiana bullring, a testament to the growth and stability of the series.

This year’s Must See Racing rookie battle will be led by an open-wheel veteran in Joe Liguori, who has a wealth of experience in midget and USAC Silver Crown cars through the years, but will be embarking on his first season of touring action in a winged 410ci asphalt sprint car.

From Lebanon, Ind., Liguori is a past recipient of the Rumble in Fort Wayne’s David Lesiecki Award for Untiring Dedication and Devotion to Motorsports, as well as a multi-time feature starter at the historic indoor midget event. He earned three top-10 finishes in four Silver Crown appearances last season.

Liguori is excited by the new challenge of pavement 410ci sprint car racing, as well as looking forward to competing at Anderson, a track he’s had plenty of experience at over the course of his career.

“I grew up racing pavement in Florida,” Liguori noted. “I ran open wheel modifieds, some mini stocks and a handful of sprint car races with TBARA between 2004 and 2008. My record book shows that I’m a better pavement racer than I am a dirt racer, so it made sense as I’ve gotten a little older to come back to pavement racing this season and see what we can make of it.

“I’ve won at Anderson in national midgets, (Ford) Focus midgets, regional midgets and even Kenyon midgets, so it’s a track that I’m familiar with and know how to get around and I’m excited to be back there this weekend.”

Another rookie, albeit less of a household name, hoping to leave his mark on the Anderson quarter-mile this weekend is 14-year-old Brenden Torok, piloting the No. 99 sprinter for car owner Dave Koyan.

Torok will contest select Must See Racing events amid a full-season pursuit of the Crate Sprint championship at Ohio’s Lorain County Speedway, a class in which he won two races last season.

The teenager is eager to get started against the tough competition that Must See Racing provides, especially after spending last season as a crew member for series veteran Charlie Schultz and gaining the opportunity to learn about the mechanics of the asphalt sprint cars he’ll be driving regularly this year.

“I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to race on the stage that Must See Racing provides this season, especially being that I’m just 14,” said Torok. “It’s a great opportunity and one that I’m really thankful for. I’ve already been watching a lot of video to learn as much about the track as I can and I’ll be relying on a lot of the knowledge I gained working with Charlie (Schultz) last season to get up to speed quickly during the race weekend.

“It’s an exciting time and we hope to have a lot of fun.”

Recently announced to the seat of the Mike Blake Racing No. 81 is 15-year-old Clintonville, Ohio, young gun Trey Osborne, who will team with Blake to run six races at Anderson this season, including Saturday’s Must See Racing winged event and the non-winged Pay Less Little 500 on May 25.

Osborne is the reigning United States Speed Ass’n Mel Kenyon Midget Series champion and became the first driver in that series’ history to lock up the championship prior to the final race of the season when he clinched the title a month early in 2018.

Other rookie contenders expected to be in action include Lorain County regulars Tim Henthorne and Joshua Sexton and Indiana hotshoe Tyler Roahrig, who will race at Anderson in the No. 99 entry of longtime asphalt sprint car owner Wayne Stickney.

Roahrig is a pavement late model standout in the Midwest who came back from injury to race again after a frightening super late model crash at Anderson in 2014 forced him to relearn how to walk.

Contending against the rookies will be a loaded crop of veterans seeking to defend their turf, including four-time series champion Jimmy McCune, Anthony McCune, National Sprint Car Hall of Famer Jeff Bloom, former supermodified ace Charlie Schultz and another veteran in Tom Jewell.

Friday evening will see an open practice and cookout for the Must See Racing sprint car teams at Anderson, followed by Saturday’s full racing program.

Pit gates will open at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, with rotating practice beginning at 5 p.m. Qualifying will start at 6:30 p.m. and racing will begin at 8 p.m., immediately following opening ceremonies.

The full night of racing will be broadcast live via pay-per-view on SpeedShiftTV.com, as well as recorded for tape-delay broadcast on MAVTV through the award-winning SPEED SPORT television series. USAC infield reporter Georgia Henneberry will be the pit reporter for the SPEED SPORT telecast.

In addition to the Must See Racing sprint cars, the Mel Kenyon Midget Series, late models, Legend cars and the Midwest Champ Carts will also be on the racing card for the May 4 program.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – NASCAR competition officials announced Wednesday that single-car qualifying will return for all three national series at all oval tracks, effective immediately.

In addition, multiple elimination rounds have also been dropped from the qualifying procedure. The changes take effect starting this weekend at Dover (Del.) Int’l Speedway.

Wednesday’s rules adjustment ends more than five years of group qualifying, which was brought into play prior to the start of the 2014 season.

At all tracks larger than 1.25 miles, teams will receive only one timed qualifying lap. Meanwhile, at all tracks that are 1.25 miles and shorter, the best of two timed qualifying laps will be used to set the starting field and determine the pole winner.

The changes came after multiple instances of teams trying to “game the system” this season, particularly in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, where the 2019 aerodynamic package placed a premium on the aerodynamic draft.

In March at Auto Club Speedway, all 12 drivers in the final round of qualifying failed to log a lap before time expired, while two weeks later another messy qualifying session at Texas Motor Speedway led officials to begin considering other options besides the group format.

“(Returning to single-car qualifying) was (a) unified (decision) between broadcasters, teams and NASCAR,” NASCAR senior VP of competition Scott Miller told NASCAR.com. “One of the other things to make a compelling program out of it is (that) we’ve seen the use of the ghost car (on television). That’s going to be a big element in presenting a quality show. I think fans are going to be able to see which drivers drive in deep, which drivers roll the middle faster and get off the corners faster and (it will) really give the talent in the booth something to talk about.

“Another interesting aspect is every team has a good shot of getting covered during the qualifying session,” Miller added. “We’re building in a few two-minute breaks to where TV can get some spots in and not break away from live action. That’s one of the goals in this, and I think with those designated spots and breaks, we will be able to present almost a whole qualifying session live without going away.”

The order for qualifying draw will be determined by the starting lineup from the previous week. In the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, the top 20 starters from the most recent race will draw for positions in the second half of the line (21-40), while the bottom 20 starters from the previous event will pull for positions in the top half of the line (1-20).

The group qualifying system will remain in place for the road course events in the three national series.

Jack Hughes, the likely No. 1 pick in the 2019 NHL draft, has committed to play for Team USA at the upcoming IIHF Men's World Championship, a source confirmed to ESPN.

He will join a roster that already includes Patrick Kane, Johnny Gaudreau, Jack Eichel, Ryan Suter and Hughes' older brother Quinn, who made his NHL debut late in the 2018-19 season with the Vancouver Canucks.

At 17 years old, Jack Hughes will become the youngest player ever to suit up for Team USA at the senior world championship. Hockey Hall of Famer Phil Housley, who played for the U.S. in the tournament two months after his 18th birthday in 1982, is the next youngest on the list.

In addition to Hughes, recent New York Rangers acquisition and Harvard junior defenseman Adam Fox, and Ottawa Senators defenseman Christian Wolanin were also added to Team USA's roster, per a source.

Hughes, who is projected to go No. 1 in the draft to the Devils, recently completed a bronze-medal performance at the IIHF World Men's Under-18 Championship in Sweden. The Orlando, Florida-born center notched 20 points in seven games to lead all players in the tournament. It was the second-highest point total for a player in a single tournament in that event's history. Hughes also became the U18 world championship's all-time leading scorer, topping a record long held by Alex Ovechkin, with Hughes having collected 32 points over two appearances.

The last player to represent the United States in his draft season was Quinn Hughes, who appeared in last year's tournament at age 18 before being selected seventh overall by Vancouver at the 2018 NHL draft. Assuming Jack gets selected as high as predicted, the Hughes brothers will become the highest-drafted American brothers in back-to-back drafts. The two also represented the United States at the 2019 World Junior Championship, where Team USA took silver, in January.

Jack Hughes will become the first U.S. player to appear in the U18 World Championship, World Junior Championship and Men's World Championship in the same season.

The world championship will also feature one last head-to-head matchup between Jack Hughes and the consensus No. 2 draft prospect, Kaapo Kakko, who will be representing Finland. Their teams are scheduled to meet May 13 during the preliminary round of the tournament. The two players have faced off in previous IIHF World Championship events, with Kakko and Finland coming out on top in the gold-medal game in both the 2018 IIHF World Men's Under-18 Championship and 2019 World Junior Championship.

Fox, who was acquired by the Rangers in a trade with the Carolina Hurricanes Tuesday, completed his junior season at Harvard earlier this spring. The offensive defenseman had 48 points and was named a finalist for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award as college hockey's top player. Wolanin appeared in 30 games with the Ottawa Senators this season and had 12 points.

Team USA, which claimed the bronze medal in last year's world championship, will open play against tournament host Slovakia on May 10.

The Colorado Rapids have fired manager Anthony Hudson, with assistant coach Conor Casey taking over on an interim basis, the club announced on Wednesday.

"We appreciate Anthony's commitment to the Rapids organization during his time with the club," said Rapids executive vice president & GM, Padraig Smith "This is a pivotal period in the development of our team and it's in the club's best interest to make a change now. We still have a lot of season left and we look forward to getting back on track."

Carlisle: Don't worry about the Timbers, Portland finding form

With a record of 0-7-2, the Rapids are the only winless team in the league. This follows on from an 11th place finish in the 12-team Western Conference last season. The Rapids attempted to retool their offense during the offseason, bringing in the likes of midfielder Benny Feilhaber and forwards Diego Rubio and Kei Kamara, but the results have been poor, with the Rapids conceding a league-worst 24 goals in nine matches.

But what sealed Hudson's fate was a postmatch interview he gave following last weekend's 1-0 road defeat to Atlanta United, in which he pointed out the shortcomings of the Rapids' roster.

"Today was just another example of the real gulf in class," Hudson said. "I think every single game we're playing against teams and their DPs are making a difference. People think we are on the same level, we're not."

Hudson added: "If this was a promotion-and-relegation league, we'd have been relegated by now."

Hudson joined the Rapids following the 2017 campaign after a three-year stint as manager of the New Zealand men's national team, though his only prior experience managing at club level had been with American fourth-tier side Real Maryland Monarchs, and English non-league side Newport County. Hudson's overall record with Colorado was 8-27-9.

It will now be up to Casey, a former Rapids and U.S. international forward, to get the team back on track. He has been an assistant with Colorado for parts of the last three seasons.

Casey's playing career spanned 17 seasons, beginning in Germany with the likes of Borussia Dortmund, Hannover 96, Karlsruher and Mainz 05. The remainder of his career was spent in MLS, six years of which were with Colorado, including a run to the 2010 MLS Cup title. He also spent time with Toronto FC, the Philadelphia Union and the Columbus Crew.

At international level, Casey made 19 appearances with the U.S. national team, scoring two goals.

The ECB is set to review the balance between player safeguarding and public disclosure in its policy regarding the use of recreational drugs, after conceding that the existing protocol has "failed its stress test" amid the fall-out from Alex Hales' banishment from the England World Cup squad.

On Monday, Hales' management team accused the ECB of placing player welfare "low on their list of priorities", after the board allegedly reneged on a commitment to uphold his selection in England's preliminary squad for the World Cup, in spite of the news breaking that he was serving a 21-day ban for a second failed drugs test.

Privately, however, the ECB has come to the conclusion that their existing policy, formulated in conjunction with the Professional Cricketers' Association, in fact puts too much emphasis on welfare, and leaves too little room for manoeuvre when the sport is confronted with the sort of high-profile case that is currently dominating the news agenda.

At the nub of the issue is the policy's existing focus on player confidentiality, a well-meaning attempt - in the wake of the death of Tom Maynard in 2012 - to protect the vulnerabilities of those who may be struggling with addiction, rather than risk exacerbating their problems through public exposure.

However, the provisions of this protocol have left the ECB exposed to accusations of a cover-up, given that Hales' situation would not have been made public at all but for the story emerging on The Guardian and ESPNcricinfo on Friday afternoon.

In fact, at the point of his second failed test, and the imposition of the 21-day ban, only Tom Harrison, the chief executive, and Ashley Giles, the managing director, were allowed to be made aware - the levels of secrecy surrounding his case were such that even England's head coach, Trevor Bayliss, had to learn of the situation through the media. ​

A PCA spokesman told ESPNcricinfo that the provisions of the policy were constantly under review, and that they had been amended twice since their adoption in 2013, most recently in March this year, to allow PCA welfare officers to become involved in any given case at the point of the first failed test.

However, the embarrassment for the ECB was heightened on Tuesday when their official website was found to be stating that a player's name could be made public after a second failed test. That has since been put down to human error, and amended, but not before adding to the perception of a governing body that is struggling to stay in control of the story.

Either way, sympathy for Hales - both at board level and among his team-mates - is in short supply, after a weekend training camp in Cardiff at which Hales reportedly missed his opportunity to apologise to the wider squad for actions which have undermined their preparations leading into England's most significant campaign in recent memory.

To date, his only public comments on the matter have been made through his management company, and the consensus within the camp would appear to be that Hales has exhausted the England squad's patience.

He is still serving a four-match suspended ban for his part in the brawl outside the Bristol nightclub in September 2017 that led to the arrest and subsequent trial of Ben Stokes - but unlike Stokes, who has attracted rave reviews from Bayliss for his commitment to training since being acquitted of affray in August last year, Hales' latest misjudgement seems to reveal a player with little inclination to learn from his mistakes.

It is understood that Hales' ban will elapse ahead of Nottinghamshire's Royal London Cup clash with Durham at Grantham on Friday, the same day that his team-mates play Ireland in the first ODI of the summer in Dublin. An assessment of his mental readiness is expected to be taken by Notts' head coach, Peter Moores, after the player himself was said to be left "devastated" by his England axing.