| Maserati roars back into lead
FIFTY years ago the great racing driver Juan Manuel Fangio called a halt to his career at the age of 47. He retired at the top, Formula 1 world champion for the fifth time in 1957. His last race, the 1958 French Grand Prix, was in a Maserati 250F and it marked the end of the road for the Maserati racing team, which had been more than a match for Ferrari, its Italian compatriot. For all its success, Maserati, then owned by the Orsi family, had run out of money. Though it subsequently raced sports cars, Maserati continued to decline. It teetered on the edge of bankruptcy and new shareholders and owners came and went until it fell into the hands of Fiat, Italy’s automotive giant, in 1993. After wondering what to do about a company with an exciting name that was making a small number of cars with a poor reputation for reliability, Fiat entrusted the management of Maserati to Ferrari, which it had owned since 1988.
Video: Drag Racer Pedregon's Car Explodes
Here's some incredible footage away from sandy beaches of Daytona Beach, Florida that NASCAR is currently calling home.Tony Pedregon, last year's NHRA Funny Car champion, didn't exactly start off his season on the right foot. Racing against former team-owner John Force (who had an incredible crash of his own last season), Pedregon's car suffered a little more than a wardrobe malfunction.Just past half track during the first round of eliminations for the Winternationals, something went terribly wrong in Pedregon's motor and caused the nearly 8,000 horsespower beast to erupt in a ball of fire with Pedregon sitting in the middle of it.Luckily, for a sport that saw the death of a very popular driver just one season ago, Pedregon emerged from the destroyed car with only second-degree burns on his hand and some aches and pains from hitting the wall at nearly 300mph.Force likely avoided more carnage by forgetting to pull his parachute until he was too far down the track because he was so taken back by the flames coming from the lane next to him.Previously on FanHouse:Top 8 Spectacular NASCAR Crashes of 2007 .
Pallas leads going into finals
Mark Pallas' inexperience in certain areas might be helping him. The micro sprint car driver from Salem leads the points standings in the sportsman class heading into this weekend's final races of the season at the Salem Indoor. But he doesn't feel the pressure of leading the points chase. "Not really," said Pallas, 52. "I think maybe because it's my rookie season. It just didn't seem to pressure me when I won the points championship at Lebanon." Pallas won the micro sprint 600 championship at Lebanon's Willamette Speedway's kart track last summer. Heading into Saturday's Earl Veeder Memorial, Pallas leads the Salem Indoor points chase with 431, seven points ahead of Owen Olinger. Pallas grew up around racing, but never got into driving because of money.
Sorcery and witchcraft beliefs remain prevalent in PNG
As we count down the last days of 2007, and await 2008, belief in witchcraft and sorcery is prevalent and will continue to be a major stumbling block in the new year.
The young woman was believed to have killed some people in the village through sorcery.
Her assailants claimed the remains of the heart of a dead person were found under her bed.
They said a man who died in the area was because of a missing heart –taken out by sorcery.
Everyone tended to believe this claim.
A group of men stripped her naked and forced her to walk the streets, torturing her with red hot iron bars and bush knives.
She was in great pain until she died few hours later.
No one mourned over her and there was no funeral.
She was believed to have caused many deaths through sorcery, hence, even her blood relatives did not want to be seen to be on her side.
Reshaped Braves aim toward spring training
I think it was a very good trade provided Kotsay is healthy, because the Braves only pay $2 mill (A's paying other $5 mill of his $7 mill salary, plus the $350,000 bonus he gets for moving, which was part of his contract). And they give up a hard-throwing reliever who hasn't panned out yet and probably wasn't going to be more than a middle man if he made this year's bullpen. Trading Devine is not akin to trading Adam Wainwright, who had potential to be an ace starter (still does have that potential) and ended up being a closer on St. Louis' World Series championship team. (And personally, I don't think that Drew-for-Wainwright deal was bad, either, because Drew was the Braves' MVP that season and very nearly helped them win a pennant. You don't get difference-makers without giving up talent, folks.
Desoto car show 'total bust'
One e-mail said, 'You should be ashamed of yourself for advertising that you would put on a great show,' " Kane said. "I am not embarrassed. I e-mailed him back and said we lived up to everything we said we would do, which is put on a show. Why they didn't come I don't know." Despite the low turnout, Kane said the Speedway will host the event next year in February or March. Bradenton resident Murray Lewis was one of the spectators Sunday. Having to pay to get in, even though he didn't have a car, bothered Lewis the most after the show flopped. "There are very few car shows where spectators pay to go in," Lewis said. "I was very disappointed." The Speedway felt the $15 spectator fee was justified because racing was scheduled Saturday and Sunday along with concerts both days, a carnival for kids, many vendors and a limo service to Prime Outlets, Kane said.
Buttars says issue is closed
Board of Education, "wrong to begin with" in a radio interview. "He continues to make these derogatory statements, then he says 'I'm sorry' and moves on," Williams said. "Then the next incident happens." Valentine said Thursday it was up to Buttars to decide whether to resign. "His resignation is his decision," he said. "Sen. Buttars is in a very difficult situation." Valentine declined to give his own opinion about what action Buttars should take. "I'm going to let Sen. Buttars have his space," Valentine said. "If I express my personal opinions, then it would have an effect on Sen. Buttars' decision. I think Sen. Buttars needs to come to grips with that decision." Valentine said no further action can be taken against Buttars under Senate rules. Senators can be censured only if they refuse to apologize for a breach of decorum, he said, noting a censure carries no penalties.
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