TOP 10 MOTOR SPORTS MOMENTS ON SPEED As SPEED celebrates its 10th Anniversary this year, the network put together a panel of motor sports producers and on-air personalities to determine the Top 10 Motor Sports Moments captured on SPEED over the network’s first 10 years on the air. A network retrospective, entitled Ten Years at Speed: A Decade of Excellence, is tentatively scheduled for May 2006. Below are the results of the internal voting: 1. Formula One driver Michael Schumacher milestones. The Ferrari phenom’s records for most F1 championships (seven) and most F1 wins (84) were set on SPEED. SPEED has been the American television home for Formula One since the network debuted in 1996. 2. American motorcyclist Nicky Hayden wins his first career MotoGP race in 2005 at Laguna Seca, starting from the pole for the first time in his career. It was the first MotoGP race in the United States since 1994 and the first-ever live broadcast of a MotoGP event on American television. 3. The three-way photo finish between drivers Rick Crawford, Travis Kvapil and Robert Pressley at the 2003 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season opener from Daytona. It was the first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race aired on SPEED and Crawford won by 0.027 seconds over Kvapil and Pressley. 4. Sports Car acrobatics — In 1999, at Le Mans, a Mercedes-Benz CLR piloted by Mark Webber went airborne on the Mulsanne Straight in dramatic fashion during morning warm-ups for the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans. The car also had flipped during qualifying, but Mercedes, making its first run at Le Mans in decades, believed they had solved the aerodynamic issues. Five hours into the actual race, however, the CLR repeated the stunt, as Webber’s teammate Peter Dumbreck flipped end-over-end in the air before landing amongst tree tops just off the track. Webber’s car immediately withdrew from the event and Mercedes has not returned to Le Mans. A year earlier, at the inaugural Petit Le Mans on SPEED, Porsche factory driver Yannick Dalmas survived a similar back-flip in a LMP1-98. 5. Dane Tom Kristensen wins the 2005 24 Hours of Le Mans in an Audi R8. Kristensen’s seventh victory at the historic endurance event breaks the record held by Belgium’s Jacky Ickx. Kristensen scored all seven of his victories on SPEED. 6. Corvette wins the overall title at the 2001 Rolex 24 at Daytona with drivers Ron Fellows, Chris Kneifel, Franck Freon and Johnny O’Connell. NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt along with son Dale Jr., joins Andy Pilgrim and Kelly Collins in a second Corvette that finishes second in class and fourth overall. 7. Kenny Roberts Jr. wins the Moto Grand Prix 500cc Class World Championship in 2000 on a Suzuki, becoming the first second-generation champion in series history. Kenny’s father won the title three consecutive times from 1978-80. 8. At the 1997 European Grand Prix, Michael Schumacher led Jacques Villeneuve in the championship standings by one point, 78-77. On lap 48, as Villeneuve was passing Schumacher, the pair got together, damaging Schumacher’s Ferrari enough to knock it out of the race. Villeneuve continued, finishing the race in third place and winning the 1997 Formula One Drivers Championship by three points. Schumacher was disqualified from the Drivers Championship for causing what was determined to be an avoidable collision. 9. Citing fears their Michelin tires would not perform at speed through Turn 13 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 14 Formula One drivers pulled their cars off the track and into the pits after the formation lap, leaving six cars to compete in the 2005 U.S. Grand Prix. Michael Schumacher went on to win the debacle — the only F1 race in the U.S. — on Bridgestone tires. 10. Tommy Kendall wins 11 consecutive events in 1997 en route to his fourth Trans-Am championship. Kendall’s dominant performance earns the California driver Driver of the Year honors