John Sturbin, Senior Writer
John Sturbin joined the staff of RacinToday.com after a 35-year career in the daily newspaper business, the last 12 as nationally recognized motorsports beat writer at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He was point-man for the paper’s expanded and award-winning motorsports coverage beginning in the mid-1990s, centered around NASCAR and IndyCar series events at Texas Motor Speedway. Sturbin covered his first Indianapolis 500 in 1980, and has staffed “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” every year since. He regularly has covered the National Hot Rod Association’s annual event at Texas Motorplex in Ennis since the mid-1980s. A native of Rome, N.Y., Sturbin first followed the careers of NASCAR Modified champions Richie Evans and Jerry Cook at Utica-Rome Speedway in Vernon, N.Y., as a fan before eventually covering both drivers as sports writer at The Daily Sentinel. While at The Sentinel, Sturbin began staffing Formula One’s annual autumn visit to Watkins Glen International during the mid-1970s. Since moving to Fort Worth in October 1978, he has covered Formula One events on street circuits in Dallas and Phoenix and at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Sturbin’s international travels while covering professional boxing led to a freelance assignment staffing the 1989 24 Hours of Le Mans for The Associated Press. He also has authored freelance articles for numerous clients, including Texas Motor Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway. John has served as a voting member of the Driver of the Year media panel since 1996, as well as various industry-related hall of fame selection committees. Sturbin received the prestigious Bloys Britt Award in motorsports, as judged by The Associated Press, for a feature on IndyCar icon A.J. Foyt Jr.’s rehabilitation from devastating foot and leg injuries. He also is a past recipient of the National Hot Rod Association’s Media Award. During his tenure at the Star-Telegram, Sturbin received numerous in-house awards for motorsports coverage, including Editorial Employee of the Month and Spot News Story of the Year for his report on the death of seven-time NASCAR champion Dale Earnhardt in February 2001. In addition to his motorsports resume, Sturbin logged two stints covering the Dallas Cowboys as backup beat writer. He also has covered the NFL, Major League Baseball, NBA, NHL, NCAA football and basketball, World Gymnastics Championships and various high school and semi-pro sports. A graduate of Utica (N.Y.) College, Sturbin is a classic car and motorcycle enthusiast. He resides in Southwest Fort Worth.
Articles by John Sturbin
By John Sturbin | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
During a time when new stick-and-ball stadiums continue to raise the “wow factor” for fans and competitors, Texas Motorplex remains the standard for big-time drag racing.
Track-owner Billy Meyer’s facility in Ennis will play host to the 25th annual O’Reilly Super Start Batteries NHRA Fall Nationals Thursday through Sunday, and a pair [...]
By John Sturbin | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Motegi, Japan – Helio Castroneves capped a postcard-perfect weekend in the Far East for himself and Team Penske at Twin Ring Motegi Sunday afternoon, winning the IZOD IndyCar Series Indy Japan 300 in dominating fashion.
Castroneves, who started on-pole, led a race-high 153 of 200 laps around the egg-shaped, 1.52-mile oval [...]
Motegi, Japan – Moments after Will Power qualified third for the Indy Japan 300, Ryan Briscoe revealed Team Penske’s not-so-secret “strategy” for Sunday’s IZOD IndyCar Series race.
“Three-wide the whole time,” said Briscoe, who officially will start alongside pole-sitter Helio Castroneves in the season’s penultimate round at Twin Ring Motegi.
“That’s potentially one option,” Castroneves deadpanned, as [...]
By John Sturbin | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Motegi, Japan – Ryan Briscoe, whose pursuit of the 2009 IZOD IndyCar Series championship ended embarrassingly at the exit of Twin Ring Motegi’s pit road, had no issues with the egg-shaped, 1.5-mile racing layout Saturday.
Briscoe topped the second, one-hour afternoon practice for Sunday’s Indy Japan 300 at 200.894 mph to [...]
By John Sturbin | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Motegi, Japan – Danica Patrick admittedly continues to struggle through “just a tough year” that has seen her add an abbreviated NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule to her fulltime IndyCar Series job with Andretti Autosport.
But don’t try telling that to her Japanese fans. Twin Ring Motegi remains the site of Danica’s [...]
By John Sturbin | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Motegi, Japan – If Will Power secures the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series driver’s championship without ever winning on an oval, he will do so sans apology.
“If I win the championship, I won’t let that bother me at all. Not one bit,” Power said in the paddock at Twin Ring [...]
By John Sturbin | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan – When I was a big-time boxing writer, Europe was my playground.
Actually, Europe was the playground of undisputed welterweight (147-pound) champion Donald Curry of Fort Worth. Curry’s career became my “beat” in the early 1980s while I was a sports writer at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. As [...]
Helio Castroneves now knows both sides of what it’s like to play the fuel at Kentucky Speedway.
Denied a victory on the 1.5-mile oval when he ran out of fuel heading to the checkered flag in 2008, Castroneves collaborated with Team Penske president Tim Cindric on an ethanol-stingy strategy that won the IZOD IndyCar Series’ Kentucky [...]
By John Sturbin | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
Kentucky Speedway’s 1.5-mile layout technically classifies it among the “cookie-cutter” intermediate superspeedways on the IZOD IndyCar Series schedule.
To open-wheel veteran Paul Tracy, however, Kentucky Speedway qualifies as uncharted territory. That will change Saturday night, when Tracy returns to the series with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing for the Kentucky Indy 300.
Tracy [...]
Normally, I don’t have anything to say about coverage of the IZOD IndyCar Series on VERSUS. That’s because Charter Communications, my cable provider in Fort Worth, Texas, does not include VERSUS in either the basic or premium sports package to which I currently subscribe.
Used to get VERSUS for free, back when it was the Outdoor [...]