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Exclusive: Honda to Close European Design Studios

In a surprise announcement, Honda has decided to close design operations in Europe, based in Germany. The decision to shut down both the car design and motorcycle design studios of Honda R&D Europe (HRE-G) in Offenbach, near Frankfurt was taken at the end of September and came as a shock announcement to employees. It represents the latest casualty in cuts for the car design community.

NASCAR: Sprint Cup stars in Pennsylvania, Nationwide Series runs in Iowa

NASCAR's three-race, two-venue weekend has a somewhat different face now that Carl Edwards has re-signed with Roush Fenway Racing and Brad Keselowski has been told to skip the weekend's Nationwide Series race in Iowa. And what's with those big-time Sprint Cup stars running the Camping World Truck Series race at Pocono Raceway? Edwards is at Pocono all day Friday and part of Saturday to prepare for Sunday afternoon's Good Sam Emergency 500.

Up in smoke: Smokey Yunick's garage burns

Legendary NASCAR mechanic Smokey Yunick closed the "Best Damn Garage In Town" long before he died in 2001. But the main concrete-block, tin-roofed building on Beach Street in Daytona Beach, Fla., remained a stop on the NASCAR history trail for visiting faithful until Monday night, when fire destroyed the building. The building housed Yunick's office and a medium-size garage and more recently served as office space for Carbon Press, the publishing company that Yunick's daughter, Trish, operates and which produces products that include Yunick's salty 1,100-page autobiography and biographies of other racing personalities.