Clevite Tw611s Thrust Washer Set on 2040-parts.com

Currency chills U.S.-made Audi

Audi has put on ice the option of manufacturing in the United States because of the euro's recent slide against the dollar. The decision against U.S. production means Audi, unlike sister division Volkswagen, isn't ready to design a car primarily for the United States.

Forecasters see slow auto-sales recovery through 2011

U.S. auto sales in 2010 and 2011 will continue to crawl -- not walk or run -- out of last year's recession, according to forecasters at the Auto Industry Hot Topics Conference here. “It's going to be a long crawl out of this, but we're crawling in the right direction,” said David Wyss, chief economist for Standard & Poor's, which co-sponsored the conference along with J.D.

NASCAR: Rule changes to be clarified

The 29th annual NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Media Tour opens on Monday in the Charlotte, N.C., area. It's a four-day smorgasbord of announcements, team-shop tours, optimistic predictions and the unveiling of new race-car paint schemes, team members and sponsorships. More than 150 writers, broadcasters and photographers will get a steady diet of claims such as “we're excited,” “we've been working harder than ever,” “we feel we've got everything in place” and “we can't wait to get started.” The tour will visit almost every team that plans to run the full series schedule in 2011, teams such as Earnhardt-Ganassi, Stewart-Haas, Penske, Michael Waltrip, Richard Childress, Kevin Buckler's TRG, Team Red Bull, Furniture Row, Richard Petty, Hendrick, Roush-Fenway and Joe Gibbs.