Report: Former GM CEO Fritz Henderson to lead Sunoco spinoff

Filed under: Hirings/Firings/Layoffs, GM

Fritz Henderson looking contemplative

If you’ve been wondering what former General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson has been up to since getting the boot, The Detroit News has the skinny for you. Henderson is now headed to Sunoco to fill in as the company’s senior vice president, at least for now. The company is currently planning to spin off its SunCoke Energy arm during the first half of 2011, and when that happens, Henderson will become the subsidiary’s chairman and CEO.

SunCoke produces metallurgical coke used to manufacture steel. The company currently operates plants in Virginia, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, and is currently building a second, high-capacity facility in the Buckeye State. That plant, in Middleton, is slated to produce 550,000 tons of coke while at max capacity.

Coke is formed by super heating coal to bond carbon and ash. The process burns off contaminates like water and coal tar to create an energy-dense fuel. Byproducts of the process are typically used to generate electricity, as in the case with the Middleton plant.

Henderson, a long-time GM man, held the company’s reins for a short time starting in 2009, but was replaced with Ed Whitacre amidst concerns that the company’s turnaround wasn’t moving fast enough.

[Source: The Detroit News | Image: Joe Raedle/Getty]

Report: Former GM CEO Fritz Henderson to lead Sunoco spinoff originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Continue reading “Report: Former GM CEO Fritz Henderson to lead Sunoco spinoff”

Unlikely Pacer: Ford Fiesta to lead the field at CarFax 400

Filed under: Motorsports, Budget, Sedan, Ford

Sure enough, the upcoming Sprint Cup Carfax 400 will be paced by none other than the Blue Oval’s tiny 2011 Fiesta Sedan. With less than a third of the displacement of the tube-frame beasts lapping Michigan International Speedway, we wouldn’t quite expect lightning-quick pace laps, but hey – safety first. While pace cars are typically some sort of performance product, manufacturers aren’t past parading less than muscular new hardware in front of the captive audiences of the raceway.

If Ford was looking for a way to bring its marketing for the Fiesta out of the social media realm and into a more mainstream American venue, they could have hardly done better than the Sprint Cup. On average, the series races net 7.9 million viewers. On Sunday, August 15, each and every one of those souls will get to watch a maroon four door fiesta lead the pack, complete with a massive Blue Oval decal down the side. Talk about cheap advertising. Check out the gallery for a few shots from the car’s unveiling.

Gallery: Ford Fiesta Pace Car

[Source: Ford Racing via Facebook]

Unlikely Pacer: Ford Fiesta to lead the field at CarFax 400 originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Continue reading “Unlikely Pacer: Ford Fiesta to lead the field at CarFax 400”

FIM e-Power 2010: Last lap lead change at Mazda Raceway

Filed under: Motorsports, Motorcycle, Electric, Racing

Michael Czysz at the FIM e-Power International Championship at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

In racing, planning is everything. This point was proven once again as the bright yellow (Flying Banana, if you will) race machine from Lightning Motors held the lead of the e-Power International Championship until the very last few hundred feet. And then ran out of juice.

Sadly, for Lightning Motors at least, this slight miscalculation allowed the Flying Banana to be passed literally just feet ahead of the finish line by Michael Czysz, who took the win mounted on his own MotoCzysz E1pc electric race bike. For those keeping track, Czysz was 6.7 seconds behind at the start of the last lap.

Michael Barnes took second place on the Lightning Motors machine, followed by Thijs de Ridder aboard the Crystalite bike. Our congratulations to all of the riders!

Gallery: e-Power International Championship at Mazda Raceway

Photos by Jeremy Korzeniewski / Copyright (C)2010 AOL

FIM e-Power 2010: Last lap lead change at Mazda Raceway originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Continue reading “FIM e-Power 2010: Last lap lead change at Mazda Raceway”