- Aldo Andretti, Mario Andretti's twin brother and the father of John Andretti, died Wednesday due to complications from COVID-19.  He was 80.

Aldo's story is similar (at first) to that of his twin brother.  Born in present-day Croatia, Aldo was forced into a refugee camp with his family for a number of years before immigrating to the United States in 1956, eventually settling in Nazareth, Penn.

Aldo and Mario both got involved in the local stock car racing scene in Pennsylvania, sharing a car at first.  Aldo raced with some success in USAC competition until suffering severe facial injuries in a sprint car crash in 1969.  That crash ended his driving career.

Following his retirement from driving, Aldo owned a couple of businesses and supported his brother's continued racing exploits.

- In addition, John Paul Jr. died on Wednesday after a 20-year fight against Huntington's Disease.  Paul was 60.

Paul entered motorsports as a teammate to his father, John Paul Sr.  Paul Jr. found immediate success in IMSA, driving Porsche 935s.  He won the 1982 IMSA Camel GT Championship at the age of 22.  He also crossed over to INDYCAR, winning the 1983 Michigan 500 in only his fourth career start for VDS Racing on a last-lap pass.  However, the family race team, J.L.P. Racing, was funded by a drug smuggling enterprise that dated back into the 1970s.  This ultimately resulted in both Pauls going to prison.  In the case of John Paul Jr., he was sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted of racketeering.  He would serve half of that sentence.

Once released, Paul Jr. returned to IMSA while also racing in the Indianapolis 500.  He also made two Winston Cup starts in 1991 for what ultimately became Team Ireland with a best finish of 16th at Watkins Glen.

Paul Jr. spent the mid-1990s driving for Dyson Racing in IMSA, winning multiple races (including the 1997 Rolex 24 at Daytona) before doing the full IRL season in 1998.  There, he won the Lone Star 500k at Texas Motor Speedway for Byrd-Cunningham Racing.  Ultimately, his Huntington's Disease diagnosis ended his racing career in 2001.

We at Frontstretch send our condolences to both the Andretti and Paul families.

- CB Motorsports officially announced Monday that they will contest the full 2021 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season with a Hyundai Veloster N TCR for Trenton Estep and Mark Kvamme.  Caleb Bacon, the 16-year old grandson of IMSA GTU competitor Al Bacon, will join the team for Daytona.  In addition, SportsCar365.com reported Saturday that the team may have a second Hyundai on the grid by Sebring in March.

- IMSA announced Monday morning that the Motul Pole Award 100, a 100-minute sprint race at the ROAR Before the 24 that will determine the starting lineup for the Rolex 24 at Daytona, will air on NBCSN via tape delay on Jan. 24 at 4:30 p.m.

- Sunday saw Carlos Sainz win the opening stage of the Dakar Rally from Jeddah to Bisha in Saudi Arabia in his MINI.  He leads the car class by 22 seconds over teammate Stephane Peterhansel.  Martin Prokop is third, four minutes and 42 seconds back.  SRT Racing's Mathieu Serradori is fourth, while Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi is fifth.

In the Bike class, KTM's Toby Price won the first stage by 35 seconds over Honda's Kevin Benavides.  KTM teammates Matthias Walkner and Sam Sunderland were fourth and fifth, while Lorenzo Santolino was fifth.  Alexandre Giroud won the Quad class by nearly three minutes over Giovanni Enrico.  Pablo Copetti was third, then Nicolas Cavigilasso and Manuel Andujar.

Finally, Dimitry Sotnikov won the Truck class in his Kamaz by eight minutes over veteran Ales Loprais.  Anton Shibalov was third in the second Kamaz, then Siarhei Viazovich in a MAZ.  Martin Macik is fifth.