AUTO RACING

NASCAR teams begin to cut their staffs Hall of Fame Racing, the NASCAR team owned by Arizona Diamondbacks executives, will cut its staff even if it secures sponsorship to run a full 2009 season.

Other teams aren't waiting.

Petty Enterprises, The Wood Brothers, Bill Davis Racing and Ernie Elliott's engine shop all reduced their staffs in the two days since Sunday's season finale.

Exact numbers are difficult to pin down, but Petty and the Wood Brothers are believed to have let go more than 20 employees each.

The two teams are among the most storied programs in NASCAR.

The layoffs come as team owners adjust to the economic crisis, which slowly trickled into NASCAR but is now wreaking havoc on the industry. Just last week, 100-plus employee were released from Dale Earnhardt Inc. so the team can move forward with its merger with Ganassi.

Ganassi let go 71 people in July, starting a wave that has hit all teams regardless of their level of funding.

Owens' awards go to Clay and Trafton USA Track & Field has selected Olympic gold medalists Bryan Clay and Stephanie Brown Trafton for the Jesse Owens Awards as the sport's top American athletes in 2008.

Clay was the Olympic champion in the decathlon, posting the two highest scores in the world this year at the Trials and at the Games in Beijing. He also was the world indoor heptathlon champion this year.

Brown Trafton was the first American woman to win the gold medal in the Olympics in the discus since 1932.

• Star Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang is expected to have surgery in the United States for a foot injury that forced him to withdraw at the starting line during the Beijing Olympics. Sun Haiping, Liu's coach, added that surgery was the only option following consultation with specialists in the U.S. The coach said they chose to have the operation in the U.S. -- it was not clear in which city -- because of more sophisticated surgical techniques and greater chances of a safer recovery. Liu has developed bone spurs between the Achilles' tendon and ankle bone.

Japanese girl makes pitch for pro team The knuckleball -- the fluttering, hard-to-hit pitch that's rare in the major leagues -- is propelling a 16-year-old girl to the pros in Japan.

Eri Yoshida was inspired to learn how to throw the knuckler after seeing a video of Boston Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield. On Monday, she broke the gender barrier by being drafted for an independent league team as Japan's first female professional baseball player.

"Hope I can see her pitch one day," Wakefield said in a message he texted to the Red Sox that was relayed to the Associated Press.

The high schooler was chosen by the Kobe 9 Cruise in the Japanese League, which starts its inaugural season in April.

The Cruise are a far cry from Tokyo's Yomiuri Giants. Making the squad is more like earning a tentative slot on a farm team than warming up in the bullpen for the Red Sox.

Even so, the 5-foot, 114-pound Yoshida has smashed the glass ceiling with her unorthodox, sidearm pitch in baseball-crazy Japan.

"I'm really happy I stuck with baseball," Yoshida said in a news conference after she was chosen in the new league's draft. "I want to pitch against men."

Golf: Spanish great Seve Ballesteros, 51, was released from intensive care after brain surgery on a malignant tumor. He will remain in the Madrid hospital to continue rehabilitation after three operations in 18 days.

Basketball: USA Basketball is moving its headquarters from Colorado Springs. to the Phoenix suburb of Glendale. The project will include USA Basketball's executive offices, a multi-court training facility and a 150-room hotel. The complex will be adjacent to the Phoenix Coyotes' Jobing.com Arena and University of Phoenix Stadium.

Cycling: The Astana professional cycling team, which now includes Lance Armstrong, will stage its U.S. training camp in California after spending last year in New Mexico. Astana spokesman Philippe Maertens said the squad is planning two camps -- in December and February. The European camp will be in Tenerife, Spain. The U.S. camp in Solvang, Calif.

ASSOCIATED PRESS