AIM Autosport of Woodbridge will have two cars entered in next Saturday’s Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series race at Circuit-Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, which is part of the NASCAR Nationwide Series weekend.
In addition to the No. 61 Ford Riley Daytona Prototype wheeled by Mark Wilkins of Toronto and American Burt Frisselle, AIM has entered the No. 51 F-R DP and assigned John Farano of Toronto and Jean-Francois Dumoulin of Trois-Rivieres to share the driving. . .
– James Hinchcliffe of Oakville finished sixth in last weekend’s Indy Lights race in California. "Hinch" sits fourth in the standings with two races to go – this weekend at Chicagoland Speedway and then on Oct. 9 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. . .
– Dan McHattie, the defending late model track champion at Kawartha Speedway, was in a familiar spot at the weekend when he won the 100-lap NAPA Auto Parts-sponsored feature. Mark Dilley of NASCAR Canadian Tire Series fame finished fifth, filling in for the ageless wonder, Vic Parsons, who underwent eye surgery recently. . .
– Ron Fellows of Mississauga will be in Montreal next weekend to defend his victory in the soggy 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Circuit-Gilles Villeneuve.
As usual, most of NASCAR’s big guns are taking the weekend off as the Sprint Cup tour won’t resume until Labour Day weekend. One exception is Carl Edwards (he’s always there for the Nationwide race) but the Jeff Gordons and the Jimmie Johnsons and most of the other superstars have never shown up to race in Montreal.
That doesn't mean there isn't star power there. In addition to Fellows, other Canadians in the Nationwide race will include Jacques Villeneuve, Patrick Carpentier, J.R. Fitzpatrick, Alex Tagliani and Andrew Ranger. . .
Several of the Canadians will also do double duty. In addition to the Nationwide race, Fitzpatrick, Ranger, Tagliani and Villeneuve will fight it out in the Canadian Tire Series preliminary. . .
– Will Power remains in hospital in California after being injured at Infineon Raceway last Saturday when he drove full-tilt into a stationary Indy car piloted by Nelson Phillipe. He really was whacked and it will take some time to recover from a concussion and two broken vertebrae. Phillipe, who was also concussed and suffered a broken foot, was to be discharged from hospital either last night or this morning. . .
– Jeff Hanley, son of the legendary Junior Hanley, won the OSCAAR Outlaw Super Late Models feature at Mosport Speedway. . .
– Dave Lacey of Toronto has been signed to co-drive the Miller Barrett Racing No. 48 Marquis Jet/IPC/Total Porsche 911 GT3 race car with Bryce Miller in the Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series race at Montreal next Saturday. . .
– Donny Schatz, who thrilled the fans at Ohsweken Speedway on the Six Nations Reserve in July when the World of Outlaws sprint cars raced twice, won his 100th career A-Main at the weekend. Only four others drivers – Steve Kinser, Sammy Swindell, Doug Wolfgang and Mark Kinser – have been able to do that in the 31-year history of the series. . .
– Speaking of Ohsweken, Keith Dempster snapped a two-year winless streak when he captured the Corr/Pak Merchandising Sprint Car feature race at the weekend. Meantime, Dain Naida won his first Southern Ontario Sprints feature at South Buxton Speedway. . .
– Alex Ellis of St. Catharines is in a fierce fight for rookie-of-the-year honours in the Formula BMW Americas championship. The last races of the season – and of the championship (this series was killed when BMW announced it was dropping out of Formula One) – will be held at Mosport this coming weekend as part of the American Le Mans Series program. Let’s all cheer for Alex – and for his St. Kitts neighbour, veteran Gianmarco Raimondo, who also fought the good fight in F-BMW this season. . .
– And finally, good guy Tommy Goudge sends along a reminder that two western Ontario drivers have been tearing up the speedways this season. Mark Sammut of London has won three International Supermodified Association features this year, the latest being the Ollie Silva Summer Classic at Lee USA Speedway in New Hampshire Aug. 14. And John Watson of St. Thomas became the first Canadian to win a Michigan Traditional Sprints feature (at Shiawassee County Speedway in Corunna, Mich., Aug. 13th). Way to go, guys!
Really enjoying your blog. Could you update me on the progress of Peter Shepherd? He was blazing the trail that JR Fitzpatrick is taking now and seems to have dropped off the map.
Posted by: Andrew | 08/25/2009 at 11:52 AM