Norris McDonald's Auto Racing Blog

Jenson Button, world champion . . . really

They laughed when I said earlier this year that Jenson Button could win the world championship.

One of those laughing, mind you, was me because I never really deep down figured that Button – one of those guys who’d started more than 100 Grands Prix and had only won a couple – would really be able to do it.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Jenson Button, facing, embraces teammate Rubens Barrichello as they celebrate with mechanics after Button won the Formula One World championship during Brazil's Grand Prix on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009.

But Button had such a huge jump on the rest of the field this year that it was really going to be hard for him to lose. His team, Honda, were so outclassed last year that they gave up mid-season to start development of the 2009 car. Although Honda eventually dropped out of the sport, the designing and engineering of the new car remained sound and when Ross Brawn took over the reins of the team he took control of a potential winner.

And then there was the whole diffuser controversy, in which the Brawn GP car’s was deemed legal over the objections of the Old Guard, who then all took until mid-season or so to catch up and by then it was too late to overtake both Button for the driver’s championship and Brawn GP for the constructor’s title.

So it was a combination of a good head start and then a positive ruling that enabled the Button/Brawn combo to wrap up both championships at Brazil Sunday in a race that was won by Mark Webber (Red Bull), with Robert Kubica BMW) second and Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) third.

Hamilton’s podium was the result of a spectacular performance in which he started 17th as the result of a poor qualifying effort on Saturday and then carved his way through the field to make it all the way up to third.

Another spectacular run was turned in by Sebastien Vettel, who kept the driving championship interesting the latter part of the season. He finished fourth after starting 15th.

Button was fifth after starting 14th. His race wasn’t as spectacular as Hamilton’s or Vettel’s but he was probably just being careful. All he needed to wrap up the championship was a few points once the race started and there was no reason to take any chances once he got to where he had to be.

All of these championship-calibre tail-enders benefitted enormously when the lights went out and the brains of about a half-dozen of the other drivers turned into cement.

They say that you can’t win a race on the first lap but that is so much mumble-jumble once one starts because the red mist takes over and rational racing drivers suddenly turn into cowboys.

Heikki Kovalainen, likely driving his last race for McLaren, went sideways shortly after the start and hit Giancarlo Fisichella’s Ferrari.

Meantime, Jarno Trulli – normally a mild-mannered and polite fellow – went bananas in his Toyota and took out both Adrian Sutil in his Force India and Fernando Alonso in his Renault.

So while they were cleaning up the carnage on the circuit, Kovalainen wnt into the pits and the left with his fuel hose still attached (he, apparently, was told to go) and fuel splashing all over the place.

Kimi Raikkonen, driving his last race for Ferrari, also pitted at this point and was following Kovalainen out. His exhaust set the fuel from Kovalainen’s hose alight and suddenly the Kimster was in the midst of a flash fire. Thank goodness he had his visor down.

Nobody was hurt but there was certainly excitement and all of a sudden Button, who had started 14th, was running ninth and he hadn’t really done anything to deserve it.

At that point, it looked pretty certain that – barring disaster – he was going to pick up enough points to win the championship and that’s exactly what happened.

The race in Abu Dhabi in two weeks will be for bragging rights only but that’s okay.

Who wants to talk about a world championship fight when we can discuss whether Flavio Briatore will be reinstated in time for the 2010 season, and whether or not Nelson Piquet Jr. will be back in F1 as a driver for Adrian Campos’s new team?

Both are possibilities, you know.

Briatore will go into a French court Monday to officially launch a lawsuit against the FIA and Campos says he’s in negotiations with Piquet the younger.

So even though the season’s almost over, and the championships have been decided, there will still not be a dull moment, going forward.

Johnson's almost got a lock on his fourth Cup championship

Dale Earhardt Jr., who had yet another miserable NASCAR Sprint Cup race last night at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway in fr-fre-fre-free-zing Charlotte, N.C., says his father would be extremely proud of being one of the first five people to be inducted into NASCAR’s brand new Hall of Fame.

He’s right.

But then he suggested the old man would be as happy to be honoured as he’d be winning the Daytona 500 and that’s where Junior and I part company.

Dale Sr. liked winning, all right, but on his terms – on the speedway. Winning by ballot box just wasn’t his style.

The first five – of 25 people nominated – confirmed my concern and suspicion that the choices would be more political than popular. Yes, Dale Earnhardt Sr. deserves to be in the Hall, as does Richard Petty. And Bill France Sr. had to go in, too, because without him there wouldn’t have been a NASCAR.

But Bill France Jr.? Yes, in future, but not in the first class. Same with Junior Johnson. Of course he’s an all-star but he could have waited too.

I maintain my choices were far more representative of all of NASCAR than the five named this past week (who will be formally inducted when the new Hall of Fame is opened in Charlotte next May).

But you win some and you lose some. Hopefully, Richie Evans and Ned Jarrett will be nominated again and make the cut next year.

Meantime, that race in Charlotte last night was a bitter experience for all concerned – from the drivers to the crews to the thousands upon thousands of spectators who bundled up in their parkas and stuck it out as the temperature dropped below 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

Jimmie Johnson won the NASCAR Banking 500 by Bank of America decisively – he was more than 2 seconds in front at the checkers – over second-place Matt Kenseth and Kasey Kahne, who was third.

Johnson – who won his third race of the five Chase for the Championship races to date – now leads Mark Martin by 90 points (Martin finished 17th last night) and Jeff Gordon (4rth last night) by 135 points.

Unless he falters big time, Johnson looks pretty good to take his fourth consecutive NASCAR Cup championship. And if that happens, how can they keep him out of the Hall of Fame?

I made a mistake and so did TSN but whatcha gonna do?

I’m in Nova Scotia visiting my sister and after an hour or so earlier today of watching raindrops fall on puddles, F1 cars either slide off course or crash completely and Eddie Jordon and David Coulthard try to one-up each other as to who knew more about the sport, Jeanne looked at me and said: “This is boring.”

So we turned off TSN and went out for a drive around Pictou Harbour, pretty content in the knowledge that - as Bernie Ecclestone was predicting  (according to the TV people) - the rest of qualifying for tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Brazil would be rained out and the grid would be frozen with Nico Rosberg on pole and probably-soon-to-be-world-champion Jenson Button somewhere in the Top Ten and in pretty good shape to wrap up his first title.

How surprised was I, then, to turn on my computer later to find out that while it took nearly three hours to do it, the qualifying session had finally been completed, it turned out to be one of the most dramatic in years and Rubens Barrichello had won the pole for his home GP with a last-second pipping of Mark Webber.

Now, I didn’t get to see all this excitement by choice. It turns out (judging by the number of angry emails I’ve since received) that a whole bunch of other race fans didn’t get to see it either because TSN apparently got bored at some point too and decided to pull the plug and didn’t bother to go back.

And because the Speed Channel is blacked out when F1 programming is on, there was nothing these race fans could do about it - except to write to me and rant. Look, folks: I’m the first to start screaming when I think TSN or Rogers have done something wrong. Just scroll down in this blog, if you don’t believe me. But I don’t know what they could have done differently in this particular case.

It was boring and I bailed. They did too. Have you ever been at a baseball game and the score’s been 10-3 for the visitors in the eighth inning and you leave to beat the traffic and you hear on the radio later that the home team not only tied the score but went on to win the game in extra innings? That’s what happened today.    

Let's all go for a ride with ex-F1 pilot Riccardo Patrese

The Grand Prix of Brazil is on this weekend and there will be lots of F1 news today, tomorrow and Sunday.

The big question will be whether Jenson Button can score enough points to clinch his first world championship. There are all sorts of mathematical equations floating around out there about whether or not Sebastien Vettel and/or Rubens Barrichello can catch him, but the bottom line is this: if he’s on the podium in Brazil, it’s all over. All he needs is six more points and it doesn’t matter what the other two guys do.

After that, the conversation will undoubtedly focus on the upcoming FIA election to pick the new Max Mosley. In short, the news is all going to be very, very serious.

So let’s have some fun today.

Here’s a great video of ex-F1 pilot Riccardo Patrese taking his wife around Jerez in a Honda Civic Type-R.

It’s a year old but if you haven’t seen it, it’s a scream.

It starts out a little slowly but stick with it because it's worth it.

Enjoy!

Canadian NASCAR star Whitlock really is calling it a day

When the 2009 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series season started last spring, Dave Whitlock let it be known it would be his last year in racing. He said he wanted to spend more time with the family.

Car racing is a most wonderful sport but if anybody thinks golf or softball or bowling takes time away from families, let them spend a week in a racer’s garage. There is, ladies and gentlemen, no comparison.

At the final race of the season at Kawartha a few weeks ago, Whitlock said this during an on-track interview before the start:

“I am totally comfortable with my decision,” he said. “I am going to miss it, no doubt, as I have made a lot of great friends in this sport. But I need to free up some time and I can’t see any other way to do it. I am looking forward to having more time at home to spend with my family.”

Through his very capable communications assistant, Linda Jones, I asked him if this also meant the end of Whitlock Motorsports? In addition to driving himself, his company over the years has prepared cars for Mark Dilley and Pierre Bourque to drive, among others.

He replied to me directly. “I have given it much thought but if I kept the company going, it would defeat the purpose of my decision.”

Words are words. But actions speak louder and if anybody thought Dave Whitlock would, at some point, waver in his decision, the news today is that he’s having a liquidation sale of all his equipment this weekend at his shop at 4135 London Lane, Wyoming, ON, NON 1TO. Phone 519-331-3788 or email at whit@whitlockmotorsports.com

What’s on sale?

One transport trailer for racing cars; four NASCAR Canadian Tire Series cars; Eight NASCAR Canadian Tire Series engines; pit carts and other pit equipment; a chassis dyno; shop equipment; set-up equipment; all types of racing parts (too many to list).

In short; three complete race teams’ equipment is on offer.

Everything is priced to sell and no reasonable offer will be refused.

You know, I get the feeling he’s serious . . .

So long, Dave. We’re gonna miss you!

P.S. Want to see Dave run his last race? You can watch a tape of the Z-Line Designs 250, the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series finale at Kawartha Speedway, on TSN Saturday at 2 p.m. If you miss it then, you can watch it next Thursday at 1 a.m., Fri., Oct. 23, at 2 p.m. and Sat., Oct. 24, at 4 a.m.

Williams cancels engine contract with Toyota

Despite the continuing protestations of team manager John Hewitt, yet another sign that Toyota will be finished with F1 at season’s end came today when Williams and the Japanese manufacturer mutually agreed to terminate their engine agreement for 2010.

Earlier this year, Williams and Toyota had extended that agreement but it all came apart today.

 The Associated Press reports Toyota Motorsport chairman Tadashi Yamashina as saying this morning: ``We respect the wishes of Williams to look for other opportunities and wish them well for the future.’’

 The now-expected pullout by Toyota will leave Mercedes, Renault, Ferrari and Cosworth as the only F1 engine suppliers going forward. And people close to Renault say that although the marque has vowed to be on the grid for 2010, even that could be dicey and 2011 is far, far from certain.

Despite what some people say – that it really doesn’t matter – it does. Formula One is the ultimate competition between the best drivers, the top engineers and all the major manufacturers and when that level of excellence goes into decline, it can only negatively impact the product.

Rock stars, royalty and anybody else with millions of dollars in their pockets are attracted to F1 because it is dangerous, romantic and the most expensive sport in the world. Only the Olympics compares.

As long as F1 can sell itself as this ultimate attraction, the beautiful people will continue to show up. Otherwise, it’ll be just another “spec” series and the jet set will take a pass.

In another piece of F1 news, much as been made of the announcement late last week that Monaco had agreed to move its traditional date in May to allow logistical flexibility that would get the Canadian Grand Prix back onto the schedule.

You will note, however, that no formal announcement of the race has been forthcoming from Montreal. I, for one, will wait before getting too excited about all this.

 

Racing roundup: Massa tests Ferrari and says he feels fine

Although the most exciting race of the weekend was the American Le Mans Series finale at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on Saturday, the most exciting news is that Felipe Massa did a test in a two-year-old F1 car Monday and said afterward that he feels fit as a fiddle.

Massa was in a Ferrari F2007 fitted with GP2 tires at the Fiorano circuit and although he only went out for a few laps he said later that he’d felt fine.

"When I was inside the car, it was as if nothing had happened. I’m still the same bastard as before," he told the ANSA News web site.

Massa, as everybody knows, suffered a skull fracture and an eye injury when hit by debris from Rubens Barrichello’s car at the Hungarian Grand Prix in July. Almost from the moment he regained consciousness, he’s been talking about returning to racing.

In fact, following this particular test, he said he was ready to do the last two Grands Prix of the season – next week at Brazil and at Abu Dhabi in a few weeks.

But there was probably a twinkle in that once-injured eye when he said it because his doctors have ruled out any active race involvement this year, as has Ferrari.

In the interview with the Italian news agency, incidentally, Massa let it be known he’s looking forward to being teammates with Fernando Alonso next season but doesn’t expect they’ll be buddy-buddy.

"Alonso is a good professional," he was quoted as saying, "but I don’t expect he’s coming to be my best friend, which is fine. It is the professional relationship that matters."

Now, anybody who doesn’t think sports car road racers are "real" racers should have seen the last lap of the GP2 scrap in that ALMS final between Porsche driver Joerg Bergmeister and Corvette pilot Jan Magnussen.

They came out of the last turn side-by-side, power down and tradin’ paint with Bergmeister on the outside, pushing Magnussen off-line as far as he could. As Magnussen appeared to make the pass, they collided and Jan spun across the track in front of Joerg and went head-on into the outside wall. He wasn’t hurt but that’s how serious those guys are.

Neither driver blamed the other but Corvette team manager Doug Fehan suggested there would be a post-mortem to ensure that sort of thing doesn’t happen again. Too bad. It was very good stuff.

Of course, Fehan’s outlook might have been coloured somewhat because of the serious property damage inflicted on both Corvette team cars. Early in the race, driver Oliver Gavin tried a boneheaded move going into the first turn that resulted in him crashing his Corvette into three other GT2 cars. So rather than focusing on the Magnussen crash, which was just the result of hard, racing, Fehan might consider asking Gavin what he was thinking.

Meantime, Gil de Ferran ended his driving career in style by winning the race, holding off Adrien Fernandez in a close-as-eyelashes finish. David Brabham (with partner Scott Sharp) finished third and clinched the series P1 championship.

De Ferran is hoping to enter a team in the Indy Racing League next season. Fernandez confirmed later that his team will close down at the end of the month because of lack of sponosrship.

In Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series racing, Mark Wilkins of Toronto and American Burt Frisselle, driving the AIM Autosport of Woodbridge’s No. 61 Ford-Riley Daytona Prototype, finished eighth in the season-ending Grand Prix of Miami at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida which was won by the team of Hurley Haywood and Joao Barbosa.

Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty won the championship. The AIM team finished fifth in team standings, only 13 points behind the might Penske Racing outfit, while drivers Wilkins and Frisselle also were fifth in driver points.

The big story of this race, of course, was Haywood. Semi-retired at 61, and on a business trip to Wisconsin, he flew to Florida and got into a competitive racing car for only the sixth time in the last two years when he got a call to replace regular driver J.C. France.

France – yes, a member of that family (he’s Bill France Jr.’s grandson) – was suspended indefinitely after he was charged on Thursday with possession of narcotics and driving under the influence after being pulled over for speeding.

I’d say Hurley did a pretty good job partnering Barbosa, wouldn’t you?

For comments on the NASCAR Sprint Cup race on Sunday that was won by Jimmie Johnson, please see the post below. And two down, you can read what I had to say Saturday night after the IRL race (won by Dario Franchitti, as well as the IndyCar title).

Johnson winning is not the only NASCAR story this weekend

That Jimmie Johnson looks well on his way to winning his fourth straight Sprint Cup Series championship is not the only news coming out of NASCARland these days.

How about chewing on some of these nuggets?

– NASCAR has decided not to screw around with the starting times for races any more. Remember the Daytona 500 the last couple of years? When you turned on a car race and just about everything but a car race would come on? Particularly the one this past February, when they finally got the race going late in the afternoon and then had to call it at 8 p.m. because it was raining and they had no chance of drying the track?

Well, NASCAR has apparently listened to the fans (who gave it to the sanctioning body with both barrels, you want to believe it) and won’t be doing that again.

As of 2010, the Daytona 500 and all other races in the Eastern and Central time zones will start promptly at 1 p.m. Eastern.

Hallelujah!

All day races on the West Coast (California, Vegas, Phoenix) will start at 3 p.m. Eastern And all the night races will start at 7:30 p.m. with the exception of the 600-mile race on U.S. Memorial Day Sunday which will start at 5:45 p.m..

– Bruce Martin of National Speed Sport News is one of the best racing reporters around. He broke the story this week that George Gillett Jr., former owner of the Montreal Canadiens, current co-owner of Liverpool FC and a partner, with Richard Petty, in Richard Petty Motorsports, has been "talking'’ with Prince Faisal bin Fahd bin Abdullah al-Saud of Saudi Arabia about perhaps investing in major league soccer and stock car racing.

Now, NASCAR fans have been pretty good about Toyota being in NASCAR. And I think they appreciate the talent that is Juan Pablo Montoya. But I don’t know how they’re going to react when they hear that Middle East oil interests are getting involved in NASCAR.

In any event, the TimesOnline is reporting that Gillett is trying to get Prince Faisal interested in soccer – particularly Liverpool soccer. And Martin got this out of Gillett, so far as NASCAR is concerned:

His company (Gillett’s) has entered into a ‘commercial collaboration’ agreement with F6, a leading Saudi Arabia-based sports management company, which will work with Gillett’s team ‘to explore business opportunities’ in soccer, stock car racing and interactive media in Saudi Arabia.

It only follows that someone from NASCAR would go knocking on Arab doors. Frank Williams was the first car racer back in the late 1970S to enter into a comercial agreement with a company in that part of the world (remember the ‘Fly Saudia’ sign on his f1 cars?), there was – at one time – involvement in the A1 GP series and the last Grand Prix of the 2009 season will take place in Abu Dhabi.

So it only makes sense.

– Back in California, by winning Sunday’s Pepsi 500 at California Speedway in Fontana, Johnson took over the Sprint Cup points lead from Mark Martin, who could only finish fourth. Jeff Gordon was second and Montoya came home third.

Martin, who led the Chase standings through to Sunday, now trails Johnson by 12 points. Montoya is third, 58 back. Then come Tony Stewart (-84) and Gordon (-105).

– Kyle Busch was sick with the ‘flu all weekend and had to have relief from David Gilliland in Sunday’s Cup race and from Denny Hamlin in the Nationwide race on Saturday.

I know that drivers sometimes need relief. I don’t like it, however, when someone already in the race – and who might be a start-and-parker – gets to drive in relief when there are other, qualified drivers on the scene who could probably do as good a job.

Which means, in my opinion, Gilliland should not have drive in place of Busch. On Saturday, Hamlin was not entered in the Nationwide race but was on standby to replace Busch and that's the way it ought to be.

Next stop for the Sprint Cup is in prime time next Saturday night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte. Race time is 7 p.m.

Franchitti wins IRL title but there are more questions than answers

Dario Franchitti, who won the Indy Racing League championship two years ago and then went stock car racing in NASCAR, returned to the open-wheel wars this season and won the title again Saturday in Florida by capturing the Firestone Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

It was the second-fastest race in series history – the average speed was a sliver over 200 miles an hour – and it was the first to go the distance without a yellow flag. That’s the good news.

Ryan Briscoe of Team Penske finished second in the race and Franchitti's teammate at Target Chip Ganassi Racing, Scott Dixon, was third. That’s also good news, but the bad news is that they were the only other two drivers on the lead lap.

That’s correct. Of 23 cars in this race, only three were on the lead lap and the other 20 were a lap or laps behind. For instance, Tony Kanaan finished fourth and Helio Castroneves was fifth and they were a lap behind. Hideki Mutoh was sixth and he was two laps down. It gets worse. The tenth-place car, Justin Wilson, was three laps behind. ("Yes, I had a Top Ten finish. But I was actually four-and-half miles behind the guy who won . . . )

Having said that, the top three guys were worth the price of admission. Dixon took it to Franchitti (who started on pole) for the first 10 laps or so. Side-by-side they ran, lap after lap. At 200-plus mph, it was a test of skill and courage. And Briscoe was right on their tails, waiting for one or the other to bobble. Franchitti blinked first and eventually settled into third and waited for the race to play out.

As it became apparent that the race might go caution-free, fuel strategy became key. Franchitti managed to stretch his just a tad further than the others – Briscoe and Dixon stopped for fuel on lap 144 of the 200-lap race while Franchitti stayed out till lap 150. With the checkers literally in sight, both Briscoe and Dixon then had to duck into the pits for a splash while Franchitti sailed through to the end.

Franchitti’s championship margin turned out to be 11 points – 616 to 605 for Dixon, who edged Briscoe (604) by one point. Castroneves was fourth in the championship with 433 points while Danica Patrick finished fifth with 393.

NOTES:

– Speaking of Patrick, she ran as high as third but was fifth-sixth most of the race until she made her final pit stop. Turning into her pit, she was hit by Dan Wheldon, who was exiting his. That one of his crewmen gave him the green light to go just as she was arriving is appalling. The Andretti-Green team managed to get her car repaired and she returned to the action but officially finished 19^th.

Now, as ABC (which telecasts five or six Indy car races a year) goes overboard in its coverage of Danica (just as the golf broadcasts are constantly talking about Tiger), it almost seems as if the U.S. sports network Versus (which televises the rest of the IRL schedule) goes to extremes not to talk about her.

Which is totally ridiculous. As mentioned, she was in the top five all day but you wouldn’t have known it and that’s just another reason the IRL is in trouble. She is, like it or not, their only superstar (which is why NASCAR is rolling out the red carpet the way they are). Without her, IndyCar is very close to being nothing. I’ve suggested this test before, and I’ll do it again. Walk out on any street anywhere and ask the first 10 people you meet if they recognize the name Scott Dixon. Or Ryan Briscoe. You will get nothing but blank stares. They will, however, recognize Danica Patrick and possibly Helio Castroneves (Dancing with the Stars, you know) and maybe - maybe - Dario. So they ignore Danica at their peril.

– The announcers kept mentioning how wonderful it is that Sarah Fisher is going to run more than three or four races next year. She might make it onto the grid for six or seven, in fact.

Why? She finished 13 laps behind in this last race, which is a pretty good indication of how uncompetitive she is. Poor Milka Duno, whose name was not mentioned once yesterday and who is the butt of as many jokes as Sarah Palin, was a paltry six laps behind, by comparison.

– They have been promoting this particular race in South Florida for months. Most of the drivers live there. There is a strong Latin contingent in the IRL – Tony Kanaan, Castroneves, Mario Moraes, Raphael Matos, E.J. Viso and Duno and there is a huge Latino presence in the Miami area. So how come there was nobody there?

Oh, I know. The TV pics showed a "full" grandstand. Uh-uh. The crowd (if you want to call it that) was confined to less than half of the main grandstand (from the fourth turn till just past the start/finish line). When the TV cameras panned in from a 45-degree angle, the place looked packed. But when the shot was from head-on, there were huge numbers of unoccupied seats.

This series has got big problems. They need help – and here are some suggestions.

– Another sign of trouble in River City. I have a friend very close to that scene. He tells me that the employees of one Indy car organization that also ran Indy Lights cars this season were all sending out their resumes this past week and making phone calls looking for work.

Hold onto your hats. This ride’s gonna be rough.

Wilden wins his KONI crown, Franchitti sits on IRL pole

Here are a few nuggets to chew on, on a sleepy Saturday morning:

– Kenny Wilden of Oakville won the Grand-Am KONI Sports Car Challenge Series Grand Sport championship at Virginia International Raceway last weekend. And the Toronto-based Compass360 Racing Team won the Street Tuner team championship, with team owner Karl Thomson co-driving to the class championship with Christian Miller. More on Wilden and Thomson in future.

– Gil de Ferran, one of the nicest guys in the business to interview (and there are a whole bunch who aren’t, trust me), is retiring as a driver after this weekend’s American LeMans Series race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. He’s going out on a high note: he edged David Brabham for the pole in Friday qualifying. You can watch the race on Speed Channel Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

– Dario Franchitti won the pole for today’s Indy car finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida. Scott Dixon is beside him on the front row and Ryan Briscoe is directly behind on the inside of row two. Those three and those three only are in contention for the series championship, which will be settled late this afternoon (tape-delay on TSN2 at 7 p.m.).

– Mark Wilkins of Toronto and American Burt Friselle are currently sitting sixth in the Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series standings. They will be shooting to finish higher in the final standings when they take to the track just after noon today (Speed Channel, 1 p.m.) in their AIM Autosport of Woodbridge Riley-Ford No. 61 Daytona Prototype for the Grand Prix of Miami at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

– Justin Martin of Shedden, Ont., put together a strong and consistent season to claim his first Southern Ontario Sprints championship. The 21-year-old didn’t finish outside the top ten in any SOS feature in 2009. Adam West of Ridgetown finished second and Warren Mahoney of Lefroy, Ont., was third. Martin and the others were honoured at a gala banquet and awards ceremony held last weekend at Brantford’s Best Western Brant Park Inn.

Dick Mahoney of Newmarket, who’s as old as I am (making him 150, give or take a year or two), finished seventh in the standings. 'The Pig' had two top ten finishes in ‘09.

– Kyle Marcelli of Barrie, who finished the American Le Mans Series IMSA Lites season strongly with victories at Mosport and Road Atlanta (on Petit Le Mans weekend), is driving in the open-wheel Star Mazda Series race at Laguna Seca this weekend. Marcelli is everywhere, it seems.

– With the Rally of the Tall Pines in Bancroft just around the corner, Antoine L’Estage and Nathalie Richard of Ste-Jean-sur-Richeleu, Que., hold a slim, six-point lead after finishing second in the Pacific Forest Rally last weekend in B.C. That rally was won by Pat Richard of Squamish, B.C., with Alan Ockwell of Toronto co-driving.

-- Denny Hamlin is one the pole for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at California Speedway on Sunday afternoon (TSN2, 2:30 p.m.). The big news is that Dale Earnhardt Jr. told reporters in California that his company has had talks with Danica Patrick about running a partial stock-car schedule in 2010.