Norris McDonald's Auto Racing Blog

St. Catharines teen Ellis wins racing scholarship

Congratulations to Alex Ellis of St. Catharines who’s won a fully funded drive in the 2010 Jim Russell Championship Series plus coaching and testing opportunities.

Almost 40 drivers from 10 countries participated in a four-day shootout at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., just before Christmas. Only six made it to the final day of the Russell worldwide driver search program that was launched this year to find the best young talent from the worlds of karting and “junior” formula car racing.

Speed, precision and car control were evaluated, as well as media awareness, racecraft and fitness.

Ex-F1 and double Le Mans 24 Hour race winner Allan McNish and his fellow panel members chose the 18-year-old Ellis because he was considered the best “all-rounder.”

A St. Catharines high school student, Ellis finished fifth in the 2006 Sunoco Ron Fellows Karting Championship, 15th in the 2007 BTK/Arrows Karts (Rotax Junior), second in the 2008 Ontario F1200 Championship as Rookie of the Year (five wins, 11 podiums, 15 races), and sixth in the 2009 Formula BMW Americas series (one pole, three podiums, two fastest laps).

“Winning this means absolutely everything to me,” said Ellis, “having dedicated my life, mine and my family’s money, into succeeding in motorsport so you can understand that I’m absolutely elated. It’s more than a dream coming true, it’s a massive turning point in my life."

 “For someone with such limited karting and race-car experience at a high level, he really impressed me," said McNish. "He bounced back from any problems and issues very quickly and, importantly, strongly. He has a positive personality. He suffered badly with the weather conditions but nevertheless performed outstandingly.”

The 16-race 2010 Jim Russell Championship Series gets under way in April. The 2010 Jim Russell champion will win a fully-funded drive in the 2011 FIA Formula 2 Championship.

Ellis raced last year with Team Autotecnica, which has its shop in the Keele-Highway 7 area not far from where Pinecrest Speedway used to be. When BMW pulled the plug on the BMW-Americas series, it left teams like Autotecnica a bit out in the cold.

However, the Toronto team has partnered with Italy’s RC Motorsport and plans to participate in the 2010 Formula BMW Europe championship.

Autotecnica has been in business since 2004 and alumni include Esteban Gutierrez, Robert Wickens, Gianmarco Raimondo, Richard Philippe and, of course, Ellis. 

The power of Bernie Ecclestone - Part II

I’ve received some private email in recent days, taking me to task for giving Bernie Ecclestone too much credit for Michael Schumacher’s decision to return to Formula One next year.

“Michael was hounded into retirement and really didn’t want to quit in the first place,” one person wrote.

“He never really left,” wrote another. “He was at every test and every race in the three years he didn’t drive. I’m surprised he didn’t come back sooner.”

Valid points. But the timing of his return is what’s of interest to me.

F1 is coming off a dreadful year. Probably the worst scandal in the history of the sport came to light this year (the race-fix) and manufacturers and sponsors were announcing their withdrawal – it seemed – almost every second day.

F1 needed a big boost and Schumacher’s comeback announcement for 2010 probably did the trick.

How much did Bernie Ecclestone really have to do with it?

I suggest lots – and here’s some indirect evidence.

In 1992, one of the giants of the sport shocked everybody by winning the world championship and then quitting. Nigel Mansell left Formula One to race in North America with CART – where, incidentally, he won the 1993 championship.

In 1994, Mansell was in his second season of driving for the Newman-Haas team in the CART series. He was its biggest star (although there were many - the Andrettis, Unser Jr., Tracy, et al), the series was at the height of its popularity in North America and challenging F1 for popularity around the world.

In May, F1’s biggest star, Ayrton Senna, was killed at Imola. A second driver was also killed and another seriously injured. F1 was on its heels.

 Within weeks, Mansell was suddenly back in F1, driving for Williams. He returned to F1 full-time with McLaren in 1995 but then – almost as suddenly and almost as mysteriously – left the sport for good after only two races.

Here is a guy who won back-to-back major championships in '92 and '93 and then, within 18 months, was gone forever.

How very strange.

In the December issue of Motor Sport magazine, journalist Simon Taylor asked Mansell about the circumstances surrounding his sudden departure from CART and his short-lived return to F1.

“I’m not permitted to talk about that,” said Mansell in the article. “Let’s just say that, among all the power brokers, I was a small pawn in a big game. . . There was a lot of politics behind it, and one day the truth will come out.”

He then goes on to tell Taylor this (and the real reading here is between the lines . . .):

“I still had contracts that bound me until 1997 and prevented me from driving anything else. I’m a simple person – all I ever wanted to do was drive a racing car fast. Then the lawyers show you that even when you think you’ve agreed something, that’s not exactly what was meant. . .

“When they can buy out three years of contracts in America out from under your feet, and you turn up to do your job, and your lawyers tell you that anybody can be put on gardening leave if they’re paid in full, and you can’t do anything about it – well, it’s not the way to finish.”
        If Bernie Ecclestone can - apparently - cut short the career of one of the most determined and charismatic racing drivers of our lifetime, then getting Michael Schumacher back into the cockpit would be, for him, a piece of cake.

 

Ecclestone’s genius shines with Schumacher return

The guy who engineered Jacques Villeneuve’s move to Formula One back in 1996 was Bernie Ecclestone.

Ever the marketing man, Ecclestone was worried that people were losing interest in F1 because Michael Schumacher was dominating (17 victories in 33 races in ‘94 and ‘95), Nigel Mansell had lost his magic after going off to race in CART and the only other driver of note, Damon Hill, had the charisma of a rug.

Ecclestone knew he needed a star – someone who had speed plus style. He needed someone flamboyant. And, hey, if he happened to have a name that would capture the hearts of F1 fans worldwide, so much the better.

Enter Jacques Villeneuve.

Fast forward to 2009-2010.

The new World Champion, Jenson Button, is a pretender. The World Champion once-removed, Lewis Hamilton, fell flat on his face when it came time to defend his title but seemed to have lost his luster in any event. The World Champion twice-removed, Kimi Raikkonen, has been exiled to Elba (otherwise known as the World Rally Championship).

The challengers? Only one, really. Sebastien Vettel is a nice young guy – and that’s the problem. He’s too nice. There’s no swagger, no arrogance about him. Sure, he’s a good driver and will probably be great before he’s through, but that doesn’t sell tickets and an impresario like Ecclestone knows it.

In Bernie’s mind, it was 1994-95 all over again. The sport would be in trouble in 2010 unless a star was born – or re-born. Someone with speed and style. Someone flamboyant. Someone with a legendary name.

Someone like Michael Schumacher.

Now, the industry that is Formula One is dog-eat-dog, give-and-take unlike just about any other. The sport’s relationship with the media is particularly fascinating. Report the right thing and you’re in everybody’s good books. Report (or say) the wrong thing and you’ll find yourself on Elba with Kimi.

In short, reporters who cover F1 as their beat get access to people and events at Bernie’s pleasure and, as a result, are beholden to him.

When Felipe Massa was injured, Bernie – ever the opportunist – saw his chance. A phone call here, an email there and the return-of-Michael-Schumacher media campaign began in earnest. It is no coincidence that it started en masse and has never let up. Sure, there were bumps in the road – a motorcycle neck injury kept Michael from making his return with Ferrari – but there has literally not been a day since when there hasn’t been a "will he?" or "won’t he?" story coming from this paper or that Internet site.

Schumacher’s manager would say this one day, Ferrari’s management would say that the next. Michael, himself, would say maybe – "but I'm definitely thinking about it." Niki Lauda and Keke Rosberg would chime in with their two cents.

All this has been no accident. You can bet your bottom dollar that Bernie Ecclestone has been pulling the strings on this story from the start. Michael Schumacher’s official announcement today that he will drive for Mercedes GP in 2010 is the culmination of his efforts.

The man is a genius. Formula One has been saved once again.

Struck gold at Le Mans, Canadian racer Greg Wilkins dies

Greg Wilkins of Toronto, who won a class victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2000, has died of cancer at age 53.

The father of Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series driver Mark Wilkins, Greg Wilkins was executive vice-chairman of the world’s biggest gold-mining company, Barrick Gold of Toronto. He had been president and CEO until he fell ill several years ago.

Although the Le Mans victory, with co-drivers Scott Maxwell and John Graham, was undoubtedly the most important of his racing career, the one he was most proud of came in 2005 when he finished third at the 24 Hours of Daytona, co-driving with his son.

He made 39 starts in the Grand Am series and won the GTO class at Mid-Ohio in 2000. He was also a driver in the Continental Tire Challenge series and won races at tracks in Arizona and California in 2003 and 2004.

Wilkins was a guy who "fooled around" with auto racing until he realized that he could be good at it.

"I attended a driving school in the late 1980s," he told me once during an interview at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida.

"In fact, I took driving schools for about five years until one day somebody said that I could actually get out on the track and not embarrass myself. I was interested in (watching) Indy racing but it’s not in my nature to be much of a fan. I like to get out there.

"I’d rather play golf than watch golf. I’d rather drive cars than watch cars."

He revealed that he often took fellow executives along with him on race weekends because "racing and business are similar when it comes to performance culture in areas such as communication, planning and preparation, strategy and execution, and cost management."

He added that it was also a lot of fun.

Besides Mark, Greg Wilkins also leaves his wife Vera and a daughter, Lauren.

A memorial service will be held at a later date.

Fort Erie speedway project is starting to look good

Several years ago, as talk started to gain momentum about the possibility of a world-class speedway being built near Fort Erie, Ont., I would tell people in emails as well as conversation that pigs would fly before that track ever saw the light of day.

Over the years, all sorts of people had talked about the need for a proper big-league speedway in these parts. I remember in particular one popular scenario that had land north of what is now Canada’s Wonderland as being perfect for such a project. It would be close to a large population centre (Toronto), a major highway (the 400) and yet far enough out of town (at the time) that the NIMBY crowd wouldn’t get too worked up about it.

But it never happened because of what seemed to be overwhelming obstacles:

1. Financing. Who would pay for it? A project of that magnitude (a mile, or mile-and-a-half speedway, and a road course with seating for 50,000-plus spectators as well as the infrastructure to support it would cost a fortune.

2. The Southern Ontario climate. How could anybody be able to generate enough business during our short racing season to make enough money to guarantee financiers a return-on-investment on a property that would cost millions?

3. What product would be available for presentation? There’s no doubt that people would fill the place the first couple of times, simply out of curiosity. But after that, what would the operators promote?

– NASCAR has been adamant that it will not race at that facility. The International Speedway Corp., which is run by the same family that operates NASCAR, owns tracks at Watkins Glen, N.Y., and Jackson, Mich. (Michigan International) and has said repeatedly that it will not race at any facility in this region other than those two.

– The Grand Am Series is very much a part of NASCAR and if NASCAR has no interest in a Fort Erie speedway it would be highly unlikely that the Grand Am would. In any event, the Grand Am doesn’t draw flies (other than for the Daytona 24).

– The American Le Mans Series is owned by the same fellow who owns Mosport. Guess which series wouldn’t be racing at Fort Erie?

– The ARCA stock car series or the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series aren‘t big enough draws.

– The Indy Racing League has a contract for two more years in Toronto. It’s possible that the Honda Indy could someday run at Fort Erie, but not in the short term. And besides, one major event a season wouldn’t be enough to make such a project practical.

As I said, when pigs fly.

But then, certain things started to happen.

– There was a highly publicized public meeting two weeks ago when Fort Erie Town Council gave the speedway its unanimous approval.

– A less publicized meeting of the Niagara Region’s planning committee several days after the first one also saw a vote to approve.

- Financiing seems to be in place.

– And the latest issue of Inside Track magazine hit newsstands last week featuring an exclusive interview with Jeff Gordon, who officially went on record with the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Greg MacPherson, as being involved as a partner.

(For a number of years, Gordon’s name had been linked to the project – but never publicly. In fact, one of the first times I interviewed prime mover Jay Mason about the speedway, he hinted that there was a high profile NASCAR driver in his camp. "I can’t tell you his name, but he’s big," he said.)

Now, the Fort Erie-based Canadian Motor Speedway is officially a "Jeff Gordon Design signature speedway" and that can’t help but give the project the legitimacy it needs going forward.

One of the guys I used to exchange "pigs will fly" emails with sent me a message toward the end of last week.

"I’m thinking that the Fort Erie track may make it. There’s a professionalism and, along with lots of $$$, they are doing things right."

He may be on to something. I know I’m starting to change my mind, too.

There’s still lots of work to do, and hurdles to clear. And it’s not a done deal. Far from it.

But the Canadian Motor Speedway is a lot closer to reality today that it’s ever been before and those of us who love the sport can only hope those directly involved can retain their focus and stay the course.

Because, if it happens, it will be wonderful.

Switching from one race car to another - what's the big deal?

It’s interesting how many people are suggesting that Danica Patrick won’t be able to make the transition from Indy cars to stock cars and that, in fact, she’ll likely fall flat on her kisser.

Okay, perhaps all forms of car racing have become so sophisticated as compared to the "olden days" that it’s not all that easy. Maybe that explains why Dario Franchitti and Paul Tracy and a bunch of others – most of whom are terrific racers – flunked their NASCAR tests.

But not that many years ago, racing drivers went from one kind of car to another all the time – and were successful at it, too.

Mario Andretti went from sprints and midgets to front-engine Indy cars to rear-engine Indy cars to stock cars and won races while driving all of them. People forget that Andretti won the Daytona 500 in 1967, two years after he was rookie-of-the-year at Indianapolis.

Jimmy Clark went from Formula One to Indy cars to stock cars (he was doing just fine driving through the field in a NASCAR race at Rockingham Motor Speedway in 1967 when he experienced engine trouble that sidelined him).

Janet Guthrie, who will be forever remembered as the first woman to qualify for the Indy 500 in 1977, qualified for what was then called the NASCAR World 600 on Memorial Day a year earlier, in 1976, and started in the top 15, sandwiched between a couple of guys named Bill Elliott and Dale Earnhardt Sr.

A.J. Foyt? Show him a race car and he could drive it and win in it. One weekend years ago he ran a NASCAR race Saturday and then flew to California for a Formula 5000 race on Sunday.

More recently, Tony Stewart went from midgets and sprint cars and then adapted to rear-engine Indy cars like a duck does to water. And many of the stars of the Sprint Cup series today – Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne and Casey Mears, to name a few – were open-wheel stars when they first attracted attention. They didn’t seem to have too much trouble adapting.

Jimmie Johnson, arguably the best stock car racer of his generation, got his start in off-road racing, as did Robby Gordon.

I could go on and on.

So what’s the big deal about Danica Patrick? All sorts of people have done this before, so why not her?

Would you let a 15-year-old play professional hockey?

I was talking with a colleague about Zach Veach, the 15-year-old Ohio karter who’s going straight to the Formula Atlantic series in 2010 with Canadian team Jensen Motorsport and he was not impressed.

“Okay,” he said. “Say you have a 15-year-old hockey player. He’s six-feet and 200 pounds of muscle and has the skills of Sidney Crosby. Do you put him in the American Hockey League? I don’t think so.”

Of course, he’s right. As Indy cars are the NHL, Atlantics and Indy Lights are the American League.l

And how a 15-year-old who’s never driven in an open-wheel car race of any kind (he’s apparently tested in Formula BMW and Atlantics but he’s never raced them) is being allowed to go directly into such a high-speed series as Formula Atlantic is boggling the minds of many.

It's a recipe for disaster.

When I first broached this subject the other day, I said I would return to it and discuss what the Indy Racing League has done to create a “ladder” system where a young driver could go from karts to U.S. Formula Ford 2000, then the Star Mazda Series, Indy Lights and maybe – just maybe – Indy cars.

Called the Road to Indy, it  makes perfect sense. You “graduate,” if you will, from one series to the next that’s a little bit faster and where you have to be a little more mature. Hopefully, by the time you get to Indy Lights (or Atlantics), where you’re going to be travelling wheel-to-wheel and in excess of 175 miles an hour at times, you’re going to be old enough physically and emotionally to handle it.

The key thing, of course, is that a driver will have to have turned 18 before being allowed into an Indy Lights race. NASCAR has a similar rule and there are several reasons, chief among them being the danger factor and the negative publicity that would result if a minor was seriously injured – or worse – while racing under their sanction.

I also like to think they’re protecting young drivers, because nobody else seems to be.

In any event, the IRL and NASCAR have said no to the Zach Veaches of the world. What about Sebring, where the Atlantic Series will start its season next March? And the American Le Mans Series will be the headliner. And IMSA will sanction. How comfortable are they going to be?

Matt Kenseth to star at Canadian Motorsport Expo

The Canadian Motorsport Expo, which will kick of the 2010 auto racing season Jan. 22-24 at the International Centre out by Pearson Airport, has hit the jackpot.

Organizers announced today that NASCAR star and 2003 Sprint Cup Champion Matt Kenseth, who also happens to be defending champion of the Daytona 500, will be the Expo’s special guest on Sat., Jan. 23, where he will meet fans and sign autographs.

(The last time Kenseth was in Canada was in 2002 when he travelled to Cayuga Speedway to make a guest driving appearance in a CASCAR race and wound up winning the thing.)

Specific details about Kenseth’s appearance will be released in the next few weeks.

Another special guest at this year’s Expo will be Paul Tracy, who also will meet and greet fans and signs autographs. Canadian road racing ace Ron Fellows, up-and-coming sprint car star Jessica Zemken and Canada's most successful international motorcycle racing stars, the father-son team of Yvon and Miguel Duhamel are also booked for autograph sessions.

Organizers say other personality announcements will soon be forthcoming.

As the 2010 season marks the 50th anniversary of racing at Mosport International Raceway, a special session of the Expo will be set aside for that.

15-year-old too young to race in Formula Atlantic

Formula Atlantic, a series that boasts the participation of some of motorsport’s great drivers – Bobby Rahal, Danny Sullivan, Michael Andretti, Danica Patrick, Ryan Hunter-Reay,  Gilles Villeneuve, Jacques Villeneuve, Keke Rosberg, Sam Hornish Jr. and A.J. Allmendinger – has just given the green light to a 15-year-old boy to go racing in 2010.

Zach Veach, a kid from Ohio, will be the youngest driver in the 37-year-history of Atlantics and I don't think that’s a good thing.

At all.

From what I can tell, he’s a karter who’s tested for the now-discontinued Formula BMW Americas series and then tested Atlantic cars with Canadian team Jensen Motorsport before signing a contract that will see him begin his professional open-wheel, open-cockpit career next March in Sebring.

Look again at all those names in the first paragraph. Every one of them is different from Veach in one very important area: they were adults who knew what they were getting themselves into when they went racing in Atlantics.

I’ve been down this road before: I am dead set against high-speed motorsport involvement by minors.

I’m not alone in this. NASCAR won’t let anyone under the age of 18 participate in a NASCAR-sanctioned  motorsport activity. Neither will the Indy Racing League. In fact (and I’ll have more to say about this in another blog later this week), the IRL in recent days eliminated the possibility of budding racers going directly from karts into Indy Lights (which is comparable to the Atlantics) until they’ve had a season or two in a professional Formula Ford (or equivalent stepping-stone) series.

In any event, Jensen Motorsport – which is owned by Eric Jensen, a friend of mine – has signed young Zach to a two-year contract and Jensen is high on his potential.

“I’ve indeed been lucky and often privileged to coach upcoming drivers who strive to become tomorrow’s open-wheel stars,” said Jensen, in a release.

“Every so often, an individual comes along that truly makes you stand up and take notice, with both the raw, God-given talent and desire that simply cannot be taught. From what I’ve already seen in several private tests at both Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch in Nevada, Zach might very well be one of America’s great next generation drivers.”

Let’s hope Eric’s right about that potential – for everybody’s sake, but particularly Zach’s.

Racing lineup excellent for July’s Honda Indy

Well, after a less-than auspicious return last summer of what had once been one of Toronto’s Big 3 summertime weekends – the Gay Pride Celebration and Caribana Festival being the other two – it seems that the organizers and sponsors of the Honda Indy Toronto have decided to get serious.

According to the website hondaindytoronto.com, tickets will go on sale this week (just in time for Christmas) for the three-day event next July 16-18 that will feature the stars and cars of the IZOD Indy Car Series – Dario Franchitti, Tony Kanaan, Danica Patrick, Helio Castroneves, Will Power and – fingers crossed – Paul Tracy, among others.

In addition, support races will be presented by the Firestone Indy Lights, the NASCAR Canadian Tire stock cars (hooray!), the SCCA Pro Racing Trans-Am Series, the Speed World Challenge Touring Car Series plus the GT cars and last, but certainly not least, the Castrol Canadian Touring Car Series presented by Toyo Tires (another big hooray!).

That, ladies and gents, is a pretty solid lineup. In the words of event vice-president and general manager Charlie Johnstone, "We’re poised to have the best on-track racing in the history of the event."

I don’t know about that, Charlie, but I suggest it’s a huge improvement over the on-track product last July.

Now, I don’t want to get into whether the prices of the tickets are fair or not. If I want to watch the Blue Jays or the Raptors or the Leafs from a good seat, it’s going to cost me big-league prices. And an Indy car race in Toronto or a Grand Prix of Canada race in Montreal is certainly not cheap.

However, I took my latest son to a movie yesterday and by the time I paid for parking in the Yonge-Eglinton area, admission to the theatre and popcorn and drinks for the two of us, it cost me just south of half a hundred.

In that context, I don’t think ticket prices for the Honda Indy are out of line at all.

I think, also, that the organizers have made an effort to answer some of the complaints they received after last year’s race and, for instance, if you purchase your tickets in advance – and this includes General Admission – the taxes and handling charges are included.

But the key is "in advance." If you wait to buy a ticket till the day – or days – you go, then a service or handling charge will be tacked on.

I’ll be sitting down with Johnstone in January for a chat about what the event has done to answer some of the other complaints that followed last year’s race.

But I have to say that it looks like they’re off to a good start for 2010.