Norris McDonald's Auto Racing Blog

Helio on carpet, weekend racing preview

The Indy Racing League has announced it will meet with Helio Castroneves next week to discuss his post-race outburst after he was robbed of victory in the Honda Indy Edmonton.

That was when he was charged with blocking his teammate, Will Power, even though there was no block. The explanation since is that he was driving on a part of the track where he wasn’t supposed to drive (have you ever heard of anything so stupid in your life?) and that is why he was penalized.

Castroneves, you’ll recall, went just about berserk afterward and, at one point, grabbed a series official by the lapels.

So the IRL feels it has to do something about Castroneves’s behaviour when, in fact, it should do something about its officiating. If the call hadn’t been made at all, never mind being so draconian and unfair, it’s a good bet that Helio wouldn’t have gone crazy.

Several other IRL officials weighed in on the controversy this week, as have several drivers, and they all agreed the call was correct.

How predictable and tiresome. Doesn’t anybody have the guts anymore to bite the hand that feeds them? Do you think A.J. Foyt or Parnelli Jones would have stood for this nonsense? I guarantee you that somebody would have been punched in the mouth.

Now, I invite you to listen to the Indy Racing League’s post-race broadcast hosted by announcer Mike King. (You can listen to the podcast here.) He talks to Castroneves, Team Penske president Tim Cindric and Indy 500 driver Davey Hamilton, who also does colour commentary, with King, on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network.

What will come through loud and clear is the Pandora’s box that was opened by chief steward Brian Barnhart’s decision to penalize Castroneves. I made this point in a blog earlier this week and you will hear it again and again on that podcast: the IRL had better penalize every driver when blocking is suspected or there is going to be trouble. Go ahead and make the calls, but make them every time. Inconsistency can no longer be tolerated.

It’s going to be a scream at Mid-Ohio next weekend, watching the drivers trying to stay out of trouble.

“Can I drive on that little bit of pavement over there?”

“Oops, better not . . .”

The three words you’d better get used to hearing in IndyCar racing from now on are “drive-through penalty.”

How sad.

As if they didn't have enough trouble . . .

Weekend notes:

– The World of Outlaws sprint cars are at Ohsweken Speedway near Brantford for shows Friday night and Saturday night. The great thing about the Outlaws is that they can drive anywhere they want to on the speedway. What a refreshing concept!

– If I’m Jack Roush, I’m never piloting my own plane again. To survive one crash (with the help of a fellow who rescued him from a watery grave after the plane he was piloting went into deep water in 2002) is miraculous enough. To walk away a second time, as happened this week, is really pushing it. He should hire somebody to fly him around.

– Felipe Massa is strutting about, telling everybody who will listen that he’s never going to let Fernando Alonso past him again. It makes for good copy but who’s he kidding? Like Rubens Barrichello before him, it’s in his contract that he has to do what the Scuderia Ferrari tells him to do. If he doesn’t, they will fine him the amount of money they’ve already paid him this season and then they will fire him. And what is that going to prove? Next time, they (and he) just won’t make it so obvious.

– Talking about Formula One, my pre-Grand Prix podcast with Canadian F1 expert Gerald Donaldson will be on wheels.ca by noon Friday. We’re going to talk about the Massa situation, as well as the spectacular performances by two young Canadians in the GP3 Series races that are held in support of all the Grand Prix races – Robert Wickens and Daniel Morad.

– Someone commented on my blog earlier this week that they couldn’t find the previous podcast. Here is where to find it: it is always in the carousel – five or six stories that rotate – at the top left corner of wheels.ca (underneath the big blue box). Watch the carousel and the podcast will come around. You can also find it at thestar.com/sports/autoracing (yes, there is an auto racing page at thestar.com that directs you to the stories on wheels.ca).

    

In IndyCar racing, you don't have to block to be blocking

Although Brian Barnhart has his defenders – and at least one of them has posted a comment on this blog in which he quoted at length from the pre-race drivers’ meeting at Sunday’s Honda Indy Edmonton showing that the IndyCar chief steward had specifically warned against anyone doing what Helio Castroneves was black-flagged for doing late in the race – there are gazillions of people out there who still think he should have his head read.

Barnhart called Castroneves’ actions on the restart with only a few laps to go, “blocking,” and if that was blocking (watch the video) then we might as well throw in the towel because racing as we know it is doomed.

With this call, Brian Barnhart, in his role as chief steward, is not only telling racing drivers how to drive but where on the circuit they may drive during a race, which is poppycock.

This is what I define as blocking: You block somebody when you drive in front of him or her to impede his or her progress. By your actions, you force that person to hit the brakes or deviate from their line. That is blocking. Helio Castroneves did none of that in Edmonton on Sunday.

Anyway, the die is cast. This is what Brian Barnhart said in defending his actions.

"The rules are clear on it. In every drivers' meeting we talk about it. On road courses we divide the track physically in half, and from the braking point to entry they're told you can only be on the inside half if you're attempting to overtake someone.

"If you're on the inside half while someone is trying to overtake you, it's blocking.”

So there you have it. You don’t have to block anybody to be blocking.

Okay, next year at the Honda Indy Toronto, using the definition of blocking as defined in the previous two paragraphs by Brian Banhart, I am going to record (tape) the telecast of the race in order to keep an exact record of the number of incidents of blocking that will happen at Turn 3, which is at the end of Lake Shore Blvd. I’ll post them all, right up here on this website, too.

Keeping track will be fairly easy to do because Lake Shore Blvd. is a public road and there is a white line painted right down the middle of it. Unlike the airport circuit in Edmonton, where Barhart's line is somewhat imaginary as it’s somewhere out on a runway, there will be no question in Toronto. The white line will be right there, which means that no driver, unless he or she is attempting to pass, can be on the driver’s right side (north side) of that line going into turn 3. You can ONLY turn in from the driver’s left side (south side) of the white line.

I think I can safely estimate that at the start of the race and during the expected numerous restarts, going right back through the field, that about 50 per cent of the drivers will be blocking at Turn 3, as defined above.

How do I know? Because they were blocking all over the place at Turn 3 during this year's Honda Indy Toronto and have been blocking going into Turn 3 for years.

And I mean real blocking; not Barnhart's imaginary blocking.

If Brian Barnhart is still employed by the Indy Racing League when next July's Honda Indy Toronto rolls around, it's sure going to be crowded in the pits with all those drive-throughs.

 

 

Bad call, no call, dominate auto racing results

Weekend headlines:

1. Bad call ruins exciting Honda Edmonton Indy

2. No call – bad or otherwise – ruins German Grand Prix

3. Young Canadian Turks win open wheel, NASCAR races

Officials were involved in the finishes of two of yesterday’s three races and both times they botched the job.

I always say that if you’re going to do anything, do it right or don’t bother. The stewards (plural) in Formula One and the steward (singular) in IndyCar should pay heed.

We’ll deal with the IndyCar controversy first. It happened here, in Canada.

Brian Barnhart, the IndyCar steward who’s been frequently criticized over the years for wielding power that many say he isn’t qualified to hold, determined that Helio Castroneves, who was leading the Honda Indy Edmonton, blocked his teammate, Will Power, on a late-race restart.

I have watched this incident half-a-dozen times (you can watch it here) and I have absolutely no idea what Brian Barnhart was thinking.

Blocking is when a driver gets in front of another driver and forces him to either stand on the brakes or take some other evasive action.

Helio Castroneves never blocked Will Power on that restart. They were side-by-side. How is that blocking?

As they headed for the second turn, still side-by-side, Power had to back off because Castroneves had the line. He backed off so much that Scott Dixon passed him for second place.

Barnhart, in his wisdom (he and Castroneves have a history; this is not the first time he’s levied a penalty against the Brazilian driver for blocking), determined that Castroneves should serve a drive-through penalty.

Castroneves refused to acknowledge the black flag (shades of Scott Goodyear at Indy in 1995!) and crossed the finish line first, with Dixon right behind.

Dixon was declared the winner, without having led a single lap. Power finished second and Dario Franchitti was third. Castroneves officially finished tenth, the last car on the lead lap.

Castroneves didn’t do his cause any good by going completely bananas when he got out of his car afterward. Screaming and yelling and carrying on, he actually grabbed an IRL security officer by the shirt and finally had to be restrained by his boss, Team Penske president Tim Cindric, and others.

Just about everybody in Edmonton, including the TV commentators, felt Castroneves was robbed except three people – the two Chip Ganassi drivers Dixon and Franchitti, and Castroneves’s Penske teammate Power, all of whom benefitted by the decision.

Now, the motivations behind these reactions were interesting.

Dixon is Mr. Perfect. He’s a real holier-than-thou guy (I mean, he never does anything wrong on the race track ) and so you expect a guy who’s as arrogant as he is to pile right on.

Franchitti? Sure, he was delighted because the penalty put him on the podium, a place he wasn’t good enough to be on this day. But to say Barnhart made the right call was the pot calling the kettle black because Franchitti has thrown a block or two in his time. So people in glass houses shouldn’t . . .etc.

Power? That’s a puzzler. He said Castroneves deserved the penalty.

Power knows Penske will likely only keep two drivers in 2011 and perhaps he thought he was helping to solidify his position with the team by throwing Castroneves under the bus.

But I don’t think that works with the Captain. In fact, he might consider that a backstab. From what I’ve seen of, and heard from, Roger Penske over the years, I don’t think he likes backstabbers.

In Roger’s world, you’re on a team. His team. The team wins together and loses together. It does not wash its dirty laundry in public. It keeps it in the family.

Will Power could have done himself a bigger favour by keeping his mouth shut.

Meantime, in Formula One, the stewards who were so quick to levy five-second penalties several races ago against drivers for driving too quickly behind the safety car (!), and drive-through penalties for such serious crimes as passing another car while cutting a corner, chickened out completely yesterday after Ferrari manipulated the final results of the German Grand Prix.

In a nutshell, Felipe Massa had the measure of the field on this day, including his Ferrari teammate,  Fernando Alonso. He was on his way to winning his first Grand Prix since his near-death experience a year ago when he was told by the team to let Alonso pass him.

Which he did by slowing down and pulling over to the side of the road.

Alonso won the race, followed by Massa and Red Bull driver Sebastien Vettel.

Now, there are many people who don’t see anything wrong with team orders. As a friend of mine said last night, "that’s why they call it a team."

But Formula One moved to stop such blatant manipulation of the results a number of years ago – in 2002, to be exact – after Rubens Barrichello slammed on the brakes to let Michael Schumacher pass him and win the Austrian GP.

The rule in question states simply: "Team orders that interfere with race results are prohibited."

Seems kind of cut and dried, doesn’t it?

For some reason, the stewards failed to take action. Yes, they fined Ferrari $100,000, which is pocket change, but kicked the final decision on any real penalty upstairs to the World Motorsports Council.

Guess who runs that show? The new FIA president, Jean Todt, that's who. He's the guy who was in charge of Ferrari when Barrichello was told to let Schumacher past, or else.

Gee, I wonder what the result of that meeting’s going to be. . .

OTHER RACE RESULTS AND NOTEBOOK JOTTINGS GENERALLY

– Robert Wickens of Guelph and Toronto won the GP3 Series race at Hockenheim on the weekend. Daniel Morad of Markham won a race in that series at the British Grand Prix two weeks ago. Good for those two young guys, who will be racing again next weekend at the Hungarian GP. I’ll be talking about them with the Star’s special F1 correspondent ,Gerald Donaldson, in our pre-Grand Prix podcast next Friday noon at wheels.ca

– James Hinchcliffe of Oakville won the Indy Lights race at Edmonton yesterday, his second victory in that series this season. Philip Major of Ottawa was 10^th.

– Jamie MacMurray won the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis, giving owner Chip Ganassi victories in the Daytona 500 and the two races at Indy, the IndyCar 500 and the NASCAR 400. Although his team "won" the IndyCar race at Edmonton, deep down the Chipster knows they really didn’t.

Jacques Villeneuve – and who knows what he was doing in a NASCAR race – finished 29^th, three laps down. Juan Montoya seemed to have the race in the bag but crashed.

– J.R. Fitzpatrick of Cambridge easily won the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series race at Edmonton, with Anthony Simone of Holland Landing second and Scott Steckly of Milverton third. Andrew Ranger of Roxton Pond, Que.,  wasn’t entered this time.

- Greg Pickett and Klaus Graf driving a Porsche RS Spyder Prototype won the American Le Mans Race at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut on Saturday. Patrick Long and Joerg Bergmeister won the GT Class in a Porsche 911.

– Hey, what was with that Mercedes grandstand at Hockenheim? Taking a cue from U.S. college football games, spectators in the ‘stand held up bristol-board cards that spelled out "Nico & Michael."

But shouldn’t that have been, "Michael & Nico"? Is Mercedes starting to apply subtle pressure to force Schumacher out?

Don’t laugh. F1 is a cut-throat business.

– Talking about cut-throat, did you see the way Red Bull stuck it to Mark Webber yesterday?

Webber, we all recall, didn’t make any lasting friends at that team by sticking in the knife and twisting it at Silvertstone two weeks ago after the team took a new, experimental, front wing off his car and put it on his teammate Vettel’s car just before final qualifying.

Well, Webber qualified fourth for Germany and held his position from the start. But the team called Vettel in very early, on Lap 13, for fresh tires and sent him out on his lonesome, in clean air, to make hay while the sun shone. They called Webber in a lap later and released him right into the middle of a pack of back-markers.

Webber qualified fourth, started fourth and finished sixth. Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button passed him "in the pits" while he was stuck amidships.

I’ll be surprised if he wins another race this year.

– By the way, Vettel – in trying to pull a Schumacher and just about forcing Alonso into the retaining wall at the start – was paying so much attention to Fernando that Massa passed them both. Perhaps Vettel should pay more attention to racing.

Memo to Brian Barnhart: Dear Brian, now that's blocking. . . .

– Felipe Massa was forthright when speaking about his actions. "You work for the team," he said, which is the mark of a good team player. Are you listening, Will Power?

– Is Alonso getting old? He stretched his lower back muscles twice after getting out of the car.

-- Paul Tracy applied the chrome horn to Raphael Matos yesterday. Last year in Edmonton, he drop-kicked Mario Moraes off the racing surface. They like him in Edmonton. He finished sixth yesterday. Let's hope he subs for the injured Mike Conway at Dryer & Reinbold again. They do not want to continue allowing Tomas Scheckter in their car.

Alex Tagliani was wrecked by Tony Kanaan. Why no penalty for that? Sure looked like careless driving to me.

– Milka Duno has been put on probation for the rest of the year because she’s so slow. Okay, but why did they choose to embarrass her? What did she ever do to them?

Did they do that to Dr. Jack Miller? Marty Roth? Scheckter? Hideki Mutoh? Moraes? I could go on.

They could have handled her situation better. She has sponsors, and commitments. They could have let her practice and then benched her for qualifying (something they've actually been doing). Then, they could have let her start last on condition that she pull in after five laps. Then, at the end of the year, they could very quietly have told her not to come back.

– The Edmonton race was a bit like Toronto in that they had pretty good racing for awhile and then there was yellow flag after yellow flag.

– The Indianapolis 500 field got through turn one in May year before Davey Hamilton spun out and crashed in turn two. The NASCAR field got through turn one yesterday before Kyle Busch spun out in turn two and six other cars crashed, as a result.

– The Indianapolis Speedway had a lot of empty seats yesterday. But it was still more than half full, which means more than 100,000 people were at the Brickyard 400.

I know promoters who would kill for that number.

Honda Indy raises $50,000 for Make-A-Wish

When it was announced that Paul Tracy would drive in this year’s Honda Indy Toronto in support of Make-A-Wish Canada, a children’s charity, the Honda Dealers of Ontario announced a series of fundraising initiatives, including Free Friday at the race in which admission for practice sessions would be waived in exchange for a donation.

That, plus fans signing Tracy’s race uniform for a fee and dollar-for-dollar matching funds from Honda Canada, has resulted in more than $50,000 being raised.

 In a release, Jennifer Ritter, chief executive officer for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Canada, said: “We are delighted to partner with corporations like Honda that share our commitment to children with life-threatening medical conditions.”

“We are thrilled that Free Friday was such a success,” said Brian Tafler, owner of Midtown Honda speaking on behalf of the Ontario Honda Dealers Association.

“We asked fans to consider making a donation to Make-a-Wish Canada and they definitely answered the call.”

Fans contributed more than $25,000, which was matched dollar-for-dollar by Honda Canada for a total of more than $50,000. 

There will be additional fundraising this week at the Honda Indy Edmonton where Tracy will again be racing in support of the charity.

L’Estage, Richard wrap up 2010 Rally America Championship

 Antoine L’Estage and Nathalie Richard of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., won the 2010 Rally America Championship at the weekend when they finished first in the New England Forest Rally in Maine.

It was the last round of the 2010 Rally America season. 

This was the first U.S. title for L’Estage, who is a two-time Canadian and two-time North American rally champion.

For co-driver Richard, this was the third overall American title she's earned, making her the most successful Canadian competitor in U.S. rally competition.

Sponsored by Rockstar Energy Drink and the Royal Group, and driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X, L’Estage and Richard finished every round of the U.S. series on the podium, with two victories (Maine and Pennsylvania), three second-place finishes and a third.

L’Estage, who has won a national and/or international title in each of the last five years, said: “We’re a small team of never more than five people, including Nathalie and I, and we’re battling top factory teams for titles on both sides of the border. It’s fantastic to see what we can accomplish.”

Overall, L’Estage has won 22 rallies in Canada and the United States. Richard has won 31.

The couple will now head to Los Angeles for the 16^th X Games, scheduled for July 31^st. L’Estage will contest the Rally Car Racing event as well as Super Rally, a rallycross-type event that's new this year.

This will be the Quebec driver’s third appearance in the X Games, which will be televised live on ABC. 

After that, L’Estage and Richard will head for Ste-Agathe, Que., to drive in the Rallye Defi, which is the fourth of six events that make up the Canadian rally championship.

After three rounds, they are fourth in the national standings.

TV ALERT:

The TSN broadcast of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series Jumpstart 100 that was run last Saturday as part of the Honda Indy Toronto weekend will be re-aired this afternoon on TSN at 3:30 and again at midnight on Friday (July 23).
If you miss it on TSN, it will be seen on TSN2 this Thursday at 10:30 p.m. and on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

The Honda Indy Toronto seemed like a NASCAR race

People went to the CNE yesterday to see an Indy car race and a NASCAR race broke out.

The first 17 laps were golden, with good racing, excellent car control and lots of gutsy, clean passing.

Then, ex-Formula One driver Takuma Sato hit the wall after his teammate, Mario Moraes, ran into the side of him. After that, there was yellow flag after yellow flag.

The last caution of the day involved Tomas Scheckter running into Alex Tagliani, which Scheckter said later was "payback" for Tags hitting him in 2009.

Crashes? Payback? How "NASCAR" can you get?

In the end, Will Power of Australia won the race with Dario Franchitti of Scotland second and Ryan Hunter-Reay of Florida third.

There were two women in the top ten – Danica Patrick sixth and Simona de Silvestro ninth.

Re: the crashes. On the statistics sheet, it only shows six cars going off on the hook. But there were at least two more accidents in which cautions resulted and damage was done but the participants were able to get back to the pits and sent out to race again.

Chief among the latter was Ryan Briscoe, who whacked the wall and lost his front wing. After being pulled off the track by the IRL safety crew, Briscoe managed to refire his car and drive it back to the Team Penske pits were a new wing was attached and he rejoined the fray – eventually finishing 18^th, two laps down.

Canadian content was supplied by Paul Tracy (a lap down in 13^th place) and Alex Tagliani, who was 17^th after his late-race run-in with Scheckter. Tag was less-than-pleased with Jody’s kid and let him know it in no uncertain terms.

It was a pretty good race, although it would have been better with fewer cautions. But most of the drivers I either heard talking, or that I talked to afterward, said it’s the nature of the beast in Toronto: it’s a high-speed, tight winding circuit and there are going to be accidents.

If you read down this blog (somebody forgot to change the headline in the blog pointer for about four days . . . ) you’ll see I wrote a live blog during the race. There are other stories I wrote scattered about thestar.com and wheels.ca’s special Honda Indy Page.

So I don’t have a lot more to say. Except . . .

– The crowd. The Rogers Centre is an embarrassment just about every time the Jays play, but nobody in the media seems too concerned about all those empty seats. Ditto the Argos. They played their home opener the other night and the 20,000 who showed up were lost in the 55,000-seat former Skydome.

But everybody wants to know about the crowd at the Indy car race.

I can’t put a number on the crowd at the CNE yesterday, except to say it was more than were at the Argos opener and more than show up for a Jays game these days – which is usually 14,000 or 15,000.

But, more important, there was a "big event" feel to the race, again. That’s what’s important to me.

Having said that, the organizers have to do three things, I think:

– Start marketing the race more in cities within driving distance – Buffalo, Rochester, Hamilton, Kitchener, London, Ont., Peterborough and Kingston. Let each of those cities have their own section. Sell rail and hotel packages. Or bus and hotel. Get Porter airlines involved for people from Ottawa and Montreal.

– Market a family package. $100 for a family of three or four. I met several families on Free Friday who said they’d like to attend the race but couldn’t afford it. One father, looking at his wife for approval (why do so many do that?), said he’d pay $100 if they could all get in for that.

– Last, revisit the water bottle rule. Everybody carries a bottle of water with them these days, everywhere they go. It’s part of the human uniform. It’s really rude to tell people – who are walking up to the gates of your event in 90 degree weather – that they have to throw away their bottle of water.

– I like Will Power because he is a true professional. No excuses. This is what he said about driving for Team Penske (paraphrase):

If we don’t win, it’s not good enough. As drivers, it’s our job to win. We are presented with the best equipment by the best team in auto racing. We have no excuses if we lose...

On losing positions early in the race (direct quote): "Sometimes you have to chill."

– Paul Tracy said he didn’t like finishing behind the two women, but there was a reason.

"To finish high up in auto racing, you can’t make any mistakes. They didn’t make any mistakes today, but Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves and Paul Tracy did."

– Tracy was one of the first drivers to publicly say that the new 2012 chassis might not be all it’s cracked up to be.

"Nobody knows the real cost yet," he said, before going on to estimate that the racing budget of a one-car team would go up by at least a million dollars a year.

-- Indy racing legend Johnny Rutherford was in town to drive the pace car during the Honda Indy. The three-time Indy 500 winner reminisced about racing in a USAC midget race at the old CNE Speedway in 1964. "I thought I finished fourth," he said, "but Jiggs Peters had the same number and the scorers gave him fourth place. I can't remember where I finished."

-- Sasha Anis passed defending Super Touring champion Nick Wittmer late in Sunday’s feature race and held on to secure his first win of 2010 in the Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship presented by Toyo Tires at the Honda Indy Toronto.

Starting from the outside of the front row next to polesitter Nick Wittmer, Anis stayed close to the no.1 Lombardi Honda Racing Civic Si before he made his move going in turn one on lap 12. Once he got around Wittmer, he didn’t look back, and cruised to victory by a margin of 4.435 seconds in his G1 Racing Hyundai Genesis.

Gregory Pootmans started and finished third in ST in his Team Aldo/Northwest BMW 330.

OTHER RACING

I didn’t see any of it (although the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Formula One weren’t in action) so here’s just a quick recap.

– Carl Edwards sent Brad Keselowski spinning at the end of the NASCAR Nationwide race on Saturday night and he was absolutely t-boned by a following car. People were coming up to me at the Indy car race and saying that the have-at-it-boys thing was right-out-of-control.

Yup. NASCAR must be pleased.

-- Jacques Villeneuve has got a ride in next weekend's Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis. And he's working with F1 interests in Europe to enter a team in the 2011 World Championship. I really wish he wouldn't do any of this.

– Mark Webber got a private tongue-lashing from his Red Bull employers this week, then wrote on his web site that there had been "a good meeting," and that the "air had been cleared," and that everybody was "moving forward in a positive manner" to work, in future, for the "betterment of the team."

All code words for a trip to the woodshed.

We’ll see how things go this coming weekend in Germany.

Hmmm, which driver to you think is going to get preferential treatment in Germany? The Australian, or the German? You only get one guess, now. . .

– Alex Gurney and Jon Fogerty won the Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series race in New Jersey. Mark Wilkins of Toronto and American Burt Friselle finished fourth in their Pacific Mobile/Biosign AIM Autosport of Woodbridge No. 61 Ford Riley. Mike Forest of Edmonton and Ryan Dalziel were fifth.

Live blog: Power wins Honda Indy, two women in top ten

Will Power has won the Honda Indy, with Dario Franchittti second and Ryan Hunter-Reay third.

Two women finished in the top ten: Danica Patrick sixth and Simona de Silvestro ninth.

Paul Tracy finished a lap down in 13th place. Alex Tagliani was 17th.

Justin Wilson is battling back as the action gets hairy as the checkers close in on the Honda Indy.

Wilson spun out and was at the back of the pack but is now back to seventh.

Power still leads.

With 10 laps to go, and the green flag out, Will Power led the Honda Indy Toronto.

Franchitti was second, Hunter-Reay was third, Kanaan fourth and Graham Rahal fifth.

Two women were in the top ten -- Danica Patrick was sixth and Simona de Silvestro was eight.

Paul Tracy was a lap down in 13th place.

Will Power took the lead from Justin Wilson at the restart, with Franchitti third.

Wilson spun, dropping him way to the back.

Ryan Hunter-Reay made a daredevil pass of Scott Dixon and hit Dixon into the tire wall.

The action was hairy as the green flag flew following the last caution period.

Tagliani and Tomas Scheckter then crashed -- for yet another full-course caution.

Another full-course yellow was called in today's Honda Indy when Raphael Matos and E.J. Viso crashed. The accident also involved Alex Tagliani and Graham Rahal, although their cars weren't damaged.

On the same lap, Paul Tracy tried to pass Simona de Silvestro but lost control and spun. His car was fine but he stalled and he had to be pushed by the IndyCar safety crew.

There will be a lengthy delay to clean up the mess.

Penske driver Ryan Briscoe was hit from behind by Graham Rahal on Lap 62 but it was a local yellow rather than full-course. It was the second Team Penske car to drop out of the race.

Wilson is still the leader.

Officially, Justin Wilson was back in front, with Will Power second and Dario Franchitti third as all the leaders had to make pit stops under green-flag conditions in today's Honda Indy Toronto.

Tony Kanaan took the lead temporarily with Marco Andretti and Graham Rahal right behind him on Lap 57 of the Honda Indy.

All the leaders were making pits stops under green. Justin Wilson and Will Power got out of the pits ahead of Dario Franchitti.

:Paul Tracy also pitted. Everybody should be able to go the rest of the way with full tanks and fresh tires.

The top three broke away from the pack on Lap 52 of the 85-lap Honda Indy as some drivers started to make green-flag pit stops, which will shuffle the deck so far as the running order is concerned.

Franchitti, Power and Wilson were still the podium trio but they will have to pit  soon. Danica Patrick, Alex Tagliani and several others were making stops.

At the halfway point of today's Honda Indy Toronto -- Lap 43 of 85 -- defending champion Dario Franchitti is in front with Will Power second and pole-sitter Justin Wilson third.

Numerous cautions had brought the race to  an almost crawl but things are now backto high-speed normal.

Paul Tracy came out of the pits last after a fuel and tires stop but had crawled his way back up to 17th. If the race stays green, Tracy will be in a good position because the leaders will have to pit before long.

Tracy finally went into the pits and took a completely full tank of fuel and four new tires.

Franchitti still leads.

Dario Franchitti, who won this race last year, got past Tracy at the end of Lake Shore Blvd. just before another full-course caution -- the fourth -- was called after Moraes ran into the back of Mario Romancini.

Franchitti and Power had gone past Meira before the yellow had been waved for Lloyd's crash.

The first 17 laps featured excellent racing but then caution after caution was called.

Running order: Franchitti, Tracy, Power, Meira, Wilson, Hunter-Reay, Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon, Ryan Briscoe and Danica Patrick are the top ten.

Alex Lloyd went into the first turn tire wall -- three cautions in a row with no green-flag racing -- results in another full-course yellow. Tracy still in front.

Castroneves tried to pass Meira at the end of the straight and ran into the back of Meira's car.

Castroneves' out-of-control car went down the escape road and piled heavily into a tire wall. After a few moments, Castroneves started to move in the cockpit and eventually climbed out of the car.

He appeared unhurt and the crowd gave him a round of applause.

Running order after 24 of 85 laps: Tracy, Meira, Franchitti, Will Power and Wilson.

Big crash as Castronever and Vitor Meara collided at the end of Lake Shore Blvd. Helio appears okay. Second full-course caution.

All cars except Paul Tracy and Vitor Meira headed to the pits on Lap 18 after a full-course caution was called.

Wilson lost big time as Castroneves and Franchitti got past him in the pit stops.

Race leaders: Tracy, Meira, Castroneves, Franchitti, Wilson.

First full-course caution called as Takuma Sato was punted into the wall by his teammate, Mario Moraes. He wasn't hurt. Pit stops will follow.

Most grandstand seats appeared to be full, as were the corporate suites. In short, a healthy crowd is watching the Honda Indy.

Wilson is still in front, with Castroneves second and Franchitti third. Ryan Hunter-Reay has moved up to fourth and Scottt Dixon is fifth. The first three are running very close together.

Milko Duno, driver of the No. 25 Venezuelan-oil-sponsored CITGO car, was ordered off the track on lap 10 (of 85) for going too slowly. 

Wilson still led, Tracy was stuck in 18th behind Tomas Scheckter.

Wilson still led but Dario Franchitti was up to third by the fourth lap. Paul Tracy had moved from 24th to 18th. Dan Wheldon pitted for a new nose cone, which put him at the back of the field.

Justin Wilson jumped the start but led the field through turn one as the 2w4th Honda Indy Toronto go under way at the CNE today.

Helio Castroneves was second and Ryan Hunter-Reay was third.

Retired driver Jimmy Vasser, who co-owns KV Racing Technology with ex-Champ Car Series owner Kevin  Kalkhoven, stood on the starting grid today and said he'd given his driver, Paul Tracy, some advice.

"I told him, 'Slow and steady to the front,' " said Vasser.

Tracy's reaction?

"He looked at me, laughed and said 'Bombs Away!' ' laughed Vasser.

Minutes before today's Honda Indy Toronto was the start -- about 20 minutes ago -- Dario Franchitti went looking for an outhouse.

Some drivers have to "go" before they really go and Franchitti is always one of the first to go looking for a loo.

While his wife, actress Ashley Judd, talked on the grid with his father, Dario relieved himself just about in time to strap in and go racing.

Oh, Franchitt's team, Target Chip Ganassi, changed an engine in his car following final qualifying and there was some talk he would have to start at the back of the field. But IndyCar ruled he hadn't done anything illegal so he was able to keep his fifth-place starting spot.

Bobby Rahal (Graham Rahal's father and winner of the first Molson Indy in 1986) sat on the pit wall with Chip Ganassi prior to the start. Beside them was ex-driver and Scott Dixon's manager, Stefan Johanssen.

Will Canada’s Paul Tracy and Helio Castroneves, the Indy 500 champion who also won TV’s Dancing with the Stars, produce some fireworks in today’s Honda Indy Toronto?

Last year, late in the race, Tracy went to pass the popular Brazilian on a particularly twisty part of the circuit and the two crashed. Tracy was in contention for a podium finish and Castroneves was soundly booed by spectators when he returned to the pits.

Castroneves proclaimed his innocence but many observers, and Tracy, felt the Team Penske driver had turned into him on purpose.

So during this morning’s warmup, who should get very, very close to Penske again but Castroneves. Going into the third turn, at the end of Lake Shore Blvd., Castroneves came up on Tracy’s left side and his right front tire brushed against Tracy’s sidepod. Both drivers managed to maintain control, but it was close.

You can bet Paul Tracy got the number of the driver who gave him the fright: 3 – Helio Castroneves.

Dario Franchitti is the defending champion, Justin Wilson is on the pole and the big race will start at 1 p.m.

James Hinchcliffe of Oakville had second place locked up in this morning’s Indy Lights race until the third turn of the last lap off the 50-lap race. Then disaster struck.

First, he missed his breaking point and was passed by two cars. The, going into turn four, he brushed wheels with Charlie Kimbell and crashed into the tire wall.

The race was won by J.K. Vernay of France. Philip Major of Ottawa was 12^th in the 15-car field.

 

Warmups worth the price of admission

It’s always been a mystery to me why more people don’t get to a race track early so they can listen to the circus come to life.

All the drivers in today’s major races – the Firestone Indy Lights and the IZOD IndyCar Series Honda Indy Toronto – went out for warmup sessions this morning. There’s no extra charge and it was like watching the Jays take batting practice or the Leafs do drills.

The drivers are like any other athlete – they’re not going to go out to race cold.

Many drivers practiced on full tanks to make sure their race setup was correct. Others were still trying to get their cars to handle correctly. Several teams that have part-time pit crew members practised pit stops.

All in all, it was – and is – well worth the price of admission.

Nine-time Indy 500 champion Davey Hamilton was doing double duty this weekend. He was the colour commentator for the on-site announcing team and he was driving the IZOD IndyCar Series’ two-seater Indy car, giving a special high-speed ride to Erica Hill, an anchor/reporter for the CBS morning news.

Hamilton suffered through one of the Indy car series worst accidents at Texas Motor Speedway in 2001 when his car got airborne and every bone in his lower legs and feet was broken. Doctors initially wanted to amputate but several dozen operations later, Hamilton can walk again and – in fact – is still racing.

But only oval track cars.

“I tried to do some road races,” Hamilton said, “but I just couldn’t handle it physically. My legs and feet would ache and ache. As long as I just have to use the throttle and the brake (on ovals), I’m okay.”

Hamilton plans to race again in the Oswego Classic for supermodifieds on Labour Day weekend at Oswego, N.Y., just across Lake Ontario from Kingston.

Simona de Silvestro, the Swiss woman driving for HVM Racing in the IndyCar Series practices what she preaches.  Sponsored by a nuclear power company, which promotes clean energy, she rides a bike between her motorhome and the pits.

Most of the other drivers ride motor scooters.

 

Mercedes boss: 'Drivers don't run racing teams'

Here's another sign that somebody at Red Bull Racing is going to read the riot act to Mark Webber as a result of his behaviour at last weekend's British Grand Prix.

Other teams are starting to weigh in on the controversy, in which Webber belly-ached all weekend after a new and improved front wing was taken off his car and put on the car being driven by his teammate, Sebastien Vettel.

After Webber won the race, he continued to stick in the needle, telling team principal Christan Horner over the radio: "Not bad for a No. 2 driver."

Nick Fry, chief executive of the Mercedes team, says that Red Bull must make clear to its drivers that they are not in charge.

"Drivers are a vital part of the team but they're not the team and that needs to be clear," he is quoted by the Sun newspaper.

"As soon as the lunatics start running the asylum you have big problems," he added.

Racing Roundup: Will Webber’s insubordination backfire?

Weekend headlines:

1. Will British GP winner Webber’s insubordination cost him?

2. Bad weekend for Marko as even Canadian Morad sticks it to him

3. Martin, Montoya feud highlight of dull NASCAR race; Szoke unbeatable on two wheels

There are so many areas of discussion surrounding yesterday’s British Grand Prix, which was won by Mark Webber for Red Bull, with Lewis Hamilton second in a McLaren and Nico Rosberg third for Mercedes, that it’s hard to know where to start.

While Webber won in dominant fashion, which was good for him and good for the team (on the surface), in reality he had his middle finger raised in the direction of his employer for most of the weekend.

His sarcasm immediately after the race (when he said to team principal Christian Horner via the radio: "Not bad for a No. 2 driver") and his flippant reference to teammate Sebastien Vettel during the post-race press conference (in which he referred to him as "the other car") can’t help but result in a repercussion of some kind.

Although it was absolutely great stuff and wonderful theatre, Webber is an employee under contract to that racing team and he is treading on dangerous ground by rubbing their noses in it, which he clearly did for much of the weekend.

It’s one thing to be angry. It’s another to publicly challenge the authority of the people who make the decisions, whether or not they are right or wrong. This is true whether it be car racing or any other form of employment. We are all servants to our masters.

I don’t blame Webber for being furious during qualifying on Saturday when a new and improved front wing was removed from his car and attached to Vettel’s after the one on the young German’s car was damaged.

Red Bull only had two of the new wings, so when Vettel’s was damaged they opted to give the one remaining good one, which was on Webber’s car, to him. Their explanation was simple: Vettel was ahead of Webber in the championship (at that time) and they decided to give the best equipment to him under the circumstances.

There were other reasons, of course, but Horner chose not to amplify his explanation (although he did say much later, more to cool the media anger than anything internal, that every effort would be made to smooth things over . . .).

What went unsaid by Horner, however, is that Webber is 33 and Vettel is 23. Although both are signed through 2011, Vettel is clearly the driver Red Bull expects to lead them to the promised land for years to come.

Oh, and there’s also a cultural connection between Vettel, team owner Dietrich Mateschitz and the real power behind the throne at that team, Helmut Marko, who is officially the director of driver development for Red Bull but unofficially the guy who sets policy and decides who stays in the program and who goes.

If anyone’s the outsider, it’s Webber. The aftermath of the Turkish Grand Prix illustrates that perfectly. You’ll recall that Vettel drove into the side of Webber, causing an accident (and of that, there is no doubt) but Marko blamed Webber anyway.

And now we have this.

There is supposed to be a team meeting today (Monday). Will Webber be reamed out and maybe even fined? Or will Red Bull just let it go and then quietly focus most of their attention on Vettel from here on in, essentially relegating the Australian to secondary status.

Webber did his job by winning the race but he embarrassed his team all weekend.

So something’s going to happen. You can make book on it. What shape the punishment takes, however, will be the interesting part.

British GP Notebook Jottings:

– I know Grand Prix drivers are multi-gazillionaires, with enough money to pay people to do virtually everything for them. But can’t they wipe off their own helmet visors?

– Who slipped Fernando Alonso the Valium? For the second race in a row, he got screwed – this time by the stewards instead of the safety car and yet, post-race, he was so calm and under control it was almost scary.

Alonso passed Robert Kubica by going off-track. There will be those who will argue that he should have let Kubica back in front of him immediately but others would argue that since he was forced off the track by the Polish driver, whether or not to cede back the position would be a decision best left to the stewards.

Before anybody could decide anything, Kubica dropped out of the race. Which meant that the car Alonso would have had to let past wasn’t around.

The stewards, in their wisdom (and under the guidance this race of Nigel Mansell), assessed Alonso a drive-through, which was a very serious penalty for a not-very-serious offence (if it was even that).

If I’d been him, I would have been screaming. But the Spaniard was calm, cool and collected later.

"The stewards . . . always make the decision they think is the right one," he said, adding: "(the penalty) is always fair."

What????

(Oops . . . the penny just dropped. Few in Spain would probably give a hoot about what happened to Alonso because Spain was playing for the World Cup, which it won. So why waste a quality outburst when nobody back home would be paying attention.? That Alonso’s a smart guy . . .)

– Defending World Champion Jenson Button continues his very impressive season. He suffered through a rotten qualifying session on Saturday and started yesterday’s race in 14^th place. He then drove strongly and methodically and finished fourth. He sits second in the championship behind his teammate, Lewis Hamilton. He is very much in the hunt.

Vettel also impressed, after he stopped sulking. He started from pole but was outfoxed into the first corner by Webber, who also pushed him right off the track. However, at some point he’d touched (or been touched by) Hamilton and suffered a puncture which – once fixed – had him running at the tail end of the field.

His heart clearly wasn’t in it and he was nearly lapped by his teammate. (Horner was smart enough to call Webber in for his mandatory tire stop before that happened or else it could have been Red Bull Collisionville all over again.)

In any event, there was a safety car period (to clean up debris) and that closed up the field. Vettel saw that he had a chance at points and delivered, eventually finishing seventh.

– Sir Frank Williams announced at the weekend that he’s started what will likely be a gradual retirement from the sport by relinquishing his role as chairman of AT&T Williams. He’ll continue as team principal but has bowed out of the day-to-day running of the team. Of the "old gang of F1" – Williams, Ron Dennis, Eddie Jordan and Bernie Ecclestone – Bernie’s the only one still at the top of his game.

– The official name of yesterday’s race was the Santander Grand Prix of Great Britain. Now, I know globalization has changed everything but did the British Grand Prix really have to have a Spanish bank as its title sponsor? Was there not a British company or institution willing to step up?

– Martin Brundle. Anybody who reads my stuff regularly knows I’m not a fan. He was a little inconsistent on several occasions yesterday, notably concerning Alonso’s pass of Kubica. But what really irked me was his obvious joy over Vettel’s difficulties.

The Second World War’s been over for 65 years, Martin. Move on.

Markham’s Daniel Morad wins GP3 race

When I wrote the headline above that says, "Bad weekend for Marko as even Canadian Morad sticks it to him," this is what I meant.

Red Bull power broker Helmut Marko doesn’t like Mark Webber and, in addition to saying the Australian was at fault in the coming-together with Vettel at Turkey, has stated publicly that Webber should be replaced for the 2012 season, if not sooner.

So when Webber, despite all the difficulties facing him, won the British GP yesterday, it must have been a real slap in the face for Marko.

Then, to add insult to injury, a young Canadian driver from Markham that Marko told to get lost three years ago went out and won a major support race at Silverstone.

Daniel Morad grabbed the lead for the GP3 Series race at the start and was never headed. He went on to record his first win in that class. Teammate Robert Wickens of Guelph and Toronto finished fifth.

In 2006, Wickens won the Formula BMW Americas championship and, under the direction of Marko, became a Red Bull-sponsored driver. In 2007, Morad won that title and fully expected to join Wickens at Red Bull but was rebuffed outright.

Morad told me that Marko never explained why he didn’t want him. My reply to Morad was this: "He didn’t want two Canadians. You two (Morad and Wickens) might be the two best young guys in the world right now but you’re both from this side of the Atlantic and that won’t work politically in Europe."

So Morad has been quietly beavering away to prove Marko wrong. He made his point, complete with a giant explanation mark, yesterday.

Good for you, Daniel. I trust that win will be the first of many.

Montoya, Martin feud enlivens dull NASCAR race.

I tried on several occasions to watch the NASCAR Sprint Cup race from Chicagoland Saturday night but after 10 or 15 minutes of watching cars going round and round and round and not much of anything happening (the announcers were so bored themselves that they started talkin’ trivia – "how many points can a driver earn in a race, Kyle?") I kept switching to the last half of "Days of Wine and Roses," on TVO, which is a very good, but ultimately depressing, movie.

So, all in all, it was a less-than-lively time at my house on Saturday night.

You know, if you go to a storied speedway like Darlington (I haven’t but I’ve talked to people who have), the history of the place is going to keep you interested in the race. Maybe Daytona or Indy or Martinsville can do that, but not many others.

Why? Because the speedways are all the same now, just like the cars really are all the same, and just about all the drivers are the same. Even the big wrecks aren’t exciting anymore because they’re like a big pinball machine and everybody walks away and there are never any repercussions.

The racing has become predictable and boring and it’s no wonder International Speedway Corporation’s revenue stream is off about 20 per cent (never mind the TV ratings, which are also still falling).

So when a couple of veteran guys get into it after a little dust-up near the end of the event, it’s enough to perk you up to take notice.

For the record, Buzzie Reutimann’s kid David won the LifeLock.com 400, with Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer and Jamie McMurray following. NASCAR Sprint Cup now has a two-week break before the Brickyard 400 on July 25^th.

Just before the end of the race, Martin passed Montoya for 15^th and the ex-F1 and Indy car pilot didn’t like it. According to Martin, Montoya told him he needed driving lessons.

Perhaps Montoya wasn’t talking about the on-track stuff, because after the checkered flag fell, Martin drove into the garage area and parked his car in front of Montoya’s hauler. That’s when the exchange of words took place.

Neither one of those guys has even come close to winning this year. Maybe that’s what’s got them frustrated.

OTHER RACING

Jordan Szoke of Brantford is continuing his wonderful season of motorcycle racing. He swept the two races at Mosport this weekend in the Parts Canada Superbike Championship and is now closing in on his seventh (count ‘em seven) national championship. He’s aiming for a perfect season when the Superbike season concludes at Atlantic Motorsport Park near Halifax the weekend of Aug. 5-8. Szoke also won both the weekend’s Pro Sport Bike races. . . Austin Dillon won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Iowa Speedway yesterday. He led 187 of the 200 laps. He was driving the Richard Childress Racing black No. 3 truck, which was Dale Earnhardt's old number and colour scheme. Last weekend, Dale Jr. drove the No. 3 to victory in the Nationwide race. How long do you think they're going to keep up this nonsense? He's dead, folks. Move on . . . On Friday night at Chicagoland, Kyle Busch won the Nationwide Series race, with Joey Logano second and rookie Brian Scott third. Danica Patrick started 28^th and finished 24^th, which was her best finish to date. . . . Chris Jones of Demorestville won the Southern Ontario Sprints feature at Brighton Speedway on Saturday night. It was Jones’s first win in that travelling series . . . The American Le Mans Series was at Miller Motorsports Park near Salt Lake City in Utah yesterday. David Brabham and Simon Pagenaud were the overall winners and, natch, first in the Prototype class. Scott Tucker and Christophe Bouchut won the Prototype Challenge class and finished fifth overall. Gianmaria Bruni and Jaime Melo drove a Ferrari 430 to victory in the GT class (they were ninth overall) and Tim Pappas and Jeroen Bleekemolen were first in the GT Challenge class in a Porsche 911 and 21^st overall. Canadian content: Tony Burgess of Toronto and Bryan Willman were 18^th overall and fifth in the Prototype class while Kyle Marcelli of Barrie and his partner, Brian Wong, finished 33^rd overall and fifth in class in Prototype Challenge.  Is it just me, or has that series lost its mojo?

AND FINALLY . . .

The Izod IndyCar Series will announce on Wednesday its chassis specifications for 2012 and beyond. A number of manufacturers have submitted proposals (see my story on them all here).

The league has already announced it will open up the series to more engine manufacturers in 2012 (all cars are currently powered by Honda engines) and I really hope it announces on Wednesday that as many manufacturers as want to are welcome to build cars for the series.

And, although the guidelines should state that the Indy car of 2012 onward will be an open wheel, open cockpit creation not to exceed certain length, width and height limits, the sky should be the limit.

There is little or no innovation in racing anymore and it's this control that's killing the sport. Let imaginations run wild, I say.