PHOTOS: Hinchcliffe's 'planking' disaster

You all know what “planking" is, don’t you?

No?

That’s when you lie down, face down, on the ground or floor, legs and feet stretched out behind you and your arms held stiff against your sides.

You try to do this for a minute, or five minutes.

It’s kind of like standing at attention while lying face-down for a period of time.

Okay. You get the drift.

Really creative planking is when you “plank,” as it’s called, in strange places like up in trees or between two desks at work, or wherever.

Now, I’m telling you all this so you will understand the photo below.

When I went to Indianapolis to interview Oakville driver James Hinchcliffe before this year’s Indy 500, he had a scab on the bridge of his nose.

I asked him what happened but he wouldn’t say.

Now I know why he wouldn’t tell me.

He was “planking” between two walls at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and he'd screwed up.

Ace photographer Steve Swope, who’s been a friend of mine for years, snapped the picture just as the “plank” started to come apart. As you can see, his feet are slipping off one wall, the arms are starting to flail about and young Mr. Hinchcliffe is about to suffer a scraped nose as his face is about to slide off the other wall.

Ouch!

Thanks, Steve!

Condolences, Hinch.

Now, Morry Barmak is the owner of the Collector Studio on Yorkville Ave., just east of Avenue Rd.

There are all sorts of wonderful motorsport artifacts in his shop – helmets and uniforms once worn by Formula One racers, paintings, trophies and so-on — and after the Honda Indy Toronto last Sunday, who should show up but race winner Dario Franchitti (shown below with Barmak).

Reports Morry: Dario made some purchases. He is a Jim Clark and Ferrari/Porsche fan.

That's Morry on the left . . .

Every little bit of sponsorship helps when you’re trying to pay the bills to compete in big-league car racing.

Eric Jensen of Toronto, owner of Jensen Motorsports (his dad, Bruce Jensen, was a prominent Canadian racer back in the Sixties and Seventies), was fortunate to attract support during the Honda Indy Toronto weekend from Pusateri’s Fine Foods.

Not only was there financial support but Pusateri’s supplied meals for Jensen and his guests during the three-day weekend.

In the picture below, owner Frank Pusateri, a certain auto racing writer known to everybody who reads this blog, Sam Pusateri and Eric Jensen line up behind the Jensen Motorsports Firestone Indy Lights race car.

Confession: I had a sandwich.

Comments

[upfront 1]

Hey Norris,

I know you need to reach a national audience, but, a scab on Hinchcliffe's nose? There are alot of short tracks around the country that could use a bit of attention.
A good news story out of London recently. The press made a fuss over the Busch brothers getting a nice appearance payday while a local, Native Canadian won the race.
Guesss it's all about the money

[DJL]

Nice to see Canadian companies sponsoring Canadians in motorsports. It's also nice to see the Canadian media giving those Canadian sponsors a little extra positive attention.