Norris McDonald's Auto Racing Blog

Big racing movie night planned

If you are a member in any way of the Toronto-area motorsport community — competitor, fan, whatever — you’re going to want to be at the Regent Theatre on Mount Pleasant Rd. next Thursday night, the 29th.

Mosport and Scott Maxwell’s Mini Grid books and motorsport hobby shop have teamed up once again to present an evening at the theatre and this year they plan to show The Speed Merchants, a film by Michael Keyser narrated by Mario Andretti and Vic Elford.

This is the second such event and last year was a huge success so don’t miss out on going to this one.

The Regent is at 551 Mount Pleasant Rd. between Eglinton and St. Clair. Green P parking is available. Doors will open at 6:30 with the show starting at 7. Keyser will be there, by the way, to speak afterwards and to answer questions.

And you can bet there will be a whole lot of bench racing going on also.

Tickets - $10 in advance or $15 at the box office (tax included) - are now available at Mini Grid at 608 Mount Pleasant: 416-488-7663 or info@minigrid.com

And what's the film about?

The Speed Merchants is the story of the 1972 racing season as told by five of the day’s biggest stars: Mario Andretti, Jacky Ickx, Brian Redman, Vic Elford and Helmut Marko.

The film takes you behind the scenes as the World Sportscar Championship travels to Daytona, Sebring, the Targa Florio, Nurburgring, Le Mans, and Watkins Glen as well as the Monaco GP.

Unlike today’s protected and sanitised sport, this era was faced with high risk and danger; the film takes you directly into the dramatic reality these men faced every weekend, and how they coped with the inevitable tragedy.

You also visit with the drivers at their homes in France, Belgium, Austria and England where they relax with their families between races.

Woven into the film is rare footage of both the Ferrari and Alfa Romeo factories where the cars are prepared before each race.

Backed by an original musical score, The Speed Merchants gives an unforgettable look at a year in the life of the international racing circuit and the lives of the drivers.

Who's pushing Schumacher to retire from F1 again?

Greater minds than mine, at this newspaper and others, have discussed whether or not it’s such a good idea to publish/broadcast public opinion polls and I say go right to it – but with two provisos:

1. Who paid for the poll?

2. In what order were the questions asked and what were they?

For instance, let’s say a public opinion poll is issued (and with the 24-hour news cycle on radio, TV, newspapers and the Internet demanding non-stop content, I guarantee just about anything will get published/broadcast somewhere these days) and it suggests (no poll ever proves anything; it’s a snapshot of a moment in time) that a majority of people don’t think the construction of a new speedway in the Niagara peninsula is a good idea.

(I’m making this up, remember.)

Chances are that the poll was commissioned, and paid for, by people who don’t want such a speedway to be built. And the way they rig the result is that the questions start out relatively neutral but as they get closer and closer to the subject of the poll, they become more alarming, to wit:

"Are you aware that automobile racing is bad for the environment?" (No, actually; I wasn’t.)

"Are you aware that automobile racing can result in death and/or injury to the participants? (Well, uh, yeah, maybe.)

"Did you know that if a new speedway is built that the sky will fall right down on your head and knock you out?" (Holy cow!)

"Do you think construction of a new speedway in the Niagara peninsula is a good idea?" (Hell, NO!)

So all you read in the papers or on the web or hear on radio and TV is that a majority of people don’t want a new speedway to be built. Nobody – or very few, anyway – tells you the rest.

I’m bringing this up today because there’s a new poll out in Germany in which nearly half of all German sports fans (they only ever ask a couple of people, by the way, and apply the statistic to the general population) think that Michael Schumacher should not sign another contract to race for Mercedes.

Yes, 47.2 per cent of the sample said he should call it a day after the third season of his comeback.

Apparently, just 32.2 per cent said he should continue to race in 2013 while 8.5 per cent said he should move to the German Touring Car Championship and race there with his brother Ralf.

What a strange poll, particularly since the old warrior has driven two excellent races the last two times out, finishing fifth both times.

So where did it come from?

Is this the work of Mercedes F1 team boss Ross Braun, who maybe doesn’t want the seven-time world champion to continue in 2013?

Maybe Mercedes itself is behind it. Perhaps the company, celebrating 125 years of automobile development this season, would like Schuey to move on so they can hire Sebastien Vettel?

Or maybe the people who run the DTM commissioned it. I mean, they have all those rejects from F1 racing there now. Maybe they think it would be a good idea to get somebody into a car who could actually still race.

Whatever. Somebody commissioned that poll – but for what purpose?

It didn’t just come out of the blue.

I’ve always thought that Michael Schumacher was pushed out of the sport the first time he retired. I’d "suggest" it’s starting to happen again.

Stewart wins Chase race, Castroneves in big trouble

MONDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE:

Tony Stewart saved fuel when it counted and held off Kevin Harvick to win the first NASCAR Chase for the Championship race Monday at Chicagoland Speedway.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished third. Carl Edwards was fourth, Brad Keselowski fifth, Kurt Busch sixth, Clint Bowyer seventh, Ryan Newman eighth, Mark Martin ninth and Jimmie Johnson tenth.

Earlier . . .

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase for the Championship kickoff was postponed until today when it just wouldn't stop raining at Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday.

NASCAR tried to get the show in but gave up shortly after 8 p.m. EDT and rescheduled the race for noon today (where it can be seen live on TSN).

Meantime, NASCAR President Mike Helton said he had reviewed audio tapes of radio transmissions between driver Paul Menard and his pit during the race at Richmond, Va., last weekend and concluded there was nothing to suggest that a late-race solo spin by Menard had been ordered by the team.

There were suggestions that Menard had spun on purpose to help his teammate, Kevin Harvick, win the race. Here is what Helton concluded.

In Japan at the weekend, Scott Dixon won the IZOD IndyCar Series race but the big story was the post-race Twitter meltdown of driver Helio Castroneves, who was penalized by Chief Steward Brian Barnhart for passing under a yellow caution flag, a no-no.

Barnhard has been under fire from fans, media and drivers in the series for a series of calls or non-calls and Castroneves suggested that the chief steward was a "circus clown" who was picking on certain teams and drivers.

His actions could result in a suspension, which could have a negative effect on his career. For details, please see post below or click here.

Meantime, Toronto racer Paul Dalla Lana won a major U.S. championship at the weekend, Scott Steckly won the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series race at Antigonish, N.S., at the weekend and both F1 hopeful Robert Wickens of Guelph and Toronto and Canadian Bruno Spengler driving in the German Touring Car Championship were off their games overseas. For details, please see second post below or click here.

 

 

Indy race boring, Castroneves calls Barnhart 'circus clown'

The IZOD IndyCar Series has lucked out yet again. An appallingly boring race in Japan Sunday (Saturday night here with the time difference) that probably put most people to sleep (it did me, anyway) was saved yet again by the complete and total incompetence of chief steward Brian Barnhart.

Instead of having the race consigned to the dust bin where it belonged – the guys who started on the front row, Scott Dixon and Will Power, finished exactly that way 63 eye-glazing laps later (official order of finish here) – Barnhart went and handed a perfectly justified penalty for passing under the yellow to Helio Castroneves and all hell broke loose.

Castroneves made it known in his past-race interview for the media that he wasn’t happy about being penalized and tore a strip off Barnhart for being inconsistent. Later, when he got hold of his Blackberry in the safety of his motorhome and out of sight of his media handlers, he really let loose and called Barnhart a circus clown, which was reminiscent of a crack Paul Tracy made about Chris Kniefel years ago that cost him $50,000.

(The ever helpful Tracy kicked in on Twitter: "Probably not the best idea to call (Barnhart) a clown, but what do I know . . .")

What led to Castroneves’s blowup was the severity of his penalty. For passing under the yellow (a local yellow, by the way; not a full-course yellow), he was moved from his seventh-place finishing position to 22^nd (last car on the lead lap). As I said earlier, it was justified, but . . .

This cost him a lot of money, lost him a lot of points and by being moved back so far it allowed defending champion Dario Franchitti to advance one position, thus reducing the number of points now separating him from series leader Power, who happens to be his (Castroneves's) teammate.

When I said it was an awful race, I mean it. These people are supposed to be professional racing drivers with the ability to handle the cars they drive and I guarantee that you would have seen better racing and better car control if you’d gone out to Mosport at the weekend and watched the Ontario Regional races.

For instance, Simona De Silvestro ran into Giorgio Pantano while trying to pass him. She didn’t stand a hope in hell of pulling it off but that didn’t stop her and she plowed right into him. No penalty.

A few minutes later, driver Joao Paulo de Oliveira smacked into Takuma Sato while trying to pass. Again, no chance of making the pass but full speed ahead anyway. No penalty.

Now it gets interesting.

Franchitti decides to try an impossible pass up the inside on Ryan Briscoe and runs into the back of him. Briscoe spins and bashes into Charlie Kimball and Graham Rahal.

Franchitti stalls but is able to get his car going again and goes to the pits where he gets a new nose for the car and some fresh tires. He’s in there for between 25 and 30 seconds and when he leaves the pits and falls in at the back of the field, he is dead last.

Remember that. There will be a test later. In review: Franchitti hits and ruins the races of three cars – all racing in the top five, by the way – and is dead last on the track after spending so much time in the pits.

Barnhart brings down a penalty. For avoidable contact, Dario Franchitti is sent to the "back of the line," where he already is.

Virtually everybody who has been penalized for "avoidable contact" this year has been given a drive-through penalty under green. But not Franchitti, and you can bet this had much to do with Castroneves’s outburst after he was given Life in Prison for something he shouldn’t have done but what was certainly far from being a hanging offence. So here, exactly, is what Castroneves Tweeted:

"Very disappointed for finishing 7^th and being put to 22^nd. This is just ABSURD."

"Making the famous @paultracy’s words mine: Brian Barnhart is a circus clown."

"In the same race in International television, he penalizes some but not others."

"Brian Barnhart is inconsisent and even changes the rule book when is convenient for him and his own personal interests."

"It is sad to see one person being responsible for bringing down an entire series."

Okay, I suggest Castroneves – who was livid when Barnhart robbed him of a win at the 2010 Edmonton Indy – is really in big trouble this time. Tracy was fined fifty large, had points taken away and was put on probation for the last two races of the year when he let his emotions get the better of him.

But all he did was call Kneifel a circus clown.

Castroneves called Barnhart a circus clown but then accused him of being biased and suggested he is doing what he’s doing on purpose. I suggest a $100,000 fine, the loss of championship points and suspension for the last two races of the season will be the penalty handed down to Helio Castroneves.

Brian Barnhart is incompetent. That’s a long way from being subversive.

Notebook Jottings:

– Castroneves might just have saved Ryan Briscoe his job. Before the outburst, it was generally agreed that Briscoe was the odd man out at Penske Racing for 2012, when it’s expected the team will cut back to two cars from the three it’s running now. This outburst might very well have put Castroneves on the bubble.

– To his credit, Tracy tried to calm down Castroneves. Paul Tweeted: "calling a chief steward a circus clown cost me 50k . . . take it easy. . ."

– To all their credits, the Versus broadcast crew was terrific in their analysis of just about everything that was terrible about that race in Japan as well as the awful officiating.

The start was a shambles and Wally Dallenbach Jr. said so, often and loudly. (By the way, he would make a good chief steward, y’all. Why? Because his father was the only chief steward in the history of Indy car racing who could do the job properly and the acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree.)

Dallenbach, John Beekhuis, Bob Jenkins and Robin Miller called a spade a spade throughout. When Franchitti made his banzai (kamikaze?) move, Dallenbach said: "He’d better get a penalty for that."

Then, after Franchitti got no penalty (being made last when you are already last is not a penalty), they were all forthright in pointing out Barnhart’s inconsistencies.

– Although they were properly critical of many things about that race, they missed something pretty important. There was an awful lot of exposed concrete around that circuit. At least one of the underpasses (Twin-Ring Motegi twists and turns and goes over and under at several places) had no protection, not even a tire.

Yes, this was the last race but it shouldn’t have been allowed to take place without the proper safety precautions.

– Sebastien Bourdais runs into Ryan Hunter-Reay and beaches him. No penalty. (Oops, are we back to that stuff again . . .?)

– Dario Franchitti will win his - what? - fourth IndyCar championship because the last two races of the year are on ovals. Franchitti runs well on ovals and Will Power does not. End of story.

Other racing: Dalla Lana wins title, Steckly wins race

WICKENS STILL LEADS IN RENAULT F-3.5; SPENGLER SLIPS IN DTM

Here is a quick look at other races this weekend:

– Toronto driver Paul Dalla Lana was honoured Sunday night at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland for winning the Grand Sport title in the Grand Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. Dalla Lana finished sixth in this weekend’s EMCO Gear Classic at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course to score enough points to wrap up the championship. Congratulations!

Scott Maxwell of Toronto finished 10^th in a Multimatic Motorsports Mustang; Taylor Hacquard of Vancouver was 23^rd overall and third in the ST class; Ashley McCalmont of Dundas was 48^th overall and 28^th in class.

Meantime, Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas wrapped up the 2011 Grand Am Rolex Sports Car championship be finishing second in the Daytona Prototype class at Mid-Ohio to Ryan Dalziel and Enzo Potolicchio.

– Scott Steckly of Milverton, Ont., stretched his NASCAR Canadian Tire Series championship lead by winning the Komatsu 300 presented by Wilson Equipment at Riverside Speedway near Antigonish, N.S., on Saturday.

Pete Shepherd III of Brampton battled former series champion Steckly, who started from pole, for much of the race but fell back in the closing laps to finish second. Third place went to hometown favourite Donald Chisholm of Antigonish while defending series champion D.J. Kennington of St. Thomas wound up fourth.

Kerry Micks of Mt. Albert was fifth with J.R. Fitzpatrick of Cambridge, Jason Hathaway of Appin, Ont., Ron Beauchamp Jr. of Windsor, Chris Raabe of Napanee and Mark Dilley of Barrie rounding out the top ten.

The victory was Steckly’s third of the 2011 season and the 11^th of his NASCAR career.

"It was the best day possible," said Steckly, driver of the No. 22 Canadian Tire/MotoMaster Dodge. "We were the fastest car in practice, won the pole and won the race. I can’t ask for much more than that."

The caution flag only waved twice during the event while the lead changed eight times among four drivers with Steckly leading a race-high 194 of them.

Steckley leads the standings with 1,785 points, followed by Kennington with 1,691 and Fitzpatrick with 1,604.

The season will conclude, and a champion will be crowned, next Saturday at Kawartha Speedway in Fraserville, near Peterborough.

- Ex-National Speed Sport News reporter Mike Kerchner reports that Sam Hafertepe Jr. won the Canadian Sprint Car Nationals at Ohsweken Speedway on Saturday. Hafertepe won $11,000 and added the Nationals to his 2011 curriculum vitae that includes his first World of Outlaws Series victory.  

Shane Stewart and Dustin Daggett won preliminary features leading up to the Nationals.

Warning to racers: yet another hauler and trailer complete with sprint car and touring equipment has been stolen, this one from the Days Inn in Brantford. Load up your rigs with alarms, people. Or have somebody sleep in the cab.

– Canadian F1 hope Robert Wickens of Guelph and Toronto still leads the World Series of Renault championship by two points over his Carlin Motorsports teammate Jean-Eric Vergne but it was a near-disastrous double-header weekend for the young Canadian at Circuit Paul Ricard in southern France.

Wickens finished second to his teammate in the opening race on Saturday (he was third on track but a penalty moved him up to second) and then was 19^th in the race Sunday (Vergne finished third) after he suffered a puncture while duking it out with another rival, Sergio Canamasas of Spain.

The championship will now be settled in the final double-header of the season on Oct. 8-9 in Barcelona.

– At Mazda Raceway in California Saturday, Dyson Racing, with Chris Dyson and Guy Smith driving, won the 2011 American Le Mans Series LMP1 Drivers and Team championships.

In addition, Mazda won the Engine Manufacturer’s title and Dunlop took won the Tire Championship with one race to go in the ALMS season, the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.

Dyson and Smith won the championship but actually finished second in the race to the Lola P1 trio of Adrian Fernandez, Harold Primat and Stephan Mucke. Canadians: Kyle Marcelli of Barrie finished seventh overall and third in the Prototype Challenge class; Tony Burgess of Toronto was 26^th in a Lola P1; Kenny Wilden of Oakville was 33^rd, driving in the GT class.

– Audi driver Mattias Ekström won the German Touring Car Championship race Sunday at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben in Germany. Canadian Bruno Spengler, driving for Mercedes, slipped to second place in the standings when he was forced to retire with suspension problems.

Dixon wins Japan IndyCar race, NASCAR looks at 'race fix'

Sunday Update:

Scott Dixon, who started from pole, held off Will Power -- the new championship front-runner on a restart with two laps left to win the Indy Japan.

Marco Andretti finished third and Alex Tagliani was top Canadian in fourth. Danica Patrick was 11th, the first woman across the line. James Hinchcliffe of Oakville finished 15th after starting fifth.

Defending champion Dario Franchitti finished eighth but is now second in the standings with two races to go.

Earlier . . .

Qualifying for the IZOD IndyCar Series race in Japan shows the folly of "reading in" anything in practice times, which are frequently all over the map.

For instance, in the final practice before qualifying for tonight's race at the Twin-Ring Motegi road course, James Hinchcliffe of Oakville was first and Scott Dizon of New Zealand was fifth.

When qualifying ended, Dixon was on pole and Hinchcliffe was fifth. Go figure.

Dixon will start inside front row tonight (TSN, 11:30) alongside Will Power, who was flat-out fast right from the start of practice Friday. Graham Rahal and Ryan Briscoe are on row two with Hinchcliffe and Helio Castroneves right behind.

Defending champion Dario Franchitti is back in ninth. Alex Tagliani of Montreal will go off 15th. Fastest woman is Ana Beatriz, starting 21st.

At Circuit Paul Ricard in France today, Jean-Eric Vergne won the first Formula Renault 3.5 race of the weekend with Canadian Robert Wickens third. Wickens is still leading the series by 14 points over Vergne, but it's getting tight with three races to go.

Now, there's controversy in NASCAR about the possibility of race-fixing and who should be in the neighbourhood but one of the most famous race-fixers of all?

NASCAR President Mike Helton said this weekend that the sanctioning body will "look into" (which is different from "investigate," I guess) the possibility that a late-race spin at Richmond last weekend by Paul Menard might have helped his teammate, Kevin Harvick, go on to win the race.

Menard spun all by his lonesome and Harvick was then able to beat race leader Jeff Gordon off pit road and go on for the win. Gordon was the one who suggested the spin might not have been coincidence and, as you can imagine, everybody involved has denied any chicanery.

This is reminscent, of course, of Nelson Piquet Jr.'s deliberate spin at Singapore a few years ago that enabled his F1 teammate, Fernando Alonso, to win the Grand Prix. Everybody involved, and particularly Piquet Jr. and team boss Flavio Briatore, denied any chicanery.

As we all know, it turned out that Piquet had lost control on purpose on orders from Briatore.

Okay, that's as far as it goes. We'll have to wait to see what Helton decides but meantime, the NASCAR circus is in Chicago this weekend and there was a Craftsman Truck Series race Friday night at Chicagoland Speedway and who should finish third but our old friend Nelson Piquet Jr.

Austin Dillon won the race with Harvick - who had dominated the event before the last round of pit stops - second. And then came Piquet.

There's no connection, of course, but isn't it interesting that when there are suggestions of race-fixing, who should be hanging around but a race-fixer!

Steve Arpin of Fort Frances, Ont., won the pole for the race in his Mike's Hard Lemonade-sponsored No. 32 Chevrolet Silverado and set a track record in the process. He finished 16th. Arpin's five-race truck deal is now over and you can expect to see him running some stock car races in the near future.

Earlier . . .

Danica Patrick mentions last weekend, in reply to a question, that she’s a little on edge about going to Japan to race “because they’re still having earthquakes over there.”

The usual boo-birds vilify her for it.

And what happens? At about 5:15 local time Thursday afternoon, an earthquake measuring magnitude 6.2 was felt at Twin Ring Motegi, an email received from IndyCar reports.

"Just a little shaking to keep us all awake," driver Graham Rahal said.

"Interesting to sit in your hotel room and see your TV walk across the desk," added Ryan Hunter-Reay.

No quote available from Patrick, apparently. No damage to the 2.983-mile race course, either, which is a good thing because Will Power went out for first practice and topped the time chart with a lap of 1 minute, 39.4745 seconds and a speed of 107.955 miles an hour. Helio Castroneves (1:39.5965) was second and rookie James Hinchcliffe (1:39.8531) of Oakville placed third in the Sprott Newman/Haas Racing car.

Alex Tagliani (1:40.2649) of Montreal was sixth. The three women in the field, Patrick, Simona de Silvestro and Ana Beatriz were the three slowest drivers, in that order.

This race can be seen Saturday night at 11:30 on TSN.

The first race in the NASCAR Chase for the Championship will take place Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway. It can be seen at 2 p.m. on TSN2. The NASCAR Nationwide Series race is on TSN2 Saturday at 3:30. The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race from Chicago can be seen tonight (Friday) on SPEED at 7:30.

If you prefer your racing live and in colour, where there’s a bit of a nip in the air and it’s NOISY, then I have these suggestions.

The Arrow Express presents the Canadian Sprint Car Nationals goes Saturday night at Ohsweken Speedeway on the Six Nations Reserve. Race time is 7:45. Upwards of 80 winged sprinters from Canada and the United States are expected to sign in. Tonight (Friday), the seventh annual Ohsweken Shootout and the Night Before the National races will be run, also with a 7:45 p.m. start.

At Mosport, the British Empire Motor Club is presenting its annual Indian Summer Trophy Races, Saturday and Sunday, featuring the three-hour War Bonnet Enduro. A full schedule of events is on offer each day. For free tickets, click here

Finally, although it might be a bit of a test to get there, the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series is racing at Riverside Speedway outside of Antigonish, N.S. (grab a flight to Halifax, rent a car and you can be at the speedway by race time, which is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. local time Saturday). Riverside is a fantastic facility, a “copy” of Bristol in the Maritimes.

Oh, and at Toronto Motorsports Park (a.k.a. Cayuga), the Ontario Street Car Association will hold is drag racing season finale. Don't red light, anybody!

NASCAR puts Canadian drivers on probation

THREE CREW MEMBERS SUSPENDED FOR REST OF THE SEASON

On Monday morning, one of my weekend racing posts dealt with the conclusion of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series race at Barrie Speedway on Saturday night and the unfortunate aftermath in which a fight broke out in the pits

This was not the first time this has happened, which is most unfortunate because this is supposed to be the top professional racing series in Canada and a degree of decorum is expected.

In any event, late Wednesday, NASCAR lowered the boom. Two drivers – J.R. Fitzpatrick of Cambridge and Kerry Micks of Mt. Albert – were both placed on probation through the final race of the season at Kawartha Speedway near Peterborough on Sat., Sept. 24.

Three crew members – Matt Vanderwall, crew chief for Don Thomson Jr., Chad Turner, who also works for Thomson, and Josh Arnold, crew member for driver Jason Hathaway – were each fined $500, suspended from Canadian Tire competition for the last two races of the season and placed on NASCAR probation through to the end of the year.

All were guilty of actions detrimental to stock car racing, the drivers for aggressive driving and excessive speed on pit road after the race (Fitzpatrick was also cited for stopping in the pit box of another competitor) and the crew members for fighting.

I know that stock car racing is a contact sport. Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been quoted as saying he "drives angry" most of the time when he’s in competition. I have the transcript of a tape in which Micks describes the inter-race battles he’s been having with Fitzpatrick and ends by saying: "Anyways, I don’t want to race that way, and it’s just too bad, but I don’t take any . . . ." And just about every time I see the highly emotional Fitzpatrick get out of a race car, he’s browned off at something or somebody.

So I get it.

But I also know that these guys hit the jackpot five years ago when NASCAR agreed to purchase CASCAR from founder Tony Novotny. At that moment, Canada’s national stock car series hit the big time. It wasn’t little CASCAR anymore; it was great big NASCAR and with it came everything that the name implies.

It gave the series legitimacy; it gave the series sophistication; it gave the series potential to connect with corporate Canada the same way the U.S. Sprint Cup series connects with corporate America.

Except I don’t think a lot of those guy realized that. I’m not sure they made the connection. Because if they had, they wouldn’t be fighting in the pits like they have been last year and this year.

I mean, how do they think the boards of directors of A&W, Canadian Tire, Castrol, Tim Hortons and many of the other sponsors react when see behaviour like that? How long do you think Rona and Scotiabank would be involved with the CFL if the games kept ending in brawls?

And, yes: there is a direct comparison there. The CFL is the top football league in the country and the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series is the top racing series. So act accordingly.

Let’s hope NASCAR has delivered the proper message here. If not, the teams and drivers can start kissing some of those sponsorships goodbye - and the respect that goes with them.

Driver says IndyCar’s talent better than NASCAR’s. Oh, yeah?

At the media conference in Indianapolis yesterday to promote Dan Wheldon’s addition to the field for the season-ending IZOD IndyCar Series race at Las Vegas in mid-October, Wheldon tried to stir the pot a bit by taking a shot at NASCAR.

After IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard’s offer of a $5-million bonus to any non-regular series driver to beat indyCar’s best at the last race of the season crashed and burned, Wheldon was picked as a compromise.

The winner of this year’s Indy 500, who hasn't raced since, will have to start from the back of the field and, should he win, have to split the prize with some lucky fan.

"When you look at the depth of the field in the IZOD IndyCar Series right now, it's full of talent. So it's certainly going to be harder to come to the front than in recent years," Wheldon said. "When you consider the talent level of the grid, I think quite honestly, it far outweighs NASCAR."

Not quite, Dan. Nice try, but your assumption is not correct.

IndyCar has 45 drivers listed on its website and I count 28 of them as being qualified to win a race. (Dario Franchitti is qualified, Charlie Kimball is not. And so-on) That is a percentage of approximately 60 per cent.

NASCAR has 40 drivers listed on its website and I count 27 of them as being qualified. (Jimmie Johnson is qualified, Casey Mears is not. Etc.) That is a percentage of approximately 62 per cent.

So, it’s close – but NASCAR still comes out on top.

And, as we all know, just about all the open wheelers who’ve tried to race stock cars in recent years – Franchitti, Sam Hornish, et al – have not done particularly well. Robby Gordon and A.J. Allmendinger are exceptions and Danica Patrick might eventually past the test too.

Now, none of the current generation of NASCAR drivers has tried to switch careers and drive Indy cars (although Carl Edwards came close a few years ago to entering an Indy Lights race) so it’s difficult to make comparisons.

However, 40 years ago, back in the late 1960s and early 70s, some of the top stock car names of the day would periodically try Indy cars and, when all was said and done, they acquitted themselves quite well.

Carl Yarborough, for instance, ran the Indianapolis 500 four times and drove full-time in the USAC National Championship Series (complete with Confederate flag flying from his pit) in 1970 through 1972, although he never ran a full season. His best finish at Indy was a tenth and his best qualifying run saw him start 14^th.

Others included the Allison brothers, Donnie and Bobby, who both tried the 500 several times with Donnie finishing fourth in 1970. Lee Roy Yarbrough qualified eighth in 1969 , finishing 23^rd.

The fact that they race-drove as well as they did is remarkable because none crashed and none failed to qualify. While none of them won, they weren’t running in particularly good equipment, being one-offs.

However, to even make the lineup for the Indy 500 in those days was a major accomplishment because the cream of the crop from all forms of motorsport used to show up at the Brickyard.

For instance, in 1970, you had seasoned Indy car competitors like Bobby and Al Unser and Mario Andretti, short track oval stars like Sammy Sessions, Mel Kenyon and Gordon Johncock, Formula One stars like Jack Brabham, Dan Gurney and Peter Revson, sports car racers like Jerry Grant, Rick Muther and George Follmer, dirt mile oval pilots like Gary Bettenhausen and Greg Weld and on and on.

It was tough to just get in the race, which is not the case today.

But the Allisons, Yarborough and Yarbrough gave it a shot and they did it, which is something not many Indy car drivers going the other way can boast about today.

It’s something Dan Wheldon should take into consideration the next time he goes looking for headlines.

P.S. I’m an Indy car fan and I will watch the race. I hope it’s successful and that the series gets a lot of positive publicity.

But for Wheldon, and the series, it’s a gamble.

If he wins, if he actually carves his way through the field and collects the $5 million bonus, there will be those who will say the Fix was in.

Others will say that the depth of talent in the series is less than stellar because how could the regulars lose to a part-timer driving for a faux team (Sam Schmidt Motorsports will provide the car; Brian Herta Autosport will supply the engineer – Canadian Todd Malloy – and crew with sponsorship from the Toronto firm of Bowers and Wilkins)?

If he loses by just a bit, it will be great momentum heading into the 2012 season.

But if he loses big, as in he’s crushed and ends up laps behind, there will be all sorts of questions: short-term will be why did IndyCar put so much faith in him; long-term will be is he good enough to even be considered for a full-time gig next year?

In IndyCar, up is down and if you win you still lose. That’s what gimmicks do for you.

IndyCar's doing it all wrong - again

CANADIAN F1 HOPE WICKENS TESTS VIRGIN TEAM CAR

IZOD IndyCar Series boss Randy Bernard, in an effort to goose interest, announced with great fanfare that there would be a $5 million bonus paid to any racing driver who was not a regular driver in the series and who could beat the series regulars at the final race of the season at Las Vegas in October.

Unfortunately, no one applied, which is okay. It was a dumb idea anyway.

In an effort to save face, however, Bernard will reportedly announce in Indianapolis Tuesday that one driver and one driver only – 2011 Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon – will be eligible to collect the bonus if he should happen to win the race.

The deal is that he would split the $5 million down the middle and give half to the team he’ll drive for and the other half to some lucky fan.

This is also a dumb idea. Why Dan Wheldon? What is it about Dan Wheldon that makes him so appealing to the people who run IndyCar? He’s an okay driver, but he’s not great. He’s not particularly popular. He’s good on TV, but so what?

 Here’s what they should have done. (Actually, there’s still time: somebody make sure Bernard reads this.)

 After the Las Vegas race, the cars used by the IndyCar Series will all be obsolete. So why not fill 'em all up? Yes, it’ll cost the series – probably – another $5 million to pull all this off but who cares? This is a publicity stunt and if they want publicity I guarantee that Dan Wheldon is not the driver to generate it.

But how about Paul Tracy, Jacques Villeneuve, Townsend Bell, Buddy Rice (he’s going to be driving for Panther anyway, but make him eligible for the bonus), Davey Hamilton, John Andretti, Raphael Matos, Buddy Lazier, Bruno Junqueira and Milka Duno? (Okay, maybe not her).

In other words, any qualified Indy racing driver who is not a regular in the series – let’s add Tomas Scheckter to that list – should be eligible to race and to collect the $5 million bonus.

I was going to suggest Sarah Fisher but she’s about to deliver her first child. It would have been great to see her come out of retirement and take it to Danica.

The point is, think big. And let 'em all go, as they used to say in the old days. If the car fires up, it's qualified.

Dan Wheldon? Dan Who? is more like it.

Moving right along, below is a photo received late this morning (Tuesday) of Canadian F1 hope Robert Wickens putting the Marussia-Virigin Formula One car through its paces at Vairano, Italy. Although it was only a straight-line run, it was Robert's first time in the cockpit of the MVR-02 racer.

Is Vettel trying for a seat at Ferrari? Weekend roundup

WAR OF WORDS IN NASCAR; WAR, PERIOD, IN NASCAR CANADIAN TIRE SERIES

Sebastien Vettel is a step away from winning his second world championship but he dropped a tantalizing little hint at the conclusion of the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday. He said the only thing missing was a Ferrari racing uniform.

Is he trying for a seat at Ferrari? See three posts down, or click here

Kurt Busch has taken to calling five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson a "five-time chump" and when a reporter questioned him about it he tried to attack the writer.

Is it all an act, or is Kurt Busch really like that? See next post down, or click here

NASCAR Canadian Tire Series drivers Kerry Micks and J.R. Fitzpatrick have been taking turns bashing into each other and it happened again at Barrie Speedway Saturday night. Naturally, a brouhaha broke out.

This has to stop before somebody gets hurt. See two posts down, or click here