Norris McDonald's Auto Racing Blog

I'll quit if I can't race full-time, Paul Tracy says

'THRILL' SAYS INDYCAR CAN RACE ON 'GOOD' OVALS IN EUROPE, WANTS TO TAKE LEAD IN FORMING DRIVERS GROUP TO PROMOTE SAFETY

You always know when you're about to get a zinger from Paul Tracy. His eyes light up and the corners of his mouth curl into a grin and he lets loose with - whatever.

This time it was about his possible retirement from Indy car racing, which is now officially off as the result of an interview he did last week with Marshall Pruett of speedtv.com in which he said he intends to race full-time in the IZOD IndyCar Series in 2012.

Three weeks earlier, in the aftermath of the racing crash at Las Vegas that killed Dan Wheldon, Tracy had appeared on Canada AM and said he was seriously considering calling it a career because his wife and his mother had both asked him to stop.

"So, what was their reaction (to the Pruett story)," I asked him last Saturday at Action Honda out in Scarborough, where he'd gone to support Rick Hansen's 26th Anniversary Man in Motion Relay.

Tracy's eyes lit up - and . . . get ready, because here it comes:

"I haven't told them yet!" he laughed.

Which is why it's always such a delight to talk to the "Thrill from West Hill," because you never really know which way the conversation's going to go.

In a wide-ranging interview, Tracy made it clear that:

- if he doesn't get a full-time ride in 2012, he will retire from Indy car racing. Therte will be no one-offs in Toronto and/or Edmonton next year. It's going to be all or nothing.

- if IndyCar can't find suitable oval speedways to race on in the United States, they should look to Europe.

- he is prepared to take a leadership role in a drivers' organization that would include racers of all types and focus specifically on safety issues.

- he thinks a roll cage or canopy protecting the cockpit of an Indy car is a good idea - maybe.

- and plexiglass over the fencing above the SAFER barrier at oval race tracks is a good idea.

As far as talk of him retiring is concerned, he said everybody was upset in the aftermath of the Wheldon tragedy.

"What I saw in the hospital unit (doctors fighting to revive Wheldon), nobody wants to see," he said. "I was shook up a little bit but everybody’s had a chance to calm down and think about it and I'm saying today that my plans remain basically unchaged.

"I want to compete next year – a full season – but if I can’t do that, if I can’t get a full season, I’m over trying to get into cars part-time, with part-time teams. I’m not gonna race any more stuff part-time."

Toronto and Edmonton have always been on Tracy's schedule in recent years, even though he hasn't been employed full-time by one of the full-time teams, but even that scenario is now out the window, he says.

"I don’t see the point in it any more," he said, "running around at the back. The last four years that I’ve done it, I’ve been put in a spare car that’s been off in a corner of a race shop somewhere, and my crew has been a bunch of guys that they hired for the weekend. You can't compete at this level any more doing it like that."

Tracy said even if he gets a full-time deal, it will still be his final year in Indy cars.

"I still want to do some endurance racing - Le Mans, Sebring - but I'll be finished with the Indy cars. I want to go out on top, though. We've got some meetings lined up with a couple of teams.

"I've got a level of funding that I can take to the table and some of the teams I’m talking to have a level of funding. Hopefully, we can put it all together."

One of the criticisms of  IndyCar following the Wheldon crash was its insistence on racing at high-banked, mile-and-a-half speedways that some say are better suited to NASCAR stock cars.

But the series has been running into difficulty in recent years to fullfil its marketing plan of racing on superspeedways, short ovals, road courses and street circuits. To be blunt, there are not enough flat, mile-long, oval tracks to race on and fans have not exactly been breaking down the doors to watch the racing there anyway - the tracks at Milwaukee and New Hampshire being prime examples.

Tracy thinks there's a solution - in Europe.

" First, I don't think they want to go over to Europe, but if they need ovals, they do have some options on tracks that worked for Indy cars in the past.

"The Lausitzring Speedway in Germany is a good oval speedway. It's pretty flat, and so is Rockingham (in England). It's also pretty flat. I think they're good venues and I think they should look at them. They both always drew a good crowd; whether they made any money, I don't know.

"On the other hand, I don’t think they should abandon mile-and-a-half tracks in the States, but they have to figure out a way so that the cars aren’t running three and four wide. My problem is that I don't know how you stop the cars from pack racing on those high banks.

"I don’t know the answer, because if you slow the cars down. you’re going to have more of a pack, and if you speed them up, keep ‘em going up to 240 miles an hour, then you have a different problem.

"We ran around Texas in a CART car at 240 mph and everybody was blacking out from the G forces. I don’t know how you separate the cars, except on a flatter track where you might be able to run side-by-side for a couple of corners but you’d better get back in line pretty quick."

Tracy said he thinks racing drivers from all categories should band together to make sure their concerns, particularly about safety, get a proper hearing with racing authorities. He said, for instance, that the Indy drivers had talked to CEO Randy Bernard about two abreast restarts as being too dangerous and had been ignored.

"(In the aftermath of the Wheldon crash) I sent out a tweet that said, basically, that we’re all playing the same game, we’re all playing football but it’s a different sized ball. We’re all running on the same tracks; we’re just using a different ball to play the game, whether it’s NASCAR, or IndyCar or drag racing or sprint cars.

"Safety inovations can improve across the board. My thought is that we’ve got all these driver groups – IndyCar’s got a driver group, I’m sure NASCAR does - and what we need is for some of the top guys from every level - John Force, Jimmie Johnson, Dario - to get together at some point and form not so much a union but maybe have a meeting once or twice a year and you talk about the safety issues in everybody’s sport and I bet you'll find there’s a common thread running through the whole thing.

"A lot of the problems are probably the same problems. So how do we get the organizing bodies of every group to fix it? Everybody’s trying to do their own thing and that doesn’t solve anything."

Tracy said he's been pretty busy the last few weeks and that his friend Johnson is in the middle of the NASCAR Chase.

"He’s got a lot going on right now. So I’d have to talk to Dario and him and see what would have to be done to get something going. But yes, I'm going to push for that."

Tracy had these thoughts on several other subjects of concern:

- A roll cage or canopy to protect Indy car drivers who race now with exposed cockpits:

"The questions I have would be how do you get out of it (the car) in a hurry? What if the mechanism to get out was somehow damaged in a crash, or if there was a fire? Those are some of the issues that you’d have to tackle."

He said the modern Indy car is difficult to exit as it is.

"Even right now, most of the drivers can’t get out of an IRL car (quickly) because you can’t get the headrest off. The headrests fit so tight because of the aerodynamics around the driver’s head – the driver’s helmet is basically encased all the way around - and you can’t get out from under it.

"There should be a five-second rule; you should be able to get out of the car and touch both feet on the ground within five seconds. I mean, you should be able to get the headrest out, the steering wheel off, unbuckle and jump out of the car within five seconds. It’s an FIA-mandated rule in F1 and it’s something that I’ve never seen enforced in my career but I think it’s something that should be done."

- His suggestion of plexiglass over the fencing after Wheldon was killed (when his car went above the SAFER wall and into the wire):

"It was just a thought, I don’t know if anybody’s done anything about it. I mean, I’d never looked at the fencing before and I was talking to Davey Hamilton and he said the fencing at Vegas and Texas is completely set up wrong.

"You have the wall, the fence post comes up out of the wall, and you’d think they’d have the fencing mounted on the track side but no, they have the fencing on the spectator side so the first thing that’s exposed to a car is a pole and the guy wiring and all the rest to hold it in place. The fence is on the wrong side of the pole.

"I’ve suggested it (the plexiglass). I don’t know what it would cost but if it ended up saving the life of a driver, then it’s worth the investment.

"At some point, somebody did make a big investment in safety. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway made the investment in the development of the SAFER barrier, which is virtually on every track now, so we’ll have to see where this goes."

Tracy credits Hansen for inspiring Zanardi, others

Alex Zanardi won the Handcycle category of the New York City Marathon at the weekend and fellow Indy car driver Paul Tracy credits Canada’s "Man in Motion," Rick Hansen, for providing the inspiration for Zanardi and other handicapped people to reach for the stars.

Ten years after losing his legs in a crash during a CART race at the Lausitzring Speedway in Germany, the 45-year-old Zanardi won the Marathon's Handcycle race (a hand-operated, three-wheel cycle) by two seconds over Rafal Wilk of Poland.

Zanardi’s time of one hour, 13 minutes and 58 seconds was enough to defeat Wilk and the 91 other entrants in the class.

Zanardi said afterward that his mission this season is to score enough points to be invited to represent Italy at the Paralympic Games in London next year. The ex-Formula One driver and two-time CART champion (1997 and ‘98) raced for BMW in the World Touring Car Championship from 2005 to 2009 and won four races. He’s given up car racing, however, to concentrate on paracycling during the runup to the Olympic year.

Tracy, who was in Toronto at the weekend to participate in Hansen’s 25^th anniversary Man in Motion tour on behalf of Honda Canada, one of the event's sponsors, said if it hadn’t been for him, people like Zanardi might not have realized their potential.

"Rick laid the groundwork for people in wheelchairs to realize it’s not the end of the world," Tracy said. "Here was a guy who went all across Canada and around the world in his wheelchair and he did things that I haven’t done in my life. He’s a great inspiration.

"And Zanardi is a perfect example. He was injured racing and he lost both his legs. But he said to himself, ‘I’m not going to sit in this chair and do nothing for the rest of my life.’ And look at him! He's  gone on to compete in marathons in a racing chair and even come back to auto racing – and he’s won in both!"

Hansen is marking the 25^th anniversary of his astounding accomplishment (he wheeled 40,000 kilometres through 34 countries over 26 months) with a relay that started in Newfoundland in August and is expected to finish in Vancouver in May, 2012.

The Rick Hansen Medal, struck by the Royal Canadian Mint, is being passed from volunteer to volunteer along the way and 7,000 people in 600 communities will have participated when the relay ends.

Hansen and relay volunteers will travel today (Tuesday, Nov. 8) from Toronto to Mississauga.

Canadian racing legend Paul Tracy (left) joins Rick Hansen, Ronald McDonald and President of McDonald's Canada, John Betts, in front of the Honda Civic Si Tracy drove for his leg of the Rick Hansen 25th Anniversary Relay at the weekend.

Busch unlikely to face more discipline

MONDAY NIGHT UPDATE: NASCAR fined Kyle Busch $50,000 and put him on probation until Dec. 31 for actions detrimental to stock car racing as a result of the incident with Ron Hornaday at Texas Motor Speedway last Friday night.

Earlier . . .

You have to wonder which of his sponsors refused permission for Joe Gibbs to fire Kyle Busch, because at least one of them did or else Busch wouldn’t have been allowed to watch Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race from the comfort of the team’s pit box at Texas Motor Speedway.

What made it worse is that Busch was allowed to sit down to watch the race; owner Gibbs had to stand behind him the whole time.

(Or else Busch hopped up there first and sat down and put on the headphones, just like anyone who feels entitled would do. And Gibbs, ever the gentleman he is, didn’t want to create a scene by tapping him on the shoulder and saying something like, "Hey, Junior – you’re in my seat.")

Seeing Busch sitting there – calm, cool and seemingly unware that he escaped being on Death Row for doing something Friday night that very well could have resulted in the death of another racing driver – was disappointing, to say the least.

The question all weekend – at least ever since Busch lined up a Camping World Series truck being driven by Ron Hornaday on Friday night and deliberately sent it slamming into the outside wall at that same Texas Speedway – had been whether Gibbs would fire Busch.

As NASCAR had earlier handed down the stiffest penalty it had ever levied against a driver, and said so when it suspended Busch from competition for the rest of the weekend’s Nationwide and Sprint Cup races, it’s unlikely there will be anything further – although it remains an option.

But when Gibbs said after the suspension was announced that he would be "talking to sponsors," you got the feeling he was asking permission to set Busch down, either for the rest of the season or even longer.

The former coach of the Washington Redskins, Gibbs is a person who has the patience of Job. He previously put up with Tony Stewart’s temper tantrums when "Smoke" drove for him (he made him take anger management counselling) but all Tony ever really did was be rude to reporters.

Kyle Busch, however, has always been a handful. He once threatened to kill Denny Hamlin on national television (it was a radio transmission but there was no doubting his fury), he refused to speak to the media (there was one famous race a year ago when he ran away from reporters by ducking in and out of transporters in the paddock and then made his final escape by running across the track and out a gate) and generally made a royal pain of himself.

That, of course, was the old Kyle Busch. The new Kyle Busch arrived on the scene at the beginning of this year and butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He was kind, friendly, funny, cooperative and just about completely opposite from the jerk we used to know.

I put it down to his marriage; others said he’d obviously spent time with the Gibbs-contracted anger counsellors. Whichever, he was a different guy. Even when Richard Childress put him in a headlock and punched him, Busch kept his cool (and that must have been a true test).

Everything was wonderful until Friday night, early in the truck race, when Busch and Hornaday were running side-by-side and came across a slower truck. Hornaday had to move up the track to avoid a collison and sideswiped Busch in the process.

It was the sort of thing you see dozens of times over the course of a season in any kind of racing. It was no big deal.

But if you ever want to see road rage in action, take a look at the video and see what happened next.

Now, trying to explain intent is a very difficult thing to do because nobody really knows what’s in another person’s mind.

Did Busch simply try to send a message to Hornaday, along the lines of "don’t do that again?" Or did he try to do something more sinister?

I don’t know.

Did Todd Bertuzzi mean to break Steve Moore’s neck when he sucker-punched him in that hockey game? Did that guy who ran the yellow light in Mississauga the other day mean to kill two people? Did the guy who got into a bar fight in Toldedo mean to kill that other guy?

I don’t know.

But it doesn’t matter. When something bad happens, there have to be consequences – even when somebody "didn’t mean to do it (as Busch seems to imply in his letter of apology to the world)."

Kyle Busch got off easy because Ron Hornaday walked away from that accident. But what if he hadn’t?

NASCAR sent its message and it’s highly unlikely it will do anything further. Joe Gibbs might have sent a message but the sight of Kyle Busch sitting in that pit box Sunday, with his boss standing behind him, was symbolic in more ways than one.

It was, to be blunt, an opportunity missed.

WEEKEND RACING:

– Tony Stewart won his second Cup race in a row at Texas (and fourth in eight Chase races) when he held off Carl Edwards and Kasey Kahne to win the Sprint Cup race there Sunday. Edwards now leads the points race by three over Stewart. Although many of the other drivers are still mathematically in the Chase, the championship is now down to those two. Only two races remain – Phoenix next Sunday and then Homestead-Miami. It will go right down to the wire. Full story here.

– Trevor Bayne won the Nationwide Series race on Saturday and became the fourth Nationwide driver to win a race in the series, the 29 other victories all going to Sprint Cup regulars who dropped down. Denny Hamlin (driving Kyle Busch’s car) finished second and Carl Edwards was third. Danica Patrick qualified 11^th and finished 11^th. Full story here

– Donny Schatz won the final race of the World of Outlaws sprint car season on the Dirt Track at Charlotte. Steve Kinser finished second and Craig Dollansky was third. Schatz won the A-Main on Friday night, too. And Tim McReadie of Watertown, N.Y. (yeah, he’s Barefoot Bob’s kid) won both Super DIRT Series races at Charlotte on the weekend.

– Luca di Montezemolo unleashed a barrage at the FIA over the weekend, saying in effect that if Formula One wanted Ferrari to continue in the category, it had better ease off on testing rules and third cars, in general, and technical regulations in particular. "We are here as constructors, not sponsors," he told media covering Ferrari’s World Finals event at Mugello, suggesting that F1 had to be cutting edge again while still keeping an eye on costs. He suggested F1 is the only sport in the world that doesn’t allow practicing, which is wrong, and said fans would rather see three competitive cars from one marque in a race rather than some underfunded, uncompetitive entry from another that’s being passed every three or four laps.

– In other F1 news, the FIA has officially confirmed that Virgin, Renault and Team Lotus will all have new names for 2012. Renault becomes Lotus. Lotus becomes Caterham. And Virgin becomes Marussia. Clear as mud, right? Who wants to bet that at least two of those teams have new names again within the next two years?

– Casey Stoner beat Ben Spies by 0.015 seconds in the MotoGP event at Valencia in Spain. Full story here.

BACK TO KYLE BUSCH:

Here's an interesting take on the weekend's going-on in NASCAR. The author, Carol Einarsson, dumps all over Michael Waltrip for firing David Reutimann and suggests that if Joe Gibbs wants to get rid of a problem, there's a driver available . . . the good read is here.

Ron Hornaday (and you can't blame him) had some interesting things to say about Kyle Busch and Friday night's little incident:

"If NASCAR doesn't (park Busch), I'm hanging around, and I'm going to buy Tommy Baldwin's ride and that guy will never finish another race. . . We'll see what NASCAR does. If they don't handle it right, I'll be over at his house Monday morning.''

Update: Kyle Busch suspended after crashing Hornaday

SATURDAY UPDATE: NASCAR did more than park Kyle Busch after he tried to run Camping World Truck Series championship contender Ron Hornaday through a wall at Texas Motor Speedway Friday night.

President Mike Helton announced Saturday that Busch had been suspended for the remainder of the weekend - the first time a NASCAR driver had ever been handed such a stiff penalty.

Helton hinted - strongly - that there could be additional sanctions against Busch announced next week.

Busch missed this afternoon's Nationwide Series race (won by Trevor Bayne) and won't be able to race in Sunday's Sprint Cup race. The other two times drivers had been suspended - Kevin Harvick in 2002 and Robbie Gordon in 2007 - were just for the Cup race.

Denny Hamlin drove Busch's Nationwide car today and Michael McDowell will drive his Cup car tomorrow.

Helton said that, "the responsibility over the past two or three seasons we've given back to the drivers came, I think, with a very clear understanding that there could be a line that got crossed. As annoying as the comments that I've made personally in the past about 'we'll know it when we see it' might have been, we saw it [Friday] night."

Busch drives for Joe Gibbs Racing and Gibbs was most upset about the situation.

"Sometimes in life you have to deal with some real tough things," Gibbs said. "This is a tough situation for us. Basically, what we're trying to do is go through it the right way. Everybody here with our race team is trying to meet with everybody that was affected by this and obviously we've got a lot of work to do there and a lot of people to see."

Gibbs refused to discuss possible further sanctions against Busch by NASCAR but suggested there might also be internal team discipline.

Earlier . . .

Friday night, the "new" Kyle Busch became the "old" Kyle Busch at Texas Motor Speedway and the temper-tantrum that saw him destroy an opponent’s truck – with the opponent still in it – might cost him big-time.

If nothing else, it wiped out a season of good will in one fell swoop.

After a year in which "Rowdy" Busch became "Pacifist" Busch (he didn’t threaten to kill anybody all this season, talked nicely to reporters when asked and didn’t even fight back when Sprint Cup team owner Richard Childress put him in a headlock), the younger brother of Kurt Busch lost control of his emotions after his truck and one driven by NASCAR Camping World Series championship contender Ron Hornaday sideswiped each other while passing a slower truck.

Busch then pulled in behind Hornaday and didn’t just try to spin him out to show his displeasure but drove him into the outside wall at the Texas speedway, completely wrecking the front end of Hornaday's truck and putting him out of the race.

Hornaday was not hurt but NASCAR cars and trucks can’t keep going full-tilt into walls at seriously high rates of speed and the drivers just keep walking away. One of these days, it will be Dale Earnhardt all over again and if it’s a case of somebody putting somebody else into the fence on purpose, police other than NASCAR’s will be involved.

NASCAR "parked" Busch immediately and called him to "the trailer" immediately afterward. However, no penalty was announced Friday night and officials said it would be some time on Saturday before anything is decided.

The inference? There will likely be something beyond the race misconduct penalty handed out to Busch Friday night. Although it seldom happens, a driver can be suspended from competition by NASCAR for dangerous driving.

Kevin Harvick won the race, which delighted him because he’s closing down his truck team at season’s end. He was not particularly pleased by what happened between Busch and Hornaday, however, because his team owns the truck that Hornaday was driving.

Asked about the incident, Harvick said: "Kyle showed his immaturity and why he’s one of those guys who can’t stand to lose and (he's) a poor loser. It’s unfortunate for Ron. It’s unfortunate he (Busch) got involved with guys running for the championship.

"At some point, he’ll feel the pain."

Austin Dillon now leads the Camping World title chase with one race remaining.

NOTES: Danica Patrick, who qualified 11^th for today’s Nationwide Series race at Texas (Elliot Sadler won the pole for the race that will get the green at 1 p.m. on TSN2) announced she will drive car No. 10 for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s team in next year’s Nationwide championship and also revealed the 10 Sprint Cup races she’ll run for Tony Stewart’s Sprint Cup team. The first one, natch, will be the Daytona 500. Strangely absent is the Brickyard 400, although she will be in the Nationwide race scheduled for the Speedway on the same weekend next August. Although no announcement has been made about her driving in the Indianapolis 500 next May, if the logistics can be worked out it’s a good bet that she’ll be in a car entered by her old Andretti Autosport team. . . . David Reutimann is a class act. Obviously disappointed about being thrown out of his ride at Michael Waltrip Racing to make way for senior citizen Mark Martin, Reutimann said he won’t go rustling through the bushes for a decent ride with another team at this late date because it would mean somebody would have to be dumped to make way for him, and "I wouldn’t want that." . . . Greg Biffle has the pole for Sunday’s Sprint Cup race (TSN, 3 p.m.). Carl Edwards, who’s leading the Chase for the Championship with three races remaining (including this one at Texas), will go off seventh. Tony Stewart, who’s nipping at his heels and is in second place, eight points back, will start fifth. . . . Kyle Busch said he lost his temper because of something Ron Hornaday did to him earlier. Maybe so, but the reaction was over the top, boy. Way over the top.

Wickens to run in Abu Dhabi free practice

AND . . . IS STEWART'S NASCAR TEAM REALLY HENDRICK'S?

BUT FIRST: REWARDING SUCCESS

Huge breaking news this afternoon for Canada's Formula One hope, Robert Wickens of Guelph and Toronto.

Wickens, the Marussia Virgin F1 team's reserve driver, will take part in the first Free Practice session of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix next Friday morning as a reward for winning the 2011 World Series by Renault Formula Renault 3.5 Championship.

It's another step in the process of the 22-year-old's march to become the first Canadian to race in Formula One since Jacques Villeneuve.

Wickens's Renault campaign was sponsored by the Marussia car company, who decided that his success in securing the title was deserving of the opportunity to test theF1 car in a race weekend environment.

It's particularly good news for Wickens, because the man he defeated for the Formula 3.5 title, Jean-Eric Vergne, will be running the free practice in one of the Toro Rosso team cars and this puts them on an even footing, so far as showing their talent is concerned.

Of course, the Toro Rosso is a better car than the Marussia Virgin entry, but Vergne's performance will be measured against regular driver Sebastian Buemi's and Wickens's will be held up for comparison to regular Virgin driver Jérôme D’Ambrosio, so although they'll be on track together, the competition will be within their individual teams.

Wickens has been in the Virgin F1 car before. He took part in a straight-line test in September in Vairano, Italy, where he helped the team gather data for its aerodynamic evaluation program. His role next Friday will be to provide a continuation of this experience but in the more critical context of a Grand Prix, where his feedback will have a direct benefit on the team’s race weekend performance.

Wickens will run in car No. 25 alongside Timo Glock and in place of D’Ambrosio. It will be business as usual in the afternoon with D'Ambrosio back in the cockpit.

Said John Booth, team principal of Marussia Virgin Racing: “Robert has had a fantastic season in Formula Renault 3.5 and was the deserving victor of a hard-fought championship. One of the founding principles of our Young Driver Program was that we would reward success with important seat time to aid the progression of our rising stars through the ranks."

Said Wickens:  “I’m thrilled to be given the opportunity to test with the team in a race weekend context and at a track like Abu Dhabi. This year just keeps getting better and better and I can’t thank Marussia enough for their continued support.

"The Vairano test was a good grounding for me but the opportunity to kick things up a gear in a free practice session is obviously the next big step in my career and I hope my feedback will have a positive benefit on the team’s performance there.”

Now, heading into this weekend’s Sprint Cup race at Fort Worth, Tony Stewart is only eight points behind leader Carl Edwards in the Chase for the Championship and really seems to have the bit in his teeth. Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Matt Kenseth are running third through fifth in the Chase and all could end up winning it and the last three races promise to be really exciting.

But I have a question: how much of Stewart’s success is because of his Stewart-Haas Racing team and how much of it belongs to Rick Hendrick?

Stewart-Haas has a “working” relationship with Hendrick. Tony gets his cars and his engines from Hendrick and actually works with Hendrick’s organization on race setup for his car and Ryan Newman’s. Of course, he and Newman then race the cars and have pit crews to change tires and gas up the car during pit stops but – for all intents and purposes – this sure seems to be pretty much a Hendrick team.

Of course, it couldn’t be. NASCAR has a limit on the number of cars each team can enter in races — four — and Hendrick is full up with Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and Dale Jr.

But Stewart doesn’t hold a lot back when talking about the partnership. In an interview with Dave Rodman of NASCAR.com, he said this:

"I don't think that there's anything that they (Hendrick) are holding back from us that we could ask for, to be honest. We work very closely with them every week with the setups. Our engines — I have the ability, and Ryan does, too — if we feel like we aren't getting a good enough engine, we can sit there and look at all six dyno sheets for our engines and handpick the one we want if we so desire.

"I have confidence that our relationship with Rick and his whole group is very solid and that we are getting everything that we need from them. It's just our job to execute it and finish it out on the weekend."

Three of Hendrick’s drivers are in the Chase (Martin’s the only one out) but none are currently in the top five. There have been suggestions, as a result, that Stewart-Haas has been receiving A-list equipment of late in an effort by Hendrick to do all he can to help this “satellite” team win the championship.

Speaking of Rick Hendrick, his injuries as a result of that plane accident he was in earlier this week were more serious than first thought and he’s in hospital in Charlotte where doctors feel they can manage his pain better. He wasn’t badly hurt but broken ribs can really hurt and he suffered four of them

As I am one of the few people alive who actually watched the Toronto Maple Leafs win their last Stanley Cup (quick now: what year?) I have a most difficult choice to make about what to watch on Saturday night because I am also a huge fan of the sport of auto racing.

So, should I watch the Amazin’ Leafs? At time of writing, they are tied for first place overall in the National Hockey League (when was the last time that happened? 1902?) and they will be playing the Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins at the ACC.

Or should I watch the season finale of the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, live and in colour, on Speed Channel? Although Jason Meyers has already won the championship, the World Finals being held on the dirt track at Charlotte Motor Speedway will still be frantic, with bench-racing boasting and serious money on the line.

I think I have a solution: the hockey game will start at or about 7:10 p.m. Eastern. I can watch the first period and at least part of Coach’s Corner before the sprint car races start at 8 p.m. on Speed.

Problem solved.

By the way, the guy starting on pole Friday night at Charlotte (no TV but Friday time trials are always a harbinger of things to come) is none other than the driver who won the Canadian Sprint Car Nationals at Ohsweken Speedway a little while ago, Sam Hafertepe Jr. of Sunnyvale, Tex.

“Having a good car tonight (Thursday) means a lot and also means we will probably have a good car for the rest of the weekend,” said Hafertepe, whose crew chief is a Canadian, Daryl Turford of Brampton.

Steve Kinser, Donny Schatz, Joey Saldana and Craig Dollansky are other Outlaws regulars who will be at Charlotte.

I’m getting worked up just writing about it.

More than $200,000 has been raised by that Graham Rahal-promoted online auction to help the widow and two young boys of Dan Wheldon.

Many “big-ticket” items have yet to come up for bidding, including the last race-worn helmet in the possession of Graham’s father, Bobby Rahal. Memorabilia from other Indy drivers, NASCAR and F1 stars is all on the block.

To participate, go to the auction site.

TV Guide:

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Texas, Friday, 8 p.m., Speed Channel

NASCAR Nationwide Series, Texas, Saturday, noon pre-race, 1 p.m. green, TSN2 (Danica Patrick will pay special tribute to Dan Wheldon in this race.)

World of Outlaws Sprint Cars, Charlotte, Saturday, 8 p.m., Speed Channel

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Texas, Sunday, 2 p.m. pre-race, 3 p.m. green, TSN

Danica to wear Wheldon tribute helmet in NASCAR race

Danica Patrick will wear a special Dan Wheldon tribute helmet when she races in Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.

As well as wearing the helmet, Patrick, who drove in the IZOD IndyCar Series race at Las Vegas in which Wheldon was killed, will honour the memory of the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner through a memorial paint scheme on the JR Motorsports-entered No. 7 Chevrolet she will drive in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge 300.

The hood of the car will showcase Wheldon’s "Lionheart" logo in bold letters across a black hood along with the words, "Dan Wheldon: 1978-2011." 

The web address DanWheldonMemorial.com will also be featured on the car.

Patrick will wear the special tribute helmet throughout the weekend and it will be auctioned off during the upcoming the Dan Wheldon Memorial auction being organized by IndyCar star Graham Rahal.

"I am humbled and proud to be wearing a special paint-out of my helmet in honor of Dan this weekend," Patrick said Tuesday. 

"This helmet will be auctioned off after the race with all proceeds, along with my prize money from this race, going to the Dan Wheldon Foundation. Dan was a good friend and I will miss his great personality and positive attitude. I hope everyone will join me in supporting Susie and their two young boys."

Patrick left the IndyCar series following the Las Vegas race and will drive Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Nationwide car for the remainder of the NASCAR season. She will then drive a full-time Nationwide Series schedule for Earnhardt’s team in 2012 as well as a partial schedule of Sprint Cup races for Tony Stewart’s Stewart-Haas Racing team.

"It’s exciting to be heading into these final weeks of the season," Patrick said. "Consistency is a big key to success and being in the Go Daddy car for the last three races is a good thing. It will help me get comfortable with the car and the more time I can spend with my crew leading up to next season, the better."

The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge 300 pre-race show can be seen on TSN2 at noon Saturday with the green flag expected at 1 p.m.