Norris McDonald's Auto Racing Blog

Will resignation impact TV coverage of F1?

A couple of weeks ago, shortly after Mark Webber won the Brazilian GP and Britain’s Sky TV announced plans for an HD channel dedicated solely to Formula One starting in 2012, I contacted TSN about their plans for next year.

TSN has been showing F1 races and qualifying rounds for years, most recently by picking up the feed from the BBC. But the Beeb will only televise 10 of next year’s 20 scheduled races live while Sky will have them all (plus all practice sessions, etc.) and, in fact, has hired Martin Brundle to head up its broadcasting crew.

Now, I haven’t heard back from TSN. I suspect there are any number of reasons for this, all of them legitimate. When they have something to say, I’m sure they’ll call. The season doesn’t start till mid-March, so there’s plenty of time.

But I was discussing the situation with a friend of mine yesterday afternoon and, at the end of the chat, he said this: "Maybe TSN won’t have any F1 next year. Maybe we’ll get to watch it on Speed TV."

I agreed with him (although I stressed that I thought it highly unlikely). But then I got an email later in the day that contained some unsettling news.

Hunter Nickell, president of Speed since 2005, has resigned and will leave at the end of the year.

Now, I don’t know Hunter Nickell from Adam, but I do know that in recent years the Speed weekend racing coverage during the season has gone from a one-hour Sunday night wrapup program to pretty much wall-to-wall coverage of the sport during the weekend, starting Friday.

Host Adam Alexander would pop up before the first race of the weekend, usually the Friday night NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race, with an update on that weekend’s racing calendar (sports cars, motocross, Moto GP, Formula One and IndyCar races, as well as NASCAR) and then would update with other pre-race reports and results through Saturday and on into Sunday evening.

Kind of a mini-CNN on wheels.

As well as his work strengthening motorsport news coverage in general, Nickell also beefed up coverage of, and solidified relationships with, F1, Supercross and Grand Am in particular.

Now, on the surface, his resignation might not seem like that big a deal. But every time there’s a change at the top of just about anything, the new guy (or woman) moves to put his or her stamp on things.

For instance (and I bet you didn’t know this), the minute the president of a major film studio is replaced, every movie in production at that time goes straight to digital. They are not released in theatres. Why? Because the new head honcho doesn’t want to have to take the blame for any turkeys in the bunch and he/she sure doesn’t want to have to pass on any praise to the guy who was fired.

It’s the same with TV.

It’s highly unlikely that the new president of Speed is going to leave everything as it is. Maybe he/she won’t be that big a racing fan. So maybe the weekend racing coverage, or some of it, gets whacked.

Maybe the new person loves NASCAR and isn’t much of an F1 fan. Uh-oh, I can hear you say. But it’s possible this change could have an effect on Speed's F1 coverage.

Or maybe not. (It really doesn’t matter to us in Canada now, because Speed’s F1 race coverage has been blacked out in recent years. But if TSN or Sportsnet passes on F1 in 2012, and Speed’s coverage is altered, we could be in a fix . . .)

What I am saying is that Speed TV under the leadership of Hunter Nickell has been a good friend of all motorsports and fingers should be crossed that this across-the-board approach continues.

Now, speaking of Formula One, it’s really interesting to watch how Lotus-Renault CEO Dany Bahar is now speaking out of both sides of his mouth so far as the return of driver Kimi Raikkonen is concerned.

Bahar had some of the world’s motoring press over for lunch in London on Monday and said that he fully expects Raikkonen to have some difficulty adjusting to F1 after being away from the sport for two years (ya think?) but that the team is quite prepared to give him all the time he needs.

Said M. Bahar: "You cannot expect from a driver that was absent for two years to come back and adapt to the new tyres and new regulations from day one, so he needs his time. But whether this time is three days, six races or 20 races, we will see. What is important is to see how his tendency goes towards the performance. If it is always improving, then of course we will give him the time."

All very well and good. But then, he said this:

"He knows he has to deliver. . . He is not the same kid as he was at Sauber and at McLaren. These are different times, he has to deliver and he realises that."

Well, which is it? Is it, "We will give him the time?" or is it, "He knows he has to deliver?"

This guy Bahar won’t last long if Raikkonen doesn’t live up to what’s expected of him. And on top of that, he’s about to record an even bigger loss in the arena of public opinion.

The contract Renault has with Robert Kubica, the popular Polish driver who was nearly killed in a rally accident at the beginning of the year and was unable to return to F1 racing as hoped, is about to expire and Bahar seems content to let him go.

As a good friend of mine noted a few weeks ago, when that happens, Kubica will become a test driver with Ferrari and if he can recapture his old speed, will be a very good bet to replace Felipe Massa in 2013.

And if that happens, Dany Bahar’s career in F1 could come to screeching halt.

Wickens wins Bruce McLaren award; 'Hinch' news coming soon

It seems that much of the news that would interest Canadian racing fans these past few weeks has been centred on two young talents in particular - aspiring F1 driver Robert Wickens of Guelph and Toronto and IndyCar star James Hinchcliffe of Oakville.

I suggest today that both will be in the news again before long.

It’s understandable that the focus has been on Wickens. Last week, he was presented with the British Racing Drivers Club’s Bruce McLaren Award in recognition of his championship success this season in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series (a.k.a. the World Series by Renault).

Wickens, 22, who was a reserve driver in Formula One this year for Marussia Virgin Racing, was presented with the trophy, awarded annually to honour the best performance of the year by a non-British driver from the Commonwealth, by motorsport legend Stirling Moss.

Previous recipients of the award, named after the late Bruce McLaren – founder of the McLaren Formula One team – include Mark Webber, Scott Dixon and Will Power.

"I’m tremendously honoured to have won this award," said Wickens. "It’s been a fantastic season for me winning the Formula Renault 3.5 Series and making my debut in Formula One being a reserve driver for Marussia Virgin Racing.

"The award also gave me an opportunity to publicly thank the people who have supported my career over the past couple of years, including Marussia Motors owners Andrey Cheglakov and Nikolai Fomenko, the Marussia Virgin Racing team, my F-3.5 team in 2011, Carlin, and Teddy Yip and his co-owners at Status Grand Prix, with whom I enjoyed success in the GP3 Series last year (2010, when he placed second in that series)."

Wickens will spend the holidays at home with his parents and, according to his spokesman, looks forward to finalizing some "exciting plans" for 2012.

Hinchcliffe, meantime, appears to be on the cusp of landing a top ride in the IZOD IndyCar Series for 2012. Until it’s official, however, it’s best to keep speculation to a minimum.

So a look back at 2011, when he made his Indy 500 debut and captured the series’ top rookie award, is in order because, once the announcement about next year is made, which could be any day now, there will be no looking back.

The following, by the way, is complements of his Canadian spokesman, Stuart Morrison:

Q: You received the news about Newman/Haas Racing closing its IndyCar team just as you were getting ready to fly to England. What was your immediate reaction?

James Hinchcliffe (JH): "Immediate reaction was shock, for sure. I obviously was somewhat aware of the fact that the team had recently received some bad news about potential sponsors, but it’s Newman/Haas. You just sort of always assume that they will find a way to make it work. The cars had been ordered and the engineers were into their preparation. So for sure it was a shock."

Q: You ultimately claimed Newman/Haas Racing’s final title in IndyCar competition, winning this season’s ‘Rookie of the Year’ mantle. How much pride do you take in that accomplishment?

JH: "It meant a huge amount to me before, but it probably means even more now. To do that having missed the first race and coming back from a huge deficit after Indy was a tremendous accomplishment for the team. Now, knowing that it will be their last title – and this team has won a lot of them – makes it a little extra special. I am just so grateful for the opportunity that (Toronto-based sponsor) Sprott and Newman/Haas gave me this year to be in IndyCar and to give me the tools needed to accomplish that. That was our goal from the outset and it’s a big point of pride that we pulled it off."

Q: How does the news affect your plans for the 2012 season?

JH:  "Well after a season like the one we had, there was certainly some interest from around the paddock. It was a very flattering thing, really. For sure, initially continuing with Newman/Haas was the likely option, but it was only one option. There were others and now with that one off the table, we will begin to explore some of the others."

Q: Sunday night (Dec. 4) saw you attend the prestigious Autosport Awards in London, England, for the first time in your career. Was it as good as you hoped having been nominated in the category of ‘Rookie of the Year’?

JH: "Absolutely! That event is something that I have read about for years and I have heard tons of stories from people who have been about what a great night it is. The nomination alone was, again, a very flattering thing and something that I was very proud of. We were in some pretty good company and it’s nice when people you respect in the sport recognize something you’ve done. I had an absolute blast, it was a riot of an evening – I got to meet some people, catch up with some people – just a great night."

Q: What was the highlight of the night for you and did you get a chance to catch up with anyone else from the IndyCar community attending?

JH: "Honestly the whole night was a highlight! There is such a feeling of camaraderie in the room and everyone is there to have a good time. The back-and-forth going on up on stage was hilarious! I did get to catch up with Dario. His table was bread-throwing distance from mine, so you had to have your guard up at all times!"

Q: Your schedule then took you to Milton Keynes for the Dan Wheldon Memorial Kart Race (in which Wickens also participated). The entry list read like a who’s who of the world of motorsport! How much fun was it?

JH:  "The Kart race was awesome! Huge credit to Johnny Mowlem for organizing it, because it turned out better than anyone thought and was such a blast. It was freezing cold and the track was so slick, but everyone was there to have fun, no one took it too seriously. It really is exactly the kind of event Dan would have loved. It was truly an honour to be a part of it and to bang wheels with some great drivers in a completely stress free environment!"

Q: You’re wrapping up a busy few days by flying to Brazil for the Granja Viana 500 kart race – how did that opportunity come about?

JH: "Yeah, I don’t exactly know what people mean by off-season! It’s been pretty flat out since the season ended. The offer to do Granja came from (Indy Lights driver) Victor Carbone, who has an associating with one of the teams. He hadn’t even finished asking the question and I told him that I would go because, again, this is one of those events that I have read about for years, looked like a ton of fun, and I have always wanted to take part in.

"I really have just been so fortunate the last little while to get these opportunities. So I’m looking forward to getting down there, getting back into a more serious kart race for the first time in a while and on top of that, a few days in Brazil is a nice break from surviving December weather back home!"

"I really have just been so fortunate the last little while to get these opportunities. So I’m looking forward to getting down there, getting back into a more serious kart race for the first time in a while and on top of that, a few days in Brazil is a nice break from surviving December weather back home!"

The day Mario Andretti crossed swords with Don Branson

This entry originally appeared on this site in November, 2009. From time to time during the off-season, when legitimate auto racing news is in short supply, I will re-publish items about subjects that I particular enjoy. This one got a lot of response - a day in the life of a couple of warriors, when racing was racin' and men were men. 

When there’s no more racing to go to, or watch on TV, I spend my spare time reading about it.

I have magazines and books coming out of my ears.

And they’re all over the place: bookcases upstairs, bookcases downstairs and boxes and boxes of magazines. I never throw anything out, so there’s lots in the garage.

I should be more organized. My wife will see me going down to the basement, and up to my home office, and out to the garage and back in to do it all over again and she knows not to ask because she knows I’m looking for a book or an article to check a fact, recall an incident or find a quote because I know the damn thing is around the house somewhere.

I have three favourite motor racing journalists. Nigel Roebuck (isn’t he everybody’s favourite?), who writes about all things Formula One – the races, the racers and the politics. I bought Autosport magazine for years just for his column and articles. The CBC, back whenever, telecast a history of F1 that I was really lucky to tape and I found out later that he was the narrator. Now he’s editor of Motor Sport magazine. It is a pleasure – a pleasure – to read his stuff.

Then there is John G. Sawyer, an American educator who freelanced to the long-gone Open Wheel magazine a series of incredible profiles of old-time Indianapolis drivers who also raced midgets and sprint cars on dirt. He also wrote three books about those legends of the speedways.

I read his stuff again and again and again and never, ever, get tired of it. I know what the next sentence will be and I keep reading anyway.

Joe Scalzo is my third favourite. His beautiful book, The American Dirt Track Racer: 1951-1971 (he’s written more than a dozen in total but this one stands out), contains outstanding writing like this:

"There were not one but two possible final destinations for the dirt-track warrior. One was the Indy 500, where everybody wanted to go. The other was the marble orchard, where nobody wanted to go."

I love a great line, and that one about the cemetery – the "marble orchard" – is right up there.

In any event, last week I was reading an article by Roebuck in the latest Motor Sport in which he interviewed Mario Andretti about the years when he was just starting out as a professional midget and sprint car racer.

In the Roebuck piece, Andretti talks at length about the late U.S. Auto Club sprint and champ car driver Don Branson, who didn’t taste success until he was nearly in his 40s – which was ancient for the times.

In the article, Andretti professes great affection for Branson and discussed a particular incident involving the two of them: he’d run into Branson and spun him out during a race at Williams Grove Speedway in Pennsylvania, following which he suggests he received some fatherly advice from the grizzled veteran.

"Couple of days later, in Indianapolis, I’m having breakfast and I see Don’s at another table and he calls me over – Jesus, I knew what was coming. ‘Mario,’ he says very quietly, ‘how much money did you make at the Grove the other night?’ Not much, I says. ‘I know, Mario,’ he says. ‘You made about as much as I didn’t make because you took me out. Now, listen,’ he says, ‘let’s cut out that sort of crap, and we’ll both get to eat much better, right?’

"He never raised his voice, but I was shaking. ‘Do you hear me, Mario?’ he says. And you’d better believe, I heard him!’ "

That’s a great little yarn, I thought to myself, and then my long-term memory kicked in:

Wait a minute. I’ve read that story before, somewhere. The version I read was similar, but if I recall, Branson wasn’t being nearly as charitable. In fact, he was giving Andretti a warning.

So away I went – upstairs, downstairs, out to the garage and so-on – and there, finally, in the July 1988 issue of Open Wheel magazine was a story entitled "Gramps," which was the first of a two-part series by Sawyer on the life and times of Branson – "a simple, unpretentious man with the Illinois heartland written all over his face."

So I started to read Sawyer’s piece – man, what a way he had with those words – and in a part in which he interviewed Branson’s long-time crew chief, Jud Phillips, I found these passages:

"There was one . . . altercation with a newcomer that nearly pushed Don to violence. Mario Andretti was that newcomer and I never saw Don more angry. . .

"I’ll kid you not, Don was furious. However, he smoldered in silence. But you knew he was really hot – about as close to throwing fists as he ever got. Still, he said nothing. 

"On the following Tuesday, Don and I were having breakfast at the Cove Restaurant in Indianapolis. In walks Mario with a couple of Clint Brawner’s people. And they sat right next to us.

"Now, ol’ Don hadn’t forgotten about all those slide-jobs from the previous weekend. He was still mad about it and upon seeing Mario, he turned bright red. ‘Uh-oh,’ I said to myself.

"Don just sat there, playin’ with his breakfast. Finally he spoke – and the tone was hardly friendly. ‘Hey, Mario,’ he says, ‘how much money did you make over at the Grove?’ Mario didn’t answer right away but eventually he said he hadn’t made very much. ‘Yeah, I know,’ ol’ Don growled. ‘About as much as I didn’t make when you spun us both out. So – let’s cut out that kind of crap and we’ll both eat better.’ Then he said:

" ‘Do you hear me, Mario? No more of that crap,’ and that closed the subject. But Don had made his point."

The incident is the same and the quotes are almost the same. But two versions of the same story paint an entirely different picture of what went on between Mario Andretti and Don Branson in an Indianapolis restaurant all those years ago.

As we go through the winter, waiting for the Daytona 24 and then the 500, we’ll visit with all three of these writers from time to time.

It’s a pleasure for me to write about them. I hope you’ll get the same pleasure reading about them and the people and races they wrote about.

IndyCar cancels 2012 Las Vegas speedway race

The IZOD IndyCar Series won’t be going back to Las Vegas Motor Speedway any time soon.

The series announced Thursday night that IndyCar won’t close out the 2012 season at Las Vegas as previously planned because they don’t want a repeat of the horror show that took place in October when two-time Indianapolis 500 champion Dan Wheldon was killed in a 15-car pileup

The series was scheduled to close its 2012 season at the speedway next Oct. 14, but IndyCar and speedway officials said considerable testing with the new car to be used by the series next year is needed prior to returning to the facility.

"We feel we need to give our technical team ample time to conduct thorough testing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, once we complete our ongoing investigation into the 15-car accident during the Oct. 16 race at the track," said Randy Bernard, CEO.

The 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series season opens March 25 with the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. The complete schedule will be announced in the coming weeks.

Observers are wondering just how many races the series will end up running. With Las Vegas gone, only three ovals remain from the preliminary schedule, California, Iowa and Indianapolis (the Fort Worth race is also on the buble). The street race in Baltimore is also reportedly at risk because of financial difficulties stemming from the first event.

In other scheduling news, the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series will open Mosport’s 2012 racing season next May.

 Canada’s only national racing series will headline the Victoria Day Speedfest in mid-May that’s traditionally kicked off the racing season at the legendary circuit north of Bowmanville.

The Canadian Tire series is no stranger to Mosport, having headlined the June Father’s Day Weekend meeting in recent years. And as well as racing on the road course, the NASCAR Canada cars and stars have always raced at least once a seson on the half-mile Mosport Speedway oval and will do that once again in June.

When fans head out there next May, they will be astonished at the improvements that have been made to the facility since racing ended in the fall. A new entrance road, a double tunnel that will allow race transporters to come and go while racing is being conducted on the track, improved spectator viewing areas and much improved access roads around and inside the circuit are just some of the things that have changed since new owners Al Boughton, Ron Fellows and Carlo Fidani took over the plant last June.

Here is the full Mosport Raceway schedule for 2012.

May 18-20        Victoria Day SpeedFest Weekend

NASCAR Canadian Tire Series; SCCA Pro Racing Trans-Am; Castrol Touring Car Championship; Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada; F1000 Pro Series       

June 15-17        33rd Annual Int’l Vintage Racing Festival

This year’s featured marque is Corvette.  Regular classes include Historic & Vintage Production; Sports Racers; Group 70+; Open Wheel

June 16        Mosport Speedway 200 (at Mosport Speedway)

NASCAR Canadian Tire Series returns for second date, this time at Canada’s fastest half-mile paved oval

June 22-24        Mosport Sports Car Doubleheader Weekend

Pirelli World Challenge (GT, GTS, Touring, B Spec); Porsche 944 Cup

July 19-22        Mobil 1 Presents The Grand Prix of Mosport

American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón; Cooper Tires Prototype Lites; Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada; IMSA GT3 Challenge; Castrol Touring Car Championship

August 24-26    Mosport Superbike Doubleheader Weekend

Pro Superbike; Pro Sport Bike; Amateur Superbike; Harley-Davidson XR1200; Honda CBR250R Challenge; BMW Motorrad SummerFest

'Hinch' a cinch to drive GoDaddy car in 2012?

When Newman/Haas Racing announced late last week that it wouldn't be competing in the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series, it promptly threw Sunoco Rookie of the Year James Hinchcliffe out of work.

I did a quick phone interview with "Hinch," the Oakville racer who set the IndyCar series on its ear this year with both his abilities in the cockpit and his public-relations skills, and asked him if he'd talked to Michael Andretti about the GoDaddy seat recently vacated by Danica Patrick that was going to be filled by Dan Wheldon but remains available.

I wrote in my blog entry that, "asked specifically about the openings at Michael Andretti's team, Hinchcliffe was bemused, saying only that they were among several of the quality seats still available and he would just have to regroup."

Wednesday afternoon, Speed TV reporter Robin Miller said it's now expected that Hinchcliffe is close to landing that job.

And in email conversation that I had Wednesday night with a friend who is in the know, it is pretty safe to say that James Hinchcliffe of Oakville, Ont., Canada will very, very likely be driving that car in the IndyCar series next year.

Which, when it's made official, will be very good news, indeed.

P.S. Miller also suggests Canadian Alex Tagliani will drive for Brian Herta Autosports in 2012. We'll see.

Several years ago, the World of Outlaws honoured the Brantford-area Ohsweken Speedway for promoting the best race of the year that season.

Now, NASCAR has so honoured the Circuit-Gilles Villeneuve for the running in August of the NAPA 200, calling it the race of the year for 2011.

 

Of course, the Outlaws centred out Ohsweken for race organization, ambience and the facility itself (that little dirt oval on the Six Nations Reserve is a gem) while NASCAR simply said that the Montreal race was the most exciting of the season.

To recap: Australian driver Marcos Ambrose qualified for the Sprint Cup race at Michigan before taking a private plane to Montreal’s Dorval airport. He transferred to a helicopter that flew him to Ilse Notre-Dame and then was taken across the Olympic Rowing Basin to the circuit by boat. He strapped himself into his race car with just moments to spare before the start.

Starting last (he missed qualifying), he charged his way through the field in an effort to catch local favourites Jacques Villeneuve (who’d won the pole), Patrick Carpentier (driving in his last race before retiring) and Alex Tagliani (who’d started on the front row beside JV).

To say he “charged through the field” is a misnomer: he bashed his way through and took the lead by running Villeneuve off the track on a restart with 26 laps remaining. He managed to squeeze past Tagliani just before the end to take what the news release said was an “improbable victory.”

After the race, Carpentier’s crew chief grabbed driver Steve Wallace by the hair when he was still in his car as a result of Wallace deliberately spinning out Carpentier to ruin his final race.

Have at it boys, indeed.

 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series Champion Scott Steckly of Milverton is in Charlotte, N.C. this week to celebrate the 2011 season along with the six other NASCAR Touring and Weekly Series champions.

The week of festivities will culminate in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Awards Banquet on Friday and the NASCAR Night of Champions Touring Awards Gala on Saturday.

In addition to Steckly, Max Gresham (NASCAR K&N Pro Series East), Greg Pursley (West), German Quiroga (NASCAR Mexican Series presented by Toyota), Ron Silk (NASCAR Whelan Modified Tour), George Brunnhoelzl (NASCAR Whelan Southern Modified Tour) and Philip Morris (NASCAR Whelan  All-American Series) will each receive trophies and all the other accolades that go along with them.

Both evenings will be covered by live streaming. Go to www/nascarhometracks.com at 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday for coverage in English, French and Spanish.

Speed Channel will broadcast one-hour biography specials of the six people going into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in January, starting this Friday night.

First up will be Cale Yarborough at 8 p.m., followed by Dale Inman at 9. A week later, on Dec. 16, at 8 p.m., Richie Evans will get the treatment. Then, there will be a break through Christmas and New Year’s, with the “Biography” series picking up again on Jan. 6 at 8 p.m. when Darrell Waltrip will be profiled. On Jan. 13, again at 8 p.m., Glen Wood will get his 60 minutes.

The third annual NASCAR Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be held on Friday, Jan. 20 in the Charlotte Convention Center’s Crown Ballroom at the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Muscle Milk Pickett Racing will have a bigger on-track presence in the American Le Mans Series next season with the team fielding an LMP Challenge class entry alongside its LMP1 program, which will will be announced in the coming weeks.

Drivers Memo Gidley (he’s half Canadian, you know) and Mike Guasch will lead the team's effort in the Challenge class, which features the Michelin-clad ORECA-Courage FLM09 prototype.

Here’s a tidbit. According to a story on speedtv.com, an Austin Healey 100S Prototype connected with the worst tragedy in motorsports history was sold for $1.3 million last Thursday at auction in the U.K.

Essentially in ratty “barn-find” condition, the Healey’s value was multiplied immeasurably by its role in the fiery crash during the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans that claimed 84 lives and injured 120 people.

This Healey, which was driven by Lance Macklin, swerved to avoid Mike Hawthorne’s Jaguar D-Type, which was braking to enter pit lane, putting it directly in the way of a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR driven by Pierre Levegh.

The Mercedes hit the rear of the Healey and was launched into the crowd of spectators. Levegh was among those killed and Mercedes-Benz withdrew from racing until 1980.

Here’s an early reminder about the 2012 Grand Prix of Canada that will be held at Circuit-Gilles Villeneuve next June.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rc5V3qE21E

More on Kurt Busch's firing; Peter Gethin dies (video)

Several things to ponder today – the death at 71 of four-time F1 Grand Prix of Canada driver Peter Gethin and more fallout from the dismissal Monday by Roger Penske of NASCAR star Kurt Busch.

Busch first.

Kurt Busch gave every indication Monday night, in an appearance on Speed TV, that he still really doesn’t get it.

Yes, Penske Racing said in a statement Monday that it was a mutual decision for Busch to leave the team in mid-contract and Busch put out a statement to say that discussions about a parting of the ways had been going on for some time.

But anybody with a brain knows that those platitudes were all just PR baloney and the fact of the matter is that Roger Penske fired Kurt Busch because, despite his race victories and Chase appearances, he had become a liability to Penske Racing and its sponsors.

But rather than putting his tail between his legs, where it belongs, and admitting – and accepting – defeat, Busch was talking on TV as if he, in fact, instigated the whole thing because - well - he just wasn’t a good fit at Penske Racing.

Now, any addict will tell you the only way to begin a recovery is to admit to hitting bottom. This should have been Kurt Busch’s bottom. But to hear him tell it, that deal Sunday night in Las Vegas, when Penske sent the pink slip Special Delivery to his house, was just another bump in the road.

"I’m excited about the future," Busch said "This is a fresh start for me. I’ve got a champion’s provisional that will guarantee me a spot in any race that I want to go to. There’s all types of other racing options, so it’s been a unique day. It’s going to be a unique week and month to figure out the next direction."

Way to go, Kurt.

This is what he should have said.

"I am truly sorry that it has come to this. I have sought the services of a psychologist to help me gain control of my emotions so that I can be a better person off the race track as well as on. I realize that my actions have been selfish and self-centred and that I have let down the sponsors that have made it possible for me to drive race cars in NASCAR for a living.

"Today is the first day of the rest of my life and I intend to take the first step of tens of thousands that will eventually see me welcomed back to this great sport. In the meantime, I plan to take a sabbatical and start to work on myself.

"I hope, when I return, that the slate will be clean and we can all go forward together. Thank you."

Instead, it was business as usual – a sign, I suggest, that means nothing will ever really change.

Jimmy Spencer, who had a few run-ins with Kurt Busch over the course of his career (he punched the elder Busch brother in the shnozz once), had this to say:

"Kurt is a hell of a driver and a past champion but he thinks he’s above everyone and everything. You can’t treat people the way he has – I don’t care who they are. Kurt has disgraced NASCAR and his sponsors.

"He obviously needs to get some help managing his anger and hopefully he will. If he does, maybe he can survive being let go from Penske, but it will be hard for another top-notch team to pick him up without him demonstrating a complete overhaul and true remorse.

"My gut feeling, though, is that he can’t truly come back from this. He won races this year, made the Chase and is a former champion, and yet he still was let go. That does not bode well for his future.

"Ironically, I think people are overlooking the Pennzoil situation. Pennzoil left Richard Childress Racing and Kevin Harvick for a lot less offensive behavior from Harvick due to Harvick’s bickering with his crew over the radio and fighting with Richard Childress over his contract.

"In my opinion, Roger Penske is the most honorable man in motorsports and he has the utmost respect of everyone in NASCAR and IndyCar. But Busch has treated him with the most disrespect I’ve ever seen a driver treat an owner.

"Kurt has blown up and shown his rear end to the point that I think Roger’s hands were tied and he had to fire him not just for the sponsor but for the morale and betterment of the organization."

I suggest that somebody cut out what Jimmy Spencer just said and give it to Kurt Busch and have him take those words to heart. Because Spencer is bang on.

But he probably won’t. He’s Kurt Busch, don’tcha know.

And it’s everybody else’s fault.

Okay, I won’t repeat everything in the official obituary (link here) but Peter Gethin, the son of a jockey who died Monday, was more interested in horsepower than horses and enjoyed a wonderful career in sports cars, Formula 5000 and Formula One.

He drove in four Canadian Grands Prix as well as several races in the original Can-Am Series (Edmonton in 1970, for instance). The "break" (if you want to call it that) that got him into F1 came when Bruce McLaren was killed and Denis Hulme was injured and Teddy Mayer recruited him to drive the McLaren-Ford F1 car for the second half of the 1970 season, starting at Holland.

His Grand Prix of Canada race at Mont-Tremblant on Sept. 20 brought him his best result in this country, where he finished sixth behind the Ferraris of Jacky Ickz and Clay Regazzoni (they were first and second in the race), Chris Amon in a March-Ford, Pedro Rodriguez in a BRM and the Surtees-Ford of John Surtees.

In 1971 at Mosport, he finished 14^th driving for BRM, completing 59 of 64 laps (Jackie Stewart was the winner). After that, he fell out of the 1972 race after 25 laps with a broken suspension (Stewart won again) and in 1973 he only went five laps before an oil pump belt broke. He was in a BRM for both those races. Peter Revson won that ‘73 race, incidentally, although results weren’t made official for several hours after the checkers.

Gethin won his one and only F1 race for BRM at the Grand Prix of Italy in 1971 in which 0.61 seconds separated the top five finishers (watch the video here).

He had been ill for some time.

Kurt Busch gets his comeuppance

It’s finally happened.

A high-profile professional athlete has found out what things are like in the real world.

No more pampering, no more putting up with temper-tantrums, no more embarrassing the boss or the sponsor who pays the bills.

Kurt Busch has been told by Roger Penske not to let the door hit him in the butt on the way out. He’s been fired, canned, downsized, whacked.

And not a minute too soon.

Penske fired driver Busch late Sunday as the result of a public meltdown following his elimination from the season-ending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway earlier this month.

Penske waited until the weekend's end-of-season ceremonies in Las Vegas were over before handing Busch the pink slip. According to Charlotte.com, which broke the story Sunday night, the official announcement would be made some time Monday (Penske link here).

(Both Busch and a spokesman for Penske Corp. said Monday afternoon that Busch was not fired but that there was an amicable parting of the ways. Both Busch and the Penske executive couldn't have said nicer things about each other if they'd been written . . .)

The reason for the firing - er, amicable parting of the ways - was Busch's tirade directed at ESPN/ABC pit reporter Dr. Jerry Punch when the network was slow to leave race action in order for the driver to be interviewed after he was forced out of the race because of transmission problems.

After asking "why can't we tape this?" Busch became agitated and swore at both interviewer Punch and a camerman. Eventually, Punch said to "forget it" and walked off. Busch went into the Penske hauler but the scene was recorded on video by a fan with a cellphone (see the video below).

Warning: Strong language

This was the third or fourth incident this season in which Kurt Busch - not to be confused with his younger brother Kyle Busch, who escaped being fired recently by Joe Gibbs Racing after losing his temper during a Camping World Truck Series race and deliberately wrecking an opponent - lost control of his emotions.

He dressed down his crew and swore at his crew chief during a race (the profanity over the team radio was heard on live television), had to be restrained from attacking a television reporter who asked him a charged question and refused to answer questions when confronted by another journalist.

Some of these transgressions may appear to be minor (I sympathized - somewhat - with Busch when I saw the cellphone video of the Punch incident; he had just suffered a major disappointment and had to wait, and wait, and wait to be interviewed when, I'm sure, he just wanted to get out of there) but in the commercial world of NASCAR, where the teams and drivers are paid millions to represent corporations who are providing those millions, you can't behave like a Saturday night dirt car jockey just starting out.

As professional football, baseball, basketball, hockey and golf players are not allowed to behave like jerks, racing drivers aren't either. Both Busch brothers have lost sight of this throughout their careers and it is to Roger Penske's credit that he said enough is enough, and pulled the plug.

You wonder if executives at Mars Inc., which agreed with Joe Gibbs to continue to support Kyle Busch in 2012 after removing their wraps from his cars in the last two races of 2011, might be wondering today if they should have done the same thing.

Of course, Mars has an executive board and those things are quicksand when it comes to making a decision. Penske runs Penske and his word is law. Although Roger has a board of directors, it's clear that he calls the shots. And he calls those shots pretty well.

It's also clear that Kurt Busch didn't see the dismissal coming. He gave a press conference in Las Vegas on Friday in which he talked about working through some issues with a sports psychologist but then veered off on a tangent and said some pretty strong things about a previous employer.

He must have known he was walking on thin ice and yet he still kept going further and further out from shore.

The ice finally broke Sunday night.

There are few, if any, good rides available for 2012, so Busch could be in some trouble - unless he takes his personal millions and purchases the Red Bull team, which is in the process of going out of business, and runs his own entry.

On the other hand, this might turn out to be good news for Sam Hornish Jr. Hornish was a highly successful Indy car driver for Penske but has had trouble adapting to stock cars.

However, Penske has never wavered in his support for Hornish, who won the second-last Nationwide Series race this year (his first in NASCAR), and announced plans to run him for a full season in the Nationwide in 2012.

Might Penske move Hornish up to the big team? We'll see.

'KURT BUSCH STILL DOESN'T GET IT' - SEE NORRIS McDONALD'S TUESDAY COMMENTARY HERE

Meantime, last week was not a good one for promising young  Canadian racing drivers.

Two, in particular.

Ironically, they're both profiled in the current issue of Sportsnet magazine as young guys on the way up.

Robert Wickens, 22, of Guelph and Toronto, was the first one to get a kick in the stomach when he found out, at the Grand Prix of Brazil, that a Formula One ride in 2012 that he had been led to believe he had a shot at was being given to a young European driver whose curriculum vitae is nowhere near Wickens’s.

There was Wickens, at the Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo, site of the last F1 race of the 2011 season, in his role as official reserve driver for the Marussa-Virgin F1 team. He was reigning champion of the World Series by Renault and had been told by his sponsor, the Marussia supercar company, that all they were looking for in a potential F1 driver was results.

He had kept his part of the bargain and delivered, in spades. He had won the 2011 Renault F3.5 title after two seasons of finishing second in two other European F1 feeder series, Formula 2 and GP3.

So right in the middle of the Grand Prix weekend, Wickens find out – as did the world – that a young French driver named Charles Pic, who in six years of racing in comparable series to Wickens had never finished higher than third in the standings, would become a Formula One driver in 2012 as a teammate to the underachieving Timo Glock.

Of course, the Marussia-Virgin F1 team – like most of the teams in F1 these days (McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari excepted) – never saw a cheque it didn’t like. Despite what Wickens had been told, that all Marussa was looking for was results, in the end they went for the money and not the talent.

So that was disappointment No. 1. Here comes No. 2.

In mid-week, James Hinchcliffe of Oakville, who had won the Sunoco Rookie of the Year title in the IZOD IndyCar Series this year, found out that he was suddenly unemployed as a result of his team, Newman/Haas Racing, announcing it would not be participating in the IZOD IndyCar Series in 2012.

Hinchcliffe, who turns 25 today (Monday), had paid his dues and was enjoying his success. A veteran of the Formula BMW, Star Mazda, Champ Car Atlantic, A1-GP and Indy Lights series, Hinch put all his eggs in one basket over the winter of 2010-11 and made it plain that it would be the Big Leagues or nothing by the time spring and summer arrived.

Thank goodness that the Toronto investment firm Sprott Inc. opted to sponsor him. Despite missing the opening race of the season, Hinchcliffe went on to finish 12^th in points, won the rookie title and looked to be well on his way.

But then came Thursday’s announcement and despite putting his best face forward – "I'll have to regroup but there are still some seats available on good teams," he told me on the phone – he had clearly been gobsmacked.

"Hinch," like Wickens, is the perfect driver for a modern-day racing team: fast in the car but – just as important – social media savvy. He’s just the ticket needed to connect with young fans.

Although not officially disappointment No. 3, the fact that two young tiger Canadian drivers are now looking for rides in 2012 does not bode well for Paul Tracy in his quest to land full-time employment in 2012 (I still maintain Wickens would be better off trying Indy cars than continuing to try to make an impression in Europe).

It was going to be an iffy proposition in any event. Love him as we all do, Tracy is just not as fast as he was when he was a kid and when push comes to shove, and the choice comes down to a Wickens or a Hinchcliffe or a Tracy, some car owner is going to nod toward the first two before he sticks out his hand to the veteran who's third in line.

And that, as Stone Cold Steve Austin would say, is the bottom line.

Notebook:

– Tony Stewart was crowned NASCAR Sprint Cup champion in Las Vegas at the weekend and that pretty much wraps up the 2011 season. The Red Bull stock car team is kaput (although there is a rumour around that someone still wants to buy it . . . Jacques Villeneuve, perhaps? . . . but just what is left to purchase?) The employees have all been let go and what infrastructure remains is anybody’s guess.

On the driver front, Kyle Busch is being urged to just be a Sprint Cup driver in 2012; the thinking being that trying to race in three series might be contributing to his periodic meltdowns. Meantime, his brother, Kurt Busch, has let it be known he's working with a sports psychologist to try to get his emotions under control.

– Autosport magazine threw a gala in London Sunday night and handed out a pile of awards. Sebastien Vettel was named international racing driver of the year and Jenson Button was honoured as British driver of the year. Dan Wheldon was given a posthumous award to recognize his lifetime achievements in motorsport, which was accepted by his father, Clive, and his IndyCar friend and rival, Dario Franchitti. F1 driver Paul di Resta was named Rookie of the Year.

– French driver Sebastien Ogier won the Race of Champions over Tom Kristensen at the Esprit Arena in Dusseldorf. Michael Schumacher and a whole bunch of racing people were there. In Brazil, F1 driver Jaime Alguersuari won Felipe Massa’s annual go-kart celebrity race with Lucas di Grassi and Rubens Barrichello second and third. Jules Bianchi, a soon-to-be-Ferrari driver (development program) actually won but was disqualified for being underweight. His car was too light, that is.

– The World of Outlaws sprint cars will race four times in five nights in Canada next July, kicking off their "northern swing" at Autodrome Granby, Autodrome Drummondville, Cornwall Motor Speedway and then the Brantford-area Ohsweken Speedway, where the feature this year was won by none other than Tony Stewart. Trust me on this: if you have never seen the Outlaws in action, go.

Look at this: Sign about auto racing says it all

The difference between fans of auto racing and fans of other sports is that auto racing takes work.

You want to go watch the Leafs or the Marlies? Get on the subway or the streetcar and you’ll be dropped off at the door.

Want to play golf? There’s a course just down the street (it seems). I mean, if you’re on Dixie Rd. in Mississauga between Lakeshore Rd. and the Queen E., there are golf clubs on both sides of the road.

Want to play soccer or softball? Or take your kid to his baseball game? There are fields, pitches and diamonds in every neighbourhood.

But if you want to take in a big-league car race, you have to go out of town – sometimes for great distances. Want to watch road racing? Mosport is an hour east of Toronto. Oval racing? Flamboro Speedway is an hour west and Sunset or Barrie speedways are an hour or more north.

So it takes effort to be a fan of the motor sport, which sets us apart from all others.

How about being a participant?

What’s the difference between being the driver of a racing car, or motorcycle, and those who play other games and sports?

In short, what takes two balls?

 

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Hinchcliffe still has hopes for IndyCar ride

NEWMAN/HAAS RACING WON'T PARTICIPATE IN IZOD INDYCAR SERIES IN 2012

WILL OTHERS FOLLOW?

Mario Andretti and Paul Newman are seen in Toronto during the glory days of the Molson Indy (note size of the crowd). Newman/Haas Racing was the only team to compete in every Toronto race, going back to 1986. That streak will, sadly, come to an end in 2012.

Despite the shock announcement Thurday by his employer, Newman/Haas Racing of Chicago, that it wouldn't participate in the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series, Canadian Indy car racer James Hinchcliffe of Oakville remains optimistic he will be on the grid when the season opens next March.

"I'll have to regroup but there are still some seats available on good teams," said the young Canadian, who won the series Rookie of the Year title in 2011.

Hinchcliffe and his teammate, Spanish veteran Oriol Servia, were left high and dry Thursday when their employer issued a terse, two-paragraph statement in mid-afternoon.

"Newman/Haas Racing announced today that it will not enter cars in the 2012 IndyCar Series," the statement said.

"The economic climate no longer enables Newman/Haas Racing to participate in open wheel racing at this time,” said Carl Haas, owner and co-founder of Newman/Haas Racing."

Hinchcliffe edged young American J.R. Hildebrand for the top rookie award. Hildebrand is under contract with Panther Racing for the 2012 season.

It's a huge disappointment for Hinchcliffe, who showed the IndyCar world in 2011 that he was ready to join the big time after a half-dozen years in the minors. He only found out the bad news himself on Thursday afternoon.

"About 10 minutes before you did," the racer told me in an interview. "It's a sad day for the sport."

Hinchcliffe said he's thankful that the announcement came on Dec. 1 instead of Jan. 1 because there is still time to find a quality ride for next season.

"A lot of people (in the series) had approached us in the off-season," he said. "But because we were under contract to Newman/Haas, obviously we couldn't go too far in the discussions.

"But this has changed things and so I'll make a few phone calls. In fact, the phone has been ringing off the hook for the last 20 minutes."

Hinchcliffe said he feels badly for the 40 or so full-time employees of the team who now find themselves out of their jobs. "They're a great group and worked so hard and I'm so sorry for them."

Asked specifically about the openings at Michael Andretti's team, Hinchcliffe was bemused, saying only that they were among several of the quality seats still available and he would just have to regroup.

The news also means, of course, that the team won't be participating in the 2012 Honda Indy Toronto, scheduled for next July, thus breaking a record of participation in the Toronto race that goes back to the first Molson Indy in 1986.

The IndyCar Series is introducing a new car for 2012, designed and developed by Italy's Dallara Automobili. Although costs have been kept to a minimum, a two-car team would have to spend in the neighbourhood of $2 million just to stay in business and it's a known fact that a number of IndyCar teams are not in a position to spend that kind of money.

So the question has to be asked: is the Newman/Haas announcement the first crack in the dike? Will other Indy car teams be forced to follow suit because of poor economic conditions?

In addition, engine competition has been re-introduced for 2012, with Chevrolet and Lotus joining Honda in providing power plants for teams in the series. Engine leases have also been kept as low as possible but they run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars and will also  be a problem for some entrants.

Newman/Haas Racing was formed by the late actor/race car driver Paul Newman and racing entrepreneur Carl Haas in 1983 and has been one of the most successful open wheel racing teams in the sport's history.

 

The team participated in 29 consecutive seasons of competition from 1983-2011 and earned a total of eight championships, 107 race wins and 109 pole positions with drivers such as Mario and Michael Andretti, Nigel Mansell, Paul Tracy, Christian Fittipaldi, Cristiano da Matta, Sebastien Bourdais, Bruno Junqueira, Servia, Graham Rahal, Justin Wilson, Hinchcliffe and others.

The team finished fourth in the 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series with Servia and earned the Sunoco Rookie of the Year award with  Hinchcliffe.