Norris McDonald's Auto Racing Blog

Gary Dolson, 57, loved auto racing and hockey

THE LATE GARY DOLSON IN HIS ELEMENT - AT A RACE, PROMOTING TIRES

I first met Gary Dolson in the late 1980s when I was trying to find a sponsor for my supermodified racing car and made a pitch to Goodyear Canada.

I got a telephone call from Gary, who was director of public relations, saying he needed more information.

So I wrote him again, and again, and again. Finally I ran into him at that year’s Toronto auto show.

"Are you guys going to sponsor me?" I asked.

"No," he answered.

"So how come you keep asking me for more information?" I persisted.

"Norris, I just love reading your letters," he replied — and proceeded to roar with laughter.

From that moment on, Gary Dolson and I were great friends and I couldn’t believe it last weekend when his wife of 29 years, Jennifer, emailed me the sad news that he’d died of a heart attack at age 57, leaving her and their two sons, Alex, 26 and Steve, 23.

Like me and many others, Wheels colleague Jim Kenzie was "knocked for a loop."

"Gary was a long-time buddy and he not only played (harmonica) in our Journalists’ Band at the AJAC Test Fest but he played with my band at other functions," said Kenzie.

"He was way too young."

Gary did much more for me than I ever did for him. He once got me a ride on the Goodyear blimp, and how many people can talk about that? It was on his recommendation that I was hired for a year-long gig as co-host (with Jim Martyn) of Motorsport Radio on The Fan 590 and, most important, he bailed me out of what could have been an embarrassing situation when I was on the Globe and Mail back in the Nineties.

One year, the day — the day — before the Canadian Grand Prix, I received a request from the editor-in-chief to arrange for pit credentials for a Very Important Person (who shall remain anonymous). As I explained to the sports editor of the day, Dave Langford, it was going to be impossible for me to deliver.

But then a light went on and I called Gary Dolson. "Leave it to me," he replied. An hour later, he telephoned back and said he’d arranged not only for a pit pass for the VIP but a guest pass to the ultra-chic Paddock Club and I must admit that this was going to make me look like a real hero.

But do you know what happened next? The VIP showed up with his girlfriend and I had to call Gary to do even more last-minute tap dancing. But true to form, and a lot of fast talking, he got the girlfriend in too.

One time he threw one of the great parties to introduce a new all-season radial tire for passenger cars. He invited all the Toronto TV guys and every automotive journalist of record and flew us all out to Calgary.

The morning of the launch, everybody piled into a parade of stretch limousines for the ride downtown. Upon arriving outside a theatre, where the debut would take place, the late radio announcer Jim Paulsen – accompanied by half a dozen flashbulb popping "photographers" — used a megaphone to introduce each reporter as they emerged from a limo as if he or she were Brangelina arriving for the Oscars.

People arriving for work that morning must have wondered who all the "important people" were. Of course, we weren’t anybody but Gary sure got a lot of positive publicity for that tire.

Gary attended York University before entering the working world as a freelance writer of articles published in the North York Mirror, Maclean’s magazine and the Toronto Star.

One Star article in particular, published on Sun., Sept. 28, 1980, perfectly illustrates his love of hockey, which was right up there with auto racing on his list of passions.

He actually got to try out with the Toronto Maple Leafs and to write about it. He wore sweater No. 0, played on a line with Pat Hickey and Bill Derlago, did drills with Darryl Sittler and Borje Salming, got bodychecked — hard — by Ron Ellis, scored a goal against netminder Jiri Cirha and had the time of his life.

His (and the family’s) love of hockey resulted in them inventing The Original Stik-Rak® — essentially,. a hammock for hockey sticks.

Gary coached his kids all through minor hockey and absolutely hated going into dressing rooms and tripping over sticks that were lying all over the floor. He decided to do something about it. In the end, wife Jennifer invented the prototype, oldest son Alex came up with the name and patent design, Steve the drainage and storage aspects and Gary marketed it as the best and safest way to store and transport team hockey sticks.

Pat Foran of CTV did a report on the invention (if you go to YouTube and type in Gary Dolson, you can watch it) and 10,000 or so were eventually sold.

When Jennifer was pregnant with Alex, Gary had to leave freelance journalism to get “a real job.” He joined Goodyear Canada soon after and went on to become the youngest director of public relations in the company’s history. In 1994, after 10 years of service, he received Goodyear’s Spirit Award for outstanding contributions.

In 1995, he became manager of motorsport public relations for Goodyear North America with responsibility for the CART series. On 1998, he hung out his own shingle as president of Hi-Level PR Inc. and did work for Chrysler, Honda and — in recent years — EcoMedia Direct Inc., an outdoor advertising company providing recycling services.

He was an enthusiastic fellow with an infectious personality. He had an amazing ability to think outside the box. He spent a lifetime, as Jennifer puts it, “pumping up others and making them feel good about themselves.”

For him, the glass was always full.

The family will host a visitation on Sat., March 3, from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m. at the Egan Funeral Home, 203 Queen St. South (Highway 50) in Bolton. Phone 905-857-2213.

In lieu of flowers, the family is asking that contributions be made to the Canadian Tire Jumpstart program (jumpstart.canadiantire.ca), which raises money to help financially disadvantaged children play hockey.

Should anybody be surprised?

This photograph was taking several weeks ago at the Canadian Motorsports Expo by Inside Track Editor Greg MacPherson. It shows the late Gary Dolson (middle) holding court with the media, among them Dean McNulty of the Sun (back to the camera, left) and Jeff Pappone of the Globe & Mail (back to the camera, right).

Will the next Daytona 500 be at night?

KENSETH WINS FIRE-AND-RAIN-DELAYED GREAT AMERICAN RACE

If there's anyone left out there who's still wondering how NASCAR became the dominant force in auto racing in North America, all they had to do was watch it in action over the three days it took to run the Daytona 500 - which finally finished early today with Matt Kenseth in Victory Lane.

Sunday, when the race was held up initially because of rain and it looked like the delay would carry on into the evening and the race would have to go up against the Academy Awards in a TV ratings showdown, NASCAR wisely cancelled its marquee event until Monday.

Then, rather than start the race in the afternoon (which was possible) when most people in North America were at work and the TV ratings would be negligible, the NASCAR braintrust announced Monday morning that the Great American Race would start sharp at 7 p.m., right when prime time starts in TV land.

Before you could say NASCAR! (and with no NBA basketball because of the all-star break) just about every eyeball on the continent was on that race and I would be surprised if the ratings don't turn out to be better than if they'd been able to run the thing when first scheduled.

Sunday afternoon is a time for families, recreation or shopping. So the Daytona 500 would have had competition. But Monday night? Particularly when most of North America is caught up in a deep freeze?

So the Daytona 500 had no distractions or other competition to speak of at all - and I won't be surprised if NASCAR now gives serious consideration to scheduling the 2013 race on a Monday night, rather than the traditional Sunday afternoon.

Having said that, isn't it weird - and I can't think of another word to explain it - that for the second time in three years a problem with the race track played havoc with the spectacle itself? And the delay pushed the end of the race - which took about six hours to complete - into the early hours of Tuesday, making it a three-day event.

Two years ago it was a pothole that just wouldn't stay fixed. Monday night, the most bizarre circumstance I think anybody involved in racing has ever encountered or experienced saw the speedway surface so badly damaged as the result of a fiery collision between Juan Pablo Montoya's car and a truck pulling a jet blower that it took more than two hours to repair it.

Earlier, five-time series champion Jimmie Johnson was crashed out of the race on the second lap, celebrity driver Danica Patrick's car was so badly damaged that she was knocked out of contention, and long-time favourite Jeff Gordon was eliminated by a blown engine.

So it had been a long night.

When they finally got the race going again shortly after midnight, with the grandstands still mostly filled and probably most of the TV audience sticking it out too, they had a couple of more "big one"-type crashes and a green-white-checkers finish that saw Kenseth win the classic for the second time, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. second and Greg Biffle third.

It would take too long to provide a blow-by-blow description of the last lap, but whether Biffle was blocking for Kenseth, or Earnhardt just couldn't push him past the leader, is something that could be debated in racing circles for some time.

On the other hand, it might not. As the racers like to say these days, it is what it is.

One thing's for certain, however. Jack Roush, whose Roush-Fenway Racing team owns the first and third-place cars, is off to a terrific start in 2012. His Ford engines not only powered the Daytona winner and the third-place car to the podium, but three of his other power plants finished one-two-three in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona Grand Am Sports Car Series race at the end of January.

Five out of six places ain't bad. NASCAR will be pleased.

Daytona 500 tonight at 7 on TSN2/Fox

NASCAR now says it will try to run the Daytona 500 at 7 o'clock tonight - weather permitting.

NASCAR pulled the plug on the Great American Race shortly after 5 p.m. Sunday when inclement weather threatened to push the start time beyond the start of the Academy Awards telecast (see post below).

They say Tuesday is still an option if it continues to rain but after that it could be a problem because the circus has to be in Phoenix, Ariz., for a race next weekend.

I would think that if push came to shove that they'd delay or postpone the race in Phoenix in order to get in the 500, wouldn't you?

Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Meantime, the race will be televised on TSN2 and Fox at 7 p.m.

 

Did Oscar broadcast help scuttle Daytona 500?

It's 8:30 p.m. Sunday night as I write this and the Daytona Beach Dopler Radar shows no rain falling or expected in the immediate future and I suggest the reason they pulled the plug on the Daytona 500 for the first time in recorded history is not because it would too late to race but because of the Academy Awards.

Let me give you the background first. Then I'll explain my theory.

Persistent rain in the Daytona Beach area forced NASCAR to postpone the 500 from its scheduled 1 p.m. starting time. Shortly after 5 p.m., it was announced out of the blue that, for the first time in its 54 years, the race was being cancelled and would be held Monday, starting at noon. 

Fair enough.

But what if it had cleared up? Don't they have lights at Daytona? Even if it was 9 p.m. or so, couldn't they have gotten it in?

Maybe they could have, but there were other forces at work here.

NASCAR likes to tell everybody that more than a third of its audience is women. Which is true, because men like to drag their wives and girlfriends to the speedway or have them with them when they watch the races on television.

But I have noticed - and I am a keen observer of the human condition - that unlike men, every few (if any) women actually go to the race tracks by themselves, or with a friend. They are usually with their men or their families. Along the same lines, I would be very surprised if any more than one or two women actually sit home by themselves on a Saturday night or Sunday afternoon to watch NASCAR, or NFL football or Ultimate Fighting. If truth be told, they watch because their men friends want them to.

So women watch car racing, or whatever, as a mating or family activity. Fair enough. I know men who go shopping with their wives, or to the opera, just so their wives will go fishing with them. It's the way of the world. 

Sunday afternoon, as the rain continued, NASCAR realized it had a problem. Never mind the delay of the race, because they would be able to get that going whenever. The problem was that when they did, would anybody be watching?

The Academy Awards were scheduled Sunday evening and coverage started at 6 p.m. with what's called the Red Carpet. The Red Carpet is really a fashion show. It is primarily for women. The first question anybody asks the female movie stars is, "who are you wearing?" It is a time when women are watching and men are out buying Chinese food or Kentucky Fried Chicken for the family to eat in front of the TV.

So NASCAR knew that if the race had started at 1 p.m. like it was supposed to, it would have been over in time for the Oscars. But otherwise, it would be game over at 6 p.m. when all the wives in North America would say to their boyfriends and husbands, "I don't care if (take your pick: Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, A.J. Allmendinger, etc.) is winning, I want to know who designed Gwyneth Paltrow's dress."

Which is why NASCAR, wisely, decided to pull the plug on the Daytona 500.

Better to have lower ratings on Monday when everybody is working than to get killed in the ratings on Sunday night when they put their car race up against the Oscars.

Crashes could determine Daytona 500 winner

Two unknowns won Friday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race and today’s Nationwide Series stock car race because, in both cases, just about everybody else crashed.

John King (who?) was the winner of the truck race after surviving three attempts at green-white-checkers finishes that featured a truck flying up into the catch-fencing on the last one.

Today, as the laps wound down on the Nationwide race, they had not one but two Big Ones, the first involving 17 cars and the last involving 20.

James Buescher (who?), who was running 11th on the last lap when chaos erupted in front of him and all the leaders were taken out, found himself in Victory Lane.

For the second straight race – the first Sprint Cup qualifying race on Thursday and the Nationwide feature today – Danica Patrick was crashed out. Thursday, Aric Almirola rammed her in the side and sent her into the wall on the backstretch and today she was hit from behind by her rookie teammate, Cole Whitt, and rammed the third turn wall.

Between the two wrecks, she won the pole for the Nationwide race and led the first two laps.

The on-track mayhem in the first two feature races of NASCAR’s showcase weekend suggest that Sunday’s Daytona 500 could also be a wreck-fest and that pileups will determine the winner, not skill.

Lots of crashes will certainly entertain folks who like that kind of thing but lots of crashes also tend to disrupt the rhythm of a race and interrupt any racing that actually might be taking place.

The Sprint Cup drivers, for the most part, are among the best in the U.S. and, given their druthers, would undoubtedly rather show how good they are by outracing their rivals rather than by watching them crash out.

Of course – and nobody likes to talk about this, but – there is also the possibility that somebody going into a wall at 180 miles an hour might get hurt.

NASCAR has had incredible luck since 2001, when Dale Earnhardt didn’t survive what looked to be a routine (for NASCAR) trip into the wall, and sooner or later, it’s not going to be good news again.

But NASCAR wants it that way, apparently, because they’ve gone to great lengths since the end of last season to recreate the “pack racing” that sees dozens of cars tear around the speedway at extremely high speed and extremely close quarters.

The problem with that, of course, is that if anything goes wrong with one car, or a driver makes a mistake, everybody crashes and not just one or two.

Which means, as was the case twice already this weekend, somebody not a household name could wind up winning NASCAR’s biggest race by accident - literally.

Star booth at Auto Show to have Daytona 500

If you're going to be attending the final day of the Canadian International Auto Show at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on Sunday, and you also happen to be a NASCAR racing fan, you can have your cake and eat it too.

The Toronto Star will be showing Sunday's Daytona 500, starting at noon with the pre-race show and following through from green flag to checkers.

Just go to the Star booth in the lower level of the North Building (that's where all the exotic cars and the Cruise Nationals cars are) any time after noon and the race will be on one of two big screens that are there.

All your favourite NASCAR stars will be racing, from Carl Edwards on pole through Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and back to Juan Pablo Montoya and Danica Patrick, who will be starting at the rear of the field in backup cars because of crashes they suffered in qualifying races.

For those at home, the race - expected to be flagged off at or about 1 p.m. - can be seen on Fox and TSN2.

Pole for Danica Patrick after handling first big crash with class

Two down and one to go.

Danica Patrick's introduction to NASCAR stock car racing at Daytona this week has encompassed two of the three things associated with that sport.

The three things are (not necessarily in this order): crashing, starting from pole and winning a race.

Thursday, she survived the first initiation - crashing nearly head-on into a wall at Daytona International Speedway while going more than 180 miles an hour.

Today - Friday - she shocked the NASCAR fraternity by winning the pole for Saturday's Nationwide Series race (and veteran Elliott Sadler opined that she was the most improved driver in NASCAR in the last three years).

Tomorrow or Sunday, she could find herself in Victory Lane after either the Nationwide race or the big one, the Daytona 500.

She's got two of the three things out of the way already, so who's to say how long it will take her to win that first race?

Thursday, as luck would have it, the Daytona 500 driver everybody had their eyes on during the first of two qualifying races delivered the goods — big time.

The problem, however, is that what she delivered wasn’t what anybody was expecting.

No, she didn’t win that first Duel at Daytona race, nor did she put on a particularly spectacular display of driving (although she was certainly competent in that area).

But boy, did she ever crash big.

Not her fault, of course. She was driving low on the track, in or around tenth place, minding her own business and less than a lap away from completing his first NASCAR Sprint Cup race when she was blindsided by a car driven by Aric Almirola and before anybody could say Holy Danica she was heading almost head-first into a retaining wall on the backstretch.

That she wasn’t hurt in the pileup is a miracle.

But she sure got everybody’s attention — and when I say everybody, I mean every body.

The crash was on all the major American TV newscasts Thursday night and pretty much everywhere on all the cable news networks.

It was almost as good as winning (which would also have received major attention, by the way) because that’s what sponsor GoDaddy and NASCAR are counting on.

The more eyeballs focused on Daytona, and NASCAR racing in general, the better.

Why? Here’s why.

According to The Nielsen Co., ratings for the 2010 Nationwide Series opener at Daytona were up 33 per cent with her in the race from the 2009 ratings.

Overall, 11 of the 13 Nationwide races Patrick ran in 2010 had better ratings than the 2009 events. Average viewership for her 13 events was up 9 per cent.

Patrick's merchandise sales last season ranked in the top 15 best-selling drivers at the NASCAR.com Superstore — and that was when she was a part-timer.

Through last week, Patrick already ranked in the top 10 in merchandise sales in 2012.

A survey last August of the NASCAR Fan Council showed that 80 per cent of those polled agreed with the statement, "Danica Patrick is good for NASCAR."

Nielsen N-Score data through January showed that Patrick ranks in the top five of most recognized NASCAR drivers among the U.S. population.

And the cover of the largest-circulation daily newspaper in the U.S. on Friday, USA Today, had a feature on — you guess it — Danica P.

"There's so much interest with Danica coming over to NASCAR (from IndyCar), I think it's going to really broaden our fan base," said Lesa France Kennedy, the CEO of NASCAR.

“When she shows up, it just has a different feel to it. She's a real dynamic individual to start with, and I think it'll be interesting to see her compete on the track. There's certainly a spotlight, without a doubt, but she seems to do well with that. She seems to do well under pressure."

You (or Lesa France) can say that again because it was a trial by fire for her Thursday. It was her first big crash in a stock car (and it really was a doozy) and she handled it calmly and with sophistication, finesse and aplomb.

And good humour: she finished her interview with pit reporter Dick Berggren thusly:

“Maybe the backup car’ll be faster.”

You can’t handle a near-disaster any better than that.

P.S. The Nationwide Series race will be telecast live on TSN2 Saturday starting at noon with the green flag expected at 1:15 p.m. The Daytona 500 pre-race show can be seen on Fox/TSN2 at noon Sunday with the green flag expected to fly at or about 1 p.m. Patrick will drop to the back of the pack for the start, as will several other drivers whose primary cars were wrecked during the qualifying races on Thursday.

I'll take some of that 1,000-to-one Danica action

Some bookmaker in Las Vegas has got Danica Patrick at 1,000 to one to win the Daytona 500.

I’d like that bet. In fact, I hope a whole bunch of people slap ten bucks down on Danica and maybe put the guy out of business if she should happen to win on Sunday (Fox/TSN2 at noon).

Who’s to say it won’t happen? Some kid named Trevor Bayne won it a year ago and, like Danica, he was a rookie.

He got lucky. Who says lightning can’t strike twice?

You can have all the talent in the world and win all sorts of other races and still roll snake eyes at Daytona.

Take Tony Stewart. He’s won the Sprint Cup championship three times and had 13 kicks at the Daytona 500 can and he still hasn’t won it.

It took Dale Earnhardt, arguably the greatest racer of his generation, 20 shots (count ‘em, 20) before he won his one and only. One of the times he lost came on the third turn of the last lap when he was leading and a tire went down. Darrell Waltrip ran the 500 17 times before he won.

Which means it’s virtually impossible to pick a winner going into Sunday’s race. Too many things can go wrong, starting with the potential to wreck.

Last Saturday night’s Budweiser Shootout started with 25 cars and 12 of them failed to finish the 75-lap feature because of three big crashes. The 500 on Sunday will start 43 and go for 200 laps and does anybody really think that any more than 20 will be running competitively at the finish?

Everybody — including the drivers — thinks it’s wonderful that NASCAR has managed to fiddle enough with the aerodynamics to bring back “pack racing” on superspeedways like Daytona.

“Pack racing” is why, when somebody loses control, just about everybody else winds up crashing.

“Pack racing” is what killed Dan Wheldon. IndyCar is doing everything it can not to have a repeat.

Not NASCAR. Bring it on.

For what it’s worth, I’ll be cheering for Tony Stewart on Sunday. If he can’t win, I want Jimmie Johnson.

I hope Danica Patrick drives a solid race.

And if anybody knows how I can get a little of that 1,000-to-one Vegas action, I have a sawbuck to waste.

Or maybe not.

Because, when it comes to the Daytona 500, you never know.

Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame to induct Michael Andretti

 Michael Andretti, who won seven Molson Indy Toronto races and then rescusitated it after it was dropped from the schedule in 2008, is being inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame.

Dr. Hugh Scully, chairman of the Canadian Motorsport Heritage Foundation, made the official announcement Tuesday and said Andretti would be inducted in the International category, which honours non-Canadians who have made significant and lasting contributions to Canadian motor sports.

Previous inductees in the International category include Carroll Shelby, Prof. Sid Watkins and Bobby Rahal.

Andretti, who retired from race driving in 2003 to concentrate on team ownership in the IZOD IndyCar Series, won 42 CART/Champ Car races in his 20-year racing career, including a record seven in Toronto.

And he recently solidified his Canadian connection by signing Oakville native James Hinchcliffe to drive for his Andretti Autosport team in the 2012 IndyCar championship, replacing Danica Patrick in the Go Daddy-sponsored car.

Andretti will be inducted at the 18th annual Hall of Fame Gala, which will be held at the On the Park banquet and meeting centre in Toronto on Sat., April 21. Seven Canadians who made their marks in stock car racing, sports car racing and rallying will join him in being honoured.

Said Scully: "We are delighted to welcome Michael Andretti into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame.

"Besides entertaining thousands of race fans with his on-track performances in Canada over the years, and holding the record for the most wins at the Toronto Indy, Michael Andretti’s contribution to the promotion of motorsports in Canada and to the development of Canadian drivers is well established.

"We are proud to be able to recognize him in this way and are pleased to announce that he will be on hand at our induction ceremony on April 21."

Son of motorsports icon Mario Andretti, Michael Andretti has left a lasting legacy of his own in the world of open-wheel racing both as a driver and team owner. In 2008, his love of Toronto was instrumental in his decision to purchase the assets of the Toronto Indy, a move that brought the marquee event back to the city in 2009 after a one-year absence.

On Jan. 11, Andretti also announced that his company had signed 2011 IndyCar rookie-of-the-year Hinchcliffe to a multi-year contract. Hinchcliffe will also attend the gala as guest speaker.

"I'm extremely honoured to be inducted into the Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame," Michael Andretti said.

"Throughout my career, I’ve always considered Canada to be almost like my second home. The Canadian race fans have been some of the most supportive I’ve ever seen and I’m thrilled that so many of my career wins came on Canadian soil and in front of such enthusiastic fans."

The seven Canadians include Richard (Dick) Foley of Montreal, Rudy Bartling of Courtrice, Robin Edwardes of L'Orignal, Ont., Paul Manson of Toronto, Ben Docktor of Calgary, Greg Sewart of Halifax and Norm Ellefson, who now lives in Spokane, Wash.

The Hall of Fame was founded in 1993 and now has more than 150 inductees. It falls under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Motorsport Heritage Foundation, which was created by a group of leading international businessmen.

Tickets for the Gala are available by telephone at 905-852-6764; the Hall of Fame website at cmhf.ca; via email at galatickets@cmhf.ca or by faxing 905-852-7012.

 

Sarah Fisher should change her name to Danica Patrick

Sarah Fisher should change her name to Danica Patrick. If she did, her latest problem might be solved in a jiffy.

Fisher used to be a racing driver in the IZOD IndyCar Series (they called it the IRL back then) and, in fact, was the first woman to win a pole in that series. She was always voted most popular driver. Although she came close a few times, she didn’t win a race and eventually retired to raise a family and become a team owner.

Last season, her driver, Ed Carpenter, won the race at Kentucky, making her the first woman owner in Indy car racing history to make it to Victory Lane. During the off-season, she acquired a moneyed partner, Willis Hartman, built a team headquarters near the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway, got one of the new Dallara chassis for 2012 and contracted to have young American Josef Newgarden, the 2011 Indy Lights champion, drive for her.

Everything looked rosy until the last week or so. Then she found out her application for inclusion in the league’s Leader Circle subsidy program had been rejected and now she’s found out that she can’t get an engine in time for the start of the season, which is scheduled for late March in St. Petersburg, Fla.

IndyCar, after years of being a one-make series, opened up competition in the engine area for 2012. Chevrolet and Lotus were selected to join long-time partner Honda in providing power for series entrants. Fisher tried for a Chevy engine but was turned down. Honda has offered to supply one for Indianapolis. There are suggestions that she could have had one from Lotus but opted not to apply.

It’s easy to point the finger of scorn at times like these. It’s IndyCar’s fault, or it’s Chevrolet’s fault, or it’s Lotus’s fault, or it’s somebody else’s fault. I would venture to suggest it might be Sarah Fisher’s fault, in that her team has never been able to run a car for a full season and everybody in the Leader Circle and supplied-engine programs has a track record in that area. Promises of future participation only go so far when there is no history.

But be that as it may, I guarantee the situation would be resolved lickety-split if her name was Danica Patrick and not Sarah Fisher.

Patrick’s name turns heads and opens doors. She’s everybody’s favourite. There are big reasons why NASCAR laid out the red carpet for her and they go far beyond the bikini pictures (which are ancient history anyway).

She is forceful, cooperative, cheerful, optimistic, happy, pretty, jovial, ambitious, intense and focused. She never takes her eye off the ball, regardless of the situation or circumstance. She is all business, all the time.

I’m sure Fisher has many of these attributes. But something’s missing or she wouldn’t be in the fix she’s in.

I suggest she take a serious look at what Patrick has done to build on her abilities to drive a racing car really fast and then at herself to determine her future course.

I’m only kidding when I say Fisher should change her name. On the other hand, it might be a good start to adopting some of Patrick’s persona.