Norris McDonald's Auto Racing Blog

Keselowski wins 'Dega but talk is all about Danica

I don't have a reason to publish this photo (off the Autosport website) except that the smiling fellow whose face is directly to the right of Mark Webber's is none other than Gavin Ward of Toronto, who is Webber's trackside race engineer. The F1 season continues next weekend with the Grand Prix of Spain.

 

MEANTIME, MARCELLI RELISHES PORSCHE GT3 RIDE; CANADIAN WINS DTM RACE. . . BUT FIRST:

Brad Keselowski won the Talladega 500 Sunday afternoon by scooting away at the last second and avoiding a last-lap slingshot by Kyle Busch.

But even before the checkered flag had stopped waving, people were talking about the race at Darlington next Saturday night in which Danica Patrick will return to the Sprint Cup fold.

TV commercials were intoning "Danica at Darlington" during the ‘Dega race and the timing couldn’t be more perfect because of something that happened during the Nationwide Series race at Talladega on Saturday that has both Danica lovers and Danica haters talking.

At the finish of the Nationwide race, Patrick (she finished 13th) was on the outside of Sam Hornish Jr. (12th) when Hornish says his car blew a right-front tire. Hornish’s car went up the speedway and crunched Patrick’s against the outside wall. As both cars then went into the first turn, Patrick hooked Hornish’s rear and turned him into the wall.

Instant payback.

Now, if Kevin Harvick or Kyle Busch or Tony Stewart had done that to Hornish, everybody would have nodded knowingly and opined that Sam got what he deserved. Flat tire or no flat tire, you just don’t put somebody into the wall for no reason.

But because it was Danica Patrick, lightning rod that she is, people were either calling for her head or making excuses for her.

NASCAR, of course, knows a good thing when it sees it, so I don’t think she will be fined or suspended, mainly because she’s a first-time offender. They’ll give her a talking-to, for sure, because what she did – although certainly not as violent – was every bit as serious as Kyle Busch’s attack on Joe Nemechek late last season.

But at the end of the day, it’s good for business because NASCAR is looking for record ratings in prime-time next Saturday night from Darlington and Danica Patrick will probably help deliver them.

And the guy she drives for in the Sprint Cup, Tony Stewart, probably wouldn’t have taken that little love tap from Sam Hornish either. In fact, I bet as part of his tutoring, Tony has warned Patrick not to let anybody push her around.

So she was just showing the Boss that she takes lessons well.

Oh, still wondering about that Talladega 500?

On a green-white-checkered finish, Kyle Busch tucked in behind Keselowski and pushed him around the outside of the field and into the lead. Everybody anticipated that Busch would stick with Keselowski and then duck either high or low and slingshot past him for the win as they approached the finish line.

But something happened to disrupt the scenario: Keselowski went into the third turn high up the track and then dove to the bottom, breaking the connection. He managed to stay clear of his chaser through the checkers.

Matt Kenseth finished third, Kasey Kahne was fourth and Greg Biffle finished fifth.

"Survived" is actually a more fitting word. There were four wrecks in the last 45 laps. Nobody was hurt but there was a ton of property damage.

Full race details here.

A CONVERSATION WITH KYLE MARCELLI

Two weeks from now, during the Victoria Day Speedfest Weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Kyle Marcelli of Barrie will drive the Pfaff Castrol Motorsports entry in the opening race of the 2012 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge.

Pfaff Motors of Newmarket has been a strong supporter of Canadian racing for years and years. Marcelli has raced – successfully – in karts, Formula Ford, U.S. Formula 2000, Star Mazda, the Canadian Touring Car Championship, IMSA Lights and the American Le Mans Series Challenge class.

It’s always been a struggle for him, though. He’s always had to "bring money" – until this particular ride came along.

But I’ll let him tell you about it. I caught up with him last Thursday evening at the Thompson Hotel downtown, where Pfaff held a reception to promote its involvement in the Porsche series.

Norris McDonald: When was the last time you were in a racing car with a roof on it?

Kyle Marcelli: That would have been in ‘07. I drove one race in a Saab 9-3 in the Canadian Touring Car Championship. That was the only time, actually.

NM: Is this going to be a big change for you? You’re an open-cockpit kind of guy. A little claustrophobia maybe?

KM: I love the enclosed Porsche, actually. I was blown away yesterday when I got behind the wheel of the car. It was the first real GT car that I’ve driven; there’s just so much in it, I never even found the limit. I wouldn’t say it’s similar to a prototype (in the Le Mans series) or a single seater because it’s not. It takes a different driving style. You can definitely feel the weight in the car. It rolls around a little bit differently but, all in all, it’s a very impressive car.

NM: Did you call them or did they call you for this gig?

KM: This is the first time that I did not have to pound on the door! The call came to me actually last August. At that time, we were eligible to compete as part of the championship (during the GT3 series’ first season) and collect points. Since then, our eligibility has been denied and we’re going to be racing as a "guest" car.

NM: Explain that, please. Is it because you’re a professional driver (in a series designed for non-professional drivers)?

KM: In a nutshell, yes. The series is designed for, I guess, amateur racers or up-and-comers and there is a ranking system in place – bronze, silver, gold and platinum: every driver has a ranking – I have a gold ranking and I’m denied eligibility because this series is for bronze and silver. Last August, I was eligible but I won a couple of ALMS races between then and now and that’s what has denied us eligibility.

NM: Success is a bugger sometimes, isn’t it?

KM: It still serves as a good marketing opportunity for Chris Pfaff and Pfaff Automotive and it’s a good opportunity for me to be involved with Porsche and hopefully it develops a good relationship.

NM: Compare this car to your ALMS car. Is this more powerful?

KM: It’s about the same horsepower. It’s just as quick – actually, maybe a lttle quicker in a straight line. But in the prorototype we have a lot more downforce, we generate a lot more overall grip, our braking power is stronger so we’d be about 10 seconds a lap quicker in a prototype here (Mosport) but driving the Porsche is still a real thrill.

NM: Are you going to do the whole series – five or six races?

KM: Except one – the Mont Tremblant race is in conflict with an ALMS race so Jeff Pabst will drive that weekend

NM: How is your ALMS season going?

KM: It’s good – I have a seat at the end of the day. It came together two weeks before Sebring and I’m driving in the Challenge class. This is my third season in LMPC and I’m the professional in what’s a pro-am class. I’m sharing the seat with three brothers. They’re alternating race-by-race so we’ve had two races so far and I’ve had two different co-drivers. It’s difficult to get these guys up to speed right away; they’re doing a good job, it’s just a matter of getting them comfortable.

NM: You are a successful race driver. You have won races and showed you have talent. Are you starting to get a little antsy that nobody’s actually hired you?

KM: I am a little bit. I’m still young - I’m 22 - but I do have to get something with a manufacturer. I’m hoping that this leads to something with Porsche. I know I was on the radar with GM over the years but nothing has come together. I do my best when I'm out there. I mean, last year I had three pole positions, three race wins, eight podiums - it was a good year for us and I really thought something was going to come together but it didn’t and we just have to keep on keepin’ on."

OTHER RACING

Bruno Spengler, a French-born Canadian citizen (Saint-Hyppolite, Que.) won the German Touring Car Championship (DTM) race Sunday at the Lausitz Circuit. It was BMW’s first win in the series in 20 years and Spengler’s tenth trip to Victory Lane (he won his first nine races for Mercedes).

The other Canadian in the field, Robert Wickens of Guelph and Toronto, was running 10^th and looked sure to score his first DTM point when his Mercedes ground to a halt with mechanical problems with four laps to go.

Wickens said after the race that he still wasn’t discouraged.

"I have made some progress despite this," he said. "I’ll now focus all of my efforts on Brands Hatch (May 20) and hopefully pick up my first DTM points there."

Casey Stoner won the Moto GP race Sunday at Estoril in Portugal on a Honda. Jorge Lorenzo was second aboard a Yamaha and Dani Pedrosa finished third on a Honda.

Romain Dumas, Loic Duval and Marc Gene finished first in an Audi at the Six Hours of Spa race Saturday in Belgium. Actually, Audi finished top four with the e-tron hybrid versions ending up second and fourth.

I mentioned in my weekend post that Indy car star Davey Hamilton (and now Indy car team owner in partnership with Sam Schmidt) would race at New York's Oswego Speedway Saturday night. Well, he did, finishing second in the first feature of the year behind defending Oswego Classic 200 champion Otto Sitterly. Sprint car star Jessica Zemken was 22nd in the 25-car field.

Sammy Swindell is 56 but you sure wouldn’t know it. He’s leading the World of Outlaws sprint car standings after 15 races.

Two things to note:

One, there is no more intense racing anywhere than on the Outlaws circuit. F1, IndyCar, NASCAR are all walks in the park compared to a 30-lap WoO feature.

Second, the grind of running that circuit is right up there with professional wrestling. The performers (the racers, the rasslers) never get a day off. They are either working on/repairing the cars in motel parking lots, in transit from city to city, or racing.

That is a challenge when you are 25, never mind 55 and Swindell at 56 is a marvel of determination and drive. Sammy’s had some problems in the marketing and PR departments over the years but there’s no denying that he’s a real racer.

About Pfaff, Porsche, Pinecrest and Davey Hamilton

When the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada series was launched in 2011, fields of seven or eight cars were normal.

Now, two weeks out from the start of its second season (part of the May 18-20 Victoria Day Speedfest Weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park), more than 20 entries have signed on and the series shows every sign of being as popular and successful as the original Porsche Challenge Series was back in the mid-1980s.

David Deacon was the founder of that series and I’m proud to direct you to a story I did on him for this weekend’s Toronto Star Wheels section. It’s also online at wheels.ca and you can read it here.

Meantime, Pfaff Automotive Partners (a major supporter of Canadian motorsports for years) threw a shindig the other night to formally announce their participation in the GT3 Cup Series with Kyle Marcelli of Barrie driving.

I’ll have a report on the evening and an interview with Marcelli in my Monday Morning Racing Roundup that I post late on Sunday evenings.

Meantime, the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame is inviting anyone and everyone interested to attend a reunion of drivers and fans to celebrate the 60^th anniversary of the openings of the CNE and Pinecrest Speedways, both now long-gone, unfortunately.

The reunion will take place on Sat., May 19, at 11:30 a.m. at the original Pinecrest Restaurant on Highway 7, between Keele and Jane streets. The Pinecrest Speedway used to be behind the restaurant but is now an industrial area.

Drivers of the day will be introduced by the “voice” of Pinecrest, Ernie Martin, and his assistant, Toronto radio personality Ted Wolyshyn. Books on sale will include the Golden Years of Stock Car Racing by Nate Salter and Remember When by Rick Sharples.

There will, of course, be no admission.

Finally, although I won’t be there, my home away from home for many summer years will return to racing again Saturday night. Oswego Speedway in Oswego, N.Y., expects nearly two dozen supermodifieds to haul in for the first green flag of the season along with a like number in the small-block modified support class.

Indy car star (and now co-owner of Sam Schmidt Motorsports) Davey Hamilton will fly in from Indianapolis to race one of John Nicotra’s cars and that makes me doubly sad for not being there.

The IZOD IndyCar Series sent out a story on Hamilton earelir this week and it’s my pleasure to print it out for you here. Davey is one of the bravest and toughest people I’ve ever met and the fact that he’s battled back from crippling injuries is a testament to his determination and ambition. He’s one of the few oval-track racers in recent years to not take “no” for an answer when it came to his desire to make it at Indianapolis.

Here's the story:

It was strange, Davey Hamilton acknowledges, checking the Indianapolis 500 entrant list and not spotting his name.

Hamilton, an 11-time starter in the 500 Mile Race, this year is concentrating on his role as co-owner of Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports.

“I still have that drive and desire to be in the car, knowing I can’t be on road courses because of my injuries, but still be able to do something,” says Hamilton, who returned to the Speedway in 2007 following the 2001 crash at Texas Motor Speedway that required more than 20 surgeries to his lower extremities.

“The only way I’ll drive an IndyCar again is if it’s an asset to the team - if it’s done in the right manner and funded. But if it’s a hindrance to the team and a financial stress to the team I won’t do it.”

Hamilton will compete May 5 on opening night at Oswego (N.Y.) Speedway in the Novelis Supermodified division, driving the No. 6 Nicotra Racing car. He ran his first supermodified event at Oswego in the 1992 Budweiser International Classic.

“I will do some short-track stuff to have some fun and mining the grassroots,” he says.

Click it: Davey Hamilton's Indy 500 record || Month of May calendar

Hamilton and Sam Schmidt teamed up again to operate a full-season IZOD IndyCar Series team, with Simon Pagenaud as the driver of the No. 77 Honda-powered car. The Itaipava São Paulo Indy 300 presented by Nestle on April 29 marked the 63rd time a Schmidt-owned car has lined up on the grid of an IZOD IndyCar Series race.

Hamilton was in the cockpit of the No. 99 car when SSM made its first race in March 2001 at Phoenix International Raceway. That was a long time ago, Hamilton says, with numerous twists and turns for both team owners.

“It’s a big step,” Hamilton says of the ownership stake. “This is the pinnacle of open-wheel racing and I never knew I would be in this position to be able to do it and being able to do it with Sam – a guy I’ve been friends with for so long. He’s been very successful as an owner. To be able join him and help each other out brings a good package, and we’re fortunate to have Simon as a driver.”

Pagenaud, who has finished in the top 10 in three of the first four races -- with a high of second in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach – will participate in the Rookie Orientation Program on May 10 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Indianapolis 500. He’s by far the Rookie of the Year points leader heading into the first oval race of the season May 27.

Hamilton will be in attendance – in a different capacity.

“I was a rookie in IndyCars in the mid-90s and I was a rookie again when I came back from my injuries in ’07 because I was so far out of it,” said Hamilton, who has a best finish of fourth in the 1998 500 Mile Race. “And now here I am a rookie again as a car owner. I’m learning a lot and it’s a change of pace. It’s been a lot of hard work.

“I look at drivers in a different way now. I know what kind of money it takes to do this, and the pressure is on me to find the proper funding to have a winning team. As a driver, I just drove my own. It’s good to have different aspects of sports.

“There will be more responsibilities for me and I look forward to it. Right now, I’m just getting my feet wet.”

Hewlett Packard, the multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif., which has a long association with Hamilton, came on board as the primary sponsor this season.

“HP it what makes it happen; they’ve been great partners since my comeback in ’07,” Hamilton says. “It’s a good business relationship and a very good friendship with all the folks at HP. When you can create friends out of any business it’s great.

“From the first year doing the Indy 500 in my comeback and here we are with a full-funded program with Simon, Sam and HP it’s really a dream come true.”

Anticipating a great summer of racing

It’ll be the first Saturday in May in three days, which means it’ll be Derby Day in Louisville and the Indianapolis 500 will only be three weekends away, on May 27.

(Okay, before the phone starts ringing: May 27 is also the day they hold the Grand Prix of Monaco and NASCAR runs the Coca-Cola 600. Happy now?)

Even more important is that it’s only two weeks before the first Long Weekend of the spring and summer arrives and that always means one thing around here, the Victoria Day Speedfest Weekend at Mosport — oops, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park — and the start of serious drag racing at Toronto Motorsports Park out at Cayuga, which this year will be featuring 300 mph Jet Dragsters, 3,000 hp PMRA Pro/Mods, the NAPA Quick 32 Sportsman Series and the PBSS Pro Bike and Sled Series over the three days.

At Mosport, the highlight of the weekend will be the opening race of the 2012 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series season on the road course.

Defending national champion Scott Steckly was out practicing at the legendary circuit north of Bowmanville earlier this week, as were competitors in the Canadian Touring Car Championship and the Trans-Am series, both of which will also be sanctioning races. A race in the relatively new Formula 1000 class is also on the schedule.

At both the Canadian Tire circuit and Cayuga, camping, music and, of course, fireworks are all on tap for the holiday weekend.

Other major events to look forward to at Mosport this year include the 33rd annual International Vintage Racing Festival from June 15-17 — the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series will be at the oval for a race on the Saturday night — and, in July, the Mobil 1 presents the Grand Prix of Mosport featuring the American Le Mans Series will be held.

Of course, non-professional auto racing is featured on many other weekends and free tickets are available by going to the CASC-ON website and downloading same. Check canadiantiremotorsportpark.com for details.

At Cayuga, meantime, the first big highlight of the season (other than Victoria Day, of course) will be the Canadian Nitro Nationals June 22-24 featuring just about every ground-shaking thunder car in captivity.

The feature attraction of the weekend will be a match race between NHRA champions Cruz and Tony Pedregon and if you missed their set-to a year ago, don’t this time because it is a sight and sensation that will stay with you forever.

Please check the torontomotorsportspark.com website for information on other spectacles this summer.

Don’t forget that the Honda Indy Toronto will be held through the streets of the CNE July 6-8. Friday is always a free day, so if you’ve never been, take that opportunity to check things out.

James Hinchcliffe of Oakville, who won the Sunoco Rookie-of-the-Year title in 2011, has replaced Danica Patrick in the Go Daddy car and is having a terrific season. Watching him in action is worth a look.

The big attraction at Ohsweken Speedway on the Six Nations Reserve near Brantford this summer will be the visit by the sprint cars on Monday and Tuesday, July 30 and 31, featuring NASCAR star Tony Stewart.

Actually, “Smoke” will be running with the Corr/Pak sprints on the Monday night and theWorld of  Outlaws on the Tuesday. His victory in the WoO feature a year ago was the catalyst for his season-ending run that won him his third NASCAR Sprint Cup championship.

Up to that point, Stewart had won nothing, nowhere. After that, he was tough to beat.

Most southern Ontario speedways are open or getting ready to open. Merrittville Speedway down St. Catharines-Thorold way is in full swing and a highlight of their season will come on June 30 when their Canada Day weekend celebration includes the Empire Super Sprints as well as the crowd favourite 358 modifieds and various support classes.

You can go for supper — Piller’s $1 hot dogs (cheaper than Ikea’s) will be available in the grandstands and a huge fireworks display is on tap.

Delaware Speedway down near London has a big night scheduled for Wed., July 18, when NASCAR stars Michael Waltrip, Clint Bowyer and Travis Pastrana will fly up to do battle against the locals in a Summer Showdown.

If you want an autograph, you’d better sign up early. Go to the website at delawarespeedway.com for details.

There are more than 20 speedways in southern Ontario featuring classes from late models to midgets to sprint cars to thunder cars and bombers. And travelling series like the Outlaw Super Late Models (OSCAAR) never fail to thrill.

Check ‘em all out and mark the special nights down on your calendar. It’s going to be a busy year.