Norris McDonald's Auto Racing Blog

Bravo James! And is IndyCar better than F1 (they actually race)?

MONDAY MORNING RACING ROUNDUP:

1. Oakville's Hinchcliffe wins Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

2. Fistfights now de rigueur at NASCAR Sprint Cup races

3. Was Christian Horner in his right mind to tell Vettel to back off?

INDYCAR

Here’s the difference between Sunday’s two major open-wheel races:

– The IndyCar season-opener at St. Petersburg, Fla., was a fight to the finish, with Canadian James Hinchcliffe of Oakville narrowly defeating veteran Helio Castroneves and Marco Andretti muscling his way into third place, and onto the podium, in the final laps.

HINCH'S PRE-SEASON STATE OF THE INDYCAR UNION ADDRESS

– The second Formula One race of the season in Malaysia was a parade to the finish, with team orders and a manipulative tire policy negatively affecting what’s supposed to be the top form of motor racing in the world.

Sebastian Vettel finished first in that GP with an angry Mark Webber second and an embarrassed Lewis Hamilton third. Vettel later said, "Sorry, didn’t understand what ‘hold position’ meant (only kidding; I made that up) but he did apologize to his teammate Webber for passing him when the team told him not to.

Hamilton was embarrassed because the Brit manager running a German team told the German driver to stay behind the Brit driver even though the German driver was clearly faster. That decision will come back to haunt the Brit manager.

But let’s take apart the Indy car race first. After all, the winner got out of his car and wrapped himself in the flag and how can you be any more Canadian than that?

Okay, I have to get the smart alec stuff out of the way first.

1. With his first victory in the IZOD IndyCar Series, Hinchcliffe has now won one more race for sponsor GoDaddy than Danica Patrick. (When she won her IRL race in 2008, Motorola was her car’s sponsor.)

2. Savoree-Green Promotions, which organizes and markets the St. Pete race, also promotes the Honda Indy Toronto which, this year, will be two races instead of one. This race weekend has not exactly been a roaring success the last few years so this victory by Hinchcliffe can’t help but give ticket sales a big boost.

Hinchcliffe was touted before the season began as someone who could win races this year. I must admit to having been on the fence: I’ve always liked James and admired him and I’ve been writing stories about him for eons but I frankly had doubts that he had the killer instinct required to make it to the top step of the podium.

I am delighted to say today that I was wrong about this guy. Hinch had the instinct to react – and to react hard – when leader Castroneves slipped up on Lap 85 (of 110) and went wide at the first corner, leaving the opening that he just shot through.

But he then had the confidence and iron will needed to methodically run off the laps - with Castroneves tucked right behind him - till the checkered flag finally flew and that, ladies and gentleman, is the sign of a champion: someone who can’t be rattled.

It’s been a hard climb for the Oakville racer, who went to the Bridgestone Racing School in 2003 to learn how to driver formula cars after starting out in karts. He was 16 then. Ten years later, after driving in Formula BMW, Star Mazda, the A1-GP Series, Formula Atlantic, Indy Lights and, finally, Indy cars, he’s in Victory Lane on the big stage.

What’s set him apart from so many other brilliantly talented young racers, though, is that right from the start, he set out to prove he was a master of marketing and public relations. As he has said himself many times, driving is only a small part of his job. Selling himself and the series he’s competing in are every bit as important.

As a result, when Danica Patrick’s replacement in the "GoDaddy car," Dan Wheldon, lost his life in 2011, Hinchcliffe got the call to take over and it was as much for his social media skills and his self-depracating humour as his ability to make a race car go fast.

He has not let his sponsor, nor his employer, Michael Andretti of Andretti Autosport, down. His first season saw him finish eighth in points, although he’d been higher in the first half of the season. He vowed to do better this year but wouldn’t make predictions. So then he went out and won the season opener.

He’ll do just fine this season, just as he did fine in that race Sunday.

He qualified fourth and was never worse than fourth in the race, spending most of his time in second or third places until the last 25 laps, when he was first.

Bravo, James! Good show. I suggest that this will just be the first of many victories and you might very well be on the road to your first IndyCar championship.

Keep that flag you had with you handy. You’re going to need it.

NOTEBOOK JOTTINGS

– One of the strangest sights anybody has ever seen in auto racing took place during a caution when J.R. Hildebrand rode his car up and over the side of Will Power’s car and ended up against the wall, ending his race. Hildebrand did the right thing by taking responsbility, explaining he’d been distracted and hadn’t seen the field slow in front of him.

But you have to wonder where his brain was during that race. It was bad enough he nearly took Power’s head off but on two occasions earlier in that race he’d passed drivers under yellow and was clearly not paying attention.

I hope the IndyCar people have a word with him. We all suffer from brain fade on occasion, but three times in one race? And he could have killed Power.

– Wheels correspondent Sylvia Proudfoot was in St. Petersburg doing a story on the large number of Canadians competing in the USF2000 series – eight – and was pressed into service for Toronto Star sports when Hinchcliffe won. Good to have you there, Sylvia!

She sent me some additional material concerning the tires Hinch rode to victory on:

"The key to success was the black primary Firestone Tires Hinchcliffe and his Andretti Autosport crew chose for the final race stint, contrary to the softer red alternate tires selected by many of the top contenders.

"Ironically, Hinchcliffe also tilted against the rest of the field by running on black tires in the final stint of the 2012 race at St. Petersburg when he started and finished fourth.

" ‘ It’s a completely different tire and what influenced this decision was just how we’d been using the red tires on the first stint, so it was a complete coincidence,’ he noted. ‘But last year worked out all right for us; this year worked out even better.’ "

– "Swiss Miss’ Simona de Silvestro had one of the best, if not the best, races of her IndyCar career, qualifying third and running third most of the race until the last laps when she fell to sixth.

Several of the TV commentators (and I’ll discuss the TV coverage in my next blog entry, otherwise this race report will turn into more of an epic than it’s already going to be) suggested it was because she was tired (she’s a girl, she’d be tired – get it?) but that’s nonsense.

Yes, she’s a woman, but she’s bigger than Hinchcliffe. Her tires just went away and she fought hard but couldn’t hold off – first – Marco Andretti, then her teammate Tony Kanaan and finally Scott Dixon. Also, she was probably out of her 10 push-to-pass blasts so couldn’t get any extra energy to hold those guys off.

– Dario Franchitti didn’t have a great 2012. Things don’t look promising for 2013, either.

Exiting the pits Sunday, he just floored it and his cold tries weren’t up to proper racing temperature and he went right into the wall.

Guys with their head in it don’t do things like that. Dario is on the cusp of 40, which is not old, but it is getting up there for an open-wheel racing driver.

– There were a lot of empty seats along the pits straight in St. Petersburg. But there were a whole lot of people against the fence and in grandstands at other parts of the circuit so the crowd was probably okay.

However (I’m just slipping this in here), it was probably nowhere near the 48,669 who packed themselves into the Rogers Centre in Toronto Saturday night for the Monster Energy Supercross race.

That's correct: 48,000-plus.

Ryan Villopoto, who’s leading the standings, won his seventh race of the season, and the 31^st of his career. He won the race in Toronto last year, too. David Millsaps was second in the 20-lap event and Ryan Dungey was third.

Lone Canadian, Cole Thompson of Brigden (near Sarnia), was sixth in the Eastern Regional Championship race. Thanks to Bill Petro for this info.

NASCAR

It is now obligatory to get into a fight after a NASCAR Sprint Cup race.

It’s the rule, apparently, because it happens all the time, it seems.

It started late last season when there was a brawl in Phoenix after Jeff Gordon lost his temper and waited for Clint Bowyer to come around and then he crashed him into the outside wall, ending his chances of winning the championship.

Hey rube!

NASCAR loved it. Despite 30 years of trying to attract white-collar spectators and Madison Ave. ad execs – and succeeding – NASCAR decided that its Saturday night blue-collar roots were more important for the future of the sport and more-or-less turned a blind eye.

Fast forward to last weekend in Bristol when Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin got into it in the paddock after the race there. NASCAR stayed out of it. Those two kept up the feud all week on Twitter and lo and behold, in the final laps of the race at California Speedway on Sunday, in a race won by Kyle Busch, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. second and Logano third, they tangled again and both crashed.

Now, Hamlin was hurt in the accident and taken to hospital. So Tony Stewart, under the pretext of being angry at Logano for blocking him on a restart late in the race (this is the same Tony S. who threw a block at Talladega last fall that wrecked pretty much the whole field),  decided to fight Hamlin’s battles for him and took a swng at Logano in pit lane.

Hey rube!

Stewart was interviewed on tape delay by Fox Sports, which was a good thing because it gave them time to bleep out most of the curse words, but his true feelings came to the fore later in an interview with SPEED.

Said Stewart:

"He’s (Logano) just a little rich kid who’s never had to work a day in his life. He’s not like us working guys who had to work our way up."

Stewart, a blue-collar racer to the core (he raced twice with the World of Outlaws sprint car series at the weekend), seems to have trouble with "rich people" – although he depends on millions of dollars of sponsorship money (given to him, presumably, by "rich people" like marketing executives) in order to race.

He was talking about Paul Menard on Sirius satellite radio last year and said if Mendard didn’t have his "rich father" writing cheques for him, he wouldn’t be in NASCAR because he isn’t good enough.

I think Tony’s old boss, Joe Gibbs, should take him aside and suggest he get himself back to anger management class – and fast.

So far as the Hamlin-Logano feud is concerned, NASCAR would be wise to have a word with those two before things get any more out of hand.

This smells like the Carl Edwards-Brad Keselowski conflict of a few years ago that NASCAR allowed to fester. Edwards finally had enough and sent Keselowski flying through the air at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It’s just the luck of the draw that the car didn’t go into the grandstands.

So that’s what can happen.

Yes, the next race is two weeks from now at a short track, Martinsville. But Talladega is just around the corner and it’s not smart to have guys mad at each other at a place like that.

Busch, meantime, thought it was a scream that Logano and Hamlin were paying so much attention to each other that they didn’t see him coming. He just flew past on the high side as their crash was starting and he won going away. Click here for race story, results.

It was his second victory of the weekend, having won the Nationwide race on Saturday.

FORMULA ONE

It almost feels anti-climactic to talk about F1 because, after Hinchcliffe’s victory at St. Petersburg, which was a race in which no one gave any quarter and they were foot-to-the-floor to the checkers (Scott Dixon nipped de Silvestro at the line by about a foot for fifth) and NASCAR was a race in which passions got the better of just about everybody, the Grand Prix of Malaysia was all about business.

Sebastian Vettel, the three-time world champion who’s on a quest for a fourth and wants total domination (he’s won both poles and has a win and a third), was the winner for Red Bull-Renault with his teammate Mark Webber second and Lewis Hamilton third for Mercedes.

Nico Rosberg finished fourth for Mercedes, Felipe Massa was fifth for Ferrari, Lotus-Renault teammates Romain Grosjean and last week’s season-opening winner in Australia, Kimi Raikkonen, were sixth and seventh, Nico Hulkenberg was eighth for Sauber-Ferrari, Sergio Perez ninth for McLaren-Mercedes and Jean-Eric Vergne tenth for Toro Rosso-Ferrari.

Valterri Bottas was first of the six rookies, finishing 11^th for Williams-Renault. The other five finished in a row behind him. Click here for full results

When I say business, as the race wound down, the two teams in front – Red Bull and Mercedes – decided it was best for all concerned if they declared the race over and maintained the running order as it was till the end.

At the time, Webber – who drove a strong, strong race for Red Bull – was in first, with Vettel second. Hamilton was in third, with Rosberg fourth.

Now, although Red Bull management, led by team principal Christian Horner and including designer Adrian Newey, decided to order their drivers to dial back their motors and conserve their tires, in the interests of finishing one-two, it was really a stupid decision with the drivers in the order they were running at the time.

Sebastian Vettel has won the last three world championships. What were they thinking? Did they really, really think the world champion of all drivers was going to be content to trundle around in second place and finish behind a guy he knows he can beat?

Would Michael Schumacher? Would Ayrton Senna? Of course not. So why in the world would anybody in their right mind think Sebastien Vettel would.

So he said, correctly, screw you (or words to that effect) and went after Webber and beat him.

Yes, he looked concerned post-race, as would anybody who realized at that moment that most of the free world hated him, but under it all he was happy because he is the world champion, he’s No. 1 and he’s the boss and nobody had better try to tell him otherwise.

And that's why he's world champion. You don't get to be world champion by being a wuss.

I don’t blame Webber for being annoyed and angry and full of bravado about what will happen in future, but he must be a pretty naive guy if he really thought, even for a second, that Vettel was going to lose the second race of the season without a fight and just sit back and let him win.

Webber will also let Vettel past the next time, if he’s told to. Why? Because Vettel is the world champion and Webber is not.

And I betcha Christian Horner is never again going to tell Sebastian Vettel to settle for seconds. If push ever comes to shove in that team, Vettel is the boss and intelligent people had better never forget that.

Over at Mercedes, meanwhile, Ross Brawn is on borrowed time as team principal and team leader. For the same reasons as Red Bull, he told his drivers to hold station late in the race because he felt it better to guarantee a solid third- and fourth-place finish rather than risk letting his drivers race and have them crash.

The only trouble is that when he issued the order, the fourth-place driver, Rosberg, was preparing to pass his teammate, Hamilton, for the podium position. As a result of the order, the world was treated – as it often is, by Formula One – to a spectacle of lap after lap of one car being clearly faster than the other but being forbidden, again and again, to pass.

Mercedes is a German team. Rosberg is a German driver. He is also a veteran German driver on that particular German team. He was told by a British boss, Brawn, to stay behind a British driver, who is new to the team, even though he could clearly pass him.

If Brawn had wanted a three-four finish without muss or fuss, and seeing the situation, he could simply have told Hamilton to let Rosberg pass him. But, it seems, he wanted Hamilton to finish on the podium, rather than Roserberg.

The two Austrians running Mercedes, Toto Wolff and Niki Lauda, got rid of Brit CEO Nick Frye this past week. As a result of what happened in Malaysa Sunday, how long do you think Ross Brawn is going to have his job?

NOTEBOOK JOTTINGS

– The Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai will be held in three weeks. In a month, F1 will be in Bahrain. Guess what’s going on in Bahrain these days? Rioting in the streets, that's what. Dozens were injured during a demonstration on March 15, with several police offers and demonstrators admitted to hospital.

The owners of F1, CVC Capital Partners (your Canadian pension plan probably has money invested, by the way), cares only about the money, otherwise the races would be cancelled, as they were in South Africa at the time of apartheid.

In the words of the late Conn Smythe, who resigned from the executive of Maple Leaf Gardens, which he built, in protest against a decision to allow Muhammad Ali to fight there after he refused the U.S. draft: "They’ve traded class for cash."

– Fernando Alonso ran into the back of Vettel on the opening lap and, instead of pitting to have the nose replaced on his Ferrari, stayed out. Of course, the wing that had been damaged came off and went under the car, sending it into the sandtrap and Alonso to his plane for an early flight home.

The BBC commentators, Ben Edwards and David Coulthard, suggested Ferrari were expecting Alonso to pit at the end of the first lap because pit reporter Gary Anderson had reported the team was up and waiting for him. Ferrari said later that the team told Alonso to stay out and that it wasn’t his fault.

Yeah, sure.

– Speaking of Ben Edwards, he was as confused as Lewis Hamilton was about McLaren. You’ll recall that at mid-race, Hamilton went into the pits and stopped at McLaren, which is something he’s done every other year he’s been in F1. Quite correctly, he was waved through to the Mercedes pit.

Well, as the cars were pulling into parc ferme after the race, Edwards said it was a wonderful moment for Hamilton, being on the podium, "in only his second drive for McLaren."

Give both those guys time. They’ll get it right.

Oh, the tire issue? I could go on and on about that, but I won’t. This is way too long as it is. I’ll take a crack at it soon, but suffice it to say now that the people running F1 these days are just being too cute trying to manipulate interest and excitement.

Here’s a novel idea? Why not leave well enough alone and let them race? It worked pretty well the last half of the last century. Why mess with success?

Power, Vettel, Hamlin on poles

Saturday afternoon:

Will Power won the pole for Sunday's opening race of the IZOD IndyCar Series season on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., with a lap of one minute, 1.2070 seconds, which translates into a speed of 105.870 miles an hour.

Takuma Sato finished second in qualifying, followed by Simona di Silvestro, James Hinchcliffe of Oakville and Helio Castroneves.

Tristan Vautier, the only rookie in the field, stunned observers by qualifying sixth, leaving such luminaries as defending champion Ryan Hunter-Reay (8th), Indy 500 champion Dario Franchitti (10th), Alex Tagliani of Montreal (17th) and five-time Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais (21st) in his dust.

Said Hinchcliffe: "It's behind us, which is good. I think we showed a lot of potential and we're obviously happy with starting inside the (Firestone) Fast Six but we're focusing on tomorrow's race."

Meantime, Canadian Scott Hargrove of Vancouver won the USF2000 race Saturday. The 18-year-old won the opening race of the series a week ago in Sebring.

Third place in Saturday's event went to Stefan Rzadzinski of Edmonton, while Jesse Lazare of Montreal was fourth.

Said Hargrove: “It may have looked easy but driving on the streets was not at all easy with the walls everywhere. It was a pretty big challenge. . . . It was really close in qualifying and we got through Turn One, and I couldn’t be happier with the result.”

Saturday Morning:

Red Bull-Renault's Sebastien Vettel won the pole for Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix, ahead of Ferrari drivers Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso.

Last week's winner, Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus-Renault, qualified seventh but was penalized three grid positions for blocking.

The lineup: Vettel, Massa; Alonso, Hamilton; Webber; Rosberg; Button; Sutil; Perez; Raikkonen; Grosjean; Hulkenberg; Ricciardo; Gutierrez; di Resta; Maldonado; Vergne; Bottas; Bianchi; Pic; Chilton; Van der Garde.

In off-track controversy, Toronto Star Wheels' Stephanie Wallcraft has done a great interview with Canadian legend Paul Tracy over his being snubbed in St. Petersburg, Fla., where a monument to the late Dan Wheldon doesn't have his name down as a race winner. Click here for details.

Earlier, observers of the IZOD IndyCar Series have said for years that if Simona de Silvestro ever had a decent car to drive, she’d be at the front of the pack instead of the back.

Well, how right they were. De Silvestro – a.k.a. the Swiss Miss – is driving a KV Racing Chevrolet-powered Dallara this season and after two practice sessions Friday for the opening race of the season Sunday on a street course in St. Petersburg, Fla., she’s a solid third fastest out of 25 drivers who took time.

Championship favourite (isn’t he always?) Will Power sits atop the time sheets, with defending national champion Ryan Hunter-Reay second. Then comes De Silvestro, followed by Oriol Servia and Takuma Sato.

Sato, incidentally, was the fastest Honda driver. The four chauffers in front of him were all shoeing Chevies.

Canadian driver James Hinchcliffe of Oakville sits in eighth place and veteran Alex Tagliani of Montreal is 20^th. Slowest of all two-dozen-plus-one is Ana Beatriz in a Dale Coyne Racing entry.

Qualifying for Sunday’s race is scheduled for Saturday afternoon.

The field, from first to last, is separated by a smidgen more than two seconds. Power turned a lap of 1:01:4667 (105:457 mph); Beatriz brought up the rear with a time of 1:03:9670.

Target Chip Ganassi Racing drivers Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon were both well down the list, in 17^th and 19^th places, respectively.

There was a report in the U.S. Friday that only four of the 2013 IndyCar races on Sportsnet would be live and the rest would be tape-delayed. Wrong. They will all be live, starting with the St. Pete race Sunday.

Meantime, at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., Denny Hamlin won the pole Friday evening for Sunday’s Sprint Cup race, with Greg Biffle second and Brad Keselowski third.

Biffle and Keselowski will go to the back of the pack for the start, however, because of engine changes.

Joey Logano, who had a beef with Hamlin last weekend at Bristol and vowed to hunt him down to even the score in this Sunday's race, qualified sixth but will move up to fourth.

Any bets on how long Logano will follow Hamlin around before turning him into the wall?

Sad News. Gord Hazlett, a long-time writer for the periodical Old Autos, died this week. He was 94. Visitation at the Heritage Funeral Centre, 50 Overlea Blvd., Toronto, will be held Sunday from 2 until 4 and then from 7 until 9. A funeral service will be held in the chapel there at noon on Monday, March 25. A reception will follow, with internment at Resthaven Memorial Gardens.

In Indianapolis, Tony George has been returned to his place on the board of directors of Hulman & Co. You’ll recall he resigned last year after news broke (or there was serious speculation) that he was seeking to put a group together to purchase the IndyCar Series from the Hulman firm. The appearance of a conflict of interest forced his hand. As it is apparent that the racing series is not for sale, and George no longer seems interested in purchasing it, he’s back in the saddle. 

This item will be overtaken during the night by qualifying in Malaysia, but Kimi Raikkonen, winner of last weekend’s opening race of the Formula One season in Australia, set fastest time in second practice in his Lotus-Renault Friday before the rains came to slow everybody down.

Sebastien Vettel was second fastest in his Red Bull-Renault but complained that his Pirelli tires were going away really quickly. Felipe Massa was in third for Ferrari with teammate Fernando Alonso fourth and Red Bull No. 2 Mark Webber fifth.

Here’s an interesting nugget, though.

You’ll recall that Raikkonen got a leg up on everybody else at Melbourne last Sunday by managing his tires better. He only had to stop twice while all others were in the pits three times?

Well, during Friday practice, Mercedes focused on long runs rather than speed, with Nico Rosberg eventually ending up seventh and Lewis Hamilton ninth.

But being the investigative reporter that I am, I suggest Mercedes is stealing a page from the Lotus playbook and practicing for a two-stop strategy on Sunday.

We’ll see.

Speaking of Mercedes, CEO Nick Frye resigned his position of Chief Executive Officer as of April 1 Friday, and pay manager Toto Wolfe, who bought 30 per cent of the team so he could get that job, will take over.

According to a statement from Mercedes, Wolfe will now run the team with Ross Brawn but I am willing to start a pool so we can gamble on how long that arrangement lasts.

Slowly but surely, Wolfe and Niki Lauda are taking over and Brawn’s days are obviously numbered, just as Frye’s were.

Frye will stay with the team as a consultant. This is code for, we don’t want to pay you millions of dollars in lump-sum severance so we are giving you your notice. You will draw a salary until the end of 2014 but you won’t have anything to do.

Now, get out of here. If we need you, we’ll call.

- Norris McDonald

Mayor Hinchcliffe's state of the IndyCar union address

The IZOD IndyCar Season starts Sunday in St. Petersburg, Fla., and Canadian race fans will be casting a critical eye on three things in particular: how drivers James Hinchcliffe of Oakville and Alex Tagliani of Montreal stack up against the competition and how Sportsnet’s coverage will compare to TSN’s.

Former IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard announced at last summer’s Honda Indy Toronto that he had initiated negotiations with Sportsnet because, going forward, TSN couldn’t guarantee that it would televise all of the Indy races live.

Sportsnet made that commitment and has cooked up some added value for its telecasts of Sunday’s race in Florida as well the Indianapolis 500 in May and the two Honda Indy Toronto races come July.

TSN didn’t produce pre-racing programming, preferring to go with whatever the U.S. network broadcaster provided. But for at least the three races mentioned above, and maybe more, depending, a four-man Sportsnet team headed by sportscaster Rob Faulds and featuring retired drivers Paul Tracy and Bill Adam, with Todd Lewis in the pits, will provide play-by-play plus analysis geared for Canadian racing fans.

During a chat we had recently, Hinchcliffe — who’s starting his third full-time season in IndyCar and his second as an Andretti Autosport driver — expressed how excited he was about Sportsnet taking over.

“Sportsnet has been incredibly proactive,” he said. “They’ve reached out to me about being involved as much as possible (Hinchcliffe is one of the most media savvy drivers in the series — if not the most media savvy guy (he’s known, for instance, as the “Mayor of Hinchtown,” his personal website) — and has extensive broadcast experience.

“They’re really keen to promote the Canadian drivers, Alex (Tagliani) and myself, and I’m very keen to promote the sport in Canada. I’m so excited and relieved to see the passion and excitement they’re putting into it because it reflects the way I feel about the sport. I mean, it’s a thousand times better than what we’ve had the last couple of years.”

Hinchcliffe, who also has a contract with Speed Channel in the United States to provide analysis on the Speed Center news program as well as to make periodic appearances on Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain, said the biggest role he could play for Sportsnet would be to “go out there and try to win races for Canada.”

Having said that, however, he wasn’t making any predictions.

“You obviously go into a season with the goal of winning races,” he said. “But there are so many things that have to go right on a Sunday for you to win a race and, as a driver, you control about 10 of a thousand things.

“I’m in my third year now but I’m still up against guys in their 13th year. So, for me, it’s still a learning thing. I need to get out there every lap I can, in every race, and figure out what those (race-winners) do to get that last half a per cent that moves (some drivers) from being a podium guy to a race-winning guy.”

Andretti Autosport, owned and operated by Michael Andretti, is the team that has defending series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay in its lineup. In addition to Hinchcliffe and RHR, the team also fields cars for son-of-the-owner Marco Andretti and Venezuelan E.J. Viso, which means there’s a lot of pressure to perform.

“I don’t get the sense that we’re walking around like we accomplished something,” Hinchcliffe — who drops into the team’s headquarters frequently when he’s home in Indianapolis — said.

“We know that everybody’s back to zero, that we can’t rest on any laurels and I think the team’s motivated to work even harder to try to do it all again. The work ethic happening at the shop now is over the top.

“The chemistry within the team is every good and I think we’re stronger now than a year ago.”

There has been discussion in recent months about the state of the IndyCar nation, with the owners hiring a Boston consulting firm to suggest ways to promote the series. Among the suggestions was one to compress the season into 18 or 20 weekends in the spring and summer and another was to showcase the drivers as daredevils.

“I think March is a good time to start and it really comes down to when the season ends and where it ends,” Hinchcliffe said. “I’d love to see the end of October-first of November for an end-of-season race. If we could extend it from where we finished last year (California, Sept. 15), I think it would be better. That would be ideal for me. The most successful racing series in North America (NASCAR) goes from February to November, so that should tell you something.”

And what about this daredevil business, James?

“That’s actually the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” Hinchcliffe snapped back.

“What they’re trying to say is, ‘Let’s go back to the days of the gladiators; we don’t want you to know who they are, we just want you to watch them kill each other.

“The people I’ve met who knew nothing about Indy car racing, they then know they’ve got someone to cheer for and they start watching. They see one race, or they go to one race, and they say, ‘Wow, this is incredible.’ If you get people out to the track, they’re fans for life. It all starts with that initial emotional investment, of knowing someone enough to want to go watch.

“They need to have an emotional investment in the people who are out there. . . . We need fans who are cheering for somebody and the only way that’s going to happen is if the drivers have a higher profile, where we’re not a secret.

“And that’s the key.”

How NASCAR came to be more popular than IndyCar

With the IZOD IndyCar Series season about to begin in Florida, and the teeth-gnashing still going on about how NASCAR managed to get a leg up back in the late 1900s to not only overtake Indy car racing in popularity but to almost decimate it, I’m going to tell you how and why it happened.

First, the split in 1996 didn’t help but it was far from being the only reason.

You have to remember that the first season of Indy Racing League competition was made up of three races. That’s correct. There were only three races on the whole 1996 schedule — the Walt Disney World race in January, the Phoenix race in March and the Indianapolis 500 in May. Three races. You know why?

Because Tony George, who started the rival league, fully expected that CART would sign on and there would be one great big series. But CART didn’t, and the war was on.

But, as I said, the split was only one of a number of factors and here are the others.

1. Traditionally, Indy car racers came from small ovals in primarily rural areas of the United States. The legendary names — Foyt, Andretti, Rutherford, Johncock, Sachs, Bryan and so-on — all came from those tracks where they were heroes on Saturday night. The fans followed them to the big league.

Starting in or around the mid-1980s, road racers who were largely unknown - Teo Fabi, Guido Dacco, Fulvio Bullabio, Marco Grecco, Dominic Dobson and so-on - started to drive Indy cars and the series lost its connection with its roots.

2. Indy car racing, like Formula One, was always seen as a cut above the stock cars.

In the 1980s, NASCAR went uptown. It moved its season-ending awards banquet from Charlotte, N.C., to New York City. The headquarters was the ultra-snooty Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. They made the drivers and crew chiefs dress up in tuxedos; before they were allowed into the banquet hall, NASCAR had someone at the door checking to make sure everybody had clean fingernails.

I’m not making that up.

NASCAR took its cars and its drivers to Park Avenue and the advertising executives over on Madison Avenue took notice. It was pure genius.

3. Finally, in 1990, a midget and sprint car oval track champion named Jeff Gordon expected to move up to Indy cars. Rebuffed, he “went south” and started to race stock cars. He took his fans with him.

Since then, dozens of other “open-wheel” drivers like Gordon, including Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne, Kenny Schraeder, Ryan Newman and others have gone on to race in NASCAR instead of Indy cars and their fans have gone with them, too.

The people who own the IndyCar series recently commissioned studies on how to “grow” their series. I’ll tell them how — and it won’t cost them a cent.

1. Start hiring drivers who have a following. Why is Tristan Vautier in an Indy car and Kyle Larson not. Explain that to me.

2. in company with (1), above, start trying to reconnect with Indy car racing’s roots. When was the last time a driver went to a small speedway on a Saturday night to shake hands, pose for pictures and sign autographs? That’s right — nobody can remember. That might be a big part of the problem. So start doing that.

3. Finally, forget flying the starting field for the Indy 500 into New York for a few hours in May so they can pose for a photo in Times Square. Book that banquet hall at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in November (it's available; NASCAR's gone to Vegas now) and have a season-ending week of appearances on TV shows and parties culminating with a banquet to end all banquets.

Have the champion drop the puck to start a Rangers game, be introduced at a Nets game and toss the coin when either the Giants or Jets play.

Hey — maybe Madison Avenue will take notice.

NOTES: The second race of the young Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda series will take place at St. Pete’s at the weekend. Leading the standings is 18-year-old Scott Hargrove of Vancouver, B.C. Garret Grist, 18, of Grimsby had a second-place finish in the first two races and Jesse Lazare, who’s only 15, had a fourth in the second race. . . .

Once upon a time, you couldn’t get a seat for a NASCAR Sprint Cup race. As was shown at Bristol last weekend, those days are gone. So tracks are offering incentives. If you buy a seat for the November race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, for example, and refer someone who also buys a ticket, you can qualify to receive goodies. For more information, go to homesteadmiamispeedway.com/referafan . . .

With the Sprint Cup on the West Coast for a race at California Speedway on Sunday, Tony Stewart has decided to run with the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series at the Stockton (Calif.) Dirt Track on Friday night. Would Ryan Hunter-Reay or Marco Andretti do something like that? Nope — but it would sure help the IndyCar series, don't you think? . . . .

Ontario Sprint car racer Ryan Litt of London will start his 2013 season with the U.S.-based Must See Racing Sprint Car Series at Pensacola, Fla., and Mobile, Ala. this coming weekend. Litt’s determined to win the traditional Little 500 sprint car race at Anderson Speedway, just north of Indianapolis, the night before the Big 500 at the IMSpeedway. He’s come close before but thinks this could be his year. . . .

Pfaff Automotive Partners has named Chris Green as lead driver for the Pfaff Castrol Motorsports team in this year’s Porsche GT3 Challenge Cup Canada. Green entered four Gold Cup-class races in 2012 and won all four, so Pfaff has signed a good shoe. . . .

Racing Rdp: Trouble in Ferrari-land, NASCAR as WWE

NASCAR ended in the paddock on Sunday with Joey Logano sticking his head into Denny Hamlin’s car and threatening to knock his block off. F1 ended in Australia with the second-place driver Fernando Alonso seething but keeping his anger bottled up inside.

Which is better?

Discuss.

Meantime, the big story out of Sebring, where the 12 Hours was dominated by an Audi hybrid, is that the newly named United SportsCar Racing and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) have signed an agreement to ensure that Le Mans-type sports car racing will continue in North America for years to come.

Let’s do Formula One first.

GRAND PRIX: Raikkonen makes it no contest

Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus-Renault won the season-opening Grand Prix of Australia at Melbourne Sunday with almost ridiculous ease. He beat second-place Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari by a healthy 12.451 seconds, with three-time defending world champion Sebastian Vettel another 10 seconds back in third in an Infiniti-Red Bull-Renault.

Felipe Massa finished fourth for Ferrari, with Lewis Hamilton fifth for Mercedes and Mark Webber sixth in his Red Bull, followed by Adrian Sutil seventh in a Force India-Mercedes, Paul di Resta eighth (Force India), Jenson Button ninth (McLaren-Mercedes) and Romain Grosjean tenth (Lotus).

Esteban Gutierrez of Mexico was the best of the six rookies who started the race, finishing 13^th in a Sauber-Ferrari.

Raikkonen’s key to success was his ability to make the Pirelli tires on his car last longer than his rivals. He only had to stop twice for fresh tires while the rest had to stop three times.

His team had planned it that way, said Raikkonen, who started the race from seventh place on the gird.

"Our plan was to do two-stop and it’s always difficult, especially the first races, to really know when to stop, and not doing it too early and not too late. . . . The team worked very well and we had a good plan, and we follow the plan and it worked out perfectly for us. I could save the tires and I could go fast if I needed and I could really drive very easily. One of the easiest races I’ve done to win the race. Hopefully, we can have many more of this kind of races."

On the flip side for Renault was the performance of Raikkonen’s teammate, Grosjean. Considered a future champion when he first broke into F1 in 2009, the French driver didn't turn any heads and had to drop back to the Auto GP and GP2 minor leagues to re-establish his credentials. Given a second chance last year, he tarnished his reputation again by involving himself in several avoidable accidents.

He’s on the bubble in 2013 – three strikes and he’ll be out – and some observers suggested his 10^th-place Sunday was because he was being conservative. The driver, on the other hand, suggested his car was not up to par and that he can do better.

Time will tell.

The two Force India cars finished in the top ten with the returning Sutil beating his established teammate, di Resta (seventh to di Resta’s eighth), and leading the race for awhile in the middle laps.

For a team facing financial challenges and a less-than-stable ownership, it was a great day in Australia.

On the other hand, it was a bad day for Williams. Lead driver Pastor Maldonado, who won a race in 2012, was eliminated from qualifying in Q1 and wound up in a gravel trap in mid-race. His teammate, Valtteri Bottas, finished 14^th. Williams has a lot of work ahead of it.

As does McLaren. Although Button was ninth and in the points, newly signed Sergio Perez was 11^th (albeit only two seconds behind his teammate) and blanked. The veteran team has gone from a fast car (nothing changed, really, in the off-season) that won the last two races of 2012 to one that looks stuck in the mud. How can that happen?

Will they soldier on with this dog in Malaysia? Or go back to last year’s car (which is something Williams should also consider . . . those two teams could share the cost of chartering a plane to fly the 2012 cars out to Sepang . . .).

Now, Ferrari.

Felipe Massa was in the last year of his contract in 2012 and performed like a lame duck for much of the season. But when Ferrari decided to renew him for 2013, he perked up and started driving like a rookie.

As anybody who follows F1 knows, Fernando Alonso considers himself No. 1 with whatever team he’s with and is not comfortable with a teammate who challenges him.

I watch body language. I don’t care what comes out of the mouths of the drivers, because they are all media trained to a fault. I watch how they behave.

When qualifying finished Sunday morning (it was delayed after Q1 because of rain and darkness on Saturday), Alonso and Massa went to the weigh scales together. This was after Massa had outqualified the team leader (he started fourth in the race, to Alonso’s fifth starting spot). Massa had his helmet off and did not look happy. Alonso kept his helmet on and kept in on as he walked back to his garage.

Uh-oh.

Then, during the race, both Ferrari drivers got good starts with Massa tucking in behind early leader Vettel and Alonso settling into third. Alsonso twice tried to pass Massa but the Brazilian was having none of it.

Commentator David Coulthard suggested there were no team orders but it was clear that Ferrari would have to do something to give Alonso a leg up and it did that by manipulating the pit stops to enable Alonso to get ahead of his teammate.

You can imagine Massa was less than pleased by that and Alonso wouldn't have been turning cartwheels either.

Then, at the end of the race, their displeasure was even more pronounced. As NHL players who’ve just scored goals skate to the bench and touch gloves with all of their teammates, Grand Prix drivers duck over toward the pits as they take the checkered flag to acknowledge their pit crews who are out by the fence.

Which is what Raikkonen and Vettel did as they crossed the line. Neither Ferrari driver so much as looked toward their pit. I wrote in my notebook: "Trouble in Ferrari-land."

Yes, Alonso told the media later that it was a great result and that he was as happy as all get-out.

I betcha he wasn’t saying that when they closed the door of the Ferrari garage for the post-race briefing.

I think watching how Massa conducts himself in a week’s time at Malaysia will be as interesting as seeing whether Raikkonen and Lotus can keep up their performances. Will he turn himself into Rubens Barrichello? Or keep sticking it to the big guy?

NOTEBOOK JOTTINGS

– Mark Webber goes like lightning – once he gets going. He has the worst starts in F1 racing, regularly. At Australia, he started second and then dropped like a stone. It ruined his race and his weekend. Red Bull should get him lessons.

– Infiniti is now the primary sponsor of Red Bull Racing. I know Red Bull energy drinks sell a lot of product around the world but even then I could not figure out how they could own and operate not one entire GP team, but two (Toro Rosso being the other). Things are now making more sense. They will make even more sense when they get a sponsor for the second team.

– I‘ve never seen this happen before but auto racing bumped curling on TSN2 Saturday night. When F1 qualifying was called on account of darkness after Q1 Saturday in Australia, the remaining qualifying was pushed to Sunday morning in Australia (8 p.m. Saturday night here). TSN2 had curling scheduled but pushed it to 9 p.m. in order to cover the qualifying. Three cheers (and a tiger) for TSN.

However (you knew one was coming, didn’t you . . . ), TSN should ask the providing broadcaster for a quick news wrapup in the last five minutes before the start so those of us in countries where there isn’t a complete pre-race show don’t find ourselves caught out.

Sunday, there was a brief mention just before the start that Nico Hulkenberg wouldn’t start the race for Sauber but there was no explanation as to why. Only later in the race, during conversation between the announcers, did we find out the reason: a fuel supply problem. It would be much better if things like that were to be explained before the start.

– Everybody says not to read too much into the first race, any first race, but Raikkonen simply crushed the competition in Oz. With eight laps remaining Sunday, Alonso was within five seconds of the leader. But then Kimi opened it up and just drove away from everybody at almost a second a lap.

The Iceman and Lotus-Renault are forces to be reckoned with this year, that’s for sure.

NASCAR: Setting the scene for California

Bristol Motor Speedway is probably the hardest track to race on of all of the NASCAR Sprint Cup speedways. It is high-banked (like Daytona) but only a little more than a half-mile around. The cars average more than 100 miles an hour around it, which means there isn't a second to relax.

Which also means there’s all sorts of beating and banging going on, most of it unintentional.

For instance, Jeff Gordon was leading and well on his way to winning Sunday’s race, which eventually went to Kasey Kahne, with Kyle Busch second, defending Cup champion Brad Keselowski third, Kurt Busch fourth and Clint Bowyer fifth, when fate intervened

On lap 388, Gordon blew a right-front tire and went up and into the wall, directly in the path of a hard-charging Matt Kenseth. Both cars were out of the race as a result of the ensuing crash.

It was one of those Bristol things and the caution it caused was one of 10 on the day.

At some point, Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin touched and Logano spun, tapping the wall. After repairs, he returned to the action but appeared more intent on getting back at Hamlin than he did on winning the race – which would have been a stretch but anything can happen in short-track racing.

During a restart toward the finish, Logano just drilled Hamlin in the rear hard enough that Hamlin ran into the back of Keselowski, literally raising the back end of the champion’s car off the track and ruining his restart. That, apparently, wasn’t good enough for Joey who then approached Hamlin after the race in the paddock. Hamlin stayed in his car and kept his helmet on.

There was then enough pushing and shoving and finger-wagging to ensure lots of pre-race publicity in advance of NASCAR heading west to Fontana for a race at the California Speedway next Sunday.

The WWE’s got nothing on these guys.

It was an okay race but there wasn’t a lot to write home about. However, one thing bears pointing out.

With a half-dozen laps to go, the aforementioned Hamlin hit the wall and bent one of the steering arms, which meant he couldn't properly turn left, which is kind of imperative in oval track racing.

So for the last five laps, despite warnings from NASCAR, Denny Hamlin made his way around the track by bombing along the straights, hitting the brakes and then bouncing off the walls during the turns.

In so doing, he finished the race. I have to say, I haven't seen that before.

A novel approach, that's for sure.

ALMS: Securing the future

When the 12 Hours of Sebring started Saturday morning, the two P1 Audi hybrids were one-two on the grid. When the race ended a dozen hours later, they were still in the same order.

Pole winner Marcel Fassler and teammates Benoit Treluyer and Oliver Jarvis celebrated the win, with the second Audi team of Tom Kristensen, Lucas Di Grassi and Allan McNish arriving home second. A Lola B12/60 driven by Nick Heidfeld, Neel Jani and Nicolas Prost finished third overall.

In P2, Ryan Briscoe, Scott Tucker and Marino Franchitti were first in an HPD ARXD-03bs.

In Prototype Challenge (PC), David Ostella of Maple , who previously raced in Indy Lights, won a sports car race on his first try. David Chang and Mike Guasch helped Ostella drive the ORECA FLM09 to victory.

To claim the class victory, Ostella had to pass another Canadian, Kyle Marcelli of Barrie, and he said it was a thrill for him.

"I've never done anything like this before - P1 cars flying around and you going by GT cars," Ostella said in a story on the ALMS website. "Then. battling for first with Kyle Marcelli… we got by him and I put my head down with some perfect laps. The PR1 team gave me a perfect car for the weekend."

In GT, Tommy Milner, Oliver Gavin and Richard Westbrook drove a Corvette to Victory Lane for the first time since 2009.

In GT Challenge (GT), Jeroen Bleekemolen, Dion von Moltke and Cooper MacNeil drove a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car to the win.

It was a sunny day in Florida and the racing was close, which made for a good day.

More important, however, was the announcement that the new unified North American sports car championship has retained a link with the people who run Le Mans-style racing in Europe and that, to me, says fears that owner NASCAR would "dumb down" sports car racing on this continent were unfounded.

I also suggest that although unlimited prototype racing is gone for the moment, it will return at some point in the future. The manufacturers will demand it and that’s how it should be.

According to a release sent out Saturday, the United SportsCar Racing and the ACO will work together to craft compatible technical regulations for the top sports car categories from each side. The release continued: "Such work is expected to expand manufacturer involvement, increase the sustainable relevance of sports car racing and enhance the overall event experience for all fans."

Said ACO President Pierre Fillon, who was in Sebring to sign the agreement and address a media conference:

"The ACO is delighted through this alliance partnership that goes beyond a simple licensing agreement, to continue our collaboration that started 14 years ago with Don Panoz and the creation of ALMS, and which has been of great benefit to both partners.

"This strategic alliance will lead to a close collaboration between the ACO and United SportsCar Racing to promote, develop and reinforce endurance racing in North America. Through this global agreement, I am convinced endurance racing will continue to be in safe hands in North America for many years to come."

The big disappointment on Saturday was the quick disappearance behind the pit wall of the exotic Deltawing. The experimental car was eliminated by engine woes.

REMINDER: Motor sport is dangerous

Supercross rider Dean Wilson, competing in Indianapolis at the weekend before heading to Toronto for a Monster Energy Supercross event at Rogers Centre next Saturday, went down hard at Lucas Oil Stadium and suffered a collapsed lung and a broken back, rib and shoulder.

It will take several months for him to recover.

In California, meantime, a sprint car went out of control at Marysville Raceway Park on Saturday night and killed two people who were in the pits – a 68-year-old man believed to a car owner and a 14-year-old boy standing next to him.

The driver of the race car, a 17-year-old, was not injured. Racing was cancelled after the accident.

F1 qualifying postponed; Audi hybrid on Sebring pole

Heavy rain and darkness forced stewards to postpone qualifying for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne.

After Q1, in which Williams No. 1 driver Pastor Maldonado was eliminated, the weather was too wet and the sun was going down and it became dangerous to continue.

Qualifying will be completed Sunday morning, with the race scheduled to follow in the afternoon.

This has happened before, in Japan, because F1 caters to European audiences and schedules events late in the day local time so people in England and Germany can watch the sport in prime time.

Nico Rosberg was fastest in Q1 for Mercedes, with Fernando Alonso second for Ferrari and Romain Grosjean third in his Lotus-Renault.

Meantime, in Florida, Marcel Fassler of Switzerland, driving an Audi hybrid, will start from pole for Saturday's 12 Hours of Sebring sports car classic.

Sebring marks the beginning of the 2013 American Le Mans Series season, which will also be its last (see below for details of the inspiring new name for the merged ALMS-Grand Am series that will start doing business next year).

Fassler’s car was only 0.009 seconds ahead of the sister Audi hybrid driven by Allan McNish. Audi, which is seeking its 11^th Sebring victory, was the first manufacturer to win a major sports race with diesel power in 2006. The hybrid was the first to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans a year ago.

Gianmaria Bruni in a Ferrari won pole in the GT class. Ryan Briscoe in a Honda development car will start first in P2. Colin Braun and Andy Lally were fastest in the two Challenge classes.

Canadians: Mark Wilkins of Toronto, in the Prototype Challenge class, is on a team that will go off 12^th overall; David Ostella, Maple, PC, 16^th; Kyle Marcelli, Barrie, Chris Cumming, Vancouver, PC, 17^th; Paul Dalla Lana, Toronto, GT, 23^rd; Kuno Wittmer, Montreal, GT, 25^th.

Forty-two cars will start. You can watch the action on Speed Channel, starting at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.

– The Audi hybrid aside, the really interesting car at Sebring this weekend will be the Deltawing, which is being relaunched without the help of most of the people who developed it in the first place.

Gone are Ben Bowlby, the designer, All American Racers (Dan Gurney) who built it and Nissan, who powered it. Michelin has been replaced by Bridgestone and Mazda is providing the engines.

The only constant is Dr. Don Panoz, who has been behind it from the start.

It raced twice last year — at the Le Mans 24 hours, where it crashed out, and at the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, where it finished fifth overall. After this weekend’s 12 Hours of Sebring, it is scheduled to race twice more in the ALMS this season, at Laguna Seca and Baltimore.

We should all cross our fingers and hope that Dr. Panoz, who used to own Mosport, will have a change of heart in July and bring it to the last ALMS race to be run at what is now known as Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

I suspect he’s using the money he made by selling Mosport to keep the Deltawing project going. So . . .

– The name of the new sports car series, which will debut at the 2014 Rolex 24 at Daytona, is United SportsCar Racing (USR).

As well as announcing the name of the new series, the class names for 2014 were also announced. They are:

The Prototype (P) class, combining Grand-Am’s Daytona Prototypes plus the ALMS’ P2 and Deltawing cars;

The Prototype Challenge (PC), retained from the current ALMS class structure;

The GT Le Mans (GTLM), consisting of the ALMS’ current GT class;

The GT Daytona (GTD), consisting of Grand-Am’s current GT class and the ALMS’s current GTC class;

The GX, coming over from the current Grand-Am.

– Kyle Busch won the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Bristol, setting a track record in the process. Kasey Kahne will start beside him on the front row.

– Earlier at Sebring, in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda (whew!) support races, 18-year-old Scott Hargrove of Vancouver won the opening race of the season while Garett Grist of Grimsby finished second. In the second race, Hargrove was second and Grist finished fifth.

In a release, Grist – who drives for Andretti Autosport – said he’d enjoyed Sebring but was really looking forward to next weekend in St. Petersburg where the F2000 series will be on the undercard for the IZOD IndyCar Series opener.

Speaking of the second race, Grist said: "We had a good starting spot in third, we made our way to become the leader on Lap 2. I made the pass for first, then the yellow came out. I lost some ground after the yellow flag but the last two laps, the car came in really well and really fast.

"St. Pete will be my first time on a street course so that should be an interesting learning experience. I’m already looking forward to getting back in the car."

Hargrove leads the championship heading into St. Pete.

Was the Denny Hamlin-NASCAR spat real?

I inherited my cynicism from my mother.

Years and years ago, in the early 1950s, we were sitting in the dentist’s office and because there were no comic books, I was looking at Photoplay, which was a "movie magazine" of the times. There was a picture of Elizabeth Taylor on the cover, taken of her in a nightclub, and in front of her, on the table, slightly out of focus, was a package of Salem cigarettes.

So I said to my mother that I had never seen Elizabeth Taylor smoke in the movies and here was a package of cigarettes in a picture of her. And my mother looked at me and said, decades before I heard anybody talk about product placement:

"They pay her to let them put those cigarettes there."

I was astonished.

Really, I thought?

But the more I thought about it, the more what my mother had said made sense and I learned a valuable lesson from it, one that has stood me in good stead throughout my newspaper career: don’t believe everything you hear or see because there are people out there cooking up all sorts of gimmicks and stunts to draw attention to their products or businesses or causes and the interest generated may not accurately reflect reality because of this manipulation.

Which brings me to last weekend.

After the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Phoenix, Danny Hamlin got out of his car and, in answer to a question about the new generation six car, said: "I don’t want to be the pessimist, but it did not race as good as our generation five cars. This is more like what the generation five was at the beginning."

Tuesday, NASCAR announced it was fining Hamlin $25,000 for comments detrimental to stock car racing. Hamlin reacted by saying he wasn’t going to pay the fine and that the powers-that-be could suspend him if they wanted to.

To my knowledge, neither party has said anything more since.

But others have. Boy, have they ever.

Usually after a car race (any car race, by the way, be it F1 or IndyCar or NASCAR), there is a lull in publicity. After the Sunday night TV shows are watched and the overnight blogs and Monday morning race reports are read, nobody (except the most rapid of fans) really cares all that much about car racing until interest naturally starts to build for the next race, which could be three or four days later. That’s the way it is with NFL football and PGA golf, too. Sports restricted to weekends pretty much endure the same pattern.

Except this time, there was no lull. There was no letup. Google "Denny Hamlin" and "NASCAR" and "fine" and count up the number of stories and columns written about this "controversy" that had its start last Sunday night and continued through to the race in Las Vegas this weekend (and that’s not considering the number of sports radio call-in shows and TV programs that tackled the "issue"). You will need a calculator to add them all up.

Now, if Denny Hamlin had said something – anything – about NASCAR or stock car racing or the new race cars that could be considered controversial or damaging, then I might understand NASCAR getting upset.

But there was nothing; absolutely nothing.

So was there something else going on here?

Something like: I heard what Denny Hamlin said and I saw NASCAR’s reaction to it and then I thought of my mother and that picture of Elizabeth Taylor with the cigarettes.

Sixty years later, they’re not only still at it, they've perfected it.

I watched Wind Tunnel on Speed Channel last night because it featured two of my favourite motorsport personalities, Robin Miller and James Hinchcliffe, and I saw – for the most part – a replay of the Speed Center news program.

For the first 15 minutes, I had to endure a repeat of all of the NASCAR stuff that had been on for an hour previously, including yet another interview with Sam Hornish Jr.

Sam might be a nice guy, but let’s be honest: he puts you to sleep.

Then, after the break, Miller "interviewed" Hinchcliffe by reading questions off a teleprompter. James kept looking down at his notes for the answers.

What a waste of two wonderful talents.

Somebody has got it in for that program and is sabotaging it by making it as boring as possible. What used to be an hour of off-the-wall fun and outrageous opinions has been cut back to 30 minutes of scripted predictability.

Such a shame.

Matt Kenseth and Joe Gibbs Racing showed Sunday why they should be taken seriously for the 2013 Sprint Cup Championship when they won the Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Speedway.

Kasey Kahne finished second and defending Cup champion Brad Keselowski was third, just ahead of Kyle Busch. Carl Edwards finished fifth.

In only his third race for the team, Kenseth opted to take no tires when he went to the pits for fuel on Lap 225. It was this decision that eventually gave Kenseth the win. Full race report here.

In the Nationwide Series Saturday, Sam Hornish Jr. won. Kyle Busch was second, with Brian Vickers third, Trevor Bayne fourth and Elliott Saddler fifth.

Thank goodness the long winter is over. Formula One starts its season in Australia Friday, the American Le Mans Series has the 12 Hours of Sebring scheduled for Saturday and the IZOD IndyCar Series kicks off 2013 with the St. Petersburg Grand Prix in Florida a week from Sunday. Check George’s TV Listings for Race Fans at wheels.ca for times and channels.

Tony Stewart isn’t exactly setting the world on fire this Sprint Cup season. Maybe he needs a dose of sprint car racing to get him going.

Two years ago, he hadn’t won a Cup race by the time he showed up in July at the Six Nations Ohsweken Speedway to run with the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series. He won that race on the little dirt track near Brantford and it turned his NASCAR season around.

Who knows? Maybe it will happen again. It was announced last week that Stewart will return to Ohsweken this July to see if he can score a hat trick (he won the race last July, too).

As the Ohsweken release put it, "Smoke" will compete against Ohsweken’s Corr/Pal Merchandising Sprint Car teams in the "Norther Summer Nationals"  on Monday, July 29. The next night, July 30, Stewart and the Outlaws will race in the "Six Nations Showdown."

Get your tickets early. You couldn’t move in that place last summer, so many people were there.

Ryan Villopoto won his second Monster Energy Supercross of 2013 Saturday night at Daytona Speedway in Florida. Villopoto, James Stewart, Chad Reed and all those guys will be at the Rogers Centre in Toronto a week from Saturday. They always put on a great show.

I like a good story, too, but I can’t get excited about A.J. Allmendinger driving two races for Roger Penske.. . . . David Ostella of Maple, who’s been in the Indy Lights Series the last couple of seasons, is going sports car racing and will be competing in the Prototype Challenge class in this weekend’s 12 Hours of Sebring. Kyle Marcelli of Barrie will be an opponent. . . . Remo Ruscitti of Vancouver has signed with Compass360 Racing (C360R) of Toronto to drive the team's No. 72 Honda Civic Si in the 2013 Pirelli World Challenge Touring Car championship. . . . I was all for this electric car formula car racing series until they said the drivers would switch cars during the "race." That’s not competition, that’s a demonstration. That’s like the movement a couple of years ago to make the point of tennis the length of the rally, rather than scoring points. Or youth soccer where nobody keeps score. What is this, anyway?

Grand Prix Preview: Hamilton will be champion, Donaldson says, but Norris disagrees

Every year, around this time, usually over breakfast, I sit down with my good friend, Gerald Donaldson, to break bread and discuss the upcoming Formula One season.

Donaldson, of course, knows more about F1 than any other Canadian alive and has been covering the sport and writing books about it — several dozen books, in fact — since the 1970s.

So we order our pancakes and bacon and I turn on the tape recorder and ask the questions and “Gerry” answers away. I then transcribe the conversation and dress it up a little bit and usually put it in Toronto Star Wheels the day before the season starts, which would be next weekend.

Big mistake.

This is because Donaldson (or I) will go on record as saying this driver will be fast and that car will be slow and this is fine — except the timing often turns out to be terrible.

By putting predictions in the paper the day before the first race, I leave us open to ridicule because the cars have already been out for two practice sessions the day before, on the Friday, and we are left with egg on our faces because our predictions sometimes turn out to be wrong.

So, this year, I’m not taking any chances. This is the preview and it’s on this website a whole week before the first race. This way, we won’t be wrong until at least next Friday.

Of course, it might very well turn out that we’re right.

Whichever — I hope you enjoy what follows.

Gerry, right off the top, what kind of a season do we have to look forward to?

For the most part, the rules are the same as they were last year so the cars will be pretty even and this suggests close racing. Next year, there will be big changes. They are going from 2.4-litre V8 engines to 1.6-litre turbos. The big teams have already said they will switch their focus to next year pretty early in the season, which further opens up the possibilities for this year. The small teams are just going to invest in this year because they don’t have any money to invest in the future so that could make things really interesting.

There are five rookies and they are all pay drivers. Is this good?

It’s always been the case in Formula One. The most famous pay driver was Niki Lauda, who borrowed money against his life insurance policy and won three world championships. A superstar. The Mexican, Esteban Gutierrez, is being supported by Carlos Slim, the richest guy in the world. Max Chilton at Marussia, his father (Grahame) is so wealthy he bought half the team.

However, all of these guys have a good track record. It’s not as if they’re diluting the talent pool. And they’re replacing guys who didn’t do a lot — Bruno Senna, Kamui Kobayashi, Vitaly Petrov. It’s not a bad thing necessarily and it’s not a new thing at all.

I have to slip in some Canadian content here. Robert Wickens, a very talented Canadian, when they were racing in the lesser categories, consistently defeated Gutierrez. Robert is in the DTM and Gutierrez is in Formula One. Poor Wickens beat Jean-Eric Vergne for the Formula 3.5 championship and Vergne is in Formula One and Robert is in touring cars. Is there any justice in the world?

What Robert Wickens needs is a Canadian multibillionaire to back him, which is the case with Gutierrez and Carlos Slim. Robert is not doomed; he had a good year last year in his rookie season, he’s very popular with the team and the fans and the future bodes well.

Okay, the testing is finished and it was really quite amusing this year because, at one time or another, just about everybody led a session; just about everybody topped the charts. For what it’s worth, I think the McLaren is going to turn out to be a rocket. What do you think?

You say you have a hunch about McLaren. I can tell you it’s a wonderful year for hunches. Everybody in the paddock is talking with hunches. Nobody knows what’s going to happen; there’s no foregone conclusion. This year could be even more unpredictable than 2012, which was wonderfully unpredictable.

Okay, quit beating around the bush. Who do you think will win the championship?

It’s my custom every year when we do this to take a big gamble. I’m going to take a driver who switched teams, to a team that hasn’t done much of anything but this year they seem poised to do well. I think Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes will be champion.

My goodness! You mean to tell me that Sebastian Vettel’s reign is coming to an end?

He will have much stronger competition than last year. All the testing didn’t prove a thing, other than to show that the championship and the racing will be extremely close.

Adrien Newey, the greatest designer in F1, has no idea where his team stands in relation to the others. It was a typical pre-season, in that some were sandbagging, some were really testing different things. The kicker here is the Pirelli tries. This year, they have gone more aggressive than ever with the tire compounds.

It’s a bit of a dichotomy for a tire company. Pirelli’s brief is to make tires that don’t last. They wear out quickly, deliberately. They have different compounds that have different stages of degradation. No one has any idea how they will behave in race conditions. It will be a big free-for-all, particularly in the early races until everybody becomes familiar with how the tires behave.

Okay, let’s go down the list and discuss the teams. How do you see Red Bull-Renault doing in 2013?

Vettel will not lose any of his talent. He’s improved every year and he’s a triple world champion. So he’s going to be right up there. But I wonder about the management of that team. The sponsor – Red Bull’s – representative is Dr. Halmut Marko who has a knack of putting his foot in his mouth and he’s done it again.

He says Mark Webber, Vettel’s teammate, is not capable of winning a championship. That’s going to light a fire under Webber. He’s 36, the oldest guy in the field and this is his last chance. Unless they give team orders right from the start of the season, those guys will be fighting each other harder than anybody else in the field, particularly Webber.

Maybe this is a psychological ploy but those are fighting words and they could have been said behind closed doors rather than in public. To do it out front like that is not good for team morale. We have to remember that the cars are side-by-side in the garage and the engineers and mechanics on either side are with their driver. So he’s really dividing the team.

Will Fernando Alonso come close to winning the title. And what about Ferrari as a whole?

Alonso will be close-er to the championship. Both Alonso and Massa have said the car is on a different planet. It is much better. Everybody in the field agrees Ferrari is looking good. Alonso would probably be a safer bet for a champion than Lewis Hamilton, but I’ve made my pick. He is probably the best all-rounder in F1 at the moment.

Massa? First, Alonso will not tolerate a quick teammate; we know that and he’s the team leader. Massa came on strong at the end of last season (after his contract was renewed) but he knows his place, he’s a real team player and he knows his place. Everybody in the paddock loves him, including Alonso — so far. Ferrari will be strong and Alonso will be basically backed up by Massa.

How do you see McLaren? I think they have a rocket. Sergio Perez was a surprise signing and, at 33, Jenson  Button ain’t getting’ any younger.

Jenson won the championship in 2009 because he had the best car. He’s a good journeyman driver who, on a good day, can beat anybody but he doesn’t have a good day every Grand Prix. Everything’s got to be perfect; he won’t drive around a problem.

He’ll be pushed by Perez, who’s a bit of an unknown quantity with a top team. He did well with Sauber but he’s got a bit of a reputation of being a hot-head and it will be interesting to see how he handles the pressure of being with a team like McLaren.

During this conversation, we’ve danced around a bit and neither of us has mentioned Lotus-Renault, or Kimi Raikkonen. How do you see that team and Kimi?

First, Romain Grosjean (the No. 2) has been given yet another chance; he crashed a lot last year, stupid crashes. . . but he will straighten out. We used to watch him in GP2 and he was as good in GP2 as Lewis Hamilton, who was the best there’s ever been in GP2. So he’ll straighten out.

Kimi, his teammate, is without doubt the most popular Formula One driver of them all. Everybody loves him because he’s so quirky. He’s so against the grain. Remember last year, he put himself into history with the simple phrase over the radio, ‘Leave me alone, I know what I’m doing.’ And he does know what he’s doing.

Lotus is a feel-good story in F1. It’s a grand old name and last year it was a comeback team with a comeback driver. Kimi loves racing. He’s a hard racer but a safe one. Last year, he was the only driver to complete every lap of every race despite the fact he was so aggressive. Yes, he knows what he’s doing.

So you’re picking Lewis to win the championship. Tell me about the team, Mercedes.

They have a whole bunch of new technical people and the car is better. They’ve also got a driver who can get the best out of that car, Lewis Hamilton. His teammate, and they’ve been good friends their entire lives, Nico Rosberg, is a good, steady driver. This will be a test of their friendship; they live next door to each other in Monaco.

But there is a bit of dissension within that team. They brought in Niki Lauda and a new team manager and the personnel are a bit confused about who’s in charge. At the moment it’s Ross Brawn and he says he’s in charge but I wouldn’t be surprised if he leaves. It will be a test of his perseverance to hang in there.

Niki Lauda is a wonderful character but he doesn’t have a great track record of being in charge. That will be the only part of Mercedes that might not work. I think they’re good with the car, the engines and the drivers.

But the rest of the team . . .

Okay, those are the top dogs. Let’s talk about some of the lesser teams, starting with Sauber.

This is the best of the rest. Sauber has always punched above its weight. The team is Swiss and is a reflection of the country — prudent money managers, cautious and safe but also aggressive. Williams? They think they’ve got a good car. Count on them to be up there. And Paul Di Resta is a talent, as is Adrian Sutil, so don’t pass on Force India.

Toro Rosso is a curious team. It’s supposed to a farm team for Red Bull. But neither Jean-Eric Vergne nor Daniel Ricciardo have shown themselves to have superstar potential.

We had one team drop out at the end of last year, HRT. Will the others hang in there, and do they have a chance?

Caterham has a lot of money but they will never catch up. They and the other ‘new’ teams were brought into F1 in 2008 by Max Mosley, who promised them that budgets would be reduced and everybody would be able to get along on $50 million a year and everybody would eventually be equal and it’s never happened and never will happen. They are doomed to be backmarkers.

But, they build their own cars like everybody else and hire pay drivers. Nobody is going to drop out. Anyway, in the background is the great orchestrator, Bernie Ecclestone, who will look after anything and everything that needs looking after.

Okay, we’re nearly finished. Let’s return to the rookies. Which ones will impress?

Gutierrez  might; he’s well-placed. Sauber is a respectable, competitive team; they know how to bring people along. Vettel, Robert Kubica, Raikkonen, Perez — they all made their debut with Sauber, so he’s best placed to do well. He has a respectable track record, too.

Jules Bianchi (Marussia) has the best credentials. I expect the latest Finn in F1, Valtteri Bottas, to do well. He’s been Williams’ reserve driver, so knows his way around, and he could be the pick of the crop.

I think it will be a good year for the championship and it’s a very high quality class of rookies. It’s going to be very interesting.

NORRIS' TAKE

I agree with Gerry that 2013 could be a banner year for F1 excitement. But Niki Lauda aside, I’m not crazy about the high number of pay drivers (more than the rookies are bringing money).

As mentioned, I suspect McLaren has a rocket ship of a racing car but I’m not sure the drivers will be up to it. Perez was signed when the team was on the rebound from Hamilton’s defection and I’m not sure he was the best choice. And Button? He’s no Mark Webber.

But I’ve been wrong about Button before . . .

In the end, the title fight will be between Fernando Alonso and — tad-da — the “Iceman” himself, Kimi Raikkonen. Personal habits, though, will make the difference in the end.

And what do I mean by that? Well, the Kimster missed a test session in Barcelona last week (Lotus had to call Grosjean back) because his tummy was acting up as a result of Kimi out being Kimi the night before.

He’s a character, for sure, but Alonso is too disciplined for that and will be world champion as a result.

IndyCar: Consultants did what they're supposed to do

The reaction to a weekend news story about a report from a consulting group concerning what the owners of two well-known auto racing properties should do with them illustrates perfectly why the consultants were hired in the first place.

It also illustrates a misunderstanding of what consultants are supposed to do.

Let’s go back to the start.

Last Friday, AP motorsport writer Jenna Fryer reported that Boston Consulting Group had been retained by Hulman & Co., owners of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the IndyCar series, to conduct studies and make recommendations about the future of those businesses.

The most important recommendation, according to the 115-page report that Fryer obtained, is for the parent company to continue owning the speedway and the race series.

And then, according to the story, there were these other suggestions:

– A series of 15 races in 19 weeks should be held in major American cities (in a nod to Ben Affleck, Toronto was included) followed by a three-race playoff and a grand finale on the road course at the Indianapolis Speedway;

– The series’ "daredevil" drivers should be promoted.

– There should be just one television partner in the U.S. instead of the current two.

– Ticket prices should be increased for the Indianapolis 500 and lowered for the Brickyard 400 and the Moto GP race.

There were other suggestions (you can pack a lot into 115 pages) but you get the drift.

In short, Boston Consulting is suggesting a radical shift in order to not only rescue the two businesses but to grow them.

Two things happened after Fryer put the story out on the AP wire.

First, the Speedway issued a statement. Mark Miles, CEO of Hulman and Co., said the report was an early version of one of many prepared by the consultants. He said no decisions had been made and discussions were continuing.

Second, fans of the series panned the report and its suggestions. Many wanted to know how come Hulman and Co. had hired a firm that obviously knew next to nothing about racing.

Let’s start with why companies – and governments – hire consultants in the first place. It’s usually because fresh thinking is needed. Something isn’t working and nobody in management can come up with the answer so a person or group is invited in to make suggestions to trigger discussions in hopes of finding a solution.

In the case of IndyCar, you have a racing series that isn’t on anybody’s radar. Yes, it’s on my radar and yours (if you’re reading this blog) but there are about 300 million people in the United States and Canada and it’s a good bet that most of them have no knowledge of IndyCar because if they did, more people might go to the races and/or watch them on television.

The board of directors of Hulman & Co. is made up primarily of either racing people (the descendents of Tony Hulman and Elmer George) or people who know about racing and are fans. They’ve been trying for years to make this series work. They haven’t been successful.

So they reached out to Boston Consulting and asked them to, a) answer some specific questions (I would guess that among them was whether or not Hulman & Co. should even continue to own the speedway and the race series) and, b) make some suggestions that might help turn IndyCar from being auto racing’s biggest secret to auto racing’s latest success story.

Now, if I’m Boston Consulting (and with all due respect), the last people I’m going to ask for their opinion are fans of this racing series. And this includes columnists and pontificators like me. IndyCar has already got us; they want to go after people they don't have.

Fryer, in an analysis written several days after she first broke the story, seems to mock the consultants for including seven cities that don’t have IndyCar races at present and for suggesting that three races currently on the schedule be dropped.

Remember, it is not the consultants’ job to come back with a report that says everything’s rosy. They obviously pushed the envelop by suggesting cities where, in their opinion, IndyCar races should be held. And one of the three races they want dropped – Fryer called it "stalwart Milwaukee" – is such a challenge to promote that last year, one of the series’ drivers, Graham Rahal, bused fans up from Indianapolis to fill seats because interest in the Wisconsin city was less than overwhelming.

Why keep putting on races in places where people could care less? I suggest Milwaukee is right up there. And while 20,000 people might show up to watch IndyCar in rural Alabama and in the middle of an Iowa cornfield, the corporate sponsors that IndyCar desperately needs are not interested, but might be if those races were held – instead – in major cities, right downtown.

The job of a consultant is to suggest alternatives to the status quo, to challenge conventional thinking.

I’d suggest that Boston Consulting, from what’s been reported to date, has done a pretty good job.

Of course, I wonder how Fryer came to get the copy of the report that she did – if, in fact, it’s an early draft, as the CEO of Hulman & Co. insists it is.

As a news editor and political reporter most of my working career, I’ve been on the receiving end of any number of confidential documents slipped to me in brown manila packages. And, in my experience, the people doing the leaking fall into three categories: political (or business) enemies looking to cause mischief; disgruntled people (frequently employees of the subject company); and/or deliberately by government or business looking for reaction – the proverbial trial balloon.

It’s hard to say which this is, but it’s certainly got the natives restless – another sign that, yes, Boston Consulting has done what it was hired to do: stir the pot.

- NORRIS McDONALD

SPEED fading; Subway driver wins Subway race

The weekend’s racing was kind of so-so, with the possible exception of the Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series event at the Circuit of the Americas on Saturday (won by Jon Fogerty and Alex Gurney, incidentally), but there were a couple of off-track stories that merit attention, with one in particular being of utmost importance because it affects us all.

That one in particular is that the Speed Channel will soon be gone, replaced by yet another general sports network.

The rebranding of SPEED by the parent Fox Sports will likely happen this summer, Charlotte Observer radio and TV columnist Mark Washburn reported at the weekend. The relaunched channel will be called Fox Sports 1 and will probably feature baseball, football, soccer and amateur sport in addition to some auto racing and other motor sports.

Gone will be such Emmy Award-winning programs as Pinks, Pinks All Out, Pass Time, Are You Faster Than a Redneck and Truck U. (Isn’t the name of that last show just hilarious? Just the sort of thing to attract sophisticated viewers and avertisers. . . .)

I say good riddance to them all. And although I’m not happy to be losing an all-motorsport station to yet another general sports channel (of which we have more than enough already, thank you), I’m not sad to see most of the SPEED lineup consigned to the waste basket.

I consider SPEED a lost opportunity. What could have been a great channel – like the Golf Channel is great, and the NFL Channel is great – was always pretty mediocre at best.

They did some things really well. Adam Alexander’s Speed Center newscast on Sunday night at 7 p.m. is must-viewing. And Dave Despain’s Wind Tunnel, also on Sunday night, is another "must-view" show. And where else will you get live coverage of sports-car racing and (most of the time) of 24-hour races like Daytona and Le Mans? And yes, even NASCAR Today with Kyle Petty and Kenny Wallace could be entertaining on a Sunday morning.

But the rest of it? See ya.

Where were all the old USAC sprint car films? Don’t tell me they couldn’t make a deal with Dick Wallen? And films of the old Indianapolis 500s and the Indy cars at Milwaukee and Riverside and Trenton? And the USAC dirt cars at Springfield and Du Quoin? And sports car racing from Daytona and Sebring back in the day? There must be a vault of motorcycle racing videos somewhere that would have made for great viewing.

There are all sorts of Formula One films around. Why weren’t they shown on SPEED? If you’re going to be a Speed Channel, isn’t that the sort of stuff you want to have on the air all the time? If I can watch historic Daytona 500s and CART races from the 1990s on ESPN Classic Canada, why couldn’t I see them on the Speed Channel?

As I said, a wasted opportunity.

I just hope the Fox people see the value in Speed Center and Wind Tunnel and some of the other above-average programs like live race coverage and make them a large part of Fox Sports 1.

But I can get along quite nicely without Truck U and anything with the name Pinks in it.

The second off-track story of the weekend dealt with a leaked report concerning the future of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the IndyCar series. It is a complex subject and requires a full blog, so I will post my thoughts on it – and the reaction to it – Monday night.

Before moving on, however, I must ask out loud: what is going on with Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain? Usually an hour of interviews and call-ins, Wind Tunnel is back on the air after its usual winter hiatus but is now only 30 minutes long and that’s not nearly enough time.

Let’s hope once everything gets going – the American Le Mans Series season and Formula One will start in two weeks and IndyCar will follow a week later – that Wind Tunnel will revert to its usual hour.

If not, I fear for the future of that popular program.

Despain will be in Daytona for Bike Week next Sunday and will be represented on the show by Oakville's James Hinchcliffe and Robin Miller. It will be Hinchcliffe’s first gig since he signed a deal to contribute to both Wind Tunnel and Speed Center, which was announced this past week.

Okay, so Carl Edwards won the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix Sunday, with Jimmie Johnson second and Denny Hamlin third. Click here for full race story.

But I’m confused.

There is a yellow line around the bottom of Phoenix International Raceway. NASCAR says you can’t go below the yellow line and improve your position. But Denny Hamlin dropped below the yellow line and took a short cut up the backstretch on the last lap to improve his position by shooting all the way up to second place. Johnson fought him off but he very nearly stole second in the race.

Now, the line on the track in Phoenix is a single line, rather than a double line of the kind you find at places like – say – Daytona. So maybe – maybe – NASCAR thinks it’s okay to go below the line.

But if that’s the case, why have a line there at all? If it serves no purpose, what is it doing there?

At one track it’s against the rules to pass below the yellow line and at another it’s okay?

As I said, I’m confused.

Now, I am not a conspiracy theorist (ED NOTE: ho, ho, ho), but Carl Edwards, who has not won a race in 70 tries, finally wins one on Sunday. It is the Subway Fresh Fit 500. Carl Edwards is sponsored by Subway. I guess it’s just a coincidence.

Here’s another coincidence. Two of the three Stewart-Haas Racing team cars went out after crashing because their right front tires blew out. Ryan Newman was the first to hit the wall in turn four and Danica Patrick followed a few laps later. Newman was credited with 40th place; Patrick started 40th but was running 26th when she crashed and officially finished 39th.

It was a typical NASCAR Sprint Cup race: nothing to get excited about until the end and then the green-white-checkers finish was interesting. But Edwards had the field covered and was pulling away at the checkers.

Kyle Busch, who has not had a good start to his Sprint Cup season, won the Nationwide Series race Saturday at Phoenix, followed home by Brad Keselowski and Justin Allgaier.

Later Saturday, the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West series took to the big mile speedway and Greg Pursley won. I wouldn’t normally report the results of this particular series but the second-place finisher, who happens to be Pursley’s teammate, was Cameron Hayley, 16, of Calgary. That kid's got a future, I'd say.

The NASCAR Mexican stock car series also raced as part of the Phoenix weekend. It likely gave that series a much-needed publicity boost at home as well as in the United States.

Dean McNulty, who writes for another Toronto paper, is reporting that NASCAR will give the Canadian Tire stock car series similar exposure by including it on the program at Watkins Glen in August when the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series stock cars travel there for the traditional mid-summer race weekend.

As mentioned earlier, Fogarty and Gurney won the Grand Am Rolex race at the Circuit of the Americas outside Austin, Tex., with Ryan Dalziel and Alex Popow second and Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas third. All were racing in Daytona Prototypes.

In the GT class, Toronto’s Paul Dalla Lana and American Bill Auberlen, driving a BMW M3, fought back from two laps down (Dalla Lana spun on the opening lap) to win. Dalla Lana and Auberlen earlier won the Continental Tire support race.

They are the only team to ever win both the Continental and Rolex races on the same weekend and it was the second time they’d done it, the first time coming at Homestead-Miami in 2011.

Auberlen actually drove the team car across the finish line in second place but the first-place-finishing car was penalized a lap plus 90 seconds for avoidable contact.

The "contact" was one of a number of instances in this race in which the sports-car drivers raced more like NASCAR drivers, with lots of rubbin’ and bangin’ going on out there.

Other Canadians – Rolex: Sylvain Tremblay of Montreal, second in the GX class. AIM Autosport of Woodbridge (Emil Assentato and Anthony Lozzaro aboard) was fifth in the GT class and a sister car, R. Ferri/AIM Autosport Racing With Ferrari, finished tenth in GT with Max Papis and Jeff Segal driving. Kyle Marcelli of Barrie finished ninth in GT.

In the Continental Tire race: Ken Wilden of Oakville was seventh overall in GS. Fraser Wellon of Mississauga was 12^th in GS. Ashley McCalmont of Ancaster was 15^th in GS. Scott Maxwell of Toronto, driving for Multimatic Motorsports of Markham, finished 18^th in GS. Another Multimatic driver, David Empringham of Toronto, was 42^nd overall but 22^nd in class. Taylor Hacguard of Vancouver was 29^th overall but 9^th in ST. The Toronto-based Compass360 Racing team had four cars in the ST class and they finished sixth, 19^th, 20^th and 26^th in class.

Lewis Hamilton was fastest for Mercedes as F1 testing continued in Barcelona. Felipe Massa was second in a Ferrari, although about a half-second behind Hamilton. Although some suspect sandbagging, I suggest the real reason the pre-season doesn’t mean much in F1 is because they are actually testing things and not racing. The season opens in Australia in two weeks and then we’ll see who’s got their act together. . . .

Ryan Villopoto won the Monster Energy Supercross in St. Louis at the weekend. James Stewart was second and Chad Reed third. Those guys will be at the Rogers Centre in Toronto in three weeks. Sat., March 23, to be exact.