Norris McDonald's Auto Racing Blog

Canadian David Foster to play U.S. anthem at Indy 500

Canadian musical genius David Foster has been commissioned by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to pen a special arrangement of the U.S. National Anthem for Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 and he will play a piano accompaniment for singers Seal and Kelly Clarkson.

You can bet that it will be a dignified arrangement. It has been horrifying, in recent years, to watch and to listen to any number of "singers" massacre that incredible song, whether at Indy, at any NASCAR race or, more recently, the Super Bowl.

Blame it on Jose Feliciano, who "interpreted" it first, way back in 1968 before a Detroit Tigers World Series game. He was booed and heckled for turning the anthem into a blues. Of course, since then, just about every singer invited to "Honour America" has used it to show off.

Shame, I say, and I don’t expect anything like that on Sunday.

There is a video on YouTube in which Foster talks about the 500 and the anthem. It’s revealing for yet again perpetuating the myth that Billy Foster, a cousin of David’s, was "the first Canadian to qualify and race in the Indy 500, in 1966."

I’m not blaming David Foster. This misinformation is still out there. The program for the first Molson Indy Vancouver in 1990 had a cover article praising Billy (of Victoria, by the way) for being the first. And Billy Foster was inducted, in 1993, into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame as the "first Canadian" in the 500.

He wasn’t. In fact, he was the sixth. And he became the sixth in the 1965 500, not the one in ‘66. (For the record, Oakville’s James Hinchcliffe will become the 19th Canadian, when he takes the green flag Sunday. If you want the full list, email me: nmcdonald@thestar.ca)

But be that as it may, ain’t it delightful that a venerable American institution, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which is celebrating the 100^th anniversary of the Indy 500, has turned to a Canadian to make certain that their national anthem is done right?

And now, if either Alex Taglian, Paul Tracy or ‘Hinch" can win the thing, it will be one perfect day.

VIDEO: David Foster talks about the Indy 500 and the U.S. National Anthem

Tagliani takes aim at Indy pole

Scott Speed, who may or may not be driving Jay Penske’s Indy car when practice and qualifying begin Saturday for next weekend’s 100^th anniversary Indianapolis 500, is arrogance personified.

Although he has enough talent to keep a 220-mile-an-hour Indy car off the wall, he’s done absolutely nothing in a racing career that lasted five years in the world’s two top series, Formula One and NASCAR Sprint Cup.

A guy with more luck than skill and ability, he got his F1 seat by winning a contest – the Red Bull Driver Search conducted by Danny Sullivan. Red Bull was determined to get an American into F1 to boost the American sales of its energy drink, so Speed was their boy.

After several years in F1 with Toro Rosso, in which he had a perfect score – big fat zeros in every possible category – he was dumped and wound up in NASCAR with Red Bull backing. (I know, I’ve been wondering why, too.)

While he was in NASCAR, Speed authorized the release of a communiqué announcing to the world that while all the other open wheel drivers who’d moved to NASCAR (Jacques Villeneuve, Dario Franchitti and Sam Hornish) had been dismal failures, he, Scott Speed, was the most successful of them all.

That he would even dare to lump himself in with Villeneuve, Franchitti and Hornish shows how big this guy’s ego is.

In any event, he was dumped out of NASCAR and now he’s trying to make it in Indy Car. He signed a one-race deal with Dragon Racing (young Penske’s team) and Friday he was the slowest of the 39 drivers who took to the speedway for final practice before Saturday qualifying.

That’s when he fell into a snit and either walked out or threatened to walk out. Derek Daly (retired F1 and IndyCar driver, who was at the Speedway reporting for a local Indianapolis TV station) said it was doubtful Speed would be back in the car.

I hope they don’t kiss and make up. There are good drivers available to get into that Penske car – 1996 Indy 500 winner Buddy Lazier, for one – and they deserve the shot more than a guy who figures he’s entitled to just about everything racing has to offer without paying too many dues to earn them.

Meantime, Canadian Alex Tagliani turned some of the fastest times recorded at the Speedway this week and is favoured for the pole Saturday, along with Helio Castroneves and Scott Dixon. All three were over 228 miles an hour Friday.

James Hinchcliffe was 16^th fastest and Paul Tracy was 23^rd.

Starting positions 1 through 24 will be set during traditional four-lap qualifying runs between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday. The top 9 cars from that session will transfer into the final session from 4:30 to 6 p.m.  Those nine drivers will have their earlier speeds erased and they will then be able to make unlimited runs for the pole until the session ends.

Pole for the Indy 500 will go to the fastest driver from the final session, and the top 9 will also be set from that session. On Sunday, qualifying goes from 12 to 6 p.m.to set positions 25 though 33.

Simona De Silvestro, who was burned on both hands in a practice crash on Thursday, was not allowed to practice Friday. If still unable to drive Saturday, her team might hire a driver to try to qualify her car for her. She would then be able to drive the car in the 500,  although she would have to start at the back of the pack.

Woman driver burned at Indy

Simona de Silvestro suffered burns to both hands at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Thursday when a mechanical problem resulted in her losing control of her car, which crashed upside down and caught fire with her inside it.

De Silvestro, from Switzerland, was practicing for next weekend’s 100th anniversary of the Indy 500. Her burns — second-degree burns on her right hand and superficial burns on her left — could keep her from attempting to qualify this weekend for the big race.

Although her team was preparing her backup car, and she will drive it if she’s cleared by Indianapolis Speedway medical officials, HVM Racing owner Keith Wiggins said it was possible the team would hire a driver to qualify the car in order for her to race it next weekend.

Wiggins said the driver, 22, who was burned during an accident at Texas Motor Speedway last year, was okay but shaken up.

If interested, you can watch the accident here.

Meantime, Penske driver Will Power topped the speed charts Thursday as practice resumed after two days of rain. His run of 39.5340 seconds around the 2.5-mile race track translates into 227.652 miles an hour as teams start to trim out the cars in advance of Saturday’s qualifying trials.

Canadian Alex Tagliani was second fast (39.6097/227/217 mph) and Penske’s Ryan Briscoe was third at 39.6097 — 227.217.

Paul Tracy was 12th fastest and James Hinchcliffe was 30th of 40 drivers who took time.

Said Hinchcliffe:

“We got a lot of work done today.  We had made a change to the Sprott car back on Monday night that we have been waiting three days to try.  It was good that we did it but unfortunately it wasn’t a step forward and it took quite a lot of downtime to go back on it and we missed a big chunk of the afternoon. 

“But we still got a good number of laps in and really started to trim the car a bit more.  We were focusing on running by ourselves and not really trying to compete in the ‘tow Olympics’ out there so I don’t think 30th on the time charts is very representative of where we are, speed-wise.

“We’re going to keep chipping away at it.  Tomorrow we will focus on qualifying runs and we will see where we are at the end of the day.”

Television coverage of the Indy time trials starts on TSN2 Saturday at 11 a.m. and resumes at 4:30 p.m. Bump Day Sunday coverage will start on TSN2 at 4:30 p.m.

Other racing:

—      Kimi Raikkonen makes his debut in NASCAR Friday night in the Camping World Truck Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Speed Channel has the race at 8 p.m.

—      The NASCAR All-Star race goes Saturday night at 7 p.m. By the way, Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne has been scratched again from all racing this weekend. He’s still suffering ill effects from that insect bite a month or so ago.

—      TSN will carry qualifying for the F1 Grand Prix of Spain on Saturday at 7:55 a. m. and the race itself on Sunday at 7:55.

In local news:

—      The Southern Ontario Sprints season starts Saturday night at Brighton Speedway. Four-time series champion Glenn Styres will pay out a bonus to the winner of every SOS feature this season. Styres owns Ohsweken Speedway, where the SOS runs on occasion.

—     Speaking of Ohsweken, their season-opener scheduled for this weekend has been put off a week because spring rain has left the pit area and parking lot a quagmire. They’ll go next weekend, hopefully.

—      Don’t forget the Victoria Day weekend programs at Mosport and Toronto Motorsports Park.

Me? I’ll be blogging from Indianapolis.

Paul Tracy credits wife for Penske ride

Paul Tracy has a part-time ride in this season’s IZOD IndyCar Series, thanks in part to his wife, Patty.

In a recent interview, Tracy told me that he was sitting at home in Las Vegas last November (the family has since moved to Scottsdale, Ariz.) when he received an invitation to attend a party for Roger Penske that was being thrown by long-time Team Penske sponsor, Marlboro cigarettes.

"They were having an end-of-an-era party for Marlboro’s sponsorship and they were inviting key people from the team, and key people from Philip Morris, and all the drivers that drove for them. And I got this invitation and I said to my wife, ‘I don’t want to go to that!’ "

Tracy was employed by Marlboro Team Penske from 1991 until 1994 and again in 2006 and ‘07, scoring 11 wins, including the 1993 Molson Indy Toronto.

He was fired by Penske between the 2007 and ‘08 seasons and was lucky to land a ride with Team Kool Green. There was no love lost between Tracy and his former employer as a result of his dismissal.

So when Tracy was invited to break bread with Penske, he was inclined to take a pass.

"But my wife said, ‘You know, maybe you should go. You never know what could happen in the future. What’s it going to hurt? It’s one night. Go there and see all your old crew guys, people that you had fun with.’ "

Tracy said he didn’t think anybody expected him to show up. "Roger came in and I think he was a little surprised to see me there."

Over the winter, Roger’s son, Jay Penske, contacted Tracy about employment for the 2011 season – a deal that’s since worked out to be five races, including the Honda Indy Toronto and the Edmonton Indy (Tracy is driving for another team at the Indianapolis 500).

"When I first met with Jay, he flew to my house and said he wanted me to drive for him," Tracy said.

"I said, ‘Have you talked to your dad about this?’ And he said, ‘Yes,’ and said that his father had laughed and said, ‘The two guys who’ve caused me the most trouble in my life are teaming up!’ "

Tracy said that although it’s Jay Penske’s team, he’s pretty sure the son consults the father on major decisions.

"I don’t think anything happens – even though it’s Jay’s program – I don’t think anything happens without him running it past his father. I don’t think he has to ask his dad’s permission by any means, but I’m sure his dad advises him on what the right thing to do is.

"So when he told his dad, ‘I’m going to run Paul Tracy,’ I don’t think his dad said, ‘No way!’ Or else I wouldn’t be running for him."

Tracy credits Patty for him getting the deal.

"I wasn't going to go, but my wife said to me, ‘Just go to the party because you never know what could happen in the future,’ and it turns out now that I’m driving in the Penske fold again."

Canadian Tagliani leads Indy practice

Alex Tagliani of Montreal set the pace in Indianapolis Monday as practice continued for the 100^th anniversary running of the Indianapolis 500.

"Tag" turned a best lap around the 2.5-mile speedway of 39.8445 seconds for a speed of 225.878 miles an hour.

Paul Tracy of Toronto finished 12^th of the 40 drivers who practiced with a best time of 40.2180 seconds for a speed of 223.780. James Hinchcliffe of Oakville was 23^rd fastest at 40.3638 (222.972 mph). Danica Patrick was fastest woman with a time of 40.2530 seconds and a speed of 223.586 mph, which was 15^th fastest.

For a full-on story about Tagliani's speedy day, click here.

Indy 500 practice today on streaming video

Hard on the heels of Thursday’s announcement by TSN that they would broadcast much of next weekend’s qualifying and bumping sessions from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway leading up to the 100^th anniversary of the Indy 500 on May 29 comes this announcement from IndyCar.

Beginning today (Saturday) at 11 a.m., all activity from the Speedway not being covered by American broadcasters ABC and Versus will be available at www.indycar.com via streaming video on your computer.

The streaming video will be integrated with real-time Timing & Scoring and audio from the trackside public address system.

It all starts at 11 a.m. today as the Speedway opens for practice. On-track activity will run from noon to 6 p.m. from today through next Friday. Driver interviews from the media centre will be broadcast following the day’s practice sessions.

Even when ABC or Versus is broadcasting next weekend – and remember, TSN is carrying much of the qualifying from Indy on TSN2 (see post below) – live streaming video will continue but will focus on interviews from the media centre of drivers who have made qualification runs.

Alex Tagliani, Paul Tracy and James Hinchcliffe will be seeking to carry Canada's flag into battle and we can follow their progress every moment that the track is open.

It can’t get much better than this, can it?

Tracy, Hinch, Tag in tough at Indy

The 100^th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500 is rapidly approaching - it will go to the post on Sun., May 29, to be precise - and while the great race itself promises to be terribly exciting, just getting into it is going to a major accomplishment that might turn out to be more exciting than the “500” itself.

Why?

Because only the 33 fastest drivers will make the field and, for the first time in years, there will be many more than 33 drivers on hand to try to qualify.

As of this writing, 40 drivers are officially entered for the 41 cars that have been registered and you can bet that by the second day of qualifying, maybe even earlier, the second car entered by Sarah Fisher Racing will have a driver in it.

 (The Speedway lists 79 cars entered but the vast majority of those are spare cars for the entered drivers – in case something happens to the primary car – and won’t see action.)

Now, the part that’s really interesting here is that all of the 40 drivers named to date — with the exception of one, and maybe two — are talented racers with histories. There are very few weak brothers or sisters in this group.

Among the one-offers - drivers without a regular ride in the IZOD IndyCar Series who have been signed to drive in this one particular race - are 2005 Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon, 2004 winner Buddy Rice, 2002 winner Paul Tracy (not officially, but you know what I mean), ex-CART and Formula 3000 star Townsend Bell, ex-F1 test driver and IRL veteran Tomas Scheckter, CART veteran Bruno Junqueira and CART and NASCAR star John Andretti.

Indy Lights veteran Pippa Mann has got a ride and nobody should pooh-pooh her because she won an Indy Lights race on an oval last year and among the people she defeated was Canada’s newest IndyCar star, James Hinchcliffe of Oakville.

Three Canadians – Tracy, Hinchcliffe and Alex Tagliani — are among the 40 drivers listed and all three should be up to the task of driving around the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway fast enough to be among the top 33.

But you never know.

Once upon a time, the cars and stars of Indy car racing spent the entire month of May at the Speedway. They practiced for the first two weeks of the month, then they held the first two days of qualifying, then they practiced some more, then they held a third day and finally on the last day of that second weekend, they conducted what's called "bump" day in which faster cars could "bump" already qualified cars out of the field.

Then, when the field of 33 was finally set, they'd have another week of pretty much waiting around and then they'd run the race on either the U.S. Memorial Day itself, May 30 (as was the case for years and years), or the last Sunday in May on the Memorial Day weekend (since the 1970s).

This year, they're packing qualifying all into one weekend - a week out from the race itself. Qualifying will take place on Sat., May 21, and the fastest 24 cars will be locked in. In fact, at 4:30 in the afternoon, the nine fastest cars will go out again and battle it out for the pole position. Sun., May 22, will see the remaining nine spots filled to get to the magic 33 and then bumping will take place until 6 o'clock, when qualifying will end.

It promises to be a frantic time.

Here is a list of the drivers entered.

 

Car	Driver	Hometown	Car Name	Entrant
2	Oriol Servia	Pals, Spain	Telemundo Newman/Haas Racing	Newman/Haas Racing
2T	Oriol Servia	Pals, Spain	Telemundo Newman/Haas Racing	Newman/Haas Racing
3	Helio Castroneves (W)	Sao Paulo	Shell V-Power/Pennzoil Ultra Team Penske	Team Penske
3T	Helio Castroneves (W)	Sao Paulo	Shell V-Power/Pennzoil Ultra Team Penske	Team Penske
4	JR Hildebrand (R)	Sausalito, Calif.	National Guard Panther Racing	Panther Racing
4T	JR Hildebrand (R)	Sausalito, Calif.	National Guard Panther Racing	Panther Racing
5	Takuma Sato	Tokyo	KV Racing Technology - Lotus	KV Racing Technology - Lotus
5T	Takuma Sato	Tokyo	KV Racing Technology - Lotus	KV Racing Technology - Lotus
6	Ryan Briscoe	Sydney	IZOD Team Penske	Team Penske
6T	Ryan Briscoe	Sydney	IZOD Team Penske	Team Penske
7	Danica Patrick	Roscoe, Ill.	Team GoDaddy	Andretti Autosport
7T	Danica Patrick	Roscoe, Ill.	Team GoDaddy	Andretti Autosport
8	Ho-Pin Tung (R)	Wenzhou, China	Schmidt Dragon Racing	Dragon Racing
9	Scott Dixon (W)	Auckland, New Zealand	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	Target Chip Ganassi Racing
9T	Scott Dixon (W)	Auckland, New Zealand	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	Target Chip Ganassi Racing
10	Dario Franchitti (W)	Edinburgh, Scotland	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	Target Chip Ganassi Racing
10T	Dario Franchitti (W)	Edinburgh, Scotland	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	Target Chip Ganassi Racing
11	Davey Hamilton	Nampa, Idaho	HP/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
11T	Davey Hamilton	Nampa, Idaho	HP/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
12	Will Power	Toowoomba, Australia	Verizon Team Penske	Team Penske
12T	Will Power	Toowoomba, Australia	Verizon Team Penske	Team Penske
14	Vitor Meira	Brasilia, Brazil	ABC Supply Co A.J. Foyt Racing	A.J. Foyt Enterprises
14T	Vitor Meira	Brasilia, Brazil	ABC Supply Co A.J. Foyt Racing	A.J. Foyt Enterprises
17	Raphael Matos	Belo Horizonte, Brazil	Automatic Fire Sprinklers, Inc.	AFS Racing
17T	Raphael Matos	Belo Horizonte, Brazil	Automatic Fire Sprinklers, Inc.	AFS Racing
18	James Jakes (R)	Leeds, England	Acorn Stairlifts	Dale Coyne Racing
18T	James Jakes (R)	Leeds, England	Acorn Stairlifts	Dale Coyne Racing
19	Alex Lloyd	Manchester, England	Boy Scouts of America	Dale Coyne Racing
19T	Alex Lloyd	Manchester, England	Boy Scouts of America	Dale Coyne Racing
20	Scott Speed (R)	Manteca, Calif	Dragon Racing Fuzzy’s Vodka	Dragon Racing
22	Justin Wilson	Sheffield, England	Z-Line Designs/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
22T	Justin Wilson	Sheffield, England	Z-Line Designs/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
23	Paul Tracy	Scarborough, Ontario	WIX Filters/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
23T	Paul Tracy	Scarborough, Ontario	WIX Filters/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
24	Ana Beatriz	Sao Paulo	Team Ipiranga/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
24T	Ana Beatriz	Sao Paulo	Team Ipiranga/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
26	Marco Andretti	Nazareth, Pa.	Team Venom	Andretti Autosport
26T	Marco Andretti	Nazareth, Pa.	Team Venom	Andretti Autosport
27	Mike Conway	Bromley, England	Hire Heroes USA/7-Eleven/Dr Pepper	Andretti Autosport
27T	Mike Conway	Bromley, England	Hire Heroes USA/7-Eleven/Dr Pepper	Andretti Autosport
28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Boca Raton, Fla.	Team DHL/Sun Drop Citrus Soda	Andretti Autosport
28T	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Boca Raton, Fla.	Team DHL/Sun Drop Citrus Soda	Andretti Autosport

 

30	Bertrand Baguette	Verviers, Belgium	The RACB/Aspria RLL Special	Rahal Letterman Lanigan LLC
30T	Bertrand Baguette	Verviers, Belgium	The RACB/Aspria RLL Special	Rahal Letterman Lanigan LLC
34	Sebastian Saavedra	Bogotá, Colombia	Conquest Racing	Conquest Racing
34T	Sebastian Saavedra	Bogotá, Colombia	Conquest Racing	Conquest Racing
36	Pippa Mann (R)	Ipswich, England	Conquest Racing	Conquest Racing
36T	Pippa Mann (R)	Ipswich, England	Conquest Racing	Conquest Racing
38	Graham Rahal	New Albany, Ohio	Service Central	Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing
38T	Graham Rahal	New Albany, Ohio	Service Central	Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing
41	Bruno Junqueira	Belo Horizonte, Brazil	A.J. Foyt Racing	A.J. Foyt Enterprises
41T	Bruno Junqueira	Belo Horizonte, Brazil	A.J. Foyt Racing	A.J. Foyt Enterprises
43	John Andretti	Indianapolis	Team Window World	Richard Petty/ Andretti Autosport
43T	John Andretti	Indianapolis	Team Window World	Richard Petty/ Andretti Autosport
44	Buddy Rice (W)	Phoenix	Panther Racing	Panther Racing
44T	Buddy Rice (W)	Phoenix	Panther Racing	Panther Racing
57	TBA		Sarah Fisher Racing	Sarah Fisher Racing
59	E.J. Viso	Caracas, Venezuela	PDVSA – KV Racing Technology- Lotus	KV Racing Technology – Lotus
59T	E.J. Viso	Caracas, Venezuela	PDVSA – KV Racing Technology- Lotus	KV Racing Technology – Lotus
67	Ed Carpenter	Indianapolis	Dollar General/Sarah Fisher Racing	Sarah Fisher Racing
67T	Ed Carpenter	Indianapolis	Dollar General/Sarah Fisher Racing	Sarah Fisher Racing
77	Alex Tagliani	Lachenaie, Quebec	Bowers & Wilkins/Sam Schmidt Motorsports	Sam Schmidt Motorsports
77T	Alex Tagliani	Lachenaie, Quebec	Bowers & Wilkins/Sam Schmidt Motorsports	Sam Schmidt Motorsports
78	Simona De Silvestro	Thun, Switzerland	Nuclear Clean Air Energy HVM Racing	Nuclear Clean Air Energy HVM Racing
78T	Simona De Silvestro	Thun, Switzerland	Nuclear Clean Air Energy HVM Racing	Nuclear Clean Air Energy HVM Racing
82	Tony Kanaan	Salvador, Brazil	GEICO – KV Racing Technology – Lotus	KV Racing Technology - Lotus
82T	Tony Kanaan	Salvador, Brazil	GEICO – KV Racing Technology – Lotus	KV Racing Technology - Lotus
83	Charlie Kimball (R)	Camarillo, Calif.	Levemir and NovoLog FlexPen	Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing
83T	Charlie Kimball (R)	Camarillo, Calif.	Levemir and NovoLog FlexPen	Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing
88	Jay Howard (R)	Basildon, England	Service Central Schmidt-RLL Racing	Sam Schmidt – RLL Racing
88T	Jay Howard (R)	Basildon, England	Service Central Schmidt-RLL Racing	Sam Schmidt – RLL Racing
98	Dan Wheldon (W)	Emberton, England	William Rast – Curb/Big Machine	Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb/Agajanian
98T	Dan Wheldon (W)	Emberton, England	William Rast – Curb/Big Machine	Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb/Agajanian
99	Townsend Bell	San Luis Obispo, Calif.	Herbalife Schmidt Pelfrey Racing	Sam Schmidt Motorsports
99T	Townsend Bell	San Luis Obispo, Calif.	Herbalife Schmidt Pelfrey Racing	Sam Schmidt Motorsports
06	James Hinchcliffe (R)	Toronto	Sprott Newman/Haas Racing	Newman/Haas Racing
06T	James Hinchcliffe (R)	Toronto	Sprott Newman/Haas Racing	Newman/Haas Racing
07	Tomas Scheckter	Cape Town, South Africa	Team REDLINE Xtreme – Circle K	KV Racing Technology – SH Racing
07T	Tomas Scheckter	Cape Town, South Africa	Team REDLINE Xtreme – Circle K	KV Racing Technology – SH Racing

Forty-one (41) entries, seventy-nine (79) cars entered. All cars use Dallara chassis, Honda engines and Firestone tires.

(R) – Indianapolis 500 Rookie; (W) – Indianapolis 500 Winner Issued: 5/9/2011

Now, before I close off this post, I want to apologize to the early readers of my Monday blog post. It contained incorrect information.

I watched the Southern 500 on TV Saturday night and watched the contretemps in the pits afterward in which Kevin Harvick got out of his car and went to punch Kyle Busch. I could have sworn Harvick's car moved by itself and wrote about how dumb a move that was and suggested that Harvick be suspended.

Early Monday morning, I got an email from a guy who told me I was a dumb cluck and that if I bothered to look at the video replay I would see that Kyle Busch had used his car to push Harvick's car out of the way. I did, then revised the post to straighten out the record and urged NASCAR to sit them both down for their stupidity.

I mean, if they want to have a fist fight, fine. if they want to wreck each other out on the speedway, fine. But don't do stupid things that might hurt other people, like starting a driverless car on a solo journey through the pits. Or leaving your car in neutral when you climb out to take a swipe at somebody.

Perky Jerky to sponsor 'Kimi-Bob'

“Kimi-Bob” Raikkonen, the new NASCAR driver, will be sponsored by snack food Perky Jerky in his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 20.

Perky Jerky — caffeinated beef jerky — is the name of a real, honest-to-goodness, U.S. convenience store snack food. It takes the edge off your hunger and delivers an energy drink-type kick, hence the name.

Raikkonen is quoted as saying: “”Perky Jerky is an excellent product. Not only does it taste great, but it is a fun brand to be a part of.”

Who says “Kimi-Bob” (as Planet F1 is calling him) won’t fit right in at NASCAR?

 James Hinchcliffe of Oakville will make his first start in the IZOD IndyCar Series this weekend at Barber Motorsport Park in Alabama (TSN, 3 p.m. on Sunday). Sponsored by Sprott Inc. of Toronto, “Hinch” was asked this week why he wasn’t at the season-opener in St. Petersburg two weeks ago:

“When you're dealing with any company in any sort of potential sponsorship, certainly the magnitude of sponsorship required to go IndyCar racing, it's a lengthy process. It's not just somebody pulling out their wallet out of their left pocket, taking out a bit of cash. There's a lot of things to go through, a lot of due diligence to be done by all the parties involved.

“Ultimately the big thing is you don't want to rush something and get it wrong or push someone into a certain time frame and ultimately scare them off.

“So, you know, for us, what we're trying to do between Newman/Haas and myself and our partners is build a long-term program, hopefully something that can be successful for a few years. We wanted to make sure that all the groundwork was laid, all the pieces were in place to do that, not jumping out of the car every other weekend not knowing when we were going to be racing again. If that meant we had to sacrifice some time at the beginning of this year to make sure we had a long-term plan in place, that was a risk we were willing to take and a sacrifice we were willing to make.

“I think that was the right choice. It's paid off now. I think the damage was limited. We only missed one event. Hopefully we can just build on this for years to come.”

Look for James to play things very conservatively this weekend in the Honda Grand Prix of Alabama. He’s a rookie and he’s got to get his feet wet. Give him a race or two, though, and start looking for him to finish more toward the front.

Ana Beatriz, who broke her wrist during the St. Pete joust (and it really was that, with lots of wheel-banging and other mischief going on out there), will miss the Alabama race and be replaced by Simon Pagenaud, who’s been racing — successfully — in the American Le Mans Series the last few years after trying Champ Car cars earlier this century.

Pagenaud’s an okay choice, I guess, but I wonder why the team, Dreye and Reinbold Racing, didn’t give Paul Tracy the start, considering he’s racing for them at Indianapolis and his deal with Jay Penske doesn’t include this particular race?

Eric Jensen of Toronto announced this week that Canadian Formula Atlantic champion Lee Bentham will join his Firestone Indy Lights team as Driver Coach.

Bentham, a native of Toronto, previously managed driver development for Jensen MotorSport during the 2007 ChampCar Atlantic season, working with drivers Tom Sutherland and Frankie (Malcolm in the Middle, Agent Cody Banks) Muniz.

 "I am proud to announce that our team has been bolstered with another extremely talented person joining," said Jensen. "Lee Bentham is one of the best driver coaches in open-wheel racing, and I am certain his guidance will further enhance the competitiveness of our drivers (Juan Pablo Garcia and David Ostella, of Maple)."

Bentham's resume also includes his Head of Driver Development role at Forsythe Championship Racing, where he helped develop successful drivers including Canadians Robert Wickens and James Hinchcliffe and American John Edwards.

Bentham also has an impressive resume as a driver, winning the 1998 Toyota Atlantic Championship driving for the Player's/Forsythe Racing Team. He also won races in the 1997 Firestone Indy Lights Championship en route to a fifth-place overall finish in the season standings.

"Jensen MotorSport has quickly established itself as one of the most competitive teams in Indy Lights," Bentham said. "David Ostella's pace in pre-season testing and his strong fourth-place finish in the first race at St. Pete bode well for a very successful season.”

Donald Trump, who hosts a TV show on NBC (as well as owning much of the free world) will drive the Oshawa-built 2011 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible Pace Car to lead the field of 33 drivers to the start of the 100th Anniversary Indianapolis 500 on Sun., May 29, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The “Most Important Race in History," according to the hype, will start at noon (ET) and will be televised on ABC for the 47th consecutive year.

There are some who think Trump’s selection has a dark implication — that the Indianapolis Speedway and the IndyCar sanctioning body want NBC to take over televising the race and that by having Trump drive the pace car, it will piss off ABC.

Please.

Auto racing is the most capitalistic sport in the world. There is no auto racing welfare. The driver who wins gets all the money and all the glory. It is the 100th anniversary of the world’s most famous race. So who better to drive the pace car than the most successful capitalist on the face of the Earth?

Donald J. Trump. That’s who.

Hinchcliffe lands his IndyCar ride

Eric Sprott and Sprott Inc. to support Canadian’s debut with Newman/Haas Racing

James Hinchcliffe of Oakville will make his race debut for the famous Newman-Haas Racing team in the IZOD IndyCar Series this weekend at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama.

Hinchcliffe, the 24-year-old veteran of Formula Atlantic and the Firestone Indy Lights Series — he was runner-up for the Lights championship in 2010 — will make his big-league debut in the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at the road-racing circuit near Birmingham.

Practice starts Friday with the race scheduled for Sunday (TSN, 3 p.m.).

Hinchclifee is being supported in his rookie season — which will include the 100^th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500 on May 29 as well as the Honda Indy races in Toronto and Edmonton in July — by Eric Sprott and leading Canadian asset manager, Sprott Inc.

The Toronto-headquartered Sprott Inc., founded by Oakville-based Eric Sprott, is a leading independent asset manager dedicated to achieving superior returns for its clients.  The company currently operates through four business units: Sprott Asset Management L.P., Sprott Private Wealth L.P., Sprott Consulting L.P. and Sprott U.S. Holdings Inc.

 “I’m extremely excited to be making my IZOD IndyCar Series debut this weekend,” said Hinchcliffe.  “I’m thrilled to have the support of Mr. Sprott and Sprott Inc. behind me, not least as they’re a Canadian company but they also believe in supporting Canada’s top athletes.

“I’d personally like to thank Eric Sprott for his backing and my thanks go to everyone at Newman/Haas Racing as well.  We had a great winter program culminating in a strong test at Barber a few weeks ago.

“It’ll be a great moment for me to take the start in an IndyCar race.  It’s always been a goal of mine to race in the series.  This weekend’s debut is the culmination of a lot of hard work from many people and, in particular, my family since I started karting all those years ago.”

In a release, Eric Sprott said: “We’re obviously a results-driven company, so we share James’ drive and determination to deliver. Personally speaking, I’m very pleased that we are supporting a stand-out Canadian athlete but I also see James as a very sound investment opportunity. He’s been successful at every level of competition and certainly based on his recent test outings, he’s shown he can compete with the best in the IndyCar series. 

“We’re look forward to developing our relationship this year and supporting James as he drives for Newman/Haas Racing.”

As just about anybody with an interest in racing knows, Newman/Haas was formed by the late Hollywood actor and racer Paul Newman and racing entrepreneur Carl Haas and is one of the most successful open wheel racing teams competing today. 

In 2011, the team will participate in their 29th consecutive season of competition and will attempt to add to the eight championships, 107 race wins and 109 pole positions they have earned to date. 

Hinchcliffe tested twice with Newman-Haas and was with the team for the IndyCar series’ pre-season open test at Barber in which he finished top 10 in times. On several occasions during testing, he bested the times of Oriol Servia, the team’s veteran driver who was in a Newman-Haas car at the season opener 10 days ago in St. Petersburg, Fla.

While Servia raced to a ninth-place finish, Hinchcliffe had to watch from the pit wall.

“While I enjoyed being with the team at St. Petersburg, there’s no substitute for being in the car,” he said. “I’m looking forward to being teamed again with Oriol Servia and hopefully we can replicate our form from the final test at Barber (in which Servia finished fifth in times turned and Hinchcliffe was seventh.)

Hinchcliffe finished second in the 2010 Firestone Indy Lights season standings after wins in Long Beach, Edmonton and Chicagoland and poles in St. Petersburg, Long Beach, Watkins Glen and Edmonton.

In total he earned eight podium finishes in 13 races.

Hinchcliffe progressed through the ranks of the Rotax karting series (2002), F2000 (2003), Formula BMW (2004), Star Mazda (2005), and Atlantic series (2006-2008) before joining the Firestone Indy Lights series in 2009. He also competed in a season of A1GP competition (2007).

 “We are pleased to add James to our team,” said Carl Haas, founder of Newman/Haas Racing.

“He impressed us with how quickly he acclimated himself to the demands of driving an Indy car last December and showed he is more than talented enough to compete at this level since then.

“In our previous 28 seasons, only three rookies have driven for the team and those were Nigel (Mansell, who was the reigning Formula One champion), Sebastien (Bourdais, who was the reigning F3000 champion) and Graham (Rahal), and all made their mark.

“Canada has produced many great drivers and we are looking forward to partnering with Sprott Inc., to help James make his own mark.”

The addition of Hinchcliffe brings to three the number of Canadians driving in the IZOD series in 2011 - Alex Tagliani, who's full-time with FAZZT Racing, Paul Tracy, who's signed for six (the Indy 500 plus five others) and Hinchcliffe.

It's my understanding that the Oakville speedster is confirmed for all the North American racers but the team needs additional support to run him in the Japan and Brazil races.

Paul Tracy lands Indy 500 ride but . . .

Well, one down and one to go.

For much of the last few weeks, I’ve been writing about how two gifted Canadian race drivers have been waiting by the telephone, or – more likely – watching their Twitter accounts for news they need in order to make 2011 a successful year in car racing for both of them.

While James Hinchcliffe of Oaville is still waiting for official word that he will be driving an Indy car in the opening race of the 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series season next Sunday in St. Petersburg, Fla., Paul Tracy of Toronto and Las Vegas finally got some the good news Monday.

He will be driving in this year’s 100^th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500 for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing with financial support from sponsor WIX Filters. Further word is expected soon of sponsorship that will also see Tracy compete in the Honda Indy Toronto and the Honda Indy Edmonton.

While a full season would have been preferable – and I’ll get to that in a moment, because there’s a bit of a mystery cooking – the Indy 500 and the two Canadian races on the IZOD IndyCar calendar are of primary importance to the "Thrill from West Hill."

Tracy, in his 21st year of major open-wheel racing, has competed in 273 Indy car events and is in the top 10, all-time, in victories (31), poles won (25) and laps led (4,238). Tracy won the Champ Car World Series championship in 2003.

"Obviously, it feels great to be back with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing," Tracy said. "It's been a chaotic winter, but it's good to have the deal stowed away with a competitive program lined up with WIX Filters and DRR for the Indianapolis 500."

Dreyer & Reinbold co-owner Robbie Buhl said the team is excited to have Tracy aboard.

"He's a great personality and driver and we believe he will be very competitive during the Indy 500."

Hinchcliffe, meantime, is still on the fence. Although his photo is in the driver lineup on the INDYCAR website, there is no car number, which means the seat remains unconfirmed.

Now, back to Tracy.

I am an old friend, and huge fan, of racing reporter Gordon Kirby who has been around the sport forever and ever. He knows everybody and has no distractions so his Indy car stuff is spot on.

He’s reporting in his latest column (you can read it all at gordonkirby.com, if you like) that quotes attributed to INDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard that were published in the USA Today newspaper last week (that story is here) may have done grievous harm to Tracy’s attempts to land a full-time ride for this season with a team headed by Jay Penske, Roger’s son.

USA Today quoted Bernard as suggesting, in response to a question about why Tracy, Dan Wheldon and Tony Kanaan weren’t at the INDYCAR tests at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama, that Tracy and the others aren't able to sell tickets and haven't been able to form an emotional attachment with fans. According to Kirby, Bernard tried to quell any controversy by telling Speed TV’s Robin Miller the day after the quotes appeared that he had misspoken and that Tracy is a big draw (see that story here).

However, this is the important bit. Writes Kirby:

"Bernard's comments in USA Today have damaged the work Tracy and Jay Penske have put in trying to sell sponsorship for Tracy to drive for Penske this year. Jay's team was sidelined after Tony Kanaan and Gil de Ferran were unable to sell sponsorship but Tracy and Penske have been working hard to find the backing for Tracy.

"After Bernard's comments about Tracy appeared in USA Today however, Tracy's prospective sponsors asked him why the boss of INDYCAR was saying he wasn't a draw. What, they wanted to know, was going on?

"On Sunday night," writes Kirby, "Tracy's deal with Penske hung in the balance but PT at least has a deal to race in the Indy 500 with another team. This agreement should be announced today (as happened Monday – see above)."

It makes you wonder why Bernard – who’s rarely put a foot, wheel or word wrong since he took over as INDYCAR CEO last year – was as careless as he was when discussing the fortunes of an Indy car racing icon like Paul Tracy.

Particularly when his statements might have inadvertently sabotaged Tracy’s chances of running a full season in a series that so desperately needs a star like him.

Yet another Canadian drove in Indy 500

When I wrote a column just prior to this year’s Indianapolis 500 about Canadian-born drivers who’d made the field for the soon-to-be 100-years-old event, it focused on Hal Robson who was the fourth Canadian (and first from Toronto) to compete in the world’s most famous race.

At the time, I waffled a bit as to the exact number because – well, you never know. The Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame made a pretty big mistake in 1993 when it inducted Billy Foster as the first Canadian to make the field at Indy because it subsequently turned out that he was the fifth.

Well, the news today is that he might actually be the sixth.

After Foster was inducted (and I have to ‘fess up to the fact that I was the one who promoted his induction as Canada’s first Indy 500 driver), it was discovered that there had been several before him.

So far as is known, Pete Henderson of Fernie, B.C., (he was born in Ontario, went west as a child with his family and got into racing while a student at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa) was the first Canadian-born driver to make the field at Indy and that was in 1916.

Next came Ira Vail, who was born in Montreal. He raced at Indy in 1917 and might even be the first Canadian-born driver to win an Indy-car race, but that’s a debate for another day.

Third (again, so far as we know) was John Duff, who was born in China of Canadian parents from Hamilton. He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1924 (who says Canadians can’t motor, eh?) and ran at Indy in 1926, where he qualified 28^th (and last) but kept it on the island and finished ninth.

But wait! It turns out there was another Canadian-born driver in that 1926 race. Or so it’s believed.

Ronald G. (Bon) MacDougall, who was born on Aug. 4, 1901 in Vancouver (although there are some who maintain he was born in Winnipeg), qualified ninth but only ran 19 laps before being sidelined by a water leak and officially finished 26^th.

Terry Cumming of Newmarket, who’s researching MacDougall’s career, reports that a newspaper once described him as "Canadian Dirt Track Champion." In an email, Cumming wrote:

"He also promoted races and drove and ran a car for awhile at the famous Legion Ascot Speedway in the Los Angeles area. He also promoted, raced or ran a car at other tracks like San Jose, Altoona, Atlanta and Abilene, Texas."

Thanks for the information, Terry.

If it works out that Bon MacDougall is, in fact, Canadian-born, the number of Canadians (according to my figures) to have driven in the Indianapolis 500 will increase to 18:

Pete Henderson, Ira Vail, John Duff, Bon MacDougall, Hal Robson, Billy Foster, Eldon Rasmussen, Cliff Hucul, Jacques Villeneuve Sr., John Jones, Ludwig Heimrath Jr., Scott Goodyear, Claude Bourbonnais, Jacques Villeneuve, Paul Tracy, Patrick Carpentier, Alex Tagliani and Marty Roth.

Anybody missing?