Norris McDonald's Auto Racing Blog

TSN to carry all F1, NASCAR races

BUT DID INDYCAR LEAVE IT TOO LATE TO GET A CANADIAN TV PARTNER?

Big news today on the TV racing front.

For all the F1 fans out there, TSN will once again provide coverage of all 20 rounds of the 2012 World Championship. Included in the coverage will be – as has been the case previously – all final qualifying sessions.

All races will be on the main TSN channel with the exception of the June 10 Canadian Grand Prix (I suspect it will be televised on the parent CTV main channel) and the Grands Prix of Germany and Hungary in late July.

The Hungarian and German GPs will be carried on TSN2 because the 2012 Summer Olympics, being held in London, will be being televised on the main TSN Channel.

So the good news is that TSN is providing the coverage. Exactly who will be providing the coverage is still a question.

As most of you know, F1 (meaning Bernie Ecclestone) made a deal with the Sky pay-TV satellite channel in the U.K. to televise races in 2012 and also with the BBC, which will televise 10 of the 20. No word, as yet, who TSN has got a deal with, but in the end it doesn’t matter a whole lot to me because seeing the races is the most important thing.

First telecast of the season will be on March 17 at 1:55 a.m. when final qualifying from Australia will be shown. The Australian Grand Prix will be shown live on March 18 at 12:55 a.m.

Moving right along, it was announced Monday that the ABC television network has selected the Honda Indy Toronto as one of the six IZOD IndyCar Series races it will televise live in 2012.

As expected, ABC will show the Indianapolis 500 for the – can you believe this – 48^th consecutive year, going back to the days of same-day-tape-delay.

In addition to Indy and Toronto – and, by the way, Toronto’s own Scott Goodyear will be returning to the booth as analyst and colour commentator – ABC will also cover the season-opener in St. Petersburg as well as the stops in Milwaukee, Detroit and Mid-Ohio.

You will note that three of the six races scheduled for ABC (St. Pete, Toronto and Mid-Ohio) are owned and promoted by a company owned by Kevin Savoree and Kim Green. And a former partner of Savoree and Green, Michael Andretti, is promoting the Milwaukee race. This probably means nothing, but it’s interesting all the same.

All other races in the IZOD series, including the stop in Edmonton two weeks after Toronto in July, will be televised in the U.S. by NBC Sports Network, which used to be called Versus.

Although there has been no announcement, it is hoped that some kind of a deal can be made that would see most – if not all – of the IndyCar series races shown on TSN or TSN2. However, as IndyCar was so late in nailing down its final schedule - it only confirmed the Milwaukee race late last week - it might have created a scheduling problem for prospective TV partners in countries other than the U.S.

Finally, TSN announced Monday that every single NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series race, starting with the Daytona 500 a week from next Sunday (Feb. 26), will be televised this year on either TSN or TSN2.

The first race to hit the airwaves, the Budweiser Shootout, will be televised this coming Saturday night at 8 p.m. on TSN2 (as mentioned in the item above). The two qualifying races that set the field for the 500, called the Gatorade Duel at Daytona, will go to air a week from Thursday (Feb. 23) at 2 in the afternoon.

(A little editorial comment here: once upon a time those qualifying races meant something. That was when qualifying at Daytona was straight up, when some weekend racer from Wisconsin could beat a Cup regular to a starting position – before nonsense like the top 35 cars in the points standings automatically being locked into the starting field and points being bought and so-on. The two races are mildly entertaining, but that’s about it now.)

Oh, the Nationwide Series stop at Montreal on Aug, 18 will be televised at 2 p.m. on TSN.

No snow prompted Quebec racers to build Le Circuit

We are now into February, which is the heart of the winter, and there is no snow in Toronto – or any throughout the GTA, for that matter.

Yes, somewhere in the land there is snow, but not around here.

Although people are scratching their heads and the usual climate change/global warming theories are springing forth, this sort of thing is not that unusual.

In fact, the construction in 1964 of the famous Quebec sports car racing circuit, Le Circuit-Mont Tremblant, came about precisely because, for two consecutive winters, there was so little snow in the Laurentian Mountains north of Montreal that it just about killed the tourist industry.

Here’s what happened (some of which has been related in two books on Canadian racing, Challenge by the late Len Coates and The Chequered Past by New Brunswick university professor David A. Charters).

First, Quebec is a place where la neige is the culture. The words to Mon Pays, the anthem of 1960s Quebec nationalists, talk about la neige (snow), la glace (ice) et du froid (the cold). It's what makes Quebec, well, Quebec.

Mont Tremblant was discovered and initially opened up in the early 1930s by a Norwegian named Herman "Jackrabbit" Smith-Johannsen. Shortly after World War II broke out, Joseph Ryan, a Philadelphia millionaire and father of the ill-fated Canadian racer Peter Ryan, partnered with Smith-Johannsen to build the famous Mont Tremblant resort and to open up the area for other skiing and skiing-related businesses.

It goes without saying that the owners of hotels, lodges, guest houses and restaurants in the nearby village of St. Jovitte made money like bandits. They worked non-stop from mid-October to late April but then closed up shop for the summer and went to Europe on vacation. Life was good.

(We interrupt this narrative to direct your attention to the image at right of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso at the unveiling in Maranello, Italy, last Friday of the 2012 Ferrari. As you can see, all the snow that isn't in Toronto is in Italy. We now return you to our regularly scheduled column.)

 

But then came the winter of 1961-62 and there was no snow in the Laurentian Mountains. It was cold, and there was a dusting on occasion, but nothing substantial to attract skiers (it would be another decade before snowmaking came into vogue).

It was during the spring of ‘62 that a local innkeeper, Leo Samson, who – like all the other business people in the area – had lost a lot of money because there had been no winter, started to talk about building something that would attract people to the area in the summertime. If winter was really over, Samson figured, then money had to be made in the summer or else they should all pack up and pack it in.

He got the idea of a race course after going to the circuit at Watkins Glen, N.Y., with Peter Ryan in 1961 for the U.S. Grand Prix. He'd come away impressed.

When the winter of ‘62-63 was not much better than the year previous, Samson appealed to the other locals about the importance of building a racing-car circuit. Although there was enthusiasm, few were sufficiently convinced that they actually offered up money, so Samson went it alone.

He bought land and then approached Quebec racer Jacques Duval who, in turn, took the idea to the Montreal MG Car Club (Ross de St. Croix, president), which had already been talking about building a track in Quebec to rival Ontario’s Mosport, and the rest is history.

With the participation, guidance and drive of individuals like Duval, de St. Croix, John Ross and Norm Namerow, among many others, Le Circuit-Mont Tremblant opened for business in August, 1964.

Le Circuit has since had a rocky existence. Home to Can-Am, Indy and Formula One races from the mid-1960s until 1970, it fell on hard times and has opened and closed sporadically pretty much ever since.

Incidentally, I consider Mont Tremblant - now owned by moneyed Montreal interests and in business once again - to be the most glorious natural setting for a car-racing circuit in the world, particularly in the autumn. 

With the sky a deep blue, and the riotous fall colours everywhere on the surrounding mountains, it is breathtaking being there.

That was then and this is now, though, and - unlike those two years in the early Sixties - they actually did have snow in Quebec last weekend.

Antoine L'Estage of St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que., and co-driver Nathalie Richard of Halifax opened the 2012 Canadian Rally Championship season by winning the Rallye Perce-Neige in Maniwaki, Que., in a Mitsubishi Lancer Évo.10.

(Those two always win, by the way.)

Second place overall went to Leo (Crazy Leo) Urlichich of Toronto and co-driver Carl Williamson of Swansea, England, in a Subaru Impreza WRX, followed by Sylvain and Simon Vincent of Terrebonne, Que., who finished third overall, also in a Subaru Impreza.

The Canadian Rally Championship is made up of six events held nationwide in a season that extends from February to November. The series is presented by Subaru Canada, supported by Yokohama Tire Canada and features contingency programs from Subaru Canada and Mitsubishi Canada.

Next up is the Rocky Mountain Rally in May.

The Canadian Association of Rallysport (CARS) is the official sanctioning body for rallying in Canada.

Indy's not a racing town anymore, it's all football

As the Super Bowl was played in Indianapolis (Giants Win! Giants Win!), and Indianapolis always billed itself as the World Capital of Motor Racing, here are some thoughts about that city:

- When I wrote above that it was the capital of motor racing (past tense), that’s true. it really isn’t any more. The Formula One race has gone off to what it thinks are greener pastures and although the Indianapolis 500 seems – seems – to be recovering its former glory, interest in the NASCAR Sprint Cup race has fallen off dramatically.

But Indianapolis cleaned up real good, and put on its best bib and tucker, and produced a Super Bowl celebration (never mind the great game) that was smashing by all accounts.

Which means that while they can continue to call the 500 "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing," from now on Indy will be known as Super Bowl City.

The reason they got the Super Bowl in the first place is because it’s officially a football town. It’s an Indy 500 town for the month of May and there’s still interest in basketball (primarily at the high school and college level throughout the state) but as IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe of Oakville, who lives there now, told me last summer:

"Eleven months of the year, this is a Colts town. It’s Colts, Colts and more Colts."

Football City, U.S.A.

- When I first made the trek to Indianapolis in 1967, it felt like a holy pilgrimage. My heart started beating faster the moment – the moment – I first caught a glimpse of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a place I’d seen in photos and in the movies and on TV.

It was two days before the 500 and I was with friends and we drove over and parked the car about a mile away because you couldn’t get near the place. If they thought there were crowds in downtown Indy the last few nights, they should have been outside the Indianapolis Speedway the first day I was there because – although you could move – you were nearly always bumping into somebody.

Sixteenth St. was closed, as was Georgetown Rd. (for anyone not familiar with the place, the Speedway is at that intersection) and all you could see were people.

It was glorious.

- Some things never change.

I do have to say that they gouge the hell out of you in that town. With the exception of Montreal at Grand Prix time, I have never seen a place so nastily expensive as Indianapolis for the 500.

When we first went, we had to take a room for three nights at about double the regular rate. That was situation normal until the late 1990s when, because of the IRL/CART split, people pretty much stopped travelling to Indy for the race.

So, for a few years there, they couldn’t give hotel rooms away. Not only did they scrap the minimum stay, the hotels and motels were undercutting each other to get people to register.

But now that the race is regaining its lustre (and with the arrival of ex-F1 stars like Rubens Barrichello ratcheting up the talent level, it should start attracting the Europeans again), they’ll soon be up to their old tricks and will start gouging again. You watch.

I say this because of what happened for the Super Bowl. As Andrew Brandt wrote for the Huffington Post:

"The one complaint appears to be with the scarcity of hotel rooms, especially downtown. Less exclusive hotels with rooms still available (nearly an hour away from the city) require 4-night minimums and are charging premiums upwards of seven times typical rates."

What? $500 a night for a Super 8 room in Anderson, Ind.? I’d sleep in my car first.

- That, of course, is the rub. Indianapolis is not a big city. It doesn’t have that many good hotels downtown. And it’s not a particularly healthy place economically. The suburbs might be okay - Carmel, and the like - but the city itself is suffering.

Yes, it has a mammoth – and extremely well-to-do – medical research facility (Methodist Hospital) and several large universities (Purdue, Butler) but the manufacturing is mostly gone and large parts of the near-downtown are places where, frankly, you don’t feel all that comfortable.

In fact, when there isn’t football on, the area around Lucas Oil Stadium is not someplace you could describe as tourist-friendly at certain times of the day.

Having said that (and yes, there are places in every big city – including Toronto – where you’re not going to go unless you absolutely have to), Indy still has a big pull for me.

It’s breathtaking to walk into the State Capitol building. Ditto the five-block area around the national headquarters of the American Legion, which is called the Indiana War Memorial Plaza. The Soldiers and Sailors Monument is a wonderful place to visit. (The international pharmaceutical company we all know as Eli Lilly was started by a young soldier, a Civil War veteran and pharmacist named – you guessed it – Eli Lilly, who worked in a small drug store. His story is on display in that monument). And the White River Canal Park is close to downtown and a delightful place to go for a walk.

Of course, I always have to drive around to see where Jim Hurtubise’s speed shop was located on Sixteenth St. (the building is still there) and where the legendary White Front tavern stood (I parked behind it once, after it closed, and walked over to the Speedway), the addresses in the city where Johnny White and Bob Sweikert lived decades ago when they were both alive and racing and, yes, several times to Crown Hill Cemetary to visit the graves of Ronnie Duman (one of my all-time favourite racers) and Chuck Rodee (I met him when he raced a midget at the CNE back in the Sixties).

But no, I have not been to the grave of John Dillinger, which is at Crown Hill, nor to those of Benjamin Harrison (he was once President) or James Whitcomb Riley (although it’s kind of hard to miss his) but I have been to Tony Bettenhausen Jr.’s and Cannonball Baker’s and that’s good enough for me.

- Talking about the name Bettenhausen, on the second day of that first trip way back in 1967, on the day before the 500, we noticed a large crowd gathered in a circle around something near the back of a parking lot at a Holiday Inn that used to be across the street from the Speedway. (Much of the land is vacant there; properties have been bought up over the years by the Speedway and the buildings demolished. There is constant talk about high-end condominiums and/or a high end hotel but that’s all it’s ever been: talk.)

In any event, my buddy Rick Clare and I wandered over to see what was up and it was a young Gary Bettenhausen and a friend finishing loading his racing car onto an open trailer behind his pickup truck. They were getting ready to head out to the nearby Indianapolis Raceway Park for the Night Before the 500 USAC midget races, which continue as a tradition to this very day.

But here’s the reason I remember those few moments so vividly. Back then, racers really were Gods. There must have been 50 to 60 people standing around that race car and those two boys and nobody - nobody - said a thing. We just all stood there and looked at Gary Bettenhausen and his racing car.

In awe.

- Okay, I’ll wind this up with one of my favourite Indy stories.

Years ago – not my first trip to Indy but my second or third – I discovered the famous St. Elmo Steak House in downtown Indianapolis. It is, without doubt, one of the finest steak houses you will find anywhere. You can cut the filet mignon in that place with the side of your fork, it’s usually that tender.

Five or six years ago, on the eve of qualifying weekend, my sweetheart and I and a great racing reporter named Tim Tuttle went there for dinner. Michael Andretti brought his team in for a private party (Dan Wheldon, Tony Kanaan) and a few other IRL personalities joined them, notably Dario Franchitti and his wife, Ashley Judd.

Now, here’s the thing about actors (not original thought on my part, by the way; I am just repeating what others have said): they want to be somebody else, which is why they are actors. And if you’ve ever spent any time with actors (as I have, although not recently), they are always, and mostly, on stage. In short, they are usually playing some kind of a role.

Anyway, at a certain point in the evening (the Andretti party was downstairs in the restaurant), Ashley Judd came up to use the washroom. As she passed our table, she was limping – noticeably. My wife saw this and wondered what she’d done to herself.

Five minutes later, she passed by our table on her way back to the party. My wife tapped my elbow, interrupting a conversation I was having with Tuttle.

"I just noticed something," she said.

"What’s that?" I replied.

"Ashley’s still limping," she said.

"So?" I said.

"She’s limping on the other foot," she said.

Top Ten motor sport stories of 2011

Here are my choices for the Top Ten motor sport stories of 2011.

1. The on-track deaths in October of two-time Indianapolis 500 champion Dan Wheldon and up-and-coming Moto GP rider Marco Simoncelli

Wheldon, a nice guy and a family man, died in the final IZOD IndyCar Series race of the season at Las Vegas while trying to win a special $5 million price from his scratch starting spot.

The "pack racing" promoted by the IndyCar series since it started business in the mid-1990s proved to be every bit as dangerous as feared. A slight collision between two cars near the front of the field became an unholy pileup involving 15 of the 34 cars on track.

Wheldon’s car was launched into catch fencing, where his head hit a pole. He was 33.

Simoncelli, a promising motorcycle racer who was in his second season in Moto GP after winning championships in lesser categories, was killed at the Malaysian Grand Prix after losing control and going down.

Although he was hit by motorcycles ridden by two others racers as he slid along the track, he died because his helmet came off and his unprotected head hit the pavement.

Simoncelli was famous for his "big hair" and was wearing a helmet a size too large. He was 24.

2. The dominance of Sebastien Vettel and Dario Franchitti in F1 and IndyCar

In winning his second consecutive World Championship, in only his third full season, Vettel made just about all the other drivers in Formula One this year look like pretenders.

In 19 races, he was on the podium for 17 of them and he won eleven. He also captured 15 poles, breaking Nigel Mansell’s record of 14 for a season. He seems well on his way to becoming the greatest of all time.

Franchitti won four races and had two poles in 17 races to win his third straight IndyCar title. In fact, he's won the championship every year’s he’s contested it in the last five but he took a year off to try NASCAR after winning his first one.

When that didn’t work out, he returned to IndyCar and hasn’t been beaten since.

3. The success enjoyed by three young Canadian racers – Robert Wickens, Kyle Marcelli and James Hinchcliffe

As the sun sets on the racing careers of Canadian household names Paul Tracy, Jacques Villeneuve, Patrick Carpentier, Alex Tagliani and Ron Fellows, these three young men are stepping up to take their places.

Wickens, in his third year of competing in European feeder series leading to Formula One, finally made it to the top step of the podium in Formula Renault 3.5 after finishing second the two previous years in GP3 and Formula 2.

In winning what’s called the World Series by Renault, Wickens laid a beating on French driver Jean-Erik Vergne, but Vergne was rewarded with a Scuderia Toro Rosso seat because his family or his sponsors could write the big cheque while Wickens, who does not have money, is unfortunately currently unemployed for 2012.

Marcelli’s career got a huge boost this week when speedtv.com’s John Dagys put the Barrie native at No. 2 on his Top Ten American Le Mans Series drivers list behind the team of Joey Hand and Dirk Muller and ahead of the team of Lucas Luhr and Klaus Graf.

That is pretty smart company, indeed.

In nine starts in the Prototype Challenge class, Marcelli had six podiums, two class victories and two poles. He made one start in Europe, in the international Le Mans Series at Imola in Italy, and he won his class in that race too.

Dagys calls him one of the sport’s rising stars, but we already knew that. He’s expected to announce his 2012 program in the coming weeks.

Hinchcliffe paid his dues in the lesser categories (Formula Atlantic, A1-GP, Indy Lights) and finally made it to the big leagues with the legendary Newman-Haas team in IndyCar, missing the first race of the season but storming back to win the Sunoco Rookie-of-the-Year title.

Although he didn’t win any races or poles, he did finish in the Top Ten seven times and in the Top Five three times. He led the race at Mid-Ohio for 26 laps.

Although known primarily as a road racer, he adaped well to the ovals and qualified third at Kentucky and finished fourth at Kentucky and New Hampshire.

His future is up in the air at the moment because Newman-Haas announced it would not participate in the IndyCar Series next year and although several knowledgable observers have suggested he will be employed in 2012, there has yet to be an announcement.

4. The firing of Kurt Busch

For the first time in just about any sport, an elite athlete was given his walking papers for being a jerk.

For years, Kurt Busch (his brother, Kyle, is no better) has been the epitome of everything that’s wrong with big league sport when a participant lets success go to his head.

Instead of being thankful, or grateful, for everything that’s come his way because of his wonderful, God-given ability to drive a racing car, Busch has consistently let his sense of entitlement balloon way out of all proportion.

The straw that broke the camel’s back came at the final race of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway when Busch lost his cool while waiting to be interviewed on TV and insulted the interviewer and his camerman.

Although the official announcement said that he and Penske Racing had come to a mutual parting of the ways, the truth is that Busch was more of a liability than an assett and team owner Roger Penske decided he wouldn't put up with any more nonsense. 

While he has signed a contract to drive for Phoenix Racing in the 2012 Sprint Cup, his future is uncertain as that team has rarely been able to afford to run a full season.

5. The sale of Mosport International Raceway

When race fans journey out to the legendary racing circuit north of Bowmanville for the start of the 2012 season in May, they are in for a big surprise.

The place that opened for business in 1961 and has looked pretty much the same ever since has undergone a face lift since it was purchased last June by racing driver Ron Fellows, businessman Alan Boughton and real-estate developer Carlo Fidani.

Brush has been cleared away from spectator fences, hills levelled to improve spectator sightlines and a huge, double tunnel to allow race transporters (and spectators) to access the infield during competition are just some of the improvements.

The long-range plan – yet unannounced – is to attract a NASCAR Nationwide Series race as well as other, major series to race not only on the road circuit but also on a renovated and enlarged oval speedway that’s also on the property.

6. Tony Stewart wins 5 Chase races, Sprint Cup

Tony Stewart qualified in ninth place for this year’s NASCAR Chase for the Championship.

The only race he'd won all year to that point was the World of Outlaws sprint car race at Ohsweken Speedway on the Six Nations Reserve near Brantford in July. His Sprint Cup season had been very so-so and he was even quoted as saying he didn’t think his Stewart-Haas Racing team deserved to be in the stock car playoffs.

But then he went on a tear to end all tears. He won five of the ten Chase races, including the last one at Homestead-Miami Speedway. When the checkers flew, he was in first place and Carl Edwards was second and they were tied in points but Stewart was champion on the basis of more wins.

It was Stewart’s third title, the first two earned when he was employed by Joe Gibbs Racing. He became the second team owner-driver after Alan Kulwicki to win NASCAR’s biggest prize.

7. Canadian comes this close to winning British Formula Ford Fesival

For the first time in years, a young, talented and fast Canadian Formula Ford driver had his way paid to Britain in October to compete in the annual Formula Ford Festival that attracts upwards of 200 entries  and is held each year at the famous Brands Hatch circuit.

A project initiated by Brian Graham Racing Sports and Entertainment, in partnership with Grote Industries (manufacturers of vehicle lighting and safety systems), the aim was to give a Canadian racer a chance to compete against the best Formula Ford drivers in the world, just as such racing luminaries as Dan Wheldon, Jenson Button, Mark Webber and Danica Patrick had in the past.

After a selection process, Xavier Coupal, 21, of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., was chosen (Graham said he was absolutely the fastest driver out of the box of the ones who were eligible).

Coupal went out and finished second in his first race and then sat on the pole for the final. He was leading the race seven laps in when he was punted off track. So near and yet so far.

At the end of the day, though, he still set fastest lap in the final race and became the first Canadian to start from pole – an incredible accomplishment that deserves to be in this Top Ten.

8. The best Grand Prix of Canada – Ever

I’m sure I’ll get mail on this one, particularly from people who will point to Gilles Villeneuve’s first F1 victory in the 1978 Canadian Grand Prix as being the best home race ever, but I really don’t know how you could beat the one held on Ilse Notre-Dame in June, which had everything.

Jenson Button was the surprise winner in Montreal when race favourite Sebastien Vettel, feeling the pressure from Button, ran wide on the last lap and let Button through. Vettel finished second and his Red Bull-Renault teammate, Australian Mark Webber, was third.

Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher of Germany, showing everyone that he's still "got it," drove to a storming fourth-place finish in his Mercedes, just missing the podium.

The race started in rainy conditions and a downpour eventually caused a two-hour rain delay. The race, which started behind the safety car at 1 p.m., finally finished just after 5 p.m.

Button came from the back of the pack on several occasions and visited the pits six times for tire changes, to have his car checked following a collision with teammate Lewis Hamilton, and for a drive-through penalty.

Button said it was probably his greatest Formula One drive. "It was a fanastic race and I enjoyed it immensely. When I look back, yeah, I'd have to say it was one of my best, if not my best."

How can you beat that?

9. Miss Supertest Gets Her Stamp

On Oct. 8 in Picton, Ont., the long-awaited celebration of one of Canada’s most magnificent sporting achievements took place when Canada Post officially unveiled a commemorative stamp in memory of the unlimited hydroplane racing boat Miss Supertest III and her driver, the late Bob Hayward.

The stamp honours the fastest racing boat in Canadian history, her driver Hayward and her owner, Jim Thompson, who designed and built her.

The ceremony marked the 50^th anniversary of Miss Supertest’s final defence of the Harmsworth Trophy, holding off the American challengers for the third consecutive year.

Several months later, on Sept. 10, 1961, while competing for the U.S. Silver Cup on the Detroit River in the sister boat Miss Supertest II, Hayward was killed. Thompson retired from the sport then and there and Miss Supertest III was never sent out to race again. The stamp is a fitting tribute to a boat and the two men who put Canada on top of the hydroplane racing world.

10. A tie, between . . .

– Danica Patrick leaves IndyCar for NASCAR. Yes, we knew it was coming but it was still a bit of a shock just the same.

She has her detractors, that’s for sure, but Patrick’s presence guaranteed coverage of IndyCar and now that she’s gone, that can’t be taken for granted.

And if there's anybody out there who doesn’t think she’s going to be a star in NASCAR, I will remind them of the reaction at Daytona last July when she took the lead late in the Nationwide Series race. The roar of the crowd as it rose to its feet could be heard – and felt – over the voices of the announcers and the roar of the engines.

NASCAR’s gain is very much IndyCar’s loss.

– Trevor Bayne, a 20-year-old driver with one Sprint Cup race under his belt, wins the Daytona 500 for the underfunded Wood Brothers team.

A devout Christian, Bayne credited his faith for helping him handle the pressures that followed his victory at Daytona and for helping him to beat off a serious illness that saw him admitted to hospital after being bitten by an insect.

- I love "comeback stories." A great comeback in 2011 was by sprint car driver Joey Saldana.

A front-running sprint car star with the World of Outlaws (they took a swing through Canada earlier this year, touching down at Ohsweken Speedway on the Six Nations Reserve as well as at race tracks in eastern Ontario and Quebec), Saldana has been knocking on the door of the series championship for several years now.

He was running particularly well this year before disaster struck when he flipped during the Kings Royal race at Eldora Speedway in Ohio and broke his right arm and some ribs. He also suffered a punctured lung.

Out of action for several months, Saldana returned to action in September at Hartford Motor Speedway in Michigan to go up against all the regular Outlaw runners— the Kinsers, the Dolanskys, the Schatzes and the rest of those guys — and promptly won his first race back.

- Jimmie Johnson is not NASCAR Sprint Cup champion. After five years of holding the title, it's news that Johnson isn't No. 1 any more. He was still pretty much in it until the last two or three Chase races, but it was just one of those years for Johnson when he didn't get the breaks he got previously.

There were suggestions that his partnership with long-time crew chief Chad Knaus might come to an end but that hasn't happened and I think it unlikely. They will regroup over the winter and go at it again in 2012 and don't be surprised if Johnson-Knaus aren't champions again before very long.

- Antoine L'Estage and Nathalie Richard won their 150th Canadian Rally Championship presented by Subaru. It's not really their 150th but nobody else ever wins, so it just seems like it. They are in a class of their own, so have to be considered.

So, there you go. Five possibilities for story No. 10 in my personal Top Ten. I can’t pick one over the others – or I would have!

Now, I’ll close with a personal anecdote. The rest of the Wheels section on Saturday will be made up of Bests and Worsts of 2011 – best car, best experience, etc.

So here are my personal Best and Worst experiences of the past year.

Best.

I was at Toronto Motorsports Park in July to take in a special match race between the NHRA brother act of Tony and Cruz Pedregon. They were in their Nitro Funny Cars – 8,000 horsepower each.

I was standing about 20 yards behind them (fingers tight in my ears, by the way) when they popped their clutches and unleashed all that power as they started their 1,000-foot run and I can still feel the earth move.

I’m not talking about that. What I’m saying is that my legs and knees went all-rubbery and my feet felt as if they were sliding in oil. 

It was scary.

Worst.

Dan Wheldon.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Busch first.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Way to go, Kurt.

This is what he should have said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And it’s everybody else’s fault.

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

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

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

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

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

He had been ill for some time.

What's with all the geezers, retreads in F1?

What’s with Formula One’s signing of geezers and retreads these days when there’s a whole bunch of young tigers around, waiting for a shot at the Big Time?

Michael Schumacher (on the cusp of 43) is an exception, He’s won seven World Championships, so he gets a pass.

But the signing the other day of Pedro de la Rosa to a two-year contract by the HRT team was a shocker. The guy’s 40. If he was Superman, I could maybe understand it. But he’s not. He’s a very ordinary driver from Spain who’s had a very ordinary F1 career (one podium in 86 starts) and should be retired.

Kimi Raikkonen’s return to F1 as a Lotus-Renault driver in 2012, announced Tuesday, is also a puzzle. Does anybody seriously think he is going to be anywhere near the pace after a two-year layoff?

Remember Jacques Villeneuve? After getting his butt kicked by Jenson Button at BAR, JV was without a ride for 2004. For reasons never completely clear, Flavio Briatore signed him to drive the final three races of the '04 season for Renault and it was embarrassing to watch because not only did he fail to score points, he failed to finish any of the races on the lead lap.

He said it was the layoff that killed him and that was for less than a full season. Kimi’s been out for two years, so he doesn’t stand a chance.

(By the way, the Kimster spent his time the last two years in the World Rally Championship, where he was largely unnoticed. He took a crack at NASCAR and bombed out there also.)

Mark Webber will turn 36 next season and has already said it will be his last year. Good for him, because despite a victory in the last race at Brazil, he was clearly not the driver this year that he had been in 2010 and things will only get worse.

Jarno Trulli, 37 going on 73 (it seems), will again drive for Lotus in 2012 (when it will be called Caterham) and it boggles the mind that he still has a seat. He has done exactly nothing the last two years – no podiums, no poles, no nothing. He finished 21^st in the world championship of drivers in 2010 and again in 2011.

Who decides to hire these guys?

Poor Rubens Barrichello is 39 and counting and telling everybody that he will drive for food - er, I mean he'll sign to drive for anybody in 2012 for a very small retainer – whatever that means in F1 parlance. Williams hasn’t called him to say he’s still on the team and they were nogotiating with Raikkonen before he signed with Renault.

Presumably, Kimi was too rich for Sir Frank’s blood, hence Rubens’ public declaration that he comes cheap.

It’s a mystery that the old guys and the comeback artists are being courted, particularly when there are drivers out there of the calibre of Nico Hulkenberg, Robert Wickens, Esteban Gutierrez and others, who could properly be called "racers," rather than all the octegenarian "drivers" we’re stuck with now.

Meantime, here’s something to chew on. 

Renault is not anxious to have the injured Robert Kubica return to the team, particularly now that Kimi Raikkonen is the big name associated with it. Although Kubica has said that he won’t be ready for the first race of 2012, the suggestion is that he’s not far off and Autosport has speculated he could do some rehab work at Ferrari.

Now, Ferrari has poured cold water on the speculation but I have a friend who really knows his stuff, who says flatly that the Scuderia’s denial means something is definitely in the works. Writes my friend:

"If Kubica somehow rounded back to form, then the gamble would pay off in a huge way. . . It would put pressure on Felipe Massa if Kubica were to somehow get it back together. Ferrari would not hesitate to dump Massa."

I think he's on to something.

Other racing news: 

– There are problems with the new Dallara Indy car for 2012, the car that Dan Wheldon spent most of 2011 testing. In a nutshell, it’s been significantly slower than expected in tests at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and only marginally quicker in road course trim. Dallara and IndyCar have a mere four months to get everything right, with the opening race of the 2012 IZOD season scheduled for March 28.

– Old-time supermodified star Harvey (Leadfoot) Lennox was inducted into the London Sports Hall of Fame recently. Here’s a link to the induction video:

Harvey Lennox induction

– The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series will operate under a new points system in 2012, it was announced this week.The new structure awards points in one-point increments. As an example, race winners earn 43 points (equal to the maximum number of starters), plus three bonus points for the win. Drivers also can earn an extra point for leading a lap and leading the most laps, bringing the race-winning total to a possible maximum of 48 points.

The points system was simplified, NASCAR says, to make it easier for fans, competitors and the industry to understand. All series under the NASCAR umbrella, from Sprint Cup on down, will be scored the same way.

Bernie Ecclestone explains F1 mess in Texas

There is a link to a very good interview with Bernie Ecclestone that I will include at the bottom of this entry. It is from Autoweek and deals with the mess that is the proposed U.S. Grand Prix at Austin, Tex.

 

Ace F1 reporter Adam Cooper did the interview with Ecclestone and asked all the right questions. Read it and I think you will agree that the U.S. GP at Austin, scheduled for 2012, will likely never be held.

The deadline is tomorrow, Nov. 30, and it will pass without a resolution. What a wasted effort.

You can do your own reading between the lines, but I suggest this is what happened to create this embarrassment.

A promoter made the deal with F1 (Ecclestone) and the state of Texas and became partners with local interests, who would raise money to build a circuit.

The local interests and the promoter then had some sort of disagreement, or falling out. The promoter bailed. The state of Texas, which was on the hook for $25 million, very quickly got cold feet.

The local interests decided to try to go it alone, even though the state and Ecclestone had only dealt with the promoter. So Ecclestone sent them a contract.

Not only did the local interests not sign the contract, which would have left them up the creek without a paddle, but they tried to bluff their way through by sending a contract of theirs for Ecclestone to sign (knowing full well he wouldn’t, thus letting them off the hook because of the realization they were in way over their heads).

The Austin Grand Prix seemed like such a good idea at the time.

If the Grand Prix now scheduled for New Jersey/New York in 2013 falls through (it's also quite possible), the United States may never get another crack at an F1 race - at least so long as Bernie Ecclestone is around.

Here's that link. Read it and weep.

Exclusive: Bernie Ecclestone speaks to Autoweek about Austin Grand Prix

Webber wins season-ending Grand Prix of Brazil

World Champion Sebastian Vettel set a record for poles at the Grand Prix of Brazil this weekend but couldn’t add to his victory total Sunday when gearbox trouble forced him to finish second to his race-winning teammate, Mark Webber, who mounted the top step on the podium for the first time this season.

Jenson Button drove his McLaren-Mercedes to third place in the season-ending Grand Prix behind the powerhouse Red Bull-Renault constructors champions, with Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa arriving home fourth and fifth for Ferrari.

Webber’s win and Alonso’s failure to reach the podium gave Webber third place in the season’s standings behind Vettel and Button, 258 points to Alonso’s 257.

Adrian Sutil was sixth for Force India-Mercedes, Nico Rosberg seventh for Mercedes, Paul Di Resta eighth for Force India, Kamui Kobayashi ninth for Sauber and Vitaly Petrov tenth for Renault.

It was not a particularly exciting race but an interesting one, with lots of hard racing from third on back.

Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren gearbox tanked out on him during Lap 37 when he was trying his darndest to get past Felipe Massa, with the Ferrari driver doing everything he could to keep his arch-rival behind him (the two collided five times during the 2011 season).

Said Hamilton, who suffered through a somewhat miserable season: "

"Today, I gave it my all. I enjoyed the race and it's a little bit unfortunate that weren't able to get extra points. I was challenging Felipe at the end and was hoping I could get him but the gearbox didn't last. It's been a long, long year and I'm looking forward to a little bit of downtime with family and friends.

"There is a lot to improve on but I feel it's all positive even though we didn't have a great result today."

Vettel, who spun out of the last Grand Prix at Abu Dhabi two weeks ago, served noticed on Saturday that he intended to try to dominate at Brazil by winning his 15^th pole position of the season, breaking Nigel Mansell’s record of 14 set in 1992.

And he let everybody know early that he planned to improve on his previous 11 victories this year by leading from the start in Sunday’s race.

He did that by throwing down the gauntlet and opening up a two-second gap in the first lap over his teammate, who’d slotted into second.

But on Lap 25 of the 71-lap event, Vettel was told by Red Bull engineers that his gearbox was wonky and that he would have to nurse it if he hoped to finish the race. On Lap 29, he slowed to let Webber through and then held onto second despite the best efforts of Button to catch him.

Webber was not jumping-up-and-down excited after the contest, saying that he’d felt in good shape all weekend and that he’d enjoyed the drive, particularly the last two laps when he knew he would win.

"Yeah I feel very good, the car has felt good all weekend," he said. "Seb did a great job for pole but today I had the rub of the green. It would have been nice to race Seb all the way though, but he had a little problem.

"It's a win that you'll take. For Seb, that's bad luck or whatever you want to call it, but it's a very important win for me and the team. It's great to finish on a high. I enjoyed the last few laps in particular, as it's always nice to pit later and cover people off."

For his part, Vettel said he thought it "a real shame" that he hadn’t been more competitive.

"It was a real shame as I had a good start and a very good feeling," he said. "Very early on, I got the call to manage a gearbox problem. I had to turn down the engine and short-shift. It was getting worse through the race and I ended up having to use higher gears.

Then he added: "But nevertheless, Mark drove a fantastic race and he deserved to win."

Button and Alonso had their moments earlier. At the start, Alonso pulled one of his banzai moves from fifth place to get past Hamilton at the start and then bombed by Button on the 11^th lap to take third.

However, he had tire problems late in the race and Button was able to recapture third by the checkers.

The only controversy during the race was a drive-through penalty handed to Bruno Senna by the stewards after he and Michael Schumacher had a disagreement over a corner and collided slightly in what simply looked to be one of them racin’ deals.

Schumacher had to pit to replace a punctured tire and, for that, Senna was declared the villain.

Somebody should tell the stewards it’s a race, not a parade.

F1 now will shut down for four months. But rest assured, there will no shortage of news, particularly with Bernie Ecclestone around. In Brazil, He was already stirring the muddy waters around the Austin Grand Prix, suggesting it won't be on the calendar next year, as well as pontificating at length on a number of other subjects.

Never a dull moment, eh?

Lewis Hamilton gives Nicole Scherzinger the cold shoulder

Lewis Hamilton and Nicole Scherzinger seen during happier times. (Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

F1 driver Lewis Hamilton has been photographed with his celebrity ex-girlfriend, Nicole Scherzinger, in a Los Angeles parking lot where they apparently bumped into each other.

Apparently . . .

There has been no explanation about just how they came to meet up, or who tipped off the photographer who just happened to be there to record the reunion.

Nicole is shown giving Lewis a big hug while he appears to be quite stand-offish.

Judge for yourself.

According to the Daily Mail website, the reason he kept his hand in his pocket while she embraced him is because he’s been hurt by their breakup and doesn’t want to get close to her again.

Of course, there could be another reason: his embarrassment over her undraped appearance in the coffee-table book Culo that is being released in the U.S. today (Wednesday) and which features a whole bunch of bare derrieres, Nicole’s included (along with Lady Gaga, Stacy Keibler, Paris Hilton and the rest of the usual suspects when it comes to celebrity women taking off their clothes for the camera).

Hamilton was in L.A. for an appearance on behalf of Rebok, one of his many sponsors. He will drive in the season-ending Grand Prix of Brazil at Sao Paulo on Sunday.

Oh, and why are social notes such as these included in an auto racing blog?

Because Lewis Hamilton is a former world driving champion whose life and career have become, shall we say, erratic in the last couple of years. There has to be a reason for this change in him and it appears that she is a big part of it.

Okay, moving right along to other motorsport topics:

– It seems that Kyle Busch isn’t the only member of that family who has little or no control over his emotions. Older brother Kurt Busch dropped out of Sunday’s final NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Homestead-Miami with transmission trouble and, according to USA Today, had a meltdown while waiting to be interviewed by ESPN announcer Jerry Punch.

Angry that ESPN didn’t cut into the race action immediately so he could be interviewed, Busch let the good doctor have it with both barrels – a "profanity-laced tirade," was the way the newspaper described it. Finally, Punch said to forget it and walked off.

As always happens in these cases, Penske Racing, which employs Kurt Busch, apologized first and then Kurt - just like his little brother had to do a week ago - pitched in with an apology of his own.

Don’t those two guys know that saying sorry isn’t good enough any more?

Maybe it was the first time it happened, but the world is now officially tired of those two. Their five minutes are up. Penske should fire Kurt Busch and if Kyle steps one inch out of line between now and the end of his career, Joe Gibbs should fire him too.

Then I have a great idea: let them go Cup racing on their own dime. They can afford it.

– Meantime, the development of exciting and talented young Canadian racing drivers continues apace. Two-time Canadian Karting League (CKL) Junior Champion Matt Garwood has been selected to compete in a fully sponsored entry for Vallis Motor Sport in the Canadian F1200 Championship in 2012.

Garwood, of Elmvale, Ont., was one of 11 Canadian Karting League drivers who competed in an evaluation day at Mosport a few weeks ago. He learned of his selection to drive when the car - to be sponsored by Chris Bye's Franczak Enterprises Ltd. - was unveiled at the recent Canadian Karting League banquet and his name was on it.

"Being selected by Chris Bye from 10 other finalists . . . is a tremendous honour and definitely an exciting opportunity for me," Garwood said. "Chris is a true racer and Bill Vallis is legend in Formula Vee competition. I think working with Chris and Bill will be a recipe for winning on and off the track. I'm already looking forward to going racing next season."

- While Honda Indy Toronto tickets go on sale today for the 2012 race next July, the Honda Indy Edmonton had an announcement of its own.

The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series will once again be part of the show later next July at the City Centre Airport circuit, Francois Dumontier, president and CEO of Octane Motorsports Events, has announced.

The Canadian Tire race was a fixture at the Edmonton Champ Car/IndyCar weekend from 2007 until 2010. Andrew Ranger of Roxton Pond, Que., earned pole position on three occasions and won the 2009 race, while J.R. Fitzpatrick of Cambridge was the winner in 2007 and 2010, when he also won the pole.

Alex Tagliani of Montreal won the 2008 event - a performance that might well have saved his big-league racing career.

The 2011 IndyCar stop in Edmonton nearly didn’t happen and by the time the race was saved, it was too late to make a deal for the NASCAR race to be included.

– The 2012 Porsche GT3 Challenge Cup series is stepping up. From six races at three tracks in 2011, the series will go to nine races at five circuits next year.

New on the calendar are the Victoria Day Sprints at Mosport, the Canadian Grand Prix weekend in Montreal in June and a mid-summer meet at Le Circuit-Mont Tremblant.

The season will actually kick off in February with a winter test scheduled at Sebring in Florida.

– BMW is returning to the German Touring Car Championship in a big way. In addition to luring perennial contender Bruno Spengler away from Mercedes (the Canadian finished third in the series again in 2011), the Munich manufacturer has also signed multi-time champion Andy Priaulx, Augusto Farfus and then, just the other day, current DTM champion Martin Tomczyk, who quit Audi to make the move.

A powerhouse lineup, for sure.