Norris McDonald's Auto Racing Blog

Too many cooks spoiling IndyCar's broth

SYNOPSIS: Randy Bernard was hired to save IndyCar. He’s done some good things but the series is going back to places where it wasn’t wanted because of a lobby group made up of fans, media and drivers/owners. And unlike NASCAR or F1 (where they make major changes almost weekly) howls of protest greet just about every progressive marketing initiative that he's announced. If the series hopes to grow, Bernard has to be left alone to do his job.

Dario Franchitti won the IZOD IndyCar Series race at Milwaukee on Sunday – and good for him – but once again we had a classic illustration of why IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard has to stop listening to the drivers, owners and fans as to how to go about building that business and start running it the way he wants to instead.

Case in point. IndyCar stopped going to Milwaukee after 2009 because people stopped going to the races there. The reasons why don’t matter. They stopped going.

But almost as soon as Bernard was hired, people started clammering for a return to Milwaukee and I kept thinking to myself, "Why?"

Anyway, Bernard announced last year that Milwaukee would be back on the 2011 schedule and everybody was pleased as punch.

The race yesterday was conducted in front of grandstands that were at least half-empty.

If this was club racing, everything would be fine. But it’s not. It’s a commercial enterprise that’s failing and it’s failing because too many people are having a say in something they shouldn’t be having a say about.

The people who went to the race at Milwaukee on Sunday are, presumably, passionate about the sport. That’s why they were there. And the drivers and owners are also passionate. We know that.

But it’s Randy Bernard’s job, in partnership with the promoter(s), to fill the empty half of those grandstands.

By saying, ‘Hey, we’re back," ain’t going to do it.

That’s why double-file restarts were introduced (the drivers bitched about that) and the decision made to determine starting positions by lottery for the second race at Texas last weekend (bitch, bitch) and the upcoming insertion into the lineup at the final race of the season at Las Vegas of five non-regular drivers (we haven’t heard much bitching about that, but you can expect a crescendo as the event approaches).

These decisions were made not for the fans of Indy car racing but in hopes of attracting people who don’t normally watch or care about Indy car racing in hopes that they, too, might become fans.

Now there seems to be the beginning of a movement to get the Indy cars to go back to the Road America course in Elkhart Lake, Wis.

And as was the case with Milwaukee, I say, "Why?"

I suspect there are locations in North America where the IZOD IndyCar Series would be welcomed with open arms – places where the Indy cars have either never raced before or where they haven’t raced for a long time.

The people in charge, Mr. Bernard, et al, would be well advised to start taking a look at some of those places instead of old reliable places like Milwaukee and Elkhart Lake, where the people have indicated they don’t care any more.

And when the fans, owners and drivers start in with their two cents, thank them for their input and then close the door.

Notebook jottings:

– Tony Kanaan spun out at Milwaukee yesterday – all by his lonesome. I can’t remember the last time Kanaan just lost the handle like that.

– Graham Rahal finished second behind Franchitti Sunday, followed by Oriol Servia, Will Power and Danica Patrick. James Hinchcliffe of Oakville drove to a sixth-place finish and that was a fabulous result for the young Canadian rookie.

Said Hinch: “The race was a lot of fun!  Honestly, the Sprott car was so good and the team did such a good job in the pits.  I didn’t test here and in practice I was getting us going in the wrong direction so we really leaned on him (Servia, his teammate) in qualifying and for the race setup and the car was great.  To get a top-six at a track like this on your first crack at it is something we can be pretty happy with."

He might have lost the Indy 500 rookie-of-the-year award to J.R. Hildebrand, but there is no doubt that Hinchcliffe is showing himself to be the best rookie in the series.

– Last week, when I ranted about the complaining going on about the lottery at Texas, I said Franchitti had crashed the Victory Lane celebration to continue objecting. That was wrong and I apologize. Franchitti, as the winner of the first race, was asked to go to Victory Lane to participate in post-race celebrations, so he had every right to be there.

– Speaking of Franchitti, he was pretty vocal in a post-race interview about what he said was Helio Castroneves’s blocking.

- Franchitti and Power are now tied for the lead in the championship standings.

– The TV reporting didn’t seem to be as crisp or as sharp as it usually is. Ana Beatriz started to drift high when she was being lapped and you could see she was in trouble, eventually hitting the wall, but Marty Reid and Scott Goodyear both took several moments to catch on to what was happpening.

Takuma Sato and Scott Dixon (mistakenly identified as Franchitti) collided going into the pits and a tire was bouncing around pit lane and there seemed to be some confusion in the booth as to what was going on. A replay showing Sato running over a crew member elicited a somewhat muted response.

I don’t think those guys were watching the U.S. Open (although I wouldn’t have blamed them if they had been) but something just didn’t seem right.

– Goodyear said that E.J. Viso is "a great driver, in many respects," and I wonder if Jimmy Vasser, his team owner, would agree. Viso went off on the hook for the fourth time in seven races. If he was winning, that would be one thing. But he’s not. In fact, I think he’s a menace.

– Franchitti went into the pits and he hit a tire in the pit before his. Just brushed it, but he hit it all the same. There’s usually a penalty for that sort of thing – running over hoses, etc.

Just thought I’d point that out.

- Simona De Silvestro had a miserable weekend. She crashed, went to the hospital for stitches, and said later that she hurts just about everywhere. Although her hands are headling from the burns suffered at Indianapolis, she has to wear protective gloves at all times.

She finished 25th in the 26-car field, dropping out early because of her car's poor handling.

Auto racing: 3 races, 3 lucky winners

Dan Wheldon, right, wins the Indy 500 after J. R. Hildebrand, left, crashed into the wall on the final lap of the race on Sunday, May 29, 2011. (REUTERS/Brent Smith)

WEEKEND HEADLINES:

1. Vettel lucks into Monaco F1 victory

2. Wheldon lucks into Indy 500 victory

3. Harvick lucks into Coca-Cola 600 victory

SYNOPSIS: It’s Memorial Day weekend in the United States and the U.S. National Guard sponsors cars in NASCAR and IndyCar. In both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600, those National Guard-sponsored cars were within a half mile of winning the iconic races until disaster struck. At Indy, J.R. Hildebrand crashed at the last turn and handed the victory to Dan Wheldon. In Charlotte, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s car ran out of gas within sight of the checkers and a delighted Kevin Harvick crossed the finish line first. What rotten luck. And talking about luck, because his tires were on the verge of disintegrating, Sebastien Vettel was about ready to be eaten alive by both Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button at the Grand Prix of Monaco when a red flag stopped the race with just a few laps to go and everybody got to put on fresh rubber. Go figure. When the race restarted, Vettel had no trouble staying in front. Next race: Canada.

1. Red flag helps Vettel to another F1 victory.

Results: Vettel, Alonso, Button, Webber, Kobayashi, Hamilton, Sutil, Heidfeld, Barrichello, Buemi. Full report here.

So my question this morning is: since when, under a red flag, does everybody get to work on their race cars and – specifically – change tires and repair damage?

Silly me. I always thought a red flag meant a race had been stopped temporarily – suspended, if you will – to resume if and when whatever had caused the red flag was fixed, or removed.

It would continue, at that point, as if nothing had happened.

A red flag is not a checkered flag, or even a caution flag. Like a traffic light, it is meant to interrupt the flow but activity can continue once conditions improve and it is safe.

Or so I thought.

I was at a speedway in New York on Saturday night, in which there was a red flag. Permission was given for refuelling – but crews were reminded there was to be no work done on the cars.

Remember the 2000 Daytona 500,  when – during a red flag period late in the race – Stirling Marlin (who was leading!) scrambled out of his car and snuck around the front and tried to pull out a fender that was rubbing against a tire? That got him sent to the back of the pack and lost him the race.

Now, I know Oswego Speedway and even NASCAR aren't Formula One but when the red flag was displayed in Monaco, both the announcers, David Coulthard and Martin Brundle, were of the impression the race was over.

But, obviously, the crews didn’t think so because they were all running toward where the cars were stopped on the racing surface and they were pulling carts full of new tires and stuff along with them.

It turned out not to be a red flag in the classic sense but a giant pit stop instead.

Which was a godsend for Vettel, who had led the race from the start. But after making his one and only – during the actual race, that is – pit stop on Lap 16, he hadn’t been back in the pits. Alonso (Ferrari) had stopped twice and Button (McLaren-Mercedes) went in three times and both had been hounding him as the race wore on.

Both announcers were convinced that Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) was dead meat as the race drew to a close. The Pirelli tires have a built-in obsolescence that makes them useless after a certain period of time. That Vettel had managed to nurse his along was commendible but they were down to the canvas and couldn’t go on much longer.

But then came the accident, and the red flag (during which the McLaren crew even got to fix Lewis Hamilton’s wrecked rear wing), and the rest is history.

Notebook jottings:

– To make this blog report official: The red flag came out after three cars hit the wall near the Swimming Pool with only nine laps remaining. One of the drivers, Vitaly Petrov, had to be removed from the car, which meant rescue vehicles went onto the track; the safety car led the field around for a lap but it was too dangerous with people wandering about so the decision was made to red flag the race.

- Now, by the way, before people start filling my mailbox and calling me an imbecile, I'm sure the F1 rule book is completely different than any other racing series on the face of the Earth and everything that happened during that red flag period in Monaco on Sunday was completely legal.

Of course it was, or else it wouldn't have happened.

But that doesn't make it right. Alonso and Button took on new tires and Vettel gambled on not changing his, which is right and of itself. But he was about to lose his gamble and only the misfortune suffered by Petrov saved his bacon.

A red flag means stop. Period. It should not mean everybody gets a haircut, a shave and a tuneup.

– Sometimes you have to force the issue to make a point. Monaco is so narrow that it is difficult to make a pass so you just have to bull your way through. Hamilton tried that at the hairpin against Massa – he was up on the curb, in fact – and ran into the Ferrari. Massa crashed shortly after and Hamilton was hauled onto the carpet.

Gimme a break.

I thought it was just hard racing. Maybe the stewards in F1 should just look the other way, on occasion. Just like that hockey game the other night between Boston and Tampa Bay. No penalties. Of course there were penalties, but the refs chose not to call them. F1 stewards, take note.

– Hamilton said the stewards were picking on him because he’s black. Then he said it was a joke.
Perhaps the problem with Hamilton is that he won too soon. He still has a lot of growing-up to do.

2. High drama at the Indianapolis 500

Results: Wheldon, Hildebrand, Rahal, Kanaan, Dixon, Servia, Baguette, Scheckter, Marco Andretti, Patrick. Full report here.

There were so many storylines in this year’s 100th anniversary Indianapolis 500 that it was hard to pick one.

For instance, I was going to start this by saying: “The two fastest rookies in this year’s Indy 500 made the same rookie mistake – they got too high in a corner and they both crashed into the outside wall. You can bet that J.R. Hildebrand and Oakville’s James Hinchcliffe won’t be doing that again.”

This is another thought I had: “Rookie Indy 500 driver James Hinchcliffe of Oakville might be too nice to be a professional racing driver. He was preparing to let Bertrand Baguette pass him in Sunday’s Indy 500 when he got too high going into turn three and wound up hitting the wall.”

Or, how about this one: “An unemployed driver hired for a one-off by an owner who doesn’t have his own equipment and had to make a deal with another team for technical support and a crew wound up winning Sunday’s Indianapolis 500.”

Actually, any of those paragraphs could have been the lead of a story about the Centennial of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

In the first instance, poor Hildebrand (Hinch had made his mistake earlier and crashed out) was winning the 500 and all he had to do was pass Charlie Kimball in the fourth turn and sail home when he enexplicably went too high and slammed the wall.

Wheldon – in a move reminiscent of A.J. Foyt’s in 1967 when he had to pick his way through a four-car crash to make it to the finish – managed to tread carefully past the still-crashing Hildebrand, a slowing Kimball and a lapped car to cross the line of bricks in first place for his second Indy 500 victory.

Wheldon, who doesn’t have a regular ride in the IZOD IndyCar Series, drove the race for Brian Herta, a retired Indy car driver who has been running an Indy Lights team. Herta, with sponsorship from the William Rast high-end jeans company, had to make a deal with Sam Schmidt’s organization in order to run the 500.

So it really was a David vs. Goliath day in Indy as the big Indy teams of Chip Ganassi and Roger Penske were – with the exception of Scott Dixon – exactly nowhere in this race.

It was a great race, with lots of good dicing in the pack and drama. The pre-racing celebration of the 100 years of Indianapolis was an excellent piece of work.

Jim Nabors was great singing “Indiana,” (which is the official name of that song, by the way), and David Foster's playing, with Seal and Kelly Clarkson singing, the Star Spangled Banner was terrific. Florence Henderson massacred God Bless America – again – but she’s been doing that for years and nobody seems to mind.

Three  things:

– Brent Musburger was – again – a disaster. Although he finally learned how to pronounce Dario Franchitti’s name correctly, he pulled one of the great boners yet again.
As the camera panned across the face of arguably the greatest, all-‘round, racing driver the world has ever seen, Mario Andretti, ol’ Brent made mention of the living legend, but then called him “Marco Andretti.”

- Alex Tagliani of Montreal started from pole - the first Canadian to win the pole at Indy - but crashed out on Lap 147 and finished 28th. James Hinchcliffe of Oakville crashed out on Lap 99 and was officially classified 29th. Paul Tracy of Scarborough brushed the wall early in the race but returned to finish 25th, 25 laps behind the winner.

– There were rumblings in the last year to 18 months that the Speedway was for sale. In fact, one “reliable source” said the deal was done and it would become public after the 100th anniversary.
They say that everything has a price. I sure hope this one doesn’t.

3. Earnhardt Jr. has victory in sight, runs out of gas

Results: Harvick, Ragan, Logano, Kurt Busch, Allmendinger, Ambrose, Earnhardt, Smith Reutimann, Hamlin. Full report here.

Going into last night’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, Dale Earnhardt Jr. hadn’t won a NASCAR Sprint Cup race in 104 tries going back to 2008. This morning, you can make that 105.

Little E. was three-quarters of the way through a green-white-checkers finish when his tank ran dry and as a 100,000-plus crowd collectivelly gasped, along with millions watching on the tube, Kevin Harvick seemed to come out of nowhere to win the second U.S. Memorial Weekend classic.

David Ragan followed suit and Joey Logano had his best finish in a long while when he arrived home third. Three more cars driven by Kurt Busch, A.J. Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose got the checkers before Dale Jr. coasted across.

The last 40 laps of the race were pretty routine with Greg Biffle leading, Kasey Kahne second and Earnhardt third.

With five laps to go – and just about everybody running low on fuel – Jimmie Johnson’s engine let go (resulting in his crew chief, Chad Knaus, dropping the F-bomb on live TV, for which anchor announcer Mike Joy immediately apologized) and all bets were off.

Biffle had to give up the lead and pit for fuel. Ditto Kahne and others. Earnhardt stayed out, driving onto the apron and turning off his engine to conserve fuel. Harvick turned his off and was pushed for awhile during the yellow by his teammate, Paul Menard. Other drivers copied Menard and started pushing their teammates.

Finally, the green fell and Earnhardt took off – only to come up dry.

Like Hildebrand, Earnhardt’s car is sponsored by the National Guard and, like Hildebrand, he was sooooo close.

Notebook Jottings:

- Kevin Harvick has won a lot of races but never the Coke 600. He changed that Sunday night.

- Kyle Busch had a miserable night. He lost control twice, once spinning through the grass and once into  the wall, right-side. He wasn't hurt. He also wasn't happy.

- There were a record 14 cautions. The worst accident involved Mark Martin and David Gilliland and it was a ka-boomer that also collected Ryan Newman.

- Whether Danica Patrick stays in the IZOD IndyCar Series or moves to NASCAR full-time will likely be up to her sponsor. With the exception of the Indy 500, NASCAR enjoys better TV ratings than IndyCar and also has more exposure through more races, which would appear to be a major attractions.

While she's been driving for Dale Jr.'s Nationwide team (by the way, he looks much better without his beard, as does Jimmie Johnson), the chances are good that she will sign with Tony Stewart's team and race in the Sprint Cup series.

I hope she insists on a clause in her contract that will allow her to run the Indy 500, should she move to NASCAR.

Now . . . because I-Can’t-Be-Everywhere, or Watch Everything, this following report about the opening race of the 2011 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series national championship was sent to me by NASCAR Canada’s Shon Sbarra:

Scott Steckly rebounded from problems during a pit stop to win the Dickies 200 at Mosport Speedway on Saturday night, as the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series kicked off its 2011 season.

The 2008 series champion from Milverton, Ont., had dominated much of the 200-lap event on the half-mile banked oval and led a race-high 112 laps, but lost the lead during a pit stop when an air gun jammed as a crew member was changing the right rear tire on his No. 22 Canadian Tire Dodge.

Steckly's fast pace earlier in the race, which left only five cars on the lead lap by just past the midway point, served to minimize his setback.

He restarted fifth and quickly began his charge to the front. He caught Pete Shepherd III of Brampton by Lap 153 and moved by for the lead a few laps later. Steckly held on through two restarts in the last 10 laps to take the win, the ninth of his career.

Shepherd edged Don Thomson Jr. of Hamilton for second;with fourth going to Brad Graham of Glencoe, Ont.. Defending series champion DJ Kennington of St. Thomas was fifth. Jason Hathaway of Apin was sixth, J.R. Fitzpatrick of Cambridge was seventh, Jeff Lapcevich if Grimsby was eighth, Ron Beauchamp Jr. of Windsor was ninth and series rookie Steven Mathews of New Liskeard was tenth.

Fitzpatrick had led the initial laps, after winning his seventh career series pole in qualifying. Mathews charged out front and set the pace but Kennington later slipped by as they battled through lapped traffic.

Steckly, who had started second on the grid, chased down Kennington and moved by for the lead on Lap 58. He maintained the lead until everyone made their pit stops during a caution on Lap 124. After the pit stop issue, he charged his way back to the front and retook the top spot on Lap 157.

A & W-sponsored driver Jason White of Sun Peaks, B.C. suffered a loose oil line fitting, which put him several laps behind but he rallied to finish 15th. Meantime, Isabelle Tremblay of St. Hippolyte, Que., suffered from handling problems and a flat tire but managed a 14th-place finish.

The Dickies 200 will be televised on TSN next Saturday at 1 p.m. EDT.

The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series will be back in action next weekend when the circuit makes its inaugural visit to Circuit ICAR at Mirabel Airport north of Montreal. Indianapolis 500 pole sitter Alex Tagliani is entered in the event.

NOTES: David Ostella of Maple finished eighth in Friday’s Freedom 100 Firestone Indy Lights race at the Indianapolis Speedway. The Jensen Motorsports driver is currently eighth in the series’ standings. Eighteen drivers started the race. Ostella was on the lead lap when the checkers fell. . . AIM Autosport of Woodbridge is pleased to announce that fuel and oil supplement manufacturer GAMMA88 will continue as primary sponsor of its BMW-Riley Daytona Prototype for three more races this season – Road America, Watkins Glen and Montreal. . . A new sprint car sanctioning organization, the Ontario Topless Sprints, is planning its first event at Humberstone Speedway in Port Colborne on Fri., Aug. 26th. Wingless sprinters from Ontario, Quebec and the U.S. border states are expected to run the inaugural show. . . Ohsweken Speedway’s 2011 opener was rained out yet again and they’ll try again next Friday night.  Meantime, the Pro Modified Racing Association, the Quick 32 Sportsman Series and the Pro Bike & Sled Series, which had their runs washed out at Toronto Motorsports Park on Victoria Day weekend, will try again June 10-12 during the Extreme Mayhem Nationals.  

Racing hospitality icon McAllister dies

Sad news.

Bob McAllister, the congenial “Host with the Most” during a lifetime of event planning and execution (that’s him in the photo above, talking to Danny Sullivan), died on Valentine’s Day of cancer. He was 69 and left cousins and nieces.

Anybody who ever had anything to do with big-league auto racing in Toronto, Indianapolis, Montreal, Daytona and/or Vancouver probably was treated royally by Bob at one time or another. He was a “contract guy” whose business planned and produced receptions and press conferences for companies and corporations involved with those races.

If you were lucky enough to get a seat in a hospitality suite at the track, Bob was probably the guy who shook your hand when you arrived.

He considered it his mission in life to make sure everybody was happy and having a good time.

He was a fixer, too. One time, the paper I was on decided at the last minute to send me to Montreal to cover the Grand Prix. Anybody who’s ever been to Montreal for the Grand Prix knows you can’t get a hotel room. I did the only thing I could: I called Bob McAllister. And guess what? He got me a room. (Was there ever any doubt?)

Another time, a female body builder of my acquaintance complained that she wasn’t getting any publicity. I called Bob, who called in a favour and got her picture in the Toronto Sun.

He had a million connections. That’s why, at one time, he was executive assistant to an Ontario cabinet minister

Paul Madder, a racing photographer of note (he took the photo at the top of this story), went to visit Bob in Toronto Grace Hospital a few weeks ago. I tagged along and we had a nice chat and a few laughs for about an hour. As sick as Bob was, he talked about the 25th anniversary of the Toronto Indy that’s coming up this summer and how he had a few ideas that could maybe make the event that much better.

He did a lot of work for Goodyear Canada over the years, which meant he met and charmed people he’d arranged rides for aboard the famous blimp.

My friend Sid Priddle, media manager of the Molson Indy races in Toronto and Vancouver and lately of the Honda Indy Edmonton, emailed me this:

“One year, he’d arranged for Betty and I to go up in the Goodyear Blimp in Florida. We were going to be there on vacation. Bob asked us when we were arriving in Fort Lauderdale and we gave him the details.

“As we were heading to pick up our luggage, this man arrived with a sign that had our name on it. You guessed it, it was Bob. He said he’d just purchased a bottle of Port and needed someone to drink it with him.

“Although it was late at night, it didn't matter so we went to his place — which was walking distance from where we were staying — and did some serious damage to the bottle. My stomach wasn't great the next day up in the blimp, but we all had a great time and, as always with Bob, lots of laughs.”

Gary Dolson, who ran the PR department at Goodyear for many years, sent me this last night:

“Bob McAllister had a very accomplished career because he was extremely smart, and he was strategic thinker. He was also very good at making people feel comfortable whenever they visited one of his "Hospitality Suites" during a Blimp Visit, or a Race Weekend.

“During any race weekend, whether it was a Formula One race in Montreal, a Carb Day weekend at the Indy 500 in Indianapolis, a Rolex 24 Hour Race Weekend in Daytona, a Molson Indy race weekend in Toronto or the Molson Indy Vancouver, everyone wanted to be a part of Bob's world. . . For Bob, it was more than watching fast cars race around the track. For him, it was about the people — making them happy, and providing them with everything they’d need for a truly exceptional experience.

“He will be sorely missed.”

A celebration of Bob’s life will be held next Friday night, Feb. 25th, at the Musket Restaurant, 40 Advance Rd. (right off Kipling, about five blocks north of the Queensway). You can bet there will be a million stories.

One in particular — and I don’t want to mess it up by trying to tell it here so I’ll wait and relate it later — had to do with Bob sending a stretch limo to a retirement home to pick up his mother and take her to a birthday party being held in her honour. The limo driver went to the wrong retirement home and picked up the wrong woman. You can imagine the rest.

This is the death notice that was in the Star. I’ll see everybody at the Musket next Friday.

Bob (Robert) McAllister, born on January 1, 1942, passed away peacefully surrounded by love at Toronto Grace Hospital on February 14, 2011.  He was a loving uncle to Patricia and Catherine, a special great-uncle to Darrah, Benjamin, and Rachel, and cherished cousin to Yvonne (Stroud), Ken (Stroud), and Larry (Stroud).  He will be truly missed by his wonderful friends.  A special thanks to all the dedicated staff at Toronto Grace Hospital 6th floor.   Donations in his honour may be made to the SPCA as he was an animal lover.  A celebration of Bob’s life will be at the Musket Restaurant, 40 Advance Road, Toronto, on Friday, February 25th, 2011, at 7:00 p.m.  Condolences may be emailed to Ken at kaagee7@yahoo.ca .

What's up with IndyCar and Honda?

Things come out of the blue and make you wonder, what’s up?

As in, what’s really going on? What is this about?

At 7:04 a.m. today, the IZOD IndyCar Series saw fit to send out this announcement:

“The IZOD IndyCar Series announced today that it will not return to Twin Ring Motegi in 2012.

“The series will hold its final event at the 1.5-mile egg-shaped oval located north of Tokyo on Sept. 18, 2011. 

“ ‘We've enjoyed a great run at Twin Ring Motegi and thank our friends at Mobilityland and Honda Japan for hosting a great event over the past eight years," said Terry Angstadt, president of the commercial division for INDYCAR, the sanctioning body of the IZOD IndyCar Series. 

“ ‘While our businesses move in different directions, we will keep the door open for future events at the track.

“ ‘As INDYCAR and the IZOD IndyCar Series continue to evaluate their long term plans, we must look to build the sport and its viewership.  We believe it is important that the final few events on our schedule give us the opportunity to be broadcast live during times that maximize our viewing audience as we build up to the championship. We will continue to meet with promoters domestically and internationally that want to pursue an IZOD IndyCar Series event.’ ”

Okay, so it and of itself, that statement seems to be that IndyCar won’t be going back to Japan simply because it doesn’t want to have a race televised live in North America at midnight.

But is that worth a one-item press release at 7 a.m. in the morning? Isn’t that a second or third item in the IndyCar news roundup that’s routinely sent out to media most days in the mid-to-late afternoon?

Or is this symbolic of something else happening?

In 2012, the plan is to relaunch the IndyCar Series. A new car and new engines are in the works. Honda, which has been the only supplier of power plants to the IndyCar Series for years, as well as sponsor of many of the races (see the Honda Indys Toronto and Edmonton) plus supplier of other economic benefits, such as advertising, is going to have competition.

Engine builders Chevrolet and Lotus and — who knows? —  maybe others will be racing against Honda on the track and jockeying for business off.

We have been led to believe over the years that Honda welcomed competition and looked forward to it.

Maybe not.

Bourdais back in Indy cars? Boo!

Well, another “old” guy is apparently on his way back to Indy cars.

Sebastien Bourdais tested this week with Dale Coyne Racing (who ran Milka Duno last year) and indications are that the ex-Champ Car World Series and Formula One ace will be in a seat when the season starts. Story link here

Now, the veteran Bourdais – like his old pal Paul Tracy (still working on financing to take to Conquest Racing for 2011) – is a wonderful driver. But if Indy car racing — which is now officially called the IZOD IndyCar Series — wants to grow, it’s got to inject some new blood to attract a younger demographic.

I was talking about this with a friend yesterday. Newman-Haas Racing has tested two drivers this winter, veteran Oriol Servia and rookie James Hinchcliffe of Oakville. According to my friend, who was talking to the team, if they get enough money to run two cars, Servia and “Hinch” will be their drivers.  But if they only have money for one driver, they’ll probably (emphasis on probably) go with Servia because, or so the thinking goes, it will be better to have a veteran in the seat.

From a “crash damage” perspective, perhaps they’re right. Veterans usually don’t crash as often as rookies. But from a series marketing perspective, Oriol Servia is old news. I know who Oriol Servia is and admire his talent. But Indy car racing has already got me (and other people my age). What they have to do is attract a whole new audience. To do that, they need James Hinchcliffe.

Hinchcliffe is a wonderful “talker” (anybody who’s heard his racing TV colour work knows that). And he’s tuned right in with the Facebook and Twitter crowd. (Okay, so’s Paul Tracy but where Tracy chats with dozens of people, Hinchcliffe is connected with thousands.)

The IZOD IndyCar Series is on the cusp of greatness. The new CEO, Randy Bernard, has done wonderful things in less than a year and I (and others) expect even more great things to happen in future.

But he can't do everything and the team owners have to understand that for the sport to take off, the cast of characters in the cockpits has to change.

Guys like Servia and Bourdais are okay, but Hinchcliffe and a whole bunch of other talented 20-to-25-year-olds would be a whole lot better.

 

Oakville's Hinchcliffe sets fast time in Newman/Haas test

IndyCar rookie James Hinchcliffe of Oakville was faster than veteran Oriole Servia on the second day of testing as Newman/Haas Racing wrapped up a trouble-free, two-day test at Sebring International Raceway.

Hinchcliffe, who tested for the legendary team in hopes of landing a seat for the 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series season that starts next March in St. Petersburg, Fla.,  turned a best time of 52.8 seconds around the 1.65-mile road course.

Servia's best  was a 53 seconds flat lap that was run in bitterly cold and windy conditions.

“The cars ran faultlessly and we are very pleased with the pace of Oriol and James,” Brian Lisles, general manager of Newman/Haas Racing, said in a release. “We were able to get through a large part of our program despite the weather. Fifty-degree temperatures don’t sound very bad but our guys deserve accolades for working so long in near-arctic conditions. The wind was unbelievable and it was remarkably cold.”

Hinchcliffe, whose fingers are crossed that negotiations with a major Canadian corporation for a full sponsorship are successful, said he was happy with his performance.

“Today was a very successful day,” he said. “We managed to get me up to speed pretty quickly and got to the point where I was comfortable enough in the car that we could start doing some setup changes and some development work for the team. It was a huge and successful day in that respect.

"I’m very happy that it didn’t take two days to get up to a reasonable pace and that I was actually able to help the team with their test plans. I’m very grateful to Newman/Haas for the opportunity. It’s a great car to drive; a lot of fun. It really lets you push and hustle and I think it’s certainly something I’m looking to get back into in the future.

"It was great working with my engineer Bruno, and Oriol as well. He was a huge help over the two days. I can’t thank both of those guys enough, and the whole team for the chance.”

Servia, as are many others, was highly complimentary of Hinchcliffe's sense of humour.

“It was as much fun, or more than I expected, to work with James," the Spanish driver said. "He’s as funny as he comes across on Twitter and obviously he can peddle too. He was on a little different program but it showed how fast he can be. I’m hoping to work with him and the team in the future."

The 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series season-opening Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will take place March 25-27. Newman-Haas Racing won this event two years ago with Graham Rahal driving.

The series, which includes the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500, returns to the streets of Toronto next July.

Roundup: Scott Speed sues Red Bull

I apologize for being missing in action over the last week. Too much real work, too little time.

Of course, there hasn’t been a lot going on in the way of real auto racing news. There have been a lot of press releases and announcements and that sort of thing, but nothing terribly substantial. In other words, no stop the press stuff.

But let’s catch up on some of it, anyway.

– Shortly after the end of the season, Red Bull’s NASCAR team gave Scott Speed the pink slip for the very reason that he isn’t really very good.

I could never figure Speed out. He had a very ordinary junior career (karts, etc.) and then somehow won a driver search contest put on by Red Bull, which was looking for an American F1 driver to help market their energy drink in the United States.

That put him on a fast track to the big time and he became a Grand Prix driver in 2006 when Red Bull bought Minardi and renamed it Scuderia Toro Rosso.

He started 28 F1 races and his record is made up of zeroes. He had no wins, no podiums and didn’t score a point. After 18 months, Red Bull dropped him from the F1 team and assigned him (I can’t think of any other reason; he probably had a contract) to its NASCAR team. He did some ARCA races (to be fair, he nearly won a championship) and the usual Truck and Nationwide races before going to the Sprint Cup team where his record of Big League mediocrity continued.

The news today is that Speed has filed a US$6.5 million lawsuit against Red Bull, arguing breach of contract. Red Bull says the contract contains performance clauses that Speed didn’t fullfil.

Like never winning anything.

I suggest it's a good bet that part of the inevitable out-of-court settlement will be Red Bull sponsorship of Speed for a season or two in the IZOD IndyCar Series. I hear there's a seat open at Dale Coyne Racing . . .

– There are many reasons to like the Internet (okay, there are many reasons not to . . .) and this is one of them: you can find some tremendous old racing footage on it.

A friend sent me this link yesterday. It’s an on-board camera trip with Scott Goodyear at Le Circuit-Mont Tremblant during a round in 1988 of the Rothmans-Porsche Turbo Cup Series. Ride along as Goodyear goes from 21^st to third. Some of it is heart-in-your-mouth stuff.

Enjoy!

Here’s the link.

– NASCAR Canadian Tire Series champion D.J. Kennington of St. Thomas stole the show at the NASCAR Gala Night of Champions in Charlotte, N.C., at the weekend by accepting his championship ring and then getting down on one knee and proposing to his sweetheart Jamie – who said yes.

The black-tie affair on Saturday was the end of a week of activities for champions from all of NASCAR’s touring series.

Said Kennington: "This was such an incredible week. NASCAR did so much for us. It was wonderful to have my family here and so many of my team members who are just like family to me. For Castrol and the amazing support they’ve shown me for 17 years, they made me what I am and I’m proud to have won this title for them."

Andrew Ranger was honoured for being the Canadian Tire Series’ most popular driver, even  though he only drove a partial schedule in 2010.

– Hey, do you have a spare US$3,500 around? If you do, and want to be taken around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at 180 miles an hour in a two-seat Indy car by either Mario Andretti, Arie Luyendyk or Johnny Rutherford on Monday, May 23, go to this link and you’ll find all the details.

I was lucky enough be taken around Phoenix many years ago by Jacques Lazier and I still get goose bumps. Indy behind Johnny Rutherford? Or Mario or Arie? Gotta do it.

– Molson and Labatt built auto racing in Canada – along with Players cigarettes, of course – but it’s been awhile since we heard from them. An announcement last week changed that.

Keystone Light beer, part of Molson Coors Canada, will become the official beer of NASCAR in Canada in 2010 and the official beer of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series.

Welcome back.

– And speaking of welcoming back somebody . . .

Mortimer Racing is pleased to announce that Major General Lewis MacKenzie (Ret’d)) has signed on for the 2011 season and will contest the Master Division of the Formula Tour F1600.

Lew has been with Mortimer Racing for a decade and is a seasoned veteran of Formula Ford racing in Canada. Lew will continue to be sponsored by Public Mobile cellular.

This is great news. Now, if the Ontario Formula Ford folks and the Quebec Formula Ford folks could find some way to work together again for the benefit of the sport, it would be even greater news because we could again watch Lew and the other Mortimer Racing drivers at Mosport and not have to drive to Quebec for the pleasure.

Edmonton council votes to restart Indy talks

Perhaps none of the area paving companies will kick in the asphalt for free, or else somebody in Edmonton read Frank Lowe's suggestion published here yesterday that to keep the Edmonton Indy going they should run it backwards a week later in Toronto.

In any event, the Edmonton Indy – as I suggested - is not dead. Yet.

The Edmonton Journal is reporting today that Edmonton city council has decided the race is worth keeping and to start negotiating with Octane Management of Montreal to get the event back on the 2011 IndyCar schedule.

Here is the Journal's report:

"Edmonton city council is fighting to keep the Indy alive.

 "In a meeting Tuesday night, council put forward a motion instructing city administration to leave no stone unturned in their efforts to restart the Indy’s engine.

 “ 'It instructed the administration to talk to Octane and negotiate as vigorously as possible to allow the Indy to continue,' said Bryan Anderson, Ward 9 councillor.

 "The fate of the event has looked grim since negotiations between the city and Octane Racing Group turned sour in late October.

"In July, council approved $5.5 million in funding for the Indy over the next three years, as well as $1.5 million in transit and emergency services.

 "However, the two sides couldn’t agree on how to cover an additional $3 million in costs, which arose from the need to move the race to the east side of the City Centre Airport.”

The race is just not important to the city, but to the IZOD IndyCar Series, the sponsor, Honda Canada, and the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, which counts on the Edmonton Indy as being its signature event in Western Canada.

Cross fingers they find a compromise.

Edmonton Indy race story isn't over

It costs an enormous amount of money to put on a car race on a temporary road circuit like Edmonton or Toronto.

Millions of dollars.

Promoters usually know this going in and budget for it.

Because the circuits are temporary, the promoters usually form partnerships with the municipalities involved. There are often financial subsidies or, in some cases, the municipality could agree to sponsor some or all of the race.

Such was the case in Edmonton. Last July, the city of Edmonton and Octane Management of Montreal (promoters of the Canadian Grand Prix), reached agreement for Octane to promote three IndyCar races at Edmonton’s City Centre Airport and the city would put up $5.5 million as a major sponsor.

The Edmonton Indy was started in 2005 and was an instant success, although attendance started tailing off almost immediately because it was primarily a “local” event. Outside of the people connected with the race, few people from outside Alberta went there for the race.

Octane saw this as a terrific opportunity. It planned to cross-promote the IndyCar race at the Grand Prix and planned to sell air-hotel-race packages to F1 fans to go to Edmonton to watch the Indy cars.

Everything was peachy until Octane became aware that changes were being made at the airport that it — apparently — didn’t know about and which would have a serious impact on their ability to promote the race without losing their shirts.

There are two runways at the airport. Previously, the Indy car race used one runway while the other remained open for private planes and for medical emergencies.

In August, several weeks after this year's race when the Octane deal was sealed, the city closed one of the runways permanently and asked Octane to come up with a new track design that didn’t involve using the other one.

As you can imagine, this was a bit of a gobsmack. And to make matters worse, when Octane configured a new track and came up with an estimate to pave it, the figure came in at between $2 and $3 milllion. When Octane asked the city to help pay the additional bill, the city said no.

As a result, word leaked out yesterday that Octane had pulled the plug on the Edmonton IndyCar race. A full statement was promised for today.

A source told me this morning that the runway closing was always in play. “That’s why they moved the grandstands this year from Turn One  to the pit straight,” he said. “It was a bit of a dry run.”

But then my source dropped his own little bombshell.

“I don’t think Octane was aware, at the time they signed the contract, of what was coming,” he said. “Other people did, but not them. I think they made a deal predicated on what they saw and what they were told. I don’t think the runway would have come up or else they might not have made the deal they did.”

I can imagine Octain is browned off. So is IndyCar. Terry Angstadt, president of the IRL’s commercial division, did not sound pleased when he said, more of less, that Edmonton is now off their list.

I suggest, however, that this thing is not over. When other members of Edmonton city council become aware of what’s happened, and the timing, questions could be asked. The Chamber of Commerce could become involved, not to mention the fans.

Edmonton has a team in the NHL, giving the city an international presence. The Indy car race also served that purpose.

Which means this race might be on the canvas, but I don't think there's been a knockout.

Angstadt, incidentally, said IndyCar is really interested in going to Vancouver. Unfortunately, there is no place to map out a circuit for an Indy car race anymore. The Expo ’86 lands have all been developed.

Which leaves Calgary — always a possibility. But would Edmontonians sit back and let that happen?

 

Medals for F1; NASCAR must go to Europe

Weekend headlines:

1. Dover attendance shows NASCAR in big trouble

2. F1 points race getting exciting as season winds down

3. Tracy out of IndyCar final, Audi out of ALMS in 2011, other news

Before we get to NASCAR – and if the France family wants to save the business they will have to take drastic action, and soon – let’s chat for a moment about Formula One.

In a recent issue of Motor Sport magazine, Roger Penske said the trouble with Formula One racing is that it’s all over at the first corner.

They start the race, the field gets through Corner One (or doesn’t get through, depending) and then whoever’s in front at that point usually goes on to win, said the Captain.

Now, although there was plenty of action back in the pack for most of yesterday’s Grand Prix of Singapore, Penske pretty much had it right.

Fernando Alonso led from lights out, with Sebastien Vettel second, and that’s how the race ended 61 laps – or two hours – later (full story here).

Mark Webber, who qualified fifth, made it onto the podium with a fine drive to finish third. Jenson Button motored away the whole race (although you wouldn’t have known he was even in this one, he was so quiet) to finish fourth with Nico Rosberg fifth.

Lewis Hamilton was knocked out of a Grand Prix for the second race in a row (and eliminated for the third time in four races) when he tried to pass Webber on the outside and turned in too quickly. The ensuing bump between the Red Bull-Renault and the McLaren-Mercedes did terminal damage to Hamilton’s mount and, as was the case at Monza, he had to walk back to the pits.

The points chase for the world championship is getting really exciting and interesting. Alonso’s second straight victory has put him second in the standings behind Webber, 202 points to 191. Hamilton has fallen to third place with 182 points, one point ahead of Vettel. Button, with 177 points, is fifth.

With four scheduled races to go, it’s still anybody’s championship.

Notebook jottings:

– Bernie Ecclestone said last week that he still wants to institute a "medal system" that would see the world championship awarded to the driver with the most gold medals.

If that system was in effect now, two drivers would be tied at the top – Webber and Alonso with four victories (golds) each; Hamilton would be second with three wins with Vettel and Button also in the mix with two golds each.

As it happens, those are the drivers in the top five now but a points system has Webber more than a "gold" (10 points) ahead of second-place Alonso.

– Bernie says F1 has to become better known in the United States. My wife says to put Alonso on Dancing With The Stars. "That’d do it," she says.

– Back in the 1970s, the dirt-track sprint car drivers in the United States invented helmet-visor "tear-offs" to enable them to see. They’ve been "tear-offs’ ever since – until Sunday, when Martin Brundle went on and on about "rip-offs."

Maybe, because of the heat in Singapore, Martin was just having a bad day. He managed to turn "disoriented" into "disorientated" at one point.

– Why does Formula One cost millions and millions? A close-up of a tire cover on Jenson Button’s car just before the start showed the word "Jenson" printed on it. Good thing; wouldn’t want it confused with just any other old tire cover now, would we?

– Sauber gives Pedro de la Rosa the boot to bring back Nick Heidfeld. Prior to yesterday, Nick had started 169 F1 races and had won exactly none of them. After Singapore, he’s now zero for 169.

De la Rosa was another non-winner taking up space in F1 but this is my question: if the team was going to give him the boot, why not bring up someone winning races in the GP2 or GP3 series? Why keep bringing back all those old retreads?

– Okay, if I’m on the stewards panel, I think I would ask the others to discuss imposing a penalty against Fernando Alonso for blocking at the start.

The way I understand the rules of F1, you are allowed one defensive move but not two. In other words, you can block once but you can’t block twice.

At the start, Alonso – who was on pole – drove straight left at Sebastien Vettel (who was in the second front-row spot) to block him beating him into Turn One. That was move No. 1.

When that happened, Vettel steered right and dropped in behind Alonso to set up for the corner and – who knows? – maybe even attempt a pass.

At that point, Alonso also went right to cut in front of Vettel and drive through the corner ahead of him. The way I saw it, that was move No. 2.

It could be argued that Alonso had to move right in order to take the corner correctly. Okay, but he still moved twice to block Vettel and that’s against the rules.

I think there should have been a penalty.

– When the safety car was dispatched early in the race because of an incident involving Tonio Luizzi, nearly everybody ducked into the pits to make their mandatory stop for tires. It looked like an IndyCar pit stop and let’s hope F1 has more of those.

– Poor Lewis Hamilton. He’s a racer and yet, when he tries to race, something backfires.

Now, the incident early in the Grand Prix at Monza two weeks ago, when he banged wheels with Felipe Massa at the second chicane, shouldn’t have happened because it was too early in the race, cars were still sorting themselves out and rather than sticking his nose in, he should have backed off and lived to race again later. But he didn’t and he was out on the first lap.

Sunday, he had a great run on Webber going into a fairly hard left-hand turn and tried to take him on the outside but they hit. Lewis’s car was damaged; Webber’s wasn’t. Some guys have all the luck – Hamilton has all the bad at the moment and Mark has all the good. Webber said afterward that his car had a vibration the rest of the race but it got him home third and he still leads the championship.

– I’m the first guy to jump all over TSN when they cut F1 broadcasts short. I want to be the first to say, "Way to go!" when they do it right.

Yesterday, they stayed with the race coverage through to the conclusion of the driver interviews – 25 minutes over the limit.

So, let me say on behalf of all the F1 fans in Canada that this was greatly appreciated.

– Michael Schumacher ran into Heidfeld at the very corner where Webber and Hamilton collided. It was not the first coming-together Schumi had Sunday, either. He finished 13^th – a lap down. There were only 16 cars running at the finish.

He says, over and over, that the 2011 car is in development and it’s being built around him. This year is turning out to be an embarrassment; if he is still out of the top ten from the get-go next year, it will be a disaster and his reputation will be in tatters.

– I initially thought (as did others, I’m sure) that Heiki Kovalainen pulled the bonehead move of the year by staying out on the track and not going into the pits when his car caught fire near the end of the race.

But he calmly pulled up beside the Williams pit, exited the car, accepted a fire extinguisher that was handed to him through the fence and put out the fire himself. If he’d driven into the pits with that car on fire, someone might have panicked. Potential chaos was avoided when he stayed out on the circuit.

Which explains why he’s a Formula One racing driver and the rest of us aren’t.

– Commentators are supposed to be neutral. We know they’re not – everybody has favourites – but announcers are not supposed to be cheerleaders.

The BBC’s Jonathan Legard got carried away yesterday when Webber got a little too close to a wall. "Oh, Mark . . . keep . . . it out of the barrier," he exclaimed.

Maybe it’s this sort of thing that has the BBC brass casting about for someone to take his place in 2011.

– Start resting up now. Because of the time different, the next Grand Prix, in Japan in two weeks, will be live at 2 o’clock in the morning.

Cross fingers that TSN shows a replay at 7:55 a.m.

Oh, and don’t worry about having to watch the new Grand Prix of Korea (the one on the calendar after Japan) at 3 a.m. or something, because it’s probably going to be cancelled.

They might be able to play Little League baseball over there but when it comes to car racing, forget it. Champ Car went through this; why didn’t F1 learn something?

NASCAR needs a boost

When I turned on the Sprint Cup race yesterday from Dover (won by Jimmie Johnson, with Jeff Burton second and Joey Logano third full story here), I initially thought it had been rained out and they were showing a replay of the previous day’s Nationwide Series race.

I mean, there was nobody there. That’s an exaggeration, but not by much.

Entire sections of grandstand were empty; the rest were half full. Maybe.

The bloom is officially off the rose. Crowds at Pocono and Indianapolis were embarrassing but Dover was a disaster.

Now, the 2011 schedule is out and it’s an instant replay of 2010. Same old, same old. Okay, they might have tweaked a bit here and there but the Chase will start in September and the season will start in February in Daytona and they’ll still go to Phoenix twice and Charlotte twice and so yawn.

NASCAR has to take drastic action. If it wants to save the business, it has to expand internationally and it has to do it by 2012 or it might be too late after that.

NASCAR came on like gangbusters in the 1990s, particularly in the latter half of the decade after the Indy car people shot themselves in the foot by allowing Tony George to start another series.

But even by 2000, growth had stalled and, in the words of veteran NASCAR promoter H.A. (Humpy) Wheeler, it needed a boost or it was in serious danger of failing. Wheeler said it got that boost when Dale Earnhardt was killed.

Nobody wants to see that sort of thing happen again so NASCAR has to do something else.

For the 2012 season, I say it should schedule two races in Canada and one in Europe, either in England or Germany.

The August NASCAR stop in Montreal should add a Cup race to the Nationwide/Canadian Tire Series weekend. I guarantee they couldn’t build enough grandstands on Isle Notre Dame if that should happen.

They should schedule an oval race at the new Canadian Motor Speedway just outside Fort Erie. True, they haven’t even turned over a shovel of dirt there yet but they will, and a NASCAR Cup race could be just the ticket to get that race track off and running.

And NASCAR should schedule a points race – not an exhibition race; a points race – at either Rockingham Motor Speedway in the U.K. or Eurospeedway outside Berlin in Germany.

When any business venture falters, it has to reinvent itself and then relaunch itself. NASCAR can’t assume that once the economy improves, everything will be fine.

They have to go looking for new markets. The U.S. is saturated with NASCAR racing and there’s a great, wide world out there, just waiting for Jimmie and Jeff and Kyle and Kasey and all the rest of those guys to come race in their backyards.

Those two Canadian races I suggested would be huge hits and guaranteed sellouts, as would a race in Europe. Although Bernie would scream, NASCAR has every right to race in Europe.

It’s got to be worth a chance, don’t you think?

Notebook jottings:

– Johnson is definitely back in the hunt for his fifth consecutive championship. He’s now second in the Chase standings, 35 points behind Denny Hamlin with Kyle Busch 45 back.

– A.J. Allmendinger led 143 laps of that Cup race yesterday before he got a flat. He recovered to finish tenth. He’s an honorary Canadian, you know. He married a Toronto chiropractor and was a protégé of Paul Tracy’s.

Other racing:

– Speaking of Tracy, he was hoping to finish out the season with the Dreyer and Reinbold IndyCar team at Homestead-Miami Speedway next weekend but Brazilian racer Ana Beatriz is getting the start instead. Tracy drove for D&R the last two races and didn’t do anything to turn heads so they made the change.

– Audi’s shock announcement that it won’t campaign the full American Le Mans Series season next year is disappointing. It’s all very well for the ALMS to trumpet the fact that manufacturers like Audi and Peugeot will still be around for Sebring and the Petit Le Mans, but what does that mean for places like Mosport, and Mid-Ohio?

Speaking of the Petit Le Mans, it goes at Road Atlanta next Saturday, starting at 11 a.m. Speed TV will carry much of it live.

– Kyle Busch finally won his 11^th Nationwide Series race of the season on Saturday, taking over from Sam Ard as the single-season race-win record-holder (say that again, fast, five times).

Danica Patrick blew a tire and hit the wall, leaving her to eventually finish 35^th. In the K & N Pro Series East race on Friday, she finished sixth.

– Please see my post below for the story of D.J. Kennington winning the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series championship on Saturday night at Kawartha Speedway. It was really great to see him win.