Norris McDonald's Auto Racing Blog

Racing Update: Carpenter at Indy, Fitzpatrick at Mosport

So you leave Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, and you go out for dinner and then you stop off with the Designated Driver and have a little party with friends and you arrive home to find out that there is a surprise driver on pole at Indianapolis and half of the race fans in Toronto are browned off at Sportsnet.

Let's begin with Indy qualifying.

Ed Carpenter, stepson of Indy Racing League founder Tony George and a racer who came up the old-fashioned way through midgets, sprint cars and the Silver Crown dirt champ cars, won the pole Saturday for next weekend's 97th Indianapolis 500.

Will Power and Ryan Hunter-Reay, who had pretty much set the pace leading up to today's Fast Nine final qualifying sprint, wound up sixth and seventh, respectively.

Canadians James Hinchcliffe of Oakville and Alex Tagliani of Montreal qualified ninth and 11th.

Rookie Carlos Munoz, an Indy Lights racer who brought the money for a crack at Indianapolis, will start second while his teammate, Marco Andretti will go off third. E.J. Viso is fourth (Munoz, Andretti, Viso, Hunter-Reay and Hinchcliffe all race for Andretti Motorsport, meaning all of the team's cars made it into final qualifying) and A.J. Allmendinger was fifth and fastest of the Team Penske cars.

Twenty-four cars qualified. Ten drivers will try Sunday for the remaining nine places.

By the way, the first 10 cars were powered by Chevrolet. Tagliani was the fastest Honda car in 11th.

As mentioned, Sportsnet - apparently - dropped the ball big-time. It took over televising the IZOD IndyCar Series this season from TSN. Although I missed the frustration, I heard from a bunch of my readers who were not happy that there was no coverage of the run for the pole late in the day.

Wrote one:  "I have no idea if the final shootout for pole was even televised. And if so, why Sportsnet failed to show it, as promised. I channel surfed all the Rogers channels between 6 and 7 p.m.  In fact they didn’t say anything at all, and not a peep on any of their ‘tickers.’ Not that it was further postponed due to rain, or who actually won. Nothing."

Wrote another: "Early coverage was on The Score. But nothing in the late afternoon or early evening. NBC also broke away for Preakness coverage and only showed final few of top 9. IndyCar switched to live streaming on top 9 but couldn't get their act together to in time to show Hinch. There is no excuse for no Canadian coverage. Twitter is lit up with angry viewers on both sides of the border about what happened today."

I, personally, have never been in favour of protectionism of any kind. Keeping ESPN and the NBC Sports Network and other U.S. all-sports channels out of Canada in order to protect TSN and Sportsnet results in nonsense like this.

I've said it time and again, they wouldn't dare do this to baseball fans, or hockey fans, or any kind of fans other than race fans.

Race fans battled back, of course, in the good old days of grey market satellite television where a post office box address in Niagara Falls, N.Y., got you direct access to complete coverage of things like Indy 500 time trials on American stations.

I'm afraid as long as racing sells itself to TV networks, we'll just have to continue putting up with the insults. But if they live-stream all of Indy - practice and qualifying from the first moment each day to the last, even for a fee - I, for one, would say sayonara to television.

EARLIER

J.R. Fitzpatrick today stormed to pole position for Sunday's NASCAR Canadian Tire Series' Pinty's presents the Vortex Brake Pads 200, the opening race of the 2013 season and the feature event of the annual Victoria Day Weekend Speedfest.

And with a time of one minute, 23.286 seconds, the Cambridge speedster set a new track record for stock cars at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, formerly Mosport, north of Bowmanville.

Louis-Phillippe Dumoulin of Trois-Rivieres, Que., will start second on Sunday and Scott Steckly of Milverton, a former series champion, will start third.

Nearly 30 cars from across the country will take the green flag in the race scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Sunday. The race will be telecast by CTV.

In other racing, Guy Leclerc won the opening race of the Supercar season, Scott Nicol was first in the opening race of the Canadian Touring Car Series season and Spencer Pigot won the first race of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada series.

In SCCA Pro Racing Trans-Am, Simon Gregg won the pole and set a new track record with a time of 1:15.614.  Defending Series champion Tony Ave was second.

EARLIER

Pole day qualifying is now under way at Indianapolis with Will Power of Team Penske in first place at the moment. His lap of 228.844 miles an hour just nipped defending series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay's 228.282 mph.

Others quick out of the box today - qualifying was held up by rain - were Indy Lights driver Carlos Munoz (third) and oval specialist Ed Carpenter (fifth). Canadians James Hinchcliffe of Oakville and Alex Tagliani of Montreal were both in the top ten.

Once upon a time, the fastest driver on the first day of time trials won the pole with the field filled up and bumping taking place on other qualifying days. Nowadays, there are eliminations and fasts nines and fast sixes and it's all very confusing. Sometime around 7 o'clock tonight, the pole winner will be decided and the world will know - unless the world will have moved on, it being 7 o'clock on Saturday night and all.

Two observations. The Indy 500 might continue to be the Greatest Spectacle in Racing but no longer can they say the 33 best racing drivers in the world are in the race. Why?

The fact that Munoz is third fastest means that just about anybody can drive these cars. Maybe not race them, but certainly drive them. That he is doing this as a rookie, in his first IZOD IndyCar Series race that also happens to be the Indy 500, the world's most famous race, is close to being ridiculous. Mario Andretti, or A.J. Foyt, or Ayrton Senna, this kid is not.

And Katherine Legge has now purchased herself a seat in another one of the cars entered by Sam Schmidt (those cars all go to the highest bidder).  I have said all I will ever say about Katherine Legge, so let's leave it at this: I'm less than impressed.

EARLIER

Pole day qualifying at Indianapolis is on hold as there is rain in the area.

And the track at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park is quiet because everybody is eating lunch.

Except some of us.

When something happens somewhere, you'll read about it here.

Meantime, Donnie Schatz passed Greg Hodnett on the last lap at Pennsylvania's Williams Grove Speedway Friday night to win the World of Outlaws sprint car feature. The Outlaws, of course, will make a Canadian swing in July and race at Ohsweken Speedway near Brantford and Cornwall Speedway as well as at tracks in Quebec and Alberta. . . .Dale Darland won the USAC Sprint Car Series' Larry Rice Classic at Bloomington Speedway Friday night. Many of the USAC stars will be in action at O'Reilly Raceway Park outside Indianapolis tonight (Saturday) for a Champ Car Silver Crown event, weather permitting. It's also USAC Hall of Fame weekend and a bunch of oldies but goodies guys like Bobby Unser and Jack Hewitt will be enshrined. For those who's forgotten, or are too young to remember, the U.S. Auto Club used to be the big dog of sanctioning bodies and ran racing, including the Indy 500, with an iron fist. . . . At Brands Hatch in England, where the German Touring Car Series (DTM) is running this weekend, Robert Wickens of Guelph and Toronto qualified 14th for Sunday's feature event. Defending champion Bruno Spengler of Quebec will go off fifth. . . . At Old Mosport, the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series cars are on track. Lunch is over. Time to go.

EARLIER

It’s Pole Day at Indianapolis, and the Victoria Day Weekend Speedfest is in full swing at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (hey – 28 entries in the Trans-Am! Big Iron is back!).

So let’s get caught up before all hell breaks loose on Saturday.

– Talking about hell breaking loose, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series owner/driver Jennifer Joe Cobb (pictured) has accused her former Nationwide Series team manager Mike Harmon of stealing her nearly $300,000 transporter. Cobb is also involved in litigation with her former business partner, David Novak, over who really owns most of the equipment Cobb uses to race.

It is a tangled web.

– Meantime, Kyle Busch started the NASCAR All-Star Weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway off with a bang Friday night by winning the Camping World Truck Series’ North Carolina Education Lottery 200 (talk about a mouthful!).

Brendan Gaughan finished second and Max Gresham was third.

Three of the Camping World series regulars who visited CTMP recently for a one-truck test conducted by driver Nelson Piquet Jr. were in that race Friday night. Defending champion James Beushcher was sixth, Miguel Paludo – who led for a good stretch – finished seventh and Jeb Burton was 13th.

Burton, incidentally, is the son of retired NASCAR Cup star, and Daytona 500 winner, Ward Burton. Jeb started from pole Friday night – his third in five starts this season – but didn’t have the horses to stay there.

The Camping Wordl Truck series will be featured at Old Mosport on Labour Day weekend, with the Chevrolet Silverado 250 scheduled for Sun., Sept. 1.

– Carl Edwards won the pole at Charlotte for Saturday night’s All-Star Race. NASCAR relaxed all the rules for this session and qualifying consisted of three flying laps and a no-speed-limit-on-pit-lane stop for four tires. Total times for the laps and pit stop were added up to set the field.

Not wanting to appear terribly negative about this (ED NOTE: Ho, ho ho), the reason there is a speed limit in pit lanes in every major form of motorsport in the world is because drivers can sometimes lose control of race cars at speed and unprotected people – i.e. pit crew members changing tires on cars – can be hit and be hurt, as a result.

So although some marketing genius thought it would be a scream to put away the radar guns and let the boys "have at it" along pit road at 155 mph, it is just as easy to have a bad accident at an exhbition race like the All-Star as it is at a "regular" race and it is sincerely hoped that they don’t do anything stupid like this again because Edwards called his run "petrifying."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was second-fastest but the tire stop was botched and he was penalized five seconds, dropping him to 15^th. Kurt Busch, who qualified third, will go off second, as a result.

– Mensa membership candidate Kimi Raikkonen says the key to winning the Grand Prix of Monaco is to qualify well.

– Scott Dixon is scheduled to be the first driver to take time when qualifying for the 97^th Indianapolis 500 gets under way on Saturday.

Actually, car No. 40 is supposed to go out first, but since no driver is currently in the car it’s expected that Dixon will be the first to take a crack at the pole.

Like many things in 2013, qualifying at Indianapolis is terribly complicated and gimmicky and I’m not going to waste my time trying to explain it. I much preferred the old way of doing it, which was the driver with the fastest time on the first day of qualifying won the pole. Straight up, simple and to the point and I’m like that about everything in life.

James Hinchcliffe of Oakville is scheduled to go off 14^th Saturday and Alex Tagliani of Montreal, the other Canadian who’s a previous pole winner at Indy, is down in 37^th position.

Hinchcliffe was fastest of 32 drivers who went out to practice on Tuesday and his teammates, E.J. Viso and Marco Andretti, were first and second fastest on what’s commonly called "Fast Friday."

Said Hinchcliffe: "I think the weird thing about Indy is we have 10 times more practice time than anywhere else, yet you always wish you had a little bit more to make it that little bit better.

"I think it's just a function of a bunch of drivers and a bunch of engineers who are perfectionists and are always striving to make it a little better. But I think we can be pretty pleased with how things have gone.

"Obviously, having team cars up there all but one day bodes well. Qualifying is definitely going to be tough. There's a lot of quick cars. Finding that right level of downforce that takes enough drag off but doesn't leave you sliding all over the place and scrubbing speed is going to be key, and it would have been nice to have a run or two more to really nail that down.

"As a team, I think we're confident and it's going be tough because, like I said, there's a lot of fast cars that are going to be going for that Fast Nine. Hopefully we can get there and get the GoDaddy car in a good position for the start of the race."

(About the importance of starting position versus the quality of the race car):

"It's Sunday that everybody cares about. Dario (Franchitti) proved last year that qualifying is not the be-and all-end – he qualified 17^th (and won). He even got hit in pit lane and fell right to the back, but he had a good race car and got his way back up to the front. So it's definitely important to focus on the race car.

"What's so tricky about (IMS) is it's so sensitive to different weather conditions. So if you're working on your race car throughout the entire week and you actually see a variety of different conditions, that's good. Whatever comes around on Race Day, you'll at least have a little bit of an understanding of what the car and track might do."

– At Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, practice and qualifying will take place Saturday for the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, the Trans Am, Formula 1600, the Porsche GT3 Challenge Cup Canada and the Canadian Touring Car Championship, as well as the Supercars.

There will be a few races but the headline events are scheduled for Sunday.

If you haven’t been out to the new and improved Old Mosport in awhile, why not drop by? You won’t believe the improvements that have been made.

1961 it ain't.

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Honda, McLaren to race in F1 together again

So much racing news, so little time . . .

- Everything old is new again. Honda, which powered McLaren to 44 Grand Prix victories and several world championships between 1988 and 1992, announced today it would partner again with the legendary British marque, starting in 2015.

Of course, the previous run of success was due, in large part, to the driver lineup McLaren boasted in the late 1980s: Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. In fact, in 1988, those two between them won 15 of the 16 GP races that year. Whether Jenson Button (who called the team's performance so far in 2013 "embarrassing," just the other day) and Sergio Perez can ever deliver the same results is debatable and you have to wonder whether a pilot shakeup might be in the cards as well.

Honda has been in and out of the sport over the years, leaving the last time after the 2008 season. For automakers, racing has always been about ROI (return on investment) and whether or not participation makes economic sense, even at the best of times.  Five years ago there was an economic meltdown and Honda, as well as Toyota, decided to fold cards and wait for a  better day.

In a release issued today, Honda said that beginning next year, "new F1 regulations require the introduction of a 1.6 litre direct injection turbocharged V6 engine with energy recovery systems. The opportunity to further develop these powertrain technologies through the challenge of racing is central to Honda’s decision to participate in F1.

"Throughout its history, Honda has passionately pursued improvements in the efficiency of the internal combustion engine and in more recent years, the development of pioneering energy management technologies such as hybrid systems. Participation in Formula 1 under these new regulations will encourage even further technological progress in both these areas."

The announcement means there will be no renewal of the contract McLaren has had with engine supplier Mercedes that goes back to 1995. It has not exactly been a fruitful partnership, with only one constructor's championship to the team's credit (and there are certainly no driver's or constructor's titles looming on the horizon this year).

Said McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh, at a media conference in Tokyo: "Honda has an unrivalled pedigree as a manufacturer of turbocharged engines, making it the perfect engine partner for McLaren as we strive to deliver future success in F1."

As mentioned, Honda has participated in F1 several times over the years, starting in 1964 when it designed and developed both the race car and the engine. That experiment ended in 1968.  Starting in 1983, it supplied engines to Lotus, Williams and Tyrrell before settling in at McLaren in 1988, dropping out of the sport again after 1991.

Jacques Villeneuve's manager Craig Pollock talked Honda into returning to F1 in 2000 to supply engines to BAR and Jordan and then in 2004 the Japanese manufacturer bought the team. From then until 2008, it ran the team, as it had in the beginning back in the 1960s, as an "all Honda" operation.

- Twenty-nine drivers flashed around the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway Wednesday in a time somewhere between 40 and 41 seconds. That’s how close the competition is this year.

Dario Franchitti was fastest at 40:1363 seconds while 29th-fastest was Pippa Mann at 40:9476.  Franchitti’s speed, incidentally, translates into 224.236 miles an hour while Mann went 219.793 mph.

Other notables: Townsend Bell, an Indy-only racer, was second fastest at 40:2295 seconds. Helio Castroneves was third quickest at 40:2327. Alex Tagliani of Montreal was fastest Canadian and eighth on the totem pole with a lap of 40:4768. The other Canuck, James Hinchcliffe of Oakville, who was fastest Tuesday, slipped to 13^th at 40:6009. Simona de Silvestro was fastest woman at 40:9353, just pipping Pippa’s 9476.

Michel Jourdain Jr. was the slowest of the 32 who practiced, turning a lap of 41:2774 (218:037 mph).

- Speaking of the Indy 500, check George’s TV Listings for Race Fans at wheels.ca for times of the Sportsnet coverage of time trials this Saturday and Sunday as well as for the race itself a week Sunday. And if you can’t get to a TV, and have satellite radio, Sirius XM (Channel 211) will be carrying most of the action as well, starting at 11 a.m. Saturday.

- The Grand Prix of Canada is fast approaching. As anybody who goes knows, there is more to watch on track at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve than the F1 cars. This week, organizers announced that the Ferrari Challenge, Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada, the Canadian Touring Car Championship and the Formula Tour 1600 will each run two races on Friday and Saturday, June 7 and 8. The Grand Prix itself, of course, goes to the post on Sunday, June 9.

- Speaking of the Porsche GT3 Cup, the Canadian Touring Cars and Formula 1600, they all will be in action this coming weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park as the annual Victoria Day Weekend Speedfest takes to the track north of Bowmanville.

The headline event will be the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series stockers and D.J. Kennington, J.R. Fitzpatrick, Scott Steckly and the rest of the trans-Canada chargers — oops, better not forget Andrew Ranger — will be out to start their national series season off with a bang.

Touring car drivers looking to get rolling early include Benjamin Distaulo, Bob Attrell, Remy Audette, Nick Wittmer, Roger Ledoux, Damon Sharpe, Frank Blanchet and Michel Sallenbach.

Also on the card at Old Mosport will be the Trans-Am big iron thunder cars and the new Canadian Supercar Series.

- Speaking of touring cars (not really, but I’m looking for a segway), the German Touring Car Series (DTM) will be at Brands Hatch in England this weekend and Canadian Robert Wickens is hoping for a better result than two weeks ago at the opener in Germany when a mechanical problem forced him out after he qualified better than he has in his DTM career — fourth on the grid.

Said Wickens, in a release: “After not finishing at the start of the season, I'm itching to get back in my STIHL Mercedes AMG C-Coupé at Brands Hatch (Norris note: I bet he said that . . .) to prove that a top-notch result would have been possible in Hockenheim. With P4 on the grid, I've shown the kind of speed I can produce. The adrenaline rush of being in the shoot-out for pole position in Q4 for the first time was enormous - I could easily get used to that in the future. While a sketch map of Brands Hatch may look quite simple, it's a real driver's circuit that demands the utmost concentration over 98 laps. One single error and the race is as good as lost."

Good luck, Robert.

- Everybody seems to be excited that Derrick Walker has been signed by IndyCar to be president, operations and competition.

So?

The competition is already pretty good.  So what is this going to do so far as bums in the seats and eyeballs on race telecasts are concerned, which to my mind are IndyCar’s two biggest challenges.

Once again, we have a top dog at that organization listening to two or three Indy car journalists who think moves like this are swell.

Marketing is where this organization needs help. And in public relations.

Not media relations, public relations.

- Finally, the Brantford-area Ohsweken Speedway's 18th annual Opening Night will take the green flag on Friday at 7:30pm, and large fields are expected in all of the regular Friday night divisions.

The opening event of Ohsweken's season will include the Corr/Pak Merchandising Sprint Cars, Affordable Towing & Recovery Thunder Stocks, HRW Automotive Mini Stocks, and Gale’s Auto Aftermarket Bombers, with extra-distance features on tap for each.

- NORRIS McDONALD

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Hinchcliffe fastest driver at Indianapolis

It might not mean a whole lot at this stage of the game, but the fact that Oakville’s James Hinchcliffe set the fastest time during practice Tuesday for next weekend’s Indianapolis 500 time trials means Indy car racing’s hottest driver is settling nicely into a groove for a run at pole position.

Hinchcliffe, the 26-year-old super nova who’s won two of the four IZOD IndyCar Series races to date, put the hammer down at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and turned a speed of 224.210 miles an hour (40:1410 seconds around the 2.5-mile oval race track), albeit while driving teammate Marco Andretti’s car to exchange notes.

Andretti, meantime, drove Hinchcliffe’s GoDaddy-sponsored Green Machine to the third-fastest time of the day, going 223.570 mph. The Andretti Autosport teammates were split by second-fastest driver J.R. Hildebrand, who went 223.652 mph.

In all, 34 driver-car combinations turned time while preparing for Saturday’s time trials that will determine who will start first and so on back to 33 and last when the 97^th 500-mile race goes to the post on Sunday, May 26^th.

Said Hinchcliffe: "Marco (Andretti) is pretty angry with me now. Not only did I rock a big tow, which he is famous for, but I did it in his car, so "Marco Tow-dretti" is pretty upset with me now.

"It's good to be up there, but at the end of the day, those numbers don't mean a lot right now. It's about the work you do on the race car and making sure the No. 27 GoDaddy car is going to be good not only on one lap, but over 200 (laps)."

Asked why he’d traded cars with Andretti and if he learned anything, Hinchcliffe added: "I get to see how good I look in red and blue (the colours of Marco’s car). There are some things we wanted to see and suss out, and that's the way to do it.

"It's (trading cars) not uncommon. Guys have done it in the past – especially this team. I think TK (Tony Kanaan) drove every single car on the team at some point during the month (when he was an Andretti driver). It's standard procedure to feel a couple of things out."

Practice will continue through Friday and then qualifying time trials will be held Saturday, with bump day (in which faster cars "bump" slower cars out of the field) scheduled for Sunday.

I said in the beginning that fast times don’t mean a lot and that’s because both engine suppliers, Chevrolet and Honda, will be fitting qualifying motors into all (or most) cars toward the end of the week and a horsepower boost will be allowed for time trials.

Horsepower will be dialed back, however, for the race itself.

Social note: Dario Franchitti, who’s won the Indy 500 three times and is the defending champion, will turn 40 on Sunday.

- NORRIS McDONALD

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Me, Millard Air and the Indianapolis 500

When I heard of the arrest that was made in the mysterious disappearance of Tim Bosma – the Ancaster fellow who advertised his truck on Kijiji and went off for a test drive with two men last Monday night and then disappeared, apparently, from the face of the Earth – I thought of the six degrees of separation.

That’s the theory in which every body and every thing in the world can be connected one way or another in six steps or less.

The fellow under arrest is Dellen Millard, grandson of the founder of the Millard Air company, Carl Millard, and the son of the pilot Wayne Millard, who flew me to Indianapolis in 1969 so I could cover my first Indianapolis 500.

Maybe not six degrees, but a couple for sure.

Here’s the story.

I was at home on the afternoon of May 29^th, a Thursday, which was the day before the 53^rd annual 500-Mile International Sweepstakes, which was the official name for the race that was always held on May 30 in those days.

On my own time, I’d been at Indy two weeks previously for the first weekend of time trials – which had been rained out. There were no plans in place for me to return to cover the race for the Globe and Mail, where I was employed at the time.

Just before 3 p.m., the phone rang and it was the late Jim Vipond, the legendary sports editor of the Globe. "How would you like to go to Indianapolis tomorrow?" he asked.

I could barely contain myself.

Was he kidding? Of course I’d like to go to Indianapolis. I’d been listening to Sid Collins announce the race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network since I was a kid. I’d seen my first 500 on closed-circuit TV at the Glendale Theatre on Avenue Rd., just north of Lawrence, in 1965. I’d gone to Indy for the first time in 1967 and sat in the grandstands just before Turn Two and loved – loved – every second. Was he crazy? Wild horses couldn't keep me away.

"Sure," I replied, somewhat nonchalantly. "You’ll want me to file, right?"

"Yes, take your typewriter," he said. "Write your story and phone it in. I’ll need it no later than an hour after the race finishes. We have an early deadline Friday because the Saturday paper is a giant."

My heart was beating so quickly I was in danger of hyperventilating, but I had to ask.

"So," I said again, somewhat casually, "do you want me drive down, or what?"

"No," he said. "By 7 tomorrow morning, be at the Millard Air hangar at Malton (now Pearson International Airport). Ask for Wayne Millard. He’s going to fly you down."

Wow, I thought. This is incredible. Not only am I going to cover the Indianapolis 500 for the Globe and Mail but they’re flying me to the race!

Now, I could write another couple of thousand words about the flight to Indy, and how Frank Orr of the Toronto Star was on the same plane, and how, except for the two of us and another couple of people, there was nobody else aboard the Millard Air DC-3 and how we flew right over downtown Indianapolis on our way to land at what was then Weir Cook Municipal Airport and how the taxi we were taking to the track was pulled over for speeding before we got off the airport property and . . . but I won’t.

What I will tell you, though, is that Mario Andretti won his one and only Indy 500 that day, which made for a great story, particularly when his car owner, Andy Granatelli, got so excited that he kissed him on the cheek in Victory Lane.

Now, I was feeling top of the world, Ma, at this point. It had been a great day, a great race, the driving had been spectacular, the drivers had all been the Gods I expected them to be, I had written and phoned in my story on time, I had a girl in Montreal I was going to see the next day and – well – everything was as perfect as perfect could be. 

So I went back to Weir Cook Airport, only to discover that a whole bunch of people I didn’t know, or recognize, all of whom had a couple of tons of luggage, were waiting to get onto my plane.

It turned out that those folks, most of whom were friends of Toronto department store heir George Eaton, who was also a racing driver, had been in Indianapolis all month and had chartered the plane to take them home.

Wayne Millard knew Vipond and, in conversation, mentioned he was going to Indy to pick up this mob and that he had a couple of seats open and that’s how Frank Orr and I got a free ride to cover the world’s most famous car race.

Now, the flight to Indy had been terrific. Four or five passengers, max., on a plane that could carry up to 30. Lots of space to stretch out your arms and legs. The return flight, though, was an entirely different matter.

We were packed in like sardines. Those folks had 30 days’ worth of luggage with them, some of which wouldn't fit in the hold and was sitting in the aisle (no overhead bins on DC3s). I did a quick calculation and reckoned we were probably pretty close to the limit as far as weight was concerned and I got this really strange feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Maybe I should take a bus back to Toronto, I thought. Or a train. Are there trains between Indianapolis and T.O.? And then I thought of that sweetheart in Montreal and realized that if I was going to keep our date the next day, Saturday, I was going to have to suck it up and stay on that plane.

So Frank Orr and I are sitting beside each other and I have the window. I’m telling him I’m not so sure the old crate is going to make it off the ground. Frank, who’s wonderful company, starts telling jokes to take my mind – and his – off the fact that the plane might crash and we might die.

So we taxi out and, after what seems like an eternity, we start lumbering along the runway and I’m looking out the window and we don’t seem to be going very fast and there is this line of trees way off in the distance and they’re coming closer, and closer, and closer, and we’re still on the ground and we’re still not going very fast and then, ever so slowly, this bucket of bolts starts to bounce off the ground and those trees are getting really close by now and this plane is kinda shuddering but I still have my eyes open and, at what seemed to be the very last second, damned if we didn’t clear the tops of those trees by that much or else I wouldn’t be here today telling you all this.

But it was close. Too close for comfort, in fact.

I turned my head to smile at my friend, the Toronto Star’s auto racing writer and my very best friend in the world at that moment, to acknowledge that we indeed were still alive and well and everything was turning out to be all right, and it was then that I realized that Frank Orr and I were holding hands.

- NORRRIS McDONALD

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Weekend rdp: F1, Kyle Busch and Bob McCown

For those of you who emailed wondering where I was, my real newspaper job sometimes gets in the way of my fun newspaper job and the fun newspaper job (this) has to take a back seat.

So, after a week’s absence, here are some random thoughts about the state of the sport following a weekend of ho-hum racing (at least the offerings on television).

1. The people who run Formula One have outsmarted themselves once again. To make the sport more exciting – they didn’t really have to do this; it was exciting enough – they ordered the one tire supplier, Pirelli, to build degradation into the product so the drivers would have to make more pit stops.

Now, everybody is either up in arms (if you’re a fan) or "concerned" (if you’re one of the people in F1 who thought this stuff up) because the tires are coming apart faster than anybody expected.

Most teams had to make four (count ‘em, four) pit stops during Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix (click here for story and results) and critics (including 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve) were making fun of the spectacle rather than marvelling at the skill of the pit crews in getting the tires changed so quickly.

Said Villeneuve: "At this rate, F1 is going to become a pit-stop contest with a few race laps thrown in."

Every time anybody in any sport starts monkeying around with the thing to make it more "appealing" or more "exciting," they are just inviting trouble. Has baseball gone to four strikes to enable more hitters to reach base? Or moved the mound back a foot? Has hockey gone to four quarters instead of three periods? Of course not.

But F1 now has tires that disintegrate and drag reduction systems and kinetic energy recovery systems and, as a result, except for the opening laps there is very little racing going on any more.

Memo to F1: Stop this.

2. See second last paragraph above. The first lap of Sunday’s Spanish GP was edge-of-your-seat stuff with everybody reacting so quickly to lights out that analyst David Coulthard suggested at least one driver had jumped the start.

And although Mercedes pole-sitter Nico Rosberg held the lead to the conclusion of that first lap, everybody else was either charging to the front or sliding back.

Eventual race winner Fernando Alonso went from fifth to third in his Ferrari and passed two cars on the outside of one corner. Lewis Hamilton, who started second for Mercedes, dropped to fourth. Kimi Raikkonen, who went off third for Lotus-Renault, dropped to fifth. Three-time world champion Sebastian Vettel moved from third to second in his Red Bull-Renault and Felipe Massa went from ninth to sixth in his Ferrari. But the best of all was Adrien Sutil rocketing from 13^th place to eighth in his Force India-Ferrari and that, ladies and gentlemen, was an incredible example of car control and balls.

Oh, before I forget, Mark Webber had his usual crappy start and dropped out of the top ten from his seventh starting position and – I ask you – why should we be surprised? I suggest they put Webber in the simulator for a week and not let him out until he can make flying starts in his sleep.

3. In winning the Grand Prix, Alonso joined Vettel as two-time winners this season. Raikkonen is the only other winner, scoring his victory at Australia. Rosberg has now won two poles on the year but both times, in Bahrain and again at Spain, he faded out of the top five. He finished fifth in Spain and ninth at Bahrain.

And Esteban Gutierrez was the best of this year’s rookie crop, finishing in 11^th position for Sauber-Ferrari and beating his more experienced teammate, Nico Hulkenburg, who was 15^th. More impressive was the fact that Gutierrez qualified 16^th but was penalized three places for blocking Raikkonen during qualifying. Racing from 19^th starting position to 11^th earns him the McDonald "Hard Charger Award."

Elsewhere this weekend, Carlos Muniz – an Indy Lights driver – was fastest of the IZOD IndyCar Series drivers who went out to practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the track opened for practice and qualifying leading up to the 97^th Indy 500 in two weeks.

Muniz recorded a speed of 223.023 miles an hour Sunday (it took him 40.3545 seconds to drive a lap of the 2.5-mile speedway; click here for details). James Hinchcliffe of Oakville was sixth fastest of the 23 drivers who turned time, recording a lap of 220.907 mph. Qualifying and bumping (if any) is scheduled for next weekend.

Speaking of Hinchcliffe, I was pleasantly surprised last Monday afternoon when, while driving home, I heard everybody’s favourite afternoon drive sports talk radio show host Bob McCown wax eloquently about James’ victory the previous afternoon in Brazil (which he won on the last corner of the last lap).

I haven’t heard McCown talk about car racing before, although I’m sure he has at one time or another. He simply said he’d tuned in the race to check it out with 15 or so laps to go and Hinchcliffe was running fifth and that he "had a feeling" and stayed till the end.

He went so far as to call the finish one of the most exciting moments in recent live sports television history (or words to that effect).

He brought it up with a couple of his guests – neither had been watching, by the way – and opined that he would be keeping an eye on young Mr. Hinchcliffe, whom he later interviewed (although I didn’t hear that).

Now, I realize that Bob McCown works for Sportsnet, and that Sportsnet is televising this year’s IZOD IndyCar Series races as well as the Indianapolis 500 and some "cross-promotion" is to be expected.

But I honestly think McCown was impressed with the finish (who wouldn’t have been!) and saw the potential that Indy car racing and Hinchcliffe both have. Good stuff.

One last thing: he said he didn’t like cars racing on ovals because ovals are for horses. Then he hesitated, and mused: "I wonder how horses would do on a road course?"

Okay, moving right along, I have two things to say about the NASCAR Southern 500 at Darlington Saturday night (for story and results, click here)

1. That Matt Kenseth won was the perfect revenge for Joe Gibbs Racing, which had been put through the wringer in recent weeks by NASCAR over nothing. I hope Kenseth wins every race between now and the end of the year and that Joe Gibbs rubs NASCAR’s nose in it when he stands up to accept accolades at the season-ending banquet.

Joe Gibbs is a religious, God-fearing man. NASCAR, which cast the first stone, should brace itself for what’s coming.

2. NASCAR loves to go around penalizing and fining drivers and teams enormous amounts of money in order to show them who’s boss. I think it’s time Kyle Busch was fined something like – oh, off the top, I‘d say – $200,000 for having a snit yet again because he didn’t win a race.

All the others losers of the Southern 500 – all 41 others – made themselves available to TV and other reporters after the race because that’s what they’re supposed to do as representatives of the sport of stock car automobile racing.

They are on the top of the mountain and they owe it to their fans and sponsors to address the media after the races, win or lose. Kenseth won the race but Jimmie Johnson went on TV, as did Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick and a couple of the others.

But not Kyle, because he was off somewhere having a hissy fit. He was only too happy to talk on Friday night, after he won the Nationwide Series race, but not Saturday because he lost.

I can remember several years ago everybody making great fun of Danica Patrick stamping her feet in anger after being edged out of a win in the Indy car series. But after she did what competitive people do - which is to work out their frustrations and then take a deep breath and calm down - she went to the post-race press conference and answered questions like a true professional.

But not Kyle and I think it’s time NASCAR brought him to heel. Every professional sport demands its performers be accountable to the media. Win or lose, the hockey players and coaches have to talk to reporters. Baseball managers and players are contractually obligated, and so on.

The next time Kyle Busch doesn’t win and then pulls one of his disappearing acts, he should be hit in the pocketbook.

And told to grow up.

Other racing: Lucas Luhr and Klaus Graf won the American Le Mans Series race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on Saturday. Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia were first in GT, with Marino Franchitti and Scott Tucker first in P2. Mike Guasch and Luis Diaz won the Prototype Challenge race while Nick Tandy and Henrique Cisneros were first in GT Challenge.

Ryan Briscoe finished fourth overall and second in P2 before heading off the Indianapolis where he is among the favourites to win this year’s Indy 500. Townsend Bell also raced in ALMS before flying to Indy.

Kyle Marcelli of Barrie was eighth overall and fourth in PC. Kuno Wittmer of Montreal didn’t do all that well this weekend and was well back.

Okay, I have to say it: sometimes sports car racing doesn’t make any sense. We all know that all the classes – five of them this season – all go out and race together. And that the first three finishers in every class make it onto the podium, which means 15 or more drivers can sometimes be on the podium in a sports car race.

Saturday evening, I got an email that trumpeted "Delta Wing car on podium in ALMS race in California." Hey, I thought. That’s damn fine. And Katherine Legge, who’s been run out of Indy car, must be feeling pretty good about making it onto the podium in her first ALMS race.

Then I looked at the results. There were 36 cars in total in that race Saturday and the Delta Wing finished 32^nd. I don't care about rules or tradition. That is not a podium.

The Southern Ontario Sprints will start their 18^th season next Saturday night at Brighton Speedway. Lee Ladouceur of Alexandria will try for his third consecutive championship this season. Other top runners expected to be on hand include Glenn Styers, Keith Dempster, Chris Jones, Adam West and Warren Mahoney. I betcha Warren's Dad, Dick Mahoney, will be out there too.

Indy car driver and partner in the Schmidt-Petersen Indy car team, Davey Hamilton, won the supermodified feature at Oswego Speedway on Saturday night. At Merrittville Speedway outside Thorold, Erick Rudolph and Kevin Knapp scored their first 2013 wins in the Bobcat of Hamilton 358 Modified and Hoosier Stock Divisions respectively. In Lucas Oil Weekly Racing Series action, Kyle Pelrine, Josh Sliter and Brad Rouse won in the Turn 4 Collision 4 Cylinder, J&S Heating and Air Conditioning Modified Lites and the Rick’s Delivery Sportsman Features.

Most southern Ontario oval facilities will be in action next weekend and the Victoria Day Speedfest is on tap at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park but that’s not all. Attention all you drag racing fans out there. Toronto Motorsports Park near Cayuga has got a monster lineup scheduled with 300 mph jet dragsters, the Pro Modified Racing Association, the Quick 32 top dragsters and sportsman plus pro bikes and sleds. They get going out there on Friday night and plan to blast all the way through till Sunday. Go to torontomotorsportpark.com for more info.

Speaking of "most southern Ontario oval facilities," if you head on out to Peterborough Speedway, it won’t cost you anything to sit in the grandstand. Country 105 radio station is picking up the tab for the season-opener. For info, go to peterboroughspeedway.com.

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BUT INDYCAR FORGETS LESSON LEARNED WHEN KROSNOFF KILLED

TWO NASCAR RACES ALSO WON ON THE LAST LAP

Years ago, when I started writing stories about Indy car racing's newest super nova, James Hinchcliffe of Oakville, I thought he was one of the most delightful people I had ever met but a race driver of marginal talent.

It wasn't because I didn't think he was a good racing driver. It's just that the higher up the open-wheel ladder you get, you run into a whole bunch of other drivers who are just as good or better than you are.

As a result, Hinch's trips to Victory Lane lacked, shall we say, any degree of regularity, which is something you look for when evaluating a potential champion.

Until now.

With his thrilling last lap, last corner, victory Sunday in the Sao Paulo Indy 300 through the streets of the Brazilian city, Hinchcliffe scored his second victory of the four-race-young 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series season and showed the world that when the chips are down, he's as brave and as fast and as hard a racer as anyone in the sport today.

Takuma Sato, driving for A.J. Foyt and winner of the last race in Long Beach, finished second, 0.3463 of a second behind the winner, and Hinchcliffe's Andretti Autosport teammate, Marco Andretti, was third.

Police-sitter Ryan Hunter-Reay was 11th. Will Power - who won the last three Sao Paulo races - was eliminated when his car caught fire. Alex Tagliani, the second Canadian in the race, finished 12th.

Hinchcliffe, 26, won the season-opening race - and the first race of his big-league IndyCar career - in St. Petersburg, Fla., in March. Then he failed to finish the next two races at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama and at the Long Beach Grand Prix.

Now this.

“There’s no cooler way to win a race  - in the last corner of the last lap," said Hinchcliffe, the series' first repeat winner of 2013, moments after getting out of his car. 

"Takuma was making that race car really wide and he was defending the inside pretty well - almost too well a couple times. He just outbroke himself just a little bit and I was able to do a high-low (pass) and get the win."

Hinchcliffe was running third late in the race while Sato, who was leading, battled hard to hold off Josef Newgarden. As they fought each other, the Oakville driver gradually caught up to them.

"Thank goodness they were racing, or I never would have caught them," Hinchcliffe said "It's awsome to get my second win. One was good, but two's better."

Team owner Michael Andretti loved the results.

"That's Indy car racing," he said. "That's what it's about. It seems that so many of these races go down to the last turn of the last lap - that's what makes it such a great sport. I'm glad we came out on the good end of the stick for sure. It's awesome to have two cars on the podium (Hinchcliffe and Marco A.)."

Hinchcliffe's victory moved him up to fourth in the points race behind Sato, Andretti and Helio Castronever, who finished 13th Sunday.

Next stop: the Indianapolis 500 in three weeks. 

It was an excellent race, with lots of dicing in the pack and good, hard racing toward the end. In the closing laps, Sato made it very difficult for, first, Newgarden to pass him, and then Hinchcliffe.

Asked if he thought he was blocking, which is illegal in open-wheel racing, Sato acknowledged that to be the case. "You could say that," he replied when a TV interviewer asked him about it.

"But it's a matter of trust," he said. "We are a group, we were passing together, we could see in our mirrors, we could see what each of us were doing. I am sure he had great confidence in me. I think I'm okay and we had such fun."

The last-second pass, for those of you who didn't see it (or haven't seen it on the newscasts) went like this:

Sato was ahead on a long straight on the last lap. Hinchcliffe was right behind him and had one "push-to-pass" burst left (push-to-pass allows a driver to increase horsepower for short periods) while Sato was out of them (each driver gets a limited number to use during the race).

Hinchcliffe dove to the inside heading for the final, right-hand turn. Sato moved over to chop off his progress - known as "defending one's position" in road-racing circles and "blocking" in oval racing.

Hinchcliffe then pulled to the outside, as if to pass Sato on his left. The Japanese driver moved over to block the Canadian as they reached the corner (Hinchcliffe was very kind to suggest Sato had "outbraked" himself) and, in that millisecond, Hinchcliffe cut sharply inside Sato and exited the corner in the lead.

Which he held for the final 300 yards of the race.

NOTEBOOK JOTTINGS:

How soon they forget. The street-race death in Toronto in 1996 of CART racer Jeff Krosnoff, I mean, which happened when he went to pass another driver going into Corner 3 of the track at the CNE and that driver moved over to block him.

Krosnoff went up and over that other car, smashing into a light standard. He was killed instantly. A marshal, Gary Avrin, also died - hit by a wheel of the car as it started up on its fatal flight.

Takuma Sato blocked two drivers Sunday in exactly the same manner - first, Josef Newgarden and then James Hinchcliffe. Hinch, in fact, came very close to clipping the rear of Sato's car.

Although some could argue that Sato was simply defending when he moved over on Hinchcliffe, there is no excuse what he did to Newgarden (replays clearly showed he moved twice).

That the IndyCar officiating crew, led by Beaux Barfield, saw no reason to discipline him is scary.  Why? Because all the other drivers will see what Sato got away with and they will now do it too.

To make matters worse, Sato admitted to blocking (see above). And here's what the 2013 IndyCar rule book says about it:

"9.3.2. Blocking – A Driver must not alter his/her racing line based on the actions of pursuing Drivers to inhibit or prevent passing. Blocking will result in a minimum of a black flag 'drive through' penalty."

 I'd suggest that's exactly what Sato did to Newgarden and Hinchcliffe. If the Barfield-led officials reviewed his moves and determined he didn't block, then the Indy car series is in bigger trouble than anybody ever imagined.

The installation of Barfield, which followed the firing of previous head of race control Brian Barnhart, was carried out by former IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard at the behest of certain influential media.

Barnhart certainly had his faults, but the officiating in the IndyCar series since has not been any better and, it could be argued, has gotten worse.

This is another prime example.

 Hey, Hinchcliffe was a star on the track and off it, too. He starred in many of the Go Daddy commercials that aired on Sportsnet during the coverage of Sunday's race.

The start of the race and the restarts were terrific. IndyCar obviously slowed down the field and made the drivers line up properly before throwing the green, something that didn't even come close to happening in Long Beach. Will that be the case in Toronto, too? Hope so.

All those Kit Kart chocolate bar signs told me something: you can attract sponsorship for a car race these days far away from the traditional auto-related advertisers.

How the camera lies: I'm sure they had a decent crowd in Sao Paulo Sunday but when the camera scanned the grandstands from ground level and at an angle, the place looked packed. The overhead shot from the helicopter showed a completely different picture, though. In fact, I bet there were more people in the traffic jam on the freeway beside the circuit than there were actually in the grandstands.

OTHER RACING THIS WEEKEND

- In the opening race of the 2013 season for the German Touring Championship (DTM), Augusto Farfus was first in a BMW. Defending champion Bruno Spengler of Saint-Hypolite, Que., finished fifth. Poor Robert Wickens, of Guelph and Toronto, started fourth and had moved up to third but a gearbox problem forced him out of the race on the fifth lap. . .

- When NASCAR goes to the Talladega Super Speedway, they should always turn on all the lights in the place. Both times this weekend - the Nationwide race Saturday and the Sprint Cup race Sunday - were almost called on account of darkness following three-hour-plus rain delays. They got them both in, but it was close.

Regan Smith won the Nationwide race but it was a controversial call. After the red flag for the rain, NASCAR cut 10 laps from the race distance because it was getting dark. When there was a yellow, they called for one shot at a green-white-checkers finish and when there was another yellow they said Smith was ahead when the field was frozen, even though Kasey Kahne crossed the finish line in front.

Oh, and there were lots of crashes.

Sunday was almost a carbon copy of Saturday, with a three-hour rain delay. Six laps or so before the end, there was a classic Talladega "Big One" and Kurt Busch's car flipped half a dozen times, even landing on top of Ryan Newman's car and just about destroying it.

Danica Patrick was caught up in her second wreck of the weekend (she crashed in the Nationwide race Saturday) and was furious as she seemed to be heading for a top ten finish.

The race was won by David Ragan, who thanked God, first, and teammate David Gilliland, second, for getting him the victory as Gilliland pushed Ragan into the No. 1 position on the last lap of the restrictor-plate race.

Gilliland also thanked God first, and Ragan second for being in position for him to push. Complete details and full results can be found by clicking here.

Formula One returns next weekend with the Grand Prix of Spain at Catalunya. The start of the "European season" always brings out the best in everybody. Reports in Europe, meantime, suggest technical chief Charlie Whiting will be meeting with team principals to discuss a possible demerit-points system to govern driver behaviour. . . At the Jerez circuit in Spain, Dani Pedrosa won the Moto GP race, with youngster Marc Marquez second and Jorge Lorenzo third. Marquez muscled Lorenzo out of the way on the last lap to just squeeze into the runner-up spot. . .  . Audi cars swept the podium at the Six Hours of Spa FIA World Endurance Championship race. . . . Ryan Villopoto won his tenth supercross of the season Saturday night in Las Vegas. he wrapped up the Monster Energy Supercorss Championship earlier, so this was just icing on the cake. . . .

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Why I like NASCAR best (and other mid-week observations)

I was caught up short when I bumped into a media colleague earlier this week and he said to me: “What have you got against NASCAR?”

This was in regards to a column I wrote in which I suggested that NASCAR, in suspending owner Joe Gibbs for six races for a relatively minor transgression (among other penalties levied against other competitors), was acting irrationally.

So when he said what he said, I said something flippant in reply but afterwards I thought, “Uh-oh.”

I like and admire the journalist in question, so if he’s wondering about my motives, perhaps others are too and that’s why I’ve called you all together today to say this:

I think NASCAR is the best organized and best managed racing business in the world.

In the world.

Formula One has been held together by one man, Bernie Ecclestone, and I guarantee you that when he either retires, is fired, or forced out, or dies, F1 will be a mess of public bickering and backstabbing. And the Indy car series, regardless of who’s been in charge, has been in chaos much of the time ever since the original split that saw CART break away from the USAC in 1979.

Yes, NASCAR has been, essentially, a France family business and it’s been their way or the highway. But I don’t think they’ve abused that trust and they've reached out to the grassroots by sanctioning and administering local racing just about everywhere in the United States and, on occasion, in Canada. Their regional racing series – eight, including the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series – has given (and is giving) scores of ambitious and talented racing drivers a professional environment in which to grow and demonstrate their talents. Their diversification program has demonstrated a commitment to helping minorities, be they non-Americans, drivers of colour, or women, advance in the motor sport. In short, no other sanctioning body has even attempted what NASCAR has already achieved.

So I’m a big fan of NASCAR.

That doesn’t mean I like everything – I think they need more road course races, with at least one during the Chase – but in a clutch I would take Mike Helton, Robin Pemberton, Brian France and the rest of the executive group over anybody that the other big leagues have to offer.

Which makes it even more puzzling for me, after reading what I’ve just written, to understand that penalty against Gibbs. And a $25,000 fine charged to Denny Hamlin when all he did was say he didn’t like the new car.

What?

When something goes wrong in a business, or a marriage, or whatever, things that don’t normally happen start happening.

They are usually signals, or symptoms, of something else going on – sometimes beneath the surface and away from public view.

So I wonder what’s happening inside NASCAR?

Because a $200,000 fine for next-to-nothing ain't normal.

I posted a report on Monday afternoon about the visit to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park of executives from the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and a truck from the Turner Scott Motorsport stable.

Led by series director (and former Sprint Cup competitor) Chad Little, the contingent gave Old Mosport the once-over in advance of the truck race there on Labour Day weekend - called the Chevrolet Silverado 250, by the way - and driver Nelson Piquet Jr. shook down the TSM entry in order to record data that will be shared with other teams in the series who won’t even see the facility until they arrive for the Sept. 1 race.

Although Piquet was the only one to get any track time, three other drivers came up for a look-see including defending truck series champion James Buescher, 20-year-old hot-shoe Jeb Burton (son of Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton and nephew of Jeff Burton) and Miguel Paludo, a Brazilian Porsche GT3 Cup driver now trying his hand at NASCAR.

But in posting my report, I didn’t have time to include photos so I’ve posted a bunch with this post over at wheels.ca that were taken by me (uncredited) or by Gary Grant, who writes Auto News for Toronto Star Wheels and the Insider Report for wheels.ca

(That's his photo here, by the way, with Paludo (left), Burton, Piquet, CTMP co-owner Ron Fellows and Buescher.)

Also, if you want to take a video tour of Mosport with Piquet, courtesy of Joel Robinson, click here 

Road racing in Ontario will officially get under way at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park this coming weekend, May 4 and 5.

The 63rd annual (wow!) British Empire Motor Club Spring Trophy Races will involve eight classes, including the BF Goodrich GT Challenge, GT Sprints presented by CSC Racing, Toyo Tires F1600 Championship, Formula 1200, Formula Libre, Formula Four, Vintage/Historic and G70+.

Action gets under way with a driver’s meeting in front of the infield restaurant at 7:45 a.m. Saturday morning. For more information, the weekend schedule and FREE TICKETS, go to the CASC-Ontario website (click here).

Speaking of NASCAR, and penalties (see lead item), the two Richard Childress Racing crew members arrested and charged with assault after approaching driver Piquet and another man outside the speedway in Richmond, Va., last Friday night following an altercation in the pits earlier have each been fined $15,000, suspended for the next four Nationwide Series races and placed on probation till the end of the year.

Piquet and another driver, David Scott, who got into a shoving match in the pits, have been put on probation till June 26th.

Oh, and late-breaking news has the penalties against Team Penske, for trying to sneak unapproved parts past NASCAR inspection, upheld by an appeals panel. Just about everybody has been suspended for six races (not the drivers) and the crew chiefs for Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski have been fined $100,000 apiece.

About as appalling as the refereeing in the NHL, if you ask me.

Denny Hamlin says he will start the Talladega 500 on Sunday and then give way to relief driver Brian Vickers. That’s what he tweeted Tuesday.

"They (his doctors) all came to the conclusion they were happy with me starting Talladega and getting out when it's a safe time to get out,'' Hamlin said.

He told ESPN.com that he would drop to the back of the pack and then pit at the first caution, confident that he and Vickers can switch and not lose a lap under yellow.

Okay, I want to say right here and now that if  he’s out there, and he’s racing, and he’s feeling good, that Denny Hamlin will not get out and let Brian Vickers in. He just won’t.

He’s a tough mother when it comes to pain. He’s done it in the past and he’ll do it again.

Mark my words: Once in the car, he won’t leave it.

It’s official. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, known officially this season as Panther DRR with driver Oriol Servia up, will drop out of this season’s IZOD IndyCar Series following the Indianapolis 500.

Co-owned by Indy new-car dealer Dennis Reinbold and former driver Robbie Buhl, the team has run full-time in the series for the past 13 seasons.

Even if you’re low buck, car racing is a financial drain and these guys, racers to the core, can’t afford to keep doing it.

Sorry to see them go. They gave it their all.

Here’s what’s on tap at Toronto Motorsports Park. Starting today on the road course, motorcycle lapping is scheduled till 5 p.m. Registration is at the track and it’s $115 plus HST. Open car lapping is scheduled for Friday from noon till dusk for $130 plus HST. If you can’t make it till 5 p.m., the price drops to $90 plus HST.

Finally, on the dragway, the first Friday night test and tune will cost $20, $10 for spectators. ONDR Nostalgia Drag Racers plus test and tune on Saturday is $30 for competitors and $15 for spectators. Test and tune on Sunday, the 5th, is $30 for participants and $10 for spectators.

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Is NASCAR losing its grip?

NASCAR hit Joe Gibbs Racing with one of the biggest fines in the sanctioning body's history, if not the biggest, when it fined crew chief Jason Ratcliff $200,000 for an illegal engine and suspended him for six races as well as suspending Gibbs's owner's licence for the same period.

The crime was that the Toyota-supplied engine had one of eight connecting rods below minimum weight.

Although he was docked 50 points, driver Matt Kenseth will still go down in history as the winner of the race at Kansas Speedway.

This is so stupid as to be farce.

This follows the book being lowered on Penske Racing for using unapproved parts on the cars of Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano. Note, the parts weren't illegal; they had not been approved. The crew chiefs were fined $100,000 apiece for that and everybody (just about) was suspended except the drivers.

NASCAR seems to be losing its grip.

I suggest NASCAR is losing audience because the racing is boring and the commentary is predictable and they’re doing stupid things to try to attract attention.

Like this sort of thing, which is stupid.

They suspend Gibbs' ownership licence for six races - for what? Not looking inside the engine and weighing the connecting rods - which he and others on his team can't do anyway because Toyota supplies the engines that just get dropped into the car?

Everybody says IndyCar has ownership and management problems.

Well, they now have company.

Ferrari says it has solved the problem of the DRS flap on Fernando Alonso's car that stuck open not once but twice at last weekend's Grand Prix of Bahrain.

In a statement, Ferrari said the cause of the failure had now been identified and resolved.

"Analysis revealed that the problem was caused by the breakage of a mechanical component within the system," Ferrari said.

Translation: The wire that pulled it shut snapped in half . . .

Michel Jourdain Jr. will race in this year's Indy 500. Should I get excited. Should anybody?

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But first . . .

Ten days ago, NASCAR caught Team Penske cheating and came down “hard” on the drivers and crew chiefs.

Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano were docked 25 points and their team managers, car chiefs, crew chiefs and engineers were all suspended for six races and the crew chiefs were each fined $100,000.

Yes, Penske has appealed but in the end, the drivers will still keep racing and the team will continue to operate.

Contrast that with what happened to a guy in the World of Outlaws Late Model Series.

After he won a big race in Illinois, series officials seized a tire from his car and sent it away for testing. They determined that a tire-softening agent had been used, which is against the rules.

So the series stripped the guy of his victory, made him give back the $20,000 he won, fined him an additional $3,000, docked him 1,000 points, put him on probation and suspended him and his team from competing for three months.

Now, that’s coming down hard on somebody for cheating.

Back to our headline.

The Detroit Grand Prix, which will be held on Belle Isle in the Detroit River May 31-June 2 - they have a double-header scheduled, as does Toronto's Honda Indy - is going all out to attract Canadian fans.

For $55 (or $105 for two days - both races) you get a reserved seat in a special Canadian Grandstand at the start/finish line and round-trip transportation from Windsor.

The City of Windsor is also going to sponsor the Media Centre, which is a smart move because if journalists are impressed by anything at these types of events, be it golf or baseball or horse racing, it's usually the food and drink that's provided. That, in turn, generally translates into positive copy.

Interested in going? Go to this website (click here) for more info.

Meantime, the Honda Indy Toronto is gearing up for its three-day extravaganza July 12-14 and Charlie Johnstone, vice-president and general manager of the event, says he hopes to have all sorts of special announcements posted to their website by the end of the week.

Go to www.hondaindytoronto.com for all the news.

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Takuma Sato won the first IndyCar race of his career Sunday in Long Beach as James Hinchcliffe's early season struggles continued. For the second race in a row, the Oakville native didn't finish - this time as the result of a crash.

Meanwhile, Matt Kenseth won the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway. He held off a fast-charging Kasey Kahne to win by 0.151 seconds. Jimmie Johnson was third, Martin Truex Jr. finished fourth and Clint Bowyer was fifth.

It was a typical NASCAR race, with spins and crashes and all sorts of high-speed excitement. One interesting note: the pole winner won the race for the third straight time. The last time this happened was in 1985. For full story and  results, click here.

Sebastien Vettel easily won the Grand Prix of Bahrain over Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean. It was an all-Renault powered podium. Lots of good racing back in the pack. For my take, please click here.

AT LONG BEACH

Sato's victory (see picture) was the first for the Japanese racer, who had a crack at Formula One, since the Macau Grand Prix in 2001. For his team, A.J. Foyt Racing, it was the first win since 2002 (Airton Dare at Kansas Speedway) and the first road course triumph since Silverstone in 1978 when God's own A.J. himself was driving.

(An aside: There are those who believe that if Eddie Cheever, who was driving for Foyt in 1995, had won that year's CART race at Nazareth, there never would have been an Indy Racing League. The reason? Foyt was a serious influence on the thinking of Tony George. Foyt had raced in CART going back to 1979 and couldn't win, so pushed George to form the breakway series. But, the thinking goes, if his team actually won a CART race, he'd have been more inclined to hang in. As luck would have it, Cheever ran out of fuel a lap short at Nazareth and the IRL started racing the next January.)

Sato had no trouble holding off second-place Graham Rahal, with Justin Wilson third and pole-sitter Dario Franchitti fourth. JR Hildebrand was promoted to fifth after Oriol Servia, who finished there, was assessed a penalty that moved him back a spot. For full story and results, click here.

Sato was delighted to win, and as Canada's Hinchcliffe had done at St. Pete with the Maple Leaf flag, the Japanese driver unfolded a Japanese flag and waved it in celebration. By winning, he became the first Japanese driver to record a victory in Indy cars.

Like Toronto, Long Beach is really too tight for the high speed Indy cars and many of the drivers were forced into the pits to have nose cones replaced on their cars after they broke them running into other cars.

And Servia wasn't the only driver penalized. Rookie Tristan Vautier was penalized twice, once for running into the back of Scott Dixon and again after he hit Will Power's car.

NOTEBOOK JOTTINGS

- You could look at the accident that eliminated Hinchcliffe three ways.

1. It was his fault for not slowing down and letting everybody else go through Turn One before him on a restart on Lap 36.

2. It was Tony Kanaan's fault for cutting down to the corner from the outside lane and chopping across the front of Hinchcliffe's car, making a collision unavoidable for the Oakville driver.

3. It was IndyCar's fault for giving the restart a green flag. Kanaan clearly was passing cars before the green was waved and the yellow should have been shown. As it was, Kanaan had a full head of steam that took him up into the lead pack and to make the corner he had to turn in sharply and that resulted in E.J. Viso and Hinchcliffe crashing, with Hinch getting the worst of it.

You know, everybody talks about how wonderful the officiating has been in that series ever since Brian Barnhart was relieved of his duties.

Oh?

You want me to start?

How about the penalty on Scott Dixon last year after which it was discovered the officials were watching the wrong video replay?

I could go on, starting with the green-that-should-have-been-a-yellow yesterday and one other glaring example of incompetence in the same race.

The Indy cars - never mind the sanctioning body. be it CART, IRL or Champ Car - haven't had a decent starter/flagger since Nick Fornoro retired. Nick was a midget racer who could feel the rhythm of a race and flag it accordingly. With an ace flagger like Roger Slack available (okay, his day job is running Eldora Speedway but somebody should ask if he's interested),  I can't understand why the top open-wheel racing series on the continent continues to employ officials whose qualifications are questionable. 

And then there was, as I called it two paragraphs back, that other glaring example of incompetence Sunday. With two laps remaining, Tony Kanaan misses his braking point and crashes into the tires at Turn One (the end of Shoreline Dr.). The decision is made that the race will continue and there will only be a local yellow waved.

So the leader of the race, Sato, who's starting the last lap, has to pick his way through there, as does the second place car, Rahal, and Wilson, and the rest.  The race continues at speed and then, when Sato has two corners to go before the checkers - two  corners - they decide to make it a full-course caution.

Huh? They decide on a full-course caution after the entire field drives through the crash scene and the race is two corners from beiing over? Is that a joke, or what?

Bring back Brian Barhart.

- Okay, how come the Grand Prix of Long Beach, which started in 1975 as a Formula 5000 race, became a Formula One race seven or eight years and has featured Indy cars ever since, continues to draw an enormous crowd (there wasn't a seat empty in any of the many grandstands) and yet the Indy car race in Toronto, which started in 1986, officially draws flies now in comparison.

Does it have something to do with the title sponsor? The Toyota dealers of southern Californa have been behind this event forever and continue to promote the living daylights out of it.

Just wondering. 

- The TV coverage of the race was abysmal.

First, I do not need some person getting a ride in the two seater and screaming over the air that the experience is just like getting a rocket ride to the moon. I could care less.

Next, like a great flagger (see above), a TV director has to feel the rhythm of a race and to be aware of what's happening. Sato peels out of the formation of front-runners, which starts a charge of cars toward the pits, and TV doesn't realize it's happening till he's stopped. Then they show Ryan Hunter-Reay's car being serviced, clearly unaware that Hinchcliffe, who pitted moments later than RHR, has beaten him out.

The kicker is when the camera is on Alex Tagliani and Charlie Kimball, side-by-side and rubbing tires and clearly heading for trouble, and suddenly the camera is switched to a stationary Franchitti getting fuel. Whoopie! Then we are returned to Alex and Charlie, who by this time have crashed, which we missed seeing because the guy/girl making decisions on what we see doesn't know what he/she is doing. 

I hate yelling at my television.

- Remeber Kimi Raikkonen crashing at Monaco a few years back and being so angry that he refused to take his helmet off as he walked all the way back to his yacht in the harbour?

That was Hinchcliffe yesterday. The Oakville driver was so pissed off that he walked back to the pits and got on his motor scooter and blasted off toward his motorhome and his helmet remained on his head and he even, like Kimi, kept the visor closed.

Usually a happy guy and ready to be everybody's friend, Hinch was obviously in no mood for company.

The next race is in Brazil in two weeks. Let's hope he has better luck there.

Other weekend races of note:

- The new Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Tex., played host Sunday to an early season Moto GP motorcycle race and a 20-year-old Spaniard, Marc Marquez, became the youngest winner in Moto GP history. Dani Pedrosa finished second with Jorge Lorenzo third. The motorycle circus will be back in North America in August for races at Laguna Seca in California and at Indianapolis. Next year, I suggest Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve will also be on the Moto GP schedule, either following Indianapolis or replacing it on the calendar.

- Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr won the American Le Mans Series race at Long Beach. Jonathan Bennett and Colin Braun won in Prototype Challenge, Scott Sharp and Guy Cosmos were first in the P2 class, Bill Auberlen and Maxime Martin won the GT class and Henrique Cisneros and Sean Edwards were tops in GT Challenge.

Canadians: Kuno Wittmer of Hudson, Que., was 15th overall and eighth in GT and Kyle Marcelli of Barrie was 25th and sixth in Prototype Challenge.

Speaking of P2, and Canadians, Wheels special correspondent Sylvia Proudfoot reports that Leigh Pettipas of Halifax was the engineer for the winning car of Sharp and Cosmo. Pettipas also engineered the Extreme Speed Motorsports Ferrari F458 Italia that won the GT class at the 2012 Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta..

For race details and complete results, click here.

- At Road Atlanta, Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas won their one-millionth (I'm kidding!) Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series race, driving a BMW-Riley Daytona Prototype. John Edwards and Robin Lidell won the GT class in a Chevrolet Camaro. Joe Miller and Andrew Carbonell were first in the new GX class, driving a Mazda 6 Skyactiv Diesel. For details, click here.

Canadians in the Rolex race: Michael Valiante of Vancouver was seventh overall and seventh in a Ford-Riley DP; AIM Autosport of Woodbridge with assistance from Remo Ferri and Brian Wingett finished 17th overall and sixth in class with Max Papis and Jeff Segal aboard; the AIM Autosport Team FXDD with Ferrari car was 19th and eighth, Emil Assentato and Anthony Lazzaro driving. 

Canadians in the Supporting Continental Tire race: Scott Maxwell of Toronto, driving and Aston Martin Vantage for Markham's Multimatic Motorsports, finished fourth overall and fourth in class in  Grand Sport; Multimatic's sister Aston Martin racers were fifth (and fifth) with Tonis Kasemets and Michael Marsal driving and 11th and 11th with David Empringham and JohnFarano, both of Toronto, behind the wheel; Kenny Wilden of Oakville was ninth overall and ninth in the GS class; Ashley McCalmont of Ancaster finished 14th and 14th in GS; Taylor Hacquard of Vancouver was 30th overall and 14th in the Street Tuner class; Paul Dalla Lana of Toronto was 52nd overall and 22nd in GS.

- Canadians in the Indy Lights race at Long Beach: Matthew Di Leo of Innisfil was fifth. Quebe driver Mikael Grenier crashed.

- NORRIS McDONALD

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