Norris McDonald's Auto Racing Blog

Electric-car racing and the NASCAR Canada schedule is out

My friend, Gary Morton, has another idea – and he might really be on to something this time.

You’ll recall that he was the fellow I quoted a few weeks ago as saying the solution to the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park controversy is to just do what the founders of the place did back in 1961: contract "motor" and "sport" into one word, Mosport, and call the place Canadian Tire Mosport Park and everybody would be happy.

Three things:

– First, and this sort of thing is inevitable, some people wrote and said Gary was way behind because this had been suggested before, which was news to me or I would have put it in the paper sooner.

– Many others wrote to say it was a wonderful idea, because they hadn’t heard anybody suggest anything like it before either.

– Last, it’ll never happen. Canadian Tire Corp. bought the naming rights to the place and that’s what they want to call it. The signage, the letterhead and the souvenirs have all either been changed, or are on order, and there’s no turning back.

In the short term, anyway.

But as I said, he has another idea and it has to do with electric cars and racing – two things that keep turning up in the motorsport news cycle with a degree of regularity these days.

For instance, last week it was announced that Rome would become the first European city where a round of the FIA Formula E Championship would be held, in 2014. The first city to announce a date in what is promised to be a 10-race series was Rio do Janeiro, in August.

Still no word on a North American city but there will be likely be one or two. A full schedule is promised soon.

This is for real, folks. The FIA is behind it and McLaren has announced that it will design and build the powertrain for the first Formula E cars, in partnership with Spark Racing Technology (SRT).

They’re going to build 42 cars to get the championship going with, hopefully, 10 teams and 20 drivers. Formula E, however, is an "open" championship and other car designers and constructors are being encouraged to build a Formula E car.

My friend "Mort" says he has the answer.

"Take the Delta Wing car and put an all-electric motor in it, preferably one built by Tesla," he writes. "Get the universities involved – Virgina Tech., U of T, Queen’s, Cal Tech., MIT, etc. It’s the perfect way to save open-wheel racing in North America."

He got a big response to his Mosport suggestion. We’ll see how he does on this one.

Other Monday Morning Morning Roundup items:

- The 2013 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1 schedule was issued at the weekend and features 12 races at 11 tracks across five provinces. Of those dozen races, three of them will be held at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park north of Bowmanville – two on the road course and one on the oval speedway.

The series will open on the road course at Old Mosport on the traditional Victoria Day weekend in May and race there again in June on the oval. Labour Day weekend will be the biggie, though, when the stock cars share the stage with the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

The Canadian series has two other road-course races, both in Quebec - at the Grand Prix of Trois-Rivieres and at Circuit ICAR at Mirabel Airport.

Short track oval speedway races will be held at Autodrome St. Eustache, Riverside Speedway in Nova Scotia, Motoplex Speedway in Vernon, B,.C., Auto Clearing Motor Speedway in Sakatoon, Delaware Speedway outside of London, Ont., and Barrie Speedway.

The season will wrap up, as it traditionally does, on Sept. 21 at Kawartha Speedway near Peterborough.

The schedule was issued at the Night of Champions Touring Awards at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte on Saturday night.

D.J. Kennington of St. Thomas, who won his second NASCAR Canada title in three years this season, was among those honoured at the affair. Martin Roy was named Rookie of the Year in the Canadian series and the Most Popular Driver award went to Ray Courtemanche Jr. (and I have no idea how that happened . . .).

– Lotus has been released from its contract by IndyCar, so the only engine suppliers in 2013 will be Chevrolet and Honda. They shouldn’t have any trouble supplying the field because I suggest car count will become a story again. We won’t cross that bridge till later but it is highly unlikely that 25 or 26 cars will be showing up for every race, as was the case this year.

– 12-year-old Devlin DeFrancesco of Toronto, who won a Canadian karting championship this season, travels to Brazil next weekend for the famous 12-hour Gran ja Viana 500 kart race. His teammates? None other than Tony Kanaan and Rubens Barrichello.

Another Canadian youngster will also be making the trip. Jamie Riberdy will represent the Brian Stewart Racing Karting Championship Series and his trip is being paid for by Luis Ruibal and Wagner Rossi of MG Tires.

Care to keep an eye on these kids? Follow the action at: www.betocarrero.com.br/500milhas

– The World of Outlaws sprint car series issued their 2013 schedule last week and it’s a killer. Get this: they will race more than 90 times from February until November. Their Canadian swing starts on Sat., July 27, at Drummondville, Que., and goes to Cornwall Motor Speedway on the Sunday. Then, it's on to Ohsweken Speedway on the Six Nations Reserve near Brantford two nights later on Tuesday, July 30.

The last two times the Outlaws raced at Ohsweken, NASCAR star Tony Stewart was the winner. Will he make it a hat trick in 2013? You can bet he’ll try.

– Austin is after the FIA to give it another date for its Grand Prix because it was discovered that the 2013 event (Nov. 17) is being held the same weekend as a Texas Longhorns football game.

They just found that out? That football schedule's been out for months! Don’tcha think somebody might have looked and told the FIA to take that into consideration? Just wondering . . .

Vettel wins Indian GP, young U.S. sprint car star dies

Tyler Wolf, a 20-year-old heading-for-greatness sprint car racing star, has died of injuries suffered in a crash Saturday night at the legendary Calistoga Speedway in California.

Wolf was the 2011 Silver Dollar Speedway sprint-car champion, the youngest driver on record to win the title.

In F1 racing, meantime:

Sebastien Vettel won the Indian Grand Prix today from pole and increased his lead in the world championship but it was blunted by Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who battled through from his fifth-place starting position to finish second.

Vettel's Red Bull-Renault teammate, Mark Webber, was third with McLaren-Mercedes teammates Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button fourth and fifth and Ferrari's Felipe Massa sixth.

Kim Raikkonen (Lotus-Renault), Nico Hulkenberg (Force India-Ferrari), Romain Grosjean (Lotus) and Bruno Senna (Williams-Renault) rounded out the top ten.

Alonso was the driver of the race, never giving up and chasing Vettel through to the end.

With his fourth consecutive victory, Vettel increased his lead in the championship to 13 points but it could have been more if Alonso hadn't risen to the occasion.`

On Saturday:

Sebastien Vettel won the pole today for Sunday's Indian Grand Prix. His Red Bull-Renault teammate, Mark Webber, qualified second ahead of the two McLaren-Mercedes drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.

Fernando Alonso will take his Ferrari to the line fifth on Sunday, with teammate Felipe Massa sixth. Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus-Renault), Sergio Perez (Sauber-Ferrari), Pastor Maldonado (Williams-Renault) and Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) will go off seventh through tenth.

Now, by the time you get around to reading this, the 41st anniversary Formula Ford Festival at the legendary Brands Hatch circuit in England will be well under way and Canada’s representative, Garett Grist of Grimsby, will be doing his best to follow in the footsteps of last year’s entrant, Xavier Coupal of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que.

Coupal’s will be a tough act to follow.

But first.

The Formula Ford Festival was started in 1972 and has attracted top racers from around the world every year since. F1 drivers Button and Webber are among the winners. Danica Patrick finished second in 2002. Roberto Moreno, Eddie Irvine and Jan Magnussen are others who’ve made their marks at Brands.

Last year, Ontario Formula Ford team owner Brian Graham of Innisfil, with the help of major sponsor Grote Industries (manufacturers of vehicle lighting and safety systems) and other contributors (more about them below) led a Canadian assault on the Festival, the first “sponsored trip to Europe” for a Canadian driver since the 1970s.

Coupal was selected to go and pretty much set the international racing world on its ear.

The Festival deal is that you arrive at a strange track and climb into a strange car and go. The cream has to rise to the top pretty quickly because there are 200 other young chargers there and there’s limited practice time. Then they send you out for one of 10 heats with upwards of 20 cars in each and you swim or you sink.

Coupal finished second in his heat and started from pole in the feature. He was knocked off the track during the race and eliminated, but he still set fastest lap — an amazing performance.

This year, Graham — with help from a selection committee that included me — chose Grist as the second winner of what’s being called the Team Canada Scholarship. A former Ontario karting standout who cut his single-seater racing teeth in Ontario Formula 1600s, Grist had a “superb season” this year in the highly-competitive U.S. F1600 Formula F Championship Series and that’s what won him the opportunity.

“I am really excited to be selected for the 2012 Team Canada Scholarship,” Grist said in a release. “It’s a great opportunity to represent Canada at one of the biggest Formula Ford races in the world. For anyone racing F1600, this is the event that you want be in at some point in your career. Xavier (Coupal) set the bar pretty high last year, so I know I have my work cut out for me.”

“This was a very, very, difficult decision (to pick Grist),” said Graham, also in a release. “The final group of five drivers were so impressive. We went back and forth trying to pick this year’s winner. If we had the funding, we’d send all five, as they are all deserving winners.

“That being said, we are very excited that we will have Garett piloting the Team Canada entry at this year’s Formula Ford Festival and are confident we will be challenging for top honors come Sunday’s Final at Brands Hatch.”

Graham’s been able to raise sufficient funds to take a driver to England and, of course, to hire Cliff Dempsey Racing to field a car, which is the biggest expense. He would like to have enough money to take at least two drivers and for them to do the Festival and then stick around to race for the Walter Hayes Trophy at Silverstone a week later.

The key is awareness.

“We have to start building interest earlier,” Graham told me in conversation at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park a few weeks ago. “If we want this to grow, we can’t start beating the drums in July — it has to be a year-‘round project.”

To this end, Paul Einarson has notified Graham that his organization, the British Auto Racing Club (he’s the club’s Race Director), will make a modest annual contribution to the scholarship fund starting in 2013 .

Wrote Einarson: “This is to say thanks to Brian Graham and his associates for developing this program as a ladder to international racing opportunities for Canadians. I have copied the other Race Organizers in Ontario on this and challenge them to contribute similarly.”

Good for Brian Graham for getting this going, good for the sponsors and supporters who have already signed on, and good for Paul Einarson for starting the ball rolling on a grassroots support movement.

To learn more about the Team Canada Scholarship, visit www.teamcanadaracing.org and to follow their progress this weekend, please visit the Team Canada Scholarship Facebook page at:

https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/216921815005015/.

This year’s Team Canada Scholarship was made possible with the support of primary sponsors Grote Manufacturing and The Race Drivers Guild of Canada, who were both instrumental in the program’s creation.

Also supporting the Scholarship are Hallman Construction, LSI International, Gen. Lew Mackenzie RET, Bollenbach Insurance, EFormulacarnews.com, Door Doctor, Harvan Engineering, Rod-End Mechanical, Bamford Produce, RMB Inc, the Leda Krikorian Foundation, Altwood Doors, Bruce Gregory/Calabogie Motorsports Park, Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, Inside Track Motorsports News and Formula Tour 1600.

Grist named 2012 Team Canada Scholarship winner

Reprinted from eFormulaCarNews.com

Rising young Ontario driver Garett Grist of Whitby is the 2012 winner of the 2012 Team Canada Racing Scholarship. The up-and-comer will represent Canada at the 41st running of the world-famous Formula Ford Festival in England in October.

Grist, who's competing this year in the very competitive U.S.  F1600 Formula F Championship Series, is the second winner of the scholarship. Quebec racer Xavier Coupal was the first last year and almost stood the Festival on its ear by finishing second in his heat, winning his semi-final race and starting the championship race from pole before being hit from behind and crashing out of the event.

Grist, a former karting standout, has consistently challenged for top honors in the Formula F championship, displaying not only great speed and race craft behind the wheel but also the skill and professionalism of a future champion outside the cockpit.

Building on a strong debut car racing season in the Ontario F1600 Championship in 2011 - which featured two wins en route to second in the point standings - Grist is currently fourth in the F1600 Formula F Championship Series title chase, with three podium visits as a rookie driving for series newcomers Bryan Herta Autosport.

Grist, a member of the Sofina Foods Drivers' Development program, is now poised to face his biggest racing challenge to date. He'll travel to the famous Brands Hatch Circuit in England to go head-to-head against the best F1600 racers in the world in the Oct. 27-28 festival.

"I am really excited to be selected for the 2012 Team Canada Scholarship," Grist said. "It is a great opportunity to represent Canada at one of the biggest Formula Ford races in the world. For anyone racing F1600, this is the event that you want be in at some point in your career.

"Xavier [Coupal] set the bar pretty high last year, so I know I have my work cut out for me. The chance to run with Cliff Dempsey Racing will be a great experience for me as a driver. I really want to thank everyone on the selection committee for believing in me. I also want to recognize the incredible group of drivers that were on the list. I have raced against most of them, and it really makes this award very special."

Grist was chosen as the 2012 Team Canada Scholarship winner following an extensive evaluation process by the 2012 selection committee of Brian Graham (Team Canada/BGR Team Grote), Ian Willis (AIM Autosport), Kyle Marcelli (Merchant Services Racing), Allan Craighead (eFormulaCarNews.com), and Norris McDonald (Toronto Star).

In what was painstaking affair, the initial list of 10 gifted drivers nominated was narrowed down to five, with Grist emerging as the scholarship winner, marginally ahead of Formula Tour 1600 Series racer Nathan Blok, USF2000 Championship driver Scott Hargrove, Ontario F1600 Championship driver Michael Adams, and USF2000 Championship racer Matthew Di Leo.

"This was a very very difficult decision," saud Graham, one of the three founders of the Team Canada Scholarship program.

"The final group of five drivers were so impressive. We went back and forth trying to pick this year's winner. If we had the funding, we'd send all five, as they are all deserving winners. That being said, we are very excited that we will have Garett piloting the Team Canada entry at this year's Formula Ford Festival and are confident we will be challenging for top honors come Sunday's Final at Brands Hatch."

The Team Canada Scholarship program would not be possible without the  assistance of its corporate sponsors, partners and supporters: Brad Morris & Grote Industries of Canada ( http://www.grote.com ), Nick Majors and the Race Driver’s Guild of Canada ( http://www.racedriversguild.ca ), Gen. Lewis Mackenzie (Ret.), Formula Tour 1600 Series (http://www.siteformulatour1600.com ),LSI Industries ( http://www.lsi-industries.com ), Rod Ends Mechanical ( http://www.rod-ends.com ), Jim Hallman, EFCN ( http://www.eformulacarnews.com ), BGR-Team Grote Racing ( http://www.briangrahamracing.com ), Bamford Produce ( http://www.bamfordproduce.com ), Bollenbach Insurance ( http://www.bollenbachinsurance.com ), Harvan Engineering Ltd. ( http://www.harvan.com ), and Door Doctor ( http://doordoctor.com ).

For more information on the Team Canada Scholarship, see http://www.teamcanadaracing.org 

You can follow the team on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/groups/216921815005015

Elvis Stojko reveals plans to race cars

FLASH: Canada may soon have a new racing hero to cheer for.

As Paul Tracy, Patrick Carpentier and Jacques Villeneuve walk off into the sunset, leaving James Hinchcliffe, Robert Wickens and Alex Tagliani to carry the Canadian flag into battle, champion figure skater Elvis Stojko revealed today that he's about to launch a car racing career.

During an interview on the Fan 590 radio station in Toronto, Stojko - who'd been contacted to talk about the upcoming Summer Olympics in London (he's a three-time Olympic silver medalist in figure skating) - let it be known that he was in serious training for a season of shifter-kart racing.

There's a wonderful world-class kart facility at le Circuit-Mont Tremblant race track north of Montreal and Stojko said he was spending a week there to hone his skills as a kart racer.

"My arms hurt and my body aches but I'm having a great time," he said after telling his interviewer that the kart he's training in this week is capable of an average speed of 160 km/h.

Stojko said his wife, Mexican figure skater Gladys Orozco, used to race karts as a child and is fully supportive of his ambition.

It was then that he said his plan is to become a car racer, although he didn't reveal whether that would be in single-seaters, sedans or stock cars.

Now, if I was Francois Dumontier, president and CEO of Octane Racing, which promotes the F1 race in Montreal and the Edmonton Indy, I would be on the phone to Stojko asap to invite him to compete in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series race he'll be promoting at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve next month.

That race weekend needs help - the Canadian Tire series is part of a double-header with the NASCAR Nationwide Series - and has been successful in large part because of the presence of famous Canadian racers, particularly French-Canadian racing stars.

But Carpentier had to be enticed out of retirement for this year's race and Villeneuve and Tagliani are not the draws they once were. Danica Patrick will be there but the Cup stars (other than Carl Edwards and Marcos Ambrose) have never embraced that race.

But Elvis Stojko? In a stock car? I betcha that would sell some tickets.

Meantime, good luck to Elvis. His participation in motorsports will draw a lot of attention from people who wouldn't normally be interested.

Figure skating has a huge fan base and if even some of them become race fans as a result, it will be a real shot in the arm for the sport.

Earlier:

Latino top drag racer; Touring cars, Porsches thrill

Although this is a few days later, here is what happened last weekend in "local" racing:

(My definition of "local" racing is racing that is not Formula One, NASCAR, American LeMans/Grand Am or IndyCar . . .)

Before we concentrate on the major Canadian races in support of the ALMS at Mosport – Canadian Touring Cars and the Porsche GT3 Challenge Canada – let’s catch up with Ontario drag racing.

At the Bend Motoplex, Eric Latino of Whitby won the Pro Modiified Racing Association headline event at the IHRA MOPAR Nitro Jam Nationals. It was his fourth victory in PMRA competition.

Driving his Team Green ‘69 Chevy Camaro, Latino – who’d qualified fourth behind PMRA points leader Bruce Boland of Hamilton – defeated Rocky Di Lecce of Mississaugua in the final round.

Latino is now in second place in the PMRA 2012 Series presented by Global Emissions Systems, Inc., behind Boland, who has a 26-point lead.

Next time out for the drag racers is the August Civic Holiday weekend at Toronto Motorsports Park. In addition to the PMRA, the Quick 32 Sportsman Series presented by NAPA and the Pro Bike & Sled Series presented by Wiseco Performance Products will also compete at TMP.

Now, before we leave the drag racers, Melanie Simmons and her Toyrific Racing Top Dragster Team, based in Orillia, has signed a product marketing agreement with Aeroquip Performance Products and will be flying its colours at drag meets for the foreseeable future.

You know, it doesn’t matter whether it’s drag racing or circuit racing or oval racing, when you add it all up, Canadian companies and corporations are investing millions of dollars in motorsport and I urge fans everywhere to patronize the businesses and purchase the products of those companies.

Moving right along, the World of Outlaws sprint cars – the F1 and Indy cars of sprint car racing – are coming to Canada Friday for a four-speedway swing that will see them wrap up at Ohsweken Speedway on the Six Nations Reserve next Tuesday night.

At Williams Grove Speedway in Pennsylvania last weekend, Steve Kinser received a cheque for $10,000 for leading the series at the halfway point of the season.

Kinser, Sammy Swindell, Joey Saldana, Craig Dolansky and the rest of the Outlaws will race at Autodrome Granby and Autodrome Drummondville in Quebec on Friday and Saturday nights, then move to Cornwall Speedway on Sunday before finishing off the Canadian swing at Ohsweken on Tuesday.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if you have never seen an Outlaws race, you are missing one of the most incredible forms of racing in the world. They don’t come by this part of the world all that often, so don’t miss them.

Tony Stewart will be the big draw at Ohsweken. In fact, he’ll be there for a 360 sprint car race Monday night as well as Tuesday night with the Outlaws. Reserved seats are on sale now and can be purchased by calling the speedway.

Okay, last weekend at Mosport, the Canadian Touring Car Championship raced twice – on Saturday and Sunday and both at the end of the day, which meant the track was less than perfect.

In the first race Saturday, Remy Audette was the winner in Super Touring class, followed by Bob Attrell and Philip Fayer. Series leader Sasha Anis spun in fluid early in the race and crashed.

In Touring Class, Alain Lausiere was first, followed by Damon Sharpe and Jonathan Young. In B-Spec Class, Nick Wittmer was first, followed by his brother Karl. Guest media driver Russ Bond finished a wonderful third.

In the race on Sunday – the tenth round of the season – Anis recovered wonderfully from his terrible Saturday, starting 18^th and passing everybody to finish on the top step of the podium. Attrell was second again, followed by Scott Nicol. In the Touring and B-Spec Classes, the contestants finished exactly the same way they had on Saturday.

The series now goes to Trois-Rivieres, Que., the first weekend in August.

The Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin, which is the fastest-growing single-make series in North America, also held two races.

In the first, on Saturday, Carlos de Quesada was first in Platinum class, with Perry Bortolotti second and John Ellis third. In Gold class, Chris Green was first, followed by Robert Maranda and Bruce Gregory. Finally, in Silver class, Robert Seitz was first, with Leho Poldmae second and Gavor Foti third.

In the second race on Sunday, Etienne Borgeat was first in Platinum class, with Jean-Frederick Laberge second and Bortolotti third. Green repeated as Gold class winner, with Gregory second and Peter Collins third. In Silver class, Seitz was first again, with Foti and Poldmae switching places from Saturday for second and third.

Both races were actually won by Kyle Marcelli of Barrie but, since he is a professional racing driver and the other participants are semi-pros or non-professionals (I hate the word amateur), he participated as a guest driver and his results were not counted.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kurt Busch gets his comeuppance

It’s finally happened.

A high-profile professional athlete has found out what things are like in the real world.

No more pampering, no more putting up with temper-tantrums, no more embarrassing the boss or the sponsor who pays the bills.

Kurt Busch has been told by Roger Penske not to let the door hit him in the butt on the way out. He’s been fired, canned, downsized, whacked.

And not a minute too soon.

Penske fired driver Busch late Sunday as the result of a public meltdown following his elimination from the season-ending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway earlier this month.

Penske waited until the weekend's end-of-season ceremonies in Las Vegas were over before handing Busch the pink slip. According to Charlotte.com, which broke the story Sunday night, the official announcement would be made some time Monday (Penske link here).

(Both Busch and a spokesman for Penske Corp. said Monday afternoon that Busch was not fired but that there was an amicable parting of the ways. Both Busch and the Penske executive couldn't have said nicer things about each other if they'd been written . . .)

The reason for the firing - er, amicable parting of the ways - was Busch's tirade directed at ESPN/ABC pit reporter Dr. Jerry Punch when the network was slow to leave race action in order for the driver to be interviewed after he was forced out of the race because of transmission problems.

After asking "why can't we tape this?" Busch became agitated and swore at both interviewer Punch and a camerman. Eventually, Punch said to "forget it" and walked off. Busch went into the Penske hauler but the scene was recorded on video by a fan with a cellphone (see the video below).

Warning: Strong language

This was the third or fourth incident this season in which Kurt Busch - not to be confused with his younger brother Kyle Busch, who escaped being fired recently by Joe Gibbs Racing after losing his temper during a Camping World Truck Series race and deliberately wrecking an opponent - lost control of his emotions.

He dressed down his crew and swore at his crew chief during a race (the profanity over the team radio was heard on live television), had to be restrained from attacking a television reporter who asked him a charged question and refused to answer questions when confronted by another journalist.

Some of these transgressions may appear to be minor (I sympathized - somewhat - with Busch when I saw the cellphone video of the Punch incident; he had just suffered a major disappointment and had to wait, and wait, and wait to be interviewed when, I'm sure, he just wanted to get out of there) but in the commercial world of NASCAR, where the teams and drivers are paid millions to represent corporations who are providing those millions, you can't behave like a Saturday night dirt car jockey just starting out.

As professional football, baseball, basketball, hockey and golf players are not allowed to behave like jerks, racing drivers aren't either. Both Busch brothers have lost sight of this throughout their careers and it is to Roger Penske's credit that he said enough is enough, and pulled the plug.

You wonder if executives at Mars Inc., which agreed with Joe Gibbs to continue to support Kyle Busch in 2012 after removing their wraps from his cars in the last two races of 2011, might be wondering today if they should have done the same thing.

Of course, Mars has an executive board and those things are quicksand when it comes to making a decision. Penske runs Penske and his word is law. Although Roger has a board of directors, it's clear that he calls the shots. And he calls those shots pretty well.

It's also clear that Kurt Busch didn't see the dismissal coming. He gave a press conference in Las Vegas on Friday in which he talked about working through some issues with a sports psychologist but then veered off on a tangent and said some pretty strong things about a previous employer.

He must have known he was walking on thin ice and yet he still kept going further and further out from shore.

The ice finally broke Sunday night.

There are few, if any, good rides available for 2012, so Busch could be in some trouble - unless he takes his personal millions and purchases the Red Bull team, which is in the process of going out of business, and runs his own entry.

On the other hand, this might turn out to be good news for Sam Hornish Jr. Hornish was a highly successful Indy car driver for Penske but has had trouble adapting to stock cars.

However, Penske has never wavered in his support for Hornish, who won the second-last Nationwide Series race this year (his first in NASCAR), and announced plans to run him for a full season in the Nationwide in 2012.

Might Penske move Hornish up to the big team? We'll see.

'KURT BUSCH STILL DOESN'T GET IT' - SEE NORRIS McDONALD'S TUESDAY COMMENTARY HERE

Meantime, last week was not a good one for promising young  Canadian racing drivers.

Two, in particular.

Ironically, they're both profiled in the current issue of Sportsnet magazine as young guys on the way up.

Robert Wickens, 22, of Guelph and Toronto, was the first one to get a kick in the stomach when he found out, at the Grand Prix of Brazil, that a Formula One ride in 2012 that he had been led to believe he had a shot at was being given to a young European driver whose curriculum vitae is nowhere near Wickens’s.

There was Wickens, at the Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo, site of the last F1 race of the 2011 season, in his role as official reserve driver for the Marussa-Virgin F1 team. He was reigning champion of the World Series by Renault and had been told by his sponsor, the Marussia supercar company, that all they were looking for in a potential F1 driver was results.

He had kept his part of the bargain and delivered, in spades. He had won the 2011 Renault F3.5 title after two seasons of finishing second in two other European F1 feeder series, Formula 2 and GP3.

So right in the middle of the Grand Prix weekend, Wickens find out – as did the world – that a young French driver named Charles Pic, who in six years of racing in comparable series to Wickens had never finished higher than third in the standings, would become a Formula One driver in 2012 as a teammate to the underachieving Timo Glock.

Of course, the Marussia-Virgin F1 team – like most of the teams in F1 these days (McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari excepted) – never saw a cheque it didn’t like. Despite what Wickens had been told, that all Marussa was looking for was results, in the end they went for the money and not the talent.

So that was disappointment No. 1. Here comes No. 2.

In mid-week, James Hinchcliffe of Oakville, who had won the Sunoco Rookie of the Year title in the IZOD IndyCar Series this year, found out that he was suddenly unemployed as a result of his team, Newman/Haas Racing, announcing it would not be participating in the IZOD IndyCar Series in 2012.

Hinchcliffe, who turns 25 today (Monday), had paid his dues and was enjoying his success. A veteran of the Formula BMW, Star Mazda, Champ Car Atlantic, A1-GP and Indy Lights series, Hinch put all his eggs in one basket over the winter of 2010-11 and made it plain that it would be the Big Leagues or nothing by the time spring and summer arrived.

Thank goodness that the Toronto investment firm Sprott Inc. opted to sponsor him. Despite missing the opening race of the season, Hinchcliffe went on to finish 12^th in points, won the rookie title and looked to be well on his way.

But then came Thursday’s announcement and despite putting his best face forward – "I'll have to regroup but there are still some seats available on good teams," he told me on the phone – he had clearly been gobsmacked.

"Hinch," like Wickens, is the perfect driver for a modern-day racing team: fast in the car but – just as important – social media savvy. He’s just the ticket needed to connect with young fans.

Although not officially disappointment No. 3, the fact that two young tiger Canadian drivers are now looking for rides in 2012 does not bode well for Paul Tracy in his quest to land full-time employment in 2012 (I still maintain Wickens would be better off trying Indy cars than continuing to try to make an impression in Europe).

It was going to be an iffy proposition in any event. Love him as we all do, Tracy is just not as fast as he was when he was a kid and when push comes to shove, and the choice comes down to a Wickens or a Hinchcliffe or a Tracy, some car owner is going to nod toward the first two before he sticks out his hand to the veteran who's third in line.

And that, as Stone Cold Steve Austin would say, is the bottom line.

Notebook:

– Tony Stewart was crowned NASCAR Sprint Cup champion in Las Vegas at the weekend and that pretty much wraps up the 2011 season. The Red Bull stock car team is kaput (although there is a rumour around that someone still wants to buy it . . . Jacques Villeneuve, perhaps? . . . but just what is left to purchase?) The employees have all been let go and what infrastructure remains is anybody’s guess.

On the driver front, Kyle Busch is being urged to just be a Sprint Cup driver in 2012; the thinking being that trying to race in three series might be contributing to his periodic meltdowns. Meantime, his brother, Kurt Busch, has let it be known he's working with a sports psychologist to try to get his emotions under control.

– Autosport magazine threw a gala in London Sunday night and handed out a pile of awards. Sebastien Vettel was named international racing driver of the year and Jenson Button was honoured as British driver of the year. Dan Wheldon was given a posthumous award to recognize his lifetime achievements in motorsport, which was accepted by his father, Clive, and his IndyCar friend and rival, Dario Franchitti. F1 driver Paul di Resta was named Rookie of the Year.

– French driver Sebastien Ogier won the Race of Champions over Tom Kristensen at the Esprit Arena in Dusseldorf. Michael Schumacher and a whole bunch of racing people were there. In Brazil, F1 driver Jaime Alguersuari won Felipe Massa’s annual go-kart celebrity race with Lucas di Grassi and Rubens Barrichello second and third. Jules Bianchi, a soon-to-be-Ferrari driver (development program) actually won but was disqualified for being underweight. His car was too light, that is.

– The World of Outlaws sprint cars will race four times in five nights in Canada next July, kicking off their "northern swing" at Autodrome Granby, Autodrome Drummondville, Cornwall Motor Speedway and then the Brantford-area Ohsweken Speedway, where the feature this year was won by none other than Tony Stewart. Trust me on this: if you have never seen the Outlaws in action, go.

Lewis Hamilton gives Nicole Scherzinger the cold shoulder

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

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

Apparently . . .

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

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

Judge for yourself.

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

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

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

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

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

Okay, moving right along to other motorsport topics:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A powerhouse lineup, for sure.

Look what's going on out at Mosport

Here is a ton of auto racing news to chew on:

First, the subject that’s been on everybody’s mind going back to early in the summer. Exactly what do Mosport’s new owners plan to do with the facility?

There have been all sorts of rumours – that it would become a country club with multimillion-dollar houses owned by people who would drive their Ferraris around the place after work, and so-on – but, as new owner (one of three) Ron Fellows said: "Mosport is an auto racing facility and will always be an auto racing facility. It is in the big-event racing business and it is open for business.”

One of the problems Mosport has faced, however, is that the place is pretty much the same as it’s been since 1962 when the Control Tower was built. Yes, Andy Evans (who owned the place for a few years in the late-1990s) removed the “hump” at the end of the back straightaway that caused cars to “take off,” and Don Panoz, who most recently owned the park, widened the track itself, but other than that, Mosport has been the same place it’s been for years and years.

In order to attract the top series (NASCAR, anyone? IndyCar, perhaps?), improvements to bring the place up to top-professional series standards were sorely needed. So renovations have commenced:

Below are photos taken in recent days of the new tunnel under the track, between corners 9 and 10, that is replacing the single-lane tunnel that was put in when the place was built in 1960 (it opened for racing in 1961).

The new tunnel will allow transport-trailers to enter the infield and leave the infield while racing is taking place. Previously, competitors had to wait until end of day before leaving the facility by driving across the race track.

In addition to the two lanes reserved for modern-day race-car haulers, there will also be a pedestrian walkway. Until now, as everybody knows, people walking through that tunnel had to wait for a break in the traffic and then run through the tunnel for fear of being caught in there when a car or truck approached.

Here are three photos to illustrate what’s happening out there. I am told, by the way, that this will be the major change for the 2012 season. Additional improvements are planned (a new corporate centre, a new media centre, etc.) but those will happen in due course.

Okay, moving right along:

- A brand new Canadian Monster Truck will make its world-wide debut a week from Wednesday (Nov. 30) at 11 a.m. at the Rogers Centre. Details to follow. That’s what the press release says and who am I to argue?

-- Pirelli says that following an extensive investigation of the circumstances that led to Sebastian Vettel’s right-rear tire suddenly deflating on the opening lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last weekend, a structural failure of the tire has been ruled out as the cause. The tire company added that track debris or other outside circumstances cannot be excluded as a possible cause.

“Other outside circumstances?”

What’s that? Sabotage?

My guess: the tire was under-inflated to start with and the bead broke when Vettel turned left and the weight of the car shifted to the right rear.

- Keith Wiggins’ HVM Racing team (Simona de Silvestro, up) and Bryan Herta Autosport will be formally announced as Lotus engine runners in the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series during a press conference Thursday  at the Los Angeles auto show.

The two teams are the first official Lotus-powered participants. Chevrolet and Honda are the two other engine manufacturers involved in the series.

 “I know a lot of people are skeptical but I’ve spent a lot of time with those people and I’m very optimistic it will be the better engine,” said Wiggins, whose Indy-based operation will be renamed Lotus/HVM and get support from the livery made famous by the late Colin Chapman.

 “We were interested in being with Lotus from the beginning and we came to a partnership agreement two months ago,” Wiggins said.

- Meantime, Panther Racing has confirmed that it has exercised its two-year option on J.R. Hildebrand’s contract, ensuring that the 23-year-old Californian will pilot the team’s No. 4 U.S. National Guard entry for the 2012 and 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series seasons.

Hildebrand, the reining Indianapolis 500 runner-up and top race rookie, just completed his first full IndyCar Series season for Panther and led three races while collecting two top five and five top ten  finishes during the year.

Hildebrand finished second in the IndyCar series’ Rookie of the Year race to Canadian James Hinchcliffe, of Oakville.

- Note to IndyCar: Three offshore powerboat racers were killed in racing action this week at the Key West (Fla.) World Championships. The racing continued, despite the fatalities.

- Toronto-born Darren Law will race a new Chevrolet Corvette Daytona Prototype in the 2012 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series, it was announced this week.

Law will return to Action Express Racing, driving the No. 5 Corvette DP. The Phoenix driver was in Daytona Beach for the introduction this week of the car, the first built to third-generation Daytona Prototype specifications.

Speaking of that car, if you look at it one way, it looks like a Corvette. If you look at it another way, it looks like a Daytona Prototype. I like the look of Corvettes; I don’t like the look of the DPs. So I’m conflicted.      

- Ace track PR man Tommy Goudge reports that the 2011 Ohsweken Speedway season was capped off in fine fashion last Saturday night with the annual awards banquet at the Marritt Hall in Ancaster. Jim Huppunen was honoured as the fourth champion of the Corr/Pak Merchandising Sprint Car division, while Mike Thorne was crowned Lighthouse Tattoos Thunder Stock champion. Karl Sault received HRW Automotive Mini Stock accolades while Rodney Rutherford was awarded his trophy as champion of the Pierced Parts Bomber division.

- Mike Vincec of Stouffville (below) is set to return to the 15th running of the SuperKarts! USA SuperNationals, which start Friday. Taking on the headline KZ2 class against some of the top shifter kart pilots from around the world, Vincec will look to cap off his 2011 season with a strong result at the Las Vegas event.

Good luck, Mike!

- And finally, rally ace Andrew Comrie-Picard of Toronto (known to his friends as "ACP") will host the pilot episode tonight of Battle Cross, a new action television show premiering on Speed TV at 10 p.m. Eastern. The high-energy, action-packed show will feature two pro drivers battling for best time and style on a stunt course laid out by ACP and tested in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X rallycross car.

I’ll be watching. Will you?

Kart racers to battle at Goodwood

Marco Di Leo is defending champion in Rotax Max Senior/photo by Cody Schindel, Autosports Media Group

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My weekend racing preview can be viewed in the post below but one of  the items I mentioned in it deserves a bit more attention.

The 2011 Eastern Canadian Karting Championships will be held this weekend at Goodwood Kartways, north of Stouffville, and the best and most ambitious kart racers east of the Manitoba border are champing at the bit.

A full day of testing is scheduled for Friday; races in all classes will go on Saturday and Sunday with the finals scheduled to start both days at 3:15 p.m.

Special attention will be on the Rotax Junior, Senior and DD2 classes as the champions will qualify for spots on Rotax Max Team Canada and get to compete at the 2011 Rotax World Championships.

Here is a brief rundown of racers to watch:

Rotax Max Senior

Hometown driver Marco Di Leo is the defending class champion and no karter on the planet knows the intricacies of Goodwood as well as he does, considering that his family owns the place. He qualified for Team Canada when the Canadian National Championships were last held atthe circuit.

The same is true of sophomore senior Steven Szigeti, as he also qualified for Team Canada the last time he raced at Goodwood.

A third reigning champion is Michael Vincec. Another hometown racer, the Stouffville driver won the recent Florida Winter Tour DD2 class championship, and has already qualified for the 2011 version of Team Canada.

Rotax Max Junior

Defending champion Jesse Lazare is back and looking for a repeat. Zachary Claman DeMelo won the Mini-Max Championship last season and is coming off podiums and wins at the Florida Winter Tour. Olivier Bedard won pole at the Canadian National Championships last year at Mont-Tremblant, then won the first heat.

Rotax DD2

The DD2 class championship last season was a two-way fight and at least one of those drivers — Darren White — will be at Goodwood.

One of the racers he’ll be up against is former DD2 World Champion and Canadian karting superstar Pierre-Luc Ouellette. Others include Cory Luciano, Enrico Menotti, Stefano Romano, Tyler McEwan and Nick Latifi.

The 2011 Eastern Canadian Karting Championship alternates between Ontario and Quebec. After Goodwood, Karting Trois-Rivieres will run race three on May 29. Races four and five will be held June 25-26 at Mosport while the finale will offer a preview of the Canadian National Championships as the Jim Russell Karting Academy at Mont-Tremblant will welcome drivers on July 17.

For more information, go to www.eckc.ca

Video: IndyCar driver takes a shower

IZOD IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe of Oakville is soon to become the series’ most popular driver, once this YouTube video gets around.

"Hinch," who’s en route to Brazil for this weekend’s Sao Paulo Indy 300, has starred in a video to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of a dog shower/spa that’s on offer at his sister’s new pet grooming business in Burlington.

He gets right in the washing machine and stays for the cycle (to the tune of Bobby Darin's 'Splish-Splash,' by the way).

He doesn't bark to get out, either.

The Newman-Haas driver is just the breath of fresh air that the series – which visits Toronto July 8-10 for the Honda Indy Toronto – needs.

Watch the video

Meantime, another young Canadian race driver, Daniel Morad of Markham, is off to Europe today in hopes of attracting additional sponsorship to get him back in a car for the GP3 race at Istanbul that will be a preliminary to the May 8 Grand Prix of Turkey.

Morad’s grandfather is Lebanese, and that enabled him to attract sponsorship from Lebanon for a season last year in the GP3 Series, in which he won a race.

A current World Champion of karting, Morad has the credentials to make it all the way to the top, as he proved when he won the Formula BMW Americas title in 2007. He won rookie-of-the-year in that series in 2006.

Morad would like to attract Canadian sponsorship. His current backer, Andrew DeFrancesco of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., founder and CEO of Delavaco Capital Corp. , has supplied him with a budget but he needs more to make a season.

If anybody would like to help out Morad, and wants to get in touch with him, email me and I’ll send you his phone number.

He deserves to be out there with Robert Wickens, Gianmarco Raimondo, J.R. Fitzpatrick and other young Canadian chargers who have the talent to beat the world but are often lacking the financial resources to do it.