Norris McDonald's Auto Racing Blog

Weekend Racing Rdp: Indy qualifying, Busch is truck winner

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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On CTV, NASCAR Canada and Dick Trickle

Everybody knows it’s better to see anything live and in colour, as it happens.

You can sit in a movie theatre in Toronto and watch the Met’s production of Aida in New York, but you miss out on the fun and excitement of getting to the legendary Opera House at Lincoln Square on the Upper West Side.

It’s all very well to sit through a travelogue on Ireland in the great room of a central Toronto country club but you’re not feeling the heat of the summer or breathing in the smell of the Irish air. And, yes, it was fun being outside the Air Canada Centre when the Leafs were playing Boston but wouldn’t it have been better on the inside?

Having said all that, you sometimes just can’t get somewhere, and that’s when TV steps in.

In a blockbuster announcement this week, CTV and NASCAR said two of this season’s major stock car races from Canadian Tire Motorsport Park will be televised live across Canada.

Coverage this coming Sunday of the first race of the 12-race 2013 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series season will begin at 1 p.m. EDT on CTV.

And on Sunday, Sept. 1, TSN plans to televise the Canadian Tire Series race that will be part of the NASCAR Camping World Series truck race weekend. That program is scheduled to start at 11 a.m.

Barrie Speedway announcer Dave Bradley will handle the play-by-play duties while Billy Rowse Jr. and Adam Ross will provide the colour. They will be joined by pit reporters Todd Lewis and Spencer Lewis.

Long-time TSN auto racing host Vic Rauter will join the team for the live telecasts.

The live broadcasts will highlight the 2013 television schedule. The 10 remaining Canadian Tire Series events will be tape-delayed and shown on TSN as one-hour specials, with the exception of the final race Sept. 21 at Kawartha Speedway, which will be turned into a 90-minute special.

Additionally, TSN — which has been the television home for the series since NASCAR took over from CASCAR in 2007 — will air a season-in-review show on Nov. 30.

Great stuff.

Now, as the opening examples illustrate, it’s always better to be somewhere — whether it’s for a hockey game, or a Broadway show, or a Rolling Stones concert (I hear that tour’s being sponsored by Depends).

But if you can’t make it out to Old Mosport (north of Bowmanville, by the way) for the annual Victoria Day Weekend Speedfest, then be sure to tune in to CTV at 1 o’clock Sunday afternoon and enjoy the headline event of the weekend.

Now, Canadian Tire Series races at the Honda Indy Toronto and Montreal's Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve have been covered live previously by TSN.

And other races - American Le Mans Series sports car races, for instance - have been televised live from Old Mosport by NBC and the SPEED Channel.

But this will be a first time the first race of the NASCAR Canada season will be a live, coast-to-coast, event.

The rest of the lineup:

 

2013 NASCAR CANADIAN TIRE SERIES BROADCAST SCHEDULE ON TSN

Race Date	Venue	TSN/TSN2 Premiere
May 19	Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (road course)	Sun., May 19, 1 p.m. *
June 15	Delaware Speedway	Sun., June 23, 1 p.m.
June 22	Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (speedway)	Sun., June 30, 1 p.m.
July 7	Circuit ICAR	Sun., July 14, 11 a.m.
July 13	Motoplex Speedway	Sun., July 21, 1:30 p.m.
July 17	Auto Clearing Motor Speedway	Sun., July 28, 11 a.m.
July 27	Autodrome St. Eustache	Sun., Aug. 4, 11 a.m.
Aug. 11	Circuit de Trois-Rivieres	Sun.., Aug. 18, 11 a.m.
Aug. 17	Riverside International Speedway	Sun., Aug. 25, 1 p.m.
Sept. 1	Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (road course)	Sun., Sept. 1, 11 a.m. ‡
Sept. 7	Barrie Speedway	Sat., Sept. 14, 2 p.m.
Sept. 21	Kawartha Speedway	Sun., Oct. 6, 5:30 p.m. ^
	2013 Year In Review	Sat., Nov. 30, 1 p.m.

 All races subject  to change. Check local listings for updated broadcast times. All times ET.

* Scheduled live telecast on CTV

‡ Scheduled live telecast on TSN

^ Telecast on TSN2

.

SAD NEWS: Late Thursday afternoon, the news arrived that Dick Trickle, a midwest stock car driver who won the NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year award when he was 48 years old, had taken his own life at the age of 71.

Here's a link to the tribute (click here) but I can tell you that my favourite Dick Trickle line was at that year's NASCAR banquet in New York. As he accepted the award, he thanked Winston cigarettes for sponsoring the series so "young guys like me can make a name for themselves."

There's a video clip on the Internet that was sent to me today by my friend John Bassett that shows Trickle lighting up a cigarette at Talladega during a caution period. All those old-time racers smoked during races.

I can remember the glory days of the NASCAR modified series, the days when Richie Evans, George Kent, Jerry Cook, Reggie Rugierro, Maynard Troyer and all those guys would race and the moment - the moment - there was a red flag, the flashes from the cigarette lighters in the cockpits as the boys would light up could be seen from all around the speedway.

Here's that link.

R.I.P., Dick.

 

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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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Gilles Villeneuve, Gordon Smiley, and me

We all, or many of us, have our memories of this day 31 years ago when Canada and the world lost Gilles Villeneuve.

It was May 8, 1982, and Gilles – still seething with anger at the double cross performed by Ferrari teammate Didier Pironi at the previous Grand Prix at Imola – was on it, as he always was, in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder when he collided with Jochen Mass’s car.

And then it was over.

I can still hear my wife, a few moments after 5 o’clock that Saturday afternoon, yell these words down the stairs to where I was in the cellar: "Villeneuve! Fighting for his life."

She’d heard the news on the radio but there were no other details. No Internet in those days, we had to wait till 6 o’clock for the next CBC Radio news update and I couldn’t believe that the accident wasn’t the first item. (Some things never change.)

By 11 p.m., he was dead and it led the TV news. And then his story dominated the airwaves and the front pages of the newspapers until his funeral in the week that followed (click here).

I was crushed when I heard those five horrible words that my wife had called out to me, for several reasons. I’d been in my rec room that day, going over a checklist in anticipation of my debut the following weekend as a driver of supermodified racing cars at New York’s Oswego Speedway. I’d had some experience in less-powerful oval race cars, and had done a season of formula car racing, but I’d never been pushed off in as powerful a racing machine as a supermodified and I was apprehensive.

So, as well as being destroyed by the initial news that my hero had been grievously injured, my faith in my own existence was shaken. I started wondering if I was doing the right thing.

All weekend and into the week of the funeral, I was thinking (and you’ve heard this sort of thing from professional drivers after someone of the talent and stature of, say, a Jim Clark or an Ayrton Senna dies by racing accident), "If it can happen to Gilles, it can happen to anybody."

I thought about that, a lot.

But I’d pushed those thoughts aside by the time the following Saturday arrived. It was May 15. I was in the pits at Oswego and just about ready to strap into the car for my first warmup session when the late Mike Stone, a race driver from Toronto, walked up to me and said these words:

"Gordon Smiley just hit the wall at Indy. He never had a chance."

Smiley was trying to qualify for his third Indianapolis 500 that day and had overcorrected going into Turn 3, sending the car straight into the concrete at 200 miles an hour, destroying it and himself.

I still went out to race, but Gilles Villeneuve and Gordon Smiley were heavy on my mind and I just couldn’t bring myself to put my foot down all the way – that night, or ever.

They say all things happen for a reason.

I wonder.

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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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Racer 'Irish' Jack Murphy dies

“Irish” Jack Murphy of Liverpool N.Y., a hard charger to the core and a wonderful contributor to the sport of supermodified auto racing, has died.

Murphy won the first Oswego Classic at the northern New York speedway in 1957 and was second that same year in the NASCARSportsman/Modified championship at Trenton Speedway in New Jersey.

His other racing accomplishments included the Oswego Speedway points championship in 1952 and two New York State modified championship wins on the Syracuse Fairgrounds mile on Labour Day in 1959 and again in 1970.

The Oswego Oldtimers Internet site says that during the mid-1950s, Murphy - who started racing after leaving the military following the Second World War - competed weekly at central New York speedways like Brewerton, Canandaigua, Oswego and the Monro County Fairgrounds. His ability to race on both dirt and asphalt made him, as the website says, one of the finest drivers in the U.S. northeast.

Murphy’s cars, be they modifieds or supermodifieds, were easy to spot. They were painted green and white and had a shamrock on both sides. He always ran the number 6.

Following his retirement as a driver, he was an organizer and pit steward for the International Supermodified Association and provided methanol for the race cars at Oswego Speedway and wherever the ISMA cars were running.

More to come

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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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