Norris McDonald's Auto Racing Blog

Sunday racing rdp: Dumoulin wins, Wickens close

In warm sunshine and in front of a monster crowd, Louise-Phillipe Dumoulin of Trois-Rivieres, Que., won the Vortex Brake Pads 200 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on Sunday.

Jeff Lapcevich of Grimsby was second and Jason Hathaway of Dutton, Ont., was third in the opening race of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series stock car racing season.

Defending champion D.J. Kennington of St. Thomas finished fourth and Robin Buck of Campbellville was fifth. The rest of the Top Ten: Kerry Micks of Mt. Albert, Ty Dillon of Charlotte, N.C. (a Camping World Truck Series regular doing reconnaisance for the truck race at CTMP on Labour Day weekend), Noel Dowler of Sherwood Park, Alta., Trevor Seibert of Williams Lake, B.C., and Brad Graham of Glencoe, Ont.

It was the first NASCAR Canada victory for Dumoulin, who also races sports cars (ALMS and Rolex Grand Am).

Two of the race favourites were eliminated early in the race. Pole-sitter J.R. Fitzpatrick of Cambridge dropped out with a broken drive shaft and two-time Canadian Tire champion Scott Steckly of Milverton  crashed. He wasn't injured but his trip into the tire wall in Turn Three was spectacular.

Steckly said he might have hit some oil, he wasn't sure, but that "I lost the front" end and couldn't help hitting the tires.

"It's awful (the crash)," he said. "I feel badly for my crew, who worked so hard, and for all my sponsors, particularly Canadian Tire."

Dumoulin, a driving coach in his "off hours," said he was delighted to have won. He finished fifth a year ago in this race.

"The sponsors gave us a great program over the winter," he said, adding he likes racing at Old Mosport and has wonderful memories of competing at the Bowmanville-area circuit years ago when he raced in Formula 1600.

He said his plan was to save his car - prepared for him by Steckly, by the way - for the end of the race, to save his brakes and to keep calm.

Asked about the calibre of competition in the Canadian Tire series, Dumoulin said it was second to none, pointing out that "ex-F1 guys" (Max Papis) and "old IRL guys" (Alex Tagliani) have raced in the series and haven't dominated.

Lapcevich said he'd wanted to do well to honour the memory of his father, Joe Lapcevich, who died recently. "The support of family, friends and sponsors" was amazing, he said.

He said he'd tried to rattle Dumoulin in the last few laps but had wound up rattling himself instead. "I overshot Turn One," and by the time he regained controlf of his car, Dumoulin was too far in front to catch.

Hathaway, who has entered all 76 races since NASCAR purchased the old CASCAR series from founder Tony Novotny and rebranded it the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, scored his best career finish. He was eighth here a year ago.

Oh, by the way, just to get all of the proper sponsor plugs in: the name of the race, the series and the locale, officially, is:

The Pinty’s presents the Vortex Brake Pads 200; the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1; Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

OTHER RACING

The Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Michelin held its second race of the weekend.  David Ostella of Maple, who raced in Indy Lights in recent years, took the checkered flag in Platinum Cup over Saturday’s race winner Spencer Pigot.  For the second straight day, Tim Sanderson was the victor in Gold Cup.

Sunday's racing action also saw the Canadian Touring Car Championship complete their weekend doubleheader.  Scott Nichol took the win in Super Touring over Benjamin Distaulo.  Michel Sallenbach was first in the Touring Class and Karl Wittmer took the victory in B-Spec.

In Canadian Supercar, Frank Fusillo went to the top step of the podium in the S1 class over Guy Leclerc.  Simon Dion-Viens was first in S2.

The final race of the weekend saw Florida native Doug Peterson win the SCCCA Trans-Am Series race over defending Series champion Tony Ave. 

Jimmie Johnson won the NASCAR All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway Saturday night, or Sunday morning - I'm not sure which. It was the witching hour, in any event. Johnson, who won the non-points, gimmicky event for the fourth time, took home a cheque totalling more than $1 million.

Meantime, at Brands Hatch in England, Canadian driver Robbie Wickens finished a career-best third in the German Touring Car Series (DTM) race there. Wickens joined another Canadian, Quebec driver Bruno Spengler, on the podium. Spengler finished second behind winner Mike Rockenfeller. Wickens was in a Mercedes, Spengler in a BMW and Rockenfeller in an Audi. Watch the video here.

Said Wickens: "This is my first podium in the DTM and, what's more, it comes after starting from 13th on the grid at Brands Hatch where overtaking is notoriously difficult. I certainly wasn't counting on that before the race. My target was just to finish in the points.

"To make that happen, I knew I would have to get off to a good start and overtake the drivers on the prime tires. This strategy worked well. I was pleasantly surprised by my race pace and I was even able to go past drivers on options when I was on primes. The middle stint went perfectly for me. I had two excellent pit stops and was able to control my part of the race right through to the end.

"Afterwards, I was in the middle of an interview when I was told to hurry along to the podium. So after a physically draining 98-lap race, I had to run the full length of the pit lane to the podium ceremony. But it was well worthwhile. It was a great feeling to taste champagne for the first time in my DTM career."

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Chevy Silverado to sponsor NASCAR race at CTMP

Roundup: NASCAR stock cars to join trucks at Old Mosport

Canadian Tire Motorsport Park has announced its major event schedule for 2013 and the really good news is that two of Canada’s finest racing series will be on the program next Labour Day weekend with the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

The NASCAR Canadian Tire stock cars and the Canadian Touring Car Series sedans will be sharing the legendary road circuit north of Bowmanville, formerly known as Mosport, with the Camping World trucks, which make up one-third of NASCAR’s top travelling series, the Sprint Cup and Nationwide stock cars being the other two.

The NASCAR Canada stock cars will actually be racing at Old Mosport three times next year. The Canadian Tire Series will headline the annual, traditional, Victoria Day SpeedFest on the road course that will also feature the Trans-Am Series, the Canadian Touring Cars and the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada.

And in addition to Victoria Day in May and Labour Day in September, the stock cars will also race at the Old Mosport oval on June 22.

Other big events at Canadian Tire Mosport Park (heh, heh) next summer will be the American le Mans Series on July 18-21, making its last stop before unification with the Grand-American Road Racing Series the following year; the Canadian Historic Grand Prix on June 14-16 and the Canadian Superbike Doubleheader Weekend in August.

More information and tickets can be found at: www.canadiantiremotorsportpark.com.

Meantime, the Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada has announced a special ticket package for next June that will allow a person to purchase a reserved seat in a different grandstand for each day of the three-day event.

Quantities are limited, so if you want in you’d better get cracking. Ticket combinations come in three packages - gold, silver and bronze and are on sale for $485, $449 and $267.50, respectively. More information at 514 350-0000 or 1-855-790-1245. Or go to www.circuitgillesvilleneuve.ca.

And tickets for the 2013 Honda Indy Toronto will go on sale next Monday, Dec. 10. And remember, the event will now feature two official, fully-sanctioned IZOD IndyCar Series races, one with a standing start on Saturday and a second with a rolling start on Sunday. Each event will be full length, with full points and full prize money.

The promoters are making changes to some of the grandstands. They plan to build three new “super-structure” grandstands – one at Turn 10 (consolidating three grandstands), a taller structure at Turn 11, and a Turn 3 Grandstand that will see the addition of 15 rows.

According to a release, the switch to larger grandstands will result in an important additional benefit: greater track-side access for General Admission ticketholders and fans who might wander around looking for multiple viewpoints. Tickets start at $35 for General Admission. For more information, go to www.hondaindy.com.

Here’s a change of pace: The Canadian Motortsport Hall of Fame has launched a new, redesigned, website — www.cmhf.ca

This easy-to-navigate website details the history of motorsport in Canada and features biographies, including photos, of more than 150 inductees.

Said general manager Sid Priddle: “Thanks to the development efforts of highly respected freelance journalist (and Wheels Insider) Gary Grant, CMHF is able to bring you this new look. Gary is also responsible for the creation of our Facebook page.”

As is the case with any new project, the website is a work in progress. However, the hall hopes to keep the site informative and current.

And the CMHF is looking forward to your feedback. Just click on “contact” and submit any comments or questions.

Meantime, Andretti Autosport introduced its drivers lineup for 2013 on Wednesday and it’s the same as 2012 with two minor twists. Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay will carry the No. 1 on his car instead of his familiar 28 (although “28” is included in the livery) and Marco Andretti will drive car No. 25, instead of 26. They have their reasons. James Hinchcliffe of Oakville, meantime, will continue aboard the No. 27 Go Daddy car.

Conor Daly, the son of ex-F1 and Indy car star Derek Daly who cut many of his racing teeth on the Ontario Formula Ford circuit driving for Brian Graham, will test for A.J. Foyt's IndyCar team at Sebring soon. Daly had designs on a career in Formula One but the IndyCar test would indicate he’s going to Plan B. He’s smart. You have to be the absolute best and have all the connections and the money needed to get into F1. That’s a triple whammy and very few young athletes have all three. It’s why I really hoped Guelph’s Robert Wickens would have taken a crack at IndyCar a year ago when his path to F1 was blocked. Believe it or not, it might be too late now.

Here’s not very good news. The Star Mazda Series is for sale and whether a buyer can be found in time for the 2013 season is questionable. In a letter to drivers and sponsors, Star Mazda owner Gary Rodrigues said the series would fold if it can’t be sold.

It seems that it doesn’t only cost a fortune to go racing these days, it costs as much or more to build a platform for racing.

Here are the nominees for the Mario Andretti Trophy as the SPEED performer of the year:

2010 SPEED Performer of the Year Sebastian Vettel (F1), Fernando Alonso (F1), Brad Keselowski (NASCAR), Jorge Lorenzo (MotoGP), Casey Stoner (MotoGP), Ryan Hunter-Reay (IndyCar), Antron Brown (NHRA), Kyle Larson (USAC), Sammy Swindell (WoO), Sebastien Loeb (World Rally), Andre Lotterer (WEC), Max Biaggi (World Superbike), Scott Pruett (Grand-Am), Donny Schatz (WoO), Josh Hayes (AMA Pro Superbike) and Ryan Villopoto (Supercross).

Andretti will present the trophy, a 100-pound sculpture created by bronze artist Elie Hazak, as part of a SPEED Center special on Jan. 27.

Any guesses who'll win?

NASCAR will use sports cars to fight IndyCar, F1

If you are in the ketchup business, you are in it to dominate the market. If need be, you will do just about anything and everything to put your competition out of business.

Same with beer, soft drinks or politics: if you’re a winner, your attitude is that this town ain’t big enough for the two (or more) of us.

Like it or not, this is also the way it is in big-league auto racing.

I’m not talking about the drivers, who obviously are out there to beat each other.

I’m talking about sanctioning bodies and I think this is the thinking behind NASCAR’s purchase recently of the American Le Mans Series.

There’s more to this than a simple buyout. Much more.

The competition for auto racing sponsorship mega-dollars, primarily, and bums-in-the-seats is heating up in the United States.

For years, NASCAR has had the No. 1 position all to itself but the ground is shifting.

Formula One is returning to the U.S., with a vengeance. After a promising start, F1 racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway stumbled badly: people really didn’t take to race cars going the wrong way at the fabled facility and the tire fiasco in 2005, when only six cars “raced,” and Michael Schumacher’s dumb attempt to “tie” with teammate Rubens Barrichello in 2002 turned the event into a joke.

After the 2007 race, F1 left the U.S. again — this time with its tail between its legs.

Next month, F1 returns to the States for a race at a purpose-built circuit outside Austin, Tex., and you can almost feel the excitement in the air all the way up here. There are only a few tickets left for the inaugural event. It is going to look fabulous on television. The Circuit of the Americas will rank right up there with Abu Dhabi and some of the other, newer, GP venues in the world.

And in about seven months, a second U.S. Grand Prix will be held, this one through the streets of several picturesque towns in New Jersey with the New York City skyline in the background.

This will be a powerful one-two punch.

Talking about television — there was a reference several paragraphs ago — Formula One has just signed a new deal with NBC to take race, qualifying and practice coverage away from the Fox-owned Speed Channel, starting in 2013. Bernie Ecclestone is delighted, and said he expects NBC to “promote Formula One to a level not seen before in the United States” across three platforms: over-the-air, cable and digital.

Although it has had its ups and downs, NBC is the most powerful and influential television network in the U.S., followed by its two old-time rivals ABC and CBS. Fox and its subsidiaries are way off in the distance.

Meantime, after years of struggle because of a civil war and coupled with bad management, the IZOD IndyCar Series has regained its sea legs and is embarking on an expansion program in 2013 that will see double-header races promoted in three of North America’s largest markets: Detroit, Toronto and Houston. Led by CEO Randy Bernard, IndyCar is making serious waves again.

The return of Formula One with not one but two races in a little more than half a year and a rejuvenated IndyCar series spells bad news for NASCAR.

It’s not that it won’t hold its traditional audience but the potential for NASCAR to grow is substantially limited in the face of increased competition, particularly in the boardrooms of Madison Avenue.

And anybody who knows anything about business is aware that it’s not good enough to just make a profit any longer; it’s the rate of growth and ability to attract new business that counts.

Now, NASCAR has the oval track crowd in its pocket. But the road-racing audience — that’s another kettle of fish.

NASCAR created the Grand American Road Racing Series in 1999 and took the Rolex Sports Cars Series under its wing in 2000 when the U.S. Road Racing Championship went out of business. Much like it's handled its Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World truck series championships, NASCAR concentrated on cost-effective sports car racing rather than high-tech. The result was club racing. The people doing the racing had a fine time but the product was not particularly spectator-friendly. This year’s Daytona 24 was a fine example: a good race with zero people there to watch it.

The Grand Am has been in competition with the much more exotic and high-tech American Le Mans Series, which puts on good races in front of sizable crowds. But much like the Indy car war, sports car racing was stymied when it came to growth because of two series instead of just one. As IndyCar has benefitted from unification, so could sports car racing — if some one or some thing wanted to make it happen.

Don Panoz, who started the ALMS, told me once that he had talked to NASCAR about unification but had balked “because they wanted to run everything." NASCAR finally made Panoz an offer he couldn’t refuse and unification will happen in 2014 under the Grand Am banner.

Since the announcement, many people have speculated about the makeup and direction of the new series and there has been an underlying suggestion that NASCAR will “dumb it down” so it’s much like the present Grand Am Series.

I thought so initially too. I’ve since changed my mind — and here’s why.

NASCAR bought the ALMS in order to be in control of what will eventually be a very high-tech sports car racing series to compete directly against the IndyCar Series and to blunt any inroads Formula One might have designs on making into the boardrooms of corporate America.

To do otherwise would be folly. And NASCAR has already indicated it will be going in that direction by meeting in Paris with officials of the Le Mans-centric Automobile Club of the West, which organizes and makes the rules for the annual 24-hour race.

NASCAR can revert to being a growth-oriented corporation by being as upscale and as high tech as it can in sports car racing.

And by so doing, it can cut IndyCar and F1 off at the pass.

Danica Patrick has to start fighting back

If Danica Patrick wants to survive in NASCAR, she’s going to have to start fighting back.

She’s been wrecked, or nearly wrecked, in every Sprint Cup race she’s started this year.

Saturday night, it was obvious she was just getting too uppity – it was late in the race and she was on the lead lap and closing in on a strong top 20 finish (in the two Cup races she’d actually finished earlier this year, she was no threat to anybody) – so Regan Smith just went up the track and ran into her for no particular reason other than she was there and he felt like taking her out.

Now, NASCAR’s veterans think it’s hilarious to initiate rookies, particularly drivers who aren’t regulars.  But it’s time for her to show them that enough is enough.

My advice to her today is simple: the next Sprint Cup start she gets, dump somebody. Pick a target and put him into the wall. Just do it. Send a warning to every driver out there: mess with me and I’m coming right back at ya.

Her boss, Tony Stewart, would approve, I’m sure. He let Matt Kenseth know how he felt on Saturday night. Yes, it was a little over the top when he threw his helmet at Kenseth after the two of them got together and crashed, but you can bet that Kenseth will have second thoughts about getting too close to Tony Stewart again this season.

And yes, I know Matt Kenseth is a tough guy in his own right and Tony Stewart didn’t exactly throw the fear of God into him with his little hissy fit. However, don’t ever kid yourself that Matt Kenseth won’t be thinking from now on about the possibility of getting wrecked every time Stewart goes to pass him or he goes to pass Stewart. Intimidation is the name of the game in big-league stock car racing and everybody has to learn how to play and that includes Danica Patrick.

Of course, if she starts fighting back on the track, that could open up another can of worms in the pits.

NASCAR drivers have been known to get physical. Not often, but it happens. Would anybody be foolish enough to take a swing at Patrick? Would she be foolish enough to take a swing at another driver? It’s not likely to happen – but it could.

And here’s another thing that some of those drivers would be wise to internalize: do any of them really want to be the driver whose deliberate actions result in her suffering a serious injury? Or worse?

The only time NASCAR will ever be on the front page of the New York Times is if Danica Patrick wins a race or, God forbid, what happened to Dan Wheldon happens to her.

I guarantee you that would be a disaster for NASCAR.

It is 2012 and sponsors might want to be associated with car racing on one hand but, on the other, they sure don’t want to be associated with a sport in which people are killed. Ten years ago, or 20, it was okay. Not any more.

IZOD has disappeared completely from the IndyCar series and that came about precisely because of what happened to Wheldon. The only reason IZOD’s name is still associated with that series is because of the contract.

And the same thing could happen to NASCAR if anything happened to Patrick.

Racing is racing and she’s out there taking her chances with everybody else. And when you have cars travelling in a pack at 150 or 200 miles an hour, negative things can and do happen.

But the next time somebody like Regan Smith sees Patrick and figures she’s an easy target, she might be – but to then take advantage of the situation might wind up doing far more harm to the sport than anybody realizes.

Patrick can help herself, and the sport, by letting everybody know now that it's time to lay off.

Oh, yeah: Denny Hamlin survived Bristol to win the Cup race. Jimmie Johnson was second and Jeff Gordon was third. Click here for story and results. There are two races left until the Chase field is set. Time for some people to get serious.

Friday night, Joey Logano won the Nationwide Series race – his sixth in that series this season. Click here for story and results.

Next weekend’s TV schedule illustrates perfectly why Randy Bernard is so keen to get IZOD IndyCar Series races off of TSN and onto one of Rogers Sportsnet ‘s national channels next year.

The Baltimore Grand Prix goes to the post next Sunday at 2:30 p.m. TSN has CFL football on the main channel that afternoon and U.S. Open tennis on TSN2. So they’re full up, it appears.

Rogers has a national channel plus four regional channels and their purchase of The Score this weekend will soon give them a second national channel.

So I will be surprised if all of the Indy car races in 2013 aren’t available live and in colour on one of Sportsnet’s national channels and I trust Bernard won’t sign a contract until he has that guarantee.

Meantime, I will likely listen to the Baltimore race in my car on my XM Satellite radio. Mike King and Davey Hamilton do a good job announcing. I discovered this when I was driving home from the drag races at Toronto Motorsport Park on a Saturday night in June and tuned into the Indy car race from Iowa Speedway.

It was kinda nice that night, bombing along Highway 6 South with the cruise control and the radio both on. The drag races had been terrific, the moon was bright and although I’d hoped to be home in time to watch the race on TV, the King-Hamilton broadcast on XM meant I didn’t miss a thing.

Now, I don’t want to be too critical of TSN. They reacted really well last year when I complained that they had filler stuff on TSN2 the second day of Indianapolis 500 time trials. Low and behold, somebody was paying attention and they threw out all the recorded stuff and put the time trials on live.

And next Sunday, they are televising the F1 race from Belgium in the morning and the very important NASCAR race from Atlanta on Sunday night. So thank you for that.

But do we really need 11 hours of U.S. Open tennis? Starting at 11 a.m. and continuing to 11 p.m. except for an hour of SportsCentre at 6? And this isn’t even the finals. We’re talking the third round here.

Is there no way to sneak in two hours of car racing at 2:30 in the afternoon (we can skip all the pre-race stuff)? Except for the people watching the race, I betcha hardly anyone will notice. . .

Meantime, the race from Sonoma yesterday – which was shown live at 4 p.m. on TSN2 (hooraaayyy!!!) – featured some great driving (winner Ryan Briscoe was perfect from start to finish and his pit crew was even better, essentially winning him the race at the last pit stop), some really sloppy driving (Helio Castroneves clipping Scott Dixon, Alex Tagliani knocking Ryan Hunter-Reay out of contention) and one of the scariest crashes seen in recent years.

Will Power finished second and, with two races remaining in the 2011 season, seems to be heading toward his first national IndyCar championship. He currently holds a 36-point lead over second-place Hunter-Reay with Castroneves five points further back. Dario Franchitti was third and F1 refugee Rubens Barrichello recorded a career-high IndyCar race finish of fourth.

The crash featured veteran Sebastien Bourdais and rookie Josef Newgarden. Bourdais lost his steering and, unable to control his car, essentially pushed Newgarden off the track and into a retaining wall that was protected by several rows of tires.

As ex-racer, team owner and colour commentator Robbie Buhl noted, the combination of the tires and the HANS device likely saved Newgarden from serious harm.

He did suffer an injury to one of his fingers because he held onto the steering wheel instead of letting it go. Remember the ribbing Danica took when she crashed for the first time in NASCAR and an in-car camera showed her letting go? Now they all do, because there’s a reason for it and Josef Newgarden’s broken finger illustrates exactly why.

James Hinchcliffe of Oakville had a rotten weekend and dropped out with mechanical problems. He was credited with 26^th place in the 27-car race.

One last thing about the Indy car race. Hunter-Reay was the victim when Tagliani went up the inside during a late-race restart and couldn’t stop, hitting RHR, spinning him around and really hurting his chances for the championship. But moments later, RHR ran into E.J. Viso and spun him around.

After the race, Hunter-Reay went to see Tagliani to "discuss" the incident between them. I was kinda hoping Viso would show up to give hell to Hunter-Reay for running into him – but no such luck.

Oh, Chevrolet clinched the engine manufacturer's championship when Briscoe crossed the finish line and Simon Pagenaud won rookie of the year. However, Pagenaud is a former Champ Car World Series driver and a veteran of the American Le Mans Series so, in my books, he ain’t no rookie.

Click here for full story and results.

Other weekend racing:

– Uxbridge native Alex Welsh captured his first career Canadian Pro Superbike victory Sunday at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. It was one of the most exciting Superbike finishes in series history.

Jordan Szoke of Brantford, who won his record eighth national title on Saturday, finished second and Kevin Lacombe of St-Cesaire, Que., finished third.

The three riders went back-and-forth for all 20 laps before Welsh went low on the last turn to squeeze past and take the checkered flag.

Lacombe was later disqualified for a technical violation. Bodhi Edie of Warman, Sask., was elevated to a podium finish.

In Moto GP action at the circuit in Brno, Czech Republic, Dani Pedrosa beat Jorge Lorenzo to the line in another thriller.

By the way, the photo at the top of this report was taken by John Walker and shows Alex Welsh leading Jordan Szoke and the rest of the Canadian Pro Superbike field.

– Canada’s Robert Wickens played bumper cars on the first lap of the German Touring Car Series (DTM) race at Zandvoort, Holland, on Sunday and a 12^th-place qualifying effort for Mercedes went for naught.

As Autosport.com reported, Wickens and Miguel Molina collided twice on the run to the first corner; the Spaniard ending up beached in the gravel at the Tarzan turn, while the Canadian was spun by Christian Vietoris two turns later and collected within seconds by Rahel Frey. All three retired.

The race was won by Edoardo Mortara in an Audi. Canadian Bruno Spengler finished sixth for BMW to keep his championship hopes alive.

– Audi won the manufacturers championship in the first year of the new FIA World Endurance Championship when Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler drove their Audi e-tron quattro the 2012 Six Hours of Silverstone on Sunday.

– It’s hardly worth mentioning . . . but Sebastien Loeb won his seventh World Rally Championship event of the season, and his fifth straight, when he won the German Rally for the ninth time at the weekend. When I say it’s hardly worth mentioning, what I mean is: who else?

Fond memories of Flamboro Speedway

Back in the early to mid-1960s, I used to attend races at Flamboro Speedway out near Hamilton.

A lot.

 In those days, I might be at Mosport during the day on Saturday to watch  practice and qualifying for Can-Am or Formula Fords and then bomb out of there by 4:30 or 5 in the afternoon so I could get over to Flamboro in time for an evening of supermodified racing. Then I’d be back at Mosport Sunday for the feature event of the weekend.

It was a great life.

I went to Flamboro with my best friend at the time, Rick Clare, and his brother and my sister (they dated for awhile) and assorted other friends and acquaintances.

The racing was edge-of-your-seat stuff, with guys like Harvey Lennox, Joe Hylwka, Jack McCutcheon (he had Woody Woodpecker painted on his car), Howie Scannell, Gary Witter, Jack Greedy and countless others screaming around the quarter mile of asphalt.

I always used to tell people that if they wanted to see great driving, they should go to Mosport; if they wanted to see great racing, they had to go to Flamboro.

Of course, there were other attractions at Flamboro besides the supers. The hobby class attracted upwards of 50 (or more) cars a night and Dizzy Dean Murray, the track announcer, worked as hard or harder talking up their heats and feature as he did the headline division.

"And here they come, ladies and gentlemen, Canada’s future Indianapolis 500 drivers, out on the track for tonight’s jalopy feature brought to you by Wheelspin News. Pick up your copy at the newstand near the hot dog counter and don’t forget to read MY COLUMN." (Dizzy was not above promoting himself when it came to patter . . .)

One night, I think it was in 1969, the U.S. Auto Club midgets towed in for a show and Bobby (Two Gun) Tattersall won the feature over a hard-charging Jimmy Carruthers.

There were several interesting things about that meet:

First, the USAC had recommended that all cars mount an enclosed roll cage but it had not yet made them mandatory. So you had about half the cars with the drivers fully protected (both Tattersall and Carruthers drove modgets with full cages) and the other half with truly open cockpits and just a roll bar behind the driver. Old campaigners like Les Scott and Mel Kenyon were still out there racing "bare headed."

Second, both Tattersall (above, in a pre-roll cage car) and Carruthers survived what was a very dangerous era in car racing, only to die of cancer. "Tat’ passed in 1971 and Carruthers in ‘75. In fact, Carrruthers, who'd made it to Indy by that time, won the USAC Silver Crown championship that season; he clinched the title six weeks before his death when he finished third in the Hoosier Hundred on the dirt mile at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.

So those are some of my memories of Flamboro Speedway. Randy Spencer, a journalist who works tirelessly to preserve the heritage of short-track oval racing in Ontario, is looking for some of yours.

Spencer issued a media release this week announcing the creation of the Flamboro Stadium and Speedway Hall of Fame, Museum and Archives. The first inductees will be enshrined this November (I nominate McCutcheon – as Spencer himself has written, McCutcheon won the very first feature when the track opened 51 season ago).

Writes Spencer:

"We are looking for anything interesting for the museum, including photos, old newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, old programs and racing newspapers and personal items such as driver trophies, race suits, helmets and anything Flamboro-related that we can display.

"We will accept permanent donations or anything on loan to be returned. Items will be posted on our website as well as for display at the track. Also looking for any help by way of sponsorship to help with anything from the cost of producing the large scrapbooks to setting up the website or any of the other worthwhile projects that will happen over the coming months."

I wish Randy the best of luck with this project.

For more information, go to Ontario Oval or to the project’s current website

Jerry Grant, Gordon Harrison united in death

 

GORDON HARRISON IS ONE OF TWO MARSHALS (left of photo) BESIDE MOSPORT TRACK

When the news was emailed to the world Monday afternoon that 10-time Indianapolis 500 starter Jerry Grant had died, the first thing I thought about was Mosport in June, 1966, and a guy named Gordon Harrison.

At the time, Grant was a hard-charging sports car racer from the Pacific Northwest who’d made two starts at Indy but had yet to give NASCAR a try. He was a barnstorming racer who’d enter just about any sports car race anywhere and one of his stops that year was at Mosport for the Player’s 200.

He was driving the same Lola T70 he’d raced to victory two weeks previously in May in a U.S. Road Racing Championship event at the Bridgehampton circuit on Long Island, N.Y. The competition there had been stiff, but the Player’s race attracted more of an international entry list and he was up against drivers like Bruce McLaren, Chris Amon and Jackie Stewart as well as Canadians Ludwig Heimrath, Eppie Wietzes, Nat Adams, John Cannon and John Cordts, among others.

Shortly after the start, coming down the hill from Turn 2 on the opening lap and heading toward Turn 3, a section of the course that’s known internationally as one of the hardest to navigate in all of global road racing (in fact, the famous German F1 and sports car driver Manfred Winkelhock met his end there), Grant lost control of the Lola and went flying off the circuit.

Unfortunately, Harrison – a non-professional racing driver who was acting as a track-side marshal that day – was standing right in the path of the car and was killed instantly. He was 37 years old.

Grant was taken to hospital suffering from shock, although it was reported that he was not aware at the time that Harrison was dead. A photo of the dazed-looking Grant, wrapped in a blanket and sitting on the ground beside his wrecked car, was sent by wire around the world.

It’s said that auto racing is a dangerous sport but it’s nowhere near as dangerous for any of the participants these days as it was back then. Look at the picture at the top of this column, taken during the pace lap of that Player's 200 on June 4, 1966, and one of the two marshals beside the track at left is Gordon Harrison.

Guys (and women, too) like Harrison thought nothing of standing trackside to display the blue passing flag to racers who were holding up faster cars behind them.

In fact, Harrison and two other marshals at the time, Wayne Jeffery and Gord Salisbury, were called"Bull Fighters" for their skill and daring standing almost on the racing surface to use their flags to keep the contest fair.

As a result of the dreadful accident that day, the marshals were moved back from the track and nowadays at road courses like Mosport (now called Canadian Tire Motorsport Park), many of them do their flagging from platforms.

Grant, of course, went on to become the first driver to turn a lap in an Indy car at more than 200 miles an hour but, like contemporary Lloyd Ruby, he had horrible luck on the race track.

For instance, earlier in 1966, at the 12 Hours of Sebring, he and co-driver Dan Gurney were winning when their Ford GT conked out. The same thing happened to them that year at the 24 Hours of Le Mans when a mechanical issue sidelined the car when they were leading at the 21-hour mark.

In NASCAR, he went from 43^rd to fifth in the 1967 Daytona 500 before dropping out . The year before, he finished fifth in the Dixie 400 at Atlanta.

Now, in all the online obituaries and tributes, much is being made of his disqualification from the 1972 Indy 500. The official version as to why this happened was sent out Monday afternoon by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway media department:

"Driving the purple Mystery Eagle as teammate to Bobby Unser on Dan Gurney's All-American Racers team, Grant led at the 188-lap mark when he had to pit to replace a tire which was losing air. Instead of pitting in his stall, he went to the adjoining one of Unser, who had retired much earlier in the day. Whether or not Grant actually took on any fuel from Unser's refueling tank is up for discussion, but the hoses were momentarily hooked up, and it became known that the tank in his own pit was apparently empty, the maximum allotment of 275 gallons having been exhausted.

"While Grant did finish the 500 miles, taking the checkered flag in second place behind Mark Donohue, officials subsequently disallowed Grant's final 12 laps, thus dropping him from second to 12^th."

Wikipedia reports that Grant "overshot his pit" and that’s what put him in Unser’s stall.

And I say baloney. I was right there in the room shortly after the race when Gurney was trying to convince U.S. Auto Club officials that, yes, Grant had taken on a bit of fuel from Unser’s tank but, honest officer, it had all been a big mistake because they really, really thought Grant had been connected to his own tank.

Grant, who knew the jig was up, sat on a sofa with a bemused look on his face, his balaclava perched on the top of his head (which looked very cool but covered up the fact that he had rapidly thinning hair and wasn’t wearing his usual hairpiece).

The fact of the matter is that Jerry Grant had to pit because he was out of fuel. He had used up all the fuel in his own pit tank. He had to get more to finish the race and the team directed him to stop in Unser’s pit because that was where the fuel was. Sure, they changed a tire but that was essentially to cover up the fact they were adding fuel. They were just hoping nobody would notice.

Gurney, one of the greatest racing drivers of his generation, was not above trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes. At the 1967 F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Mosport, he convinced race officials to allow him extra practice time because, he said, there was a bad vibration in the front of his car and he needed the time to determine if it was a wheel problem or whether something was seriously the matter with the chassis. (You could do those sorts of things in those days.)

Of course, he ‘fessed up years later that, in fact, he was trying to determine whether to change the engine in his car and his "tire test" had been nothing more than a ruse to give him more time to make up his mind. . . .

Jerry Grant was 77 when he died on Sunday. Like so many from that era, he could drive and race just about anything, and race it well. There’s not many of them left.

Postscript:

I mentioned Jerry Grant in a column I wrote a month or so ago about bicycle helmets. I wrote that he’d influenced me because he was a pioneer in the wearing of a crash helmet while riding a motorcycle. I hadn’t thought of him in years.

Also, four days before that fateful day in 1966, Jackie Stewart and Jerry Grant had survived an opening lap pileup at Indianapolis that damaged half the cars in the 33-car starting field. They'd lobbied for a standing start in the Player’s 200 instead of the rolling start that had been planned, arguing that it would be safer. Organizers left it up to a vote of drivers and they lost, 16 to 11. Whether the bunched-up field as the result of the "flying start" had anything to do with Grant losing control on that first lap is something we’ll never know.

On racing DQs, podiums and NASCAR at Mosport

Corvette Racing, westbound on the 407 at 6:15 p.m. July 22, its work done.

Fernando Alonso won the German Grand Prix (details here), Helio Castroneves won the IZOD IndyCar race in Edmonton (details here) and Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr won the American Le Mans Series Grand Prix of Mosport (details and rolling blog here).

I was at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park all weekend for the ALMS, so didn’t see the F1 or IndyCar races, other than watching the highlights on TV. So here are just some meanderings on a Monday morning about what took place over the weekend.

1. The ALMS race ended on schedule at 2:45 p.m. and the podium ceremony was held immediately after. Jorge Bergmeister and Patrick Long stood on the top step of the podium as winners of the GT class in their Porsche 911 GT3.

They got to spray the champagne and were interviewed by three different television reporters as well as the track’s PA announcer. They went with the other winners to the post-race press conference and answered questions. Then, presumably, they went off to celebrate.

At a little after 5 p.m., more than two hours later, I was putting away my computer after filing my race story to the Star’s sports department and putting the finishing touches to the online blog I’d kept going most of the weekend when a photographer hurried into the media room and said these words to an ALMS official:

"What’s the 45 car still doing in tech?"

The "45 car" was the winning car in the GT class.

The ALMS official said he didn’t know but would go and find out.

"Mind if I tag along?" I asked, and away we went.

Half way to the tech centre, we ran into the series’ main tech inspector who looked at my official friend and shook his head.

"DQ’d," he said, meaning disqualified.

What was the problem?

"Failed the stall test," the tech inspector said.

The stall test on a normally aspirated engine is done by blocking off the air-intake valves and trying to start it. If there’s no air getting in, it can’t start.

It started – which meant air was getting in somewhere; Bergmeister and Long might have had an advantage from the extra air during the race.

So the second-place car in GT – the Ferrari of Van Overbeek and Sharp – moved up a notch and the car that finished fourth in class on track, the BMW of Joey Hand of Sacramento, Calif., and Dirk Muller of Germany, became third in the official results.

2. The podium ceremony at ALMS races is nuts.

Twenty six cars were entered at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park this weekend and each car had two drivers so there were 52 drivers in the race. There were five classes of cars — P1, P2, PC, GT and GTC. Each class rewards the first three cars (see where this is going?)

So 28 drivers showed up for the podium ceremony. There would have been 30, except there were only two cars entered in P2.

Anyway, more than half the drivers in the field were on the podium and that seems – to me, anyway – to be a little much.

3. Klaus Graf has won the pole for this race the last three years and has gone on to win the race each time and good for him. Muscle Milk Pickett Racing is a top-notch team and his co-drivers, Lucas Luhr this year and last, and Romain Demas the year before that, have been formidable teammates.

But, you know, Graf doesn’t have any real competition. It’s been a walk in the park. If the ALMS wants to grow, and to thrive, it’s got to talk someone – Roger Penske, maybe? – or some manufacturer – Audi, maybe? – to step up and take this guy and this team on.

Otherwise, it’ll get boring.

4. Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, like all the other motorsport entities around, won’t issue attendance figures. But there was a big crowd on hand for the race. On driver’s left, going from turn four down to where the track starts to sweep up into Moss Corner, people were standing shoulder to shoulder behind the fence and I haven’t seen that for years.

And that was the road course. As I drove out of the place Saturday night, I was surprised to see the Mosport Speedway stands were packed solid (much like Merrittville’s were when I was there three weeks ago. Who wants to say that short-track racing isn’t thriving in southern Ontario?)

In any event, the big draw Saturday night at the Mosport oval was the OSCAAR late model stock cars and they, my friends, are rockets. You should check to see where they’re running next and take in a show. Those guys in those cars were well worth it.

5. It’s plain that the new owners of the old Mosport are hot on the trail of a NASCAR race (will it be the trucks, or the Nationwide stockers, or – dare I dream – the Cup cars that come?)

In any event, there have to be 43 pit stalls to accommodate any of those series, which means the old control tower that has stood since 1962 will either have to come down or be moved and that could happen sooner rather than later if a NASCAR race is to be reality in 2013.

The new corporate centre is being built as we speak. Canadian Tire Motorsport Park is lookin’ pretty good.

5A. If a NASCAR race becomes reality, will the Grand Am Rolex Series be far behind? And will the Grand Am and the ALMS be able to co-exist at the same facility? Just wondering.

6. When I heard about (and later saw) Sebastien Vettel’s off-track pass of Jenson Button near the end of the German Grand Prix Sunday (he was subsequently penalized 20 seconds, moving him from second to fifth – although, like Bergmeister/Long at Mosport it was after the podium ceremony – the first thing I thought of was Alex Zanardi’s pass of Bryan Herta in a CART race at Laguna Seca in 1996.

In Germany, they had stewards to look at the circumstances and determine a penalty, if any. In California in the Nineties, Zanardi’s audacity caught everyone by surprise and it was only much later that people were saying that it shouldn’t have counted, that Zanardi left the race track to make the pass.

Even today, Herta will tell you it was illegal (you decide: take a look here).

7. I don’t know what D.J. Kennington of St. Thomas has been putting in his coffee but at Edmonton Sunday he won his fourth consecutive NASCAR Canadian Tire Series race – the 15^th victory of his career.

Kennington was running third when, during a late-race restart, the first and second-place cars of Scott Steckly of Milverton and J.R. Fitzpatrick of Cambridge collided, allowing Kennington to take the lead.

Jason Hathaway of Dutton, Ont., finished second – he’s having a great year – while Trevor Seibert of Williams Lake, B.C., was third. Steckly recovered to finish fourth.

8. Jordan Szoke of Brantford won the Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship round at Atlantic Motorsport Park at the weekend, with Jodi Christie of Keene, Ont., second and Frank Rombino of Kleinburg third. The motorcycles will be at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in August.

9. Rinaldo (Dindo) Capello has called it at a day. The sports car racer with an astounding record - two-time ALMS champion, 23 ALMS victories, three 24 Hours of Le Mans victories, five Sebring 12 Hours wins (including 2012) and three ELMS triumphs - is 48 and says his work is done.

Hey, maybe he'll be able to enjoy life a little. Years ago, when Mosport announcer Jim Martyn and I had a radio show on the Fan, Capello arrived for an interview and said he was starving. An aide was dispatched to a nearby restaurant to pick up a chicken caesar salad. Capello wouldn't start to eat it until he'd picked out every single one of the croutons.

10. Speedtv.com is reporting that Lotus will withdraw from the IndyCar series at season's end but CEO Randy Bernared says they have four years remaining on a five-year contract and will have to negotiate a settlement. Oh? If Lotus hasn't been able to afford to put any additional moneys into its dismal engine program, who thinks it will have any to buy its way out of its commitment?

Bernie Ecclestone in jail is no laughing matter

PRECEDE: Terrible news from Europe this morning.

Spanish driver  Maria de Villota, recently signed to test drive for the Marussia F1 team, is in hospital in England after a crash during a straightline test at Duxford airfield on Tuesday.

Local ambulance officials says her injuries are "life-threatening."

De Villota's Duxford outing was her first test for Marussia. She was set to give the major upgrade package that the team is introducing for the British Grand Prix its first run.

The daughter of ex-F1 racer Emilio de Villota, she is a former World Touring Car Championship driver. At age 32, she first drove an F1 car at the Paul Ricard circuit last year.

She was testing what Marussia described as a major upgrade to be introduced at next weekend's British Grand Prix.

Here's a link to the latest story.

Earlier:

It bothers me that so many people apparently think the possibility of Bernie Ecclestone going to jail is something to laugh about.

I suppose it’s human nature to be jealous of success, of good fortune, and of success gained through great risk and very hard work, as is the case with Ecclestone.

It’s a pity his critics didn’t work as long or as hard or else they might have success of their own and not be so jealous.

The really difficult thing to comprehend is that all these people say they’re fans of Formula One racing . What they fail to understand is that if it wasn’t for Ecclestone, there wouldn’t be F1 racing as we know it.

The fact of the matter is that the guys who were F1 racing in the Sixties, the Ron Dennises and the Ken Tyrrels and the Frank Williamses were, like most road racers of the time, content to play pretty much in their own little world.

They disdained commercial involvement; they really were, in the true sense of the phrase, independent contractors and if a country wanted to promote a Grand Prix, the national motor racing authority had to deal with the drivers and teams on an individual basis just to get them to show up.

Most of the participants lived hand-to-mouth. The drivers and mechanics were often so hard up they frequently shared flats or apartments and when they went racing they lived in tents at the circuits.

One person changed all that: Bernie Ecclestone.

After Colin Chapman, because of his experience at Indianapolis, introduced Gold Leaf tobacco sponsorship to F1, it was Ecclestone who saw the potential for the whole of F1, not just one team.

Anybody who’s paid attention knows that Ecclestone, who owned Brabham, then got the teams to form the Formula One Constructors Association, with him as its head, and the rest is history.

From a small-thinking, low-buck (for the times) bunch of blue-collar auto racers came the licence to print money that we know today. And each and every one of them is filthy rich – all thanks to Bernie.

And, yes, he took a big chunk of the cash that came in up front because it was his initiative, his bargaining, his vision that got that series – and auto racing in general – to where it's at now.

Because of Ecclestone's scheming and chutzpah, Dan Gurney, Roger Penske, Jim Trueman and Pat Patrick were inspired to break away from the U.S. Auto Club (stuck in the same small-town mindset that F1 was in the mid-Sixties) and formed CART. And they all got rich, too.

And from F1 and CART on down, through F2 (now GP2) and F3 (GP3/Indy Lights), racing entrepeneurs created a world-wide industry that generates billions in economic activity and employees hundreds of thousands of people.

And it’s all – all – because of Bernie Ecclestone.

What?

Don’t believe me?

Tell me who, then? Who else did it?

It wasn’t Frank Williams or Ron Dennis or Jackie Stewart or any of the rest.

And it wouldn’t have "just happened," either.

No, it took the little genius, B. Ecclestone, to chart the way.

If he’s broken the law, either in England or Germany or wherever, the charges will be laid and the chips will fall where they may.

But before any of that happens, laughing at the possibility of someone – anyone – going to jail is repulsive.

It is most undignified, and people should be ashamed.

Weekend Racing:

– The scary thing about the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Kentucky Saturday night – won by Brad Keselowski, with Kasey Kahne second and Denny Hamlin third – is that there are only nine races left before the Chase for the Championship starts.

Where has the time gone.

If Kahne hadn’t had to stop Saturday night because of a botched pit stop (a loose wheel), he might have given Keselowski a run for this money. He was on the charge the last 10 laps; another couple of laps and he would have caught the leader.

Matt Kenseth, who will likely drive for Joe Gibbs Racing in the No. 20 Home Depot-sponsored car from 2013 on, leads the Sprint Cup standings with Dale Earnhardt. Jr. second and Jimmie Johnson third.

The NASCAR stars now go to Daytona for the Firecracker 400, now known, of course, as the Coke Zero 400, which just doesn’t have that July 4 ring.

In the Nationwide Series, Austin Dillon won the Kentucky race Friday night by cheating. Kurt Busch was second and Kevin Harvick was third.

Dillon was dominant in his win but in post-race inspection, NASCAR found the team to have been cheating (actions detrimental to stock car racing, among other infractions) and fined the crew chief $10,000 and docked the owner, Morgan Shepherd, and the driver, Dillon, six points each.

It’s hard to tell why anybody wouldn’t cheat in NASCAR. If you win the race, or finish second or third, you get to keep the position. It’s there in the record book and you get the payoff – in this case, $97,000. So you pay the fine and you’re still $87,000 ahead. Where’s the deterrent?

– Joao Barbosa and Toronto-born Darren Law won the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series at Watkins Glen, N.Y., on Sunday. In GT, Robin Lidell and John Edwards won the class and took the points lead in their Chevrolet Camaro.

Up next for Toronto race fans: the Honda Indy Toronto. James Hinchcliffe, Dario Franchitti, Marco Andretti, Scott Dixon, Graham Rahal, Alex Tagliani and the rest of the IZOD IndyCar Series warriors will do battle on the streets of Toronto Friday (Free Friday practice),  Saturday (qualifying) and Sunday (race) next weekend.

Plus there will be a full lineup of supporting class races, including the Firestone Indy Lights (David Ostella of Maple driving).

More information and tickets at www.hondaindytoronto.com

A feast of GTA-area racing this weekend

Michael Adams, who is leading the Ontario Toyo Tires F1600 Series Championship going into this weekend’s races at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, was a busy driver on Canadian Grand Prix weekend in Montreal. He finished fifth in the first FF race, backing off with an overheating engine, and was sixth in the second race. As you can see, he was in some pretty good company as he waited to go onto the track for the first race.

I — and others — frequently refer to the last Sunday in May as the greatest day in auto racing.

I mean, it’s hard to beat the Indianapolis 500, Coca-Cola 600 and the Grand Prix of Monaco all happening on the same date.

But then, along comes a weekend like this one.

I mean, everything is happening this weekend. Here’s a quick rundown:

- In Formula One, the Grand Prix of Europe will be held Sunday at Valencia, Spain. Will there be eight winners in eight races? Michael Schumacher has yet to win this year (or since he started his comeback, for that matter) and some people think he stands a chance. It would be exciting, wouldn’t it? See “George’s TV listings for race fans” for times and channel.

- In the IZOD IndyCar Series, the last race before the Honda Indy Toronto (which will happen in two weeks) will be held at the Iowa Speedway Saturday night (see “George’s TV listings, etc.). Oakville’s James Hinchcliffe is second in the standings and could improve his position dramatically by the time the checkers fly. Heat races to set the field instead of time trials have tongues wagging.

- NASCAR is in California for the first of two road course races this season, which are always more interesting than most of the ovals anyway. The Sprint Cup race at Sonoma Sunday afternoon (see George’s) will be the first since the seas parted in Michigan last weekend and Dale Earnhardt Jr. drove through them and straight into Victory Lane. With due respect, he ain’t gonna win this week.

Meantime, the Nationwide Series will be at Road America in Wisconsin on Saturday and our own Jacques Villeneuve and Ron Fellows will be in action. It's on TV, too.

- The Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series is also at Road America this weekend (see George’s, etc. — but you'd best look soon because it’s a Saturday noon start . . .) and of particular interest to Toronto-area race fans is the performance to date of drivers Jeff Segal and Emil Assentato in the No. 69 AIM Autosport of Woodbridge Team FXDD Ferrari 458 Italia Grand Am. In leading the GT class standings, Segal and Assentato have won two races this season, at Miami and New Jersey, and have been on the podium four times in six races.

So that’s a pretty outstanding lineup of international races that can be seen on TV in your living room.

But there’s also some pretty incredible local racing on offer this weekend, as well. How’s this for a menu?

- The first two rounds of the Northern Summer Nationals Sprint Car series will take place this weekend, with Friday night racing at Ohsweken Speedway near Brantford and Saturday at South Buxton Raceway near Chatham. Three affiliated sanctioning bodies have officially signed up for the series, including Ohsweken’s Corr/Pak Merchandising Sprint Car division, along with the Southern Ontario Sprints club and the Patriot Sprint Tour. NHRA drag racing star Cruz Pedregon will pilot a car entered by Ohsweken owner Glenn Styres on Friday night. For more information, click here

- At Toronto Motorsports Park near Cayuga, the annual Canadian Nitro Nationals will be held featuring nitro Funny Cars, Top Fuel dragsters, alcohol Funny Cars, jet dragsters, the Pro Modified Racing Association, the Quick 32 Sportsman Series and the Pro Bike and Sled Series. Cruz Pedregon and his brother Tony will line their NHRA Funny Cars up for a couple of exhibition runs. For more info, click here

- At Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (formerly Mosport), the  Pirelli World Challenge (GT, GTS, Touring and a new class for 2012, B-Spec) will bring their “Sports Car Wars” north of the border to headline the CTMP’s Sports Car Doubleheader Weekend. Also in action will be the action-packed Porsche 944 Cup and the Ontario Formula Ford Championship F1600. For information, click here

- At Shannonville Motorsport Park near Belleville, the Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship is going to have a strange look when the 2012 season opens this weekend. For the first time since 2006, Jordan Szoke will not be wearing the No. 1 plate on his motorcycle. After a record-breaking string of five straight national championships between 2006 and 2010, the Brantford ace was beaten to the title last season by Brett McCormick of Saskatoon. While McCormick has moved on to the World Superbike wars, Szoke will be looking to reclaim the top spot in Canadian motorcycle road racing this summer. For information, click here

- At Delaware Speedway near London, the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series will be racing Saturday night. They had 21 starters at the Speedway at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park last weekend and when I complained that the number was low, some of my critics said it was because the facility wasn’t up to par. Well, Delaware is a good track, so we’ll see this weekend who’s right. More than 21 entries? We’ll see. For more information about the event, click here.

Norris' Grand Prix blog: Hamilton wins Grand Prix

SEBASTIEN VETTEL, IN FLIGHT ON SATURDAY

Five years ago, Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain won the first Grand Prix of his career when he won the Canadian GP at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve.

Sunday afternoon, in brilliant sunshine and in front of a huge crowd estimated at more than 100,000, Hamilton drove his McLaren-Mercedes to his first victory of the 2012 season.

But the victory was much more than a checkered flag.

It was the third time he's won the Canadian race -- he won previously in 2007 and 2010 -- and the points he earned Sunday put him into the lead for this year's world championship, a title he first won in 2008.

And he became the seventh different winner in the first seven races of an F1 season, something that has never happened before.

Romain Grosjean of France, driving for Lotus-Renault, finished second and Sergio Perez of Mexico, driving a Sauber-Ferrari, was third. It was the second podium finish this season for each of those two young drivers.

The pole-position winner, defending world champion Sebastien Vettel of Germany, finished fourth in a Red Bull-Renault and Fernando Alonso of Spain was fifth in a Ferrari after starting third.

Nico Rosberg of Germany was sixth for Mercedes, Mark Webber of Australia seventh for Red Bull, Kimi Raikkonen of Finland eighth for Lotus, Kamui Kobayashi of Japan ninth for Sauber and Felipe Massa finished tenth in his Ferrari.

Massa was as high as fourth early in the race but he lost control and spun out, dropping back to twelfth. He later called his tenth-place finish "a success."

Both Alonso and Vettel tried to make it to the finish of the 70-lap contest, which took an hour and 32 minutes to complete at an average speed of 198.027 km/h, with only one stop for tires while Hamilton stopped twice.

It was the second stop that made the difference. Alonso and Vettel lost speed as their traction went away and Hamilton was not only able to catch them but to leave them in his dust with Vettel eventually surrendering and making a late stop for tires.

“What a feeling,” said Hamilton, who hadn’t won  before today despite taking two pole positions, at a media conference afterward. “This is where I won my first Grand Prix. I knew it would be tough (to win) but I loved every single minute and I am really grateful.”

The winner, who joins Nelson Piquet as the winner of three Canadian Grands Prix – only Michael Schumacher has won more of them: seven – said it was one of the most enjoyable races he’s ever driven.

“I could not believe it wen I crossed the line. The feeling inside was like an explosion. . . and that is what I like about racing.”

He praised his team for the two-stop strategy and said one stop would have been a mistake.

"I think the team did a great job with the pit stops and the strategy,” he said. “I was not able to do one stop; I think I would have fallen back. I think a two-stop was just right."

Hamilton said a combination of things is at the heart of why he does so well in Montreal.

"It's the weather, it's the city and it's the fans,” he said. “The fans are incredible here.There are very few places like this that we go to throughout the year. The support here has been incredible."

Although it was Grosjean's first race at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve -- he was in F1 briefly two years ago but only drove a handful of races -- he cheerfully admits that it's his favourite race track because of the video games he likes to play.

“But it’s more bumpy in real life than on the X-Box,” he laughed. "But it's pretty interesting and I already liked it before I got here."

Perez was delighted to be back on the podium – he had a storming drive earlier this year in Malaysia to finish second – and said it wasn’t something he’d anticipated after qualifying 15th.

The winner of last year’s race, Jenson Button of England, had a terrible day and finished 16^th in his McLaren, a lap down.

And Schumacher, a sentimental favourite because of his previous success here, dropped out on the 43^rd lap when a flap in the rear wing on his Mercedes, which can increase straightaway speed when activated at certain approved places on the race track, stuck open and his mechanics couldn’t get it closed.

The team issued a public apology to the champion later – something that is extremely rare in the world of motor racing.

The race this year was a marked change from a year ago when it also set a record -- for the longest Grand Prix ever run, a mark that will likely never be challenged.

A two-hour rain delay in 2011 meant the race went into the record books at four hours, four minutes and 39.537 seconds, prompting the FIA (auto racing's international governing body) to change the regulations to limit a Grand Prix to four hours maximum, regardless of the circumstances.

Although there were threats of disruptions and demonstrations at the Grand Prix, everything went off without a hitch. Montreal police did say, however, that roughly 30 people had been detained at Metro stations leading to Ilse Notre Dame, where Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve is located, because of what was described as suspicious behaviour.

Much earlier Sunday:

Lewis Hamilton of McLaren-Mercedes makes history by becoming the seventh winner in the first seven F1 races in a season when he won the Canadian Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve this afternoon.

Romain Grosjean of Lotus-Renault was second and Sergio Perez was third in a Sauber.

Sebastien Vettel was fourth, Fernando Alonso was fifth, Nico Rosberg was sixth, Mark Webber seventh, Kimi Raikkonen eighth, Kamui  Kobayashi ninth and Felipe Massa tenth.

"Thank you boys," Hamilton yelled after his team told him he did "a great job."

It marks the third time Hamilton has won the Canadian race. He did it in 2007 and 2010 - his world championship years. He didn't finish the race in either of 2008 or 2010.

Pole sitter Vettel's tires went off as he tried to stay with Alonso, who tried to make it to the end on only one stop.

Earlier,

If this holds up, Lewis Hamilton will become the seventh different winner in the first seven races of a F1 season - another record. He has five to go.

Earlier,

All tires going off; Perez up to second, Alonso third, GFrosjean fourth, Vettel fifth with two to go.

Earlier,

If this holds up, Lewis Hamilton will become the seventh different winner in the first seven races of a F1 season - another record. He has five to go.

Earlier,

Vettel pits with seven to go; Hamilton takes lead with six to go.

Earlier,

Hamilton in second.

Earlier

Hamilton told with nine laps left there'splenty of time to get past the two in front of him, Vettel immediately and Alonso a little further.

Earlier,

They're all together - Alonso, Vettel and Hamilton - who has fresher tires.

Earlier,

Hamilton is closing - 7.7 seconds b ack with 12 to go; Alonso still has 3.2 seconds on Vettel.

Earlier,

Massa, Rosberg and Perez just went three wide down the front straight. NASCAR has nothing on these guys.

Earlier,

Hamilton told Ferrari might try to go to the finish; he's 12 seconds back with 16 to go.

Earlier,

Hamilton told to give it everything he's got for three laps (presumably to hold the gap when the other two pit). He's later told he's running one second faster than Alonso.

Earlier,

Hamilton in on Lap 50, slow stop (right rear); Alonso leads from Vettel.

Earlier,

Michael Schumacher retired on Lap 43. The DRS stuck open on his Mercedes.

Earlier,

On this day, Vettel is just being outraced. Hamilton has a 3.1-second lead over Alonso on Lap 44, with Vettel 6.5 seconds back.

Earlier,

After 40 laps, Hamilton, Alonso and Vettel still held down the top three positions with Perez and Webber in fourth and fifth.

Earlier,

Button pits on Lap 34.

Earlier,

After 30 laps - nearly the halfway mark of the Canadian Grand Prix, Hamilton still leads with Alonso second and Vettel third. After that it was Raikkonen, Perez, Webber, Rosberg, Grosjean, Massa and Di Resta.

Earlier,

After 20 laps, Lewis Hamilton leads from Alonso, who tried to block,, with Vettel third. Raikkonen is fourth, Kamui Kobayashi is in fifth, Sergio Perez is sixth, Mark Webber is seventh, Nico Rosberg is eighth, Romain Grosjean - who led for a lap when he reached the front of the line - is ninth and Pastro Maldonado is tenth.

Narain Karthikeyan went for the big spin in the HRT; no harm, no foul.

Earlier,

Alonso pits.

Earlier,

Hamilton in for tires on Lap 18; Alonso leads.

Earlier,

Button pits on Lap 16 - another three-stop strategy. Vettel in on Lap 17! Hamilton in lead.

Earlier,

Paul Di Resta, who was in fifth for Force India-Ferrari, and Michael Schumacher in his Mercedes, both pitted on Lap 14 for tires - a three-stop strategy.Earlier,

Drivers are already being told by their teams to save fuel. It's expected that some, at least, will try to run the race with only one stop for tires. Others, of course, will go for two stops.

Earlier,

After 10 of 70 laps of the Canadian Grand Prix, Sebasztien Vettel still leads, with Hamilton second, Alonso third, Webber fourth, Di Resta fifth, Rosberg sixth, Grosjean seventh, Shoemacher eighth, Buttton ninth and Kimi Raikkonen tenth.

Earlier,

Felipe Massa has spun his Ferrari after seven laps and dropped to 12th after getting as high as fifth in the Grand Prix. Vettel still leads, with Hamilton second and Alonso third.

Earlier,

It's  Vettel  at the start, with Hamilton second and Alonso third.

Drivers are in their cars and engines start for Canadian GP.

Earlier Sunday:

Before I give you some food for thought - some stats and other information you can chew on leading up to the 2 p.m. start of today's Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve - I have one more bit of social news.

As I mention below in my scene-setter, Mario Andretti, Bernie Ecclestone, Emmerson Fittipaldi and other motor racing heavyweights are in attendance but moments ago it looked like the second coming over at the Scuderia Ferrari hospitality area.

Wow, had the prime minister of Italy shown up? Sure looked that way with the crush of onlookers straining for a glimpse of someone inside. Or the mayor of Maranello? None of the above.

It was, in fact, one of the most powerful automotive personalities in the world - Sergio Marchionne, the guy who runs Fiat (parent company of Ferrari) and Chrysler Corp.

He was holding court - and everybody knows who he is.

So now to the grist for your mill:

This is the 33rd Grand Prix to be held at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. The first F1 GP in Canada was at Mosport in 1967, Centennial year, and it then alternated between there and Le Circuit-Mont Tremblant for several years. It moved to Montreal in 1978 and has been held here every year since except in 1987 and 2009.

That first race at Ilse Notre Dame was won by Gilles Villeneuve, who died in a crash in his Ferrari at the Grand Prix of Belgium in 1982. This year marks the 30th anniversary of his passing and Ferrari drivers Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso have both made mention.

Massa has Villeneuve's name painted on his helmet and Alonso has suggested he would like to win the race in Gilles' memory.

When Jenson Button won last year's GP in a little more than four hours, it established a record that will never be beaten. It was the longest GP on record (due to a two-hour-plus rain delay) that ran 4 hours, 4 minutes and a few seconds. As a result, the FIA has since put a limit on a Grand Prix: four hours, period. Regardless of circumstances, whoever is ahead at that time will win.

Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton are the only drivers in the race today to have won it more than once - Schumacher seven times and Hamilton twice.

Although I mentioned in Saturday's story that the winners of the last four F1 races have started from the pole position (meaning Sebastien Vettel has got a pretty good chance today . . .) three of the last seven Canadian GPs have been won by drivers from outside the top five starters.

Fernando Alonso of Ferrari is the championship leader going into this race, with 78 points - three more than Red Bull-Renault drivers Vettel and Webber, who are tied for second.

On a personal note, I can't believe the number of people in F1 who still smoke. Not the drivers, of course, but just about everybody else. Of course, although this is a world championship, all of the F1 folks (with one or tw exceptions) are from Europe, so that might explain it.

Earlier Sunday:

It's a beautiful Sunday morning in Montreal. There's not a cloud in the sky and the forecast is for bright sunshine to continue with a forecast high of 27C - a perfect day (as Jackie Stewart would say) for a motor race.

Thousands of spectators are making their way to Ilse Notre Dame via subway, charter bus, shuttle, taxi and car. Although organizers estimate the crowd could drop by 20 per cent today, any number approaching 100,000 is huge and the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve will be a sea of humanity regardless of the final tally.

There are celebrities, of course, and then there are celebrities. Mario  Andretti, 1978 world champion and a legend in the sport, arrived about 9 a.m. via private charter jet from Fort Worth, Tex., where his son and grandson were in competition last night during an IZOD IndyCar Series race at Texas Motor Speedway (won by Justin Wilson, with James Hinchcliffe of Oakville fourth and pole-winner Alex Tagliani of Montreal ninth.)

Andretti was instantly surrounded by F1 regulars including Bernie Ecclestone, who runs the sport. Journalists of the stature of Nigel Roebuck (editor of Motor Sport) and Gordon Kirby were quickly in his circle.

Mario is in his early 70s now but looked like a million bucks - slim, trim and wearing serious gold around his neck. He's done well.

Not looking as good, or as prosperous, but still legendary in their time were ex-world champions Emmerson Fittipaldi and Niki Lauda, who are in attendance representing sponsors. Ex-F1 driver Jacques Lafitte is also in the paddock.

There are support races at Grands Prix, of course, and during the Canadian Touring Car Series race earlier today, Andre Rapone of Thornhill was involved in the most serious crash of the weekend.

Coming out of the last turn before the main straight, Rapone tried to turn left and his Cooper Mini wouldn't go, somersaulting into a crash barrier and bouncing at least once upside down before coming to rest on its wheels with the driver's side door, the trunk and the hood all open.

Rapone was not injured but he'll certainly remember the CTCC race at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in 2012 for a long time.

There was some unpleasantness in downtown Montreal Saturday night, with 28 people arrested and several people injured when hit by a taxicab.

But although some media reports have coined these disturbances as being "riots," or "rioting," they are no such thing. The people arrested are being ticketed for unlawful assembly, or something similar, and there are few instances of assault or actual property damage.

Downtown Montreal the morning after looks just fine.