Norris McDonald's Auto Racing Blog

Seven named to Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame

Seven more Canadian organizers and competitors will be inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame at a gala ceremony in Toronto in April, it was announced Monday.

Richard Foley of Montreal, the first Canadian to race in the Daytona 500, leads the list that includes sports car racer Rudy Bartling of Courtice, rally competitors Robin Edwardes of L’Orignal, Ont., and Paul Manson of Toronto, Calgary organizer Ben Docktor, supermodified and stock car racer Norm Ellefson of Edmonton and Spokane, Wash., and Maritimes stock car champion Greg Sewart of Halifax.

They will officially be welcomed into the hall at the 18th annual gala banquet and ceremony April 21 at On The Park in Toronto.

Said Hall of Fame chairman, Dr. Hugh Scully: “These new honourable members have earned recognition for their accomplishments and contributions to Canadian motorsports and it is an honour to confirm their entry into our Hall. We are particularly pleased that we have representation from Western Canada , the Maritimes , Ontario and Quebec, further reflecting the true national scope of the CMHF.”

The Hall of Fame was first organized in 1993 and now has more than 100 inductees from across Canada as well as several in the International Category that was added two years ago.

Tickets for the 2012 gala can be purchased by calling 905-852-6764 or by email at galatickets@cmhf.ca.

Wheldon killed by pole; F1 unemployment line grows

Update: IndyCar said today that a collision with a fence pole was the reason two-time Indianapolis 500 driver Dan Wheldon died at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Oct. 16.

Wheldon was killed when his car became airborne in the middle of a 15-car pileup early in the final race of the IZOD IndyCar Series season.

Wheldon, who started the race last, was racing for a $5 million bonus he would share with a fan. He'd picked up 10 places before the accident and was running low on the speedway as he prepared to pick off more cars.

The accident review revealed that Wheldon's path on the lower portion of the race track was blocked by the multi-car crash he was approaching. Car No. 77 became airborne and ultimately flew into a vertical post of the track fencing. The pole intruded the cockpit, and the impact with the driver's helmeted head produced non-survivable blunt force trauma.

For the full report, click here

Earlier . . .

Baseball has been famous through the years for keeping itself in the public eye during the off-season. Auto racing has been taking notes.

 

Here it is 10 days before Christmas - my annual Gift Guide can be found below, by the way - and drivers are being fired left, right and centre in Formula One and IndyCar decided that today (Thursday) would be a swell time to release preliminary findings from the investigation into the crash that killed Dan Wheldon at Las Vegas in October.

 

The press conference dealing with the Wheldon tragedy is scheduled for 11 a.m., so we'll just have to wait for that. But meantime, here's what's going on in F1 (which might even have an effect on driver employment in IndyCar before long).

 

On Wednesday, the Red Bull Racing B-Team, a.k.a. Scuderia Toro Rosso, told both Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari that their services were no longer required and promoted two rookies, Daniel Ricciardo (okay, he has some experience in F1) and Jean-Eric Vergne, to race seats for the 2012 season.

 

This means Buemi and Alguersuari are now members in good standing of a rapidly growing F1 unemployment line that currently includes Bruno Senna, Vitaly Petrov, Robert Kubica, Jerome d'Ambrosio, Antonio Luizzi, Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenburg. Although he doesn't have a ride, Canadian superlicence holder Robert Wickens, of Guelph and Toronto, who beat Vergne to the World Series by Renault title this season, could also be included in this list as he is ready to step up but there is nothing available for him.

 

I don't know where all of those guys are going to go, but I can suggest this: most are still young and are not going to retire. As sports car racing is unlikely to be in their immediate futures, it's safe to say that some of them will try to make a move to Indy cars.

 

Which means that if current IndyCar drivers without contracts for 2012 don't move lickety split, they could find themselves on the outside looking in after drivers like Buemi and Alguersuari arrive in the United States carrying satchels of cash to go along with their above-average talent.

 

That Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock (not to forget Pedro de la Rosa) currently have seats in F1 for 2012 while the talent in that list above is drawing pogey is an embarrassment to the sport. But it is what it is and IndyCar was populated for many years in the late '80s and '90s by ex-F1 drivers and that sort of thing could very well happen again.

 

Meantime, as mentioned above, it's nearly Christmas, so here goes with my annual Can't Miss Gift Guide for People looking to Purchase Presents for the Motorsport Fan in their Family:

 

Now, I always have four or five books going at once. They’re all over my house. I’ll read one for awhile and put it down and move on. I go full circle about once a week.

 

Contrary to public opinion, my reading is not all about the motor sport. The best book I read this year (and, actually, I’ve read it twice so far) is one I picked up at a garage sale last spring called The Way You Wear Your Hat: Frank Sinatra and the Lost Art of Livin’, by Bill Zehme and published in 1997 by HarperCollins.

 

All I will say about that book is this: Kitty Kelly and her editors could take a lesson in how to write a book about Frank Sinatra.

But this is supposed to be about auto racing and my purpose today is to tip you off about the best books, videos, models – what have you – that I assure you will be a quality gift.

As always, prices here are Suggested Retail Prices by either the producer or the retailer. Always remember, you might be able to get a better deal at another outlet, or online.

Okay, before we take our annual tour of Toronto-area shops, here are a few good reads I would suggest you keep in mind when you’re either out and about or browsing on the Web.

– No Angel, the Secret Life of Bernie Ecclestone by Tom Bower, Faber & Feaber Ltd., publishers, $23.

I have quoted from this book several times in the past year because if anybody has any doubts about how Machiavelian, conniving, sneaky, nasty, mysterious and utterly brilliant Bernie Ecclestone is, a read of this book will remove them all.

He was born into poverty and grew up in a household completely lacking in affection, which helps to explain his ruthless view of business and the world. That he loves nothing more than sticking it to his pals (Ron Dennis, Sir Frank Williams, et al) while at the same time making them even richer is illustrated time and again.

He really is a fascinating man. A very strange man, but fascinating all the same.

– Steve McQueen: A Passion for Speed, MBI Publishing Co., $40.

I first saw Steve McQueen in a 1960s film called The War Lover (a role in which he didn’t have to do much "acting," if you catch my drift). Then came The Great Escape, the Thomas Crown Affair, Bullitt and Le Mans. Yes, there were films before and films after but in my book, those were the Big Five.

This book focuses on McQueen’s love of anything that could go fast – primarily motorcycles and racing cars. The pictures are magnificent and the text is illuminating.

I didn’t know, for instance, that the original plan was for McQueen to actually race in the 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans. The studio nixed that idea because of insurance; the compromise was that McQueen could drive the Le Mans course at speed post-race and the film editing would make it appear as if he was right in there.

There are all sorts of tasty tid-bits like that sprinkled throughout this book.

The only thing I don’t like about it is the section that perpetuates something that McQueen said, but which he lifted from high-wire walker Karl Wallenda.

After two members of his Flying Wallendas were killed in a fall in Detroit in 1962, Wallenda told a reporter that "to be on the wire is life, the rest is just waiting." McQueen, in the script for Le Mans, substituted "racing" for "the wire." Fair enough, but he should have attributed it.

— Real Racers: Formula 1 in the 1950s and 1960s — a Driver’s Perspective, by Stuart Codling, MBI Publishing Co. (Motorbooks), $40.

This is an F1 picture book (the Klemantaski Collection) and there are some beauties in it — some you’ve seen before, but many new (to these eyes, anyway). The photos are explained by the subjects — Chris Amon, Stirling Moss, Jackie Stewart, et al.

I get a kick out of the title. “Real racers” was a term coined in the 1980s, I believe, by editor, publisher and commentator Dick Berggren to set U.S. short-track oval racers apart from the wine-and-cheese road racers. Let there be no doubt, however, that the F1 drivers of the Fifties and Sixties were every bit as brave, aggressive and tough as any American dirt-track hee-ro.

Be warned: there are a couple of grisly pictures in this book. Amon driving past the burning Ferrari of Lorenzo Bandini at Monaco in ’67 is one I’d never seen before and some people might find it upsetting.

— Dead Man’s Switch: A Kate Reilly Racing Mystery by Tammy Kaehler, Poisoned Pen Press, $30.

I’m injecting some fiction here and this isn’t a bad example. I mean, there have been all sorts of hokey racing books and movies over the years — thin plots, improbable scenarios — but this one’s okay.

Kate Reilly wants to race in the American Le Mans Series and arrives at Lime Rock one day to find a dead driver.  Naturally, she’s a suspect in the guy's murder. She gets a chance to race because, natch, there’s a seat open. (I know what you’re thinking, but stick with me here.)

So between racing and discovering all sorts of twists and turns off the track as well (not a lot of people liked the dead driver), Kate finally helps solve the crime.

The dialogue is interesting and the author has done her homework so far as the racing is concerned.

Okay, here’s what’s available locally.

MINI GRID, 608 Mount Pleasant Rd., Toronto 416-488-7663, minigrid.com

Owner, and champion Canadian racer, Scott Maxwell suggests a DVD called Grand Prix: The Killer Years (60 minutes, $35). It is not for the faint at heart, however. Says Scott:

“2011 brought back the reality of what motorsports is, always has been and always will be, a dangerous sport that balances along a very fine line between thrilling escapism one moment and tragedy the next.  Events like the death of Dan Wheldon, which are few and far between, remind us that it wasn’t always this way.

“Back in the 1960s, the rate of fatalities or serious injury was phenomenal.  In fact, at one point, statistics supported the fact that one in four Grand Prix drivers at the beginning of the year would not be around at the end of the season… 

“Things had to change… and this is the story of why and how.  It is stirring, accurate and unfortunately real; but it will also offer perspective on what we view and enjoy today and how far the sport has come.”

Maxwell added that he also stocks other DVDs, books, magazine, models and racing art.

In fact, when I finish work today, I’m heading over to pick up a copy of the book Driven By Desire: The Desire Wilson Story ($52). Why?

Well, I have a framed, autographed picture of Janet Guthrie in my home office and, as anybody who’s read my stuff knows, I’m a huge Danica Patrick fan.

But they say Wilson was the best of the women drivers. I have an open mind, so we’ll see.

TRANSPORT BOOKS AT  DRB MOTORS LTD., 16 Elrose Ave., Toronto, 416-744-7675, transportbooks.com

Says owner Jim Roseborough, as we begin our annual conversation of what’s hot at his place: “If you really want to feel old, buy the two ‘50-year-anniversary books’ I’ve got here on the AC Cobra and the E-type Jag.”

He then goes on to describe what his life was like half a century ago when both these cars first appeared.

“I can remember being in high school, particularly when the Jag came out, and I remember the sensation it caused,” he said.

Mr. Roseborough tells me the first book, Shelby Cobra Fifty Years, is by Colin Comer with a forward by Carroll Shelby and is well-written and has a lot of excellent photographs. He’s selling it for $44 plus GST.

The title of the second book is a bit of a mouthful. Jaguar E-Type: A Celebration of the World's Favourite '60s Icon, is by Nigel Thorley and retails for $43.99 ("a penny saved is a penny earned,” quips Mr. Roseborough, when questioned about the one-cent difference in the two prices).

He is enthralled by the photographs in the Jaguar book. “They give you goose bumps,” he said.

COLLECTOR STUDIO MOTORSPORT GALLERY, 136 Yorkville Ave., Toronto, 416-975-5442, collectorstudio.com

Proprietor Morry Barmack always has treasure after treasure on offer in his Yorkville shop. I guarantee you won't be disappointed if you drop in for a visit.

Here are a few things he's suggesting for this Christmas:

A 1984 Ayrton Senna signed steering wheel. Morrry says that this is an original steering wheel used at the ADAC 1000 KM Nurburgring on July 14, 1984. The wheel was signed in white tire marker after the race by Senna, Henry Pescarolo and Stefan Johansson. 

As with most of the items at Collector Studio, you have to email for the price.

How about this treasure? Morry has a Jim Clark race suit, an original cream Hinchman uniform worn by Clark at Indianapolis around 1964 as well as during the Tasman Series between 1967-1968.

According to Hinchman (the Indianapolis firm that has outfitted racing drivers for years), only one of these Firestone suits was made with "Jimmy Clark" embroidered on the chest, as most had the more formal "Jim Clark."

There's lots more at Morrry's shop. Pop by. 

CAR BUFFS AUTO GIFT CENTRE, Square One, Mississauga, 905-949-9707

I just about fainted when I went into the mammoth Mississauga Square One Shopping Centre last summer and went to where Car Buffs has been for years, only to find it wasn’t there.

But it hadn’t closed; it had just moved to another part of the mall and thank goodness for that, because owner John Cuschieri has always got a lot of stuff — books, clothing, collectibles, etc. — on offer.

His assistant, Julie, said that this year, Car Buffs has got a good selection of “front-of-car” wall shelves that would make an excellent Christmas gift for someone in your family. (You’ve seen them — the grille of an iconic car that can serve as a shelf for books or what-have-you).

“We have Mustang wall shelves, Corvettes and several others. They retail for $109 plus tax,” she said.

One of the things I’ve always liked about Car Buffs is the clothing. Do you want to give someone a shirt that looks like the top half of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s uniform? Or Tony Stewart’s? or Carl Edwards’? There is always a selection of those “pit shirts” on hand and they sell for $95.

Oh, and Julie adds that the store also has a wide selection of 2012 calendars — NASCAR, F1 and so-on — and they sell for $20.

TORONTO MOTORSPORTS, 283 Port Union Rd., Toronto, 416-724-7223, tomotorsports.com

You have to pre-order, because this item won’t be available til next spring (the exact date has yet to be determined), but I think this could make a lovely gift for any IndyCar fan you might know.

The Dan Wheldon 1:18 scale by Greenlight 2011 Dallara tribute car retails for $54.99. This is the only licensed replica from the 2011 season for this driver and is a limited edition. The model features authentic sponsor and team decals, plus detailed cockpit and driver figure. It boasts removable engine cowlings with full engine detail. It comes with a gorgeous window display box.

Toronto Motorsports also has some hard-to-find models for sale, including Paul Tracy’s 1994 Penske Mercedes-Benz Indy car with Marlboro stickers (it’s on sale for $59.99)  Lithographs — paintings and photographs, suitable for framing — of Gilles Villeneuve, Ayrton Senna and others, can be yours starting from $27.96.

Books (Villeneuve: A Racing Legend, photographs by Allan de la Plante) can be purchased for $50, DVDs (Bobby Deerfield, starring Al Pacino) for $17.99 and up and calendars (the Ferrari official team calendar) for $16.99 are also available.

There is also serious memorabilia at this store — race-worn gloves, helmets (a Rick Mears race uniform is on sale for $3,299.99) and so-on.

In fact, you can find just about anything.

JOE RUSSO'S PRESTIGE  AUTO ART & GIFT GALLERY,   890 Yonge St., Toronto 416-929-9090, prestigeautoart.com 

 Enthusiastic owner Joe Russo is most keen to tell everybody that he has moved his shop from Yorkville to Yonge St., just north of Davenport, on the west side across from Canadian Tire.

Once inside, though, you will find that everything you got to know and love about Joe’s emporium when it was in Yorkville is still there, including the proprietor himself.

So what’s hot this Christmas, Joe?

“I have got some really cool, 1:18-scale, Rolls-Royce Ghosts for sale and they can be yours for $250,” he replied. “That’s the high end. Going down the line, for $55, you can take home a scale-model Lamborghini Aventador LP700/4 and let me tell you, that is a real deal.”

Once you get Joe going, it’s hard to stop him.

“If you would like a carbon-fibre arm table light, I have one for you. How about drink coasters that look like brake discs? I have some. How about a ceramic brake disc clock, or a table clock that looks like a Formula One steering wheel?”

Okay, Joe, What are those going to cost?

“Come in and find out,” says Joe. “But I have a big sale going. Walk in and decide to buy something and I will give you $10 to $100 off the list price, right then and there."

Okay, Joe. I'll be right over - er, after I come back downtown from Mini Grid.

Now, in addition to the specialty shops listed above, other racing businesses have gift ideas. 

Mosport International Raceway has got gift certificate packages available that can be used to purchase souvenir merchandise, tickets for major events (the American Le Mans Series will be racing there next July) or passes to the Grand Prix Club (a VIP hospitality area), Call the Mosport Hotline at 1-800-866-1072 Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., or go to www.mosport.com and click on the appropriate link.

The Honda Indy Toronto has tickets for sale at www.hondaindytoronto.com or you can call 1-877-503-6869.

Oh, want to drive a racing car, rather than just read about it, or watch DVDs? Well, the Bridgestone Racing Academy at Mosport is offering a "Thrill of a Lifetime" gift certificate starting at $295. Check dates and purchase your personalized gift certificates at www.race2000.com/giftcertificates. 

Hey, remember Canadian F1 racer Allen Berg? He drove for Osella back in the 1980s. Well, he has a formula car driving school these days and is offering packages - but you'll have to fly west to go to one of them (his latest opening is at California Speedway). Go to www.allenbergracingschools.com for all the info.

I hope I haven't missed anything or anybody. 

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Will resignation impact TV coverage of F1?

A couple of weeks ago, shortly after Mark Webber won the Brazilian GP and Britain’s Sky TV announced plans for an HD channel dedicated solely to Formula One starting in 2012, I contacted TSN about their plans for next year.

TSN has been showing F1 races and qualifying rounds for years, most recently by picking up the feed from the BBC. But the Beeb will only televise 10 of next year’s 20 scheduled races live while Sky will have them all (plus all practice sessions, etc.) and, in fact, has hired Martin Brundle to head up its broadcasting crew.

Now, I haven’t heard back from TSN. I suspect there are any number of reasons for this, all of them legitimate. When they have something to say, I’m sure they’ll call. The season doesn’t start till mid-March, so there’s plenty of time.

But I was discussing the situation with a friend of mine yesterday afternoon and, at the end of the chat, he said this: "Maybe TSN won’t have any F1 next year. Maybe we’ll get to watch it on Speed TV."

I agreed with him (although I stressed that I thought it highly unlikely). But then I got an email later in the day that contained some unsettling news.

Hunter Nickell, president of Speed since 2005, has resigned and will leave at the end of the year.

Now, I don’t know Hunter Nickell from Adam, but I do know that in recent years the Speed weekend racing coverage during the season has gone from a one-hour Sunday night wrapup program to pretty much wall-to-wall coverage of the sport during the weekend, starting Friday.

Host Adam Alexander would pop up before the first race of the weekend, usually the Friday night NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race, with an update on that weekend’s racing calendar (sports cars, motocross, Moto GP, Formula One and IndyCar races, as well as NASCAR) and then would update with other pre-race reports and results through Saturday and on into Sunday evening.

Kind of a mini-CNN on wheels.

As well as his work strengthening motorsport news coverage in general, Nickell also beefed up coverage of, and solidified relationships with, F1, Supercross and Grand Am in particular.

Now, on the surface, his resignation might not seem like that big a deal. But every time there’s a change at the top of just about anything, the new guy (or woman) moves to put his or her stamp on things.

For instance (and I bet you didn’t know this), the minute the president of a major film studio is replaced, every movie in production at that time goes straight to digital. They are not released in theatres. Why? Because the new head honcho doesn’t want to have to take the blame for any turkeys in the bunch and he/she sure doesn’t want to have to pass on any praise to the guy who was fired.

It’s the same with TV.

It’s highly unlikely that the new president of Speed is going to leave everything as it is. Maybe he/she won’t be that big a racing fan. So maybe the weekend racing coverage, or some of it, gets whacked.

Maybe the new person loves NASCAR and isn’t much of an F1 fan. Uh-oh, I can hear you say. But it’s possible this change could have an effect on Speed's F1 coverage.

Or maybe not. (It really doesn’t matter to us in Canada now, because Speed’s F1 race coverage has been blacked out in recent years. But if TSN or Sportsnet passes on F1 in 2012, and Speed’s coverage is altered, we could be in a fix . . .)

What I am saying is that Speed TV under the leadership of Hunter Nickell has been a good friend of all motorsports and fingers should be crossed that this across-the-board approach continues.

Now, speaking of Formula One, it’s really interesting to watch how Lotus-Renault CEO Dany Bahar is now speaking out of both sides of his mouth so far as the return of driver Kimi Raikkonen is concerned.

Bahar had some of the world’s motoring press over for lunch in London on Monday and said that he fully expects Raikkonen to have some difficulty adjusting to F1 after being away from the sport for two years (ya think?) but that the team is quite prepared to give him all the time he needs.

Said M. Bahar: "You cannot expect from a driver that was absent for two years to come back and adapt to the new tyres and new regulations from day one, so he needs his time. But whether this time is three days, six races or 20 races, we will see. What is important is to see how his tendency goes towards the performance. If it is always improving, then of course we will give him the time."

All very well and good. But then, he said this:

"He knows he has to deliver. . . He is not the same kid as he was at Sauber and at McLaren. These are different times, he has to deliver and he realises that."

Well, which is it? Is it, "We will give him the time?" or is it, "He knows he has to deliver?"

This guy Bahar won’t last long if Raikkonen doesn’t live up to what’s expected of him. And on top of that, he’s about to record an even bigger loss in the arena of public opinion.

The contract Renault has with Robert Kubica, the popular Polish driver who was nearly killed in a rally accident at the beginning of the year and was unable to return to F1 racing as hoped, is about to expire and Bahar seems content to let him go.

As a good friend of mine noted a few weeks ago, when that happens, Kubica will become a test driver with Ferrari and if he can recapture his old speed, will be a very good bet to replace Felipe Massa in 2013.

And if that happens, Dany Bahar’s career in F1 could come to screeching halt.

The day Mario Andretti crossed swords with Don Branson

This entry originally appeared on this site in November, 2009. From time to time during the off-season, when legitimate auto racing news is in short supply, I will re-publish items about subjects that I particular enjoy. This one got a lot of response - a day in the life of a couple of warriors, when racing was racin' and men were men. 

When there’s no more racing to go to, or watch on TV, I spend my spare time reading about it.

I have magazines and books coming out of my ears.

And they’re all over the place: bookcases upstairs, bookcases downstairs and boxes and boxes of magazines. I never throw anything out, so there’s lots in the garage.

I should be more organized. My wife will see me going down to the basement, and up to my home office, and out to the garage and back in to do it all over again and she knows not to ask because she knows I’m looking for a book or an article to check a fact, recall an incident or find a quote because I know the damn thing is around the house somewhere.

I have three favourite motor racing journalists. Nigel Roebuck (isn’t he everybody’s favourite?), who writes about all things Formula One – the races, the racers and the politics. I bought Autosport magazine for years just for his column and articles. The CBC, back whenever, telecast a history of F1 that I was really lucky to tape and I found out later that he was the narrator. Now he’s editor of Motor Sport magazine. It is a pleasure – a pleasure – to read his stuff.

Then there is John G. Sawyer, an American educator who freelanced to the long-gone Open Wheel magazine a series of incredible profiles of old-time Indianapolis drivers who also raced midgets and sprint cars on dirt. He also wrote three books about those legends of the speedways.

I read his stuff again and again and again and never, ever, get tired of it. I know what the next sentence will be and I keep reading anyway.

Joe Scalzo is my third favourite. His beautiful book, The American Dirt Track Racer: 1951-1971 (he’s written more than a dozen in total but this one stands out), contains outstanding writing like this:

"There were not one but two possible final destinations for the dirt-track warrior. One was the Indy 500, where everybody wanted to go. The other was the marble orchard, where nobody wanted to go."

I love a great line, and that one about the cemetery – the "marble orchard" – is right up there.

In any event, last week I was reading an article by Roebuck in the latest Motor Sport in which he interviewed Mario Andretti about the years when he was just starting out as a professional midget and sprint car racer.

In the Roebuck piece, Andretti talks at length about the late U.S. Auto Club sprint and champ car driver Don Branson, who didn’t taste success until he was nearly in his 40s – which was ancient for the times.

In the article, Andretti professes great affection for Branson and discussed a particular incident involving the two of them: he’d run into Branson and spun him out during a race at Williams Grove Speedway in Pennsylvania, following which he suggests he received some fatherly advice from the grizzled veteran.

"Couple of days later, in Indianapolis, I’m having breakfast and I see Don’s at another table and he calls me over – Jesus, I knew what was coming. ‘Mario,’ he says very quietly, ‘how much money did you make at the Grove the other night?’ Not much, I says. ‘I know, Mario,’ he says. ‘You made about as much as I didn’t make because you took me out. Now, listen,’ he says, ‘let’s cut out that sort of crap, and we’ll both get to eat much better, right?’

"He never raised his voice, but I was shaking. ‘Do you hear me, Mario?’ he says. And you’d better believe, I heard him!’ "

That’s a great little yarn, I thought to myself, and then my long-term memory kicked in:

Wait a minute. I’ve read that story before, somewhere. The version I read was similar, but if I recall, Branson wasn’t being nearly as charitable. In fact, he was giving Andretti a warning.

So away I went – upstairs, downstairs, out to the garage and so-on – and there, finally, in the July 1988 issue of Open Wheel magazine was a story entitled "Gramps," which was the first of a two-part series by Sawyer on the life and times of Branson – "a simple, unpretentious man with the Illinois heartland written all over his face."

So I started to read Sawyer’s piece – man, what a way he had with those words – and in a part in which he interviewed Branson’s long-time crew chief, Jud Phillips, I found these passages:

"There was one . . . altercation with a newcomer that nearly pushed Don to violence. Mario Andretti was that newcomer and I never saw Don more angry. . .

"I’ll kid you not, Don was furious. However, he smoldered in silence. But you knew he was really hot – about as close to throwing fists as he ever got. Still, he said nothing. 

"On the following Tuesday, Don and I were having breakfast at the Cove Restaurant in Indianapolis. In walks Mario with a couple of Clint Brawner’s people. And they sat right next to us.

"Now, ol’ Don hadn’t forgotten about all those slide-jobs from the previous weekend. He was still mad about it and upon seeing Mario, he turned bright red. ‘Uh-oh,’ I said to myself.

"Don just sat there, playin’ with his breakfast. Finally he spoke – and the tone was hardly friendly. ‘Hey, Mario,’ he says, ‘how much money did you make over at the Grove?’ Mario didn’t answer right away but eventually he said he hadn’t made very much. ‘Yeah, I know,’ ol’ Don growled. ‘About as much as I didn’t make when you spun us both out. So – let’s cut out that kind of crap and we’ll both eat better.’ Then he said:

" ‘Do you hear me, Mario? No more of that crap,’ and that closed the subject. But Don had made his point."

The incident is the same and the quotes are almost the same. But two versions of the same story paint an entirely different picture of what went on between Mario Andretti and Don Branson in an Indianapolis restaurant all those years ago.

As we go through the winter, waiting for the Daytona 24 and then the 500, we’ll visit with all three of these writers from time to time.

It’s a pleasure for me to write about them. I hope you’ll get the same pleasure reading about them and the people and races they wrote about.

'Hinch' a cinch to drive GoDaddy car in 2012?

When Newman/Haas Racing announced late last week that it wouldn't be competing in the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series, it promptly threw Sunoco Rookie of the Year James Hinchcliffe out of work.

I did a quick phone interview with "Hinch," the Oakville racer who set the IndyCar series on its ear this year with both his abilities in the cockpit and his public-relations skills, and asked him if he'd talked to Michael Andretti about the GoDaddy seat recently vacated by Danica Patrick that was going to be filled by Dan Wheldon but remains available.

I wrote in my blog entry that, "asked specifically about the openings at Michael Andretti's team, Hinchcliffe was bemused, saying only that they were among several of the quality seats still available and he would just have to regroup."

Wednesday afternoon, Speed TV reporter Robin Miller said it's now expected that Hinchcliffe is close to landing that job.

And in email conversation that I had Wednesday night with a friend who is in the know, it is pretty safe to say that James Hinchcliffe of Oakville, Ont., Canada will very, very likely be driving that car in the IndyCar series next year.

Which, when it's made official, will be very good news, indeed.

P.S. Miller also suggests Canadian Alex Tagliani will drive for Brian Herta Autosports in 2012. We'll see.

Several years ago, the World of Outlaws honoured the Brantford-area Ohsweken Speedway for promoting the best race of the year that season.

Now, NASCAR has so honoured the Circuit-Gilles Villeneuve for the running in August of the NAPA 200, calling it the race of the year for 2011.

 

Of course, the Outlaws centred out Ohsweken for race organization, ambience and the facility itself (that little dirt oval on the Six Nations Reserve is a gem) while NASCAR simply said that the Montreal race was the most exciting of the season.

To recap: Australian driver Marcos Ambrose qualified for the Sprint Cup race at Michigan before taking a private plane to Montreal’s Dorval airport. He transferred to a helicopter that flew him to Ilse Notre-Dame and then was taken across the Olympic Rowing Basin to the circuit by boat. He strapped himself into his race car with just moments to spare before the start.

Starting last (he missed qualifying), he charged his way through the field in an effort to catch local favourites Jacques Villeneuve (who’d won the pole), Patrick Carpentier (driving in his last race before retiring) and Alex Tagliani (who’d started on the front row beside JV).

To say he “charged through the field” is a misnomer: he bashed his way through and took the lead by running Villeneuve off the track on a restart with 26 laps remaining. He managed to squeeze past Tagliani just before the end to take what the news release said was an “improbable victory.”

After the race, Carpentier’s crew chief grabbed driver Steve Wallace by the hair when he was still in his car as a result of Wallace deliberately spinning out Carpentier to ruin his final race.

Have at it boys, indeed.

 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series Champion Scott Steckly of Milverton is in Charlotte, N.C. this week to celebrate the 2011 season along with the six other NASCAR Touring and Weekly Series champions.

The week of festivities will culminate in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Awards Banquet on Friday and the NASCAR Night of Champions Touring Awards Gala on Saturday.

In addition to Steckly, Max Gresham (NASCAR K&N Pro Series East), Greg Pursley (West), German Quiroga (NASCAR Mexican Series presented by Toyota), Ron Silk (NASCAR Whelan Modified Tour), George Brunnhoelzl (NASCAR Whelan Southern Modified Tour) and Philip Morris (NASCAR Whelan  All-American Series) will each receive trophies and all the other accolades that go along with them.

Both evenings will be covered by live streaming. Go to www/nascarhometracks.com at 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday for coverage in English, French and Spanish.

Speed Channel will broadcast one-hour biography specials of the six people going into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in January, starting this Friday night.

First up will be Cale Yarborough at 8 p.m., followed by Dale Inman at 9. A week later, on Dec. 16, at 8 p.m., Richie Evans will get the treatment. Then, there will be a break through Christmas and New Year’s, with the “Biography” series picking up again on Jan. 6 at 8 p.m. when Darrell Waltrip will be profiled. On Jan. 13, again at 8 p.m., Glen Wood will get his 60 minutes.

The third annual NASCAR Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be held on Friday, Jan. 20 in the Charlotte Convention Center’s Crown Ballroom at the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Muscle Milk Pickett Racing will have a bigger on-track presence in the American Le Mans Series next season with the team fielding an LMP Challenge class entry alongside its LMP1 program, which will will be announced in the coming weeks.

Drivers Memo Gidley (he’s half Canadian, you know) and Mike Guasch will lead the team's effort in the Challenge class, which features the Michelin-clad ORECA-Courage FLM09 prototype.

Here’s a tidbit. According to a story on speedtv.com, an Austin Healey 100S Prototype connected with the worst tragedy in motorsports history was sold for $1.3 million last Thursday at auction in the U.K.

Essentially in ratty “barn-find” condition, the Healey’s value was multiplied immeasurably by its role in the fiery crash during the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans that claimed 84 lives and injured 120 people.

This Healey, which was driven by Lance Macklin, swerved to avoid Mike Hawthorne’s Jaguar D-Type, which was braking to enter pit lane, putting it directly in the way of a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR driven by Pierre Levegh.

The Mercedes hit the rear of the Healey and was launched into the crowd of spectators. Levegh was among those killed and Mercedes-Benz withdrew from racing until 1980.

Here’s an early reminder about the 2012 Grand Prix of Canada that will be held at Circuit-Gilles Villeneuve next June.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rc5V3qE21E

Kurt Busch gets his comeuppance

It’s finally happened.

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

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

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

And not a minute too soon.

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

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

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

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

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

Warning: Strong language

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The ice finally broke Sunday night.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Two, in particular.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Notebook:

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

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

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

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

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

No Canadian Tire stock cars at next Honda Indy Toronto

The rumours have turned out to be true – that Canadian Tire planned to take a pass on participating at the 2012 Honda Indy Toronto.

For now, at least.

NASCAR issued the 2012 Canadian Tire Series schedule this afternoon and there are 12 races on it but the July 6-8 Honda Indy isn’t one of them.

Although there is an asterisk at the bottom that says “tentative, subject to change,” the fact that the sanctioning body chose to issue it without the Toronto race on it is telling.

The Canadian stock car series will race on the same program as the IZOD IndyCar Series in Canada next year but it will be in Edmonton in late July, rather than through the streets of the CNE two weeks earlier.

What once was known as CASCAR was long a partner of the Molson Indy Toronto but that arrangement came to an end early in the millenium when the price to participate got too high (yes, the racers in most support series, or their sponsors, pay to race at big events).

After the series changed hands, NASCAR Canada and its partner, TSN, negotiated the Canadian Tire series back onto the Honda Indy weekend schedule and the series headlined the Saturday program the last two years.

TSN broadcast the race live last July.

But that arrangement has come to an end, apparently.

There are still seven months to go before the Toronto race, so here’s hoping there’s a change of heart on the part of one of the parties. The stock cars always put on a good show.

Meantime, here is the text of the release from NASCAR and the calendar:

NASCAR announced today the 2012 schedule for the sixth season of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, which includes many of the top racing facilities throughout Canada.

Next season’s schedule features 12 dates at 12 different tracks across six provinces. The slate includes tracks and events familiar to the series, with Edmonton returning to the schedule after a one-year hiatus.

The 2012 schedule has a great mix of tracks that will deliver the exciting racing that our Canadian fans have become accustomed,” said George Silbermann, NASCAR vice president, regional and touring series. “Each year with the help from our friends at Canadian Tire, this series continues to grow and evolve. This upcoming season should be the best yet.”

“For the first time in series history, on May 20, the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series opens its season at the 2.459-mile Mosport International Raceway road course near Bowmanville, Ont. 

For the sixth consecutive year, the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series will share Montreal’s legendary Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on IÎe Notre Dame with the NASCAR Nationwide Series on Saturday, Aug. 18.

Additionally, in a pairing with the IZOD IndyCar Series, the series returns to Edmonton on the new 2.256-mile Edmonton (Alberta) City Centre Airport course that debuted last year.

Joining the Edmonton event, the annual swing through Western Canada includes two other stops: At Motoplex Speedway in Vernon, B.C., and Auto Clearing Motor Speedway in Saskatoon, Sask.

In what has become a tradition, the season will close with a new champion crowned at Kawartha Speedway, the .375-mile oval near Peterborough, Ont., on Saturday, Sept. 22.

“Canadian Tire has been a proud sponsor of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series since 2006,” said Allan MacDonald, Senior Vice-President of Automotive for Canadian Tire. “It’s thrilling to see how the sport of racing has continued to grow over the years alongside the enthusiasm of Canadian racing fans. We’re looking forward to yet another exciting season on the track in 2012.”

Other 2012 highlights include:

•         The 2012 schedule includes races on seven ovals: Auto Clearing, Barrie Speedway, Delaware Speedway, Kawartha, Mosport Speedway, Motoplex and Riverside International Speedway; and five road courses: Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Circuit ICAR, Circuit de Trois-Rivieres, Edmonton, and Mosport.

•         On June 2-3, the series returns to Circuit ICAR in Mirabel, Que., for the second straight season.

•         June 16 will be the series’ sixth consecutive year of competing at Mosport Speedway.

•         June 23 will mark the fourth consecutive visit to Delaware (Ont.) Speedway.

•         The wildly popular Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres in Quebec is on tap for Aug. 4-5.

•         The Barrie Speedway date is set for Saturday, Sept. 8. Each of the past five trips to Barrie on this weekend has resulted in overflow crowds.

•         Riverside International Speedway, in Antigonish, hosts the series on Sept. 15. Riverside, with its high-banked turns, is a .333-mile scale version of the legendary Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.

2012 NASCAR CANADIAN TIRE SERIES SCHEDULE

 Date   Track (Length)      Location

May 20        Mosport Int'l Raceway (2.459-Mile road course)     Bowmanville, Ont.

June 3          Circuit ICAR (2.113-Mile road course)         Mirabel, Que.

June 16        Mosport Speedway (.5-Mile)     Bowmanville, Ont.

June 23        Delaware Speedway (.5-Mile)    Delaware, Ont.

July 14         Motoplex Speedway (.5-Mile)   Vernon, B. C.

July 22         Edmonton City Centre Airport (2.256-Mile road course)   Edmonton, Alberta

July 25         Auto Clearing Motor Speedway (.333-Mile)  Saskatoon, Sask.

Aug. 5         Circuit de Trois-Rivieres (1.53-Mile road course)    Trois-Rivieres, Que.

Aug. 18       Circuit Gilles Villeneuve (2.71-Mile road course)     Montreal, Que.

Sept. 8         Barrie Speedway (.333-Mile)     Barrie, Ont.

Sept. 15       Riverside Int’l Speedway (.333-Mile)   Antigonish, N. S.

Sept. 22       Kawartha Speedway (.375-Mile)          Fraserville, Ont.

Tentative - Subject to Change

2012 Honda Indy Toronto countdown starts

The countdown to the 2012 Honda Indy Toronto, scheduled for the streets of the CNE July 6-8, officially gets under way tomorrow with the release of tickets just in time for the Christmas holiday season.

And for the first time since the glory days of CART as the sanctioning body, the Honda Indy will feature competition between engine manufacturers, with Chevrolet and Lotus turbocharged V-6 powerplants going up against long-time IZOD IndyCar Series stalwart Honda.

And there will be a different-looking chassis on track next July, also, with the introduction of a brand new car designed by Italty’s Dallara Automobili. The car will be labelled DW12, in memory of the late Dan Wheldon, who conducted most of the testing of the new chassis during 2011.

“Thanks to growing sponsorships, vendors and quality racing, the event continues to deliver a unique experience,” said Charlie Johnstone, Vice-President and General Manager of the Honda Indy Toronto. “The addition of a new chassis and engine competition will heat things up even more.”

Tickets start at $30 for a single day general admission pass on Saturday and peak at $423 for a weekend Gold-level grandstand pass. To purchase tickets or to view a complete list of prices and ticket packages, visit hondaindytoronto.com/tickets or call 1-877-503-6869.

Support races will be announced as the event approaches, but it’s a good bet that the Indy Lights, NASCAR Canadian Tire Series and Canada’s other best-kept racing secret, the Castrol Canadian Touring Car Series, will be on the program.

Speaking of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, driver Jason White of Sun Peaks, B.C., driver of the No. 21 A & W Dodge, has been voted Most Popular Driver for 2011.

All this season, race fans were encouraged to vote for their favourite driver by logging on to the NASCAR Home Tracks website.  He’ll be presented the award at the NASCAR Night of Champions Touring Awards Gala, which will take place at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte on Sat., Dec. 10.

  “I’ll be very proud to be representing all the Canadian race fans that weekend in Charlotte and show how much enthusiasm there is for racing in Canada,” White said. “This is such an honour for me. To have thousands of race fans take the time to cast their votes for me means a lot.”

For the latest off-season news about White and the A & W team, check out the all-new team website at www.jasonwhiteracing.com and be sure to follow Jason on twitter for the latest updates @racinjasonwhite  The 2012 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series schedule is expected to be announced shortly.  For more information about the series at www.hometracks.nascar.com  

Edwards on NASCAR pole; Video - NASCAR Canada

SATURDAY EVENING UPDATE: Brad Keselowski won the final NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway Saturday while Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who finished second, won the series championship. Carl Edwards, in the hunt for the Sprint Cup title, finished third in the race.

Earlier, Edwards won the pole for the Sprint Cup showdown Sunday afternoon, with Martin Truex Jr. second and Kasey Kahne third. Tony Stewart, the only driver other than Edwards in contention to win the Chase for the NASCAR Championship, will go off 15th.

Earlier . . .

The best kept secret in Canadian sports is the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series.

Don’t believe me? Take a look at this video,  which gives you an idea of what this series is all about.

When you finish watching the video, make plans to watch the Year in Review TV program that is scheduled to be shown Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. on TSN2.

(It will be shown again on TSN2 Monday at 8:30 p.m., Tuesday at 3 p.m. and again next Saturday at 11 p.m. Don’t get TSN2? It will be on the main channel, TSN, on Wednesday at midnight and next Friday at 4 p.m.)

 

Speaking of NASCAR, the big showdown for the Sprint Cup Chase for the Championship will take place Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida. The pre-race show will be on TSN2 at 2 p.m. and the green flag will fly at 3 p.m.

The only two drivers who can win the title are two-time champion Tony Stewart, who has won four of the Chase races to date, and Carl Edwards, who has won none.

However, Edwards leads by three points (Stewart won the race last weekend at Phoenix and still couldn’t overcome the three-point lead Edwards had going in: NORRIS NOTE - I apologize for the severe brain fade here - Kasey Kahne won the Phoenix race) and has won two races at Homestead-Miami to Stewart’s none, so  they’re really pretty even.

Of course, the trash-talking dominated the last media conference of the week and what would you expect?

Best line was Stewart’s: “I’d wreck my mom to win a championship.”

Of course you would, Smoke, and so would Edwards.

Incidentally, TSN2 will carry the NASCAR Nationwide race Saturday at 4 p.m. And the last truck race of the Camping World Series can be seen tonight on Speed TV at 8 p.m.

Incidentally, NASCAR has still not issued a truck series schedule for 2012. Speculation continues to swirl about a potential Mosport date for that series . . .

Here’s some hard news: Suzuki Motor Corp. has pulled out of motorcycle racing at the Moto GP level but says it will be back on track for the 2014 season.

In a student, Suzuki said: "Suzuki Motor Corp. has decided to suspend temporarily its participation in FIM Road Racing Grand Prix MotoGP from 2012.

"This suspension is to cope with tough circumstances mainly caused by the prolonged recession in developed countries, a historical appreciation of Japanese yen and repeated natural disasters.

"Having an eye to returning to MotoGP in 2014, Suzuki will now focus on developing a competitive new racing machine for that class.

"Suzuki will continue motocross racing activity and support of road racing activities using mass-produced motorcycles, by obtaining FIM homologation and co-operation with the supplier of its development racing kit parts."

Ace Suzuki rider Alvaro Bautist has already left the team for Honda.

Finally, ekartingnews.com is live-streaming editor/publisher Rob Howden’s race call of the Superkarts! USA SuperNationals competition this weekend in Las Vegas. It started Friday morning and will go all weekend at link here.

Four IndyCar racers are entered:  Raphael Matos, EJ Viso, Jay Howard and Martin Plowman.

Rob reports that the team Dan Wheldon was supposed to run with has his prepped kart in Vegas and, as a tribute, his name will be kept on the entry list and in the results. Dan was well-loved in the paddock and his absence is much noted, Rob says.

Look what's going on out at Mosport

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Okay, moving right along:

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

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

“Other outside circumstances?”

What’s that? Sabotage?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Good luck, Mike!

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

I’ll be watching. Will you?