Norris McDonald's Auto Racing Blog

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?

Roundup: No NASCAR winner, Hamilton tops in F1

WEEKEND ROUNDUP:

1. The NASCAR race at Phoenix didn’t solve anything. Carl Edwards, who led the Sprint Cup Chase for the Championship by three points over Tony Stewart going into Phoenix, flew out of Phoenix leading the championship by three points over Tony Stewart. It will all come down to the final race of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway next Sunday.

2. World Champion Sebastien Vettel suffered a flat tire and spun out of the Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi on the first lap and that was all she wrote for Lewis Hamilton, who inherited the lead and led the rest of the way.

3. World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb wrapped up his eighth consecutive championship on Friday  (take that, Jimmie Johnson) and then, heading for the final stage, he collided with a car that wasn’t even in the rally.

What???

4. Other racing results, but first . . .

FORMULA ONE

Just about the only reason to continue watching Formula One races this season evaporated about 10 seconds into Sunday’s Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi when something caused pole-position winner Sebastien Vettel’s right-rear tire to lose all its air and he spun off the Yas Marina Circuit, handing second-place starter Lewis Hamilton a gift victory.

Fernando Alonso, who really earned his money this weekend by charging up from fifth on the grid to second by the end of the first lap, finished in exactly that position for Ferrari while Jenson Button, Hamilton’s McLaren-Mercedes teammate, was third.

Except for the first lap excitement, it was a largely uneventful Grand Prix. Full story and results here

Mark Webber finished fourth for Red Bull-Renault, Felipe Massa fifth for Ferrari, Nico Roseberg sixth for Mercedes, Michael Schumacher seventh for ditto, Adrien Sutil and Paul di Resta eighth and ninth for Force India, and Kamui Kobayashi tenth for Sauber.

"Way to go, boys," an elated Hamilton said over the team’s radio on the cool-down lap. "I'm glad I could do it for you. I want to dedicate this victory to my mom: happy birthday – and thanks for coming."

It was the first time Vettel hadn’t finished a race since last season at Korea, when his car suffered engine problems. It also ended a remarkable string of 19 consecutive races in which he had scored points.

So far as the tire is concerned, Pirelli, the manufacturer, said it would conduct an investigation but had no immediate theories and suggested they may never find the cause.

Vettel had won his second consecutive World Championship three races ago at Japan. Although some people have argued that F1 races continue to be worth watching because drivers are fighting for their jobs for next year and so-on, the only real reason (other than simply enjoying F1) has been to see if Vettel could match, or beat, a couple of records.

On Saturday, during qualifying, he matched Nigel Mansell’s single-season record for poles – 14 – and can beat that record in two weeks at Brazil.

(However, in 1992, Mansell won pole 14 times in just a 16-race season – pretty close to total domination in that category. Vettel now has 14 poles in 18 races, with one to go. But a record is a record and there will be keen interest in qualifying at the final race in Sao Paulo.)

The other record Vettel had a chance of equaling was Michael Schumacher’s most-wins-in-a-season – 13, set in 2004. Vettel had 11 going into Abu Dhabi and had his sights set on a tie but the flat tire put an end to that.

Hamilton has not had a good season to date, colliding not only with his own teammate (in Canada) but also several times in recent races with Felipe Massa. To say he was excited to win his third race of the season, the 17^th of his career and No. 175 in the history of Team McLaren would be an understatement.

"I feel fantastic," he said. "After Sebastien went off and I got the lead (he'd been second off the line behind Vettel), it was just a matter of managing the tires and managing the gap (back to Alonso). The team did a great job on pit stops and I'm just very, very happy to be back up here.

"It was one of my best races – I said that to myself as I slowed down. I’m ecstatic, very happy to be back up here. I can get on my flight tonight and smile!"

Alonso, who’s been on the podium 10 times in 2011, agreed that he nearly caught Hamilton just before the second round of pit stops but that there had been bad luck when Ferrari called him in.

"The last pit stop, we were two seconds slower than the McLaren," he said. "We had some traffic coming into the pits, there was an HRT in front of us, but then at the end of the day it was a good fight and a good day for us. It was quite enjoyable."

Button, who’d finished third at Abu Dhabi for the third consecutive year, explained that he'd had problems with his KERS system throughout the race, losing it and then getting it back, and that had created anxiety every time he went to put on the brakes.

"Any time I went into a corner, I didn't know what I was going to get. Would the KERS help with the braking (through engine braking), or not? At the end of the day, though, I'm fairly happy."

With NASCAR wrapping up it's season next weekend in Florida, the Grand Prix of Brazil in two weeks will bring down the curtain on the 2011 racing season.

NOTEBOOK JOTTINGS:

– If Williams is seriously considering hiring Kimi Raikkonen in place of Rubens Barrichello for 2012, Barrichellos’s performance Sunday might make them stop and think again. He started 23^rd and finished 12^th (he was nearly in the top ten) and if you don’t think that’s all that big a deal, it is.

I guarantee that anybody out of F1 for two years is not going to be able to waltz back in and be on pace. It took Michael Schumacher an entire season to get back into the groove and he’s a seven-time world champion.

Williams doesn’t have that much time to waste if it has designs of getting back into the top grouping.

Although Barrichello carried the Williams flag well, their young driver, Pastor Maldonado, had an embarrassing day. He kept getting into people’s way and that’s a no-no in F1.

Oh, by the way, both McLaren and Ferrari, who employed Raikkonen, are egging Williams on to make a deal with him. If he’s that good, who don’t one of them sign him up?

– After he dropped out, Vettel stayed with the team for the rest of the race (good) but didn’t present himself for a pit interview (bad). Racing drivers are always ready to answer questions when things go well but tend to make themselves scarce when things are not so good. They owe their popularity to their fans, who want to hear their heroes speak either way. Sebastien should know that by now.

– Social note: Pro golfer Rory McIlroy and his sweetie, tennis star Caroline Wozniacki, watched the race together and broke into big grins when they saw that the cameras were on them.

NASCAR

Kasey Kahne won the Sprint Cup race, with Carl Edwards second and Tony Stewart third (full story, results here), but the real story of the weekend wasn’t so much the race or the Chase but the difficulty drivers had running the "new" Phoenix International Raceway.

Although there was much fanfare last spring when International Speedway Corp. announced that Phoenix would be renovated, at the end of the day they didn’t do much beyond paving the place. The basic layout is still there; they just added some banking coming out of the second turn and that is where the problem lies.

There is a yellow line that determines the lower limit of the speedway. All drivers in all races this weekend were told they couldn’t run below that yellow line, particularly in turn two.

Now, we all wonder about some of the penalties handed out by the stewards in F1, but at least they’re usually pretty consistent and it also shows that they’re on the job.

NASCAR’s drivers were cutting below that yellow line all weekend and not one of them was given a penalty, although Elliott Sadler put himself out of the Nationwide Series championship on Saturday by getting a big run down the backstretch courtesy of cutting below that line and causing a great big wreck.

Now, in true NASCAR fashion, Sadler blamed Jason Leffler, who hit him, for the accident. It’s always the other guy, have you noticed? And Leffler, good soldier that he is, accepted the blame.

But I don’t know what either was taking about.

Sadler went below the line and re-entered the race track (yes, he was out of bounds) halfway down the backstretch. He arrived, out of nowhere, right in front of Leffler. Is Leffler supposed to slow down? Hit the brakes? Of course not.

Sadler was offf the race track and had no business cutting up in front of Leffler like that and NASCAR should have disciplined him for it. That, at least, would have sent a message to the Sprint Cup drivers on Sunday that you can’t do that.

Which NASCAR didn’t do and the Sprint Cup drivers were pulling that little stunt all afternoon.

Anyway, Kahne’s victory Sunday was a big boost for the Red Bull racing team, which will be out of business after next weekend unless somebody buys it (Jacques Villeneuve, perhaps?).

Other than the good-news story of Kahne’s win, and the Chase story of Edwards and Stewart arriving three points apart and leaving three points apart, the race was routine.

NOTEBOOK JOTTINGS:

– While Kasey Kahne was winning the race, his teammate, Brian Vickers, continued running into just about everybody else on the speedway, and notably Matt Kenseth. Observers are saying that if Vickers wants a ride next season, he should be behaving himself and showing prospective employers what a good driver he is.

I suggest Vickers knows his career is over and so he’s taking the remaining races to settle any and all scores he might have in his payback file.

– Ex-IndyCar driver and Indy 500 champion Sam Hornish won his first career NASCAR race on Saturday when he finished first in the Nationwide contest. He was a little excited.

It’s interesting that Hornish also won his first Indy car race at Phoenix. And both times, he drove a yellow car.

Team owner Roger Penske said he was thrilled for Sam and that his plan now is for Hornish to run a full Nationwide schedule in 2012 and to try for the championship. Nice. But does that mean Brad Keselowski won’t be in a Penske Nationwide car?

– Kyle Busch is the new Danica Patrick. NASCAR and its television partners always seem to key in on an individual to the detriment of others and to the irritation of fans. It used to be all Danica, Danica, Danica. Now it’s all Kyle, Kyle, Kyle. Will Danica make a comeback in 2012? Stay tuned.

OTHER RACING

– Sebastien Loeb won his eighth World Rally Championship on Friday, then was driving to the 19^th stage of the Wales Rally GB when he collided with a rental car being driven by two fans who were going to the same place.

Nobody was injured in the crash but Loeb’s Citroen had radiator damage and so he couldn’t continue.

"We are world champion so no problems," said Loeb. "I moved to the side (of the road) but we are in (Wales) and he is not (Welsh), so he went on the wrong side and we crashed."

– In the NHRA finals at Pamona, Calif., Matt Hagan won the Funny Car title (after disposing of Jack Beckman, Cruz Pedregon and Robert Hight) while Del Worsham came out on top in Top Fuel, defeating Spencer Massey first and then Tony Schumacher. Both victories were worth $500,000.

Funny Car driver Melanie Troxel had a close call in eliminations. She’d finished her pass against Pedregon and shut everything down and popped the chute when the engine somehow re-started and her car crashed through a fence and into the side of a trailed in the paddock.

Nobody, including Melanie, was hurt.

She told John Oreovicz of ESPN that, "I've never had anything like that happen before. The fuel was off, the ignition was off, but I know it can happen with the motor turning over with the clutch welded like that. You're turning the cylinders over but I wouldn't have thought there was enough fuel in the cylinders to do that.

"Once it fired up, I really didn't have very many options about where to go. I could have hit race cars and tow vehicles, or a fence and whatever was on the other side. I just got lucky there were no racers or no fans on the other side of that. I just hate that someone else's equipment got torn up. That's a terrible feeling but the good news is nobody got hurt."

Tony Stewart tells NASCAR to let drivers fist-fight

Tony Stewart, who won Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Martinsville, told USA Today afterward that the 18 caution flags thrown during the contest were inexcusable and that the NASCAR "have-at it,-boys" philosophy should extend to the boxing ring.

"NASCAR is going to have to, at some point, make these drivers be responsible for their actions," Stewart said when asked by reporter Nate Ryan to comment on what was going on out there. Every little bump, accidental or otherwise, was met with instant payback, it seemed.

Stewart was not impressed.

"Let them get their butt kicked," he said. "That's what used to happen in the old days. You let a guy get his butt kicked once or twice, he'll quit doing stupid stuff like that.

"As soon as they get done with the victory celebration, set a boxing ring on the front stretch, give the fans a real show they paid for. Have a boxing match with each of the guys that had a beef with each other."

Stewart said he was once a hothead but that the late Dale Earnhardt and the retired Dale Jarrett slapped some sense into him.

"The veterans would grab you, pull you out of the car, rip your head off talking to you (and) intimidate you into understanding why you didn't do that.

"I used to be as bad as anybody about taking a cheap shot, but (after Earnhardt and Jarret got finished with him) you realize that it's not about the two guys driving the cars. There's a car owner that spends a lot of money. There's a bunch of crew guys that put a lot of heart and soul into these cars. At times we forget about that."

Stewart, who’s part-owner of his own racing team, trails Chase for the Championship leader Carl Edwards by eight points with three races to go. Stewart, a two-time NASCAR Cup champion, is on a roll to perhaps nail down his third.

All hail Sebastien Vettel, F1 superstar

There’s a great old newspaper story about the time that Herbert Whittacker, the late theatre critic for the Globe and Mail, finished the first parapgrah of a review of the Broadway musical Oklahoma with the words: "What more can I say?" before going on for another 15 paragraphs.

Patrick Scott, a hardboiled copy editor, promptly put "30," after that first paragraph – "30" being an old telegraph symbol used throughout the industry meaning "the end."

And that’s what appeared in the next day’s Globe: a one-paragraph review of Oklahoma, ending with: "What more can I say?"

I was reminded of this Sunday night as I sat down to pontificate about Sebastien Vettel’s latest triumph in Formula One racing – what some people are calling his "grand slam" at the first Grand Prix of India Sunday in which he won the pole, led every lap while winning, set fastest lap of the race and set the record for number of laps led in a season – 711 as of now but still counting.

What more can I say?

Jenson Button was second in the race in his McLaren-Mercedes, 8.5-seconds behind Vettel at the checkers, while Fernando Alonso was third in a Ferrari, another 16 behind Button.

Yes, Vettel has the best car and he has the best crew and the best engineers and the best of everything.

But he still has to drive the thing and it takes a special skill to do that , something that few mortals possess.

The delightful thing about Vettel, who’s still just a kid of 24, is that he seems – seems – to be completely down to earth. Not for him the rock ‘n roll lifestyle of clubbing his way around the world. Any paparazzi photos out there? I haven’t seen any. In fact, his favourite form of recreation seems to be watching football or hockey games featuring the teams that represents the community where he lives in Switzerland.

Despite the number of times he’s won (11 times this year; 21 times in his career), he still seems to get a huge kick out of it all. Shortly after he took the checkered flag Sunday, he shouted over his team’s radio: "Yes, boys! Yes, we did it! Winner of the first Indiana Grand Prix. Enjoy the moment."

That he is a perfectionist, let there be no doubt. He appeared to be quite concerned, during the post-race press conference, that he had lost time to second-place finisher Button during pit stops.

"We pushed very hard on the in-lap and the out-lap, but Jenson closed on us. We will have to investigate why that was."

He says he is looking forward to the next race, at Abu Dhabi, in two weeks. "I am still hungry and I love what I do," he told reporters later.

Which is not particularly good news for F1 because the best anybody else will be able to do for the rest of the 2011 season is shoot for second place.

Four quick notes: The Felipe Massa-Lewis Hamilton "war" continued at India with Hamilton running into the side of Massa as they fought for a corner. Massa was given a drive-through penalty that, to my mind, was unfair. However, perhaps the stewards didn’t want to make Hamilton’s weekend any worse – he’d been penalized three grid positions (he qualified second, but started fifth) for ignoring waved yellow flags during Friday practice. . . Everybody talks about Mark Webber’s poor starts this season (he finished fourth in Sunday’s Grand Prix after starting second). I thought he got away really well and had to check up (I think) to avoid running into the back of Vettel going into the first corner and that loss of momentum is why Button got past him two corners later. . . Lotus wouldn’t let Karun Chandhock race in his home Grand Prix, saying before the weekend that they preferred to stay with Jarno Trulli because they didn’t think the Indian could handle the pressure and Trulli would deliver a better result. So Trulli finished in 19th place, four laps behind, and was the last car still running at the finish. Could Chandhock have done any worse? Could anybody? . . Hey, look who finished in fifth place Sunday? Michael Schumacher, that’s who. There’s still life in the old boy yet. One of these days, he’ll be on the podium. . . Full results story here.

Joe Gosek, at 55 the Oswego Speedway supermodified track champion and one-time Indianapolis 500 racer who was a 2011 Oswego Speedway Hall of Fame inductee on Saturday night, put the death of Dan Wheldon into perspective for me during a post-induction chat we had.

"All of us in racing, whether’s it’s NASCAR or Indy car or Formula One – whatever – whenever something like this happens we all pull together. We’re all affected by it. We might not all watch a particular form of racing, or sometimes even like it, but when something happens like happened to Dan, we all feel it and it has an effect on us all."

I’m glad I talked to Joe about this, because after NASCAR paid its tribute to the two-time Indy 500 champion last weekend at Talladega, Formula One held a minute of silence in memory of Wheldon and motorcycle racer Marco Simoncelli, who was killed last weekend, before Sunday’s Indian Grand Prix.

Afterward, Jenson Button suggested the race be dedicated in memory of the fallen warriors.

"The last two weekends have been very, very difficult. We have had two fatalities so it is very difficult, especially with Dan. I knew Dan from a very early age, he was the guy we always had to beat in the early formulas. So I think we should dedicate this first Indian race to Dan and obviously Marco, another super talented youngster. He was the most amazing guy to watch on a bike so I think we should dedicate this to them."

Moments before, Vettel had made mention of the fatal accidents in his post-race comments: "Looking back to last weekend, we lost two of our mates. I didn't know Dan Wheldon but he was a big name in motorsport. I got to know this year Marco Simoncelli and our thoughts are with them.

"Yes, we are ready to take certain risks when we jump into the car but we obviously pray that every time nothing happens but sometimes you get reminded and it is the last thing that we want to see. So, as I said, it is a bit mixed emotions and our thoughts are with them at this moment."

Ferando Alonso added: "As Sebastian and Jenson said, mixed feelings this weekend with sad weeks for motorsport with the two accidents. I think we all raced for them today and try to go ahead but always remember these two fantastic people."

I had a friend at the Indian race, Clive Rayman of Toronto, a Formula Ford driver from the early 1970s who was a real balls-to-the-walls kind of guy in the cockpit. He sent me this report Sunday night:

Hi Norris,

Another boring F1 race. From what I saw from my seat at the hairpin, there was hardly any passing. There was a half-hearted attempt by Webber to pass Button at the end of the straight. Other than that, the only passing done was the lapping of slower cars.

The Buddh track was designed supposedly to increase overtaking. Is race craft in F1 a thing of the past? They may as well just have time trials. The rules, political correctness and technology have turned F1 into a boring sport.

It seems that the only people that get a kick out of the race are the drivers, engineers, designers, aerodynamists and computer nerds. I spoke with some of the spectators after the race and they also found it quite boring. This is definitely the last F1 race that I will attend.

As far as the paying public is concerned, getting tickets, etc., was to say the least a bit of a joke. There were many empty seats in my stand and in the other stands that I could see. Bookmyshow, who were the ticketing agent, had a website that did not function properly. In September, unless one had an address in India, you could not get a ticket online.

I had to contact Jaypee sports, the organizers. I spoke to the Commercial Officer who had not a clue as to how disorganized the sale of tickets was. She eventually said to use her office address to have my ticket sent to me. Bookmyshow's website would not accept Jaypee's address, as it was so long. After numerous attempts, she said to use her home address.

When I did eventually get to book both my race ticket and my shuttle bus ticket to the track, the
final window just showed payment of my entry ticket but no bus ticket and there was no way to correct it. The result being that I needed to book my bus ticket separately, resulting in another booking charge and additional courier costs. I would suggest this was a deliberate rip-off.

Some stands were oversold and people were moved into stands less filled when they arrived at the circuit. Incredible.

To purchase food, one had to join a long line to get coupons, then join another line to get food, water and pop. One could not take food or water into the circuit – not unusual in some venues today. However, on Saturday, the first day I went, after purchasing a bottle of water (only sold in 1 litre bottles), I headed for my seat, only to be told I could not bring it into the stand!

Fortunately there were some Buddh officials at a table close by. I went to them and basically gave them a piece of my mind. Did they think that people would sit in the hot sun without anything to drink and after purchasing a 1 litre bottle of water? Were you expected to drink it all at once before going to your seat? Well, they changed it (the rule) pretty quickly and I was allowed in and everyone else. too.

Holwever, the TV screen in my area was better suited for a living room. The result being that you could not read the times or the order of the cars during the race and of course, due to the noise of the cars, you could not hear the speakers. Other than first, second and third, one had not a clue where anyone else was in the race.

It is one thing to put on an F1 race and get the track ready, etc., but a very important part that seems very much forgotten here was the comfort of the paying spectator. I would not be surprised if the Indian GP went the way of the Turkish GP.

You asked me to send my impressions of the GP. Well, the race you know all about, so I thought I'd let you know about the BS that spectators had to put up with and that does not include the horrendous dust and smog.

Cheers, Clive

Thanks Clive. And, finally, Tony Stewart won the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Martinsville, Va., Sunday (full race report here). He’s nipping right at Carl Edwards’s heels as the Chase winds down. Jimmie Johnson is out of it. NASCAR will have a new champion in less than a month.

NASCAR honours Steckly, Dumoulin with reception

ALLAN McDONALD, left, Senior VP of Automotive for Canadian Tire stands with NASCAR Canadian Tire Series champion SCOTT STECKLY following the season finale at Kawartha Speedway.

When Scott Steckly won his first NASCAR Canadian Tire Series championship in 2008, he had a full-time job and all the responsibilities that go with being a husband and father.

This year, he won his second title and although he still goes to baseball and hockey and grocery shopping and all those other things a husband does with the wife and kids, there’s one big difference:

He’s now a full-time racer.

Steckly and all the other drivers and crew members who raced in Canada’s only national auto racing series this year were honoured Friday night at a VIP reception at the Old Mill Inn and Spa in West Toronto.

The invitation-only event also included sponsors, media partners and participating race track operators as well as representatives from NASCAR’s Canadian and U.S. offices.

They made a big deal over Steckly, of Milverton, Ont., as well as series Rookie-of-the-Year Louis-Philippe Dumoulin, of Trois-Rivieres, Que., among others.

The 32-year-old Dumoulin, a member of the Dumoulin Competition motor racing family (father Richard and uncle Gerald started the team 40 years ago) who’s raced in Formula Atlantic, the Grand Am Rolex, Formula Ford and Koni Challenge series, couldn't attend but was represented by his racing brother, Jean-Francois, who said he'd like to follow Louis-Philippe into the Canadian Tire series, if he can find the sponsorship.

“I’m very sorry I can’t be in Toronto,” Louis-Philippe told me by phone this week from Daytona, Fla., “but I’m busy working here as a driver coach and I’m testing some cars. I hope to race a car in the Daytona 24 next year.”

His coaching client list includes retired Montreal Canadiens defenceman Patrice Brisebois, who’s raced primarily in the Ferrari Challenge series but has also dipped his toe in the stock car waters. For instance, he finished 14^th in the Canadian Tire race at Circuit ICAR in June.

Dumoulin said that although the types of cars he’s raced have been many and varied, he found himself “veering toward NASCAR” because there are more opportunities to race.

“Hopefully, my rookie achievement will help me get sponsorship for a full-season program next year,” he said, “and if I could drive the road courses in the (NASCAR) Nationwide series, I would be very happy.” (He raced his first Nationwide race at Montreal in August and finished 28th after starting 41st.)

Dumoulin said he found the Canadian Tire stock cars challenging because he hadn’t raced on oval tracks before.

“I’m not used to that type of racing. It’s fun — but I found out there’s no way you can complete a race without a big donut on the side of your car!

“But I like NASCAR, because it’s really up to the driver to make the difference. The cars are pretty even. It’s a pretty tough series because you are fighting with the best stock car drivers in the country.”

Somebody who’s been doing that for years is Steckly, who started out the 2011 season determined to win the championship.

“We went to the first race (at Mosport Speedway) with the full intent of winning that race, which we did,” Steckly told me in a recent interview. “You have to come out of the box really strong and then keep the momentum going. You have to believe in the team and go into every race believing that you’re going to win it and that’s what we did at every race this season.”

Steckly said that while he won the title in 2008, he knows exactly what the problem was in 2009 and 10:

“I didn’t win that first race,” he laughed. “It might be hard to understand, but in this series, if you fall behind even a bit, it’s just so hard to catch up. When you’ve got things going for you, you’ve just got to keep ’em going and by winning the first race, that’s a big step.”

Steckly is known to be a tough racer, but also a fair one. Unlike some drivers who’ve raced in the series, he doesn’t believe in “moving someone out of the way” to gain a position or a victory.

He was asked at this year’s Honda Indy, where he’d finished second, if he’d given some thought to perhaps giving winner Andrew Ranger a little tap in the closing stages of the contest. Just enough to get past him, perhaps?

“No,” said Steckly, in reply to the speculative question. “I’m not out here to win just one race. I’m running for the championship and I won’t do anything to jeopardize the points.”

Steckly said that when he won his first championship in ’08, it was “do-able,” even though he worked full-time. Now he prepares cars for other drivers to race, as well as his own (four came out of his shop for the final race of the season at Kawartha Speedway), and the additional income allows him to just be a racer.

“It’s very hard to work and do it (racing) full-time,” he said. “It’s different when you’re 18 or 22, when you’re not married and you don’t have kids, and all your crew guys are 18 and they would all come (to work on the car) every night of the week.

“The stage I’m at in racing now — I‘m 39 years old — most of my crew guys are the same age as me and we all have wives and we all have kids and we have hockey to go to and baseball so we can’t commit ourselves five nights a week. The point where I’m at in racing is, you have to be able to be at the shop during the day so you can spend time with your family at nights.”

Steckly said that when he was younger he’d go south in the New Year to get in some winter racing at places like New Smyrna Speedway, south of Daytona.

“But now, I like to spend the winters with my family,” he said. “It’s not that I don’t want to race — I’d love to go race — but I like spending the winter with my wife and kids and them playing hockey and that. And I enjoy working on the cars without all the pressure. It’s not nearly as stressful working on the cars, making new things, trying new suspensions, stuff like that.”

Steckly lives in Milverton — “I have a shop about two miles from my house; it’s a big property with plenty of room for trucks and trailers” — and he feels like the whole town is behind him.

“When I race at Barrie, or Kawartha, half the stands are made up of people from Milverton. Everybody supports me and I’m proud to live there. When I was champion, there was a sign at both ends of town saying Milverton was the home of the national champion.

“I’m really glad that I got that sign back.”

Will Wheldon death be Indy wakeup call?

A lot of the fun went out of racing Sunday afternoon when there was a NASCAR-style "big one" in the IndyCar race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It happened in a heartbeat and was over almost as fast.

The sport lost English driver Dan Wheldon in that crash. He died of massive head injuries.

A NASCAR pileup can be fun to watch because it’s like bumper cars at the Ex. This is because the death of Dale Earnhardt at Daytona 10 years ago forced NASCAR to take a hard look at the design of its cars. The "Car of Tomorrow" that they race now is so much safer. It’s almost guaranteed that a driver will walk away from a trip into a wall at 180 miles an hour.

Will Wheldon’s accident prove to be IndyCar’s wakeup call?

Before too many people start pointing fingers, and despite IndyCar’s somewhat poor officiating record this season, there is no way anyone can be directly blamed for what happened Sunday. Nobody could have seen that coming.

The drivers are saying after the fact that they had warned series officials that there could be a problem. But nobody said anything in public – so far as I know – and they got into their cars Sunday and went out there to race just like they always do.

In fact, Wheldon was bubbling with enthusiasm while talking from his cockpit during the warmup laps with ABC announcer Scott Goodyear. Wheldon was the network’s “in-race reporter” and told Goodyear how he was looking forward to trying to win a $5 million bonus he’d be paid if he won the race from his last-place starting position.

And, in fact, he’d used his Twitter account when the race started to illustrate his excitement at going racing. His Tweet?

“GREEN!!!”

Having said that, it quickly became apparent that the cars were going way too fast for the size of the Las Vegas facility. Within a lap or two, the cars were three-wide and sometimes four-wide down the straights. It might be okay to go 220 miles an hour at the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway but those speeds were over the top on a 1.5-mile oval.

Canadian racer James Hinchcliffe came right to the point: "There is zero margin for error."

NASCAR uses restrictor plates to slow down the cars on super-fast speedways. So, should IndyCar consider something similar to slow down the cars at some venues?

Or, with the exception of Indianapolis or other 2.5-mile speedways like Michigan or California, should IndyCar leave the ovals behind and just race on street circuits or road courses where “pack racing” at 220 mph isn’t possible?

Open-cockpit racing is extremely dangerous. Former double world champion John Surtees (F1 and motorcycles) lost his son Henry when the teen was hit on the helmet by a wheel that came off his car in a crash. Jeff Krosnoff was killed at the 1996 Molson Indy when his car went cockpit-first into a light pole. Greg Moore lost his life in a CART race at California in 1999 when he, too, went head-first into a wall. (Greg’s dad, Ric Moore, was at the Vegas race Sunday and consoled Dario Franchitti, his son’s great friend.)

There are open-wheel series that have roll cages protecting the cockpits – midgets, sprint cars and super-modifieds. Might a roll cage have helped Wheldon? Should IndyCar consider something similar?

Wheldon was racing for a $5 million bonus. Should that sort of bonus, or bounty, ever be offered again?

There were so many cars out there – 34, the biggest field of the year and more cars than start the Indy 500 – that the track was very crowded and some of the drivers were not sufficiently experienced to be driving that fast on that type of banked speedway.

Should IndyCar take a look at its driver licencing system? Even on a race-by-race basis? And how about capping the number of cars that can start? That could vary from track-to-track also.

Wheldon was testing the 2012 car that will replace the current chassis next season. It has fenders over the rear wheels that some say might have prevented Wheldon’s car from “taking off.” But the exposed front wheels were actually what caused Wheldon’s car to ride up over the spinning car in front of him. 

Should the front wheels of Indy cars have fenders too?

So many questions – and perhaps there will never be any answers.

But when it comes to racing, there should never be anything that smacks of complacency. A horrible thing happened on Sunday: a husband was killed, as was a son and a father.

We – and by "we," I mean everybody involved in the sport – has to do something other than pray that it will never happen again.

Steckly wins NASCAR Canadian Tire Series title

Scott Steckly of Milverton won the 2011 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series title for the second time when he finished second to D.J. Kennington in the Kawartha 250 at Kawartha Speedway near Peterborough Saturday night.

Actually, Steckly won the title earlier in the race. The second that Quebec driver Derek White dropped out of the race as the result of a crash, Steckly became the 2011 NASCAR Canada national champion.

 

When the last race of the NCTS season got the green flag at Kawartha Speedway near Peterborough shortly after 5 p.m., all Steckly - who won the title in 2008 - had to do to win his second was to not finish last in the 26-car field. Even if he had, defending champion Kennington of St. Thomas would have had to win the race in order to deprive Steckly of the championship.

 

As it turned out, Kennington did win the race but Steckly finished second and that was all she wrote. They were followed across the line by J.R. Fitzpatrick of Cambridge in third, Kerry Micks of Mt. Albert, Ont., fourth and Mark Dilley of Barrie.

 

Kennington, who last finished first at the .375-mile asphalt oval in 2009, held off Steckly in a green-white-checkered finish as the series capped off its fifth season.

 

Fitzpatrick charged back after losing a lap in the pits to battle Steckly in the closing laps and finish third. He complained afterward that he couldn't understand why he'd been penalized (which NASCAR said was because he entered the pits before they were officially open during a yellow flag caution period).

 

Sixth place went to Don Thomson Jr. of Hamilton, seventh to Steve Mathews of New Liskeard, who won his first career series pole in qualifying earlier in the day, eighth was Jason White of Sun Peaks, B.C., ninth place went to Jeff Lapcevich of Grimsby and last year's race winner, Pete Shepherd III, completed the top 10.

 

"This is wonderful," said Steckly, who won his championship by finishing first three times, second four times and third once in the 12-race season. "Congratulations to D.J. for a great race. Everybody raced me clean today and I want to thank the other drivers, my crew and my family for this championship."

 

White's crash, in which he escaped injury, brought out the third yellow of the record 14 that slowed the race.

 

The other big prize on the line Saturday was the series' rookie-of-the year title and that went to L.P. Dumoulin of Trois Rivieres, Que., who beat out Isabelle Tremblay of St. Hippolyte, Que., for the honours.

Dumoulin was 16th and Tremblay finished 20th but was 13 laps behind her rival.

 

The champion, who is not one to show much emotion, had a smile on his face after the awards presentation. "It's true, I'm jumping up and down happy," he said

 

Steckly said he didn't have any problems during the contest. "We just played it cool, stayed out of trouble and ran top five all day. We never raced as hard as we could; we raced hard till halfway but after that there were some cars parked (so he couldn't lose the championship by finishing last) and we led a lap (for a five-point bonus) so we knew we had it (the title) secure.

 

"I maybe could have won it if there'd been some more laps but we knew what we had to do to win the championship and we accomplished that, so I'm happy."

 

Kennington, who finished second in the championship, was delighted with his race win and suggested he knew on Saturday morning that the race was his to lose.

 

"I knew in practice today that I had the car to beat," he said. "I knew if something didn't break or went wrong that we had a good car. By lap 100, that car was phenomenal. New tires, old tires, the car was the same. That made my job real easy."

 

Kennington knew exactly when he lost this year's title.

 

"Montreal, at the road course this year. We got taken out there and I finished 18th. That put us about 70 points behind (Steckly) and we fought back but it's just very hard to come back from a deficit like that. It's really hard to play catch-up; it's a lot easier to maintain."

 

Told that he had much to be proud of for finishing second, Kennington scoffed and added " . . . for the 14th frickin' time. But we'll be back next year and try to win another one."

 

RESULTS:

 

(Start position in parentheses)

1. (10) D.J. Kennington, St. Thomas, Ont., Dodge, 253 laps, 42.984 mph.

2. (4) Scott Steckly, Milverton, Ont., Dodge, 253.

3. (2) J.R. Fitzpatrick, Cambridge, Ont., Chevrolet, 253.

4. (7) Kerry Micks, Mt. Albert, Ont., Ford, 253.

5. (8) Mark Dilley, Barrie, Ont., Dodge, 253.

6. (6) Don Thomson, Jr., Hamilton, Ont., Dodge, 253.

7. (1) Steve Mathews, New Liskeard, Ont., Ford, 253.

8. (16) Jason White, Sun Peaks, B.C., Dodge, 253.

9. (12) Jeff Lapcevich, Grimsby, Ont., Dodge, 253.

10. (3) Pete Shepherd, III, Brampton, Ont., Dodge, 253.

11. (14) Dexter Stacey, Kahnawake, Que., Dodge, 253.

12. (17) John Fletcher, Ancaster, Ont., Dodge, 253.

13. (21) Joey McColm, Ajax, Ont., Dodge, 253.

14. (26) Brandon White, Kahnawake, Que., Chevrolet, 251.

15. (25) Nick Jewell, The Pas, Man., Dodge, 251.

16. (20) L.P. Dumoulin, Trois-Rivieres, Que., Dodge, 251.

17. (11) Ron Beauchamp, Jr., Windsor, Ont., Dodge, 251.

18. (18) Trevor Monaghan, Hamilton, Ont., Chevrolet, 247.

19. (23) Hugo Vannini, Repentigny, Que., Ford, 246.

20. (22) Isabelle Tremblay, St. Hippolyte, Que., Ford, 238.

21. (9) Jason Hathaway, Appin, Ont., Dodge, 219.

22. (5) Donald Chisholm, Antigonish, N.S., Ford, 201, accident.

23. (15) Chris Raabe, Napanee, Ont., Dodge, 166, vibration.

24. (13) Brad Graham, Glencoe, Ont., Dodge, 153.

25. (24) Noel Dowler, Sherwood Park, Alta., Dodge, 145, accident.

26. (19) Derek White, Kahnawake, Que., Chevrolet, 36, accident.

Race Statistics

Time of Race: 2 hours 12 minutes 26 seconds

Margin of Victory: .358 seconds

Fastest Qualifier: S.Mathews * (76.112 mph, 17.737 seconds)

Caution Flags: 13 for 89 laps.

Lead Changes: 8 among 6 drivers.

Lap Leaders: J. Fitzpatrick 1-64; D. Thomson,Jr. 65; J. Fitzpatrick 66-69; D. Kennington 70-90; S. Steckly 91-110; S. Mathews 111-137; J. Fitzpatrick 138-139; P. Shepherd,III 140-166; D. Kennington 167-253.

Standings: 1. S. Steckly, 1960; 2. D. Kennington, 1881; 3. J. Fitzpatrick, 1774; 4. K. Micks, 1754; 5. D. Thomson,Jr., 1731; 6. M. Dilley, 1631; 7. R. Beauchamp,Jr., 1571; 8. J. White, 1499; 9. J. Hathaway, 1450; 10. D. Stacey, 1396.

Injured Saldana wins first race back

Joey Saldana is what those of us in this biz call a “good news” story.

A front-running sprint car star with the World of Outlaws (they took a swing through Canada earlier this summer, touching down at Ohsweken Speedway on the Six Nations Reserve as well as race tracks in eastern Ontario and Quebec), Saldana has been knocking on the door of the series championship for several years now.

The son of “Little” Joe Saldana, who won the Knoxville Nationals in 1970 and who made two starts in the Indianapolis 500, Saldana Jr. was running particularly well this year before disaster struck when he flipped during the Kings Royal race at Eldora Speedway in Ohio and really did a number on his right arm and some ribs. He also suffered a punctured lung.

Out of action for several months, Saldana returned to action Wednesday night at Hartford Motor Speedway in Michigan to go up against all the regular Outlaw runners once again — the Kinsers, the Dolanskys, the Schatzes and the rest of those guys — and promptly won his first race back.

According to a release from the Outlaws, many people told him it was too soon. His family and friends cautioned him against it. Joey Saldana, though, knew Wednesday night at Hartford Motor Speedway was his time to strap himself back into harness.

With support from his car owner, NASCAR star Kasey Kahne, he got aboard the No. 9 Red Bull Maxim sprint car for the first time in nine weeks. He won the pole position and dominated the 25-lap feature.  

“This was way more than I expected tonight,” said Saldana, of Brownsburg, Ind. “My family thought it was too soon but I kept telling them I was ready.

“I wanted to come back and be competitive and build something for next year. That’s why I came back for these races. I know and respect racing. Several drivers have been in accidents like mine and will never crawl back into a car. I’m very lucky and blessed to be here tonight and to come away with a win is huge.”

(Watch Saldana's post-race interview video here)

Saldana is an intelligent and philosophical race driver, as those quotes above showed, and in things he said when I interviewed him several years ago for a Toronto Star Wheels column.

On children racing: "My dad didn't push me (into racing). I have a 5-year-old son and I won't push him either. There are too many kids who really don't want to do it; their fathers make them. I was in my middle teens before I decided to try racing and my first race was in a go-kart. That's when I started to get interested.”

On rainouts when the tour is in Canada: "To go all that way, to go through the trouble of clearing customs and then not get to race can be very frustrating. Yes, we race a lot (about 80 races a year) so we're on the road a lot. But a night off really isn't welcome. We'd rather be home if we're not doing our job, which is to drive in and win sprint car races."

On making it to Indy: "I'm in my late 30s and a professional sprint car driver with the World of Outlaws. I think they're looking for young guys who can bring money. That doesn't mean I wouldn't jump at the opportunity, but at this time of my life, I'm real happy to just be where I am."

And where he is, is at the front of the pack. Where he belongs.

NASCAR puts Canadian drivers on probation

THREE CREW MEMBERS SUSPENDED FOR REST OF THE SEASON

On Monday morning, one of my weekend racing posts dealt with the conclusion of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series race at Barrie Speedway on Saturday night and the unfortunate aftermath in which a fight broke out in the pits

This was not the first time this has happened, which is most unfortunate because this is supposed to be the top professional racing series in Canada and a degree of decorum is expected.

In any event, late Wednesday, NASCAR lowered the boom. Two drivers – J.R. Fitzpatrick of Cambridge and Kerry Micks of Mt. Albert – were both placed on probation through the final race of the season at Kawartha Speedway near Peterborough on Sat., Sept. 24.

Three crew members – Matt Vanderwall, crew chief for Don Thomson Jr., Chad Turner, who also works for Thomson, and Josh Arnold, crew member for driver Jason Hathaway – were each fined $500, suspended from Canadian Tire competition for the last two races of the season and placed on NASCAR probation through to the end of the year.

All were guilty of actions detrimental to stock car racing, the drivers for aggressive driving and excessive speed on pit road after the race (Fitzpatrick was also cited for stopping in the pit box of another competitor) and the crew members for fighting.

I know that stock car racing is a contact sport. Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been quoted as saying he "drives angry" most of the time when he’s in competition. I have the transcript of a tape in which Micks describes the inter-race battles he’s been having with Fitzpatrick and ends by saying: "Anyways, I don’t want to race that way, and it’s just too bad, but I don’t take any . . . ." And just about every time I see the highly emotional Fitzpatrick get out of a race car, he’s browned off at something or somebody.

So I get it.

But I also know that these guys hit the jackpot five years ago when NASCAR agreed to purchase CASCAR from founder Tony Novotny. At that moment, Canada’s national stock car series hit the big time. It wasn’t little CASCAR anymore; it was great big NASCAR and with it came everything that the name implies.

It gave the series legitimacy; it gave the series sophistication; it gave the series potential to connect with corporate Canada the same way the U.S. Sprint Cup series connects with corporate America.

Except I don’t think a lot of those guy realized that. I’m not sure they made the connection. Because if they had, they wouldn’t be fighting in the pits like they have been last year and this year.

I mean, how do they think the boards of directors of A&W, Canadian Tire, Castrol, Tim Hortons and many of the other sponsors react when see behaviour like that? How long do you think Rona and Scotiabank would be involved with the CFL if the games kept ending in brawls?

And, yes: there is a direct comparison there. The CFL is the top football league in the country and the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series is the top racing series. So act accordingly.

Let’s hope NASCAR has delivered the proper message here. If not, the teams and drivers can start kissing some of those sponsorships goodbye - and the respect that goes with them.

Is Vettel trying for a seat at Ferrari? Weekend roundup

WAR OF WORDS IN NASCAR; WAR, PERIOD, IN NASCAR CANADIAN TIRE SERIES

Sebastien Vettel is a step away from winning his second world championship but he dropped a tantalizing little hint at the conclusion of the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday. He said the only thing missing was a Ferrari racing uniform.

Is he trying for a seat at Ferrari? See three posts down, or click here

Kurt Busch has taken to calling five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson a "five-time chump" and when a reporter questioned him about it he tried to attack the writer.

Is it all an act, or is Kurt Busch really like that? See next post down, or click here

NASCAR Canadian Tire Series drivers Kerry Micks and J.R. Fitzpatrick have been taking turns bashing into each other and it happened again at Barrie Speedway Saturday night. Naturally, a brouhaha broke out.

This has to stop before somebody gets hurt. See two posts down, or click here