Norris McDonald's Auto Racing Blog

Podium won't save Schumi's seat at Mercedes in 2013

On Sunday, Michael Schumacher scored his first podium since returning to Formula One three seasons ago but his third-place finish in the European Grand Prix at Valencia, Spain, which was won by Fernando Alonso with Kimi Raikkonen second, likely won’t save his seat with Mercedes for 2013.

If the way Mercedes boss Norbert Haug was talking about him in Montreal a few weeks ago is any indication, that is.

Haug is in charge of all motorsports for Mercedes – including F1 and the German Touring Car Championship (DTM) – and he was largely dismissive of the seven-time world champion when asked about him during a breakfast meeting with Canadian reporters on the first day of the Canadian Grand Prix.

It wasn’t what he said about the 43-year-old Schumacher that was startling. It was the way he said it.

In fact, when you read the words, he seems to be a big supporter of the legendary racer. But trust me: he might have spoken the words but his hand was waving away from his face in the manner of someone shooing away a fly.

I had asked whether Mercedes was optimistic about Schumacher’s chances in Montreal, considering he’d set fast time at the Monaco Grand Prix the week previous and had nearly made it to the podium in Canada a year earlier.

Haug, a former journalist, mused that being optimistic doesn’t help in today's Formula One.

"Yes, he was on the podium here (in 2011) until the last lap, or the last couple of laps (when he was passed for third). But you need to get the job done.

"We have 15 cars within six-tenths of a second of each other in Formula One and that says it all. If you get it just a little bit wrong . . . "

Dean McNulty of the Toronto Sun followed up by asking about a new contract.

"That is something that is not decided yet," Haug said. "We have a contract that runs out at the end of this year and we will take a decision together later in the year."

Then he said these words:

"You can see the speed of a driver best during qualifying. He has done well there, better than the two-time world champion, in fact. It just goes to show that the basics are still there.

"But we are a young team now." (My italics.) "Michael, of course, is very experienced but his time in Formula One until 2006 was a very different period. Testing was allowed, tire development was allowed for the particular car for the particular team. Now it’s controlled tires, the same for everybody. You have to adapt to that."

The inference was that Schumacher wasn’t adapting as well as someone younger might.

But he sure looked good Sunday in Spain. As was the case with Alonso (see blog post below), he needed some help and a lot of luck to get up to third.

But third place is a podium and you can’t take that away from anybody.

Mercedes might not want Michael Schumacher back after this year but the old guy is going to go out looking like a champion. He qualified 12^th and finished third on Sunday, which is pretty up and walkin’ good.

His much younger teammate, Nico Rosberg, who turns 27 on Wednesday and who’d outqualified his elder by six positions, could only manage a sixth-place finish.

The adage about hockey goalies – you have to be lucky to be good and good to be lucky – could have applied to Alonso on Sunday.

After missing pole position Q3 qualifying on Saturday, and starting the European Grand Prix from 11^th position, the Spanish hero proved on Sunday that he’s the driver of the year by bulling his way through to win the race at Valencia.

The two-time world champion was quite caught up in the emotion of the moment, first by tearing up during the playing of his country’s national anthem and later by saying that the victory was the greatest of his career.

Yes, Sebastien Vettel's Red Bull-Renault had to break down while leading, and Romain Grosjean had to suffer a mechanical misfortune with his Lotus-Renault that took him out of the contest, but Alonso was the class of the field (closely followed by Schumacher on this day) and was not to be denied.

Like Nigel Mansell in another era, Alonso has the heart of a lion and a mindset that won’t allow him to be beaten once he has the bit in his teeth. He was not to be denied.

A couple of quick observations about the F1 race:

– How many years have they had a safety car in Formula One? How come it always looks like the first time?

– Marshals and corner works are out on the track pushing Vettel’s car out of the way and some dimwit flagger is waving a green flag. How does that happen?

(I’ll tell you how it happens: it’s a professional sport worth billions of dollars officiated in many ways by non-professionals working for a ham sandwich and a beer at the end of the day, which is ludicrous.)

– I watched the replay several times Sunday night and have changed my mind about the Maldonado-Hamilton accident. I originally thought Hamilton was the victim. He was – but he brought it on himself. He pushed Pastor wide – and off the track – but the Williams driver had to get back on the track or else run into a wall. Hamilton didn’t leave him room to re-enter and bam! So since Hamilton pushed him off the track in the first place, setting up the ensuing scenario, how come Pastor gets a 20-second penalty for the subsequent collision, dropping him to 12^th from 10^th?

– In the closing laps, every time Alonso passed a grandstand, those sitting there would rise in unison to wave and cheer and salute. There was a "wave" all the way around the circuit as Alonso drove to victory.

It reminded me of the glory days of Jacques Villeneuve in Formula One, when he would race in Montreal and it didn’t matter whether it was an out lap during practice or during the race itself: every time JV would drive past a grandstand, they would Rise up! Rise up!

It was glorious to watch then, as it was to watch on Sunday in Spain.

Quick observations on other weekend races:

– Villeneuve’s arrogance is getting a little tiresome. Okay, he might not have meant to nail Danica Patrick on the last lap of Saturday’s Nationwide Series race at Road America but it was damn careless of him, regardless of the circumstances, and his post-race comment of, "It didn’t have anything to do with me, I don’t care," was unacceptable.

It was your fault, Jacques. ‘Fess up like a man.

- Hey, the TV folks spent most of the hour before the NASCAR Sprint Cup race from Sonoma talking up the "tradin' paint" aspect of stock cars racing on road courses. The message was simple: sparks will fly today, folks.

Well, by NASCAR standards, it was kinda tame. They went ab out 80 laps before there was even a yellow; there were only a couple of fender-benders thereafter. Clint Bowyer won. Dale Jr. didn't.

– Twice during the weekend, Ron Fellows, a child of 52 who finished third in that Nationwide Series race, made reference to racing as "keeping him young." Ron , 52 is not old. Trust me. I know.

– The IZOD IndyCar Series might think it’s the cat’s meow but it’s anything but. To have a race in the series scheduled to start at 10 p.m. Eastern was stupid to start with. Then, of course, it rained and it didn’t get going till after 11 p.m. and finished well after midnight.

I am a rapid fan of Indy car racing but I fell asleep on my couch. I suspect I was not alone.

Want to hear something even more ridiculous? The Indy Lights race got rained out earlier so they decided to run it after the Indy car race. Those guys took the green shortly before 1 a.m.

Oh, here’s another one. You’ll love this. The original start, once the cars got rolling, was waved off because the two-seater Indy car carrying a "civilian" was still on the track! The fact that Dario Franchitti's engine blew up moments later saved the series from certain embarrassment over that miscue.

– Talking about embarrassment, though, there was supposed to be a Plan B in place in case the race in China had to be cancelled. It was. Cancelled, that is. Where is Plan B?

- Poor James Hinchcliffe. The Oakville racer has had a stellar season in Indy car and went into the race at Iowa in second place in the standings. He spun out and crashed mid-way through and today's he's all the way back in sixth place.

Just like in F1 - Alonso is now leading the championship, replacing Hamilton who dropped to third place - a bad race in Indy car can cost you.

At Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (courtesy of Ryan Chalmers):

The final day of the Sports Car Doubleheader Weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park saw non-stop action with five races to cap off the weekend.

In the Pirelli World Challenge Championship, Charlotte, N.C., native Mike Skeen made it a weekend sweep in his Chevrolet Corvette taking the checkered flag by 12.284 seconds over Maryland resident Lawson Aschenbach in a Porsche 911.  Alex Figge of Denver, Colo., finished third in the GT class driving a Volvo S60.

Aurora driver Mark Wilkens drove his Kia Motors Optima to a win in front of his home track fans in the GTS class.  

In Touring class action, Markham’s Gary Kwok drove his Honda Civic to victory for a second straight day.  Andre Rapone of Thornhill won for the third time over the weekend in the B-Spec class.

Scarborough racer Mike Mallais won both Porsche 944 Cup races in the Super Cup class while Coldwater’s Randy Smith and Tyler Comat of Burlington won in Cup class respectively.

The Can-Am Cup race in the Ontario Formula Ford Championship was won by Orangeville’s Caitlin Johnston.

(Norris Note: Way to go, Caitlin!!!)

In the Canadian Touring Car Championship (courtesy of Dominique Longval):

 Round 5 Saturday at Mirabel Airport's Circuit ICAR saw Sasha Anis of Mississauga win in a Hyundai Genesis with Benjamin Distaulo of Lorraine, Que., second in a Honda Civic and Philip Fayer of Montreal third in a Pontiac Solstice. Michel Sallenbach of Roxton Pond, Que., in his MINI Cooper and Damon Sharpe  of Tottenham in a Honda Civic Si were one-two in Touring Class.  Jacques Belanger of Quebec City finished third in his Honda Civic.  Nick Wittmer of Hudson, Que., and Simon Dion-Viens of St-Joseph de Kamouraska, Que., were first and second in Honda Fits in B-Spec with  James Bergeron third in a Mazda. 

Round 6 Sunday, also at Mirabel, saw the same three - Anis, Distaulo and Fayer - repeat their Saturday finish in Super Touring. In Touring, Belanger won with Sallenbach second and Adam Isman of Vancouver third in a MINI Cooper. Wittmer led from start to finish in B-Spec with Dion-Viens second and Bergeron third. 

The CTTC will next race at Le Circuit-Mont Tremblant on July 6th and 7th.

At Toronto Motorsports Park (courtesy of Bruce Mehlenbacher and Tim Miller):

At the Canadian Nitro Nationals, three-time PMRA champion Bruce Boland returned to his winning ways, capturing the Pro Modified Racing Association final. Michael Hinbest drove his Top Dragster to his first win in Quick 32 Sportsman Series racing and Pete Stewart took another win in the PBSS.

 Boland, of Hamilton, driving his 1941 Willys Pro Modified, took his first win of the season, defeating Kenny Lang of Grande Point, Man., in the final round. Boland also qualified No. 1 for the race with a 6.005-second, 238.05-mph pass, his fourth straight No. 1 qualifying run in PMRA racing.

 

Lang struggled after leaving the line, while Boland motored on to a solid 6.008, 237.71 drive over Lang’s 9.824, 94.14. Semi-finalists were Rocky Dilecce of Mississauga and Eric Latino of Whitby. 

 

Hinbest, of Orangeville, marched through a strong field of Top Dragster entries in the Quick 32 Sportsman Series to meet up with Top Sportsman driver Spencer Hyde in the event final. With his supercharged ERD-powered Mike Bos dragster, Hinbest left first and drove to a 6.551, 198.09 win over the 7.043, 196.82 of the 1968 Camaro of Hyde, from Stratford. 

  

On his way to the final, Hinbest, who qualified No. 4, took out Top Dragster finalist Bill Moloughney of Shawville, Que. Victor Puglia of Clarence Center, N.Y., and Brody VanDerGeld of Cambridge were semi-finalists.

 

On the Top Sportsman side, Hyde, who also qualified fourth, met up with and defeated the supercharged 1957 Chevy of Paul Martin of Breslau in the class final. Darrin Grubb of Pine River and Bob Bauer Jr. of Elma, N.Y., were semi-finalists.



After qualifying 13th in the field, Pete Stewart rode his Pro Bike Suzuki GSXR to the PBSS win over Milton's Ted Glinny with his Pro Bike Kawasaki Ninja. Stewart, of Toronto, ran a 9.47 at 145.67 to best Glinny’s 8.467 at 154.74. The win was Stewart’s second in PBSS racing.

 

Semi-finalists were Pro Bike rider Mike LaLande of Sturgeon Falls and the Pro Sled entry of Jeff Lippert of Amherstburg.

 

With the three events completed in the 2012 season, Boland leads the PMRA with 838 points. Second is Jeff Roth of New Dundee with 798 points, and third is Jack Grainy of North Tonawanda, N.Y., with 797 points.

 

The team of Michael Hinbest and Katie Ward (the two drivers share racing events) leads the Quick 32 Sportsman Series with 698 points, followed by Hyde with 658 points, and Top Dragster driver Mike Everitt of Stratford with 645 points.

 

Pro Bike rider John Orfanidis of Toronto is ahead in the PBSS points race with 600 points, followed by the Pro Sled entry of Chris Bondi of Aurora with 596 points and another Pro Sled rider, Jeff Lippert.

 

The next event for the Quick 32 Sportsman Series and the PBSS will be the Community Weekend at Cayuga Dragway Aug. 3-5. The next event for the PMRA is at the IHRA Mopar Nitro Jam Nationals at the Grand Bend Motorplex July 20-22. Then, the PMRA returns to Cayuga with its companion series for the Community Weekend event.

 

The Pro Modified Racing Association, www.PMRA.ca competes with its two companion series, the Quick 32 Sportsman Series, www.Quick32.ca and the Pro Bike & Sled Series, www.PBSS.ca to offer an exciting and diverse package of drag racing action.

Alonso wins in Spain as rivals fall off; other racing

I TOOK THIS IPHONE SNAP OF DALE CREASY JR. (LEFT LANE) AND CRUZ PEDREGON FACING OFF IN A MATCH RACE SATURDAY AT TORONTO MOTORSPORTS PARK NEAR CAYUGA. PEDREGON WON.

In a thrilling European Grand Prix at Valencia, Spain, this morning, Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso became the first repeat winner of 2012 due to a storming drive on his part and bad luck on the part of his major opponents.

After seven different drivers won the first seven races of the season, Alonso had to battle to the front after starting 11th - yes, he failed to make it into the final qualifying session on Saturday - in order to win his second race of the season.

Comeback kids, and former world champions, Kimi Raikkonen finished second for Lotus-Renault (he came back to F1 this season after driving in the World Rally Championship the previous two years) and Michael Schumacher was third for Mercedes. It was Schumacher's first podium since he returned to the sport three seasons ago. Full results here

Two-time world champion Sebastien Vettel was running away with the race - he had a 20-second lead at one point - but his Red Bull-Renault racer conked out on him on Lap 34 of the 47-lap contest. There was no immediate explanation for the engine failure.

Romain Grosjean was running second in his Lotus-Renault and it appeared to be only a matter of time before he would take the lead when the alternatore stopped working on Lap 41 and he was forced to retire.

And on the second-last lap, Lewis Hamilton's McLaren-Mercedes was assaulted by Pastor Maldonado's Williams-Renault and sent flying into a retaining wall, eliminating the winner of the last race, the Canadian Grand Prix, and allowing Schumacher to inherit third place.

Alonso was very emotional following the victory. He teared up during the playing of the Spanish national anthem and told interviewers later that his home race victory overshadowed everything else he'd done in his career.

The race featured incredibly intense and close racing, particularly in the early stages.

In other racing (of which there was a ton on Saturday):

- Ryan Hunter-Reay won the IZOD IndyCar race in Iowa that started Saturday and finished early today. The start was held up 40 minutes because of rain but it still began way too late in the day - another case of this series shooting itself in the foot.

Canadian James Hinchcliffe of Oakville crashed out, despite leading the event at one point. He was 17th; Alex Tagliani of Montreal also didn't finish but was classified 16th.

- Ex-F1 racer Nelson Piquet Jr. won the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Road America Saturday. Canadian Ron Fellows of Mississauga finished third but the Canadian everybody was talking about later was another ex-F1 racer, Jacques Villeneuve, who continued his battering ram ways of a year ago.

Saturday, he pushed not one but two drivers off the track - Elliott Sadler and Danica Patrick. Patrick, in particular, was upset because she was running the best race of her first full-time NASCAR season, in the top five all day, and her trip into the sandtrap on the last lap, compliments of Jacques (a move that Paul Tracy tweeted will now be known as the "Newtown horn"), dropped her to 12th.

- D.J. Kennington of St. Thomas won his second NASCAR Canadian Tire Series race of 2012 at Delaware Speedway near London on Saturday night, with defending series champion Scott Steckly of Milverton second and Jason Hathaway of Dutton, Ont., third.  The race had to be red-flagged at one point because the lights along the front straight went out. There were 22 cars in the field, one more than showed up at Mosport Speedway a week ago.

- Jeff Segal and Emil Assentato won the GT class in the Grand Am Rolex Sports Car race at Road America Saturday, which was won overall by Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas. Segal and Assentato's class victory in a Ferrari was the third of the season for the AIM Autosport team out of Woodbridge.

- At Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, In the Pirelli World Challenge Championship, Mike Skeen of Charlotte, N.C., won the first of two weekend in a Corvette. Johnny O’Connell of Flowery Branch, Ga., was second in a Cadillac. The GTS class saw Michael Galati from Olmstead, Ohio, take the top spot while his Kia Motors teammate Mark Wilkins of Toronto finished second. In Touring class, American Jeff Altenburg won the first of three weekend races while Markham's Gary Kwok took the top spot in the second. Andre Rapone of Thornhill won both races in the new B-Spec class in his Honda Fit.

Saturday's racing also saw the Ontario Formula Ford Championship hold its first of two races. In the F1600-A Class, Jack Mitchell Jr. of Clarendon Hills, Ill., won over Caitlin Johnston of Orangeville. 

In the final race of the day, Skeen finished first in the Porsche 944 Cup.  Mike Mallais of Scarborough was second.

- At Toronto Motorsports Park, near Cayuga, qualifying was held in a number of categories for today's Canadian Nitro Nationals elimination finals. 

Taking the No. 1 spot in Pro Modified Racing Association competition was Bruce Boland of Hamilton. Boland, a three-time champion, posted a 6.005-second, 238.05-mph pass with his 1941 Willys Pro Modified. Second in qualifying was Derek Hawker of Corbyville and third was Kenny Lang of Grand Pointe, Man.

In the Quick 32 Sportsman Series, Dave Leverentz of Irving, N.Y., took the No. 1 spot in Top Dragster with a 6.183-second, 223.02-mph run. James Lichty of Linwood placed second, followed by Rick Kopp of Burlington. 

On the Top Sportsman side of the Quick 32 Sportsman Series, two-time champion Kevin Wicke of Stratford qualified first with a 6.797-second, 203.09-mph effort in his Dodge Stratus. Mike Wagg of Waterdown placed second and Darryl McMillen of Goderich was third

In the PBSS series, Kevin McKay of Ingersoll rode his Pro Bike Suzuki to the No. 1 qualifying spot with a 7.711-second, 169.10-mph run. John Orfanidis of Toronto placed second with his Pro Bike entry. Dan Cryderman of Thamesville, Ontario, also in Pro Bike, qualified third. 

- Finally, in Round 2 of the Northern Summer Nationals for sprint cars, Justin Barger of Montrose, N.Y., won the main at South Buxton Speedway (Chatham area) Saturday night. Dustin Daggett of Grand Ledge, Mich., finished second and Travis Cunningham of Grimsby was third.  

Round 1 at Ohsweken Speedway (Brantford area) Friday night went to Jared Zimbardi of Salamanca, N.Y., with Chris Steele second and Bryan Howland of Auburn, N.Y., third.

A feast of GTA-area racing this weekend

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

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

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

But then, along comes a weekend like this one.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

JJ in NASCAR, Pastor P1 in F1, and Carroll Shelby

Saturday evening update: Jimmy Johnson won his first race of the Sprint Cup season at Darlington tonight and, by doing so, he recorded Hendrick Motorsports' 200th victory in NASCAR's premier division. Denny Hamlin was second and Tony Stewart finished third. Results

Saturday morning update: Pastor Maldonado (Williams-Renault) will start from pole for Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix after Lewis Hamilton was disqualified for not returning to the pits after setting his time in qualifying Saturday. Fernando Alonso will start second for Ferrari and Romain Grosjean will go off third in his Lotus. Details

Earlier:

At the Toronto auto show in 2010, the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame inducted the last of the automotive originals, Carroll Shelby.

He was the first inductee to be enshrined in the newly created International category to honour non-Canadians who made significant contributions to Canadian motorsport during their careers.

Shelby, of course, was instrumental in the success of the legendary Canadian Comstock Racing Team of the 1960s that so dominated Canadian road racing. The late Chuck Rathgeb was the money, Paul Cooke was team manager and chief mechanic and Eppie Wietzes was the driver.

Cooke and Wietzes were on hand that February evening, as were about 500 others, when the late Car & Driver magazine columnist David E. Davis acted as MC for the induction ceremony.

It was a grand evening and Shelby was charming. There were, of course, some mutterings of dissent that the Hall of Fame shouldn’t have started to induct "furriners" when there were still deserving Canadians to be honoured but they were outnumbered about a thousand to one and nobody paid them much attention.

When the news came Friday, though, that Shelby had died in Dallas at 89 of pneumonia, there was unanimity in the motoring community that a genius had passed, that Carroll Shelby was truly the last of the automotive originals of the 20^th Century, Mickey Thompson having preceded him.

Shelby was a good looking, swashbuckling racing driver who was forced to leave the cockpit because of a bad heart. In fact, he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1959 before retiring as a driver and starting to build a succession of high-powered, big iron, Detroit muscle cars (AC Cobra, Shelby Mustang, et al).

In 1964, he went to Europe to take on Ferrari in their own backyard with guys like Phil Hill, Dan Gurney and Bob Bondurant doing the driving. The photo at the top of this post says it all.

In 1965, he was hired by Henry Ford II to lead Ford’s effort at Le Mans with the GT40 and the team won the classic 24-hour race four years in succession starting in 1966, when it swept the podium.

Up until the end, Shelby – through his Shelby American company – continued to increase the horsepower of a succession of Mustangs, while still keeping them street legal. Two were debuted this year, at the Detroit and New York auto shows.

At his Hall of Fame induction at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Shelby said this:

"I’m just a hot-rodder. That’s all I’ve ever been is a hot-rodder. People ask me what I do and I say I make cars that are very powerful and go very fast."

Although he didn’t say so that evening, he was wont to say: "I love horsepower; the more of it, the better."

Although he suffered heart problems his whole life (operations, pills, a transplant in 1990) he delighted in consuming chili – the hotter, the better – and promoted an annual chili festival to find the latest, greatest recipe.

He also founded the Carroll Shelby Foundation in support of children needing transplants. At that induction in 2010, to raise money for the foundation and for the Hall of Fame, a 2011 Ford Shelby GT500 was auctioned off and when the bidding tapered off at a little over $100,000, he threw the black cowboy hat he’d worn up on the plane into the pot. As a result, the car (and the hat) eventually sold for $105,000.

A genius and an original, Shelby was also a character, as that little vignette shows.

It’s trite to say he’ll be missed. With his passing, there’s nobody left.

.

I must apologize for being MIA this week. After posting the salute to Gilles Villeneuve that appears below, I was simply too busy with the new job I have at the Star to do much research in order to write. I’ll do better.

They’re going to be practicing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway today. If you’re interested, there will be live streaming of activities at the Speedway on www.indycar.com whenever ABC or NBC isn’t on the air. So let’s just call that blanket coverage.

I’ll probably pep up for the race, but I’m in a funk over the 500 again. They are scraping to get 33 in the field, which means James Jakes (who wasn’t fast enough last year), Michel Jourdain Jr. (who hasn’t been in a car in years) and rookie Jean Alesi (no single-seat activity since 2001 and someone who has never driven on an oval before) are guaranteed starts. So I can’t get excited. Sorry.

Paul Tracy is at home and those bums are in cars and that just ain’t right.

Meantime, Danica Patrick has signed a monster deal with Coca-Cola. (Gee, I wonder why? How come they didn’t sign somebody who just has talent????) The haters will really come out of the woodwork now.

I suggest she will win a race or two this season, or early next. No, she won’t get "the call." I think she’s that good. And so does Coca-Cola.

At Darlington, meantime, she finished 12th in Friday night's Nationwide race. Joey Logano was the winner. She qualified 38th for Saturday night's Cup race. reg Biffle will start from pole.

Tony Kanaan wins Long Beach GP (not really, but . . .)

WEEKEND HEADLINES

1. Rosberg wins F1 race for Mercedes - what a coincidence

2. Power wins IndyCar race but Kanaan is real winner

3. NASCAR goes crazy over truck race at Rockingham. Really.

4. Other racing

Nico Rosberg won the first race of his 111-race Grand Prix career and he drove a Mercedes Silver Arrows into Victory Lane for the first time since 1955 to do it at Sunday’s Grand Prix of China.

The fact that shareholders at a Mercedes-Benz meeting last week called for the company to pull out of F1 racing and that the team is most unhappy with the way Bernie Ecclestone has been manipulating the signing of the new Concorde Agreement has nothing at all to do with the two surprising victories – apparently.

To get the nuts and bolts out of the way before getting into my latest conspiracy theory, Rosberg won the first pole of his career on Saturday and then ran away with Sunday’s race to finish well clear of second–place finisher Jenson Button, who was driving a McLaren powered by a Mercedes engine.

McLaren-Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton was third, for the third time in three races this season, while Mark Webber finished fourth for Red Bull-Renault - his third straight fourth-place finish. Defending world champion Sebastien Vettel was fifth (complete results here).

They say the best time to tune into an NFL game is after the two-minute warning in the fourth quarter and that was the case with Sunday’s Grand Prix, as all of the excitement happened in the last few laps.

With five laps to go in the 58-lap contest, Kimi Raikkonen was holding down second place for Lotus-Renault, with Vettel third, Button fourth, Webber fifth and Hamilton sixth. At the finish, it was Button second, Hamilton third, Webber fourth and Vettel fifth with Raikkonen all the way back in 14^th as his two-stop gamble saw his tires disintegrate.

It was a good race with lots to talk about afterward, such as Michael Schumacher’s second retirement in three races (he’d started second but his crew failed to tighten his right-front wheel at the first pit stop and he was forced to pull off the circuit before he crashed), whether Button could have caught Rosberg if his crew hadn’t taken so long to tighten his left-rear tire on his final pit stop (nearly 10 seconds), and whether the Mercedes F-duct front wing system gives that team an unfair advantage (at least until everybody else copies it).

One side note:

I don’t want to sound like Don Cherry but F1 will rue the day it did not put a stop to side-by-side "racing" on pit lane. McLaren released Hamilton from a pit stop early in the race and Lotus gave Raikkonen the signal to go as Hamilton drew alongside. Raikkonen and Hamilton then went side-by-side till the end of the pit (albeit on the speed limiters), at which point Raikkonen gave way to Hamilton.

Analyst David Coulthard went so far as to say the pit lane "is part of the race track" but it shouldn’t be. As in IndyCar, teams should have to hold the driver till the coast is clear. Otherwise, there will be a collision in there one of these days and somebody will get hurt. That shouldn’t have to happen in order to force F1 to act.

Now F1 travels to Bahrain where the majority Shiite population feels oppressed by a minority Sunni family headed by Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. This political unrest forced the cancellation of the race last year and there are again fears of revolution.

As Bob Varsha said on Speed TV Sunday, "We worry that this sporting event will turn into a news event." For that, we will have to wait and see.

Meantime, I have to say that I never believed that a car race could be fixed until it was proved that Nelson Piquet Jr., Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds conspired at the 2008 Grand Prix of Singapore to create a situation (Piquet would crash on purpose) that would benefit his teammate, Fernando Alonso, who then went on to win the race.

The reason they did this was because Renault had not won a race for close to two years and was reportedly considering leaving the sport.

In no way do I think Nico Rosberg or anybody else in Sunday’s Grand Prix did anything knowingly illegal or immoral, but I still find it really interesting that – on the heels of suggestions that Mercedes might not continue in the sport – the team suddenly has wonderful success.

When there is big business at play, and there are billions of dollars at stake, anything is possible. Anything. And it goes beyond Formula One. The National Hockey League’s mission statement is that come hell or high water, it will sell hockey in the United States. Ergo, it is no coincidence that, with the exception of the Vancouver Canucks, every professional hockey team in Canada stinks. Remember that, and believe it.

The Mercedes shareholders revolt is being led by a fund manager named Ingo Spech of the Daimler shareholder Union Investment. Worried that Mercedes is losing ground to rivals BMW and Audi, Spech called on Daimler to pull its Mercedes team out of F1, just as BMW withdrew several years ago. His motion reportedly drew support from other large investors.

In a parallel development, Ecclestone announced several weeks ago that he had agreed terms on a new contract with a "majority" of teams but not Williams and Mercedes.

Mercedes has not commented publicly but reports suggest the company - if it remains unhappy - could either challenge the contract, citing the European Union’s competition laws, or else walk away from F1.

So with Mercedes and its shareholders down in the dumps over its involvement in F1, what better medicine than success? So a company that hasn’t won a Grand Prix since 1955 - Juan Manuel Fangio was the driver then - suddenly wins one.

And to put an exclamation mark on that, there are Mercedes engines in all of the first three cars. And Nico Rosberg, who’s always shown lots of promise but hasn’t been able to follow through until now, suddenly delivers in spades.

It will be verrrry interesting, as Arte Johnson used to say, to see if Rosberg can keep it up.

Why do I say that?

Well, do you remember the Belgian Grand Prix of 2009? That was two years after two Indian businessmen bought the Spyker F1 team (which had previously been owned by Canadian businessman Alex Schnaider’s Midland Group, who’d bought it from Eddie Jordan) and renamed it Force India.

Force India had entered 29 races and hadn’t scored a point and there were suggestions that if it didn’t finish high enough in the standings to qualify for a share of F1's travel and TV money that it would either be shut down or put up for sale again.

That year, there were 20 cars in F1. Nobody wanted to lose another two. Veteran Force India driver Giancarlo Fisichella qualified most of the time at the back of the pack that season. In fact, three times in 20 races he was dead last; twice he was 19^th, twice he was 18^th – and, well, you get my drift.

The race before the Belgian GP that year was the European Grand prix at Valencia. Fisichella qualified 16^th and finished 12^th. The race after Belgium was in Italy, where he qualified 14^th and finished ninth.

But at Belgium that year, he qualified on the pole – yes, really – and finished second in the race. The points he earned, plus the fourth-place finish at the Italian GP by his teammate, Adrien Sutil, gave the team enough points to finish high enough in the standings to qualify for financial aid.

What a coicidence. . .

As I said, if something has to happen in F1 (or any other mega-billion-dollar sport) to make somebody happy, it happens.

2. Kanaan wins Long Beach Grand Prix, Hinch second

Okay, Tony Kanaan didn't win. He officially finished fourth in Sunday's Grand Prix of Long Beach (official results here) but because the IZOD IndyCar Series penalized 14 of the 26 starters for unauthorized engine changes, and gave those 14 drivers 10-grid-position penalties, I think it must be taken into consideration when calculating who really won the race in California on Sunday.

Officially, Will Power won the race, with Simon Pagenaud second and Hinchcliffe third. Fourth was Kanaan and fifth was J.R. Hildebrand.

However, because of the stupidity of sticking to the engine-change rule rather than taking the spirit of the rule into consideration (which would have seen the penalties suspended – see my blogs on this in posts below), here is the way the race should really have been scored:

Kanaan qualified 10^th but was made to start 19^th (which is not a 10-grid-position penalty but this thing is so complicated that you will just have to bear with me). He officially finished fourth, which is an improvement of 15 positions. But because he was only penalized nine places instead of 10, we have to dock him a position, so he only improved 14 positions. But nobody did it better on Sunday in Long Beach than this.

Hinchcliffe qualified sixth but then was made to start 16^th – a full 10-grid-position penalty. Because he eventually came home third, that means he improved his position 13 places, which puts him second behind Kanaan's 14, in my books.

Will Power finished third in my "race" because he qualified second, was made to start 12^th, and then finished first for an improvement of 12 positions. Good for him – but not as good as Kanaan and Hinchcliffe.

Oh, before somebody says J.R. Hildebrand should have made it onto my podium, consider this: he qualified 16^th, was only penalized four places instead of 10 (he should have had to go off 26^th but you’d have to ask the geniuses at IndyCar why he didn’t) and so by improving his position from 20^th to fifth, he made up 15 places but really only nine.

UNDERSTAND???

I’m going to stop now because I’m getting a headache. Let’s just hope IndyCar never does this to us again.

3. NASCAR tries to inject excitement into non-crashing boredom

After putting on two of the most boring big-league races in the history of NASCAR, the sanctioning body’s management group pulled out all the stops Sunday afternoon by arriving en masse at Rockingham Speedway in North Carolina to watch a Camping World Series truck race that turned out to be about as boring as the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races that preceded it.

NASCAR is all about crashing. If there is no crashing, there is no excitement. The strategy of the drivers and teams is predicated on yellow flags necessitating pit stops where tire changes, fuel fill-ups and chassis changes can be completed.

No yellows means big trouble because, on top of everything else, the fans get restless.

Friday night’s Nationwide race at Texas Motor Speedway was a yawn (Ricky Stenhouse Jr. the winner). Saturday night’s Sprint Cup race there was no better (Greg Biffle the winner, with but two yellows – including one for a hat that blew out on the track). The commentators spent much of the time explaining why "long green runs" are bad for teams.

So Sunday afternoon, NASCAR president Mike Helton and his entourage flew into Rockingham to say how much NASCAR liked being back at one of its spiritual home tracks. Unfortunately, the truck race that followed (Kasey Kahne the winner, with James Buescher second (James who? See what I mean?) and Matt Crafton third (ditto) was about as unexciting as the two stock-car snoozers.

Rockingham used to be NASCAR’s third race of the season. For years and years, the series would start with the Daytona 500, then go north to Richmond, Va., for the second race, Rockingham for the third and Atlanta the fourth (usually held the same weekend as the start of Ontario’s March break, which used to guarantee a huge snowstorm for all those folks driving their kids to Myrtle Beach or Jacksonville).

But those races were cold for everybody. It was winter, after all. So NASCAR wised up and went west and that’s why, after Daytona, there are now races in sunny (or sunnier) southern California, Arizona and Nevada.

They made those changes eight years ago and since Rockingham only had one race on the NASCAR schedule at the time, it meant the end of racing at the facility. Traditional NASCAR fans were not happy

Owner Andy Hillenburg, a former racer, bought the place at auction five years and has been sprucing it up since. He finally convinced NASCAR to give him something – anything – and they responded by adding a truck race there to the schedule.

Hillenburg said he was happy with the turnout Sunday – the NASCAR communications folks used the term "nearly full grandstands" – but it could have been better. A lot better. In fact, there were a lot of empty seats. But that’s understandable, because truck racing ain’t Cup and Cup is what used to pack the place.

But it’s a start and Helton’s presence was a bit like a blessing from the Pope. The symbolism was obvious: keep tryin’, son, and someday you might see stock cars at this place again.

The bloom is off the NASCAR rose (and if there are any more races like the ones on the weekend, that rose will soon be wilting). Going forward, you can predict the strategy: it was a Southern sport to begin with; to revive it, what better way than to return it to its roots.

And there's probably no better place to do that, than at the Rock.

4. Other racing:

Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr, driving the Muscle Milk Honda Performance Development ARX-03 LMP1 car, won the Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach for the second straight season Saturday.

Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin gave Corvette Racing its first victory at Long Beach since 2009 and its first in ALMS since Mosport last July by finishing first in the GT class.

Kyle Marcelli of Barrie finished fourth in the Prototype Challenge class. Tony Burgess of Toronto was eighth in PC.

In World of Outlaws Sprint Car Racing, Joey Saldana won the round at Paducah Speedway in Kentucky.

The ALMS and the Outlaws will both be racing in southern Ontario in July - the sports cars at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (nee Mosport) and the Outlaws at Ohswegen Speedway near Brantford.

Roundup: Button, Keselowski, Audi, Piquet Jr. all win

WEEKEND HEADLINES:

1. Button wins F1 but Hamilton's sulking is getting tiresome

2. Keselowski wins NASCAR but what's with the drivers holding babies?

3. Audi 1-2 at 60th 12 Hours of Sebring; hybrid race cars coming!

4. Piquet Jr. wins in NASCAR; Toronto Supercross event might not have any stars

1. HAMILTON HAS TO SUCK IT UP AND TAKE FIGHT TO BUTTON

We all know that most world-class athletes are uber-competitive. We understand that they want to win and will do just about anything to come out on top.

But, in the end, when the game finishes or the event is over, most of them will shake hands or exchange a hug, put on a smile and rejoice in the success they’ve achieved, whether it’s in an Olympic relay race or the Super Bowl

You do your best and you move on.

Which means Lewis Hamilton’s post-Grand Prix funk at Melbourne Sunday, where he finished third to McLaren teammate and race winner Jenson Button and second-place driver Sebastian Vettel, struck me as a little over the top.

Yes, he was disappointed. Yes, the season hadn’t started on the high note he’d expected after winning pole position on Saturday. But it wasn’t the end of the world, although one look at his face suggested he was thinking exactly that.

In the initial post-race interview and in the scrums that followed, he offered congratulations to Button, said it was a swell way for McLaren to start the season, said he’d try for consistency from now on, and not much else.

During one interview, he even suggested the car he’d been given to drive on Sunday wasn’t as good as the car he’d had on Saturday – "it was not as spectacular," was the way he put it (and I interpreted that to mean he was perhaps blaming the team for his misfortune rather than accepting his defeat for what it was).

Now, Hamilton has been known to sulk previously. He gets that "poor me" look on his face and you think, ‘You’re 26, Lewis: grow up." Because all the while he’s wallowing in his self-pity and allowing his sense of entitlement to dominate his persona, his teammate, Button, is sitting beside him looking like the cat that swallowed the canary.

If there was a cartoon bubble above Button's head, it would say: "I’ve got him right where I want him – feeling sorry for himself."

The race next Sunday at Malaysia is terribly important – which is surprising, considering it’s so early in the season. But Hamilton has got to show immedately that he’s made of stronger stuff or Button will walk all over him the rest of the season.

And Red Bull – their cars could only qualify fifth and sixth in Australia; Vettel was very fortunate to finish second, and knew it – will have to take the fight right to McLaren if it hopes to get back in the hunt to win a third world driver's and manufacturers championship.

Notebook Jottings:

– Button has won three of the last four Aussie GPs; the victory was the 13^th of his career and it was decisive. (Full story, results here.) He was in charge from the moment the lights went out and didn’t put a wheel wrong. He’s looking like world championship material (although, before the weekend, I argued otherwise – video link here).

– Albert Park in Melbourne is very reminiscent of Canada’s Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on Ilse Notre-Dame in that it is a relatively flat community recreation area in the middle of a metropolis and the circuit is made up, in part, by service roads. The grandstands are temporary. One difference: while the Villeneuve circuit in Montreal is surrounded by water, the Melbourne track surrounds water.

– Former world champion Kimi Raikkonen – one of six world champions on the grid – won the Hard Charger award (if they had one) for improving his position the most. He started 18^th in his Lotus-Renault and finished seventh, an improvement of 11 places. Sergio Perez in a Sauber-Ferrari was right behind with an improvement of nine places: he started 17^th and finished eighth. Fernando Alonso did pretty well for Ferrari. He started 12^th and finished fifth, an improvement of seven positions.

– Australian Daniel Ricciardo won the battle of the newbies at Scuderia Toro Rosso. Jean-Eric Vergne of France was ahead and in tenth place going into the last lap but a last-second scramble saw Ricciardo not only pass his teammate but make it up to ninth and score points in his F1 debut at his home Grand Prix. Vergne wound up eleventh.

– Michael Schumacher made short work of Lotus-Renault second-chance driver Romain Grosjean at the start (as did three or four others) but then either suffered a mechanical problem (his explanation) or he screwed up and created a mechanical problem when he went off the racing surface (as is maybe suspected by some) and was forced out of the Grand Prix.

But he looked good for awhile when he was out there, holding down a solid third place and keeping Vettel behind him.

Others who looked like they also had fire in their bellies: Raikkonen, Alonso, Vettel.

KESELOWSKI WINS BRISTOL SPRINT CUP RACE

Penske Racing driver Brad Keselowski got the jump on second-place finisher Matt Kenseth on the last restart at Bristol Motor Speedway Sunday to pull away and easily win the Food City 500 at the Tennessee track (details, results here).

A trio of Michael Waltrip Racing entries led by Martin Truex Jr. finished third through fifth, with Clint Bowyer fourth and Brian Vickers fifth.

Vickers missed most of the 2010 season with blood clots and then was left driveless after the 2011 season when his Red Bull Racing Sprint Cup employers went out of business.

Elliott Sadler was originally signed by Watrip to drive the Toyota Cup car when Mark Martin isn’t available but Sadler drives full-time for Richard Childress in the Nationwide Series and Childress was not amused that his Chevrolet driver would be behind the wheel of a Toyota and gave Salder the choice: full-time with me or part-time with them, take your pick.

Sadler wisely chose full-time employment, so that’s how Waltrip came to sign Vickers.

Waltrip – and the smartest thing Michael W. has ever done in his career is to utilize his vast promotional and public-relations talents and leave race-driving to people who know how to do it – said afterward that Vickers might be making a few more appearances in addition to the half-dozen he’s contracted for.

There were a couple of kaboomers but nobody was hurt. Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne, Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards were notable victims.

Notebook Jottings:

– The final appeal of that $100,000 fine and six-race suspension levied against Chad Knaus and Hendrick Motorsport will be held Tuesday and suggestions are that it will stand and Jimmie Johnson will be without his team manager/crew chief for more than a month, starting next weekend in California.

As written previously in this blog, NASCAR is sending a strong message here and if anybody is missing the symbolism of what’s happening, they’re blind. The sanctioning body is saying to Hendrick and, particularly, Knaus that one more false move and somebody’s going to take a very serious fall.

– Okay, I have to say it. How come all the NASCAR drivers stand at attention for the U.S. National Anthem before the races and hold their children in their arms?

I don’t take my kids to work with me. Do you? Do hockey players stand there on the bench with infants in their arms before the ref drops the puck? Baseball players? Politicians? Does Lil Wayne, before he starts singing (or whatever you call it that Lil Wayne does)?

I know that NASCAR is a family sport. I get it. But the babes-in-arms bit is phony.

– There were empty seats in Bristol but NASCAR’s TV numbers are holding up and it’s still winter, even in Tennessee. I don't know about you but I’m not partial to watching cars race while I’m wearing a parka.

AUDI FINISHES 1-2 AT THE 12 HOURS OF SEBRING

Audi, with Tom Kristensen, Dindo Capello and Allan McNish taking turns driving, won the 60^th anniversary 12 Hours of Sebring on Saturday (details, results here).

It was the third time the three drivers have won as a team and it was Audi’s tenth victory in the race. Individually, Kristensen has won it six times, Capello five and McNish four.

Another Audi R18, with Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Loic Duval finished second while third place overall went to an LMP2 Honda team made up of Ryan Dalziel, Stephane Sarrazin and Vicente Potolicchio.

Joey Hand won a nail-biting battle with Olivier Beretta (Ferrari) to win the GT Class for Bobby Rahal’s BMW team. Second place went to Jan Magnussen’s Corvette after Beretta lost the lead and the race because of a puncture.

The top three Audi drivers will now spend much of the next week at Sebring testing a new Audi hybrid (the R18 e-tron quattro) for future Le Mans Series races in Europe, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans where it’s expected its chief competition will come from a brand new LMP1 hybrid being prepared by Toyota.

Notebook Jottings:

- TV star Patrick Dempsey announced at Sebring that he will be entering a Mazda in the LMP2 division of the American Le Mans Series this year with a partial schedule planned. Co-driver will be Joe Foster (a frequent partner of Toronto's Scott Maxwell in Grand Am Series competition). Dempsey said the team will run a full schedule in future ALMS seasons and definitely wants to be at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2013. No word on whether the 2012 "partial schedule" will include the ALMS stop at Mosport (oops! Canadian Tire Motorsport Park!) in July.

- The ALMS is doing great harm to itself by not having a television package (and no, two hours on ABC the day after a race is not good enough, regardless of what some of the tall foreheads think). From what I'm told, the ESPN3 feed (an online service in the States) is terrible; the ALMS site international feed is not much better, I'm told.

Now, to be fair, I didn't have any trouble. But I heard from lots of people who gave up in disgust while trying to find a link.

Meantime, I wish the ALMS people would stop making reference to Rogers Sportsnet as being one of their television partners. It is not.

OTHER RACING

Nelson Piquet Jr. won his first NASCAR race at the weekend, a late model deal at Bristol. The disgraced F1 driver (he was involved in the fixed race at Singapore a few years ago, remember?) has gone about rehabilitating himself the right way, I think, by taking it very slow and very easy in stock cars and trucks. His father could have paid to put him into the Sprint Cup right off the bat but it would have been a foolish move. This way, he’ll earn his stripes the right way. . . . Joey Pescarella, only 19, won the Daytona 500 of motorcycle races, the Daytona 200 on Saturday. He won by 0.048 seconds over Jason DiSalvo in a photo finish. . . . Ryan Villopoto won the AMA Monster Energy Supercross at Indianapolis at the weekend. What’s worrying for the 50,000 or so Supercross fans expected to flock to Toronto’s Rogers Centre next Saturday night is that two of the sport’s biggest stars, Ryan Dungey and James (Bubba) Stewart are question marks. Dungey broke his collarbone several weeks ago and it hasn’t healed enough after surgery to risk further injury. Steward was injured on Saturday night in a crash at Indy’s Lucas Oil Stadium and is pretty banged up. He passed a post-event concussion test, but barely. He’ll have to take another one before being allowed to race in Toronto.

Button, Audi win in Australia, Sebring

Jenson Button went from pole position in his McLaren to the top step of the podium at the Grand Prix of Australia Sunday (Sebastien Vettel was second for Red Bull and Lewis Hamilton was third for McLaren) and Tom Kristensen, Dindo Capello and Allan McNish finished first in an Audi at the 60th annual 12 Hours of Sebring endurance race Saturday.

Full details, analysis and links in tomorrow's Monday Morning Racing Roundup.

WATCHING RACING ON A COMPUTER

I have seen the future – and it’s your computer.

Right now, right at this very moment at 3:52 p.m. EDT Saturday, I am watching the 12 Hours of Sebring on the American Le Man Series website and the NASCAR Nationwide Series race on the NASCAR.com site.

In fact, I’m riding around with Danica Patrick at this very moment, courtesy of an in-car camera (and we’re really mixing it up out there, I might say).

This is fantastic. I'm free, at last, from the people who run television, who like to dictate when I can watch something (the Nationwide race won’t be on TSN till midnight Saturday; it'll be a recording, obviously. The NCAA basketball tournament is more important, apparently).

Now I just have to get my youngest son to show me how to connect my laptop to my big-screen TV and I’ll really be in business.

P.S. Nationwide race is over now. Elliott Sadler was first, Kasey Kahne finished second and Brad Keselowski was third. We (Danica and me) were 19th.

Okay, saying that qualifying results for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Australia were a surprise would be an understatement.

While it’s not a really big surprise that the McLaren-Mercedes cars of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button will start first and second in the 2012 Grand prix season opener Down Under, or that the Mercedes of Michael Schumacher will go off fourth, it is flat-out astounding that comeback kid Romain Grosjean qualified third in his Lotus-Renault and even more surprising that the Ferrari cars of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa are so far back.

Yes, Sebastien Vettel’s sixth-place raised eyebrows, particularly since his teammate, Mark Webber, outqualified him and will start fifth. But it was pretty much expected that Red Bull would be in for a fight this season after pretty much dominating things the last two years (two drivers’ and two manufacturers’ titles) and negative conclusions shouldn’t be reached too quickly on the basis of the year’s first qualifying session.

Alonso will go off 12th but suggested he could have eventually qualified third if he hadn’t spun off during the second session and didn’t even make it into the top ten. His teammate, Felipe Massa, had a miserable session and nearly didn’t get out of the first session. He will start 16th.

Kimi Raikkonen’s return to F1 started off negatively and he will start 18th. Although there was a mixup in communication, in which he thought he had time for another qualifying try in Q1 when he didn’t, he didn’t really have the speed anyway.

It was a great day for Australian Daniel Ricciardo, who got his Toro Rosso into the top ten, but then the team gave the finger to the Australian crowd by not sending him out at all in Q3. So Formula One, eh?

Finally, the HRT team of Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Kathikeyan won’t be allowed to start because their qualifying speeds – if you want to call them that – were beyond the 107% per cent of pole time rule.

Several quick observations:

– Michael Schumacher will make quick work of Grosjean at the start. It won’t be surprising if the seven-time world champion scores his first podium since his comeback. It will put an exclamation mark on his finest qualifying effort for Mercedes.

– Felipe Massa won’t last more than a couple of races for Ferrari in 2012 if he can’t do better than he’s shown so far in Australia.

F1 QUALIFYING RESULTS

Pos  Driver                Team                  Time          Gap  
 1.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes      1m24.922s
 2.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m25.074s  + 0.152
 3.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m25.302s  + 0.380
 4.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes              1m25.336s  + 0.414
 5.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m25.651s  + 0.729
 6.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m25.668s  + 0.746
 7.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m25.686s  + 0.764
 8.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m25.908s  + 0.986
 9.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes  1m26.451s  + 1.529
10.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    No time
Q2

11.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m26.429s  + 0.960
12.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m26.4942  + 1.025
13.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari        1m26.590s  + 1.121
14.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault      1m26.663s  + 1.194
15.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1m27.086s  + 1.617
16.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m27.497s  + 2.028
17.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari        No time
Q1                            
18.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault         1m27.758s  + 1.576
19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault      1m28.679s  + 2.497
20.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault      1m29.018s  + 2.836
21.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth     1m30.923s  + 4.741
22.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth     1m31.670s  + 5.488
23.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth          1m33.495s  + 7.313
24.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth          1m33.643s  + 7.461

107% time: 1m32.214s

Paul Madder's fantastic racing photos

BUT DOES ANYONE KNOW AN ARTIST NAMED 'OAKLEY?'

I am fortunate to know many people in the world of auto racing and the motor sport generally. Inside the circle are some I consider to be real friends.

One of them is Paul Madder, a brilliant photographer who has an extensive catalogue, a few examples of which are published below.

In addition, he collects racing memorabilia: prints, in particular. Which is the real reason for this post today.

Among the photographs he’s taken himself is one that shows a young James Hunt in all his glory, surrounded by beautiful women.

Another shows two legends of the glory days of F1 in the 1960s and ‘70s – Ken Tyrrell and Colin Chapman – in conversation at a Grand Prix in Europe.

Three others are connected to that awful day in 1976 at the Nurburgring in Germany when Niki Lauda was nearly burned to death. One shows a grim Brett Lunger, who was one of four drivers to pull Lauda out of his car, riding on the back of a wrecker that’s returning his damaged car to the garage area (Lauda and Lunger had collided, starting the accident). Another is a portrait of little Arturo Merzario who, along with Lunger, Harald Ertl and Guy Edwards, saved Lauda’s life that day. The last one is a photo Madder took of Lauda before the race that nearly killed him.

The real reason I’m posting this photographic blog today, however, is to publish four racing and rally prints from the 1960s. Two of them are signed by an artist named 'OAKLEY.'

Paul is keen to find out about Oakley. Who he (or she) is? Where he lives and so-on. It's a long time ago, but the prints might trigger a memory.

If anyone knows, or has suspicions, I would ask them to email me at nmcdonald@thestar.ca and I will pass on the correspondence to Paul. And if 'Oakley' is identified, I will report back on that.

Meantime, I have been working on a book about Canadian motorsport for the past six years, which I will finish one of these days, and Paul has kindly given me some of his best photos to use as illustrations.

I’d better get cracking and finish that book. If these photos serve to whet your appetite - well, as they say – you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

WILL THE NEW MOVIE 'RUSH,' ABOUT THE HUNT-LAUDA RIVALRY IN '76, INCLUDE A SCENE LIKE THIS? (PHOTO, COPYRIGHT PAUL MADDER)

TWO OF THE GIANTS OF FORMULA ONE RACING IN THE 1960S AND '70S, TEAM OWNERS KEN TYRRELL (LEFT) AND COLIN CHAPMAN. (PHOTO, COPYRIGHT PAUL MADDER)

 

NIKI LAUDA IS SEEN ON AUG. 1, 1976, BEFORE THE START OF THE GERMAN GRAND PRIX IN WHICH HE WAS CRITICALLY INJURED. (PHOTO, COPYRIGHT PAUL MADDER)

"LITTLE" ARTURO MERZARIO, RIGHT (REAL NAME ARTURIO MERZARIO), STOPPED TO HELP PULL NIKI LAUDA FROM HIS BURNING CAR AT THE GERMAN GRAND PRIX IN 1976. OTHER DRIVERS TO HELP WERE BRETT LUNGER, HARALD ERTL AND GUY EDWARDS. (PHOTO, COPYRIGHT PAUL MADDER)

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

 

 

 

AMERICAN F1 DRIVER BRETT LUNGER RETURNS TO THE PITS WITH HIS DAMAGED RACE CAR AFTER THE NIKI LAUDA ACCIDENT. (PHOTO, COPYRIGHT PAUL MADDER)

 
THIS MINI WOULD HAVE BEEN COMPETING IN THE CANADIAN WINTER RALLY. IS THAT JOHN BIRD DRIVING? DID 'OAKLEY' PAINT THIS?

THIS RED VOLO WOULD HAVE BEEN COMPETING IN THE RALLY PERCE NEIGE IN QUEBEC

PAUL MADDER IS NOT SURE WHERE THE NO. 96 McLAREN IS RACING (OR WHO IS DRIVING) BUT THE PAINTING WAS DONE BY 'OAKLEY'

THESE TOURING CARS HAVE JUST TAKEN THE GREEN FLAG TO START A RACE AT THE AIR STRIP IN GIMLI, MAN.

Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame to induct Michael Andretti

 Michael Andretti, who won seven Molson Indy Toronto races and then rescusitated it after it was dropped from the schedule in 2008, is being inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame.

Dr. Hugh Scully, chairman of the Canadian Motorsport Heritage Foundation, made the official announcement Tuesday and said Andretti would be inducted in the International category, which honours non-Canadians who have made significant and lasting contributions to Canadian motor sports.

Previous inductees in the International category include Carroll Shelby, Prof. Sid Watkins and Bobby Rahal.

Andretti, who retired from race driving in 2003 to concentrate on team ownership in the IZOD IndyCar Series, won 42 CART/Champ Car races in his 20-year racing career, including a record seven in Toronto.

And he recently solidified his Canadian connection by signing Oakville native James Hinchcliffe to drive for his Andretti Autosport team in the 2012 IndyCar championship, replacing Danica Patrick in the Go Daddy-sponsored car.

Andretti will be inducted at the 18th annual Hall of Fame Gala, which will be held at the On the Park banquet and meeting centre in Toronto on Sat., April 21. Seven Canadians who made their marks in stock car racing, sports car racing and rallying will join him in being honoured.

Said Scully: "We are delighted to welcome Michael Andretti into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame.

"Besides entertaining thousands of race fans with his on-track performances in Canada over the years, and holding the record for the most wins at the Toronto Indy, Michael Andretti’s contribution to the promotion of motorsports in Canada and to the development of Canadian drivers is well established.

"We are proud to be able to recognize him in this way and are pleased to announce that he will be on hand at our induction ceremony on April 21."

Son of motorsports icon Mario Andretti, Michael Andretti has left a lasting legacy of his own in the world of open-wheel racing both as a driver and team owner. In 2008, his love of Toronto was instrumental in his decision to purchase the assets of the Toronto Indy, a move that brought the marquee event back to the city in 2009 after a one-year absence.

On Jan. 11, Andretti also announced that his company had signed 2011 IndyCar rookie-of-the-year Hinchcliffe to a multi-year contract. Hinchcliffe will also attend the gala as guest speaker.

"I'm extremely honoured to be inducted into the Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame," Michael Andretti said.

"Throughout my career, I’ve always considered Canada to be almost like my second home. The Canadian race fans have been some of the most supportive I’ve ever seen and I’m thrilled that so many of my career wins came on Canadian soil and in front of such enthusiastic fans."

The seven Canadians include Richard (Dick) Foley of Montreal, Rudy Bartling of Courtrice, Robin Edwardes of L'Orignal, Ont., Paul Manson of Toronto, Ben Docktor of Calgary, Greg Sewart of Halifax and Norm Ellefson, who now lives in Spokane, Wash.

The Hall of Fame was founded in 1993 and now has more than 150 inductees. It falls under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Motorsport Heritage Foundation, which was created by a group of leading international businessmen.

Tickets for the Gala are available by telephone at 905-852-6764; the Hall of Fame website at cmhf.ca; via email at galatickets@cmhf.ca or by faxing 905-852-7012.

 

Canadian Tire gets naming rights to Mosport

It's finally happened.

After years of corporations purchasing "naming rights" to virtually all of the NHL arenas and major league baseball and football stadiums in existence (Air Canada Centre, BMO Field, Lucas Oil Stadium, etc.), it was announced this morning that Mosport International Raceway (a.k.a. Mosport Park) will now be known as Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

The announcement of a long-term partnership between the iconic Canadian brand and the legendary circuit north of Bowmanville was made the morning of the opening of the sixth annual Canadian Motorsports Expo being held over the weekend at the International Centre in Mississauga.

While efforts have been made by corporations over the years to purchase naming rights to famous facilities like the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Daytona International Speedway, they have been rebuffed. The Charlotte Motor Speedway was named Lowes Motor Speedway for a few years but, so far as anyone knows, that was the only time a major speedway was known by other than its geographic location.

Road racing circuits are another matter. Although Laguna Seca and Sears Point in California now have corporate names (Mazda, Infineon), most of the iconic locations - Sebring, Road America, Road Atlanta, Le Circuit-Mont Tremblant, Mosport - have retained their original designations (Mosport being a contraction of two words: Motor and Sport).

“As Canada’s largest automotive retailer, Canadian Tire has a long tradition of supporting auto racing and motorsports in Canada,” said Allan MacDonald, Senior Vice President, Automotive, in a release. “Canadian Tire is excited to give back to the racing community by working with Mosport International Raceway to improve this racing landmark in Canada and create an enhanced experience for both drivers and fans.”

“We are thrilled to partner with Canadian Tire, an important supporter of Mosport and auto racing fans for many years," said Myles Brandt, president and general manager of Mosport, in a release.

"Together we’re building a world-class facility that will draw racing enthusiasts and grow our fanbase, which continues to evolve year over year.”

Canadian Tire Motorsport Park is home to some of the biggest races in Canada, hosting the only Canadian stop for North America’s premiere sports car championship, the American Le Mans Series.  The facility will also host two races in the 2012 NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, one on the road track and one on the speedway.

Canadian racing champion Ron Fellows, one of the three new owners of Mosport, is expected to outline some long-range plans for the facility when he speaks Saturday at the Expo.

High on everyone's mind is whether a round of the NASCAR Nationwide (stock car) Series or Camping World (truck) Series is in the cards for 2013.