Norris McDonald's Auto Racing Blog

Will resignation impact TV coverage of F1?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kind of a mini-CNN on wheels.

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

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

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

It’s the same with TV.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Edwards on NASCAR pole; Video - NASCAR Canada

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

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

Earlier . . .

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Busch unlikely to face more discipline

MONDAY NIGHT UPDATE: NASCAR fined Kyle Busch $50,000 and put him on probation until Dec. 31 for actions detrimental to stock car racing as a result of the incident with Ron Hornaday at Texas Motor Speedway last Friday night.

Earlier . . .

You have to wonder which of his sponsors refused permission for Joe Gibbs to fire Kyle Busch, because at least one of them did or else Busch wouldn’t have been allowed to watch Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race from the comfort of the team’s pit box at Texas Motor Speedway.

What made it worse is that Busch was allowed to sit down to watch the race; owner Gibbs had to stand behind him the whole time.

(Or else Busch hopped up there first and sat down and put on the headphones, just like anyone who feels entitled would do. And Gibbs, ever the gentleman he is, didn’t want to create a scene by tapping him on the shoulder and saying something like, "Hey, Junior – you’re in my seat.")

Seeing Busch sitting there – calm, cool and seemingly unware that he escaped being on Death Row for doing something Friday night that very well could have resulted in the death of another racing driver – was disappointing, to say the least.

The question all weekend – at least ever since Busch lined up a Camping World Series truck being driven by Ron Hornaday on Friday night and deliberately sent it slamming into the outside wall at that same Texas Speedway – had been whether Gibbs would fire Busch.

As NASCAR had earlier handed down the stiffest penalty it had ever levied against a driver, and said so when it suspended Busch from competition for the rest of the weekend’s Nationwide and Sprint Cup races, it’s unlikely there will be anything further – although it remains an option.

But when Gibbs said after the suspension was announced that he would be "talking to sponsors," you got the feeling he was asking permission to set Busch down, either for the rest of the season or even longer.

The former coach of the Washington Redskins, Gibbs is a person who has the patience of Job. He previously put up with Tony Stewart’s temper tantrums when "Smoke" drove for him (he made him take anger management counselling) but all Tony ever really did was be rude to reporters.

Kyle Busch, however, has always been a handful. He once threatened to kill Denny Hamlin on national television (it was a radio transmission but there was no doubting his fury), he refused to speak to the media (there was one famous race a year ago when he ran away from reporters by ducking in and out of transporters in the paddock and then made his final escape by running across the track and out a gate) and generally made a royal pain of himself.

That, of course, was the old Kyle Busch. The new Kyle Busch arrived on the scene at the beginning of this year and butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He was kind, friendly, funny, cooperative and just about completely opposite from the jerk we used to know.

I put it down to his marriage; others said he’d obviously spent time with the Gibbs-contracted anger counsellors. Whichever, he was a different guy. Even when Richard Childress put him in a headlock and punched him, Busch kept his cool (and that must have been a true test).

Everything was wonderful until Friday night, early in the truck race, when Busch and Hornaday were running side-by-side and came across a slower truck. Hornaday had to move up the track to avoid a collison and sideswiped Busch in the process.

It was the sort of thing you see dozens of times over the course of a season in any kind of racing. It was no big deal.

But if you ever want to see road rage in action, take a look at the video and see what happened next.

Now, trying to explain intent is a very difficult thing to do because nobody really knows what’s in another person’s mind.

Did Busch simply try to send a message to Hornaday, along the lines of "don’t do that again?" Or did he try to do something more sinister?

I don’t know.

Did Todd Bertuzzi mean to break Steve Moore’s neck when he sucker-punched him in that hockey game? Did that guy who ran the yellow light in Mississauga the other day mean to kill two people? Did the guy who got into a bar fight in Toldedo mean to kill that other guy?

I don’t know.

But it doesn’t matter. When something bad happens, there have to be consequences – even when somebody "didn’t mean to do it (as Busch seems to imply in his letter of apology to the world)."

Kyle Busch got off easy because Ron Hornaday walked away from that accident. But what if he hadn’t?

NASCAR sent its message and it’s highly unlikely it will do anything further. Joe Gibbs might have sent a message but the sight of Kyle Busch sitting in that pit box Sunday, with his boss standing behind him, was symbolic in more ways than one.

It was, to be blunt, an opportunity missed.

WEEKEND RACING:

– Tony Stewart won his second Cup race in a row at Texas (and fourth in eight Chase races) when he held off Carl Edwards and Kasey Kahne to win the Sprint Cup race there Sunday. Edwards now leads the points race by three over Stewart. Although many of the other drivers are still mathematically in the Chase, the championship is now down to those two. Only two races remain – Phoenix next Sunday and then Homestead-Miami. It will go right down to the wire. Full story here.

– Trevor Bayne won the Nationwide Series race on Saturday and became the fourth Nationwide driver to win a race in the series, the 29 other victories all going to Sprint Cup regulars who dropped down. Denny Hamlin (driving Kyle Busch’s car) finished second and Carl Edwards was third. Danica Patrick qualified 11^th and finished 11^th. Full story here

– Donny Schatz won the final race of the World of Outlaws sprint car season on the Dirt Track at Charlotte. Steve Kinser finished second and Craig Dollansky was third. Schatz won the A-Main on Friday night, too. And Tim McReadie of Watertown, N.Y. (yeah, he’s Barefoot Bob’s kid) won both Super DIRT Series races at Charlotte on the weekend.

– Luca di Montezemolo unleashed a barrage at the FIA over the weekend, saying in effect that if Formula One wanted Ferrari to continue in the category, it had better ease off on testing rules and third cars, in general, and technical regulations in particular. "We are here as constructors, not sponsors," he told media covering Ferrari’s World Finals event at Mugello, suggesting that F1 had to be cutting edge again while still keeping an eye on costs. He suggested F1 is the only sport in the world that doesn’t allow practicing, which is wrong, and said fans would rather see three competitive cars from one marque in a race rather than some underfunded, uncompetitive entry from another that’s being passed every three or four laps.

– In other F1 news, the FIA has officially confirmed that Virgin, Renault and Team Lotus will all have new names for 2012. Renault becomes Lotus. Lotus becomes Caterham. And Virgin becomes Marussia. Clear as mud, right? Who wants to bet that at least two of those teams have new names again within the next two years?

– Casey Stoner beat Ben Spies by 0.015 seconds in the MotoGP event at Valencia in Spain. Full story here.

BACK TO KYLE BUSCH:

Here's an interesting take on the weekend's going-on in NASCAR. The author, Carol Einarsson, dumps all over Michael Waltrip for firing David Reutimann and suggests that if Joe Gibbs wants to get rid of a problem, there's a driver available . . . the good read is here.

Ron Hornaday (and you can't blame him) had some interesting things to say about Kyle Busch and Friday night's little incident:

"If NASCAR doesn't (park Busch), I'm hanging around, and I'm going to buy Tommy Baldwin's ride and that guy will never finish another race. . . We'll see what NASCAR does. If they don't handle it right, I'll be over at his house Monday morning.''

Update: Kyle Busch suspended after crashing Hornaday

SATURDAY UPDATE: NASCAR did more than park Kyle Busch after he tried to run Camping World Truck Series championship contender Ron Hornaday through a wall at Texas Motor Speedway Friday night.

President Mike Helton announced Saturday that Busch had been suspended for the remainder of the weekend - the first time a NASCAR driver had ever been handed such a stiff penalty.

Helton hinted - strongly - that there could be additional sanctions against Busch announced next week.

Busch missed this afternoon's Nationwide Series race (won by Trevor Bayne) and won't be able to race in Sunday's Sprint Cup race. The other two times drivers had been suspended - Kevin Harvick in 2002 and Robbie Gordon in 2007 - were just for the Cup race.

Denny Hamlin drove Busch's Nationwide car today and Michael McDowell will drive his Cup car tomorrow.

Helton said that, "the responsibility over the past two or three seasons we've given back to the drivers came, I think, with a very clear understanding that there could be a line that got crossed. As annoying as the comments that I've made personally in the past about 'we'll know it when we see it' might have been, we saw it [Friday] night."

Busch drives for Joe Gibbs Racing and Gibbs was most upset about the situation.

"Sometimes in life you have to deal with some real tough things," Gibbs said. "This is a tough situation for us. Basically, what we're trying to do is go through it the right way. Everybody here with our race team is trying to meet with everybody that was affected by this and obviously we've got a lot of work to do there and a lot of people to see."

Gibbs refused to discuss possible further sanctions against Busch by NASCAR but suggested there might also be internal team discipline.

Earlier . . .

Friday night, the "new" Kyle Busch became the "old" Kyle Busch at Texas Motor Speedway and the temper-tantrum that saw him destroy an opponent’s truck – with the opponent still in it – might cost him big-time.

If nothing else, it wiped out a season of good will in one fell swoop.

After a year in which "Rowdy" Busch became "Pacifist" Busch (he didn’t threaten to kill anybody all this season, talked nicely to reporters when asked and didn’t even fight back when Sprint Cup team owner Richard Childress put him in a headlock), the younger brother of Kurt Busch lost control of his emotions after his truck and one driven by NASCAR Camping World Series championship contender Ron Hornaday sideswiped each other while passing a slower truck.

Busch then pulled in behind Hornaday and didn’t just try to spin him out to show his displeasure but drove him into the outside wall at the Texas speedway, completely wrecking the front end of Hornaday's truck and putting him out of the race.

Hornaday was not hurt but NASCAR cars and trucks can’t keep going full-tilt into walls at seriously high rates of speed and the drivers just keep walking away. One of these days, it will be Dale Earnhardt all over again and if it’s a case of somebody putting somebody else into the fence on purpose, police other than NASCAR’s will be involved.

NASCAR "parked" Busch immediately and called him to "the trailer" immediately afterward. However, no penalty was announced Friday night and officials said it would be some time on Saturday before anything is decided.

The inference? There will likely be something beyond the race misconduct penalty handed out to Busch Friday night. Although it seldom happens, a driver can be suspended from competition by NASCAR for dangerous driving.

Kevin Harvick won the race, which delighted him because he’s closing down his truck team at season’s end. He was not particularly pleased by what happened between Busch and Hornaday, however, because his team owns the truck that Hornaday was driving.

Asked about the incident, Harvick said: "Kyle showed his immaturity and why he’s one of those guys who can’t stand to lose and (he's) a poor loser. It’s unfortunate for Ron. It’s unfortunate he (Busch) got involved with guys running for the championship.

"At some point, he’ll feel the pain."

Austin Dillon now leads the Camping World title chase with one race remaining.

NOTES: Danica Patrick, who qualified 11^th for today’s Nationwide Series race at Texas (Elliot Sadler won the pole for the race that will get the green at 1 p.m. on TSN2) announced she will drive car No. 10 for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s team in next year’s Nationwide championship and also revealed the 10 Sprint Cup races she’ll run for Tony Stewart’s Sprint Cup team. The first one, natch, will be the Daytona 500. Strangely absent is the Brickyard 400, although she will be in the Nationwide race scheduled for the Speedway on the same weekend next August. Although no announcement has been made about her driving in the Indianapolis 500 next May, if the logistics can be worked out it’s a good bet that she’ll be in a car entered by her old Andretti Autosport team. . . . David Reutimann is a class act. Obviously disappointed about being thrown out of his ride at Michael Waltrip Racing to make way for senior citizen Mark Martin, Reutimann said he won’t go rustling through the bushes for a decent ride with another team at this late date because it would mean somebody would have to be dumped to make way for him, and "I wouldn’t want that." . . . Greg Biffle has the pole for Sunday’s Sprint Cup race (TSN, 3 p.m.). Carl Edwards, who’s leading the Chase for the Championship with three races remaining (including this one at Texas), will go off seventh. Tony Stewart, who’s nipping at his heels and is in second place, eight points back, will start fifth. . . . Kyle Busch said he lost his temper because of something Ron Hornaday did to him earlier. Maybe so, but the reaction was over the top, boy. Way over the top.

What (and who) will be racing at Mosport next July 22?

When the lights went out in Mississauga Saturday night – it was one of those power failures that catch your attention; you look out the window and there isn’t a light on for miles – I fired up my laptop and rocket stick to find out what was going on and, after learning it wasn’t the end of the world, I called up the American Le Mans Series website and watched the last laps of the Petit Le Mans.

The big news of the weekend – other than the race results; Peugeot beat Audi, end of story – is that the 2012 schedule issued on Friday includes the traditional mid-summer stop at Mosport but the very, very interesting thing is that the race is scheduled for Sat., July 21, instead of the traditional (there’s that word again) Sunday.

So the question today is: what series is going to be in action at Mosport on Sunday, July 22, 2012? I guarantee you that there will be something big happening out there.

I make these suggestions purely as guesses. I have not talked to anyone officially, or even off the record.

– It’s possible there could be a NASCAR Nationwide Series race or a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race. Neither schedule has been published. The Sprint Cup Series is off that weekend, which means one or more Sprint Cup drivers (like Dale Earnhardt Jr.) could perhaps make an appearance to help out their friend, and good soldier, Ron Fellows on his first big promotion.

– The Grand Am Rolex Series could race there – although I doubt the ALMS would want to play "second fiddle" to the Grand Am.

– The IZOD IndyCar Series frequently twins with the ALMS. They were together this year for double-headers at Long Beach and Road America, the ALMS on Saturday and the Indy cars on Sunday.

Yes, I know, the IndyCar Series races in downtown Toronto every July. But that race has been in trouble for years, never mind the last several. One way to revive the interest, and the attendance, would be for the Toronto promoters, Savoree-Green, to co-promote a race at Mosport with Fellows and his group.

The Indycar schedule has not been released. This could be one of the surprises when it comes out at Las Vegas in two weeks.

Who knows?

I can tell you this: When Canada’s longest, continuously operating, legendary road racing circuit changed hands last June, co-owner Fellows said this: "Mosport is a big-event race track and is open for business."

The ALMS has been the big event of the summer at the storied circuit north of Bowmanville for years. I suggest one way or another that it will have company, starting in 2012.

Senna videos, F1 on pay TV and other racing subjects

In case you missed columnist Dave Feschuk’s gripping review of the Ayrton Senna film, here’s the link.

Also, if you go to this link, you will find a page of YouTube videos on Senna, some quite emotional.

Paul Menard was as unlikely a winner of the Brickyard 400 Sunday as Trevor Bayne was in February in winning the Daytona 500.

It was his first win in nearly 170 Sprint Cup starts (see post below) but it was as much a victory for his father, John, as it was for him.

John Menard, a multi-millionaire owner of a chain of U.S. Midwest Home Hardware-type stores, has been trying for more than 30 years to win at Indianapolis, sponsoring Indy cars as well as stock cars.

John Menard was an early supporter of Tony George’s Indy Racing League and yet the closest he came to winning the Indy 500 was 1999 when he hired CART driver Robby Gordon to pilot his car, only for Gordon to run out of fuel on the last lap and wind up fourth.

John Menard’s name has frequently been linked with others seeking to purchase the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, if it should ever be put up for sale. Bruton Smith’s name, and Tony George’s, are often mentioned in the same breath as his.

Once upon a time, when I went to the movies, I paid my admission and got coming attractions and a movie. Now, for the same price, I also get 10 minutes of commercials.

It’s the way of the world and is another reason why nobody should be surprised that Formula One will be available half the time on pay TV in England, starting in 2012.

The news that F1 has gone and done this, literally without warning, has generated a hot response on this blog and elsewhere. Many people have said that if this also turns out to be the case on this side of the pond that they will swear off F1 forever.

Bernie Ecclestone doesn’t think this will happen and I’m not so sure either. You’re either a fan of something, or you’re not. If you aren’t a fan, or are on the fence, you will care less. But if you are a fan, your resolve to give up the sport will only last for so long.

I give up on the Maple Leafs every year around Nov. 1. I swear I will never watch those bums play another game. This lasts, usually, until about Nov. 15. I even pay Rogers extra to include Leafs TV on my pay TV subscription, that’s how much I hate those guys.

By the way, let’s not split hairs about what’s pay TV and what isn’t. It’s all pay TV in Canada (or just about) because most of us pay Rogers or Bell to provide us with our television. I’m talking about the possibility, which I don’t think is that far off, when we will be asked to pay a premium to watch F1 races. Ergo, that's what I'm talking about when I say "pay TV."

It’s worked for professional wrestling and mixed martial arts; why not F1? And why not the Super Bowl? And the Grey Cup? How about the Olympics? The World Series? No, not next year or the year after, but some time in the not-too-distance future.

It’s inevitable with all pro sports and particularly F1. Sponsorships and rights fees to televise the races will only raise so much money. F1 is a privately owned big, big business and how successful the business is depends on net worth and cash flow.

To keep it going, the money’s got to come from somewhere and sooner or later it’s going to come directly from you and me.

There have been 14 different winners of the 20 NASCAR Sprint Cup races held so far in 2011. Keven Harvick and Kyle Busch lead with three wins apiece, with Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon winning two each.

Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Trevor Bayne, Ryan Newman, Denny Hamlin, David Ragan, Brad Keselowski, Regan Smith and Paul Menard have one each.

Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are the only drivers in the top ten who haven’t made it to Victory Lane.

Speaking of Edwards, there are reports, rumours, etc., that he has been offered a $10 million signing bonus to take over the No. 20 Home Depot car at Joe Gibbs Racing. Tony Stewart had that ride and handed it off to Joey Logano, who hasn’t performed. Edwards would be a good choice.

It would also give Joe Gibbs a break. Edwards is his own man; a mature guy. Gibbs had to put up with Stewart's anger management issues and handled that just about flawlessly. Then he inherited Logano's father. And Kyle Busch's antics. Busch seems to have settled down completely. With Logano off the team, dad will be elsewhere also. Gibbs will be able to breathe a big sigh of relief.

Before we leave NASCAR, Steve Arpin of Fort Frances, Ont., finished 13th in the Mike's Hard Lemonade-sponsored truck in the Camping World Series race at Lucas Oil Raceway outside Indianapolis last Friday night. Arpin had qualified 19th.

There were lots of empty seats at the Grand Prix of Hungary, unlike the early years of the modern era. The first was held in 1986 in front of a packed house and I always thought the major media missed the real story there.

It marked the first time that an F1 race – Formula One being the epitome of capitalism – had taken place behind what was then called the Iron Curtain. It was the beginning of the end of Soviet Union-style communism. By the end of the 1980s, with the fall of the Berlin Wall, it was all over.

Racing: Whither Vettel? IndyCar penalties and a hot ALMS race

When you’re on assignment at one race (the American Le Mans Series race at Mosport, see post below), it’s a challenge trying to keep up with what’s going on elsewhere. But here goes.

Formula One: When I turned on my recording equipment Sunday night to watch the race, I wondered if I’d somehow (or it somehow) made a mistake. There were three guys on the podium, all right, but Sebastien Vettel wasn’t among them.

There was Lewis Hamilton, the winner, with Fernando Alonso second and Mark Webber third. I had to go back further to watch Vettel cross the line in fourth, with Felipe Massa fifth.

Good grief! That’s the first time Vettel hasn’t been on the podium in eons! And as I rolled the recording backwards even further, I actually saw him spin!

What is the world coming to?

I refuse to believe there are chinks in that guy’s armour. Maybe he didn’t like the chilly weather in Germany (unlike the sweltering heat at Mosport). Maybe he got out of bed on the wrong side.

Whichever, he will be back in form again soon and at the end of the season we’ll find out what was really going on this weekend (maybe his girlfriend dumped him, or Red Bull racing czar Helmut Marko didn't say good morning to him. Or something).

Anyway, a fast-forward review of the race showed Hamilton deserved to win and it was a fighting Alonso who managed to make it into second. The championship is over but those guys are showing that they’ll go down swinging.

Three things to chew on between now and the next race in Hungary next weekend . . .

– Although there is a contract to hold this race through 2016, the government has informed B. Ecclestone, et al, that this was the last German Grand Prix to receive a huge public subsidy. So add Germany to the growing list of countries where the government has said enough!

It won’t happen for a few years but every time there is one of these announcements, the closer F1 is to going on pay television. Trust me. It’s coming and it will happen sooner than anybody realizes. Regardless of what Bernie says.

– Timo Glock has signed a contract to race for Virgin F1 through the 2014 season. Is that nuts, or what? Glock finished 17^th on Sunday, three laps behind the winner. Just the kind of guy you want to sign to a long-term contract, right?

– Although he sat out the German Grand Prix, Lotus insists it wants to sign Jarno Trulli to a contract for 2012. Is that nuts, or what? Trulli finished 23^rd in the last race, the British GP. And his replacement for this weekend, Karun Chandhock, finished 20^th, four laps behind, in Germany. Why would Lotus want to keep either one of those guys?

IZOD IndyCar Series: So after not calling any penalties for avoidable contact in Toronto two weeks ago, when there were a whole bunch of avoidable accidents, the IndyCar race officials were handing them out left, right and centre in Edmonton on Sunday.

Alex Tagliani, Mike Conway and Ryan Hunter-Reay received drive-throughs for plowing into people. E.J. Viso would have received one also but Race Control determined that since he lost a lap in his accident it was penalty enough.

Somebody else who would have qualified was Graham Rahal, who was knocked off the track on the first lap and proceeded to drive right back on and into the path of Canada’s own Paul Tracy. The ensuing collision put them both out - so no penalty.

Tracy would have had every right to be boiling over with anger at Rahal’s stupidity but since he did the same thing at San Jose a few years ago (and drove into the side of fellow Canadian Tagliani at the time) he probably figured what the hell: what goes around comes around.

In any event, Will Power won the race Sunday on the newly configured City Centre Airport circuit with last year’s winner Helio Castroneves second (what? He didn’t win last year? Oh, yeah – that’s right. They penalized him for blocking. The phantom block; maybe that’s why he was on his best behaviour this year . . .) and Dario Franchitti finished third.

Top Canadian was James Hinchcliffe, who finished 15^th, while Tag was 17^th and Tracy was officially 26^th and last.

Top woman was . . . guess who? Danica Patrick in ninth.

Next race is in two weeks on a twin bill with the American Le Mans Series at Mid-Ohio.

Question: should the ALMS race in Toronto with the Indy cars or should the Indy cars race at Mosport with the ALMS?

They had a whopping big crowd at Mosport for the ALMS. I suggest records could be broken if the Indy cars returned to their natural road-course home. Put those two series together for a weekend and it would be like the grand old days of Formula One out there.

One last observation. I don’t recall race promoters ever getting as many pats on the back as Octane Motorsport Events has as the result of the Edmonton race. It strikes me as being a bit over the top when newspaper columnists as well as the sanctioning body positively gush over somebody doing their job.

Is there something going on? I mean, there have been rumours that Octane would like to take over promotion of the Toronto Indy. So is this part of the campaign?

NASCAR Canadian Tire Series: Scott Steckly of Milverton, Ont., driving a Canadian Tire-sponsored Dodge, won the NASCAR Canada race Saturday night at the Motoplex Speedway and Event Park in Vernon, B.C., a race he won a year ago. It was Steckly’s 10th career victory and his first since he won the season opener at Mosport Speedway in May.

Defending series champion D.J. Kennington of St. Thomas, who led a race-high 135 laps, finished a close second in his familiar Castrol Edge Dodge while Kerry Micks of Mt. Albert, Ont., was third in his Dickies/Beyond Digital Imaging Ford.

Ron Beauchamp Jr. of Windsor and Mark Dilley of Barrie completed the top five. Don Thomson Jr. of Hamilton was sixth with Pete Shepherd III of Brampton seventh and J.R. Fitzpatrick of Cambridge eighth. Nathan Weenk of Lethbridge was ninth and Jim White of Kamloops completed the top 10.

The race was slowed 12 times by caution; the race lead exchanged hands eight times among three drivers. In the point standings, Steckly increased his lead over Kennington to 97 points. Fitzpatrick remains in third followed by Thomson and Micks.

The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series will race at Auto Clearing Motor Speedway in Saskatoon on Wednesday.

Other racing: The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series had the weekend off and drivers will next saddle up for the Brickyard 400 at Indy next weekend. The "400," by the way, represents the number of fans they’re expecting at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. . .

Even the Sprint Cup guys like Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick who own teams in the Nationwide and Camping World Trucks took the weekend off and put other drivers in their vehicles.

One guy who should have taken a weekend off was Kasey Kahne, who decided to do a little World of Outlaws sprint car racing and went flying right out of the ballpark at Williams Grove Speedway in Pennsylvania.

Kahne won’t be running with them but the Outlaws will be at Ohsweken Speedway on the Six Nations Reserve near Brantford on Wednesday night. From there, they go to Brockville Speedway and to race tracks in Quebec before heading back to the U.S.A.

Meantime, it was not the greatest of days for Canadians in the Grand Am Series races in New Jersey.

In the Rolex Sports Car race, the AIM Autosport of Woodbridge No. 61 Daytona Prototype normally wheeled by Mark Wilkins of Toronto and American Burt Frisselle was MIA from the race won by Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas.

In the Continental Tire race, Paul Dalla Lana of Toronto finished sixth in the race won by Billy Johnson and Jack Roush Jr. Karl Thomson of Toronto, driving for his Compass 360 Racing team, finish 21^st overall and 9^th in the ST class. Scott Maxwell of Toronto was 46^th overall and classified 20^th in the GS class. Ashley McCalmont of Dundas was 49^th overall and 23^rd in GS.

NASCAR: Childress decision today

Richard Childress makes me think of a father who goes over to the schoolyard to take a swing at a child who’s just sent his kid home crying.

Fathers who do that deserve the condemnation they receive because they should know better.

And Richard Childress should know better.

That’s why NASCAR is quite likely going to come down like a ton of bricks today on the retired race driver who's now the owner of cars in the Sprint Cup, Nationwide, Camping World trucks and ARCA series.

Whether it’s a hefty fine – and I, for instance, do not think anything that ends in "thousand" should be enough – or a suspension (for starters, NASCAR wouldn’t let Childress near the pits for Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway), or something else remains to be seen.

But when NASCAR said "have at it, boys," you can bet they meant the drivers and not the car owners.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve undoubtedly heard what happened following the Camping World Truck Series race at Kansas on Saturday afternoon (which was won by Clint Bowyer, by the way. Full story here).

Kyle Busch was passed for fifth place late in the race by Childress driver Joey Coulter and after the checkers he pulled up beside him and either gestured or shouted something (I didn’t see any contact between the two trucks, but there might have been a tap).

When Busch went to leave the garage area later, he apparently was confronted by Childress who attacked him. According to some reports, Childress – who’s 66 – put Busch – who’s 26 – in a headlock and punched him several times.

Busch did not retaliate and remained calm throughout. Unlike Childress, Busch talked to TV reporters on Sunday.

For all I know, Childress had an ulterior motive when he went after Busch. Busch is on probation for an incident with Kevin Harvick a few races ago (Harvick got out of his car and went to take a swipe at Busch, who drove off, pushing Harvick’s car out of the way in the process).

If Childress had suckered Busch into fighting back, that might have been enough for NASCAR to suspend him . As it stands, NASCAR has made it clear it does not hold Busch responsible for anything that happened and are focusing on Childress.

NASCAR is undoubtedly terribly embarrassed by this turn of events. For years, it did everything it could to get itself accepted into the boardrooms of America. While the drivers might get a little out of control on occasion, that’s allowed – within reason.

But when a car owner – an accepted member of the lodge – loses control, it sends exactly the wrong kind of message to corporate America and you can bet that NASCAR will do everything it can today to make sure that sort of nonsense doesn’t happen again.

And, in doing so, it will tell the CEOs of the world that it won't tolerate intemperate behaviour on the part of people that the sanctioning body has entrusted to represent those companies and corporations with dignity and sophistication.

You know, I was astounded to watch Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Hammond spouting off on the telecast about how this "bad blood" could spread – that even the crews might get into it before it all ends.

I like both those guys but this time they were way off the mark. They might have been trying to whip the proletariat into a frenzy but the proletariat doesn't write the cheques.

Once upon a time, tire irons at 20 paces were acceptable in NASCAR. But not any more, boy. Not any more. Where once a local sheriff might laugh off a scuffle in the pits, it’s 2011 and people can be charged for that sort of thing.

Richard Childress should be very happy that Kyle Busch wasn’t interested in calling the cops.

Fathers who go looking for their child’s tormenter in the schoolyard are not so lucky.

Notebook Jottings:

– What is with all the "fuel runs" in NASCAR races these days. The Sprint Cup "race" was a snorer because everybody was saving fuel. Brad Keselowski won, with Dale Earnhardt second and Denny Hamlin third (full story here) but Kurt Busch, who led the most laps – 152 – had to pit with 10 laps to go or else he would have run out.

Saturday night at Chicagoland Speedway, Carl Edwards ran out of fuel on the last lap, letting Justin Allgaier through to win – and he ran out of fuel going down to the checkers (full story here).

A week ago, at Charlotte, Earnhardt was winning the Coca-Cola 600 and ran out on the last corner.

I really wish they would just give everybody all the fuel they would ever need and let them race. I could care less about fuel economy.

– Danica Patrick dropped back into the Nationwide Series for a race and finished tenth. She is proving that she is the real deal in stock car racing. She will return to Indy cars next week at Texas.

Another good-news story out of Chicago was the return to competition of Trevor Bayne, who finished third in the race. Bayne, the Daytona 500 winner, was out of action for weeks after he was bitten by an insect.

– Speaking of Texas, and the Camping World Truck Series, Fort Frances’ Steve Arpin will make his first start of the season for sponsor Mike’s Hard Lemonade next Friday night. The last time he raced at Texas with Mike’s on his car – in 2010 in an ARCA race – he wound up in Victory Lane.

Arpin, by the way, was at Chicagoland Saturday night, spotting for the race winner, Allgaier

Racing roundup: NASCAR awaits Kimi

 
WEEKEND HEADLINES:

1. Matt Kenseth off to great NASCAR start

2. Kimi’s NASCAR debut coming Friday

3. Rain stops Indy practice; Canadian results

SYNOPSIS:

It was not the greatest of weekends for Robbie Wickens of Guelph and J.R. Fitzpatrick of Cambridge but Karl Thomson and Paul Dalla Lana of Toronto and Bruno Spengler of Saint-Hyppolite, Que., were very pleased with their results, thank you. Meantime, Paul Tracy and James Hinchcliffe, both of Toronto, turned very competitive times in practice at Indianapolis before the rains came. Ike Maier of Tottenham was very happy to qualify for the NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta. Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards won the weekend’s NASCAR races and everybody is looking forward to Friday when 2007 World Driving Champion Kimi Raikkonen makes his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut. What?

Kenseth wins Dover NASCAR race

Matt Kenseth is off to one of the best starts of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing career. If he keeps it up, he could very well wind up being the driver to finally end Jimmie Johnson’s streak of championships at five straight.

Kenseth won Sunday’s FedEx 400 at Dover, Del., when he opted to take just two tires on his final pit stop with 34 laps remaining and went on to beat Mark Martin and Marcos Ambrose for his second victory of the 2011 season (he won at Texas in April). Full race story here.

It was a pit-stop call for just two tires. Martin opted to stay out and not stop for rubber; Kenseth knew Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards, who’d dominated the race all day, were both going to get four new ones.

"So I thought we could compromise and I suggested just two and it worked out," said the race winner, who captured the Cup championship in 2003.

Although fresh rubber normally pays dividends, particularly with that amount of time left in a race, it didn’t Sunday in Delaware. Johnson was only able to make up two positions in his run to the front, eventually finishing ninth.

Kenseth now sits sixth in the Chase for the Championship standings, behind Kevin Harvick (fifth), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (fourth), Kyle Busch (third), Johnson (second) and the leader, Edwards.

Kenseth’s two victories so far in 2011 match his season’s total in 2004 and 2007. His best year for wins came in 2002 when he was in Victory Lane five times. He won four times in 2006.

The year he won his championship, he only won one race.

Edwards finished seventh on Sunday (behind Kyle Busch, who was fourth, Bryan Vickers, fifth, and Clint Bowyer, sixth) and his race was downright uneventful compared to Saturday’s Nationwide race, which he won but only after escaping a huge last-lap pileup which was one of the most spectacular in recent memory. Full race story here.

On a late-race restart – one of those green-white-checkers deals – Edwards and Joey Logano were battling coming out of the fourth turn when Logano lost control and hit the outside wall, bouncing down directly into the path of Bowyer who – in a blink – was on his side and heading directly for the inside wall.

Before everybody finished crashing, a half-dozen cars were destined for the scrap yard. No one on the speedway was hurt but a member of Harvick’s pit crew was hit in the leg by a flying spring that came off Bowyer’s car and he had to go to the hospital.

Notebook Jottings:

– Joey Logano reported to the infield care centre for a checkup after his Nationwide crash and emerged carrying his ever-present bottle of cola that isn’t Pepsi.

I guess that’s normal, isn’t it? For everybody to leave Emergency after seeing your life flash before your eyes and the first thing you do is open a bottle of pop? With the label pointed directly at the TV camera?

Do you still think that hockey player drank from that bottle of pop on the bench because he - like - just felt like it? If so, I have some swampland in Florida I’d like to talk to you about.

– J.R. Fitzpatrick of Cambridge finished 21^st in the Nationwide race after crashing out of the Camping World Trucks series race on Friday. Fitzpatrick spun at least once during the car race. He'd qualified 35th.

– Have to say it: there are just a lot of empty seats at NASCAR races these days. The TV ratings are up, however, which means the racing still has value. But the lack of bums in the seats has got to be of some concern.

- Trevor Bayne is out of the hospital and improving but has still not received the green light from Roush-Fenway Racing to resume his NASCAR career. There's a possibility he might be back in a race car for the Nationwide race at Iowa next weekend but it remains a big maybe. He's the young Daytona 500 winner who was bitten by an insect, or something, and hasn't been feeling 100 per cent since.

Kimi Raikkonen to make NASCAR debut

Almost lost in the shuffle of the weekend’s racing, and still only getting a 15-second mention here or a brief mention there, is the fact that Kimi Raikkonen will be making his NASCAR debut this Friday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway in a NASCAR Camping World Series pickup truck race.

That’s right. You did not read that incorrectly.

Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 World Driving Champion, will race a truck for Kyle Busch’s team at Charlotte on Friday night and, if you’re interested, you can watch him either acquit himself as you would expect an F1 champion to do, or else make a fool of himself.

It could go either way.

Kyle Busch has been quoted as saying that he’s honoured Raikkonen chose his team for his NASCAR debut and that the ex-F1 star was "adamant" about running his first race at Charlotte.

I suppose it makes sense. If you’ve never done this sort of thing before – as was the case with another ex-F1 champ, our own Jacques Villeneuve – then the truck series is a good entry point. The trucks are built for safety and don’t go as fast as the Nationwide or Sprint Cup racing cars.

And since next weekend is the All-Star Weekend in Charlotte,, why shouldn’t a star take centre stage Friday night while all the other stars of NASCAR are also in town for their race Saturday.

I suggest Raikkonen will probably keep a low profile and drive to survive. If he makes it to the finish without crashing – a trick whenever the trucks race – he’ll consider it a success and start plotting a career change.

If he doesn’t finish, and doesn’t enjoy himself (as in, he’s piled up or winds up in one), it’s quite possible he’ll chalk it up to experience and move on back to Europe.

Whichever, it will be fun to watch. The truck race can be seen on SPEED Friday night at 8 o’clock.

Other weekend racing, in short:

– It’s May in Indiana, which means rain. They got some practice in on the opening day Saturday for the 100^th Anniversary of the Indianapolis 500, which is scheduled for May 29^th, but only 32 of the 40-plus drivers entered got to run laps. Sunday was a complete washout, which means there are only five days of practice left before qualifying is conducted next Saturday.

Remember, you can watch practice at Indy on your computer. Go to http://racecontrol.indycar.com/ between noon and 6 p.m. every day this week and anything and everything that happens at the Speedway will be onscreen.

Ed Carpenter, driving for Sarah Fisher, turned the fastest lap on Saturday – 40.0380 seconds for a speed of 224.786 miles an hour. Defending champion Dario Franchitti was fourth fastest at 224.107 mph; Paul Tracy was 11^th fastest at 222.295 (40.4868 seconds) while James Hinchcliffe was 17^th fastest at 2221.454 (40.6406 seconds).

Danica Patrick was fastest of the four women who practiced, turning a time of 40.4982 seconds and 222.232 mph – good for 12^th fastest.

Alex Tagliani didn’t turn a wheel Saturday.

Qualifying next weekend will be a frantic affair. Qualifications open at 11 a.m. on Saturday and the fastest 25 to turn time that day will be locked into the field of 33. At 4:30 p.m., the fastest nine cars will go out and try to better their times. The fastest among them will win the pole.

Sunday, the remaining eight places will be filled. Bumping will then begin and continue until a gun is shot off at 6 p.m., signalling the end of qualifying.

Most of the qualifying will be available on TSN2 next Saturday and Sunday. Don't miss the bumping next Sunday starting at 4:30. It could be as exciting - or more exciting - than the race.

– Canadian Bruno Spenger pf Saint-Hyppolite, Que., started on pole for Mercedes but finished second in the German Touring Car Championship race at Zandvoort behind Mike Rockenfeller, who was driving an Audi.

– Robert Wickens of Guelph had a horrible weekend in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series stop at Monza (a.k.a. the World Series by Renault). He started on pole Saturday and was leading the race until his clutch failed with four laps remaining.

Sunday, he won pole but was penalized three grid places for running into another car in the Saturday race. Then, early in the contest Sunday, he got clobbered by another car and was forced to call it a day.

The kid is fast and obviously the cream of the Renault series’ field. But he has bad luck. There’s no getting around it. A little black cloud follows him around. He could have won the Formula 2 series title two years ago if he hadn’t had so many mechanical DNFs.

Be that as it may, it remains quite likely that he will be in a reserve driver role – if not in an actual race seat – by the time F1 comes to Canada for the Canadian Grand Prix in June. He'll race through the streets of Monte Carlo first, though, as the Renault series is on the undercard for the Grand Prix of Monaco.

- Ike Maier of Tottenham, who qualified for an NHRA licence only months ago, qualified for the NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta but was eliminated in the first round by Tony Schumacher.  

Maier qualified the Paton Racing Top Fuel Dragster in 12th spot in the 16-car field, with a 3.931-second, 307.44-mph posting. Leading the qualifying in the class at Atlanta, the sixth event in the 2011 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Race Series, was Spencer Massey with a 3.825, 323.19 attempt. 

 

Schumacher qualified with the No. 5 spot, and took out Maier in the first round with a 3.852, 319.69 run against Maier’s 3.992, 258.57.

Maier was at Atlanta to race his Pro Modified Corvette as well, but was unsuccessful at qualifying. The Atlanta event was the second venue where he has driven both the Top Fueler and the Pro Mod.

– Perry Bortolotti of Ottawa capped a perfect weekend, winning both races in the inaugural Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada at Calabogie Motorsports Park northwest of Ottawa. Each race was quite different at the start, with rain in the morning and perfect dry, cool conditions in the afternoon - but both races had similar outcomes.

Said Bortolotti: "This really is a dream come true. It’s the highpoint of my racing career - to win the first-ever Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada race and to win it at home."

– Paul Dalla Lana of Toronto continued his excellent season by finishing second, with Bill Auberlen, in the Bosch Engineering 200 race in the Continental Tire Series at Virginia International Raceway at the weekend. The race was won by Jack Roush Jr. and Billy Johnson.

Karl Thomson of Toronto, with Ryan Eversley, drove his Compass 360 Honda Civic to victory in the ST Class.

Said Thomson: "We won on strategy and driving talent during the last 10 minutes. We didn't have the fastest car. Fortunately, Ryan (Eversley) had enough car left to battle with Nico (Rondet) at the end. I was on the edge of my seat the entire final 10 minutes."

Other Canadians: Ashley McCalmont of Ancaster finished seventh in the GS Class. Kenny Wilden of Oakville was tenth. Scott Maxwell of Toronto was 15^th.

In the glamour-puss Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series Bosch Engineering 250, that $25,000 bounty put on the heads of always-winning Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas worked first time out as Joao Barbosa and Terry Borcheller beat them in a very wet race at Virgina.

Mark Wilkins of Toronto and American Burt Frisselle, driving the AIM Autosport of Woodbridge’s No. 61 Gamma 88 BMW-Riley, did not have a good outing, finishing 22^nd.

Oh, Chip Ganassi, who owns the Pruett-Rojas Grand Am car (as well as cars in the NASCAR and IndyCar series), received an honorary Doctor of Science and Technology degree from Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University during its commencement ceremonies at the weekend. Pittsburgh is Ganassi’s home town.

Arpin lands Camping World truck deal

 
STEVE ARPIN OF FORT FRANCES, ONT., WILL REPRESENT MIKE'S HARD LEMONADE IN NASCAR TRUCKS

Things are coming together all over for young Canadian racing drivers.

James Hinchcliffe of Oakville is in IndyCar, JR Fitzpatrick of Cambridge is running NASCAR Nationwide (with two Sprint Cup starts scheduled in August), Robert Wickens of Guelph is leading the Formula Renault 3.5 standings (and on a fast track to Formula One) and now here comes Steve Arpin of Fort Frances with big news to announce.

Arpin, 27, made it official Tuesday evening: Vancouver-based Mike’s Hard Lemonade has signed on to sponsor him in five NASCAR Camping World Series truck races in 2011 and things are looking good for an expanded program in either trucks or the Nationwide Series in 2012.

"We’ve been working on this for some time," Arpin said in an interview, "and everything has just finished coming together. We had to decide where was the best place for Steve Arpin and Mike’s Hard Lemonade to be, whether it was ARCA (stock cars), Nationwide or trucks and the trucks are best for everybody."

Arpin will be driving for Turner Motorsports, a Mooresville, N.C. -based NASCAR team that runs, among others, Nationwide cars for Reed Sorenson, Jason Leffler, Mark Martin and Kasey Kahne and trucks for James Buescher and Brad Sweet.

So the Ontario hot-shoe will be in good company.

Arpin emphasized that he’s more interested in quality over quantity and that five races with a good team and a good sponsor with long-term potential are more important to him than simply running a lot of races.

"As well as racing the truck, I’ll be making personal appearances over the summer and working with retailers to raise the profile of Mike’s Hard Lemonade and to see the impact on the brand of our involvement.

"What’s important, to me, is our long-term relationship."

Arpin will make his first start at Texas Motor Speedway on June 10 and he couldn’t be more delighted.

"That’s where it all started," he laughed. "I had Mike’s on the car when I won the ARCA race there last season, so I’m looking forward to racing there again. Then, in July, we’ll be racing at Kentucky and Iowa. Our fourth race will be at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis and we’ll wind up the program at Chicago in September."

Arpin began his racing career in karts and snowmobiles in northern Ontario and went on to win every Modified feature event he entered at Emo Speedway near Fort Frances. After dominating at speedways in Minnesota and Wisconsin, he started to spread his wings in 2008 when he won the USAC Silver Crown (open wheel, open cockpit) rookie-of-the-year title.

In 2009, he raced with ARCA and was voted Most Popular Driver by the fans. In 2010, in addition to ARCA, he drove several races in the Nationwide Series for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s JR Motorsports team.