Am I the only one who thinks Scott Dixon caused the crash that put him out of the NTT IndyCar Series race at St. Louis Saturday night? Maybe so, but I invite you to take a look at the accident again and see where my suspicions come from.
Josef Newgarden won that race, Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José Maria López drove a Toyota to first place in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Ryan Blaney won the NASCAR Cup race at Michigan, Steve Torrence won the NHRA Lucas Oil Nationals and A.J. Allmendinger won three of the three NASCAR races he entered last weekend and this, (which is pretty incredible, when you think about it.)
We’ll have short takes on all those races, with links, and lots of opinion. Plus, we are expanding our southern Ontario racing coverage, thanks to a network of communications specialists. So, let’s get cracking.
INDYCAR:
IndyCar says its TV ratings have improved. Boy, I don’t know how.
I love IndyCar, so I watch. But there are lots of people who tune in for a race and roll their eyes when all they see are crashes. In this case, 21 of the first 25 laps Saturday night were run under caution. If I’m a casual fan, I go looking for a ball game, or something else, to watch. If I stay for the “race,” I then watch 26 laps of cars running in fuel-saving mode. Then Ed Carpenter crashes to break the monotony. Yawn.
By the time the race ended, the yellow had been out for 49 of the 260 laps. Lots of fuel had been saved and there wasn’t a lot of drama. In fact, the only time the announcers Leigh Diffey, Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy got excited was when Romain Grosjean was making a charge and that happened twice.
Oh, talking of Tracy, after about the third crash early in the race, the Thrill from West Hill said the racers were driving like maniacs. If Tracy says that, they must really be out of control.
Okay, the crash I want to discuss involved Rinus Veekay, Alex Palou and Dixon. Two of the three blamed Veekay, including the announcers. I think it was a rush to judgment. The replay is on YouTube. Follow along:
Dixon is in the middle of the track. He moves up to block Palou, who has a run. Palou moves up toward the wall to avoid colliding with Dixon. Dixon then moves down to take the corner and has to check up to avoid Ryan Hunter-Reay, who cuts down in front of him. Veekay arrives and has to hit the brakes to avoid Dixon. He hits him anyway and the collision sends Dixon spinning into the wall and Veekay hitting Palou. Veekay says he tried to slow down but couldn’t. Take a look at the replay. I’d say he got a bum wrap.
I’m not a big fan of one driver blaming another for a crash anyway. Things happen when cars are going 100 mph, or more. They’re all holier-than-thou, aren’t they? Didn’t you just love Ed Jones pointing the finger at Graham Rahal. Give me a break.
For a blow-by-blow account of this race, please click here.
Josef Newgarden wins wild Gateway IndyCar race by .5397 sec | Fox News
OPEN WHEEL NOTEBOOK JOTTINGS
Michael Andretti has confirmed a report that he wants to purchase a Formula One team. “I’ve wanted to do that for years,” he told the AP, “but none are for sale and I don’t know if we’ve even got the money yet.”
You have to wonder how long Formula E will last. Maybe forever, but more likely not much longer. The manufacturers are pulling out. BMW, Mercedes and Audi are gone or soon will be. BMW will stay on as a supplier (Andretti Autosport) but Mercedes wants to put all its money into Formula One and Audi is taking its racing budget and putting it into the Dakar Rally. While it’s true that other manufacturers might get involved, they haven’t shown much interest to this point.
There are only three races left in the IndyCar season. Portland, Sept. 12 (said to be on the bubble for 2022, by the way), Laguna Seca on Sept. 19 and Long Beach on Sept. 26. And then it will be all over. It’s going to be a long winter.
Talking about the bubble, will Simon Pagenaud be back at Penske Racing next season? And, if not, where will he land? Seats are already being filled. Several F1 drivers are available, or will be (Albon, Magnussen, Ricciardo) and there might be an F-electric driver or two on the lookout for employment.
The Indy cars saluted the crowd in St. Louis with the cars three wide going down the main straight before the start. It might be nice if they could do it that well at Indianapolis.
At least two of the wrecks Saturday night were caused by the leader going too slowly. Some of the cars at the back were in first gear. We see that stupidity in F1 too. Cars get piled up that way. There should be a line on the road in turn 3 (on ovals; at the top of the main straight on roads or streets) and that is where the leader has to get on the hammer. If he doesn’t, he’d be penalized.
Dalton Kellett of Stouffville had his best finish in IndyCar racing, 12th (out of 24 that started). James Hinchcliffe had electrical problems right at the start and was three laps down before he got going. He still finished 15th.
You have to love Tracy. After a particularly close call, he said, “You can scare the crap out of yourself, sometimes.” Rarely in the macho sport of auto racing do drivers, even the retired ones, admit publicly to being scared. Years ago, William Neely, who’d been director of PR for Goodyear, and former Sports Illustrated editor-in-chief Bob Ottum, co-write a hilarious book on the sport called Stand On It by the fictional author Stroker Ace (the movie, with Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson, was God-awful). The book starts with an Indy driver (Stroker) being interviewed moments after hitting the wall at Indianapolis. It is the most hilarious description of how a race driver feels after a close call (“Well get ‘er fixed and go out again,” he told the track announcer as he nearly collapses because his knees are close to buckling, his hands are shaking so badly that he can’t light up a cigarette and his testicles feel like they’re stuck in his throat.”) Good for Tracy for bringing that up.
The Japanese Grand Prix is cancelled, and others will follow because of COVID. There are suggestions that the last four or five races of the season will all take place in the Middle East.
Ohio’s Dave Shullick Jr. won his second Oswego (N.Y.) Speedway track championship Saturday night as well as the annual Mr. Supermodified championship. It made for a good payday.
The U.S. Auto Club will induct the following eight into the USAC Hall of Fame: drivers Jeff Gordon and Jay Drake; car owners/mechanics Doug Caruthers, father of drivers Jimmy and Danny Caruthers, Galen Fox and Ray Nichels; owner/builder/innovator Dan Gurney; owner/official/promoter Johnny Vance and track owner/promoter Joe Shaheen.
K1 Speed is introducing the K1 Speed Canadian Karting Championship. Go to k1speed.ca for details but the champion will be awarded $3,000, second will pay $2,000 and third will pay $500.
Iowa Speedway will host two IndyCar races next July 23 and 24th, thanks to the efforts of a number of people. NASCAR owns the speedway but it will be leased by IndyCar, thanks to Roger Penske with help from sponsor Hy-Vee and the governor of Iowa.
Motorcycle racer Mike Grass (I apologize for the typo in his name last Monday) remains unconscious in hospital following a motorcycle accident at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park last weekend. He has been moved to the hospital’s ICU from its critical care unit but still requires a ventilator to help with his breathing. Prayers and positive thoughts for Mike, please.
24 HEURES DU MANS
Toyota successfully ushered in the new glamour-puss class at this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Hypercar class. It was the fourth consecutive victory for the Japanese manufacturer and the drivers, Britain’s Mike Conway, Japan’s Kamui Kobayashi and Argentina’s José Maria López, led from start to finish except for pit stops.
The winners were two laps ahead of the second-place car, the sister Toyota of Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley. The Alpine of Nicolas Lapierre, André Negrão and Matthieu Vaxivière was third. For a complete report, and winners of the other classes, please click here.
NASCAR
The most exciting finish to any race this weekend – professional race, in any event – was the NASCAR Cup race Sunday at Michigan. Ryan Blaney fought off William Byron and Kyle Larson to take the win. Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin were fourth and fifth. For details and results, please click here.
Ryan Blaney holds off hard-charging NASCAR Cup field to squeak out win at Michigan (yahoo.com)
Bill France Jr., was once asked when NASCAR was going to bring a Cup race to Canada. “Canada already has three races,” he said. “Michigan, New Hampshire and Watkins Glen.” He might have been right. Before the race Sunday, a singer performed the Canadian national anthem.
It might have been a good day for Blaney, but it’s going to take something to make people forget A.J. Allmendinger’s performance in the last two Xfinity Series races (Indianapolis Motor Speedway; Michigan) and last Sunday’s road-course race at Indy. Why? He won them all. Click here for details.
Allmendinger wins wild Michigan Xfinity race in three OTs (msn.com)
And Sheldon Creed won the Camping World Truck Series playoff opener at St. Louis’s Gateway Friday night.
In Western Canada stock car racing, This Avion RS1 Series was back in action Saturday night at Penticton Speedway with twin 100-lap races on the newly refurbished ¼-mile oval. Trevor Seibert held off Andrew Ranger for the victory in race one with Noel Dowler claiming third spot on the podium. Ranger dominated the second race, and took over the points lead, Trevor and Ryley Seibert would finish second and third, respectively. In between the Avion RS1 races, the Avion sprint cars ran a 30-lap feature. Matt Stephenson won with Jim White second and Ryley Seibert, who pulled double duty, third.
NHRA
In what many saw as a warmup for the Labour Day weekend NHRA U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis, Steve Torrence won the Top Fuel race at the Lucal Oil Nationals at Brainerd, Minn., and completed a super sweep with a win at every NHRA venue. Matt Hagan flexed his muscles with a second Funny Car win in the last five races while Brittany Force failed to win back-to-back races but scored low elapsed time of the meet. For details, please click here.
What We Learned From the NHRA Nationals at Brainerd (yahoo.com)
SOUTHERN ONTARIO
The following sprint car racing news was provided by Tommy Goudge
BRIGHTON – Jim Huppunen took his first Pinty’s Knights of Thunder 360 Sprint Car series win on Saturday night and the victory was also his first at the Brighton Speedway.
Huppunen (his photo, above, was taken by Rod Henderson/www.canadianracer.com) started on the pole and led the entire race with Ryan Turner close behind and sometimes side-by-side. Several incidents slowed the 25-lap A-Main, and four drivers were unable to finish; the most serious of the incidents came when Paul Pekkonen’s car ended up on its side exiting turn four.
Josh Hansen, KoT points leader Jordan Poirier, and DJ Christie also ran into trouble at different times, but recovered to finish third, fifth, and seventh respectively. Huppunen’s margin of victory over Turner was just 0.102 seconds, while Aaron Turkey moved up from 11th on the grid to finish fourth. Heat race wins were claimed by Tyler Rand and Travis Cunningham.
The Pinty’s Knights of Thunder series will next be in action on the Saturday and Sunday at Brighton Speedway. Visit www.knightsofthunder.com and www.brightonspeedway.ca for more information.
And . . .
BROCKVILLE – Twenty-seven Action Sprint Tour drivers signed in to race at Brockville Ontario Speedway Friday night, but heavy rains forced officials to cancel the event.
The following late-model stock car racing news was provided by Jamie Maudsley
Saturday night, the stars and cars of the APC United Late Model Series Presented by Grisdale Racing Enterprises were back in action at Sauble Speedway for a pair of twin 75-lap features, events No. 4 and 5 of the 2021 championship schedule. The tour was supposed to compete on the August Civic holiday weekend at the Bruce Peninsula area ¼-mle oval, but rain cancelled the event.
The schedule was altered to give Ontario race fans a treat: the AP Emissions Technologies 75 presented by Quaker State, and the Stewart’s Equipment 75 on the same night.
Entering the twin-bill, Brandon Watson, of Stayner, and Pete Shepherd III, of London were tied for the championship lead, with Dale Shaw, of Guelph, eight points back, and Treyten Lapcevich, of Grimsby, and Jo Lawrence, of London, also in the mix, no more than 13 markers behind the points leaders.
Rain washed out qualifying and the starting order was based on points.
Following the inversion, Mat Box, of Carlisle, was on the pole, with Jordan Sims, of Sault Ste. Marie, on the outside of the front row for the AP Emissions Technologies 75 presented by Quaker State. Jake Sheridan, of Mt. Brydges, and Andrew Gresel, of Sauble Beach, occupied row two, with J.R. Fitzpatrick, of Ayr, and Lawrence in row three. Lapcevich, and Shaw would roll from the fourth row, with Shepherd and Watson in row five.
Box would lead the first two laps before Sheridan found his way to the front on lap three. He controlled the pace until the checkers fell. Sheridan (his picture at the top of this column was taken by Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame member Dave Franks) won his first career APC United Late Model Series feature by a margin of .506 seconds over Gresel. Sims held on for third, while Kimball moved Lapcevich and passed him for fourth with two laps to go. Lapcevich held off Stade for fifth, with Stade sixth. Fitzpatrick wound up seventh. J.R. Farley, of Guelph, had a tremendous drive from 24th on the grid to eighth, while Matt Pritiko, of London, advanced from 22nd in the starting lineup to a ninth-place result, with Lawrence winding up 10th.
In the nightcap, hometown driver Stade was on the pole with Kimball joining him on the front row following the inversion, while Sims and Shaw were in row two. But all eyes were on Brandon Watson. The points leader and 2017 champion (he pulled ahead in the first race of the evening), was able to slice through the field and then hold on to capture his third win of the season.
Pritiko finished second, with Lapcevich rallying to wind up third. Benedict finished fourth, with Lawrence clinging onto fifth. James finished sixth, with Ellis in seventh. Fitzpatrick would up eighth and Box and Gresel rounded out the top-ten.
The series will be back in action on Saturday, Sept. 4, at Flamboro Speedway. The Quick Wick Super Stocks will join them on the card for the third of five races scheduled this season.
OSCAAR at Sauble Speedway
Remaining in the top-three all race long paid off for Tyler Hawn, as he took charge on a late-race restart to score the win for the Knightworks Design OSCAAR Hot Rods. Steve Book ran second, followed by Billy Alderson Jr., Cole Weber, and Adrian Foster.
Andy Kamrath drove through the field to score the victory in the Family Funland 40 for the Queenston Chevrolet Buick GMC OSCAAR Modifieds presented by Just Foam It. T.J. Edwards finished second, followed by Norman Newman, Jason Keen, and A.J. Emms.
FLAMBORO SPEEDWAY
After making the step from the Pro Sprints to Qwick Wick T.Q. Can-Am Midget competition last season, Brody Rickwood is starting to find what he needs to be fast and run with the best in the series. His hard work paid off on Saturday, as he led the field across the finish ahead of Darren McLennan, Cory Whittam, Jeff Blackburn, and Daniel Hawn.
Experience was the name of the game in the Canadian Vintage Modifieds on Saturday, with veteran Mike Podd scoring the victory in the first feature ahead of TJ Marshall, Ricky Willigar, Jerrid Morphy, and Bob Gilbert.The inverted starting grid for the second feature would see Jerrid Morphy have to work his way through traffic to find the front of the field, accomplishing the feat to score the victory, and place the No. 18 in victory lane for the third time in 2021. TJ Marshall scored another runner-up ahead of Mike Podd, Bob Gilbert, and Ricky Willigar.
Justin Collison continued his knack for being fast in Super Stock competition, scoring his fourth feature victory on the season. Steve Cashmore finished second, followed by Dennis Cybalski, Randy Rusnell, and Carson Nagy. A combination of some adjustments and a decent starting spot played out well for Carson Nagy, as he found his way to front to score the victory in the second feature. Justin Collison drove through the traffic for second, followed by Dennis Cybalski, Steve Cashmore, and Randy Rusnell.
Gillian Hils continued to show why she’s one of the best in the Mini Stock division, parking the No. 32 in victory lane once again this season. 2019 Track Champion Karl Sault finished second, followed by Shawn Taylor, Cole Quinton, and Kaitlyn Wallace. The inverted field did not slow Hils down, either, as she was able to make her way through the traffic to become the only repeat feature winner on the night. Karl Sault scored another runner-up, followed by Shawn Taylor, Cole Quinton, and Dale Millard.
Phil Givens continues to prove no matter what track he visits this season he has a Pure Stock fast hot rod underneath him with another checkered flag in hand. He won the first feature ahead of Matt Young, Eric Stewart, Rick VanKleef, and Mark Thorne. The invert, combined with a fast car, played out perfectly for Gary Slama en route to scoring the victory in the second feature. Phil Givens drove from the back for a second, followed by Bobby Mercer, Kyle Lucas, and Dale Lucas.
SUNSET SPEEDWAY
After a rocky start to 2021, things seem to be rolling for Rick Spencer-Walt as he scored the victory in the Limited Late Model portion of the Shawn Garrior Memorial at Sunset Speedway. Miles Tyson scored a career best runner-up ahead of Alex Hastie, Paul Maltese, and Billy Zardo.
Despite starting mid-pack, Lane Zardo made his way through the traffic for a Super Stock victory ahead of Matt Bentley, Frank Davey, Dwayne Baker, and Gerrit Tiemersma.
Catching the leader in the final five laps, Eric Yorke made the late-race pass to score the Mini Stock victory on Saturday night at Sunset Speedway. Josh Bullen finished second, followed by Doug Butler, Jeff Laflamme, and Mike Robinson Jr.
After breaking through with his first career Pure Stock win earlier this year, Brandon Steele keeps making the magic happen, picking up another on Saturday night. Calvin Reesor finished second, followed by Aundrea Lusk, Matt Boyes, and Jordan Owen.
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