Canada’s own Smokies Garage drag racing team had a great time a week ago at the NMCA event in Rockingham, North Carolina. Scott Wildgust cut a mind-blowing 0.0087 light and ran a 3.6670 at 205.10 mph to take out Bob Glenn who ran a 3.6675 at 204.17 … even though Glenn had red lighted!! Scotty had qualified ‘number one’ with a 3.6419 at 208.04.
In the Factory Stock Challenge, Smokie ‘hisself,’ Mike Clark, made a pass that will probably put him on the cover of many magazines and in a lot of video highlights when he pulled the most gigantic wheel-stand ever in qualifying!!
He lost a close one in the final to Jonathan Allegrucci 7.7808 at 178.64 to Mike’s close but no cigar 7.8852 at 173.88. But Mike had the better light 0.0593 to 0.1138.
Mike had qualified fourth with a 7.8842, interestingly, just ahead of a guy with a very famous drag racing name – Carl Tasca, Sr.!! Tough crowd!!
Meanwhile at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas, Scott Wildgust’s daughter Sienna qualified 14th out of a field of 20 getting her into the show. She ran a 6.675 at 204.11 which compares well with the ‘number one’ qualifier Jerry Tucker who ran a 6.612 at 206.61.
Sienna was a first round runner-up in a very tough group that included Greg Anderson, Erica Enders and Aaron Stanfield. Can you imagine the pressure on that girl when she saw who she was facing? Wow.
IROC is baaaaaaaack! The new ownership group has announced that the first race will be held July 19-20 at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut.
The new company, IROC Holdings LLC, was created by former SRX partner Ray Evernham and venture capitalist Rob Kauffman.
Rob was a former sports car racer who was involved in a spectacular wreck in 2011 at the 24 Hours of LeMans. He was also involved in Michael Waltrip Racing as a partner, and as an investor in Chip Ganassi Racing. His RK Motors dealership in Charlotte, NC, sells some nasty collector vehicles. Worth a visit if you are in the area. It’s located right beside I-77 as you enter Charlotte from the north.
Thirty-one years ago, Linda and I attended the IROC Press Conference at the Indigo Lakes Resort across from Daytona Speedway. Jeff Gordon pulled his car model and then told the story of his first IROC practice.
He said he was coming out of Corner 2 and he looked to his left and it was DW. Then he looked to his right and it was Big E who was looking around and pointing at things. He said all of a sudden, he realized they were going into Turn 3 at full speed, three-wide with him in the middle… so he wisely lifted.
Another year we were there, and our daughter Cathy came down with Deanna Kennington (the sister of NASCAR Canada Series driver DJ Kennington). At that press conference, Dale Sr. was on the other side of the buffet table, and he asked Deanna to put some the salad on his plate. She didn’t realize who it was until she looked up. She was speechless for quite a while.
Then we went to the new Daytona Harley store and a sales clerk asked Deanna if she could model a jacket for a guy in the other room who was buying one for his wife. We walked into the other room and it was Rusty Wallace. I laughingly asked him how bad he had screwed up.
He laughed and said ‘no’… it was for her birthday.
Another Canadian Pro Mod star was in the U.S. last weekend. Spencer Hyde from Stratford, Ontario who won the $100,000 last year at Bradenton qualified ‘number two’ at the PDRA Mid-Atlantic Showdown at the beautiful Virginia Motorsports Park. He ran a stunning 3.590 at 213.47, which was second only to Melanie Salemi’s 3.585 at 209.01. Another tough field!!
And, according to plan, those two went to the final with Hyde pulling his gun all the way out of the holster to take out Salemi with an eye popping 3.577 at, wait for it, 219.51 to Melanie’s 5.606 at 207.66!! You just can’t get any closer than that.
So, Stratford, Ontario area racers are ‘two for two’ in two weeks!! Well done guys!! And as Melanie is a native of Orillia, Ontario, it was all-Canadian final!
NASCAR Cup Series: In qualifying for the Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway, nice guy Michael McDowell qualified #1 one ahead of Austin Cindric and Todd Gilliland (all in Fords). AND there were 38 entries!
The U.S. Army band playing the National Anthem!! VERY well done!! Kyle Larson’s problems this year just continued. He failed tech inspection due to his roof rails, so he started DFL and his car chief got suspended for the race.
Ross Chastain started 32nd and by lap 8 he was running second!! And soon after, Larson was put a lap down as he had to do a stop and go penalty and came out half a lap down on the field. Stage 1 was, shockingly, ‘clean and green’ and Austin Cindric took the win. Kyle Larson got his lap back right at the stripe to end the stage. Smart.
I was VERY amused by the commercial ‘IndyCar lives on TSN’ during the Cup broadcast. Well it sure didn’t ‘live’ on Sunday!!
Joey Logano won Stage 2 while Larson had gotten all the way up to third!! TWO stages and NO yellows? Who knew? Right after the restart, Chase Elliott got together with Christopher Bell and collected Justin Haley, Zane Smith, Ryan Blaney and Chase Briscoe for the first race caution of the race. Haley had to be pushed off the track.
On lap 155 Bubba Wallace got into the back of Erik Jones collecting John Hunter Nemechek and Denny Hamlin, all in Toyotas, for a caution. Six Toyotas had all pitted together and that’s why they were all together on the track.
Coming to the flag, McDowell’s brain shorted out as he tried too hard to hold the lead by blocking… and spun himself out. A bunch of really good cars were taken out in the ensuing mess. Corey LaJoie crossed the finish line on his side!!
Tyler Reddick got the win over Brad Keselowski and Noah Gragson. Reddick then pulled off his cool imitation of Helio Castroneves by climbing WAY up on the fence. Awesome.
In the points, Larson leads Martin Truex by 16 and Chase Elliot by 23.
Their next race is Dover, Sunday at 2 P.M. on TSN 5 and Fox.
NASCAR Xfinity Series: Austin Hill nabbed the pole for the Xfinity race at Talladega Superspeedway ahead of Jesse Love and Parker Kligerman (all in Chevs).
The first stage went almost caution-free until the very last lap. Riley Herbst got into the back of a slowing Justin Allgaier, with Allgaier spinning down off track and HARD into the inside retaining wall, the concrete part that sticks out. Jesse Love won Stage 1.
Austin Hill won the caution-free Stage 2. On lap 67 Brandon Jones, running third, got turned from behind thus creating the inevitable ‘Big One’ collecting at least ten other cars in the melee!! On lap 75 the yellow came out for a bumper cover on the track.
With two laps to go Hill, leading the race, spun when Parker Kligerman took the air off his spoiler (and as Ken Schrader would say, ‘and then he hit him’!!) for another NASCAR overtime. Hill’s hood vents were NOT happy!! LOL Cool camera work.
And, gee, who was the leader on the restart? If you guessed Kligerman you would be correct. LOVED the clasped hands by the announce team. Also loved watching the number of laps increase on the Live Timing – 119, 120, 121, 122, 123.
The restart was same old, same old as they started spinning Kligerman included after Jesse Love got squirrely underneath him and made contact. And you will never guess who is leading!! Jesse Love. See a pattern here? LOL
Keep this up and I’ll miss the start of the Leafs game!!!! 123, 124. The mercy flag came out (the white flag) so the race would be complete.
And, of course, coming to the flag, they wrecked again.
Jesse Love won the race over Riley Herbst and Anthony Alfredo.
Chandler Smith continues to lead the points by 14 over Cole Custer and 16 over Austin Hill.
Their next race is Dover, Saturday at 1.30 P.M. on TSN 2.
NASCAR Craftsman Trucks: Their next race is Kansas, Saturday, May 4.
Formula One: It was rather interesting to watch Sprint qualifying for the F1 race in Shanghai, China. There was action both on and off the track. The cars were racing on a track that had not been resurfaced, as promised, but rather was painted/sealed with some witch’s brew type of ‘bitumen’ treatment. Painted? Really?
But off track, the grass along the side of the track kept catching fire as, apparently, the region had been suffering from a drought. But the rains came, thus solving the grass fire problems.
In SQ3 Charles Leclerc slid off track thanks to the rain but kept it off the wall. SQ3 was a disaster as the rain was very heavy and cars were sliding off track and thus ‘exceeding the (Mickey Mouse) track limits’!! And the head scratching decisions by the stewards continued.
Norris got the pole – NOPE, ‘time deleted’!! Oh, wait, his time was reinstated!! The FIA Gong Show continues! So, Norris (McLaren) would start the Sprint race ahead of Hamilton (Mercedes) and Alonso (Aston Martin). Max Verstappen (Red Bull) started an uncharacteristic 4th. Canadian Lance Stroll started 15th.
I don’t think Nico Rosberg is good enough to join the announce team. Just my opinion.
The start of the Sprint race was interesting as Hamilton got slightly ahead of Norris going into Corner One. Norris tried to regain the lead in the first turn corkscrew but overcooked it and went off track, dropping back to about seventh.
It only took nine laps for the inevitable to happen as Verstappen was able to pass Hamilton for the lead after Lewis had gone wide in a corner. ‘Turn off the lights the party is over’!!
The ‘lack of traction’ was the main theme of the entire race. I’m sure there will be an intense meeting with the organizers post-race!! On lap 16 Alonso and Sainz were battling for third when they got together, and Perez got around both of them for third.
It appeared Alonso got a flat tire from the ‘close encounter’ and he was forced to pit. The two Ferraris played ‘bumper cars’ on the last lap with Leclerc getting ahead of Sainz. That should make for an interesting Monday morning team meeting!
At the flag it was Verstappen from his fourth-place grid spot over Hamilton and Perez. Stroll was 13th. The crowd really seemed to love Lewis Hamilton as the cheers for him were second only to hometown favourite Guanyu Zhou.
In qualifying for the ‘main event’ Verstappen, unsurprisingly, got the pole with teammate Perez second and Alonso third. Carlos Sainz had an off in Q2 tearing off the front wing and bringing out a red flag. They fixed his car, and he ended up seventh.
Hamilton did not get out of Q1 and started 18th. Stroll started 11th. Observation – it appears that the ‘Wave’ in China is only practiced by half the spectators!!
Right off the start, third-place starter Alonso showed his talent as he passed second-place Perez on the very first corner.
On lap 5, Perez returned the favour by getting back past Alonso. On lap 21, Valtteri Bottas experienced an engine failure and stopped just off the edge of turn 11. Local yellow flags only initially. Then it switched to a full course virtual safety car. THEN it went to a full safety car. Wow.
Just after the restart on lap 27 Yuki Tsunoda experienced a flat right-rear tire causing him to spin for another yellow flag. It appeared that Kevin Magnussen was also involved as was Stroll and Ricciardo. It looked like Alonso stopped early on corner entry – haven’t we heard THAT song before – short braking?
It was humourous watching the bad a** Mercedes AMG pace car running with its tongue hanging out as the race cars were just off fast idle warming their tires!! It makes you realize just how amazingly fast these F1 cars really are.
The rest of the race ran drama free except for Alonso having a hard time keeping his car between the lines. Verstappen got the win over Norris and Perez. Stroll finished 16th. Hamilton drove from 18th up to 9th.
In the Drivers’ Championship Verstappen leads teammate Perez by 25 and Leclerc by 34.
In the Constructors’ Championship Red Bull leads Ferrari by 41 and McLaren by 99. Their next race is Miami, Sunday, May 5.
IndyCar: The drivers were very complimentary about the improvements to Corner 8 for the Grand Prix of Long Beach, the second points race of the year. It previously had several bumps which made entry onto the long back stretch a bit tricky. The city ground down the surface making it much better, according to the drivers.
In qualifying, Feliz Rosenqvist got the pole followed by Will Power and Josef Newgarden. 27 cars qualified for the race.
I apologize for having few details about the race but, in spite of their ads to the contrary, TSN did NOT broadcast the race. All I have are the final results. Sorry.
At the finish, it was Scott Dixon over Colton Herta and Alex Palou. There was one caution period on lap 15 when Christian Rasmussen got into the wall in Corner 4. Other than that, it was all green flag racing.
The points did not include Long Beach at press time.
Their next race is Barber, Sunday on NBC.
IMSA: In qualifying for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach the Cadillac P car of Derani/Aitken nabbed the pole in front of the De Phillippi/Yelloly BMW and the van der Zande/Bourdais Caddy.
The Barnicoat/Thompson Lexus topped GTD ahead of the Montecalvo/Hawkesworth Lexus with the Franco/Costa Balboa Ferrari third.
There were 10 P cars and 17 GTD cars in the race. Surprisingly, there was only one Mustang GT3 and one Corvette in the field. Hmm.
And once again we got stuck with the B announce team!! Sad. Please give the main mike to the lady who was helping!! She is far better.
Early on two GTD cars got together, the McLaren of Iribe/Schandorff and the Porsche of Adelson/Skeer with the McLaren retiring due to damage.
With 55 minutes to go, the Acura of Deletraz got into the wall then went a little further and hit the wall again stopping on track. With about fifteen minutes to go the number two starting GTP car stuffed it into the tire wall for a full course yellow.
At the flag it was Renger van der Zande (Caddy) ahead of Jack Aitken (Caddy) and Felipe Nasr (Penske Porsche). In the GTD ranks it was Ben Barnicoat (Lexus) over Robby Foley (BMW) and Mike Skeen (Mercedes).
The points did not include Long Beach at press time.
Their next race is Laguna Seca, May 12.
NHRA: Their next race is Charlotte, Sunday at 6 P.M. on Fox Sports Racing.
IROC: Their first race is July 20 at Lime Rock Park.
NASCAR Canada Series: Their first race is at Mosport (CTMP), Sunday May 19.
APC Series: Their first race is at Sunset Speedway, Saturday, May 18.
Ontario Sportsman Series: Their first race is at Delaware, Friday, May 17.
Delaware Speedway: Their first race is Friday, May 10.
Ohsweken Speedway: Their first race is Friday, May 17.
Flamboro Speedway: Their first race is Saturday, May 4.
Southern Ontario Motor Speedway (Buxton): Their first race is Saturday, May 25.
Full Throttle Motor Speedway: Their first race is Saturday, May 4.
Grand Bend Speedway: Their first race is Saturday, June 1.
Grand Bend Motorplex: Their first race is the weekend of May 19.
St. Thomas Dragway: Their first race is the weekend of May 19.
Toronto Motorsports Park: Their first race is this weekend.
Shannonville Drags: Their first race is the weekend of May 5.
Any comments can be sent to Dave Mathers via email at motionman@rogers.com or by Facebook Messenger.
