In this week’s Motion Motorsports Report, Dave Mathers looks at the issue of car counts, including a recent Facebook post on the issue by recent Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame inductee Derek Lynch. Dave also summarizes some of the top local and international racing action from this past weekend.
CAR COUNTS: Next to bad weather, car counts are the kryptonite for all race promoters. What affects car counts? Overzealous tech officials and over complicated/strict rule books? Mandatory ‘essential’ parts and attire too expensive? Insufficient purses? I’m going to cite two tech decisions from ‘back in the day’ that still loom large in my memory. And you should be sure to read Derek Lynch’s recent Facebook post, which is repeated further down in the column. He WON the internet with that post!!
My first memory about the topic, that came to mind, was the 1990 Copper Classic, in Phoenix. Junior Hanley opened the trailer doors to a car that barely fit, width-wise. And it had an airplane-style bubble for a roof. The tech director told him to not even take it out of the trailer. It was the RIGHT call. Junior borrowed Rick Carelli’s spare car and won the race.
The other was the 1990 McKerlie-Millen race at Delaware Speedway. Wayne Huber and I had encouraged a friend from Lighthouse Cove, west of Chatham, to switch from sporty car racing and join us in CASCAR.
He spent a year building probably the most beautiful Pontiac Grand Prix I had ever seen. He towed it into the pits on an open trailer. An overzealous Tech Director told him to not even take it off the trailer. WRONG call.
The reason given still blows my mind. My friend had ordered his windshield braces from Hutcherson Pagan Enterprises the well-known NASCAR supplier. They were much stronger, much wider and much safer than the spindly ones we were told to run. They were deemed illegal with no discussion allowed, the decision was final!
He took the car home and it never saw a racetrack again, that I know of. My theory has always been, ‘if it makes the car faster, fix it now. If it is cosmetic, you have one week to fix it.’
These guys are spending all their money and then some to come out and put on a show for the promoters and the spectators. They don’t’ want to run the Daytona 500 they just want to have some fun.
Promoters and series operators, maybe it’s time to do some serious introspection and ask yourselves, ‘which is better, more ‘race’ cars or fewer ‘legal’ cars?’
Thirty-five years ago, CASCAR regularly started 36 cars and there were enough cars left over to have a B-main. And the B-mains usually had more cars than most of today’s main series races.
As mentioned further up the column, I just had to steal Derek Lynch’s Facebook post from last Wednesday making points that I totally agree with.
“Currently watching the All That’s Metal ‘Celebration of America’ 300 lap PASS Super Late Model race from Oxford Plains Speedway (Wednesday, July 3). I’ve reaffirmed several things to myself with regard to Late Model racing at all levels in all areas. This race pays $25 a lap to lead and pays $40,000 to win. They started every car on site with no need for a Last Chance or B Feature race. This tells me that racers run where and when they can. The money, although we all love to talk and fantasize about it, is not the reason we race.
More importantly, there are these major takeaways.
There is no shock rule. And I don’t think anyone on the track cares.
There is no transmission rule. And I don’t think anyone on the track cares.
There is no rear end (spool or camber) rule. And I don’t think anyone on the track cares.
There is no brake caliper rule. And I don’t think anyone on the track cares.
And of all these contentious issues that series seem to dwell on, I can assure you no one in the grandstand cares.
The top 10 all night has been a mixture of national touring racers, regional racers and Saturday night racers.
And finally, and most importantly, I have watched 38 teams perform multiple “live” pit stops, where they were able to be included and make a difference for their team and driver, and many of them did it in shorts and t shirts. And guess what, no one has been hurt or burnt up. And I know they, and the fans, are enjoying it.
I hope several touring series are watching and taking notes.
In my humble opinion, every step taken to “save money” and “make things fair,” have done nothing but hurt short track racing.
Thin the rule book out and let them race.
Well done PASS and Oxford Plains Speedway.
P.S. The race, which was a great race, was won by a great regional racer, followed by a great national racer and third place to a guy who’s made 2 starts this year.
The winning car was sponsored by Norm’s Used Cars. Couldn’t be any better.
Congratulations Joey Doiron.” (end of post)
AMEN Derek!! And that confirms what I said above regarding car counts.’
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Next up… NASCAR was the target of outcries after the five, count ‘em, five NASCAR overtimes, green white checkers, at Nashville. Most of the criticism was justified especially the extra 31 laps and the millions of dollars worth of damaged race cars.
A.J. Foyt reportedly stated years ago that ‘you can’t win a 500-mile race on the first lap.’
BUT you can win a race with two to go. It is not a cardinal sin to end a NASCAR race on a yellow flag. Other sanctioning bodies do it on a regular basis and no lynch parties show up to complain. Time to modify the business model?
Meanwhile NASCAR has made the correct decision in the Hocevar/Burton ‘incident’ that happened under caution last Sunday. Hocevar clearly spun Burton but during the race there was no call from Race Control. He has now been fined $50,000 and 25 driver points.
As well, answering many questions, they explained how Kyle Busch got his fourth spot back after the first overtime caution. They felt that even though he got up against the wall he was not deemed an accident car. Fair enough.
It appears that the ‘honeymoon’ is over between Hendrick Motorsports and the Hooters restaurant chain. Declining (sagging or drooping??) sales seem to be causing the split as the chain is, apparently, closing down ‘low performing’ restaurants. They had a really good run starting about 33 years ago with the late, great Alan Kulwicki. He won the 1992 Cup championship with Hooters on his car.
The legendary Wood Brothers have hired Josh Berry as their driver starting next year. Berry became available after Stewart-Haas Racing announced it was downsizing to only one Cup car (down from four) for next year. No mention of what happens to current driver Harrison Burton.
2023 NASCAR Canada Series Champion Treyten Lapcevich finished 11th in the zMAX CARS Tour race at Caraway Speedway, Sophia, North Carolina last Wednesday night.
NASCAR had their EV prototype at Chicago last weekend (see below). The all-wheel drive car weighs 4,000 pounds with 3 electric motors, one front and two rear, and it looks kind of cool with its big honkin’ Top Fuel dragster style rear wing. I think EV racing will be a really tough sell for the current NASCAR fan. My opinion only!
A head-scratching incident occurred at the ARCA West ‘West Coast Stock Car Motorsports Hall of Fame 150′ race at Irwindale (California) Speedway on Saturday. The track owner / promoter / track announcer seemed to disagree with ARCA’s decision giving the race win to 17-year-old Sean Hingorani and actually, believe it or not, said ‘Hey, f*** you buddy’ over the LIVE PA system. And he only interviewed the second-place finisher! Only in California, eh? Wow.
NASCAR CUP SERIES – Kyle Larson (Chev) grabbed the pole for the Grant Park 165 Chicago Street Race ahead of Ty Gibbs (Toyota) and Michael McDowell (Ford). Chev, Toyota, Ford!! Last year’s winner Shane Van Gisbergen timed 5th. And there were 40 starters, the largest field in quite a while.
Uh oh, it looked like the same weather as last year was returning. I had the weather and the radar up and it was green, green, green over ChiTown. After a bunch of pace laps with several cars switching to rain tires as the rain was coming, they finally got the green flag.
Gibbs got the jump on Larson and got the lead right off the start. It appeared to me that Gibbs started too soon but no action was taken. Maybe Larson spun his tires? On lap 12 Aussie Supercar star Shane Van Ginsbergen got around Gibbs for the lead.
Surprisingly things went clean and green, considering the intermittent rain, until lap 17 when Corey Lajoie slid all by himself on the wet track into the wall (haven’t we seen this movie before, like maybe Saturday?).
Joey Hand was driving an RFK Mustang sponsored by BuildSubmarines.com so he could probably use some help from them?? On lap 20 SVG won Stage 1 under caution for rain (we’ve also seen THIS movie before – last year!!). Race Control announced an ‘end time’ of 8:20 local time. They really, really, really, really should do that more often!!!!!! Just saying.
And, surprise, surprise, there was contact under yellow at pit out involving several cars including the driver with the worst luck this year, Kyle Busch. Everybody kept going. The good news is that the green came back out. Loved the rearview video screen on the dash of Tyler Reddick’s Toyota. WAY cool and a great idea as rear visibility is really limited for the driver.
The restart was a little scary as leader Zane Smith did NOT have rain tires. On lap 25 Bubba Wallace spun in front of the bulk of the field. Chase Briscoe also spun and hit Van Ginsbergen then hit the tire walls but refired and kept going. SVG, unfortunately was out of the race.
Lap 26 the red came out to allow the Air Titans to blow the big puddles off the racing surface. I loved SVG’s comment that ‘it was a bit dodgy out there’! A candidate for the understatement of the year?
Martin Truex revealed his race strategy when he said he just followed the flashing red light in front of him because he couldn’t see anything. Road racing ringer Hand had moved from his 38th starting spot up to 16th by lap 25.
It would appear that Chicago’s nickname ‘The Windy City’ will have to be changed to ‘The Rainy City’!! Is that the first time that those streets have ever been swept? Just asking!
They called the drivers to their cars after about an hour and a quarter and then the rain picked up, I mean it REALLY picked up. Finally, just after 8 EDT the yellow came back out and the cars returned to the track.
Gibbs, Christopher Bell, Larson, Smith and Reddick were out front. With an hour to go before the stated ‘end time,’ the green came back out. Denny Hamlin slid into Ricky Stenhouse with both spinning. They, fortunately, both drove away so no caution.
On lap 34 Larson, while making a run for the lead, stuffed it hard into the tires for a yellow. He actually moved the concrete barriers. After getting pulled back out he drove it back to the pits with his left front fender sticking way out and one tire licked up. Then he stopped on track and got towed.
On lap 38 Josh Berry got into the tire barriers but was able to keep going. With two laps to go in Stage 2 Austin Dillon got it into tires but kept going with no yellow. And, no surprise Joey Hand was out front. I’m sure his Canadian spotter was the reason!! And Hand won Stage 2.
On lap 50 A.J. Allmendinger found the tires in the last corner but no yellow as he backed out and drove down pit road. On lap 51 Berry made it a hat trick as he got into the tires for a yellow. Alex Bowman led Hand and Keselowski on the restart. Chase Briscoe got into the tire on the restart along with John Hunter Nemechek in another incident. Meanwhile they were playing bumper cars out there with hits coming all over the place.
At the flag it was Alex Bowman for the win nearly three seconds over Tyler Reddick with Gibbs 3rd and Hand 4th.
In the points Larson leads Chase Elliott by 11 and Reddick by 23.
Their next race is Pocono, Sunday at 2.30 P.M. on TSN 5.
NASCAR XFINITY SERIES: Aussie Supercar star Shane Van Gisbergen (last year’s Chicago Cup race winner) won the pole for The Loop 110 Chicago Street Race Saturday over Hendrick teammate Kyle Larson and Connor Mosack (all in Chevs). Quebec racer Alex Labbe (also in a Chev) started a very impressive 16th. 43 cars timed for the 38 starting spots.
Larson got around Shane on lap 3 then Shane got the lead back on lap 6. On lap 7 Matty D (DiBenedetto) spun in the 4th corner, tagged the wall and kept going but left debris on the track for a yellow. Several spins during the first stage but no more cautions. The stage goes to Van Gisbergen who just nosed out Larson.
On lap 24 A.J. Allmendinger spun and got into the tire wall for a caution. Austin Hill won Stage 2. The caution came back out on lap 36 when several cars stacked up on corner entry.
On the restart Preston Pardus came to a stop on track for yet another yellow. On lap 44 Leland Honeyman stuffed his car into the tire barrier and needed to be pulled out. Caution.
The last 6 laps saw SVG put on a clinic passing cars in spots that looked impossible. He is so smooth that he picks up time on the competition. At the checker it was Van Gisbergen by 1.287 seconds over Ty Gibbs and Kyle Larson. Good, fun race with action everywhere. And he then performed an epic burnout/burndown!!
In the points Cole Custer has a 38-point lead on Justin Allgaier and 39 on Chandler Smith.
Their next race is Pocono, Saturday at 3 P.M. on TSN 3.
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCKS: their next race is Pocono, Friday at 5.30 on Fox Sports Racing.
FORMULA ONE: The teams always look forward to the British Grand Prix because it is a ‘home game’!! After all, the Silverstone area is home to many of the teams meaning they get to sleep in their own beds.
Lando Norris (McLaren) topped FP1 over Canadian Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) and Norris teammate Oscar Piastri. Norris also dominated FP2 in front of Piastri and Sergio Perez (Red Bull). Perez is under a LOT of pressure to perform better so that was a good run for him. Stroll was 9th and teammate Fernando Alonso was 11th. George Russell (Mercedes) led FP3 ahead of Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Lando Norris (McLaren).
Oh baby, Hollywood couldn’t have written a better script for qualifying on Saturday. For the first time in a VERY long time the first three qualifiers were British and at the British Grand Prix!! And the same three who led FP3.
George Russell (Mercedes) got the pole over teammate Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris (McLaren). Sergio Perez continues to disappoint the Red Bull brass as he stuffed it into the sand box during Q1. He started 19th. And the rumour mill has Red Bull considering a swap between Perez and Ricciardo. Snubbing his nose at his critics, Lance Stroll again out-qualified his Aston Martin teammate Fernando Alonso 8th to 10th.
On lap 18 Hamilton took the lead only to be passed two laps later by Norris. At the halfway mark it was Norris, Oscar Piastri, Hamilton, Russell and Verstappen. Russell dropped out of the race on lap 33 reportedly with cooling issues.
On lap 40 Hamilton regained the lead. The race went green the entire distance and at the flag it was Hamilton, Verstappen, Norris, Piastri and Carlos Sainz. Stroll finished an outstanding 7th with teammate Alonso 8th. Take that you vile Stroll critics!!
And the British crowd went completely wild for the one,-two finish by the two British drivers. Perez finished a terrible 17th, one lap down. Is the end near for Checo? Ah, the beloved ‘God Save the King’ once again rings over the uber-enthusiastic crowd followed by the very familiar German National Anthem.
In the Drivers’ Championship Verstappen continues to lead Norris by 86 and Charles Leclerc by 105.
In the Constructors’ Championship Red Bull continues to lead Ferrari by 71 and McLaren by 78.
Their next race is Hungary, Sunday, July 21.
INDYCAR – Alex Palou won the pole for the Honda Indy 200 at the Mid Ohio Sports Car Course on Saturday. Pato O’Ward started 2nd with David Malukas 3rd.
Ouch, Scott Dixon’s car died on track on the pace lap resulting in the race starting under yellow. And then the safety crew towed the car to a spot outside the course meaning he was done for the day. The green finally came out on lap 3.
Palou held the lead until lap 28 when Scott McLaughlin got around him when Palou pitted. Palou got the lead back on lap 31 when McLaughlin pitted. At the halfway mark it was Palou, O’Ward and McLaughlin.
Pit stops at lap 55 mixed up the leaders with McLaughlin first and then O’Ward taking over the lead. O’Ward, in his orange McLaren, kept the lead all the way to the flag topping Palou, McLaughlin, Colton Herta and Marcus Ericsson. With the exception of the parade lap and first two laps the race was clean and caution free on the wonderful course that features some very interesting grades and corners.
Palou leads the points by 48 over Will Power and by 70 over O’Ward.
Their next races are at Iowa, Saturday at 8 P.M. on NBC and Sunday at 12.30 on NBC.
IMSA: Their next race is Mosport (CTMP), Sunday at 11 A.M. on REV TV.
NHRA: Their next race is Seattle, Sunday, July 21.
IROC: Their first (and only??) race is July 20 at Lime Rock Park.
NASCAR CANADA SERIES: Their next race is at Ohsweken with a rare mid-week Thursday event.
UNITED RACING SERIES: The APC Late Model Series their next race is at Flamboro, Saturday for the London Recreational Racing 100.
ONTARIO SPORTSMAN SERIES: Their next race is at Delaware, Friday.
DELAWARE SPEEDWAY: Just like Moses parted the Red Sea the skies cleared of all the nasty weather just in time for racing Friday night. In the Bone Stocks Jo Lawrence won Heat 1, Trent Vanderwyst won Heat 2, Stan Cook won Heat 3 and Jeremiah Robideau won Heat 4. Jack Dixon won the B-Main while Rabideau won the feature over Matt Langford, Donavin Clark, Jo Lawrence and Colin Willems. Rabideau leads the points by 12 on Langford and by 31 on Clark.
In the V/8 Stocks Bill Daniels won Heat 1, Jordan Morris won Heat 2 and Doug Stewart won the feature over Kyle Mezenberg, Adam Evison, Jeremy Taggart and Dave Evison. Stewart lead Barry Watson by 15 and Jeff Ferguson by 22. In the Super Stocks Darrell Lake won Heat 1, Brody Rickwood won Heat 2 then Trevor Collver won the Main over Pete Vanderwyst, Jr., Lake, Lane Zardo and David McCullough. Collver leads Carson Nagy by 7 and Zane Zardo by 20.
Their next race is Friday with the Ontario Sportsman Series, Late Models and Bone Stocks.
TORONTO MOTORSPORTS PARK: Their next race is Round #2 for the Canada Heads Up series, this weekend. And be sure to visit their website for the facility’s full schedule as there are road course lapping sessions most days.
OHSWEKEN SPEEDWAY: Their next race is the NASCAR Canada race Thursday plus regular racing Friday.
FLAMBORO SPEEDWAY: Their next race is the APC Late Models this Saturday.
BUXTON SPEEDWAY: Their next race is the GLSS and SOS this Saturday.
FULL THROTTLE MOTOR SPEEDWAY: Their next race is the OSCAAR Mods and Hot Rods, Saturday.
GRAND BEND SPEEDWAY: Their next race is Saturday.
GRAND BEND MOTORPLEX: Their next race is the Summer Shootout, Saturday and Sunday.
ST. THOMAS DRAGWAY: Their next race is the Summer Spectacular, Saturday and Sunday.
PMRA: Their next event is August 15 – 17 with Pro Mods, Quick 32 Sportsman Series & Pro Bike & Sled Series, Empire Dragway.
660 SPORTSMAN NATIONALS: Their next race is Grand Bend, August 16 – 18.
SHANNONVILLE DRAGS: Their next race is July 20 &21.
Any comments can be sent to Dave Mathers via email at motionman@rogers.com or by Facebook Messenger.
Note: Apologies to everyone for this being posted a few days late. Dave filed about 10 minutes after the end of the soggy Cup race in Chicago but some technical issues delayed getting it online until today. Thanks to Dave for doing these, and to you all for reading them! (Greg M).
