Good News – NASCAR has decided to reduce the number of laps for the Chicago Street Race from 55 down to 50. That’s a good start but they have to make similar changes all across the board except for the Daytona 500 and the World 600 at Charlotte.
Let’s face it today’s new and upcoming fans have an attention span of about half a millisecond and the current fans fall asleep during the races. Change is good!!!!
Photo courtesy Sean Gardner/Getty Images
Former St. Thomas Dragway Junior Dragster Champion Chad McGregor, formerly from St. Thomas, crewed for Billy Torrence’s Top Fuel dragster this past weekend at Charlotte. He has signed on for all twelve races that Billy will contest this season.
Formula One is discussing granting points to the 11th and 12th place finishers. How about giving points like ALL the other sanctioning bodies to EVERY entrant? Right now, they basically tell the 11th to 20th place finishers ‘thanks for coming out’!! Maybe, just maybe, there might be some more passing attempts back in the pack as more points might be available.
How refreshing was it to see 23XI co-owner Michael Jordan’s genuine and pure excitement after seeing his driver Tyler Reddick win at Talladega last weekend? And his carrying of Ashley’s son Beau made him an instant hero with every mother watching the race. VERY well done Michael. Even Magic Johnson reached out to him with congratulations.
I had a reader contact me and tell that he watched the IndyCar race from Long Beach on TSN+. Talk about hiding your light under a bushel. I saw no pre-race advertising that it would be streamed. But I will know to look there, for future races, when they’re not on any of their five regular channels.
We hear and read complaints on a fairly regular basis about the questionable decisions made by the much-maligned Formula One stewards. Well, for once, IndyCar has actually outdone them.
The season opening race was held in St. Petersburg on March 10 and the winner was Josef Newgarden and 3rd place was Scott McLaughlin.
Both of them drive for Penske and both drivers were disqualified last weekend for their finishes at St. Petes.
Both cars were fined $25,000, lost the points and the prize money. The reason you ask? They had ‘manipulated’ the ‘push to pass’ feature and were using it on restarts which is not allowed. Team president Tim Cindric states they will not appeal the penalties. Interesting.
Legacy Motorsport driver Erik Jones had to miss Dover due to a compression fracture he received in a wreck at Talladega. I received a compression fracture in 1972 when I hit an unmarked drain along the side of the road while riding my Ski Doo 640 Nordic snowmobile with son Paul, aged 4, riding in front of me. I can assure Erik that for the rest of his life he WILL know when a storm is coming!! Get well soon.
Apparently, NASCAR was more than a little concerned about the ‘fuel saving’ racing at Talladega last weekend. The cars were running speeds in a pack about three seconds slower than a car running by itself. Refer to the first paragraph at the top!! THAT might help solve that little ‘problem.’
NASCAR Cup Series: Kyle Busch (Chev) grabbed the pole on the concrete monster at Dover Motor Speedway followed by Ryan Blaney (Ford) and William Byron (Chev).
Can Mikey Waltrip get any goofier? Wow. The weather was absolutely perfect completely opposite from Saturday’s Xfinity race. Great to see full grandstands again after COVID.
On lap 39 Todd Gilliland slid up into Austin Dillon and then slid down into the wall for a caution. On lap 61 Ryan Preece pitted complaining of smoke coming from the door foam. On lap 68 he drove right to the garage reporting fire.
On lap 118, two laps before stage end, Brad Keselowski spun in two with a flat tire. Martin Truex won Stage 1. It was funny to see Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin ‘trading paint’ as they raced side by side. Kyle Larson won Stage 2.
On lap 321 Ricky Stenhouse had a solo spin on corner exit for a yellow.
Oh baby, on the restart coming out of Turn 2 all hell broke loose. Bubba Wallace spun after a bump from Zane Smith collecting William Byron and Christopher Bell. THAT’s why they call it the MONSTER Mile!! The pit area was littered with some badly damaged race cars.
Oops, I see a visit to the NASCAR trailer in Bubba’s future after THAT interview. They will most likely read to him the words that CANNOT be used in TV interviews. What a fun race to watch.
At the flag, it was Hamlin over Larson and Truex. There were still 17 cars on the lead lap. In the points Larson leads Truex by 15 and Chase Elliot by 33.
Their next race is Kansas, Sunday at 3 P.M. on TSN 3.
NASCAR Xfinity Series: Brandon Jones (Chev) picked up the pole at bad fast Dover Motor Speedway ahead of Riley Herbst (Ford) and Justin Allgaier (Chev). The race started under foggy and overcast skies.
Action started early, lap five, when J.J. Yeley and Haillie Deegan got together with J.J. getting the worst of the deal. Around lap 12 there was some brief misting resulting from the rain in the area. On lap 26 the caution came out again for Ryan Sieg who’s car stopped at the bottom of corner two exit with a serious fire under the hood and LOTS of flames. He safely escaped. The rest of stage one ran uninterrupted with Allgaier taking the stage win.
Before the restart Blaine Perkins stopped in Corner 2 with an electrical fire. Perkins is a teammate to Sieg!!! Hmm. Cole Custer won Stage 2. Lap 155 – rain is two miles away!! Lap 159 rain is here, yellow flag. Lap 166 and the pace car brought the cars down pit road as the rain got a bit heavier. Lap 167 – red flag and a big prayer from leader Cole Custer!!
Lap 168 – the caution came back out and the cars were back out on track. The green came back at lap 172. There were till rain droplets on some of the cameras. On lap 174 Brandon Jones got sideways after A.J. Allmendinger came down track hitting him and he saved it BUT they still ‘put it out’?
The green came back out at lap 178. Lap 183 Taylor Gray tagged the outside wall after contact from Sam Mayer but kept going and dropped to the bottom of the track. And they STILL put it out? Oh, yeah, they’re selling entertainment, NOT racing!!
Riley Herbst spun after getting tapped by Allgaier with seven to go sadly collecting several other cars. NASCAR overtime!! The green came out on lap 199 followed immediately by a yellow as Austin Hill spun from second all by himself. NASCAR overtime, this has been a recording!! The green flag came back out on lap 207. And they continued wrecking on the last lap with Allgaier’s car getting torn up.
At the flag it was Ryan Truex over Sheldon Creed and Carson Kvapil. In the points Chandler Smith has a one-point lead over Custer and 17 points on Austin Hill.
Their next race is Darlington, Saturday, May 11.
NASCAR Craftsman Trucks: Their next race is Kansas, Saturday at 8 P.M. on Fox Sports Racing.
Formula One: Their next race is Miami, Sunday at 3.55 on TSN 5 and ABC.
IndyCar: Scott McLaughlin nailed the pole for the race at Barber Motorsport Park ahead of Will Power and Christian Lundgaard.
Three cars got together on the very first lap but all three kept going to avoid a caution flag. On lap Pietro Fittipaldi got into the wall after getting spun by Pato O’Ward for a yellow flag. On lap 18 Scott Dixon made a braindead attempt of an outside overtake on Graham Rahal and got bumped into the gravel track but kept going. There were many close calls with cars going off course but safely coming back on track.
On lap 44 Alexander Rossi brought out the caution after losing his left rear wheel just after exiting the pits. Imagine going down the track at full song and a body falls from the overhead bridge!! A mannequin fell from its position ‘hanging’ under the bridge and landed right beside the racing surface. Good laughs ensued.
On lap 51 Sting Ray Robb hit the wall hard and he reported that he thinks his steering wheel broke. Ouch. With five laps to go Christian Rasmussen overcooked the corner and spun setting up a restart and a battle for the win. The green came out with two to go and action REALLY picked up!!
At the flag it was McLaughlin for the win after starting from the pole followed by Will Power and Linus Lundqvist. Good, hard-fought race on a very challenging race course. Well done. In the points Colton Herta leads Will Power by 1 and Alex Palou by 3.
Their next race is on the Indianapolis Road Course, Saturday, May11.
IMSA: Their next race is Laguna Seca, May 12.
NHRA the series dropped into the strip in Charlotte, North Carolina for the Four-Wide Nationals. The #2Fast2Tasty Challenges run Saturday are a ‘race within a race.’ Even though there were four cars in the final I will only list the winner and runner-up.
In the #2Fast2Tasty Top Fuel Challenge Justin Ashley topped Steve Torrence.
In the #2Fast2Tasty Funny Car Challenge Bob Tasca beat Austin Prock.
In the #2Fast2Tasty Pro Stock Challenge Erica Enders won over Dallas Glenn.
In the #2Fast2Tasty Pro Stock Motorcycle Challenge Gaige Herrara beat Matt Smith.
In regular Top Fuel Doug Kalitta topped the charts with a 3.691. There were 17 entries.
In Funny Car the ageless one John Force set a new ET track record with a 3.820. 16 entries. Matt Hagan took out Daniel Wilkerson in the final 3.946 to a quicker but later 3.923. 7 upsets and 7 smokers.
In Pro Stock Greg Anderson topped with a 6.500. 22, yes, 22 entries!! Greg Anderson won over Aaron Stanfield 6.502 to 6.551. 4 upsets.
Both Eric Latino and Sienna Wildgust were ‘first round runners up’.
In Pro Stock Bike Herrara recorded a 6.671 for the number one spot. 17 entries. No surprise here but Gaige Herrara took the win over John Hall 6.684 to a 6.758. 4 upsets.
In Factory X (Pro Stock Lite or Factory Stock on steroids?) Greg Stanfield ran a 7.049. 8 entries. In the final it was Aaron Stanfield over Jesse Alexandra 7.086 to a losing 7.450. 5 upsets.
In Mountain Motor Pro Stock Bo Butner put down a 6.205 for the number one spot. 8 entries. Bo Butner won over Johnny Pluchino 6.230 to 6.294. 2 upsets.
Photo courtesy NHRA Media
In the Top Fuel points Justin Ashley leads Shawn Langdon by 23 and Steve Torrence by 51.
In Funny Car points Austin Prock leads J.R. Todd by 48 and Bob Tasca by 90.
In Pro Stock points Erica Enders leads Dallas Glenn by 18 and Greg Anderson by 38.
In Pro Stock Bike Gaige Herrera leads Matt Smith by 24 and L.E. Tonglet by 50.
In the Factory X points Greg Stanfield leads Alex Laughlin by 24 and Rick Hord by 61.
Their next race is Route 66, Sunday, May 19.
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.
