Once again, concerns have been raised by both participants and fans about the constant inconsistency with Formula One’s ‘race governance.’ Translation – the club racing method of using different stewards at each race, is not working.
I have railed against the inconsistency of the stewards for years. Nothing ruins an F1 race more than seeing the onscreen message ‘the stewards are reviewing’ whatever perceived indiscretion they may have noticed OR had been ‘reported’ by a competitor.
It is time to step up and hire full-time, permanent stewards who know and understand the rules. EVERY major sporting body has permanent and professional officials. Why not F1? That is the only way that consistency will prevail. Maybe they should take a look at NASCAR’s successful race direction?
AND in the ultimate proof, Haas boss Guenther Steiner – who had been the one to state the need for professional stewards – was, wait for it, summoned to meet with the stewards at Spain.
Apparently, their feelings were hurt? When will this abject stupidity ever end? Following the meeting, Steiner issued a non-apology apology. He spoke the whole truth and nothing but the truth with his initial comments!!
The #14 NASCAR Cup Series Mustang of Stewart-Haas driver Chase Briscoe was found to have illegal parts after Charlotte. Apparently a NACA duct was not the single-source unit mandated by NASCAR, so the team was fined $.25 million dollars and some team members were suspended. A quarter mil!! Think about that. Ouch.
The FIA has announced that they have closed entries for new teams applying to join F1. One of the applicants is the Andretti / Cadillac group, and one of the others is a ‘Gulf region country’ fronted by Craig Pollock. Here’s my question to the FIA – which one of those two teams will attract more fans to F1? Hmmm.
NASCAR Cup Series: Apparently the pre-season speculation that Kyle Busch would not be as successful at RCR as he was at JGR have been debunked. Busch (Chev) grabbed the pole at Gateway over Ryan Blaney (Ford) and Denny Hamlin (Toyota). More parity!!
Things started quite normally until lap 3 when Tyler Reddick went into the spin cycle after a ‘tap’ from Ricky Stenhouse, but saved it. Then Corey LaJoie had to pit with no power. Reports had it that he accidently hit the shutoff switch. He can definitely expect a bunch of razzing in the garage next week!! On lap 5 the red came out for lightning within 8 miles of the track.
A humorous thing happened during the weather delay when we saw footage of the Safety Crew picking up a cell phone off the racetrack. Additional footage showed that the phone had actually fallen out of the pocket of the class clown, Mikey Waltrip, after he jumped the wall heading back to the announcers’ booth prior to the start of the race.
After a 1.75 hour rain/lightning delay, the green came back out. Kyle Busch won Stage 1. And speaking of class clowns, the announce team had Kenny ‘Herman’ Wallace with them talking about his dirt win the night before in the dome and how happy he was to have Cup back in St. Louis!! LOL
Right after the restart, Michael McDowell got tagged by Ross Chastain (shocker) and spun for a caution. On lap 91 ‘Super Sub’ Carson Hocevar, driving in place of Corey LaJoie who has replacing the suspended Chase Elliott, had a brake rotor explode going into the corner taking him hard into the wall.
It appeared that Chase Briscoe might have been ‘collateral damage’ from the Hocevar incident as he pitted with no power. Hit by a piece of debris, perhaps? Ryan Blaney won (a boring?) Stage 2!
On lap 173 Tyler Reddick had a brake rotor explode sending him into the wall, going into Corner 1, for another caution. On lap 198 Noah Gragson broke a brake rotor and hit the wall hard in 1.
Actually, the caution then turned to a red flag. On lap 205, Christopher Bell spun for another caution. On lap 210, Gray Gaulding’s car stopped just off the track bringing out yet another yellow. Do you see a pattern here?
On lap 216, Austin Dillon got turned by another Austin (Cindric) and collected Ricky Stenhouse. With 18 to go, the red flag came out to fix the wall in Corner 1. What else can happen? With five to go, Bubba Wallace got into the wall possibly due to another broken rotor.
Overtime, who knew?? Green/white/checker with Busch out front and Hamlin in ‘hot pursuit’!! At the flag it was Busch, Hamlin and Logano.
Ryan Blaney has taken over the points lead bumping previous leader Chastain down to fifth. William Byron is 13 back and Kevin Harvick is 22 behind.
Their next race is Sonoma, Sunday on TSN 5 at 3.30 P.M.
NASCAR XFINITY SERIES: NASCAR took their traveling circus to the Pacific Northwest on Saturday running on the cool road course at Portland International Raceway. Sheldon Creed (Chev) got the pole ahead of Cole Custer (Ford) and Josh Berry (Chev).
Canadian road race ace Alex Labbe started 15th. A couple of changes were made to the circuit to try and avoid the carnage experienced in the past. Similar to the Truck race, a bunch of cars had to drop to the rear for various infractions in tech.
Well, so much for the changes. They didn’t even get through Corner 1 without cars spinning but, thankfully, no caution. On lap 18 Stefan Parsons stopped on track for a yellow. While running under the caution two laps later Daniel Hemric’s car caught on fire while running in the top ten.
I noticed the fire crew lifted the hood to fight the fire????? A definite no-no as that just gives the fire its needed oxygen. At least that was the safety training I received ‘back in the day.’ Creed won Stage 1 by overtaking John Hunter Nemechek in the last corner.
On the restart Josh Berry overcooked Corner 2 and spun ending up going to the back. On the last lap of Stage 2, Nemechek made another in a long line of ‘friends’ by spinning Creed in the final corner. Custer ended up winning the stage. Then on the restart he overcooked the first corner and slid off-track. With 20 to go Creed spun Nemechek!! And the crowd went wild!!
With 8 laps to go, Riley Herbst came to a stop just offtrack for what appeared to be a blown motor. It had been overheating prior to this.
With three to go, the caution came out for debris on the track (from multiple cars!!), the restart sign being removed after getting flattened again, and Jeb Burton being punted off track by Chandler Smith. Another green/white/checker!!
Parker Kligerman forced two cars through the infield on the restart giving the lead to Custer.
At the flag it was Custer over Justin Allgaier and Sam Mayer. In the points it is Nemechek 14 ahead of Austin Hill and 44 up on Allgaier.
Their next race is Sonoma, Saturday on TSN 3 at 8 P.M.
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCKS: Ty Majeski grabbed the pole for the truck race at Gateway followed by Ben Rhodes, both in Fords, and Christian Eckes (Chev) third. Canadian Stewart Friesen started fifth. The tech garage was busy in pre-race and several trucks were sent to the back.
It didn’t take long for things to get busy. Bret Holmes spun on lap 1 collecting Clay Greenfield bringing out the first caution. On lap 28 Stephen Mallozzi stopped on the apron apparently out of electrical power. Grant Enfinger won Stage 1.
On lap 53 Jack Wood slowed to get around the lapped truck of Norm Benning and got tapped from behind by Chris Hacker for another yellow. On lap 66 Conner Jones spun into the wall after appearing to overcook corner entry. Stewart Friesen won Stage 2.
On lap 80 Taylor Gray spun and hit the wall for another caution. On lap 87 Nick Sanchez got into Hailie Deegan and she hit the wall hard.
On lap 125 Hacker got punted into the wall. On lap 136 Baley Currey looped it missing the outside wall but then sliding down hitting the inside retainer. With 11 to go Lawless Alan spun in Corner 2 for yet another caution. On the restart Majeski got loose under leader Zane Smith taking both out.
Grant Enfinger got the win over Eckes and Friesen. In the points Corey Heim, who missed the race due to illness, leads Majeski by just 1 and Enfinger by 9.
Their next race is Nashville Superspeedway, Friday, June 23 on Fox Sports Racing at 8 P.M.
FORMULA ONE: Qualifying for the race in Spain was run under the threat of rain. However, it held off making everybody happy. In Q1 Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri) got wide and into the gravel spraying some onto the racing surface. That brought out a red flag to clean off the gravel.
Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) failed to get out of Q1. In Q2 Sergio Perez (Red Bull) beached it, as well, and did not make it out of the session. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) would start first, unsurprisingly, ahead of Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and Lando Norris (McLaren).
Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) started a very strong sixth, out-qualifying teammate Fernando Alonso who would start ninth. Alonso had damaged the floor of his car in one of the many ‘offs’ experienced by the drivers.
The race started with Stroll in sixth. However, by the end of the first lap he had moved up to third. On lap 8, Lewis Hamilton was able to get around Stroll. The race ran caution and incident free right to the checker flag. Verstappen picked up the win over the Mercedes of Hamilton and Russell. Stroll finished a stout sixth ahead of teammate Alonso in seventh.
Max has a 53-point cushion on teammate Perez and by 71 on Alonso. Stroll sits eighth. Red Bull leads Mercedes by 135 in the Constructor’s Championship and Aston Martin by 153.
Their next race is Canada, Sunday, June 18.
INDYCAR: Alex Palou continued his strong runs this year by nailing the pole at the Detroit Street Course race. Scott McLaughlin was second with Romain Grosjean third. Canadian Devlin DeFrancesco started 17th.
The initial start of the race was waved off because the back markers, who would most likely start AND finish there, had not caught up to the pack. On the subsequent start as always happens there was an accident when Callum Ilott climbed on top of Kyle Kirkwood. No yellow!!
I was actually very impressed with how well the track was laid out with a few recognizable buildings. I’m old enough to remember when the Ren Center was owned by Ford. Linda and I attended the 75th Anniversary for Ford Motor Company back in 1977 and most of the meetings were in the Ren Center. (There were cops lined up every twenty feet along Jefferson between the Ren Center and Cobo Hall when we went there for a concert by Aretha Franklin).
Pit stops mixed things up and it was interesting to watch the cars coming into the two-sided pit area. Pato O’Ward apparently broke a driveshaft coming out of the pits on lap 36. That will be a hit to his points total. They fixed it and he went back out but on lap 46 he nailed the wall hard after contact with Santino Santucci.
In my opinion Pato was going way too fast to safely enter that corner. In the down time they interviewed Flavor Flav who was rooting for Will Power. And Flav has got to have the brightest and whitest teeth I have ever seen!! Outstanding.
On lap 50, the halfway mark, Sting Ray Robb looped it in Turn 3 for a yellow. And the bad luck for Graham Rahal continued. He had started DFL but just past halfway he slid sideways into the wall taking him out. On lap 56 Will Power got around Palou for the lead.
There was a bunch of car-to-car contact but, thankfully, none of the involved cars were damaged. On lap 80 Romain Grosjean crashed coming out of a corner taking him out of the race.
On the restart at lap 84 David Malukas stopped on track to abort the restart. On lap 92 Robb spun for yet another caution after contact with Santucci.
I must say it was very interesting to see Brian Barnhart being interviewed as he is now the Race Strategist for Alexander Rossi. Anybody else remember Brian?
The last 6 laps were EPIC!! Palou was all alone in the lead and Power was solidly in second. But the three orange cars of Rossi, Rosenqvist and Dixon put on a show. At the flag it was Palou, Power, Rosenqvist, Dixon and Rossi. Defrancesco finished a strong 12th.
I liked the race, but I predict they will add some distance to the course as it was a little short in my opinion. We’ll see.
In the points, Palou now has a 51-point lead on Marcus Ericsson and 70 points on Josef Newgarden.
Their next race is Elkhart Lake, Sunday, June 18
IMSA: On Saturday at Detroit, Canadian Daniel Morad and co-driver Bryce Ward won the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race in their Winward Racing Mercedes AMG GT GT4 in a race that featured 22 starters.
And on the IndyCar race broadcast on Sunday, during a little down time, they showed the video from the race when the Turner BMW climbed over the top of a Porsche and then drove away. Tough cars!!
Their next race is Watkins Glen, Sunday, June 25.
24 HOURS OF LEMANS: This Saturday and Sunday.
NHRA: The car count was down in qualifying at New England on the weekend. Antron Brown topped the 13 Fuelers with a 3.729. Only four cars ran in the 3s!!
Chad Green topped the Floppers with a 4.100. Only 6 cars ran in the 4s. Mike Thielen used a 5.837 to top the 18 Pro Mods. Only seven cars ran in the 5s. It would appear that traction was an issue although it had rained. There were 34 Super Stockers with four from Canada. There were 48 Stockers with 6 Canucks.
Sunday’s racing was rained out and postponed to 11 A.M. Monday. I waited until 2 P.M. but Drag Race Central still hadn’t posted any results three hours later. I will post the results next week.
Their next race is Bristol, Sunday.
NASCAR PINTY’S SERIES: Their next race is Saturday at Autodrome Chaudière.
APC LATE MODEL SERIES: The series’ next race is at Flamboro on Saturday.
ONTARIO SPORTSMAN SERIES: The series travelled up to Full Throttle Speedway Saturday and the top three finishers were Cory McAllister, Michael Hryniuk Jr and Connor James.
In the points Chad McGlynn leads Sean Mangin by 5 and Connor James by 14.
Their next race is Sunset, Saturday, June 17.
SUPERSTAR RACING EXPERIENCE (SRX): Their season starts Thursday, July 13 at Stafford Motor Speedway.
DELAWARE SPEEDWAY: There were two Super Stock 35 lap mains Friday night, one from the previous week’s rain out. On lap 26 of the first race Lane Zardo tried to dive under leader Carson Nagy going to Turn 3 but failed taking out both cars.
At the flag it was defending champ Jay Doerr after a great recovered Nagy and David McCullough. In the second race it was Shawn Chenoweth over Nagy and Zardo with Doerr fourth.
The Late Model feature went only two laps before defending champion Ray Morneau got drilled from behind in 3 pushing the back of his car high in the air. He was able to nurse it to a 10th place finish.
At the flag three of the five finishers were numbered 22!! Kyle Steckly took the win over Connor Pritiko and Chase Pinsonneault in third.
In the Late Model points, Pritiko leads Jesse Kennedy by 12 and Morneau by 18. In the Super Stocks Doerr leads Nagy by 6 and Zardo by 14.
Their next race is Super Stocks, V-8 Stocks and Bone Stocks Friday.
FLAMBORO SPEEDWAY: Kyle Steckly picked up a Pro Late Model feature on Saturday. Their next big race is the APC race Saturday.
OHSWEKEN SPEEDWAY: Their next big race is the Core-Mark Night this Friday.
SOUTHERN ONTARIO MOTOR SPEEDWAY (Buxton): Their next race is regular racing this Saturday.
GRAND BEND SPEEDWAY: Their next race is racing this Thursday (season opener) and Saturday (Fathers Day + Southern Ontario Modifieds).
GRAND BEND MOTORPLEX (Dragway): Their next race is the Summer Spectacular this weekend.
ST. THOMAS DRAGWAY: Their next race is Mopar Day Saturday.
TORONTO MOTORSPORT PARK: Their next big race is the Nitro Nationals July 2.
SHANNONVILLE DRAGS: Their first race is this weekend the Nostalgia Weekend.
CAN AM STOCK/SUPER STOCK SERIES: Their next race is June 24 & 25 at Empire Dragway.
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