I guess IndyCar got excited about the PRO (Professional Racers Organization) million dollars to win (Top Fuel and Funny Car – a mil each) drag race at Bradenton, Florida next February.
There will now be a non-points million dollar race at the Thermal Club in Thermal, California March 22 – 24, 2024. The track is about three hours east of Los Angeles just off I-10 and just above the legendary Salton Sea. The race will be on NBC and Peacock.
There was some negative feedback about the track surface at Suzuka on the first day of practice for the F1 race, this past weekend, as drivers felt the track had degraded. Pierre Gasly stuffed his Alpine into the wall with about two minutes left in P2 so sort of highlight what the drivers had been saying.
Also at Suzuka, retired F1 driver Sebastian Vettel collaborated with others to create ten bees nests inside Corner 2, naming the area the ‘Buzzin Corner.’
The track even painted the curbs in corner 2 yellow and black. Apparently, biodiversity is his focus in retirement. I wonder how many bees stuck around once the 15,000 RPM engines fired up? Cool project.
How about Mike Salinas being the first car to run over 300 MPH in the 1/8th mile thanks to the tune-up from his Canadian crew chief Rob Flynn!! Well done.
NASCAR PINTY’S SERIES: Canada’s NASCAR series dropped into Delaware Speedway for its season finale, on Sunday. It was basically a coronation for 2023 series champion Treyten Lapcevich who only had to start the race to be declared champion.
He didn’t get the memo (read to the end)!! LOL
Kyle Steckly nabbed the pole ahead of Treyten, Marc-Antoine Camirand, Alex Guenette and D.J. Kennington. Before the start, under very overcast skies, Andrew Ranger pitted with a flat tire saving a possible wreck on track.
On the start, the 22 starters immediately went three-wide coming out of Four on the very first lap. The first yellow flew on lap 5 when Glenn Styres and Wallace Stacey got together in 1. On lap 10 I actually felt some sprinkles, but nothing came of it.
Treyten lead until Steckly got around him where he started knocking off 19.40s then 19.30s then 19.20s and then he got into the 19.10s!!
On lap 41 second place points contender Camirand pitted and the hood came up. He did not return to the track. By lap 50 Scott had lapped the field up to 10th.
On lap 52 he passed NASCAR star Noah Gragson who was 10th.
On lap 73 Jesse Kennedy pitted with a flat tire and came back with a car that was definitely hanging low in the right front. It had to have been a handful. On lap 98 leader Steckly pitted and went up on jack stands with, reportedly, a broken shock mount in the back. He did not return.
This put Treyten out front, and he had the bit between his teeth. At lap 127 they had their one and only Competition Caution. On lap 147 the announce team stated that they were having, wait for it, timing and scoring problems!!
On lap 164 Donald Theetge spun in 1 with a little help from Kevin Lacroix who got sent to the back for the restart. On lap 195 Guenette got spun by J.P.
Bergeron who similar to Lacroix got invited to drop to the rear!! Bergeron had dive bombed going into 3 and was actually touching the infield grass!! LOL
Meanwhile Treyten was setting quick time on almost every lap moving his times down to 19.20s even on his last lap. He won the race over Theetge who had hit almost everybody but Treyten (couldn’t catch him?), Kennington, Ranger and Lacroix.
As Lapcevich was both the race winner and the series champion only one car had to come to the Pinty’s Fall Brawl Winner’s Circle and he started in Turn 3 doing a tire shredding burnout all the way around to the front stretch. And the crowd went wild!! The race took one hour and fifty minutes to complete. Good show.
The final points saw Lapcevich over Camirand, Alex Tagliani, L.P. Dumoulin and Kevin Lacroix in the top-five.
UNITED RACING SERIES – QWICK WICK SUPER STOCKS: Hudson Nagy started 1st in the Qwick Wick Super Stock at Delaware and lead every lap to beat brother Carson, Ryan Dyson, Shawn Chenoweth and Brad Collison in a race that went green to checker with no cautions Friday night at Delaware Speedway. Carson won the season championship by 3 over Lane Zardo and by 14 over Chenoweth.
On Saturday night, the OSCAAR Hot Rod Series saw Tyler Hawn win the feature over local veteran racer Steve McGaw and Rob Bromley. Andy Kamrath took his rocket ship to the Winner’s Circle in the Modified feature beating Chris Milwain and Jamie Cox.
APC LATE MODELS: The 200 lap Castrol 200 for the Late Models could only be described as interesting!! The race featured the fastest cars on the track, all weekend, including the Pinty’s Series vehicles.
Former series champ Jo Lawrence topped qualifying with a stout 18.111. The race start was delayed by an emergency for a lady being injured in the stands requiring the local fire department’s volunteers to bring her down to the waiting ambulance on the track.
With the inversion, Shae Gemmell started from the pole ahead of Josh Stade and J.R. Fitzpatrick and 31 cars took the green. The race was only 3 laps old when early favourite Chase Pinsonneault pitted with problems. It didn’t take long for Fitzpatrick to lead the pack. He was running 18.60s. On lap 47 the first of many Competition Cautions came with the announcers attempting to explain what was going on.
At the halfway mark there were still 29 cars running. J.R. was now running 18.50s. On lap 140 another Competition Caution happened about the same time as a power blip with the lights going out momentarily. There were still 23 cars on the lead lap.
On the restart Junior Farrelly had problems in 2 but drove past pit in and stopped on track for another yellow. After that caution the announcers said that it was the last Competition Caution and ‘The Crowd Went Wild’!! LOL
On lap 150 Blair Wickett bumped Danny Benedict and that ended up collecting several other cars including D.J. Kennington whose car had a small fire after hitting the inside front straight wall. Wickett got invited to watch the restart from the back of the pack!! LOL
J.R was now running 18.50s then 18.40s out front. On lap 175 Brandon Watson running top five tapped Ray Morneau but did not spin him.
At the flag it was Fitzpatrick over Morneau, Lawrence, Jake Sheridan and Kyle Steckly. The race took two hours and forty minutes to complete. Steckly won the close points race by 4 over Lawrence and 6 ahead of Fitzpatrick.
EAST COAST INTERNATIONAL PRO STOCK TOUR: On Saturday, Ashton Tucker of Lyttleton, NB won the Season Finale – Tirecraft 200 tonight at Scotia Speedworld. The win is the second of the season for Tucker. Craig Slaunwhite (Terence Bay, NS) finished second and secured the 2023 East Coast International Pro Stock Tour Championship.
Jarrett Butcher (Porter’s Lake, NS) applied pressure on Slaunwhite all afternoon but had to settle for third in the race and second in the championship chase. Russell Smith Jr. (Lakeside, NS) had another top-five finish, coming home fourth in the Tirecraft 200. Young gun Austin MacDonald had another great performance and finished fifth.
It’s back-to-back-to-back championships for Slaunwhite as he becomes the first driver ever to win three consecutive championships in series history.
– With files from the East Coast Int’l Pro Stock Tour
NASCAR CUP SERIES Points contender Bubba Wallace (Toyota) nabbed the pole at Texas ahead of the Fords of Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski also points contenders.
On lap 42 Austin Dillon lost a right rear wheel and tire on corner 3 entry and slid up to the wall to bring out the first yellow. One lap after the restart Todd Gilliland lost a wheel on the back stretch.
On lap 74 Kyle Busch hit the wall hard in 2 then backed it all the way around the track backwards to the pits. As they came to the end of Stage 1 the front cars backed off while some of the other cars did not. Tyler Reddick won Stage 1.
On lap 110 Corey LaJoie had a flat tire that damaged his car putting body parts out on the track for another yellow. Kyle Larson won Stage 2. Daniel Suarez spun to the bottom on lap 210 as he overcooked pit road entry. With 25 laps to go J.J. Yeley spun for a yellow.
With 19 to go leader Larson was running door to door with Wallace and spun up and into the wall. On the restart Wallace checked out on the filed but there was a big wreck involving Ryan Blaney, Erik Jones, A.J Allmendinger, and several others.
At the flag it was William Byron over Ross Chastain, Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin. Byron leads the points by 9 over Denny Hamlin and by 24 ahead of Chris Buescher.
Their next race is Talladega, Sunday on TSN 5 at 2 P.M.
NASCAR XFINITY SERIES: Justin Allgaier (Chev) picked up the pole for Saturday’s race at Texas over Trevor Bayne (Toyota) and Cole Custer (Ford). Parity! Eight of the top ten starters were points contenders.
The first yellow came out on lap 3 for ‘debris on the track’ in between corners one and two. Yellow on lap 12 for a ‘three car tango’ on the short chute in the tri-oval. The same thing happened in almost the same spot on lap 57. On lap 66 Jeffery Earnhart had a solo spin on the back stretch. On lap 99 Josh Berry, Bayne, Brennan Poole and Kyle Weatherman got together in 4 for another caution with Poole getting pushed hard into the inside pit wall.
Ten laps later another yellow for ‘debris on the backstretch’. On lap 120 Dawson Cram had a solo spin in 4. Lap 61 saw Daniel Dye spin in 2. Lap 180 more ‘debris’! Justin Allgaier won both Stages. With 15 to go Kaz Grala and J.J. Yeley got together in 3 for what would be the final yellow.
At the flag it was John Hunter Nemechek (Toyota) over Parker Kligerman (Chev) and Sammy Smith (Toyota).
In the points Nemechek leads Allgaier by 11 and Custer by 31.
Their next race is Charlotte Saturday, October 7 on TSN 3 at 3.30 P.M.
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCKS: Their next race is Talladega, Saturday on Fox Sports Racing at 1.00 P.M.
FORMULA ONE: Once again there was a major off in qualifying, this time at Japan. Logan Sargeant had his Williams get very loose and spanked the wall hard. This resulted in a red flag. And of course, the stewards had to ruin the session by laying some ‘exceeding track limits’ penalties.
Max Verstappen recovered well from his forgettable run at Singapore to nab the pole in his Red Bull over the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. Lance Stroll started 17th.
Once again, the ‘finest drivers in the world’ couldn’t get through the first lap without ‘contact’!! They were playing bumper cars on the initial start necessitating a full course yellow due to ‘debris on the track’!!
Verstappen had turned right to block Piastri allowing Norris to come up from 3rd to challenge Max. Didn’t happen. On lap 12 Kevin Magnussen and Sergio Perez got together leaving more ‘debris on the track’ for a virtual safety car.
By the mid-point there were five cars out of the race including Stroll (wing failure?), Perez, Bottas and both Williams. Up front it was Max, two McLarens, two Ferraris and two Mercedes!! And it appeared that the two Mercedes drivers were having a bit of a ‘family dispute’ as Hamilton got around Russell.
At the flag it was back to business as normal with Max on the top step followed by Norris and Piastri with his first podium. Stroll finished 18th. I found it interesting that all four podiums had Ferrari painted on the front. What’s up with that?
In the Drivers’ Championship, Max has a slim 187-point lead on teammate Perez and 210 over Hamilton.
In the Constructors’ Championship Red Bull leads Mercedes by 318 and Ferrari by 338.
Their next race is Qatar, Sunday, October 8.
IMSA: Their next race is Road Atlanta, Sunday, October 14.
NHRA: In Top Fuel qualifying at Charlotte Mike Salinas was #1 with a 3.647. Only 14 cars!! Robert Hight topped the 15 Funny Cars with a 3.824. Erica Enders (surprise, surprise) topped Pro Stock with a 6.509 (full field). And in another surprise, surprise Gaige Herrera sat atop Pro Stock Bike with a 6.731.
Doug Kalitta repeated his win last week at Maple Grove topping Mike Salinas in the final. 6 upsets (lower qualified car wins) and 6 smokers (car loses traction and spins the tires).
Bob Tasca (3.933) took out Robert Hight (3.932) for the win in Funny Car. 7 upsets and 9 smokers.
Greg Anderson won Pro Stock over Dallas Glenn. 7 upsets and 1 smoker.
Gaige Herrar won Pro Stock Bike over Hector Arana, Junior. 4 upsets.
Only 3 cars showed for the Factory X class with Greg Stanfield beating Allen Johnson in the final.
In the points Doug Kalitta leads Top Fuel by 63 over Steve Torrence. Hight has 25-point lead on Tasca in Funny Car. Matt Hartford has a 4-point Pro Stock lead over Enders. Herrera has a 52-point cushion on Matt Smith in Pro Stock Bike.
Their next race is Gateway, Sunday at 3 on Fox Sports Racing.
ONTARIO SPORTSMAN SERIES: Final points – Cory McAllister 850, Chad McGlynn 809, Connor James 808, Brendan Patrick 777 and Michael Hryniuk 770.
DELAWARE SPEEDWAY: It was the Great Canadian Weekend with Qwick Wick Super Stocks Friday night, APC Late Models Saturday night and Pinty’s Series Sunday. All covered above.
Friday night saw the Bone Stocks and V/8 Stocks supporting the Qwick Wick Super Stock 50 lapper (covered above). 48 Bone Stocks were in the house with Charlie Verhoeven getting the win in Heat 1, Taylor Everest in Heat 2, Jason Lovie in Heat 3, Jordan Willms in the B Main while Lovie won the Main over Jeremiah Rabideau and Jordan Willms.
In the V/8 Stocks Dave Evison won Heat 1, Steve McCaw won Heat 2 and Jordan Morris won the Main atop Derek Clark and Darren Thirkettle.
Sunday afternoon there was a 50 car Bone Stock Invitational. Ian Levac won the B Feature over Hank Klassen and Rob Wolliston. The A Feature was won by Colin Willems ahead of Kris Lawrence and Phil Givens.
Their next (and final) race is the Bone Stock Championship & Pumpkin Smasher, Saturday afternoon.
FLAMBORO SPEEDWAY their next race is the Grisdale Triple Crown Night, Saturday. The event is part of the track’s annual Frostoberfest Fall special.
GRAND BEND SPEEDWAY: Their next race is GBS Championship, Thursday.
GRAND BEND DRAGWAY: Their next race is the Canadian Sports Compact Series, Saturday, October 14.
ST. THOMAS DRAGWAY: Their next race is the Ontario Bracket Finals, this weekend.
TORONTO MOTORSPORTS PARK: Their next race is Canada Heads Up Series, this weekend.
SHANNONVILLE DRAGS: Their next race is October 7 & 8.
Any comments can be sent to Dave Mathers via email at motionman@rogers.com or by Facebook Messenger.
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