FORMULA ONE: F1 heads to the historic Silverstone Circuit for the British Grand Prix this weekend. This is basically a ‘home race’ for the majority of the teams, almost like Charlotte is for NASCAR. It will be very important for Mercedes to ‘up’ its game if they hope to reel in the mighty Red Bull team and their dominant driver Max Verstappen.
NASCAR: All three major touring series in action.
CAMPING WORLD TRUCKS: Let me say this about the Corn Belt 150 at Knoxville Raceway, Iowa: This amazing track is great for Sprint Cars. Period!!
We have been there, and it is without a doubt the most impressive half-mile dirt track on the planet. And they have that outstanding Sprint Car Hall of Fame there, too.
But as for ‘taxi cabs’ racing there… I’m not sure. It was painful to watch the FOUR green/white/checker restarts as they wrecked each time, including on the final lap. Austin Hill won over Chandler Smith and Grant Enfinger; all three in Toyotas. Jessica Friesen finished 26th, one spot ahead of husband Stewart!! Bragging rights? Stewart sits tenth in points.
XFINITY SERIES: They put on a good show at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday and, thankfully – in my opinion only – it was reported that it was the last race for Kyle Busch in this series. Did anybody else notice the orange #61 car of David Starr? Sure reminded me of the late, great Richie Evans! Kyle Busch won the race over series regulars Jeb Burton and Noah Gregson. Canadian Alex Labbé started 17th and finished 15th. Austin Cindric still leads the points over A.J. Allmendinger and Daniel Hemric.
Oh, and by the way, Rogers/TSN did it AGAIN!! I pre-programmed the recording for the race on Friday on TSN5. I came home early at about 3:10 Saturday and clicked on TSN5. TILT!!! GOLF. Scrolled up and the race was actually on TSN3.
My recording still indicated it was the Xfinity race. Maybe the tall foreheads could select ONE motorsports channel and put ALL the good racing they cover on THAT channel? Asking for a friend!! LOL
CUP SERIES: The brothers Busch put on quite a show over the final laps at Atlanta, with Kurt defeating Kyle by a little over one second and Martin Truex, Jr. ending up third. The race was amazing for one big reason – only one ‘put it out’ caution for a spin on the backstretch plus a red flag for track repairs as a seam came apart and needed attention. Denny Hamlin now has a ten-point lead in the regular season championship over Kyle Larson with Kyle Busch third.
PINTY’S SERIES: GOOD NEWS! The series has been held back by the country’s COVID-19 rules, but it finally gets underway with a double header at Sunset Speedway on Sunday, August 1. Even better news is that the series will return ‘home’ for a visit to Delaware Speedway on Sunday, September 26. Great to see it coming back to where it all started – as CASCAR – so many years ago!!
NHRA: Their next race is the Mile High Nationals, at Denver, this coming weekend. The visit to the wonderful Bandimere Speedway marks the start of their western swing. The track is just off I-70 as you head west from Denver heading up into the Rockies. Their stands are on the side of a mountain!! How cool is that?
IMSA: It appears IMSA and the WEC have agreed on rules to allow Le Mans Hypercars and LMDh prototypes to race together starting in 2023. That’s GOOD news. The series runs this weekend at the legendary Lime Rock Park in Salisbury, Connecticut. Make sure you put that track on your bucket list. You will not be disappointed.
INDYCAR: The series is off until August 8 when they run the inaugural Big Machine Music City street course at Nashville, Tennessee. I’m looking forward to that race. I’m not sure what the reason is/was for that big gap in the schedule as the series has been picking up lots of new viewers this year. But hopefully, the interest will still be there after the break.
SRX: The final SRX race for this year will be held this Saturday, July 17 at the Nashville Fairgrounds track. Saturday night’s race at the ‘bad fast,’ high-banked quarter-mile named Slinger Speedway in Wisconsin was really, really fun to watch.
Rumour has it that Slinger copied Varney!! LOL And I noticed that the most overused (and incorrectly used) word in sports announcing has, sadly, made it into auto racing: “physicality.” Uh, NO.
Marco Andretti impressed me, again, winning the first heat over Tony Stewart and local hot shot 17-year-old Luke Fenhaus. I had always thought of Marco as a ‘trust fund kid’ who got his ride because of his last name, but I have been proven wrong.
The Biff (aka Greg Biffle) won the second heat by just inches over Hailie Deegan, with Ernie Francis, Jr., closing hard on the outside for third. The main was NOT kind to Canadian Paul Tracy. It seems almost everybody was taking a run at him!! Paybacks? Hmm.
Marco won the feature with Luke Fenhaus second and Tony Stewart third. Tony Stewart leads the points over Francis and Andretti. In my opinion, this series – or one like it – could be the future of motorsports.
A fixed time period (2 hours), identical cars, drivers from all disciplines and local interest drivers added in, look to be a winning formula.
GOODWOOD FESTIVAL OF SPEED: If you missed this world-class event, go visit Dr. Google and watch some amazing vehicles challenge ‘The Hill.’ This year, they honoured an amazing American racing legend, Roger Penske.
DID YOU KNOW? Atlanta Motor Speedway is being reconfigured and repaved, raising the banking from 24 degrees to 28 degrees. As if it wasn’t fast enough before! LOL. Waaaay back in about 1974, we had plans to attend the NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, FL and then stop for the Cup race, in Atlanta, on the way home. I decided to drive the motorhome over to Atlanta on the way down, as I hadn’t been there before.
We got there and there was garbage, wood and debris all over the ground outside the back straightaway. I asked one of the workers what that was. A tornado had hit the track and had torn out half of their grandstands!! They had it all repaired for the following week, which was outstanding work. Apparently, that is a normal occurrence down there. Scary.
Did you also know that NASCAR’s next generation Cup car will reportedly have – wait for it – composite bodies?! Welcome to the 21st century.
If you have any comments, questions or suggestions feel free to email me at motionman@rogers.com
Until next week!!
- Dave Mathers
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